By Sivdat S. Durjan
Presented at the Caribbean and the Americas Hindū Forum (CAHF) on Friday, September 13, 2024, at 8 pm.
Namaskar everyone! Thank you, Dr. Somdat Ji, for your introduction. You have been too good to me with your kind words. I am simply a very proud and assertive Hindu. I would first like to acknowledge Pujya Swami AksharanadaJi who all of us would agree is the greatest promoter and defender of Sanathan Dharma in the history of Guyana, the Caribbean and perhaps in the western world. Many of us have personally benefited immensely from his teachings of Hinduism and shall forever be grateful to him for being our mentor and guru. Without him, many of us would have been much less educated as Hindus and would be spiritually diminished. During our discussion tonight, I will make references to some of Swami Ji’s writings and teachings, so I need to credit him in advance. I also want to thank Dr. Somdat Ji for being my other mentor and a great friend. He is undoubtedly an outstanding scholar in Hinduism. I would be remiss if I do not mention the immense contributions of Ravi Dev Ji, Dr. Baytoram Ramharack Ji and Dr. Ramesh Gampat Ji. They are all stalwarts for the Hindu cause, and we have all benefited tremendously from their knowledge and work on behalf of Hinduism.
Although we all know that Hinduism or Sanathan Dharm is not a religion, but our way of life, I shall refer to Hinduism as if it is our religion for purposes of this discussion. We use the word religion reluctantly because of its western connotation.
So tonight, we will talk about why it is extremely important for us to be grounded in Hinduism. There are two parts to this discussion. Firstly, what do we mean by grounded in Hinduism. Grounding Hinduism simply means that we should be educated about its basic principles, and we should develop a strong love to embrace it in its entirety. Lastly, having acquired the necessary knowledge and love for Hinduism, we must muster the courage to vigorously always defend it. So, what are some of the principles of Hinduism. Hinduism teaches spirituality, peace, non-violence, morality, modesty, respect for life, love for family and fellow Hindus, reverence for our mothers and fathers, our gurus and our gods just to mention a few. In terms of educating ourselves we need to take the time to study and clearly understand the teachings contained in our various religious texts. Reading and understanding the SrimadBhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana, just to name those two, will be of great help by infusing us with tremendous knowledge. The wisdom that Lord Krishna gave to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita was the most priceless gift that was ever given for the benefit of the entire world. Also, the great lessons from the Ramayana are of tremendous importance for all Hindus. The knowledge contained in those two texts is relevant today as it was in the time they written and will continue to be relevant in the future. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and we need to use that power to stand proud and strong as Hindus and not afraid to defend our dharma. Somdat Ji wisely advised that we need to be careful about the English translated version of our texts. Some of those translated texts do not fully capture the full meaning of the original language although they were done with the best of intentions. On the other hand, there are some texts that have been translated by non-Hindus to deliberately mislead many of us about the truth in our original texts. So please be aware.
Now after educating ourselves with the basic principles of Hinduism, we will automatically develop an unbreakable love for our religion. The more understanding and knowledge we acquire about Hinduism, the more love we will develop for it, and we will become even more staunch Hindus. Our love for Hinduism should not be superficial, it must be sincere and once it is sincere it will become eternal over time.
In pursuit of our education, it is very important that we get a thorough understanding of Hinduism’s glorious history and our rich culture. We all come from the oldest and greatest civilization in the world for which we should all be extremely proud. Most of today’s discoveries and inventions in modern science are basically a rediscovery of previously existing knowledge that existed in the past in India. It is imperative that we familiarize ourselves with the immense contributions Hinduism has made to society since the dawn of civilization. These are in the fields of science, technology, medicine, mathematics, art, culture, spirituality, philosophy, politics and even the art of war just to name a few among many others. All the knowledge about the universe that is portrayed today as new discoveries with the most modern technology is knowledge that are in our ancient texts going back to thousands and thousands of years ago. Until recently many events in Hinduism’s history were labeled as all myths but now science has proven that those events did in fact took happened. One example is the Ram Setu bridge. Many years ago, the western world doubted its existence until it was photographed by NASA from outer space. That was credible enough for the west to acknowledge that the bridge existed as described in the Ramayana thousands of years ago. Carbon dating tests were conducted on materials from the bridge and the results showed that it dates back exactly to the time as described in the Ramayana. It is very important for all Hindus to understand that Hinduism is based strictly on scientific knowledge not on dogmas as Swamji taught us. All our customs and practices are based on science and all of it can be proven. There has never been any other civilization that has had near the vast amount of knowledge that emanated from Hinduism. All our knowledge was shared with the entire world by our great sages and rishis throughout history. That knowledge continues to have positive impact on our lives and on society in general. Most of us will not have a very deep and vast knowledge of Hinduism like highly educated Hindu scholars but at a minimum we should learn the basic teachings of Hinduism. Educating ourselves about those teachings in especially the Srimad Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana is very important for us so that we have the knowledge to be firmly grounded in Hinduism. We cannot credibly say that we are strong and proud Hindus unless we educate ourselves in our Sanatana Dharma. There is the saying that we should protect dharma and dharma will protect us. But how can we protect dharma when we do not have agood understanding of dharma. Not to belabor the point, but the bottom line here is we must make time to educate ourselves as much as we possibly can so we will have the knowledge and conviction to say that we are educated enough to understand and defend our dharma.
In addition to educating ourselves in Hinduism, we mustdevelop a passionate love and respect for our Hindu religion. Allthe knowledge in the world about our religion is meaningless if we do not have an abundance of love for Hinduism. When that bond has been firmly established, it will automatically lead us to take action to stand up strong and fearlessly defend Hinduism. Many Hindus have the knowledge and the love for our religion but are somehow afraid or unwilling to defend Hinduism against all the forces that want to destroy us. Those who make that choice are failing in their duty as Hindus. We should never be afraid to stand firmly in defense of Hinduism because that fear will ultimately encourage anti Hindu forces to take advantage of that weakness and try to attack and destroy our way of life. We do not have to go and fight with non-Hindus but we should speak up when we hear our religion is being attacked. We should also write in various ways to support and defend Hinduism. Please remember that one of the fundamental principles of Hinduism is to use all our knowledge and strength to fiercely defend dharma.
Now we shall discuss the importance of all Hindus to be grounded in our religion. It is a fact that when we do not possess the required knowledge and unfettered love for Hinduism, then we are unable to defend it against those who want to demean and shame us. They use our lack of knowledge to silence us and then we begin to have doubts in our minds about our Hindu culture. Whenever we are unable to answer basic questions about our religion, then we become unsure of our religious knowledge. The lack of knowledge inevitably leads to self-doubtwhich then leads us to questioning various aspects of Hinduism. We also become frustrated because we are unable to explain in a convincing way as to why we are Hindus. We then allow our emotions to overcome us and end up making wrong decisions that are contrary to Hinduism. Ultimately, all of this will make us vulnerable to proselytizers who are always ready to create more self-doubts in us and will seek to denigrate Hinduism and then silence us. Their ultimate objective of course is to convert us to their “religion”. All of this will happen if we do not educate ourselves about Hinduism, if we do not build that eternal love for Hinduism and if we do not muster that courage and fearlessness to defend Hinduism. None of us would want that to happen.
It would be instructive for us to analyze some lessons that are relevant to our discussion here tonight from the SrimadBhagavat agita. We all know about the bitter hatred that the kauravas had for the pandavas that resulted in the Mahabharata war. When Arjuna saw the army of the kauravas who were arrayed against him and vowed to destroy him, he recognized many of his close relatives had joined with the kauravas. On seeing that, Arjuna was overcome with emotion because he did not want to fight against his relatives. Being an invincible warrior, he knew that he would have to kill them if he goes to war. He did not want to kill his close relatives. Now it was not that Arjuna was not grounded or that he did not have a strong love for Hinduism or that he was not a fierce defender of Hinduism. He was a great warrior and he had the knowledge, love and the courage to defend that which is righteous. But he somehow became overwhelmed with emotion and so he refused to fight contrary to his duty. The question that arises now is whether Arjuna had all the right qualities, then how come he became weak and fell prey to emotions. We will discuss this issue a little later. The lesson here, as discussed previously, is that we must not allow weaknesses and emotions to take hold of us because it will lead to us making wrong decisions.
The other lesson that we need to learn here is that had Arjuna been firmly grounded and educated himself in Hinduism, he would have known that those who he saw as his close relatives were really snakes disguised as his relatives. Lord Krishna had to point that out to him. We need to understand that the use of this example involving Arjuna is in no way, shape or form meant to imply that Arjuna was not extremely knowledgeable or that he did not have the greatest love for his religion or that he did not possess unquestioned bravery. On the contrary, he was a fountain of knowledge, he had deep love for his religion, and he was as brave as a lion. So, something mysterious happened. It was explained by some very learned Hindus that Lord Krishna himself deliberately interceded through his divine powers that caused Arjuna senses to be dulled and confused him to appear weak and emotional. He did this so that he, Lord Krishna, could then use that moment to reveal his great knowledge to Arjuna and the entire world for eternity. So again, the lesson here is that if we are not firmly grounded in Hinduism, we will not have the ability to distinguish between righteousness and evil and between our true relatives and our enemies disguised as relatives. It cannot be overstated how dangerous it is for us Hindus when we are unable to distinguish between friends from enemies. Hindus are so kind and trusting that they often delude themselves into believing that not all their enemies are bad, it is just a few. This thought process is extremely naive and dangerous.
Another issue that needs mentioning is that many Hindus will often say that all religions are the same all the gods are the same. We never hear any non-Hindus say the same thing, only Hindus often make that statement. Such a statement is based on stupidity, not on understanding Hinduism. It is an emotional statement rather than reality. Hinduism does not teach hate, killings and plundering. Nor does it seek to impose its will on others or compel others to follow its way of life. Lord Krishna gave us the knowledge for the best way to live and then he said that we should ponder upon that knowledge and then decide for ourselves if we want to use that knowledge of how to live. All the other so-called religions teach the opposite of Hindu values so how can all religions be the same. They are obviously fundamentally different so we must recognize that. They say that there is only one God which is their god and there is only one book which is their book. They have no sense of tolerance.
Not to digress further from the subject of our discussion, but Hindus have somehow become so soft and sentimental that many of us will put other people’s interests above our own. Swami Ji reminds us of the adage that if the Hindu house is burning and a neighbor house is burning, the Hindu will rush to put the fire on the neighbor’s house and let his own house burn. This type of thinking and behavior extends to many other situations. Hindus need to always put their interests and the interests of their fellow Hindus above all others in all situations. Many of our Hindu brothers and sisters seem to have great sympathy for non-Hindus but not for their own. It is a fact that we cannot love any children or family more than our own and so we should love our Hindu brothers and sisters above all others. If we do not love our own Hindu brothers and sisters, then we are only deluding ourselves into believing that we love non-Hindus. As an example, many Hindus get heartbroken when they see people suffering from poverty or war all over the world but have no compassion for suffering people in their motherland, India. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that he worries over things that he should not be worried about. Let us worry about our own Hindus not about those who want to destroy us. It is nauseatingto read and listen to many Hindus who give advice to others to support actions and organizations that are totally contrary to the teachings and values of Hinduism. Our support for any actions must be based strictly on what is in the best interest of Hindus and Hinduism. What is good for Hindus and Hinduism is also good for everyone and the world.
In closing, I would like to reiterate strong encouragement for all Hindus to immerse ourselves in our dharma. Grounding ourselves in Hinduism is supremely important as we have discussed earlier. Defending our dharma is not a choice for us, it is our sacred duty.
So my dear Hindu family, let us all work hard to promote and protect our dharma so that we can stand tall with our heads high with the greatest of pride always. Let us all remember that we are the descendants of the greatest civilization in history. We came from the most sacred land in the world, Bharat. So let us use every opportunity to ground ourselves firmly in Hinduism so that we can bequeath a great legacy for Hindus for eternity.
Thank you for listening and may Shree Krishna bless all of you.
