As I read the speeches of our ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam and his vision for India I become nostalgic. He tells us that if we persevere with hard work and smart strategy, despite current difficulties we could make India a world class nation.
My mind flashes back to my student days in high school in my hometown, Kanpur, North India. In those days far fewer creature comforts and modern goods were available to people from middleclass families such as mine. Yet, reading about the planned industrialization and modernization of the country imbued much enthusiasm in me and my friends.
As I began my engineering studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, I came across many diverse and motivated young men and women from all over the country. The common thread among us was our optimism and vision of technological progress of India, of eradicating poverty and backwardness, of implementing social justice, of removing hang-ups of religious and ethnic differences; in short a future of moving ahead with confidence.
In those days religion was a private affair for us – my friends were mostly Hindus, a couple of Sikhs and Christians and Muslims. We mingled freely especially on each others’ religious festivals, such as Dassehra, Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas which all of us enjoyed equally as our common events.
In US in my years in graduate studies and as a young professional, again I found myself in a circle of friends who were from a variety of backgrounds in India, with whom I had most commonality and with whom I felt most comfortable. While satisfying our curiosity for the many Western elements, we often thought and talked about India and its developing infrastructure and industrial base.
I soon realized that whenever India looked good as a result of some remarkable achievement of either India or an Indian, my American colleagues paid greater attention to me. That encouraged me to paint a positive image of India among the Americans whenever I could.
However, in my periodic visits to India it bothered me to observe that the elements that are at the core of the development of any country, such as law and order, corruption-free administration, social justice, fair treatment of the weaker sections of society, were not getting adequate attention from the government and the leaders of the nation.
While sporadic Hindu-Muslim tension and violence in certain parts of India has been an endemic problem since independence in 1947, generally the major political parties did not encourage it. But in the early 1980s the picture changed radically. A major political party started openly spreading false stories and venom against the Muslim community. Also caste-based politics mushroomed across the nation.
At the same time watching the upsurge of the violence of the misled Muslim terrorists against their fellow Hindus in Kashmir in God’s own paradise, where they had lived in harmony for centuries, was hard to believe. Similarly, it was very painful to watch the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, the 1992 demolition of Babri mosque and the sectarian attacks on the peaceful Christians staring in 2002.
The unprecedented anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 with which the Gujarat state government openly connived, and the subsequent total loss of recourse to justice for the Muslim victims of the carnage shook me to my bones. In this dark hour my spirits lifted when I saw the mainstream Indian media, the Supreme Court of India, many Indian Non Government Organizations, and a majority of Hindus, speak up to help the Muslim victims and to condemn the Gujarat state BJP government.
However, I kept faith that the enlightenment of a majority of Hindus will overcome the zealotry of a few among them. As the Urdu poet BD Pandey wrote: “Hazaaron saal ki yeh daastan; Aur yaad haiy unko sirf itna; Kay Aalamgir zaalim thaa, Hindukush thaa, sitamgur tha.” ( Hindus and Muslims coexisting is a tale of a thousand years; And yet all they remember is that Aalamgir (Aurangzeb) was a oppressor of Hindus and a tyrant.)
As I watch hordes of young Indian Information Technology engineers and other professionals flood the shining offices of major corporations and government all over U.S., and get respect for the quality of their work, my chest swells with pride at being an Indian. As I hear of the growth of hi-technology and industrial and infrastructure development in India’s various cities, and India’s 8 percent annual economic growth, I wonder if the quarter century old vision for India that I dreamt as a boy and that has stayed with me ever since, is now becoming a reality.
As an Indian Muslim I have two identities; my Indian identity and my Muslim identity. Just as other Indians have two identities, the Indian identity and the identity based on their religion. Pluralism, democracy and secularism are the core of our nation. It is on this core that we Indians regardless whether we are Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs or Christians have built our vision for the future of India.
As I stand in front of the mirror from my boyhood of my bright and hopeful vision of an economically advanced and social justice oriented India, I notice that a few cracks are staring hard at me. I am unable to understand the dichotomy that while India has made phenomenal progress in the spread of education, great technological infrastructure and economic progress, at the same time indifference towards one-third of the population that lives below poverty line, and religious minorities, and frequent organized anti-minority violence has also become a visible part of India’s landscape.
Today my vision for India as an Indian and a Muslim is the same as that of my fellow Indians from other backgrounds. That is to repair these cracks and move forward with renewed enthusiasm to build that egalitarian and modern India that two generations of Indians – my father’s generation that actively participated in the freedom struggle, and my generation that was born in post-independence India – have dreamt for more than half a century.
“ Chishti nay jis zameen pur paigham-e-huq sunaya,
Nanak nay jis chaman main wahdat ka geet gaaya,
Mera watan wuhi hay, Mera watan wuhi hay”
( The land in which Moinuddin Chishti preached the message of God’s justice,
The garden in which Guru Nanak sang the song of God’s unity,
That land is my motherland, That land is my motherland. )
Photos: Chennai Market
“This is not a criticism or some type of condemnation, it’s just what the religions teach. To be a Christian, Muslim, or Jew requires elements of rejection. To be a Hindu, rejection is not a prerequisite.”
Friends:
Can someone explain how a practicing Hindu who believes in mainstream Hinduism also believe the core beliefs of Christianity and Islam?
1. Can practicing, temple attending Hindus believe fully in the Islamic creed: “There is only One God who is abstract and without form, and that Mohammad is God’s prophet (the last prophet) and Quran is the divine word of God revealed to Mohammad. There will be a Day of Judgement when God will raise the dead and everyone will be made to account for their deeds.
2. Can practicing, temple attending Hindus believe fully in the Christian creed: Godhead is Trinity, “Father (God), Son (Jesus Christ), Holy Ghost”; “Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind”. Bible is the divine word of God. There will be a Day of Judgement when God will raise the dead and everyone will be made to account for their deeds.
If practicing, temple attending Hindus can not at the same time have full belief in the Islamic and Christian creeds, then they are rejecting them.
As far as I know Hinduism has a Creed. A practicing Hindu can not believe in whatever he may so fancy or not believe in the creed of Hinduism. Because that is what Hindus call “Naastik”.
Mr. Kaleem Kawaja,
I am not a Hindu. I am agnoistic but I believe I can partially answer your question. A mainstream Hindu (whatever that means) actually does not exist. Hinduism is too diverse in its practice to say that Hindus form a particular Creed (checkout Hinduism under Wikipedia).
I agree that Hindus would not agree with some revealed COMMANDMENTS or AFIDAVITs by prophets/the Divine incarnates but would not at the same time go to the extant of calling those who believe in them as “Naastik”. A Naastik is understood to be an atheist by most Hindus (though technically Nastik is a person who does not believe in the supremacy of the Vedas) not a disbeliever (of one kind of faith). I think most Hindus accept that Muslims, Christians and most other mainstream co-religionists as believers in the same SINGLE God/power they believe in (Yes! Hindus are MONISTs)
However, most Hindus would disagree with the following statements:
Islam – Mohammad is the LAST prophet
Christianity – Jesus is the ONLY son of God.
Most Hindus and Sanatana Dharma believes that Truth is continuously rediscovered in NEW ways. That is why ‘Hindutva’ as being projected/supported by some right wing groups makes no sense to most Hindus (esp. South Indians like myself).
I completely agree with the views put forward by Sridhar. I am a practicing Hindu, and do understand that each one’s concept of the Supreme Being is very personal. My article ‘India, Secularism and Religion’ on my blog can give you my views on the subject of religion. Religion, I believe, is a very personal affair. Swami Vivekanand’s views that religion comprises of mythology, rituals and philosphy makes lot of sense to me. Various religions differ on mythology and rituals but are quite similar on philosophy. Even within the same religion, people percieve God differently even though they follow the same rituals and mythology. This is God’s design, I believe. Diversity is the mother of creation.
Kaleem,
I’m an agnostic, non-religious Hindu. I don’t know if this will answer your question, but this is how I understand the issue:
You wear a red shirt because your belief says that red shirts are the best. A Hindu doesn’t have to believe the same thing as you do (“red shirts are the best”), but he will have no issue with your freedom and choice to wear a red shirt if your belief says so. He might say, “We don’t wear red shirts, but if it works for you, I have no problem.” Or for that matter, if someone decides not to wear a shirt, or wears a kurta instead.
A Hindu wears a blue shirt because that’s what his belief tells him. Now, consider this Hindu telling you that all red shirts are bad, people who wear red shirts have no idea of what they’re doing and you should wear a blue shirt instead, because it’s the only one true shirt according to his belief or because his book says so.
I hope you can see the problem with such a thinking by the blue shirt wearer and how it’s going to affect the red shirt wearer, and more so when:
a. the society has people wearing not only red and blue, but green, yellow, purple and white shirts, and all living together, and
b. such thinking leads the Hindu to take drastic action against anyone who doesn’t wear a blue shirt – the color prescribed by his belief.
Of course each shirt-wearer thinks that his shirt color is the best, and best FOR HIM – we didn’t have a choice in which belief we were born into. The problem comes when he starts deciding for others what colored shirt is best for them, and the definition of “best” is subjective at best.
Here are two links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religion#Common_aspects
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmic_religion#Common_traits
Amit,
You’re probably of mixed race like me… You left a comment on my blog signing yourself as a “Sikh Forever”.
I’m curious. Would you explain please?
Answer to Kaleem’s queston could be this.
A temple going Hindu does not have to believe in the christian or muslim beliefs you have mentioned. But if he does, he still remains a Hindu. so to the extent he does not have to be weary of the religious beliefs of others, he can take a syncretic sympathetic and curious view.
1conoclast, my personal information is irrelevant to any discussion of issues here, unless I choose to mention it. I prefer to stick to issues being discussed. I’ve already had bad experience with you in the past, so I see no need to indulge your curiosity. No offense.
Amit…
You brought it up. You must have considered it relevant enough to bring up…
Don’t indulge my curiousity. I’ve already satisfied it wrt you eons ago. Just wanted to point out a trifling inconsistency in your claims.
Re-check your assumptions closely and you’ll find the answer and no inconsistency.
No assumptions here Amit. Just that factoid 1 & factoid 2 weren’t adding up…
I’d tried putting a link up here to bring out this inconsitency earlier too, but the moderator likes me less than he likes you I guess. If the moderator permits, I’ll put the link up again, and you can explain the inconsistencies between both Exhibits.
I want an India that is once again the seat of everything good about humanity. I want an India that’s splendid, inspiring, and invincible. An India whose present day custodians would have forgiven their past, and conduct themselves with the dignity, brilliance and resolve that befit the vanguards of our great country’s destiny.
Arun,
Words worthy of “I have a dream”…! It will take shape if we get together as Indians to make it come true. I’m with you. What do you propose?