A time to heal: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1930245,00120001.htm

 

*A time to heal*

 

Open space | Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

February 16, 2007

 

Dalits allowed inside temples in Bhilwara and Jagannath Temple in

Orissa is a welcome development. Places of worship should be open to

all communities and religions. Nobody has a right to bar people from

entering the house of God. Unless the savarnas and the Dalits effect

a reconciliation, society will suffer from cycles of revenge and

counter-revenge.

 

Moving away from Hinduism and converting to other religions has not

helped the Dalits in their war against the oppressive caste system.

They have to assert their rights and move up from within the system.

 

Though banned by law, there have been countless incidents of

violence and oppression against the Dalits, many of which have gone

unreported. Laws have failed to change the attitude of people, and

contemporary religious leaders have done precious little to remove

the prejudices and bring about reconciliation.

 

In the past, Maharishi Dayanand, Sri Basavanna in Karnataka and

Ramanujacharya in the South have taken up the cause of the

oppressed. Ramanujacharya put tripund/tilak and gave janeu (sacred

thread) to thousands of Dalits and made them Brahmins. Basavanna

vigorously fought against the caste system and brought together

people of all castes into the path of bhakti. Maharishi Dayanand

dented the caste system through his brilliant and eloquent dialogues

and speeches. He fought against prevalent superstitions. Thanks to

him, thousands of Dalits could access the knowledge of the Vedas and

the yagyas. He also created many purohits from among the Dalit

community.

 

My own teacher, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, though born in an orthodox

Brahmin family, remained a bachelor to care for his eight adopted

Harijan boys. He taught them the Vedas, gave them the best

education and enabled them to become IAS/IPS officers.

 

Though Maharishi Dayanand had no political backing, his movement

gained considerable social and intellectual strength. On the other

hand, BR Ambedkar brought about social reforms through a political

movement, which over time acquired an identity of its own. Unlike

other religions, Hinduism is inherently anarchic. In the absence of

a single command at the top, reforms in Hinduism cannot come from

the top. It has to start at the bottom, as a people's movement.

 

Historically, many of the revered rishis were Dalits. Dalit

contribution to sanatan literature is commendable. For instance, the

narrator of the Puranas, Soot Maharishi, was a Dalit. Shaabara

Rishi, born into an `atishudra' family, was highly revered as a

rishi. His seminal commentary on the Vedas is a highly regarded

reference book for the most learned of Vedic scholars. The current

generation of upper castes are not exposed to this information and

that is the reason why, in the villages, people continue to indulge

in inhuman practices.

 

Every morning, the first puja of the day in the Tirupati temple is

offered by the scheduled caste Banjara community. It would be good

to start this practice in other temples where there is

discrimination. The oppressors need to be taught that what they

claim to be their own has major contributions from the Dalits. As

Maharishi Dayanand, Sri Aurobindo and many others have rightly

pointed out, religious practices have drifted away from their

philosophy.

 

It is unfortunate that people without proper knowledge of the

scriptures simply quote from the Manu Smriti, which is only a code

of conduct given by a king and has nothing to do with the Shrutis,

Vedas or the Upanishads. It is time to honour the philosophy and

discard the unscrupulous practices. Instead, people have discarded

the philosophy and allowed the unscrupulous practices to continue.

 

The greatest of the epics — the Ramayana — was written by a Dalit.

How can Dalits drop the precious lore and allow a few orthodox

narrow-minded people to dominate? It's not only Dalits who are

fighting for their rights; many upper caste people are working and

fighting for their cause. Let us not forget that the name Ambedkar

was given to Bhimrao saheb by his mentor who was a Brahmin. Not all

upper caste people are oppressors and religion certainly is not.

 

How can a religion that says "all this is Brahman and the universe

itself is Upadaana Kaarana (the divine is material cause of the

universe)" sanction discrimination by birth?

 

The vicious cycle of hatred and revenge is being promoted for

political gains. There have also been atrocities against the upper

castes. In Tamil Nadu, upper castes have been forced to migrate many

times. While I was in Chennai recently, miscreants came into

a `Pandit Sabha' and assaulted several of the pandits over the issue

of desecration of a statue of social reformer `Periyar' EV Ramasamy.

Many of the pandits were seriously injured and one of the pandits

had his hand mutilated.

 

I appreciate the Dalits who enter temples and build temples — they

are really the brave ones who claim their rights, instead of giving

up their heritage. I hope the new wave will continue and the Dalits

will assert their social and philosophical rights rather than turn

their back on them. Past wrongs cannot be undone through anger and

rage.

 

Ambedkar tried his level best before he took to conversion as the

final resort. But with the changing times and education, the

strategies need to change. Both Dalit and upper caste Hindus have to

change. We need to fight for our heritage in the same way we fight

for rights to our property. You fight for your property because you

value it. When you don't value your heritage and culture, you simply

discard it.

 

For justice and progress, there has to be reconciliation.

 

*Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is founder, Art of Living, Bangalore*