Unidentified Living Objects
It's after a long break that I am writing something on the blog. I took a look at my recent blog entries and felt that it's title, 'My musings on random subjects' is slightly off the mark.....I usually end up writing about politics. But then I have always been interested in politics. I was one of the very few teens who checked out the editorials and political news of ToI before the sports page....not that Indian sports has a lot of news-worthy stuff going on. Anyway, I am not going to change this title. It gives me the flexibility to write about whatever I wish.
Over the past few days, I have been following the development of the Seer Arrest episode of Indian politics. I am happy that there has been no storm of protest or violence by his followers. At the same time, I am sad that there is no one who seems to be really interested. I would have liked to see if the government would have had the guts to arrest the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid under similar circumstances. I must warn you that I am not trying to indulge in Muslim bashing. But one must accept this stark difference between the people of these two faiths. Am I trying to say that Hindus should become as reactionary and fundamentalist as Islamic fanatics. No. All I wish is that Hindus not be so apathetic to their religion. These are two extremes and I wish we Hindus started moving towards somewhere in the center.
One sixth of the world's population is Hindu. But you should see the descriptions of Hinduism and of Hindu religious beliefs and ceremonies given in the Microsoft Encyclopedia and in the writings of Wendy Doniger. And we do nothing to challenge them. The problem with Hinduism is that it was not forged during times of struggle or hardships like Christianity or Islam were. As such, it lacks the fundamentalism and intolerance of these religions. No Hindu text preaches that all non-Hindus should be either converted or slaughtered nor does any text tell us that Lord Shankar will hurl his trident and consign all non-Hindus to eternal hell while Hindus enjoy the fruits of heaven. Indeed Hindu religious texts do not even have rituals to convert people to Hinduism. If u believe, you believe. It's that simple. They do have suggestions on how to lead a life which benefits you, your family and the society you live in. Indeed, the Kamasutra, that vaunted tome of Love and Erotica, devotes a majority of it's pages describing how a man should interact with his wife, with other women, with his creditors and debtors, with government officials, with his employer/employee, with the king etc.
All my friends know my political leanings quite well. And while I do not agree with the more fundamentalist views of RSS, VHP etc. I do agree with them when they say 'Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai' (Proclaim proudly that we are Hindus). Unless we respect ourselves, others won't. And I know there is a lot of work to be done before we can start respecting ourselves as a group. The first and foremost thing that needs to be done is the eradication of the caste system. This system divides the Hindus and hence is detrimental to the religion. I know this is not easy what with the caste politics and quota systems. But then the right path is never easy ( as pointed out by SRK in DDLJ! - Parth would be sure to exclaim ;-) ). We should also be more aware of our past and our heritage. We should teach our children at least a smattering of sanskrit and at least familiarize them with the existence of the Vedas, the Upanishads and their broad contents. We should at least introduce them to Kalidas, Panini, Aryabhatta and to the fact that Brahmabhatta stated what we call the Pythagoras Theorem, about 800 years before Pythagoras was born.
Our leaders like Nehru and other socialists and communists have tried to erase our Hindu identity and tried to give India a secular credo. While this was good when it came to governance, judiciary etc it is bad when it comes to forging a strong and united community. And without such a community, a country is weak and ineffective. While separation of Church and State is a very correct principle, it is also true that both should co-exist. Weakening of one, automatically weakens the other and leads to the destruction of both.
May be people in India will think I am over-reacting. But the problem seems all the more serious to me because I am looking at it sitting here in the US. I think the people in India are too close to the problem. (Something like this transpired between me and my friend Parth a few months ago. He complained that desis living in the US become overly critical of Bollywood fare after they come to the US. I explained to him that when one's friend circle consists of two Koreans, one Peruvian, one Sri Lankan, one Australian and one Taiwanese, Bollywood is rather an embarrassment.) I think it's time India dumped it's communists, who in any case had publicly declared in the 60's that China's President is their President, and started on a path of self-discovery and self-respect.
Over the past few days, I have been following the development of the Seer Arrest episode of Indian politics. I am happy that there has been no storm of protest or violence by his followers. At the same time, I am sad that there is no one who seems to be really interested. I would have liked to see if the government would have had the guts to arrest the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid under similar circumstances. I must warn you that I am not trying to indulge in Muslim bashing. But one must accept this stark difference between the people of these two faiths. Am I trying to say that Hindus should become as reactionary and fundamentalist as Islamic fanatics. No. All I wish is that Hindus not be so apathetic to their religion. These are two extremes and I wish we Hindus started moving towards somewhere in the center.
One sixth of the world's population is Hindu. But you should see the descriptions of Hinduism and of Hindu religious beliefs and ceremonies given in the Microsoft Encyclopedia and in the writings of Wendy Doniger. And we do nothing to challenge them. The problem with Hinduism is that it was not forged during times of struggle or hardships like Christianity or Islam were. As such, it lacks the fundamentalism and intolerance of these religions. No Hindu text preaches that all non-Hindus should be either converted or slaughtered nor does any text tell us that Lord Shankar will hurl his trident and consign all non-Hindus to eternal hell while Hindus enjoy the fruits of heaven. Indeed Hindu religious texts do not even have rituals to convert people to Hinduism. If u believe, you believe. It's that simple. They do have suggestions on how to lead a life which benefits you, your family and the society you live in. Indeed, the Kamasutra, that vaunted tome of Love and Erotica, devotes a majority of it's pages describing how a man should interact with his wife, with other women, with his creditors and debtors, with government officials, with his employer/employee, with the king etc.
All my friends know my political leanings quite well. And while I do not agree with the more fundamentalist views of RSS, VHP etc. I do agree with them when they say 'Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai' (Proclaim proudly that we are Hindus). Unless we respect ourselves, others won't. And I know there is a lot of work to be done before we can start respecting ourselves as a group. The first and foremost thing that needs to be done is the eradication of the caste system. This system divides the Hindus and hence is detrimental to the religion. I know this is not easy what with the caste politics and quota systems. But then the right path is never easy ( as pointed out by SRK in DDLJ! - Parth would be sure to exclaim ;-) ). We should also be more aware of our past and our heritage. We should teach our children at least a smattering of sanskrit and at least familiarize them with the existence of the Vedas, the Upanishads and their broad contents. We should at least introduce them to Kalidas, Panini, Aryabhatta and to the fact that Brahmabhatta stated what we call the Pythagoras Theorem, about 800 years before Pythagoras was born.
Our leaders like Nehru and other socialists and communists have tried to erase our Hindu identity and tried to give India a secular credo. While this was good when it came to governance, judiciary etc it is bad when it comes to forging a strong and united community. And without such a community, a country is weak and ineffective. While separation of Church and State is a very correct principle, it is also true that both should co-exist. Weakening of one, automatically weakens the other and leads to the destruction of both.
May be people in India will think I am over-reacting. But the problem seems all the more serious to me because I am looking at it sitting here in the US. I think the people in India are too close to the problem. (Something like this transpired between me and my friend Parth a few months ago. He complained that desis living in the US become overly critical of Bollywood fare after they come to the US. I explained to him that when one's friend circle consists of two Koreans, one Peruvian, one Sri Lankan, one Australian and one Taiwanese, Bollywood is rather an embarrassment.) I think it's time India dumped it's communists, who in any case had publicly declared in the 60's that China's President is their President, and started on a path of self-discovery and self-respect.
posted by Avinash | 9:20 PM
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