All questions and no answers.
Think and act before it is too late!
By Aravind Bhatikar
EVENTS described in the Hindu epic “Ramayana” are believed to have taken place in the “treata yuga” and those described in “Mahabharata” in “dvapar yuga.” The treta yuga is so called because of the three kings, namely, Vaman, Parshuram and Ram — all believed to be incarnations of Lord Vishnu and whose reigns were based on morality and truth. The Hindu religion is believed to be at least 5,000 years old, though treta yuga is mentioned in literature on Hinduism is about 9,000 years old.
While Christianity in India is about 2,000 years old, Islam arrived in the 7th Century AD. Both Christianity and Islam were spread through conversions, varying in methods and extent.
Despite religious conversions that have taken place, Hindus constitute about 80% of the Indian population today. Crores of Hindus have been worshipping hundreds of gods and goddesses for thousands of years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 73 years and four months old to date, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is only 43 years old. Modi’s attempts to project himself as the savior of the Hindu religion
(Hindutva), and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s much hyped campaign to take credit for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, are bound to fall on deaf years since Ram, a god who lived in treta yuga is an indelible part of the Hindu psyche for thousands of years. Hinduism does not need a 73-year-old politician or a 43-year-old political party to come to its rescue!
But we Indians need to ask ourselves these questions:
- Should we not reject firmly the attempts by Narendra Modi and the BJP’s attempts to politicize our Hindu gods — who do not need any political patronage?
- Prime Minister Modi has visited many temples all over the country as a part of his “anusthan” before the “pran pratishtha” or consecration of the Ayodhya temple (which took place on January 22, 2024).
- Why should the Indian taxpayer pay for the PM’s salary and other expenditure for the 11 days of “anusthan” when he may not have done any official work as the prime minister of India?
- Should not the Hindu population of India reject Narendra Modi and the BJP for disobeying, disrespecting and dishonoring the four Shankaracharya of Hindu religion, just to get political mileage from the religious event at Ayodhya?
Think and act to save our Democracy
