|
|
||
| a r t i c l e s o n h i n d u i s m | ||
|
Who is a Hindu? Contributed By Dr. Shriharsha Sharma Who is a Hindu ? This question arises all the time in
various situations and Hindus are unable to answer it exactly, precisely,
satisfactorily and with confidence. I have asked this question to many people
including eminent Hindu scholars, Sadhus, religious leaders, professors and
Pandits but without a satisfactory reply. Fortunately I have found
the most fitting , exact, precise and above all
satisfying definition of a Hindu by a great revolutionary, author,
orator, poet and patriot Veer Vinayak Rao Damodar Rao
Savarkar. In 1905 while in the prison at Andamon- Nicobar island he
thus wrote : Asindhu Sindhu Paryanta yashya Bharat Bhoomika, There is a vast land between river
Sindhu and Hind Mahasagar called Bharat
and those who accept that this is their fatherland or / and a holy land, land of
pilgrimage are all Hindu. This defination includes
Sanatanis, Saivas, Vaishnavas, Buddhists, Jains, Arya Samasis, Sikhs, Harijans,
members of International Society of Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON, Adibasis,
Tribes, Yogis, Sadhus, Dalits,
followers of Swaminarayan, atheists
and various other sects without exception are all
Hindus . This is the first lesson the Hindu parents
can give to their children. Teachers and
leaders must learn this
definition and
covey and spread the correct information to unify the Hindu
society. This is worth mentioning that acceptance of the Vedas
with reverence, recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are
diverse; and realisation of the truth that number of gods to be worship is
large, that indeed the distinguishing feature of the Hindu religion.---
Shri Balgangadhar
Tilak.[ Quoted by Supreme Court of Bharat on 2 July 1995.] Hindus
believe in One God. There is no god but God .Hindus are truly
monotheist but worship many gods and goddesses and see the same
God in them. This needs to be realised at intellectual level by others
and all those who have failed to
understand this fact. For example snow, ice,
icecle, dew, and vapour are all forms of water but we call them by
different names similarly Hindus see the same God in all the gods and goddesses
as well as in all the living and non living things this is the most simple thing
, Hindus understand this and appreciate this.
Hindu scriptures say it boldly, clearly, distinctly and most beautifully. Ekam Sadhvipra
Bahuda Vadanti [2] means that He is
one but we call Him by various beautiful names. Further to this it may be appropriate to mention the following verse which also gives clear message that Hindusthan means place[ sthan] of Hindus or land of Hindus or Hinduland [e.g. England, land of English people, Ireland, land of Irish people ] Hindusthan’s ancient name is Bharatvarsh. Uttare cha Samudrashya Himadreshu cha Dakshinam, The land which is north to the Hind Mahasagar[ Indian
Ocean] and south to the mighty,
magnificent Himalayas is Bharat,
sons and daughters of this ancient land are called Bharati or
Bbharatiya[Hindusthani] Bharat also means knowdge or Gyan
means away from ignorance or away from darkness so Bharat means land of
source of light or knowledge.True knowledge is in the Ved
so Bharat is also known as Ved Bhoomi.
Bhayam Ratam
Bharatam [4] means
Bharat is submerged in light or is full of light so foundation and
backbone of Bharat is knowledge where life is lead by knowledge therefore
ignorance and superstitions have no place in the land of Hindus. Our heroes and heroines are supreme who inspire and
guide us just remembering their names provide
new and instant energy, strength, courage, hope and peace to name a few
e.g. Raam, Krishna, Arjun,
karn, Mahaveer, Buddha, Sri raamkrishna, Dhruva,Prahalad, Hanuman,Sita,
Radha,Tiruvallavur, Adi Sankaracharya, Ramana Maharshi,, Guru Nanak, Samarth
Guru Raamdas,Shivaji, Maharana Pratap, Sant Yogeshwar, Swaminarayan Meera Bai,
Tulsidas, Guru Tegh Babadur, Guru Govind Singh, Valmiki, Vedavyas, Kalidas,
Swami Dayanand, Swami Vivekanand, Soordas, Kabir,Subhas Chandra Bose,Bhagat
Singh,Chandra Shekhar, Bankim chadra chattopadhyaya, Sri
Arvindo, Sardar Ballabha Bhai Patel, Veer Savarkar, Mahatma Gandhi and
Sai Baba there is no end to this
list and we are proud of them. We recite the following Slok while bathing which is so
satisfying and unifying us from Himalayas to Hind Mahasagar and all the Hindus
living anywhere in the world. Gange Cha
Yamune Chaiva Godavari Saraswati, A Hindu while chanting this Slok
prays to sacred rivers e. g. Ganga,
Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada,Sindhu and Kaveri to come and join in the
water being used for bath or shower. It is a
unique and enlightening experience
and at the same time so unifying which inspires
me to say that one Hindu is for all and all Hindus
for one. Origin of the word Hindu has been traced
from an ancient scripture called Brihanardi Puran in which there is a
verse. Himalayan Samabhya Yavat Binusarovaram, It means the country between the Himalayas and Bindu
Sarovar is Hindusthan so combining the first letter Hi
of Himalayas and last compound letter Ndu of word Bindu forms
Hindu so purely and simply this is a Sanskrit
word. Our ancestors wrote so much including two largest epics Raamayan
and Mahabharat and foreigners gave us
a name cannot be accepted
.This verse is also mentioned in the Nardeeya Puran Which is a short version of original Brihannardi Puran. Our motherland
is also known as Ved Bhoomi, Rishi
Bhoomi, Sanskrit Bhoomi, Sanskriti Bhoomi,Sabhyata Bhoomi, Sant Bhoomi,
Veer Bhoomi,Raam Bhoomi, Krishna Bhoomi, Mahaveer Bhoomi, Bddha
Bhoomi,Tiruvallavur Bhoomi, Guru Bhoomi, Maharana
Pratap Bhoomi, Shivaji Bhoomi, Lakshami Bai Bhoomi,Guru Nanak Bhoomi, Hedegewar
Bhoomi, Sardar Patel, Veer Savarkar Bhoomi the list is unending. I
am a Hindu, my
ancestors come from Hindusthan and
my holy places or
places of pilgrimage are in Hindusthan. In Hindusthan over many thousands
of years the Dharma,culture, civilisation, traditions, philosophy, Yog
vidya, Ayurved,music, literature,
arts , fine arts, dance, and languages had developed
without outside compulsion and force in total harmony with nature and
eternal laws that is why it is so
pure and unique and if you approach with open mind then you will love it
and you will find vast treasure in
it and that is the experience of many so try to know more about it you will be
spiritually and culturally richer and peaceful. Everything in Hindusthan
is attached to word Hindu and greatest strength
of Hindus has been the freedom of expression
in thought, talk and action . The culture of this country is Hindu
Culture, the history of this
country is the history of Hindus, so is the architecture, literature, sculpture,
folklore, poetry, dramas, stories, comics, sorrow and laughter, music, languages
and heritage around us is all Hindu. We must go a bit back and deeper and infact
it has all its source from Sanatan Dharma. All the religions of Hindusthan are
branches of Sanatan Dharma which is
generally known as Hinduism ..Hinduism has the capacity and capability to
accommodate all those who believe
in the freedom of individual in thought, talk and action following the eternal
laws of equality, justice and freedom in development of humanity. The time has come that Hindus
must rename India officially as Hindusthan which is long over due, this will bring a new energy in
them and make them feel proud, bold, assertive, responsible and
courageous . This is the demand of majority Hindus and cannot be ignored
anymore. Avery simple fact I would like to mention is this that
anybody can become a Hindu according to the above definition so you do not have
to be a born Hindu . Swami Dayanand
Saraswati first started conversion of Muslims and Christians who were converted from Hindus and later Swami Vivekanand came in favour of this
and promoted this and recently Swami Chinmayanand,
Sivaya Subramaniya Swami came in favour of this. The reconversion
work is going on in Hndusthan to get Hindus back where they truly belong. This
is a sacred duty of every Hindu to
welcome these brothers and sisters whom we had lost and create a
society so that we do not lose them to foreign faiths because we have been divided
by these foreign faiths as a result our motherland was divided. Before the
arrival of these invaders we were the most prosperous, happy and peaceful this is the fact we must
know. I wish quote a speech
of Lord Macaulay given in British
Parliament in 1835 regarding
greatness, superiority and civilisation of
Hindus---- I have
travelled across the length and
breadth of Hindusthan [India ] and
I have not seen one person
who is a beggar, who is a thief, . Such wealth
I have seen in this country,
such high moral values, people of
such calibre, that I do not think
we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very
backbone this nation, which is her spiritual
and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose
that we replace her old
and ancient education
system, her culture, for if the
Indians think that
all that is foreign and English
is good and greater than their own , they will lose their self-esteem, their
native self- culture
and they will become what we want them, a
truly a dominated nation. This was the most unfortunate
strategy adopted by British government and they destroyed everything good in
India which had taken her to develop
thousands of years. So India was looted, plundered, cheated, betrayed by
British rule. The conversion
to Christianity of Hindus and tribes people began
by Christian missionaries, moral
values declined, people were divided on castes, race and religion
for the benefit of British.
English schools, universities were started
to teach that everything
native is inferior to English and a new class of people were trained to help the
British to rule over India but none
of them ever reached to the highest post. The British rule further
divided the already divided people and created
new castes of Anglo-IndiansChristians and Christians who were the most
favoured in key jobs and promotions
. Macaulay did the incalculable harm and
succeeded in his plan to
rule by destroying native way of life through English education in
India but his poison is still doing the harm to
India so in order to reverse
the process and make India great again we have to organise, plan and bring back
the lost values, morals by establishing faith in our native culture and
spiritualism. It may take time but it is within our capacity and capability. We
must take words of Sri Aurobindo and save
ourselves by saving Sanatana Dharma. India would rise with
rise of Sanatana Dharma, that India
would Sink if Sanatana Dharma sank,
and that India would die if it were at all possible for Sanatana Dharma to die.
------ Sri Aurobindo.
This is the
history that whoever came to our country
until 8 th century they all accepted our way of life and became Hindu without
force and wherever we went we took our culture and message of
Hinduism they accepted it as a great gift and these countries became
Hinduised and this is visible
even today the South East
Asia. Buddhism a branch of Hinduism spread and established
in Sri Lanka , Burma, Thailand, Vietnam , Bourneo, Java, Sumatra,
Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Tibet and Chiana where
it established without a single conflict ,war or killing .Taoism Confucianism
and Buddhism have lived and progressed
side by side for thousands of years without violence , so what is the secret ,
because they have developed
naturally following the eternal laws respecting each other and do not go for
violence to convert or prove superiority . This is
recorded that Buddhism had established itself in each and every village
of China by year 65 A. D. without any
force, violence or threat but with
love, respect , help and understanding each others concerns for the sufferings
around , to reduce or minimise the sorrow in order to make the world more
peaceful and trouble free .Now Buddhism has
spread in all the continents and so has
Hinduism. The world has changed a lot and for Hindus to survive
they have to put a stop to conversion of Hindus
to Islam and Christianity which has been going on in Hindusthan by force. First
it happened during Islamic invasions and rule and now happening by the force of
petrodollars . Later the conversion of Hindus started by Christian [ French,
Portugguege, Dutch, English ] invaders and rulers. These
conversions have been going on since
arrival of Islam as invaders later joined by Christians destroying everything
native. The time has come to pass a law to stop conversion
of Hindus.This is a
great game of numbers
and everyday Hindus are decreasing in number and if this goes on then they
will be in minority, this is
a grave situation. This process can be controlled and reversed by the
followings to make India strong and a developed nation. I..
One civil law for all without exception. Jai
Hind!
|
||
|
|
Copyright © 2001 - All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
a r t i c l e s o n h i n d u i s m |
||
|
|
||
