Conversion is Violence -Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Part II

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Namaste, all

 

Concluding part of the Article is given below:

 

 

 

"Once, I went to Kilpauk Mental Hospital. Just for a visit, of course. It is my

own imagination. It is not true. The Kilpauk Hospital is one of the most ancient

mental hospitals in this country. Next one is in Agra. We have got the number

one status in many things and this is one!

 

Early morning all the crows had flown away. Nobody was there. I saw a man

standing under a huge tree talking in loud voice,” Listen to me. I have come

here, sent down by God, to save all of you. Y(u please ask for forgiveness of

your ins. Those who want to be saved, please raise your hands”. Then he said,

“Thank you, thank you, thank you”. He thought that from the audience many people

had raised their hands. But there was no audience. I was the only one standing

behind him. Not even in front of him. I was naturally amused but I was not

surprised, because I knew where I was.

 

As I was enjoying this situation, well, I heard a voice from the heaven. It

said, “This is God speaking. I did not send him down. Don’t believe him”. When I

looked up, there was one more fellow – sitting on the tree.

 

This is a non-verifiable belief as you can see. In addition most of these

religions when they talk of heaven, are promotes of tourism, really speaking. I

am interested in making my life here, right now. If there is something you have

got to say to make my life different, I am ready to listen to you. if there are

some pairs of ears ready to listen to some other ting, let them have the

freedom.

 

That there is a heaven is a non-verifiable belief. That following this

person, I will go to haven, is another non-verifiable belief. That I will

survive death is a non-verifiable belief. There is nothing wrong in believing.

But we have to understand that it is a non-verifiable belief. And having gone to

heaven I will enjoy heaven, minus cricket match, is another non-verifiable

belief. The unfortunate thing is another fellow says: “I am the latest and the

last. Don’t follow that fellow, follow me”. That really confuses me. He has

really no argument to give that he is the last. That I am the latest is another

non-verifiable belief and what is promised is again not verifiable.

 

I say, let those non-verifiable beliefs be there. I want them to have those

beliefs, even though I will not advocate them. I want them to have freedom. Let

them enjoy the freedom to have their beliefs. But what is the basis for that

person to come and convert me? If you are convinced of something, you can try to

convince me and not covert me. Did you ever notice a physics professor knocking

at your door, asking for your time so that he can talk to you about the

particles? Never! If you want to learn physics, you have to go to him. But here,

every day, I am bothered. At the airport I am bothered, in the street corners I

am bothered, at home, I am bothered. They want to save my soul!

 

I say this is not merely an intrusion, this is an aggression. There are

varieties of intrusions. If the sound is too much outside, with all the loud

speakers, well, it is an intrusion into my privacy. One can complain, not in

India, of course! Here also we have got laws. It is that we do not have the

laws. But we have “in-laws” at right places. You know!

 

So nobody has any business to intrude into my privacy. You come and tell me

that I have got to save my soul. But I don’t look upon myself as condemned for

you to come and save. We really, don’t have a word ion Sanskrit equivalent for

salvation. Because ‘salvation’ means you have been condmen3d. unless you are

condemned, you need not saved.

 

But this man comes and tells me that I am damned. I have to believe that

first. Then he appoints himself to save me. This is very interesting. This is

how the union leaders work. You create a problem and then appoint yourself as a

leader to solve it. You become inevitable thereafter.

 

Instead of the word ‘salvation’ we have a word ‘moksha’. Here among the

dignitaries there are many gurus. All of them have a common word and that common

word is moksha. Is it not true? For every one of them it is moksha.

 

Moksha is not a word, which is equivalent to salvation. It is derived from

the verbal root moks = mokshane. It means freedom from bondage. All of them use

the words moksha. Even Sankhyas use this word. Vaishesikas, Naiyayikas and all

others use this word moksha. In fact, if moksha is not an end in view, it is not

a school of tought to talk about. We all have a moksha. Even Carvakas, the

materialist has his own concept of moksha. ‘Body goes’, that is moksha for him.

He sways “bhasmibutasya dehasya punaragamanam kutah”.

 

So the word moksha does not mean salvation. It refers to freedom from

bondage. On the other hand the aggressive religions have this belief system that

you are condemned and you have to be saved.

 

When I look into these theologies, what I see is very interesting. I need

not say anything to prove that they are illogical. I have to only state what

they say!

 

I would like to illustrate this:

 

You must have heard about the ‘Godfather’. You know the mafia don is called

the Godfather. He makes an offer that you cannot refuse.

 

He comes and tells you: “I am buying your house”.

 

You may say, “I am not selling”.

 

He says, “You are selling”.

 

This type of approach was existing in Madras for some time. I am told. I hope it

does not come back again.

 

The fellow comes and tells: “I am buying your house!”

 

And you reply, “This is my house and I am not selling.”

 

He says, “You are selling it and you are selling it at this price.”

 

He decides the price also and then tells you, “I know exactly where your

children are studying and when they are coming home also”.

 

He threatens you and buys the house.

 

Thus a Godfather is one who makes an offer that you cannot refuse.

 

Now, what about God, the Father? He is worse, I tell you, because he says

either you follow this person or I will condemn you eternally to hell. This is

worse than the offer of the mafia don! This too is an offer, which I cannot

refuse. And it is worse.

 

In the other case at least, I can do something. But here he is not even visible.

He is sitting in a place even safer than Dubai! I cannot do anything to him.

This is the non-verifiable belief on which their religion is based.

 

He has the right to follow that religion. Let him follow his religion. All

that I say is he does not have anything much to offer me. If he thinks he has

something to offer to me, let him have the freedom to think so. But he has no

freedom to intrude into my privacy.

 

He converts the Hindus by any means – by marriage, by some enticement or by

some preaching which creates a fear. He talks abut the goodies available in

heaven –f if you go to heaven, you will enjoy this and that. You will have

beatitude and be saved. Otherwise, you will go to hell. It will be too hot etc.

so more out of fear of hell; one may choose to go to heaven.

 

He says and does all this to convert others to his religion. I say, this is

wrong because if one Hindu or Jew or a Parsi is converted, and other members of

the family are not converted, they are all hurt. Even the converted one must be

hurt underneath. He will be debating whether he was right in getting converted.

It takes some time for him to heal that. He is also hurt. All other members are

definitely hurt. The community that comes to know of this conversion is hurt,

 

Please tell me, what is violence? What do you call this act that hurts? I

call it violence. It is not ordinary violence. It is violence to the deepest

person, the core person, in the human being. The religious person is the

deepest. And if that person is hurt, I say, it is violence, rank and simple.

 

It is pure violence. And what does it do? It wipes out cultures.

 

I would like to go to Greece and see the live culture of the people who

lived there. Where is that culture now? I have to imagine how they might have

lived. I only see the huge monuments that are left behind. And like this, many

other cultures have been totally destroyed. The native cultures of South

America, North America and Australia have all been destroyed. What about the

Hawaiian culture? Gone! All the tribal cultures in Africa have been destroyed.

How many cultures, for the past two thousand years, are methodically destroyed?

The humanity is the sufferer and is poorer for it.

 

We need all the cultures. And let the humanity enjoy the riches of the

different cultures. It is a mosaic of cultures. Each one has got some beauty.

With the destruction of religion comes the destruction of culture. When a new

religion replaces the old, a culture is destroyed.

 

After converting they may try to preserve the art forms like Bharatnatyam

with the themes of the new religion. But without Nataraja where is Bharatnatyam,

without devotion, where is natyam?

 

And therefore, the culture cannot be retained if the religion is destroyed.

It is true with reference to all other cultures also. But definitely it is true

with reference to our culture, because you cannot separate culture from

religion.

 

Our religion and couture are intertwined. The religion has gone into the

fabric of the couture. When I say ‘Naqmaste’ to you, it is culture. It is

religion. When you are throwing ‘rangoli’ it is religion; it is culture. There

is a vision behind all that. Every form of culture is connected to religion

itself and the religion is rooted in the spiritual wisdom. This is because we

have a spiritual tradition.

 

And therefore, there is no cultural form unconnected to religion.

Destruction of culture is destruction of religion. Destruction of religion is

destruction of culture. If this destruction is not violence, what is violence? I

would like to know.

 

I say CONVERSION IS VIOLENCE. It is rank violence. It is the deepest

violence. Not only that, in our dharma sastra, it is said that if somebody

forcefully occupies another’s piece of land, he is called an ‘atatayi’ and for

an ‘atatayi’, in our sastra, there is capital punishment.

 

Occupying another’s land or another’s house or flat against the will of the

owner is a grave papa according to our dharma. Many times when the owner asks,

“Give me back my house”, the tenant invariably replies, ”I am sorry. I cannot

give you the house, because my children are going to the school in this area.

Please find a similar house for me. Then I will move”. When the owner finds such

a house for him, the tenant says, “it is too far away for the children to go to

school. Please find something in the same neighborhood”. It means, “I would like

to be here”. If you go to the court, twenty-five years would be gone. But

occupying another’s land is not dharma as per our culture.

 

Another’s ‘kshetra’ is another’s ‘ksetra’. It has nothing to do with me.

‘Kshetra apahari is an atatayi’. The one who does arson or poisons somebody is

an ‘atatayi’ and there is capital pounishment for him. One who kidnaps another’s

wife is an atatayi and there is capital punishment for him. All these actions

deserve capital punishment. And if, simply for occupation of a land of another,

there is capital punishment, think of what would be the punishment for the

destruction of a culture.

 

Suppose somebody is ‘asastrapani’, unarmed, and you kill him, it is not

correct. Karna I the Mahabharata uses this argument when he was completely

unarmed. Talking to Arjuna he said, I am an asastrapani; y0u should not hit me

now. Krishna had to tell him that Karna was not unarmed, but he was duly

disarmed. There is a lot of difference between the two. Krishna had to convince

him.

 

So, here, a Hindu is an asastrapani. A Jewish person is an asastrapani. A

Buddhist is an asastrapani. A Parsi is an asastrapani. That is, they are all

non-aggressive. When you try to convert them, it is like hurting an asastrapani.

 

You cannot ask me to change the genius of my culture, the genius of my

religion. It is the tradition of my culture and religion that I do not convert.

It is not a situation where you convert and I convert. And the one who has a

better organization is going to convert more number of people. It is not a

percentage game of the market."

 

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Hari Om

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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