.…. if there is genuine angst about the fact that non-followers/non-believers of our way of life are defining us and our way of life , I would like to see it reflected in the way we look at and present ourselves to the world.
……. we are still not able to give up HINDU & HINDUISM – both these are western , inaccurate and wicked connotations – a HINDU was a mere reference to a people that lived on the banks of the river Sindhu / Indus ….. it does not cover everyone who ever practiced this faith/way of life , neither were these people totally representative of the faith/way of life in any manner … they were made to seem like that because of vested interests among the western machinery / missionary whose main job was to make history sound like everything fits well with the semitic belief of a recent world
…… I believe there are historical records to the effect that Rome , through the centuries , has wanted western govts to fit the world’s archeology ,history and heritage to the confines of the bible …. that being the case , is it even a coincidence as to why these two words – machinery/missionary – sound so similar ? 😉
……. (mis)interpretting “observed” archeology and history in such terms has allowed them to conveniently dismiss RAMA and our vast cosmogony .This has succeeded in having even natives fall for their trap.
………… how long before we start referring to ourselves as SANATANIS – practitioners of the SANTANA DHARMA – a timeless way of life predicated upon principles and not persons ?That seems to be the first step to take , right ?
………in a lot ways , our status today is similar to Mougli of the Jungle Book …. while the boy never realised he was human , he was happy to think of himself as a wolf ,because wasnt that what he was raised to believe ? Only after the realisation , that he was actually human , did any real perception of the truth dawn in him .
…………. the HINDU connotation is very much an indoctrination on the lines of the WOLF belief … our efforts and thoughts may not come to much till we realise that we are not WOLF/HINDU (someone whose history has been bottled up in a few thousand years of contrived machinations ).
………….and nothing can stop us from achieving success once we truly start believing and living as HUMANS/SANATANIS ( it does seem to me that even the word HUMAN might have a SAMSKRITA root in MAN probably coming from MANUSHYA/MANU/MANAVA/MANAS )…..
Good post. I agree with the first part of the article. The word “Hindu” just refers to the geographical location of the people living across the river Sindhu / Indus. The word Sindhu in sanskrit is used for River. The second part about Sanatana Dharma needs further elaboration, since the word word Dharma (that which upholds) itself is difficult to understand.
There is an ancient story about a lioncub living amongst sheep similar to Mougly boy analogy is found in our literature.
Regards.
Thnx for the kind words … …. yes , i do hope to take up the second part in susequent posts .
good one.. Hindu is an identity for westerners.. Its hightime that we identify ourselves as jains, saivites, sikhs, vaishnavites and claim the minority status..
tongue-in-cheek aside … but those guys will still make us look like majority by claiming reservations for for sub-sub-sub castes among them … and will get it thru too …
Interesting post …. but poor analogy about Mowgli – if you have actually read the Jungle Books, you will know that Mowgli rejects his own kind, and goes back to the wolves!
I presume Kipling was making a commentary about how terrible humans are, in general.
Thnx 4 the comment … an analogy is not a “same” situation … it has an equivalence to the situation being discussed ….. so , the entire lifestory of mowgli would not be taken as a reflection of hindus … i chose that part of the story where mowgli was thinking he was a wolf when he was actually human to analogise how hindus have taken a conferred identity instead of their actual one …. hope that helps …..
Very good idea
Posted something similar here –
And this comment-
http://www.sandeepweb.com/2009/08/04/hindu-fundamentals-are-under-attack-in-a-different-way/comment-page-3/#comment-332623
and this-
http://indianrealist.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/jihad-in-gita-toilets-latest-salvo-against-hinduism/#comment-1412