Skip to main content

Why I am still a Hindu

In Ramayana, after Rama kills Ravana, the oldest survivor in Ravana's family, his grandfather, pleads with Rama to show mercy to Lanka citizens since now Lanka is under Ayodhya and they are to be ruled by him. 
Rama, however, replies that though he won the war, it was not his intention to occupy Lanka for the sake of expanding his kingdom. His fight was against adharma. Hence, he will not be ruling over Lanka and Lanka is free. 
When I remember how our textbooks glorify mughal invaders who not only snatched kingdoms of India but also destroyed every city, village they passed through, killed its innocent people and plundered our wealth, I am reminded of Rama's fairness, dislike for unnecessary violence and complete absence of greed. He did what was right. And he respected every individual's right to life and freedom. 
This is why I am still a Hindu

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caterpillar or butterfly?

'Caught in a strange land in a net with other butterflies, I'm a caterpillar yet undecided to remain a caterpillar and perish or turn into a beautiful butterfly and live a life full of joy.' Readers don't laugh. But I came up with this one night recently when I was travelling in a train. I tossed and turned, not being able to sleep, upset over unexplainable things and frustrated over events not in my control. Then it occurred to me that our life and its usefulness depends on our decisions -- whether to remain a crawling caterpillar whose existence otherwise is either ignored by all and sundry or who is cursed for just being there and thrown out with a stick, or to develop wings of life and metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly whom everybody adores for its beauty and colour, for its flitting liveliness, for its service to the flower's pollination... I thought that I should be a butterfly, of service to others, but then again I thought, anyway, who really cares? 
8 comments
Read more

A listener

I have always been a listener. And we can listen only when we are silent. Since childhood, silence was my way of life. It is the only way one can understand the psyche of others.  I also listened to myself. It encouraged me to think. And when I began thinking, this world began to reveal itself. And when I started understanding people, I also realised the only way forward is to again remain silent. Silence in either way keeps me calm, peaceful. I feel like a detached onlooker. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Two separate questions

Guess I am out of touch with everything right now, so no blog entry for many days. From many days, a question is bothering me. I haven't found a satisfactory answer yet. So I'll write it down here. Maybe anybody who reads this may know the answer. "Just because we are journalists, writers, opinion creators and thinkers, do we have the right to judge others? Either personally or professionally?" I think we don't have the right to judge a person, even if we are right. But as writers, we would have to judge others whether we like it or not. And it's very difficult forcing people to think, but that's what we are doing or pretending to be doing right? Another question: "How come life is so simple if you just let it live by itself without bothering much and so complicated if you try to manipulate it or even understand it?" Blessed are the ignorant. We who can understand everything, try not to let anything go by without understanding and thus miss the b...
4 comments
Read more