Author: Chinmay Bajekal
Swami Vivekananda at the parliament
of religions in Chicago (1893) mentioned in his speech, that he was proud
to belong to a Nation that gave safe refuge to several persecuted communities
of the world. In history we find examples of the Jews, Syrian Christians,
Zoroastrians, and in recent times the Tibetan Buddhists who after being
driven out of their homeland sought safe refuge in India. The native Indians
back then - Hindus not just accommodated these refugees but also gave them
the freedom to practice their respective faiths.
Long ago, even before the birth
of the Greek and Roman Empires, our Vedic Seers had declared 'Vasudaiva
kutumbakam' - "The world is one family". Long before the modern world came
out with the concept of 'Universal welfare' our Vedic prayer throughout
the ages has been 'Loka samastha sukinau Bhavantu' - "May entire world
attain bliss". Even the modern concept of freedom of thought is respected
in the Vedic verse, 'Ekam sat vipraha, bahudha vadanti' - "Truth is one
the wise call it by various names". The verse expresses the matured understanding
of the Human mind that the ancient thinkers of India possessed.
Centuries ago when sects like Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism came as reformist movements to correct what their founders
perceived as wrong or unwanted in the society, the Hindus did not suppress
these reformers but gave them the freedom and space to grow. Sri Adi Shankaracharya
brought many back to the Hindu fold not through force, coercion, incentives
or threat but by preaching in the form of debates.
Thus, Indian virtues like 'pluralism',
'tolerance', 'freedom of thought' and 'Universal welfare' pre-date the
arrival of the 'secular' concept in India. This point needs to be emphasized
as in today's India 'secularism' is unjustifiably credited for all these
Indian virtues and the term is being misused to suppress the movement of
'national renaissance' also known as Hindutva that aims at preserving the
very culture which actually deserves credit for these age-old virtues of
India.
Secularism originated in Europe
centuries ago when the Kings revolted and overthrew the theocratic hegemony
of the Pope from over their kingdoms and established their own rule. But
India has never known such a conflict, thus the western secularism never
was relevant for India. However today many Indians perceive 'secularism'
to be a synonym of 'pluralism' and 'tolerance', but they perceive the very
culture that blessed the Indian society with these noble features from
the Western perspective of being a "religion".
The pseudo-seculars in India who
swear by secularism would like to have us believe that any threat or challenge
to the concept of secularism in India would endanger the age-old pluralism
of the country. Little do these self-proclaimed defenders of secularism
realize that wherever in the Indian subcontinent Hinduism declines, with
it declines the support for secularism too (whichever kind of secularism
that may be).Pakistan & Bangladesh two of our neighbouring countries
were formed out of the same territory and people of undivided India, yet
they are far from being secular.
The need of the hour for India is
the recognition of the fact that India does not owe its great virtues of
pluralism, diversity and tolerance to any western concept or ideology,
but to the influence over India of Vedic culture and philosophy. And also
to be understood is the fact that India's age-old virtues shall not be
endangered by the questioning of the relevance of secularism to the world's
oldest and most pluralistic civilization.
India has always been a country
that has welcomed reforms, and encouraged new ideas. It has never resorted
to prejudicial behavior. Unfortunately the manner in which the self-proclaimed
seculars in India spew venom over the movement of 'national renaissance'
and call for 'de-saffronization' is in reality an act that is 'de-Indianizing'
as it does not go well with the ethos of our ancient country which tolerated
different views.
