Sanatana Dharma - Aka Hinduism (3rd Bin)

[acharya]

Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan



Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram &



Yogi Ramsuratkumar Indological Research Centre



Sister Nivedita Academy



'Sri Bharati Mandir', Srinivasanagar, Krishnarajapuram



Bangalore 560 036, INDIA



(Phone: 091-80-5610935 / 5613716; Cell: 9448275315;



e-mail: sadhurangarajan@vsnl.com)















11-3-2004







Dear and Respected Prof. Asnani,







Vande Mataram! Jai Sri Ram! Jai Yogi Ramsuratkumar! My Master blesses you!







Thanks for your message. We appreciate the views that you have expressed. We would like to express our views on those matters:







i) You have been fortunate to hail from Sindh, the land of the Vedas, where, perhaps, there has been the least pollution by the post-Pauranic superstitious beliefs and customs, especially those like casteism and untouchability. In the South, these evils have been so predominant that Swami Vivekananda even called Kerala a "mad house". Even in this twenty first century there are people who blindly follow these customs and practices. We ourselves have witnessed such cases.







ii) The word "Dharma Acharya" means one who imparts Dharma to others by himself living those eternal and universal values of life. "Aacharanaat"—"because of practice"—one becomes an Acharya. In that sense, many of the so called Acharyas in the Hindu society do not deserve the title. Simple living and high thinking are the hall-marks of a hallowed spiritual life. That is what you cannot find in most of the Acharyas today. Very few such great persons could be found in the country.







iii) It is a total distortion of our Dharma Shastras to say that an Acharya must necessarily be a celibate renunciate. The great rishis in the past were mostly Grihastas turned into sages. Renunciation is not running away from family and giving up all actions. "Anaashrita karmaphalam kaaryam karma karoti yah, sa sannyaasee cha yogee cha na niragnir nachaakriyah"—"He who does the work without expecting the fruit of actions is a Sannyasi and Yogi; not the one who simply renounces all actions and sits idle." (Bhagavd Gita—VI-1). Today, even the Sannyasins who run big educational institutions, old age homes, etc., expect from the beneficiaries hefty donations and returns for all the work they do. Even Sadhus and Sannyasins who get crores of rupees by way of donations set apart only a very insignificant part of it for free services to the poor and downtrodden, that too for eye-wash, and charge very high fees for every kind of service, thereby catering to the needs of the rich and well-to-do.







iv) The Chaturvidha Purushaarthas—Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha—and the Chatur Aashramas—Brahmacharya, Garhastya, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa—constitute the spinal chord of the Hindu way of life. Today, there are hardly any Hindus who live the true Hindu way of life. Western culture, education and way and values of life have all destroyed Hinduism in our homeland. What we have today is only a skeleton of the Vedic Hinduism. It is the duty of our Dharma Acharyas to revive the Sanatana Dharma through institutions of the ancient Gurukula type instead of running colleges and organizations in the western model with business motive.







v) Hinduism is "Sanaatana Dharma"—a set of universal and eternal values of life evolved by the great sages and seers of the most ancient land of Bharatavarsha. Because it evolved in this sacred land, it became the nationalism of the people occupying the land. Therefore, "Sanatana Dharma is Indian nationalism" as Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo proclaimed. Its other name is Hindutwa or Hindu Rashtravad. The saints, sages and seers of this land have also proclaimed different religious paths for spiritual sadhanas. All these sampradayas—Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shaakta, Baudha, Jaina, Sikha, etc.—that have emerged in this land, put together, go by the name Hindu Religion. Hindu religion is part and parcel of Hindu nationalism. They are inseparable. In this matter, we need not accept the concepts of religion and nationalism propounded by the westerners. A Muslim or a Christian can never be a national of this country unless and until he accepts the national ethos and live by them. Mere residency in a geographical territory for a particular period of time cannot give one nationality. The moment a Muslim accepts Hindu or Indian nationalism, he ceases to be a believer in the original Islam which considers Mecca as the holiest land and Allah alone as the only God and all other believers in other gods are Kafirs either to be converted to Islam or annihilated. The moment a Christian accepts Hindu or Indian nationalism, he ceases to be an original Christian who considers Jerusalem or Rome as the holiest land and Jesus and Father in the Heaven as the only Gods to be adored and worshipped. Only in India that is 'Secular Bharat' we can find Muslims and Christians remaining as citizens even after opposing 'Vande Mataram' of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, which inspired millions of our patriots to perform untold sacrifices at the altar of the Motherland and recognized by the Government itself as a national song. In any other country the Government would have deported them or the patriotic citizens would have dumped them into the sea along with the 'secular' government that supports these traitors. Islam is an Arab national movement, as Anwar Shaikh has rightly pointed out in his masterly work, to bring the world under the dictates of the Imams, Moulvis and Mullahs of Mecca and Christianity is a national movement started by the Romans to bring the world community under the dictates of the Pope of Vatican. They cannot be accepted as religions. They are all corruptions of the Vedic religions that spread to distant lands in the remote past and formed the Pagan religions which existed there, as research scholars have pointed out.







vi) The moment we call Hinduism just a religion like Islam and Christianity, we will be committing a great folly of equating Hinduism with these perversions that call themselves as religions and our perverted leaders will become right in singing the song of sarvadharma samabhaava—equality of all religions. A Muslim or a Christian cannot become a Hindu or Indian national simply because of his birth in this land. Unless and until he accepts that this land as his matru bhoomi, pitru boomi, karma bhoomi, dharma bhoomi, and moksha bhoomi, and proclaims, "all the Gods and Goddesses of this land are my Gods and Goddesses" as Swami Vivekananda did, he cannot be a national of this country. The Chinese Government has expelled foreign missionaries and the Chinese Christian Church does not accept the suzerainty of Pope Paul. Why should Government of India finance the Haj pilgrimage of Indian Muslims at the cost of the Indian, that is the Hindu, tax payer? If the Muslims find Mecca as the holiest of the holy places, let them go there at their own cost and settle down there itself. Why should we give funds? Do America, England, France, Italy and Rome finance Haj pilgrimage of the Muslims in those respective countries? The Government of India should actually finance pilgrimages of the Hindus within the country so that adoration and worship of this holy land will take a deeper root in their hearts.







vii) We cannot just close our eyes and say that there are no evils in the Hindu society. The casteism and untouchability are still prevalent among even the educated people. So also the superstitious beliefs like warding off sins by killing some poor dumb creatures or transferring sins by feeding a low caste person with food mixed with hair and nail are still found not only in the remote villages where illiterate people live, but even in towns where educated people reside. A kilometer away from our Ashram here in Bangalore, there is a temple where low caste people are not allowed to go in and worship. We opened the doors of our Ashram for these low caste people and they gladly congregated here for their prayers. Some of them expressed the doubt whether the Swamis of upper caste would take food in their homes and we immediately arranged for our Bhiksha in their houses. How happy and joyful they were! The Christian padri and Muslim moulvi walk into the houses of these poor people and convert them to their respective religions. Why not our so called Dharma Acharyas visit these houses, take Bhiksha from them and encourage them to remain in the parent religion. Giving discourses that all are "children of immortality"—Amritasya putraah—will not do. Our Acharyas must see the children of immortality in the poor and downtrodden. Acharyas covering their legs with a piece of cloth when these children come and prostrate to them for taking their blessings are doing greatest disservice to the society. If by their touch, these unfortunate people might transfer their sins to the Acharya, why not the Acharya accept their sins and suffer for them, relieving these poor people of their sins? Millions of rupees are poured into the temple hundis and the money is looted by the government for secular activities or the trustees and officials of the temple enjoy a luxurious life. Millions of rupees are received by Mutts and Hindu missions and how much of it really goes to the poor and downtrodden Hindus? The Christian missionary comes with foreign funds, sets up the best hospital or the best educational institution and gives all out help to the converts from Hinduism while looting the well-to-do Hindu families. Why not our Acharyas run such institutions for the poor and downtrodden in our own society?







viii) Someone has rightly said, "Politics is the last resort of a scoundrel!" Even good, dedicated and honest people who enter into the political field get corrupted in course of time. In the fifties, when Bharatiya Jan Sangh was founded, millions of Swayamsevaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an organization for moulding the youth into patriotic, characterful and ideal citizens of this country, extended support and even the best among them joined the party to serve as whole time workers. In the sixties, this sadhu who was just a penniless youth from a poor family who dedicated himself for the Hindu cause, was projected as a candidate for a legislative assembly election by the party. Where is such a party today? If you are a popular cinema actor, scion of a royal family, heir of a big politician who has been in power, or a big industrialist or agriculturist with lot of money to spend on elections, you can get a ticket, whether you have any ideals or not, whether you are a person of character and integrity or not. All that is needed is capacity to grab power by hook or crook. Hardened criminals form alliances to loot the people. Under the leadership of great men like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Madan Mohan Malaviya, the Congress once upon a time emerged as the mouthpiece of the Hindus in this land and the Britisher also recognized it as the representative of the Hindus when they initiated discussion with it and the Muslim League representing the Muslims on the two nation theory. The lure of power turned Congress into a 'secular party' on the eve of Independence and caused the very vivisection of this nation. In the post-Independent India, in the name of secularism, even people of foreign origin can aspire to rule over this Hindu Nation! Why? Hindus have forgotten Hinduism and forsaken the Hindu Nation. What goes as Hinduism today is a commodity in much demand, especially in foreign countries where people who are fed up with materialistic way of life and seek short-cut methods to attain spiritual salvation and our Indian gurus and swamis and their mutts and missions are adept marketers doing a lucrative business! True Hinduism will re-incarnate when, and only when, all the gods, goddesses, religious cults and institutions, gurus and acharyas are pushed to the back seat and the Hindus adore the Motherland—Janani Janmabhoomi—as the only deity to be worshipped and service to the people is considered the greatest form of worship. No political party existing today has any such agenda at present. Let us look forward into the distant future for such a day to emerge! Mother knows how and when to manifest Herself! Vande Mataram!







With love and blessings, Yours in Bhagavan, Sadhu Rangarajan