Religion trigger

 Again, got triggered by a video post were someone was drawing parallels of worship at Kaaba (Kaaba stone) by the Muslims with Idol (stone) worship practiced by Hindus with both being seen as idolatry. The so-called Islam expert in the video profusely rejected it by saying that for Hindus idols is a window to the divine and rightly so whereas the Kaaba just points to a direction of worship which is revered by Muslims. As per him it provides a vital edifice where all Muslims can congregate and pray to Allah which seemed fair.

But this kept me wondering whether how much people or the likes of the interviewer know before posing such a question. Hinduism is a religion which multiple paths to seek the divine - via blind devotion to stone sculptures at home or doing regular poojas or by going to temple and meditating or by even just chanting mantras on your own. The seekers also tread the path by questioning why even one should worship gods, why not serve the poor instead. Even that is accepted in Hinduism. 

There may be a rational seeker who is fed initially through family on stories of gods and their wonders. Then the seeker is taken to temples where he sees the gods and goddesses enshrined in marvelous structures which fortifies his or her devotion. And as the seeker grows up, gets aquatinted with the realities of the society starts questioning if God is all pervading why people suffer (a la Buddha journey). And when the young seeker sees how violence happens in the name of religions, he feels cheated. Whas all those stories of gods all sham? Why they are even temples? I won't go to temples from now on and become an atheist or an agnostic. Maybe the seeker even starts having sympathy towards other religion who he misinterprets as being othered rather than understanding that they are very different (and much more) rigidity structures as well. Only when he toils in life has seen the society enough, introspected, sought to understand other religions, debate his own past thoughts with his current does the seeker graduate to the next path. That is the path to understand that his mind was endowed with rationality to form an initial opinion, strengthen it, then distrust, tread a different though process, then again correct it and circle back to his initial opinion but with a much more well-formed mind. 

This journey perfectly encapsulates what Hindusim is. It's a graduation path from school to self-employment, it's an evolutionary journey, some might evolve less and some may evolve to ultimate state. Their path to the divine differ - via idol worship or self-meditation but trust in the divine and the intent to attain the divine remains the same. 

Musings from todays

(observations from a video Dr. Federer)

Islam is the only religion which assumed 3 dimensions which are - Religious, Political and Military within the lifetime of its founder with the founder going through the transformative experience himself. The video also mentioned that how the early converts who were driven out of Mecca and found refuge in Medina which also had Jewish tribes. Eventually the Jews would be driven out and one of the tribes massacred. This was mentioned as a classic case of immigrate, start conversation and then eliminate the non-believers if they don't convert. And this is where the seeds of Islams imperialistic design were sown and it truly went as mass conversion brigade at the hands of the sword. So, whenever a Muslim prays today revering the Kaaba - he or she is also actually praying to its political and military tenets. And hence it becomes antithesis to the nation states where lot of Muslims maybe residing. For them the case becomes more of spreading the religion, implicitly by religious means, political participation or eventually military conquest. This thought needs lot of introspection by purveyors of democracy both in west and the east, and along with Moderate Muslims bring this to the fore that democracy or rule of constitutional law should hold topmost ground wherever the demography is in favor of Islam.

Freedom of Expression comparison with West

People in India often tend to compare with West about freedom of expression and freedom to question religion. One tends to forget that western countries not only have high literacy but also have developed scientific temperament at an aggregate social level. Even if unemployment is high, nobody spends time there in talking about religion and defending it. As the unemployed there has been through a cycle of observation where he or she has witnessed society doing marvels on sheer strength of scientific temperament and technology. The hinterland of Indian society is growing up to it but still carry the religious undertone as an answer of salvation when suffering eventually hits. 

Bizzare Leftist

I was left befuddled after seeing a recent discussion on right wing pressure groups in a News laundry video. The lady Manisha Pande was trying to state that the RW individuals like Ajeet Bharti , Anand Ranganathan and J Sai Deepak , who don't wink even once before criticizing BJPs policies and are ironically on the same side of ideological divide, don't represent the same pressure groups like that of IAC led by Kejriwal and Anna Hazare , who were the pressure group on Congress at that time.

The comparison itself is bizarre. First the RW names listed and Hazare/Kejriwal is not the right comparison. The RW names are more columnist, influencers, panelist who are using the medium of social media, tv debates and speeches to create an impact. They are not activist in the same milieu as Anna Hazare and Kejriwal (who was one before 2014).

Also, it is important to note that IAC which did apply pressure on the incumbent during 2011-2013 was a result rather a creation. The rampant corruption in UPA was already in the then social media discourse primarily Facebook which was then a go to medium for common folks. There were already small demonstrations and court cases which had started to light the spark. When Anna assumed leadership, it provided a vital fuel for the conflagration which Kejriwal also bandwagon to light his yet to be unraveled political ambitions. 

It's also important to note that there have been no major corruption scandals, if at all any in the current NDA disposition which matched the scale of CWG and 2G which wrecked UPAs ambitions for a 3rd term. The RW group do criticize BP, but mostly for policy failures. It's an interesting pattern to see in social media that BJP also gets critiqued by its own supporters or co-idealogues which is not the case in Congress or SP or TMC followers who fawn for the party unabashedly. 

It's pretty evident that the left ecosystem has a lost semblance of rationality which forces them to create bizarre hypothesis to disparage the ruling party and got to ridiculous limit to draw equivalence with irrelevant examples from the past. Left has no love lost for BJP but manufacturing avenues of hate and belittling is a path which won't help them either.

Why Quality of Life matters - A cricket analogy

In a recent interview, the belligerent opener Abhishek Sharma spoke about his equivalent belligerent partner Travis Head and the Australian attitude. Whereas he would always face scrutiny by his father after every performance as was the case with his other Indian colleagues in the IPL team who would always introspect and worry about match performances, he found the Aussie pretty relaxed and minding his own.

Mayhap it has to do with the country they come from. Australians playing in IPL have nothing to lose. Whereas the Indians playing in the same tourney have everything to lose. An Aussie may have a one or to bad seasons after which he may be dropped. So, what he does even if he is not playing an IPL or similar other tournaments? He goes back to Australia, plays local cricket, spends time in his farm or goes fishing in the seas, ends weekends with a visit to the pub guzzles down few pints if not gallons of beer, goes home and spends good time with his family, even if he is not wearing much. He doesn't have to but "Quality of Life" it is assured for him.

For a Tier-B or Tier-C Indian cricketer, one season of IPL is gold even if he goes for few lakhs only. A good season with 10 lakhs means it earns him 20 if not fifty lakhs in the next season. And that is serious money for a Tier B Tier C cricketer who has tries to play every tournament from a corporate, local, club and domestic to earn a respectable living which can help him earn a decent quality of life. In India earning money is very important, as "Quality of Life" has a very heavy price tag.

Self Loathing

Time and again the General caste find themselves in the firing line and are always cast upon with aspersions primarily in politico-socio discourse. None so more than the Tamil Brahmins of the South. They are time again blamed for their historical antecedents of alienating or being disrespectful to lower caste. But what has happened over the years. They have turned to Self-Loathing - I mean Hindus can go to such extent to Self-Loath themselves, alter their identify and their own culture to accommodate another culture or gaining equivalence in front of the other eyes. Can the same be expected from other religions?

There may be some bad apples in the community as it is true for all communities, but to paint one community as the perpetrator was truly a result of a targeted strategy. No wonder we have likes of Kamal Hassan turning into an atheist, Ramchandra Guha taking a left slant, likes of Mani Shankar Aiyar turning out into absolute abomination for the community. Not even a moment is spent in understanding that how one minority community which has population share in single digits can be sole responsible. 

Tamil Brahmins always found a favor with the ruling class be it pre-British during British rule or even after the colonial times, which many attribute to the mastery of scriptures and being close to the political-economic matters of the rulers. The founders of progressive movement in Madras state which openly derided Tamil Brahmins, where themselves found out of favor from the British in matters of state and had to assert themselves on a political plank more so with India's independence looking imminent. And hence started the vilification on whom them could pin all the blame supported by the caste-based domination and exploitation angle theory which had already become strong in the social ecosystem.

What is Hindutva

As per Supreme court judgement of 1995 , Hinduism or Hindutva is same and defined as a way of life and associated with India's cultural ethos and not a narrow religious phenomena. Hence the use of Hindutva or Hinduism in election speeches does not construe any mal intent. On the country no one can call one as a Hindu state e.g. in Manohar Joshincase of 1995