Date: 07 Mar 2011
http://agniveer.com/2415/agniveer-stand/ What does Agniveer stand for?\\\\\\\\\\\ October 1, 2010 By Agniveer\\\\\\\\\\\\ Kindly review What does Agniveer stand for to understand the overall perspective behind any article on Agniveer site. Thanks.\\\\\\\\\\ The Agniveer site today contains a vast number of articles on various topics. It is difficult for one to assess the stance of Agniveer by reading just a few articles. While we have made our overall goal and vision clear through Site Name, Tag Line, Footer Statement, About page and Disclaimer sections, we feel it would be worthwhile to spell our stand on various issues slightly more specifically so as to dispel any confusions.\\\\\\\\\\\ 1. Agniveer believes in Vedic Dharma as detailed in Vedic Religion in brief and accordingly in peace, tolerance, character and unity on foundations of truth and honesty. If anyone has any objections to it, we are more than eager to discuss and refine. But no one ever found any defect in it.\\\\\\\\\ 2. Agniveer believes Vedas – the first texts of humankind – to be obtained through inspiration of Ishwar. It does not believe in any other text to be divine. There are various compelling reasons to conclude so.\\\\\\\\\\\ 3. However, Agniveer does not believe in forcing people to blindly adopt Vedas. This is against the fundamental tenets of Vedas. The acceptance of Vedas as divine should come as a conclusion and not as an initial assumption – this is the essence of Vedas. Thus we believe that all those people who are not yet convinced of Vedas being divine are still noble and virtuous people if they follow the dictum of “Accept truth, reject the rest” and consider entire world as their own family. 4. Each individual may have his or her own viewpoint and hence it is natural that there are differences in viewpoints of Agniveer and innumerable other people, groups and cults. Agniveer favors a path of intellectual discussions rooted in familial bonding to reconcile any differences. Vedic Dharma is for entire humanity, so even if someone disagrees to us, our approach would be same as what happens among different members of the same family.\\\\\\\\\ 5. Our criticism of other belief systems is not directed towards insulting them or scoring a point. It is merely an attempt to discuss and reach closer to truth. And in process cut the roots of blind belief devoid of reason that breeds fanaticism.\\\\\\\\\\ 6. Our criticism of Islam does not imply we hate Muslims. Refer FAQ – Agniveer on Islam. We clearly differentiate between scriptures and people. The reason we have so many articles on Islam is because there is an influential sect of Islam which believes that all non-Muslims will burn in Hell forever. Love among all human beings cannot prevail if we believe such a future for our own fellow-beings merely because they do not belong to our religion. Evil preachers like Zakir Naik act as their mentors fooling innocent young Muslims to believe that any apostate should be killed and non-Muslims should be restricted. Refer Zakir Naik – the mentor of terrorists. When such people openly open centers funded by petrodollars to give Dawah or invitation to embrace Islam, they are merely nurturing fanaticism. It is this brand of Islam that we condemn. And since this group of fanatics has become one of the greatest concerns for entire humanity, we were forced to devote a significant focus on them.\\\\\\\\\\ 7. We question scriptures of Islam because the fanatics as mentioned above fool people to believe that since each letter of Quran and Sahih Hadiths is perfect and free of error, and since Quran alone is to be believed, hence it is justified to pray Hell for all non-Muslims, kill those who reject Islam, or do Taqiah or fraud to propagate Islam. Thus we are left with no option but to question the very foundation of their belief – ‘that the available Quran and other scriptures of Islam are free from errors’.\\\\\\\\\\\\ 8. There are a large number of good Muslims who have not read Quran and Hadiths deeply and yet sincerely believe in Quran being final word. They may thus differ with Agniveer. We respect their differences and would be keen to reconcile them through intellectual discussions. Even if we agree to maintain our difference after all the discussions, we have great respect for these people who are otherwise patriots and noble-hearted. For example, Ashfaqullah Khan died for the nation having a Quran around his neck. We may differ with him on his stand on Quran, but he is our role model for being among the greatest patriots and being the closest friend of Ram Prasad Bismil – the intellectual father of Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Ashfaq etc. Bismil was a staunch Arya Samaji who considered Satyarth Prakash as his greatest treasure. But Ashfaq was his alter-ego. We have the same feeling for Muslims in general that Bismil had for Ashfaq. The reason is simple – Vedic dharma is same for all humans regardless of their caste, creed, birth, gender, geography or even other belief systems so far they desire peace and bliss for all and do not push doctrines through force or deceit.\\\\\\\\\\\ 9. Agniveer believes that all so-called Muslim rulers in history of India were basically invaders and terrorists. They had nothing to do with Islam and used it only as a ploy to grow their influence. Their stay in India is the period of greatest shame for us. All efforts should be made to cleanse our future of their misdeeds. It is a shame that an independent nation like India is having names of roads like Akbar Road, Babur Road etc. The governments have been fooling Muslims this way. This is why innocent Muslims who don’t even know Quran beyond few good verses get associated with fanaticism and face the brunt. It is better that these roads be named after noble people who sacrificed lives for country like Ashfaq and Abdul Hamid.\\\\\\\\\\ 10. Agniveer has greatest respect for Muhammad – the founder of Islam. However it rejects all those Hadiths and verses of Quran that denigrate the character of this saintly person. Wherever Muhammad is being condemned, it is for the fake Muhammad in false verses of Hadiths and Quran and not the real one who did not come to propagate any new things but to spread peace. Thus all those verses of Islamic scriptures which talk of his brutality, polygamy, sex-slavery, child-marriage , fear of Hell, attraction of Heaven etc are later additions and have nothing to do with the real Muhammad. All good Muslims should also analyze with open minds and reject all such fake verses. How could Allah be so unjust and unforgiving if he is supposed to shower only love? 11. Agniveer stand on Christianity is similar. Our criticism is only towards those Pope-inspired blind believers who dream of Hell for all non-believers and try to convert using fraud means. It considers Bible to be a grossly defective book with no proof of authenticity. It considers Christ to be a fictitious person. We admire Christianity for a lot many good things in Bible, specially New Testament, but strongly condemn any attempts to portray Jesus as the only savior and Bible to be the only religious book being capable to bringing Heaven. 12. Agniveer believes that the 8 fold path of Yoga is the only way to worship Ishwar or progress spiritually. All the rest of the methods are misleading. The 8 fold path is: Yam – Non-violence, Truth, Non-Stealing, Non-Hoarding, Self-control Niyam – Purity of thought and mind, Self-satisfaction, Putting greatest efforts, Introspection and Self-Education, Dedicating everything to Ishwar by dissolving the ‘I’ Asan – Ability to focus peacefully for prolonged time without getting impatient or physical debilities\\\\\\\ Pranayam – Control over breathing patterns\\\\\\\ Pratyahar – To be able to dissociate mind from external disturbances Dharana – Focus on Ishwar and his properties\\\\\\\\\ Dhyana = Continuation of this focus with deep contemplation at emotional as well as logical levels Samadhi – Achieving the state of feeling the Ishwar without any distractions. 13. Thus Agniveer does not subscribe of presently popular methods of understanding and worshipping Ishwar – be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian or whatever. However it also does not believe in brute force destruction of these methods and locations of worships. Agniveer believes in an evolutionary approach and considers that brute force approach can have the opposite implication. Thus the Agniveer approach is that of spreading intellectual and emotional awareness in most honest manner. 14. To put more clearly, while Agniveer would continue to educate on Vedic methods of achieving Ishwar, it would NOT recommend destruction of temples or mosques or churches. But yes, if a temple or a mosque or a church or any other place of worship is being constructed for selfish hidden motives, we clearly oppose it. For example, those structures that are built as a ploy for land-grabbing.\\\\\\\\\\ 15. On so-called mosques at contentious places like Ayodhya, Mathura, Kashi and other locations, we support their demolition because such structures were built by terrorists to insult common masses and are also disgrace in name of Islam. We ideally believe that such places should be turned into centers for research in our Vedic heritage dedicated to name of the original legend associated with that location. And Muslims should be proactively invited to take active part in such research centers.\\\\\\\\\ 16. Agniveer is strongly against birth-based caste system. And it considers that those who support it and justify denying Vedas and equality of social and political rights to certain sections of people based on their birth are greatest enemies of humanity. Agniveer completely rejects all such people and all those false texts that support such shameful concepts.\\\\\\\\\ 17. Agniveer is strongly against those perverts and their perverted texts which consider women to have inferior rights compared to men. Vedas put women at highest pedestal and those who deny so are greatest enemies of humanity. 18. Agniveer firmly believes in concept of ‘Matruvat Paradareshu’ – all women except one single wife are equivalent to mother. It thus condemns everyone who consider women otherwise, regardless of religion, caste, society or any other man-made demarcation. It is also strongly against the entire media/ glamor/corporate/ film/ sports mafia of today that projects women as objects of lust. We consider this mafia to be the disease of the society.\\\\\\\\\\\\ Vedas state that those who earn by exploiting women should be severely punished. We oppose both incarceration of women through purdah/ burqah as well as their commercial exploitation in name of entertainment as commoditization of motherly force and strongly oppose it.\\\\\\\\\\ 19. We completely reject the fake translations of Vedas by likes of Griffith and Max Muller. We are trying to get useful books on understanding Vedas through Downloads section. But we want to make it clear that Vedas cannot be interpreted literally using modern language. Vedic mantras are like formulae concealing truly deep essence that require deep introspection, a bit of understanding of the ancient language and ‘feeling’ the mantras rather than trying to interpret them mechanically. Vedas do not contain history or specific time bound instructions but only fundamental principles. 20. Agniveer does not claim to be Arya Samaji as alleged by many. This word ‘Arya Samaj’ has today lost its original essence due to misdirected ways of certain representatives of Arya Samaj in recent times. We however are in complete sync with the ‘original mission’ of Arya Samaj as elaborated by Swami Dayanand Saraswati who is a role model for us. Thus we are ‘Arya Samaji’ if you go by the root meaning and original mission, but not so if you want to draw any allegiance to current ‘organization’. To avoid confusions, we prefer to call ourselves only ‘Arya’ or ‘Vedic’ or ‘Agniveer’ – a word derived from vedic roots.\\\\\\\\\\ 21. If you go by literal meaning, Agniveer is a Muslim because we believe in humble submission to Ishwar. But we are not Muslim as per prevailing meaning of the word that only one who blindly follows the existing Quran is a Muslim.\\\\\\\\\\ 22. If you go by original root, we are not Hindus because that is a word nowhere in Vedas and imported from invaders. But if you go by prevailing meaning, we are Hindu because Hindu implies one who is loyal to the culture originated from Vedic roots. In same vein, we consider that all patriotic Muslims and Christians etc are also Hindus.\\\\\\\\\\\ 23. Agniveer does not believe in closed-mindset. We never claim our word to be final word of Ishwar. Hence we are open to discussions and invite all intellectuals to freely share their thoughts. The only topics on which we disallow discussions are birth-based caste system, justifying denigration of women and explicitly abusive posts.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 24. There have been some more deletions of comments due to site getting hacked in past several times. We request all affected members to feel free to post again. Some comments may not be approved due to automatic spam control system. We request you to reduce number of hyperlinks, change your email/name, remove any abusive or long meaningless words and try posting again. 25. Criticism does not imply hatred. We debate even with our parents and siblings and differ vocally in viewpoints but that does not mean we hate them. Similarly while we may have a large number of articles questioning prevailing viewpoints, we request everyone to not construe them as emanating from hatred.\\\\\\\\\\\ 26. Yes, we are on a conversion drive. We call it a ‘Shuddhi’ movement. We want to obtain commitment from as many people as possible to adopt Vedic Dharma as enlisted in Vedic Religion in Brief. We have already been doing so and would continue doing that albeit with more concentration. There is no bar of caste, gender or religion for this. Hindus, Muslims, Christians etc – everyone is welcome to embrace this original Vedic Dharma for entire humanity and be herself/himself a messiah of Peace, Equality, Character, Principles and Duties. From such noble-hearted people we want to nurture true Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas based solely on merit.\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 27. Finally, Agniveer is not an individual but a group. We often mix between ‘I’ and ‘We’ because we believe in unity of spirit and hence apart from semantic difference, they both imply the same for us. If you agree with our overall vision and mission, even you are an Agniveer for us. I request all our visitors to review the content of Agniveer in context of this overall stand. You may agree with or differ with us, fully or partially, but let not intellectual difference translate into difference in affection. Entire humanity is one family for us.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ May we never hate each other May we never wish evil for each other May we never condemn anyone of us in Hell May we only wish for each others’ well-being even if we differ May we be mature enough to freely express ourselves and yet not create hostility May we enjoy our togetherness as one family May we continue to love each other as a mother cow loves its calf May Peace, Tolerance, Truth, Cooperation be our weapons May we have Shanti everywhere. Om Shantih Shantih Shantih! ———————————————- 000000000