Carlos Slim Helú. Photo: José Cruz/ABr (CC)

A sure sign that the balance of power is shifting away from the United States and Europe towards developing nations is shown in the new Forbes list, with the Mexican Carlos Slim Helu beating out Bill Gates for the top spot and China claiming more billionaires than any country outside the US.

India’s billionaires, however, are richer, as reported in the Christian Science Monitor:

With the release of the latest Forbes rich list of billionaires, India is finding much to brag about – even as other fast-growing economies like China make their mark.

Eight Indians made Forbes magazine’s latest list of the top 100 billionaires, and two – energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani and steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal – sit in the top 5. Mr. Ambani is now the fourth richest person in the world, and the richest person in the Asia-Pacific region.

The highest-ranking Chinese person on the list is Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong, ranked No. 14 with $21 billion.

Ten of Asia’s top 25 billionaires are Indian, while one is from China.

Although China has more billionaires overall than India (and every other country besides the United States, for the first time), Indian billionaires are richer. According to a local edition of Forbes last November, the wealthiest 100 Indians are collectively worth $276 billion, while their top 100 Chinese counterparts are worth $170 billion.

The three richest Indians – Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil and Mr. Mittal – together had more wealth the top 24 Chinese billionaires combined…

[continues in the Christian Science Monitor]

BANGALORE [India]: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.

In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

“What they are doing is much worse than what Hitler or Mussolini did. Through this bill, they want to take absolute authority. They are behaving like a vendor instead of a regulator,” Pushpa M Bhargava, a member of the Supreme Court appointed Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) said.

There are also other provisions in this bill which are disconcerting.

Article 27 (1) of the bill seeks to keep the information related to the research, approval and science of the GM Products out of the purview of the Right to Information ( RTI) Act.

In other words, farmers, NGO’s and Environmental groups that have been on the forefront of the campaign against BT Brinjal and other genetically modified crops, can longer obtain information about it.

Not only that, the three member experts of the Department of Biotechnology will override any existing legislation about GM technology in the states.

The draft bill also states that the BRAI will set up its own appellate tribunal which will have the jurisdiction to hear arguments on the issues concerning biotechnology. In case of any disputes, petitioners can only approach the Supreme Court of India…

[continues in express buzz]

Indians are being urged to hand over a note worth zero rupees when asked for a bribe, in a bid to stamp out corruption among officials.

Last year, international corruption watchdog Transparency International said almost 4 million Indian families had to bribe officials for access to basic services.

Vijay Anand, from the lobby group 5th Pillar, says they began distributing the worthless note because of a lack of practical solutions for tackling corruption.

“The topic of corruption have never been on the surface,” he said.

“Everybody was practising it, paying bribes, getting their jobs done. We thought that the fundamental reason was there was lack of alternatives – there was no practical solutions, no alternatives.

“So we thought we should come up with something. One of our volunteers came up with the idea of the zero-rupee note and we then launched it on a wide scale.”

The note, similar to a real 50-rupee note, carries 5th Pillar’s email address and phone number.

[Read more at ABC News]

Australia will not win the respect of the world by being defensive on the issue of racism as and when it arise. The issue of racism is not going to go away simply because our politicians (Cream, Gillard, Rudd), police chief (Simon Overland) denied its existence.

Indian government and media have every right to feel angry with what had happened to their fee paying students in Australia. The frequency of attacks and verbal abuses against Indian citizens in Australia is at an intolerable high level. We can only find out the actual figure through the police department. In fact, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research director Don Weatherburn: “Somewhere around 70 per cent [of assaults] don’t get reported to the police“. So, we can assume that the actual number of assault incident against Indians is much higher then we were told so far.

Racism Against Indians

A quick search through the Internet on the issue of assault against Indians returns with the following results:

1) On the 21 July 2009, SBS Current Affair program -Insight – invited a number of Indian victims on its program “At Risk”.  Please watch the Video online or read the transcript for the personal account of some of the victims and you will realise that racism is a factor in the series of assaults.

2) Racist cabbie attack ‘was yobbo madness’ (News Limited, 13 Nov 2009)

3) Sydney Indian attacks: ‘police burying heads in sand’: “A Parramatta councillor says police are naive if they believe a spate of attacks on Indians in Sydney’s west have nothing to do with racism.” (The Age, 15 June 2009)

4) Indian woman’s body found in Brisbane canal (Time of India, 11 Jan 2010)

5) Indian set on fire in Melbourne (Time of India, 9 Jan 2010)

6) Partially burnt body of Indian migrant found in Australia (Time of India, 5 Jan 2010)

7) Indian youth stabbed in Australia, succumbs to injuries (Time of India, 3 Jan 2010)

In fact, as far as my knowledge is concerned, the number of assault against Indians over a period of 12 months reported several months ago was more then 150 cases and there are still no sign that the frequency of attack over the last few months has reduced. Why?  This prompt the Time of India to ask: “Why can’t Australian govt nab those behind attacks?”

Racism Against Indigenous Peoples

Without prejudice, if we examine the last 200 years of Australian history, racism is persistently an issue that we simply are unable to deny. Besides the massacre of the indigenous population such as the total wipe out of the Indigenous population in Tasmania; the White Australia Policy;  The Stolen Generation; … etc. The racism against our indigenous peoples did not end here. It continue to flow on to the 21st Century. Just to select a few examples as follows:

1)  Child death report to shame nation (Courier Mail, 5 Oct 2009): “AUSTRALIA’S indigenous children aged under five are dying at a rate comparable to some of the world’s poorest countries.””THIS should not be happening in Australia. We are a wealthy country. We can afford to fix this.”

2)  Stark figures ram home plight of Aborigines and Islanders (The Age 31 Jan 2008): “THE majority of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory fail almost every benchmark test of literacy and numeracy, with failure rates up to 10 times higher than the national average, the Productivity Commission reports.”

3)  The shocking reality in the heart of Australia (Amnesty International, 18 Nov 2009):  After witnessing the living condition of our indigenous peoples in the Utopia Homelands, an impoverished grouping of communities 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs. Irene Khan of Amnesty International have the following comments:

“For a country which, by human development standards, is the third most developed in the world and one which has emerged from the global financial crisis comparatively unscathed, such a level of poverty is inexcusable, unexpected and unacceptable,” “In the heart of this first world I found scenes more reminiscent of the third world.”

4)  According to Civil Liberties Australia (19 Sept 2009): “Aborigines are 2% of population, 26% of people in Australian jails”. “The way Aborigines are treated by the Australian justice system is atrocious, and getting worse. It is officially-sanctioned racism.” “Politicians, police, jailers, magistrates, judges and the Australian community as a whole must take responsibility for moving urgently to correct this example of discrimination against Indigenous Australians.”

5)  Aborigines lack proof of identity (The Age, 23 Jan 2009): “MANY Victorian Aborigines are barred from obtaining a driver’s licence, voting, opening a bank account and receiving social security benefits because their births were never registered and they officially don’t exist.”

6)  Aborigines more likely to go blind (The Age, 29 Sept 2009): “INDIGENOUS Australians are six times more likely to go blind than non-indigenous people because they are not receiving preventive care and treatment for common problems, a damning study has revealed.”

7)  Kirby’s last blast: my fellow judges racially biased (WAToday, 2 Feb 2009): “Justice Michael Kirby has retired from the High Court in a blaze of controversy, accusing fellow judges of exercising racial bias against Aborigines in the Northern Territory intervention case.”

The list of hardship our indigenous populations suffering in Australia is simply too lengthy to be listed in a short article like this.

A recent UN report (14 Jan 2010) “paints grim picture of conditions of world’s indigenous peoples” with Australia listed as the worst on Indigenous life expectancy. An abstract from the UN report: “In Australia, an indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-native compatriot”. “Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and brutality, continuing assimilation policies, dispossession of land, marginalization, forced removal or relocation, denial of land rights, impacts of large-scale development, abuses by military forces and a host of other abuses,”

Racism Against Muslims, Jews, Africans and Others

In fact, racism in Australia by no mean limited to Indian and Aborigine. It is a wide spread issue. For examples:

1) The Cronulla riot—Racist attacks grip Australia (Workers World, 25 Dec 2005): “A racist lynch mob numbering about 5,000, punched, beat, and stomped people who looked Middle Eastern or Muslim on a beach in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 11. A woman had her head scarf torn off and had to flee down the beach to escape the frenzy. Some of the mob screamed to one young man, “Watch out, he’s got a bomb, he might blow himself up.”

2) Fears of rising anti-Semitism (The Australian, 23 Aug 2003): “A RECENT baseball bat attack on a young Jewish man in Melbourne has prompted fears that anti-Semitism has reached frightening new levels.”

3) National probe into discrimination against Africans (The Australian, 17 March 2009): “A NATIONAL inquiry will examine the racism and exclusion faced by Africans, amid fears that media stereotypes, such as the portrayal of African youths as violent gang members, are fuelling discrimination.”

4) The Yellow Peril mentality lives on (SMN, 12 Feb 2009): “There’s more than a touch of Sino phobia underpinning some of the commentary on Chinalco’s suspected bailout of the hapless Rio Tinto chaps – one-and-a-half centuries of Yellow Peril mentality doesn’t disappear overnight .”

Racism fuels by Politicians

The problem with Australia is that, we lack the necessary leaderships to tackle the issue of racism head on over the last 13 years begin with the Howard’s era.

Australia International image has been lifted in 1973 by the Whitlam’s Government taken step to abolish the White Australia Policy.  Followed by the open minded approach of the subsequent governments including Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawk  and Paul Keating.

Unfortunately, since the Howard’s government begin in 1996, Australia has gradually moving towards racism. For examples:

1) The introduction of the Mandatory Detention Law was enacted in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in 1996 and 1997 respectively. According to the Australian Human Right Commission, as a result of those laws:

“While there are few reliable estimates of how many people have been goaled under mandatory sentencing laws since they took effect in mid-1997, those Territorians familiar with the effects of the regime say it runs into the hundreds. The majority of those sentenced have been young, Aboriginal men.”

“The impact of mandatory detention laws is seen not just in the numbers affected but also in the disproportionate impact on particular groups of people, especially Indigenous people. Recent research indicated that Indigenous children constituted 80% of cases under the mandatory detention laws before the Children’s Court of WA between February 1997 and May 1998”

2) In 2002, the Howard’s government scrapped an AUD240 million 10-year funding program for teaching Asian languages in schools, four years before it was originally intended to end. (CNN, 3 May 2005). This prompt the Federal Opposition to accused the Government of wasting almost a quarter of a billion dollars in funding for the national Asian language program, by shutting it down halfway through its ten-year life. The move has also angered schools and the Asian business lobby but the Government is defending the action as part of a re-examination of spending in the sector. (ABC,- Lateline, 3 May 2005). Even though the Rudd government has reintroduced Asian language program in June 2009, but the funding is so small that, the Australian newspaper run a heading on 27 June: “Language fund risks being lip service.”

3) The on going used of race card during elections is another feature of Australia politics. For examples, the Children Overboard lie, the Neo-colonialism of the Pacific Solution, the Pauline Hanson’s phenomenon, and the handling of the Mohammed Haneef’s case on the eve of an election were just part of the numerous examples of racism within the Australian political establishment.

Racism fuels by Australia media

Former Prime Minister John Howard may have complaint recently that, “media is unfair to Pauline Hanson” (The Age, 5 Aug 2009), however, what Howard had forgotten is that, it is the very media industry in Australia that make Pauline Hanson a celebrity and as a result profited from her Anti-Asian maiden speech since then. David Oldfield has also profited by being Pauline Hanson chief adviser and  transform himself from a nobody to winning a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council at the March 1999 state elections as a result of that close association with Pauline Hanson and the populist anti-Asian strand.

The issue here is, who is Pauline Hanson? What qualification she possessed beside her racist maiden speech? The reality is, without prejudice, Pauline Hanson is a person who cannot even understand simple English. She has to resort to her famous phrase: “Please Explain” time and again during interviews to understand simple questions posted by the presenters. There are even going to be a movie about Pauline Hanson life using her famous phrase “Please Explain” as the movie title. (News Limited, 29 Sept 2009)

I believe that it is fair to ask, how can a person without the necessary basic education (highest education: Year 10); without any special contribution to the society; without the ability to understand simple English, and  was unknown to the Australian public could become a household name simply because of her anti-Asian maiden speech?

The relenting and repeated reporting of her maiden speech by the Australian media across the country, the endless interviews and attention given to Pauline Hanson and her later “One Nation Party” are undoubtedly the reason that make her a phenomenon in the society. Without the active support of the Australia media industry (especially channel 7, our so-called Pauline Seven at that time) in the form of Interviews, Magazine Posting, Book publishing…, one could reasonably believe that: “Will there still be a Pauline Hanson Phenomenon?”.  I have no doubt that, it is the Australia media who have promoted Pauline Hanson, and make her a celebrity.

I wish I could report the way most mainstream media did from time to time when they demonise other culture or country without having to produce concrete evidence. For example, I wish I can make a statement like this:

According to racism expert or according to psychologist in racism (without the need of giving a name): “Pauline Hanson has said what some in the media industry wanted to say for a long time but dare not say, so they borrow her mouth to van their own inner racism on the respective issue.”

Sorry, I have to confess, this is just a quote without any backing from any expert. As a responsible accredited “Outcast Journalist” in Australia,  I will only make statement that I can find a source to back up my statement.

For more information and examples of Australia media bias, and racism against Muslim and the Middle East, please read Professor Peter Manning investigative research—book title: “US and THEM” (2006). Also, my recent article: Evidence of Australia Media Fuelling Racism against Minorities.

Australian Peoples are honest about the issue of Racism in Australia

Unlike most of our political leaders and police chief, the Australian peoples are honest about the problem of Racism in Australia. According to a 2003 survey by the University of NSW: “Four-fifths of respondents (83.1%) recognised that there was a problem with racism in Australia.”

Political Leadership is required to combated Racism

Former Defence Force Chief General Cosgrove is right to point out that: “the number of incidents against Indians seemed too many to be coincidences,” ”If you didn’t suspect a racial strand you’d be mad,” General Cosgrove also call upon the society to “deal more openly and directly with race issues than many political figures have been willing to do.” (Brisbane Times, 20 Jan 2010).

Let’s acknowledge unambiguously the contribution of migrants to Australia

If you are observance and actively talking to people in a variety of industries, you will find that, Australia reliance on migrants to fuel it economy and maintain its social welfare and educational program etc – without the billion of dollars of revenue from the fee paying students from Asian countries, there is no way Australia kids could have continue to enjoy its education in universities base on subsidy.

The reality is, without migrants, many of our hospitals won’t have enough doctors, surgeons, other specialists and medical staffs to look after the patients; Many of our specialists and experts in science and technology are filled by migrants as well including some of the government departments (not to name them for confidentiality) filled exclusively by migrants because Australia simply cannot find locally people with the skills and talents to fill those positions.

Andrew Bartlett, a Queensland Senator (1997—2008) rightly pointed out in his personal blog article “Migration, Citizenship and integration” (2007) that: “Twenty-five percent of Australians are overseas born. Modern Australia would not exist without the skills and efforts migrants, and our economy and services would collapse overnight if the hundreds of thousands of people who come here each year as skilled workers, students, holiday workers, refugees and spouses all stopped coming.”

Unfortunately, till this day of the 21st century, we continue to receive news like this within Australia:

Example 1: Aborigine Boy, 12, to fight stolen Freddo charges (WAToday, 15 Nov 2009): “A 12-year-old boy who faced court today over a stolen Freddo frog chocolate, which saw him locked up by police, will fight the charges. Police claim he was found with the 70-cent chocolate frog, allegedly shoplifted by the child’s friend from a Coles supermarket in the Wheatbelt town. The boy, who has no prior convictions, also faces a second charge involving the receipt of a novelty sign from another store. The sign, which was also allegedly given to the boy by his friend, read: ”Do not enter, genius at work.”

Example 2: Patriotic Aussies shun foreign-made goods (Apparently the content of this link: http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=817497 posted on 25 May 2009 is no longer available on ninemsn website.)

Our Judiciary System seems quite soft on certain crime as well. For example,

Case 1: The Age (3 Aug 2009) reported a case: $10 dare led to Chinese student’s death – “A 19-year-old man involved in a $10 dare on a Chinese student that led to his death has avoided jail. Aaron Toal was out with friends in Forest Hill on the night of July 7 last year when they targeted Yuxiong Han, 21, who was coming home from work. The Victorian Supreme Court heard Toal dared one of his friends to hit Han. His teenage co-accused threw a punch, causing Han to run into the path of an oncoming car. He suffered massive head injuries and died in hospital. Toal pleaded guilty to manslaughter.” The Judge verdict is: “He ordered him to undertake a two-year community-based order with 500 hours of unpaid work.”

Case 2:  News Limited (13 Nov 2009) reported a case: Racist cabbie attack ‘was yobbo madness’ – “Two men who racially abused, spat on and punched an Indian student taxi driver have been spared jail time by a judge who said they were yobbos on a “night of madness”. The verdict is: “Both of you were carrying on like yobbos in the back of the taxi and things started to escalate,” “You displayed hallmarks of conduct that is antithetical to the Australian way of life.” “Calling this an act of animals is a disservice to animals.” Then, Kleyn was given a prison term of nine months and Cooper a sentence of six months. Both were granted parole, effective immediately.

The recent update by ABS (9 Dec 2009) with regards to Australia  population projections for 2010 to 2056 indicated that

“Australia population keeps getting older”. This prompt Prime Minister Rudd talking about the need for Australia to increase its population from 22 million to 36 million by 2050. (Adelaide Now, 20 Jan 2010).

The reality is, regardless of whether we like it or not, it is inevitable that Australia has to increase it migrant in take to maintain its current living standard and social welfare. Therefore, it is not in Australian interest to continue accepting migrants on the one hand and being racist on the other hand. We should educate the public at all level through our politicians, our media and our school systems to accept, respect and enjoy each other existence like the way the Catholics come to term with the Protestants after half a century of conflict in Australia.

Strictly speaking, besides the indigenous Australians, all of us Australians are migrants since 1788. Aren’t we?

Written on 21 Jan 2010.

MUMBAI, India — Sanjay B. Jumaani has your number — and for a fee he can offer you an upgrade.

Mr. Jumaani is one of this bustling city’s most famous numerologists. He studies dates of birth and other numbers associated with his clients — who include Bollywood stars, famed cricket players and corporations — and then suggests changes to names, wardrobe or jewelry that can improve their fortunes.

After seeking help from him and other numerologists, actors have added or dropped letters from their names — the actor Ajay Devgan recently became Ajay Devgn. Filmmakers have deliberately misspelled the titles of their movies — “Singh is Kinng” was a recent hit. And companies have redesigned brands and logos.

Recently, a travel company started a luxury train service, The Indian Maharaja – Deccan Odyssey. Mr. Jumaani had recommended adding the word “The” and hyphenating the name. Sajivv Trehaan, who heads the tour company the Travel Corporation (India), said the maiden trip was sold out and he believes Mr. Jumaani’s wordsmithing helped. He says Mr. Jumaani’s counsel has been a key to many of his business successes.

“The world has changed for me since then,” Mr. Trehaan said about the time seven years ago when Mr. Jumaani suggested he change his name from Sajiv Trehan. “We were a small company at the time. Now we have seven offices overseas. And I live in Switzerland.” …

[continues in he New York Times]

Gurdeep Kaur’s wrinkled face was wet with tears, as she recounted what she saw a quarter century ago: the killings of 21 of family members.She recalled how maddened mobs barged into her home and burned alive her husband, two of her sons and a son-in-law because they were Sikhs, easily identified by their beards and turbans wrapped around their uncut hair as their faith required them.

In her neighborhood in the Indian capital of New Delhi, many of her other relatives were among hundreds killed the same way and for the same reason on a single day, November 1, 1984.

Thousands of Sikhs were lynched or burned alive in parts of India in the wake of the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The attacks started in the evening of October 31 that year, when Gandhi was murdered, and went on until November 3. Amnesty International put the number of dead at “at least 3,000 Sikhs.”

Among the worst hit were Sikhs like Kaur, poor and marginalized from a community seen as economically stronger than other religious minorities in Hindu-majority India.

[Read more at CNN]

Christian theology keeps tying up scholars in knots. There are a lot unexplained elements in it, which almost look mysterious.

What does the phrase “Son of Man” mean? We can understand what “Son of God” means, but what does “Son of Man” mean? Why are the two phrases “Son of Man” and “Son of God” used interchangeably in the scriptures? The explanation generally given is that Jesus wanted to show himself as both human and divine, so both these phrases were used by him. However, the term “Son of Man” is clearly used in Bible in divine context, to refer to Jesus as divine. Several phrases like “Son of Man will send out his angels,” “Son of Man seated at the right hand of God,” “Do you believe in Son of Man?” – these phrases tell us that the phrase Son of Man is being used to refer to Jesus as divine rather than as human. Some scholars tried to explain it by saying that “Son of Man” means “Sun of Man;” As per them, it is related to Sun worship, and all these crucified gods around the world are actually Sun Gods. Admitting this, I would say that even the phrase “Sun of Man” or “Sun of God” does not look convincing enough. Why would anyone call a Sun God as Sun of Man or Sun of God? This phrase is even more odd; I would rather vote for the earlier explanation that “Son of Man” was used to refer to the human element in Jesus.

Even as we try to come out of this puzzle, we have another puzzle staring at us on why God is divided into a Father, a Son, and Holy Spirit. God having a spirit that is distinct from him is not easily and readily intuitive; and the concept of anything being one and three at the same time is quite difficult to comprehend. Other scholars have gone and researched the crucified savior legends all over the world and have come up with the conclusion that this division of three originated from the supposedly pagan cults, like that of the Horus,Orisis,Isis of Egypt. This only throws up another question on why Egyptians or others found it necessary to divide their God into three from the theological perspective.

The questions have been quite daunting. It has been recognized by a large number of scholars by now that the concepts of Christianity did not originate with Jesus but have existed much before Jesus’ time, as attested by the large number of crucified savior legends and figures that existed across the world since ancient times. Kersey Graves, in his 1875 book, The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors, has identified sixteen crucified saviors around the world. Since then, researchers have been coming up with more and more crucified saviors from the nook and corners of our globe. There must be one central root figure in all of these, from where the Christ concepts actually originated from. If we can get at this root figure and the root theology, we can probably better answer the above puzzles related to the Christ concept.

The key to the whole question lies in the observation that the terms Man and God are being used interchangeably. When the terms “Son of Man” and “Son of God” are being used interchangeably, it means that Man is being considered same as God and is being used interchangeably with God. And there lies our answer. The only place where Man is considered as God since ages and continues to be so is India.

The supreme God of Indian religion is called Purusha, meaning Man. Their holiest scriptures are Vedas. And the most important hymn in their Vedas is the Purusha Sukta, termed as the essence of all Vedas by Vyasa, the central and revered figure of most Hindu traditions. It is a hymn addressed to Purusha, the Cosmic Man. It is related to Indian theology, which views God as a Universal Cosmic Man, who pervades and fills this universe. This Cosmic Man theology is common to many IndoEuropean cultures. While other IndoEuropean cultures have given it up long ago, it still goes pretty strong in the IndoEuropean culture of India.

So the original Christ concept probably originated from the Cosmic Man theology of India, which is why the phrases Son of Man and Son of God are used interchangeably. We have solved one piece of the puzzle. We have answered why Man is being used interchangeably with God. We next come to the second missing piece of the puzzle on why God has to be divided into three. Since we have nailed down the connection to the Cosmic Man theology, we need to ask ourselves on whether there is any other theology in India that is related to the theology of Cosmic Man. And the answer we would get is yes – there is an old and almost forgotten Vaishnavite concept in India called Nara-Narayan. You want to know the meaning of the word Narayan? As per Monier-Williams English-Sanskrit Dictionary, Narayan means Son of Man! And you want to know the meaning of the word Nara? It means the eternal holy spirit!

Even though researchers have been going all around the world in search of the original crucified savior figure or trinity, I do not think they would find another trinity that so closely matches the Christian trinity, right to the very meanings of the words. For example, does Horus mean “Son of Man?” Do Egyptian dictionaries tell you that the meaning of the word Osiris is Man or God, or that Isis means holy spirit? The Christian trinity originated from the Purusha-Narayan-Nara trinity of the Vaishnavite religion of India – an old and almost forgotten concept in India. The minute anyone tries to research into trinity in India, he or she immediately latches on to the popular Indian trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and compares the Christian trinity with it. And since the two theologies do not match up, the argument always remains unconvincing. As a result, this Nara-Narayan concept is completely overlooked, leaving a big gap in Christological studies.

The Nara-Narayan theology was quite popular amongst the masses of India at the time Mahabharat war, a famous and legendary war in Indian history. Krishna, the Godly figure of Indians, played a prominent role in this war. The reason for the popularity of this theology at that time was that Krishna was believed to be the Narayan, and Arjun, Krishna’s friend and devotee, was considered to be the Nar. The theology took hold of the imagination of the people because of the influence of Krishna. Wikipedia says:

“According to Bhandarkar, the gods Nara-Narayana must be very famous at the time of the composition of the Mahabharata, since in the opening stanzas of different books obeisance is made to these two gods. In Vanaparvan, Krishna says to Arjuna,”O invincible one, you are Nara and I am Hari Narayana, and we, the sages Nara-Narayana, have come to this world at proper time..”

After Krishna’s time, this theology took hold of the masses, and dominated the Indian theological landscape. The idols of the Vaishnavite God (God, Man), along with those of Narayan (Son of God, Son of Man) and Nara (eternal spirit) are all placed together and worshipped side by side in a trinity form. This practice of worshipping the trinity of idols exists even today in India at a handful of places like Badrinath. The concept of Nara-Narayan has almost been forgotten in India today; but during its heydays, just after Krishna’s time, this mode of worshipping all the three idols in the trinity form must have been the most common mode of worship in India. There is evidence available to show that, at that time, this trinity was more popular than the usual trinity of Hindus that is found today. This trinity is a big black hole in Indian historical studies, something that no historian ever bothered to research about. And it is this trinity that traveled out of India.

The important thing to notice is that this trinity is a human conceptual understanding of the divine reality. It did not originate from any historical person or from any fancy unconnected legends or pagan cults. The theology did not start with Krishna, it existed even before him. Just like the Cosmic Man theology, the Purusha-Narayan-Nara theology is a conceptualization in Indian religion, in relation to the concept of incarnations of God for the benefit and the ultimate deliverance of human soul. It is about why the Supreme God Purusha incarnates on earth as both Narayan and Nara for the betterment of humanity.

So when did this Nara-Narayan theology travel out of India?

The Mahabharat war is normally placed at around 800-1000 BC by academic historians, while Indians claim a date of 5000 years ago. Given the research of Christ scholars that Christ concepts existed for thousands of years before Jesus’ time of 2000 years ago, this gives sufficient scope to think that the Indian claims are true. Mahabharat war of India did take place 5000 years ago, and Krishna lived around this time.

Later, there was a mighty three century drought aound 4200 years ago, which severely affected civilizations across India, West Asia, and North Africa. This intense drought is now universally recognized by geologists and is named as 4.2 Kiloyear BP Aridification Event. This drought debilitated the Indian civilization, leading to a mass exodus of Indians to foreign lands. When these people migrated, they took their religion with them. Krishna is also considered as a crucified savior by all Christ researchers. The mainstream Indian scriptures downplayed the crucifixation aspect, because it did not fit into their general paradigm of God who fought and vanquished evil. However, they did mention that his body was pierced by an arrow into a tree; other apocryphal literature and practices survived, which amplified on this crucifixation to the tree. The crucified legends of Krishna, and the trinity concept, went along with the Indian migrators to distant corners of the globe, in different forms, shapes, and variations, leading to a large number of crucifed savior figures and trinities all over the world, ultimately finding their way into Christian theology. As the theology traveled across the world, it was assimilated into the native religions. Often, the native religions were deliberately modified to fit into the trinity concept without even properly understanding the theological implications; which is why we have so many crucified savior figures.

The very word Christ (pronounced Krist) originated from Krishna. The word Christ originated from Greek Khristos, meaning ‘anointed’ (as Savior). And where did Khristos originate from? Linguists are normally silent on this, despite an overwhelming similarity between words Khristos and Krishna, the latter referring to the Savior of Indians. Given that both Christ and Krishna are considered as crucified saviors by Christ specialists, given that both the words Krishna and Khristos carry meaning of being Savior, and considering that both are almost similar words, I am surprised that the etymological derivation has not been made until now. In India, in south, people named after Krishna are very commonly named as Krishtiah, where T replaces consonant N. And people named as Krishna are very often addressed as Krishtiah, Kittiah, Krishta, Kishta, or even Kitta by their friends. Even though a person is named as Krishna, his friends or relatives are often seen addressing him as Krishta. And if Krishta and Kristiah are derived from Krishna, why Khristos and Krist are not derived from Krishna is a simple question that I hope linguists would care to answer.