Topic started by Rishi (@ dial0-023.dialin.uic.edu) on Sat Jul 12 02:24:44 .
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Swami Aksharananda on The Christian Missionary Menace
Compiled by Dr. Somdat Mahabir
Every time a Christian missionary comes to a Hindu home he or she does so with the sole intention of destroying the Hindu religion. This is an act of aggression against the Hindu people and the Hindu religion. It is therefore incumbent on every Hindu to take any and every means necessary to defend the Hindu religion. - Swami Aksharananda
Missionary Theology Denigrate…
"Any speech that denigrates and devalues a people is tantamount to an act of violence. Missionary theology devalues and denigrate individuals and groups. Since the days of Constantine, whenever the Christian church received the support of military power, individuals and groups labeled as "unbelievers," "sinners," "idolaters," "heathens," "savages," and "pagans" were victims of oppression and extirpation."
(Swami Aksharananda, Stabroek News, July 7 1996)
Seeds of Dissention and Hate
"Theologies themselves contain the seeds of dissention and hate; you can't be talking of peace, but keep your sword sharpened! It must be remembered that in its very genesis Christianity was already engaged in hate-mongering. Witness, for example, the demonization of Jews as early evangelists unabashedly imputed to Jesus himself anti-Semitic pronouncements. They were Christianity's first anti-Christ. No wonder that Jews have suffered so much at the hands of Christians."
(Swami Aksharananda, The UN Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, August 30, 2000, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, NYC. In response to a Christian Bishop from South Africa)
Salvation for Sale
"We realize that every material inducement to convert is an act of coercion, and along with other acts of cajolery, bribery, and intimidation, points to an utter contempt for those the missionary seeks to save. Capitalizing on people's misfortune, sickness and poverty missionaries offer salvation for sale."
(Swami Aksharananda, Caribbean Jahaji, April 1996).
Prevalent Myth Among Hindu Leaders
There is a very popular myth especially prevalent amongst our Hindu leaders, that Hinduism will somehow survive regardless of what we do in the here and now. And I repeat, this is a myth. And a dangerous myth for it encourages many of us to simply sit on our hands and do nothing. Hinduism, and for that matter, any religion which has survived, has only done so on account of the strenuous, sustained and deliberate efforts of countless souls through the ages."
(Swami Aksharananda (National Conference in Guyana: "Conversion Activity in Multi-Religious Societies, Cove and John, Guyana, April 28 1996).
Let Us Not Be Fooled
"Let us not be fooled. If every census since 1917 has shown an increase in the precentage of Indians who call themselves Christains, and a corresponding decrease in the percentage of Hindus, it does not take a genius to extrapolate into a future where there are no more Hindus in the Caribbean. It has happened in places like Grenada and Saint Lucia..."
(Swami Aksharananda (National Conference in Guyana: "Conversion Activity in Multi-Religious Societies, Cove and John, Guyana, April 28 1996).
Christian Hegemony Continues in Guyana
Over the years there have been successful attempts through the instrument of the state to de-emphasise Hindu and Muslim contributions to the development of education in Guyana while at the same time re-inforcing and glorifying the Christian contribution. In 1976 all denominational schools (and other institutions) were required by the government of the day to change their names in order to delink them from their religious and ethnic background. While the government made sure that schools with Indian, Hindu and Muslim names complied with the requirement, Christian schools were never really affected. Thus Indian Educational Trust college became Richard Ishmael Secondary, Muslim Trust college became Brickdam Secondary school, Hindu college became Cove and John Secondary, Maha Sabha Secondary became Leonora Secondary. On the other hand, officially and otherwise, St. Stanislaus, St. Joseph's, St. Rose's, St, Agnes, St. John's, Sacred Heart, Stella Maris, Christ Church and others have retained their former names and their distinctive histories.
(Swami Aksharananda, Stabroek News, September 11, 1999)
A Major Problem
"Christian conversion activities among the Hindus of the Caribbean is a major problem for the survival of Sanatana Dharma. It is not that Hindus convert on their own will into Christianity. No! Maybe a few. But a majority are cajoled, bribed or intimidated. ...It is the duty of educated people like yourselves to address this problem for the protection of Hindu dharma."
(Swami Aksharananda, Lecture, Queens College, CUNY, New York, Dec. 09, 1996)
The Day is Coming When Hindus Will…
The day is soon coming when every Hindu will begin to understand that whenever a Christian missionary comes to a Hindu home he or she does so with the sole intention to destroy Hinduism. This is an act of aggression against the Hindu religion and Hindu people. And the time is also coming when Hindus will deal with it in the appropriate manner.
(Swami Aksharananda, Guyana Chronicle, January 18, 2000)
Watch Out For the Excuses from the Church
"To contend that Charlemagne, Columbus and Cortez, the Nazis, Jim Jones and David Koresch are aberrations in Christian history, mere examples of apostasy, excuses self-examination and opens the door for the repetition of the horrors they executed. But if what the Europeans did in the Caribbean, India, Africa, East Indies, and what their descendants did in the Americas "felling Indians and trees" from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego as they evangelised and proselytised, are all examples of an apostate form of Christianity, then where on earth is the real Christianity? Instead of seeking an easy way out we should be asking ourselves whether these "aberrations" are not inherent to the Gospels themselves."
(Swami Aksharananda, Stabroek News, 1998)
Hindus Have Offered Sanctuary…
"In that great mantra, that great poem that we have that is known as the Vishnu Sahasranaam, Bhagavan Vishnu is called two names in verse 91 eka and na eka. Bhagavan Vishnu is described as that which is eka or one and that which is, na eka - not one. And so I think one of the visions that the Hindus have presented to the world of ultimate reality is a vision of multiplicity, is a vision of ‘manyness’...If you look at the main religions of the world, a long time ago long before mass migrations took place to different parts of the world, India was already the home and continues to be the home and the sanctuary of many of the great religions of the world, many of which religions have been persecuted in their own lands."
(Swami Aksharananda, Launching of World Hindu Conference, Sukha Shanti Bhakti Mandalie,Warner Street, Freeman Road, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies, Saturday April 15, 2000)
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