Thread by @seshanm

#UnityInDiversity

Meat ban a disservice to the essence of Hindu faith | Deccan Herald - deccanherald.com/opinion/meat-b…

Building a particular narrative is an arduous task. For if it is neither foolproof nor unbiased, it falls. That is what India is witnessing: the collapse of the secular-liberal narrative, which has too

many holes. But the narrative replacing it, the Hindu nationalism, suffers from the same folly too, which has once again been exposed by the decision of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to close meat shops during this Navaratri.

"But the RSS has always nurtured a fervour of religiosity and has imposed a limited, sectarian knowledge of the Hindu faith on the entire Sangh Parivar. That is why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refuses to chant 'Jai Ma Kali' in Bengal and harps only on 'Jai Sri Ram'."

"it is not unusual that the Vaishnav culture of vegetarianism will be imposed by the Sangh Parivar and its political wing, the BJP. They are not even aware that it hurts Shakta Hindus, who ritualistically eat meat on specific days of the Navaratri (particularly Durga Navaratri)"

"Thus, they hurt their own cause: Instead of uniting the Hindus, they divide them by trying to stifle the minority denominations within the Hindu faith".

"What the Sangh is doing is undermining Adi Shankara (700-750 CE), who unified the five main denominations by combining worshipping of Vishnu/Narayan, Shiva, Devi Ma, Surya, and the

"devotees' ishta devata (like Ganesha, Kartikeya or any other deity worshipped daily by the household), thereby promoting the Smarta Panchayatana puja that gave birth to modern unified Hinduism"

"There was no question of a unified food system in this framework introduced by Shankaracharya, for what he brought in was unity in diversity. Over time it extended to other dharmic religions (that believe in dharma, like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism)"

"The true Hindu tradition is not about coercing others or imposing one's faith on others, but rather the opposite. The Rig Veda (which was composed, as indicated by the astronomical positions described by later texts, more than five thousand years ago) said,

"Ekam sat, vipra bahudha vadanti" (Rig Veda 1.164.46). It means 'the absolute truth, or God, is one; but the wise men call Him by different names"

 "If the RSS and BJP want to build a political culture based on dharma, which is at the core of the Hindu faith along with Karma

and rebirth, they should concentrate on fighting adharma, i.e. something that damages or destroys the creation, inclusive of the individual, the collective, and the earth.

"Instead, if they concentrate on the imposition of sectarian rituals and food habits, it will be a great disservice to the Hindu faith itself."

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