Gandhiism - Will it work today?

The reason behind the topic is a movie again but I didn't want to write a hat-trick review and the movie (Aayudham Seivaom) didn't deserve one either... :)

Let me put the story in a nut-shell before I start with my view of the whole thing... A rowdy who believes in violence to get things done, meets a staunch Gandhiian and develops belief in that ideology. He starts his fasting to get justice in a murder case that has no evidences whatsoever and he gains public support due to the course of action he has taken for the struggle. This becomes such a huge issue that in the end the villain himself realizes his mistake and surrenders. Ahimsa wins...

My question is, is this an accurate prediction? Is Ahimsa a great weapon in itself today too? Let us see...

First and foremost, Ahimsa is a beautiful concept in itself and it'll surely make this world a much better place to live in. Hinduism considers this as one of the highest virtues that a human being can possess. So ahimsa as a concept in itself is beautiful and if everyone follows it, nothing like that.

Now that said, let us come to the applicability of Ahimsa as a weapon. Let me refrain from talking about Gandhiji for a moment here and talk only about Ahimsa, since my views on Gandhiji as a person have been quite controversial. All said and done, at least as a father of my nation, I have to respect this man and so will I.

Hinduism believes in one basic concept. The dharma or the rules that govern people will differ between the Yugas (the eras) and what is applied in one era will not be completely suitable in the other because of the changing human attitude and the (negative?!) evolution that humans undergo. In the same way, if we are talking about the 1800s or the early 1900s, the Indian society was extremely different and people led a liesurely life where they had time to cooperate and coexist with each other. In that kind of a setup if a person goes on fast, the news spreads and people become concerned about the person and may be they will help him accomplish his mission, depending on the validity in it.

Let us look at the India today (don't ask me which publication of the 'India today' magazine :)). Population has literally exploded and people have become more and more self-centered. You cannot blame them for that because they have the basic need to exist and survive in the maddening crowd. In this setup, if someone tries to follow ahimsa to get his justice, he wouldn't even be noticed no matter how long he sits on the street. And if it is a protest against someone in power, a sniper would aim the guy's head as shown in the movie but unlike what happens in the movie, the bullet wouldn't hit his shoulders but the center of his forehead.

If everything could be done in the Ahimsa way, why does Indian Penal Code (Section 302 if movies are right :)) have capital punishment as its integral part? Quite equally violence is not the answer to everything and it is disastrous. The answer to this question comes from Chankya in one simple line "Saama, Dhaana, Baedha, Dhandam". Try to talk... If it doesn't work, go for bargains... If bargains don't work, try to divide and conquer... Only when the entire sequence fails go for punishments. To me, this is the only rule that can be universally applied to any problem and any situation.

Top 10 reasons to be a Hindu!

Beyond the layers of spirituality, philosophy and beliefs; man* is embedded with an inquisitive mind that questions everything that he sees and does and nothing but pure reason could convince it. In trivial things, we let it loose and with religion most of us control it in the fear of questioning God and being a sinner. I couldn’t accept this difference in perspective and I’ve revisited my beliefs, practices and religion quite often. Every time I think about it, Hinduism makes me feel proud, thankful and ecstatic; and this article is an attempt to identify the top 1o reasons to be happy about my spiritual self.

10: The Oldest Living Religion

Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world and there is no start date for the religion. Ever since the day when man glimpsed at the sun with respect, Hinduism was born.

9: Liberty

Hinduism never compels you to do anything. No part of Hinduism mandates you to go to temples and there is nothing called a ‘Hindu Costume’. The religion underlines the fact that self actualization is the ultimate target for a man.

8: Feel free to ask questions

Unlike many other religions, Hinduism lets you question everything and sincere efforts are made to answer your question with the best reasoning possible. The Upanishads and Bhagavath Gita are classic examples of this quest for knowledge.

7: Vastness

Hinduism doesn’t have one holy book though ‘Bhagavath Gita’ is usually considered one. It is essentially a collection of so many sayings, wealth of knowledge and an ocean of facts presented under one name.

6: The way it spread

Hinduism does not believe in thrusting religion on others. Hinduism discourages conversion and it has never spread itself through conquests or forcible campaigns.

5: Contributions to the Human Society

Hinduism has provided innumerable contributions to the human society beyond the religious aspect. It has been the bed for countless discoveries, inventions, ideas and practises that helps an average man to be a better individual.

4: Civilization

Hinduism has never held itself to bad ideas; and concepts like animal sacrifice which came up in the minds of metamorphosed apes were slowly replaced by non-violent alternatives that beautifully retain the rituals intact except for the bloodshed. This level of civilization is hard to find in any other religion.

3: Science

Hinduism is filled with science and every single aspect of Hinduism has a scientific background to it. Even though “God’s will” could be used as an escapism to explain the complex realities, Hinduism never does that and even better the answers are packed neatly in the religious capsule. A classic example is the theory of evolution explained by ‘Dasavathara’ (the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu).

2: It’s not a religion but a way of life

Hinduism doesn’t refrain itself into a religious shell and instead it offers habits and best practices which are an integral part of life. From Yoga till the Ozone inhalation in Dhanur masa (the nineth month in the lunar calendar) there are so many ways in which a Hindu is made to follow best practices without even realizing he is.

1: I’m not a sinner, I’m God

‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I’m God) is the underlying principle of a beautiful concept called Advaita that says God and Man are not two different entities and God manifests Himself in the form of life in all of us. None could explain life or God and that makes them synonymous.

The second part is the concept of ‘sinner’. I do things good and bad, and the bad things I do make me a sinner, is the version presented by many religions in the world. Some religions even follow ‘union theory’ where the fear of being haunted by sins is used as the base to attract people to the religion. But Hinduism leaves its classic mark here too. The soul (Jeevathma) in you is the ‘real You’ and eradication of the traces that your mistakes can leave behind in it by awakening the intelligence in you, is the concept behind the Maha Gayathri Mantra. To me this phenomenon cannot be explained any better.

Should there be any incomplete pieces here that you’d like to know more on, please feel free to contact me.

|| ‘Sarvam Shivarpanamasthu’ ||

* The word Man is used in a non gender-specific way all through this article

Pseudo-Secularism

If you had a chance to read through my earlier posts, you would've come across the word pseudo-secularism in so many places... It's time to explain what I exactly meant by that phrase...

"Secularism is generally the assertion that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief" -- Courtesy Wikipedia. As we all know India declares itself to be a secular country and often Indian National Congress and other parties boast of their secularist stand while accusing Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) for being anti-secular. Logically combining the above statements, the Indian National Congress says that it is totally independent of any religion or religious bias. Let's take a look at some facts...

The Haj Committee Act, 1959 says that Haj pilgrims chosen by the designated committee would be given subsidy for their religious pilgrimage. Ironically, no muslim country offers subsidies to this pilgrimage. At the same time, there is a 10 Rs registration tax applied on pilgrims to Amarnath.

There are constituencies reserved for minorities a.k.a Christians and Muslims... Quite obviously there are no constitutional privileges for the Hindus even though they are minorities in a lot of North Eastern and Northern states.

Somnath temple was reconstructed with funds from public (under the pressure of M.K. Gandhi post independence) while mosques in Delhi were re-constructed with Government funding.

Kashmir has intentionally been deprived of the major Hindu population and heights of injustice - a hindu cannot buy land in Kashmir.

We have a Government board that controls the revenues from Hindu temples across India and it is being used like revenue from any other Government sources. But churches and mosques can raise their funds and spend them at their will...

The examples are innumerable but my words and time are limited. So let me not dwell into these differences now. Suffice it is to say that the Indian National Congress (the party that ruled India for 50+ long years to change a developed country into a developing country), in the name of secularism has served as a pro-minority agency targeting on the minority vote banks and thriving on the divide and rule strategy established by the British.

I'm not against Christians or Muslims but the concept of secularism is now becoming synonymous to anti-Hindu and that is something I find difficult to digest. To put the whole concept in a word, I call it 'pseudo-secularism' - the false version of secularism.

When Narendra Modi was questioned by the press if muslims will have security in Gujarat, he said - "Every Gujarati will have security in my rule"!

An Interesting Question...

During the spiritual discussions in the temple on the night of Maha Shivarathri, there was an interesting yet complex question that came up! "If God's will decides everything, why is it that he created me with the desire for money, making me stay in US far from my homeland and my people? If I'm not responsible for what I'm doing, can I do all sorts of bad deeds and call God as the person responsible for all that?" Since this question came up around 4 AM, not many were in a mood to answer it seriously and the question ended with a humorous answer - "I'll surely ask this when I see God!"

But a bit of thought would reveal that everyone has this question deep within. In my view, there are two parts to this question - (a) Why did God create me this way (b) Should I assume responsibility for my deeds?

The answer to part (a) is that God has His own reasons. For instance, Hinduism came back to the west through us. Now Westerners are aware of another religion called Hinduism and its great traditions. Any good thing happens only by the sacrifice of something else - physical or emotional.

Part (b) is a bit tricky. In my view, God (the paramathma) leads you through the soul (Jeevathma) in you and He has provided you with the best of gifts - Reason a.k.a the sixth sense. When the sixth sense is applied and decisions are made to the best of your interests, then even if the act results in a disaster, we cannot assume responsibility for that. But if you are denying the use of Him in you, then you are going against the will of the Lord and like a mother watching her child play around in her vicinity, God watches our activities and marks his presence somewhere to make us realize the mistake that we did!

I answered his question at least to an extent that I'm convinced... But I have a question and I'm not sure who will answer it - "Why did Lord get into the concept of creation? Why should he create the world and the universe and let the lives in there analyze the reason for their lives and search for Him? Is He afraid of loneliness? Does He want followers? Does He need some proof to prove his powers?". Will someone answer?!

Tampa, Hinduism and Maha Shivarathri

When I came over to US, I was told that there would not be much of a difference in terms of availability of typical Indian utilities and infrastructure. Specifically, I was told that there are too many temples out here and I wouldn't miss any religious portion of my life. Being quite (or should I say a lot) religious, that was a pretty good news to me but I wasn't sure about the authenticity of the information.

My doubts were shattered to bits when I came into Tampa, Florida. It had (and still has) this beautiful little temple that impressed me a lot. (There's quite something to talk about the general life style too but I'll do it in a separate post.) Situated at Lynn road, about 15 miles from my home, this temple has now become a part of my life here. The first thing that impressed me in this temple was the divinity in the vigrahaas (idols). I've been to other temples in US where the vigrahas are disproportionate or dull preventing you from concentrating on the Godliness aspect of the vigraha. After all this associativity is why Hinduism follows idol worship and once that is broken, everything else is gone!! But the deities in this Floridan temple are so divine that you feel like visiting some ancient traditional Hindu temple in TamilNadu. Save a few basic things like aahama shashtra or the strictness in rituals (which has to be compromised when building a temple in a foreign land under so many regulations and people adopting such a different culture), this temple has the positive spiritual vibrations that any divine source of energy has!

Mahashivarathri this time was a classic example for the in-home comfort this temple offers me. Staying there the whole night, blessed with the boon to watch the Abishekas and poojas done to Lord Shiva throughout the night with a scope to share some of my thoughts on the scientific backgrounds of Hinduism, and understanding the background of Cambodian temples was a blissful experience; not to mention the 2 hour quiz on Hinduism where the devotees were questioning each other on the interesting aspects of the lovely religion. In short, the Mahashivarathri this time in US was one of the most spiritually focussed moments in my life and it was not just a night where I stayed awake and discussed gossips and politics; but a night when I was given the boon to focus purely on Hinduism, spirituality and Lord Shiva!

From Ignorance to Elegance

When I try to visualize the days when mankind came into existence (from a group of apes or in a jiffy by the snap of the formless God's finger along with light, trees and birds), I couldn't visualize anything more than a group of apes that underwent metamorphosis to have a better appearance and increased curiosity. It is when the sixth sense was put into place, a whole new dimension of thought process originated. One of the first things to strike a fresh inquisitive mind with awe, surprise, question and respect would've been the origin of earth and the presence of such a wonderful ecosystem; and that is precisely when the concept of Religion would've come into existence in this world.

An excellent and in my opinion 'the best' by-product of this thought process is Hinduism - a religion that transformed into a way of life and removed the ignorance in man and brought him the elegance of a spiritually balanced scholar. The collection of different perspectives, the blend of science and religion and the civilization it has undergone are the best and unique features of the world's oldest living religion.

A Hindu (Madhvacharya) said "Things in this world always come in pairs like sun and the moon, like man & woman and so are God and men" while another Hindu who came in after the former (one of the most revered saints Adhi Shankara) said "A day and night make one full cycle of rotation, man and woman make the human kind and in the same way God and Man are not two different entities but God's scattered across every organism in the form of life".

The ten incarnations (Dasaavathaaram) of Lord Vishnu beautifully portray the concept of evolution while concepts of Siva, Vishnu and Sakthi have a wealth of information on matter, Vacuum energy and dark energy. The construction of a hindu temple in itself is a resemblance to the human physiology and the social engineering behind the concept of construction of temples is simply outstanding.

The civilization part of this religion is the most outstanding feature and the level of maturity in Hinduism went to such an extent that Hindus are always thought to respect that there are alternate views in every topic and that the real devotion in one's heart matters more than the actual way it is shown. Animal sacrifices were replaced by alternate non-violent ceremonies and Yoga, breathing exercises, control of mind, socializing with people, Mathematics, memory power improvement were all gradually included into a Hindu's normal lifestyle. The average age of a man/woman in the good old days was 120 and those 120 years of complete health were what was considered to be a long life those days.

Sadly, the degree of flexibility, freedom and maturity in Hinduism is being misused by Hindus as an excuse to stay away from the wonderful values and without even realizing where they belong to, some of them even convert themselves as followers of other religions and to top it all, they start accusing Hinduism. This ignorance brought in by the inability to remain elegant provides opportunity for pseudo-secularist politicians to abuse and slander Hindu beliefs. May the omnipotent and omnipresent Lord bestow people with maturity and the ability to remain elegant. Shambo Mahadevaa!