09-28-2006, 08:54 PM
Thanks for your very thoughtful analysis of my mind.Such an exercise for a non entity like me may not be worth the time of the contributers of this forum.Mioreover, my personal likes and dislikes are unlikely to influence the future course of the problem presently under referance.
Without prejudice to analysis of my mind, which I do not mind at all, I make the following humble submission on the topic of discussion.
Gambling, prostitution etc are normal human activities. The point I was trying to make was that the present life style of Indians is moving in a direction where traditional values are getting left behind, and religious rituals are getting extinct or modified to such an extent that nothing is left of its originality.
Unlike Islam, the Hindu religion is somewhat docile in its character. The preachers and holy men generally advocate the observance of the religious rituals through persuasion. On the other end, we often find that many orthodox Hindus refuse to see the reality around them and try to live in a world of make believe, pretending that time and social environment has not brought any change in this co-religious compatriots. They refuse to accept the erosion of the religious and cultural values that is taking place in the society at large. Just like, many Indians refuse to believe that the use of English language in India is increasing significantly all over the country.
Now what is the remedy to this gradual decline in the traditional Hindu values and customs? As time is changing, it is inevitable that the traditional values and customs will also get modified to suit the prevailing social conditions. However, this change has been much profound amongst the Hindus rather than the Muslims of India. Amongst Christians, particularly in Europe there has been excessive in fact, even in Roman Catholic countries, the attendance in Churches have declined sharply.
All will agree that each religion has its own characteristics. In the Hindu religion, there are several interpretations to each of the major provisions. Some scholars are of the view that Hindus should be strictly vegetarian and while some others give a different ruling. Similarly, in the case of eating of pork, some say it is not banned under Hindu religious provisions but the current reservation amongst certain sections of the Hindus is due to the influence of Islam during the long period of Muslim rule over India. With regarding to the eating of beef also some scholars challenge that there is no specific provision under Hindu religious text that bans it while many other are of the view that its consumption is banned. I am no expert on the religion and am not in position to comment on which is the correct interpretation.
The Indians living abroad, particularly in the West are today more religious minded and try to cling to their cultural values, with varying degree of success. The reason is very simple. Many Indians who have presently gone abroad find the alien culture too difficult to adopt and as such fall back upon their own culture. There are of course many exceptions but those who assimilate with the culture of the foreign land generally do not mix socially with the fellow Indians who have remained Indians culturally and in thinking. This is one of the main reason why you will find that a far lower percentage of Indian professionals get married to foreign spouses, when one compares this to the percentage of such mixed marriages amongst other nationalities. Most Indians living abroad make it a point to attend most religious functions at the local Hindu temple if there is one in the vicinity , or even if there is an ISCON temple. This is more to overcome homesickness and for socializing .However, no such enthusiasm will be noticed in India.
The net result of all these different interpretations and contradictory statements has made the Hindu religion weak. The codification of the religious provisions is very essential to make it work effectively, particularly in the present day world when an individual is exposed to so many cross currents of thoughts and ideas.
Without prejudice to analysis of my mind, which I do not mind at all, I make the following humble submission on the topic of discussion.
Gambling, prostitution etc are normal human activities. The point I was trying to make was that the present life style of Indians is moving in a direction where traditional values are getting left behind, and religious rituals are getting extinct or modified to such an extent that nothing is left of its originality.
Unlike Islam, the Hindu religion is somewhat docile in its character. The preachers and holy men generally advocate the observance of the religious rituals through persuasion. On the other end, we often find that many orthodox Hindus refuse to see the reality around them and try to live in a world of make believe, pretending that time and social environment has not brought any change in this co-religious compatriots. They refuse to accept the erosion of the religious and cultural values that is taking place in the society at large. Just like, many Indians refuse to believe that the use of English language in India is increasing significantly all over the country.
Now what is the remedy to this gradual decline in the traditional Hindu values and customs? As time is changing, it is inevitable that the traditional values and customs will also get modified to suit the prevailing social conditions. However, this change has been much profound amongst the Hindus rather than the Muslims of India. Amongst Christians, particularly in Europe there has been excessive in fact, even in Roman Catholic countries, the attendance in Churches have declined sharply.
All will agree that each religion has its own characteristics. In the Hindu religion, there are several interpretations to each of the major provisions. Some scholars are of the view that Hindus should be strictly vegetarian and while some others give a different ruling. Similarly, in the case of eating of pork, some say it is not banned under Hindu religious provisions but the current reservation amongst certain sections of the Hindus is due to the influence of Islam during the long period of Muslim rule over India. With regarding to the eating of beef also some scholars challenge that there is no specific provision under Hindu religious text that bans it while many other are of the view that its consumption is banned. I am no expert on the religion and am not in position to comment on which is the correct interpretation.
The Indians living abroad, particularly in the West are today more religious minded and try to cling to their cultural values, with varying degree of success. The reason is very simple. Many Indians who have presently gone abroad find the alien culture too difficult to adopt and as such fall back upon their own culture. There are of course many exceptions but those who assimilate with the culture of the foreign land generally do not mix socially with the fellow Indians who have remained Indians culturally and in thinking. This is one of the main reason why you will find that a far lower percentage of Indian professionals get married to foreign spouses, when one compares this to the percentage of such mixed marriages amongst other nationalities. Most Indians living abroad make it a point to attend most religious functions at the local Hindu temple if there is one in the vicinity , or even if there is an ISCON temple. This is more to overcome homesickness and for socializing .However, no such enthusiasm will be noticed in India.
The net result of all these different interpretations and contradictory statements has made the Hindu religion weak. The codification of the religious provisions is very essential to make it work effectively, particularly in the present day world when an individual is exposed to so many cross currents of thoughts and ideas.