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Krishna consciousness, Dharmic and Abrahamic faiths

                                                                                                           -    Veerendra Ekbote

        The most ancient literature revealed by Supreme God for mankind through the Sages namely the Rigveda proclaims that ‘Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti’ which means the Supreme God is one, however wise people in different parts of the world call and worship him by different names as per their realizations. By this we come to know that though the Supreme personality of Godhead is one there are many religions existing having differences in philosophy which they profess for understanding and knowing the same God and try to establish there own religion which they consider to be true to reach that same God without considering other religions and their philosophies that are equally on the same level or may be even higher in understanding in the nature of the Supreme God and for attaining him. This difference of opinion amongst various religions has resulted into religious wars against each other either offensive or defensive throughout history for protecting one’s own religion and culture.

         In Sanatan Dharma it is known as ‘Dharmayuddha’. It is said ‘Dharma Rakshati rakshakaha’ – If you protect Dharma, Dharma shall protect you. The Abrahamic religions namely Islam use the term ‘Jihad’ or holy war and during the middle ages in order to protect the ‘holy land’ from Islam the Christian Pope send Crusades or religious Christian warriors to protect the Holy Land. The modern form of Islamic Jihad can be termed as terrorism because it is ruining itself and their own countrymen more then other countries that they are targeting. At present the world is principally divided into 2 religious groups – Dharmic family religions and Abrahamic family of religion. Since time immemorial Indian Subcontinent is called as Bharat as the settlers of this country namely the civilized Vedic Aryans were dedicated (rat) + in spreading light of its culture (Bha or Abha) throughout the world and since it is the birthplace of all Dharmic religions especially Sanatan Dharma which is the mother of all Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism as well as the religion of fire-worshippers the Parsis who are related to Vedic culture of Bharat historically since Dwaparyuga before the Mahabharat War.

          All the 3 Abrahmic religions namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam also have relation with Sanatan dharma either philosophically or historically but their followers disapprove and discredit this fact as their preachers and men of knowledge have blurred their religion’s formative history in relationship with Sanatan Dharma which is their mother religion as they don’t want to consider Indian subcontinent as the mother of all cultures, languages, civilizations and religions.

          In the previous three Yugas of Satya, Treta and Dwapar the whole world was following Sanatan Vedic Dharma and the settlers of this culture were Aryans who followed Varnashram Dharma. The Vedic Aryan society was divided into 4 Varnas comprising of priests, administrators, merchants and farming/laborer class and each occupation was based according to quality of a person and the modes of material nature in which he chose his occupation. The prevalent caste system which started in Sanatan Dharma during the Mahabharat period or towards the end of Dwaparyuga is based upon birth and not upon the occupation which a person chooses as like the previous 3 ages. The law books which were codified and written by the priestly class in Sanatan Dharma such as the Sutras, Dharmasastras and Manusmriti after the Mahabharat period in the present age of Kaliyuga restricted upward movement of lower castes to higher castes or Jati which created tremendous discontentment in the lower Varnas and gave higher privileges to the upper castes. This gave rise to untouchability wherein certain lower castes were not allowed into the area of the higher castes. Thus the caste system which existed in the oldest religion on earth namely Sanatan Vedic Dharma created disunity and imbalance of rights and privileges amongst people of various castes in Sanatan Dharma in the present age of Kaliyuga which was strongly challenged by leaders and social reformers during independence struggle against the British rule. Hence after independence in AD 1947 the present day Indian constitution abolished untouchability and certain laws were enacted by the Indian Government which gave the lower castes in Hinduism equal rights, privileges and dignity and offered them reservations in education and Government jobs thus elevating their socio-economic conditions. However the age-old caste system which is based upon birth still continues in Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism and cannot be changed by anyone since Hindus themselves believe in its divine origins and recognizes it to be the part of their religion and considers the 4 social orders or 4 Varnas to be the 4 pillars on which there ancient most religion namely Sanatan Dharma withstands.

           Similarly a life of a Vedic Aryan was divided into 4 life stages that of Bramcharya wherein a student learned Vedic knowledges from his spiritual master and after completion of his studies and taking permission from his Spiritual master he would get married with a suitable wife as per his family tradition and beget good progeny. Then after remaining in Grihasta life for approx 30 years he would retire into Vanaprastha stage in which he acted as a guide to his children, family and society at large and finally he would renounce everything to live in the forest as a Sanyasi in the last stage of his life during which he concentrated and meditated upon the Supreme Lord so that he could attain eternal life after death by the mercy of the Supreme Lord by which he could escape the material miseries of repeated birth and death. The human form of life is very rare and is achieved after going through 8400000 species of different lifeforms. According to the revealed scriptures of Sanatan Vedic Dharma or the ancient most religion on earth such as the Vedic, Puranic, Upanishandic literatures including the Vedanta Sutra and the Bhakti literatures which were composed by the Bhakti movement saints during the medieval ages in different Bhartiya regional languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Braj etc proclaim that the Spirit Soul is eternally existing and keeps on changing bodies under Maya or the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord as per the living entity’s free will and his desire to overlord himself on material nature due to which he is bound by the Laws of Karma and becomes embodied into various species lifetime after lifetime until he achieves human form of life after transmigrating through many species or lifeforms. It is in human form of life alone can one can develop his individual consciousness to enquire about the Supreme Lord and his eternal activities and to establish eternal relationship with him through the various processes of Yoga as told by the Supreme Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagvad Gita, by worshipping the Supreme Lord in his deity form through faith and devotion or by performing elaborate Vedic fire sacrifices to gain benedictions from the Supreme Lord who is the enjoyer of all sacrifices or by meditating on his eternal form which is full of eternity, bliss and knowledge. However, in this age of Kaliyuga the simplest way of attaining the mercy of the Supreme Lord is by chanting of the holy names of the Supreme Lord as the Supreme Lord Krishna has invested everything in his holy names which are non-different from him and a person or devotee who performs the 9 stages of devotional service or Navavidha Bhakti which is the most easiest and sublime to perform under the guidance of a Spiritual master becomes eligible to escape the repeated cycle of birth and death.

        Thus Sanatan Vedic Dharma is complete in itself and all the other religions in the world are its parts and parcels because their philosophy and modes of worship have been inspired from their mother religion namely Sanatan Dharma for achieving the Supreme Lord. The different religions in the world have their origin in Sanatan Vedic Dharma, be it Dharmic or Abrahmic religions in the course of history and though each of these different religions have independent philosophy and modes of worship in attaining the Supreme God they trace their historical origins to Sanatan Dharma and so we find sameness in cultural, philosophical and historical roots of these various religions in relationship to Sanatan Dharma and how the facts were hidden or disapproved in the long flow of history until the present by the followers of various religions in relationship to Sanatan Dharma by not accepting it as their mother religion. For eg the Islamic practice of praying to Allah 5 times a day known as Namaz actually arises from 2 Sanskrit words of Naman and Yajan which means to bow for praying and worship. The Christian concept of Trinity has come from the Vedic concept of Trimurti though the Tri concept philosophy differs in both religions. In Christianity it is about God the father, his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit whereas in Sanatan Dharma Trimurti represents 3 principal Gods namely Bramha the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the annihilator in charge of universal affairs. Other Dharmic religions being the direct offshoots of Sanatan Dharma such as Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroasters (Parsis) and Sikhism all trace there history, philosophy and cultural affinity to Sanatan Dharma. The religions of the Far east such as Confucius, Tao and Shintoism have synchronized themselves and readily accepted the cultural and philosophical concepts of Sanatan Dharma such as Yoga, Vastu, Ayurveda, martial arts and the way of life carried on by Buddhist missionaries into their way of life, religion and cultural ethos in East Asia. Hence practically the whole world is influenced by Sanatan Vedic Dharma and hence the followers of other religions be it Dharmic or Abrahmic out of inquisitiveness or curiosity get attracted to the teachings of Sanatan dharma or their mother religion which exists in its Vedic texts for realizing the Supreme Lord and the various modes of worship that are being followed by the believers of Sanatan dharma such as meditation, Fire sacrifices, Deity worship and Chanting of holy names for achieving the Supreme Lord and the various Yogic processes that are being followed such as linking Oneself to Supreme Lord by performance of fruitive activities or Karmakanda, through cultivation of knowledge regarding the Supreme Lord and eventually devoting one’s consciousness in the process of Bhakti or devotional service unto the Supreme Lord for attaining the Spiritual world by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After realizing the great philosophy of Sanatan Vedic Dharma the followers of other religions readily embrace their mother religion namely Sanatan Dharma and find solace in it as it presents to them the complete realization regarding the eternal and transcendental activities and pastimes of the Supreme Lord along with his innumerable spiritual names, his fame, pastimes, qualities and paraphernalia that has vivid and beautiful description which they may not find in their religious texts or books of knowledge handed to them by their religious forefathers. Hence those who embrace Sanatan Dharma from other religions come to the conclusion that it was once the religion which was historically followed by their forefathers or ancestors in the previous 3 ages of Satya, Treta and Dwapar and existed throughout the world before the disastrous Mahabharat War and which also gives them the complete transcendental knowledge of Self realization spoken by the Supreme Lord Krishna himself in his message of Bhagvad Gita to his dear friend Arjun just before the start of the Mahabharat war which is meant for the spiritual upliftment of the entire human race in the present age of Kaliyuga irrespective of caste, creed, religion or nationality.

        However after the disastrous Mahabharat War in 3169 BC the Vedic Aryans in different parts of the world lost their contact with Bharat or India and their mother religion namely Sanatan Vedic Dharma which gave rise to new religions with new philosophies in different parts of world. However, they borrowed and owed lot of philosophical concepts to their mother religion but were simpler in philosophy and modes of worship than Sanatan Dharma because the civilized Vedic Aryans living in distant lands which were once connected to Vedic Bharat in the previous 3 ages of Satya, Treta and Dwapar after the disastrous Mahabharat War during the dark period completely lost contact with the original Vedic Aryans of India and Sanskrit which was spoken throughout the civilized world of Vedic Aryans ceased to be a world language and remained confined to the borders of Bharat and language of the upper Varnas while the common people started speaking derived or unrefined languages from Sanskrit known as Prakrits, Pali, Magadhi in North India and Dravidian languages like Munda, Tamil in South India. Since North India was connected to the rest of the world by Uttarapath or Northern highway to the countries of Central Asia, West Asia and Europe, Sanskrit literature and language survived throughout these lands giving rise to Indo-European languages in the course of history after the Mahabharat war. The chief Indo-European languages which had its proximity to Sanskrit in the ancient world were Avesta spoken in Persia, Greek and Latin spoken in Meditteranean Europe, Germanic and Norse languages spoken in Northern Europe, Tocharian in East Asia and the Indo European languages spoken by Mesopotamian rulers like the Hittites and Hurrians which influenced middle eastern languages like Hebrew and Arabic. These far away lands kept trade contacts with India until the invasion of Greeks by Alexander the Great who attacked the northern borders of India. However th Greeks further stopped their  eastward march or invasion into Bharat because of the powerful Nanda Empire that existed on the Northern plains of ancient Bharat (India). After the Greek invasion the Silk route served as a common trade route between the countries of Europe, the Middle east connected though India and Central Asia and ending into China. The Silk route was closed by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD as they wanted to stop the free flow of trade from west to east and vice versa. The languages of the Far East which were spoken in China, Korea and Japan have no affinity to Sanskrit except Tibetan because it was connected to Sanskrit literature by the Buddhist monks who carried Sanskrit Buddhist texts to Tibet. However Mahayana Buddhism spread to East Asia by Buddhist monks who carried Buddhism over the Silk route from India. The cultures of Tibet and South East Asia accepted Sanskrit literature in there languages and borrowed many words directly from Sanskrit. Thus after the Mahabharat War, Sanatan Dharma remained confined to the borders of Bharatkhand or Indian Subcontinent and the language of the Vedic Aryans namely Sanskrit ceased to be the language of the masses giving rise to new languages throughout the world and remained a scholarly and liturgical language of the Vedic religion in this present age of Kaliyuga.

        The followers of Sanatan Vedic Dharma in order to reach the Supreme God practiced various modes of worship wherein they performed meditation in Satyayuga, elaborate fire sacrifices in the next age of Treta, in the next age of Dwapar that followed the Supreme Lord was worshipped elaborately in Deity form in temples and in home worship with all the devotional paraphernalia and now in the present age of Kaliyuga chanting of the holy names of Supreme Lord (Japa) is prescribed by which one can attain the eternal kingdom of the Supreme  Lord as the Supreme Lord has invested everything in his holy names and are non-different from him.

         When the age of Kali started after the Mahabharat period those born in the higher castes restricted the free movement of lower Varnas to higher Varnas and from acquiring Vedic knowledges and to change their existing occupation as like in the previous 3 ages or Yugas of Satya, Treta and Dwapar. The Varna system which existed in the previous 3 Yugas was based on occupation performed by each Varna gradually transformed itself into rigid caste system from Mahabharat period onwards till the time of the appearance of Lord Buddha. During this period the 16 Mahajanpadas or 16 Aryan kingdoms ruled Northern India and the lower castes could not oppose the oppressive caste rule imposed on them by the Vedic religion. As a rebellion, these oppressed Varnas adopted new religious thoughts like Jainism which preached the message of non-violence in Pali and attracted men from the oppressed Varnas to their new religion that were denied from acquiring Vedic knowledges during the period of 16 Mahajanpadas after the Mahabharat period. Some people who opposed the Vedic Karmakanda philosophy got attracted to the atheistic philosophies preached by the atheistic Sage Kapila and by Sage Charvaka whose Lokayatan school of thought preached that there is no existence of Soul, hence there is no God and this material world came into being on its own for the enjoyment of humans and that after death the human body merges into natural element, hence there is no need to fear of our Karmic actions in this world. This atheistic philosophy completely opposed the Vedic view and had a less following for it completely denied the authority of the Vedas. Eventually these atheistic followers of Kapila and Charvaka were defeated in philosophical debates and converted back to the Vedic religion by the followers of Vedas. After the Mahabharat War, in Sanatan Dharma, the Vedics who concentrated on the teachings of Vedas and followed the fire sacrifices and the Puranics who composed the 18 Puranas dedicated 6 to Lord Bramha, 6 to Lord Vishnu and his incarnations and 6 Puranas to Lord Shiva. The Puranics also composed Upapuranas dedicated to other Demigods in the Hindu religion such as Devi, Ganesh, Skanda, Agni and this literature is the basis of modern Hindu religion from which temple and deity worship started in Sanatan Vedic religion from the time of 16 Mahajanpadas and gained prominence after the decline of Buddhism in India and could face the challenge posed by Islam till the arrival of British. Modern Hinduism is based not only on Vedic literatures since most of the Vedic literature is lost or has become inaccessible in the present era. So great sages like Valmiki and VedVyas composed the Hindu epics of Ramayan and Mahabharat in which Bhagvad Gita appears and Purnas such as SrimadBhagvatam and other Puranas were also composed which became the source of preaching and philosophy for the 3 principal sects or followers in present day Sanatan Hindu Dharma namely Vaishnavism - the worshippers of Vishnu and Krishna, Shaivism - the worshippers of Shiva and Shaktism - the worshippers of feminine deities like Durga, Kali, Bhavani. The worshippers of feminine deities worshipped Goddess in 52 Shaktipeeths or pilgrimage sites all over India respectively. Similarly the Vaishnavas worshipped Lakshmidevi, the Goddess of fortune and Shrimati Radharani, the internal energy of Lord Krishna in devotion, the Shaivas worshipped Durga, Kali and Parvati as Lord Shiva’s wife and in-charge of material energy. Similarly, Bramhinical culture worshipped Devi Gayatri in Mantra form after getting initiated to study Vedas and worshipped Devi Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge. VedVyas also composed the Vedanta Sutra which means the culmination or end of all Vedic knowledges and proclaimed to mankind to enquire about the Supreme Lord through Self realization by the 3 fold process of Sambandh Gyan, followed by Abhidheya Gyan and ultimately knowing the Supreme Lord into Prayojana Gyan. Through Sambandh Gyan a devotee comes in contact with the process of knowing the Supreme Lord by association with other devotees and his spiritual master. In Abhidheya Gyan a relationship gradually develops between a devotee and the Supreme Lord through the process of devotional service under the guidance of the Spiritual master. Finally in Prayojan Gyan which is the last stage of Self-realization, a devotee through the practice of devotional service achieves love of Godhead by the mercy of his spiritual master and the Supreme Lord and becomes eligible to associate with the Supreme Lord Krishna eternally in the spiritual world according to the devotee’s Bhava or devotional servitude. However, the devotional process recommended by VedVyas in his Vedanta Sutra is for the Personal Form worshippers or deity form worshippers of the Supreme Lord Krishna and his Vishnu incarnations who associate with the Supreme Lord Krishna in the spiritual world by the process of Bhakti in his Sakar and Saguna form, hence all the Vaishnav Acharyas like Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Vallabhacharya, Nimbarkacharya, Vishnuswami and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave their respective theistic commentaries on the Vedanta sutra of VedVyas which completely refuted the monotheistic Vedanta commentary of Shankaracharya which is followed by the Mayawadis, Smartas and the Advaitins which says that the Spirit Soul merges in the impersonal Bramhan and the individual Spirit Soul exists along with the Supersoul. It further states that the Bramhan effulgence is the root cause of cosmic manifestation and is eternal, blissful and indestructible in nature and that the SuperSoul pervades the Bramhan effulgence and is therefore present in every individual Soul. Thus the followers of Shankara are impersonal and are totally unaware of the existence of the topmost Krishnaloka planet in the Spiritual world from where the Supreme Lord Krishna is eternally emanating his spiritual rays from his self-effulgent transcendental body which is the source of Bramhan effulgence that pervades the spiritual sky because of their impersonal consciousness and that same light exists in the Sun, moons, stars and galaxies in the material world. Thus in Sanatan Dharma, Vedanta proclaims that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and a devotee by the personal worship of his beautiful Shyamsundar form in devotion and chanting his holy names can attain his mercy and can escape the repeated cycle of birth and death.

       Jainism as a religion started from the Vedic fold and belonged to the school of Syadvaad which believed that through Right action, Right knowledge and Right thoughts a person can attain Moksha. The first Tirthankar Adinath existed during Uttam Manu Epoch followed by Lord Rishabhdev as per Jain history and the last 24^th  Tirthankar to preach in the succession of Tirthankars was contemporary to Lord Buddha in 6^th century BC namely Lord Mahavir and he preached Jainism amongst the masses after performing meditation for 12 years at Pavapuri in Bihar. Jainism was the foremost religion which came from the Dharmic fold and rebelled against the authority of Vedic scriptures and opposed the performance of Vedic animal sacrifices, they also opposed the Vedic caste system and also the Vedic philosophy of cyclical creation and dissolution. Jainism has no concept of God, however they considered the preachings of Tirthankars to be the final word from God. The origin of Jainism is mentioned in the Puranic literatures of Sanatan Dharma such as Padma Purana and Bhagvat Purana and the Jains are part of Dharmic tradition. The 22^nd tirthankar of Jains namely Lord Neminath was contemporary and a deitant relative of Lord Krishna towards the end of Dwaparyuga.

        Lord Buddha who lived during 6^th cent BC at the time of 16 Mahajanpadas preached his teachings in Pali and Ardha-Magadhi, the languages which were spoken by the common people and not in Sanskrit which was the language of the higher Varnas in the Vedic religion. People from all classes got attracted to his teachings of eight-fold path by which they can attain nirvana. However his philosophy deviated from Krishna conscious philosophy and was voidistic in nature as it gave solution from this impermanent world by instructing his followers to give up desires and controlling the mind in Shunyata or nothingness. Thus Lord Buddha’s philosophy is known as Madhyamika school of thought or Shunyatavaad philosophy which states that the Soul merges into nothingness after death. Lord Buddha told his followers to form a sangha (congregration) and surrender to his teachings. In Buddhism also there is no concept of God. Lord Buddha also opposed Vedic philosophy, Vedic animal sacrifices and Vedic caste system like Jainism and is considered as an offshoot of Sanatan dharma and is part of Dharmic religion which became a world religion in its future course of history distinct from its mother religion. The followers of Sanatan dharma consider Lord Buddha to be the 9^th incarnation of Vishnu as he descended on earth to oppose Vedic fire sacrifices which involved animal sacrifices performed by the priestly class.  The 2 sects of Hinayan and Mahayana are prominent in Buddhism. Hinayana sect follows the events and life of Buddha as there teachings whereas Mahayana sect follows teachings of Buddha to be the essence of Buddhist philosophy. Mahayana is followed in East Asian countries like China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam whereas Hinayana is followed in SriLanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Buddhism received royal patronage from Sanatan Dharma emperors such as Ajatshatru, Bimbisar, Bindusar and the Mauryan emperor Ashoka who send many missionary activities of Buddhism through many foreign lands in Asia and made it a state religion in Bharat. However Buddhism ceased to be a state religion in Bharat from 8^th century onwards due to the resurgence of Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism in India under the Bhakti movement which defeated many Buddhist missionaries and reconverted many Buddhist into the Hindu fold and Buddhism was also became non-existent in Bharat – the country of its birth due to repeated Islamic invasions in northern India which destroyed many Buddhist places of worship, knowledge and monasteries. Many Buddhist missionaries and monks fled to the neighboring countries of Lanka, Tibet and Southeast Asia to escape religious extermination from the Islamic invaders and were readily welcomed and received properly to continue Buddhism. Thus you will come to recognize that the countries adjoining India such as Lanka, Bhutan, Tibet and the countries in Southeast Asia follow Buddhism in majority then in the country of its birth. Under the Kushans who were Central Asian invaders and who ruled Bharat before the golden Gupta period Buddhism spread via the Silk route into Central Asia and to China and was recognized by Chinese Emperor as the state religion of China along with Confucianism. The Chinese accepted Buddhism as a religion coming from the west i.e. India brought by Indian and Chinese Buddhist pilgrims. Before the arrival of Buddhism in China, Kung-fucius who served as the prime minister to the Han dynasty emperor had codified Chinese administrative and civil laws which served as a code of conduct for all the future Chinese subjects.

       The eastern religions of Confucius and Tao are philosophical religions and their philosophy is related to maintain harmony with nature while leading a proper family life, respecting the country by having universal brotherhood and to follow certain codes of conduct and ideals in daily life while worshipping certain natural deities or elements.

       The easternmost religion namely Shintoism is exclusive to the island-nation of Japan and worships nature as like Sanatan Dharma and has many similarities to Hinduism. Shintos worship deities in Shinto shrines as like Hinduism and their religious philosophy and ideas have synchronized well with Buddhism brought by Buddhist pilgrims from India creating a way of life which is known as Shinto Buddhism that is followed by most Japanese.

       The fire-worshippers of Persia were separated from their Vedic Aryan brothers before the Mahabharat war in Dwaparyuga. Zarathustra, the first prophet in the world was the chief priest in the court of Vistashpa – the king of Persia in 7227 BC. He spent his lifetime in modern day Gandhar – Afghanistan and preached his new religion based on fire-worship which is similar to the fire-worship in the Vedic religion. The reason behind the separation of Vedic Aryans and Persian Aryans was that the Vedics considered Sur to be Gods whereas the Persian Aryans who separated from the Vedic religion considered Assur to be their God. This difference in philosophy between the Vedic Aryans of India and Persian Aryans happened after the internecine battle which was fought over the control of land of 7 rivers or modern day Punjab between the 10 kings known as Dasharadnya War in 9874 BC in which the Parshus under King Chyamana whose kingdom stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf and all the land west of the river Indus was defeated by the Vedic Aryan kingdom of Bharat which ruled the land of 7 rivers. After their defeat the Persian Aryans left their claim on the land of 7 rivers and settled in Persia and the victorious Vedic Aryans under Sudas who belonged to the Bharat clan ruled the Land of 7 rivers or modern day Punjab under the guidance of Sage Vashishta and defeated the other 9 Aryan clans under the guidance of Sage Vishwamitra. From this victorious Bharat clan our country was called as Bharat and this same Bharat clan which were the ancestors of Kuru dynasty participated under the leadership of Kauravas to fight the Mahabharat war at the end of Dwaparyuga but were defeated by the Pandavas since both the Pandavas and Kauravas shared the same ancestry of the glorious Bharat clan as is mentioned by Lord Krishna in Bhagvad Gita that Oh Arjun you are the descendant of the glorious Bharat dynasty and your supreme duty is to fight like a Kshatriya in this Mahabharat War under my instructions.

        The defeated clan of Parshu which fled from Bharat after the Dashradnya war settled in Persia and bordered the lands ruled by the Assyrians and Syrians i.e. Assurs and Surs – modern day Iraq and Syria who were non-Aryans in behavior and culture and had settled in the land between the 2 rivers of Tigris and Euphrates i.e. modern day Mesopotamia. Prophet Zarathustra preached his new religion to the Surians and Assurians who had settled in Mesopatamia, present day Syria and Asia Minor and it also became the state religion of Persia and was practiced in Central Asia and the region west of the Indus river bordering western Bharat or present day Baluchistan. It was the official religion of the Persian Empire and was the first monotheistic religion in the world that worshipped One Supreme God and its philosophy preached that it is for humans to decide whether to side with good forces under Assura or evil forces under Ahrimaan. This new religion west of the river Indus and an offshoot of Vedic religion inspired other 3 monotheistic Abrahamic religions in the future course of history in the Middle East which had a prophetic tradition of their own and believed in One Supreme God. The Vedic Aryans and the Persian Aryans have lot many customs in common such as thread ceremony when one is initiated into the faith. Both revere the Fire God and consider it to be the messenger of God however the Zoroastrians worship Fire in Fire temples which is not followed by Sanatan Dharma. Since the Parsis revere Fire as God and consider it to be sacred they do not perform the last rites by burning the dead in Fire rather they offer it to vultures or birds of prey in the tower of silence. In Sanatan Dharma since there is a belief of transmigration of Soul it is necessary to perform last rites by burning the body as fire purifies the Spirit Soul and helps him in transmigration. So a funeral pyre is ignited in Sanatan Dharma for the dead without which the person’s journey from this world to the next is not complete and the remains are buried in water as water further purifies the material body.

         One of the first Abrahamic religions the Jewish religion has its origin in 5758 BC. The Jewish calendar dates back to 5758 BC and is mentioned in the Old Testament. This year marks the beginning of the tribes of Judea settling between the land of two rivers in Mesopotamia some 5758 years ago. The Jews trace the beginning of their history or descendancy in 5634 BC year as these were the ending years of Dwaparyuga when the Yadus were under the tyrannical rule of Kamsa and it was during 5244 BC the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, the savior of the Yadu dynasty appeared to vanquish demons from the face of earth. The whole world was distressed under the rule of demoniac kings headed by Kamsa, Jarasandha and many others. Lord Krishna after appearing in the Yadu dynasty killed many demons like Kamsa and helped the Pandavas in winning the Mahabharat War. After the disappearance of Lord Krishna, the Yadus had to flee the beautiful city of Dwarka on the western coast of India as was foretold by the Supreme Lord. After the submergence of Dwarka and the infighting that ensued between the various Yadu clans, the remaining Yadus fled from the sea-route and settled in the region between the 2 rivers known as Mesopotamia in the region known as Mosul. This word Mosul arises from the Sanskrit word ‘Musal’ which was used by the various Yadu clans to kill one another. When the remaining Yadus settled in the land of 2 rivers or Mesopotamia they called themselves as Judev or Judea or Jews which arises from the Yadu clan and worshipped Lord Krishna as their supreme God. They forgot the language of their forefathers i.e. Sanskrit and spoke Hebrew. The word Hebrew arises from 2 Sanskrit words Hari+bru which means Lord Hari’s language. They followed Semitic religion which originated from the Smritic texts in Sanatan Dharma such as 18 Puranas, Ramayan, Mahabharat and the Smritics or Jews were connected to North India via Uttarapath and also through Sea route. After settling in Mesopotamia they became expert farmers, artisans and loyal subjects to the various rulers that ruled Mesopotamia such as Chaldeans, Sumerians, Assyrians, Hurrians and helped these kings in warfare from the attacking kingdoms of Persia to the west, Lydia and Asia Minor to the north and Hittites to the west in the Middle east. For over 1000 years the Jews staying in Mesopotamia after the disappearance of Lord Krishna in 3102 BC till the appearance of Prophet Abraham in 2200 BC where worshipping One Supreme God Krishna in his deity form and were not polytheists. However the people who ruled the Jews, i.e. the rulers of Mesopotamia build temples known as Ziggurats and worshipped many Gods and were polytheists. This fact is been hidden by all the 3 monotheistic religions in the world. The root of Abrahamic history, culture and religion is Sanatan Dharma and eventually India but this fact has been hidden by all the Abrahamic religions and their followers as they cannot tolerate the fact that their history starts from Sanatan Dharma and the Hindus are their ancestors because India or Bharat is geographically far from their country. Sanatan Dharma was once followed everywhere in the world and is the root of all faiths in this world since it was followed from the beginning of time and shall remain till its end. However after the disastrous Mahabharat War which occurred in 3169 BC the Vedics spread across the world and lost their contact with Sanatan Dharma and new religions with new philosophies started emerging from Sanatan Dharma which is the mother of all religions.

             Prophet Abraham was born in Ur in Mesopatamia around 2200 BC. As per the Old Testament, once in the night a Godly voice from the heavens proclaimed Prophet Abraham to take his followers, the Jews with their livestock to the Promised land of Canaan. The Supreme God also commanded Prophet Abraham to worship him alone and no one else who was unseen. He further ordered Abraham and the Jews not to worship any kind of images as worshipped by their forefathers and the dwellers of Mesopotamia who were all polytheists. He told them to worship only one God who is All-pervading, omnipotent, and Self-illuminating and who will guide them on to their journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. From there on the whole Jewish community gave up worshipping deity form of worship and started worshipping as told to Prophet Abraham by the Supreme God. The Supreme God also assured him of many sons and kingdoms as like the Stars in the Sky. According to the prophecy now at the moment the Abrahamic religions are strong, have many followers (sons) and have many kingdoms (countries) which follow Abrahamic tradition. The question arises why the Supreme God would tell Abraham not to worship any type of image when he directly instructs Dharmic religions to worship in deity form for attaining him. The answer to this is the Supreme Lord is accessible to his devotees in both his personal form and in his impersonal feature which emanates from his own transcendental personal form. The Supreme Lord says that those who worship him with faith and devotion in his personal form which is full of bliss, eternity and knowledge associate with him directly in the Spiritual world whereas those who worship his impersonal feature merge into his impersonal form in the Spiritual world but will be again subjected to birth in this material world for not knowing the Supreme Lord completely in his personal form.

           Thus the God of Abraham knowing the condition of the people and the ordeals they will go through while journeying to the Promised Land of Canaan under the guidance of prophet Abraham in the harsh and dry desert climate which is having less water, vegetation, fruits and flowers all the year around ordered Abraham and his followers not to worship any type of images or idols as worshipped by their Vedic forefathers. Coincidentally the word Canaan arises from the Sanskrit word Kanha or Krishna and the Supreme Lord Krishna also appeared in Yahudi or Yadu clan from which the word Jew arises. In the Old Testament of Bible, Abraham takes his people, the Jews who are the Chosen people of God in the Promised Land of Canaan where they can stay comfortably in their own land which is abundant in natural resources after leaving the land of two rivers.

           Prophet Abraham left Ur in Mesopotamia or the fertile land between the two rivers of Tigris and Euphrates and started on his journey westwards through the desert along with his wife Sara, livestock and his Jewish followers to Canaan. During the journey to Canaan from his chaste wife Sara, Abraham begot Isaac or Ishak and from his other wife who was his maid-servant Abraham begot Ismail or Ishmail. Both names have Ish prefix to it from which the Sanskrit word Ishwar or Supreme controller arises. Ismail and her mother who served as a maid-servant to Prophet Abraham and Sara were banished to the barren and harsh Arabian Desert on the insistence of Sara. Issac was the forefather of all the Jews in the Middle East and Ishmail was the forefather of all the Arab community in the Middle East. The Supreme God was merciful on Ishmail and her mother. After much wandering through the Arabian desert when they finally reached Mecca which is an ancient site of Vedic pilgrimage where Lord Vaman’s 3^rd footprint and Sange Aswad – Lord Shiva’s Lingam is engraved permanently in the natural rock black formation known as Kaaba believed to be descended from outer space, Ishmail and his mother finally drank the holy water from the spring of Zam Zam in Mecca near the holy site of Kaaba and quenched their thirst in the hot desert climate without which they would have died and were thus timely saved by the mercy of the Supreme Lord. The history of Islam is actually credited to Prophet Ishmail, the son of Abraham born from a maid-servant who was banished to die in the hot desert on the insistence of his first wife Sara from whom Prophet Issac was born. It was from Prophet Ishmael that the family lineage of Prophet Muhammad begins in the holy city of Mecca in the Quraysh clan. This Quraysh clan traces its roots to Kuru clan of Bharat. The maid-servant of Abraham from whom Ishmael was born belonged to Kuruish or Quraysh clan and settled in Mecca. Hence the Jews are descendants of Yadus and Arabs are descendants of Kurus that fled Bharat after being defeated in Mahabharat war. Thus there is always a natural enmity since Mahabharat period between the Jews and Arabs. Prophet Abraham further settled in the promised land of Canaan along with his Jewish community and after his death in 2000 BC his son, Prophet Isaac became the chief of all the Jewish community. This may be the reason behind the enmity of two communities existing in the Middle east namely the Jews and the Arabs who both have descendancy from Prophet Abraham.

        The Jews who were settled in the Land of Canaan under the leadership of Isaac left their Promised Land and settled in Egypt where they were enslaved by the Egyptian Pharoahs. These Jews were subjected to slavery for 1000 years by the Egyptian Pharoahs for building their monumental Pyramids and for doing other menial tasks such as laborers in fields etc from 2000 BC to 1000 BC when Prophet Issac left the Promised land of Canaan and settled in Eqypt along with his people in 2000 BC till the time the Jews were freed from the slavery of Pharoahs under the leadership of Prophet Moses in 1000 BC. Prophet Moses who was born to a Jewish slave but was later adopted by an Egyptian queen came to know of his Jewish roots later proved to be the law-giver of the Jewish community as he freed the Jews from the captivity and slavery of the Egyptian Pharoahs. When Moses freed himself from royal duties in search of God, the Supreme God instructed him to free the Jews from the Pharoah and take them once again to the Promised Land of Canaan. When the Pharoah refused to free the Jews from slavery, the fertile land of Egypt faced 10 plagues as a wrath from Supreme God and during the last plague all the first born in the land of Egypt died. This last plague deliberately prompted the Pharoah to release the Jews from their slavery and Moses along with his people – the Jews started on the journey to the Promised Land of Canaan where Moses performed the Super-human task of parting the Sea with his staff because the angry Pharoah sent his army to crush the rebellious Jews on their way to the Promised Land. However the army of the Pharoah was completely washed when the parting Sea water settled down as an act of punishment from the Supreme God and in support to Moses and the Jews while on their journey to the Promised Land from Egypt. Thereafter, on Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments from the One formless Supreme God of Abraham. Prophet Moses then handed those Stone tablets engraved from Supreme God himself to his people, the Jews. After Moses, the first king of Jews namely David conquered the other tribes ruling Canaan like the Philistines and defeated the neighboring kingdoms of Assyria and started ruling the land of Canaan. King David was succeeded by his son Solomon who placed the Stone Tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments from the Supreme God in the Temple of Jerusalem or Yadushalam and ruled the kingdom of Canaan. After the end of rule by King Solomon from 900 BC the kingdom of Jews divided into 2 kingdoms, the southern kingdom of Judah with its capital at Jerusalem and the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria. Both the kingdoms were Jewish kingdoms and during the Assyrian invasion which followed under the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar in 600 BC, the Temple of Jerusalem in which the Ten commandments of Moses were engraved on clay tablets were stolen or taken and were lost forever to mankind. In the subsequent period that followed till the appearance of Jesus Christ, the Temple of Jerusalem existed under the rule of Persian emperors who allowed the Jews to worship in the Temple of Jerusalem and settle in their country from 500 BC to 300 BC. The Jewish kingdom was never independent and was ruled by successive empires such as the Persians from 500 BC to 300 BC and then after the defeat of Persians was ruled by the Greeks under Seleucid dynasty from 300 BC to 100 BC that ruled most of Middle East and eventually after the defeat of the Greek Seleucid dynasty the Jews were ruled by the Romans from 100 BC.

               This was the time when Jesus Christ or Son of God was born in 36 BC in Bethlehem near Jerusalem. During that time King Herod ruled the Jewish state from Jerusalem and the province of Judea was under Roman rule and governed by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate who was representative to the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. The birth of Jesus Christ is similar to that of his father and Supreme God Krishna. Both of them were born at 12:00 in the midnight, Lord Krishna was born in prison but was transferred to cowherd men in Vrindavan to save him from the demon king Kamsa, Jesus Christ was born in a cowshed and was taken care by shepherds during his birth. Both faced extermination from the rulers of their kingdoms just as King Herod out of fear from the messiah of Jews ordered all the newly born to be killed. Similarly when Lord Krishna was born Kamsa ordered all the newly born to be killed. Sometimes Christianity is also called as Krishnaniti because Jesus Christ descended from Paradise to earth and was sent by Supreme Lord Krishna as a Messiah of Jews. Therefore while preaching to his 12 Apostles and the Jews Jesus Christ used to say that I am sitting on the right hand side of God who is my father but he did not reveal the name of his father. This preaching of Jesus Christ to his followers and to the general public may have been the reason of revolt made by the orthodox Jews against Jesus and his followers. The orthodox Jews had an impersonal conception of Supreme God which was the basis of Abrahamic religion and they worshipped the Almighty All-pervading impersonal God in prayers in Synagogues or Jewish temple. However, when Jesus Christ boldly declared that he is the Son of God and is sitting on the right hand side of God in Paradise and has come here to redeem the sins of people and through him alone can they redeem their sins. The Jews could not tolerate about the existence of Supreme God having a Personal form and that Jesus associates with the Supreme God as his son in Paradise and that the Supreme Lord is his father. The Jewish orthodoxy in Jerusalem could not grasp or understand the preaching of Jesus Christ as they believed and had faith in the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord who is All-pervading and formless. This led to the Crucifixion of Christ in 52 AD in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ was arrested and fearing revolt from the orthodox Jews the Roman governor Pontius Pilate had to comply with their demands for crucifying Jesus Christ. However, 3 days after crucifixion Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead and he proved to his followers about his divinity and that he belonged to the kingdom of God and of his eternal existence in Paradise as he was sitting on the right hand side of God. After the crucifixion of Christ the Jews revolted in 72 AD to overthrow the Roman rule. However the Roman soldiers in order to put down the revolt destroyed the Temple built by Solomon completely in Jerusalem which at present now stands as the Wailing Wall in the holy city of Jerusalem and is revered as the holiest of the holy site by the Jews all over the world and is believed to be the exact place where the original temple constructed by Solomon was built. After the defeat of the Jews by the Romans and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews left Israel and settled all over the known world in Europe, India and the Middle East and Israel was once again preoccupied by the Philistines or Palestinians who were late converted to Islam. When the Jews came to know about the freedom of Palestine from British occupation the Jews from all over the world supported for the formation of Jewish state of Israel and started settling in large numbers in Palestine which historically also belonged to the Palestinian Arabs since many centuries and the Jews from all around the world began overpopulating Israel than the existing Muslim Arab population which created tension in the Middle east since the creation of Israel in 1948 AD. Since millions of Jews were exterminated by the Nazis in Europe known as the Holocaust during Second World War which was the most disastrous event in the history of Jews they welcomed the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 AD which gave them the inspiration to protect their newly created country bravely and courageously against the united force of the Islamic Arab countries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq that fought against Israel in the Arab-Israel war soon after its formation as they were against the creation of Israel in the Middle east but were defeated by the brave Israeli defense forces. Thus the Jews now have their own country which belonged to their forefathers’ and protect their country from inimical countries existing around them in Middle East which oppose their very existence. However, the Jews have taken this historical struggle as part of their struggle for survival and existence amongst their inimical Muslim Arab neighbors.

         Christianity as a religion spread rapidly throughout the European continent as it was adopted as the state religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 320 AD. Prior to that Christians were persecuted all over Europe and the Middle East by the Romans and were not allowed to worship freely in public. However, after the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by the Roman Empire, the Christian Church under Pope in Rome converted many Romans, Greeks, pagans and all the pre-Christian religions of Europe to Christianity and forced them to give up worshipping their Pagan Gods which were similar to the natural deities worshipped by the Vedic Aryans in fire-sacrifices before the arrival of Christianity in Europe. The people of Europe considered themselves Aryans and followed Vedic religion before the Mahabharat War. In Europe the followers of Vedic religion whom the Christians called as pagans lost their contact with the Vedics in India after the Mahabharat War. Though the contact was lost with Vedic India, the distant Aryans settled in Europe retained same characteristics of the Vedic Gods but with different names for e.g. the chief Vedic God Indra holding the thunderbolt in his hand and assisting the Aryans in War and giver of rains was called as Thor by the Norseman living in Northern Europe and was their chief God who also carried the thunderbolt in his hand. Similarly, Zeus the chief Greek God also hold a thunderbolt in his hand and Apollo the chief Roman God were all similar in character to Indra, the chief Vedic God. All these Chief Gods namely Thor, Zeus and Apollo which were worshipped by the Norsemen, Greeks and Romans respectively, similarly like the Vedic God Indra commanded and presided over the assembly of administrative demigods who maintained various Universal affairs. As like in Vedic Bharat the worship of the various Demigods and their Chief God Indra was done through fire sacrifices or by building temples dedicated to them for gaining benedictions and nice agricultural produce and fodder for livestock. Similarly, in Europe the Greeks, Romans, Druids, Celts, Norse and other pagans worshipped their Gods in temples for e.g. the temple of Parthenon dedicated to Zeus in Athens and other Roman temples in Roman Empire bear witness to the modes of worship in pre-Christian Europe. However, after the introduction and spread of Christianity in Europe, the Christian church completely stopped Pagan worship in Europe and built huge Cathedrals, Basilicas, Churches and Chapels on the sites of Pagan worship so that Pagans will gradually accept the teachings of Christian Church and forget Pagan worship. Thus Christianity gradually spread from 3^rd century onwards till the middle ages throughout Europe and was successfully able to stop Islamic invasion and its expansion into Europe. This policy of the Christian Church strengthened Christianity in Europe and between 9^th to 11^th century, the Crusades or Christian armies under Christian kings and nobles were sent by Pope to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim rulers. These Christian armies were under the leadership of England, France and the Holy Roman Emperor. The Europeans were thus introduced to the advanced culture of Asia as they were living under the Dark ages that followed after the fall of the Roman Empire in 5^th century. The Roman Emperors were completely defeated and the Roman Empire gradually ended from 4^th century onwards under successive invasions of Attila the Hun followed by Alaric the Hun who invaded from Central Asia, the Roman Empire also ended with the invasion of Germanic tribes from the northern borders of the Empire such as the Franks, Goths, Visigoths and Vandals who overpowered the might of Roman Empire. All these invaders were incorporated in the Christian fold by the Pope and the present day European nations were born during the Dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Roman empire the kingdom of France was formed by Frankish tribes, the kingdom of Spain by the Vandals, the Goths became the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire which is present day Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the Anglo Saxons formed the kingdom of England, and the Visigoths ruled the kingdoms of Eastern Europe which were under Roman rule. The Slavs formed the kingdoms of Poland, Russia and White Russia (Ukraine). The Magyars who had come from Asia settled in Hungary and were converted to Christianity by the Orthodox Church.

             When Europe was suffering under the dark ages, a new religious force was emerging in the deserts of Arabia under Prophet Muhammad who was born in 570 AD and who ascended to heaven in 623 AD. During his lifetime he received many revelations from One Supreme God ‘Allah’ who then told his followers to surrender to the will of Allah and no one else and that the prophet is his only messenger. The verses of Quran were revealed to the Prophet by the Archangel Gabriel or Jibran who acted as a messenger of the Supreme God, the Quran was then compiled as the holy words of Allah in the holy book of Islam – the Quran. The Quran proclaimed that there is only one God, Allah and no one else and that the Prophet Muhammad is his only messenger and everyone should surrender to the will of Allah. Thus Prophet Muhammad established Islam in Mecca and declared that he was the last prophet beginning from the first prophet Adam, having descended to Noah, then to Ibrahim, then to his son Ishmail, followed by Musa, to his descendant Dawood, followed by Suleiman and before him Isa Masiha descended on earth as the prophet send by the Supreme Lord. He proclaimed that the Quran is the final revelation from the Supreme God. Since Islam is an Abrahmic faith and belongs to Abrahmic lineage the Prophet severely opposed any form of idol-worship and considered it as blasphemy against the all powerful pervading One Supreme Lord who possesses impersonal feature but is having 99 attributes or qualities. The Quran mentions the names of the 99 attributes or qualities of Allah who is having impersonal feature. At first the residents of Mecca who were polytheistic idol-worshippers and were followers of Vedic religion could not understand the preaching of Prophet Muhammad and his opposition to their way of worshipping idols or images. The worshippers in Mecca worshipped 3 principal deities of Al-Uzza, Al-Mannat and Al-Salat. The Prophet emphasized on Islam to be accepted as the new way of religion and urged the residents of Mecca to give up worshipping idols and surrender to the will of Allah. This angered the residents of Mecca who were not ready to accept the new faith preached by Muhammad and were plotting to kill him. This prompted the Prophet to take flight to the nearby city of Medina which marked the beginning of the Hijri era or the New Year of Islam. In Medina the Prophet was welcomed and his new religion was accepted gradually by the residents of Medina. In Medina Prophet Muhammad gathered many followers to his new faith of Islam which believed in One God Allah and submitting to the will of Allah and that Prophet Muhammad is his only messenger is the main tenant of Islam which makes the followers of Islam the world over united. During this time the prophet also received revelations from the archangel Jibran or Gabriel from whom he compiled the words of ‘Allah’ in the holy book of Quran for the benefit of mankind. Thereafter building an army of his trusted followers he attacked the holy city of Mecca where he was born in the lineage of Qurasyh family which was connected to Prophet Ishmail who was the son of Abraham. The residents of Mecca were opposed to the monotheistic and impersonal teachings of Prophet as they could not accept and worship the All pervading One Supreme God Allah having impersonal feature and surrender to the will of Allah. Therefore to impose his new faith based on monotheistic impersonal worship of one Supreme Lord and make the residents of Mecca surrender to the will of Allah he attacked and defeated the residents of Mecca and ordered his followers to destroy all the idols of 360 Vedic Gods which were housed in the temple of Mecca or inside the Black stone of Kaaba which was considered to be the holiest of the holy site during pre-Islamic Arabia. After the destruction of the idols of the 360 Vedic Gods the followers of Prophet Muhammad started worshipping Kaaba as their holiest of the holy site and became the main centre of worship for the entire lslamic world. The prophet Muhammad also ordered his followers to destroy into pieces the most sacred stone of Sange Aswad which was worshipped in the sacred temple of Kaaba whose shape resembled that of a Shivlinga so that there will be no Idol or image worship henceforth in any part of Arabia and the Prophet Muhammad declared Mecca and the sacred Black stone of Kaaba situated in Mecca to be the chief place of pilgrimage for all Muslims around the world known as Hajj. As per the 5 pillars of Islam the prophet made it compulsory for all Muslims to visit at least once to the holy city of Mecca for Hajj pilgrimage and in one of those 5 pillars the prophet also ordered that all Muslims should face west towards Mecca for performing Namaz or daily prayers to Allah from the Quran. The word Namaz is from Sanskrit word – Naman + yajan which means to pray and bow in surrendering to the will of Allah. Observing the holy month of Ramadan by fasting from dawn to dusk as it was in this month that most of the Quran was revealed to the Prophet by Allah. Giving Zakat to the needy once in a year and the foremost pillar is that all human beings are equal before Allah and that the prophet is his messenger. The 5 pillars of Islam unified the Islamic world by a common place of pilgrimage, mode of worship throughout the Islamic world, the common month of fasting which was observed and prophet Muhammad once again established monotheistic Abrahamic philosophy which started from Abraham declaring him to be the last Prophet sent from God. This unified force of Islam and the preaching of the Prophet formed the first Umayyad Islamic caliphate in the Arabian peninsula centered in Baghdad in the 7^th century. The capital city of Baghdad became the seat of Islamic art, literature, learning and justice and the Arabs under the Islamic caliphate spread Islam in successive centuries by conquering the neighboring countries of Iran, Eqypt, then conquering Asia Minor and North Africa from the Byzantine Empire and eventually penetrating Europe through Spain by conquering its Christian rulers till Spain once again conquered the Islamic rulers in the 14^th century by the Christian Catholic rulers by driving the Islamic Moorish rulers to Morocco. The Arabs after conquering Persia tried to conquer the Turkish and other Central Asian tribes to Islam from 8^th century onwards and successfully converted many Buddhist Turks and Mongols to Islam and changed the course of history in Central Asia because under the influence of Buddhism, the Central Asian tribes were peaceful and were not cause of concern for an invasion over especially over Northern India which was primarily ruled by Hindu kingdoms and followed Sanatan Vedic religion. However after their conversion to Islam the Central Asian Turkish, Mongol and Afghan kingdoms became aggressive and repetitively attacked the northern borders of India from 10^th century onwards eventually defeating and overpowering the Hindu kingdoms of Northern India and established the Delhi Sultanate in the 12^th century which lasted until the fall of the Mughal Empire in the middle of the 18^th century. Islam as a religion tried to spread its culture and religion on the majority Hindu fold in Northern India under the successive 17 invasions of Muhammad Ghazni, followed by the establishment of Delhi Sultanate under the Ghoris which ruled Northern India followed by successive Islamic dynasties of Aibaks, Khiljis, Tughlaks, Lodis, Syeds and finally Mughals who invaded in 1525 AD from Central Asia under Babur and the subsequent Mughal emperors that followed established a massive Mughal Empire in India. However South India always remained free and peaceful under majority Hindu rule like the Vijaynagar Empire which was established in 1336 AD but was unfortunately defeated by the united force of 5 Islamic Bahamani kingdoms which ruled the Deccan who ended the glorious Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar in 1554 AD. However, at the time when Islamic kingdoms dominated India the Hindu Maratha Empire was established by Shivaji Maharaj in 1672 AD which lasted until the arrival of British and ruled 2/3rd of Indian territory at its peak before its end by the British in the middle of 18^th century and was responsible for vanquishing the might of the massive Mughal empire and reducing it as their protectorate by overseeing their rule in Delhi.

             The rise of Islam in Arabia in the 7^th century and their conquering of Persia in the 8^th century made Bharat vulnerable to Islamic attack and rule because Islam had altogether different culture, philosophy and religious customs. However Islamic invasion was inevitable on Bharat from 10^th century onwards who ruled northern India till the arrival of British in the middle of the 18^th century under the tyrannical Delhi sultanate and was ruled by various Islamic dynasties belonging to the Turks, Mongols and Afghans that invaded from Central Asia into northwest India. These Central Asian Islamic invaders then established the Delhi sultanate and permanently settled over the plains of Northern India with their soldiers and mercenaries who served them in expansion of the Delhi Sultanate in battles against the Hindu rulers. The rule of Delhi sultanate was tyrannical over the Hindu populace as they showed religious intolerance towards the Hindu faith and their mode of worship because the Islamic rulers worshipped an impersonal God whereas the Hindus worshipped the Supreme God in his personal form with faith and devotion which provoked the Islamic rulers who forcibly converted many Hindus to Islam and destroyed their beautiful temples by constructing mosques on their places of worship by enraging the Hindu population and also attacked and looted Hindu pilgrimage cities in Northern India and levied the religious tax on Hindus known as Jaziya which was insulting to their faith. The Delhi sultanate in the 13^th and 14^th century was at the height of its terror and tyranny against the Hindu population by converting many Hindus to Islam, destroying beautiful temples and Hindu deities as the Hindus did not worship impersonal God as like the Muslims and the Delhi sultanate also wanted to impose their rule and alien law on the Hindu population. Many Hindus in the middle ages in fear of the Delhi Sultanate fled to the Hindu kingdoms of South India such as the Vijaynagar Empire, Orissa and to the Rajput kingdoms situated in western India which were not conquered or subdued by the Islamic rulers of Delhi and who preserved the values of Hinduism by protecting Hindu religion and culture from the Islamic rulers. It was during this time from 12^th century onwards when majority of the Hindu population was under fear of Islamic rule, the saints of Bhakti movement reawakened the passion of protecting Hindu culture and religion amongst the Hindus by instilling in them faith and devotion to One personal Supreme God who is all powerful, merciful and All attractive by making them strong and fit to face the opposing Islamic ruler who showed no concern towards their faith and devotion. The saints in the Bhakti movement from all parts of India by uniting people of all castes through devotion unto Supreme Lord Krishna spread the message of religious harmony, devotion and universal love and brotherhood amongst all beings by spreading and establishing the teachings from the Sanatan Vedic literatures of Bhagvad Gita and Bhagvatam which are associated with the name, fame and pastimes of the Supreme Lord Krishna. Thus in Sanatan Vedic Dharma a vibrant and enlightened movement was born from the teachings of Saints known as the Bhakti sampradaya which was free from the evils of casteism that existed in Hinduism and brought about a social unity and equality in the various classes or Varnas in Hinduism by strengthening it to face the challenges faced from the Islamic rulers like the onslaught of forced conversion and protected Sanatan Vedic Hindu Dharma and culture from the invaders. Bhakti movement had its roots in South India by the preaching done by the popular saints like Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya and Vallabhacharya who established their respective lineages and philosophy in Vaishnavism such as the Madhva, Shri and Pushtipati Sampradaya. Bhakti movement also spread north to Maharashtra when many Warkari saints beginning from Dnyaneshwar, Namdeo, Eknath, Janabai, the saints that appeared in the 18 castes till Tukaram and Saint Ramdas – the spiritual master of Shivaji who spread the worship of Lord Vitthal by continuing the annual Warkari yatra which started from 12^th century to the holy town of Pandharpur during which many Vaishnavas from all over Maharashtra assembled at Pandharpur inspite of the Islamic Bahamani rule over Maharashtra. The saints in the north such as Tulsidas, Meerabai, Narsi Mehta and Kabir worshipped either Lord Ram or Lord Krishna and spread devotion amongst the masses and instilled in them faith by not getting fearful to Islamic conversion. In eastern India Lord Krishna himself appeared as a devotee in 1488 AD as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and spread the chanting of the holy names by performing Nama Sankirtan with his associates. Lord Chaitanya established and spread the Gaud Sampradya to eastern India and in Northern India and under his disciples the 6 Goswamis of Vrindavan who composed many Sanskrit and Bengali literatures of devotion to Krishna it spread throughout northern and eastern India by his followers. Thus the Bhakti movement which started in India at the time of Islamic invasion still continues in present day India with full enthusiasm, has many followers worshipping the Supreme God in his deity form in various temples throughout India and in homes by Hindus. In the Middle Ages inspite of the fear posed by the Islamic rulers the saints of the Bhakti movement achieved remarkable victory in reviving the ideals of Sanatan Vedic Dharma and protected its values through faith and devotion in Bharat. The Bhakti movement in the middle ages strengthened Hindu Dharma and many Hindus who were once fearful of Islamic rulers dedicated their lives fearlessly in worshipping One Supreme God in a deity form with faith and devotion and through the process of chanting and participating in Kirtan of the holy names the common people or a devotee experienced bliss and mercy of the Supreme Lord and executed their said duties and became trustworthy and zealous towards Hindu religion and of protecting Bharat from invaders.  

           When the saints of Bhakti movement were spreading their message of faith and devotion to One Supreme God having an all attractive personal form and that the Supreme God can be approached by a devotee through chanting in faith and devotion and by performance of deity worship in homes and temples in Sanatan Vedic Hindu Dharma. During the same time in medieval India the Islamic Sufi saints preached the message of divine love to One monotheistic God for converting the Indian masses to Islam. It was during this period at the time when Delhi Sultanate ruled Northern India followed by Mughal rule a new religion emerged on the plains of Punjab known as ‘Sikhism’ based on the teachings of 10 Gurus, beginning from Guru Nanak who was born in Nanaksaheb in present day Pakistan. He was attracted to monotheism and was inspired by the Rigvedic concept of One God known as Ekam Sat. Sikhism as a religion did not believe in idol or deity worship but believed in the presence of God in his sound form or Ek Omkar from which creation emerged and the impersonal feature of the Almighty known as Ek Omkar or Onkar is the cause of creation and is the Controlling force which is known as Bramhan in Sanatan Dharma. Thus all the Sikh Gurus who followed Guru Nanak in praise of Ek Omkar also wrote verses in Guru Granth Sahib from the philosophical verses, teachings and realizations of the saints in the Bhakti movement and from the teachings of the monotheistic Sufi saints. Thus Sikhism was born as a religion to protect Hinduism from the growing influence of Islam in northern India and attracted followers of both faiths namely Hinduism and Islam to the new religion of Sikhism. Sikhism in its formative period faced no resistance from the Islamic rulers of the Delhi Sultanate until the establishment of the Golden Temple at Amritsar by the 5^th Guru Arjandevji. From the 5^th Guru Arjandevji onwards, Sikhism faced resistance from the Islamic Mughal emperors like Jahangir, followed by Aurangzeb who was the most tyrannical, despotic and intolerant Mughal emperor of all. During the reign of Auranzeb the 9^th Guru TeghBahadurji became a martyr on the orders given by the despotic Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in Delhi as he and his followers did not accept Islam. The Sikhs could not bear this insult by the Mughals for they had beheaded their 9^th Guru who was also the father of their last and 10^th Guru Gobind Singhji. Therefore, Guru Gobind Singh made up his mind to not tolerate the atrocities done by the Mughal rulers on his countrymen and to protect them from the tyrant Mughal rule under Emperor Aurangzeb, the 10^th Guru transformed the Sikhs into a martial community by establishing the Khalsa order and ordered his Sikh followers to carry the 5 Ks with them namely Kangha, Kesh, Kirpan, Kaccha and Kada. The 10^th Guru Gobindsinghji established the Khalsa sect in 1700 AD by renaming every male member as Singh or lion and every female member as Kaur or lioness and proclaimed to all his Sikh followers that henceforth there will no further Guru for the Sikhs and that the teachings of the 10 Gurus written in Guru GranthSahib will be the guiding light for all the Sikhs which is placed in the Harmandir at Amritsar, the holiest of the holy pilgrimage site for all the Sikhs throughout the world. Soon the Sikhs formed their own kingdom in Punjab under the leadership of Ranjit Singh which protected northern India from Afghan invasion but were defeated by the British in 1853 AD. To this day the Sikhs are known for their bravery and exemplary military service for India and there is also a Sikh regiment in the Indian army.

       Thus we see that there are 10 major religions in this world and can be grouped under Dharmic and Abrahamic religions. The Dharmic religions are older than Abrahamic religion in history, culture and the process of human getting civilized happened first in Dharmic religion especially Sanatan Dharma – the mother of all religions which is the oldest systematic religion followed by mankind and creating the oldest civilization on earth known as the Vedic civilization which spread from Bharat to all the corners of the world and made others civilized and gave their Vedic culture and Sanskrit language through peaceful contact. The Abrahamic religions are newer religions as compared to Dharmic religion and have a shorter history of cultural evolution spanning not more than 5000 years old starting from Judaism till the rapid spread of Christainity and Islam. The Abrahamic religion have derived their philosophy from the existing Dharmic religion which existed prior to them such as Sanatan dharma and Parsi religion. Thus prior to the existence of Abrahamic religions Sanatan Dharma was the dominant religion in the Middle East and was followed in majority throughout the world. The Abrahamic religions don’t recognize the Vedic past of Middle East and about the origins of their religion from Sanatan Dharma and they hide, falsify or deny the facts because they have spread rapidly throughout the world through conquest, coercion and conversion and have imposed their culture on the existing Dharmic religions.

             As explained the chief Dharmic religion is Sanatan Vedic Hindu Dharma and is the mother religion of all Dharmic and Abrahamic religions as is explained in this blog because the Vedas were revealed to the Sages in deep meditation by the heavenly Gods and contains all the material and spiritual knowledges for the betterment of mankind as they are known as revealed scriptures or Apaurusheya that which is not created by humans. Since Vedic religion is based on Vedic knowledges which worshipped natural Gods like Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya, Rudra, Prajapati, Skanda, Ganesh, the 3 principal Gods Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva, the incarnations of Vishnu, the worship of Goddesses associated with principal Gods, hence the followers of Sanatan Vedic Hindu Dharma came to be considered as polytheists by the followers of Abrahamic religion. However, the Abrahamic followers are guided with a poor fund of knowledge regarding the aspect of Supreme God worshipped in Sanatan Dharma. The followers of Sanatan Dharma consider the various Demigods as parts and parcels of One Supreme God who is the Supreme Controller who can be directly approached through devotion by worshipping, chanting of his holy names or can be worshipped indirectly through his assistants known as the various Demigods that manage the various Universal affairs and assist the Supreme God in maintaining the Cosmic Universal affairs. Thus in Sanatan Dharma we find the concept of Ekam Sat or One Supreme Principal God in various Vedic literatures such as the Upanishads which proclaim that the Supreme God is having both Personal form which is blissful transcendental and effulgent and is the source of his Impersonal form known as the Bramhan effulgence which pervades the Spiritual sky in the form of transcendental light and also provides light to the Sun, moon, Stars and galaxies in the material world. This same concept is once again explained by Lord Krishna himself in the 12^th and 15^th chapters of Bhagvad Gita. The Supreme Lord Krishna reveals his Universal form to Arjun in the 11^th chapter and reveals to Arjun that he is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is called by many names by his devotees to be the Supreme Controller behind the Cosmic affairs of creation, maintenance and destruction - Parmeshwar, the Supreme Mystic - Yogeshwar, as the source of all Vishnu incarnations that exist in the Spiritual world and the cause of all causes and all the moving and non-moving things are working under his direction in this material world. Thus Sanatan Dharma declares that all the Demigods assist One Supreme God Krishna in maintaining the various universal affairs. Lord Krishna further clears the doubt of all the Abrahamic religions in the 12^th chapter that their are 2 type of worshippers who worship him, the one who worship his personal form which is full of bliss, knowledge and eternity with full faith and devotion is considered by him to be the best among the devotees. These devotees of the Supreme Lord are known as the Vaishnavas and by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Krishna or his Vishnu incarnations, get a chance to eternally associate with the Supreme Lord Krishna in the Spiritual world whereby they escape the repeated cycle of birth and death.

        To the followers of other Dharmic religions and especially to the Abrahamics and to the Mayawadis the Supreme Lord Krishna says in the 12^th chapter that those who worship his impersonal feature known as Bramhan effulgence which pervades the spiritual sky and consider it to be the source of ultimate bliss and liberation, for them liberation is very difficult to achieve because the impersonalists even after achieving liberation through many hardships merge in the Bramhan effulgence they remain blissful in it as suspended Spiritual atomic particles and have to once again take birth in the material world since they have an impersonal conception of the Supreme God and are therefore compelled to take birth in the material world as they cannot be embodied with the Supreme Lord in his spiritual abode due to their impersonal God consciousness. Thus all the Abrahamic religions, the Mayawadi school of thought and Shaiva siddhant school of thought are all impersonalists and consider God to be formless Bramhan effulgence and merge in it as suspended atoms again to take birth in the material world. However the Personalists or the Vaishnavas who worship the Supreme God Krishna or his Vishnu incarnations with full faith and devotion in deity form and by chanting his holy names achieve not only liberation from repeated birth and death but eternal association with Lord Krishna by attaining a spiritual transcendental body in the Spiritual world by the mercy of Lord Krishna. So Krishna consciousness is the topmost science of realizing the Supreme Lord who is all merciful, compassionate and omnipresent and is the father of all fallen conditioned Souls who due to their free will are entangled in the repeated cycle of birth and death in the material world. By practicing Krishna consciousness in our lives and preaching the glories, name, fame and pastimes of Supreme Lord Krishna we achieve the mercy of Lord Krishna. Krishna consciousness can be practiced by anyone and does not belong to particular religion since it is a Universal religion and is not sectarian in its approach. The Supreme Lord Krishna as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself descended 500 years ago in Bengal along with his associates to spread the holy names to liberate the fallen conditioned Souls from the clutches of his illusory energy Maya by giving them the Hare Krishna Mahamantra by which Maya ceases to act upon the devotee and the devotee gradually experiences ever increasing bliss while performing devotional service to Lord Krishna which makes a devotee eligible to associate eternally in Goloka Vrindavan in the spiritual world by the mercy of Lord Krishna wherein the devotee transcends this temporary material world and forever escapes the repeated cycle of birth and death which is the actual aim of human life. Therefore Krishna consciousness is the process of devotion to Lord Krishna in which a person of any religious affiliation or nationality can take part in the Sankirtan movement established by Lord Chaitanya and practice devotional service unto the Supreme Lord Krishna. As a Spirit Soul our constitutional position is to serve Lord Krishna, however the influence of Maya makes and the presence of false ego in our temporary human body does not let us cultivate devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna which will enable us in achieving Self realization by which a devotee realizes that he is not this temporary material body but eternal Spirit Soul and will then understand the importance of worshipping Lord Krishna through loving devotional service for gaining the mercy of the Supreme Lord by the process of chanting of the holy names which is the Yugdharma. A Krishna conscious devotee considers himself to be the part and parcel of the SuperSoul and surrenders at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord in humility and considers that everything belongs to the Supreme Lord and therefore he does not indulge himself in sense gratification which arises from bodily conception in the material world. On the contrary a Krishna conscious devotee uses his resources in the practice of Krishna consciousness under the guidance of a Spiritual master and in association of devotees by cultivating faith and devotion unto the Supreme Lord and gives up bad things which may stop his advancement in devotional service. Since Lord Krishna is the Supreme Controller and is known as Bhaktavatsal for he loves his devotees as Lord Krishna proclaims that I stay within my devotees and the devotees stay in me. Thus devotional service is reciprocal and pleases the Supreme Lord and Krishna consciousness or Bhaktiyoga is the easiest and most sublime process to attain the mercy of Supreme Lord Krishna and Go back home Back to Godhead.  

|| Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare |

| Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare ||