About Calling A Spade A Spade

By Maria Wirth

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 festival 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?

Interfaith and Hindus

Interfaith Dialogue” refers to interaction between two or more religious
traditions, at both individual and institutional levels, leading to
understanding of values and respecting them, resulting in prevalence of
communal amity.
The compulsion to participate in interfaith dialogues arises due to two
reasons. First, when the ‘state’ fails to take care of the majority
community and panders to the minority communities; second, when the
minority communities, emboldened by the state’s pandering, go overboard and
interfere with the cultural customs and religious practices of the majority
community, resulting in conflict and disorder.

*Hindu Dharma and secularism*

Hindus have co-existed with other indigenous creeds (Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs
and others) without problems for ages, and the peace and harmony prevailing
in this great Hindu land was affected only with the advent of Abrahamic
faiths, mainly Islam and Christianity, which oppressed the Hindu majority in
various ways.
Despite being at the receiving end for several hundred years, the Hindu
majority was magnanimous at the time of independence and addressed
minorities with concern while framing the Constitution, and ensured their
safety, security and religious freedom. India even refrained from enacting a
‘Common Civil Code.’ The Hindu majority never treated Christians and Muslims
as descendents of ‘invaders,’ but as fellow citizens.

*Sanatana Dharma* has been the character and culture of this great nation.
Hindu culture treats the world as a divine family - *Vasudaiva Kutumbakam* -
and welcomes outsiders as aspects of divinity - *Atithi Devo Bhava!
Such exalted concepts make words like ‘secularism’ hollow and redundant in
the Hindu ethos. Monotheistic religions have no space for non-believers (in
Allah or Mohammed or Yahweh or Jesus). Christianity introduced the concept
of secularism in western society in order to end sectarian fratricide; as
Hindus have no concept or tradition of such murderous sectarianism,
secularism in India can at best be a quality of administration by the state.
But the post-independence state has failed to understand this imported
notion of secularism, and hence, far from steering clear of all religion,
successive governments have failed even to treat all religions equally.

*The privileged minorities*

Minorities have been given extra privileges by an extra-solicitous
Constituent Assembly. Beginning with Article 14, up to Article 30, they have
been granted many freedoms, with the Hindu majority getting a raw deal. This
has emboldened the minorities to provoke, hurt and disrespect the Hindu
majority, while working to achieve their religious objectives. This has
naturally resulted in repeated conflicts.

India has undergone major demographic changes in the 60 years since
independence; the ineptness of Congress and other political parties has lost
Hindu bhoomi in many states to minorities. All political parties have failed
the Hindus, and particularly after the arrival of the foreigner-led UPA at
the centre, a Christian agenda is being silently achieved to the detriment
of this Hindu nation. Simultaneously, Muslim fundamentalists are being
encouraged to wage war (jihad) against the nation.

India lost huge territory when Pakistan was born, along with the current
Bangladesh. Since then, the north-east has been Christianised; Kashmir is in
trouble; so is Goa; 50% of Kerala is lost to minorities; large parts of
Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have become Islamic; a large portion of
Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu have become Christianised.

Churches and missionaries of all denominations have become the second
largest land owners in the country - next only to the government - and have
been building churches and prayer houses anywhere and everywhere, totally
disproportionate to their flock. A similar mushrooming of mosques
disproportionate to Muslim population is also cause for concern.

History shows that both Islam and Christianity have been more ‘political’ in
nature rather than ‘spiritual;’ they have spread worldwide through invasions
and persecutions. India has borne the brunt of both Islam and Christianity
through jihad and conversions respectively. Both religions have been
successful, thanks to an inept political class and immature people who get
carried away by ‘secular’ machinations of the political class and the
Machiavellian agenda of the clergy of the Abrahamic faiths.

The unholy nexus between pseudo-secular politicians and minority community
leaders, aided and abetted by foreign-funded media houses, has caused
immense damage to the character of this Hindu nation. When things go beyond
tolerance, the majority reacts spontaneously, as happened in Gujarat,
Orissa, Karnataka and Jammu (Amarnath). After such reactions, the Hindu
majority reverts to its usual tolerant self, hoping that the minority with
which conflict took place would also settle down, but the
‘Marxist-media- minority’ nexus plays ugly ‘victimhood’ games in the
international arena, bringing disrepute to the country.

In between, minority community leaders organize so-called interfaith
dialogues to create a false picture of reconciliation, and successfully
complete the exercise by forcing their pre-conceived ‘resolutions’ on the
few ‘secularised’ Hindu leaders, using jugglery of words and making them
sign a declaration accepting resolutions advantageous to minorities only.

*Roman Catholics vs. other denominations*

The Vatican is very clever in conducting such farcical exercises. The prime
objective of the Vatican is Christianisation of the whole world. The same
was pronounced by Pope John Paul II when he gave a “catholic” call for
evangelization of Asia, particularly India, during his visit to the country
in November 1999. He had the audacity to give such a call standing on Indian
soil, that too, as India’s state guest! The Vatican has a history of
achieving its objectives by creating divisions among local people leading to
conflicts, and later through a healing touch by rehabilitation, education
and healthcare.

While other Christian denominations are aggressive and overt in their
evangelical activities, Roman Catholics are covert and subtle. The Catholic
leadership doesn’t restrain the other denominations from indulging in
aggressive evangelization, purely for the reason that this differentiation
helps them to create concepts like “ethical” and “unethical” conversions, or
“forced” and “unforced” (voluntary) conversions.

The Catholic leadership always blames other denominations for “unethical”
and “forced” conversions during these so-called interfaith dialogues, in
order to convince leaders of other faiths to accept the dangerous concept of
“ethical” conversions. It achieved success in one such farcical dialogue at
the Vatican in May 2006, where leaders whose names have not been made public
in India, went ahead and signed a declaration accepting the resolutions
prepared by the Vatican and the World Council of Churches!

There is another motive behind the Vatican’s interfaith dialogues. That is
to indirectly put pressure and restrictions on other denominations which
poach its targetted community for harvesting.

In this fight for “harvest” between various denominations, one question
arises - what is the need for Hindus to agree for such dialogues and why
should they participate? Hindus don’t indulge in blasphemy of other faiths,
gods, and scriptures; they don’t indulge in conversion activities; they
don’t interfere in other religious traditions; they don’t meddle with other
faiths. On the contrary, Hindus have been amicable to others and they have
been tolerating the propaganda (however provocative) of other religions.

*Dhimmitude and disunity*

How are they reciprocated? By hacking bodies (jihad) and harvesting souls
(conversions) ! Much of the so-called tolerance is simply dhimmitude, the
result of being beaten up or beaten down for ages. Dhimmitude resulted from
Nehruvian secularism and impacted Hindus so much that they cannot see the
monster standing gleefully before their eyes; they are still in deep
slumber.

Some religious leaders are averse to identifying themselves and their
‘teachings’ as ‘Hindu;’ they are more interested in marketing their wares in
a global market, than in spreading dharma among the masses in the remotest
hamlets. Some Hindu leaders are so magnanimous (naïve?) that they preach
“all faiths are the same”! Faiths and custom-oriented traditional mathams
have lost out to personality- oriented and business-oriented ‘cults.’