Hindus must take it upon themselves to reform their society

V SUNDARAM newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06jul

Hindus must take it upon themselves to reform their society, which is badly needed, but this should be done according to the time-honoured Sanatana Dharma - the real soul of India - and not according to Western political, intellectual or religious ideologies which are generally 'adharmic', that is unspiritual, however modern or well-funded they may be. As David Frawley, better known as Acharya Vamadeva Sastri, rightly concludes:

'What Hindus need is to wake up and unite, to recognise their common spiritual heritage and work together to manifest it in the world today, just as modern teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo encouraged. Such teachers did not speak of Hindu fundamentalism. They recognized Hindu backwardness, but sought to remedy it by going to the core of Hindu spirituality, the spirit of unity in recognition of the DIVINE in all, not by trying to cast a shadow on Hinduism as a whole.'...

There has been no national consciousness or clarity of national vision among the Hindus. The main reason for this national disaster is the total failure of intellectual awakening among the Hindus as a whole. The fundamental mistake that dogs Hindu perception today is that we are assuming Nehruvians or secularists to be Hindus because of mere accident of their birth, and having entrusted the State power in our homeland to their hands. What Sri Aurobindo rightly asked in 1907 is as relevant today as it was then: Do you think that God has utterly abandoned us and given us up for ever to be a mere convenience for the West, the helots of its commerce, and the feeders of its luxury and pride?

Thinking of Marxists, Nehruvian secularists and all our wicked politicians, I am reminded of the following passage in the Katha Upanishad: Living in the midst of ignorance, considering themselves to be wise, the deluded wander confused, like the blind led by the blind. The way to truth does not appear to a confused immature mind, deluded by the illusion of wealth (materialism). Thinking that this world alone exists and that there is nothing beyond, they ever return again and again to the net of death . Is it not high time that the people of India started to heed the words of their ancient sages, even if it meant questioning the so-called modern professors soaked in western learning with no roots in India? newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06jun (The writer is a retired IAS officer) e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com