DEIVATHIN KURAL # 38 (Vol # 7) Dated 14 Sept 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 38 (Vol # 7) Dated 14 Sept 2013

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavãL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are going ahead from page No 337 of Volume 7 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein ‘man/he’ includes ‘woman/she’ too mostly. These e-mails are all available at   http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated continually)

(Note: - KTSV Adds.  The details covered in the previous issue of Deivathin Kural # 37 and the present one are based on what PeriyavãL said on or around 1947 at the time of Indian Independence and again in 1972.  Much had happened in the meantime in terms of large scale conversion of Hindus into Buddhism as prompted by Dr. Ambedkar and into Christianity and Islam.  If the Christian Churches of various denominations had been sanctioned large tracts of Real Estate in all important cities of the country by the British, the various sects of the Muslim Religion was actively expanding by large scale conversion making their presence noticeable by the tall spires of the Masjids reaching for the sky and the five time prayer sounds as 'Call of the Mulla' from the loud speakers mounted on the spires of the Mosques reaching far in to the suburbs of every city all over India, well supported by a continuous flow of enormous funds from the Arab countries.  In the meantime PeriyavãL had fully retired from being Head of the Matam.  So the interview given in 1972 to Ra.GaNapathy, (the Writer who took notes and compiled all that has been published as Deivathin Kural), was very reluctantly given more as explanation of what PeriyavãL had commented earlier.)

372.            "To convert all people into our religion is an important policy of our religion.  So, it becomes a part and parcel of our religious rights.  For a Government that is supposed to be granting religious rights, to snatch this right of ours is as good as hurting that very freedom of Religious Rights for which the government in India does not have legal powers."  This is a claim of those religions which have Conversion as one of their policies.  This is a claim totally unacceptable.  This will be clear if we look at the facts with the past history of nations as the background.

373.            It was an acceptable trend in the olden times, for Kings of yore to go to war with neighbouring kingdoms and expand their hegemony and regime.  For thousands of years that is how empires were built, everywhere in the world.  Without any other reason or cause, to go to war was thought of as a rightful proclivity of Kings.  While moving from the olden times to the modern world, whether the human society has grown or not grown acceptably in a good manner – 'in many ways it has deteriorated only, but despite that' – in this one aspect of relations between nations, we have graduated and grown into more civility, isn't it?  It is an unspoken agreement between nations that no country can take its Army aggressively in to the territorial jurisdiction of other countries, isn't it?  Though only in the early and middle part of the last century, there have been two World Wars and through 'Cold War' and other means, countries have been aggressively expanding their commercial interest and domination over others, looking at International Relations, we have come to accept that, no country has a right to go to war with any other country for expansion of hegemony.  Thus, resorting to full scale wars between nations is a thing of the past.

374.            The whole world has branded people like Hitler who went to war on flimsy grounds for his blatant aggression, as totalitarianism, tyranny and fascism, isn't it?  So, you cannot get away with expansionist policies of regimes of the past, as acceptable ways in the present day world.  Similarly, converting others into your own religion might have been the acceptable ways of the past.  It cannot be any more so, in the present day world's environment.  Thus it means that you cannot go about claiming conversion to be a policy of your religion any more.  Grabbing others' lands earth and space-wise and converting others' being to your religion humanity-wise; are equally forbidden in today's world.    

375.            May be you can give one possible sensible logic for converting others to your religion, in the policies of their religion's founders.  Evidently they had access to some new truths about God which was not known to people of that period and so they founded their religion and wished to share and convert others to their views.  As those truths had given them a sense of wholesomeness, they could have wished to share their experiences with others.  But however big or great they might have been, nobody has a right to feel that, theirs is the only way to the Ultimate.  Whether they thought so or their followers did, 'to think our way is the only way' is totally unacceptable.  As everywhere there is variety, so also here in the God's way of making things, there are 'n' number of approaches to God!  When the Vedas say that, 'to reach the one Ãtma there are many ways' and 'the one truth is interpreted by many masters in many ways'; are absolutely and inalienably true!

376.            This Hinduism known as Sanãtana Dharma contains in itself many such ideas, concepts, paths and means.  It is wholesome in itself, in terms of dynamic 'theism', theoretical 'philosophy' and practical 'morality' containing the entire wide-spectrum of all approaches of permutations and combinations!  There may be some draw-backs in practical application at the social level in Hinduism.  But that would be the errors of some individual followers who are not true to their religion!  That cannot be reason enough for any other followers of any other religion to try and convert Hindus to their religion.  Even followers of other religions, if they view the situation from an unbiased stand point, have been all praise for the greatness of what Hinduism is known for.  Even those who try and convert Hindus to their religion are not totally blind to the real values of this religion. But if they are critical of Hinduism, it is because they consider 'Conversion' as their bounden duty as required by their own religion. 

377.            If finding faults is your profession, you can do so with any religion or any system.  But painting others black, some of it rubs off on ourselves and we will keep moving farther and farther away from our goal of approaching divinity!  In the best of arrangements, we can always find some faults and some areas for improvement.  In a vastly spread banyan tree, there may be some leaves withered and some weeds growing near the roots.  So however much the greatness of the religion, some followers may be going astray and bringing bad name to the religion.  But as cannot be claimed by any other religion, from times immemorial, for thousands of years, from generation to generation of crores and crores of people have attained to Gnãna through the ways of this religion and continue to do so till date. So, from an unbiased stand point, every thinking man will only come to this conclusion that there is no justice whatsoever in trying to pull anyone out from this sentient stream of what is Hinduism.

378.            May be there is some justice in conversion, in the case of some nomadic tribes and some hordes living in deep forests inaccessible to civilizations, which are privy to crude and detestable traditions, by visitors from people from advanced cultures and civilizations.  But there is no justice in converting per se of people belonging to well advanced and mature civilizations of refined cultures!  When you look at the history you note that, even in conversions of the so called crude and nomadic tribes, there have been many cases of unjustifiable exploitation of the gullibility of those innocent people.  People living in vast expansions of lands who in all their simplicity had been following some religion of their own containing some high ennobling principle of Nature worship, were described as being uncivilized brute characters and were given an option either to die on convert to Christianity.  In the bargain vast tracts of lands were forcibly captured and misappropriated.  Europeans expansionism with Christianity as the background thus brought many countries of Africa and Asia under their control.  What they did initially thus was further enlarged by the various Churches of different denominations later, in partnership with the local British/French/Portuguese/Spanish governments all over Africa and Asia.   Centuries before European expansion, Muslims as various marauding tribes of Islam had done the same thing with brutal force, giving no excuse under Genghis Khan, Timur and such people, who took the religion of Islam to the far reaches of Asia like China and countries of the South East.  The spread of the religion has subsequently been abetted by the Petro-Dollars from the Arab countries in later days.  Thus this act of converting others into their religion was simply part of the animal urge to expand and enlarge their areas of influence rather than a sanction from Jesus Christ or Allah!  Now to claim that this act of converting, the Infidels and Kafirs as they call people from other religions, cannot be camouflaged as a religious sanction at all, especially for converting Hindus in to their fold!

379.            If the Government of India has given Right of Property to all its citizens, what is the meaning?  It means that the citizen of India has every right to experience and enjoy his own assets and properties whether they are landed, moveable, immoveable, intellectual or otherwise properties.  Religion is the most valuable of all such properties.  So Freedom of Religion does not provide you with a licence to pull others into your religion but have the freedom to follow your own religion, by all means.  You are welcome to publicise your own religion any amount but, without decrying other religions.  As the intention proves the crime, if your publicity is done with a view to put down other religions, your criminality cannot be hidden or covered.  Without causing offence or hindrance to others, let everyone have the right to enjoy, worship his God, practice or preach his own religion; but not with the intention to pull others into his own.  If that person wishes to embrace your religion on his own, that is alright.  That is where the 'Freedom of Religion' comes into play. 

380.            Another important issue here is that Hinduism is one religion that does not believe in conversion but only in inversion.  Instead of looking out, it tells you to look into yourself!  Let other religions do it to others who believe in conversions and that may be mutually justified.  Hinduism never tells you to leave your religion but learn, understand and comprehend the truth in it fully, whether you believe in a religion that has the Nature in all its elements as a God or any person or principle.  It tells you to look in and find out who you are.   So, it will be a one sided attack if one is to try and convert Hindus, who are simply going in their own way in all peacefulness, as it will not be justified in any court of humaneness! So the Indian Government instead of accepting those religions' claim that to convert is a religious right should enact laws against it as early as possible, keeping the Nations inner wellbeing, order and peace in view.  It is the dire need of the times!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva