Hinduism a way of life

Hi,

Musing#23

The recent incidents of attack on the christians at Orissa and Mangalore by Some Hindu fundamentalist is highly deplorable and shameful. Who are these self proclaimed protectors of Hindu religion, who by these dreadful acts have exhibited only their shallow knowledge about the religion they are supposed to be following and protecting. Like in my previous blog through this blog I'm writing an open letter to drill some sense and understanding into all those misguided souls who claim to be Hindus and indulge in senseless violence and show scant respect for followers of other faith.

An Open letter to the ignorant and misguided Hindu bretherns

Hello brother,

Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan our past president and a great philosopher had said "Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life". Yes, this is the absolute truth. A true Hindu is one who believes in the dictum "Vasudeve Kutumbakam". That is the whole world is one family. Hence all human beings irrespective of race, religion or nation are related to each other. Then how can we be intolerant of our own brothers just because their beliefs are different or they want to change their belief and follow different faith.

The great Sankaracharya propounded the truth that there is only One reality, which is Sat Chit Ananda. This is an indivisible, all pervasive conscious Supreme Power that is seen in multifarious forms(Ekam eva advitiyam).In Upasana(worship) of the forms of the Divine there are bound to be variations. This is the reason why in Hinduism God is in different forms and worshipped in different names. Even your perception of Krishna will be different from mine because our conditioning(vasanas) is different. But in Jnana, the ultimate Reality is identical for all of us..... (Tattvaloka 07/08).

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told one of his follower that it doesn't matter in which form we worship God but with what sincerity we worship. He showed him a pair of sandals and told him that even he can worship the sandal but with all sincerity and that would be equivalent to worshipping Him.( Recollect Ramayana where Bharath worships the sandal of Sri Ram and carries it on his head). Sanatana Dharma the tenet on which Hinduism is understood stands for full faith in God and not on rituals.

The practice of all religions is in the pursuit of Truth. Each individual has the right to pursue the Truth the way he wants and that is what is Free will is all about. Some one does not believe in allopathy so he switches over to homeopathy. Does he require anyone's sanction for this? We believe in so many Avatar Purush. Why not accept Jesus Christ also as one among them.

All these years there was no issue of people following whichever faith they wanted to follow in our country. Mixing religion with politics is a deadly and explosive combination and I appeal to all my bretherns not to fall prey into the hands of selfish politicians who always exploit religion for their personal benefit. Awake and don't become puppets in the hands of vile politicians.

Ultimately all rivers have to merge with the ocean in the end even if they had follwed different courses on their way. Like how a river in spate can cause destruction and misery, similarly a religion in spate also will cause only destruction and misery.

mentor mohan

p.s. Pl. also go through my blog #19 to get still a better understanding