[Reader-list] National Shame

[anupam chakravartty]

Let's see what Dr B.R. Ambedkar had to say about Upanishads:

http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#q7

The philosophy of the Upanishads can be stated in very few words. It has
been well summarised by
Huxley[f29]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_29>
  when he says that the Upanishad philosophy agreed:—

"In supposing the existence of a permanent reality, or `substance', beneath
the shifting series of phenomena, whether of matter or of mind. The
substance of the cosmos was `Brahma', that of the individual man
`Atman';and the latter was separated from the former only, if I may so
speak, by its
phenomenal envelope, by the casing of sensations, thoughts and desires,
pleasures and pains, which make up the illusive phantasmagoria of life. This
the ignorant, take for reality; their `Atman' therefore remains eternally
imprisoned in delusions, bound by the fetters of desire and scourged by the
whip of misery.

Of what use is this philosophy of the Upanishadas? The philosophy of
the Upanishadas
meant withdrawal from the struggle for existence by resort to asceticism and
a destruction of desire by self-mortification. As a way of life it was
condemned by Huxley[f30]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_30>
  in scathing terms :—

"No more thorough mortification of the flesh has ever been attempted than
that achieved by the Indian ascetic anchorite; no later monarchism has so
nearly succeeded in reducing the human mind to that condition of impassive
quasi-somnambulism, which, but for its acknowledged holiness, might run the
risk of being confounded with idiocy."

But the condemnation of the philosophy of the Upanishads is nothing as
compared to the denunciation of the same by Lala
Hardyal[f31]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_31>
  :—

"The Upanishads claim to expound `that, by knowing which everything is known
'. This quest for ' the absolute ' is the basis of all the spurious
metaphysics of India. The treatises are full of absurd conceits, quaint
fancies, and chaotic speculations. And we have not learned that they are
worthless. We keep moving in the old rut; we edit and re-edit the old books
instead of translating the classics of European social thought. What could
Europe be if Frederic Harrison, Brieux, Bebel, Anatole France, Herve,
Haekel, Giddings, and Marshall should employ their time in composing
treatises on Duns, Scotus and Thomas Aquinas, and discussing the merits of
the laws of the Pentateuch and the poetry of Beowulf? Indian pundits and
graduates seem to suffer from a kind of mania for what is effete and
antiquated. Thus an institution, established by progressive men, aims at
leading our youths through Sanskrit grammar to the Vadasvia the Six
Darshanas! What a false move in the quest for wisdom ! It is as if a caravan
should travel across the desert to the shores of the Dead Sea in search of
fresh water! Young men of India, look not for wisdom in the musty parchments
of your metaphysical treatises. There is nothing but an endless round of
verbal jugglary there. Read Rousseau and Voltaire, Plato and Aristotle, Haeckel
and Spencer, Marx and Tolstoi, Ruskin and Comte, and other European
thinkers, if you wish to understand life and its problems." But
denunciations apart, did the Upanishad philosophy have any influence on
Hinduism as a social and political system? There is no doubt that it turned
out to be most ineffective and inconsequential piece of speculation with no
effect on the moral and social order of the Hindus.

It may not be out of place to inquire into the reasons for this unfortunate
result. One reason is obvious. The philosophy of Upanishad remained
incomplete and therefore did not yield the fruit, which it ought to have
done. This will be quite clear if one asks what is the keynote of the
Upanishads. In the words of Prof. Max
Muller[f32]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_32>
  the keynote of the Upanishads is `Know thy Self". The `Know thy Self of
the Upanishads, means, know thy true Self, that which underlies thin ego and
find it and know it in the highest, the eternal self, the One without a
Second, which underlies the whole world."

That Atman and Brahman were one was the truth, the great truth which the
Upanishads said they had discovered and they asked man to know this truth.
Now the reasons why the philosophy of Upanishads, became ineffective are
many. I will discuss them elsewhere. At this place I will mention only one.
The philosophers of Upanishads did not realise that to know truth was not
enough. One must learn to love truth. The difference between philosophy and
religion may be put in two ways. Philosophy is concerned with knowing truth.
Religion is concerned with the love of truth. Philosophy is static. Religion
is dynamic. These differences are merely two aspects of one and the same
thing. Philosophy is static because it is concerned only with knowing truth.
Religion is dynamic because it is concerned with love of truth. As has been
well said by Max
Plowman[f33]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_33>
  :—

". . . .Unless religion is dynamic and begets in us the emotion of love for
something, then it is better to be without any thing that we can call
religion; for religion is perception of truth and if our perception of truth
is not accompanied by our love for it then it were better not seen at all;
The Devil himself is one who has seen the truth only to hate it. Tennyson
said "We must love the highest when we see it". It does not follow. Seen in
pure objectivity the highest repels by its difference and distance; what we
fear it, and what we fear we come to hate. . . . ."

This is the fate of all transcendental philosophies. They have no influence
on the way of life. As Blake said "Religion is politics and politics is
Brotherhood. Philosophy must become Religion that is it must become a
Working Ethic. It must not remain mere metaphysics. As Mr. Plowman says—

"If religion were a Metaphysic and nothing else, one thing is certain, it
would never be the concern of the simple and humble men.

"To keep it wholly in the realm of Metaphysic is to make non-sense of it.
For belief in religion as in something not directly and vitally effective of
politics is ultimately belief that is strictly speaking idiotic; because in
the effective sense such a belief makes no difference, and in the world of
time and space what 'makes no difference' does not exist."

It is for these very reasons that the philosophy of the Upanishads proved so
ineffective.

It is therefore incontrovertible that notwithstanding the Hindu Code of
Ethics, notwithstanding the philosophy of the Upanishads not a little not a
jot did abate from the philosophy of Hinduism as propounded by Manu. They
were ineffective and powerless to erase the infamy preached by Manu in the
name of religion. Notwithstanding their existence one can still say
"Hinduism! Thy name is inequality!"*
*

**********************************************************************
**
**

Inequality is the soul of Hinduism. The morality of Hinduism is only social.
It is unmoral and inhuman to say the least. What is unmoral and inhuman
easily becomes immoral, inhuman and infamous. This is what Hinduism has
become. Those who doubt this or deny this proposition should examine the
social composition of the Hindu Society and ponder over the condition of
some of the elements in it. Take the following cases.

First as to the Primitive Tribes. In what state of civilisation are they ?

The history of human civilisation includes the entire period of human
progress from Savagery to Barbarism and from Barbarism to
Civilisation. Thetransition from one to other has been marked by some
discovery or intention
in some department of knowledge of Art resulting in advancing the onward
march of man.

The development of articulate speech was the first thing which, from the
point of view of human progress, divided man from the brute. It marks the
first stage of savagery. The Middle period of the state of savagery began
with the knowledge of the manufacture and use of fire. This wonderful
discovery enabled man to extend his habit almost indefinitely. He could
leave his forest home, go to different and colder climates, and increase his
food supply by including flesh and fish. The next discovery was the Bow and
Arrow. This was the greatest achievement of primitive man and marks the
highest state of savage man. It was indeed a wonderful implement. The
possessor of this device could bring down the fleetest animal and could
defend himself against the most predatory.

The transition from Savagery to Barbarism was marked by the discovery of
pottery. Hitherto man had no utensils that could withstand the action of
fire. Without utensils man could not store nor could he cook. Undoubtedly
pottery was a great civilising influence.

The Middle State of Barbarism began when man learned to domesticate wild
animals. Man learned that captive animals could be of service to him. Man
now became a herdsman, no longer dependent for food upon the precarious
chase of wild animals. Milk procurable at all seasons made a highly
important addition to his dietary. With the aid of horse and camel he
traversed wide areas hitherto impassable. The captive animals became aids to
commerce, which resulted in the dissemination of commodities as well as of
ideas.

The next discovery was of the Art of smelting iron. This marks the highest
stage of advancement of barbaric man. With this discovery man became a
"tool-making
animal" who with his tool could fashion wood and stone and build houses and
bridges. This marks the close of the advancement made by barbaric man. The
dividing line which marks off Barbaric people from Civilised people, in the
fullest sense of the word Civilisation, is the art of making ideas tangible
by means of graphic signs— which is called the art of writing. With this man
conquered time as he had with the earlier inventions conquered space. He
could now record his deeds and his thoughts. Henceforth, his knowledge, his
poetical dreams, his moral aspirations might be recorded in such form as to
be read not merely by his contemporaries but by successive generations of
remote posterity. For man his history became safe and secure. This was the
steepest assent and the climbing of it marks the beginnings of civilisation.
Stopping here for the moment let us ask in what state of civilisation are
the Primitive Tribes.

The name Primitive
Tribes[f34]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_34>
  is expressive of the present state of people who are called by that name.
They live in small-scattered huts in forests. They live on wild fruits, nuts
and roots. Fishing and hunting are also resorted to for the purpose of
securing food. Agriculture plays a very small part in their social economy.
Food supplies being extremely precarious, they lead a life of
semi-starvation from which there is no escape. As to clothes they economise
them to a vanishing point. They move almost in a state of complete
nakedness. There is a tribe, which is known as “Bonda Porajas” which, means
"Naked Porajas". Of these people it is said that the women wear a very
narrow strip which serves as a petticoat almost identical with what is worn
by the Momjak Nagas in Assam, the ends hardly meeting at the top on the left
thigh. These petticoats are woven at home out of the fibre of a forest tree.
Girls wear a fillet of beads and of palmyra leaf and an enormous quantity of
beads and neck ornaments extremely like those worn by many Komjak women.
Otherwise the women wear nothing. The women shave their heads entirely. . .
. . Of these Chenchus, a tribe residing near Farhabad in the Nizam's
Dominions it is said that "their houses are conical, rather slight in
structure made of bamboo sloping to the central point and covered with a
thin layer of thatch..... They have very little, indeed, in the way of
material effects, the scanty clothes they wear, consisting of a
*langoti*and a cloth in the case of men, and a short bodice and a
petticoat in the
case of women, being practically all, besides a few cooking pots and a
basket or two which perhaps sometimes contains grain. They keep cattle and
goats and in this particular village do a little cultivation, elsewhere
subsisting on honey and forest produce which they sell". Regarding the Morias,
another Primitive tribe, it is stated the men generally wear a single cloth
round the waist with a slap coming down in the front. They also have a
necklace of beads and when they dance put on cock's plumes and peacock's
feathers in their turbans. Many girls are profusely tattooed, especially on
their faces, and some of them on their legs as well. The type of tattooing
is said to be according to the taste of the individual and it is done with
thorns and needles. In their hair many of them stick the feathers of jungle
cocks and their heads are also adorned with combs of wood and tin and brass.

These Primitive Tribes have no hesitation about eating anything, even worms
and insects, and, in fact, there is very little meat that they will not eat,
whether the animal has died a natural death or has been killed four days or
more before by a tiger.

The next groups of the people he will come across are the Criminal
Tribes.


The Criminal Tribes live not in Forests as the Primitive Tribes do but in
the plains in close proximity to, and often in the midst of civilised life.
Hollis in his "Criminal Tribes of the United Provinces" gives an account of
their activities. They live entirely by crime. A few may be ostensibly
engaged in agriculture, but this is only to cover up their real activities.
Their nefarious practices find largest scope in dacoity or robbery by
violence, but being a community organised for crime, nothing comes amiss to
them. On deciding to commit a dacoity in any particular locality spies are
sent out to select a suitable victim, study the general habits of the
villagers, and the distance from any effective aid, and enumerate the number
of men and firearms. The raid usually takes place at midnight. Acting on the
information given by the spies, men are posted at various points in the
village and by firing off their guns attract attention from the main gang
which attacks the particular house or houses previously appointed. The gang
usually consists of 30 to 40 men.

It is essential to emphasis the great part played by crime in the general
life of these peoples. A boy is initiated into crime as soon as he is able
to walk and talk. No doubt the motive is practical, to a great extent, in so
far as it is always better to risk a child in petty theft, who, if he is
caught, would probably be cuffed, while an adult would immediately be
arrested. An important part is also played by women, who, although they do
not participate in the actual raids, have many heavy responsibilities.
Besides being clever in disposing off stolen property the women of the
Criminal Tribes are experts in shop lifting.

At one time the Criminal Tribes included such well-organised Confederacies
of Professional Criminals as the Pindharies and the Thugs.

The Pindharies were a predatory body of armed gangsters. Their organisation
was an open military organisation of freebooters who could muster 20000 fine
horse and even more. They were under the command of brigand chiefs.
Chituone of the most powerful commanders had under his single command
10000
horse, including 5000 good cavalry, besides infantry and guns. The
Pindharies had no military projects for employing their loose bands of
irregular soldiery, which developed into bodies of professional
plunderers.The Pindharies aimed at no con
quests. Their object was to secure booty and cash for themselves. General
loot and rapine was their occupation. They recognised no rulers. They were
subjects of none. They rendered loyalty to none. They respected none, and
plundered all, high and low, rich and poor, without fear or compunction.

The Thugs[f35]<http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/17.Philosophy%20of%20Hinduism.htm#_msocom_35>
  were a well organised body of professional assassins, who, in gangs of
from 10 to 100 wandered in various guises throughout India, worked
themselves into the confidence of wayfarers of the wealthier class, and,
when a favourable opportunity occurred, strangled them by throwing a
handkerchief or noose round their necks, and then plundered and buried them.
All this was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms
and after the performance of special religious rites, in which was the
consecration of the package, and the sacrifice of sugar. They were staunch
worshippers of Kali, the Hindu Goddess of destruction. Assassination for
gain was with them a religious duty, and was considered a holy and
honourable profession. They had, in fact, no idea of doing wrong, and their
moral feelings did not come into play. The will of the Goddess, by whose
command and in whose honour they followed there calling, was revealed to
them through a very complicated system of omens.

In obedience to these they often travelled even the distance of hundred
miles in company with, or in the wake of, their intended victims before a
safe opportunity had presented itself for executing their design; and when
the deed was done, rites were performed in honour of that tutelary deity,
and a goodly portion of the spoil was set apart for her. The Thugs had also
a jargon of their own, as well as certain signs by which its members
recognised each other in the remotest part of India. Even those who from age
or infirmities could no longer take an active part in the operations used to
aid the cause as watchmen, spies or dressers of food. It was owing to their
thorough organisation, the secrecy and security with which they went to
work, but chiefly to the religious garb in which they shrouded their
murders, that they could continue for centuries to practise their craft. The
extraordinary fact was that Thugee was regarded as a regular profession by
Indian Rulers of the day, both Hindu and Mahomedans. The Thugs paid taxes to
the state and the state left them unmolested.

It was not until the British became rulers of the country that an attempt
was made to suppress the Thugs. By 1835, 382 Thugs were hanged and 986 were
transported or imprisoned for life. Even as late as 1879 the number of
registered Thugs was 344 and the Thugee and the Dacoity department of the
Government of India continued to exist until 1904 when its place was taken
by the Central Criminal Intelligence Department. While it is not possible
for the criminal tribes to live by organized bodies of criminals, crime
continues to be their main occupation.

Besides these two classes there is a third class which comprises a body of
people who are known as Untouchables.

Below the Untouchables there are others who are known as
unapproachable. Untouchables
are those who cause pollution only if they touch. The Unapproachable are
those who cause pollution if they come within a certain distance. It is said
of the Nayadis—a people, who fall into the category of the
Unapproachable, "that
they are the lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters.

They are the most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow
at a respectful distance, for miles together any person walking, driving or
boating. If any thing is given to them, it must be laid down, and after the
person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the recipient comes
timidly forward, and removes it. "Of the same people Mr. Thurston says, "The
subject (i.e. the Nayadis) whom I examined and measured at Shoranus, though
living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which
they traditionally carry with them to avoid walking over the long bridge
which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles". Below
the Unapproachable are the Unseeables. In the Tinnevelley District of the
Madras Presidency there is a class of unseeables called Purada Vannans. Of
them it is said, "that they are not allowed to come out during day time
because their sight is enough to cause pollution. These unfortunate people
are `compelled' to follow the nocturnal habits, leaving their dens after
dark and scuttling home at the false dawn like the badger, the hyena, the
avordvark."
Consider the total population of these classes. The Primitive Tribes form a
total of 25 million souls. The Criminal Tribes number 41/2 millions and the
Untouchables number 50 millions. This makes a grand total of 791/2 millions.
Now ask how these people could have remained in the state of moral,
material, social and spiritual degradation surrounded as they have been by
Hinduism. Hindus say that their civilisation is older than any civilisation,
that Hinduism as a religion is superior to any other religion. If this is so
how is that Hinduism failed to elevate these people, bring them
enlightenment and hope; how is it that it failed even to reclaim them ; how
is it that it stood with folded hands when millions and millions were taking
to life to shame and crime? What is the answer to this? The only answer is
that Hinduism is overwhelmed with the fear of pollution. It has not got the
power to purify. It has not the impulse to serve and that is because by its
very nature it is inhuman and unmoral. It is a misnomer to call it religion.
Its philosophy is opposed to very thing for which religion stands.

ENDS

On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>wrote:

> What happened to our teachings in Upanishads  where it is written
> Matru devo bhava, Pitru devo bhava, Acharya devo bhava, Atithi devo
> bhava". Means One should worship Mother, Father, Teacher and Guests as
> God. ...What happened to our "Atithi Devo Bhavah". This act is a
> National Shame.
>
>
>
> http://www.hindustantimes.com/Japanese-tourist-gangraped-in-Bodh-Gaya/H1-Article1-532395.aspx
>
> A 25-year-old Japanese tourist was gangraped by five unidentified men
> at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, police said on Saturday.
>
> The five pulled the woman out of an auto-rickshaw, carried her to the
> Gaya railway station before committing the crime at an isolated place
> on Friday night, Superintendent of Police, Sushil Khopade said.
>
> The victim lodged an FIR with the Amawa police station this morning, he
> said.
>
> The Japanese woman is a resident of Itabolutachi in Tokyo and is
> currently on a tour of various Buddhist pilgrim towns in India.
> Two persons have been detained for interrogation, Khopade said, adding
> that raids are on in the area to arrest the criminals.
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