MAD- REVIVING HINDUISM

Seeing the on-going proceedings at Mahakumbh, Sangam, Allahabad, the largest human gathering at one place anywhere in the universe, one is convinced about the megs-ness of the basic foundations which have stood the test of time but it’s also agonising that some issues have been grossly misunderstood. A rationale mind finds it extremely difficult to comprehend the irrationality of faith. Bathing polluted water of Ganga water leading to moksh”or liberation of soul from the cycle of life and birth (the ultimate aim of seeker in Hindu (Santan Dharam)’seems quite unbelievable. That so many learned, celebs and rich are attending could it be a superstition or blind faith or following a ritual. Wonder if any one genuinely believes in it. But the number of people attending put one on the horns of dilemma of belief or irrationality of the mega event. But the bottom line appears to be that believers have immense faith and forces a borderline believer to rethink about the complete issue from rationality and faith aspects. I would like to go by faith as our frontiers of exiting knowledge may not be complete, thereby limiting the scope of rationality manifesting as serious errors of judgement.

         It would be fair to presume that some way down the times the basic foundations of Sanatan Dharam were overtaken by rituals. Rituals are important part of all religions of the world. But the aim of rituals is akin to a child going to Pre/Nursery classes before going to school. This trains the child the basics about the way of school. Thereafter he progresses periodically till he reaches his final destination. Baths, conch, garlands, sindhoor, incense sticks, idol worship are akin to nursery or pre nursery training with the aim of leaning the way of religion. As per the Hindu (Sanatan Dharma) it involves living value based life as useful member of the society, simultaneously spiritually, progressing towards divinity through numerous means. The terminal aim is divinity or moksha or unification with the originator.  Somewhere the religion for majority is stuck at the nursery/pre nursery level, that is, rituals and somehow expecting the terminal aim without striving for it. This just cannot happen. Since one cannot graduate by continuing at nursery for equal amount of time similarly rituals cannot and will not deliver divinity. As the oldest, most liberal and founding father of all religions of world, the Santana Dharma is in decay for masses. The reason may be two fold one is the non-accessibility of ancient books in the language people understand. So the interpreters have taken charge and force rituals through fear of Gods and show a way of appeasement by through the medium of rituals. Second reason is little or no evolution of religious thought through scientific experimentation or intellectual discussion. Old wisdom must give way to new, that’s the rule of life, and somehow this mighty religion has failed to keep pace, leading to other religions taking off by negating the ills which made the religion sickly. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism and modern day Radha Swami and large number of sects teaching Raja yoga/Kundalini way of mind control and unification, having huge followings others are the modified version of Santana Dharma.

Most of the believers follow the philosophy of my way the right way and do not care about the religion collectively as moksha is individual business. This perhaps is a defeatist approach and major reason of the rituals taking charge and basics forgotten.

What needs to be done?

Accept collective responsibility for awareness and change.

Discussions during satang’s or other meetings about the basic thought and what’s wrong.

Social responsibility for uplifting the poor, feeding the hungry; cleaning the filthy temples,

Religious leaders lead the social charge towards rivers cleaning; afforestation; saving girl child; planting trees etc. All these have religious sanctity and would be followed once positively connected with faith. Kar seva akin to Sikhsim is a great way of social integration and volunteering labour for a great cause.

Remove touchabilty from society and make it inclusive. Religious leaders have the moral authority to enforce this.

Wisdom of yoga/nature cure/ Ayurveda, Vedic maths and other experiential wisdom of Trans dental nature are subjected to validation as ascribed by the modern science. Swami Ramdev is doing a great job on this front.

Teach own lore and Indian religious/societal values in schools.

Knowledge and mind has been our forte. There is a need to inculcate martial arts/physical fitness through indigenous non equipment heavy games/sports.

Need to regain our position as the world leader in knowledge manifesting it as smart/soft power.

Need to scientifically validate the power of mantras and other indigenous teachings and wisdom.

Need to have research foundation experimenting with indigenous medicines and herbs.

The religion akin to other religions has been hijacked by radical elements with limited but vocal and visible following. The majority is either silently, helplessly watching or could not care less. This is leading to collision course with serious ramifications for everyone. Unless there is concerted effort to rejuvenate the religion and tuning the basic thought and validating the ancient knowledge with modern scientific means; a glorious religion will be dissipate because of inaction of the believers. Once the lead is taken over by the genuine leaders then things will fall in place as the inclusivity; logic; rationality and tolerance will become the harbinger of interaction thereby uniting the fragmented society. We all need to push, cajole the people towards this direction so lets make a difference

MAKE A DIFFERENCE REFORMING HINDUISM

Mahakumbh, the greatest congregation of human beings anywhere in the universe is in progress. It’s one event where all the learned Hindu spiritual leadership assembles at the holiest of time and place as dictated by astro factors. The environment all around the place in totally pious; people visiting are taking and thinking about the future beyond the materialistic world and they come with a promise to atone the past sins and go back as better human beings.

The powerful gathering of saints with massive following controls the mind and has the potential of mega changes in our society and thought process. The oldest religion of the world has developed major fault lines over a period of times and this need to be addressed. Failure to do so will lead to decay and conversion to other religions which is resented by the vast majority. First the major ills

·         Evolution. Our forefathers were extremely learned people and gave the world the modern tools providing the basic foundations of science; spiritual thought; mathematics; palmistry; planetary and astro sciences. However somewhere down the times knowledge seeking was replaced by superstitions for the masses and interpretation of wisdom left to the educated Brahmins however even they failed to modernise or add to the basic knowledge and propagated blind faith and superstitions to control masses through fear cum appeasement of Gods as a panacea for curing all ills.   

·         Castes. Its shame that this menace continues unabated and rather than going down with education, it is rearing its ugly head, kind courtesy the vote bank politics and the inability of the religious leaders to fight this evil. Since the gurus have a hold at grass root levels they are the most effective force to usher this change. If Hindu is divided today, this is one of the root causes and unless addressed the future is not too great.

·         Mandirs poorly maintained though wealthy. Our mandirs are wealthy because of devotees but the management of mandirs too say the least is pathetic. Filth, beggars, greedy pundits, touts, inadequacy of basic amenities, corruption, mismanagement of funds are the hall marks of most of them. There is a need to coordinate the minimal give back to the people in terms of feeding/sheltering the hungry; providing basic amenities and CSR. Gurudwars maintenance; free langars cum shelter to devotees; reasonable amenities and charity could be the way ahead. There is a need for centralised body to monitor implementation of this aspect.

·         Self over society. Charity amongst all religions- Islam/Sikhs/Christianity is well known and needs to be incorporated as volunteer give back to mandirs.

·         Dowry and Women Status. The low status of women against our religion has taken deep roots in the modern day society. The day to day treatment of our women folks needs much to be desired. Dowry and may be equal property for girls may be a starting point. It’s not the way the great religion has taught the society to treat its women. Social ban on dowry can be imposed by the dharma gurus and society.

·         Ills/incidents/failures all blamed on God. All ills and failings are ascribed to past karmas and in spite of teachings in our Vedas and Swami Vivekananda that we need to take charge, we refuse to accept responsibility by misinterpreting the philosophy of Gita. That we make our destinies need to be taught to the people.

·         Knowledge and pride in past, future little bright. People who led the world in knowledge are laggards today. We have stopped learning and expect west to tell us even of our ancient wisdom what is good or bad before acceptance. Pride in our knowledge and past has been traumatised by the slavery that the nation was subjected to far so long. This needs to be brought back by making the wisdom available in the language which people understand and supporting/refining those pearls with modern scientific tools available to us today.

·         Diversity harming the cause. Ram; Shiv; kumbh; krishan; devis have got associated with Ram mandir, Amarnath/kailash-mansarovar/Dwarka-Vrindavan- Tirupathi-Puri; vaishnavo – chintapurni etc. and Peeths have all become autonomous entities with no centralised coordination. Problems are being addressed individually with little synergy whereas the basic problem is same. Hinduism is the only religion in the world which does not have Vatican/Golden Temple/Mecca – Medina. There is need to defend together when it comes to the basic thought. Hindus are being converted by allurements because of in-house follies. There is a need to have a centralised body which should put combat the threats.

Way Ahead

There are other issues and not all can be addressed here.What needs to be done is the issue. The Dharma Gurus assembly at mahakumbh should address the issues which are threatening our religion and society today. The government and laws cannot change the mind-set but the Dharma Gurus have the clout and where with all to take on these veils head on and force a change for the good. Once we revert back to the values and wisdom of the past and simultaneously evolving/ refining the sciences, we can become the religion which was once proud of its thought, traditions, socio-economic fabric and self-sustaining communities living in harmony. Soft power or smart power or mind power or knowledge society whatever one may call – this the way and the tools.

Let us all appeal to our Gurus to please pitch in so that the way ahead is spelt out now

M.A.D. -- LETS DO OUR BIT

There has been massive outrage post Delhi gang rape case and rightly so. Numerous suggestions and ideas were thrown up during the outrage and the common bashing boy was the police. The recommendations of the committee established soon after the incident appear to be more deterrent post the disaster.

Police failure has been there but the complete blame does not rest with the police. That the reforms are required; that the police are understaffed; that the police are operating under colonial rules is also well known; the police are incompetent to handle such like situations in the glare of media too came out loud and clear. Solution to all problems are well documented or available , the only block appears to be governments fear of making the police independent and is delighted with remote controlling  through babus without accountability.

As part of the remedial measures everyone in the race to apportion the blame and prevent re occurrence wished police /politician’s /babus/ media/ students/intelligence for failure requiring transformational reforms.

The most important stake holder is a normal citizen devoid of access to the privileged status. He is everywhere and faces the challenges as part of his on-going daily life. Girls/women facing harassment in the college /outside almost everywhere moment they leave the house for any activity unescorted. The most important stake holder has become dumb spectator and reconciled with the miseries as part of life. Rather than take it head on, he has decided to go into the shell and levied restrictions on the girl/women folk. Whether it’s a worried father or husband or the leadership of close knit societies-the rationale is common. Khap dictates’; fatwas or restrictions by a father/husband fall in the same category- fear and vulnerability of the female. The suggestions range from reasonable to ridiculous. Early marriage; no mobiles; no night out are some those have been propounded. Spirit behind the restrictions is fine but the implementation or suggested measures may be questionable. But the fact is what the outrage desired or khaps/husband/father’s earnest desire is safety of the female. Notwithstanding legal system not giving due to khaps the fact is they have a powerful say in the areas they control. Fear of punishment and social outcast is potent for member of community in rural India, infect it gives a family identity and therefore extremely important. All these have involving the stake holders and evolved a system that delivers quite effectively certainly better than the official judicial system.

One is the incorporation of the stake holder, ie, the female and the husband/father /khap and second is the potent punishment.

Applying at the national level, this can evolve into similar powerful system.

First stage, the Stake holder is the citizen- his responsibility is like the trigger. He notices anything informs the police. But this can work only if he is assured of his safety and n harassment. He is everywhere and every time. Majority carry mobiles and can take a photograph and would like to call the police when they see something wrong.

Second stage should be the quick reaction police teams aimed at localising the incident, helping the victim, preventing culprits escape or destroy evidence.

Third stage would be the expert police investigating team to ensure a fool proof legal case.

Fourth Stage is speedy justice delivery; this seems to be happening at least in recent rape cases.

Stage one is the crux to ensuring service quality by the government. The government cannot and should not be everywhere. It could be proactive where things are foreseen but will have to be reacting on a trigger initiated by the citizens.

The trigger thought process can gradually be applied across the board, wherever the service provider fails, reporting the matter triggering the response will ensure fear amongst the erring employees and force the delivery of the stated service. Let’s make a difference, become empowered citizens and trigger the response.  Unless we pitch in no one can ever succeed and if we pitch in no one can fail.