India - A Beautiful Land of Spiritual, Pluralistic Ethos Now Entangled in Religious Hatred
By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
16
September 2021
Indian
Beauty Consists Of Various Religious Communities Embracing Each Other's
Cultural Heritage Willingly Through History and Produce An Unparalleled Example
Of Deep-Rooted Inclusiveness
Main
Points:
1. India has
sheltered people of different religious faith and beliefs.
2. India is the
birthplace of Hindu gods, Mahatma Buddha, Jain Tirthankars and Panj Pyare of
Sikhism.
3. Independent
democratic republics of the world proudly follow the Indian essence of Unity in
Diversity.
4. People of
India celebrated their religious and cultural festivals without any distinction
between religious identities.
5. India has
been an example of pluralistic ethos and brotherly love for world humanity.
India can rightly claim to be a Vishwa Guru or World Teacher. This position was
actually accepted by the world when Swami Vivekananda spoke in the Parliament
of world religions in Chicago a century ago.
-----
Since the
beginning of time, India has sheltered people of different religious faith and
beliefs. Since India was an amalgam of princely states, all the states had
their spiritual upbringing in the lap of their respective religious identities.
All the states of the Indian land welcomed all the other religions that came
under their wings. Thus Indian beauty consists of various religious communities
embracing each other's cultural heritage willingly through history and produce
an unparalleled example of deep-rooted Inclusiveness. After the Indian states
united and became a nation its religious inclusiveness became its identity in
the world. Indian state gave the world its idea of Unity in Diversity.
Independent democratic republics of the world proudly follow the Indian essence
of Unity in Diversity.
Photo courtesy/ Raushani Pandey/Varanasi Baba
------
Indian
landscape that includes the eye-catching natural beauty of Kashmir and
Kanyakumari that is the meeting point of three oceans-the Bay of Bengal, the
Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, also has hundreds and thousands of Sufi
shrines, Sadhus Mutts and religious heads. India is the birthplace of Hindu
gods, Mahatma Buddha, Jain Tirthankars and Panj Pyare of Sikhism.
This country has brought up great religious heads in its lap. All the Sufis and
Saints Rishis and Munis spread the message of love compassion, peace and
tranquillity among the people of India. India boasts of foreign kings who
sacrificed their sons on the altar of India’s independence. Whoever made India
its abode transformed it into a pluralistic cultural hub. People of India
celebrated their religious and cultural festivals without any distinction
between religious identity and regional affiliation. India has been celebrating
Holi, Deepawali, Eid ul Fitr, Eid ul Azha, Pongal Bihu and Lori with all,
irrespective of religion and race. India has been an example of pluralistic
ethos and brotherly love for world humanity. India can rightly claim to be a
Vishwa Guru or World Teacher. This position was actually accepted by the world
when Swami Vivekananda spoke in the Parliament of world religions in Chicago a
century ago.
Being a
part of the world, India also felt the tremors of the social, political and
ethical quake. Religious supremacism attacked the nation in a big way. India
also witnessed the waves of religious and casteist hatred like a pandemic. It
was helped by the media in a big way. It seemed as if the nation all of a
sudden forgot all the lessons of inclusiveness and brotherhood taught to it by
its religious past.
Dargah Hazratbal, Jammu & Kashmir
-----
Religious
Pluralism Reverberates in India
India,
geographically being too close to the terror-stricken countries also came in
the line of fire. Being a multi-religious and multi-cultural nation, some of
the Indians also bought the idea of Islamophobia to make it a cause of concern
among the people and take political advantage.
Indian
history and its culture are too rich in pluralistic ethos to be dented easily.
It felt some low-pressure tremors but it was of no use for the destructive
forces.
The tremors
caused by the hate mongers and irreligious Islamophobic forces were not
transformed into big earthquakes. This is the power of India's deeply rooted
Sarva Dharma Sadbhavana. Hatred blurs the vision of reality and creates an
image of everything that is not there. Islamophobic and hate merchants’ vision
of Indian ethos reality also blurred and they saw what their devilish desires
showed them.
It is said
that there is something good hidden in even the worst things. Good things that
came out of the Islamophobic trying times in India are the faces of the
advocates of Indian Inclusiveness. India exhibited that there is no dearth of
Messiahs of pluralism here. It has been, is and will remain a country of
spiritual enlightenment and salvation. India has been a witness to innumerable
ups and downs but has stood firm with its religious inclusiveness.
Therefore, the present Islamophobia, hate and
lynching incidents look like a bubble that will dissipate at the earliest and
it will again reverberate with the sounds of different religious festivals
which will see the participation of all the colours of human life. Religious
pluralism reverberates in the Indian atmosphere that has the power to brave all
the seasons of religious hatred and religious phobia. No ill will against any
religious faith can ever get a place to step in. The verses and Shlokas from
the Holy Quran, the Rig Veda and Bhagwad Gita, the Shri Guru Granth Sahib, the
Bible and the preaching of revered scholars of different religions given under
are the proof of our deep-rooted belief in religious pluralism.
Quranic
Verses’ Pluralistic Messages
"We
believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down
to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one, and it is to Him we bow in
Islam." - (Al-'Ankabut - 29:46)
People of the Book, why do you dispute about
Abraham when both the Torah and the Gospel were not sent down till after him?
Have you no sense? - (Al-e-Imran: 65)
.. I do not
worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I will never
worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. For you is
your religion, and for me is my religion." - (Al-Kafirun - 2-6)
Hindu
Scriptures Teachings of the Virtues of Pluralism
Truth is
One, though the sages know it variously (एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा
वदन्ति) — Rig Veda, 1.164.46
One and the
same be your resolve and be your minds of one accord. United be the thoughts of
all that all may happily agree. — Rig Veda, 1.191.2-4
But that
which clings blindly to one idea as if it were all, without logic, truth or
insight, that has its origin in Darkness. — Bhagavad Gita, 18:22
As people
approach me, so I receive them. All paths lead to Me. — Bhagavad Gita, 4:11
Guru
Granth Sahib on Religious Pluralism
Do not say
that the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran are false. Those who do not contemplate
them are false. — Guru Granth Sahib page 1350
Some call
the Lord "Ram, Ram", and some "Khuda". Some serve Him as
"Gusain", others as "Allah". He is the Cause of causes, and
Generous. He showers His Grace and Mercy upon us. Some pilgrims bathe at sacred
shrines, others go on Hajj to Mecca. Some do devotional worship, whilst others
bow their heads in prayer. Some read the Vedas, and some the Koran. Some wear
blue robes, and some wear white. Some call themselves Muslim, and some call
themselves Hindu. Some yearn for paradise, and others long for heaven. Says
Nanak, one who realizes the Hukam of God's Will, knows the secrets of his Lord
Master. - (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Page:
885)
First,
Allah (God) created the Light; then, by His Creative Power, He made all mortal
beings. From the One Light, the entire universe welled up. So who is good, and
who is bad? - Guru Granth Sahib
The
seconds, minutes, and hours, days, weeks and months and various seasons
originate from One Sun; O Namak, in just the same way, the many forms originate
from the Creator. - (Guru Granth Sahib
Page 12, 13)
The holistic India that has mesmerised the
world with its divine powers and powerful messages of peace and brotherhood
preached by its religious gurus will find its much-deserved place as the
worshipper of human rights and humane ethics. The above mentioned religious
preaching of inclusiveness and pluralism of the Indian religions will take care
of the dwindling international parameter of India’s human rights acts and
religious repression will be back to its normal place of a world leader.
Religious
Thinkers Quotes on Religious Pluralism
I looked
for God. I went to a temple, and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a
church, and I didn't find him there. And then I went to a mosque, and I didn't
find him there. And then finally I looked in my heart, and there he was. - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
How many
paths are there to God? There are as many paths to God as there are souls on
the Earth. - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad
Rumi
A true
Lover doesn't follow anyone religion, be sure of that. Since in the religion of
Love, there is no irreverence or faith. When in Love, body, mind, heart and
soul don't even exist. Become this, fall in Love, and you will not be separated
again. - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
If a person
has faith, Bhāradvāja, he preserves truth when he says: ‘My faith is thus’; but
he does not yet come to the definite conclusion: ‘Only this is true, anything
else is wrong.’ In this way, Bhāradvāja, there is the preservation of truth; in
this way he preserves truth; in this way, we describe the preservation of
truth. But as yet there is no discovery of truth. — The Buddha, The Pali Canon, Bhikkhu Bodhi. “In
the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon"
I do not
deny for a moment that the truth of God has reached others through other
channels - indeed, I hope and pray that it has. So while I have a special
attachment to one mediator, I have respect for them all. - John Macquarrie (1996). Mediators
between human and divine: From Moses to Muhammad
And
Allah Knows the Best.
------
Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-politics/india-spiritual-pluralistic-hatred/d/125369
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism