from Suma Gopal

[Guest guest]

The following message came from Mrs Suma Gopal

-----

 

Om Namah Shivaya Namah!

 

To all my friends of .

 

I am silent reader in the group.

 

Today when I see this subject, I feel that I should express my feelings

here.

 

These are the questions which is usually asked to any hindu, by people of

other religion and the hindus doesn’t have specific answers for the same.

 

These questions should have been answered or should have been cleared to

every hindu long before.

 

What is the current status of our people knowledge about hindu religion,

about god or about prayer?

 

How many people know how to pray? What to pray? How to lead a simple good

life through Hinduism?

 

Why our people doesn’t know all these till now? If our people doesn’t know

these simple things till now, Who’s mistake? Who are to be blamed? Our

philosophers? Or our sanyasins? Or the bramins?

 

Every thing is in the books only nothing in practice. And a more % of hindus

doesn’t know what is their sacred book. We can say Bhagavath Geetha.. but

the question is how many hindus studied and understood the contents of it

and how many people benefit/apply this to their life? Like the Muslims do.

Every muslim study Quran from childhood. Every Christian study bible from

childhood. They have the facility in local mosques, churches and schools?

Their spiritual leaders take it as a mission that every muslim or every

Chritian should know their relgion good.

 

What about hindu children? Being an NRE since 1985 (living in U.A.E) I have

seen the interest that the other religious people take to teach their

religion and their holly books and application (very important)of the same

in their lives. What we do for our children? Our children cannot even answer

simple questions like ‘Which is your holly book? Which is your God? Why

there are so many gods for you? Why do you worship cows? Why do you wear

sindhur? etc.

 

How can we achieve educating our people to know atleast the basics of our

religion, how to pray and what minimum a hindu should do in their life?

 

Being a Hindu nation (even though we have a mixture of religion in India,

the outsiders call India as a hindu country, like Pakistan is an Islamic

country), why our government cannot include in the curriculum of our school

education ‘Study on Hinduism’ (like here in the school there is a period for

Islamic studies even in the Indian schools over U.A.E, the non muslims will

take another subject called ‘Moral Science’ on that period.)

 

Or every local temples can open a regular class with government aid and

every hindu children in the locality can study there.

 

If our government and the Brahmins or the modern Sanyasins ( specially who

lives in India all their lives to reconstruct the Ram Mandir only) cannot do

the above for the Hindu children, I am bold enough to say that they are all

selfish people who doesn’t want to do anything for the people. They are not

following our sacred books, they are not obeying our Messengers words.

 

If Hinduism is taught as above, the caste and Jaties will loose their

strength, I am sure about it. Here I would like to emphasis that the

Brahmins are not Brahmin, if they cannot act as in Swami Vivekananda’s

article called ‘Caste Problem In India’. Swami Vivekananda says depending

upon ones Karma he can be called Brahmin or Kshatriya or Sudhra.

 

The upper class don’t want to teach or share their knowledge to the lower

class, as they are afraid that they will loose the benefits which they are

getting from the lower class.

 

I am a Keralite. In Kerala there was a Messenger, Philosopher, Guru, Poet

moreover a Social Reformer called Sreenarayana Guru, changed a lot and

brought social equality for all castes and jatis of Kerala. The lower class

were not permitted to join schools, or to enter even temples. He had worked

his lifetime to achieve this for the lower caste. And I can say that’s why

Kerala is called a 100% literate state now. This was not possible without

Sree Narayana Guru. Being born in a jati called Ezhava – Hindu, he

understood well about the problems of being in a lower caste. He had told

the people “One Jati, One Religion & One God” – What a simple and great

philosophy. He had tried his full life for making understand the people this

philosophy, but as normal or usually happens to any messenger, he didn’t

succeed to make our people understand this.

 

But he had uplifted the lower caste of Kerala which is the majority, and

hence the 100% literacy state. He is the most outstanding person as a social

reformer and can be taken as a Guru for anyone who like to help the poor,

uneducated people who lives all over India in slums areas, who are also

called Hindu and who never knows in his life time what is a Hindu?

 

I am sorry if I am outspoken, I had put what is in my mind exactly from my

childhood, may be people who read may think that I am silly, but I want to

tell all of you that I am a common woman, who doesn’t study Hinduism

properly, only what I know is from my own reading and analysis. You can

consider my ideas as coming from an average Indian Hindu woman.

 

Also i would like to request the concerned personnel to send us the article

in this ( if possilbe) after publishing it to Hinduism Today

magazine.

 

Om Namah Shivaya Namah!

 

Let God bless us all

Mrs. SumaGopal

 

Only reply me in 'sumagopal

[Guest guest]

Dear Suma,

 

You are not just an average Hindu woman. You have an analytical mind and you are well informed, (perhaps, reasonably well informed, to put it correctly).

 

Sri Narayana Guru lived at a time when castism was ruling the State of Kerala. The lower classes were subjected to inhuman treatment by the so-called well educated upper caste brahmins and even nairs. Yet, Sri Narayana Guri did not desert Hindu fold, he fought against the evils of Hindu Socieity from within. Unlike Baba Saheb Amberkar who embraced Budhism, Sri Narayana Guri stood his ground and worked for the millions of his brothern. He could have taken the easy path as chosen by Ambedkar, but he did'nt. And this is exactly what made Sri Narayana Guru a great human being and social reformer.

 

There are 'religious classes' in certain temples. I remember having joined a 'Hindu matapaatashala class' in Vaikom, attached to temple. However, as you said there is dearth of such facilities in India, especially to those born as lower castes.

 

UNless the current bramnical order is displaced by a new one, there is not much hope for Hindu unity in this country.

 

Regards,

 

Babu

 

 

Vivekananda Centre <vivekananda wrote:

The following message came from Mrs Suma Gopal-----Om Namah Shivaya Namah!To all my friends of .Om Namah Shivaya Namah!Let God bless us allMrs. SumaGopalOnly reply me in 'sumagopal