My firm belief is that two men, equal in all respects, will still find some way of putting each other down. That is human nature. This is a malaise of the human race and not Hindu religion. Hinduism unfortunately provided the term for it. Casteism and related terms have become so ingrained in the language that those terms are abused all over. Elitists from Massachusetts are referred to as “Boston Brahmins”. But calling it a Hindu problem is like calling the West Nile Virus an Egyptian disease. Having said that, it should be emphasized here that this is not an attempt to justify or even defend the practice. Accepting and understanding the evil is necessary to be able to deal with it. As and when our culture became known to outsiders, Indian caste system has often been falsely perceived as an exotic equivalent of the division of society into classes that is prevalent in western countries. Truly there are many essential ideological differences between the two systems of sociological categorization. Therefore, it is not justified to make erroneous criticisms of the Hindu caste system based on direct comparisons with the corresponding events in Christianized countries. Dr. Sripati Chandrasekhar a well-known international demographer, economist, in his work, Caste, Class and Color in India says; “Caste in modern India is an example of social institutions that have developed almost to be the opposite of what they were intended to be.” Caste system is not intended to have any class-consciousness and economic implications.
The secularist may have embraced the outwardly portrayed liberal attitudes by the Christian communities but the reality is ugly. The Hindu dalits need to understand that there will be no respite to their discriminating even after conversion as they are being falsely lured with promises of equality. They will still be a Dalit but in a foreign religion. They need to fight, stop being a lamb and become a tiger. Also the upper caste Hindus cannot absolve themselves from their past and present mistakes either and squarely blame the Christian missionaries and Muslims separatists backed Dalit movements for mass conversions. They have to learn and start treating people with respect and as equals. If we wish to be treated justly, then we must treat others with justice. The Dharmic view of equality and the human person is considerably more sophisticated, compassionate and ethical than the materialist egalitarian approach. For the conscious and sincere follower of Sanatana Dharma, the human person consists of infinitely more than the mere physical appearance. Sanatana Dharma teaches us that the typical human being is actually multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. The human being consists of a) deha (physical body), b) manas (mind substance & memory), c) buddhi (the intellect ), d) ahamkara (the ego), and most important, e) atman (the true, spiritual self). Then from a spiritual perspective, we are all equally the children of God because our true, spiritual self (atman) does not have color, nor dimension, nor race, nor class, nor gender. So let us be worthy of our Superior Spiritual Sanatana Dharmic heritage and end all caste-based bigotry against our fellow Hindus now. This concept of spiritually-inspired equal vision is beautifully explained to us by Lord Sri Krishna in chapter 5, verse 18 of the famous Bhagavad Gita (Song of God).
We had earlier posted on this blog hi-lighting a similar hypocrisy in May where, a Christian family was looking for a Brahmin convert for their son.
The secularist may have embraced the outwardly portrayed liberal attitudes by the Christian communities but the reality is ugly. The Hindu dalits need to understand that there will be no respite to their discriminating even after conversion as they are being falsely lured with promises of equality. They will still be a Dalit but in a foreign religion. They need to fight, stop being a lamb and become a tiger. Also the upper caste Hindus cannot absolve themselves from their past and present mistakes either and squarely blame the Christian missionaries and Muslims separatists backed Dalit movements for mass conversions. They have to learn and start treating people with respect and as equals. If we wish to be treated justly, then we must treat others with justice. The Dharmic view of equality and the human person is considerably more sophisticated, compassionate and ethical than the materialist egalitarian approach. For the conscious and sincere follower of Sanatana Dharma, the human person consists of infinitely more than the mere physical appearance. Sanatana Dharma teaches us that the typical human being is actually multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. The human being consists of a) deha (physical body), b) manas (mind substance & memory), c) buddhi (the intellect ), d) ahamkara (the ego), and most important, e) atman (the true, spiritual self). Then from a spiritual perspective, we are all equally the children of God because our true, spiritual self (atman) does not have color, nor dimension, nor race, nor class, nor gender. So let us be worthy of our Superior Spiritual Sanatana Dharmic heritage and end all caste-based bigotry against our fellow Hindus now. This concept of spiritually-inspired equal vision is beautifully explained to us by Lord Sri Krishna in chapter 5, verse 18 of the famous Bhagavad Gita (Song of God).
We had earlier posted on this blog hi-lighting a similar hypocrisy in May where, a Christian family was looking for a Brahmin convert for their son.
Indian Dalits find no refuge from caste in Christianity
By Swaminathan Natarajan BBC Tamil
Many in India have embraced Christianity to escape the age-old caste oppression of the Hindu social order, but Christianity itself in some places is finding it difficult to shrug off the worst of caste discrimination.
In the town of Trichy, situated in the heart of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a wall built across the Catholic cemetery clearly illustrates how caste-based prejudice persists.
Those who converted to Christianity from the formerly "untouchable" Hindu caste groups known as Dalits are allocated space for burial on one side of the wall, while upper-caste converts are buried on the other side.
By Swaminathan Natarajan BBC Tamil
Many in India have embraced Christianity to escape the age-old caste oppression of the Hindu social order, but Christianity itself in some places is finding it difficult to shrug off the worst of caste discrimination.
In the town of Trichy, situated in the heart of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a wall built across the Catholic cemetery clearly illustrates how caste-based prejudice persists.
Those who converted to Christianity from the formerly "untouchable" Hindu caste groups known as Dalits are allocated space for burial on one side of the wall, while upper-caste converts are buried on the other side.
Read the complete article;
No comments:
Post a Comment