5 years ago, I happened to hear a speech by Goutam Chopra, son of Deepak Chopra. Apart from being the son of a "famous" father, I am not aware of any other tails associated with
Gautam which made him eligible to speak to a crowd of a few thousand, but never mind .....
And in his speech, Gautam said something along the lines of ..
"It is sad that religions are fighting with each other everywhere. Hindus and Muslims are killing each other in Kashmir, Hindus and Buddhists are killing each other in Sri Lanka .... " . Shocked at the utter ignorance of this chap, I took refuge in thinking myself .. "Puvar Deepak Chopda ... his son became a typical case of the son getting it all wrong .. like they mix up " so your religion is hindi and language indian ?"
Now after reading the Father Chopra's interview in rediff, I have sympathies for Gautam. I am surprised the fellow did not abuse his parent religion as much as he could have, like his Father does Here is from Deepak Chopra's interview
1) http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/25sld7.htm
Do you consider yourself a Hindu at this stage of your life?
No. I think if spirituality has to survive, it has to become secular
2) http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/25sld6.htm
Look what they are doing to the artist M F Husain. This shows the primitive, tribal nature of our Hindu fanatics. Unfortunately, they are becoming very popular in India. They are militant and have done so much harm. Hindu fundamentalists are as violent as other fundamentalists; the only difference is that they are vegetarian. After seeing the film, they will be worse.
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Praise the Lord, for I am not a vegetarian, and so escaped part of Chopda's abuses.... and mind you, in his interview, here and there he attacks the vegetarians.. Boy waaaattt crime did the puvar old can't-meet-his-ends priest do by not going against his beliefs ? What did the tens of thousands of even-though-not-born-Brahmin-but-vegetarian-by-choice Hindus do by deciding to spare the life of a chicken or a fish ?
I do believe that being non-vegetarian does not one maketh any less Hindu - as Swami Vivekananda, himself not a vegetarian would say, one should accept the food habits that suit one's nature and temperament - but at the same time, I respect vegetarians , especially the "by choice" ones.... May be I am not as brilliant as Chopda. for I fail to understand the dude's going gaga over vegetarians.. May be some day he landed up in some vegetarian Indian restaurant and got kicked out for saying " I am Deepak Chopra, the man who can do anything he wants, so I want my Turkey well cooked " ( Interesting Chopra never played around with the "RoP" -Islam.... he he may be he knows it is indeed the "Religion of (make u into) Pieces"
Our man speaks as though he is the only one who knows about "real Hinduism". He accuses Hindus of not having sense of humor while looking at pictures of his Goddesses painted in the nude.. Saaar, Mr Chopra "guru", let me tell you a small story. When I was five, an interesting incident brought Mother Saraswati to my life, and ever since She is my Guru . And I have a small black and white picture of her, since then till present, wherever I am. I must have been 10 or so, when I first heard about Husain paintings - I could not stop myself from crying that day ... Saaarry Saaar, I now understand that by birth, I lacked that sense of humour, for as per you as a true Hindu - never mind I was 10 - I should have laughed and shouted that news out from my rooftops ..... Saarry Saar . I am trying to improve. As a starting point, I shall hang up a picture of yours in my room, Saar, for looking at it I am reminded of cow dung, and I end up laughing .........
And now, here is the strange logic, or the lack of it. He tells us what Hinduism is, should be blah blah, takes pride in his sense of humor ... sells all he could out of Hinduism and make money and fame ( even though I bet he can't even quote a verse properly from Upanishads or Gita) and finally at the end of the day, he says he is not a Hindu .... And laments that the elements he doesn't like are becoming more and more popular in Hinduism... Now saaar, if popular and "moderate" and perfect people like you are not calling yourself Hindus, don't you think it is natural that only those who are proud to be Hindus and willing to defend it against all odds ( whom unfortunately you hate ) will make up Hinduism .... Saaar, please advise , waaaatt shall we do ? You are our "guru" saaaar, sar sar saaaar , ammmmaaaaaaaaa
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Post Script 1: http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/10005/92/Criticism of upcoming Hollywood movie "The Love Guru" for its purported slandering of Hindu practices is stretching across various religions, professions, and age groups.Reverend John J. Auer, Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Reno; Andrea Forman, Founder of Shanti Shanti, only Sanskrit rock band in the world; Swami Pooja Saraswati, a well respected spiritual leader; Hindu Jana Jagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha, through their spokesperson Bhavna Shinde; Alison Pratte, a yoga leader; Father Charles T. Durante, a Catholic priest well respected in northern Nevada for his various community outreach efforts; Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, a well known Jewish leader in parts of California and Nevada; Right Reverend Gene Savoy Jr., Head Bishop of International Community of Christ; Reverend William Bartlett, a well known Buddhist priest and Interfaith Chaplain; Lonnie L. Feemster, civil rights activist and Religious Affairs Chair of Reno-Sparks National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Vidya Chaitanya, Director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Los Angeles; Paradheya Das of Sri Krishna Vedic Cultural Association in Sacramento (California); Rakesh Nagpal, General Secretary of Ramayan Pracharini Sabha; Lila D. Sharma, President of India Heritage Panel; and Dharam Loonaa, Executive Director of the Universal Society of Hinduism; have already issued statements in support of this cause espoused by Rajan Zed.
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Post Script 2: Going to where I started, Guatam Chopra. I would like Gautam to present a single case of Hindu killing Muslim in Kashmir ( and then indeed I can show facts of thousands of Hindus killed by Muslims ). Indeed the Indian Army kills Islamic terrorists in Kashmir, but if you call that Hindus killing Kashmir, you need treatment at
NIMHANS .. may be your Father too
Coming to Sri Lanka, LTTE being mistakenly called a "Hindu" group is not the first time... so I pardon you on that. Atleast some people know that the former spokesperson and strategist for LTTE was "Anton Balasingham" ( his mother was Christian, and he took a Christian first name... the tail Balasingham is simply because his father was Hindu, not Anton ) . But not many knows that their military chief who got killed recently was Shanmughanathan alias Charles , and even the chief Prabhakarans son's name is Charles Anthony .... so much for thei Hinduness
