Vijayan also pointed out that Guru’s life and work is very relevant today as violence is being orchestrated by instigating religious sentiments. Guru was not merely a religious leader, he was a great humanist. His critics are also criticizing Vijayan that during his tenure as Chief Minister Hindus are being troubled. They give the example of Sabrimala where the ruling party decided to support the Supreme Court ruling of entry of even menstrual age women to the sacred temple. BJP spokespersons are up against Vijayan for insulting Sanatan Dharma in this instance also.

The debate around Sanatan seems to have come to the fore for the second time. First it came up when Dayanidhi Stalin spoke against Sanatan. BJP-RSS is stating that Santan can’t just be reduced to caste and Chaturvarnya. Incidentally in 2022, Kerala had submitted a float for republic day parade. It displayed Narayan Guru. The jury from the Defence ministry stated that the Kerala float should display Shankarachaya from Kaladi rather than Guru. This was a major reason for rejecting the float.

As such Sanantan stands for eternal and has been used for Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Hindu is a religion, which has no single prophet or no single holy book. Word Hindu does not find mention in its holy scriptures. It has two major streams, Brahmanism and Shramanism. Brahmanism is based on graded inequality and patriarchal values. Ambedkar renounced this Hinduism as he felt that Hinduism is dominated by Brahmanical values. The Shramanic traditions include Nath, Ajivikas, Tantra, Bhakti traditions which are away from the values of inequality.

Today in popular parlance Sanatan Dharma and Hindu dharma are interchangeable. Some of the ideologues claim that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life based on Dharma. As per them Dharma is not the same as religion. As such Sanatan Dharma stands for primarily Varna system, caste inequality and sticking to these traditions. Dharma is best understood as religiously ordained duties. What is being opposed by social reformers is rejection of a religion which is based on inequality.

If we take the example of Ambedkar himself, he regarded Buddha, Kabir and Jotirao Phule as his Gurus. What matters to him is rejection of inequality of caste and gender. In medieval India the saints Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Narsi Mehta and their likes harped on opposition to the caste system and some of them had to face attacks from upper caste rulers. As such Narayan Guru comes in as a great social reformer against the caste system and transcends religious divides. No wonder the present ruling Government, guided by Brahminical Hinduism, can’t accept the float from Kerala which shows Narayan Guru.

Narayan Guru was a deeply humane person. During the course of his growing up he went into a deeper engagement with spiritualism and the practice of Yoga. During the course of his philosophical journey in 1888, he visited Aruvippuram where he went in meditation. It is during his stay there, that he took a rock from the river, consecrated it and called it as an idol of Shiva. This place since then has been known as Aruvippuram Shiva Temple. This act later came to be known as Aruvipuram Pratishta. It created a lot of social commotion and opposition especially from amongst the upper caste Brahmins.

They did not accept Guru’s right to consecrate the idol. He replied to them “This is not a Brahmin Shiva but an Ezhava Shiva”. This quote of his later became very famous and has been used against casteism. To fight against casteism he committed his life. His steps were a big practical means in challenging the deep set caste system. The revolutionary understanding of Guru was ‘one caste, one religion, one God’.

He goes much beyond the caste and religious divides to proclaim, single humanity. Later on he went on to open the school, which was open even to low castes, quite on the line of what Joti rao Phule did in Maharashtra. Like the principles of Ambedkar’s Kalaram Temple movement he went on to build temples which were open to all the castes.

The recent suggestion of Swami Satchitanand supported by Pinarayi Vijyan also argues that a bare torso may be medically bad as it may transmit diseases. There are many practices which need to change with time. One recalls that women did not have the right to cover their breasts. There was a breast tax if women covered the top. It was Tipu Sultan, when he annexed Kerala, when he abolished breast tax and women gained their dignity as they were permitted to cover their breasts.

Temples are a part of our community life. Such changes in dress code have to accompany the changes in social patterns. The opposition to this is like putting the clock back. The politics in the name of religion at most of the places is against the social changes and change in political values. Kerala also shows many contrasts in diverse fields. It was here that on one hand the Acharya from Kaladi Shankar countered the Buddhists in debate. The Buddhists argued on materialist ground to focus on the issues of this world, while roughly speaking Shankar tried to argue the World is an illusion supporting the idealist philosophy.

At present times in India, Kerala included, we need to follow the path of Saints like Narayan Guru and Kabir, whose humane values gave a direction of amity to the society. The conservative ‘status quo’ in most matters retards social progress.

The author is the president of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism. The views are personal.

The post Is Narayan Guru Part of Sanatan Dharma? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

MK Gandhi, Young India. December 8, 1920

“Untouchability is a snake with a thousand mouths, through each of which it shows its poisonous fangs.”

MK Gandhi, Young India. July 11, 1927

“I do not believe in caste in the modern sense. It is an excrescence and a hindrance on progress. Caste in so far as it connotes distinctions in status is evil.”

MK Gandhi, Young India. June 4,1931

“Untouchability is a sin against God and man. There is no warrant in the Shastras for untouchability as we practice it today.”

MK Gandhi, Harijan. March 2, 1934

“And why do I say untouchability is a curse, a blot and a powerful poison that will destroy Hinduism? It is repugnant to our senses of humanity to consider a single human being as untouchable by birth. If you were to study the scriptures of world you do not find any parallel to untouchability.”

MK Gandhi, Harijan. June 2, 1936

“Untouchability is a blot against Hinduism and it must be removed at any cost. Untouchability is a poison which, if we do not get rid of it in time, will destroy Hinduism.”

MK Gandhi, Harijan. June 20, 1936

“Caste has nothing to do with religion. It is a custom whose origin I do not know, and do not need to know. But I do know it is harmful, both to spiritual and national growth.”

MK Gandhi, Harijan. July 18, 1936

“Soil erosion eats up good soil. It is bad enough. Caste erosion is worse; it eats up men and divides men from men.”

MK Gandhi, Harijan. May 5, 1946

“None can be born untouchable, as all are sparks of the same fire. It is wrong to treat certain human beings as untouchable from birth.”

MK Gandhi, From Yeravada Mandir, Page 31

“The untouchables have been so much oppressed by the Caste Hindus that we can find no parallel to it in any other religion.”

MK Gandhi, Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Page 905

“I am a touchable by birth, but I am an untouchable by choice; and I have endeavoured in my own fashion to represent not the upper ten even amongst the untouchables, because, be it said to ourselves there are caste and classes even amongst the untouchables.”

MK Gandhi, Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Page 952

“There was once a scientific expedition in search of God. The scientists are reported to have come to India and to have found God, not in the homes of Brahmins, nor in the palaces of kings, but they found Him in the hut of an untouchable. Hence my cry to God is to admit me to the untouchable fold.”

MK Gandhi, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol LI, Page 198

“There is an ineffaceable blot that Hinduism today carries with it. I have declined to believe that it has been handed to us from immemorial times. I think this miserable, wretched, enslaving spirit of untouchability must have come to us when we were in the cycle of our lives at our lowest ebb… That any person should be considered untouchable in this sacred land, passes one’s comprehension.”

MK Gandhi, Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Page 387

“I believe that if untouchability is really rooted out, it will not only purge Hinduism of a terrible blot, but its repercussions will be worldwide. My fight against untouchability is a fight against the impure in humanity!”

MK Gandhi, Mahatma, Vol III, Page 203

“What I want, what I am living for and what I should delight in dying for is the eradication of untouchability, root and branch.”

MK Gandhi, Mahatma, Vol III, Page 205

“Removal of untouchability means love for and service of the whole world, and thus merges into Ahimsa. Removal of untouchability spells the breaking down of barriers between man and man, and between the various orders of Beings.”

MK Gandhi, From Yeravada Mandir, Page 33

“It is a sin to believe that anyone else is inferior or superior to ourselves. We are all equal. It is the touch of sin that pollutes us, and never that of a human being. None are high and none are low for one who would devote his life to service. The distinction between high and low is a blot on Hinduism, which we must obliterate.”

MK Gandhi, The Diary of Mahadev Desai, Page 286

Why did I begin with a string of quotes by Bapu? When we read them chronologically, we understand his evolution. From the first, where he endorses the Varna Vyavastha, our caste system, for which he was rightly criticised by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, to branding untouchability and the caste system as a thousand-headed venomous snake and to warning that the Varna Vyavastha would eventually lead to the annihilation of Hinduism, Sanatan Dharma. This is a dramatic about-turn in Bapu’s evolution. Bapu had said that if he were to express contradictory opinions on any subject, what he said last was to be considered his belief because time and life would have taught him that he was wrong earlier.

There have been many reformers who strove throughout their lives to purge Sanatan Dharma of the evil of untouchability but they all failed – from Sant Gnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram to Ambedkar and Bapu. Sanatan Dharma has proven to be obstinate.

Periyar, the militant reformer, also failed. Tamil Nadu, where parties born out of his ideology have ruled for long, is still as deeply divided along caste lines and caste-based oppression is rampant. Sanatan Dharma and its traditions are so wired into the collective psyche that even those who left Hinduism, fed up of the caste oppression, still carry their caste identities into the religions they embrace.

People will argue that all Hindus must not be branded casteists, and it’s true that not all of them actively practise caste oppression. But we too remain silent when atrocities occur. The silence and inaction stems from the deep-rooted prejudice they harbour. Take a few incidents in the recent past.

Inder Meghwal, a nine-year-old Dalit, was so brutally thrashed by his upper caste teacher that he died. His crime? He drank water from the pot kept exclusively for the teacher. Did Indians who don’t harbour or practise caste prejudice rise up in anger? No!

A video of a lout peeing on the face of an Adivasi went viral on social media. The Adivasi was so accustomed to being insulted thus that he did not even attempt to move away. The lout was a Brahmin and the president of his community brazenly said it was his right to behave that way. Did Indians who do not harbour caste prejudice rise in anger? No!

A Harijan bridegroom rode a horse to his wedding. This offended the upper castes in his village and he was lynched. Did we react? No!

Recently, a Dalit was brutally beaten for wearing good clothes and dark glasses. Does it make our blood boil? No!

As far as caste discrimination and atrocities are concerned, it does not bother us enough. I could write volumes listing caste atrocities over just the past decade.

But when Udhayanidhi Stalin points out how Sanatan Dharma has been corrupted, all of us are annoyed. How dare he call for its eradication? Ambedkar called for the ‘Annihilation of Caste’. Bapu too, in his own gentle manner, called for it. None of them called for a genocide of Hindus or the upper castes. Let’s not allow sanghis and bhakts fool us into believing it.

All reformers warned about the danger institutionalised oppression poses to the existence of Sanatan Dharma but we have not heeded the warnings. What is being sought to be eradicated is Varna Vyavastha and the prejudices it instils in all of us and the oppression which is its very creed. That cancer afflicting Sanatan Dharma must be eradicated. Otherwise, one day, it will ensure the demise of Sanatan Dharma itself.

Vasudaiva Kutumbakam must be based on samata, equality, otherwise it is just a string of meaningless words.

 Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, is an activist, author and president of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation. Reach him here: gandhitushar.a@gmail.com.

Courtesy: https://www.allindiansmatter.in

The post Caste, the cancer afflicting Sanatan Dharma appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The problem is not when the illiterate or rural folks speak about a tradition and support superstition because lack of health care system and inability of a welfare state to help people. The shame is when those running our institutions which should have been inculcating the scientific spirit, are actually pushing our students and children into irrational beliefs. Nothing can be more shameful and disgusting than those who should have been speaking about rational thinking, now advocating idiotic things. How can India’s science be ‘world leader’ if our scientists are made to be a subservient to irrational religious thoughts.

Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh had seen the most horrendous rains this year. Himachal Pradesh faced the bigger losses of life and livelihood. The rivers were swelling in anger and swept away anything that came on their way. Frankly, the rivers removed the ‘encroachment’ on their way. We all know that the region for such a calamity are not ‘natural’ but man made. Our ‘developmental model’ is meant to strengthen a few business houses and cronies with little help to local people.

Cutting the mountains to create four way lanes, building big resorts, Chardham yatra project, train projects, numerous dams, destruction work in the Himalayas in the name of ‘development’ are a few to name. There are ample evidence as why rivers swelled in Himachal and various reports suggest that much happened due to unorganised and incompetent water management in various dams in Himachal. The same thing happened that flooded Delhi without Delhi having rains. Our water management through these dams is unorganised and incompetent.

It is disgraceful that the Director of IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh gave a new twist, perhaps to protect his masters in Delhi, to Himachal floods and destruction. The video of his ‘speech’ at the auditorium of IIT Mandi is widely circulated now. He is seen telling the students, “Himachal Pradesh will have a significant downfall if the innocent animals are not (saved from being) butchered. You are butchering those innocent animals. That has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment, which you cannot see now but it will have (an effect). It is having. The mass-scale landslide and so many other things… cloudbursts that you see again and again… these are all effects of this cruelty,” the video clip that went viral on social media platforms shows him saying.

“Himachal Pradesh will have a significant downfall if the innocent animals are not (saved from being) butchered. You are butchering those innocent animals. That has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment, which you cannot see now but it will have (an effect). It is having. The mass-scale landslide and so many other things… cloudbursts that you see again and again… these are all effects of this cruelty,” the video clip that went viral on social media platforms shows him saying.

“Himachal Pradesh will have a significant downfall if the innocent animals are not (saved from being) butchered. You are butchering those innocent animals. That has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment, which you cannot see now but it will have (an effect). It is having. The mass-scale landslide and so many other things… cloudbursts that you see again and again… these are all effects of this cruelty,” the video clip that went viral on social media platforms shows him saying.

“Himachal Pradesh will have significant downfall if innocent animals are not saved from being butchered. You are butchering those innocent animals. They have symbiotic relationship with degradation of environment which you can not see now but it will have an effect. The mass scale landslide and cloudbusts are all the effect of this cruelty.” Can you imagine, you are not listening this from Baba Bageshwar or any othe Babas who tell people eating garlic, onion everything is Tamsik apart from meat eating etc.

The Himalayas have always been liberal in food habits and even man woman relationship. They are far superior in many aspect of human relationship and meat eating is a part of their life. Now, you want to make us believe that what has happened in the Himalayas because people eat meat and not because such so called scientists are not merely being ‘irrational’ but use religion cleverly to protect the business interest of their masters. So on the one side, we will have these Babas, shouting brigade, championing Hindutva blaming meat eating for the landslides and flooding and the other hand we will have these ‘scientists’ who will destroy whatever little is there in the mountains particularly in terms of farming.

It is well known that the Himalayan communities have been rearing sheep and goats for centuries. That had been their traditional occupation and a majority of them have left this work but still there are communities engaged in this work. The beautiful Bugyals in the Himalayas are protected by the communities but now communities are blamed for destruction of the Himalayas and not your massive destruction work, cemented structure, huge tunnels and so many thing in the name of industries.

This is not the first time these things are said so. During the Kedarnath crisis in 2013, a Baba blamed atheists for this. Now such idiotic and mischievous statement are only meant to protect the business interests of the power elite who funds these Babas and IITs. This is the reality. The hill people must ask questions and stop these big resort, hotels in the Himalayas. Yes, we need roads but we dont need heavy structure in Badrinath and Kedarnath. Why are big construction works undertaken? For the current leaders, profit comes first. Everything for them is a business. They are not ready to stop their business of destroying nature. Look at what is happening in Badrinath and Kedarnath. Old structures have been demolished and contractors are building up artificial structure. You have destroyed the old beauty of these structure. Even a gold plate was given in Kedranath which later on found out was impure.

If the IIT in Himachal Pradesh is suggesting that floods and landslide happened due to people eating meat then such IITs should be converted into Gurukul as that will save government money. Why do we need IITs to tell us whether the cow urine is better than water or any other medicine. Is Ramdev not enough?

The government has done it. It has destroyed our institutions which we all were proud of. The IITs are only producing ‘best’ brahmanical team to serve the business interest of the same class who oppose reservations in these institutions. It is a disgrace that such officials are heading our institutions who should have been guiding the government about rabid concretisation of the Himalayas and stop this uncontrolled ‘development’. Rather than suggesting scientific alternatives, the manuwadi scientist is only preaching gospel of brahmanism to his students and there is nothing scientific about it.

Protect Himalayas, stop the destroying mountains in the name of development. Dont blame local people for the faults and crimes of the crony capitalists who want to exploit the beauty and serenity of the Himalayas for their business interests.

*Human rights defender

Courtesy: Counterview

The post Sanatan debate meant to divert real issues, part of design to turn the clock back appeared first on SabrangIndia.

An Instagram account called @Sanatandharmaarth posts videos of J Sai Deepak and Anand Ranganathan who speak in crisp impeccable English appealing to the similar audiences who get wowed with such oratory skills. The videos that are posted are not hate speeches. They are mainly proud Hindu men, disseminating their Hindu pride in crisp language and such a convincing manner that a person with an easy going or lenient point of view can eventually turn into a hardliner by listening to them.

J Sai Deepak is a lawyer and is often called to speak at events where he has most popularly spoken about the Sabarimala case and also protests around the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). He does not advocate religious nationalism but is one speck in the wheel towards such radical thoughts as he generally promotes protection of Hindu religious institutions and fear mongering about how Hindus despite being the majority in India are indeed the victims in many aspects. He also speaks about illegal migration, demographic inversion and so on.

In one such video posted by @Sanatandharmaarth J Sai Deepak is questioning why Hindus have the onus of maintaining peace in the country. He says that Hindus do not have a greater responsibility to maintain peace since they have suffered at the hands of colonisers and invaders. He also speaks about how Hindus “sacrificed 1/3rd of their land for creating Pakistan and Bangladesh. “What more is expected of this community,” he questions. Certainly Indians suffered at the hands of imperialists but India even then consisted of all religions that exist today and he makes it sound like only Hindus suffered and implying that only Hindus fought for freedom.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sanatan Dharmaarth (@sanatandharmaarth)

He also speaks about the caste system and disagrees with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who held an opinion that to do away with caste discrimination against Dalits, the entire caste system needs to be subverted. He disagrees with the view that one has to adhere to Babasaheb’s views to fight against caste, thus discrediting his views on caste and Babasaheb’s struggles for mitigating the caste system.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sanatan Dharmaarth (@sanatandharmaarth)

Some of these videos also want to do away with empathy towards religious minorities. While they will not directly speak against them, they will try to drive the point that minorities are appeased by the government by giving extra benefits while the majority community has largely been ignored historically.

In this video Anand Ranganathan cites data to show that even if Muslims comprise only 14.2% of the population, their share in beneficiaries of government schemes is high.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sanatan Dharmaarth (@sanatandharmaarth)

The idea is to drive home the point that even the BJP is not doing enough for the Hindus and that the people should raise questions to the BJP why it is appeasing the minorities by having schemes to benefit them.

Further, in one video, Ranganathan sympathised with Nupur Sharma who was widely criticised for her views on Prophet Mohammad and was suspended from BJP. Pointing to Rehmani sitting next to him, he said, “This man is safe and sound  and roaming freely and can speak his mind. A Year ago with whom he debated, that woman was confined to her house. This is our country. Those who say there is no democracy should remember that Rehmani Sir is safe and sound and here with me. Remember that. but the poor woman (Nupur Sharma) who only quoted some scriptures, her life is ruined.”

Portraying Hindus as victims and completely doing away with the multitude of injustices meted out to the minorities, is the main theme of these speakers and the Instagram account in question highlights snippets of these videos which does help their “Sanatan Dharma”.

These men have a clout among the intellectual class, those who equate crisp English speaking with great knowledge and also among the youth who maintain a similar mindset and whose minds can be easily influenced by such talks. The idea of Hindu supremacism is often promoted and at the same time how this glory has been lost due to the ruling dispensation favouring the minorities is also a point that is often propagated.

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Political Opportunism and the Indian Church

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