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Religious Cultures and Dharmic Culture – Racism, Freedom of speech, Intolerance and Reservations
Buddhism
Buddhism is one of the world’s earliest religions, though much younger than Sanatana Dharma
Fourth-largest religion after Christianity and Islam, (assuming all their sects are taken together) and Hinduism / Sanatana Dharma.
Buddhism is both a religion and a philosophy largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
Three concepts, Karma, Rebirth, Samsara shared from Sanatana Dharma but interpreted slightly differently.
They classify themselves as Theravada or Mahayana. Both accept the Buddha as their teacher. Both accept the Middle way, Dependent origination, Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path and Three marks of existence, yet still differentiate between themselves.
Both accept that members of the Laity and of the Sangha can pursue the path toward enlightenment (Bodhi)
Both consider Buddhahood to be the highest attainment. They do not believe that this world was created and is ruled by a God
They consider that the purpose of life is to develop compassion for all living beings without discrimination and to work for their good, happiness and peace and to develop wisdom leading to the realization of the Ultimate Truth.
BUT They do not get along well with the other, except only in India.
It is Time now for all ‘Right Thinking’ Buddhists to ‘Stand -up’ and Speak against all strife and call for Harmony amongst ALL, if you don’t do so even now, then you and the rest of the silent majority of Buddhists are making yourself irrelevant.
Hinduism /Sanatana Dharma
The world’s oldest Philosophy of Life based on evidence / observation and rational logic, always encouraging an Interrogative /Questioning attitude. The eternal Rules or Laws of the Universe that you are obligated to recognise and follow for your happiness.
Not really a religion but seen as one by others. Three concepts, Karma, Rebirth, Samsara. With over 1,280 Sacred Books,10,000 Commentaries, more than one lakh sub-commentaries for these foundation books, 330 million Gods, (all manifestations of the ONE God), or No God at all, variety of Acharya’s, thousands of Rishis, hundreds of languages… still everyone goes to the SAME TEMPLE …
Hindus /Sanatana Dharmists, have never quarrelled with each other over the past tens of thousands of years in the name of religion/ beliefs though they often debate thereon, and ALL go to ALL the Temples. Only in the recent past have the British and other colonisers, and now the Politicians, tried to create divisions to rule/ garner votes.
Sanatana Dharmists do not evangelize or proselytize or look down on those having different religious beliefs, as being inferior or pagan. They have always encouraged the others to follow their own faith peacefully, living in harmony with all. Ofcourse, Sanatana Dharmists are always willing to explain their own beliefs and reasons therefor, and about their culture to all those who see that as exemplary and seek to learn.
The moral for ALL therefore is:
– to avoid hypocrisy, self-righteousness and censoriousness and encourage respectful tolerance of the others’ differing views and beliefs.
– to live in harmony with ALL and strive to attain Heaven in this Life and on this Earth itself.
– to KEEP RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS and POLITICS OUT OF RELIGION and not let citizens of other countries dictate to you how to conduct your customs and your religious beliefs in your country.
Your Religious Leaders must be from those within your own country to avoid diverse pulls on your loyalties and patriotism, and in any case only those who do not make any unproven claims to be the sole representatives and interpreters for your God, thus denying you the right to commune with your chosen God directly –
to follow the Golden Rule-
“DO NOT DEMAND OF, OR DO UNTO OTHERS, WHAT YOU WOULD NOT WANT THEM TO DEMAND OF, OR DO UNTO YOU!”
– to encourage keeping your ‘Ishta Devata’ (Personal God) as your own personal God, and interact with that Deity directly. No Ambassador/ Interpreter/ Representative should be there between your Deity and you. Keep your beliefs to yourself, your family and your community. Do not see the others as pagans/ unbelievers, and do not look down on the choice of deity of others, and also do not try to proselytize / evangelize and seek to convert them, after all it is the one and only, all loving God that created you and them all.
It will then be when the killing and real intolerance will stop and there will be PEACE on EARTH!
India is the only Country in the world wherein people and sects of ALL Religions and Beliefs have always lived in peace, as long as they did not seek to convert the others.
Jews and Parsis, who do not seek to proselytize, or seek reservations, or preferential treatment, at the cost of others, are the best examples. Religious groups that seek to convert others by force or inducements, when they are the Rulers or, even in a Democracy when they are over 20 percent of the population, all their sects too live in peace in India when they do not seek conversion of the others – and yet they speak of intolerance. What INTOLERANCE and BY WHOM?
g). Xenophobia/ Racism
Another form of discrimination that seeks ways to look down on others and thereby boost their own esteem in the eyes of their colleagues. They target those that look different, have different skin colour or features and comment thereon to feel a sense of superiority in being even only average in the local majority.
However, the tendency to confuse colloquial identification, as identifying persons by their different home locations, such as ‘Bihari’, ‘Madrasi’, ‘Pahadi’ etc., with real racial comments needs to be better understood and resisted.
After all, even Police and anyone else may identify persons by sex, looks/ features, weight, height, skin colour, hair or bald, fat or thin, tall or short, young or old, accent and dress style. Such identification is very common amongst friends, class or team mates, who often categorize their fellows as ‘motu’ (fat), ‘patlu’ (thin), ‘kaalu’ (dark or black), ‘ghora’ (Fair or white), ‘ganju’ (bald), ‘chottu'(small or young), ‘lambu’ (tall),’budda’ (old), and so on, which cannot really always be taken to mean a racist or denigrating comment.
Of course, falsely claiming a familiarity and the privilege that goes with it, and using such terms for strangers indicates disrespect, again not always racism, and should be dealt with accordingly, context is important. The attitude should be-
“Call me as you like, but it better be in a proper tone and accompanied with a smile, otherwise I may take it as ‘fighting talk’, in any case the choice to respond appropriately or even to not respond at all is always mine.”
Xenophobia/Racism is best eradicated by education, cultural exchanges, travel and tourism, with the aim of developing greater empathy and sensitivity for others.
Remember ALL humans on Earth, from the Pygmy in the forests of Congo to the Eskimo in the Arctic and all others in between are genetically traced as being children of only Five or at most Twelve mothers, and with near negligible genetic differences between them. (See- India- Prehistory).
Today, let us all see ourselves as ONE NATION/ ONE HUMANITY, as each of us is, because we all are; (Ubuntu), and also see the others in the world as One Family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam), and live and work together in Harmony and for Prosperity and Happiness for All!
JAIN BHARAT! – JAI HIND!