Like Socrates was, some 24 centuries before him (399 BC). The ‘gall of Athens’ was forced to drink poison, so that the voice that challenged people to think and emerge from the slavery of customs and irrationalities would not gall the keepers of religious and political orthodoxy.

Diwali is the festival of light. It is an annual commemoration, a cyclical reassurance, of the victory of light over darkness. But the fact that we celebrate this festival does not prove, in itself, that we are on the side of light and not of darkness.

Celebrating Diwali in a way that causes atmospheric pollution, for example, and undermines the health of children and the elderly cannot be an undertaking of light. The key to who we are rests not in ‘what’ we celebrate, but ‘how’ we celebrate.

Maximum road accident deaths and cot-deaths (children dying in their cots neglected by their parents who are busy celebrating) happen in Christian countries on the eve of Christmas. But, Jesus came in the service of life. He did so, because he found that human nature was oriented to death, not life. Everyone wants to live long, but the choices people make are harmful to life.

In Kerala, for example, the consumption of liquor peaks in the Christmas season. Doesn’t it mock the meaning of the birth of Jesus, who came to set people free from all sorts of slavery? Slavery to alcohol is one of the most perverse forms of slavery; it is the slavery not only of individuals, but also of families.

Though born and raised in an orthodox Brahmin family, I was deeply influenced by the teachings of Maharishi Dayanand. To me, his insights came as a breath of unprecedented freshness, sweeping away the miasma of religious malodour that had begun to suffocate my soul.
The Maharishi did not spiritualize truth, as is done by hypocritical religious busybodies in order to dodge practical responsibilities and remedial actions that could be costly. He, on the contrary, incarnated truth. Truth emits light only when it is ‘earthed’. If truth is kept isolated from lived realities, it remains abstract, powerless and irrelevant.

To incarnate truth is to make it prevail in the warp and woof of life. It will be a fitting tribute to the Maharishi, if we dedicate ourselves to making the light of truth visible and beneficial to the people in all walks of life. We shall honour Swami Dayanand best by making Diwali a ‘festival of truth’. Truth is light; and light, truth. It is when truth becomes light for humankind that a spiritual festival is born. Anything less is a counterfeit; apretense without substance.

For Maharishi Dayanand, truth in its shining, social avatar is a caste-free society. He deemed caste as a pernicious aberration imposed on the Hindu society by Brahminical hegemony, which had proved inimical also to Brahmins; for what worse self-insult can there be than thriving on falsehoods?

Caste is plain, downright untruth. A person’s worth cannot be based on, or limited by, his birth. Birth-based privileges and advantages – as also disabilities and degradations- are indefensible. Caste is also social darkness; for it institutionalizes inequality, injustice and human degradation.

Ravan needs to be seen also as a caste symbol. Rather than burn his effigies and pollute the air, we can make our Diwali celebration meaningful by burning caste system out of our midst. I cannot help feeling that those who still advocate the inherent, fate-ordained superiority of Brahmins and their divine right to rule, are children of Ravan, not of Lord Ram.
 

Those who advocate the inherent, fate-ordained superiority of Brahmins and their divine right to rule, are children of Ravan, not of Lord Ram

Diwali of spiritual light must have an unwavering commitment to truth. Truth, when incarnated amidst injustice and inequality, becomes commitment to justice. For the down-trodden millions in our country, justice is the avatar of God they have been waiting for, for decades.

Sadly, the giant systems we have erected in the name of progress and modernity, for all their other benefits, are deaf and blind to the plight of the poor and the powerless. The truth about India, as Gandhiji has taught us, is poverty. His insight that the poor are the children of God — Daridra Narayan — and that truth is God, mark a revolution in our spiritual thought that is in harmony with the spiritual vision of Maharishi Dayanand.

Poverty, in hierarchical societies like ours, has a necessary gender-discriminative character. Even socially and economically emancipated women suffer injustices of diverse sorts. The Modi government limits the practice of justice to women to the airing of amouth-filling slogan.

“Beti bachao, beti padhao”, does not add up to anything on the ground. And if the Supreme Court grants equality of treatment to women in respect of temple entry in Sabarimala, it is opposed tooth and nail. This very hypocrisy is a demonic Diwali of darkness, presided over by a beaming Ravan whose mirth on Diwali days knows no limits, given how blind and stupid we are in celebrating it!

Poverty is the mother of darkness. Poverty in India is eminently avoidable. It is the darkness of inordinate greed on the part of a few that keeps the vast majority of our people poor and destitute. Celebrating ‘light’ — ironically, in physical darkness in order that Ravan may burn brighter! — in the face of their destitution despite their sweat and blood that fattens a privileged, parasitic minority, is a mockery of light.

It is not my case here that Diwali should not be celebrated. It needs to be; but, at the same time, its meaning needs to be heeded and its mandate upheld. Those who claim to be followers of Maharishi Dayanand have a special duty to ensure that this is done.
—
Contact: agnivesh70@gmail.com

Courtesy: https://www.counterview.net/

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Ill–informed attempts have been made of late to project the concessions made to the hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi, as yet another illustration of the proverbial Hindu cowardice. Occasional and misleading references have been made, in this context, to the history and mission of the Arya Samaj. This calls for clarification on some basic issues.

The Arya Samaj was essentially a spiritual movement whose mission was to renew and reinforce the Vedic foundations of the Hindu society. The attempt to re–construct the ‘Hindu identity’ that historians and political analysts see in this movement needs to be seen in this light. Swami Dayanand Saraswati and, later, Swami Sraddhanand were reacting reformatively to the social and spiritual paralysis of the Hindu society on account of its apostasy vis–à–vis the eternal principles and ideals embedded in the Vedas.

"Back to the Vedas" was, hence, their battle cry. To them the solution for our chronic and all–round disabilities was not the propagation of a macho culture of physical assertiveness or ideological aggression. It was the creation of a wholesome and dynamic society undergirded by equality, truth, justice and human dignity.

Shuddhi was as much a protest against the caste–bound socio–religious paralysis of the Hindu society as it was to facilitate the home–coming of those who had left the fold, in case they wished to. It was a constructive criticism of the aberration that had been imposed on the Hindu social order by the high castes by making merit entirely birth–based. This turned the Hindu religious community into a semi–closed order from which people were free to escape but not free to return. And the oppressiveness of the caste system provided ample motivation for the lower castes to escape en masse. Out of this there arose a situation that exposed the inner–contradictions and non–viability of the caste system in a situation of free choice.

Such a situation leaves us with two options. The first is to dismantle the caste system and to replace it with the Varna Ashram Vyvastha as laid down in the Vedas. Birth–based human merit has no place in the Vedas. The Vedic worldview, as I have argued time and again, is a dynamic spiritual vision that militates against burying people alive in the graves of caste degradation. This was what the founders of the Arya Samaj advocated. The other option is to put down the rebellion against the caste system in the form of conversion to other theoretically more egalitarian faiths. This is done in two ways by the custodians of the caste system: (a) by creating an anti–conversion dogma, ruling out thereby freedom of choice leading to conversions, or (b) by the use of force either against those who convert or those who encourage conversion or against both. It was a return to the Varna Vyvastha that the Arya Samaj advocated. The logic of the times confirms that only the Arya Samaj approach to this problem is valid and feasible.

Globalisation, among other things, is the unconditional acceptance of a new global order based on free choice. Perpetuation of any birth–based handicap or advantage is utterly incompatible with its ethos. The custodians of casteism, if they are serious about their business, must fight global-isation with all their might as their foremost caste enemy.

But that is not what is happening. Most of them are in league with this pernicious process, conspiratorially crafted to rob the rest of the world for the greater affluence of the richer nations. The hijack drama is a milestone also in the globalisation of terrorism, in which the role–model was set by arbitrary American transnational aggressions in recent times.

While I am unhappy that the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane got away with some of their demands, after inflicting unspeakable suffering on more than 150 innocent passengers, I cannot fault the government on the way this crisis has been handled. On the contrary, I endorse the government’s concern that innocent lives be not lost through tactical dogmatism and ideological inflexibility. The courage to be inflexible at the cost of other people’s lives is embarrassingly cheap. The hijack crisis provided a glorious opportunity for the RSS leaders to prove their newly acquired Hindu virility. They could have offered themselves as substitute hostages, procured the release of the innocent passengers, and then advocated total inflexibility. It does no credit either to the Hindu community or to their macho image to have hid themselves in safety until the crisis was defused and to emerge soon thereafter to strike up comic–strip–like postures of courage that costs them nothing.

May be that is an illustration of the alleged Hindu cowardice! We need to get out of it. But, then, courage is not an abstract thing. It has to be exemplified in respect of addressing the real issues, irrespective of the cost involved. In Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Sraddhanand we have two good examples of human courage imbued with spiritual significance. Both of them risked their life in pursuing their mission.

The most basic cowardice is flight from reality. This is what is writ large over the whole of our country today. As a society we are running away from the basic issues of social injustice, discrimination against the poor and the underprivileged, our moral and social degradation, and the large-scale sell-out of our country in the name of globalisation. This country could do better with a little more courage to speak the truth, to resist the forces of evil and injustice, the courage above all to live with the projected ‘backwardness’ and global isolation that we are warned against, unless we allow ourselves to be colonised by the West. True Vedic courage calls for doing battle with the predators of hedonist consumerism that assault human dignity and worth. It mandates a relentless struggle to free the Indian society from the evils of casteism, communalism and religious obscurantism so that we re-create the true Aryavarta: a country of noble men and women.

This was the vision that inspired the Arya Samaj movement. Swami Dayanand Saraswati was a liberated soul who maintained excellent relationships with people of other faiths. The very first donation of Rs. 5000 to the cause of the Arya Samaj came from a Muslim in Bombay in 1875. It was in the house of a Muslim, Rahmatullah Ansari of Lahore, that Swamiji formulated the ten basic principles of the Samaj. When Swamiji was poisoned by a Hindu cook, Jagannath, it was to a Muslim — Dr. Ali Mardan Khan — that he entrusted his treatment. Swami Dayanand’s concerns extended to the welfare of other religious faiths and he encouraged Bhai Jawahar Singh, who was general secretary of Arya Samaj, Lahore, to launch the Guru Singh Sabha around 1877.

Swamiji had excellent relationships with all religious leaders, including the Christians, besides being a good friend of Sir Syed Ahmed of the Aligarh Muslim University. The spirit of religious intolerance that is packaged as Hindu revivalism would have been roundly denounced by him. So also the compromise that some sections of the Arya Samaj have struck with the Sangh Parivar by providing the ritualistic paraphernalia for re–conversion into a caste-ridden Hindu order, rather than insist that the Hindu society be rid of this ultimate spiritual anathema. I do hope that "Hindu cowardice" will not shut the mouths of the brave followers of Swami Dayanand Saraswati when they are confronted by the very forces against which Swamiji fought and laid down his life.

(An abridged version of this article was first published by The Indian Express).

Archived from Communalism Combat, February 2000. Year 7  No, 56, Faith

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It is reported that the Kalyan Singh government in UP intends to make Saraswati Vandana compulsory in
schools. At least three questions arise in this connection. Can a government that is supposed to owe allegiance to a secular Constitution be religiously partisan? Is coercion legitimate in religious matters? What does it mean for Saraswati Vandana to be turned into a political ploy? Of these, it is only the last question that concerns us here.

The wry humour of the situation becomes apparent when we recall that Saraswati is supposed to be the goddess of learning. UP is a state where illiteracy is endemic. Universal education for all children under 14 years of age, as mandated by the Constitution, has not been a priority with any of the successive governments this state has had since Independence. There is no basis to assume that the present government is an exception. Could it be that the insult to the goddess of learning in keeping millions of people illiterate is sought to be compensated by forcing school children to do in ritual what the government won’t do in reality?

My concern in this context is neither political nor legal. It is strictly religious. I am worried that the political misappropriation of the mythology, ritual and symbolism of Hinduism will do enormous harm to this great and tolerant faith. In this process the profound treasures of this way of life could be altered and corrupted beyond repair and recognition. Their symbolic meanings belittled, they could be employed as instruments in the service of fundamentalist interests. So we could soon have the mockery of turning the goddess of learning into a means for aggravating the educational backwardness of a particular community! Coupled with the mullahs’ proverbial penchant for knee–jerk reactions, the state imposed worship of the goddess of learning could result in increasing illiteracy, especially among the Muslims in the state, who are already educationally most backward. That would be Saraswati Vandana indeed!

There can be no doubt at all that worshipping Saraswati is a laudable thing. But what does Saraswati signify, and what does it mean, therefore, to worship her? Saraswati, as she is usually portrayed, is clad in pure, snow white, which symbolises purity. This is born out of the Eastern intuition that learning is inseparable from purity.

The book and veena held in her hands signify knowledge and artistic skills that harmonise in a holistic approach to education. The swan, the symbol of discernment, is her vehicle. Appropriately too; for what is education worth if does not train people to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong?

That being the case, to worship Saraswati is to be committed to her three–fold attributes of purity, all-round education, and discernment in our way of life as a whole. It is to endeavour to nurture a culture that upholds these values. Now think of the sacrilegious irony of forcing people, with impure and political motives, to worship the goddess of purity! It is an insult to Saraswati to be turned into a pawn in the hands of politicians who care little either for literacy (book) or for fine arts (veena).Insofar as their political move is based on the presumption that people have no discernment (swan), it perfects the insult to the goddess in question!

It is very astonishing that those who care for Hinduism do not voice their protest against this blatant misuse of the idea of religion in general, and of Hinduism in particular. The very purpose of religion, especially the genius of Hinduism, is to affirm and celebrate the oneness both of the human species and of the Ultimate Reality. There is nothing surprising about politicians wanting to ‘divide and rule’; for it is one of the oldest tricks in their trade. But can that be so for the religious–minded?

We have not seen a better Hindu in this century than Gandhiji. The essence of his Hinduism expressed itself in a life–long endeavour to hold the various religious communities together in the Indian context. Ingredients of this very religion now stand in danger of becoming instruments of alienation in the hands of politicians and religious fundamentalists.

To understand what this entails, let us consider what has happened to the symbolic meaning of ‘saffron’, if only as an illustrative instance. Not long ago saffron symbolised sacrifice, purity and commitment. It was a colour associated with sadhus and swamis. Not so any longer! Now in popular imagination this colour is more intimately associated with the Sangh Parivar! When journalists write glibly of ‘saffronizing’ education, surely they do not intend this to be a complimentary description. As one clad in saffron, I cannot help feeling awkward. My worry is that the fate of Saraswati Vandana will not be any better; and I protest!

Hinduism is neither Islam nor Christianity to flourish under state patronage. At the best of times, state protection and patronage were dubious blessings even for these religions. They were infected with the spirit of triumphalism, and Christianity in particular got enmeshed with colonialism to its own detriment.

In the unholy alliance between politics and religion, there is often a powerful tendency for politicians to abuse religion as a handmaid in the service of their whims and fancies. Religion becomes an accessory to political game plans. If we forfeit discernment at this juncture, Saraswati Vandana could well end up as a litany in the cult of political power that cares neither for education nor for Hinduism.

It is regrettable that those who are responsible for the well being of millions of people rake up non–issues at a time when we are beset with many burning issues. Perhaps the best way to sideline real issues is to fabricate spurious ones. The issues that fester on the body of this nation are poverty, illiteracy, the death–dance of preventable diseases, deteriorating quality of life, and the rise of religious fundamentalism and obscurantism that perpetuate our mental and material backwardness.

The need of the hour is to harness the energy and enthusiasm of every Indian to the cause of nation–building, and not aggravate alienation to dissipate our collective resources. Discrediting the discernment of the common man, politicians try to lead the people from gimmick to gimmick, and assume that they can keep the nation in appalling poverty and cancerous corruption without having to face the consequences. As long as this outlook does not change, the name of Saraswati will remain in our mouths an insult to her significance, and her vandana, a bit of ritualistic mockery in the political charade that goes on.

Archived from Communalism Combat, December  1998. Year 6  No. 49, Controversy 1

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