Author: Maria Wirth
Germans became interested in India rather late, but when they finally came in touch with ancient Indian manuscripts and their translations, Germans became VERY interested. Heinrich Heine, (1797 – 1856), a German author, wrote after listening to lectures on the Upanishads, “The Portuguese, Dutch and British have for a long time ferried huge treasures on big ships from India to their home countries. We Germans had to look on. But we will not be left behind. We take their knowledge. Our Sanskrit scholars provide us with this wealth from India right here in Bonn or Munich.” Many Germans intellectuals became…
This was a question in an interview. Since the interview is quite long, I post here my reply to this question: In my view, the caste system is unfairly misused to demonize India and Hinduism. A study of history would show that it has been misrepresented, probably with the agenda by the Church to convince Hindus and the world that their tradition needs to be replaced with the “true religion”. All over the Western world, children hear in school that the core of Hinduism is a terrible caste system (apart from many gods), which of course is not true. I…
In December 1985, I was sitting at the back of a small temple at the outskirts of Chamba near Tehri when some boys discovered me and, typically for Indian kids, who are never shy, started asking me questions. “Where you are from? Do people there also know about Ram?” “No, where I am from, people don’t know about Ram”, I replied. They looked disappointed. Only then I realised that the crackling of loudspeakers that I heard from a village downhill, was in preparation for the Ramlila. A year later, I attended the grand Ramleela in Varanasi over 30 evenings and…
A German friend sent me a YouTube video about an Indian, Santosh Acharjee, who had a near death experience. He is telling his experience to a Christian interviewer, Randy Kay. It was posted 2 months ago and had already over 2,8 lakhs views. I guessed he would advise everyone to “accept Jesus”, because it is one of the propaganda methods of the Church. There are several videos like that. They try to make people believe that the “loving God” whom people encountered during their time out of the body, is Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful tool for them. They tell…
Recently on twitter, Hath Yogi (@hathyogi31) wrote a thread on major myths about Hinduism that needed to be debunked. The first point was “Hindus are idol-worshippers”. I wrote the following comment: Several Hindus reacted, “We ARE idol-worshippers. Why should we care what others think? We have the right to worship idols”. They are right and they misunderstood me. I did not mean to debunk idol-worship but to debunk the false “label”. The problem is not with the worship of a representation of the Divine, called idol in English, but with the extremely negative connotation which Christianity and Islam have…
Excerpt from my open letter to Pope Francis which is also valid for Muslim clerics. “Maybe Your Holiness is under the impression that Hinduism is a depraved religion and Hindus would do well to accept the Christian God instead of their multiple Gods. Such an impression would be completely wrong. There is no other religion that is – unjustly – denigrated as badly as Hinduism. Sorry to say that Christian (including Catholic) missionaries are in the forefront of this vilification campaign. Few people in the west know how profound India’s ancient tradition is. Long before ‘religions’, as we know them…
If you have not been born into a Christian family, there is absolutely no good reason to accept Christianity. And if you have been born a Christian, you should reflect, what is helpful in your belief and what is harmful for you and for humanity as a whole. Let me explain: I was born in a Christian family and the belief in God, the Creator, who knows us and loves us, was helpful as a child. My mother taught me a brief prayer which rhymed in German. Translated it goes: “Dear God, I am small, my heart is pure, let…
Many years ago in a dream, I saw a map of India before me as one can see it sometimes on TV, with mountain ranges and the Himalayas distinct. Looking at it, my heart expanded with great love. Still dreaming, I was surprised that one can love a country so much. Yet it was not love at first sight. Only on my second visit – intended as a stopover on my way to Australia that lasts meanwhile 40 years – India that is Bharat, showed me what amazing treasures she hides under her noisy and often challenging surface. I realized…
Last year, Mahashivaratri was on 11 March. I was at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and an amazing incident happened on that day. I share it here, because I feel it can be inspiring and may help, not to judge sadhus too quickly in a negative way. I was standing at the roadside with other people, watching the Akhara of Naga Sadhus passing by to Har-ki-Pauri for Ganga Snan. There were some Babas on horses, some in carts and the majority walked, most of them naked and smeared with ash, some in saffron cloth. One of the naked Babas stopped…
A Pakistani woman, Zainab A. Khan, keeps warning Hindus on Twitter (@ZainabAKhan2) that they have no chance against Muslims if they don’t realise the danger, they are in. She seems to be genuinely caring towards Hindus, which finds an explanation in her pinned tweet. It reads: “Who am I? Lawyer. Dated & married an amazing Hindu guy, who was killed by my family when he visited Pakistan after being promised safe visit. Lost my voice after being shot but still working full time as a lawyer. This should settle this. Stop asking if I’m Muslim or Pakistani.” She recently put…