– Editor
Identity Blues
There is one “side-effect” of the feel-good factor which neither the “India Shining” nor the “India Cheated” peddlers seem to have noticed. The increasing confidence with which many Hindus are owning up their dharmic identity has certainly something to do with the economic growth within the community. The “Hindu Rate of Growth” has finally come home to roost!
This is precisely why many a wiseman has commented that we must be not too harsh in judging the BJP led NDA government in spite of its backtracking on almost all Hindu issues. ‘India Shining’ alone, it is said, is a sufficient reason to give them another chance. The nationwide Loksabha elections in April-May will test the truth of this view.
Indeed, none of us would like to identify with a religion that appears to shackle its adherents in poverty. That is precisely why economically weak Hindus have been highly vulnerable to poaching by dough-wielding missionaries. In addition, connect all the imaginary social evils under the sun to Hinduism and you have the perfect recipe long used by anti-Hindus to annul the Hindu identity.
The average Hindu is thus left with no choice but to adopt a new non-Hindu public identity that brings acceptance and prestige. Plenty of such alternatives have been provided to us in exchange – you can become a rational atheist, humanist, modernist, socialist, secularist in India or a South-Asian-Indian-American hyphenated hybrid in the USA.
Fear of the Other
In recent years, the Hindu identity has also been increasingly defined in comparison with the aggressive and cohesive identity of Muslims and Christians. While this has served the intended purpose of consolidating the in-house differences within the Hindu community, it has also led to an unnecessary fear that this modern Hindu identity is an aggressive socio-political handle to do away with the ‘other’. This false image has gained strength thanks to the ballyhoo in the national propaganda machine (the so-called the English Press) against the Sangh Parivar and Hindutva. Hence, the popular perception that Hindus who openly call themselves Hindus are “fundamentalists” of one Parivarian hue or the other.
Both these negative stereotypes deserve to be challenged. Our Hindu identity is primarily based on the positive value-system that forms the driving force of Sanatana Dharma. Thus, a Hindu is one who inherits this value-system by virtue of being born a Hindu or one who adopts it consciously.
The assertive social identity described above is a secondary aspect of this primary and positive Hindu identity. Yet, the secondary aspect is important and fulfils the concurrent need of answering the challenge posed by the exclusive and monotheistic worldviews of the Semitic faiths.
Subaltern Identities within Hinduism
Time was not far off when even Hindu religious leaders and ashrams who were supposed to provide us with the necessary leadership and initiative in creating a positive communal image, instead, withdrew from the mainstream Hindu identity – Ramakrishnaism, Aurobindonism and Arya Samajism are distressing examples of identity denial and failure of Hindu leadership.
Happily, the trend is being reversed today by revered preceptors who have more substance and courage and a time will come when these subaltern Hindus will be forced to join the mainstream by the growing strength and confidence of the community.
The Business Model of Religion
It appears that our religious identity has more to do with economics than the India Shining admen can ever imagine. In a multicultural world marred by religious and cultural conflicts, it is important to understand that organised religions behave much like business corporates in promoting their brands or selling their products.
We must study this business model carefully, for our task today is very much businesslike! Each one of us is consciously or unconsciously contributing to the formation of a new brand – 21st century Hinduism. We must play our roles well so that the 21st century Hindu stops being ashamed of his identity. “Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain” should not remain merely an emotional slogan; it should come from the depth of one’s soul, from wisdom born out of a deeper understanding and practice of Sanatana Dharma.
The Future of Hinduism
This issue is dedicated to young Hindus, especially American Hindus, many of whom have begun to rediscover their Hindu identity. They face an uphill task for being Hindu in a modern world is not child’s play. On the one hand is peer pressure (“It’s not ‘cool’ to be a Hindu”) and on the other hand is the apathy and sometimes even hostility of parents who are often more ignorant themselves and seek to impose their secular worldview on their children. Some parents, in addition, have a mortal fear that their children will renounce the world and become ascetics if they took too much interest in religious matters (images of naga sadhus from the Kumbh Mela coverage in the media probably haunt their mind!).
It is the duty of every Hindu parent and teacher to facilitate such self-enquiry, instead of discouraging and injuring these blooming lotuses. This rediscovery is literally a rebirth and involves deep mental churning and soul-searching. May our young Hindu friends be reborn like the twice-born dvijas of yore. May their tribe increase!
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