Dear Friends,
Subject: Hindus Need To Be Religious To Be Able To Defend Themselves
We have been sharing with you any number of learned dissertations on Hinduism, what it is, what does it signify, that it is the best religion on earth, that we should be proud of our religious heritage, etc. All this is true and eternal truth but, today we propose to deal with more mundane things, hoping, however, that we do not hurt any one’s sentiment.
From what we see or feel generally, the members of the majority community have of late become and show signs of having become truly irreligious or non-religious. It is not that a visit to the temple will make you a religious person. One can be deeply religious without visiting any temple whatsoever.
Yet, you may recall we have in the recent past (March 15, 2015) shared with you all a very valuable piece on 10 scientific reasons why you should visit a Hindu temple. It was all about absorbing positive energy, which is not, known to have been claimed by any other religion. But, the Hindus show up themselves rather poorly compared to their compatriots in Islam and Christianity. The vast majority of Muslim friends read their namaj and visit the mosques at least on Fridays. The Christian friends are mostly regular in their weekly visits the Church, though the number is gradually decreasing, as we understand. The ground situation shows similar trend among educated Muslim youth also.
Whatever religiosity is seen among the Hindus is mostly in the villages. The urban gentry at times feel it beneath their dignity to “betray” signs of such what they describe as weakness.
Another interesting characteristic is the prevalence of the practice of “Maanat”. It is some kind of quid pro quo, or, a barter deal, to put it in the rustic language. If the god or goddess grants the wish, I will offer special puja, worth such and such amount.
Back to religiosity. Once we had asked the chief priest in some temple of eminence in Delhi: was it necessary to visit the temple to prove my devotion. The almighty deity would be knowing my mind whether I am a true devotee or not. His answer was quite candid. At times, “dekhwa” (open display) is also necessary. A step better than that is complete and public prostration before the deity-a symbol of complete surrender.
Incidentally, one need not feel surprised if you find many Hindu households without a copy of even a Gita, the most holy Hindu granth and considered to be possessing the ultimate truth.
That Hindus are less religious than Sikh friends becomes clear in the matter of construction of a Hindu temple and a Sikh Gurdwara. Gurdwara comes up almost before schedule, whereas it takes years for a temple to be completed. As a community, the Sikh friends are certainly more devout, religious and would not tolerate any insult to their religion. Their past speaks eloquently of this trait of theirs! There is indeed a lot to emulate from Sikh friends in this regard.
The “class” of people known as ‘gurus’ or ‘kulgurus’ can be held partly responsible for the state of affairs among the Hindus. The Gurus want their disciples to ‘surrender’ to them or believe in them and them only. The devotees find that comfortable. Many of them even do not perform the basic rituals one is supposed to perform once one takes ‘diksha’. So, the religion becomes the casualty.
Possibly, the present- day Swami Dayanand Saraswati, who has, with a lot of efforts, cobbled up the Hindu Acharya Maha Sabha some years back, can help by ‘tasking’ the Acharyas to ensure that their disciples do perform religious functions required. One thing is sure, religious men develop self-confidence of sorts and that helps.
History has been a witness to that. The plunder and pillages, loot and rape, killing and destructions of temples and other holy places, committed by the Muslim invaders to India have remained unprecedented in history (mostly narrated in travelogues by Muslim travellers), as stated by the famous British historian Will Durant. Yet, the Hindus, that is, our forefathers had never surrendered or capitulated. They have risen from ashes. It was their deep religious commitment that held them together and gathered themselves again and again.
Friends, we need this religious commitment and unity, and may be some kind of religious ‘bigotry’ even, to defend ourselves again at this critical juncture of history, when the serious threat from Islamic fundamentalists is almost knocking at the door and has also permeated in large swathes of the country, especially from the east. As Swami Vivekananda had urged, “All of you will have to become Guru Nanak Dev in order to save the country“.
Well, friends, as we had submitted in the beginning, we have not ventured into talking about Hinduism or its greatness, etc. Ours has been a common sense approach to find out as to why Hinduism is on a descending path. And, so Hindus should, and, perhaps, must become, truly religious in order to be able to defend themselves against threats that are too serious to be left to the government alone. By becoming religious, we shall perhaps succeed in paying back something to our ancestors, who had built this nation, this Indic civilisation, basing on religion, that is, Hinduism.
And, we are already on the backfoot on the demographic front. May be this, that is, developing firm faith in Hinduism and pracatising its routine mores with some grit will help raise hope and will to defend. Friends, defend we must. Failure is no option.
Would be grateful if we are corrected if we have erred in our reading of the situation. We honestly believe we can always learn from our esteemed readers/viewers. Satyameva Jayate.
Vandemataram,
Your sevak,
D.C. Nath
