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Ideology and confusion
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Location: Blogs Yogi ramsuratkumar Biography |
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| Posted by: admin |
8/8/2006 8:44 AM |
Ideology and confusionB>
Reproduced from The StatesMan
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Dipak Basu
Hinduism and India’s cultural heritage now have to contend with two major adversaries, apart from its traditional enemies such as the Islamic warriors and Christian missionaries. Both the non-traditional enemies are formidable in their own spheres. The first group consists of some Anglo-American Indologists and their Indian collaborators at Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University. | In their reckoning, Hinduism and the Sanskrit language were imported from outside India by the white skinned Caucasian Aryans who had banished the Tamils to South India and turned them into Dalits, introduced oppressive social systems like sati and caste discrimination.
Mythology
Hinduism, according to this version has no origin, no unique doctrine but has millions of gods; even animals are worshipped by the Hindus; epics like Ramayana and Mahabharat are nothing but examples of mythology. Following the trend set by Catherine Mayo’s Mother India, Wolpert of Stanford University or Witzel of Harvard University along with the so-called Indologists of the Western world, with the support of historians from JNU, AMU and Delhi University, are propagating the idea that Hinduism had degenerated as a religion till it was modernised by the progressive ideas of Islam and later the British.
The second adversary of Hinduism hides its real intension in an artificial political construct called “Hindutva”, which has nothing to do with the real meaning of this Sanskrit word. The supporter of this political construct Hindutva, Savarkar, are diverse. The RSS, Bajrang Dal, the VHP, the BJP and the Swadeshi Jagran Macha are commonly known as the constituent members of the Sangha Parivar. Their version of Hinduism in terms of Hindutva is not what Hinduism really is. Their espoused ideals, declared in their constitutions, are either full of meaningless contradictions or they do not mean what they declare. Their economic ideology is directly against the ideals of Hinduism, thus giving a false interpretation of the Sanatan Dharma.
The ideology of the RSS is “integral humanism”, a term coined by the French philosopher Jacques Maritain, in his book Humanisme Integral. But the interpretation of that ideal, as given in The Organiser, the organ of the RSS by Subramanian Swamy, has nothing to do with either integral humanism or classical humanism. Swamy had wrecked the Vajpayee government in 1999 and was a staunch collaborator of a very anti-Hindu political party, the DMK. But he is now the spokesman for Hindutva. He has explained “integral humanism” as a modified form of capitalism. “In a democratic market economy, an individual has a technical freedom of choice, but the system, without safeguards, fails to accommodate the varying capabilities and endowments of the human being. We need thus to build a safety net into our policy for the underprivileged or for the disabled while rewarding the meritorious and the gifted.”
This interpretation is totally incorrect. Capitalism dehumanises human beings by turning them into mere factors of production, which can be discarded if the market so demands. Maximisation of profit irrespective of its social consequences is the rational behaviour under capitalism. In this system workers are deprived of the fruits of their toil thus making them alien to the production system of which they are an integral part. This alienation creates discontent among the workers and that leads to the social and economic contradictions and eventually revolutionary changes in the society.
This is the basic idea of both Karl Marx and Swami Vivekananda both of them had predicted a future society of the workers or the Sudras. Karl Marx approached the issue from the point of view of classical humanism; Vivekananda used the Hindu approach to analyse social change in the tradition of “integral humanism”. Both classical and integral humanism are thus opposed to capitalism, whatever form it may take.
In the Veda or Upanishad and particularly in Bhagwat Gita, the ideal of equality both social, economic, and gender are fundamental. Following these classical texts of the Hindu religion, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism subsequently have considered equality as the essential part of their religious doctrines. Islam or Christianity did not introduce the concept of equality to India, as Jawaharlal Nehru mistakenly wrote in A Discovery of India.
In Hinduism and the related religious systems of Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, unity with the absolute or the realisation of the Brahman is accessible to all irrespective of their origin, gender, economic or social status. In both Jainism and Buddhism, equality is proclaimed more forcefully. There is complete equality in Sikhism.
Greed, possessiveness, the desire to create wealth are the virtues of capitalism. But for Sri Krishna, these are the gates of hell, enemies of the soul. Thus Hinduism considers both social and economic inequality and the resultant arrogance as unacceptable.
The BJP, the most important opposition party in India, appears to be confused about its ideology. It has declared in its constitution that it follows Gandhian Socialism. But under Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister, it followed the capitalist economic reform programme that is now being pursued by Manmohan Singh. There are at least two fundamental problems regarding the tenets of Gandhian socialism. First, Gandhian ideas are not based on Hindu ideals. Gandhism somewhat contradicts Hinduism, which the BJP supposedly wants to promote. Second, Gandhi was not a socialist. Thus, Gandhian socialism is a meaningless concept.
Gandhism
The BJP, by accepting Gandhism, rejects Hinduism. It cannot at the same time accept the Hindutva of Savarkar either as Savarkar was opposed to Gandhi throughout. Savarkar was a revolutionary and like most revolutionaries he didn’t hesitate to use violence to achieve independence. Gandhi was more interested in his experiment with “non-violence” than in the cause of freedom. He didn’t hesitate to expel Srinivas Iyenger or Subhas Chandra Bose from the Congress for demanding complete independence, or use the “Swaraj fund” created by Tilak to promote Hindu-Muslim unity rather than for the freedom movement.
The confused ideology of the Sangha Parivar is the result of inherent contradictions. On the one hand, it is trying to uphold Sanatan Dharma commonly known as Hinduism and Indian nationalism. At the same time, it is propagating an economic ideology derived from the Anglo-American neo-liberal economic doctrine, which is against the fundamental principle of Hinduism and against the interests of the common people. The BJP as well as the Manmohan Singh government have harmed the national interest because of this pro-western attitude. Thus the Sangh Parivar as much as the Congress are far removed from the majority of the Indian people, who are poor.
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Re: Ideology and confusion |
By Edwin on
12/14/2006 11:23 AM |
| An era of intellectual contradictiion and starvation takes India to pseudo growth. Being in Delhi, no circumstance helps me to understand what these people are all about lavishly throwing ideas and slogans of "Sanatana Dharma", "one nation, one culture, one people, one language" etc. I hate me to be introduced Indian but be proud to be called South Indian in paticular Tamilian. I make this statement out of many experiences. Recently I met a wealthy Jain who introduced himself as a hindu. Is it not insulting Mahavir whose revolt was agianst Hinduism? Ideas and understandings are pregnant with contradictions |
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Re: Ideology and confusion |
By Edwin on
12/14/2006 11:26 AM |
| An era of intellectual contradictiion and starvation takes India to pseudo growth. Being in Delhi, no circumstance helps me to understand what these people are all about lavishly throwing ideas and slogans of "Sanatana Dharma", "one nation, one culture, one people, one language" etc. I hate me to be introduced Indian but be proud to be called South Indian in paticular Tamilian. I make this statement out of many experiences. Recently I met a wealthy Jain who introduced himself as a hindu. Is it not insulting Mahavir whose revolt was agianst Hinduism? Ideas and understandings are pregnant with contradictions. How can you exempt Sangh Parivar from this fatal disease? |
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Re: Ideology and confusion |
By idrees on
3/17/2007 1:12 AM |
| well it is strange that at atime you are beliving in alot of myths and spiritual things that even dont have any existance.the part of hinduism also belive on casts. it is something that become very strange. |
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Re: Ideology and confusion |
By vivekananda shetty on
2/20/2008 3:41 AM |
| Intially when a idea is put forward in front of the world there has to be chaos or confusion followed by cosmos same was true with capitalism or communism so is true with hindutva. |
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Re: Ideology and confusion |
By malladi sankar sastry on
3/26/2008 1:45 AM |
Hinduism is confused for a religion. It is a way of life and I dont have to repeat it to affirm.
We are aping the other religions by calling ourself a religion, apart from the sanatana dharma, and we are trying to project The Bhagavad Gita as the guide book for the tenets of Hinudism as a religion.
Just like every religion has a doctrine and rules within the two covers of a book, we are trying hard to project one book called The Bhagawat Gita.
While it is not to belittle the Holy song of Bhagwadgita, it is the intelectual slavery we have suffered over 2000 years that we have some how or other fall in line.
Well if I have taken atleast 20 births as a slave and to come out takes atleast 10% of the time.
So all this confusion in the transition. We have to bear it and try to take ourselves forward and also the socieyt.
We have been led to comment about ourself as the west wanted. We have enslaved ourself and played into the hands of the so called elite.
We have used the Bhagwat Gita to our end for deviding ourself which is the necessity of the rulers... we started commenting " WHEN GOD HIMSELF THAT CHATURVANAM MAYA DATTAM" he clearly specified that the pancahmas are not God given.
Such is the hypocracy nourshed and reared by the selfish lot.
The present government in what ever name or hue want the perpetraion of this theory for creating vote banks. Just like the communists who say "long live revolution" actually for any sane person or society it should "LONG LIVE PEACE"
Hindus slogan "OM SANTI, SANTI SANTI" should pervade over the world
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