CHARVAKA DESK
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Eating Glass & Drinking Nitric Acid: Hata Yogi’s Other Tricks!
B Premanand (Note: Some of the items described in this series should be performed only under proper expert guidance. One should never try them on one’s own) Experiment No. 49 Effect: A thread is put in one nostril and taken out through the other. Props: 12″ twine thread. Method: There is a connection between the…
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Lt. Col Purohit: Acts of Terror and Finding Escape Route
Ram Puniyani In the wake of the various acts of terror and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s motor cycle being traced, it became clear that the investigating agencies are acting on the wrong thesis that ‘all terrorists are Muslims’. A Pandora’s box opened and the link of ex-ABVP activist, Pragya Thakur, Swami Dayanand Pandey, retired Major…
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Walking on Water
B Premanand In the history of miracles Jesus Christ is said to have walked on water without any props. In 1968 Hata Yogi L.S. Rao, with the connivance of Blitz Weekly, set out to fool a gullible public. Week after week articles published by R.K. Karanjia, told of the supernatural powers of this Hata Yogi.…
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Live Burial in a Pit under Samadhi
B Premanand Pilot Saba of Delhi is an expert in live burial. In 1988 he was to perform an underground samadhi for 7 days at Nagpur in a pit of 10′ x 10′ x 10′. He was challenged as to why he needs such a big pit if after samadhi all his body functions came…
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Celebrating Harmony and Peace
Ram Puniyani Communal violence is the sad reality of South Asian states. India in particular has been witnessing this violence more so after the coming of British. British in pursuance of their policy of ‘Divide and Rule’, introduced communal historiography and sections of population who wanted to preserve their feudal privileges, picked up this version…
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Abraham Kovoor’s Case Diary: The Curative Power of the Water of the River Ganges
Abraham Kovoor Kerala, the land of my birth, is very similar to Lanka in its topography, climate, fauna flora and even the cultural and ethnic qualities of its peoples. The phonetics of the Malayalam language is more similar to the spoken Tamil of Jaffna than that of South India; yet, the morphology of the Malayalam…
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Levitation
B Premanand The Godman of this century is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who has exploited thousands of his disciples by offering to teach them levitation. In 1978 he held the first levitation demonstration of his students at New Delhi. The Supreme Court judge Y.R. Krishna Iyer had written an article that he had himself witnessed levitation…
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Violence and ‘Clean Chits’: Sangma Backs BJP on Kandhamal
Ram Puniyani Electoral politics is a strange game. We can observe that with the present weaknesses of electoral system many alliances are made up, which do not have much ideological basis. Amongst many flaws of the present system is the system of first past the poll. This prevents the true representation of people in the…
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Yogic Siddhis – Stopping Pulse and Heart Beat
Godmen claim that when they are in samadhi all their bodily functions also stop like the pulse, heart-beat etc. The yogi asks the doctor to check his pulse. Then he goes into ‘samadhi’ and the doctor is surprised to find there is no pulse. Experiment – 42 Effect: Stopping the pulse. Props: Two lemons or…
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Siddhis (Super Natural Powers)
B Premanand Patanjali Yoga Sutras explain the method of awakening the sexual energy – Kundalini Shakti – from Muladhara Chakra through Sushumna Nadi and the six chakras: Swadhisthana Chakra, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna to the ultimate Sahasrara Chakra, where the union between soul and super soul (atma and paramatma or Shiva and Shakti) takes place…
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Targeting Innocents: State and Human Rights of Minorities
Ram Puniyani In Kalyan a Muslim youth Bilal Shaikh was slapped with a non-bailable cognizable offense (May 2012) under section 333, after he jumped the traffic signal. He was assaulted brutally by the police for having arguments with them, suffered a fracture in right arm and was in jail for eight days. The policemen who…
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Nitish-Modi Spat: Debating Secularism
Ram Puniyani Nitish Kumar in an obvious reference to opposition to Modi’s possible projection as the Prime-ministerial candidate of NDA, in the next parliamentary elections said that NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate should be one with secular credentials. His aide went on to say that Vajpayee had the intention of sacking in the wake of Gujarat…
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The Levitation “Miracle” at Kamarali Durvesh Dargah
After we uploaded Premanand’s writing on the ‘miracle’ at Kamarali Durvesh Dargha, Shivapuri, Pune, we came across a very interesting article on the same ‘miracle’. It was published in Skeptical Inquirer in its Spring/Summer 1978 issue (Volume II, No.2). Since this article is not easy to come by, we post it here for the benefit…
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Abraham Kovoor’s Case Diary: Miracles at Lourdes
Abraham Kovoor Every lay-member of the Roman Catholic Church, who is encouraged by the Church to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, should read the book “Eleven Lourdes Miracles” by Dr. DJ. West, M.B. CH. B., D.P.M. (Duckworth). Dr. West critically examines the eleven cases that have been proclaimed miraculous by Canonical Commissions dating between 1937…
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Miracles in Islam: Kamarali Darvesh Dargah of Shivapuri
B Premanand Islam is one of the few religions which state that no human being can perform miracles . But for a religion to survive, miracles are a must. If we visit some of the mosques and darghas we will find that many miracles are believed to occur there. Though the Prophet Muhammad destroyed almost…
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Quota for Backwards: Struggle for Social Justice
Ram Puniyani After Supreme Court Bench had expressed unhappiness about the ways in which the Muslim sub Quota was created last December, the Government has been trying to submit the necessary data. Supreme Court wanted Centre to explain the basis of the move to reserve this 4.5% for the Muslims. With due support from relevant…
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Targeting Innocents: State and Human Rights of Minorities
Ram Puniyani In Kalyan a Muslim youth Bilal Shaikh was slaped with a non boilable cognizable offense (May 2012) under section 333, after he jumped the traffic signal. He was assaulted brutally by the police for having arguments with them, suffered a fracture in right arm and was in jail for eight days. The policemen…
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Weeping Idols and Icons: from Virgin Mary to Chamundeshwari
B Premanand Experiment: 37 Effect: The Virgin Mary sheds real tears, and even the sweat on her body tastes saltish. In 1988 all over the world, icons and statues of the Virgin Mary started weeping. The tears tasted saltish and were believed to be real tears. This happened in Kerala also. Props: Hollow statue of…
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Miracle of Multiplying Food: Jesus Christ to Satya Sai Baba
B Premanand Jesus Christ is said to have multiplied 5 loaves of bread to 5000 and 7 into 7000. In Mahabharatha, Droupadi, wife of the five brothers, Pandavas, is said to have multiplied two grains of cooked rice to feed hundreds. Satya Sai Baba is also said to have multiplied food to feed his devotees.…
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Fishy Treatment of Bathina Goud Family of Hyderabad
Manoj Thazath One killed in stampede for fish medicine (Hyderabad, June 9, 2012) Amid utter chaos and confusion that marked the distribution of the famous ‘fish prasadam’ in the city, one person was killed in a stampede while some others suffered injuries in Kattedan, here on Friday. Thousands of people suffering from asthma jostled with…
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Can Sita be the Role Model for Contemporary Women?
Ram Puniyani Painting: Raja Ravivarma Women’s struggle to break the shackles of patriarchy and come of their own is a part of democratization/secularization process of society. In India while this equality has been granted right with the implementation of Constitution in free India, the social realities are far from those of equality. With the rise…
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Abraham Kovoor’s Case Diary: Deceptive Perceptions
Abraham Kovoor Recently we happened to read in an Indian journal an article by Sri K.P. Kesava Menon written on his 83rd birthday. Sri Menon was a former High Commissioner of India in Ceylon, a writer, a patriot and one of India’s foremost journalists. Even in his old age, whatever he writes is read avidly…
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Anguish of Kashmir and the Way Out
Ram Puniyani Time and over again while interacting with the youth from Kashmir what comes forth straight and striking is the pain and anguish of the youth, their frustration, their realization about the brutality of the system in which they live in Kashmir. Youth from Kashmir coming to different parts of India for various meetings…
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The Materialism
Erich Frauwallner (December 28, 1898 – January 5, 1974) It is advantageous to join the nature-philosophical schools with the description of Materialism, as the latter stands nearer to them than all other schools. By the way the Indians themselves, as a rule, speak not of Materialism but they characterize its adherents usually as deniers or…