Author: Priyadarsi Dutta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 22, 2002
Na tatra yatra na'ham, na tatra
yannmanyi, kimandammi banchami, sarvam sanbinmay tatam" (There is nowhere,
where I am not, there is no where that is not within me, what more I am
left to covet, when all pervades the entirety). Thus spake Acharya Vidyaranya
Swami, the 14th Century Mathadheesh of Sringeri, shortly before he passed
into Mahasamadhi. His last words represent the all encompassing catholicity
of Sanatan Dharma that has tussle with none. True to his vow of mendicancy
he had relinquished the long held post of Prime Minister of Vijayanagara,
the legendary Hindu kingdom he was instrumental in establishing with Harihara
and Bukka in AD 1336. The Sringeri monk Acharya Vidyaranya was provoked
to tread a nationalistic path when Allauddin Khilji's commander Malik Kafur
was cleaving into southern India, razing temple after temple and turning
Hindu cities into killing fields.
With reference to Sankaracharya
Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi some people are today asserting that monks
should restrict their activities to spirituality. These detractors are
captives of an escapist interpretation of Hindu philosophy. Sublime as
they might sound, they want to imply that since the soul is immortal, how
does it matter if the body is hacked to pieces-will it make a difference
to Lord Shiva if one amongst his million temples, viz Somnath, is sacked?
But there is another interpretation that Jayedra Saraswati, perhaps the
greatest living exponent of Sanksrit in India, drives home. Even though
the body has no purpose without the soul, it is important since without
the body as the medium the soul cannot be known.
Last year at a public function in
New Delhi he had expressed his personal belief that Hindu culture being
Sanatan (timeless) will survive despite all persecution by invaders or
commotion from within. And yet, he added, we should be pragmatic on the
ground level to ensure it is so. Hence while he expresses his predilection
for Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas over the VHP, he does not dismiss either as communal.
The VHP might be doing many idiotic things, but it represents the resolve
that Hinduism henceforth will not lie low. And it is highly unfortunate
that affiliates of a religion that specialises in breaking down temples,
converting cathedrals and shrines in mosques, and demolishing archeological
treasure are hailing the Supreme Court verdict over symbolic puja as the
"victory of secularism".
The renewed secular jihad declared
by the media in the wake of the Gujarat backlash accuses Hindutva of communalising
the atmosphere in the country. Liberal intellectuals can afford to do so
only because they are safe in a country whose frontiers are defended by
a Hindu army. In an imaginary case scenario they could not have preached
this secularism under the reigns of Allauddin Khilji, Giyasuddin Tughlak,
Babur or Aurengzeb. They cannot do so even in Srinagar, let alone Islamabad
or Dhaka for even though secularism is dear to them, life is dearer than
secularism.
Was there something ironic when
57 innocent pilgrims were scorched to death inside the Sabarmati express,
when the name Sabarmati had become synonymous with peace, non-violence
and tolerance? On the other hand the carnage was actually a product of
the political Gandhianism of minority appeasement that emanated from Sabarmati
in te 1920s and 30s. As Naipaul observes, post-conversion, there is a tendency
to obliterate the past. Secularism can come about when the religious faith
of people are kept parallel. There is no need for them to meet in the typical
East-West encounter of Indo-Anglican writing. To maintain a detente, some
ground rules have to be accepted by those who wish to force their sectarian
beliefs but do not have the numbers to do so.
