Most of the content of this page is from Elst's homepage at http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/ Imc 22:57, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It is impossible to speak of K. Elst without mentionning the very controversial aspects of his writings. I have added a few sentences, with a general reference, and added a link in the External links which help to better contemplate the rather particular point of view that K. Elst represents. AlexOriens 7, Jan 2006.

Yes, but Wikipedia is not the place for original research. René Guénon's (1886-1951) "Introduction Générale à l'Etude des Doctrines Hindoues" is rather irrelevant for a biography of Elst. I don't think he made links between the israeli-palestinian conflict and Ayodhya or else please provide sources that Elst makes links between Ayodhya and the israeli-palestinian conflict. Your other assertions like the conspiracy theory of a vast campaign are not npov either. The link you added is a internet forum discussion from a partisan website.

The sentences I added are not from any original research stuff. I just mentionned the controversies about Elst. René Guénon citation is on the contrary extremely relevant, not for a biography of Elst (I never said that, and it is not in any "Biography" section), but to understand the general setting of someone's referring to the founder of the Arya Samaj doctrine. The links made by Elst between the israeli-palestinian conflict and Ayodhya are from his book "Ayodhya: the case against the temple" which has a chapter 8 entitled: "From Ayodhya to Nazareth". And the rest is not about "conspiracy theory" but just about facts. However, I admit to suppress that latter part, as it is a matter of controversy. The link I added is not an internet forum: it is a a collection of mails between Elst and a famous Indologist, R. Zydenbos. I admit we can discuss about how to make addings and modifications about Elst's section in Wikipedia, but it is impossible to deny the controversies about K. Elst. AlexOriens 7, Jan 2006.

AlexOriens 8, Jan 2006. Hello. Without any intention to focus and insist, I have to say thay the controversies about K. Elst are not only about Hinduism in itself, but also on his rather particular and politically oriented "views" on the Hindu/Muslim problems in India. The sentence I added about the Ayodhya/Nazareth link is not an invention of myself, it comes directly from Elst's writings (see above). Some events involving Hindus and Muslims in India are interpreted by Dr. K. Elst and other few people in a very specific way and they serve, among other things, as a basis for a so-called "rewriting of Indian history", which is of very controversial nature, and, in fact, very controversed by many Hindus themselves and also by the vast majority of Indologists. Hence I believe that a sentence must be added on that subject, because that subject made an important part of Dr. K. Elst's "works" in a recent past. If the sentence I added about the Ayodhya/Nazareth link is not the best for a wikipedian, then may be we can try to find another sentence if you want, but, in an article on Elst, the subject cannot be hidden.

Since when is René Guénon an authority on Hinduism? Elst's works are relatively free from political bias. He writes truthfully about communalism and is critical of the political establishment in India, including the Sangh and Congress governments. "I don’t need to belong to ... any specific ideological categories in order to use my eyes and ears."

You can add as many quotations of Elst as you want, that does not change in any manner the general ambiance of Elst's writings. I am not saying that Elst is linked to a particular political movement, it does not matter in fact, I do say that his opinions take place in a framework that has a strong political bias. Wikipedia is an encyclopedy, and as such, in it, we can contemplate the origin of ideological movements. Can you understand the difference ? Elst's books and articles speak by themselves, whatever rectifications Elst might add to simulate his views are not biased. And, on Hinduism, yes, I'm sorry but Guenon's "Introduction..." is infinitely much more valuable, and of a very different nature, by the way. You will note that I don't mention Guenon here about Hinduism in general, I just mention a chapter of his "Introduction..." ("Vedanta westernised") to help better understand in what current Elst's influences take place. AlexOriens 12, Jan 2006.

Elst, through his writings, is actually attempting to detract Hindu revivalists from taking a non-secular course. He affirms a thoroughly secular approach in his works. I seriously doubt that encouraging this impartial (i.e. everyone is equal under the law) attitude can be considered politically biased. By this, you are claiming that Elst is unreasonably critical or prejudiced. According to this logic, Martin Luther King is also biased for having promoted equality. You are incorrect in claiming that Elst "is linked to a particular political movement". Perhaps you should mention which movement this is? Writing books does not make him part of any movement or ideology. This article is not about Hinduism, so mention of Guenon's book (or a chapter of it) does not belong here in the first place. I (as of now) fail to understand how this book on "Hindu Doctrine" from 1921 would shed any light on why Elst would write specifically about communalism (and Ayodhya), which seems to have reached a peak 70 years after Guenon's book. I haven't read this, so I encourage you to post excerpts showing these "currents" which shape Elst's "influences". Hopefully these will show if there is anything that substantiates these allegations. At any rate, Elst has made it clear that he is not a Hindu and most of his writings don't go into too great detail about Hindu doctrines.

1- You allowed yourself to change my answer by deletting a sentence of it: "linked to a particular political movement" and, after that, pretend that I said that Elst is actually linked to a political movement, which exactly the contrary of what I wrote. I will not comment this way of doing but let me warn you that everything in Wikipedia is registered and that by doing so you did make a patent fraud, and the clues that you actually made a fraud cannot be cancelled. You should learn Wikipedia's basics before tempting at cheating with it. You made your fraud under the IP address 220.237.243.31 which is DNS-converted into the name 220.237.243.31.optusnet.com.au, a particular server in Australia. The evidence of your fraud is registered in Wikipeda under the name: "Revision as of 01:24, 13 January 2006 220.237.243.31".

- Not 100% sure how this happened, but I must've cut out your text. Sorry. If you go back and check, you will see I have also edited out some of my own language and might have mistaken your line for my quotation. However, if I wanted to "fraud" I wouldn't have quoted your original statement. I think you're overreacting, I also know how Wikipedia functions. An embarassing mistake though. - Now that I've looked over the edit history, I realize I might've hit enter while applying cut and paste to import the quote into my reply. This has upset me though, because the last thing I wanted was to be accused of this. Once again, my apologies.

2- So before you modify my answer, I did wrote: "I am not saying that Elst is linked to a particular political movement, it does not matter in fact" which should answer the first part of your "honest" interrogations.

3- For your question about Guenon, let me remind you what I wrote (and this time you did not delete it, which lends me to think you undergo serious problems in reading people's quotations in a non-distorted way whenever you don't attempt at modificating at people writings): "You will note that I don't mention Guenon here about Hinduism in general, I just mention a chapter of his "Introduction..." ("Vedanta westernised") to help better understand in what current Elst's influences take place".

4- Yes, Ayodhya events comes 70 years after Guenon's book, but this is not the point here. Try to exercize yourself in findind how typical writers of what is described in "Vedanta westernised" appear in Elst writings. That wouldn't be too difficult, if you read the chapter I mentionned. The quotations you are asking for are entirely in Elst productions.

5- After the fraud you made that I reported in 1), let me tell you that I doubt you should attempt any modifications of what I write here or in Elst's article in Wikipedia. AlexOriens 13, Jan 2006.

- I don't totally disagree with your points, but asked only for you to prove them by posting excerpts from the book. Since you haven't, I'll try to get access to it before we continue this discussion.

I will post what you ask for very soon. In the meantime it will serve for others authors that make use of Elst's writings, like Gauthier. AlexOriens 1", Jan 2006.

- My purpose behind editing this article was only to weed out any false assumptions about Elst and his work. The edited article mentions "a stream of thinking not devoid of political motives". This implies that Elst himself may not be politically motivated, but this stream (i.e. thought current) is. Hence, this is what I meant by you appearing to link Elst with a movement or ideology. On one hand, (you and I appear to agree) Elst is personally unattached to any movement. But then you say his writings are linked to a movement with a political bias. I find this perplexing , since his works (or the stream of thinking his works are a part of) cannot be linked to any movement if Elst himself isn't linked to it. Anyway, I have no objection to the paragraphs you've added as long as they're true. That's why I'd asked for a deeper explanation of the paragraphs and then for proof of their validity. I think we're done for now, but I'd definitely like to know more about the "Vedanta westernised" chapter.