Author: Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan
Publication: Haindava Keralam
Date: July 6, 2008
URL: http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=6702&SKIN=B
Amarnath Shrine, situated in the Himalayan
ranges at a height of about 13,000 feet, is one of the oldest pilgrim centers
of the Hindus. Its importance and antiquity were well known even by the twelfth
century since Kalhana's Rajatarangini mentions it. Even after the Islamic
conquest of northern India, this pilgrimage continued unabated due to the
enthusiastic Hindus who have been visiting this place paying Jizya tax to
Muslim rulers during most of the Islamic period in India. Kashmiri Hindus
were eliminated totally by 15th century, initially by notorious Islamic preacher
of Syed clan, followed by cruel and merciless conversion carried out during
the rule of Sikandar and Ali Shah.
There is a traditional belief that the snow
linga in the Amarnath cave gets formed every lunar month in the bright half
and gets dissolved during the dark half. Visiting the cave temple on the Shravanapoornima
Day (July-August) is considered extremely auspicious since, according to the
mythological lore, Shiva appeared in this cave on this day. The Annual Amarnath
Yatra, which draws four to five lakhs of devotees from all over the world,
especially during the months of July-August every year when the snow linga
appears in the cave, has been a thorn in the eyes of fanatic and fundamentalist
Muslims from the very beginning. These separatists and terrorists have missed
no opportunity to scare the pilgrims away. It is a different matter that these
obscurantist forces always failed in their attempts to dissuade the faithful.
Bomb blasts, grenade attacks, fatal firing and all other acts of disruption
resulting in premature killing of scores of yatris did not shatter the faith
of the Shivbhaktas. Environmental concerns were raised to influence the opinion
and decision-making process with a single motive of restraining the number
of pilgrims. State apparatus was used to cite lack of resources and inability
to provide facilities for pilgrims even in case of natural calamities and
bad weather. And after all these attempts failed the valley-based politicians
have come together and joined hands to use transfer of land to Shree Amarnath
Shrine Board (SASB) and the august office of Governor as an excuse to malign
the Yatra.
Muslim fundamentalists in the state are frightened
by the increasing numbers of pilgrims who visit the cave for worship of the
natural formation of the ice Shiva Linga. To accommodate the increasing numbers
of pilgrims the Governor allowed the pilgrimage to go on for 60 days instead
of the previous 15 days. The Governor's action is seen as an attempt to destroy
the Muslim character of the state. The Governor is alleged to have hatched
a plot to settle outside Hindus in the State.
When the Jammu-Kashmir Government allotted
40 hectares of forest land to the Shree Amarnath Shrine Board to provide facilities
for the lacks of pilgrims visiting the holy shrine every year, it was specified
that the Shrine Board could use the land only for erecting temporary sheds
to accommodate pilgrims, permanent structures could not be put up, and the
land could not be sold or mortgaged by the Shrine Board. The People's Democratic
Front of Mufti Mohammad Syed, which was one of the partners in the ruling
Congress alliance of Jammu-Kashmir, initially agreed to the transfer of the
land to the Shrine Board. In fact, the Minister for Forests who passed the
orders was from the same party. However, under the threat and coercion from
Islamic fundamentalist forces and the main opposition party, Farook Abdullah's
National Conference, who have been opposing the transfer of land to the Shrine
Board, the PDF also joined the fanatic Islamic forces and resigned from the
ruling alliance protesting against the transfer. The ruling Congress under
Gulam Nabi Azad promptly cancelled the order allotting the land. The Congress
Party under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, which is afraid of a fall of the
Central Government and consequent general election to the Parliament, wants
to leave no stone unturned to please the Islamic Fundamentalists to secure
the Muslim vote bank.
It is in this context that the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad issued a call for nationwide Bandh on July 3, 2008, to protest against
the blatant outrage against the Hindu society by the JK Government, which
cancelled the allotment of land to Amarnath Shrine Board under threat and
coercion of Islamic terrorist and fundamentalists. Thousands of patriotic
youth and self-respecting Hindus have taken to the streets recording their
strong protest against the so-called 'secular' Governments in the Centre and
JK. The VHP has also given a call to observe the whole week as Amarnath Raksha
Saptah to create awakening among the Hindus throughout the length and breadth
of the country.
However, the most surprising and amazing fact
is that the leading Hindu Dharmacharyas all over the country-whether they
are Peethaadheeswars, Mandaleswars, Mahamandaleswars, Acharyas of the Shankara,
Ramanuja and Madhva Sampradayas or heads of internationally renowned Mutts
and Missions or leaders of different caste based religious cults and sampradayas-have
all been silent on this issue and none has the courage or guts to come out
and openly record protest over the actions of the secular politicians in the
Centre and the States. No statement has so far come from these so-called Hindu
Dharmacharyas condemning the brazen outrage against the Hindu society. Do
these Dharmacharyas think that Lord Amarnath is all-powerful and He could
solve Himself His problem and the problem of His devotees and He doesn't require
their support? Or it may that these hypocritic and spineless spiritual and
religious leaders think that their first and foremost duty is to save themselves
and their own institutions from the wrath of the secular politicians in power
by not indulging in any act that will displease them. It is also a known fact
that many of the so called Dharmacharayas are in the pay-rolls of politicians,
including those who claim at the top of their voice that they are 'secular',
who come to these religious heads for blessings for victory in the elections
and lavish their generosity in the hope that the money offered to these sadhus
and sannyasins would bring votes and victory to them in the elections.
When the structure erected by Babar at Ayodhya
to prevent Hindus from reclaiming and restoring the Rama Temple there was
brought down by patriotic Hindu youth, the Mullahs and Moulvis all over the
country came to the streets crying aloud that their 'Masjid' was demolished.
The entire Muslim world stood by them. When some state governments brought
legislations to prevent illegal conversion of poor and downtrodden Hindus
by force or inducement by Christian Evangelical Organizations, the Bishops,
Archbishops, Pastors and Nuns of all Christian institutions undertook nationwide
protest and campaigns and the World Christian Council and international missionary
organizations also protested vehemently. However, when the anti-Hindu forces
are trying to destroy the age-old pilgrim centre of Amarnath, when atheistic
forces try to demolish the Rama Sethu, when secular politicians hungering
for Muslim minority votes want to prevent construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya,
and when the Holy Ganga is polluted and destroyed by materialistic minded
industrial institutions and factories on the banks of the river and by building
dams which prevent the free flow of the water, our so called Holy Acharyas
are the most unconcerned about these. The Portugese aggressors demolished
the sacred shrine of Lord Kapaaleeswara on the seashore at Mylapore, Madras,
and the Santhome Church was built at the place. Hindus have been demanding
the restoration of the place to the Mylapore Kapaaleeswara temple. However,
the atheistic Chief Minister of the State pricks with an arrow the burning
wounds of the Hindus by declaring his open support to the production of a
mega-film on the life of Saint Thomas, whose very existence has been questioned
by historians and research scholars, and by supporting the efforts of the
cunning Christian missionaries to project a story that St. Thomas met the
great Tamil Saint, Tiruvalluvar, and converted the latter to Christianity.
Here we have to recall the event that occurred a few years ago when one Iyer,
claiming himself to be a Tamil scholar, extracted several lakhs of rupees
from the Archbishop of Mylapore by promising the latter that he would prove
that Tiruvalluvar was a Christian. Our so-called Hindu Dharmacharyas are the
least concerned about these onslaughts on Hindu culture and spiritual heritage.
What about the majority of the Hindus in the
country today? Though the country has attained independence six decades ago,
the Hindus still consider themselves to be slaves of the Muslims and Christians
who ruled over them for centuries and are prepared to renounce their rights
and liberties to appease the Muslim and Christian minorities in the country.
The Hindu politicians in the country are in the firm conviction that they
are impotent eunuchs who cannot produce a national government of their own
by standing united and that they have to helplessly depend on the minorities
to come to power by fighting against their own brethren in the Hindu society.
For getting votes of the minorities to keep themselves in power, these wretched
Hindu politicians have no hesitation to give their ancient temples and religious
centers to Muslims and Christians to build their mosques and churches. During
the Muslim and Christian rules, temples in holy places like Ayodhya, Kashi,
Mathura, Datta Peetha and Kapaleeshwara were destroyed. After Independence,
thousands of Hindu temples all over the country, especially in Muslim and
Christian dominated areas of the country, have been destroyed. Neither Hindu
politicians nor Hindu Dharmacharyas are pained by these facts and is prepared
to speak out against these atrocities.
Unfortunately today the educated Hindu youth
in the country have been brought up in total ignorance of the glorious heritage
of the country as well as its long history, and they are imparted an education
that turns them into money earning machines and beasts enjoying creature comforts
at the cost of human as well as spiritual values. The average Hindu youth
is brainwashed to such an extent that he believes that his most ancient religion
is a bundle of superstitions and meaningless rites and rituals. Valentines
Day, cocktail parties and ballroom dances are more attractive to the Hindu
youth than spiritual discourses and study of Hindu scriptures. A few exceptional
Hindu youth, who by the grace of our forefathers whose blood still flows in
their veins, have taken interest in our culture and heritage, but they are
often misled by our bogus acharyas and religious leaders who make them believe
that they need not bother about the nation or the society and it is enough
if they shell out their hard earned money to prop up the institutions of these
selfish and self-centred Acharyas in the guise of promoting Yoga and meditation.
The youth are made to believe that it is enough if they come and sit at the
feet of these traders of spirituality and they will be assured of reaching
the feet of the Lord without undertaking the hazardous and long pilgrimages
to the holy shrines of Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath.
It is a matter of shame that none of our Dharmacharyas
could issue a statement on the Amarnath issue while a French man, Francois
Gautier, who is a lover of India and its hoary past, an ardent devotee of
Sri Aurobindo, and a journalist and writer, who is also editor-in chief of
La Revue de l'inde, has expressed the pain and agony in his heart, in the
following words, in The New Indian Express :
"Reading in Paris about Kashmiri Muslims
rioting because of land transferred to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB)
and the People's Democratic Party pulling out of the Jammu and Kashmir Government
coalition, one feels a little bit surprised. The Amarnath pilgrimage is an
ancient tradition and after all, Kashmir, much before some of the inhabitants
of the Valley were converted to Islam, is the seat of Shaivism, the place
where thousands of yogis, sadhus, holy men, prayed, meditated and often attained
realization, for at least 3,000 years.
"Millions of devotees have flocked to
Amarnath over the centuries-and Muslims from Kashmir should show them generosity,
because in India, although Muslims have been a minority since the beginning,
Hindus have always respected the religion of Islam. Indeed, Muslims in India
have had a freedom that Hindus or Christians do not enjoy in Saudi Arabia
or Pakistan.
"Furthermore, Indian Muslims returning
from the Gulf, have built, in the last 20 years, tens of thousands of mosques,
thanks to the Gulf money, often with land donated by the Indian Government
and without the Hindus ever protesting.
"Kashmir is also the land of Sufism,
where the best of Islam and Vedanta blended, which allowed many generations
of Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims to worship together in mosques and temples
and attend each other's festivals. Unfortunately, after the creation of Pakistan,
a hard Sunni fundamentalism has entered the Valley mainly with Pakistan and
Afghan jihadis, and four lakh Kashmiri Hindus have been forced by death, terror
and violence, to flee the valley of their ancestors, one of the biggest ethnic
cleansings in human history."
Our Dharmacharyas do not have even an iota
of the feeling, which the French national has expressed for our culture and
heritage. Dr. Jagan Kaul of Diversity-USA has listed out the largesses that
the Hindu society has offered to the Muslims in India through our national
government:
"GOI provides air fare subsidy to about
140,000 Haj pilgrims - annually; The cost of it runs close to Rs.400 crores
annually; Subsidy runs to about Rs.35, 000 per pilgrim; GOI allows every Muslim
to transport 10 liters of holy zam zam water free of cost; There is a separate
Haj cell in the Ministry of external affairs; Haj Committee of India has its
own premises in Mumbai. Similarly such committees in each state have their
own premises on land and building provided by governments; States in India
have waqf boards. In fact Kashmir has a ministry dedicated to Muslim Affairs;
Almost all of the activities and programs of the Indian Ambassador in Riyadh
and Consul General in Jeddah are Haj related; Despite India proclaiming to
be secular all Muslims are appointed to these posts. Accommodations in Mecca
and Medina are provided and they are fitted with lifts, phones, running water,
electricity and computers; In last year's Haj a contingent of 115 doctors
including 63 specialists. 141 nurses, 3 coordinators, 46 Haj Officers, 165
Haj Assistants and 186 Khadimul Hajaj were sent from India; Facilities provided
by the Govt. include polio, meningitis and influenza vaccinations; 75 bed
hospital and 12 dispensaries; another 15-bed hospital and 6 dispensaries in
Medina, 3 medical teams at Jeddah airport; 17 ambulances in Mecca and Medina;
All medical instruments, treatments, doctors' services and medicines are free;
At Delhi Air Port a special terminal is set up for easy and quick transit
of the pilgrims." He further asks: "Perhaps our outrageously petty
minded and self righteous Muslim leaders of Kashmir will tell us what the
only Muslim majority state in India does in return for the Hindu pilgrims
in Kashmir?"
The VHP has given a call to Dharmacharyas
to come out of their Ashrams and abodes and to travel to every nook and corner
of the country, after the forthcoming Gurupoornima, to awaken the Hindu masses
about the threats that are staring at their face. We have to wait and see
how many real Dharmacharayas are there, who are willing to give up the cozy
comforts of their ashrams and come to the streets to give leadership to the
Hindus, and how many are there who are hesitant to incur the displeasure of
their 'secular' political bosses by openly supporting those who are branded
as 'radical Hindu extremists' and hide behind their mask of 'Sarva Dharma
Samabhava'. In the Guru Geeta it is rightly said, "Guravo bahavah santi
shishyavittaapahaarakah, Tamekam durlabham manye shishyahrittaapahaarakam"-"There
are many Gurus who relieve their disciples of their money, but it is difficult
to find a Guru who will relieve the anguish in the heart of his disciple."
(Guru Gita, 3.269). Here is the litmus test for our Guru clan today. Let us
see how many of them will prove themselves to be worthy of the order of sannyasins
and Gurus like Vidyaranya, Samarth Ramdas, Guru Gobind, Swami Vivekananda,
Swami Rama Tirtha and Mahayogi Aurobindo for whom the country and the society
are greater than heaven and salvation.
The solution to the present imbroglio in which
Hindu society and nation are caught is not in a handful of Hindu tigers and
lions who are still left in the society turning into 'suicide squads' as someone
advocates, but in their turning of them into real warriors of Hindu cause
like Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Teg Bahadur, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad and
Netaji Subhas who will raise their arms to protect the nation and Hindu Dharma,
to fight, annihilate the evil forces and come out victorious in establishing
Hindu Rashtra in this holy land. If fanatic and fundamentalist Christian militants,
Islamic terrorists, and Russian and Chinese inspired Communist extremists
can take this country to ransom, valiant Hindu militants can give a crushing
blow to these forces by paying them in their own coin. Gandhism failed to
emancipate this land from foreign rule, whereas Subhashism succeeded in creating
revolt in the army, navy and air force and compel the British to leave this
land.
Of course, in the pre-Independence days we
had to fight against alien enemies who were ruling over us. However, today,
we have to fight against the stooges of those alien enemies who have been
left behind to continue the work of destruction of our nationalism and freedom
and integrity of our nation. It is an unfortunate fact that these modern Kauravas
have been bred in our own country and have emerged out of our own people,
but patriotic people of this country, like the Pandavas, should take up arms
against these Kauravas to reestablish Dharma on this land. When Arjuna hesitated
to take up arms against his own Acharya and Pitamaha in the camp of the Adharmic
Kauravas, Lord Krishna gave him a lash in the Gita sloka:
"Kutastwaa kashmalamidam vishame samupastitam,
anaaryajushtham, aswargyam akeertikaram arjuna"-"
Wherefrom you got this delusion in this hour
of crisis; this is unbecoming of an Arya (a noble son of Bharata), and this
will deny heaven and bring disrepute also to you.
To the awakened Arjuna, He assured,
"hato waa praaapsyasi swargam, jitwaa
waa bhokshyase maheem, Tasmaaduttishtha kaunteya yuddhaaya krita nischayah!"
-"If you are killed in this righteous
battle, you are assured of heaven, and if you are victorious, you will rule
the earth. Therefore get up and fight with determination!"
This is the message that is to be conveyed
to the Hindu youth who will turn into real lion cubs.
Today, Hindu militarism alone can cleanse
this nation of the evil forces left behind in this country, which corrode
our national existence like cancerous germs. We sit before the TV watching
films that depict heroes, who see the hypocrisy of people in power, the corruption
and nepotism in the government machinery and the helplessness of the poor
and downtrodden people, and raise their arms to annihilate the evil forces,
take law into their own hands and finally put an end to Adharma, even at the
cost of their own lives and that of their kith and kin. When we appreciate
and admire such heroes in the films, we must earnestly pray for such living
heroes to come up in the real life of the nation and society. That day, when
we find such brave and courageous Hindu youth endowed with prowess on their
shoulders and arms, will bring the salvation to our glorious Motherland, Bharatavarsha.
Let us invoke Shri Bharata Bhavani to produce such valiant children in thousands
very soon. Vande Mataram!
*Sadhu Prof. V. Rangarajan*
Founder & Spiritual Head, Sri Bharatamata Gurukula Ashram &
Yogi Ramsuratkumar Indological Research Centre,
Sister Nivedita Academy, Sri Bharatamata Mandir
Srinivasanagar, Krishnarajapuram, Bangalore 560 036
