Ram Puniyani The invitation The invitation to attend the seminar on South Asian Minorities in Islamabad, Pakistan  and other meetings in Karachi, promised to be an exciting affair, as apart from other things it might have been an opportunity to see the ‘enemy country’ in person. I thought of combining the visit to Islamabad and Karachi…

In these days when we are flooded with reports of rape and other savage attacks against women in India, we thought people would stop, at least for the time being, blaming the women themselves for atrocities committed against them. But we were wrong. Barely a few hours after the ashes of the Delhi rape victim…

M N Roy The spiritual revolt represented by the Indian materialists eventually culminated in the rise of Buddhism which all but liquidated the Vedic natural religion and freed India from Brahmanical domination for several hundred years. Internal evidence proves that the Vedanta Sutras were composed for combating Buddhism. Therefore, they could not be regarded as…

Ram Puniyani The death of the Delhi gang rape victim in Singapore (Dec 28, 2012) has created a massive wave of anger and protest. As such after this ghastly act, which took place nearly two weeks ago, the anger and protest of the people came to the streets and one witnessed the unfortunate police action.…

What is Rationalism?  In Epistemology (the branch of philosophy studying the nature, sources and limits of knowledge) “Rationalism” is “the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge”. Those who accept rationalism in this epistemological sense assert that knowledge is gained a priori (prior to experience) and it is often contrasted with Empiricism, which is…

Ram Puniyani Hidden in the back pages of some major dailies, there was news that the third Samjhauta bomber was held in MP (16, Dec 2012). National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Rajender Choudhary, near Ujjain in MP. He has been named as one of the bombers in the supplementary charge sheet submitted by the agency.…

Dr. Tom Arcaro, Professor of Sociology, Elon University, US and his team are conducting an online survey on international community of atheists.  It is an exercise in understanding the community of non-believers the world over. Though it is designed to be an international survey, so far it has elicited responses mostly from US and Canada.  Since…

JV Narlikar With the New Year just around the corner, most people will now be taking stock of their performance in the current year and will be busy making fresh resolutions for the New Year. Anxious to perform better than in the past, they hope to foresee their future. Instead of making a rational assessment…

William Sargant States of Trance and so-called possession form the core of many experiences which seem spiritual, mysterious and Supernatural. All through history men have thought that in trance contact could be made with an order of reality lying behind the everyday world, an order of reality with which we are not in touch in…

Ram Puniyani Twenty years ago (December 6, 1992) on this fateful day, Babri Mosque was demolished. This demolition remains a major blot in the history of India. It was the act of demolition by communal forces which reflected the changing polity of India and it in turn further changed the polity in a very adverse…

B Premanand Experiment: 83 Snapshots from the BBC Documentary Guru Busters Effect: Burning a ghost 95% possession syndrome is found among girls, married women and old women, and only 5% among males. This possession syndrome is the effect of problems at home where the do not get enough attention and love from the family. And…

B Premanand Experiment: 81 Effect: Joining two jute threads without leaving a knot. A tantrik promises to bring a squabbling husband and wife together when they are on the verge of divorce. Most Indian wives, being economically dependent on their husbands, rush to a tantrik or godman to save their marriage. To prove that he…

Abraham Kovoor Believers in reincarnation often try to prove that their belief is neither blind nor silly by citing certain so-called scientific evidences. On such evidence, they say, is through hypnotic regression. They put great emphasis on certain alleged rebirth stories revealed through hypnotic regression. Two such “authentic” cases often cited by them are those…

Ram Puniyani Gujarat is going to have the assembly elections in December 2012. As per the surveys and the claims of BJP and Narendra Modi himself, the ruling Chief Minister, will be winning with great majority. The media has created a larger than life image for him, Modi’s own media management firm has been creating…

Ram Puniyani The events taking place in different parts of the country in October-November 2012 have been very disturbing to say the least. It is the continuance and recurrence of communal events, communal violence in different parts of the country, in UP, Assam and Hyderabad in particular. In UP since the Akhilesh Yadav Government has…

Abraham Kovoor This is the transcript of a panel discussion on Witchcraft – Fact or Fiction broadcast by CBC (Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation) on March 23,1971 in its feature “Forum of the Air”.  Participants: Dr. Nandasena Ratnapala (Moderator), Lecturer, Vidyodaya University.  Mr. Abraham Kovoor – President, Ceylon Rationalist Association. Mr. George Ondaatjie – Member, Ceylon Rationalist Association. Prof. C.E.C. Bulathsinghala – an astrologer and palmist.…

Ram Puniyani The declaration of demise of Bal Thackeray (November 17, 2012) has brought the Mumbai city to a complete halt. Most of the news channels are relaying his death procession round the clock and having discussion about his tall stature most of the time. His grip on the city had been more or less…

It is often asserted, even in the face of contrary evidence, by the believers of course, that the ‘truly religious’ people do not do any ham to others; that the terrorists are a misguided lot; that those who incite communal violence are in the grip of momentary passion; that the believers who commit human sacrifice…

B Premanand A godman in Madras, Pandrimalai Swami (now dead), was caught with 76lakhs of rupees unaccounted money in 1976. He was a clerk in the Registrar’s office and resigned when he found that it is more paying to be an astrologer and a tantrik. No one goes to them unless he has a problem.…

Abraham Kovoor The following news item appeared in many Indian newspapers:- “Vasanth Babu Rao, 48, of Poona was a consumptive and a diabetic. On January 6th 1965 he had a severe chest pain, and was rushed to a nursing home in the city, but died shortly after admission. The doctor at the nursing home certified that the…

B Premanand In 1984 at the international Occult Conference held at Delhi and chaired by the then Supreme Court Justice VR. Krishna Iyer, one Balti Baba asked some person from the audience to write down a question each and keep the paper in their pocket. Balti Baba then immersed similar pieces of paper in a…

Ram Puniyani Caste is a phenomenon deeply entrenched in Indian society and the struggle against it began in the late 19th century. Despite the social movements, initiated around the ideas of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar and many such legendary figures, it continues to pervade in the Indian society like a malignant cancer, refusing to die easily. There…

B Kolappan Many decades before ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramsamy launched his self-respect movement (1925) and propagated atheism, the erstwhile Madras presidency had seen a well-organised atheist-reformist movement (1878-88), which later faded into oblivion. The Hindu Free Thought Union, a movement launched in 1878, took inspiration from the London-based Anti-Church Movement of Charles Bradlaugh. In the middle of 1886, it was renamed Madras…

Dr Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A – October 20, 2012) was a prominent American skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called “the father of secular humanism”. He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, US. Kurtz founded the publishing house Prometheus Books in…