No wonder they consider India a secular country!
*** That depends on the definition of 'secular'.
The English word means not-having anything to do with religion. But
those who deride 'secularism' of Indian governance, must mean they
want the Indian state to be a religious one. If so, should the
thinking people support such political or religious entities who
promote the idea of abandoning 'secularism' of Indian governance in
favor of a RELIGIOUS one?
That is the big question.
At 8:48 AM -0500 8/2/05, Alpana B. Sarangapani wrote:
>promoted by those who deem themselves to be 'thinking' people.
and there must be a billion of those 'thinking' people, and
thankfully, that is why there exist, all these churches, mosques and
other worshipping places for everybody in every other corner in
India, and not JUST temples for them hindus. No wonder they consider
India a secular country!
From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Rajen Barua" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Assam] re: why conscetious Hindus should not go to GuruVayoor
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 07:52:02 -0500
What would be outrageous would be to present this or any such
religion as THE religion for all Indians. And any political entity
that exists with the support and approval of such religions, ought
not to be accepted/endorsed or otherwise
promoted by those who deem themselves to be 'thinking' people.
At 3:52 PM -0500 8/1/05, Rajen Barua wrote:
?
I fully agree with the views. This goes to say, religion is what it
is and not what it should be. Any Sect of Hinduism is what it is.
Nobody has a say from outside to tell what it ought to be. If some
temple does not allow others to enter, that is what it is. And I
don't see any problem. As the saying goes, every dog has its tail.
The problem arises when someone wants to equate Hinduism with
something else and try to dictate what the different sects should
be in order to conform to certain common assumed norms of Hindusim.
Some sects of Hindusim believe in animal sacrifice. some in human
sacrifice, some in vegetable sacrifice, some in snake worshiping,
some in tree worshiping, some in Ma-Kali worshiping, most religions
even believe in the existence of a God who is in charge of
everything.
I donot believe in any of these, and I donot have any problem when
anybody believes and practice any of these.
Rajen Barua
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 4:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] re: why conscetious Hindus should not go to
GuruVayoor
The prohibition of foreigners, non-Hindus and even low caste Hindus
to certain temples of India is not a new thing. First Hindu
religion is not a universal religion. It is only in modern times
that the concept of universality has arisen. Vaisnavism as preached
by Shankaradeva and Chaitanya is a universal religion. It was
Swami Vivekananda who preached that exclusiveness in Hinduism must
be eschewed and thus the Ram Krishna mission was founded. The
ascetics in ancient India held that religion is an intensely
personal matter and the devotee has to find out his God or
salvation by his own efforts, if need be, with the help of a Guru
of his choice. That is why many went to the deep forests of the
Himalayas to pray alone and ultimately achieve salvation. The great
Shankaracharrya did that at a very young age. Modernists like
Shankaradeva didn't choose that way. Orthodox or Sanatan Hindu
>>dharma was not aimed either at conversion or publicity.
Restricted temples are run by groups of Brahmins and anyone
visiting those temples must follow their
guidelines. If the temple authority wants to close the doors to
foreigners, they can. However, if these temples propagate an
universal religion, they should not prohibit entries. I know there
is a Hindu temple in London where women are not allowed. Men just
do not go there.
If foreigners or scholars want to visit certain Hindu temples for
either research or devotional purposes it is up to the temple
authority to make the facilities available. In a temple at Guwahati
I saw one foreign Hindu monk being welcomed in to the sanctuary.
Hindus usually enter their places of worship with veneration. An
atheist or a non-Hindu lacks this sense of humility and may be
critical of the management in a lot of things even though he may
be justified..
Should a temple run by a group of orthodox Brahmins for their
exclusive clientele be opened to the harijans because
untouchability in public places is prohibited under the
Constitution of India. Well, non-believers have no need to be
offended but believers should certainly not be discriminated
The matter has been dealt with within the existing law of India.
I've not refreshed my memory on the point. So I want others to tell
me what it is at the moment.
In this particular instance, I do not see any problem in allowing
the donor to enter the temple.The temple authority should not
beunduly censorious.
Bhuban
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