தாமஸ் பற்றிய பொய்க் கதை மோசடியை அங்குலம் அங்குலமாகக் கிழிக்கும் நியூஸ் டுடே கட்டுரை -
பகுதி 4
http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33&id=8914
Fraudulent myth of the tomb of St Thomas - IV
V SUNDARAM Sat, 05 Jul, 2008 , 02:35 PM
`Every cleric must obey the Pope, even if he commands what is evil; for no one may judge the Pope'. —Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)
I have been reading in the Internet a series of articles on Rome's Fraudulent History by Dave Hunt. I am quoting below some excerpts from his brilliant book titled A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days (1994) by Dave Hunt, Harvest Hunt Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402.
`The Roman Catholic Pope has often been the most powerful religious and political figure on earth. This is true today, even though the Pope no longer has at his disposal the armies and navies of past Roman pontiffs…. The Vatican's constituency of 980 million followers is at least three times the number of citizens in any Western democracy and is exceeded only by the population of China. Even more important, these 980 million people are scattered throughout the world, many of them holding high political, military, and commercial positions in non-Catholic countries. Moreover, the Pope has thousands of secret agents worldwide. They include Jesuits, the Knights of Columbus, Knights of Malta, Opus Dei, and others. The Vatican's Intelligence Service and its field resources are second to none…. Remember, the Pope's 980 million subjects are bound to him by religious ties, which are far stronger than any political loyalties could ever be. No secular government can compete with the motivational power of religious belief…'
The extraordinary position of the Pope in relation to members of the Church was expressed succinctly in Rome's La Civilta Cattolica, which a papal brief described in the mid-nineteenth century as `the purest journalistic organ of true Church doctrine' (J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger, The Pope and the Council, London, 1869, p. 3). `It is not enough for the people only to know that the Pope is the head of the Church ... they must also understand that their own faith and religious life flow from him; that in him is the bond which unites Catholics to one another, and the power which strengthens and the light which guides them; that he is the dispenser of spiritual graces, the giver of the benefits of religion, the upholder of justice, and the protector of the oppressed' (La Civilta Cattolica, 1867, Vol. xii, p. 86).
The Catholic World in August 1871(vol. xiii, pp. 58089) declared as follows: `Each individual must receive the faith and law from the Church with unquestioning submission and obedience of the intellect and the will. ... We have no right to ask reasons of the Church, any more than of Almighty God. ... We are to take with unquestioning docility whatever instruction the Church gives us'.
The same requirement of unthinking submission is demanded in Vatican II. The Code of Canon Law likewise reasserts the same rule:
`The Christian faithful, conscious of their own responsibility, are bound by Christian obedience to follow what the sacred pastors, as representatives of Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or determine as leaders of the Church' (James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel, eds., The Code of Canon Law, Paulist Press, 1985, Canon 212, Section 1).
In November 2006 Pope Benedict XVI had categorically stated that St.Thomas never visited South India. In the light of what has been stated above, is it not the inviolable duty of the Catholic Archdiocese of Madras to implicitly accept with reverence and humility the public stand taken by present Pope Benedict XVI on the issue of St. Thomas visit to South India?
In these columns yesterday, I had referred to the gigantic fraud that shook the foundations of the Catholic Church in Madras in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Reverend Archbishop Arullappa was the head of the Catholic Church in Madras. The Catholic Church has seen to it that a lot of embarrassing details relating to this fraud have been swept under the mat. The fearless journalist who exposed this fraud in April 1987 was K P Sunil. He wrote an article under the title `HOAX!' in the Illustrated Weekly of India, April 26-May 2, 1987. I am summarizing the facts contained in this Article.
Reverend Dr. R.Arullappa, Archbishop of Madras Diocese claimed that he had been duped by one Acharya Paul, also known as Ganesh Iyer. The `criminal' (at any rate not `civil' by any standard!) association between these two characters began in the early 1970s. Ganesh Iyer, who had embraced the Christian faith, was a self-styled Bible Preacher known as John Ganesh. During the course of his evangelical journeys, he went to Thiruchirapalli and met a Catholic Priest called Father Michael of the Tamil Ilakkiya Sangam (Tamil Literary Society). He presented himself to Father Michael as Dr. John Ganesh, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religion at the Banaras University. He also told Father Michael that he had returned from Jammu and Kashmir where he was involved in research on Christianity in India. Father Michael put him on to another Priest, Father Mariadoss of Srivilliputhur. Dr. John Ganesh impressed Father Mariadoss with his mastery over Christian Theology. He showed him copies of notices extolling him as a speaker. He produced letters written to him by several scholars in the fields of education and religion. He also showed Father Mariadoss many photographs of palm leaf writings and copper plate inscriptions, which were several centuries old. Dr. John Ganesh told Father Mariadoss that these ancient documents and artifacts in his possession, traced the origins and development of the Christian faith in India. He convinced Father Mariadoss that he was not in a position to further pursue the research on account of want of money and other constraints.
Taken in by the approach of Dr. John Ganesh, Father Mariadoss took upon himself the task of locating funds for the successful completion of the research project which he felt would prove to be a shot in the arm for Christianity in India. Father Mariadoss gave Dr. John Ganesh Rs.22, 000/- towards his research project. As he could not give more money, he introduced the researcher to Archbishop Arullappa, the head of the Catholic Church in Madras. Thus began the most exciting intellectual relationship between Archbishop Arullappa and Dr. John Ganesh who was given the name of Acharya Paul by Archbishop Arullappa himself. Archbishop Arullappa held the view that St. Thomas before his martyrdom on a hill near Madras in 72 AD, now called St. Thomas Mount, met Thiruvalluvar and influenced the bard to the extent of converting him to the nascent Christian faith.
Thus a revolutionary theory had been propounded. What remained to be obtained was proof of such an occurrence. Archbishop Arullappa came to the conclusion that Ganesh Iyer, posing as Dr.John Ganesh, could play a vital role in establishing his new theory. Archbishop Arullappa entered into a deal with Ganesh Iyer and entrusted the research work relating to the establishment of the spiritual connection between St. Thomas and Thiruvalluvar to him. The Archbishop was also overwhelmed by Ganesh Iyer's mastery of Christian Theology. As a clever and crooked operator, Ganesh Iyer agreed not only to establish the nexus between St. Thomas and Thiruvalluvar through his research but also to furnish formidable evidence as to how the three great epic Hindu sages from the East _— Vashista, Vishwamithra and Agastya — had clearly prophesied the birth of Jesus Christ.
In 1975-76 Ganesh Iyer began his research. And the Archbishop Arullappa started funding the same in a liberal fashion. Ganesh Iyer produced photographs of palm leaf writings and copper plate inscriptions at periodic intervals. Whenever the Archbishop asked to see the originals, he was informed by Ganesh Iyer that they were stashed away in the safe custody of the Archaeological Departments and Museums all over the country. As it was not possible to persuade these agencies to part with the priceless documents, Ganesh Iyer agreed to get the copies of the relevant documents duly authenticated by these agencies. Thus Ganesh Iyer produced forged copies of photographs and other documents bearing the seals of the Archaeological Departments and the Museums from which he claimed to have obtained them for purposes of completing his research. The cruel joke is that Archbishop Arullappa gave a total amount of nearly 13.5 lakhs to Ganesh Iyer between 1975 and 1980 for doing his great research for tracing the hallowed roots of Christianity in India!
The point to be noted is that Archbishop Arullappa never went even once along with Ganesh Iyer to any part of India to see for himself whether Ganesh Iyer was doing genuine work or not. Archbishop Arullappa knew how totally spurious the whole effort was right from the beginning. In 1976, Ganesh Iyer obtained a passport in the name of Acharya Paul. In 1977, accompanied by Archbishop Arullappa, he went abroad to the Vatican, among other places, where he had a lengthy audience with Pope Paul VI. The duo then visited several religious congregations and spoke about comparative religion. Wherever they went, Ganesh Iyer, spoke about the origins of Christianity in India and about his `monumental research'. Lot of money was collected in Europe for funding further research.
Soon after their return to India, Archbishop Arullappa was pressurized to file a complaint with the police against Ganesh Iyer. After a through investigation, the police arrested Ganesh Iyer on April 29, 1980. A criminal case was filed against him and on February 6, 1986, P. Aruvudayappan, Second Metropolitan Magistrate Madras sentenced Ganesh Iyer to undergo 10 months rigorous imprisonment. Even when the criminal case was going on in the Court, a civil suit for compromise was also filed by the Archbishop in the Madras High Court. Soon after the verdict in the criminal case was given on February 6, 1986, the compromise decree was also taken up in the Madras High Court. Ganesh Iyer who had defrauded the Archbishop to the tune of nearly 14 lakhs was let off without any further punishment. Thus ended with a calculated whimper, one of the `holiest' subterranean alliances in the history of Christianity in India!
To conclude in the words of Sita Ram Goel `High-sounding theological blah blah not withstanding, the fact remains that the Christian dogma is no more than a subterfuge for forging and wielding an organizational weapon for aggression against other people. It is high time for Hindus to dismiss the dogma of Christianity with the contempt it deserves, and pay attention to the Christian missionary apparatus planted in their midst. The sole aim of this apparatus is to ruin Hindu society and culture and take over the Hindu homeland'.
(Concluded)
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com
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