Author: Maria Wirth

During the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in 2010, a young Frenchman exclaimed, “Oh, it must have been so different then” when he came to know that I was in 1986 at the Kumbh already. “No, it was not”, I realised. It was very much the same. It may have been the same for centuries. Here is my description of the Kumbh Mela in 1986: Luckily I don’t get afraid, when I am stuck in a crowd; otherwise India would be the wrong country for me. I actually enjoy the atmosphere, so incredibly colourful and diverse, a wave of human beings…

Today it is not uncommon for westerners to come to India for spiritual inspiration. Even big-wigs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have come. Yet this was not the case in 1935, when a 29 year old woman embarked on the long journey from Austria to India and never went back till she died 50 years later. Atmananda, who was called Blanca in her youth in Vienna, came because of Jiddu Krishnamurthi. Later, she was fascinated by Anandamayi Ma and became her disciple. I met Atmananda in 1980 in the surroundings of Anandamayi Ma in Dehradun and stayed in touch…

This is the Marathi translation of my recent post “Of course Hindus won’t be thrown into hell” by Manohar Railkar काही दिवसांपूर्वी एका बातमीनं माझं लक्ष वेधून घेतलं: कॅथॉलिक चर्चकडून दलित ख्रिश्चनांमध्ये भेदाभेद केला जातो, याकरता भारतामधील दलित ख्रिस्त्यांनी व्हॅटिकनविरुद्ध संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघाकडे एक परिवेदिका (तक्रार) दाखल केली आहे. सदर परिवेदिका राष्ट्रसंघाच्या दिल्लीस्थित माहितीकेंद्रात दाखल झाली आहे. पूर्वी एका लेखात मीच केलेल्या एका सूचनेचं मला स्मरण झालं. ती सूचना अनुचित तर नव्हतीच. उलट, खरं तर लक्षात घेण्याइतकी महत्त्वाचीच होती. हिंदू आणि बौद्धसुद्धा अशीच परिवेदिका ख्रिश्चन आणि मुस्लीमांविरुद्ध राष्ट्रसंघात दाखल करू शकतात. कारण ख्रिस्तीतर लोकांना ख्रिश्चन लोक धर्मलंड मानतात आणि सर्वशक्तिमान ईश्वराच्या…

Some time ago, a news item caught my attention: Dalit Christians had filed a complaint with the United Nations against the Vatican because of caste based discrimination of the Catholic Church in India. The complaint was filed with the UN Information Centre at New Delhi. It made me feel that a suggestion I had made in an earlier article was maybe not so outlandish and actually worthwhile. I had suggested that Hindus, Buddhists and others could file a complaint with the UN against Christianity and Islam, because Christianity considers non-Christians as heathen and Islam non-Muslims as infidels, and both these…

(This one-hour speech happened to be a first for me, and I want to thank the students that they made it easy for me and looked interested throughout.) My three main points: To encourage the students to know and be proud of their heritage. To point out what is lacking in the west To give inputs on Jnana, Bhakti, Karma and Raja Yoga – the way of life which enables one to tap/ realise the Divinity within. Here is my talk, most of it recreated from the points i had made: Knowledge of India’s wisdom – and Swami Vivekananda was…

India is unique. In no other country there are as many impressive spiritual personalities as in India. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is no doubt one of those outstanding personalities. Sri Sri, as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is often called, was born on 13th May 1956 in Tamil Nadu. He started reciting verses from the Bhagavad-Gita, when he was only 4 years old. His parents supported him. They allowed him to study the Vedas as well as physics. Several gurus influenced him, most of all Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the Transcendental Meditation in the west. Sri Sri lived in Maharishi’s…

Question: What are the draw-backs of Hinduism apart from idol-worship? Answer: Why do you write “apart from idol worship”? Too much Christian brainwashing that idols are just stone? Hindus consider the whole universe alive, as ultimately Brahman. Nothing wrong in taking the help of a ‘form’, a murthi, to feel closer to the Divine by worshipping it. Coming to the original question: there are no drawbacks in Hindu Dharma, since it is a genuine, outer and inner enquiry into what is true about us and the universe and helpful for a fulfilling life.  The truth is non-negotiable, but rules for…

It was August 1981. The monsoon clouds were heavy between the mountains. I had travelled for the first time to Nainital, 2000 meter high in the Himalayas. Together with a porter I walked towards Ban Niwas, a branch of Aurobindo Ashram, on top of a hill. Abdullah had reached from Delhi some hours before me. I saw him sitting by the window trimming his beard, when I put my laundry on the washing line and liked him at first sight. Abdullah was from Jordan. He was the eldest of ten siblings and had worked in Saudi Arabia to contribute more…

“Terror has no religion” is often repeated by politicians and media. At the same time, the most dangerous terrorists of our times like the Islamic State and Boko Haram shout triumphantly ‘Allah ho Akbar’ after brutally killing those whom they consider infidels or opponents of the caliphate. Common sense would suggest that at least these groups inflict terror in the name of Islam. However, so far, the “correct” view is that these groups don’t follow Islam, but ‘Islamism’. They are misguided and have distorted the good Islam into a bad Islamism. So they are not Muslims, but Islamists or extremists…

Next to the Ramakrishna Mission in Dehradun, there is a small ashram where on 27th August 1982, Anandamayi Ma left her body. Anandamayi Ma, who was born in 1896 as Nirmala Sundari in what is now Bangladesh, was and still is revered all over India for having being extraordinary saintly and wise right from childhood. Devotees still come to her Samadhi in Kankhal, even though many of them have never seen her in person. I was fortunate to meet her and would like to share some of those precious memories: During the Ardha Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April 1980, some…