While
the historic bill providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament is being
tabled on one side, we also receive the news of the recent ‘forced religious
conversion’ allegations on the accused employees of a BPO run by a
Multi-national company in Nashik, which has created shockwaves across the
country. Several complainants
stated that apart from sexual harassments, the accused employees made
derogatory remarks about Hindu deities, cracked offensive jokes about Hindu
beliefs, and used abusive language referring to religion, and attempted
religious conversion by coercing them to do namaz and consume beef, gave pressure
to adopt specific religious practices etc. Vulnerable employees, especially
those facing financial and personal difficulties are targeted. Definitely, this
forced religious conversion has to be seen as a threat to the national integration
as it has entered the corporates too as a pattern. But such Muslims should
remember that a bigger law of spirituality and Karma in action. By resorting to
such practices might appear as a victory now but in long run they are
destroying themselves.
Let
us see how and why other religions are trying to convert Hindus and the way
ahead to protect sanatana dharma by not only Hindus but also Muslims and
Christians.
All
the legitimate aspirations of man, which help him ultimately to realize the
Aatman, are classified into four as Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha
(Chaturvidha Purushaarthas). Artha (All those that lead to security and
shelter) & Kaama (all legitimate desires) are natural in all living beings.
Animals become quiet after satisfying their basic hunger and other needs but
man wants more and more. To temperate this, our Rishis revealed that Artha and
Kaama are natural aspirations and requirements of life but the basis of it has
to be Dharma. If we follow Dharma while striving for Artha and Kaama we would
become worthy of striving for Moksha (Final liberation, Eternal Bliss) in due
course. Thus, Dharma becomes the primary Purushaartha. Unfortunately, today our
understanding about Dharma is clouded. When we think of Dharma, the word
religion comes to mind. But Dharma is not religion.
Dharma
is also called Sanatana Dharma because it is based on the Sanatana, eternal
principles such as everything is imbued with the Divine; existence is
interconnected, interrelated, interdependent; the Divine has manifested as
family, society, nation and whole existence; we are part of these various
collectives and therefore our duty is to nurture our larger self, if need be
even by sacrificing the smaller entity. Why is it also called Hindu Dharma? How
did the word Hindu come? People from the other side of the Sindhu river called the
people who are following this sanatana dharma (people living in India) as
‘Hindu’ (Sindhu became Hindu for them).
In
the practice of Dharma, one may choose any name or form of God or may not, but
in religion, the follower of that religion has to affirm his faith in a
specific god. Dharma gives the norms for behaving and interacting with others,
with nature, with the expanding self. Whereas, religion gives rules and dogmas
for prayers to specific God. Now coming to the actual issue, Islam and
Christianity are not Dharma. They are religions. Religion means there is a
specific god, a specific book, a specific way of worship or prayer and some
religious hierarchy which guides the believers. Generally, a practitioner of
Dhaarmic tradition is not a fanatic. But the followers of especially Abrahamic
religions generally say that only their book is true, only their book should be
read, everything else is false, only their god is true and others gods are
false which leads to fanaticism. This is what is seen in the recent allegations
on the accused employees of a BPO, who made derogatory remarks about Hindu deities.
In Sanatana culture, the vision of life is of
Oneness (Ekaatma Jeevan Darshan). But
for the cultures that are based on Christianity and Islam, the vision of life
is a vision of division or separation. These cultures are exclusive in nature. God
is separate from creation. Man is separate from nature and God. The vision of
division is seen in the division of people as ‘chosen and heathen’; as
‘faithful and Kafirs’, ‘we’ and they’, ‘God and Satan’, etc. Thus Nature is not
sacred. It is created for the enjoyment of man and so it can be exploited. Converting
others by all means, exterminating others who do not follow ‘our true god’,
becomes the religious duty in these cultures. For them, the brotherhood is the
brotherhood of all Muslims and is against non-Muslims. As Christians also have
the same vision of division, the meaning of brotherhood gets restricted to the
denomination of the proclaimer. Heaven is assured only for those who follow
that particular denomination.
The
insidiously defined secularism in constitution also became the biggest stick to
beat. Secularism unfortunately has become minorityism and minority appeasement.
Hindu society is not monolithic that it can take care of itself, nor does it
have any international monetary support as do Muslims and Christians, nor is it
aggressive in conversion for increasing its numbers. It is the other way round;
other religions poach on the Hindu society through conversion. If Hindu society
does not survive, India will not be India. What the Indian culture has nurtured
for thousands of years for the good of humanity would be lost forever.
Macaulayan
education also has confounded our problem. We have lost our capacity to think.
We need to change our text books. After independence, our academic bodies were
mainly governed by the missionaries and the leftists. Shivaji was a great
empire builder but we do not teach that to our children. Why can’t the
Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gita, the Upanishad-s, Yoga become essential
part of school curriculum? The whole world admires it and it is the birth right
of an Indian child to learn it.
As has been seen in Indian culture, one has
freedom of choice to decide whom to pray to. So, our Christian and Muslim
communities of course can follow their religious practices. Just because they
pray to Jesus Christ or Allah they do not get excluded at all from Indian
culture. The deciding factor is: whether they accept the vision and values of Indian
Culture, whether they revere the great persons born here like Sri Rama, Sri
Krishna, Sri Ramakrishna, etc. They need not worship them but they should at
least respect them. If not, then they are rejecting Indian culture. If yes,
then they are very much part of Indian culture.
But what is wrong in religious conversions? If
a person feels peace praying to Jesus should he not spread it, to others? One
may ask. The answer is: When Gandhiji was asked the same question, he replied, “Because,
you cannot possibly say that what is best for you is best for all...And again,
is it not super arrogance to assume that you alone possess the key to spiritual
joy and peace, and that an adherent of a different faith cannot get the same in
equal measure from a study of his scriptures? I enjoy a peace and equanimity of
spirit which has excited the envy of many Christian friends. I have got it
principally through the Gita.” Coming to the obstinacy of Christians about
their mission, Gandhiji added, “Your difficulty lies in your considering the
other faiths as false or so adulterated as to amount to falsity. And you shut
your eyes to the truth that shines in other faiths and which gives equal joy
and peace to their votaries.” (History
of Hindu-Christian Encounters, Goel, 1984, pp. 199-200). Same thing applies to
the case in question
Secondly, conversion means the person is asked
to reject his God as either false or inadequate. A person has many identities
but his deepest identity is his God and if that is attacked, it is violence
against him and also the millennia of evolved consciousness. Conversion is
violence.
Thirdly, it is fine if you want to tell people
about how to pray to Allah but then why are people told to reject their
traditional Gods and Goddesses? That is why many Janajaati areas oppose
construction of Churches or mosques but not Mandirs. If a Church or mosque is
constructed in their area, they are always prey to converting religions and
thus stand in fear of losing their culture.
Fourthly, if praying to Allah brings peace then
why is there so much violence and terrorism where Islam goes or in several
Islamic countries? And lastly if the ultimate aim is to bring people to One
God, why are there so many denominations and peers amongst Islam and why do
Muslims of one denomination try to kill Muslim of other denominations? It
indicates that in the guise of religion and so called peace, Islam works more
as a political agenda.
As seen before in the words of Mahatma Gandhi,
Muslims and Christians are citizens of this nation but just because they are in
India does not change the Hindu character of India or her mission. Christians
and Muslims in India also have a very big role to play in the service of
humanity. They are born in India. Thus, they have inculcated and can imbibe
Indian Culture if the forces from outside do not interfere with them.
Christianity and Islam are facing problems the world over. Human spirit is born
free so it cannot be bound to dogmas for too long. The Church tried that for
centuries in the medieval period but the result is, today many reject religions
in Europe and America. The number of Church-goers have dwindled from 30% to
10%. They reject not only going to church, they reject religion itself. In the
name of individual freedom or materialism or progressivism or post-modernism,
many have drifted from values of life into a spiritual vacuum.
Islam is a few steps behind to what is
happening in Christianity. Muslims are controlled with various fears and in
some places with threats by religious terrorists. Thus, we see that many Muslim
countries are not at peace with themselves. Killings take place. The affluence
of Petro-dollars has eased the life-style in some countries but the women long
for freedom. Debauchery afflicts the very rich. Huntington says that the
borders of Islam are always bloody. It is as if the society is imploding from
within. To keep that in check, the anger of the ordinary Muslims is directed
towards other religions or Dharma-s or towards Muslims of different
denominations. Thus militancy is promoted. Many Muslim families are worried
about this radicalization of their children. When and how their sons or
daughters fall prey to terrorist propaganda, parents too do not know.
Unless the spiritual content, the experiential
dimension of religion is stressed, dogmatic religions will always face the
possibility of radicalization or rootlessness that comes out of loss of faith.
With their grounding in Indian culture, Indian Muslims and Christians can
contribute to harmony by infusing true spiritual content and the experiential
dimension. The human spirit cannot be
permanently controlled with fear of hell or some other fear. The human mind has
to evolve. Our Christian and Muslim brethren have a great role to play as they
have had the good fortune of being born in the Indian civilization. They know
both Dharma and their religion. These Abrahamic religions have to get
Dharmicised if they have to live longer.
What is it that will have to go and what is it
that should remain? In Christianity and Islam, the exclusive approach would
have to go, the dogmatic basis has to go and they would have to become
experiential in nature that is, giving importance to being and becoming and not
believing. As quoted earlier, Swami Vivekananda had said that Truth does not
pay homage society ancient or modern, but society has to pay homage to Truth or
die. Oneness is the Truth of existence. Thus, operating from the vision of
division would bring only unhappiness. The vision of Oneness and values of
Indian civilization would have to be adopted while Jesus or Allah or various
religious practices which are in tune with Dharma would continue. The Muslims
should not fall prey to the nefarious designs of the terrorists and try to hurt
Hindu society. Today, they might think that they can take advantage of mild
nature or ignorance of Hindu society but the law of Truth of existence is going
to destroy them if they refuse to give up conversion and exclusive approach. The
Muslims and Christians of India can play a great role of saving their
co-religionists all over the world from becoming either irreligious or fundamentalist.
Dharma can be practiced here in India by them and that would charm their
co-religionists and the whole world to follow them.
A.P.Sundar
YB-ET