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FeedbackThe Task of Saving Hinduism [Reprinted from BACK TO GODHEAD (Nov./Dec. 1996 Issue).
Copyright 1996 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
Used by permission.]Thank you BTG for standing firm your resolve not to bow down to pressures from the so-called defend- pressures of Hinduism. I used to be one those millions of Hindus who hesitated to proclaim my faith openly and be proud of it. The reason? Simple: Nobody, no organization, book, no magazine has ever explained, discussed, and analyzed Hinduism the way Srila Prabhupada ISKCON, Bhagavad-gita As It Is and BTG have done.
At the countless “Hindu” prayers and ceremonies I have been to, barely a single reference has been made to the Bhagavad-gita or any other Vedic scriptures. All I heard was what the speakers had to say, believe me, they had a lot to say - none of it based on our scriptures.
“Who is Krshna, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesha ... ?” They would say, “They are all one.” This simplistic answer might satisfy some, but most of us would still go home with many unanswered questions.
Such speakers have made everything so simple. They have reduces Hinduism to a cheap “idea.” Go to the temple once a week. Be a vegetarian on Fridays or Tuesdays, and the rest of the time do what you please. In the end you will merge in the light.
“What light?”
“God.”
“I thought God was Krshna, Shiva Brahma...?”
“Well yes, they are, but they are also light.”
“So why don't we just pray to light?”
“Well, it's the same. Everything is the same. Everything is one. Every thing is light.”These are some of the explanations given by Hindu “scholars” in my country, and I suspect that the same thing is happening the world over.
When a person of a different faith condemns them for praying to “stones” and “objects,” they will quickly explain that these are only symbolic, nothing more. Such scholars do not have the guts and the knowledge to stand firm and explain confidently that God and His form, name, fame, and pastimes are one and the same because God is omnipotent and omnipresent. And when someone Krshna conscious gives an explanation contrary to their belief but in accordance with the scripture these so-called scholars will use political and cultural sentiments to plead their case. They will use words such as “fanatics” and “misguided. Well, at least the “fanatics” are chanting the glories of God all over the world. They are showing the world what India and Hinduism really have to offer human civilization.I beg you to keep on telling the truth. Don't surrender your convictions. Send your chanting parties to every country. For many, including myself, you are the only sensible thing in this confusing material world.
Prabhupada defeated Western scholars who misinterpreted Hinduism. Now you have the unpleasant task of saving Hinduism from within, that is, from Hindus themselves. Thank you. Jai Sri Krshna.
Saravanan Karumanan
National University of Malaysia (via the Internet)
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