Recent statement by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Parliament that ‘those who called themselves Hindu are violent, spread hatred and falsehood’ is a sinister attempt to demonize Hindus and Hindutva. Although there has been an attempt by Left-Liberal-Islamist ecosystem to create a binary between Hinduism and Hindutva, their efforts did not bear fruit due to their declining political clout. But with a slightly renewed mandate in the recent Lok Sabha election, they try to push this dangerous narrative upon the country. This is a plain attempt to create confusion and chaos in the country and among Hindus in particular and reap political harvest. It is a repackaged Nehruvian Secularism — It’s the old ‘Nehruvian Secularism’ in a new (Hindu) bottle’. This needs to be countered at all levels and every Hindu should take it upon as her/his duty in the larger interest of the Hindu Civilization.
Several commentators have dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s statement as a juvenile attempt to corner the BJP leadership. Raising the photograph of Bhagwan Shiva (thank God, he spared Allah – so his head is in right place) in the house was not without a purpose. It’s part of a well-thought-out global plan to divide and emaciate the Hindu society by forces who have their handlers in foreign lands. These forces have already planned to build an ‘architecture of hate and anarchy’ by pushing the old Aryan-Dravidian narrative in a new format. A ‘Muruga conclave’ is being planned to pit Bhagwan Karthikeya against ‘North Indian invader’ Bhagwan Ram. Sometime ago, a DMK leader had said: ‘Who is Ram? Ram has no relevance in South.’ By this exercise, they propose to drive wedge between Saivaites and Vaishnavaites.
Last year, a ‘Cutting South’ conclave was held in Kerala, supported by Left and Congress leaders, to push this narrative. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin’s son has already revealed the broader aim of this campaign: “To eradicate Sanatan Dharma’.
While attempting to shout down BJP leaders in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said: “You are not Hindu. RSS, BJP are not representatives of Hinduism.” Hindu Dharma does not give any individual or sect mandate to brand any person ‘non-believer’ or fake. By doing this, with his lopsided understanding of the concept of Shiva, Rahul Gandhi has tried to graft Abrahamic approach on the Hindu Dharma.
While attempts are being made to push binaries, it is important that we understand the nuances of terms in the right perspective. Many scholars have a problem with the word ‘Hinduism’; for ‘ism’ stands for a closed book of thought or a set of dogmas or a blind belief system. They prefer using the word Hindutva (Hindu-ness), or Hindu Dharma for that matter, to Hinduism to denote the indigenous philosophy and belief system. Hindutva is not a religion; it’s a way of life. Religion is that which leads one to god. The Sanskrit word dharma is derived from the root dhri which means “to hold together”. It’s the glue that holds the society together, families together. There isn’t a word in English that could be capture the whole meaning of dharma, the core civilizational idea that has provided coherence to the Indian mind.
Hindutva or Hindu Dharma does not lead to god but it seeks union with the Ultimate Reality. It’s said – Shivo bhutva, Shivam yajet – ‘Become Shiva then worship Shiva’. There is no binary or duality between the god and man. This is the universalistic vision of Hindu Dharma. Having said that, Hindutva, without any grudge or ill-feeling, can accommodate and accept the philosophical arguments of the pre-Charvaka or Lokayata schools of Indian materialism. What it cannot accommodate is a philosophy that calls for a division of the world into mutually exclusive camps of faithful and infidels.
Esa dharma sanatanah (This dharma is eternal). As Dr S Radhakrishnan puts it:
Dharma is what which binds society together. That which divides society, breaks it up into parts and makes people fight one another is Adharma. Dharma is nothing more than the realisation of the supreme and acting in every small act of your life with that Supreme present in your mind. If you are able to do so, you are performing Dharma. If other interests pervade you and you try to translate your mind into other regions, even though you may think you are a believer, you will not become true believer. The real believer in god has his heart always lifted to Dharma.
Hindu Dharma gives a seeker freedom of thought and choice. He is free to question, accept and deny. Swami Sivananda says:
Hinduism allows absolute freedom to the rational mind of man. It never demands any undue restraint upon the freedom of human reason, freedom of thought, feeling and will of man. Hinduism is a religion of freedom, allowing the widest margin of freedom in matters of faith and worship. It allows absolute freedom of human reason and heart with regard to such questions as to the nature of god, soul, form of worship, creation, and the goal of life. It does not force anybody to accept particular dogmas or forms of worship. It allows everybody to reflect, investigate, enquire, cogitate.
Hindutva does not give primacy to any particular scripture or a path. Even the Vedas, revered by multitudes of Hindu people, are not the ultimate authority. A Hindu is free to question the authority of even the Vedas. Adi Shankara, in his introduction to the Shankara Bhashya, notes: Sheto agni aprakasho va ithi bruvan shruti shatamapi na pramanyamupaithi (If a Veda says that the fire is cold and doesn’t emit light, I would reject it.) In some instances, even the Bhagavat Gita questions the authority of the Vedas. Hindutva grants primacy to personal experience and it disapproves of claims of individuals as sole possessors of truth. The Upanishads, the Vedas are just spiritual guides. Every man or woman is free to select one’s own path. The erudite and the unlettered have equal right to celebrate their experiences and follow the paths they have chosen. Caste, creed or panth doesn’t matter in the larger Hindu scheme of things. There is perfect equality. No one can claim to have the exclusive possession of spiritual truth or the only method to reach god; a method or a message can only be one among the many. That’s why we say Hindutva is not an ‘Only-ist’ faith but a philosophy that promotes ‘Also-ism’. Bhagwan Krishna elucidates this beautifully in the Bhagavat Gita:
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁstathaiva bhajāmyaham,
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ.
As men approach Me, so I accept them to My love (bhajāmi); men follow in every way my path, Oh son of Partha. (Sri Aurohindo’s translation.)
So, with confidence one can say that no belief system that denies one’s freedom of choice or of conscience can be part of Hindutva. There is an interesting saying about Hindu Dharma: ‘The only dogma that Hindu Dharma admits is the one that does not permit a dogma.’
For ‘rebirth of India’, Sri Aurobindo had suggested that the values of Hindu Dharma should be included in our educational system for restoration of truthful conduct in life.
A few years ago, during a conversation with senior RSS pracharak Mananiya R Hari, former Chief Secretary of Kerala late Dr D Babu Paul, a Syrian Christian, said, ‘Hindus becoming more and more fundamentalists would be a boon for the humanity.’
Hindutva has a remarkable power of accommodating and assimilating even conflicting ideas and belief systems while keeping its philosophic core intact. It never abhorred new ideas; on the other hand, it was receptive to new ones irrespective of from where they originated. Ano bhadra kritavo yantu vishwathah (Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides). It welcomed new ideas and experimented with them, standing firm on its foundations. Its scriptures are instinct with a spirit of enquiry, of an unending passion for finding out the truth about things. It has never been in conflict with science because it adopted a scientific approach in its search for truth. Our great seers did not see the mystical and rational wisdom as separate. They developed methods and practices like Yoga to realise and experience the truth.
The world view of the Hindus is shaped by the Advaita philosophy, which says the universe is made of one substance whose form is perpetually changing. We are but a part of the universe and our lives are in continuity with the cosmos. According to the Hindu Dharma, the universe is god’s body, all non-living and living beings are but a part.
Akhanda manadalakaram, vyaptam yena charaacharam
Tatpadam darshitam yena, tasmai Sri Guruve namaha.
(God, he whose form is one whole which is indivisible, present everywhere, pervades both animate and inanimate worlds. Guru, he who has seen the feet of such Lord, Salutations O blessed One.) Therefore, a Hindu has a strong ethical commitment to keep this relational continuity in balance, as harming nature amounts to harming oneself.
Hindutva and Democracy
Once former RSS Sarsanghchalak Shri Rajendra Singh was asked by a foreign correspondent as to how he viewed democracy, a Western gift to the world. With an eloquent smile, he replied: ‘Pakistan, too, adopted democracy at the same time…and later, Bangladesh. You know the shape of democracy in these countries.’
The idea of democracy was not alien to Bharat; one can find references of sabha and samiti in the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda tells us the position of king is not absolute. Kautilya’s Artha Sastra discusses different forms of republics and citizens’ role in decision-making. During the Buddhist period, we find several kingdoms adopting democratic methods to elect their kings; history has it that Vaishali’s king Vishal was elected by the people. When Mahatma Gandhi talked about establishing ‘Village Republics’ he was only aiming at revival of socio-political structures based on ancient yet robust principles of democracy developed by our forefathers.
Hindutva Versus Nehruvian Secularism
However, we disapprove of what is being promoted as the Nehruvian version of secularism, which has done more harm to the polity than good. It has pitted one caste against another and one community against the other and prevented the so-called minority communities from integrating with the national mainstream. Explaining the genesis of the Nehruvian Secularism senior journalist Madhav Nalapat writes:
So spooked does Nehru appear to have been about the catastrophe of Partition that he apparently decided that the way to prevent a second 1947-style vivisection of India, on the basis of religion, was to separate what got termed the ‘minorities’ (or, in other words, non-Hindus) from the ‘majority’ i.e. Hindus. Nehru further saw to it that the ‘minority’ were given rights denied to the ‘majority’, in the form of exceptions to issues such as ‘personal law’.
So, the Nehruvian Secularism was born out of insecurity, dishonesty and weakness. Its main aim is to keep Hindus divided and allow minorities consolidate. It aims to foster a false sense of unity devoid of any sincerity and is being employed to ‘discourage independence in thought and progressiveness in action’. Sri Aurobindo cautions us against the pitfalls of fostering false unity when he states: ‘The prevalence of a dead and lifeless unity is the true index of national degradation, quite as much as the prevalence of a living unity is the index of national greatness.’
Interestingly, the most pertinent and crushing critique of Nehruvian Secularism was made by none other than the first Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleague K M Munshi. He states:
In its (secularism) name, anti-religious forces, sponsored by secular humanism or Communism, condemns religious piety, particularly in the majority community. …In its name, again, politicians in power adopt a strange attitude which, while it condones the susceptibilities, religious and social, of the minority communities, is too ready to brand similar susceptibilities in the majority community as communalistic and reactionary. How secularism sometimes becomes allergic to Hinduism will be apparent from certain episodes relating to the reconstruction of Somnath temple. …These unfortunate postures have been creating a sense of frustration in the majority community. …If however the misuse of this word ‘secularism’ continues…if every time there is an inter-communal conflict, the majority is blamed regardless of the merits of the questions; if our holy places of pilgrimage like Banaras, Mathura and Rishikesh continue to be converted into industrial slums… the springs of traditional tolerance will dry up.
The fears expressed by K M Munshi on the Nehruvian Secularism are valid even today. ‘More ‘secularism’ in India will end up feeding what it fights: the so-called ‘Hindu fundamentalism’.
‘Secularism breeds religious violence,’ writes S N Balagangadhara in Reconceptualising India Studies. We saw how the advocates of the Nehruvian Secularism resorting to falsehood and forgery in the Ram janmabhumi case.
Bharat’s True Destiny
It must be borne in mind that Hindutva is not an ‘obscurantist’ philosophy that some of our friends in the Left-Liberal camp want us to believe. Hindutva has a tremendous capacity to reform and reinvent itself to suit the requirements of the time. While we are proud of our past, our focus is on the future – to achieve param vaibhavam (ultimate glory) to our motherland. But to achieve that we need to have Indian ideas and template and not alien concepts and solutions.
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