Debating Hinduism – What Radicals and Progressives Could Think About
by: Murli Natrajan on September 23rd, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This is a link to a post of my responses to many comments that have appeared as response to my piece on Mussolini’s Hindus and how to battle them in the latest Tikkun available here. Some of my comments are also as a follow-up to the “hate mails” that were posted on this site in response to the call to the Financial Times to not give an award to the chief minister of the state of Gujarat under whose administration a pogrom that resulted in the killing of 2000 people (mostly Muslims) occurred in 2002 and continues to reveal some shocking violations of basic human rights (see here for a petition to the Prime Minister of India following up on a high court decision that indicted the same administration for the most recent murder of a Muslim student).
Interested readers can read the entire piece from Tikkun and the responses here
Peace
Murli
Mr. Natrajan,
In your article on Mussolini’s Hindus, you state:
“Gandhi began this task a long time ago by reworking the key Hindu concept of moksha or Hindu liberation as not meaning an other-worldly existence (the Hindu orthodox view), but rather as an ongoing quest for ethical living in the here and now.”
It was not Gandhi that started this idea, but the great 11th century social reformer, Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja, who promoted the monotheistic sect of Vaishnavism. Ramanuja’s philosophy was inspired by the great Tamil poets/mystics, the Alwars. who rejected the notion of a Heaven in favor of a world of mutual harmony and spiritually-inspired social activism. Moksha, in the Alwars’ perspective, was release from the bondage of self-obsession and materialism such that one could find true purpose and happiness in being of benefit to the world. The Ramanuja Vaishnava tradition still has ardent followers throughout the world; so it’s progressive approach is still reaching out to others, despite the onslaught of the Hindu right.
Dear Mohan,
Very sorry for the late reply and acknowledgment. I was out of commission for a while. Thank you very much for the insightful comment on Ramanuja. Of the orthodox movements, Ramanuja’s was most definitely most progressive. Some may have even thought of it as radical. Its legacy is thankfully still around.
However, my mentioning of Gandhi is (perhaps implicitly in the article), referring to a modern era reformist mode that embraced the creation of a more just society as central to spiritual liberation. In this sense, i would say that gandhi went beyond most of his predecessors on this path by openly engaging in “politics” — something that is needed to bring about societal change and also something that is “normally” thought of as too profane by most other reformers. He also had an economic agenda that is required to restructure any material basis for social life. A more aesthecized or spiritualized approach to reworking the idea of moksha does not necessarily engage in this.
Anyway, none of this is to detract from Ramanuja’s or the Alwar’s contributions, even all their much publicized efforts to break caste practices.