Fanatics of the faith misrepresent their faith more than anyone else. They talk peace while pointing the gun at you. An article appeared on the face book about Hinduism, I could not post my comments on it, and the comment box was removed and now the article is gone too.
It was one of the most beautiful expressions of Hinduism, as I have shared the wisdom of religion, every beautiful religion on my radio shows, workshops and write ups, I really liked it. Indeed, that is the essence of everyfaith. It was such a joy to read it with one major exception.
In the midst of such a beautiful article, a sentence in parenthesis spoiled the beauty of that piece. It was an upload of hate, that which brings impurity in one’s Dharma; the righteous conduct. It’s like drinking the sewer without realizing what it does to one’s body health. Hate is binding, it does not bring Mukti (salvation, liberation, Nirvana, Moksha) and it messes up one’s life.
We need to dis-own religion, it is the passionate owning of religion that makes us a base animal fighting for its posession. Religion is there to give us freedom and not bind us, it allows us to be like Krishna who asked us to surrender to him, like Allah who wants us to submit to his will and like Jesus who wants us to follow him – when we do that, we find that the whole world to be one family, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or all of us made into tribes and nations from the same source, one nation under God.
I found the following sentence loaded with ignorance, the item was removed before I could copy, however I copied the following statement to write my comments. Fanatics of the faith misrepresent their faith more than anyone else. They talk peace while pointing the gun at you.
The hateful statement is in parenthesis: (IMPORTANT COROLLARY: Since totalitarian dogmas like communism, islam, xianity do not conform to Hindu Dharma’s essence, they are adharmic creeds, undesirable for societal well being – not just in India, but any place where they operate).
It reaffirms the statement that individuals are bad, not the religion. You find bad dudes in every faith, but that does not make their faith a bad one. Bad Indians, bad Americans do not make our nations bad, it makes those individuals bad. We need to be pure in our hearts. 1/10th of 1% of any group of people are bad, no matter what religion they wear, you will find badness in that fraction in every major faith particularly Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
The Neocon* Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims continue to spew hate in the name of love, what a contradiction!
Don’t blame the acts of Hitler on Christianity, of Osama on Islam. There is not a major religious group that does not have ugly men like these two (another sentence in that article).
Evil persists not necessarily because of evil statements above, but because we the good men and women remain silent about it. I am writing this note to let it be known, that Hindu religion should not be allowed to be tarnished with statements like the one quoted above. I will speak out against any evil notes ascribed to Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism or any faith and I hope you feel the same if not now, some day.
* Neocons, who are they? –http://hatesermons.blogspot.com/2008/03/neocons.html
Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
Foundation for Pluralism
World Muslim Congress