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Dear Shrikant,
My name is Miguel. I would prefer if you spell it right.
"Following one's own Dharma, however imperfect, is better than
following another's Dharma, however perfect." said lord Krishna to
Arjuna on the fringes of Kurukshetra.
I would say ditto on the fringes of the present day war, "Crook shetra"
Within Hinduism there are various "Panths". As I keep repeating, the
Hindu world is NOT a MONOLITH ...not even in appearance as the Roman
Catholic Church. The Devas are worshipped in the North and the Asuras
in the South. Among the Devas there is a clash between Shiva and
Vishnu. In neighbouring Karnataka [of which Goa was a part under the
Chalukyas, Silaharas, Bhojas, the Kadambas of Banvasi as well as under
the Sultan of Bijapur], the Lingayats [Shaivites] and the Gowdas
[Vaishnavites] rarely see eye to eye, although the kings of the
Vijayanagar dynasty transited from one god to the other.
Around Liberation there were some distinct religious terms in Goa :
Cristao, Konknne, Bamonn, Bhott ani Moyr. The term "Konknne" was
generally used for the natives of Konkan ..the Bhandari and Maratha
samaj ... while the term "Bamonn" was used for the Sarawats ["Addve
Bamonn" because of the horizontal stripes on the forehead of
Vaihnavites] and the Ubhe Bamonn [Vertical stripes]. Like tigers, the
Bamonn were not known to change their 'stripes'. The "Bhott" was
generally the Chitpawan brahmin who still had cows in his gothra and
lived in kulaghars and performed pooja. Unlike the Bamonn, the Bhot
did not eat fish but generally resticted himself to "Satwik"
vegetarian fare.
The DHARMA is not religion based. It is not only Hindus [basically
those adopting the Aryan lifestyle and Vishnu or Shiva avatar
worshippers on the banks of the "Indus" or "Sindu" river] who attain
MOKSHA. Moksha is not under any CTBT or NPT regime like atomic energy
utilisation ;-(
The Pope is not the final authority on God or his creation. The papacy
had determined that the Sun goes round the Earth and that the Earth
was flat based on a literal explanation of the Bible. The previous
Pope also accepted that it was wrong. That is the type of progress one
needs to see today. The Hindutva brigade is taking the route back in
to the dark ages [No, I am NOT saying you are a part of it. I have no
reason to make such an allegation about you.] Hinduism, on the other
hand has always been a progreesive religion...giving rituals to the
dumbos and spirituality to the intelligent ...whose mind can be
flooded by knowledge and realisation.
On another level, we grew up knowing and believing that we are BOTH
Konknne and Cristao. Konknne because we were of the Konkan region and
Cristao because we believed in Jesus Christ. All other things have
been, and will continue to remain, secondary to me. If one reads the
Gospel according to John and the Bhagwat Gita, the similarities are
just too many to miss. So what will be the Panthic difference between
one who follows the Gita and one who follows the Gospel [incidentally,
this Latin word simply means "Good News"]?
What we need in life is DHARMA and not DRAMA of the cults and brigades.
Mog asundi.
Miguel
On 8/27/07, SHRIKANT BARVE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Mingle.
> You wrote
>
> "What religion did the Hindu belong to before its
> various forms were manifest. Were they converted to Hinduism? Or do they
> believe like some good Cristaos that , unless one is baptised or circumcised,
> everyone is born and remains a Hindu?".
> First of all ..true meaning of DHRAMA as was used in
> the past ... is DUTY...and all others were called
> PANTHA....
> Followers of Crist, Mohammad, Buddha, Mahavir, like
> wise many are all Panth...
>
> As it was after liberation .. in GOA it was called
> kokne and kiristav...where in kokne means hindus...
> WILL YOU BELEIVE NOW.. FOR KOKNE AS HINDUS ONLY?
>
> Invaders gave the natives a name called HINDU...
> We natives believed that suprem think to achive is
> MOKSHA...and each living being can follow his own path
> to achive MOKSHA. Path that is PANTH...
>
> Now I am happy that Highest prist in Roman Catholic..
> accepted in this DECADE that FOLLOWERS OF OTHER PANTHS
> CAN ALSO ACHIVE MOKSHA.
>
--
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Miguel Braganza, S1 Gracinda Apts,
Rajvaddo, Mhapsa 403507 Goa
Ph 9822982676 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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