HOME | ABOUT US | Speaker | Americans Together | Videos | www.CenterforPluralism.com | Please note that the blog posts include my own articles plus selected articles critical to India's cohesive functioning. My articles are exclusively published at www.TheGhouseDiary.com You can send an email to: MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com


Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Muslim’s Christmas, Huffington Post

As a Muslim I will be celebrating Christmas, recommitting myself to listen to Jesus and follow his path. And in my Islamic tradition, I will reflect on chapter 19 of Quraan, dedicated to Maryam, Mother Mary, and pray on his birthday. I will pray that we all honor his message of creating peace and building cohesive societies where no one has to be apprehensive of the other. Amen!

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Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. A writer, thinker and a speaker and is available to speak on pluralism, politics, islam, peace, cohesive societies and a variety of topics. Check out 4 websites and 27 Blogs indexed at
www.MikeGhouse.net. Current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com

Thanks to Dallas Morning News and Sean Hannity

We hope to create comprehensive leadership programs to produce public leaders who would be committed to work towards building a cohesive America and put America's interests ahead of their own. 


Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day to the media and the public. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Politics, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace; he is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and several nationally syndicated radio talk shows. Over a thousand articles have been published on the topics and two of his books are poised to be released on Pluralism and Islam in America. Mike's work is reflected in several websites and blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Bigotry against Hinduism in Russia







Incredible attack on the Holy Bhagvad Gitahttp://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/12/bigotry-against-hinduism-in-russia.html

You and I have allowed blatant bigotry to be preached on our land unquestioned and unchecked. The damned thing is contagious and spreading to Russia and other nations. Bigotry exists not because of bigots, but because we have not spoken out against it.

Six years ago in December of 2006, the Archbishop of Russia called Krishna a Satan, and five years ago, the city of Moscow made serious attempts to usurp the land belonging to Krishna Temple. Of course, a few of us wrote about it and now per the news reports, the “Bhagvad Gita, one of the holiest Hindu scriptures, is facing a legal ban and the prospect of being branded as "an extremist" literature across Russia. A court in Siberia's Tomsk city is set to deliver its final verdict Monday in a case filed by state prosecutors.” I would have never thought this day would come, when Bhagvad Gita would be attacked, the sacred text of Hinduism, it is rather a dialogue on reflections of one's conscience. It is one of the best self help books to find answers to the eternal questions about righteousness and one's duty to the self and the world. Hinduism is not a proselyting religion and Bhagvad Gita should not threaten any one of those weak men of religion.

The Holy Qur'aan has been deliberately mistranslated by medieval European Kings to paint Islam in bad light so they can frighten their subjects and buy their loyalty, and of course a Muslim Hilali Khan matched those kings and injected words into the translations that were not in Quraan, he wanted to build up ill-will against Jews and Christians for his presumed gain to restore the Caliphate. He has mistranslated nearly 60 Verses of Quraan. Fortunately there are still 20+ translations that are good, and thank God for that, the Arabic text has remained intact, although a group of proselytizing Christians have made attempts to mis-write Arabic version of Quraan in late eighties and distribute it in Kuwait. The best available translation is by Muhammad Asad, even this needs updating, but a good guide.
The attacks on Quraan and Bhagvad Gita are not based on knowledge but based on selling hate and collecting cash from the gullible congregants who trust the fox that guards the hen, all in the name of the man who taught to tell the truth and love thy enemy.

The good news is this bigotry is controllable, it has afflicted less than a percent of the population, and all of us together have to work on keeping those cancer cells from multiplying and harming our civilization and our civility.
I urge Non-Hindus to pick up the phone and call the Russian Embassy, if you cannot stand up for others, why should anyone stand up for you? The least you can do is fax a few words to their embassy “This is not a good thing” or write your comments at www.facebook.com/speakermikeghouse or in the comment section of www.Theghousediary.com
Russian Embassy
2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, CD 2007
Tel: 202-298-5700
Fax: 202-298-5735
Please remain polite and ask their government to take responsible action and not let a few among them dictate a national policy. We are a small world, interdependent, interconnected and one fragile unit. Let’s preserve it.
When Robert Jeffress, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Herman Cain, Tom Tancredo, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and a bunch of talk show hosts spewed hate against fellow Americans, very few of us have spoken out against them in public medium, and they take that as an encouragement and spill out more. You and I are further responsible for remaining silent, when they make shameless comments against Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Wicca, GLBT, Hindus and other. This is not the America we want, nor is this world we like to see. We have to enter into a positive dialogue with a singular goal of building cohesive societies where none of us have to live in apprehension of the other.

We hope to resume the workshops on Religion, every religion to remove the myths about each religion.
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Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. A writer, thinker and a speaker and is available to speak on pluralism, politics, islam, peace, cohesive societies and a variety of topics. Check out 4 websites and 27 Blogs indexed at
www.MikeGhouse.net. Current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com

Thursday, December 8, 2011

A Muslim’s take on Mr. Subramaniam Swamy



Op-Ed at Indian Muslim Observer:

http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2011/12/latest-editorial-muslims-take-on-mr.html


First of all, the dearest person in God’s book Quraan is the one who forgives and secondly Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has clearly set up a model of behavior for Muslims; to pray for the ones who throw rocks (Taif story) at you or harm you. We simply cannot go wrong following that guidance to create better societies.


I welcome the reform Mr. Subramanian Swami has espoused to teach tolerance. Indeed, King Ashoka was a reformed man after the Kalinga war and proved it by preaching and practicing non-violence. His character was defined by who he was rather than what others were not.

Mr. Swami has the freedom to teach what is in his heart, but if he has made that transformational announcement to teach tolerance, he will have to prove that to himself through his actions and we have to give him the benefit of doubt. I hope Muslim groups take the initiative to invite him to speak and let him have a chance to change, if he does, it is good for India, if he is the same, he cannot do more harm than he has done to harm the fabric of India’s cohesion. But please give him the due respect for making that effort, even if he fails. Let the public judge and refrain from judgment. Only God knows what is in one’s heart and all we can do is nurture good will, which is more powerful than aggravating the fragile balance.


The first lesson for him to learn in tolerance is that he cannot demand from others, what he himself does not have. He has got to let go of the baggage.

The second lesson to learn is grasping the full meaning of the wisdom embedded in the idea of “Vasudaiva Kutumbukum” – when you embrace the idea, you will act and treat the world as one family. If we can learn to respect the otherness of other and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

In invite him to join me in becoming an Ambassador of freedom and peace, where a human can eat, drink, wear or believe what one chooses. We don’t have to emulate those whom we love to condemn, let them emulate us and let’s change the world with you and me first changing.

In the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), I pray for Mr. Subramanian Swami to become a teacher of tolerance. May God give him the same energy and zest to do the right thing.


Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies where no Indian has to live in anxieties, discomfort or fear of the other. His work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net and his current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com



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Swamy preaches tolerance after Harvard drops him

Sunday, December 4, 2011

A tribute to Dev Anand (1923-2011)

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/12/tribute-to-dev-anand-1923-2011.html

We lost Dev Anand today and I am writing a tribute to honor him with a Shraddhanjali of songs. Tomorrow, I may add a few more memories.
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Dev was born Dharam Dev Pishori Anand on 26 September 1923 in Shakargarh Tehsil of Gurdaspur district in undivided Punjab, British India in an advocate family.
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The three giants of Indian Cinema from 1940's to 1970 are Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor among the male actors. Being the first, they set the standards for acting and every one since then follows on e or the other and they will continue to be the legends of India.


The three giants of Indian Cinema from 1940's to 1970 are Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor among the male actors. Being the first, they set the standards for acting and every one since then follows on e or the other and they will continue to be the legends of India.


BBC resports, “Legendary Bollywood actor-director Dev Anand has died in London of a heart attack, aged 88, family members say. Anand, who produced and acted in dozens of films, was unwell and had gone to London for a checkup. In his 65-year career, which began in 1946, Anand became one of India's iconic actor-directors. “

Dev Anand visited Dallas in 1994-95 to give a key note speech at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association at Loews Anatole. One of the Dallas Board Members of AAHOA asked me to bring out a special issue of Asian News Magazine that I published from 1993-2000.


I spent days digging up listing his films – 105 in all with basic information about the heroine, music director, year released and the key songs. We presented a few copies for him to sign, he looked up the list, indeed he was engrossed in it and patted on my back “Shabash” and said he did not have list himself and he was going to carry that paper with him. Remember Internet did not exist then.


When you watched Dev Anand Movie, you always came out with a vigor, there was always something enthusiastic about him. He energizes you. A lot of us thought he literally mimicked Gregory Peck and ironically, Surayya the woman was in love with him; also chased Gregory Peck. I remember stories about Gregory Peck visiting Bangalore for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of his movie McKenna’s Gold at Lido Theater.


Dev Anand’s biggest movies were Guide and Hare Rama Hare Krishna

Who will forget his songs, particularly these that have a lot of relevance to me personally.






3. My Zindagi ka saath nibhata chalagaya - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sagi0o-d7XU&feature=relmfu












9. Ai dil na hota bechara - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5OXj62qJUQ








13. Tujhe Jivan ki door say bandh liya hai - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amRMVEXb-xI






16. Dil Pukare Aaray Aaray - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lquTatrN_9Y

I dropped everything to compile this note, I wish I had saved the list of his films or the paper where he had signed.
It’s my tribute to Dev Anand, who was part of most of my life. I enjoyed his films and songs and the sense of youth he imbued was incredible. Indeed, on my wedding day, I sang the songs – Mera man tera pyaasa and Ek but banaoonga tera.
I salute you Dev Saheb, may God bless you.

Om Shanti, Om Shanti!
Mike Ghouse, a life time fan.www.MikeGhouse.net

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Dev Anand and Mike Ghouse, someone was holding the Special edition of Asian News for Deve Anand.