We live in a society where media has some bizarre logic when it comes to issues regarding the faith of the minorities. First thing they will not name the religion if it is clash between them and Hindus and Hindus are the victims. It will be reported as a clash between two sections of the society. The sections will assume names if the Hindus instead of being a perennial victim, starts resisting and show some aggression. Likewise any alleged misdemeanor by a Hindu God man will be blown out of proportion by the media, with debates and discussions about the sorry plight of Hinduism hogging the telecast. But if the perpetrator of the crime happens to be a Muslim or a Christian clergy man our media will seldom talk about such issues. This is pathetic approach is the gift of the secularism in India. The recent rape case in Kerala, where a Bishop was alleged to have raped a nun and threatened her with dire consequences if she goes public about it. However, she reported that to the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman. Church has on many previous occasions tried to push such allegations under the carpet. The top leadership’s Inertia in such matters will go to prove the chauvinistic attitude of the Church as an Institution has towards women.
For years voices of those who were exploited never got any exposure thanks to the pseudo secular Media. They were venting their disgruntlement – in private, at conferences within the community and occasionally in public – regarding misogyny in the Church, the position taken on homosexuality and abortion by bumbling Church spokespersons on TV, financial corruption and more. The irony in India is it is this same Church with all its murky track record regarding women Freedom, takes a position of supremacy, and criticizes the Hindu society for treating women as less human. Our media and the clandestine relationship which the church has with some major political parties of India helps them to conceal their sheer vapidity.
But the world is changing fast and at this speed of information technology growth, we are bound to see a world with more awareness. Naturally this reduces the number of gullible people as people are closer to truth in this new shrunk world. If the church intends to change its misogynist ways into a more humane approach, in order to survive as an institution, it is not enough if it merely apes the rituals and customs of the native people. It has imbibe a holistic philosophy which will help them to shed their animosity towards the supposedly weaker sections of the society. For that it need not search elsewhere. The very same Hinduism, which they have been bashing for the last fifteen decades with their concoctions disguised as Invasion theories, has the solution for them.
With the festival laden October coming, Hindus will show to the world, how they revere womanhood, with their Dasara celebrations. In India the woman is always looked up as a mother. Although, the present day scenario, due to acculturation by aping the west, is fast slipping from this noble vision nurtured by our ancestors, we can still say that the majority of our society is still living with lofty ideal. According to Swami Vivekananda, the ideal of womanhood in India is motherhood – that marvelous, unselfish, all-suffering, ever-forgiving mother. This motherhood is celebrated for ten days throughout India as Dasara. We worship Mother Goddess as Kali, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati who are embodiments of Courage, Prosperity, Knowledge and Love. The Church and the western world has a lesson or two to learn from the common man from India who nurtures this holistic vision.
V.V.Balasubramanian
YB-ET
