By Goutam Bhaskar:
The story goes like this: “When Maharshi Bhrigu held the ceremony of Maha Yagna, the congregation of sages were confounded towards the end that who is supreme? Who should be honored with the peroration of lengthy religious discourse? Maharshi Bhrigu was chosen to be the amicus curiae. He went to all the three abodes of trinity gods and finally chose Lord Vishnu to be the most propitious and the yagna was concluded in his name.”
Now, this spiritual story is not to reel back scientific temper. Incidentally, it fosters the modern notion of democratic virtue. What it explicitly connotes is that the trinity didn’t war amongst themselves to assert their superiority neither did they impose their wrath to bring reverence. The aforesaid story dictates that the spirit of choice cannot be compromised and it has to be duly honored. Even a sage could challenge the almighty.
There is an irresistible appendage of multitude to the already existing behemoth faction of radicals in the name of Hinduism. The true ethos of Hinduism is getting lost in its radicalisation which in turn is rising under the guise of its protection and propagation. Does Hinduism need to thrive under such aristocratic flagship guidance? The prevalent unquestionable ‘me’ and scorn of ‘others’ is the display of base narcissism and it shakes the root of Hinduism. Hindu culture has always had class divisions responsible for its obscurantism which needed to be redressed and enlightened. Instead, due to some turns wrongly taken, chasms deepened, per se, widened.
Some of the recent incidents give us a sanguine narrative of such gaps. The Una incident in Gujarat is a very sensationalising example of this. Dalits were flogged for killing cows which were later confirmed by forest officials to be killed by lions. Incidents continued throughout India, sporadically. Brouhaha escalated to the point that our Prime Minister had to intervene and admonish ‘gau rakshaks’. Obviously, some fringe elements in the echelons of RSS and associated groups threatened our PM of vote bank shrink in the upcoming polls.
The macabre hue and cry over Perumal Murugan’s controversial book “Madhorubagan” is no random incident but a planned and strategically executed, appealing to the masses. How else can such a humongous congregation of people come to know about a vague novel?
Across the platter of religion, there is a plethora of bravuras displaying complete outrage of religious and humane modesty. Gujarat riots, Mumbai riots, Bhagalpur riots, Muzaffarnagar riots and the count goes on.
Now, an arduous and indefatigable question affront us. Is it that the supreme being relies on us for their protection through the killing and torturing of our fellow people?What can we do against such hatred? Yes, we need to nurture and protect our faith through furthering everything we are endowed with.We need to revisit the core of Hinduism where sage Bhrigu cursed Lord Vishnu to take several births and Lord Vishnu obliged. No one is above law, not even gods let alone humans.
Time is running high enough that we did some serious introspection. Love and compassion for your fellow men is a trait that is quintessential to let humanity thrive on the front footing.
It is our collective responsibility to induct some panacea into our society to curb the growth and cure those infected with utter hatred.