This from CNN IBN
Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school has come up with a unique definition of ‘practising Hindus’ as part of its admissions policy — those who pray daily, do voluntary work at temples, follow a vegetarian diet and abstain from intoxication.
My brothers and I would manage 25%. My mother , would get 75% , my dad would have been disqualified a long time ago.
I really wonder why the British taxpayer is paying for such a narrow definition of a religious school. In fact, why are they paying for religious education ?
Most Hindus, btw are non vegetarians. The vegetarian stricture primarily applies to the upper caste Hindu (read Brahmin) – and even those traditionally ate meat. I can pull out enough examples from Agastya to Vishwamitra … who were Brahmins & meat eaters….The school doesn’t seem ‘Hindu’ as much as some Gujarati Vaishnavite ISKON version of Hindu….. Trust an organisation like ISKON to take an exciting ‘God’ with an interesting personality and a colourful life — and convert him into something boring and judgmental.
Poor Kids…. they are never going to make good Hindus, and that is such a terrible thing to teach children … that you are failed ‘Hindus’
btw. The Bhagvad Purana is fairly clear that Krishna not only ate meat, but also drank Soma, Hunted, Loved, Married multiple times and was not averse to appreciating the female form…. I guess if he was born today he wouldn’t get admission in the school….:)
Do you think time is ripe for me to send them this post?
http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/09/27/all-hindus-are-vegetarians-and-other-fallacies/
good idea….
when i went to chennai last year i was quite amazed to find beef stalls everywhere… it is eaten not just by Muslims or Christians, but also Hindus…..
there are temples in which alcohol and meat is offered. IN a Bengali hindu wedding – even amongst the Brahmins – a part of the religious ceremony is the holding of fish…. and of course fish is a part of the menu. Amongst Kashmiri Hindus’ meat forms a vital part of their diet… and they are as much Hindus as those who don’t eat meat
This is a cult. a nice cult — but a cult all the samee — with their own view of what Hindu is. By no means is this representative of the Hindu community……
I am surprised that the British tax payer is footing the bill for this… I wonder if they will fund a school for scientologists …
hey bro Christians are just the same as a cult. they just force people to join there religion. you wound’t be a Christian if you were raised Hindu. you probably are a Christian because most people that are white are Christian.
May be we can have modified the four commandments a little:
(1) Those who do some physical and mental exercise daily. – In this context practices like yoga and prayanama might be more useful than prayer. It is worth mentioning that Hindu philosophy also involves BHAKTI YOGA (prayer/devotion as a form of yoga). But most people (specially with present life style burdens) can not follow it. Some people may even like to substitute yoga and prayanama with a few minutes session at a zym (not bad). A healthy mind lives in a healthy body. Once Swami Vivekananda had said that a person who plays football daily for an hour may be more close to God as compared to a person who prays daily for an hour. I think he was emphasizing the same. I am not sure why BHAKTI YOGA (prayer) has been blown out of proportion as compared to other forms of yoga (RAJ YOGA, HATH YOGA etc…). May be it was a ploy by hindu priests to attract more customers.
(2) do social service. – I do not need any explaination here.
(3) avoid unnecessary violence – most probably vegetarianism was adopted in Hindu Religion during King Asoka. Before that eating meat was common amongst all castes in Hinduism. The special respect (status of mother) for Cow also started in that era. Cow is one of the animals which can serve us most. Drinking Cow milk is not non-vegetarian from any angle. Also it is not an act of altruism – we are being cruel – we are depriving the calf of its share of milk. But we are avoiding some violence – just milking out the poor cow instead of killing it.
(4) preserve control over their senses – Alcohol and Tobacco do no good to our body and mind. It shall be avoided. However we should not draw a strict line here. Occassional consumption of this does not kill our body and mind. So be liberal. I find most religions funny because they only prohibit consumption of either of two – may be they realize that intoxication is a human need.
Hi Kunal
According to the Bhagvad Gita -there are three main types of Yoga – Karma (or action), Gyana (search for knowledge) and Bhakti or devotion….
All these Yogas are equally valid as prayer…. in fact in the Bhagvad Puran — it is mentioned that the person who is the greatest devotee is someone who does all his/her duties to the best of their ability and spend a second or two – if at all – praying….
It is believed that the coming in of vegetarianism was more to do with Adi Shankara than Ashoka … Ashoka was a meat eater, and Buddha himself died of eating contaminated meat 🙂
Look, i dont’ have an issue with what people do in the privacy of their homes & places of worship — but don’t project ‘your way’ (ones’ way) as the universal path …….it isn’t !!
The brits always keep commenting on other cultures more than managing their own 🙂 if they spent the same time thinking about their own growth, perhaps they can do many good things! btw in chennai brahmins arent called upper caste, they are called forward caste! 🙂 if all castes are offered OBC tag, then the only caste which is foward is a brahmin!
Srik
oops sorry about the nomenclature. a rose by any other name……
all castes aren’t offered the OBC tag, some are scheduled castes, and then there are the upper castes- which include the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas. TN is a special case… but in much of the rest of India – the three castes are ‘upper’/’forward’ – and have pretty much ruled the roost for the last n millenia !!.
Actually it is not a state-funded school from all the research I can muster.
It is a charity-funded school or ‘voluntary funded’ as they call it, promoted with Iskcon so it is Iskcon’s packaged and reductionist view of Hinduism that is guiding the school’s policies.
Since the state is not involved, does that not kind of nullify the whole premise of your post?
As for “
“, actually there is such a thing as too much freedom for all and sundry in Britain.
It is predominantly a Christian country and there are several Church of England schools around.
But then so are Islamic schools, which are funded by the state. See more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6338219.stm
In general the public is against faith schools of any religious inclination.
So what was the point again? :-/
so long as it is privately funded it is cool. people have the right to do pretty much what they want — including brainwash their kids — with their own money.
Tax money – whose ever tax it is – is a different ball game 🙂
if it is not state funded that also means that CNN IBN got its story wrong 🙂
but i have this terrible feeling that it just may be funded by the state – i lived in the UK at a time when the state and local councils funded pretty much anything that was a cult 🙂
check these:
BBC
Organiser – the RSS paper
Vaishnava Blogs
Harrow Times
Your blog entry was very informative. Thanks for your effort. We have started a new site called FaithTube
(http://faithtu.be). It contains religious videos from all around the internet. If you could visit us then it would be great.
Thanks.
Simone.
u keep talking nonsense.do not think what other are doing u do u r duty first.
i know that u r very agressive because bretain govet.inselt started and enguraging so what’s ur problem? r u paying or anybody forcing u to do that!
do not be religious try to realize god first then u will see all r u r own brothers and sisters, mother and so on…
do not mock with us
if krishna ate meat then y he has to say do not eat meat eat, drink liquer. illicit sex and so on..
have u read bhagavad-gita or srimad bhaghavatam…
do not be a stupid…