(CHAKRA) By Prashant Parikh
Who is a Hindu?
‘Hindu’ was a term first used by Persians to denote the people living in the sub-continental peninsula, bordered by the river Sindhu (whose distortion gave rise to the term ‘Hindu’), the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean. The term ‘Hindu-ism’ was introduced by the British to identify the cultural practices native to the people of India. In that sense, Hinduism is an umbrella term. The Hindu culture is an amalgamation of practices, informed by the indigenous faiths, namely: the Vedic (Sanatana dharma), Jain, Buddhist and Sikh religions, hence it is a cultural classification and not a religious one. For instance, being a follower of the Vedas, I would identify myself as a Vaidika by religion, and a Hindu by culture.
The Hindu culture includes (but is not limited to) the traditional languages we speak, our dance forms, art forms, music, festivals, mannerisms, clothing, family structure, diet and so on. Wearing a turban is essentially as Hindu as applying a tika on one’s head, wearing a saree or doing namaste to elders. This is what every Indian should strive to preserve.
Even the Indian converts following the Abrahamic religions share a common past with the subcontinent, hence while practicing their own respective faiths they can still happily be connected to the Hindu culture. Technically speaking, every person living in India- regardless of their faith- would be correct in culturally identifying themselves as a Hindu.
What makes Hinduism so resilient?
Having stood the test of time, the Hindu civilization is the last of the great civilizations to still exist. The Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Mesopotamians, the Mayans and several other ancient civilizations (known and unknown) all died a cultural death. No trace of either their philosophy or practice exist in contemporary times, all we find are their archaic remnants in history books and UNESCO conservation sites. Hindus stood the onslaught of invasions from the Greeks, the Arabic nomads, the mongoloids, the Moghuls, the Britishers, and today, the most insidious of them all- the post modernists, who are not out to invade land, but to pollute minds, which is far more lethal.
The practices of our acharyas have always been reasoned with logic, and tempered with Shraddha- faith in the words of Dev-Guru-Shastra (God, Guru and Scripture). In addition, we have had a long standing tradition of debate, where ideas were sieved through brilliant minds, and the husks, discarded. These ideas trickled down through the generations, always meeting further refinement or elaboration. While the source scriptures have remained the same, the ideas have evolved, and incorporated themselves into cultural practice.
Why is the Hindu culture an integral part of every Indian’s life?
We instinctively touch a book or money to our head if we inadvertently lay foot on it. What is this, if not respect for Saraswati Maa and Laxmi Maa When we go to a temple and accept prasadam gratefully, is it not symbolic of living by the attitude of graceful acceptance, i.e. prasada buddhi, taught by Krishna Bhagavan as part of karma yoga Every cherished practice of ours can be traced back to ancient roots; this is what makes our culture so endearing and enduring. Violence may take place, temples may be destroyed, history can be re-written by rulers to undermine what we once were and who we are today, however, what cannot be taken away is the Hindu spirit that lives on through the arrow of time. As long as mankind is around, there will be at least one person chanting the sacred mantras. You can count on it.
The logic is simple. An idea cannot be destroyed, but only be replaced with a better one. The ones we inherited have withstood incessant bombardment from all sides, and their longevity is proof of their worthiness and trans-generational wisdom. That is the greatness of our culture, and we should all take pride in being part of this unbroken tradition.
Yes, with the epoch of kaliyuga, adharma will reach its zenith, most of what we admire will crumble before our eyes in the coming ages, and therefore it is our collective responsibility to avert these issues by tackling them intelligently- not emotionally, spreading awareness, and making these topics an essential part of our conversational discourse. We’ve persisted since the dawn of civilization as the greatest contributors to mankind in all imaginable areas, only your continued efforts will ensure the safe passage of the same until the end.
M Patel says
Is resilient ( meaning pliable, docile, compliant, meek ) a good thing ? Second-class survival as a defeated way of life ,and death by 1000 cut, is slightly better than instant-death. Nobody should strive for such survival. Much-worse, Most Hindus get a sense of complacency that Hinduism will somehow survive.
Prashant Parikh says
Patel ji,
Resilient for the right reasons. Resiliency as a result of strong cultural values being ingrained in the social psyche. Not as a form of meekness or docility, which our culture should never reduce itself to.
I did call for action in toward the end 🙂
You may furthermore be interested to read my lengthier analyes here
Part 1
http://www.chakranews.com/open-letter-to-india-looking-back-in-time-part-1/1953
Part 2
http://www.chakranews.com/open-letter-to-india-a-call-to-action-part-2/1958
hariH Om
Dr. O. P. Sudrania says
A good description by Prashanta put in a nutshell. Hinduism per se is vaster than the visible world. One only needs to dive in to fathom its depth. Dip in and enjoy.
In Arabic peninsula, they still call us ‘Hindi’ irrespective of the caste, colour, religion or faith. That also includes the Muslims, Jews, Christians and Parsis of today. For them, all the peoples living on Indian peninsula are “Hindi”.
Secondly Vedic culture does not preach intolerance ad infinitum, to the point of humiliation. This is the exact message imparted through our testaments. In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna was a part of several fights including the great Epic of Mahabharata. He had promised the mother of Sisupala to forgive his one hundred sins and ultimately killed him after that instantly.
Hinduism teaches four basic pillars of life: Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha as the essential aims of life for everyone irrespectively and inclusive. Everything else was designed under Vedic teachings towards that philosophy. Hence the message of Vedas is verily perennial, eternal like the movements of the planets.
Hence Hinduism is neither a faith, nor a religion or culture in strict sense but a way to live happily applicable to everybody irrespectively. Thus Hinduism does not believe in evangelism or proselytisation or conversions. Abrahamics convert the bodies to put a tag on but Vedic teachings convert the mind and soul by their esoteric meanings and practices as opposed to theory.
God bless
Dr. O. P. Sudrania says
Nature precludes that anything that grows faster, decays also faster as the Newtonian Law of Inertia also says in equal and opposite reaction.
As Prashant has rightly pointed out, so many faiths have evolved but died their natural deaths. It is going to apply to several of them more.
Secondly rage, anger, aggression and intolerance consumes a vast amount of energy leading to decay of both mind and body. Hinduism have realised it long ago and thus preaches peace, love, tolerance. But not cowardiceness, timidness to let others humiliate devilishly. Lord Krishna preached in the middle of the battle ground to fight, lest he will be shamed by the posterity as a coward.
I have noted several times, “Ours is the fastest growing religion or faith”. But they do not appreciate their end is destined equally faster. Faster they have grown, the faster will they meet their end.
Arjun says
@Prashant , You mention Resilience but like most Hindus totally forget the main reason for Hindu survival and that was that Hindus fought tooth and nail to protect Hindu culture.The list is endless with so many hindu warriors and sages who sacrificed their lives to protect Hinduism through all invasions especially during islamic periods ending with the destruction of the mughal empire before the british came along.Its this very reason that hindus are mentally weak presently as they dont have no idea of their own history that they just by some miracle that hinduism survived without any fighting back only to believe in thousand islamic rule myths ect
Arjun says
“Even the Indian converts following the Abrahamic religions share a common past with the subcontinent, hence while practicing their own respective faiths they can still happily be connected to the Hindu culture. Technically speaking, every person living in India- regardless of their faith- would be correct in culturally identifying themselves as a Hindu.”
Well this is RSS Hindutva nationalist nonsense.Non Hindus in india dont want to be regarded as Hindus so its not worth even trying even to connect them to Hinduism even if they share some aspects of Hindu culture.Hindus are only Hindus culturally who follow the hindu faith regardless if they are in india or not or not even Indian..I think you should seriously need to read Voice of India books along with books by Rajiv Malhotra to get out of this dated type of thinking.
Voice of Dharma
http://voiceofdharma.org/
Prashant Parikh says
Arjun, my replies in parenthesis ((()))
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@Prashant , You mention Resilience but like most Hindus totally forget the main reason for Hindu survival and that was that Hindus fought tooth and nail to protect Hindu culture. .The list is endless with so many hindu warriors and sages who sacrificed their lives to protect Hinduism through all invasions especially during islamic periods ending with the destruction of the mughal empire before the british came along
((( I agree, and it certainly is important. However, it is not something that is forgotten, it just goes unmentioned in the article)))
Its this very reason that hindus are mentally weak presently as they dont have no idea of their own history that they just by some miracle that hinduism survived without any fighting back only to believe in thousand islamic rule myths ect
((( Both agreed and disagreed. Hindus are “mentally weak” due to several reasons, one of which is lack of self identity, and quickly accepting Western definitions of who they are, and what they’re supposed to be. Ignorance of history is DEFINITELY one of the contributing issues, but I think you state it exclusively. I may be wrong, but that is how it reads…)))
Well this is RSS Hindutva nationalist nonsense
((( No, sir, infact it is your post-modernist pseudo secularist approach, where you are using these expressions with a negative connotation as if there is something wrong with RSS or Hindutva. The paid media has worked well on you. )))
Non Hindus in india dont want to be regarded as Hindus so its not worth even trying even to connect them to Hinduism even if they share some aspects of Hindu culture
((( Did you actually read my article? Hinduism and Hindu culture are synonymous. Hinduism is the practice of Hindus, which results in the Hindu culture. If a person does not wish to be regarded as what they are, that is their choice. It does not make it correct. Being politically correct, everyone having a cultural identification with India is a Hindu. If someone wants to be politically incrrect that is not my concern 🙂 so, there is no question of “converting” someone to Hinduism. Indians by default ARE Hindus. )))
Hindus are only Hindus culturally who follow the hindu faith regardless if they are in india or not or not even Indian
((( There is nothing like Hindu faith. The rest of what you said does not hold)))
I think you should seriously need to read Voice of India books along with books by Rajiv Malhotra to get out of this dated type of thinking.
((( No, thank you, I am not one to buy into your definitions of what is progressive, regressive, dated, outdated, and so on. You may believe what you wish, I have no issues 🙂 )))
.Non Hindus in india dont want to be regarded as Hindus so its not worth even trying even to connect them to Hinduism even if they share some aspects of Hindu culture.Hindus are only Hindus culturally who follow the hindu faith regardless if they are in india or not or not even Indian..I think you should seriously need to read Voice of India books along with books by Rajiv Malhotra to get out of this dated type of thinking.
Arjun says
//@Prashant , You mention Resilience but like most Hindus totally forget the main reason for Hindu survival and that was that Hindus fought tooth and nail to protect Hindu culture. .The list is endless with so many hindu warriors and sages who sacrificed their lives to protect Hinduism through all invasions especially during islamic periods ending with the destruction of the mughal empire before the british came along//
((( I agree, and it certainly is important. However, it is not something that is forgotten, it just goes unmentioned in the article)))
I dont buy that because its the most important factor of Hindu resilience otherwise the article gives the wrong impression .Its like making a cup of tea without putting the teabag in it.
//ts this very reason that hindus are mentally weak presently as they dont have no idea of their own history that they just by some miracle that hinduism survived without any fighting back only to believe in thousand islamic rule myths ect//
((( Both agreed and disagreed. Hindus are “mentally weak” due to several reasons, one of which is lack of self identity, and quickly accepting Western definitions of who they are, and what they’re supposed to be. Ignorance of history is DEFINITELY one of the contributing issues, but I think you state it exclusively. I may be wrong, but that is how it reads…)))
It is the most contrubutuing factor because self identity is reflected in how one sees their own identity presently and to why hindus have fallen to western defintions in the first place to become even more mentally weak
//Well this is RSS Hindutva nationalist nonsense//
((( No, sir, infact it is your post-modernist pseudo secularist approach, where you are using these expressions with a negative connotation as if there is something wrong with RSS or Hindutva. The paid media has worked well on you. )))
Well its best you show how this is a ‘post-modernist pseudo secularist approach and how the paid media has worked on me to come to the conclusion that the RSS along with the Hindutva movement are confused and directionless but living in 1920s defintion of western nationalism.In a country with 900 million hindus the Hindutva movement has not even made a dent and you cant keep on blaming that all on the anti hindu media when most of the problem is with lack of ideology within the Hindutva movement.The anti cow slaughter movement was started in the 50s-60s but now india is the third largest exporter of beef in the world.So that shows how infective the RSS and the Hindtuva movement are.
//Non Hindus in india dont want to be regarded as Hindus so its not worth even trying even to connect them to Hinduism even if they share some aspects of Hindu culture//
((( Did you actually read my article? Hinduism and Hindu culture are synonymous. Hinduism is the practice of Hindus, which results in the Hindu culture. If a person does not wish to be regarded as what they are, that is their choice. It does not make it correct. Being politically correct, everyone having a cultural identification with India is a Hindu. If someone wants to be politically incrrect that is not my concern 🙂 so, there is no question of “converting” someone to Hinduism. Indians by default ARE Hindus. )))
You are living in dreamland if you think all Indians are by default Hindus which also shows your confused hindutva nationalism especially the RSS which stresses on that and keeps on failing .Go and ask kashmiri muslims if they are default Hindus or even any other muslim in india.If we use this theory than the indian mujeiendeen and other non hindu terrorists in india are all hindu terrorists or the attack by muslims on the train at godhra was really done by hindus because they are culutually Hindus.
//Hindus are only Hindus culturally who follow the hindu faith regardless if they are in india or not or not even Indian//
((( There is nothing like Hindu faith. The rest of what you said does not hold)))
There is now .Hinduism is not confined to India or just indians as many people from other races and religions have converted to the Hindu faith.So where do they belong with your definition of Hindu being Indian ?
//I think you should seriously need to read Voice of India books along with books by Rajiv Malhotra to get out of this dated type of thinking.//
((( No, thank you, I am not one to buy into your definitions of what is progressive, regressive, dated, outdated, and so on. You may believe what you wish, I have no issues 🙂 )))
Well if you are not interested in reading books from Voice of India/Dharma set up by Sita Ram Goel and Ram Swarup the greatest icons of the modern Hindu movement or Hindu scholars like Rajiv Mahlotra then it shows why you are lacking far behind unfortunately…