Dear Editor,
The Hindus for Selfless Service (HSS) denounces the vicious and unwarranted attack on Swami Aksharananda in the above mentioned column. As is his habit, he questions the credentials of the revered Swami” and calls him a “priest”. This not a matter of Kissoon’s ignorance but a continued calculated, transparent but cowardly attempt to engage in an ad hominem attack, since he implies that Swamiji is somehow inflating his qualifications. If Swamiji had elected to be a “priest”, and the proper term is “pandit” or even more technically “purohit”, he would have been addressed as Dr Odai Pal Singh.
Unlike some who claimed to be holders of PhD’s and call themselves “Doctor”, Swamiji’s doctorate was earned at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, one of the premier universities in the US. This was what he renounced in addition to the desire for material possessions, progeny and fame, when he was initiated into the order of Sanyasis (Monks) in India. Since his return to Guyana as a Swami in 1994, no one can point a finger at him for not observing the strictures of the Dasnami Order of Sanyasis founded by Adi Shankaracharya more than a millennia ago.
On the allegations that Swamiji engaged in race baiting interventions in the press, the one instance he chose to illustrate his claim exposes Kissoon’s mendacity. Where is the “racist” content of Swamiji calling for an “ethnic impact statement” on the dismissals when the APNU Manifesto promises such statements? On Swamiji’s denunciation of the hate-filled fulminations of Pastor Anderson in Central High School he offered concrete examples. Could Kissoon point to such examples in any of Swamiji’s writing?
We call upon the publishers of the Kaieteur News to exercise more care in what they allow their paper to publish, especially when it defames such a reputable figure in the largest religious segment in Guyana’s multi-religious society.
Sincerely,
Vishal Seeraj
HSS (Guyana)
