Author: Maria Wirth
I was born into a democracy in Germany and heard from childhood that democracy is OF COURSE the best form of government. “Of the people – by the people – for the people” – what more could we want! Luckily media informed us whenever “democracy is in danger” and when we need to “save democracy” or bring the gift of democracy to other countries like Iraq, Syra, Libya…. Then, a few weeks ago, the founder of Vitasta Publishing asked me to be on a panel for the book release of “Democracy with Dharma” by Salvatore Babones. For the first time,…
Most of us are familiar with Maria Wirth, the German author who has made Bharat her home and is spiritually connected with Bharat. Her latest offering answers a fundamental question I’ve often asked myself (as would have many common Hindus) – why do Hindu Dharma & Hindus receive hatred from all quarters? Once we answer this question we shall understand how to deal with forces hostile to Hindu Dharma. Maria Wirth’s latest book is a guide in Shatrubodh Communists, Christian Evangelists, and Islamists are at the forefront of defaming and demonizing Hindu Dharma. I would add HINOs (Hindus in Name…
Boarding had started but the plane was probably not yet ready, because we passengers were stuck in the narrow pathway and waiting to move on. I made a comment to a young man next to me in Hindi, something like ‘lagta hai plane tayar nahin hai’. “I don’t speak Hindi. I am from Tamil Nadu. We speak Tamil and English,” was his reply. “Oh okay. Yes, I heard Tamilians don’t like Hindi. How did you manage in Delhi?” “I have picked up some Hindi over time…” Then I asked, “are you Hindu or Muslim?” “Muslim.” “Please don’t look down on…
I am a Hindu but multiple Gods don’t work for me. How can I adopt Monotheism? This was a question on Quora to which I replied the following: I doubt that you are a born Hindu. It sounds as if you want to ‘encourage’ other Hindus to reflect if “multiple gods work for them’… And if you are indeed a Hindu, you obviously don’t know the basics of your tradition. Your tradition claims that all this temporary multiplicity is like many waves on the one ocean, or is like the multiple pictures of a movie on one screen. All is…
I kept wondering about this question for long. In Vedic tradition, human beings are not the ‘crown of the creation’ as they are claimed to be in the Abrahamic religions. There are a number of other conscious, intelligent beings apart from humans. The Saptarishis (seven sages) for example are in my view not humans as we are. My feeling is that a lot of the Vedic knowledge was GIVEN. I am convinced that it is not possible for humans to come to the conclusions of Surya Siddhanta for example. Mapping of the sky is not possible merely by observation. Even…
In Ayurveda, health is defined as “well-being within oneself.” This inner well-being can be nurtured, and one can become more sensitive to it. Suman, the wife of my landlord’s caretaker, began massaging her baby twice a day for about 20 minutes already two weeks after giving birth – vigorously, as if she were working with chapati dough. “When babies are massaged, they feel good inside later on,” she explained. Apparently, she knows “well-being within oneself” from her own experience. I wasn’t massaged as a baby and only discovered in India what it means to feel good inside, or even to…
“Take earplugs,” is usually one of the first things I advise when someone asks me for tips for traveling to India. India is loud. Very loud. I even read in the newspaper that age-related hearing loss sets in earlier in India than in Europe or America. Persistent dog barking may keep you awake at night. The shrill honking, the thundering trucks and buses, the three-wheeled shared taxis with two-stroke engines make the cities tremble during day. And it’s not just the cities, and not just because of the traffic. Even where you would expect silence—in temples, at pilgrimage sites, in…
I wrote the following post on X and it got many comments, including a comment from someone with a Muslim name. I replied to him and an exchange developed which I share here. Some Hindus felt, I waste my time in explaining the viewpoint of Hindu Dharma to someone who won’t be open towards it. Yet I feel, it is important to make the basics of Vedic wisdom known. We never really tried to put things in the correct perspective, even when so much misinformation is published all around. Moreover, their clergy won’t give them correct knowledge. This particular person…
Someone on X asked me what one gets if one accepts Hindu Dharma. In his X bio he mentioned that he preferred a bag of rice and not a bag of cow urine. So, he is probably Christian. I replied that fundamental questions about the purpose and goal of life are convincingly answered and several paths (Bhakti, Jnana, Karma…) are shown so that we can know our divine nature (Atma is Brahman). Hindu Dharma makes a distinction between THAT what is eternally, absolutely (means not dependent on anything) true and that what is not eternal and depends on THAT what…
Our societies are not in good shape. Especially in the West, loneliness and depression are rampant. The mobile is now for many their closest companion, and the dangers are great to being lured into debased entertainment, gaming, betting or porn. When I recently heard a podcast on the epidemic of loneliness in the West, I remembered a series which I wrote long ago, in 1983, for a German magazine about “Indian wisdom from A to Z”. I had taken up 108 common words, grouped them from A to Z and gave apart from our normal understanding, the view of the…