I read with horror about the incident at Guruvayur temple. For those who did not hear about it , here it goes. Unny Ravi, the son of Vayalar Ravi, was there for the darshan of the deity of Lord Guruvayurappan. The priests at the temple had to "purify" the temple with water after his visit. Vayalar Ravi was furious and has threatened to move the court. He felt that it was gross case of caste discrimination. Vayalar Ravi is from the Ezhava community and hence a non-brahmin. The temple authorities contend that Unny was a Christian (his mother, Mercy Ravi is a Christian and Kerala society is matriarchal) and hence violated the temple policy of disallowing non-Hindus from worshiping there.
I think Hinduism as a religion has grown stronger and more humane because of introspection and reform. The average Hindu today feels that sati is a crime, child marriage is a social evil and that untouchability is unacceptable. Reform in a religion is hardly exclusive to Hinduism. The role of the Church in labelling non-conformists as heretics in the medieval society is well known. The practice of burning people labeled as heretics by the church has long been abandoned by mainstream Christianity. I think hindus need to have a dialogue about the need for exclusion of non-hindus from places of worship. Until as recently as sixties black people were excluded from white churches in Jim Crowe era America.
I think debate and dialog within a religion is healthy. Let us continue to evolve intellectually and spiritually.
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In my understanding, Hinduism comes closest to being a universal religion- tolerance being fundamental to its diversity.
To accept a fellow human being, you don't have to be 'tolerant' or condescending!! So, here is where Hinduism falls short- where the Hindu society becomes insensitive being the bars of rigidity.
I can understand it if the temple authorities expected all devotees to adhere to a code of conduct (such as, do not chew paan inside the premises, or stick to a particular dress code, etc), but to have to 'purify' the temple because a non-Hindu entered it is something totally unacceptable.
I hope Hinduism reforms, matures and grows beyond these limitations.
H = Hinduism; R = Religion; OR = Other religions]
All would agree that, today's most popular religion has been CREATED. Infact most existing religions have been created. And In my opinion Hinduism has EVOLVED, as a beautiful religion whose fundamentals have been tolerance. Within H there are several sects, few hundred forms of god and innumerable philosophies present. One is free is choose his form of god and his philosophy. If one would look close enough into the religion, then you would realise that the large number of idol forms in H as opposed to one or none in OR is largely associated to the fact that H preaches the existence of god/divinty/want-of-respect to every atom in the universe. Water, fire and wind are forms of god that is worshiped at H. As extremes as dog, snake, education, food,money, anger, kindness,loyalty, birth and death have forms of worship at H. H is a religion that has matured sheerly because of tolerance. One can date back precisely most of the existing R. But from time unknown to mankind H exists. It has withstood the test of time due to its originality and tolerance. In my humble opinion H never preached rigidity, but unfortunately it is some Hindus who practise it. It is H, that is NOT to blamed but the people who take lessons wrongly from it. When a religion that can accomodate 100s of sects,caste and
philosphly not accomodate another individual who has come to believe the religion ?? Definitely not. As time moves, I am afraid that some Hindus (this, by even the virtue of being born in a Hindu family) will change the very roots of H and let the world blame the religion for that. Hinduism should be understood beyond the apparent transactional level. Every human is God and Every atom is Divine.
I think of a very brilliant adage whose metaphorical sense should be well identified with Hinduism.
'O Lord, save me from my friends and I will take care of my enemies'
So as opposed to last line in the prev comment, reformation of certain individual Hindus must only happen. And having said this,I also think the title 'The Hindu priest and the guruvayoor incident' would be apt in the larger & truer picture for the blog and any publication for that matter.
- World be in peace and beyond...
Which brings us to this important issue, who is a hindu?....and what is
Hinduism? A tribal member, who is a snake worshipper, believes that he is a hindu. As does a namboodri priest chanting sanskrit slokas as do people like you and me. So will the real hindu please stand up (reminds me of the Eminem song..). As of the date and time of writing this blog a hindu is one who believes that he or she is a hindu. So with such diverse group of followers how can dialog happen? Which will be the forum? Also there is no single religious leader (like Pope for the catholic faith. This only complicates the situation. Given the above scenario, I believe that the best forum for dialog is p2p (people to people). Diverse forums like lunch with friends, chat rooms, blogs, organized
meetings with religious leaders and the average hindu can be used to discuss our shared values and how best the religion can continue to be a religion of love, compassion, forgiveness and also how best we can raise the resources to spread the message among the faithful and also to reach out to people of other faiths.
It is not the religion which is rigid -it is the people. Some people are fanatics and it is not easy to change them. Unfortunately for us they occupy high position in our religious hierarchy.
hinduism is i beleive more a way of than a religion
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