They say, the best way to play a spinner is on the front foot. Right where the ball pitches. That ways you take away the unpredictability of the turn. Although that sounds defensive, it is in fact a proven technique of positively playing spin ballers. A good batsmen has the necessary range of shots to play back foot. But the first line of offence is the front foot.
This is not about Cricket or Dhoni btw. Neither is it about PK. Because irrespective of whether you consider PK ‘anti-hindu’ and call for ban or bark about freedom of expression , ones who wanted to watch it have already watched it and the producers and promoters sitting on pile of cash while countless columnists and bloggers come out with reasons every day essentially to promote their thought process using ‘PK’ as a tool. Funny, isn’t it? Everything can be presented the way you want it! And everything seems correct! That is EXACTLY the essence of this write up. Multiple thought processes that are equally convincing and can stand up to scrutiny of debates. I don’t need to switch the context while replying to a point in the debate. Neither am I required to suppress thoughts in order to win. Wait- am I talking about ‘Sanatan Dharma’ here? That’s exactly what it is!
There has been too much noise about the aggressive posture of some hindutva organizations vis-à-vis conversions (or re-conversations or ‘ghar wapasi’ – you name it), secularism, freedom of expression etc. in the past few weeks. For one, just because there is a BJP government at the center doesn’t mean that these organizations have to ‘slow down’. They will go about doing business same way evangelists go about doing their’s or how Islam is propagated. Just because they get a level playing field is no reason to cry foul about ‘saffronization’. Get the statistics on conversions and you will know what I mean. Btw my personal view here is, every religion has the ‘equal’ right to propagate within the realms of law. Just because Hindus are majority, doesn’t mean they lose the right!
My concern is on the way Hinduism is propagated, which I essentially believe is a ‘defensive’ technique. Have you wondered how the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ (wont tie it to a religion, since there are many with similar thought process and some differences) persisted all these centuries? We talk about 800 years of Islamic rule followed by almost one hundred and fifty years of colonialization and still Hinduism ( encompasses all the non-Abrahamic religions for brevity ) was and remains as the pre-dominant religion of this country. It was certainly not ‘because’ of the rulers, but in-spite of them! Indeed, there were conversions during this phase .But most were for reasons other than spiritual-either lure or force. Hinduism had and has enough to offer in order to satisfy and expand the spiritual and social needs of humans. And the fundamental reason for this is, Hinduism was never tied to a singular set of thoughts or deeds that needed to be carried forward through centuries just because it was mentioned ‘somewhere’. You can see instances of this everywhere throughout the country. We are talking of a number of religions, thousands of sects and even more methods of salvation that have evolved over centuries of existence, all encompassed under the big banyan tree. What more – Every time the society was stuck in orthodoxy and dogmas, a new set of ideas emerged and carried the ‘dharma’ forward. So we have the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahavir, Buddha, Sankaracharya, Dnaneshwar -and the whole warkari sect, Vivekananda, Ramanuja and thousands others who have carried the torch forward, often deviating from the established norms and charting a new course. It is this fluidity that best defines the Dharma and not some set of conceived principles or practices. And it is this encompassing nature that will help expand Hinduism.
What we see today is a process of ‘defining’ Hindutva. Limiting it, constraining it. Trying to establish its ‘supremacy’ by concocted historical facts. Emulating the techniques of other religions and in the process losing the very essence of it. Effectively we are playing ‘backfoot’ here and not to our strengths. With the current process, we might improve on the ‘numbers’ for short term, but loose in long term. If we want to propagate, tell the world WHY this dharma survived all the onslaughts and still stands tall. How it has the inherent ability to reinvent. Why countries or cultures that were subsequently converted to other religions still bear strong links to their ‘hindu’ (or Buddhist or Jain) past. Have wide debates where religion is measured on logic. Help change the aspects that have lost essence over period of time instead of insisting on them just because somebody 500 years ago followed them. Don’t try to contain the river for the fear of it merging into a lake. For, in the process you are turning the river into a ‘lake’. Instead, break the barriers of lakes and help them merge onto the river! In short, evolve and expand. Most importantly, focus on propagation of ideas instead of the ‘people’ or ‘religion’ who originated it. After all, that is what defines the dharma – Isnt it?
I know a counter view which explains about the radical propagation of Christianity in tribal areas supposedly using foreign funds and ‘unethical’ ways. And that the numbers will change the demography of the country. I have always held the view that this is wrong. Not because they are converting to Christianity, but because they do not understand religion in a conventional sense. In fact their view of dharma (which is a way of life for them and not religion) is much broader than the rest of the ‘Hindus’ and most certainly than other religions! It is like converting a 3 yr old kid. No wonder the kid would be attracted to whoever gives him chocolates or love without realizing that you are separating him from his parents. So go out, give them the love and keep them what they are and not convert them into ‘Hindus’ or Christians.
So, let’s go and aggressively propagate our Dharma. On the front foot though, not waiting for the ball to turn :) . Because, once it does, you are playing to the baller’s game- not your’s.
This is not about Cricket or Dhoni btw. Neither is it about PK. Because irrespective of whether you consider PK ‘anti-hindu’ and call for ban or bark about freedom of expression , ones who wanted to watch it have already watched it and the producers and promoters sitting on pile of cash while countless columnists and bloggers come out with reasons every day essentially to promote their thought process using ‘PK’ as a tool. Funny, isn’t it? Everything can be presented the way you want it! And everything seems correct! That is EXACTLY the essence of this write up. Multiple thought processes that are equally convincing and can stand up to scrutiny of debates. I don’t need to switch the context while replying to a point in the debate. Neither am I required to suppress thoughts in order to win. Wait- am I talking about ‘Sanatan Dharma’ here? That’s exactly what it is!
There has been too much noise about the aggressive posture of some hindutva organizations vis-à-vis conversions (or re-conversations or ‘ghar wapasi’ – you name it), secularism, freedom of expression etc. in the past few weeks. For one, just because there is a BJP government at the center doesn’t mean that these organizations have to ‘slow down’. They will go about doing business same way evangelists go about doing their’s or how Islam is propagated. Just because they get a level playing field is no reason to cry foul about ‘saffronization’. Get the statistics on conversions and you will know what I mean. Btw my personal view here is, every religion has the ‘equal’ right to propagate within the realms of law. Just because Hindus are majority, doesn’t mean they lose the right!
My concern is on the way Hinduism is propagated, which I essentially believe is a ‘defensive’ technique. Have you wondered how the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ (wont tie it to a religion, since there are many with similar thought process and some differences) persisted all these centuries? We talk about 800 years of Islamic rule followed by almost one hundred and fifty years of colonialization and still Hinduism ( encompasses all the non-Abrahamic religions for brevity ) was and remains as the pre-dominant religion of this country. It was certainly not ‘because’ of the rulers, but in-spite of them! Indeed, there were conversions during this phase .But most were for reasons other than spiritual-either lure or force. Hinduism had and has enough to offer in order to satisfy and expand the spiritual and social needs of humans. And the fundamental reason for this is, Hinduism was never tied to a singular set of thoughts or deeds that needed to be carried forward through centuries just because it was mentioned ‘somewhere’. You can see instances of this everywhere throughout the country. We are talking of a number of religions, thousands of sects and even more methods of salvation that have evolved over centuries of existence, all encompassed under the big banyan tree. What more – Every time the society was stuck in orthodoxy and dogmas, a new set of ideas emerged and carried the ‘dharma’ forward. So we have the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahavir, Buddha, Sankaracharya, Dnaneshwar -and the whole warkari sect, Vivekananda, Ramanuja and thousands others who have carried the torch forward, often deviating from the established norms and charting a new course. It is this fluidity that best defines the Dharma and not some set of conceived principles or practices. And it is this encompassing nature that will help expand Hinduism.
What we see today is a process of ‘defining’ Hindutva. Limiting it, constraining it. Trying to establish its ‘supremacy’ by concocted historical facts. Emulating the techniques of other religions and in the process losing the very essence of it. Effectively we are playing ‘backfoot’ here and not to our strengths. With the current process, we might improve on the ‘numbers’ for short term, but loose in long term. If we want to propagate, tell the world WHY this dharma survived all the onslaughts and still stands tall. How it has the inherent ability to reinvent. Why countries or cultures that were subsequently converted to other religions still bear strong links to their ‘hindu’ (or Buddhist or Jain) past. Have wide debates where religion is measured on logic. Help change the aspects that have lost essence over period of time instead of insisting on them just because somebody 500 years ago followed them. Don’t try to contain the river for the fear of it merging into a lake. For, in the process you are turning the river into a ‘lake’. Instead, break the barriers of lakes and help them merge onto the river! In short, evolve and expand. Most importantly, focus on propagation of ideas instead of the ‘people’ or ‘religion’ who originated it. After all, that is what defines the dharma – Isnt it?
I know a counter view which explains about the radical propagation of Christianity in tribal areas supposedly using foreign funds and ‘unethical’ ways. And that the numbers will change the demography of the country. I have always held the view that this is wrong. Not because they are converting to Christianity, but because they do not understand religion in a conventional sense. In fact their view of dharma (which is a way of life for them and not religion) is much broader than the rest of the ‘Hindus’ and most certainly than other religions! It is like converting a 3 yr old kid. No wonder the kid would be attracted to whoever gives him chocolates or love without realizing that you are separating him from his parents. So go out, give them the love and keep them what they are and not convert them into ‘Hindus’ or Christians.
So, let’s go and aggressively propagate our Dharma. On the front foot though, not waiting for the ball to turn :) . Because, once it does, you are playing to the baller’s game- not your’s.
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