What is not there in Hinduism?

Someone asked me why, of late, I am posting articles on Christians, alleging a hidden agenda of conversion.

This is not against my goal of spreading awareness on Sanatana dharma.

The very birth of an intention to talk about the meaning of issues in sanatana dhrama happened in me as a result of a shocking and sad episode I witnessed from close quarters on what clever preaching by Christians could do even to the well educated ones.

It happened about a decade ago when I came across some educated Hindus embracing Christianity by influence of some preaching that made them think that practices in Hinduism are nothing but absurd, wasteful and even lacking in human touch.

While I was able to counter everyone of their accusations on Hinduism, they refused to listen to them - once having gone into a kind of mesmerized state of thought.

I found this as a kind of ‘invasion’ of your thoughts by preaching and wrote to The Hindu as a letter captioned “Thought Invasion” in July 2000.

Expectedly it generated a lot of heat – accusing Hindus for being intolerant and harboring a hate-agenda against Christians, while exonerating Christians on any hidden agenda and deliberate preaching. Until then I was writing on a spate of issues – with no specific goal of what I can do with my writing.

But events leading to ‘Thought invasion’ changed my perception and made me realize that I must go to the source –to sanatana dharma and

dig it out to show to others what it tells,

that I must address the Hindu individual directly, tell him what his religion is and practices are and make him realize that his religion is truly meaningful and universal and that he should never get any doubt about it – come whatever be the comparative rationale he hears from other religionists.

The Hindu’s faith in his religion must be total and

can not be shaken by any counter preaching.

This is my personal agenda.

I don’t want to say what other regions tell or not tell.

I want to say what your sanatana dharma says,

I want people to know it and stick to it.

When your coffers are full, why should you go to others asking for filling your coffers?

Know what your coffers keep in them.

Since then I started concentrating on writing on sanatana dharma and

finally settled to writing my own blog.

The issue of assault on Hinduism is happening at 2 levels.

One is what you see in places like Kandhamal.

The down-trodden sections of people are lured by proselytism with a promise of better livelihood and status.

Hinduism can not be blamed for the ills of these people as their ills are not propagated by Hinduism but by the people and an inert government which can not ensure a decent living to all its citizens.

At another level, the proselytors are targeting the educated ones by projecting the grossly mis-understood stories and concepts of Hinduism and showing their religion as more meaningful. This type of methodology was done in the episode I witnessed that I mentioned above and at Mangalore that witnessed clashes recently.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6067105/Secular-Lie

The highly educated ones are lured by their preaching particularly on ‘service’ - thinking that it is missing in Hindu practices.

Lest they know that

- Hindusim tells you to pray every time “samstha loka sukhino bhavanthu” – (let everyone be happy).

- that Hinduism tells you to take your food only after offering it to 5 beings, Brahman, Gods, Pithrus, plant & animals and human beings

- that the goal of all homas or kriyas is ‘sukha’ (happiness) not just for you but for everyone including the 5 elements of Nature

- that you have to surrender even the fruits of your works and not think anything as yours.

We can go on saying numerous things – almost all things in the created world as being addressed by Sanatana dharma.

But that we have not imbibed them is our mistake.

Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is an all encompassing dharma wherein man plays a pivotal role in safeguarding himself, his community and the world at large.

All these are ordained as ‘duties’- not as services.

When you say you do ‘service’, your hand goes up and the one who receives your services has to stretch his hand below your hand.

This is demeaning on the receiver.

But Hinduism tells you to do all good in the spirit of ‘duty’,

From a previous article in this blog http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/02/pithru-yajna-yajna-is-to-restore.html

“ But in the present context, there is something else connected to this that we must know. Living in the midst of theologies and practices of different religions, we find many people getting influenced or attracted by the concept ‘service’- so popular in other religions.

This concept also has been picked up by Hindus.

But Sanatana dharma does not recognize service to others.

IT RECOGNIZES ONLY DUTY.

It says - help others in the spirit of duty.

Duty is a far superior word than service.

When we serve someone, our hand goes up

and the receiver has to stretch his hand below in humility.

But when the same is done as a duty,

the pride of the receiver is never put under stress.

The doer gives because it does him good

and the receiver takes because by so-doing he is helping the giver

receive some benefits (the rationale behind charity or dhaana in sanatana dharma is this).

The self-respect of the receiver is not hurt in this scenario.

So giving is done as a duty and Taittriya upanishad (chapter 1)

lays rules for how to give.

All karmas or actions are sacrifices

and all sacrifices include the component of giving as ‘na mama’ (not mine).

The giver has to give with complete detachment to the thing given and without any motives.”

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Now tell me what is not there in this Sanatana Dharma?

Enaa illai Hindu dharmatthilE?

- jayasree

Related articles:-

http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Conversion.htm

http://www.hinduwisdom.info/ConversionII.htm

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http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=10724%20&%20section=13

Conversion is terrorism!

(Editorial – News today, 17, Sep, 2008)

Recently there has been violence in areas of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and some places of worship of Christians have come under attack. On the face of it, they will look like concerted attacks on the minority community by the forces of Hindutva.

.

But it is a facile conclusion to arrive at. Without condoning the violence, it has to be remembered that all these areas which are in ferment have been hunting gorunds for predatory missionaries out to ‘harvest souls’ for their religion.

Particularly the tribal belt of Orissa was highly vulnerable to forceful and deceitful conversions. Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswathi, who had been manfully fighting the mercenary missionaries for decades, was killed (after several botched attempts before).

Though the Christians claim that the killing was carried out by Maoists, the fact of the matter is that the Maoists had no real enmity with the sadhu. The Christian community tried to play victims over the retaliatory attacks and closed down for a day Catholic educational institutions across the country.

It is an open secret that the Church and missionaries have been indulging in proselytisation ever since they set foot on Indian soil. The different denominations of the church have mushroomed to such a great extent that today’s thatched roof is tomorrow’s sprawling worship place.

And every time the issue of conversion is raised, the church conveniently hides behind the alibi of ‘freedom to practice religion’, which is enshrined in the Constitution. The dubious distinction here is conversions actulally hit at the freedom to practice one’s religion.

Christian organisations have different methods of operations in converting the gullible masses. Money, education, health, threat, allurement, force and enculturation are some of the tricks of the trade. The focus of attack is usally vulnerable individuals, indigent communities, riven caste groups, poor & downtrodden, sick patients and unskilled labourers depending upon the circumstances and environment.

The two main planks they operate on are education and health care. Again, the missionaries’ mendacity lie in the fact they have managed to make a case for seeing the failure of successive governments as the failure of the Hindu religion.

To be sure, if the masses remain downtrodden and rooted in backwardness, But Hindu religion is not to blame for that. That untouchability and caste discrmination is actually a failing of the State is lost on even the most honest liberal. For, true Hinduism, as it scriptures prove, has no place for discrimination.

In a sense, the missionaries have (mis)used the misundertanding on Hinduism. The claim of the churches is even more dubious in the light of casteism being rampant in Christianity itself (Dalit Christians are given a raw deal in every church).

The vaunted cry of Christians that they don’t indulge in conversions doesn’t square up with the reality obtaining in the streets. The talk of conversions being volitional in nature is also proved wrong by mass conversions. How can there be ‘mass’ change of mind?

Churches also play the dangerous game of provocation. In Mangalore, Udipi and Chickmagalur districts of Karnataka, where violence have been reported, the New Life Church has distributed pamphlets ‘portraying’ Brahmma, Vishnu And Shiva as ‘jokers’ consumed by lust and anger, Oorvashi as daughter of Vishnu and a prostitute and that Sage Vasishta was born to that prostitute, Krishna as a shady character wallowing in darkness of hell.

This has been going on for years throughout the country as the famed tolerance of the HIndus is taken as an advantage. What the Christians have failed to understand is that the awareness among the majority community has increased manifold and that they have started feeling ‘enough is enough’.

The pseudo-secular politicians and the mainstream media cannot attribute the retaliation to specific Hindu organisations anymore.

The Hindu majority itself has started rising against the illegal, arrogant and blatant conversions and the earlier a stringent central anti-conversion law is enacted, the better.