If you let people walk all over you, they will walk all over you
I am sure the title of this piece will not surprise many of us in fact any of us.
There is an oft-debated, criticized point – socially, spiritually and now politically- that why Hindus are not united like other religions?
There are several reasons for this situation, and let us see what is lacking and what can be done.
We are not confused as people may think, but we are very clear in our minds- we stand for ourselves and our family alone. ‘We have become indifferent’ too. Because no one told us otherwise. This has happened over a long period- Over the democratization of faith.
We hide our weakness taking shelter under lofty ideas like ‘Vasudev Kutumbhkam’ or the world is one family or we being the most tolerant people God has created. We do not want to hurt anyone not even sentimentally. We are God’s only creation-we think. We are ready to kiss a snake, a demon or a horse with equal serenity. How great!
In that sense, we all are ‘statesmen’ always on the right side of right which we ourselves don’t know whether it is right or not. At least we want to show that to everyone.
We have been told by our elders – be tolerant and let anyone walk over you. Which god will tell us this? This is a self-inflicted scar. And we are ready to carry that as a cross on our backs forever.
One of Murphy’s laws is ‘Any problem can be made very complicated, if there are enough number of discussions on it’. How right this statement which fits us to a Tee.
Competitive religion-ism
Other religions and their ‘Gurus’ make it a point to tell their people that they have a religion which has certain bindings, certain rules, laws and strictures which are non-negotiable. They point to one super power and call it out as their God their savior. Period. No ifs and no buts.
We on the other hand say it is a religion but it is not a religion- it is a way of life. Obviously this is confusing. Statement itself is a bit mystic, seemingly paradoxical, especially in today’s age where people want things in binary and crystal clear. Why a common Hindu need some highly qualified Pundit to understand basics of good living as a Hindu? That is why so many gurus to teach us about God- my God. Gurus flourish –neither god nor us!
For instance, Sadhguru says ‘The term and concept of Hinduism was coined only in recent times. Otherwise, there was really no such thing. The word “Hindu” essentially comes from the word Sindhu. Anyone who is born in the land of Sindhu is a Hindu. It is a cultural and geographic identity. It is like saying “I am an Indian” but it is a more ancient identity than being an Indian. “Indian” is only about seventy years old, but this is an identity that we have always lived with.
Being a Hindu does not mean having a particular belief system. Basically, the whole culture was oriented towards realizing one’s full potential. Whatever you did in this culture was Hindu. There is no particular god or ideology that you can call as the Hindu way of life. You can be a Hindu irrespective of whether you worship a man-god or a woman-god, whether you worship a cow or a tree. If you don’t worship anything you can still be a Hindu.”
Such scattered diverse idea can confuse than clarify.
So what does one make out of this discourse? More confusion?
Is it a gospel, a creed, a cult, philosophy, ideology or a sect? These are all the synonyms of the word religion. Or we feel Hinduism is none of it. Some confuse it further by saying it is not an ‘ism’ then for God’s sake what is it?
Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. In India which has maximum number of Hindus in the world, the term dharma is also interchangeably used with religion, which is broader than the Western term religion. When you say Raj dharma it means duty of a ruler. Parmo Dharma means ultimate or supreme duty. Therefore Dharma implies being duty bound.
These are high and lofty ideas which may not hit the bulls eye with the generation gasping constantly running on day today basis with little time at hand for household chores, for fitness or family. While others are absolutely clear.
Looking at it another way in its entirety it is too big and too liberal. It is too democratic in its very essence and that could be its strength. It is Omni interpretable or multi interpretable. Or being too liberal could be its weakness too. If you have no strict rules you have no binding. When you do something religiously it implies, you do it regularly.
With such an open ended idea of belief, how do you get people on the same page- as there is no one book or no one page.
For Christians Bible is a Holy Manual. That is why people call any wholesome all-encompassing guide for a topic as a Bible. You say ‘This book authored by XYZ author is a Bible for Marketing’. This implies that there is nothing more to it; one book is all that you need. If you have any doubt about marketing, you go back to that book. If it is the Bible for marketing then that is the ultimate and final authority on marketing. That is how it is perceived. There may be thousand other books but one is sufficient and all others are as reference books.
Deriving a logical inference I would assume that a religion needs to be presented in a well-defined boundary through one book carrying all major tenets of that religions philosophy as its essence and also needs to be practiced religiously with certain regularity.
Hinduism also has hundreds of deities to choose from.
Saab Chalta hai
It is like making an eight-lane highways to your destination- in this case all mighty – but no rules. You can drive left right or center. Overtake, over speed or stop your car in the middle of the highway to have your lunch! Bravo.
How do you keep things in order? You can’t say ‘my way on the high way’- to my god. This is a sure short cut to death and reach your god and send others too!
Weakness of Hindu religion is that it is very vast, very liberal, spread over huge number of scriptures and hence difficult to interpret for a common man. You need a guru or a priest to understand it- even a fraction of it. This can be a deterrent for people to practice it rigorously. Therefore most Hindus get into devotional obligation after they have finished their responsibility- almost retired. For a modern day Hindu youth it appears too complicated and you can’t make every living Hindu a monk or a saint.
Religion is a Sense of discipline
There is an oft-quoted expression ‘I do so and so thing religiously’. Say ‘I go for my work out with friends religiously- that means religion connotes a sense of regimentation and discipline. Then why pretend otherwise?
One simple way to understand why religions came into existence is -religion gives us purpose in life.
One possible explanation has to do with the way religion tends to act like social glue, drawing the faithful into likeminded communities. People often find social support and a sense of belonging within such communities, which can be a powerful source of perceived meaning in life.
There has to be a list of strict ‘Do’s and Don’ts. Religions are bound by a solid glue called ‘commandments’.
Unless you do this instead of free for all, there is no cohesiveness. These glorious good things were fine in glorious times when people did have values and lived by their values in a gigantic invisible ’bubble’ called a way of life which is religion. But no more as others have well defined lines, clear-cut ideas, and clear commandments. God may be intangible but you need some kind of a roadmap for a common mortal. Else how do you feel a person will follow you?
Then we bring salvation into it.
Salvation is preservation. It means and aims to conserve, defend, protect, safeguard, save, secure, store, sustain, uphold, cure, guard. Man is looking for this- man needs support. When reason fails faith begins.
For preservation there has to be a sense of collectivism. A sense of belonging and that sense of being together. How can that become possible if it is ‘free for all’?
Harvard-ization of Hinduism!
Today people other than Hindus or Hindus who lean towards left or the western culture are taking a pot shot at Hinduism. They go abroad and take refuge in lofty universities like Harvard and criticize us- they are there to tell us that Hinduism is no good. They mostly talk about caste system as a negative stance of Hinduism.
We have let the others take a pot shot at us.
“Hindu Dharma is the quintessence of our national life, hold fast to it if you want your country to survive, or else you would be wiped out in three generations”. – Swami Vivekanand
What can be done to unite the religion?
After Independence a lot of balancing act has happened because of serious and sincere efforts to provide a level playing field across the Hindu masses. This was legislated.
We need a UHC- Uniform Hindu Code.
Create a citizens forum in every small city- like a Rotary movement. Let it go down to every small village- we have 6 lakh plus villages. Caste creed no bar, everyone to be encouraged to come and treated equally. This is a bottom up approach.
Organize weekly prayers in Mandirs- only one day a mass gathering- like Christians do on Sunday so do Sikhs. After that a simple to understand discourse with a take away ‘no big gyan’.
Two things can be done over and above the caste neutralization.
1. Simplify
- Simplifying the construct and making it more accessible to all Hindus. Why don’t many Hindus read their holy books like Vedas, Upanishads, and Gita? When asked about their religion, most of the Hindus cannot give a straight answer or give varying answers. Why do we need great scholars/religious teachers to understand what we all need to follow? We need one book as a primer for all. It needs to put the entire essence of all our holy scriptures and tell us what to do and what not to do. Other religions go by their one holy book. That is their strength.
- 2. Religion is about symbolism too.
Every religion has a marker in terms of caps, beards, what you wear and some symbol/symbols to go by. For instance Christians have a cross.
- Of late Hindu women have started donning a ‘Bindi’ with pride. And have started asserting this in no uncertain terms. This is true women power. But that is half the total number of Hindus. And where are the men?
- Can they also don something to demonstrate that they belong to a ‘way of life’- if it helps. Like a cross. Om is a central thread and it is a sound and a symbol- possibly sacred to all. Hindus. Yes this is unique- may be undisputable pillar of a united religion.
Rotary- a case in point
Rotary members believe that they have a shared responsibility to take action on world’s most persistent issues. Our 46,000+ clubs work together to promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, save mothers and children, support education, grow local economies, protect the environment.
Don’t religions do much more than this?
We need cardinal principles in some form or the other.
Cardinal principles
- We have one cardinal principle which all Hindus follow. Hindus don’t eat beef.
- We tie a thread on our wrist- (A pratisara or kautuka) a sacred thread- we must encourage this.
- Can we have few more like this- for instance your color is gerua or (saffron) tie a small cloth on your steering wheel. When Christians wear a Cross they demonstrate loyalty and sense of community.
- Some more should be dug out and propagated.
- Sabka saath sabka mangal ho.
- Other symbols like Shiv Ling, Swastika or Lotus or Cow should continue along side. No restriction here.
- We cannot allow people or organizations or business houses Indian or Foreign or even Bollywood or Hollywood to walk all over us. One needs a strict code of conduct to handle this.
For all these reasons, below statement becomes a testament.
“hindu ko jagana mushkil he nahi hai- namumkin hai’
