Author: Mani Shankar
Publication: Deccan Chronicle
Date: August 16, 2009
URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/blogs/hinduism-responsible-sustaining-democracy-india-919
The beauty of being a Hindu lies in your freedom
to be who you want to be. Nobody can tell you what to do, or what not to do.
There is no central authority, no single leader of the faith. No one can pass
an order to excommunicate you, or like in some countries, pass a decree that
orders your death by stoning for walking with a strange man.
We don't appreciate our freedom because we
can't feel the plight of others who aren't free. Many religions have a central
authority with awesome power over the individual. They have a clear chain
of command, from the lowliest local priest to the highest central leader.
Hinduism somehow escaped from such central authority, and the Hindu has miraculously
managed to hold on to his freedom through the ages. How did this happen?
Vedanta is the answer. When the writers of
Vedanta emerged, around 1500 BC, they faced an organised religion of orthodox
Hinduism. This was the post Vedic age, where ritualism was practiced, and
the masses had no choice but to follow. It was a coercive atmosphere.
The writers of Vedanta rebelled against this
authority and moved away from society into forests. This was how the 'Aranyakas'
were written, literally meaning 'writings from the forest'. These later paved
the way for the Upanishads, and Vedanta eventually caught the imagination
of the masses. It emerged triumphant, bearing with it the clear voice of personal
freedom.
This democracy of religious thought, so intrinsic
to Vedantic intelligence, sank into the mindset of every Indian.
Most couldn't fathom the deep wisdom it contained, but this much was very
clear. They understood that faith was an expression of personal freedom, and
one could believe at will.
That's why Hinduism saw an explosion of Gods.
There was a God for every need and every creed. If you wanted to build your
muscles, you worshiped a God with fabulous muscles. If you wanted to pursue
education, there was a Goddess of Learning. If it was wealth you were looking
for, then you looked up to the Goddess of wealth - with gold coins coming
out of her hands.
If you wanted to live happily as a family,
you worshiped Gods who specially blessed families. When you grew old and faced
oncoming death, you spent time in contemplating a God whose business it was
to dissolve everything - from an individual to the entire Universe.
Everywhere, divinity appeared in the manner
and form you wanted it to appear, and when its use was over, you quietly discarded
that form of divinity and looked at new forms of the divine that was currently
of use to you. 'Yad Bhavam, tad Bhavati'… what you choose to believe
becomes your personal truth, and freedom to believe is always more important
than belief itself.
Behind all this - was the silent Vedantic
wisdom that Gods are but figments of human imagination. As the Kena Upanishad
says, "Brahma ha devebhyo vijigye…" - All Gods are mere subjects
of the Self. It implies that it is far better that God serves Man than Men
serve God. Because Men never really serve God - they only obey the dictates
of a religious head who speaks for that God, who can turn them into slaves
in God's name.
Hindus have therefore never tried to convert
anyone. Never waged war in the name of religion. The average Hindu happily
makes Gods serve him as per his needs. He discards Gods when he has no use
for them. And new Gods emerge all the time - in response to market needs.
In this tumult, no central authority could survive. No single prophet could
emerge and hold sway, no chain of command could be established.
Vedanta had injected an organised chaos into
Hinduism, and that's the way it has been from the last thirty five centuries.
Vedanta is also responsible, by default, for sustaining democracy. When the
British left India, it was assumed that the nation would soon break up. Nothing
of that kind has happened.
The pundits of doom forgot that the Indian
had been used to religious freedom from thousands of years. When he got political
freedom, he grabbed it naturally. After all, when you can discard Gods why
can't you discard leaders?
Leaders like Gods are completely expendable
to the Indian mindset. They are tolerated as long as they serve the people,
and are replaced when needs change. It's the triumph of people over their
leaders, and in this tumult, no dictator can ever take over and rule us. Strange
how the thoughts of a few men living in forests, thirty five centuries ago,
can echo inside the heart of every Indian. That's a tribute to the resurgent
power of India, and the fearlessness of its free thinking people.
