[VoxSpace Life] Hinduism Vs Hindutva : An Understanding Of A Religious Militant Outfit

Posted on April 13, 2018April 27, 2018 by Shahbaaz Athhar

The Role Of Faith In A Person’s Life

“The problem is not with the faith, but with the faithful”.

–Kofi Annan

It’s a given fact that faith has a major hand in a person’s behaviour and life choices. Faith in one religion or in themselves is a moving factor. Religions are made so to integrate discipline into people’s lives and to make sure that people do not go astray. It gives people the hope and courage to look forward to another day. At the end of the day, it heals a person spiritually and makes him peaceful.

This is true with Hinduism also. Hinduism is a way of life, a path with so many destinations. The driving factor of Hinduism is its uniqueness; it’s a religion without rigid fundamentals and with extraordinary diversity. People can worship any god out of many gods, from Vishnu and his avatars to Rudra and many more; can follow any sacred text out of many sacred texts, from Bhagavad Gita to Upanishads to Vedas. It also has diverse religious practices which have been followed for many ages. There are no compulsory restrictions or obligations like praying on a definite day. It’s a faith that allows the believer to reach a spiritual conscience in their own way, it has no fixed path, rather freedom is its path. You can never say that someone has deviated from the path of Hinduism or has become heretic or blasphemous.

As the great scholars like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his pupil Swami Vivekananda preached people about the greatness and righteousness of Hinduism, that each person needs to devote himself to finding his own truth and embark on his own path to reach the ultimate god. They professed the diversity of Hindu Dharma and the paths youth should follow to reach the truth. Openness, as they claim, is the essence of Hindu Dharma.

India is a diverse country, it was always a welcoming country, and it consists of multicultural people. All the festivals are colourful; no single colour defined any religion. It has been like that for hundreds of years now.

But in recent years we have seen growing tension in many states of the country, the rise of communalism and Hindutva hooliganism has led to a great shame for the country.

Hindutva Rising

Hindutva according to the dictionary is (hɪnˈdʊtv noun) an ideology seeking to establish the hegemony of Hindus and the Hindu way of life.

Oh please, that is no way of Hindu life. The unemployed youth are being diverted from the real life for political mileage. The misuse of religion for political purposes and personal vendetta is a sad and tragic aspect of our contemporary reality. Hindu outfits have started in the name of moral policing killing innocent people in the name of cow slaughter, love jihad and many more.

Difference Between Hinduism And Hindutva

Perception:

Hinduism is the dominant religion of India or Hindustan and is also practised in many countries. Hindu, geographically, was the person who lived near the river Indus. Hinduism which is now speaking about is called Sanatana Dharma. Hinduism has a number of sects, sub-sects, traditions, beliefs. It regulates moral lives of people based on Karma (deeds) and Dharma (righteousness), Atman (soul) and Parmatma (god). Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) was envisaged by Indian saints in Vedic period i.e. 4000 years ago. The philosophy of Hinduism and the instructions of moral living as principles of choosing good over evil as stated in the ancient Indian religious scriptures are applicable to anybody irrespective of the religious belief the person might subscribe to.

The term Hindutva was coined by Hindu nationalist leader V.D. Savarkar. It is a political ideology which identifies Hindu as a hegemonic religion of India and that it should dominate every Indian.

The Sangh Parivar, a Hindutva outfit, and its various branches define Hindutva as everything which is indigenously Indian and exclude which is taken from other countries or other religions with respect to ancient Indian borders.

The Hindu Objective:

The true objective of Hinduism is to guide humans to live a moral life and attain Moksha (knowing the true God).

Whereas the objective of Hindutva is to gain political power through the constitutional system. They view being Hindu is a precondition for being nationalists.

Attitude Towards Other Religions:

Hinduism is meant for anybody and everybody. It came very much earlier than any other religions. Love for human beings and for that matter any living creature is a core lesson of Hinduism.

But, Hindutva has no place for anybody who is not a Hindu or who do not accept the hegemony of Hindus. In recent times the hate has increased 10 folds.

The Idea Of A Society:

Hinduism is democratic in attitude and suggests a pluralistic and diversified society with due respect to opposing views.

Hindutva, on the other hand, believes in a monolithic society with a clear domination of Hindu religious practices, customs, and traditions.

There have been many cases and many articles written about the moral policing of Hindutva outfits so I won’t focus on these topics. But one incident which has been stuck in my mind is what I would like to share.

The Cruel Murder Of Asifa An 8-Year-Old Girl

“She was an 8-year-old girl who, while grazing her horses in a meadow in northern India in January, followed a man into the forest. Days later, Asifa Bano’s small, lifeless body was recovered there. Police say that Asifa was given sedatives and, for three days, raped several times by different men. Asifa’s strangled body was eventually found on Jan. 17. Police say she would have been killed sooner had one man not insisted on waiting so that he could rape her a final time. To ensure she was dead, Asifa’s killers hit her twice on the head with a stone, according to charging documents filed by police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and published by the Indian news website Firstpost.” – The Washington Post

Even after reading this news post if you did not shed a single tear, I don’t know what will. She was just an 8-year-old nomad girl, who did not know about religion, she was brutally raped and murdered in the name of religion. In a country where we show movies like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a small kid is raped by men with a demonic mentality, who cover their crime using the blanket of a religion. This is an inhuman act. This is not the Hinduism Swami Vivekananda was proud of. This is not the country for whose independence people like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi fought.

This is not the Dharma which Lord Ram fought for. Our holy books do not preach to kill an innocent child to defend the religion. The greatest pain is to see people defending this act. I don’t have any more words to say. I don’t want to be critical of anyone but the death of Asifa maybe the death of democracy or humanity totally.

Now it’s up to the people of the country, especially the youth to decide what to do. Is this the path that we are going to take or should we take a stand and send back these goons.