Ram Puniyani Life is full of paradoxes, and not all of them are intriguing. Some of them give a pleasant cozy feeling too. Recently (25 March, 2012) people saw the Pakistan’ Deputy Attorney General, Muhammad Khurshid Khan, Polishing the shoes of devotees in Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Delhi. This work is part of Seva (service) in…

B Premanand (Warning: Some of the tricks detailed in this series “Science Versus Miracles” should be performed only under the guidance of experts/professional magicians) Experiment: 30 Effect: Standing on two swords without the feet getting cut. Props: Two swords of the same size, one stool and some fruits or vegetables. Method: The sharpness of the…

B Premanand Experiment: 28 Effect: No pain or blood when the tongue or cheek is pierced with a sharp needle or trident. Props: One very sharp needle or trident, tincture of iodine, cotton. Method:  An activist of Periyar Dravida Kazhagam, Coimbatore at the 8th FIRA National Conference in Nagpur a) Pull the tongue out and,…

Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya [This essay was first published as part of a collection of essays, Indian Thought – An Introduction, edited by Donald H Bishop, and published in 1975.  Background Lokayata Epistemology Social Ethics Consciousness Lokayata and Indian Materialism] I. Background It is generally assumed that Indian materialism can be discussed today only on the basis of…

Ram Puniyani During middle of February 2012, BJP ruled Karnatka’s  two ministers, Laxman Savadi and C C Patil were watching the porn clip on the mobile belonging to another minister Krishna Palemar. All three had to resign the job and BJP huddled in to a Chintan baithak (Meeting for Introspection) to do the damage control. Whether these BJP…

G Vijayam The National Conference of the FIRA is taking place at the critical juncture of modern Indian history. It is crucial for the country as to which road we take-the tolerance or the Intolerance. Dr G Vijayam addressing the FIRA conference  Our country is known for the comity of the nations and for its…

Prabhakar Kamath* A rationalist’s approach to educating the deluded masses should be rational and not emotional. Dr Prabhakar Kamath Many rationalists are so incensed by the behavior of the religious fanatics that they become emotional in their retort. Emotional reaction invariably diminishes the logic of the rationalist. Very often the rationalists have their own emotional…

V Kumaresan V Kumaresan The rise of intolerance seems to be alarming at present. The peculiar feature of it is that all voices of intolerance are not one and the same. Tolerance to inhuman practices is a age old phenomenon in this society. Human beings who have to be rational must be intolerant to irrational…

Ram Puniyani The whole fiasco of Salman Rushdie not coming to Jaipur Literary Festival, JLF, (Jan 2012) has been a great shame on Indian democracy. With the news that Salman Rushdie will be coming to JLF, Deoband seminary issued a protest against Rushdie’s coming to India to attend the same. This was due to the…

Ram Puniyani This year 2011 was very eventful as far as the political arena is concerned. This year also exposed the duel attitudes of BJP on most of the issues yet again. The various issues, Anna Hazare’s movement, Government trying to bring in FDI in retail, bill for rationalization of fuel price and the deletion…

JBS Haldane   When I say that I am a materialist I mean that I believe in the following statements: 1. Events occur which are not perceived by any mind. 2. There were unperceived events before there were any minds. And I also believe, though this is not a necessary logical deduction from the former…

B Premanand In one of the recent Kumbh melas, a naked Naga Baba walked in the procession with a hook on his penis skin dangling a 35 kg stone. This came on the National Television and most of the newspapers and journals published the photograph. When interviewed, he attributed his feat to yogic power and…

B Premanand  Burning camphor on the hand and waving it in front of the idol, without apparent injury In 1977, a film artist of Kerala published an article challenging us to burn camphor on the hand and wave it before the idol in the temple. He said that his godman, Swami Satyananda Saraswathi, the International…

B Premanand Walking on Red Hot Coals Does Not Prove Anyone’s Chastity Experiment – 17 Effect: Walking on red hot coals without the feet getting burnt Props: A pit one foot broad (minimum), eight feet long and three inches deep.  At least 100 kg firewood, well dried and hard, kerosene, matches, metal leveler, two planks…

Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA), an apex body of more than 75 rationalist, skeptic, secularist organizations in India, has instituted an award in memory of its founder-convener, B Premanand. This award will be given to people who have given valuable contribution towards secularism, scientific temper, skepticism, rational inquiry etc in India. For this year’s…

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