https://twitter.com/hhrLondon (Heavily edited by Shreepal Singh)
Even though it looks that most of the Hindu Gurus, Swamis, preachers and teachers do a great job by serving fellow humans and show them the correct – spiritual – path, nevertheless one would not fail to notice that what they preach is most often escapism and impractical. Surely, they teach and encourage ‘seva’ or service in the society but hardly would one hear them – from the Hindu point of view – talking about the subject of ‘real threats’ extended to their faith and this faith’s followers, let alone teaching these followers about the way to thwart such threats to their faith.
Without doubt, this approach of these Hindu Gurus and preachers is sheer timidity and escapism. Because of such timid attitude and approach of these Gurus and preachers, the ordinary mass of Hindus gets confused. These ordinary Hindus think that any talk, act or effort on their part to defend Hindus or Hinduism against any attack against their faith is nothing but a political thing, which Hinduism does not teach. Most of us have witnessed – and at the most of times – this attitude of these Hindu Gurus and preachers and, the resultant, Hindu mind-set of the ordinary followers of this faith.
If one confronts these Gurus and preachers with the absurdity of this approach towards their Dharma, he or she most often would get a curt response from these faith leaders in somewhat this style: Well, if you wish to do some service of Hinduism, why should you be an activist? Why do you not put your life on the spiritual path, renounce this world and become a ‘sadhu’ instead?
Many young Hindus, because of such teachings of these Hindu Gurus and preachers, often would say that their parents discourage them in taking interest in Hinduism for the reason of the fear of their children becoming ‘sadhus’!
One may look around on twitter or face book to find out what kind of Hinduism is mostly being promoted by such Gurus, Swamis and preachers. On their blogs and websites too, one would never fail to find such escapist attitude in interpreting Hindu Dharma. There they, in their writings and speeches, would often just go in ‘verbose’ deep philosophy about the inner self and of the things beyond this world. They sound utterly impractical for the realities of this world and hardly ever promote Hindu scriptures – like Gita – to teach how to deal with the threats and dangers extended to their faith or how to defend Hindus and Hinduism at the hands of the enemies of their faith.
One cannot but wonder at the way in which the holy Hindu book Gita is taken by these Gurus, Swamis and preachers out of its context (the context that Gita was narrated by Krishna to Arjuna at the momentous event of war of Mahabharata to confront the reality and fight without attachment or fear for the just cause) and turned into an escapist holy book teaching only the search for ‘inner self’! These Hindu religious teachers would just love to gloss over the hard fact that Lord Krishna taught Arjuna in the battle field (of Kurukshetra) to bring Arjuna out of his mental turmoil by making him understand that the ‘inner self’ of a human being never dies and to teach him (Arjuna) to do his duty, as a Kshtriya, to fight in the war without any attachment or ill will to his opponents for the right cause against the injustice.
Do you ever hear Hindu Gurus or Swamis bring this aspect of Gita to their audience? Hardly ever!
We asked a few Gurus about the justification of their pitiable stand in this respect. They came out with confusing answers like the Mahabharata is really about the inner Mahabharata.
We asked them further: So, according to you, Krishna stopped Arjuna from renouncing everything to avoid war in the battlefield of Kurukshetra simply because he (Krishna) actually wanted him (Arjuna) to renounce everything!! Again their answer was like: The teaching of Gita is ‘inner Dharma Yuddha’ or ‘inner Jihad’!
Such answers of these Gurus do not make any sense in this world – the world which is a battle field, where the war is going on and where there are ‘right cause’ and ‘wrong cause’ to fight for and to fight against!
We can see how much confusion is being promoted in Hinduism today and because of this confusion so many Hindus – who want to be active in the way of Gita to defend Hindus and Hinduism – take such war for the ‘right cause’ and against the ‘wrong cause’ as only ‘a politics’ and ‘being unlike Hindus’.
It is here where the ‘inner self’ ends up! It is here where this world becomes an illusion! It is here where one is prompted to renounce the world, become a ‘sadhu’ and get ‘Moksha’! This is the Hinduism being promoted today by a large number of Swamis and Gurus.
At a Hindu event that we attended a Guru was telling a whole crowd of young Hindus that they should only focus on ‘Bhakti’, do the `Mala’ and chanting the Mantras; that they should not be taken in by the material world; and that they should rather reject it!!!
We asked him, ‘What are his views on the ‘Kashmiri Hindus’ who were killed in and kicked out of Kashmir, which is the Abode of Shiva?’
Amazingly, he did not like the question. As if this was not enough, one of his chief followers jumped in the dialogue and said, ‘This is not the place to ask such questions’. According to the Guru this question was not about the Dharma!
How divorced from reality this Guru is!!
We insisted that this is the proper place to put such question and seek answer from the teacher of Hindu Dharma. He suddenly started saying: Well, Indian soldiers have caused too many problems there. We objected: What nonsense it is to say so! Why are you avoiding the question about the Kashmiri Pandits?
Then he started blurting: Well, don’t get attached to the material world, if you want to evolve spiritually. We said: Pass over your bank accounts, your flash car parked outside and give your house over to prove how unattached from the material world you are and how spiritually evolved you are!!
Now the whole place turned into a commotion. We said in the face of large number of people gathered there that if there is no India left any more, which India these soldiers protect with their lives, this kind of Gurus would not be able to visit Hindu holy places; set up their Ashramas; or enjoy the Hindu mass following like the present one.
This is one incident of a Hindu Guru but there are many more such Gurus, Swamis and preachers to experience of. Today much of the Hinduism being promoted by such persons is distorted and the most confusing to ordinary Hindus. It inflicts an immense injury to the cause of Hinduism and this Hinduism’s struggle to survive in the face of the onslaught on it by many belligerent religions.
Surely, many Gurus, Swamis and preachers do good work also but what they preach often turns many Hindus into lambs waiting to be slaughtered. This is why the enlightened Hindu intellectuals should focus on the correct teachings of Hinduism, as it is here (its correct interpretation) where the real power of Hinduism lies.