Why Hindu rights are not naturally protected in India?
By Anil Rathi
A question that has been haunting me since the past so many years is why the Hindus have to fight for their rights in a country where the majority are Hindus? Also, why has Hinduism given birth to other religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism? And why is Hinduism so tolerant as to allow other religions to co-exist?
Decline of Hinduism Geographically
In the early days Hinduism spread from Afghanistan to Indonesia. But slowly it got confined to India and Nepal only, while people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia adopted other religions.
Failure of Hinduism to Hold its Own Base
We have seen that Hinduism has been subject to constant change. The change may be in language, way of living, beliefs, customs, etc. Take, for instance, Sanskrit language. Considered to be the mother of most of the Indian languages, it is today being used only while performing puja or other rituals. It is confined to a specific use only and is not spoken widely. The people have gradually shifted from Sanskrit to other languages. This shift continues till today even when we have adopted the English language. Whatever may be the reasons for our adoption and acceptability of English, one thing is certain—that it will be the only language which we in India will be using in future.
So also the name of our country is changing constantly. First it was known as Bharat, then Hindustan and today it is, India.
Lack of Zeal to Spread their Religion
Today we are witnessing conversions of fellow-Hindus to other religions in our own country. But are we spreading our religion in other countries? No. Moreover we are not even thinking in that direction. Christians are spreading their religion in hardcore Islamic countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Likewise, Islam and Christianity are being spread in a Hindu country, like Nepal.
Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purposes of marriages and other functions.
Defensive Approach
Why is it that Hinduism has always been on the defensive? Hinduism has never been offensive. In fact, we have always taken pride in saying that “ours is the only country in the world that has not attacked others in the last 10,000 years.” Indeed, this is a remarkable quality of our country and our people. But what was our achievement in this when we were not able to resist the invaders? We always had to defend ourselves against Islamic and Christian invasions on our land. In spite of being the oldest civilisation, we have not been able to produce a world conqueror like Alexander or Chengiz Khan. Even King Ashoka got himself converted to Buddhism and was instrumental in spreading Buddhism far and wide. This defensive attitude is prevalent even today. Conversions of Hindus to other religions are taking place in our country. And what are we doing? Trying to reconvert them again to Hinduism? On the defensive again? Why are we not able to convert the people of other religions to Hinduism first? Why has Hinduism always been on the defensive?
Further, we are not able to protect our borders. Immigration from neighbouring Islamic States continues till today. This immigration is on such a large scale that it has changed the demographic ratio in some districts of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. Hindus have failed to prevent this immigration, both individually as also collectively. No doubt this would not have been possible without the support of local people (politicians), who for the sake of power have encouraged this large-scale immigration. But are our fellow-Hindus so indifferent as to allow and tolerate this, knowing well its consequences?
Lack of Vision/Planning
Over and above all these, Hinduism has no long-term planning and vision. This may be because of internal conflicts, differences and other problems which it is passing through.
The main reason for all these factors is the fragmentation amongst the Hindus. This is primarily because of lack of united action amongst the Hindus themselves. The Hindus follow their own way of life individually. We have hundreds of sects and each sect has its own beliefs and customs. One of the reasons for this may be that Hinduism has always been a way of life, rather than a religion. What one Hindu believes, practices or follows may not hold good for other fellow-Hindus. Because of this fragmentation, we were not able to protect our borders and Hindu States of Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Sind were lost to Islam. Further, we were witness to Islamic rule in our country for almost eight centuries during which large-scale conversion of our people to Islam took place; our temples were destroyed or converted into mosques and properties looted. But after that, the Hindu resistance to Islamic invasion was truly historic. It was due to this resistance we saw the decline of Islamic power in our country. But once again, we were on the defensive. Right?
Muslims have been successful in converting our fellow-Hindus by force. Since we were not able to fight the sword of Islam, we could not prevent such conversions. The Christians were able to convert our brothers and sisters to Christianity by giving service to humanity as also love and affection. Hinduism failed on both the counts.
I have observed that the Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purpose of marriages and other functions. This development of adopting individual approach is natural in Hindu religion. Every Hindu develops this approach from his childhood. This may be one of the reasons for the birth of so many religions, sects and beliefs.
To alter this attitude, we all have to work together to bring reforms in our religion. Long-term strategic planning needs to be developed and adopted whereby the fragmentation and the casual approach of Hindus towards their religion, the individualistic approach, overall attitude towards life and work need to be changed.
Let us make Hinduism a vibrant religion, ready to take on the challenges coming in its path.
I suggest below some points which I feel will be helpful for our religion:
A Nation that Prays Together, Stays Together
The Hindus follow their religion individually. They go to the temple as per their convenience. The procedures for prayers differ from person to person and from temple to temple. This again depends upon the sect and the region to which the temple or the person belongs. This has to be changed. A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja. Along with this, every house, shop, office, factory, etc. all over the country should be encouraged to perform aarti and puja at that given time. Not only aarti and puja should commence at a common time, but should also conclude at the same time.
Participation in a common prayer should be encouraged and everyone should be persuaded to take part in aarti. To make it convenient for everyone, the aarti should be held at all public places, trains, community centres, market places, during marriages and other family functions (if the time of aarti falls in between), in between religious ceremonies and discourses and every other possible place. This will facilitate fellow-Hindus to get a feel of collective worship. It will also help in reducing the class conflicts prevalent in the Hindu society. When people of different castes and creeds pray together, the social fabric gets strengthened.
Uniform Methodology for Prayer and Other Practices
Once we are able to follow this time code, then a common methodology of puja and aarti can be fixed and adopted all over the country. Similarly, there should be a common prayer for all the temples in India.
The prayer should be inter-active, i.e. everyone should participate in the prayer. Today in most of the temples, the priest performs the puja while the fellow-Hindus are passive participants. The prayer should be such that every participant is active and involved/engrossed in the prayer. The prayer should be brief and simple.
A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja.
Appointment of Counsellors (Acharyas)
Presently the custodians of Hindu religion are at two levels. The first level comprises of priests who perform puja, aarti and other religious ceremonies while the second level is that of saints, like Murari Bapu, Sri Sri Ravisankar, etc. In between these two lies a big vacuum. A third level, called counsellors, should be created and appointed at every temple. Their prime responsibility should be to impart knowledge of the religion along with other issues like family counselling, religious counselling, personal counselling, community counselling or any other counselling, guidance, advice as may be required.
Today if a person is in trouble and has to receive counselling, either he has to go to a priest or to a saint. The priest advises him to perform puja for mental satisfaction and the saint gives advice on various do’s and don’ts. Most probably the counsellors will also advise on the same but they do so with a human touch. The advise will come after a personal hearing and that is what a person needs at his moment of trouble. The troubled person knows that he has someone to lean upon in his time of need. One of the main problems of Hinduism is of excessive dependence on priests, who are narrow-minded and whose actions are not beneficial to a large section of the society. By appointing counsellors, the dependence on priests can be minimised. The counsellors can co-ordinate with the general public more effectively and bring about a change in the thinking process of the Hindus.
The counsellors should be thorough professionals appointed after passing the necessary examination and should be full-time employees of the temple. They should be paid handsomely so that they are perfectly capable in discharging their duties.
The counsellors will be very useful in those areas where conversions are taking place. They can stop these conversions. Being attached to the temple and the adjacent community, they can get first-hand information on all such activities. They can mix with the local population and learn about each one of them personally. They can persuade them to come to the temple. The counsellors will know who visits the temple and who does not. Incentives can be given to the local population for visiting the temple. A new front can be opened for converting Muslims, Christians and Buddhists to Hinduism.
Celebration of Basant Panchami
One of the points I wish to raise here is why has Valentine's Day caught up with our youngsters?
Here one thing that has to be considered is that the young generation of today needs an excuse for celebration. They will celebrate Valentine’s Day or any other day, with religion taking a back seat. Thus to discourage Valentine’s Day is not proper unless we give them an alternative to celebrate. Why not organise a festival on the lines of Valentine’s Day? Basant Panchami is an ideal day that fits perfectly well in this category.
To discourage Valentine’s Day from becoming a part of our culture and religion in the near future, we must propagate celebration of Basant Panchami among our youngsters. Ask publishers to bring out greeting cards and special gifts on Basant Panchami. Encourage hotels to organise Basant Panchami parties. Sponsor a movie on Basant Panchami day with attractive songs and dances shown. Create SMS on Basant Panchami and send it all over India. Display hoardings and bring out special Basant Panchami messages in newspapers. In short, create a hype and atmosphere as to mould our youngsters to celebrate Basant Panchami instead of Valentine’s Day.
(Contact author at 1st Floor, Indra Sarita, Balraj Marg, Dhantoli, Nagpur-440 012, Email: hindusanmitra@yahoo.co.in)
A question that has been haunting me since the past so many years is why the Hindus have to fight for their rights in a country where the majority are Hindus? Also, why has Hinduism given birth to other religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism? And why is Hinduism so tolerant as to allow other religions to co-exist?
Decline of Hinduism Geographically
In the early days Hinduism spread from Afghanistan to Indonesia. But slowly it got confined to India and Nepal only, while people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia adopted other religions.
Failure of Hinduism to Hold its Own Base
We have seen that Hinduism has been subject to constant change. The change may be in language, way of living, beliefs, customs, etc. Take, for instance, Sanskrit language. Considered to be the mother of most of the Indian languages, it is today being used only while performing puja or other rituals. It is confined to a specific use only and is not spoken widely. The people have gradually shifted from Sanskrit to other languages. This shift continues till today even when we have adopted the English language. Whatever may be the reasons for our adoption and acceptability of English, one thing is certain—that it will be the only language which we in India will be using in future.
So also the name of our country is changing constantly. First it was known as Bharat, then Hindustan and today it is, India.
Lack of Zeal to Spread their Religion
Today we are witnessing conversions of fellow-Hindus to other religions in our own country. But are we spreading our religion in other countries? No. Moreover we are not even thinking in that direction. Christians are spreading their religion in hardcore Islamic countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Likewise, Islam and Christianity are being spread in a Hindu country, like Nepal.
Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purposes of marriages and other functions.
Defensive Approach
Why is it that Hinduism has always been on the defensive? Hinduism has never been offensive. In fact, we have always taken pride in saying that “ours is the only country in the world that has not attacked others in the last 10,000 years.” Indeed, this is a remarkable quality of our country and our people. But what was our achievement in this when we were not able to resist the invaders? We always had to defend ourselves against Islamic and Christian invasions on our land. In spite of being the oldest civilisation, we have not been able to produce a world conqueror like Alexander or Chengiz Khan. Even King Ashoka got himself converted to Buddhism and was instrumental in spreading Buddhism far and wide. This defensive attitude is prevalent even today. Conversions of Hindus to other religions are taking place in our country. And what are we doing? Trying to reconvert them again to Hinduism? On the defensive again? Why are we not able to convert the people of other religions to Hinduism first? Why has Hinduism always been on the defensive?
Further, we are not able to protect our borders. Immigration from neighbouring Islamic States continues till today. This immigration is on such a large scale that it has changed the demographic ratio in some districts of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. Hindus have failed to prevent this immigration, both individually as also collectively. No doubt this would not have been possible without the support of local people (politicians), who for the sake of power have encouraged this large-scale immigration. But are our fellow-Hindus so indifferent as to allow and tolerate this, knowing well its consequences?
Lack of Vision/Planning
Over and above all these, Hinduism has no long-term planning and vision. This may be because of internal conflicts, differences and other problems which it is passing through.
The main reason for all these factors is the fragmentation amongst the Hindus. This is primarily because of lack of united action amongst the Hindus themselves. The Hindus follow their own way of life individually. We have hundreds of sects and each sect has its own beliefs and customs. One of the reasons for this may be that Hinduism has always been a way of life, rather than a religion. What one Hindu believes, practices or follows may not hold good for other fellow-Hindus. Because of this fragmentation, we were not able to protect our borders and Hindu States of Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Sind were lost to Islam. Further, we were witness to Islamic rule in our country for almost eight centuries during which large-scale conversion of our people to Islam took place; our temples were destroyed or converted into mosques and properties looted. But after that, the Hindu resistance to Islamic invasion was truly historic. It was due to this resistance we saw the decline of Islamic power in our country. But once again, we were on the defensive. Right?
Muslims have been successful in converting our fellow-Hindus by force. Since we were not able to fight the sword of Islam, we could not prevent such conversions. The Christians were able to convert our brothers and sisters to Christianity by giving service to humanity as also love and affection. Hinduism failed on both the counts.
I have observed that the Hindus, more or less, follow an individual approach towards life and religion. The collective strength of the community is utilised only for the purpose of marriages and other functions. This development of adopting individual approach is natural in Hindu religion. Every Hindu develops this approach from his childhood. This may be one of the reasons for the birth of so many religions, sects and beliefs.
To alter this attitude, we all have to work together to bring reforms in our religion. Long-term strategic planning needs to be developed and adopted whereby the fragmentation and the casual approach of Hindus towards their religion, the individualistic approach, overall attitude towards life and work need to be changed.
Let us make Hinduism a vibrant religion, ready to take on the challenges coming in its path.
I suggest below some points which I feel will be helpful for our religion:
A Nation that Prays Together, Stays Together
The Hindus follow their religion individually. They go to the temple as per their convenience. The procedures for prayers differ from person to person and from temple to temple. This again depends upon the sect and the region to which the temple or the person belongs. This has to be changed. A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja. Along with this, every house, shop, office, factory, etc. all over the country should be encouraged to perform aarti and puja at that given time. Not only aarti and puja should commence at a common time, but should also conclude at the same time.
Participation in a common prayer should be encouraged and everyone should be persuaded to take part in aarti. To make it convenient for everyone, the aarti should be held at all public places, trains, community centres, market places, during marriages and other family functions (if the time of aarti falls in between), in between religious ceremonies and discourses and every other possible place. This will facilitate fellow-Hindus to get a feel of collective worship. It will also help in reducing the class conflicts prevalent in the Hindu society. When people of different castes and creeds pray together, the social fabric gets strengthened.
Uniform Methodology for Prayer and Other Practices
Once we are able to follow this time code, then a common methodology of puja and aarti can be fixed and adopted all over the country. Similarly, there should be a common prayer for all the temples in India.
The prayer should be inter-active, i.e. everyone should participate in the prayer. Today in most of the temples, the priest performs the puja while the fellow-Hindus are passive participants. The prayer should be such that every participant is active and involved/engrossed in the prayer. The prayer should be brief and simple.
A movement should be launched so that aarti and puja are performed at the same time all over the country. Each and every temple, from north to south, east to west, big or small, should be given a common time to perform aarti and puja.
Appointment of Counsellors (Acharyas)
Presently the custodians of Hindu religion are at two levels. The first level comprises of priests who perform puja, aarti and other religious ceremonies while the second level is that of saints, like Murari Bapu, Sri Sri Ravisankar, etc. In between these two lies a big vacuum. A third level, called counsellors, should be created and appointed at every temple. Their prime responsibility should be to impart knowledge of the religion along with other issues like family counselling, religious counselling, personal counselling, community counselling or any other counselling, guidance, advice as may be required.
Today if a person is in trouble and has to receive counselling, either he has to go to a priest or to a saint. The priest advises him to perform puja for mental satisfaction and the saint gives advice on various do’s and don’ts. Most probably the counsellors will also advise on the same but they do so with a human touch. The advise will come after a personal hearing and that is what a person needs at his moment of trouble. The troubled person knows that he has someone to lean upon in his time of need. One of the main problems of Hinduism is of excessive dependence on priests, who are narrow-minded and whose actions are not beneficial to a large section of the society. By appointing counsellors, the dependence on priests can be minimised. The counsellors can co-ordinate with the general public more effectively and bring about a change in the thinking process of the Hindus.
The counsellors should be thorough professionals appointed after passing the necessary examination and should be full-time employees of the temple. They should be paid handsomely so that they are perfectly capable in discharging their duties.
The counsellors will be very useful in those areas where conversions are taking place. They can stop these conversions. Being attached to the temple and the adjacent community, they can get first-hand information on all such activities. They can mix with the local population and learn about each one of them personally. They can persuade them to come to the temple. The counsellors will know who visits the temple and who does not. Incentives can be given to the local population for visiting the temple. A new front can be opened for converting Muslims, Christians and Buddhists to Hinduism.
Celebration of Basant Panchami
One of the points I wish to raise here is why has Valentine's Day caught up with our youngsters?
Here one thing that has to be considered is that the young generation of today needs an excuse for celebration. They will celebrate Valentine’s Day or any other day, with religion taking a back seat. Thus to discourage Valentine’s Day is not proper unless we give them an alternative to celebrate. Why not organise a festival on the lines of Valentine’s Day? Basant Panchami is an ideal day that fits perfectly well in this category.
To discourage Valentine’s Day from becoming a part of our culture and religion in the near future, we must propagate celebration of Basant Panchami among our youngsters. Ask publishers to bring out greeting cards and special gifts on Basant Panchami. Encourage hotels to organise Basant Panchami parties. Sponsor a movie on Basant Panchami day with attractive songs and dances shown. Create SMS on Basant Panchami and send it all over India. Display hoardings and bring out special Basant Panchami messages in newspapers. In short, create a hype and atmosphere as to mould our youngsters to celebrate Basant Panchami instead of Valentine’s Day.
(Contact author at 1st Floor, Indra Sarita, Balraj Marg, Dhantoli, Nagpur-440 012, Email: hindusanmitra@yahoo.co.in)
Labels: Hindu Human Rights
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