HUMANITVA
A new humanness word
for taking our or any country to a state of vishwaguru or humane as done by Canada
by apologizing to Sikhs
At the anniversary of
Vajramukti i am giving an article from my friend Pratap antony for awareness
pratapantony.blogspot.in
* “Hindutva Is Different From Hinduism”
caption from http://www.savarkar.org/
Many do not
know the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva, and so it is disturbing to
read and hear about ‘Hindu fundamentalism’.
It is not Hindu
fundamentalism, but, ‘Hindutva fundamentalism’ that is the accurate term for
the hatred, division and unspiritual activities attributed to it. Hindutva
Fundamentalism is responsible for the disturbing phenomena of attacks on
practitioners of other religions in India, and the violence and atmosphere of
fear - and the augury of fascism that prevails in India today.
To add
confusion to ignorance, even the participants in fundamentalist acts of
violence do not know of the vast difference between the way-of-life called
‘Hinduism’ that they have participated in for over two thousand years, and ‘Hindutva’,
the political philosophy that was propounded by V.D. Savarkar in 1923.
“Savarkar
coined the term Hindutva (Hinduness) to create a collective "Hindu"
identity as an ‘imagined nation’. Some later commentators state that
Savarkar's philosophy, despite its stated position of furthering unity, was
divisive in nature as it tried to shape Indian nationalism as uniquely Hindu,
to the exclusion of other religions. Savarkar was also an atheist and a staunch
rationalist who disapproved of orthodox Hindu belief, dismissing cow worship as
superstitious.” (http ://paymytribute.com/posts/vinayak-savarkar)
Hindutva is a
political construct of cultural and religious nationalism created from a
complex mix of religious conviction and political expediency. It is
neither a religion nor a ‘way of life’. It is recent and aggressive political
‘guiding principles’, mixing jingoism and nationalism with national identity
and religious identity. Hindutva relates nationalism to a particular
religious belief, dogma, or affiliation, and goes against the idea of
secularism.
Extracts from savarkar.org, “Here
it is enough to point out that Hindutva is not identical with what is vaguely
indicated by the term Hinduism. By an 'ism' it is generally meant a theory or a
code more or less based on spiritual or religious dogma or creed.”
“Failure to
distinguish between these two terms has given rise to much misunderstanding and
mutual suspicion between some of those sister communities that have inherited
this inestimable and common treasure of our Hindu civilization.” http://www.savarkar.org/
Hinduism,
as this ancient ‘way of life’, has come to be called in the last 200 years, is
almost impossible to define, and though Vedism, and the Bhakti tradition are
amongst the numerous closely related traditions which share common themes that
have been integrated in Hinduism, it does not constitute a unified set of
beliefs or practices. Hinduism has no organisation, or structure, or hierarchy
or institutionalised constitution. It has incorporated within it the most
heterogeneous philosophies, but has no central philosophy, though it has a fascinating,
multifarious, colourful, living mythology. Yet, Hinduism, was, and still is,
the most absorbing and absorptive; accommodating and inclusive; broad and open;
giving and liberal; pluralistic and individualistic ‘way-of-life’. The
only part of Hinduism that has a rigorously followed structure, is the
contentious and distressing caste system.
Around 600 BCE,
when Mahavir and the Buddha lived, Hindu, as a word, or as a description of a
way-of-life, or as a name of a people, had not been conceived. This would
happen much later, when the Persians called the land on the other side of the
river Sindhu or Indus, ‘Hindustan’. ‘Land beyond the Indus’. ‘Stan’ in Persian,
and ‘Sthan’ in Sanskrit, means ‘the land of’ and forms part of the name of many
central Asian countries: Kazhakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. ‘Hindustan’,
or ‘land beyond the Indus’, is how this Persian name for the sub-continent
became popular, and that is how the people of the subcontinent came to be
called Hindus - ‘the people of the land beyond the Indus river’. ‘Indus’ is
also the origin of the name ‘India’.
V.D. Savarkar,
the atheist and staunch rationalist who disapproved of orthodox Hindu belief, incorporated
Hinduism into the political and nationalist ideology of Hindutva, and made it
greater than Hinduism. “Hinduism is only a derivative, a fraction, a
part of Hindutva. Unless it is made clear what is meant by the latter the first
remains unintelligible and vague.” http://www.savarkar.org/
Sadly it is not
only the uneducated unthinking masses, but a large number of the educated
unthinking masses that do not know the difference between Hindutva and
Hinduism. Hindutva is religious nationalism, which is unthinking faith and
intolerance - a convoluted muddle of religious conviction and
political expediency overtaking critical reasoning.
Hinduism is a
non-interfering, apolitical way of life with nothing to do with social reforms,
yet recent happenings; the killings of humans, men and children, on the
suspicion of consuming and transporting cattle; the persecution of students;
the killing of intellectuals and rationalists for their work on social justice
and the eradication of superstition; or for propagating inter caste marriage; and for providing insights and perspectives on
communities and castes, seem to disprove the idea that Hinduism is a gentle
religion.
In his open
letter to the President and Prime Minister of India, last year, Admiral Ramdas
wrote. “I also write to you as one who was brought up in the Hindu
faith. However, the Hinduism I knew and experienced was gentle, inclusive, and
filled with extraordinary diversity. My religion taught me values of love and
respect for all beings. My brand of Hinduism was not filled with the kind of
violence and intolerance represented by the current brand of “Hindutva” that seems
to be fanning the flames of division and fear across the country.”
Hinduism, the
‘way of life’ that has always been thought of as a ‘gentle’ faith has never
been seen to be aggressive, yet the participants in recent Hindutva
fundamentalism see themselves as Hindus.
“Hinduism is
referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice
of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being
truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas … it’s open to
all.” ~ Mala Kalyan.
● Hinduism does not
condition minds with a faith system, it is independent and
objective
● Hindutva rationalises and attempts to institutionalise
and homogenise religious practices to create a national culture
● Hinduism is inclusive and open minded
● Hindutva is exclusivist and narrow
● Hinduism accepts and assimilates
● Hindutva separates and divides
● Hinduism is 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' (Non violence is
the highest duty).
● Hindutva is - militant and extremist
● Hinduism is free of
ideology
● Hindutva is ideological guiding principles
● Hinduism is
apolitical
● Hindutva is political
● Hinduism is about
individual faith and belief
● Hindutva is about social reform
The point is,
that since Hinduism defies description; is so heterogenous, and is not
instutionalised, it therefore cannot be fundamentalist.
Critical
reasoning is being flattened by the insidious road-roller-like propaganda
machine of the Government in power in India today. It is Hindutva
fundamentalism that describes the prevalent atmosphere of division, violence
and the false idea of nationalism. There is nothing Hindu about it.
“We
believe that nowhere throughout the Vedas, Darshanas, or Purânas, or Tantras,
is it ever said that the soul has any sex, creed, or caste. Therefore we agree
with those who say, ‘What has religion to do with social reforms?’ But they
must also agree with us when we tell them that religion has no business to
formulate social laws and insist on the difference between beings, because its
aim and end is to obliterate all such fictions and monstrosities.”Swami
Vivekananda - Volume 4 Prose writings, under the head, “WHAT
WE BELIEVE IN”
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