Published in PGurus.com and Vijayvaani.com
Never in the 70 year history of free India has
Hinduism faced an existential threat as it is facing now in the State sponsored
and judiciary abetted desecration of the temple of Ayyappa at Sabarimala.
Threats have been happening over the years ever since foreigners intruded this
country thousand years ago with the first ever worst assault on Somnath. Millions
of our forefathers sacrificed their lives in saving Hindu temples and Hindu
culture, with the result that Hinduism was able to thrive in the face of and
inspite of all odds. At the crucial moment when India
should have been declared a Hindu nation, it started well with
a Constitution, the original document of which displayed the rich Hindu past of
India. This handcrafted document has the scene of a Vedic Gurukul in the
beginning of Part II on Citizenship, in a thoughtful portrayal of where we, the
Indians trace our sense of belonging.
But all this is past and forgotten in such a short
period of independent India compared to a thousand year old struggle against
invaders. Liberty, the second clause guaranteed in this document in terms of
thought, expression, belief, faith and worship sounds non-existent to Hindus
today but is used deftly against the interests of Hindus only. Once secularism
entered the nomenclature of the Constitution of India, it is no holds barred
affecting the interests of Hinduism. Temples, the edifice of Hindu culture had
suffered the worst with systematic looting of temple properties, successful
alienation of several communities from temple services they were associated
with for ages and manning temple administration with non-Hindus.
With all these we, the Hindus, the practicing ones
at that, had silently put up but the last straw happened with the abuse of
tradition at Sabarimala initiated by the judiciary, executed by the Government
of Kerala with an unseemly zeal and supported by the media while all through
this a definite game-plan of pitting non-Hindus against Hindus was well
orchestrated much to the shock of the unsuspecting Hindu lot, notwithstanding
the fact that an early hint of Hindus versus non-Hindus was thrown by the actor
turned politician Kamal Haasan in a TV debate as the narrative for 2019 general
elections. So what is originally the identity of this land with a long history
is sought to be openly trampled upon for the benefit of political ends and
desert cults.
When the Mughals came, we knew who our enemies were.
When the English came, we knew whom we have to protect ourselves from. But in
free India we have absolutely lost our sense of judgement as to who works
against us - is it the politician or the non-Hindu or the very Constitution
that is supposed to protect our rights and our tradition or our own brethren,
the fellow Hindus? The damage caused by the ignorance of our Hindu brethren is
no less damaging than the collective effort of all those pitted against Hinduism.
It is regretful to hear the Chief
of a Mutt saying that there is nothing wrong in the judgement
on Sabarimala.
The height of ignorance of diverse ways of the Hindu
tradition was demonstrated by a much respected spiritual Guru who welcomed
the verdict initially but did a volte
face
after opposition to the verdict grew. The irony apart of persons like them seen
as custodians of Hinduism influencing modern day Hindus, there are numerous others
leading various sects of Hindu thought who have not even bothered to open their
mouths, with the least realisation that what is seen now is fire in the next
door which can engulf them anytime soon with all the inimical forces waiting to
fan the fire to destroy Hinduism in its own country.
Millions of Hindus undergoing the pain and sense of
loss on seeing the State orchestrated pilgrim tours of non-believers to
complete the process of havoc caused by the judgement of the Supreme Court have
no idea of what to do next and how to react to this. The devout had reacted –
but in an unfortunate way; the breach of sanctity of the abode of Ayyappa had
caused them to abandon their vrat midway – a reaction much awaited by
the assaulters of the tradition.
There are others shouting for help at all directions,
fretting, fuming, praying and tweeting but nothing else at their disposal. They
almost look like the hapless Draupadi who wanted a Dharmic answer to her simple
question after the Pandavas lost the dice game and staked her after losing
themselves. She wanted a Dharmic answer and not a lawful answer, for Dharma is
always Dharma, but the law need not be dharmic.
When she asked the same
question to Bhishma, his reply was on law and not Dharma – something similar to
what we are experiencing now. He just relied on power, authority and numbers on the side of the one who issued the
decree when he replied that what is called as Dharma by a strong man in this
world is regarded so by others, however otherwise it may be; but Dharma spoken
by the weak man is scarcely regarded as Dharma, however correct it may be. Bhishma
didn’t side with Dharma but with the brute power of those in authority which is
absolutely unexpected and unbecoming of a person of his stature who avowed to
protect the throne of authority.
Today Hinduism is disrobed like what happened to
Draupadi. From all sides the wicked and the mighty are colluding to rip her
apart. To name the salient ones:
· The
4:1 judgement is akin to the power of numbers in the court of Dhritarashtra –
the 5th voice, that of the female (Justice Malhotra) was trounced by
the power of the mighty (majority numbers), similar to how Draupadi’s voice was
ignored.
· Draupadi was in her menstruating season at
that time – the very issue that is being used now to disrobe Hinduism. And that
was the foremost reason for her refusal to come to the court. The menstruating
women never mingled with anyone in this country since time immemorial. Then
what to say about going to a temple?
· The
question raised by Draupadi addresses the issue of gender equality – the focus
of Sabarimala issue today. Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers
lost his four younger brothers in the dice game and finally staked himself and
lost too. After losing himself he staked Draupadi and lost her. Her question in
simple terms was whether the wife was a property of the husband or an
individual entity by herself – a question that exposes the level of feminism
and respect for female gender prevalent in the Hindu society even at that olden
time.
Hinduism brimming with well thought-out and worked
out paths of relevance cutting across times is now being made a Draupadi mainly
because the assaulters as well as majority of the assaulted ones are ignorant
of what and why of the many ideas of Hinduism!
Dharma and the mighty.
In the above listed issues, whatever the mighty says
is not correct if it is not Dharma. And a law not addressing the underlying
Dharma is not correct and hence untenable. Bhishma sided with the strongmen of
the court accepting their word as Dharma which is completely deplorable. If the
one at the helm, who is in a position to uphold Dharma, fails to do it, he is
bound to suffer for that. This is not a curse but Natural Justice. Hinduism
does not condemn anyone as a sinner –but sinner is the core concept in the
religion that worships a dead body and another which condemns to death everyone
other than themselves. Hinduism only says
you will get what you sowed –which is a universal concept. Bhishma paid for the
dereliction of what is expected of him at the arrow bed 13 years later. What
Draupadi felt all over her body when disrobed was felt by him with every inch
of his body constantly pierced by arrows.
One may give any kind of justification for him to
have chosen the arrow bed, but that was the manifestation of Natural Justice
for his failure to safeguard Draupadi. So there is something beyond the law of
the mighty, and that is Dharma. When the law is different from Dharma, only
Dharma must prevail and prevail it will sooner than later. In the course of it,
those who harmed Dharma would stand to undergo Natural Justice.
Menstruation issue
On the second issue of menstruation, there are reasons
why women don’t enter a temple during menses and why women of menstruating age
are not going to Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. A temple is not just a building but an abode
of the deity in the form of Vigraha which means ‘special embodiment’
that is made possible by mantra, yantra or tantra. So far experts
have looked into the plan of the temples as well-crafted ones in alignment with
natural forces. But an experiment done way back in 1980 and reported in Indian
Express on 31st December 1980 has something more to say. (The
experiment and its results were displayed in a stall at the Trade Fair in the
Island Grounds in Chennai that year) It says,
“Teachers and students of Parasakthi
College, Courtallam, through a set of experiments using laboratory
gadgets, make a scientific interpretation of the chanting of slokas, abhisheka
of the idol and offering of fruits and leaves. "Temple worship has a
definite scientific reasoning behind it", the assistant professor in
charge said”.
While this reveals the beginning of an unknown science
of temples, the Athirathram Yajna was already within
the purview of scientific scrutiny with results proving
the benefits of the Yajna. Similar tests conducted on Agnihotra Homa
that was found to have saved two families in Bhopal Union Carbide gas tragedy revealed
the scientific nature of the Homa wherein it was found that the expected
results did not materialise when a menstruating woman touched the homa vessels
in use and conducted the ritual herself.
This is an area requiring serious scientific study but
what this reveals is that these yajnas must have come into existence after a
series of studies and experimentations. The time needed for the
experimentations prior to their formulation pushes back the origins of Hinduism
farther back in time. Any advanced and civilised society would only like to
preserve them and subject them to more scientific scrutiny without spoiling any
of the features – one of them being restriction on menstruating women – and not
barge on the community to disrupt the traditions, as the Kerala Government is
doing now. With so much scope for probe into scientific aspects of these
issues, what scientific or logical reason has been cited by anyone including the
judges to show that ‘sanctity’ of the temple would not be breached if women of
that age-group enter the temple? The burden of proof is on the prosecutors and
persecutors of this tradition that nothing of the temple chemistry was breached
by the biological conditions of the woman during her menstruation and no harm
to herself during her menstruating age.
On the other hand the proof of the pudding is in the
inbuilt process of maintaining equilibrium in the temple chemistry. The ritual
of Shuddhikaran is one such proof aimed at restoring sanctity when the women of
restricted age-group entered. Shuddhikaran is not something invented recently.
It is part and parcel of the rules of the temple when the deity was consecrated
as an embodiment of a universal principle. The very existence of this remedy shows how the
temple science has been perfected long ago.
Gender Equality.
On the third issue of gender equality, by staking
Draupadi after he lost himself, Yudhishthira, one of the three acclaimed as
knowers of nuances of Dharma (Vidura and Bhishma being the other two) had given
the message that women are not to be treated as property of or subservient to
men but are free entities on their own. Bhishma failed to voice this openly; But
Vidura was unequivocal when he said that “If Yudhishthira had
staked her before he was himself won, he would certainly have been regarded as
her master”, but that he didn’t showed that the wife was not a property of
her husband. She was neither lost nor won by anyone, which means that she was a
free woman - always.
Can there be any better statement on gender equality
as being part and parcel of Hindu culture, and above all supported by Dharma?
Can such a culture shaped by the tenets of Dharma discriminate women on an
issue unless that is Dharma-based? But why did Hinduism reach such a state as
to be disrobed by too many Dussasanas today?
Redeeming Hinduism from Draupadi moment.
The story of Draupadi vastraharan shows a way out.
When Dhritarashtra offered to grant her boons, she sought the release of
Yudhishthira and then the other four Pandavas. When prodded to ask for more
boons, she refused to oblige saying that covetousness brings loss of
virtue.
The five Pandavas released from slavery stood with
her to pay back for the harm done to her and to restore her dignity. They are
the five senses of each one of us released from the clutches of covetousness,
with Dharma as the sole torch bearer. Let’s consciously stand by Dharma in
whatever we do, and none of what we do should make Hinduism a Draupadi. We
cannot stake her in the course of any work we do. He be the Tantri or the Prime
Minister or the Chief Justice or a pilgrim or a common man – each one must do
what is Dharmic in the situation.
A Tantri cannot allow himself to be cowed down by a
contempt threat in as much as a pilgrim cannot afford to abandon the
pilgrimage, for, more the pilgrims, stronger will be the deity’s power. The Vigraha
is made a ‘special embodiment’ by the devotion of the pilgrim too in addition
to mantra, yantra and tantra. The sound
effect of chanting plays a crucial role in transforming a temple into a divine
abode much in the same way the Vedas create vibrations by recital. The above
mentioned experiment by Parasakthi College proved that. So never stop going to
the temple and never stop chanting His name aloud. We need more temples, almost
in every street to make this sacred mother land of ours a divine land.
In the larger picture, all the heads of different
paths of Hinduism must be brought under one umbrella and they must raise their
voice every time an assault is made. Draupadi was able to win only because
everyone in this land was drawn into the fight – whichever side they may be –
but it must be known which side that one is seen, on the side of Dharma or
Adharma. Let us accept the emerging narrative that it is Hindus versus
non-Hindus and work for victory for Hindus. Victory for Hindus means victory
for Dharma, What else is needed to restore the honour of Draupadi?
