Why is it a gargantuan task to convert Hindus to other faith's and religions? Romans and Greeks who can boast of ancient civilisations as antiquated as Indian civilisation and were the toast of the modern European states during the renaissance ,abandoned their classical religion in favour of Christian tenets.
Egypt has mummified bodies of 4000 year old men and women preserved till date.But the population let go off the worship of Ra the sun god and other forms of worship and rituals honed over 5000 years by a highly civilized society on the banks of river Nile when Islam came knocking on their doors in the middle ages.The population converted to the new religion enmasse'.
Indian civilisation is as old as Roman ,Greek and Egyptian civilisations.Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism as it is popularlyknown is very much alive ,vibrant and thriving and copiously multiplying in the place of its birth.Bharat or India faced waves and waves of invasions several centuries before Christ .Each foreign invader brought their religion along with their weaponery and tents only to be a mute spectator to it being absorbed into Hindu fold.
Since the middle ages Indian subcontinent was over run by Islamic rulers.They ruled India continuously for a period of 1000 years !Several powerful Muslim rulers tried every trick in the book to convert the populace, into Mohammedans that adamantly stuck to its religious moorings barring a few .A major portion of the Hindu population refused to be cowed and held on .
This sacred land spawned a magnetic religion -Buddhism that attracted adherents to its fold from the far corners of Asia and is assiduously followed in those countries to date.Unbelievably this religion doesn't exit in the land of its birth!Buddha has been absorbed into the Hindu pantheon of gods as the 10' th avatar of Vishnu !
The British ruled this country absolutely for 300 years .The zealous Christian missionaries who followed in their wake could convert but a fraction of the population, mostly tribal folks.
Why ? Why is Hinduism so resilient? It lies low when a new religion hits the scene and then bounces back with more vigour next time on.
To my mind the most important reason behind the infallible faith reposed in Hinduism by succeeding generations of Bharatvasis is the unshakable belief in the doctrine of Karma.
Whilst Christianity,Islam and Buddhism enumerate ethical and moral principles that must be diligently followed if one was to escape hell and damnation or be pushed to the yawning abyss of nether worlds or account for one's deeds or misdeeds on the judgement day, no suchthreats are held out to a Hindu since the doctrine of Karma merely states that your present status is due to some actions done in the past[which has been stretched to include past lives] and your future state of affairs will depend upon your actions being performed in the present.If your actions are good and are done without hankering for its fruits you can attain the ultimate bliss -Moksham which translates into -never being born again -freedom from the vicious circle of life and death - a happy union with the prime mover of the universe!
If your actions and thoughts are wicked ,bad or devilish the only punishment meted out is not being banished into hell or pushed into barrels of boiling oil or doomed fore ever in some gaping void but to be born again in this sorrowful world and the meanest and harshest punishment[ if it is considered as such ] is to be born as a snake or a rat or some microscopic organisms like bacteria etc.ie lowly animal forms.
Hindus there fore do not go somewhere into unknown frontiers when they shed their lives but are believed to be born again and again in familiar environs. That crow flying over your head could very well be your grand father having attained this present status due to his Karma.A very comforting doctrine !
This doctrine is also comforting in another way .Its belief in fatalism acts as a buffer and keeps social tensions at bay. There is no scope of social upheavals ,turmoils or revolutions like of those witnessed in France or Russia because every Hindu staunchly believes that what ever state he finds himself to be -rich or poor,well built or handicapped,ugly or handsome, skilled or a blunderer,genius or a idiot is all due to his or her fate ,the out come of past actions or karma and one has to accept it stoically as nothing can be done about it but henceforward ensure that ones present actions and thoughts are good,-dharmic i.e to seek truth in all matters relentlessly,being kind and charitable to fellow human beings and to strictly adhere to 'non violence' in thoughts ,speech and in deeds , if one earnestly seeks a better berth in the next birth.
This theory of Karma and re birth is so flexible and comforting that no Hindu will ever forsake his religion to other strict doctrinal religions, what ever inducement is offered or how much so ever force is exerted.
Hinduism is a very confident religion .It has no doubts about its efficacy .It has withstood innumerable trials and tribulations in the course of its long history.Its flexibility can be equated to modern notions of secularism without trumpeting about its large hearted and broad minded credentials.Hindus would willingly accept other gods as their own and would even reverently incarnate Jesus as a avatar of Vishnu the only stumbling block would be the massive outrage of other religionist's.
Hindus consider themselves to be lucky to be born as a Hindu because one can be a Hindu only by virtue of birth and not by conversion .Once a Hindu always a Hindu!
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5 comments:
Well said. Only thing is that the timelines of muslim rule is not more than 300 to 400 years and even then they did not rule all of India (mostly west and north). Just add up the years of each dynasty you will come to the above figure. Not to forget the Maratha also rules for a 100 to 200 years the whole of north and west and the south of course.
The british rules us for nearly 90 years in all. 1857 to 1947. Before that it was the the East India Co. which was a mix between a mercenary army and propping puppet rulers.
<a href="http://sowingseedsofthought.blogspot.com/</a>
Dear Shankara
The Muslim rule was firmly established in India in the 11th century by Ghori.one dynasty or the other controlled and ruled India,up to the 18'th century till the last Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.They also ruled South .Malik kafur marched upto Sri rangam in 13'th cent.The Bhamini [muslim]kings ruled the south from 16 th cent onwards.The tuglaqs and later Nawabs ruled the East.
The Marathas did rule. They were Hindus.
The British became firmly entrenched in India as early as 1757 after the Battle of Plassey .
By the way may I know who you are'Shankara'?
Dear Shankara
Thank you for the compliment.
You did not get my point. At no point in time did the Muslim rulers rule absolutely. They always allowed local Rajah to rule in their stead. The muslim power centers were always in and around Delhi. Its just that these Rajahs did not have sense of national unity to drive out these muslims which was quiet possible as they were very few in numbers (Babar had only 20,000 Uzbeks in his army and they became fewer every year). The Rajahs were happy to rule on their small lands. These Rajahs just made payments ('hafta' if you may) to rule.
Ghori never established a rule and those who did did so mostly in the north and north-west like the Tughlaq's, Lodhi's etc. Even then it was never direct and absolute. Its only a propaganda that we were ruled for 1000 years. Malik Kafur also went back as he was far from his power center and with his supply lines stretched he could not afford to settle he would have been continuously harrased. His objective was just a raid. Aurangzeb only controlled the lands till Nagpur/ Aurangabad thanks to Malik Kafur. Check this link for more information http://sowingseedsofthought.blogspot.com/2009/02/heroic-hindu-resistance-to-islamic.html
Hindus could not be converted because our lack of unity and single religious head proved beneficial. We are just too much of a individualists which cuts both ways. Our faith/ culture is intrinsic and not a religion and thus cant be replaced. Even muslims in India follow Hindu practices in wedding (mangal sutra, red sari etc) and other important functions which means the Hinduness in them is still there. They will come back one day.
I am just like you who likes to promote our country, culture and our faith and speak the truth. End objective is to make people bring about a change in rule. A leadership that can deliver a Hindu nation to us.
Got your point.
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