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Re: ARTICLE : Just say no to "Hinduism" (was Re: ARTICLE : On
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To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: ARTICLE : Just say no to "Hinduism" (was Re: ARTICLE : On
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From: vivek@cs.rice.edu (Vivek Sadananda Pai)
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Date: 9 Sep 1996 19:42:16 GMT
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: Hindu Students Conference, Rice Univ Chapter
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References: <ghenDx64FJ.1D6@netcom.com> <ghenDx7vqz.5qJ@netcom.com> <ghenDx9t1p.BzG@netcom.com> <ghenDxBv5o.4vK@netcom.com>
In article <ghenDxBv5o.4vK@netcom.com>,
Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rbalasub@ecn.purdue.edu> wrote:
>They also acknowledge other vaishnavite faiths like Madhvas etc. They are
>infact known for their catholicity in outlook, actually. Really! You can see
>this from the strident support wannabe ISKCONites provide to Muslims and
>people of other religions, on the internet.
At around the time when so many Hindus were cheering on the
destruction at Ayodhya and so many Muslims were being killed in the
streets of India (regardless of who caused what), I did read one essay
that asked if Lord Rama would be pleased with what had transpired. If
the people who were claiming to do things in His name would have asked
themselves this question, perhaps the events which have caused so much
suffering would have taken a different course. That essay was in Back
To Godhead magazine.
In the wake of the Ayodhya incident, there was a backlash against
temples in majority Muslim countries. I know of a few ISKCON temples
which suffered as a result. However, I also know of a case in
Bangladesh where an angry mob was making its way towards an ISKCON
temple intent on damaging it. The mob was stopped by the neighbors of
the temple, all Muslims, who prevented the mob from entering the
temple. The mob was told "these people are not like the other Hindus."
I'll take the word of the neighbors anyday over the statements made by
the likes of RB.
Srila Prabhupada didn't care whether people were born Muslim, Hindu,
Christian, Jewish, etc. He wanted to reawaken everyone's desire to
serve God, and he considered Krishna as the Absolute. He wanted to
relieve people from their suffering, not by getting them to band
together and destroy mosques and reassert some sort of Hindu identity,
but to get people to understand their actual positions as eternal
servants of God.
So if you see people who are trying to follow Srila Prabhupada's
teachings, and they don't seem to have much faith in politicians, or
if they seem to reject wishy-washy philosophy, perhaps that's not such
a bad thing. After all, if you want to see who really cares for the
downtrodden or the Muslims, I wouldn't look at the "religious parties"
in India for leadership.
-Vivek
