Unity in Diversity (musings…)
We have all grown up learning this phrase at school. How, despite professing different religions, belonging to different castes, speaking different languages, following different customs et al, we are all really Hindustani deep down. Is that true? Are we really as united as we are made out to be, or is the truth less glorious? In this post, my focus is on the concept of Hindu unity (more correctly, the glaring lack of it). My request to my fellow Hindu readers is to come out of their age-old antipathy to anybody or anything that seeks to take up the Hindu cause, for if u continue with that nonchalant attitude when it comes to your religion, there is no dearth of enemies that will someday see to it that this oldest, most spiritual of religions is totally annihilated. The danger is real. Hope you will have the foresight to sense it.
Some questions that disturb me:
1. Why is a Gujarati in USA Or Canada, happy when he runs into a fellow Indian on the subway but happier if the other Indian turns out to be a fellow Gujarati? The other person's Gujarati identity takes precedence over his Hindu identity. And the Gujaratis are happiest if both turn out to be devotees of the same sect, e.g. Swaminarayan! This holds true for other Indians as well ' Bengalis mostly associate freely with fellow Bengalis and Punjabis with other Punjabis and so on. Can this be good for Hinduism when our common Hindu identity carries such little weight?
2. Why do Punjabis get upset if Harbhajan Singh does not make the Indian cricket team while Marathis are upset only if Sachin is out; Bengalis do not care for others as long as Saurav dada retains his place in the team. Do we really have a concept of
3. If we are all Hindus, and worship Ram and Krishna, why is it that parents will not look at a Marathi or Punjabi groom for their Bengali daughter? Why will Tamil Hindus insist only on a Tamil match for their son and Malayali parents insist on finding a Malayali? Are the other Hindus not Hindus? When are we going to accept that we are all Hindu and when is that going to become the sole deciding factor while picking a match for our kids?
4. But we do not even stop at that. Even when they speak the same language, a Nair will only look for another Nair and a Maratha will likewise look for another Maratha. A Yadav looks for a yadav and a Brahmin looks for a Brahmin . Or wait a minute: Do they really do that? No, an Annavil Brahmin looks for an Annavil Brahmin and a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin only wants a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin, not any Brahmin will do! Why, isn't any other Hindu a Hindu to these people? Christians look for fellow Christians and Muslims look for Muslims but Hindus? They don't look for fellow Hindus. They look for the same language, the same caste, the same sub-caste, the same crap.
How can the Hindu religion not decline then? How can
5. As long as people like Raj Thackeray keep saying Mumbai is only for the Marathi speaking, they are doing a great disservice to their own religion. For every time they treat North Indians as outsiders, they are guilty of discrimination against their fellow Hindus. Instead of allowing our common religion to be a uniting force, we allow shallow considerations like linguistic differences to dilute our unity and to weaken our religion. Shame on the Raj Thackerays of Hindustan whose lack of unity was responsible for letting in hordes of muslim invaders from
More of my musings later .
6) I would also wish to add that though this post talks of resolving differences among fellow Hindus,…..it hurt me ONLY BECAUSE you talked of patriotism, nationality, citizenship in the same breath…..If it was only restricted to differences among Hindus, I would have loved it too….but you went ahead to include ‘hindustan’ in it too……India isn’t Hindus alone, my friend….. I hope I’ve made myself clear.
5) In reference to your point about envisaging a society where the only religion is humanity…….Well, dear friend, aren’t we both envisaging the same idealistic situation? The only difference being, you are stopping short at religion and I wish that there are no differences at all? If we can achieve one, can’t we achieve the other as well?
4) “How can the Hindu religion not decline then? How can India not be arm-twisted and intimidated by countries like China? Shouldn’t we Hindus hang our heads in shame?”……..“Hindus-India-Hindus” and “Hindustan”…… This really hurts me, Akshay…… How can anyone use that interchangeably? If I am not a hindu, wouldn’t you consider me an Indian? Why don’t I figure in there? What does India mean to you? Who are its citizens? How can you deny me my motherland?
6) Being ignorant of history? :)))) Well, not really…….People, from time immemorial, have converted from one religion to another……voluntarily or forcibly……it is the story of present times as well……..As of incidents you have mentioned, that is history……..let it remain history…..let’s learn our lessons from history…….Not use them to breed hatred.
2) Why not take it a little further and envisage something where there are no differences at all? Even on the basis of nationality? Why find ANY reason at all to propagate hatred/differences/discrimination??
1) Well, Akshay, as I said earlier, I agree with your post when you profess that we should leave regionalism and casteism aside and unite ourselve…….The post is laudable as it speaks of dissolving our differences…..unfortunately, it stops short of asking us to do that only until WE are ONE as a religion….and that is where I would beg to differ…..when you say, ‘unite as a religion”…….Wouldn’t it be more desirable if we united ourselves as a nation? In one of your arguments you said, “U r a Hindu, I m a Hindu, why should language and region become an issue”……..How about modifying it a little? “U r an Indian, I am an Indian. Let that supercede any other reason which segregates us.” Don’t you agree??
I can see akshay that you strongly feel about this topic and that you are trying to bind people together with a common thread and not pull them apart…kudos for that!
Ek samayik chintan ko abhivyakt kiya hai aapane.phutdalo aur raj karo ki neeti par chal rahe hai hamare leader.unaka swarth jismei pura hota hai,un vaimanasya purn muddon ko vo bar-bar uthate hai,taki samak ek hissa unake samarthan mei khada ho,jisase unaki pahachan bane,jin brahmano ko sushri Mayavati manuvadi kahti rahi,shoshak kahti rahi aaj unhi ke bal par satta mei baithakar sukh bhog rahi hain,akhir enase samaj kaa ahit karane kaa hisab le kaun.vicharottejak aalekh ki badhai……….kim.
It is no longer as easy as one would expect it to be - we are too much entrenched in our views that it becomes very hard for us to extricate ourselves unless we really try very hard - which is not very easy because we always have those for whom these turn out to be the trump card they can hold for their own benefit. Many of our leaders know of this and use it to their advantage spouting anti regional - anti -religious - anti-caste venom and rallying their cohorts thus preventing any progress from being made - only way is a lightning to strike these folks and bring them back to their senses - but we can in our little ways try to change what we can - if we meet our own kind and we are in the company of someone who does not understand the language we still have a tendency to talk in our language putting the other person in an embarrasing situation - if we use a common language it helps - if we can do this then atleast we have made a tiny bit of progress- nice post :))))
Tamanna, the struggle to make Hindus love and care for their own religion is going to be an arduous one. Coz a lot of hindus like u seem to believe even seeking to reform our religion and strenghen it is something communal or ”unsecular”! Other communities are so passionate abt defending their own interests, but the moment a hindu seeks to do it, they get branded with all sorts of names by their own co-religionists! Why??? I do not quite understand. Did I express any hatred for any religion? Not at all! Humanity is alright, but why can”t we be good Hindus and good humans as well? If u want to do away with all religions, great. But can u??? That would be the best thing to happen. But if u can”t, and if we r all going to follow our own relgions, why not reform our own and strengthen it? How does that make me narrow-minded, pls explain to me. How does loving my religion or trying to improve it or uniting my fellow hindus hurt anybody’’s sentiments or interests? How does it hurt humanity?
I request all to read my last few comments in continuity as they are a response to Jerome’’s comment. It’’s alright for u to say we shud envisage a scty where the only religion is humanity. How do u know I do not wish for that? If that can be brought about - grrrrrreat!!! But we are talking of an idealistic situation here that may or may not come abt. Have u given up ur own religion to focus on popularising ”humanity”? Give me an honest ans. If not, how can u preach to others? And why is it that when a hindu talks of his religion proudly that he quickly gets branded as narrow-minded and communal? U know why, because we Hindus have this huge failing. Look at Tamanna’’s commment below for instance. She too seems to think I m narrow-minded. I ask, why can”t a Hindu talk proudly of his religion when christians and muslims do it all the time and much more vigorously? I didn”t say we must ”flaunt” Hinduism, but why can”t we love it, be proud of it? How can reforming Hinduism be narrow-minded?
I have attacked our own caste system! How did that go against whatever religion u profess Sir? I have criticised Hindus for focusing more on their differences instead of letting their common religion unite them. What’’s wrong with that? The only line where I mentioned other religions is where I spoke abt muslim invaders. So what do u suggest Sir? That we ignore History? Why? Vasco da Gama unleashed a reign of terror when he took over Goa and forcibly converted many a Hindu to Christianity. So if a Hindu ever mentions this historical fact, wud u brand him a fundamentalist, as u r obviously seeking to do thru ur comment? U also seem to be ignorant of historical facts. The word ”hindu” comes from the word ‘’sindhu” (Indus) and it is more a geographical term than a religious one. Hindustan has been the name of India since times immemorial. What’’s wrong with me using that name? Just because the word ”hindu” is part of it? Who is betraying their narrow-minded, communal true colours here?
If you really are asking to think big then who prevents in thinking of yourself as an Indian or even better so as a Global citizen. Akshay I can empathize with you say that we hindus are divided by casteand regional politics but it seems to me like narrow minded thinking that we have to flaunt our Hinduismto keep it alive. I personally believe that religion is a very personal issue and should remain so. Nobody should be using it to identify themselves with. It should simply be a belief, not an identity.
Wow Mr. Jerome! Show me one line in my blog that is ‘’so much against other religions??” Just because Hindus are a community that have never believed in propagating their religion, people like u perhaps would like them to not even talk of self-preservation or internal reform, is that what u r trying to say? My effort is to bring about reform in the Hindu religion and persuade my fellow Hindus to start caring enough for their relgion to collectively fight the ills that afflict it and strengthen it. What is wrong with that? It definitely is the most secular religion in the sense that it is one religion that teaches respect for all religions whereas other religions openly declare they are the only true religion. How many Christians freely go to temples or how many muslims freely go to temples? But u will see millions of Hindus go to christian or muslim places of worship. So what exactly in my blog disturbed u? continued…
Well Akshay…. It would be great to envisage a society where there are no discriminations on caste, subcaste, region etc… But, why don”t you wish that religious differences should disappear as well??? Don”t you give precedence to humanity over religion?? Why is this post so much against other religions?? And my dear friend, what really struck me in this post was when you refer to India as “hindustan” !!!! I wonder what you meant by it….
Dear C: I m so disappointed. Thru my blog, I had hoped to bring about some awareness among all Hindus about the urgent need to unite under the banner of our common religion. U r a Hindu, I m a Hindu, why shud language and region become an issue? If u do not start treating all Hindus as ur fellow Hindu brothers, how can u hope to strengthen the Marathi people? Does not strength lie in larger and larger numbers? India has almost a billion Hindus, only a few crore Marathis. Why then do you not want to add the strength of this huge Hindu army to the smaller marathi populatio and make it much stronger? If people in all states begin to think like you, won”t all Hindus be weak and divided including the Maharashtrians? I am a non-Marathi, but I love and respect Shivaji Maharaj more than any other leader because having read the book, ”Shriman Yogi” by Ranjit Desai, I know Shivaji was the greatest Hindu leader this country has produced. My friend, think big and save your own religion.
Dont u thing this is a controversial topic? But Yes, I think You r right…this narrow beleifs is the cause of factionisim. But what has been done cannot be undone now. In the future, yes, we can all learn to be more tolerant and accept people with diversities. That is Indian-ness, accepting diversities of people.
Nice post though I would like to make a mention here that it not is entirely true that people were forced to convert to Islam during all the reigns. It happened during the time of Aurangezeb alone , he was intolerant towards people of other religions. And later after the advent of the brits, people converted due to the inhuman treatment they got from the upper caste people and for the sake of bread n butter.
Raj Thackeray is fighting for rights of marathi people. What’’s wrong in that? Hindus and muslims from UP-Bihar have no right to ruin the lives of Marathi people. Marathis have been discriminated against for several years now. Shivaji Maharaj would have kicked out these UP-Bihari migrants who have only one agenda in mind- to grab marathi people’’s land and job.
So keep your dirty thoughts to yourself. You would be happiest if your ”hindu brothers” from UP-Bihar outnumber marathis in maharashtra.
Nice post, very thought provoking
Very apt musings Akshay….. Absolutely valid questions… Very much agree with you… Humans first and then caste, creed, sect and rest later… But the bitter truth is that first comes all these things and the last is the realization what we are humans…. Very good effort… Keep it up..
The uniqueness of India lies in its different cultures … Its like a union of 27 different countries … Yes-there is certainly more affection for ur native state people but v do respect other state/religion people too …
But people like Raj Thackrey r ruining it … He is trying to do what Bala Saheb did long back … But this time people r smart …. his East India Company stolen policy wont work anymore.
Christians marry Christians? Dont they also have classifications and marry from that only? Catholics, protestants, Marthomites, Jacobites etc etc You know some sects of Christians are not given the same facilities at Velankanni church as the Catholics?
religion is somethng which is very prsonal..some of us are born into it and some of choose to follow one…but none of the religions are ay les or weal enough to be annihilated by the other…religion has been used divisively in our country unfortunately..i think what ant r says is right.we need to unite as humans first and only that shd b the priority.
yeah i understand what you are getting at..basically we need to identify ourselves as humans first, as a clan, then maybe indians, and then our regional and religious identities in that order of priority
very thought -provoking post akshay,if our own house is divided, its easy for the enemies to make inroads….we have to fix the divisions in our own society first….