Hinduism at the Crossroads -- Reflections on our Heritage

Will Hindus choose the road to pluralism and communal harmony or the road to exclusion and conflict?

As we near the end of our observation of October as the Hindu Heritage Month, it is a good time to remind ourselves that what we think of today as our ‘heritage’ are the outcomes of the actions of our forefathers, some of whom may well have been considered rebellious and unorthodox in their times.

So, even as we think of all that we have inherited – the good, the bad, and the ugly -- let us also be conscious that our own actions (or lack of action) today could shape what our future generations will see as part of their heritage.

What do we wish to bequeath to our future generations?

Do we want them to think of this century as a time when Hindus swerved from the path of tolerance and acceptance of religious diversity, to an era of intolerance, bigotry, and violence?

Do we want them to remember us as Hindus who merely looked on, as extremists amongst us destroyed India’s delicately balanced constitution that called for Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity among all communities?

Will they read in their history books that this was a dark period when the quest to avenge history led to the wanton assault on the heritage of other faiths and their right to live as equal citizens?

Will they remember our spiritual leaders, not for their pursuance of the great Upanishadic thought, Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, but for their near-complete silence over the deadly acts of intolerance and violence in the name of all Hindus?

Will they hold us responsible for neglecting our critical role in saving Mother Earth from the devastation of global warming, as we were too busy settling scores?

 OR

Do we want our future generations to remember us for our determined fight against majoritarian dictatorship to reclaim our heritage from bigoted politicians?

Do we want this century to be remembered as a period when we took major steps to end the ugly legacy of the caste system?

A period when we began the dared to imagine a progressive Hinduism that represented the best of all of us, including the historically oppressed peoples, and respected the best of our co-religions?

A period when we formed global alliances with other peoples of the world to tackle climate change and did our part as the world’s third largest religious population?

Let us remember that India’s body politic, of which Hinduism forms a major part, is by definition a multi-cultural, multi-religious, pluralistic animal. India’s freedom fighters and the ‘fathers of the nation’ signed off on a compact endorsing that vision in 1947 and in 1950.

Over these 75 years, all communities have together steered the ship of Indian democracy over calm seas as well as stormy seas, but always slowly heading towards the destination of equality and fraternity. We cannot change the rules in the middle of the game. We must not change our destination mid seas and declare that we were after all meant to be a majoritarian ‘Hindu Rashtra,’ and that other faith communities must accept their lot as second-class citizens.

India’s body politic is such that one can’t simply violently cut off parts of that body and hope that the rest of the body will grow stronger. Such short-sightedness endangers all of us and can only lead to the complete destruction of peace and harmony, which will haunt the Indian kutumbam (family) for decades to come.

Hindus are at the crossroads today. It is really up to each one of us to decide which road we choose.