Why Hindutva?

Human growth, development, safety and security are possible only when roots are deep. Just as an uprooted tree is not a tree but timber for some one else to make use of, to consume, so also is a person or a nation-a mere dead thing for the ‘smarter ones’ to utilize in what ever manner they wish to utilize. If the cry of Hindutva is a cry not to let oneself get uprooted from ones cultural soil, for the sake of ones own security and well being, who can find fault with that?

There are people who seem to think that the dynamics of the market economy is so powerful that all the nations on the globe will be ground to yield a viscous pulp of uniform consistency. They are the so called pundits of global politics, global economics and global industry. That is to say, they are the apostles and high priests of globalization. To them all nations are mere fodder for MNCs. Who dare say they are wrong?

If other nations do not make as big a noise as some of our own countrymen, there is a very good reason for that: the leaves of felled trees cannot murmur in the wind. Arnold Toynbee had made a study of 38 civilizations of the past, for the purpose of finding out why they could not hold against the ravages of time. The lands of those lost civilizations are now home to the modern states of the world. The Mayans, the Incas, the Sumerian, the Egyptian, the Chinese…you name them, name them all, but you cannot name India. Among ancient cultures, India is a wondrous redwood tree whose sap still runs as it ran several millenniums ago. So why shouldn’t we be concerned about the continuity of our very own cultural identity?

All proselytizing establishments have very short fuse when it comes to any thing that resists conversion. Small wonder, they do blow their fuse and go crazy. For it seems, if India submits to conversion of any sorts, the converter’s very own dear self itself will get converted. Witness Buddhism. Buddhism, the first proselytizing religion in the world had to beat a rather hasty retreat from the land of its origin. The same thing has happened to Christianity, and later on to Islam. Even the current Marxist political ideology, with its all too close semblance to an established
religion, thanks to its exclusivist outlook and agenda, have come to taste the same fate as its big brothers. India is too tempting to this fraternity of self styled saviors of the world, to let go. Hence they keep at it. Now the latest avatar trying its best at the game of conversion is
Globalization. It seems both the protagonists and the antagonists of Hindutva scarce suspect this. Therefore, there is every chance of there taking place a real and lasting conversion after all. In the meantime we find the protagonists of Hindutva energetically working to expose the open and hidden enemies of our nation. Who can say they are wrong?

Nothing can stop political gamesters from making capital out of what ever they can put their hands to. And, secularism is used as a catchword of political opportunism. After all, minority appeasement is used to make political capital of, in this land of Chanakya, where secularism is merely a word imported from the West. In the West, secularism has been a political reality that has evolved out of a long drawn out struggle between two warring factions, namely the Secularists and the Ecclesiasts. There it meant only one thing and one thing only, both in theory and in practice: religion not meddling in the affairs of the State. In India, secularism in theory means, giving equal importance to all the religions, in practice it means religious favoritism of the ruling party. It is in this context that Hindutva could easily become a catchword of national political dynamism and an integrating force for unity.

But that is not the only reason for promoting Hindutva. On the contrary, the concept of Hindutva could serve as a rallying point for the Indian polity’s struggle against the forces of Globalization….provided there is conceptual clarity and goal wise purity. Conceptual clarity is simply an academic matter, and can be easily attained. But goal wise purity is another matter altogether. In the absence of goal wise purity, Hindutva would be yet another one of those empty political slogan..

Hindutva, if used as a rallying point as mentioned above, would cease to be a narrow parochial concept provided it is promoted through clear, comprehensive, constructive goal directed effective strategies. Otherwise, it will begin to remain as one of the political party slogan. Political parties and secularists have already made India into divisive units with divisive policies, and anti national political agenda. India is already a virtual hell, with all that are being done in the name of secularism, minority appeasement and anti national policies. We do not have to be a party to that madness. That is what real Hindutva demands. When the whole world was in darkness, the darkness of ignorance, of the lack of awareness, this land of the Sages had been a continent of light and spirituality.

Hindutva had its definite beginnings in the teachings of our sages. The strength of Hindutva comes from its spiritual tradition, and historically that tradition had a permanent formative influence on Indian civilization. For fundamentalist religions of the book, such spiritual tradition is unknown. It still remains the guiding thread through the past and the chain to which each new generation is bound to follow. The traditional spiritual thread has never lost its power over the minds of Indian citizens. Real Hindutva demands rekindling the spiritual living force that binds every Indian.

There are two types of religion: the lower case and the upper case. In the lower case we have Christianity, and Islam, the religions of the book. They represent only the husk of the most priceless fruit of human genius, namely spirituality. It is this husk that these religion has promoted
ignoring the core spirituality. Hinduism has preserved the priceless fruit. Had it not been for this fruit and spiritual tradition, mankind would have long reverted to barbarianism. Our indebtedness to this tradition is never ending. But that in no way means we must permit ourselves to be limited by its limitations. On the contrary, the core within the husk demands that we must preserve, and protect the spiritual fruit. That is what any germinating seed does. What is meant by the higher
case religion is written with the initial letter in capital. Those would then represent not ritual and tradition but spontaneity and dynamism. As spontaneity and dynamism defies categorization. Hinduism is dynamic and unique from any other religion.

Narayana Guru, the saint and savant of the cultural renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th century Kerala, was a great Sage or Maharshi in the Hindu tradition. The renaissance spear-headed by him was based on the fundamental truth about religion, that there is only one Religion. Note the fact that it is religion with a capital ‘R’.

But this line of thinking is one that no secular political pundit or fundamentalist preachers can ever concur with. That would amount to desiccating their very source of sustenance – cutting the very branch on which they are perched. The two-line struggle in religion happens to be between fundamentalist priests of the church/mosque/ and secular political parties on the one hand, and Sages and Rishies on the other hand. The concept of Hindutva would be nothing short of a weapon of mass awakening if promoted with our spiritual dynamism.. It could prove to be an engine of resurgence in the hands of those who are willing to stand steadfast with the all inclusive, unifying Spiritual tradition.

So now the question is, which force one needs to align with, the uplifting, unifying spiritual Hindutva or the divisive secular, fundamentalist dogmas?

It is obvious that the agenda of the pseudo secular political parties and the fundamentalist line would be altogether different from that of the sagely line.

Some people are all too prone to jump on to a bogus secular bandwagon merely for the sake of the orchestra that is being played. Such sentimental simpletons are the gun fodder for the rogues of history to fight their battles with.

So now the question is,”….to be or not to be ….” gun fodder or a real fighter?

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