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Is India the most virtuous country? - Hauma Hamiddha - 11-10-2010
Many Hindu texts and saints have been of the view that India (aka Bharatavarsha) is the most virtuous nation or subcontinent in the world. For instance, it is said in the Vishnu Purana that it requires a lot of karmic merit to take birth in (the supposedly holy land of) India.
From the Hindu point of view, and in, say, pre-Christian times, this would have been absolutely true. However, considering that such statements of praise continue to be made by saints and politicians alike, this needs some explanation.
First off, India is obviously not the most comfortable country to live in. Some folks there in villages don't even have access to clean water. However, if we compare per capita carbon emission rates as well as per capita consumption rates, India is among the lowest in the world. The country with the maximum percentage of lacto-vegetarians is also India, so much more virtuous than the atrocities of China and the US on killing animals for their food.
A Hindu here will probably say that since India lets others use the world's resources and suffers herself the plight made by the greed of the rest of the world instead of fighting it out ruthlessly and stealing it away, it is among the most virtuous countries there is -- or at least that its citizens are some of the most virtuous men around (in terms of progress/harm caused to the rest of the world at the cost of one's own trouble/flourishing).
In light of the chaotic state of affairs as far as public welfare is concerned, a Hindu might well argue that since India is the most dense country by population, the way things are going on right now is actually far better than how messed up it could have been, had it been the case in an American or Chinese cultural setup.
What do you say?
[please keep an open mind here and your patriotic and ethnic prejudices away]
P.S.:
1. Caste is not an exclusively Indian phenomenon. Other countries have all kinds of social divisions and many of them more oppressive than caste. China is much more oppressive with its people -- India is so much more liberal.
2. Women, again, have been abused and disallowed their rights for most of recorded history and in all nations and cultures. A Hindu woman only gets herself assigned by social laws to specific duties (childrearing, homemaking, etc.) but have not been banned from political action, whereas until the 20th century in Europe and China women were actively forbidden from political participation and downtrodden.
3. Over 80% of India is Hindu.
Is India the most virtuous country? - Bharatvarsh2 - 11-10-2010
Quote:First off, India is obviously not the most comfortable country to live in. Some folks there in villages don't even have access to clean water. However, if we compare per capita carbon emission rates as well as per capita consumption rates, India is among the lowest in the world. The country with the maximum percentage of lacto-vegetarians is also India, so much more virtuous than the atrocities of China and the US on killing animals for their food.
A Hindu here will probably say that since India lets others use the world's resources and suffers herself the plight made by the greed of the rest of the world instead of fighting it out ruthlessly and stealing it away, it is among the most virtuous countries there is -- or at least that its citizens are some of the most virtuous men around (in terms of progress/harm caused to the rest of the world at the cost of one's own trouble/flourishing).
1) A counter point is that India has a very skewed sex ratio because people abort girls especially in the Northern states. Many Hindu texts very explicitly condemn abortion (bhrUNa-vadha/hatyA) as being on par with murder and only recommend it if the mother's life is under threat. The communities with the worst sex ratio according to the last census were Sikhs followed by Jains and the worst offending states were Panjab and Haryana. Much more lacto-vegetarian than the Southern states and Jains are highly vegetarian, but I remain unconvinced that jhatka'ing and eating a goat or a chicken is worse than murdering your own flesh and blood. This is done in China and the West (though not sex selective) but remember that China has a one child policy and neither of them are claiming any virtue because a substantial % of population is vegetarian. I have a Koli friend from Gujarat, they eat meat, the guy knew some gujju "brahmin" and his wife, the wife was veggie. Anyways one day the two women are talking when the veggie wife hints at aborting their next daughter (they have one) and my friends wife is shocked, so the other one changes the topic.
2)Or we could also say that they are some of the most spineless men around and that is why they don't fight ruthlessly.
3)A virtuous citizenry cares about their fellow men but hardly any Indians could be bothered about what happened to Hindus in Kashmir which is why many still languish in refugee camps.
Also I doubt India is over 80% Hindu, would be lucky to have it at 74% if you account for all the crypto-xtians and the increasing Muslim population through demographic warfare.
Another thing is India is far from the most densely populated country in the world, unless you mean compared to China and US but worldwide even Israel has a higher density than India and their land is mostly arid desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density
India is at # 32.
Is India the most virtuous country? - Bodhi - 11-11-2010
HH, welcome back and hope to hear from you more.
Surely, the land of bhAratavarSha is hailed by the yogis and saints throughout the periods ancient to recent as the puNyabhUmi where merits and virtues occur effortlessly on their own, and to take birth where is a fortune. It is however also true and I have to concur with BhV on most part, that the fools are not demonstrating that they are worthy of this virtuos birth...
It reminds of Tulasidasa's one lamentful sphuTa from kavitAvalI: "bhali bhAratabhUmi bhale kula janma samAja sarIru bhalo lai kai ... natu aura sabai viShabIja bae hari hATaka kAmaduhA nahi kai" -- roughly -- Fortunate truly are those who take birth in the noble land of bhAratavarsha, in its virtuous society and decent families ... and still, why do I see the fools abusing such very kAmadhenu given to them by providence, in yoking her to only till the crops of toxin-seeds!
Is India the most virtuous country? - Husky - 11-11-2010
Bump.
Is India the most virtuous country? - HareKrishna - 08-07-2011
In rest India was a good place in history regarding freedom of speech,freedom of thinking,cruelty of war(though there were other societies less violent),though too many indians are killed by the exces of agressivve animals every year.
Is India the most virtuous country? - Guest - 10-13-2011
its safer to say India is "one of the" most virtuous countries in the world. But not the Most Virtuous...