A Nation Within 4 Temples

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Jewish Israel Vs Melting Pot US

The US prides itself as a 바카라�melting pot바카라�바카라�or a 바카라�plate of salads바카라�바카라�nation of immigrants long populating its geography, even though Samuel Huntington described it as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) nation. The US is less an org­anically, more a mechanically evolved nation. Organically evolved nations are different. Their national consciousness can exist without even a territory! It did in the case of the Jewish nation, which existed in the consciousness of the Jews for two millennia without a territory. The Jewish people were strewn around 100 nations in the world, including India, for two thousand years. It was in 1947 that the Jewish people got a piece of 바카라�their바카라� territory back바카라�present-day Israel. Their consciousness as nation got them their land. National consciousness can regain lost territory, but mere territory cannot regain lost national consciousness. The idea of the Jewish nation is the very contrast of the idea of US as a nation. Jewish nationalism is actually a racial concept. Yet, the world recognised it. A territory with a mere collection of people is no nation just because it is ruled by a State; for example, former USSR, Yugoslavia and the likes. Love of territory, sans the idea of nation, is not patriotism. Nor is it nationalism. Territorial nationalism or territorial patriotism equals just a landlord바카라�s love of his land. Patriotism is love of one바카라�s nation and the land of its ancestors. Now let바카라�s look at how our great ancestors and leaders captured the idea of Indian nationalism.

Gandhi and Aurobindo on ­Indian nationalism

The Indian nation existed from times immemorial. The Vedas speak of a 바카라�rashtra바카라�. In the Vishnu Purana, Vayu Purana, Linga Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Agni Purana, Skanda Pur­ana, and Markandeya Purana, the larger India was known, millennia before, as Bharatvarsha, its people as Bharatiyas, its ruler as Chakravartin. The ­Puranas emphasised spiritualism as the soul of Bharatvarsha. In Hind Swaraj, Mah­atma Gandhi바카라�s fundamental text, he drew on the ancient idea of Bharatvarsha as India바카라�s spiritual nationalism. Gandhi said that our ancestors who established Setubandha (Rameshwar) in the South, Jagannath in the East and Haridwar in the North as places of pilgrimage were no fools. He asserts that the ancestors knew that worship of God could have been performed just as well at home and yet they argued that it must be (as) one nation, and est­ablished holy places in various parts of India, thus firing the people with an idea of nationality in a manner unknown in other parts of the world. Even the advent of Muslims, Gandhi said, would not make any difference as they ought to be assimilated into the mainstream nation. Maharishi Aurobindo was of the view that Indian Nationalism is Hindu nat­ionalism which is no 바카라�creed, religion, faith바카라� and said that the Hindu nation was born with Sanatan Dharma that is nationalism. Emphatic indeed, were both Gandhi and Aurobindo.

Vivekananda on spiritual ­nationalism

Swami Vivekananda바카라�s nationalist ­exhortations are said to have triggered the freedom movement. The British police repeatedly found his literature in the hands of freedom fighters and even mulled action against the Ramakrishna Math. The tallest of leaders attributed the freedom movement to him. Mahatma Gandhi said, 바카라�Reading Viveka­nanda has made me love the country a 바카라�hundred fold바카라�. Subhash Chandra Bose described him as 바카라�the spiritual father of the modern nationalist movement바카라�. C. Rajagopalachari wrote, but for him 바카라�we would have lost our religion, not have gained our freedom; we owe everything to him.바카라� Rabindranath Tagore also told fellow Indians, 바카라�if you want to know India, study Vivekananda바카라�. For Jawaharlal Nehru, secular India바카라�s icon, Vivekananda 바카라�was one of the great founders of the national movement, who inspired the freedom fighters바카라�. Even Aurobindo and Subramanya Bharati were inspired by Vivekananda. What did Vivekananda have to say about the Indian nation and nationalism? 바카라�A nation in India,바카라� he declared, 바카라�must be a union of those whose hearts beat to the same spiritual tune바카라�. Comparing the three living nations of his times바카라�English, French and Hindu바카라�he said, 바카라�the Hindu nation is still living바카라� because of its religion. He termed religious conversions as perversions. Vivekananda went the farthest to ­defend the Hindu ­character of India.

Supreme Court: Hindu heritage and culture

Finally in the year 1995, the Supreme Court of India itself confirmed the core Hindu cultural character of India. Referring to the concepts 바카라�Hindutva바카라� and 바카라�Hinduism바카라�, the Supreme Court ruled, 바카라�No meaning in the abstract can confine it to the narrow limits of rel­igion alone, excluding the content of Indian culture and heritage. The term `Hindutva바카라� is related more to the way of life of the people in the sub-continent.바카라� The Court also recalled its previous judgement in the Ayodhya case, where Justice Barucha speaking for himself and Justice Ahmadi, said, 바카라�Hinduism is a tolerant faith. It is that tolerance that has enabled Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to find shelter and support upon this land바카라�. In saying so, he almost equated Hinduism to secularism. As late as in 2017, the Court refused to review its 1995 judgement on the Hindu cultural character of India.

Secular distortion

Vivekananda, Gandhi, Aurobindo and the Supreme Court independently converge on Hindu culture and way of life manifesting on Indian nationalism. But the post-Independence secular discourse is devoid of the true sense of India. It has so distorted the idea of the Indian nation that whatever inspired the freedom movement바카라�whether it be Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra, or the ideal of Rama Rajya revered by Mahatma Gandhi or the concept Hindu nationalism expounded by Swami Vivekananda and Maharishi Aurobindo바카라�is regarded in the contemporary discourse as communal and even anti-secular. This is what has created confusion in India about what is nationalism and patriotism. Unless the secular discourse discards the distortion and falls in line with the views of the great men who shaped India and the Supreme Court, the confusion is bound to continue.

***

The Supreme Court바카라�s verdict ­clarifying the concepts of Hinduism and Hindutva was delivered in context of the 바카라�Ramesh Yeshwant Prabhoo versus Prabhakar K. Kunte바카라� case where the charge on Prabhoo was of using the terms 바카라�Hinduism바카라� and 바카라�Hindutva바카라� for an incendiary ­effect on people while canvassing for electi­ons. The Bombay High Court ruled against Prabhoo, and the SC upheld the decision, but went on to assign meaning to the terms ­바카라�Hindutva바카라� and 바카라�Hinduism.       

S. Gurumurthy The author is the editor of Thuglak, professor of legal anthropology and a political commentator.

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