Author: Maria Wirth

The question on Quora was: Why has the hatred between Hindus and Muslims increased in the past four to five years? My reply, which was removed after 2 months: The questioner makes a claim which cannot be substantiated. If ‘communal crimes’ had increased, one might conclude that hatred also has increased. But actually, the ‘’communal crimes’ have decreased over the last 5 years in India. However, the questioner cannot be faulted, because Indian and international mainstream media clearly give the impression as if lynching of Muslims has greatly increased, in spite of not being true. There may be even more…

The Vedas contain a lot which is neither in Bible or Quran. But probably the most important claim is “Aham Brahmasmi”. It cannot be found in Bible or Quran because it is considered heresy in both Christianity and Islam. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ is one of the four Mahavakyas (great syaings) from the Upanishads, the last part of the Vedas, and means “I am Brahman”. Another Mahavakya explains what Brahman is: “Prajnanam Brahma”, Brahman is consciousness. Brahman denotes the Absolute Supreme Consciousness, on which this universe or many universes appear, like a movie on a screen. Only the screen is real, the…

This is the Hindi translation by My Nation of my article: https://mariawirthblog.wpcomstaging.com/2018/10/08/where-is-extremism-in-india-and-where-in-pakistan/ धर्म और चरमपंथ पर कोई भाषण कितना भ्रमित, अनौपचारिक और शायद चालबाजी से भरा भी हो सकता है, संयुक्त राष्ट्र की हालिया आम सभा में फिर से साफ तौर पर दिखा। विदेश मंत्री सुषमा स्वराज के भाषण के जवाब में, एक पाकिस्तानी राजनयिक ने यूपी के मुख्यमंत्री के उपर, ‘अप्रचलित हिंदू चरमपंथी योगी आदित्यनाथ’ ‘हिंदुओं की धार्मिक श्रेष्ठता की वकालत करने वाला’ बताकर कड़ा प्रहार किया। पाकिस्तानी राजनयिक के मुताबिक, भारत के हर हिस्से में ‘धार्मिक श्रेष्ठता के दावों’ को संरक्षण दिया जा रहा है और कहा, कि…

This was a question on Quora to which I replied in August 2017. It got over 237,800 views and 16,000 upvotes, yet on 18. July 2019 I got a message that it violates their “Be nice, be respectful” policy. I appealed and today was told that my appeal is rejected. Please check for yourself if it is disrespectful. Or is being truthful disrespectful and not being nice?? Here is my reply which is now not available on Quora any longer. Why should Brahmins feel guilty? They should feel proud. It is because of them that India and the world still…

This was a question on Quora and the questioner obviously took it for granted that hatred has increased. He only wanted to know why. However, it cannot be substantiated that hatred has increased. Yet the questioner cannot be faulted, because Indian and international mainstream media clearly give the impression as if hatred between the communities has increased, or being more specific, they give the impression that hatred of Hindus for Muslims has greatly increased, and lynching of Muslims by Hindus has become common place ever since 2014, when Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister. This is however not true.…

I remember the autumn of 2008 painfully well. Only a few years earlier I had started to follow politics more closely and had subscribed to the Times of India. Several bomb blasts had happened in different Indian cities over the recent years which had claimed many fatalities. The suspected perpetrators were affiliated to Islamic organizations. Intelligence inputs from US pointed into the same direction. Then in 2008 surprisingly, headlines of ‘Hindu terror’ or ‘saffron terror’ frequently showed up in the newspaper. These terms were used with ease by politicians and journalists who had never used ‘Islamic‘ or ‘green terror’. Hindus…

June 4, 2019  Aparna Sridhar  Interviews Maria Wirth is a German who has managed to put her finger on the pulse of India’s spirituality, much more than perhaps many Indians themselves. In her book ‘Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga’, she shares her experiences living as a foreigner in India for the last 38 years, since her visit to the Kumbh Mela in 1980 and about finding her soul What in your opinion is the biggest challenge facing Hinduism today? MW: I feel Hinduism faces a challenge on the political and also on the…

During the release of my book “Thank you India” at the Dehradun Litfest last November, I met Hemant Kumar and his wife Monica. Meanwhile he read the book and sent me his review. It is very well written. I post it here: A German stops over in India on her journey to Australia, gets so taken in by the country and its culture that she doesn’t complete her journey to Australia but ends up spending the next 38 years here and proceeds to distill her experiences into a book. Well, Maria Wirth is the person, and ‘Thank You India’…

Indians are generally highly intelligent. Yet when it comes to secularism, most intellectuals, media and politicians get the concept wrong, so wrong that it looks as if Indians were purposely fed wrong information. Contrary to the general perception in India, secular is not the opposite of communal. Communal as such is not objectionable either. It means ‘pertaining to a community’. In Germany, elections to local bodies are called “communal elections” (Kommunalwahlen). Secular means worldly and is opposite to ‘religious’. Now ‘religious’ in this context refers to Christianity, i.e. to a well-organized, dogmatic religion that claims that it is the sole…

I was informed that my reply to the question, “Is India becoming the most hated country?” violated their “be nice, be respectful” policy. In fact some months ago, I had been asked to remove the last sentence of my write up. I didn’t remove it, because it is not disrespectful, but true. So the whole piece disappeared now, after being up on the site for about a year and getting over 80,000 views and 10,000 upvotes. Quora removed so far 6 replies and each times threatens that I will be banned from Quora if I continue to not be nice…