Talking of religion

Couldn't sleep the whole night. Went to YouTube and finally found something to interest me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3jRPDb2LXQ&feature=related
and many others ...

Of the various interpretations by Dr. Zakir Naik (Islamic preacher whose videos are spread over YouTube), I agree with many and disagree as well.
What I like is that he tries to be reasonable and provide logic.
I believe faith and logic have their own place but qualifying the religious thoughts or theories with correct logic makes it easier for a materially context-ed society like us to understand them better. Some might be surprised that I learned how to perceive this world, from the movie series of Matrix.
Moving forward, for three of his quotes I have reservations:
A: He says that Quran had prior knowledge of the big bang explosion.
Firstly, no one knows what exactly the original holy texts looked like and what they taught. In the subsequent centuries there has been a lot of twisting, manipulation and misinterpretation of religious texts in almost all religions including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. This is a core scientific matter. I'm having hard time believing this. I even don't second the similar claim in Hinduism about having already discovered many great theories of today thousands of years back. The preachers today however do not hesitate to infuse these to maintain morale/pride of followers in the respective religions.
Secondly, these aren't the fundamentals so I would say that it is up to the individual to decide what to take and what not in these gray areas.

B: Someone hurled at him that Islam is dividing people into Momins and Kafirs. Thus creating hatred.
Most understand it as Muslims and non-Muslims. However it means one who believes in God and one who does not believe. I don't know what is taught by the prominent Islamic preachers on this one.
While I expected a resolving reply on that question he just counter argued by stating even Hinduism has divided people in four castes. Explaining castes he further adds that shudras are down ridden caste according to Hinduism.
An explanation -
When Hinduism talks about castes, the idea is not to divide people but rather to organize the society into four sections only and only on the basis of the four different types of duties they would perform with natural skill.
How these four groups accomplish this? Creation of every caste was based on a specific gene pool which enables the creature to have paramount expertise and natural ease at certain specific tasks.
A brahmin is so because he/she is better at learning and teaching. He is good at digesting information, converging it to knowledge and advicing on basis of it. Affinity is to the mind.
A kshatriya is so because he/she is a good warrior and has generous concern towards protection of his people. Its their duty to fight for the god to prevail and defend the society/state. Just like the courage comes from the heart.
A vaishya is defined by the trade and commerce they perofrm to keep afloat the economy. Affinity is to the Abdomen and thighs.
A shudra is the one who will render his/her services at routine jobs. Relate it to our feet which do the routine job of walking and taking us from one place to the other.
So this is what all of us are genetically structured to do. This is what we're supposed to do.
Truth is that there is no more dignity or shame associated with any of these jobs. They imply no high or low status. Whoever suggests such status segregation is ill informed.
All of us who're lavishly tagged as engineers today are actually doing routine jobs, providing services to our clients. So going by his notion, many of my friends even in IT would be mad at him :D.
Orientation of this theory is not towards the status of a human but towards the nature of the karma that he/she does.
Just because biologically feet are lower than chest or thighs, if one deduces shudra jobs are downtrodden, there is no bigger disaster of understanding.
That way we should be hating our feet and we shouldn't be touching feet of elders. Even touching feet has a scientific reasoning. You establish a one way connection with the positive vibrations/energies of a person by touching their feet (thumb specially). In layman terms we call it 'taking a blessing'.
That is not the only case. His interpretations of Hinduism have been challenged many times. Hindu ancient text are very encrypted and it takes a lot more time to understand them properly, decades of study in fact.
Anyways, conclusively I can suggest that we should be even more cautious while talking about other religions because a small misinterpretation or comment with surficial knowledge could make others see red.

C: He beautifully explained in proper context the difference between arguments of protesting animal slaughter and feeding on cattle. At the question of cows he did not explain why Muslims kill and eat cows but again refuted with a counter blame that more than Muslims, there are Hindus in the cow slaughter business (for profit).
The question is still unanswered. Reason ?
What I've learned this far is that co-existence, tolerance, compassion and respect for others are the common and best teachings of any religion including Islam. This means that we would not do things which will surely hurt the religious sentiments of other. It is not new to anyone how much of holy importance and dignity cow has in Hindus.
Question arises, are cows the only cattle available for Muslims to feed in the name of high protein and availability? Though even it being true wouldn't suffice for what is happening but lets us say that it is not true and lot of other options are there (which in fact is the case).
Now, why can't our Muslim brothers have even this much of good gesture to spare cows when Hindus equate cow to the place of mother. Even on practical terms, what you gain on keeping a cow is much more than killing her for meat protein.
This is one of the places where it pinches. But it doesn't have to end here. The point takes us to acknowledging that if there's any such ignorance from Hindus towards Islamic beliefs we should pull back from the line we've crossed.
This bit of compromise from both sides will be a great gesture and gel us together like never before.

Jupiter Saturn transits, gear up for milestones

On September 10th 2009, transiting Saturn hopped onto Virgo and May 2nd this year, Jupiter has come into Pisces. This brings a much valued opposition of Jupiter and Saturn which is going to be like this till May 8 next year.
The outer and slow moving planets of our solar system - Jupiter, Saturn have a telling influence on our life in long term. They're the major players to drive the life via big events/changes and milestones. They shape the personality with shades to stay forever.
With these two in opposition. it is time to expect some big things happen. There's going to be a definite churning around of the directions and outlook we currently have in our lives.

Jupiter, the harbinger of benevolence is at its own sign Pisces which is the most developed water sign and is highly receptive of influences to sub-conscious. For the same reason this one year would bear long living fruits in our karmic vibrations and spiritual being.
Be prepared to travel and meet strangers. You'll surely think a lot, ask questions and learn a lot. Visit you elders, teachers and listen to them.
Destiny has put us in the class. Now its up to each one of us if we listen to the lessons this time.

But Saturn is a hard task master. Its entanglement of the situation brings a lot of mental worry as well. Mostly on the grounds that Saturn tenants Virgo, the sign of expressive analytics and search for perfection. Jupiter might bring excitement and hurry, yet Saturn wants us to keep a practicality check right now, not to get carried away in the soul's world. It gets to you in your desperation to need to have a few things sorted out asap. But that is not how Saturn lets it happen. Saturn loves structure and discipline; a slow step by step routine approach. Failing to abide by this, one can only hope for delays all around in the material and spiritual progress which he/she aspires for.

All in all, this presents a tremendous opportunity to find the true capacities on you inner self and find peace of mind, if you could have some patience and faith in what tradition preaches you to live like.
Note: This is not the time to chase your targets by hook or crook. It is time to bow your heads down, get slapped a bit for whatever impurities you have and then be blessed for true happiness.
Paying off to the worries you may go through, expect to get rid of enemies this time.
As the plates shift, ensure that this personal experience and intrigue at a spiritual level doesn't harm the relations with your better half (if you have one).
Those who've long waited for some desires to come true can hope for the best now, with a few remedial measures that if required a professional astrologer or veda scholar might suggest on case basis.
Lets go hear out and pamper our souls to rescue ourselves from this mud :)

The first words

Om

To open your eyes in the world, for me, is like holding to a thread on one end and beginning a journey. A journey where you traverse the thread transforming it into a garland of images portraying everything you are , everything you do and feel; till you think you've reached the other end called destiny.
Thinking of destiny always baffles me. It is a marvel if you think, how the soul is gripped into the numerous layers of illusion, how it is connected and yet very abstract from the impressions which we call our experiences. I wonder why the almighty send us all in the circus here and what would happen if he hadn't; no answers.
They say a soul is never bad or good, black or white, sweet or sour. But the intelligence mounted, which favors illusion over soul - the mind - leverages this freedom and takes many shapes which sometimes surprise our own imagination.
We, in India, are placed in privilege here to understand the intricacies of this circus and the dimensions beyond. This privilege was utilized by our ancestors for thousands of years and not only that. They left behind a vast treasure of organized knowledge meticulously infused in our culture. It is to know for ourselves, the path we're chosen to dwell upon.
And we do refer to it indirectly sometimes when we look around unsatisfied, after working in offices, earning fat, romancing, fighting, cleaning up the robotic parts of us.
Its not all that is to it. We're more than that, yes pretty much more. But the eyes to look further aren't open and they wont until the mind gives way to the soul.
I hope writing here I would intrigue myself and perhaps connect to others who care. It would be interesting.

God bless us all.