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Sita Ram Goel- 80 yrs completed
Author: Navratna S. Rajaram
Publication: Bhartiya Pragna
Date: February 2002
============== Sita Ram Goel: THE DOYAN OF HINU INTELLECTUAL IDEANATION ====================
The founder of voice of India, an 'intellectual' Kshatriya' par excellence, completes 80 years
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Siata RAm Goel as a FOUNDER OF Voice Of India SCHOOL OF THOUGHT:
In December 2001, Sri Sita Ram Goel, scholar, writer, publisher, and creator and mentor of a vigorous school of thought rooted in Sanatana Dharma, completed 80 years.
It is not easy to describe this many-sided man, but the phrase 'intellectual kshatriya' first used to my knowledge by David Frawley appears most appropriate. How are we to describe an intellectual kshatriya? Fortunately Sri Aurobindo has already done it for us:
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"[Such a person] should be absolutely unsparing in our attack on whatever obstructs the growth of the nation, and never be afraid to call a spade a spade. Excessive good nature will never do ... in serious politics.
Respect of persons must always give way to truth and conscience... What India needs especially at this moment is aggressive virtues, the spirit of soaring idealism, bold creation, fearless resistance, courageous attack; of the passive tamasic inertia we already have too much."
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MY ACQUINTANCE WITH SITA RAM GOEL:
I know no one who exemplifies these qualities better than Sri Sita Ram Goel.
My acquaintance with Sri Goel goes back to 1993. Remarkably enough it came about through Leftist circles, when the well-known feminist sociologist Smt Devaki Jain passed on to him a transcript of my lecture on the Aryan invasion theory. (Smt. Jain is the daughter of the late M.A. Srinivasan who was a close family friend of ours.)
Sri Goel then contacted me, asking if he could publish it as a Voice of India booklet. I agreed and sent him another transcript-of a lecture given at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai. He published these as a small book, Aryan Invasion of India: The Myth and the Truth.
He soon published two more of my books on the same theme-The Politics of History and Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization, the latter with David Frawley now in its third edition.
This was followed by the publication of my books on Christianity and Islam, most recently Profiles in Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which happens to the first study of the Dead Sea Scrolls by anyone outside the Judeo-Christian tradition publisher in India. (My earlier book on the Dead Sea Scrolls had appeared in England.)
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SITA RAM GOEL AS A SERIOUS PUBLISHER:
I mention these facts only to point out that Sri Goel has been as important a pioneering publisher as a scholar and writer. In fact I regard him as the foremost serious publisher in India whose work has led to the creation of the most important school of thought in the Indian humanities today, the Hindutva School in all its diversity in this regard, his publishing house Voice of India has been more like a research center and think tank than a commercial house.
MRXISISTS and SECULARISTS RUN FOR COVER:
While the Marxists and the anti-Hindu 'secularists' are running for cover, desperately clinging to what is left of their perks and positions (their influence is all but gone), many of the positions advocated by Sri Goel are moving into the mainstream. He was twenty years ahead of his time.
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SHUNNED BY ENGLISH MEDIA:
Though the English language media continues to shun his name, his influence is proving to be significant and growing.
Discussion of Jihad is now all the rage, often found on the front pages of newspapers, but no one mentions two important books published by Voice of India- Suhas Majumdar's Jihad. The Islamic Doctrine of Permanent War and Goel's own The Calcutta Koran Petition.
The latter is probably the best introduction available on the theory and practice of Islam, compiled by drawing upon both Islamic scripture and history. It is the same story when it comes to ancient history.
The Aryan invasion theory is now on its last legs, its only support coming from Christian missionaries and Communists-now practically one and the sameyet Voice of India and Aditya Prakashan (also founded by Sri Goel) have published more scholarly works refuting the Aryan invasion and providing alternatives than all other publishers in the world put together. And this is only a sample.
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VOICE OF INDIA SCHOLARS:
While the media is beginning to recognize the contribution of several Voice of India authors like: -- David Frawley,
-- Koelraad Elst,
-- Shrikant Talageri,
--and this writer,
it continues its policy of ignoring Sri Goel.
Recently, a national weekly did a feature on Koenraad Elst as a major voice on Hindutva but said not a word about Sri Goel and his publications, without which Elst (and a few others) might have remained in obscurity.
It is time that the media, the English language media in particular, dropped its petty prejudices and recognized Sri Goel as a major voice and a national asset. The Government should also recognize him with a suitable national award.
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A HISTORIAN AND INCISIVE ANALYST:
As a writer, Sri Goel is best known for his incisive and uncompromising analysis of Islam as a political ideology and its impact on Indian history. His range of knowledge, however, is much wider. For example, in 1996 when I acquainted him with the work I was doing with Natwar Jha on the decipherment of the Indus script, he immediately grasped its significance.
He went on to point out that like the Indus script, Gurumukhi was also written without vowels. This led Jha and me to explore the origins of northwestern scripts, particularly Landa and Morea, which were once in use in areas where the Indus script was widely distributed. I can only contrast this with the illiterate but pretentious response of some 'eminent' academics in India and abroad.
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SITA RAM GOEL and HIS MENTOR MAHAYOGI RAM SWARUP:
This brings up another facet of Sri Goel's character: though obviously aware of his own worth, he freely acknowledges the contribution of others. He has worked closely with the late Ram Swarup, and the following statement made at a lecture bears eloquent testimony to Sri Goel's generosity and modesty:
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"...It would have been in the fitness of things if the speaker today had been Ram Swarup, because whatever I have written and whatever I have to say today really comes from him. He gives me the seed ideas which sprout into my articles ... He gives me the framework of my thought. Only the language is mine.
The language also would have been much better if it was his own. My language becomes sharp at times; it annoys people. He has a way of saying things in a firm but polite manner, which discipline I have never been able to acquire."
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NEED TO GIVE HIM HIS DUE:
Many would disagree with this self-assessment-that insights came from Ram Swarup while he did little more than give them shape. My experience is that Sri Goel has many insights to contribute. I already gave an example relating to the Indus script. The second part of his statement with regard to his language comes from the experience of some who accuse him of being abrasive.
But in the overall scheme of things, in the light of his magnificent contribution, it is at the most a minor irritant. I sometimes feel that he has made his task of gaining support for his views unnecessarily difficult because of his way of expressing dissent, and some people's excessive sensitivity to it. Happily, there are now winds of change and the ideas he propounded and propagated are proving their worth. It is time that the people of India, the media in particular, gave him his due.
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GOEL AS A MULTIFACETED HINDU INTELLECTUAL:
I owe him personal gratitude not only because he published my books, but even more, for being the medium for some memorable friendships, especially of the late Ram Swarup. I still remember with warm feeling the one small favor that I did for Ram Swarup shortly before his death, of translating a few articles in French at his request.
Sri Goel is a prolific writer. It is not easy to pick one or two works as his most significant.
Nonetheless I would recommend The Calcutta Koran Petition and his monumental two-volume compilation, Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them.
Written in finely chiseled English with scrupulous attention to facts and sources, they are indispensable to every serious student of India. (His Hindi is no less distinguished.) A collection of his writings should be compiled and prescribed as a text for all students of history. The Government also should recognize his contribution by a suitable award and instituting scholarships in his name.
Let us join the nation in saluting this heroic figure as he completes eighty years.
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Humanity faces difficult times. Its deeper spiritual vision and values enshrined in various indigenous religions and cultures of the peoples of Asia, Europe, Africa and the two Americas have been under the attack of monolatrous creeds(Chrisitanity, Islam) claiming to be the only true religions.
Hinduism along with other members belonging to its family too has been under their attack, physical and ideological.
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