ABOUT CALLING A SPADE A SPADE
Observations by someone who grew up in the stifling atmosphere of dogmatic Christianity and appreciates the freshness and freedom of undogmatic Hinduism– and wonders why Hindus are so apologetic about their religion when it actually is the best bet for a fulfilling life.
Hindus used to say, “All religions are equal”. They did not want to see that the two biggies, Christianity and Islam, did not agree. Each of those religions claimed for itself, “We alone are the only true religion. Our God is the only true God.” They pitied Hindus that they might actually believe that by stating that all religions are equal, Hinduism would be elevated to their level. Of course, the ‘true religions’ will never allow this.
Now Hindus say, “We respect all religions. We teach it to our children. Our children hear a lot about Christianity and Islam and how good these religions are. We don’t want to offend anyone, so we teach very little about Hinduism and what we teach is only about superficial things, like festivals and customs and not about the deep philosophy and scientific insights which would portray Hinduism in a good light and might irritate other religions.”
Again, Hindus don’t want to see that Christianity and Islam do not respect Hinduism. The clergy of those religions don’t say it into their face, but to their own flock: “Hindus go to hell, if they don’t convert to the true religion. It is their own fault. We have told them about Jesus and his Father or the Prophet and Allah respectively. Still, they are so arrogant and foolish and hold on to their false gods. But God/Allah is great. He will punish them with eternal hellfire.”
In a variation of “We respect all religions” Hindus also say, “All religions teach the human being to be virtuous and good and lead him to God, the creator. Hindus attend Inter Faith Dialogues and try to find the communalities. Of course these are there. Hindus try to build on them. “Yes, all religions have good points. Yes, all religions have good people.” They keep repeating that all religions teach goodness, as if to convince themselves. However, deep down, Hindus know that this is not honest and lacks intellectual integrity. They know that Christianity and Islam have gone off track by preaching exclusiveness and hate to their flock. Those religions have encouraged persecution of others and brainwashed otherwise kind human beings into fighting for an imaginary god who supposedly hates all those ‘others’ who don’t believe, what they are told to believe. They have left a trail of bloodshed in history. But Hindus choose to ignore it. ‘Why provoke unnecessarily?’ they might feel, still betraying a psyche wounded by thousand years of oppression.
Is it not time that Hindus call a spade a spade? Swami Vivekananda has said that every Hindu who leaves his faith is not one Hindu less but one enemy more. He said this while India was ruled by the British, and Christians and Muslims were encouraged to feel superior to the “idol worshipping Hindu”. Hindus were not in a position to put the record straight, as their own elite put Hinduism down due to a malicious British education policy. Yet today, 66 years after independence, it is about time to tell the world loudly and boldly what Hinduism is about.
It is not about ruling the world. It is not about believing in unverifiable dogmas. It is not about being nice to those of one’s own faith and not nice to those of other faiths. But it is about discovering what we really are, apart from the ever-changing body and mind. The ancient rishis have discovered the oneness underlying the apparent multiplicity, long before western scientists did. This conscious, blissful oneness is not somewhere out there. It is permeating everyone (and everything) and can be felt as one’s own essence. This essence can be called God or Allah or Brahman, but the main thing is, that it is within everyone and within everyone’s reach. So, we truly are all children of the same God. We all belong to one big family. Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam. This truth provides the basis for a harmonious world and it makes sense, or does it not?
A word and its meaning are so bonded together that you mix up different words with meanings that have nothing to do with each other and what you get is utter confusion. This is the problem with many HIndus, who mix up Christian and Hindu terms and say thay are all the same. Mr. Rajiv Malhotra has done extensive work in this regard.
You may also see the first lines of Kalidasa’s classic drama Raghuvamsa:
vāgarthāviva saṁpṛktau vāgarthapratipattaye |
jagataḥ pitarau vande pārvatīparameśvarau ||
(To derive the pertinent idiom and its ideation I adore the Parents of Universe, pArvati – parameshvara, who are indissolubly cleaved together like sound and sense)
A word and its meaning are inseparable.
Greetings
equate Brahman with “God” and “Allah”. Both latter concepts are “asat” meaning imaginary and have no existence in reality when you understand what Brahman is. God and Allah are both described as outside the Nature and “they create it” at some point in time which too is a myth. Both are jealous and punitive and Brahman has none of those attributes. To equate Brahman with God and Allah is to fall into the trap of empire building political ploy of the sectors of humanity using “One-Godism” as their psycho-political tool to dominate over the “non-believers” who reject their imaginary concepts notwithstanding their projections of loving and all merciful aspect on the same jealous and cruel God and Allah. It is high time Hindus get out of this “Ishwar-Allah Tero Naam” stupidity and tell their cultural destroyer termites that they have no use for “God” and “Allah.” As the proselytizing religions were appeased willy nilly because of the Hindu generosity even by some respectable Hindu thought leaders whom an article on http://www.sookta-sumana.blogspot.com describes as the “Frankensteins of Hinduism,” we don’t need to unwittingly follow their examples no matter how friendly and generous we are as human beings, we must not allow these other human beings to destroy Hindu society through conversions using this ploy that claims “Our God is your God too” and “Our God is our God” but “Your God is not our God” and in reality you are better off economically, socially, religiously, and morally if “You accept Our God as Your God” and then we will send you to heaven and may be buy you a First Class Tickets while all of your ancestors, the Hindu heathens, are burning in Hell. These One Godism concepts are so primitive and nauseating that intellectuals who are objective and can see through the brain washing of these dogmatic religious proclamations must refrain from equating Brahman with God and Allah both of which are spades as you have shown the exemplary courage to announce.