Wendy Doniger's book's "pulping" by Penguin, recent talks by Rajiv Malhotra on Indra's Net, and the various protestations in all media by big and small names about freedom of expression, all raises a fundamental question.
Is Hinduism in danger?
I don't think so at all. Let me list ten reasons for my thinking.
- Hinduism is a broad expression applied to variegated beliefs and practices of >1 billion people, with millions of temples, hundred of rituals, thousands of years of monuments and temples, and several thousand-years old scriptures unparalleled in human history. Such a large living organism, for want of a better expression, can never be threatened by any time-bound or space-confined efforts of anyone. If mankind is wiped out by a nuclear holocaust, Hinduism will also perhaps disappear. Only to rise again if ever thinking life reappears.
- Hinduism is not a doctrine. It is not a book. It is not a "Ten Commandments"or a "Quran". It works itself into your being from before your birth, through the most natural inputs of touch, sound, sight, song, food, language, social relationships, and is celebrated year-long everywhere. Hinduism works because it makes you feel alive and good. It cannot be threatened therefore even by death. In fact, birth, death, marriage, schooling, parents, children, everything around us is Hinduism's raw material. It derives strength from everything that happens!
- Science supports Hinduism. We don't say God made the world in seven days, the sun goes round the earth, and if you pray five times a day, you go to a heaven with rivers of wine and erotica. Every scientific discovery and invention, be it bosons, black hole or in vitro fertilization, fits nicely with some Hindu legend or myth. Why? Because the Hindus have been intelligent men thinking over millennia about life and creation, and are the best natural scientists.
- Ecology supports Hinduism. When doctors tell you to go vegetarian, or governments tell you to go easy on the gas pedal, they are simply emphasizing the virtues of "Sattvic" nature that is defined in Hinduism 5000 years ago. Period. Buddha called it the middle path.
- What makes people happy? Music. Dance. Celebration. All this is intrinsic to HInduism's everyday life. This is a big deal in this world, where religions ban music and dance and women are in black purdah. men are told sex is the original sin. So you have weirdos who do crazy things out of confusion and frustration. No such problem for Hinduism.
- Hinduism has humour. We have stories of great humour. Ganesha, Hanuman, Krishna, are all fun people. Shiva, Rama, and Karttikeya are brave, far-thinking, leaders. All our gods are simply the best role models.
- Female emancipation is not a tough question in Hinduism. We call Earth our mother and along with Prosperity she makes up the two consorts of God=Vishnu. So we give a natural place for life in our religion, and raise it to motherhood. We also see a lot of evil of all kinds around. To cleanse it, we invoke the goddess Durga or Devi or Kali. There cannot be greater positivism in problem solving. In fact neo-management gurus routinely quote our legends and myths for illustration.
- There is no conflict in Hinduism between wealth and goodness. We have held out as our heroes prosperous and benevolent and extremely mature kings who treat their wealth as a trust for the development of all mankind.
- There is no conflict in Hinduism between individualism and inclusiveness. Whereas we are extolled to seek our individual liberation or Moksha, we are told that the way for this is through doing socially good action ( =loka sangraha in Bhagavadgita). Bhagavadgita can be called the greatest book of human psychology!
- We don't mind funny people or funny comments or crazy books about Hinduism. When Keshab Chandra Sen talked to Sri Ramakrishna for three days about why there is no God, Ramakrishna applauded him and said he was wonderful. Keshab asked, "so do you accept there is no God?" Ramakrishna laughed and said, "no, dear Keshab, in fact I am now more than convinced that only God could have made possible such a brilliant debater like you!" So for every Wendy Doniger, there will be a Rajiv Malhotra. You see, we believe in the hierarchy of evolution. From fish, boar and tortoise, incarnations evolve, and finally you have the greatest avatar. Similarly, you have animal/bestial thinkers, idol worshippers, Freudians, cruel and violent and confused people, and finally also a Mahatma Gandhi. When someone shot him point blank in his own prayer meeting, he said "Hey Ram"and died.
Postscript: suppose I study Hinduism in its myriad forms, scriptures, legends and practices, and try to get a hang of the subject by trying to fit a theory to all that I see around me, especially using modern tools of psychology and yardsticks of other religions, I will end up with a fat book, but that goes nowhere. Because Hinduism is not obliged to fit nicely into a jig saw puzzle, you see, it evolved over >5000 years among now a billion people, all professing only what they loved about life. Yes, about life.
