anjali makaram 2011
anjali makaram 2011 anjali makaram 2011
Anjali January the same ideals that prompted the present day India to shelter the fleeing His Holiness Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers from their homeland despite severe adverse political ramifications. It was a further testimony of India’s secular credentials that in the not so distant past a Congressman in the United States Congress stated that India was perhaps the only country in the whole world where Jews were never got persecuted for their divergent religious beliefs and practices as against their bitter experience in other parts of the world! The great leaders of contemporary India born and brought up in such a philosophical environment always advocated and practiced secularism in their daily life. So much so that even though modern India was divided to carve out Pakistan for Muslims, the Indian leaders who never believed in the partition of the country on the basis of religious belief, encouraged those minority who did not 22 KHNA - 2011 wish to leave their homes to stay on. And when the modern India’s constitution was drawn up, one of its corner stones was secularism! Now India has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia in the world despite the partition of the country over six decades ago on the insistence of a section of the Muslim population of the subcontinent! India’s secular ideals which have been transparent and clear need no credentials. The ancient Hindu rulers never sought to impose a particular state-creed upon the people. Nor did anybody get persecuted in India, ancient or modern, for his or her divergent religious ideas. Siddhartha Gautama (later the Buddha)’s parting ways from the Hindu fold six centuries before Christ is an example to quote. He was never persecuted. Buddha lived long to attain his Parinirvana in his eighties. In recent times, Guru Nanak founded Sikhism, another example of Hindu religious tolerance. The Hindu religious philosophy proclaims the ultimate truth "Tat Twam Asi" (Thou art that) which means we are all one! Discrimination on account of religious faith in India came with the coming of Islam to the Indian subcontinent. Though most of the Muslim monarchs who ruled parts of India never interfered with the religion of their subjects, discrimination existed depending upon the ruler’s fancies and fantasies. While Emperor Akhbar, the greatest of the rulers of Mughal empire in India who happened to be the most tolerant and enlightened of all the Muslim rulers even tried to bring out an eclectic religion integrating the best in the various contemporary religions of his time, religious intolerance peaked during the reign of Aurangazeb who imposed a special tax directed only against non-Muslims. In the process Aurangazeb paved the way for the decline and ultimate disintegration of the Mughal rule in the subcontinent! Swami Vivekananda said, "Never quarrel about religion. All quarrels and disputations concerning religion simply show that spirituality is not present. Religious quarrels are always over the husks. When spirituality goes, leaving the soul dry, quarrels begin and not before. Do not care for doctrines, do not care for dogmas, or sects, or churches or temples; they count for little compared with the essence of existence in each man which is spirituality and the more this is developed in a
man, the more powerful is he for good". When Mahatma Gandhi said that the name of his god was Ram and also Rahim, Mohammad Ali Jinnah derisively said that only a Hindu could say a thing like that! Though his comment was meant to be derision it turned out to be a tribute to the secular ideals of the country to which the Mahatma belonged. Ancient wisdom of India was always for inclusion and absolute freedom from rigidity and bigotry. As an extension of his belief, Mahatma Gandhi even advocated for a world without boundaries! When ever rigidity and exclusion tried to raise its head, degeneration and decline resulted as in the case of the disintegration of Mughal Empire in India. Modern India’s Constitution is a continuing testament of her ancient wisdom and tolerance. It is a shrine in which all the faiths find shelter and solace. Those who promote and propagate divisive ideologies in India and also in the world do not mean well for India or for the mankind. Every day when we witness interminable quarrels and extreme intolerance over religion around the world, we can only wish fervently that the ancient wisdom of India (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - the whole world is a family) finds its way as a moderating factor into the lives of the people of the world. Balarajan P. is a retired Indian diplomat. Since 2003 he runs a consulting business. He lives in Virginia with his wife Meera. KHNA - 2011 Anjali January 23
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man, the more powerful is he<br />
for good". When Mahatma<br />
Gandhi said that the name of<br />
his god was Ram and also<br />
Rahim, Mohammad Ali Jinnah<br />
derisively said that only a<br />
Hindu could say a thing like<br />
that! Though his comment was<br />
meant to be derision it turned<br />
out to be a tribute to the secular<br />
ideals of the country to which<br />
the Mahatma belonged.<br />
Ancient wisdom of India was<br />
always for inclusion and<br />
absolute freedom from rigidity<br />
and bigotry. As an extension of<br />
his belief, Mahatma Gandhi<br />
even advocated for a world<br />
without boundaries! When<br />
ever rigidity and exclusion tried<br />
to raise its head, degeneration<br />
and decline resulted as in the<br />
case of the disintegration of<br />
Mughal Empire in India.<br />
Modern India’s Constitution<br />
is a continuing testament of her<br />
ancient wisdom and tolerance.<br />
It is a shrine in which all the faiths<br />
find shelter and solace. Those<br />
who promote and propagate<br />
divisive ideologies in India and<br />
also in the world do not mean<br />
well for India or for the mankind.<br />
Every day when we witness<br />
interminable quarrels and<br />
extreme intolerance over<br />
religion around the world, we<br />
can only wish fervently that the<br />
ancient wisdom of India<br />
(Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - the<br />
whole world is a family) finds its<br />
way as a moderating factor into<br />
the lives of the people of the<br />
world.<br />
Balarajan P. is a retired Indian<br />
diplomat. Since 2003 he runs<br />
a consulting business. He lives<br />
in Virginia with his wife<br />
Meera.<br />
KHNA - <strong>2011</strong><br />
Anjali January<br />
23
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