OUR SANCTIMONIOUS SANCTITY !
Our sacred texts/scriptures emphasize obscurantism,appeasement based on virtual sycophancy and mechanical ritualism in place of social or moral behavior. Today even in 21st century ,meaningless mechanical ritualism and obscurantism is the only gauges to evaluate the character of a man.Even a most corrupt,wicked and morally degenerated person is regarded pious and righteous if his practice and perception is religious.Our scriptures assure us that even the most heinous sins and crimes of present life and  of    many "consecutive births" can be absolved by uttering the name of "god"[reference Geeta,9/30,9/31,18/66 and so many other] or just having a dip in supposedly holy river along with visit to a pilgrimage to a "holy" place.
Osho,has rightly pointed out,"they have been praised.Their paleness has been given the halo of holiness.Their anti life attitudes have been raised to great spiritual fantasies. Their hysterical experiences have been called samadhi. Their madness has been respected as if something of the beyond has descended on them. Their gibberish is thought to be esoteric;people go on finding meaning in it.Fools have been worshiped,masochists have been thought to be ascetics,sadists have been thought to be great saints. Perversions of all kinds have been given a spiritualist connotation."[The goose is out, page 133-134].

WHERE IS "GOD" ?
There is not a day that a new calamity does not hit a group of people, destroying their lives and bringing much pain and misery. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, plagues and incurable diseases every day claim their own share of devastation's and deaths. "Where is God?" is the unheard cry of the victims of these “acts of God”

God as described in the Semitic religions, is a compassionate, omnipotent, all hearing all seeing god. If that were true, then a god, who witnesses the suffering of his creatures and does not respond to their cry for help, is an unjust, callous, and cruel god. Thousands of children are dying every day around the world by droughts, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters or as we call them the "acts of God". The victims of these natural “holocausts” cry in desperation, pray with anguish, weep in silence, yet God does not care or is unaware that they need help. What god is this God? Where is his justice? What happened to his claim of being the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful?

This very fact proves:
a) God is not hearing the cry of his creatures,
b) he is incapable of helping them or
c) he is a sadistic merciless, ruthless, tyrant that enjoys watching the suffering of his creatures just as Roman Emperors enjoyed watching people being devoured by lions or killed in coliseums.
Professor Paul Davis,Templeton prize winner for his book-'The mind of god' has quite logically exhorted people to discard primitive religious concepts. "In the popular imagination,god is a sort of cosmic magician,who sits somewhere beyond the sky and from time to time works miracles. As a scientist,i find the very notion of miracles repugnant,while the concept of god who is just another force at work in the universe,whimsically moving atoms about,strikes me as childish.I would rather suppose that the laws of physics operate unfailingly throughout the physical world."
In a Persian couplet,the poet inquires:-
"I do evil and you punish me with evil;
pray,what is the difference between you and me ?"
Meaningful question indeed !

REPUGNANT INCIDENT OF COLLECTIVE SUICIDE AT GANGAPUR [RAJASTHAN] DUE TO IRRATIONAL CONCEPT OF SALVATION [MOKHSHA] !
WHY AND HOW RELIGIOUS BLIND FAITH LEADS TO MASS SUICIDE;
Cult suicides are some of the most publicized and terrorizing aspects of what can happen within a religion. The fear of such an event happening leads some people to distrust many new religious movements, even if a specific movement shows no indication that suicide would be acceptable or beneficial.

"Cult" is commonly used in society to denote a dangerous or destructive religion. Mass suicide is by its very nature destructive, so religious mass suicides are generally termed cult suicides.

Homicide vs. Suicide

While such events are commonly described as mass suicides, they frequently are actually murder-suicides: the most dedicated members kill the less dedicated ones without their consent, then take their own lives. Child victims are almost always victims of murder.
Those determined to die may do the deed themselves, or they may assist each other in their deaths. Since all parties in this scenario are consenting to death, they are generally discussed as suicides.

Reasons for Mass Suicide

Mass suicides are most often undertaken by groups who feel trapped within circumstances they cannot control or escape other than through death. There have been several events in history where groups of Jews have killed themselves (or each other, as suicide is strongly condemned in Judaism) to escape torture, painful execution such as burning, or slavery, for example. Other groups throughout history have committed mass suicides for similar reasons.
Suicidal cults often have a strongly apocalyptic theology. In some cases, the apocalypse will be worldwide. In other cases, it will mean the destruction of the community at the hands of its enemies, which might include, death, imprisonment, or spiritual slavery, forced to accept ideas counter to that of the religious community.

Like other destructive cults, suicidal cults generally center around a single charismatic authority figure whose word is accepted as something akin to scripture. Often these figures are described as saviors or messiahs. Some even describe themselves as an incarnation of Jesus Christ.

ATHEISM ON THE RISE AROUND THE GLOBE !
Atheism is on the rise in the United States and elsewhere while religiosity is declining, according to a new worldwide poll. “The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism,” conducted by WIN-Gallup International headquartered in Switzerland, found that the number of Americans who say they are “religious” dropped from 73 percent in 2005 – when the poll was last conducted – to 60 percent. Those who said they were “convinced” atheists rose from 1 to 5 percent. And 33 percent of the people polled said that they don’t consider themselves as a “religious person."




Ryan Cragun, a University of Tampa sociologist of religion, told the “Religion News Services” he questions whether the number of atheists in the United States really grew as the poll suggested. Dr. Cragun suggests that people may just be more comfortable identifying themselves as atheist.

That view seems consistent with a study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2009 showing that 5 percent of Americans at that time said they did not believe in God or a universal spirit, but only 24 percent of the nonbelievers actually called themselves atheists.



The new poll is based on interviews (face-to-face, by telephone or online varying from country to country) with more than 50,000 people from 57 countries. The participants were asked this question: “Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person, or a convinced atheist?”

America remains way down the list of countries for self-reported atheism. China tops that list with 47 percent “convinced atheists,” followed by Japan (31 percent), the Czech Republic (30 percent), France (29 percent), and South Korea (15 percent).

Religious Ghana

According to the poll, the following are the top ten religious countries: Ghana (96 percent of the participants that they are religious), Nigeria (93 percent), Armenia (92 percent), Fiji (92 percent), Macedonia (90 percent), Romania (89 percent), Iraq (88 percent), Kenya (88 percent), Peru (86 percent), and Brazil (85 percent).

The least religious nations, according to the poll, are China (14 percent saying they are religious), Japan (16 percent), Czech Republic (20 percent), Turkey (23 percent), Sweden (29 percent), Vietnam (30 percent), Australia (37 percent), France (37 percent), Hong Kong (38 percent) and Austria (42 percent).

FESTIVAL OF HOLI AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH HAZARDS;
MYTHOLOGICAL STORY :-
The word Holi has originated from Holika,sister of Hirnyakashipa. In Viishnavism,Hirnyakashipa is believed to be great king of demons and he had been granted boon by Brahma which made it almost impossible for him to be killed.The boon was granted due to his long penance after which he had bargained not to be killed during day or night,not on earth or in the sky,inside home or outside,neither by man nor by animal,neither by astra or shastra. Consequently he grew arrogant and attacked every body on earth. He demanded that people stop worshiping gods and start worshiping him.Accordingly to mythological story,Hirnyakashipa,his own son Prahlada was a devotee of Vishnu and refused to worship his own father.He was poisoned,ordered to be trampled by elephants,put in a room with poisonous snakes-but he always survived. Finally King Hirnyakashipa ordered Prahlada to sit on a pyre in the lap of his sister,who also could not die,because she too had a boon,which prevented her from being burned by fire.When the fire stated,Holika was burnt to death,while Prahlada survived unharmed.Today,even after thousands of years,Holi is celebrated for supposed salvation of Prahlada and burning of Holika.
IS SAID MYTHOLOGICAL STORY RELEVANT ENOUGH TODAY FOR UNDERGOING HEALTH HAZARDS AND ASSOCIATED SOCIAL TUMULT ?
Earlier, Holi colours were out of natural ingredients like turmeric, flowers, vegetables etc but with time and dying natural resources, colours have become chemical content which has it's own side effects. Holi Health Hazards - Holi is played with three basic type of colours gulals, water colours and dry colours. Each of them have their own health hazards, which we often ignore. Gulals – Holi health hazards is the worse in gulal. Gulala has heavy metal content in it and the new shiny gulal has added extra amount of powdered glass. The Holi health hazards is not restricted to skin alone, in the process of playing Holi, a lot of the powdered colours does get inside the system. The metal content of gulal often get deposited in the kidney, liver and bones. This directly affects the metabolism functions. The colourant base of Holi colours is usually asbestos or silica. Asbestos is a dangerous element which is often said to have the agent which causes cancer. As for eh effect on the skin, silica dries on the skin and breaks down skin tissues. The shiny glass based shiny colours can lead to eye damage Water Base Colours/ Paste – Water based Holi colours enter your system much more easily making the Holi health hazards almost unavoidable. The water base colours is basically colour paste which is dissolved in the water. It has a high amount of alkaline base and the final result is by mixing toxic compounds with engine oil. The very famous black paste, without which the Holi prank is incomplete has lead oxide. These harmful chemicals used in water Holi colours leads to blindness, risk to skin cancer and allergies. Dry Colours – Dry colours which heralds the start playing Holi is extremely dangerous. Dry colours are made with high chemical base. Green colours have copper sulphate, silver has aluminum bromine etc. The dry colours during Holi get mixed in the air and are sniffed in the breathing process thus, entering our system. It created severe respiratory disorders and throat infections. The lead content in the dry Holi colours affects the nervous system and kidney in the worse possible way. Some of the symptom of maximum inhalation of dry colours is feeling of nausea, toxicity, skin irritation and loss of appetite. 

GULLIBLE,IGNORANT ,CREDULOUS FOLLOWERS AND 'GOD MEN' !
Quite true to their class interests,ulterior motives and nefarious designs,the 'god men' industry has always preferred to target wealthy segment of the society.Their ancestors had close class collaboration with then kings and feudal lords.Today they are enjoying the clout and patronage of both politicians and business community. Meera Nanda has quite rightly defined and described it as "the state-temple-corporate complex".
The consciously ignorant [otherwise highly educated and successful] class of Doctors,Scientists,Professors,businessmen,Lawyers,Politicians,Movie stars etc etc, has become solid defenders and protectors of these social parasites.The photographs of said 'god men' find a place of honor in their prayer rooms [mini temples],next to old traditional 'gods'.However,these self proclaimed gods tend to get their photographs tailored to blend into the way the traditional gods look like.This is the god market and meaningful and purposeful prsentation plays an important part to enhance and establish their divine image.
It will be pertinent to quote here Rahul Singh,former editor of the Readers digest and the Indian Express. "Somehow,god men occupy an exalted place in the minds of the Indian public life,though many of them have been exposed as charlatans.Perhaps no other major society in the world,has such a variety of outlandish and thriving -swamis.gurus,yogis,babas,acharayas,bhaghwans,astrologers,palmists,numerologists,faith healers- as India does.Frauds or not,while India moves ahead technologically and economically at a rapid pace,the Indian public somehow also remains transfixed by the sight of bearded and saffron-robed man who belongs to middle ages.The rest of the world can only look on this paradox in wonder and smile."[Atheist].

GULLIBLE,IGNORANT ,CREDULOUS FOLLOWERS AND 'GOD MEN' !
Quite true to their class interests,ulterior motives and nefarious designs,the 'god men' industry has always preferred to target wealthy segment of the society.Their ancestors had close class collaboration with then kings and feudal lords.Today they are enjoying the clout and patronage of both politicians and business community. Meera Nanda has quite rightly defined and described it as "the state-temple-corporate complex".
The consciously ignorant [otherwise highly educated and successful] class of Doctors,Scientists,Professors,businessmen,Lawyers,Politicians,Movie stars etc etc, has become solid defenders and protectors of these social parasites.The photographs of said 'god men' find a place of honor in their prayer rooms [mini temples],next to old traditional 'gods'.However,these self proclaimed gods tend to get their photographs tailored to blend into the way the traditional gods look like.This is the god market and meaningful and purposeful prsentation plays an important part to enhance and establish their divine image.
It will be pertinent to quote here Rahul Singh,former editor of the Readers digest and the Indian Express. "Somehow,god men occupy an exalted place in the minds of the Indian public life,though many of them have been exposed as charlatans.Perhaps no other major society in the world,has such a variety of outlandish and thriving -swamis.gurus,yogis,babas,acharayas,bhaghwans,astrologers,palmists,numerologists,faith healers- as India does.Frauds or not,while India moves ahead technologically and economically at a rapid pace,the Indian public somehow also remains transfixed by the sight of bearded and saffron-robed man who belongs to middle ages.The rest of the world can only look on this paradox in wonder and smile."[Atheist].