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
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