Tolerance

[satay]

What does 'tolerance' mean to you as a Hindu? Please present your answer in the context of hindu dharma.

Does it mean we have to 'take' the nonsense of missionaries all smiling in the name of tolerance or is it kasatriya dharma to return a slap with a punch ?

(I mean those kasatriyas who think that they still have a few drops of kasatriya blood in their veins)

Does tolerance mean we live like cowards or does it mean we follow the principle of 'live and let live'?

Let's keep the answers focused and not get into advaita/davaita discussion on this thread. I am asking the questions from 'relative' point of view i.e. I am assuming that the world is real relatively experienced.

[sarabhanga]

Namaste Satay,

Tolerance (from Latin tolerantia) is “endurance or fortitude”, as “the ability to bear or suffer something” (especially something unpleasant or disadvantageous), or “permission or acceptance”, particularly with a sense of “freedom from bigotry or severity”. And tolerance is commonly understood as “the willingness to accept behaviour and beliefs that are different from one’s own”.

What exactly do you mean by “the nonsense of missionaries”? If missionaries use physical force to disrupt the lives of Hindus, then physical force is certainly justified in self-defense. But if missionaries are only teaching or preaching (no matter how falsely) then the appropriate response is to ensure that Hindus are properly informed about their own true Dharma.

If Hindu parents do not ensure that their children are properly educated in Hindu Dharma, then they may be easily diverted by all kinds of nonsense!

Tolerance means “live and let live”, and tolerance is truly courageous!

[satay]

Tolerance means “live and let live”, and tolerance is truly courageous!

namaste,
As usual a very well thought out reply!

Thank you.

[Sudarshan]

If Hindu parents do not ensure that their children are properly educated in Hindu Dharma, then they may be easily diverted by all kinds of nonsense!

In addition, teach about the nonsensical and divisive nature of some of these missionaries....teach about how practice of religion is much more important than theory and beliefs.

[atanu]

I can't help but reply to this from a Native American historical point of view.

This quote is from a Native American, Zitkala-Sa, circa 1902. It has been one of my favorite quotes for about ten years now. It is much longer than what I am going to paste here. In the beginning of this piece she gives a long account of being one with the Great Mystery and spending the day in somewhat of a meditative state. She arrives home to be confronted by a member of her tribe, who has been converted to Christianity.

"As our tribe is one large family, where every person is related to
all the others, he addressed me: --

"Cousin, I came from the morning church service to talk with
you."

"Yes," I said interrogatively, as he paused for some word from me.

Shifting uneasily about in the straight-backed chair he sat upon, he
began: "Every holy day (Sunday) I look about our little God's
house, and not seeing you there, I am disappointed. This is why I
come to-day. Cousin, as I watch you from afar, I see no
unbecoming behavior and hear only good reports of you, which all
the more burns me with the wish that you were a church member.
Cousin, I was taught long years ago by kind missionaries to read
the holy book. These godly men taught me also the folly of our old
beliefs.

"There is one God who gives reward or punishment to the race of
dead men. In the upper region the Christian dead are gathered in
unceasing song and prayer. In the deep pit below, the sinful ones
dance in torturing flames.

"Think upon these things, my cousin, and choose now to avoid the
after-doom of hell fire!" Then followed a long silence in which he
clasped tighter and unclasped again his interlocked fingers.

Brushing away from my eyes many like pictures, I offered midday
meal to the converted Indian sitting wordless and with downcast
face. No sooner had he risen from the table with "Cousin, I have
relished it," than the church bell rang.

Thither he hurried forth with his afternoon sermon. I watched him
as he hastened along, his eyes bent fast upon the dusty road till he
disappeared at the end of a quarter of a mile.

The little incident recalled to mind the copy of a missionary paper
brought to my notice a few days ago, in which a "Christian"
pugilist commented upon a recent article of mine, grossly
perverting the spirit of my pen. Still I would not forget that the
pale-faced missionary and the hoodooed aborigine are both God's
creatures, though small indeed their own conceptions of Infinite
Love. A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their
dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of
the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of
mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is
Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan.

Hello Gypsi,

It's such beautiful expression of contrasts.

The sweet, the beautiful:

Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of
mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers.

And the other:

There is one God who gives reward or punishment to the race of
dead men. In the upper region the Christian dead are gathered in
unceasing song and prayer. In the deep pit below, the sinful ones
dance in torturing flames.


The irony, I feel (in a very pained way), is that the beautiful is always evicted by the brutal, at least in this world. But this is again natural. See, Jesus who lived near naked and mendicant and see the pompous gold adorned church men? They have to maintain the form, else who will listen to them? That again is the world -- lack of knowledge of spirit --- its simplicity, its light breezy beauty, and its absolute INDEPENDENCE.

Rishi Dhirgatma says in Rig Veda:

Those who have clothed Him do not know Him, from them He surely is hidden.

But in this world, God allows the bare footed nimble ones to be trampled by the heavily booted. Why? Why?

Om