On Sunday 02 Mar 2008 12:59:33 am divya manian wrote: > And I thought Indians worshipped Gandhi
Gandhi was a very intelligent man. He utilized violence by not allowing it to occur. He was politically big enough to build up a great following among Indians. He utilized that following by holding back violence (sometimes by emotional blackmail) to coax and cajole the British into expecting great violence unless they capitulated to his demands. Among Gandhi's lasting legacies are two commonly believed false impressions: 1) A general impression that India stands for non violence 2) An impression among Hindus that Hinduism somehow means non violence. Hinduism per se is not non violent. It is merely non adversarial with regard to other religions. This generally stops Hindus from fighting over the identity and characteristics of a particular God. But that's about it. If you tell a Hindu that your God is great, he will accept it and say that he worships your God too. But the Hindu may murder you for something else. As a religion (if Hinduism can be called a religion) this sets Hinduism apart from both Christianity and Islam that demand allegiance to a particular God and promise reward for doing that with punishment as the alternative. shiv
