One of the most beautiful aspects of Hinduism is that it sees God in everything. The creator and created are not two different things, but one and the same, as a result "respecting the otherness of others" becomes a way of life. Indeed, that is how we at the Foundation for Pluralism have defined Pluralism - i.e., respecting the otherness of others for genuine co-existence. God is about love and not hate. The Hindu greeting Namaste invokes the God in each other to come together to talk and act goodness.
However, when it comes to abuse and misuse, Hinduism is no exception, it is a business for the self appointed guardians of the religion. They are obviously looking for gains to be had and have hijacked the pristine Hindu faith, just as the self appointed guardians of other religions have done it. They have mangled up the pristine religion whose purpose was to bring peace within an individual and with what surrounds him/her; people and the universe.
Now "Hindu Mahasabha" a Hindu group within the family of political Hinduism called Sangh Parivar has decided to install the statues of the newly created God, Godse in temples across India. Godse is the killer of Mahatma Gandhi. Is that going too far?
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It is time for Moderate Hindus to speak up**(note below).
A Bollywood film called "Oh My God" - depicts a scene towards the end, where the men in God-Business were installing a statue of the hero as the new God of the helpless, assuming he was dead in the hospital. But the hero wakes up and runs to where they were having the installation ceremony and destroys the own God Statue of him, pulling the masks off the men who were going to mint money with the newly created God, ready to do business. A similar message was given in the film "PK" where people can be easily misled and duped.
Obviously, every religion has a majority that understands the beauty of its faith, and goes about doing good to fellow beings and mind their own faith and family. However, there is a small group within each faith that is intolerant and hell bent on annihilating the other. They don't believe in dialogue, and instead resort to the primal instincts of animals, who settle their disputes by locking in their horns, tearing up the other with their fangs or bloodying the opponent with their paws.
We desperately need a Swami Vivekananda's avatar to teach the ideals of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum; meaning the whole world in one family. Ironically, we also need a Jesus to teach these stray men what love means, what love they neighbor means.
Thank God, except the Naxalites in India, the other minorities like Dalits, Muslims and Christians have not gone haywire and resorted to extremism despite the provocations and pressures on them to obey.
I am not sure, if the majority of Hindus are ready for a New God, a God who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Godse is God to them because he saved the nation by killing Gandhi who was inclusive of Muslims, Dalits, Christians and others.
Hindu Mahasabha did not come into being to teach and preserve the values of Hinduism, but was founded to hate the other, particularly Christians and Muslims. If they learn to love fellow humans including Christians and Muslims, then the organization will cease, as it will have no purpose to exist anymore.
I have always stood up for Hinduism against misunderstandings about it and will continue to do that, as I have done with all other faiths including Paganism and Atheism, that is the right thing to do. I strongly believe in the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum expressed in Dharmic faiths, and the idea of the whole world is one big family born from the same couple taught in the Abrahamic faiths. All of us need to genuinely believe and practice it. http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2012/04/standing-with-hindus.html
The way forward is to respect the otherness of others, accept the God given uniqueness of each one of the inhabitants of the land. Let every one eat, drink, wear, worship or believe whatever the hell they want to believe in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. If we can do that, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Mike Ghouse is committed to a cohesive India, where all Indians can live without the fear of the others and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.
Mike Ghouse is committed to a cohesive India, where all Indians can live without the fear of the others and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.
Hindu Mahasabha to install Godse statue in temples
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Hindu Mahasabha to install Godse statue in temples
The Hindutva outfit is in touch with saints and temple trusts across the country for the purpose.
Don't be surprised if you come across a statue of Nathuram Godse, the killer of the Mahatma Gandhi, in the temple in your vicinity. After its attempt to install Godse statues at few identified places in Uttar Pradesh was foiled by the State Police, the Hindu Mahasabha plans to install them in the premises of temples across India.
The Hindutva outfit is in touch with saints and temple trusts which supervise hundreds of temples, assured it of their support.
At present the outfit is quite determined but tight upped about how it plans to install statue of Nathuram Godse on January 30, the day Godse shot dead Mahatma Gandhi.
The Hindutva outfit has decided not to publicise its programmes of the installation of the statue after it felt "too much media coverage" became an "obstacle" in its work.
After its public announcement to build a temple for Godse in Sitapur district and install a Godse statue at an identified place in Meerut, the Uttar Pradesh police sealed the two places. While treating the issue as serious problem for law and order the State police also plans to invoke section 144 of the IPC at the two places.
As per the revised strategy, the outfit will first install Godse statue across the country and will then inform the media in order to avoid possible crackdowns by the Uttar Pradesh government and possible roadblocks posed by the other State government in the country. UP because
According to senior functionaries of the Hindutva group, they met several group of saints during the recently concluded "Magh Kumbh mela" in Allahabad.
"After we announced about our plans the government sealed the place. We don't want unnecessary attention. We would rather focus on competing the job at hand," he told this correspondent.
According to a senior Hindu Mahasabha leader who didn't want to be quoted because of the sensitivity of the issue, Godse statue might soon be seen within temple premises across the country -- to start with, in temples in the Hindi speaking States like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar.
"We met hundreds of saints during the Magh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad who assured us of their support and now we are planning to install statues in temples with the support of these saints," said the outfit leader.
"We have a dedicated set of youths who are brimming with nationalistic fervour and who are ready to put Godse statue at the Raj Ghat at the cost of getting arrested but we don't want to work like that. We just want to spread the message of 'Akhand bharat' (unified India) which was the main mission for Nathuram Godse ji," added another.
He clarified that the statues won't necessarily be in the main part of the temples so as not to equate Godse with the Hindu Gods.
"After some serious thinking and discussion with saints, we decided that as mark of respect to Godse we can install his statues somewhere in the premises of temples. We do have statues of great Hindu reformers and great men in temple premises," maintained the Hindutva leader.
While justifying the proposed move, the Hindu Mahasabha leader said: "Godse was no less than any other greater because he sent across the message of unified India and protested against the division the country by Klimt Gandhi".
The Hindutva group has ordered about five hundred statues from artists in Jaipur. It also plans to inaugurate and launch small libraries which would provide literature highlighting Godse's "point of view about unified India and correct sequence of events as far as Gandhi's killing is concerned".
The public announcement by the outfit to install a Godse statue and subsequent well reported bhumi pujan in Meerut for the statue, had resulted in its leaders being booked under various sections of the IPC.
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