Indian nationalism Sanatana Dharma inseparable

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Hindutva in the 21st century-II

Indian nationalism and Sanatana Dharma are inseparable

 

India is the land where Sanatana Dharma took root and

flourished. So whatever her present condition, the rise of

Hindutva in India will have a major impact on the history and

politics of this century. It is therefore of fundamental importance

to understand its role in the growth of the Indian nation. It is a

uniquely spiritual ideology founded on spiritual freedom. In the

light of this, 'conversion' to Hinduism entails accepting a way of

looking at the world and not simply changing faith and adopting

a new mode of worship. Above all it means acknowledging

spiritual freedom and rejecting exclusivism. It is like accepting

the scientific method, which also is a way of looking at the world.

But ultimately, every Hindu must place truth and knowledge

above faith. There is no dogma. This is why people who are

initiated into Hinduism are made to recite the Gayatri mantra,

which is an assertion of this spirit of intellectual freedom. The

only enemies of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) are those that

oppose spiritual freedom. Protecting and nurturing Santana

Dharma and the society founded on it is the responsibility of

Hindutva. Rights like spiritual freedom come with responsibility.

 

Kshatra Dharma defends freedom

 

While Hinduism (or Sanatana Dharma) provides and nourishes

spiritual freedom, there are always hostile forces at work that

want to destroy this freedom and turn humans into intellectual

and spiritual slaves. So it is always necessary to have the

tools-both physical and intellectual-to protect this freedom. This

part of Sanatana Dharma is called kshatra dharma. Those

engaged in the defense of Sanatana Dharma are called

kshatriyas. Politics, like warfare calls for the kshatriya spirit-to

protect the weak and uphold values like freedom.

 

A kshatriya does not always fight with weapons. The intellect is

as important as the sword and the gun. As Sri Aurobindo put it:

"We should be absolutely unsparing in our attack on whatever

obstructs the growth of the nation, and never be afraid to call a

spade a spade. Excessive good nature will never do... in serious

politics. Respect of persons must give way to truth and

conscience... . What India needs especially at this moment is

aggressive virtues, the spirit of soaring idealism, bold creation,

fearless resistance, courageous attack; of the passive tamasic

inertia we already have too much."

 

His words still hold today. It was this 'tamasic inertia' as Sri

Aurobindo called it that gave rise to endless appeasement of evil

in the name of ahimsa-or nonviolence. (In Sanskrit, 'tamas'

means darkness or ignorance.) Evil must always be resisted,

not appeased. Intellectually, this calls for taking and defending

unpopular positions. A kshatriya must do it.

 

Without this kshatriya spirit, a noble ideal like Sanatana Dharma

becomes an orphan. This is what happened in India a thousand

years ago. Excessive wealth and attachment to pleasure sapped

its strength. Soldiers were willing to lay down their lives in

defending the land, but intellectuals failed to analyze the new

destructive ideology that came in the guise of religion. As

Allaudin Khalji's general Malik Kafur ravaged South India, our

acharyas sat in the seclusion of their monasteries and wrote

commentaries upon abstruse commentaries. These were noble

exceptions. Sayana, the greatest Vedic scholar of the age, and

his brother the great Vidyaranya helped Harihara and Bukka

found the empire of Vijayanagara. They too were kshatriya but

fighting without weapons. They used their mind as weapons-like

Krishna in the Mahabharata War.

 

Physical and intellectual weapons are both necessary. As Sri

Aurobindo wrote: "The sword of the warrior is as necessary to

the fulfillment of justice and righteousness as the holiness of the

saint. Ramdas is not complete without Shivaji. To maintain

justice and to prevent the strong from despoiling, and the weak

from being oppressed is the function for which the kshatriya was

created. Therefore, says Krishna in the Mahabharata, God

created battle and armour, the sword, the bow and the dagger."

 

Resisting evil does not simply mean fighting invaders and other

foreign enemies. There are internal evils also-lack of education,

discrimination on the basis of caste, untouchability, rampant

corruption-that should also be seen as enemies to freedom that

must be destroyed. This is the case in India today. At the same

time, in a time of national crisis, everyone has to become a

kshatriya of one kind or another. Scientists have to work on new

weapons to defeat the enemy. Similarly, businesses and

workers must create whatever is necessary to defend the nation.

Everyone must contribute to the defense of society, and not just

depend on the ruling class and the professional soldier.

 

This is what people had to do during the medieval period when

Hindu society was struggling for survival against the onslaught

of Islam. In fact, many of what we call backward and scheduled

castes and tribes were created out of the fighting classes when

they were dispossessed by the invading armies. As the

renowned medieval historial K.S. Lal has written:

 

"The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Dalits and Other

Backward Castes are there in large numbers in present-day

India. Many backward classes were there from pre-historic or

very ancient times, but many more were added in the medieval

period spanning over a thousand years... . As we put the record

straight, we find that the small and scattered class of trained and

traditional warriors, mostly Rajputs, stood exhausted by the time

of the Mughal invasion, having fought the earlier invaders at every

step for well nigh eight centuries-from the middle of the seventh

to the end of the fifteenth. The leadership of Hindu resistance to

Muslim rule thereafter was provided by what are termed the

Backwards Castes and the Dalits in present-day India. These

classes had fought earlier under the leadership of Rajput Rajas

and Zamindars. Now onwards they took up the leadership on

themselves, and battled with the Moghul regime till the latter

stood shattered by the middle of the eighteenth century. It is a

different story that in the process the Backward Castes and the

Dalits suffered grievously and found themselves in bad shape by

the time the Islamic nightmare was over."

 

This shows that the people we call Dalits-the Scheduled castes

and tribes have made a major contribution to defending India

and Sanatana Dharma. It is no accident that many such tribal

clans still carry names lake 'Nayaka', 'Raja' and 'Dorai' that bear

testimony to their previous station as warriors and defenders of

the land. (History books should bring out and highlight this

forgotten chapter in history.) This was so even in ancient times.

In times of crisis and oppression, it was the duty of everyone,

regardless of position to fight to uproot evil and defend society.

This is the reason that the sage Parashurama became a warrior

to end the tyranny of the Haihaya king Kartaviryarjuna.

 

Hindutva is spiritual nationalism

 

Hindutva therefore is an outgrowth of Sanatana Dharma as well

as an essential part of it. Its main goal is to serve, defend and

nurture Santana Dharma. It is not an aggressive or imperialistic

ideology. It seeks to destroy no one except those that want to

destroy spiritual freedom, i.e., enemies of Sanatana Dharma. It

is no accident that the Hindus have never sent armies of

missionaries to convert others. It is important to note that

'dharma' does not means religion or creed or sect, but a way of

life, a code and a body of knowledge. Sanatana Dharma is this

body of knowledge acquired through the ages by sages, rulers

and the common people.

And for India to rise again and find its place in the world, it must

rediscover the message of its ancient sages. When Sanatana

Dharma was going through a crisis like the present one, and

leaders had lost their nerve, in the Bhagavadgita Sri Krishna

gave the message to Arjuna: "I taught this timeless Yoga to

Vivasvan, who taught it to Manu. Manu bequeathed it to Ikshvaku.

This ancient wisdom transmitted through generations of royal

sages became lost in the tides of time. I have taught you, my

best disciple, this best and most mystical knowledge." Observe

the importance Krishna attaches to the 'royal sages' or members

of the ruling class.

This wisdom became lost again in the darkness of the medieval

age when India and her civilization were struggling for survival.

Then other sages arose-from Vidyaranya and Ramdas to Swami

Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo-to lead India out of the darkness.

All were sages, but they were also kshatriyas in the intellectual

field. They fought hostile forces-both soldiers and propagandists

like missionaries-with uncompromising force of the spirit and

intellect. To inspire this struggle, Sri Aurobindo defined Indian

nationalism in spiritual terms. He expressed it in public in his

famous Uttarapara speech:

 

"It is this dharma that I am raising up before the world, it is this

that I have perfected and developed through the rishis, saints

and avatars, and is now going forth to do my work among the

nations... . When therefore it is said that India shall rise, it is

Sanatana Dharma that shall rise. When it is said that India shall

be great, it is Sanatana Dharma that shall be great. When it is

said that India shall expand and extend itself, it is Sanatana

Dharma that shall expand and extend itself all over the world. It is

for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists... . I say no

longer that nationalism is a creed, a religion, a faith; I say that it

is the Sanatana Dharma which for us is the nationalism."

 

So the message is clear. India and Sanatana Dharma exist for

each other. Sanatana Dharma is Indian nationalism and Indian

nationalism is Sanatana Dharma. Hindutva is the practical and

political manifestation of Sanatana Dharma. It exists to defend

Sanatana Dharma, while threatening no one. This was the India

that Sri Aurobindo and many other sages dreamed about. It

should also be the dream and goal of very nationalist and

leader.

 

-N.S. Rajaram