AP book sparked off Karnataka violence Mumbai Mirror dated 23-09-2008 http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article"sectid=3"contentid=200809192008091903361675194568d35"pageno=1 The book Satya Darshini, written in Hyderabad and banned 12 years ago, was translated and circulated in Mangalore; author feels sorry that it was misused P Pavan Arun Kumar, son of Paravasthu Suryanarayana, who wrote the book. Hyderabad: The book Satya Darshini (Knowing The Truth) which was allegedly the reason for sparking off communal tensions in coastal Karnataka, had originated from "Karunamaya Ministries" in Hyderabad, and was originally printed in Telugu. A Mangalore church had reportedly circulated the translated version of the book recently. P Arun Kumar, son of its author Paravasthu Suryanarayana (popularly known as Paravasthu among missionary circles), claimed that the book was published 12 years ago and was withdrawn from free circulation after it sparked off communal riots in Bhimavaram of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh in 1998. "We came to know through a Christian brother from Karnataka that the book had been misused by the New Life Church, after which there have been attacks on Christian prayer halls. Those who distributed it to the Hindus with an intention of convert them are fools," said Arun. "It happened because the book had no copyright. We priced it at Rs 300. So it is not within the reach of those who want to distribute it for free," said Arun. Paravasthu, who runs the Carmel Church in a slum adjoining Motinagar (Borabanda), a popular religious preacher, was unavailable for comment when this reporter went to the church-cum-residence. The great grandson of a famous Telugu poet, Paravasthu Chinnaya Suri, Suryanarayana converted in his 20s. "My father has gone to Tamil Nadu. He is not accessible for 10 days," claims Arun Kumar, who is a music pastor in the same church and manages the ministry (publications) side. "Though my father does not regret any of the contents in the book, he feels very sorry if it has been misused," he said. It is reported that some comments against lord Rama and Sita irked Hindutva advocates in Karnataka. Arun said, "The book only brought to light the confessions by Rama that he was not a God." The entrance to the church-cum-residence Satya Darshini - the reason for attacks? http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep172008/district2008091690423.asp

DH News Service, 17-09-2008, Mangalore:

As Bajrang Dal claims, the basic reason for its ire against the New Life prayer halls, is a book titled `Satya Darshini" where the Hindu gods and goddesses have been shown in a bad light hurting the religious sentiments

According to Bajrang Dal state convener Mahendra Kumar, this `humiliating literature' is being circulated among the society encouraging conversion of Hindus.As per the available pages of `Satya Darshini,' the book has been originally written in Telugu (Ruju Darshini) by one Rev Paravastu Sooryanarayana, which has been translated to Kannada by Sriramreddy of Bangalore, and revised by Rev Samson S Malekar of Davangere. The editor of the book is A G Prakash of Suvarta Sevadal, Bellary.Rev Paravastu Sooryanarayana published the original book through his Karunamaya Ministries, based in Hyderabad. According to the book, he took his birth in a traditional Brahmin family and was educated in Jagannathamutt Vidyapeeth. He was the chief priest (archak) in Sri Lakshminarayanaswamy Temple, and later embraced the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In his book, Sooryanarayana interprets select verses (shlokas) from various Hindu epics and explains why did he dislike the religion, the gods and goddesses. Analysing one such verse, the books states "Like human beings, the divine people also commit sins. Nara and Narayan did the same….. In fact, Rama and Krishna are not at all divine incarnations. They took birth like humans, committed sins and experienced its after effects. Hence, they are not gods and cannot give salvation (mukthi)…" (page 44).

In another chapter, it is stated "Madigas eat meat. Brahmins eat ghee, produced from cow's fat. What is the difference between Madigas eating meat and Brahmins eating fat?" (page 48). Another explanation on the same page says, "Seer Vasishta, the mentor of Sri Rama, is the son of a prostitute, Urvashi…. Vashishta made her his own wife… Brahmins are the progeny of this couple… Hence, Brahmins are Shudras."

"Sri Krishna is not light; he is darkness. One who is not light cannot be a god… If Sri Krishna is not eligible to hold Shamantakamani, how can he relieve you from sins? Himself being in darkness, how can you provide light?" the book asks (page 49, 50) analysing the incident of Shamantakamani from Vishnupurana.http://www.newlifevoice.org/currentissues.asp

The Following are the list of abuses from one such book – Satya Darshini – distributed by the missionaries of New Life.  This book is in Kannada and the translation of the abusive passage is as follows.

• • Urvashi – the daughter of Lord Vishnu – is a prostitute.  Vashitha is the son of this prostitute.  He in turn married his own Mother.  Such a degraded person is the Guru of the Hindu God Rama. (page 48)

  • When Krishna himself is wallowing in darkness of hell, how can he enlighten others?  Since  Krishna himself is a shady character, there is a need for us to  liberate his misled followers. (page 50)·

  • It was Brahma himself who kidnapped Sita.  Since Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were themselves the victims of lust, it is a sin to consider them as Gods. (page 39)

  • When the Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) are consumed by lust and anger, how can they liberate others.  Their projection as Gods is nothing but a joke. (page 39).

  • When Vishnu asked Brahma to commit a sin, he immediately did so.  How can such a "evil brahma" be a Creator of this Universe?  How is it possible for both the sinner and the entity which provoked the sin to be gods?  (page 39)

  • God, please liberate the sinful people of India who are worshipping False Gods  that believe in the pleasures of  illicit `Vyabichari" relationships. (Page 39).

Thus, the "New Life Fellowship" has been squarely responsible for inciting hatred between Hindus and Christians, as otherwise, their relationship in Mangalore has been very cordial and they have been moving with each other without any difference. Their denial in it has been a blatant lie and ironically, in their website, they deny that they have no role with gthe book. Read their version:
"The New Life Fellowship has been targeted by fundamental groups all over Karnataka. Along with us, other denominations of Christians have suffered the same. There have been several allegations made by people in authority as well as the media. Here we would like to declare to the world our stand regarding the allegations made against us.
1.We categorically deny any involvement with the book "Satya Darshini" that has apparently been the root cause of communal tension in Mangalore region, over the last week.  We deny the allegation that this book was printed, published, and distributed by us.  Please refer to the article in the Deccan Herald dated 18th September 2008, on page 4, titled " Book that triggered trouble in the state". That could be a possible source of the book, but we are not associated with these people nor with the allegation in the paper.

2.We neither print, publish nor distribute books/literature that contain any derogatory remarks about any religion or community. We condemn such activities.

3.We do not believe in forceful conversion, neither do we practice or encourage it.  There is no record of a single case being registered or reported in the past 25 years of our presence in Karnataka. We are a peace loving community.

4. We believe that faith cannot be forced, but is an internal personal experience in a human being and an individual choice Forced conversion is totally meaningless and we do not endorse or practise it.

5.We follow Christ and practice His commandment to love God and love our neighbours - that means we wish the highest good for our neighbours socially, economically and spiritually.

6.People from all communities, castes, creed, religion and linguistic group join us for our worship meetings. We continually pray for our national and state leaders and for peace and blessings for all communities.

7.We are neither funded nor a part of any international organization or church.  We are an indigenous church.  We have our churches in some Gulf countries and some of our members have settled in other countries who contribute."