It Hurts Me To See Hinduism Going The Way Of Radical Islam

[Indiran Chandiran]

Dear Yogiji and Modiji,

By all means, make India a Hindu Rashtra, spread the Hindutva way of living. But tell me—what kind of a Hindutva are we being served? It is certainly not what has been preached and practised in the books of Hinduism. How come it did not exist until very recently? As I know, Hinduism is a beautiful religion and certainly not one that preaches violence.

I was blessed to have grown up with Muslim as well as Hindu friends. We shared each other's joys, sorrows, festivals; thus, the best values of each religion very naturally were ingrained in us. I went to a covent school where I learnt about the Christian faith but what set my school apart was that our Mother Superior decided to have the Ramayana and Mahabharata as a part of our learning. Why? Only for the beautiful values they both taught. This was solely her decision, no one forced her and no one objected to it. This was where my solid foundation was laid. It was always good to know something more than just my own religion. Knowledge never hurts, after all.

Shri Ram's name was never meant to invoke fear and terror but rather compassion, valour and brotherhood.
Later, I went on to do my graduation from a college in Rishikesh where I had friends from all faiths. Going for the evening aarti with friends in Rishikesh was a norm, something we all looked forward to, irrespective of our religion. In those days friendship was not seen through the prism of religion. Back then, no one had thought of the need to enforce the Hindutva way to prove India was a Hindu-dominated nation. Everyone was well aware of this fact, but different religions managed to co-exist peacefully.

As I look back, I often mull over what my society gave to me during my growing up years; I ask, am I providing the same to my children? The answer is a definitive 'NO'. Today's society is deeply divided along the lines of religion. I have often heard that Hinduism is a way of life. I simply refuse to believe that this way of life includes killing on suspicion, food choices, religious and political inclinations.

Where has the concept of Vaisudhaiv Kutubukam gone?

From my knowledge of Hinduism, the Hindu Gods and eminent figures from Hindu mythology, I have not seen any of them endorsing the kind of hatred that is being unleashed on non-Hindus all across the country. No religious book of Hinduism advocates and justifies killings of people belonging to other religions.

Correct me if I am wrong.

As per the Upnishads, a true Hindu is the person who does not let evil overtake him—he transcends evil. He becomes sinless, taintless, free from doubts and a knower of truth.

Lord Krishna said, "Whoever invokes a deity by whatever name, it is me he invokes" which clearly indicates the acceptance and co-existence of all other religions.

Guru Sankaracharya always preached that a man should first see God in himself and then serve others as manifestations of God to perform his worldly duties selflessly.

Give us the true Hindutva and we all will join hands to make our country a true Indian nation with all cultures living together as friends and family.
Then, why is the "saffron brigade" synonymous with violence these days and why is Jai Shri Ram being chanted to incite fear and terror? Shri Ram's name was never meant to invoke fear and terror but rather compassion, valour and brotherhood.

As far as I know the basic tenets of true Hinduism are:

Ahimsa (Non-violence)

Satya ( Truthfulness)

Asteya (Non-stealing)

Brahamcharya (Avoiding promiscuity in thoughts, words and deed)

Kshama ( Forgiveness)

Dhriti (Steadfastness)

Daya ( Compassion)

Arjaya ( Honesty).

Or is Hinduism separate from Hindutva?

Please don't serve us this hatred in the name of religion. Stop these hate crimes against people belonging to other communities in the name of Hinduism.

Give us the true Hindutva and we all will join hands to make our country a true Indian nation with all cultures living together as friends and family.

I have already seen what radical Islam can do to a society... I truly do not want Hinduism going the same way.



http://www.huffingtonpost.in/ambree...hp_ref=in-homepage&ncid=fcbklnkinhpmg00000001

The way I see it , if Hindus thought like what Muslims in Pakistan do , there wouldn't be too many Muslims in India .

Having said that , the only reason why Modi and the NDA is in power is because the UPA spectacularly lost the plot and discredited itself apart from a whole host of other reasons viz corruption , jobless growth , runaway inflation , policy paralysis , etc .It was for the UPA to lose the election and for someone to win it and while Modi was a front runner , nobody thought he would win as spectacularly as he did .

He was elected primarily on a platform of rapid economic development .While one sees a lot of efforts from him and his government on this front , I guess it'd take some time for the effects to be visible on the ground .The sideshow we're seeing at present is both the creation of rabble rousers and the highlighting of them by a partisan primarily English speaking elitist media who seem to have their own axe to grind aganst Modi with the loathing being mutual .

Contrary to what many here believe , I don't think 2019 is a done deal for Modi whatever the trends may currently show .We still have 2 years to go .Reminds me of NDA -1 under ABV where the economic growth story was more spectacular and inspired by their postive showing in a few state elections they actually brought forward the date for polls at the centre only to trip and fall badly on their face .

It's a sobering thought that Modi would be well advised not to be complacent about .

To end with , India is a representational democracy .Elections are held every 5 years and people give their verdict. If Modi delivers on his electoral promises he'd return in 2019 else the phrase is - bhooke peth bhajan nahin hote.It never was / is / will be namaz , it always was / is/will be bhajan .Make out of this phrase what you will but this is what matters and will matter in India .

 

[Gadkari]

The way I see it , if Hindus thought like what Muslims in Pakistan do , there wouldn't be too many Muslims in India .

Having said that , the only reason why Modi and the NDA is in power is because the UPA spectacularly lost the plot and discredited itself apart from a whole host of other reasons viz corruption , jobless growth , runaway inflation , policy paralysis , etc .It was for the UPA to lose the election and for someone to win it and while Modi was a front runner , nobody thought he would win as spectacularly as he did .

He was elected primarily on a platform of rapid economic development .While one sees a lot of efforts from him and his government on this front , I guess it'd take some time for the effects to be visible on the ground .The sideshow we're seeing at present is both the creation of rabble rousers and the highlighting of them by a partisan primarily English speaking elitist media who seem to have their own axe to grind aganst Modi with the loathing being mutual .

Contrary to what many here believe , I don't think 2019 is a done deal for Modi whatever the trends may currently show .We still have 2 years to go .Reminds me of NDA -1 under ABV where the economic growth story was more spectacular and inspired by their postive showing in a few state elections they actually brought forward the date for polls at the centre only to trip and fall badly on their face .

It's a sobering thought that Modi would be well advised not to be complacent about .

To end with , India is a representational democracy .Elections are held every 5 years and people give their verdict. If Modi delivers on his electoral promises he'd return in 2019 else the phrase is - bhooke peth bhajan nahin hote.It never was / is / will be namaz , it always was / is/will be bhajan .Make out of this phrase what you will but this is what matters and will matter in India .

Any views on Modi's tryst with China ?

Its the only time I have seen him be Reactive rather than ProActive.

 

[Hulk]

The comedy is that Modi government is actually working to get Muslims in their kitty. Reaching out to them, our left liberals dislike anything to do with Hindus and hence the article. Congress did major damage to the country to win elections, followed by other parties. Instead of being neutral it was bending on even unreasonable demands of Muslims. Saha Bano case was a prime example. Muzaffarabad riots happened because Azam Khan stopped police from taking action against killers, favoring based on religion. Secularism does not mean favor minority, it means rule of law without favoring anyone.

 

[Jackdaws]

I'm not as convinced as you that the absolute numbers have not swelled as well.

How do normal Hindus write the kind of stuff that they do on social media?

That cannot just be the anonymity of the internet and alternative reality.

The first sign of irrevocable polarization of society is the dehumanising of the "other". Where they are all wrong.

There is zero empathy left. Of being fellow Indians.

They are just Muslims. And evangelical rice bag xtians. Period.

Going from there to large scale killing is not a very long step ...

Maybe you are right. I also believe it is a herd mentality - most of those vocal idiots online are not vigilantes but do tend to believe a lot of rubbish. But I wonder how can we find out.

 

[Gadkari]

The comedy is that Modi government is actually working to get Muslims in their kitty. Reaching out to them, our left liberals dislike anything to do with Hindus and hence the article. Congress did major damage to the country to win elections, followed by other parties. Instead of being neutral it was bending on even unreasonable demands of Muslims. Saha Bano case was a prime example. Muzaffarabad riots happened because Azam Khan stopped police from taking action against killers, favoring based on religion. Secularism does not mean favor minority, it means rule of law without favoring anyone.

He would be wasting his time. Best he can do is get part of muslim women vote by forcing UCC down the throats of the erst.

Maybe you are right. I also believe it is a herd mentality - most of those vocal idiots online are not vigilantes but do tend to believe a lot of rubbish. But I wonder how can we find out.

Maybe you could open up a concentration camp and do experiments to find out ?

 

[Indiran Chandiran]

Any views on Modi's tryst with China ?

Its the only time I have seen him be Reactive rather than ProActive.

The politics of retaliation is always reactive .Let's face it , our options on China are limited .While the best we can do is annoy them they're in a position to cause us grievous harm .The situation in world politics is favourable to China and they seem well placed to capitalise on it .For them to lose their position of privilege from here would require some serious miscalculations on their part .Something not outside the realms of the imaginable .

 

[padamchen]

Maybe you are right. I also believe it is a herd mentality - most of those vocal idiots online are not vigilantes but do tend to believe a lot of rubbish. But I wonder how can we find out.

The ones on the net are not the ones who clash with swords and machetes.

They raise the pitch on social media. Drawing rooms and pubs. And provide revenue to owners of fora.

The money comes from hard nosed industrialists and business interests.

Remember. When social implosion happens, @Robinhood Pandey and @The_Showstopper and @padamchen will be facing the same onslaught.

Cause they will see only paise wale angrez. Not Hindu or Muslim.

 

[Gadkari]

The politics of retaliation is always reactive .Let's face it , our options on China are limited .While the best we can do is annoy them they're in a position to cause us grievous harm .The situation in world politics is favourable to China and they seem well placed to capitalise on it .For them to lose their position of privilege from here would require some serious miscalculations on their part .Something not outside the realms of the imaginable .

That is exactly what being reactive means.

Being proactive starts from asking "What do THEY want" and then building up your options from there.

Modi is continuing to look at China from the prism of pakistan and the border dispute. Which means he is Reacting to something that he has inherited, he needs to think outside the box.

I am not convinced that the world is favorable to china. Their own economy is shrinking, global economy is not doing too well either. Even if it is, we need to figure out what is it that we can offer them and make a deal.

We cannot plan on them failing. That is absurd.

The ones on the net are not the ones who clash with swords and machetes.

They raise the pitch on social media. Drawing rooms and pubs. And provide revenue to owners of fora.

The money comes from hard nosed industrialists and business interests.

Remember. When social implosion happens, @Robinhood Pandey and @The_Showstopper and @padamchen will be facing the same onslaught.

Cause they will see only paise wale angrez. Not Hindu or Muslim.

Maybe you can stock up on swords and knifes and wait for the impending "social implosion" and make a "killing" by selling them in bulk.

That way you too can become paise wala angrez ......... maybe even take a trip to Rome

 

[Lotus_stalk]

Have you not seen or heard of Gujarat riots, beef lynchings, Cow gangs, saffron extremists politicians

Hindutva is the future of India and what will damage it irreparably

No Hindutwa will not damage India much, India is too strong. Hindus have human right to convert India into a Hindu state... if they wish so.

There is no backlash

Modi was guilty and complicit in the riots he was exonerated by some kangaroo court but the mere a suggestion of his hindutva credentials was enough to carry him to victory

The same thing against a clown like Yogi, beef, cows, temples, rape of dead Muslim women and still gets elected

This is a greater revelation of the mindset of Indians and the direction they are heading then any suggestion they are rejecting fanaticism

Beef, cows, temples, saffron robed clowns and more will be a common theme of the India of the future

What about Tika khan who killed millions ?

 

[hussain0216]

No Hindutwa will not damage India much, India is too strong. Hindus have human right to convert India into a Hindu rastra...

Gods speed saffron warrior, may india become the hindu rastra you hindutvas always dreamed of

 

[ranjeet]

I have not seen any of them endorsing the kind of hatred that is being unleashed on non-Hindus all across the country. No religious book of Hinduism advocates and justifies killings of people belonging to other religions.

Maybe because no other religion existed when those books were written.

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

Yes I have seen Gujrat riots and also seen how much backlash it had for over 13 years. That is exactly what I wrote. You need to be in India to understand India.

Sorry to say but Islam is not the way of life. The majority of countries where Islam has been followed there is no freedom of any other religion. The main country does not even allow other to practice their own religion.

WOW it seems you have the exact amount of intelligence as the Hulk.

No Muslim country bans the practice of other religions.

I dare you to name one muslim country that bans the practice of other religions.

I will wait...

 

[Gadkari]

Maybe because no other religion existed when those books were written.

People don't need other religion to start justifying killings. They just need somebody to kill.

Hinduism tempered this desire to kill by grouping all such people by their guna as Kshatriya and imposing a moral code on them.

SO at best they could kill each other, and leave people with other guna's like Brahmin or sudra alone.

WOW it seems you have the exact amount of intelligence as the Hulk.

No Muslim country bans the practice of other religions.

I dare you to name one muslim country that bans the practice of other religions.

I will wait...

So how many Hindu Temples are there in Egypt ?

 

[Indiran Chandiran]

That is exactly what being reactive means.

Being proactive starts from asking "What do THEY want" and then building up your options from there.

Modi is continuing to look at China from the prism of pakistan and the border dispute. Which means he is Reacting to something that he has inherited, he needs to think outside the box.

I am not convinced that the world is favorable to china. Their own economy is shrinking, global economy is not doing too well either. Even if it is, we need to figure out what is it that we can offer them and make a deal.

We cannot plan on them failing. That is absurd.

There is a school of thought of which Subu Swamy is a prominent votary that India ought to accommodate China on Tibet and mend it's fences .I believe that could be done in the time of Nehru before 1962 or maybe before China began actively collaborating with Pakistan on its WMD.

Right now such a move would be counter productive , would backfire badly apart from being seen as outright appeasement .For good reason too .When ABV made his historic trip to PRC and in a poor quid pro quo in retrospect , recognised TAR as part of PRC in exchange for their recognition of Sikkim as part of RoI in 2002 -03 , if I'm not mistaken , as a goodwill gesture offering more than what we got in return ,within a few years the Chinese started changing the rules of engagement - what with the Chinese ambassador openly questioning the legitimacy of AP as part of RoI , issuance of stapled visas to Indians from J&K , refusal of visas to serving IA personnel who served in CI operations in J&K , non requirement of Chinese visas to Indians hailing from AP implicitly recognising them as citizens of PRC thru this act apart rapid escalations in the so called "transgressions " on the LAC etc .

Much water has flown under the Ganges , Brahmaputra , Hwang Ho and Yangtze Kiang since .

Our interactions have increased but so have the friction points .

It's going to be a game of long haul here with Pakistan playing a vital role in the Indo Chinese dynamic .If we succeed in neutralising Pakistan , one way or another , China will cease being the threat they are by any yardstick one employs to measure .

 

[Indiran Chandiran]

WOW it seems you have the exact amount of intelligence as the Hulk.

No Muslim country bans the practice of other religions.

I dare you to name one muslim country that bans the practice of other religions.

I will wait...

You don't need to .Please show me a couple of Islamic nations where the population of its religious minorities exceed 20% or even 15% except Malaysia ,where Islam is protected under an ingenious policy calling for preferential treatment for the original inhabitants or Bhumi putras .

Just for my information , kindly confirm how many of them enjoy equal rights as the Muslims do in their own land before the law and that would include right to practise ones religion with the right to proselytize too.

I think you are back to looking at this from the Pakistani prism.

You have spoken about what they have done, don't we need to start asking what is that they want ? Then go about raising the stakes.

pakistan is a mad man brandishing a knife and who needs to be put in straight jacket, but that can only be done with global support.

So we need to resolve our issues with china first , if we are to successfully deal with pakistan.

Like you said, our interactions have grown, but our ENGAGEMENTS have NOT grown. That is why there are friction points

Modi has failed to engage with china and reel them in. The right way to play them is to welcome them into India and then widen the scope of engagement.

China needs to be more deeply involved in India, we need it and they sure as hell need it. We need to deepen our economic engagement with china. Have them execute green field projects in India, etc.

Discount pakistan from the equation and use Russia to "oil" the engagement. That is the way forward.

If the present interaction in the economic realm has resulted in the kind of deficit it has , I shudder to think how deep you'd want the "engagement " to be .

Apart from this , the non tariff trade barriers erected by China on areas we hold an advantage in viz software ,pharma ,etc are another source of complaints.

While India does need Chinese investment , I suspect it's not out of our own free will and pleasure that we are welcoming them .

Part of it is a carrot and stick policy we're following or enduring to be more precise , part of it is a kind of tribute to keep them in good humour and maintain the policy of detente till we manage to build up our own financial and technical muscle part from our military muscle to deter any military misadventure .

Having said that , we have profited from the by products of this largely one way trade too.Peoole look at the huge trade deficit in China's favour .But cold nos apart , to cite just an example has anyone calculated the various economic benefits of smart mobiles or laptops that the Chinese export to India .The booming of e commerce that such devices support and the growth in the services sector that results in better GDP ( nominal figures ) - all largely intangibles apart from tangibles like the Customs and Import duties that such imports fetch for our exchequer .

I don't think China sees India as a partner but more as a rival to be kept under the cosh.

That realisation , however small it's adherents , has always been present in India including with Nehru except that he followed the policy of appeasement to buy peace and then impetuously rushed into an hastily conceived Forward Policy with disastrous consequences .

We don't have and neither should we harbour any fond hopes of Hindi Chini bhai bhai too .In this respect we ought to be like the Japanese who throughout their history have always been rather insouciant of the Chinese .We seem to be emulating them .A bit late in the day but welcome all the same .

Use them and take their help where we can but with our guard up.Their intentions are never benign .Not with us and neither with their iron brother Pakistan .