I came across this and couldn't help but share it on my blog :
When Germany is Christian, is India Hindu?
When Germany is Christian, is India Hindu?
May 4, 2013 ·
by mariawirthblog ·
Though
I live in India since long, there are still some points that I find
hard to understand – for example why many so called educated Indians on
TV discussion forums become agitated whenever ‘Hindutva’ is mentioned.
The majority of Indians are Hindus. India is special because of its
ancient Hindu tradition. Westerners are drawn to India because of it.
Why then is there this resistance by many Indians to acknowledge the
Hindu roots of their country? Why do some people even give the
impression as if an India that values those Hindu roots was dangerous?
Don’t they know better?
Their
attitude is strange for two reasons. First, those people have a problem
only with ‘Hindu’ India, but not with ‘Muslim’ or ‘Christian’
countries. Germany for example, is a secular country and only 59 percent
of the population are registered with the two big Christian Churches
(Protestant and Catholic). Nevertheless, the country is bracketed under
‘Christian countries’. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, stressed recently
the Christian roots of Germany and urged the population ‘to go back to
Christian values’. In 2012, she postponed her trip to the G-8 summit for
a day to address the German Catholic Day. In September 2011, the Pope
was invited to address the German Parliament. Two major political
parties carry ‘Christian’ in their name, including Angela Merkel’s
ruling party. Government agencies even collect the Church tax (8
percent
of the income tax) and pass it on to the Churches.
Germans
are not agitated that Germany is called a Christian country, though I
actually would understand if they were. After all, the history of the
Church is appalling. The so called success story of Christianity
depended greatly on tyranny. “Convert or die”, were the options given
not only to the indigenous population in America some five hundred years
ago. In Germany, too, 1200 years ago, the emperor Karl the Great
ordered the death sentence for refusal of baptism in his newly conquered
realms. It provoked his advisor Alkuin to comment: ‘One can force them
to baptism, but how to force them to believe?’’ Heresy was put down with
an iron hand. I still remember a visit to the Nuremberg castle prison
as a school kid. There, we were shown the torture chamber and the
torture instruments that were used during inquisition. Unbelievable
cruelty!
Those
times, when one’s life was in danger if one dissented with the dogmas
of the Church, are thankfully over. And nowadays many in the west do
dissent and leave the Church in a steady stream – in Germany alone over 2
million officially signed out in the last ten years and during a survey
in 2011, 5,5 million Germans ‘considered’ leaving the Church – partly
because they are disgusted with the less than holy behavior of Church
officials and partly because they can’t believe in the dogmas, for
example that ‘Jesus is the only way’ and that God sends all those who
don’t accept this to hell.
And
here comes the second reason why the resistance to associate India with
Hindutva by Indians is difficult to understand. Hinduism is in a
different category from the Abrahamic religions. Its history, compared
to Christianity and Islam was undoubtedly the least violent as it spread
in ancient times by convincing arguments and not by force. It is not a
belief system that demands blind belief in dogmas and the suspension of
one’s intelligence. On the contrary, Hinduism encourages using one’s
intelligence to the hilt. The rishis enquired into truth, discovered
universal laws and showed how to live life in an ideal way. Hinduism
(please don’t get irritated by this ’modern’ word. In today’s world it
is in use for the many streams of Sanatana Dharma) comprises a huge body
of ancient literature, not only regarding Dharma and philosophy, but
also
regarding music, architecture, dance, science, astronomy, economics,
politics, etc. If Germany or any other western country had this kind of
literary treasure, it would be so proud and highlight its greatness on
every occasion.Yet we Germans have to be content with only one ‘ancient’
epic which was written around 800 years ago and probably refers to
incidents around 400 AD. That is how far back ‘antiquity’ reaches in
Europe, and of course children in Germany hear of this epic, called
‘Nibelungenlied’, in school. Naturally westerners consider the existence
of Sri Krishna and Sri Rama as myths. How could they acknowledge a
civilization much more ancient and much more refined than their own?
Inexplicably,
Indians cater to western arrogance and ignorance by downplaying and
even denying their tradition. There is a “Copernicus Marg’ in New Delhi
and Indian children do not get to hear in school that the rishis of the
Rg Veda knew already that the earth is round and goes around the sun –
thousands of years before westerners ‘discovered’ it. (Rg 10’22’14)
When
I read some Upanishads, I was stunned at the profundity. Here was
expressed in clear terms what I intuitively had felt to be true, but
could not have expressed clearly. Brahman is not partial; it is the
invisible, indivisible essence in everything. Everyone gets again and
again a chance to discover the ultimate truth and is free to choose his
way back to it. Helpful hints are given but not imposed.
In
my early days in India, I thought that every Indian knew and valued his
tradition. Slowly I realized that I was wrong. The British colonial
masters had been successful in not only weaning away many of the elite
from their ancient tradition but even making them despise it. It helped
that the ‘educated’ class could no longer read the original Sanskrit
texts and believed what the British told them. This lack of knowledge
and the brainwashing by the British education may be the reason why many
‘modern’ Indians are against anything ‘Hindu’. They don’t realize the
difference between western religions that have to be believed (or at
least professed) blindly, and which discourage if not forbid their
adherents to think on their own and the multi-layered Hindu Dharma which
gives freedom and encourages using one’s intelligence.
Many
of the educated class do not realize that on one hand, westerners,
especially those who dream to impose their own religion on this vast
country, will applaud them for denigrating Hindu Dharma, because this
helps western universalism to spread in India. On the other hand, many
westerners, including Church people, very well know the value and
surreptitiously appropriate insights from the vast Indian knowledge
system, drop the original source and present it either as their own or
make it look as if these insights had been known in the west.
Rajiv
Malhotra of Infinity Foundation has done painstaking research in this
field and has documented many cases of “digestion” of Dharma
civilization into western universalism. Hindu civilization is gradually
being depleted of its valuable, exclusive assets and what is left is
dismissed as inferior.
If
only missionaries denigrated Hindu Dharma, it would not be so bad, as
they clearly have an agenda which discerning Indians would detect. But
sadly, Indians with Hindu names assist them because they wrongly believe
that Hinduism is inferior to western religions. They belittle
everything Hindu instead of getting thorough knowledge. As a rule, they
know little about their tradition except what the British told them,
i.e. that the major features are caste system and idol worship. They
don’t realize that India would gain, not lose, if it solidly backed its
profound and all inclusive Hindu tradition. The Dalai Lama said some
time ago that already as a youth in Lhasa, he had been deeply impressed
by the richness of Indian thought. “India has great potential to help
the world,” he added. When will the westernized Indian elite realize it?
by Maria Wirth
You may visit her blog khttp://mariawirthblog.wordpress.com for knowing Hinduism more
