Not in my name

· by · in Humanity, India, Politics, Religion. ·

It’s all done and dusted and Ram Lalla has been installed at Ayodhya today. I see others dissenting against the prevailing sentiment of jubilation in the country and want to add my two paise’s worth of ‘Not in my name’.

I believe religion should be a personal and not a mob emotion. And not politics. Organised religion has been at the root of conflict all over the world, across human history, and on every scale from domestic to international. Believe or don’t believe, worship or don’t worship, but do it in your heart and not ‘in your face’ in public spaces. I believe that a person’s religion is an accident of birth and has nothing to do with their goodness or badness. I will always judge a person by their kindness and honesty and not by where they came from or what they have achieved.

I have nothing against Rama. I think he was a good king, by the mores of his time, who was deified in the way of ancient, monarchical cultures. I have quite a close acquaintance with the Valmiki Ramayana, having scripted the Amar Chitra Katha six volume collection. I worked on it from 2010 to 2017. It is undeniably a great epic – heroic, inspiring, sometimes lyrical, full of moral dilemmas that are of eternal interest, and a fascinating window into our past. Studying it was a wonderful experience. But in the last ten years, it has made us into a country of bigots. I wish religious people, instead of regressing into some kind of mumbo jumbo, would turn to Swami Vivekananda, whose idea of Hinduism was so liberal and embraced humanity, science and modernity. Here are three thrilling articles on his philosophy:

Swami Vivekananda and the Concept of Freedom in Indian Culture

Swami Vivekananda and the Concept of Freedom in Indian Culture – Part 2

Overcoming Religious Intolerance

And here is a very pertinent (and prescient) story by Tagore.

https://scroll.in/article/969579/there-is-no-god-in-that-temple-said-the-hermit-rabindranath-tagore-wrote-this-poem-in-1900

I’ll end by saying that I’m not religious and do not believe in an anthropomorphic god. But I do love and revere nature with all my heart, and I think that’s the true Hinduism of the Vedas.

A good kind of saffron

28 responses to “Not in my name”

  1. this is right up my alley ! religion should be embracing, inclusive and NEVER NEVER degenerate into bigotry; I am sorry and sad that things have degenerated to such a pass 😦 I have similar love and respect for the tenets of Buddhism and Christianity —

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Thank you, Harini, for the thought-provoking
    and excellent essay! Using in your argument
    both, Swami ji, and my beloved poet, Tagore was a brilliant idea as could disagree with the giants of Indian culture?!
    Joanna

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Disclaimer: I’m a theist and religious and follow traditions to some extent. I would disagree that religion is an accident of birth. Unless there are rules against conversion, religion is based on faith and one can chose what they believe in. I do fully agree that the current state of religiousness is bigotry or mad following and trendy than the belief. I see temples as wonderful reminders to humans of values. While I am happy that Ram Lalla has been installed, looking at the celebrations in the apartment societies littered with shrewd business people I can’t help but question did we really embrace Rama’s integrity or just celebrating out of fomo. We are the people who celebrate big and exit the building driving on the wrong side of the road. 🙂
    I believe religions are like codes of conduct, without which there will be madness. Well intended, but poorly implemented

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks, Sadagopan! I’m happy to hear your views even if they differ from mine. Mine were not very different from yours a few years ago. I’ve arrived here after some years of mental anguish at seeing how religion has affected people and society. I also know the same circumstances have affected other people in the opposite way! I think mine is a rational response and that is why I refer to Swami Vivekananda’s championship of reasoning.
      I say religion is an accident of birth because it is a very small percentage of people that convert to other religions. Even though we have the freedom to convert, family affection and culture generally keep us in the religion to which we were born. And if you examine it closely, fear of the unknown, of being adrift, also keeps us anchored. I am still coming to terms with this. However my morals and ethics have not changed and do not need religion to keep them alive – that is done by empathy and recognition that we are all made of the same material and all equally vulnerable.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. I consider myself a Hindu because it’s a part of my genes, like my brown skin. And I love many aspects of our culture – the music, art, literature, philosophy… When I blame religion for the ills of humanity, I’m not referring to Hinduism or any other particular religion. Just religion in general, especially the strong and exclusive identification with any of them. At best all religions are theories, which may or may not be correct. Why hate or condemn those whose theories are different from ours?

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    • Thanks, Prerna! Read the excerpt and found it both interesting and maddening! I think I will preserve my sanity by not reading the whole book. I wish someone would write a manual on what we can do to counter the fundamentalist loonies!

      Liked by 2 people

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