Preface

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The views expressed in the postings on this website are my personal views. I do not expect anybody to agree with me. The moment someone agrees with me I will lose my uniqueness, which I prefer to preserve. And yet I do hope that the readers, if any, reexamine their beliefs with open mind(s) and change where deemed appropriate. Please assume that every word written here is wrong and try to prove it.

The purpose of this website is to provoke and stimulate thinking using one's own God-given intelligence without letting anyone or any thing obfuscate it. We take too many things for granted because of the incessant propaganda we are subjected to. All I wish to do is contribute a few droplets of clarity in the oceans of misleading propaganda.

I have chosen ‘Tatoodi’ (તતૂડી) as my pen name. Tatoodi, in Gujarati language (in India), means a small musical wind instrument. It used to be played as an accompaniment to an assemblage of drums particularly on battlefronts. Its sound, being soft, used to get overwhelmed by the loud noises of the drums. This lead to the Gujarati expression ‘Nagarkhanama tatoodi’ (નગારખાનામાં તતૂડી) used as a metaphor for a low barely audible voice of dissent that hardly any body wanted to hear.

I try not to sound ‘knowledgeable’ for I am neither a leader nor a follower, just a fellow traveler on the path to truth. Please see Introduction for more information on my purpose, methods etc. in writing the pieces I have and will be posting on this website.

I was an engineer with a state government in India and later with a public entity of a very large city in USA. I am now retired. So, I do not have the ‘scholarly’ training in logic, science, theology or philosophy. Yet, in search of truth, I have been reading a lot of ‘spiritual’ literature for over 30 years. Most of it turned out to be ineffective collections of high-sounding hollow words. I find it impossible to accept the most of it for the simple reason that the stories and practices of the religions contradict their own stated principles. They rely heavily on worthless miracles, which only generate faith not in God but in the self-appointed agents of God. They do not always uphold truth and justice. I consider the religions blasphemous because they put words in God’s mouth and in devotees’ prayers and also because they regulate people’s prayers and lives. Some religions even make it compulsory for all to want to go to heaven even if one is quite willing to go to hell (if they exist). I prefer to call myself a ‘fundamentalist semi-theist’ who does believe in God but not in the religious propaganda based on my own examination of the ‘scriptures’ from the ‘fundamental’ common sense considerations.

I used to feel a sense of guilt and inferiority complex for not being able to practice the lofty ideals preached by the 'great' founders and sages in pursuit of detachment, salvation, enlightenment, meditation etc. I then realized that those were not for an ordinary family man like me. Therefore, I started looking for an appropriate way of life for myself. The outcome is presented here for sharing with people like me. My views have been called 'radical'. I think they are 'rational'. Please read them and find out.

Vishvamitra, the so called great sage, was so inconsiderate of humanitarian behavior that he left a new born baby in a forest without protection. He subjected Harishchandra to a lot of hard times. He killed one hundred sons (or disciples) of Vasishtha and conspired to drown the latter. If a person like him can be called a "brahmarshi", I have no need for such a "brahma". Yudhishthira, when living in the combustible mansion called 'Laxagar', had his younger brother Bhim start a fire such that six innocent forest-dwellers got burnt to death. He also bet his brothers and their common wife to gamble. If such a man can get admitted to the heaven and can also be praised as a "dharmaraj" (a beacon of dharma i.e. righteousness), I have no use for such a heaven nor for that dharma. This does not make me a wicked person. I always adhered to all the norms of morality and ethics.

At your convenience, you may read the postings listed on the home page. I may be wrong on some points. Ask yourself whether the opinion expressed is right or wrong? What if it is right? If it is wrong, what is right? Do not just accept or reject without thinking because the basic purpose of these articles is to make people think independently.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." From Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

I owe special thanks to my friend Abhilash for suggesting and encouraging me to publish my writings on a web site. He set up this site himself and removed the bugs I caused by my improper handling.

If at all you wish to contact me, you may send me an e-mail at tatoodi@gmail.com.