“Un- Hindu Babri Masjid Demolition
And Buddhists”
By R.B. Sreekumar
03 December, 2009
Countercurrents.org
Confirmation of the culpability of the Sangh Parivar, particularly its nucleus, the RSS, in the sacrilegious crime and national shame of Babri Masjid demolition by Justice Liberhan, may or may not result in prosecution and punishment of actual perpetrators of the crime. Mosque destruction, nevertheless, had inflicted unprecedented and unredeemable ignominy on the heritage of our motherland and the well known syncretic ethos of Sanathana Dharma - popularly called, Hinduism. No jail term of the Sangh Parivar leaders would restore the image of syncretism and equal respect to all religions that ensured the embrace of all victimns of religious prosection from the countries, from Jews to Parsis and Ahmedias to Bahais, since antiquity. Never in history, any individual was forced to migrate out of India, as his faith was not liked by the locals or their rulers. Paradoxically, the Sangh Parivar became the “tradition-breakers and trend setters” in Indian history by reversing Indian ethos of tolerance and permanently scotching the hitherto rightful claim of the Hindus to the culture of Resilience and magnanimity to all faiths. The brigands who reduced Babri structure to dust have rightly been called Hindu Talibans as the act was akin to the destruction of Bamian Buddha statues in Afghanisathan.
Do the Hindu scriptures sanction the demolition of Babri Masjid ? The answer is a big NO. The conceptual and philosophical frame work of Hinduism is enshrined in three treatises - Prasthanathrayam - namely, Brahmasutras, Upanishad and the Bhagwad Gita. Equal adoration to all varieties of divinity and paths towards God and recognition of right to salvation/liberation to all living beings, including plants and animals are deemed to be the most ennobling and elevating feature of Hinduism. Ill-will towards even non-believers is not permitted, not to speak of people professing non-Hindu faiths. Certainly, any deviation or aberration by any individual or group of persons of an organisation, away from the framework of these ideals make them unacceptable and condemnable for real and virtual Hindus. Applying this yardstick, the Sangh Parivar can never be recognised as a body of Hindus, though a few self-proclaimed pundits characterised destruction of Babri Masjid as a holy war and part of Dharmayudha. Categorically the act is in direct conflict with the teachings of Bhagawad Gita on the subject of pluralism and religious diversity. Gita is quite explicit about ones approach to any form of worship. In three slokas, the relevant principles are unambiguously laid down.
In Chapter 4, Sloka 11, Lord Krishna proclaims - “In whatever way men identify with me, in the same way do I carry out the desires; men pursue my path, in all ways.”
Again in Chapter 6-30, the Lord preached- “He who sees me everywhere and sees all in me, he never becomes lost to me, nor do I become lost to him.”
Finally, in Chapter 7-21, the Lord promulgates –“Whatever form any devotee with faith wishes to worship, I make that faith of his steady.”
Significantly, Uddhava Gita or the last message of Lord Sri Krishna had further reiterated the ideal of equal respect to all forms of worship. In Chapter 10, Sloka 26, -“In whatever form, at any time, a devotee of mine may reflect on a particular thing with his intellect, concentrating the mind on me as possessed of infallible will, he gets that very form.”
It is axiometric that the goons who razed the 16th century masjid in Ayodhya to the ground actually acted against the letter, spirit and ethos of the above stipulations by Lord Krishna that is why those great Hindus, who lived and enriched Hinduism from 1528 AD, the years of construction of Babri Masjid to 1992 December, the time of destruction, did not care to move even their little finger against this monument, during their life time. We have a galaxy of Hindu giants, who left laudable foot prints on the sands of time, in this period - over 460 years - from Goswami Tulsidas to Mahatma Gandhi.
Strangely the divine chant of Lord Shiva - Jai Shiv Shankar - was also polluted by the marauders of Babri Mosque when they shouted this as a slogan of victory. The literal meaning of Shanker is one who blesses everybody with peace - Sham Karoti Iti Shankaram. By destruction of the mosque, the henchmen of devil had polluted the prayer hall of Rehman - the merciful - every Surah of Holy Quran starts with an invocation to God Allah as merciful and interestingly the word Ram hears etymologically similar meaning viz. Ramayati iti rama - one who makes everybody happy/joyful is Rama. So demolition of a Hall of meditation - Masjid (Namely is meditation by sitting in Vajrasana) for Rehman to install the idol of Rama is an abominable self-contradictory sin.
Curiously, unlike the Babri Masjid, the Buddhist shrine at Bodh Gaya (Bihar) is an Undisputed site known to be the place where prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became Lord Buddha, through spiritual sadhana of self-transcedence. Strangely, even today the Buddhist institutions in Bodh Gaya are in the control of the Hindus. There is neither a politician led mass movement for its “liberation” by the Buddhists - a community who can easily mobilize support from powerful Buddhists internationally, nor the Hindus are in a mood to voluntarily give up their authority therein - thanks to the success of economics and commerce over sanity, propriety and ethics.
Can we expect the Sangh Parivar desist from launching any further misadventures in Mathura and Kashi, for achieving “liberation” of shrines there? For the sake of amity among communities and unity of the nation is is high time that the Sangh parivar adopts the line of judicious prudence of accepting the status of all socio-cultural and religious monuments in the country as on 15th August 1947 in tune with the assurance to minorities by the Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi.
R.B. Sreekumar.IPS is a Rtd DGP, Gujarat
