I am Hindu!

[satay]

Namaste,

For a few months, the following are on my mind:

What makes one a Hindu?

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms?

Why must a hindu be always the peace officer trying to protect the integrity of nation?

Why must a hindu be always labeled as a militant or hindutva as soon as he opens his mouth about his hindu identity?

Why must a hindu always hold the umbrella of universalism accepting every tom, dick and friggin harry?

Why must a hindu always be the one with open arms ready to accept every maleccha or non-hindu?

Why can’t a hindu say, “this is Hindustan, the Bharta Mata, it belongs to me, the Hindu. If you don’t like it get the hell out of here. We will gladly throw./export you out. And by the way, here is friggin kick in your a$$. Now, get the hell out of here...”

Why?
Why?
Why?

[NetiNeti]

Namaste,

For a few months, the following are on my mind:

What makes one a Hindu?

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms?

Why must a hindu be always the peace officer trying to protect the integrity of nation?

Why must a hindu be always labeled as a militant or hindutva as soon as he opens his mouth about his hindu identity?

Why must a hindu always hold the umbrella of universalism accepting every tom, dick and friggin harry?

Why must a hindu always be the one with open arms ready to accept every maleccha or non-hindu?

Why can’t a hindu say, “this is Hindustan, the Bharta Mata, it belongs to me, the Hindu. If you don’t like it get the hell out of here. We will gladly throw./export you out. And by the way, here is friggin kick in your a$$. Now, get the hell out of here...”

Why?
Why?
Why?

Namaste Satay,

I can tell you that your questions are ones I have pondered as well. You are not alone in this intellectual struggle.

What makes one a Hindu?
I believe the answer is simple here. Belief in the Dharma, belief in karma and reincarnation (as stated by the holy scriptures, no new age ****), and devotion to at least one of the many Hindu Gods.

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms?
Yes, I believe so. This is a VERY hard concept to practice. The holy mother, Sarada Devi instructs us not to treat anyone as a stranger. This means that all mankind is our brother, even if they are against us. We must see the atman in all creatures including horrible and cruel people. Hinduism is not supposed to be easy, it requires great work and I know I need to work on accepting everyone.

Why must a hindu be always the peace officer trying to protect the integrity of nation?
Non-violence is at the core of our faith but I do believe the Bhagavad teaches is to defend ourselves as well. As Hindus we should practice non-violence until our hand is forced. When war becomes our duty, we should execute it without hesitation. Non-violence is beautiful but look at what it got the Buddhists of Tibet. We should always consider our actions deeply before we go beyond the realm of peace makers.

Why must a hindu be always labeled as a militant or hindutva as soon as he opens his mouth about his hindu identity?
I am not in India so I cannot comment much on this. The fact I see though is that Muslims are corrupting India and it is a commonplace thing to associate Hinduism with the saffron terror in order for the Muslims to look like "the victim". Its much like the red scare in the USA many years ago. If someone was a communist they found themselves being accused of spying on the USA.

Why must a hindu always hold the umbrella of universalism accepting every tom, dick and friggin harry?
Ramakrishna says that a Hindu is strong because he can accept all men. Islam and Christianity exclude many people and always attempt to subvert people into conversion. Hindus accept that all religions are a path to God and therefore there is no reason to convert or disrespect. Universalism is what separates us from the rest of mankind. Where they judge, we accept. Where they hate, we love. Where they persecute, we give asylum. These are our duties and they are very difficult indeed.

Why must a hindu always be the one with open arms ready to accept every maleccha or non-hindu?
Once again this is an issue of duty. Ramakrishna saw, through practice, that all faiths can lead to moksha. He states that we must welcome all men with open arms because they are made of the same fibers as us, even though we may not see this fact. This is a hard one as well.

Why can’t a hindu say, “this is Hindustan, the Bharta Mata, it belongs to me, the Hindu. If you don’t like it get the hell out of here. We will gladly throw./export you out. And by the way, here is friggin kick in your a$$. Now, get the hell out of here...”

I think India should be Hindu but also allow freedom of religion, like Israel does. I also think that any trouble makers should be shown the border very quickly and kicked out. If they play by the rules that they can enjoy the safety and peace of a Hindu nation.

[Believer]

There is so much in this thread that short answers would not suffice. So I will take one thing at a time.

I think India should be Hindu but also allow freedom of religion, like Israel does.

I just got chastised in a different section of this forum for bringing a person's age into the discussion, but what else would I attribute a person's naive utterances to? Some of us like to state opinions based solely on fragmented, half baked information, as facts, without learning about the ground realities. And that is very sad.

Allow me to digress a little and give you some details about Israeli Jews and the Jewish faith. Primarily they are divided into three ethnic groups:
1. Ashkenazis, from Germany and neighboring areas
2. Sephardics, from the Iberian peninsula
3. Mizrahis, from South Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Caucasus

Their social standing (caste system) parallels the above order. You are not going to see a brown or a black Jew as the PM or the President of the state. Another example is that nicely settled Jews from India were lured into moving to 'the Motherland', only to find out that as Mizrahis, they were at the bottom of the pecking order in Israel and were resettled in far off, arid, small towns, and left to fend for themselves. So much for the brotherhood.

Palestinian Muslims in Israel are a nuisance that have to be tolerated because there is no alternative. Most have been pushed out to the outlying arid areas. They can't all be asked to leave the country just as Muslims in India can't be asked to leave India. If they could, Israel would like to throw them out in a second. Have no doubts about that!

Back to the original topic, PLEASE don't compare the tolerance (and naive pacifism) of Hindus to Israelites or anyone else. Hindus and Jews have had the bad luck of suffering Islamic terrorism. But don't even think about Jews in Israel being tolerant of other faiths like Hindus are. I knew of a Jew who married a Christian and moved to Israel, and the wife was treated like she did not exist. If you are of non-Jewish faith in Israel, you are lower than dirt. Of course a large majority of Jews in North America are secular, but it is a different story in Israel. India, not only tolerates people of other faiths but literally pampers them. Where else in the world do you see a different civil code for people of other faiths? Where else in the world do you see citizens of a country barred from buying property in a state/province of the country (like in Kashmir)? Where else do you see the Govt. subsidizing pilgrims for going to Hajj? And the list goes on.

I hope I have opened your eyes to a new world. Check out the facts and if I am wrong on any point, I will eat the crow and edit my post.

Peace and joy!

[kd gupta]

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms?
Yes, I believe so. This is a VERY hard concept to practice. The holy mother, Sarada Devi instructs us not to treat anyone as a stranger. This means that all mankind is our brother, even if they are against us. We must see the atman in all creatures including horrible and cruel people. Hinduism is not supposed to be easy, it requires great work and I know I need to work on accepting everyone.
Namaste...
This concept is complex and requires to be accepted under vedic discipline , dilution of it has made Hindus weak .

[Believer]

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms? Yes, I believe so.
This concept is complex and requires to be accepted under vedic discipline , dilution of it has made Hindus weak .

Please feel free to follow your religious practices and grow spiritually.

But don't tell me that what has made Hindus weak is their non acceptance of everyone as brother in arms.
The reason Hindus have become the doormat of the world is their pacifism.
The reason we have become the laughing stock of the world is that we let everyone push us around.
We have been turned into guilt-ridden apologists who go around begging for forgiveness for things they haven't done.
It is simply pathetic.
We don't have any 'kahunas' left.

For those who want to embrace everyone as their brothers in arms, I would suggest them to go across the India's border to the West and see how many people would want to lock arms with them. India did not lose large chunks of land to Islam by being morally corrupt, but by being fragmented and by being pacifist. Whatever is left, is weakening by the day because of people who have their heads buried in the sand.

In today's world, the only time you get somebody's attention is when you squeeze their 'kahuna$'.
Arise, awake you khashtriyas of Bharat, before your land is handed over to the Islamic terrorists and Xitian missionaries by the Hindu pacifists!

Maybe tomorrow I will think differently, but I hope not!

Yes, I have had a chance to sleep over all of this, and today I feel stronger about it than yesterday.
God bless India, and God bless America.

[atanu]

Namaste,

Why can’t a hindu say, “this is Hindustan, the Bharta Mata, it belongs to me, the Hindu. If you don’t like it get the hell out of here. We will gladly throw./export you out. And by the way, here is friggin kick in your a$$. Now, get the hell out of here...”

Why?
Why?
Why?

Namaste Satay

Do you mean somewhat like Hitler proclaiming Germany for Aryans and then purging and/or massacring unwanted Jews? I do not think that you seriously believe in such a way, (since this is Canteen for relaxing). But I am apprehensive because if such a system comes into force i will get a kick on a$$.

God only knows why? Pray may parashuraAma, to vanquish all corrupt leaders, followed by Shri rAma Himself, to quench parashurAma's anger and install dharma, manifest again and pray that all Hindus, inluding this, fulfill their allotted tasks and abide by dharma.

Om Namah Shivaya

[kallol]

Namaste,

For a few months, the following are on my mind:

What makes one a Hindu?

As a hindu, must I accept every one as my brother in arms?

Why must a hindu be always the peace officer trying to protect the integrity of nation?

Why must a hindu be always labeled as a militant or hindutva as soon as he opens his mouth about his hindu identity?

Why must a hindu always hold the umbrella of universalism accepting every tom, dick and friggin harry?

Why must a hindu always be the one with open arms ready to accept every maleccha or non-hindu?

Why can’t a hindu say, “this is Hindustan, the Bharta Mata, it belongs to me, the Hindu. If you don’t like it get the hell out of here. We will gladly throw./export you out. And by the way, here is friggin kick in your a$$. Now, get the hell out of here...”

Why?
Why?
Why?

There are several POV to the above questions.

Philosophical, Cultural and Political. So there are no easy answers.

Generally the actions, reactions at each of the cultural and political level take care of themselves over a period of time. Though the time frame can be in hundreds of years.

Hardly there are examples of permanent victory and rule of evil doers. It is a naturally defined system with waves going up and down.

The lifetime being so long from our POV, we feel impatient and restless but history is 1000s of years. And this evens out any chengis khans, Mohammed ghazni, aurangzebs or hitlers.

Truth is Evil cannot win in long term. Victory is always for the TRUTH. And that is how the ecosystem is defined and tilted.

Have respect for what Krishna has said and do you bit to contribute positively to the society.

Love and best wishes

[PARAM]

ॐ

Satya, the Do and Don't of hinduism is told in Vedas, check your answer in Vedic knowledge like Gita or Vedic law like Manusmriti

[satay]

namaste,

I can tell you that your questions are ones I have pondered as well. You are not alone in this intellectual struggle.

This is comforting to know. At least, I am not the only one with these thoughts then.

And yes, NetiNeti, Param, Kallol I know the vedic and some of our acaryas position (or at least I think I do) but I think my post came from the same lines of thought that Beliver has posted about in this very thread.

Shall a hindu become so meek that even a mention of 'This is Hindustan, it belongs to the Hindus.' gets a comparison of him to Hitler!!

And, no Atanu, I am not thinking along the same lines of thoughts as Hitler. I think other hindus will produly kill such any such hindu before he comes close to being a hitler.

What I am thinking of is what other nations do. For example, you want to live in Canada, you have to 'accept' the socialist mentality. As a Canadian for example, you agree or not, you will be forced to pay taxes so that the gov't can provide all types of social services. Nothing wrong with that in fact, that is nobel. But what about those who don't accept this 'socialistic' mentality or don't agree with the social services being provided. Do they then start demanding separate nation?

Why in India, every Tom, Dick and harry is asking for their separate piece of land, because they belong to a non-hindu religion, are of lower caste, are of lower class, speak different language...you pick the reason. Why can't the majority of India say, "No!" you want separate...Out you go..."
Something like what I do here on HDF. The policy is if your personal agenda doesn't match with the agenda of the forum...Out you go... or perhaps that policy is too much like Hitler mentality also?

Why is it 'always' the hindu who has to take the moral high road? Why even just a mention of not taking the high moral road in a canteen section of a Hindu forum, a hindu is being compared to Hitler? That was my original point.

And by the way, thanks atanu for highlighting my point with your example.

[atanu]

namaste,
---Why is it 'always' the hindu who has to take the moral high road? Why even just a mention of not taking the high moral road in a canteen section of a Hindu forum, a hindu is being compared to Hitler? That was my original point.

And by the way, thanks atanu for highlighting my point with your example.

Namaste Satay

Since it is canteen section, so i dared. But i see that i get a veiled brickbat, nonetheless. I am with you in strict implementation of just laws -- which you have pointed out -- and each of us can contribute in this regard. But, I am not with you with the thought "this is Hindustan, the Bharata Mata, it belongs to me ---". Call it high morality or whatever.


Om Namah Shivaya