Intro
- See veda section in holy books page.
- “श्रुतिस्तु वेदो विज्ञेयो धर्मशास्त्रं तु वै स्मृतिः । ते सर्वार्थेष्वमीमांस्ये ताभ्यां धर्मो हि निर्बभौ ॥ योऽवमन्येत ते मूले हेतुशास्त्राश्रयाद् द्विजः । स साधुभिर्बहिष्कार्यो नास्तिको वेदनिन्दकः ॥” इति मनुः। तत्र मेधातिथिर् अत्र।
Dealing with commonalities
Even as hindus identify and reject traditions antagonistic to them, they should deal with commonalities with confidence. It is wrong to forcibly be the direct opposite of those we don’t like in every regard. An easy way to do so in case of Abe’s disease would be to note the fact that most of their concepts and rituals are copied from their polytheistic predecessors (before they were violently eliminated).
For example, the pAkis object to (and are a bit confused by) our use of the word “shahiid”, which they understand as only being applicable to muslims dying for allah (YT). A proper response to that objection is of course to turn the table on them and point out that most of the terms and concepts in Islam (including allah) are anyway copied from pre-Islamic arab polytheists.
Equality fallacy
- While Muslims and Christians did some comparitive study of Hindu civilization and culture, the Hindu-s did not reciprocate - at least not in equal volume. Rather, many Hindu-s made idiotic and misleading statements such as “All religions are equal. You can be a good Hindu by being a good Muslim or Christian”.
“I know your true religion better” syndrome
“I have wondered over the years why we Hindus have remained preoccupied with the behaviour patterns of Muslims and Christians and not with the belief systems which create those behaviour patterns. We object to Christian missions, but refuse to discuss Christianity and its god, Jesus. We object to Islamic terrorism, but refuse to have a look at Islam and its prophet, Muhammad. I see no sense or logic in this Hindu habit.
In fact, we go a step further. We appeal to the Christian missionaries in the name of Jesus, and ask them not to do what they have been doing. We appeal to the Muslims in the name of Muhammad, and ask them to stop doing what they have been doing. In the process, we have invented a “real” Jesus and a “true” Christianity. We have also invented a “real” Muhammad and a “true” Islam. The missionary and the mullah smiles at our inventions but goes ahead and makes good use of our soft-headedness. That is why we have failed to solve the “communal problem” all these years. We have never tried to find out why our own people, which both Christians and Muslims are, should become alienated from us when they pass under the spell of Christianity and Islam.
Flattering the bully may become necessary when the bully is powerful and there remains no other way of softening him except by extolling his heroes or his cult. Hindus have experienced such emergencies vis-a-vis both Islam and Christianity. But there is no reason for their continuing with the same psychology. Hindus should not convert an Apad Dharma into Sanatana Dharma.” – Sita Ram Goel writing in 1994, Preface to Jesus Christ: An Artifice for Aggression, Voice of India, 2001