Why I am a Hindu

To be certain, I was born a Hindu. By sheer accident of birth, I am a Hindu but that's not all. Lately, I've come to believe that I am a Hindu by choice. This has compelled me to ask the most obvious question, "Why? Why am I a Hindu?" This blog post is an attempt to weave the thin strands of thoughts that burst open on asking that question.


To answer this question I naturally began by asking what Hinduism was in the first place. Many Hindus answer, "It is not a religion but a way of life. It is a Dharma." To all those Hindus out there who believe and say this as a motif, you are not wrong but you are not helpful either. Most religions in the world call themselves a 'way of life'. Their adherents believe the same. So Hinduism is no different from other religions, isn't it? Hinduism as an idea can only be uncovered through learning and analysis of its history.
Was it in 1893 when Vivekananda introduced Hinduism to the world?






Was it during the 1820's when Raja Rammohan Roy denounced idolatry and Avataras and called Brahmoism the true Hinduism or later when Dayanand Saraswati gave a call to fellow Indians to go "back to the Vedas" claiming that Vedic knowledge alone was Hinduism?

When was Hinduism born?

Was it when Veer Savarkar coined the term Hindutva meaning 'Hindu cultural nationalism'?



Was it on the arrival of the Europeans and with them, the arrival of orientalists and western scholars studying eastern cultures? Was it founded by Shivaji who built a Hindu force against the Mohammedan Moghuls?Or was it during Kabir? Or Guru Nanak? Or Tulsidas? Or Tansen? Who taught that devotion and love were the only way towards realizing God.
Much before….. Was it during Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabho?
Did Ramanuja found Hinduism? Or was it Madhvacharya whose words that God and Man were distinct countered all radical ideas?

Better… Was Adisankara the founder? Wasn’t he the man who wrote odes to the million Gods and brought millions of people into one fold?Where did Hinduism originate from? The Manusmriti? The Puranas? The Prabandhas? The Brahamanas?Were the Upanishads the root of the religion? Or were the Vedas? 

What about the mendicant on the Harappan seal who is called “Pashupathy”?

When was Hinduism born? There is clearly no answer to this question. This is because Hinduism has no single founder or sacred text. It is a loose amalgamation of a galaxy of cultures and civilizations. Does this mean that Hinduism does not exist? As an institutionalized religion, no. As a concept, yes and no. 

Now that I've come to this point let me dwell a little on what I mean when I say that I am a Hindu. What is the central idea of Hinduism? For that we need to look into its prime religious texts. The Bhagavad Gita? Not really. Following history shows us that the Gita was not in fact the chief text of this large culture. It emerged to earn its current status only about 200 years ago. This was a result of the activities of reformers, spiritualists, and saints who sought to project a certain image of the Hindus to the west: An image of a spiritual nation which tolerated to its best but protested and fought like a lion on molestation and torture. The Gita is only the chief text due to the context both in terms of time and place. If we were to ask a different pool of people from a different time period, they would probably identify a different text or a different canon. All this makes Hinduism a very complicated religion to study. To many the Vedas are the holy scriptures, to others: the Upanishads. Agama Shastras, Prabandhas, Puranas, and Vedangas are all holy scriptures to different people. Gita Govindam for quite sometime enjoyed the status that Bhagavad Gita does today. What about the Tulsidas' Ram Charit Manas? Even to this day, to many, it is the primary literary monument that gives access to the divine.

Where do we find the absolute philosophy? Most Hindus seek to unite with the Brahman. Tantric sects, however reject the idea of Brahman. Are they not Hindus? They are. Karma is a recurring concept too and escaping it can be considered an idea. Can Buddhism and Jainism be considered sects of Hinduism then? Yes and no. Again, we cannot say what the basic idea of Hinduism is. This is what I consider the essence of my religion. Diversity.

Being a Hindu, one can believe all that he/she wants. He may believe that man and God are the same (Advaita) or that they may become the same (Visishtadvaita), or that they are not and cannot (Dvaita). One can believe in a form-less God and an almighty devoid of any qualities (Nirguna). One can believe in a powerful God with supreme qualities (Saguna). Polytheism and Monotheism are both entertained. Any means and any number of means to realisation of God are entertained. Sacrifice, Fire, devotion, song and dance, penance, bodily activities, and surrender have all been preached in different sections of this religion. God and divine experience can take any gender. They can be purely masculine or feminine or be independent of Gender. Nothing is sinful in true Hinduism. This is what inspired me in this religion. Ultimately one can even be any atheist (under the Charvaka school) being a Hindu.

Diversity, heterogeneity, and freedom are truly the core principles of Hinduism. If Hinduism has evolved into a religion it is only because of its tolerance. It has learned a lot from other external religions. Therefore, a real Hindu is one who respects other doctrines, cults, cultures, faiths, and religions. Conversely, one cannot call oneself a Hindu when he despises, detests, and disrespects other faiths.

Going back a few steps, heterogeneity is the soul of Hinduism and the biggest threat to it is homogeneity. This brings me to a controversial subject of today: Hindutva. True, it is a threat to India's secularism but I argue that it is a threat to the religion that it claims to uphold. What destroys the soul of Hinduism is minimizing it to particular clothing, temple, food, colour, idea, symbols, and objects. What destroys the whole of Hinduism is bringing it down to one fundamental world view. What destroys Hinduism is Hindu fundamentalism and hostility. What destroys Hinduism is Hindutva itself. Hinduism is much more than all that. It is much more than a cliche phrase. It is not a way of life. It is a multitude of ways of life.

Hinduism like India is a place of uncertainties, contradictions. inconsistencies, and complexity. Let it be that.  

Innocence in godliness

"Umph umph" puffed Varuna. A stream of sweat rolled down his lower cheek but the misty winds and water rose to their crest and pulled the sweat drop back. He shook his head and his whirly strands of hair lashed the creamy milk that he lay afloat on.
He sneakily looked around making sure that nobody watched. He gently left the snake that he had been holding. Again he sighed and puffed. He clenched his fists, flexed his muscles and pulled his arms towards his shoulders thrice. Molecules of air liberated themselves while he did that. He knew that it would be too much of a risk if he stayed out of duty for long so he caught the restless snake and held on to it - like before.

He heard the commands of Indra, who was at the end of the line on a gem-studden throne. The king roared, "Yes. Pull. Pull. Amrit should come out. Scare it off its seat. Where else can it belong, but in my throat, the King of gods and the God kings!?" Varuna sighed and rolled his eyes but then noticed Vayu who had been watching throughout. Varuna lowered his head, hiding his face. He peeked a couple of times and stuck his tongue out. The milk under his feet rose to his chest. Through it he peered and scorned at Vayu. Vayu simply smiled.

On the other side of Mount Manthara the Asuras seemed to face a fate no different from the Devas . The Asuras however were much larger and stronger than the Devas. They whipped the snake and twisted it. Some of them sat on it and let all their force curb the power of the notorious snake. While they did that, Kurma who was underneath the mountain simply sympathised for the snake and mumbled to itself, "Vasuki O, what are they doing?," and then called his mate, "O Sesha". To his Vahana, Ananta Sesha who was floating on another sea of milk, he cried out, "Are you hurt learning of the fate of your brother?" Sesha just nodded in the manner that befit him. The jewel on his head refracted the light emitted from the greatest event in the heavens. Sesha smiled at the futility and ignorance in the astronomity of the Manthan.

Indra sat on the throne and spoke to his Guru, Vrihaspati who floated in air. He said, "Guru, this beyond our capacity. Do you opine that this great Yagna will be accomplished? Is destiny on our side?" Guru just laughed and commented, "O Indra, who are we but players in the game of God? I shall however pray for our good, always. Only good should happen to the gods and you demigods. Thathastu!" Indra's face slipped into a frown. He muttered, "Hmm. What?" Vrihaspati raised his palm again and blessed, "Thathastu!" "No. No. Not that. Before that. Did you call me a demigod? Did you or did I hear something wrong?" Vrihaspati's ecstasy sank into stoicity. He let his eyes tilt upwards and let his third eye look imwards shutting himself from the ignorance of his shameless sishya, Indra.

Kurma's tilak became fainter and fainter as time progressed. Victory and success seemed nowhere close. Surya glared at some Asuras. He smiled with pride, ego, and even indignation. Shukra found it difficult to tolerate this. Like Vrihaspati did, for the Devas, Shukra too sat floating in air at the end of their line. He brushed his grey beard with his wrinkled fingers. He curled his dark moustache and slid his fingers on his lower lip and then slipped into his mouth and bit them. His eyebrows and slashed the Devas' ego with the scythe-like configuration.

As everyone - Indra, Vrihaspati, the Adityas, Aditi, Diti, Kasyapa, Vasuki, Sesha, the Asuras, and Shukracharya - watched and waited, hints and omens of an upcoming event manifested before them. A raven flew above them across the ocean. A shadow ran on their heads. Vishnu smiled. Kasyapa's eyelids shuddered. A poignant scent filled the air. A purple gas oozed out of the sea and slithered like a weightless snake in the air. It rushed into the ears of every one of them - but Kurma, who was Vishnu himself.

Ultimately a voice boomed and bellowed into every hearing ear. It said, "This is the voice of the sky. This is Akasavani. Halahala has seeped into your dehas, your bodies. It shall plague and corrupt you from the inside. Death is into you. You shall all die a death never witnessed by time. You shall all die a time-defying death. Vishwa, the universe will be shattered by your destruction. This is the formidable Ksheerasagara. You have no solution. Perish, children. Perish. You will perish. Annihilation is gaping at you. Do not fight back. Succumb. Let it possess. Aargh! Halahala. Halahala!"

This proclamation broke into utter chaos. Indra cried, "Oh. Is there no escape?" Vrihaspati did not answer. He did not listen, did not think, did not contemplate, did not anticipate. He just meditated. Shukra's eyes blazed like comets and against the tides of Halahala. Surya sank into darkness and Agni gave into cold. Ether sank into its knees and wept.

None watched Kurma who simply smiled. He finally spoke out aloud, "Vani, Akasavani! May my wrath burn you. May you crackle and cripple. Children. Children of God, listen. Brethren, these are God's words. You have only one saviour. Only one. He is a mendicant  but prayer alone can make him a warrior. He is an ascetic. Your prayers can initiate him to societal functions. He alone can operate now. Pray to Shankara. Pray to Shiva. Pray to Maheswara! O Hara, Ramesha! Come and be the saviour of Gods and demons. Come, Siva! Come."

The gods were mad and the Asuras, skeptical. they remained unmoved and did not listen to Kurma's words and resumed the churning of Manthara. Someone had to begin. Shukra and Vrihaspati started almost exactly at the same time. They chanted the lord's name. the song of Shiva engulfed the Sagara, It broke stubborn rocks on Manthara and bathed Vasuki. It sweetened the milk. It healed all the cuts and bruises of the churners. Halahala and Haranama became belligerents of a spiritual, invisible, holy war. The song mesmerised, truly mesmerised. The Asuras and Devas joined in and sang. The song finally opened Shiva's eyes.

Nandi shook his head and its bells rang with the wind and crispy leaves. The snow on the Lord's matted hair melted and seeped in and washed his scalp. Shiva smiled and appeared at the scene. He stared straight at Kurma's tilak and smiled. Kurma just blew out some bubbles under water. Shiva opened his mouth and blew in air. With air went in Halahala - the poison. The participants choked as the gases rushed out of their nasal cavities. They were squeezed off poison. From purple, the Devas turned back to white and the Asuras, green. Surya got back his pride. Indra searched himself and watched with awe. The grey body of Shiva mildly darkened but his throat throbbed and grew in size. Halahala struggled to move ahead but the Tapa in Shiva tied it up and let it glow like fireflies. Halahal moved from purple to indigo to fluorescent blue, It glowed like a lamp. Sankara turned into Neelakanta.

5 books that disappointed me

Here is a list of five books that I read this year and was put off. 

1) My Gita, Devdutt Pattanaik

Date read: April 7th, 2015

The cover was what excited me the most. Three years of reading, watching, and listening Devdutt Pattanaik made me fall in love with India's best mythologist. His interpretations and his on-stage presentation always inspired me and to be honest, even entertained me. As soon as I heard that a book on the Bhagavad Gita would be released I was eager to read it and this April, I did read it. It turns out that there isn't so much glamour in his writing as it seemed to me earlier. Also thanks to the two other books by him that I read : Seven secrets of Vishnu and Seven secrets of Shiva.

What exactly went wrong? The attitude was what disappointed me the most. He constantly suggests in this book that through 'My Gita' he is producing a never-before synthesis; he is creating something that has never been attempting and that he is bridging a gap between the epic and the ordinary reader in the most remarkable manner. As a result he places himself and his interpretations on par with the epic itself. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I were to say that he proclaims to the world that 'My Gita' is The new Gita. This attitude is very new in this field.

Coming to the specifics, in the beginning, though he presents the thematic structure of the book, as he progresses, within each chapter his ideas lose flow. All this simply makes it harder for the reader to follow. Pattanaik could have used conjunctions and prepositions better. At the end of each chapter, the read might end up asking him/herself, "What did I just read?" Devdutt Pattanaik tried to argue, as in other books, his grand thesis. Sadly, he kind of failed.

(Just saying. Perhaps, it's me who failed. Those who are really interested should read this book.

2) India Unbound, Gurcharan Das     

    Date read: March 2nd, 2016

I picked this book with heaps of expectation as a lot of my friends had suggested it to me. Twenty pages into it, I was disillusioned and came to accept that this is one of those over-rated commentaries on contemporary India. This is pure propaganda, so as to say. This is basically an Indian capitalist treatise, a poor one. A bad choice. It argues right from the start that socialism is an enslaving doctrine that expects citizens to be subservient to the country, In this book, Das credits Jawaharlal Nehru for bringing political democracy to India but criticises him for executing a regressive economic system. Das tries to build a very dark image of a welfare state and a state that involves itself in economic activity so as to empower the bulk of the nation. Alongside, he weaves a romantic image of free market capitalism and equates it with freedom. After a certain point this book is almost gory. Ambition and aspiration are portrayed as the highest values, sitting on the pinnacle of human civilisation. He looks away from the miseries of globalised India and hardly ever talks about public needs. Surprisingly, I couldn't put the book down. Why? I did find my answer. The book was hilarious and entertaining. It is for this purpose that one should read this book. I would rate this book 3/5 for that treat that it gave me. Thank you, Das. 

3) 2014 - The Election that changed India, Rajdeep Sardesai 

 

Date read: February 11th, 2016

Just failed to impress me. Yes, this too - I couldn't put down like the last. The book is fine.

4) India - The road ahead, Mark Tully     Date read: January 6th, 2016

  This book is pretty good actually. It touches upon many issues that concern India's civil society. Why didn't I like it then? This is a tricky question. The best answer I can think of is that it has nothing new to offer. Tully's done a decent job. 

5) May fool! Only four.