Crisis in Hinduism  

Karan Singh 

While the Ayodhya demolition that has shaken the country is being looked upon largely as a question affecting the Indian Muslims, and so indeed at one level it is, at a deeper level it also represents a crisis within Hinduism itself. A religion which owes allegiance not to any one historical figure or religious text, but rather to the insights of a whole galaxy of sages and seers down from the very dawn of history to the present day, Hinduism is essentially a pluralistic creed which not only accepts but encourages multiple paths to the divine. This has often been looked upon as the main reason for India’s weakness and subjugation for many long centuries, and indeed it may have been a contributory factor. But in the broader context of human history, the central contribution of Hinduism as a noble philosophical creed retains a very special place.

 

There are certain fundamental concepts in the Hindu ethos, the high watermark of which is widely known as the Vedanta, based on the teachings of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita, which have provided the bedrock for Hinduism through all the vicissitudes and upheavals that it has faced over the last several thousand years. These include such seminal ideas as the all pervasiveness of the divine; the spark of divinity seated within each human being regardless of caste or creed, religion or nationality; the concept of multiple paths to the divine and the ultimate convergence of all spiritual quests; the idea of the entire human race as an extended family bound together by the inner spiritual bond; and the concept of dedicated work for the welfare not only of human society but of all life on this planet.

 

Allied with these concepts is the theory and practice of yoga which, in its wider sense, involves the yoking or linking of the inner with the outer divinity. While there are many paths of yoga, these fall into four broad categories—Jnana yoga, or the way of wisdom and intellectual discrimination leading ultimately to a direct perception of the divine; Bhakti Yoga, involving an intense emotional devotion towards a personalized form of the divine, of which Hinduism has a unique and fascinating array; Karma yoga, which implies a ceaseless involvement in works dedicated to the divine so that they become potent instruments for liberation; and Raja yoga, which includes a wide spectrum of psycho-physical techniques for arousing the spiritual power dormant in the human body, culminating in a vast extension and transmutation of mundane consciousness.

 

Vedanta and yoga between them thus constitute both a comprehensive philosophy of life as well as a practical means for divine realization. The subtle concepts involved have been articulated and elaborated by great thinkers and realized souls through the centuries down to our very day. These men and women have been drawn from all castes and creeds within Hinduism and, in the case of Bhakti, have also included a number of Muslim saints and poets. In our own century, there have been remarkable men who epitomized the four yogas—Sri Ramana Maharshi was the Jnana yogi par excellence; Swami Vivekananda the Karma yogi; Sri Aurobindo the Raja yogi; and Sri Krishnaprem the Bhakti yogi. It is against this rich and noble background that we have to judge certain developments that are taking place in Hinduism today.

 

The direct physical assault on a place of worship and the subsequent torching of Muslim houses at Ayodhya surely does not fit into the tradition of Vedanta, nor does a constant barrage of vituperation and hostility against a particular community, however deep seated the perceived historical wrongs or grievances may be. Having spent the better part of the last decade travelling around the world speaking on Vedanta, it is indeed shocking to see such a wave of hatred and aggressive behaviour suddenly overtaking sections of the Hindu community in some parts of the country.

This attitude is well portrayed by one Swami Vamdev, whose name I read for the first time when, at a press conference in New Delhi, he reportedly denounced the Constitution as ‘anti-Hindu’ and laid claim to the Jama Masjid because, according to him, it was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple! The statement was subsequently denied, but not by the Swami himself.

In fact, speaking with a broad cross-section of Hindu society since Ayodhya, it becomes clear that a significant radicalization of the Hindu psyche has taken place over the last decade, the reasons for which will need to be carefully analysed and assessed. The violent reactions to Ayodhya in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where hundreds of Hindu temples were destroyed in retaliation, are being looked upon by many as an ex-post-facto justification for the Ayodhya assault, as is the en masse migration of the minority community from the Kashmir valley.

 

Never in these 46 years since partition has such a vast chasm developed between India’s two major religious communities and if this continues, the results for the country will be nothing short of disastrous. It is true that Muslims are in a minority (except in Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep), but it is a huge minority, larger than the population of most countries in the world. And if this sort of hostility continues, the whole of India—from Kashmir to Kerala—could literally go up in flames. The horrific events in Bombay and Ahmedabad are portents of the sort of disasters that could proliferate unless the present drift is reversed by the collective efforts of all those who have the welfare of India at heart. A process of national reconciliation will have to start immediately, although the wounds inflicted will take a long time 44 to heal.

The revival of religious fervour is now a worldwide phenomenon, embracing Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. With the collapse of Marxism-Leninism, an avowedly atheistic creed, the vacuum is rapidly being filled by religious fundamentalism. What is really needed is not a revival but a renaissance, a creative reinterpretation of the basic religious tenets in the light of contemporary social, political and economic imperatives. In Hinduism, this renaissance began in the 19th century with the great spiritual savants and social reformers, mainly from Bengal. It would be a matter of great regret if the process were now to be reversed and Hinduism lose the universality that its basic concepts reflect.

As for Ayodhya, the very word conjures up for hundreds of millions of Hindus throughout the world a peculiar resonance. It was in Ayodhya that Sri Rama and his brothers were born amidst great rejoicing; it was from there that, as a result of a palace intrigue, the noble prince was sentenced to 14 years exile, on which he was accompanied by his devoted wife and dutiful brother; and it was to Ayodhya that Sri Rama returned in triumph at the end of this period, having undergone tremendous suffering and finally vanquished the great Sri Lankan monarch Ravana, an event celebrated on Diwali day wherever Hindus reside. Again, it was in Ayodhya that the fabled Ram rajya—the ideal rule of ancient times ensuring peace and justice for all—was established, which continues to hold the imagination of the Hindu masses as Mahatma Gandhi so clearly recognized.

Ayodhya is inextricably interwoven into the texture of the Ramayana tradition, and this, in turn, has over the centuries left its indelible impact not only throughout India but across distant seas, all the way to the Indonesian islands. The Ramayana story, originating from the great seer and epic poet Valmiki, is a major motif in the culture of Indonesia which, let us remember, is overwhelmingly Muslim. With Tulsidasa, the Ramayana became a crucial text for people from the Hindi-speaking area, and was carried by them wherever they went—whether it was Fiji or Surinam, Trinidad or Guyana, Mauritius or East Africa. It is indeed a monumental tragedy that Ayodhya—the very word means ‘peace’—should have become a virtual battleground with ramifications spreading outwards and engulfing parts of the country in an avalanche of death and destruction.

The situation calls for deep interaction and a creative dialogue between Hindus and Muslims at all levels—individual, academic, theological and political—in a spirit of cool thinking, charity and compassion on both sides. There is no reason that this should necessarily be a zero sum game, in which gains made by one community are balanced by losses suffered on the other side. I recall, for example, that a decade ago, as an independent Member of Parliament, I had drawn attention to the absurd situation where, while holidays of other religions were included in the Government of India list of compulsory holidays, not a single Hindu holiday was so included. As a result of this intervention Ram Navami, Vijaya Dashmi and Divali were named, and some others remained optional. This was done without deleting any existing holidays, so that no one was hurt and yet a glaring anomaly was redressed.

 

I happen to come from a Muslim majority state and, from my childhood, have been worshipping at Muslim, Sikh, Christian and Buddhist shrines along with Hindu temples the world over. In one of my present capacities as Chairman, Temple of Understanding, a worldwide interfaith organization, I am involved in a movement which seeks to bring together leaders of various religious faiths and denominations in a mutually constructive dialogue for the welfare of humanity. It remains my conviction that Hinduism, with its essentially pluralistic nature and its rich and noble tradition of Vedanta, has the capacity to make a crucial contribution to this dialogue and thereby fulfil the prophecy of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo regarding the leading role that India is destined to play in the evolution of humanity and the emerging global society. But if we are to play that role, we will surely have to choose Vedanta over Vamdev.

 

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Courtesy: Karan Singh and Seminar: February, 1993