Sita Ram Goel

66

Sita Ram Goel : biography

1921 – 2003

Goel edited the book "Time for Stock-Taking", a collection of papers critical of the RSS., Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001) According to Belgian writer Koenraad Elst, Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel wrote in defence of Hinduism, never of "Hindutva".

On Christianity

Goel was outspoken in his criticism of Christianity. Catherine Cornille and others have criticized Goel for his anti-Christian perspective.Preface to Goel’s "Catholic Ashrams". 1994.Catherine Cornille. The Guru in Indian Catholicism: Ambiguity or Opportunity of Inculturation, Louvain, 1990, pp.192-93.

In 1995 Goel sent Pat Robertson his book "Jesus Christ: An Artifice for Aggression", and a letter in protest to Robertson’s remarks towards the religion of Hinduism.S.R. Goel:History of Hindu-Christian Encounters, 1996

On Islam and Muslims

Goel has criticized the history and doctrines of Islam in some of his writings. His works are also cited by critics of Islam like Robert SpencerThe Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, Regnery Publishing 2006. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), Regnery Publishing, 2005. and Arun Shourie.Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. 1998

Despite his criticism of Islam, he said that he is not opposed "to an understanding and reconciliation between the two communities. All I want to say is that no significant synthesis or assimilation took place in the past, and history should not be distorted and falsified to serve the political purposes of a Hindu-baiting herd."Goel, Sita Ram, The Story of Islamic Imperialism He argues that the Muslims should evaluate the Islamic history and doctrines in terms of rationalism and humanism "without resort to the casuistry marshalled by the mullahs and sufis, or the apologetics propped up by the Aligarh and Stalinist schools of historians", just as the European Christians did centuries earlier with Christianity.

He believed that the "average Muslim is as good or bad a human being as an average Hindu", and warned:

Some people are prone to confuse Islam with its victims, that is, the Muslims, and condemn the latter at the same time as they come to know the crudities of the former. This is a very serious confusion, which should be avoided by all those who believe in building up a broad-based human brotherhood as opposed to narrow, sectarian, self-centred, and chauvinistic nationalism or communalism.

Literary influences

He wrote and published books in English and Hindi. He also translated George Orwell’s 1984, three Dialogues of Plato, Denis Kincaid’s book "The Great Rebel" about Shivaji and other books into Hindi.

Goel was well read in Western and Eastern literature, and among his most favorite writers or works were Thomas Hardy, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Aldous Huxley, Plato, Tagore, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, Vaishnava and Baul poets, the Kathamrita written by Mahendranath Gupta (Sri M.) and Thomas Gray’s poem "Elegy".Goel: How I became a Hindu His most favorite book was the Mahabharata, which he read in the original language.Goel: How I became a Hindu, ch.1, 8

Sita Ram Goel was influenced by Indian writer and philosopher Ram Swarup. He said that his masters have been "Vyasa, Buddha and Sri Aurobindo, as elucidated by Ram Swarup". He was also influenced by Tilak, Dayananda Sarasvati and Mahatma Gandhi.

Notes

Banned books

Understanding Islam through Hadis

In 1983 Goel reprinted Ram Swarup’s "Understanding Islam through Hadis". The book was a summary of the Sahih Muslim Hadith, and consisted of extracts from the Hadiths. In 1987 he again reprinted the book, but the copies of a Hindi translation were seized by the police and Goel was arrested briefly.Freedom of expression – Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998, edited by Sita Ram Goel) ISBN 81-85990-55-7