Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
The four varnas were just a occupation based division which was practiced in olden days.There were many instances where lower caste people used to be revered in hinduism. I think valmiki is one of them. I think his origin is a fisherman. I am not sure.. but better pandit can answer this.
But during time.. birth started to determine the caste or varna of the people. Well that was bad. But modern India and hinduism is bent on changing such atrocius laws. Sati was practiced in large numbers.. that has been banned by the state and for failry huge majority of hindus its a taboo. Similar is the practice of child marriages.
Some illiterate gavar log do this.. but not any educated or semi educated people does such stupid things.
Besides.. there is a general idea for u guys that Hinduism means brahminism. That is bull crap. Brahmins constitute very little to Hindu gene pool. The large majority of hindus are non-brahmins. Brahmins who are preist are reverd.. just like an imam or a father in the church.
Besides now a days the caste cystem is so diluted. I myself is a sudra(but forwerd caste) and marrying a girl who is even below in the so called caste catogory.
And they are many like that.
One more think guys.. the dalits who have converted to christianity for egs are treated by the so called original coverters in disdain. They dont allow them to come to their congregation.. and they have a seperate church. This is atleast the case in south India.
There have been reformist in the dalit people in India.. but all of them lacked a national outlook. Ambedkar is the someone who could have been a leading figure.. and unite all dalit groups in India. But somehow he failed.
We need people like Martin luthar king of that type to unite dalits and ask for their rightfull place. People like Mayavati just uses the dalit card to further her political ambition and not genuinly interested in their upliftment, besides she has been type casted a leader for the chamari caste.
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
Why anti-Hindu threads die so easily on this gupshup board? I think the reason is that Hindus do not panick, unlike many others who think that their respective religions are the only true one.....but cannot stand a little critisizm.
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
caste systemn is a problem among muslims community also they dont follow vedas
it is myth changing religen makes you non-dalit
Despite their conversion to Islam, the social, economic and educational status of the Dalit Muslims remains pathetic. Under centuries of Mughal rule they remained as neglected as their Hindu counterparts. The Mughals were interested in ruling, not in improving the conditions of the Dalit Muslims. That is why you find that while they built hundreds of massive palaces and forts and the Taj Mahal, not a single school was set up by any Muslim ruler for the education of the Dalit Muslims. Under the British the situation remained the same, and it still continues to be the same even after 1947. Hence, we felt the need to set up an organisation to struggle for the rights of the Dalit Muslims which are even today being denied to them
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
It’s more of a social than religious problem. I’m not a Hindu but think I know the problem, if they take out those passages nothing will change unless the law and order improves. For eg I have read about honor killings in Pakistan, now do you think people will stop doing that if a passage from Quran is removed? It will lead to riots but not much else, similarly in India religious books are used as an excuse to act mean. If the govt and police get 100% tough on criminals you will soon see a major drop in such activities, and no one will have the guts to cite religious scripture because they all know it’s a load of bull and no one will support them. all scriptures were corrupted by man for power, so lets stop blaming each other for what was written thousands of years ago. We’re all (u included) victimes to some extent.
so when you say ‘no hindu will come forward’, you are wrong, plenty of hindus are coming forward and wanting a change, but because the majority of them don’t believe in living according to scripture, they are not saying ‘change the book’, they are saying ‘change the law and order’.
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
indian constituion is not relgious based
The constitution of India draws extensively from Western legal traditions in its outline of the principles of liberal democracy. It is distinguished from many Western constitutions, however, in its elaboration of principles reflecting the aspirations to end the inequities of traditional social relations and enhance the social welfare of the population. According to constitutional scholar Granville Austin, probably no other nation’s constitution “has provided so much impetus toward changing and rebuilding society for the common good.”
Adopted after some two and one-half years of deliberation by the Constituent Assembly that also acted as India’s first legislature, the constitution was put into effect on January 26, 1950. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit who earned a law degree from Columbia University
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
How large is the Brahmin community in India? If they are a ‘small’ number and believe in such extremist idealogies i.e. the caste system and want to use it to keep the low castes down, then surely the greater body of Hindusim should confront these fundementalists head on?
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
there is no preaching or propagation by even these Brahmins, and most Dalit abuses are not at the hands of these Brahmins. there are no Brahmin versions of Omar Bakri preaching their hate to the masses…what is there to confront? it is ingrained practices that need to be eliminated, not any flow of extremist thought.
the vast majority of Dalit abuses take place at the hands of “upper caste” (usually non-Brahmin) villagers simply because it is ingrained in these rural communities. These people are illiterate, so where is the question of involving or being inspired by religious scriptures? Like i said, these attitudes are the hardest to change because of the rural and uneducated nature of these communities…they are the hardest to penetrate, but it is happening.
the point of my question to you was more that these anti-Dalit quotes and such come from the Smirtis, not the Vedas. the only mention of castes in the Vedas has no implication of value hierarchy or inheritability. You are harping on scriptures that are not in use today, and were never part of the “holy” category (shruti). More importantly, even the Dalit abusers probably have no idea what the Manusmirti is…they don’t cite religious passages for justification, just the attitudes passed down for centuries.
you are viewing these abuses from an incorrect and irrelevant angle. though they may be rooted in corrupt brahmanical texts, such abuses in today’s world are a cultural issue… not a religious issue.
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
^
So Brahmin's don't preach their superiority over other Hindu's? On the one hand you say it is more social than religious, while on the other hand you say it may actually be rooted in corrupt brahmanical texts. Do the Brahmins reject these texts, and if so the caste system?
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
the vast majority of Brahmins do reject those texts, and you will never find such books in the typical Brahmin home sitting next to the Gita or Upanishads.
if those texts were in use today and cited by those villagers who perform anti-dalit abuses, then i would say it is a religious issue and these scriptures should be addressed, etc…however, there is no need for this because these scriptures are already defunct and only provided the historical basis for the discrimination, which has since evolved into a social/cultural issue in the rural areas and villages.
as far as Brahmins rejecting the caste system, there is no need to reject the concept of caste. The only rejection required is of discrimination based on caste or superiority based on caste. And again, the vast majority of Brahmins will reject such discrimination, and their view of superiority is no different from the views seen in any society’s class system.
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
So some Brahmins do still believe in such religious scripts? Knowing India’s vast population that is probably many millions of people. Who is being persecuted and killed on the whole? Brahmins or the low castes?
Re: Is Hinduism a followable religion in the modern world?
Brahmins may not even constitute 2% of Indian hindu population. And since u read the post randomly , i want to again reiterate that i am not a brahmin.
Preist in temples are usually brahmins but there are temples where non-brahmins also do preistly activities. Those who are priest are revered.. by all classes of people and even by other religious groups.
Buddy understand.. one thing. Dalits were illtreated.. and even now there are isolated places where dalits are illtreated. But if u go to Gujarat where hindutva is pracitced in a very rigerous way u will see that dalit is more or less absorbed into the sociaty. The RSS which has the history of being a brahminical/kshthriya organisation, go out of its way to accomodate the dalit people. And what that resulted was well know in Gujarat riot. It was mainly tribals and dalits who were used to unleash hatred on the muslims. U can google and find the links if u feel so.
The hindutva forces understand the importance of the dalts.. and they know do all that possible to attract them to their fold. The missionaries which was burnt in Orissa again by a tribal leader sympathezing with the RSS.
When dalits find that they are not being treated any differently by other religions then they come back to the Hindu fold.