Though I am really proud about our culture, the wrong doings of our people or misinterpretation of our culture with...
Though I am really proud about our culture, the wrong doings of our people or misinterpretation of our culture with regard to untouchability really hurts me. Its only because of such wrong practices that we were termed barbaric. We also stopped to learn from our history because of this.
Uprising movements have always pressed that its lack of Vedas that untouchability is prevailing. Due to this our culture has been disregarded by the same people. Add to this the British teachings to ditch the Vedas terming it useless, the elite and learned also stopped looking towards Vedas.
Dye to this wrong understandings, other religions have taken the easy road to the people. Its really disheartening to see that the religions today follow a 100meter running race where every one wants to show they have most number of followers.
I have also had first hand information regarding how conversions happen here. Money is the catalyst here. People from economically backward castes ate lured to a religion by offers of money directly.
I would definitely welcome any thoughts that will help eradicate shortcomings of society to be able to live a peaceful life. Please pour in your thoughts.
Uprising movements have always pressed that its lack of Vedas that untouchability is prevailing. Due to this our culture has been disregarded by the same people. Add to this the British teachings to ditch the Vedas terming it useless, the elite and learned also stopped looking towards Vedas.
Dye to this wrong understandings, other religions have taken the easy road to the people. Its really disheartening to see that the religions today follow a 100meter running race where every one wants to show they have most number of followers.
I have also had first hand information regarding how conversions happen here. Money is the catalyst here. People from economically backward castes ate lured to a religion by offers of money directly.
I would definitely welcome any thoughts that will help eradicate shortcomings of society to be able to live a peaceful life. Please pour in your thoughts.
People who don't like you, will find one reason or the other to label you barbaric and put themselves on moral high grounds. It is that simple.
ReplyDeleteYou can keep on screaming till you are hoarse, that money is the factor in conversion. Nobody cares especially the religion engaged in conversion. They will use all means necessary.
Krishna said in Bhagavad-gita:
ReplyDeleteBG 5.18: The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].
http://vedabase.net/bg/5/en
Narada Muni said in Srimad Bhagavatam:
SB 7.11.35: If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.
http://vedabase.net/sb/7/11/en
Srila Prabhupada wrote:
"At present, in the age of Kali, it is very difficult to render service to the brahmana-kula, or the brahmana class. The difficulty, according to the Varaha Purana, is that demons, taking advantage of Kali-yuga, have taken birth in brahmana families. Rakshasah kalim asritya jayante brahma-yonishu (Varaha Purana). In other words, in this age there are many so-called caste brahmanas and caste Gosvamis who, taking advantage of the sastra and of the innocence of people in general, claim to be brahmanas and Vaishnavas by hereditary right."
http://vedabase.net/sb/4/21/40/en
What we need to do is teach our own masses.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a tradition among most of the Hindus to introduce scriptures to children unlike other religions because reading scriptures was forbidden for a large section of the society for hundreds of years. This has to change, we rely on what others say about us than self inquiry about ourselves.
All problems of human beings are due to Ajnaana अज्ञान as per our Scriptures. Be it our own stupidity or that of others. The only antidote is to earnestly trying to remove our own. How - there are many good guides - listen to Pravachanams of people like (many quaks do come in TV and advertise so be careful) the best who I heard, I'm giving - Swamy Paramarthananda (English), Sri. Nochur Venkatraman (Tamil, Malayalam), Sri. Koteshwara Rao (Telugu), Sri. Samavedam Shanmukha Sharma (Telugu), Vidvan Subbaraya Sharma (Kannada). Sri. Velukudi Krishnan (Tamil). All these people are first Vedic scholars, second they are Sanskrit scholars, third all have mastered done deep research in at least one important Shastra like Brahma sutra, Ramayanam, Yoga sutras, etc. As we seek their guidance, and we also progress in our own svaadyaya and studies, only then we will become little bit eligible to even talk or write, else we also misinterpret. The path is not easy.
ReplyDeleteThe education system left by the Brits is the first one we must stop. We should form a grassroot level formation of study methodology which incorporates our own teachings.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree that the education system need to be radically changed.Also people's history of India needs to be written - from the point of oppressed - Hindus are the ones oppressed for the past 1000 years - first 800 years by the Muslim invaders and later 200 years by the British. So both outsiders wrote our history and corrupted all facts. Even after independence, in the name of History we are reading only about generations of mogul emperors and british viceroys. Is there nothing else worthwhile ?? - but the good news is that there are some projects going on to rewrite the Indian history - from Scientific achivements PoV by eminent Indians - Rajiv Malhotra's Infinity foundation is funding them
ReplyDeleteBut these efforts must be made in public, so that there is public awareness, I feel without which no project can be completed.
ReplyDeleteTaking all these to public attention is what we can do and doing in small scale. Reading, learning, quoting them are to be done by people.
ReplyDeleteBut i feel we can do much more, but not getting any idea how...
ReplyDeleteNamaste, I think it is unfair to paint this solely upon Hinduism. While this issue receives a great deal of focus in Hinduism/India. I think the reality is that this problem permeates the world. In all areas of the world, there are 'those down the road' or 'those in the wrong part of town' that are somehow less, there are those that society shuns in a variety of cultures. Kindly do not misunderstand, I am not saying it is right, I am merely saying that Hinduism gets unfairly painted as the 'poster child' of this global issue. We see this even with diseases such as HIV, where sick and dying were treated as outcasts. Possibly the issue is that we allow Hinduism to bare the brunt of what is really a global issue. I think your points regarding the British and lack of the Vedas are quite important and a return to the Vedic body outlined in the Purusha suktam is quite important. But even your post is contributing to expanding awareness of this important subject. Personally, I think a step in the right direction is simply to feed someone, maybe give them a hug. Then education, then opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI have been conversing recently with a Muslim brother regarding god. Though I have been telling how do Hindus see god, he firmly believes that there is only one god and only one way to reach. Though I agree the one god I could not agree the one way. I believe god is everywhere. This is the only way we can identify god as omnipresent. Islam preaches god is in everything. But it lacks to identify god in non living. Praying to god in the form of deity is unacceptable. Then how can god be omnipresent? I pointed out the discussion just to make a point how others perceive Hinduism.
ReplyDelete