இந்துயிசம் என்றால்- காந்தி

 

                               இந்துயிசம் என்றால்- காந்தி

NBT and ICHR  இணைந்து காந்தியின் 125 ஆம் ஆண்டில் ( 1994ல்) What is Hinduism  என்கிற சிறு தொகுப்பு ஒன்றை கொணர்ந்தனர். அதன் 30 ஆம் ஆண்டை நாம் நெருங்கி கொண்டிருக்கிறோம். இன்று அரசியல் களத்தில் பெரும் மோதலாக மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ள விவாத கணங்களின் அவசியம்/ அவசியமின்மை,  ஞானம்/ போதாமை குறித்து ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் அவரவர் அபிப்பிராயங்கள் நிலவலாம். இத்தருணத்தில் காந்தி அவ்வப்போது தான் இந்து என தன்னை எப்படி புரிந்து நடைமுறை அனுசரிப்புகளை மேற்கொண்டார் என்ற புரிதல் இந்த விவாதத்தில் ஆழமாக கொணரப்படவே இல்லை. அவர்  வாக்கு அரசியலிலிருந்து வெகு தூரத்தில் இருப்பதால், அவரை பொருட்படுத்தாத அரசியலின் உச்சத்தை உணரமுடிகிறது. வாய்ப்புள்ளவர் இந்த எளிய புத்தகத்தை படித்துப் பார்க்கலாம். இணையத்தில்  What is Hinduism  Gandhi  எனத்தேடினாலே அதன்  pdf கிடைக்கும். காசி இந்து சர்வகலா சாலைக்கு கொடுக்கும் மதிப்பை காந்தியின் தொகுப்பான (  ICHR - NBT)  What is hinduism  என்பதற்கு கொடுத்திருந்தால் விவாதம் இணக்கமான திசை நோக்கி நகர்ந்திருக்கும். எவருக்கு இணக்கம் வேண்டும் என்ற உலகில் காந்தி தேவைப்படுவதில்லை..

  காந்தியின் what is Hinduism  என்கிற அந்த சிறு தொகுப்பிலிருந்து கொடுக்கத் தோன்றிய சில வரிகள்..

”I do not believe in the exclusive divinity of the Vedas. I believe the Bible,the Quran, and the Zend Avesta to be as much divinely inspired as the Vedas.

My belief in the Hindu scriptures does not require me to accept every word and every verse as divinely inspired.

Nor do I claim to have any firsthand knowledge of these wonderful books. But I do claim to know and feel the truths of the essential teaching of the scriptures.

I decline to be bound by any interpretation, however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to reason or moral sense. I do most emphatically repudiate the claim (if they advance any such) of the present Shankaracharyas and shastris to give a correct interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. On the contrary I believe that our present knowledge of these books is in a most chaotic state. I believe implicitly in the Hindu aphorism, that no one truly knows the shastras who has not attained perfection in Innocence (ahimsa), Truth (satya) and Self-control (brahmacharya) and who has not renounced all acquisition or possession of wealth.

I believe in the institution of gurus, but in this age millions must go without a guru, because it is a rare thing to find a combination of perfect purity and perfect learning. But one

need not despair of ever knowing the truth of one's religion, because the fundamentals of Hinduism, as of every great religion, are unchangeable, and easily understood. Every Hindu believes in God and his oneness, in rebirth and salvation.

Purity of Hinduism depends on the self-restraint of its votaries. Whenever their religion has been in danger, the Hindus have undergone rigorous penance, searched the causes of the danger and

devised means for combating them. The shastras are ever growing. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Smritis, the Puranas, and the Itihasas did not arise at one and the same time. Each grew out of the necessities of particular periods, and therefore they seem to conflict with one another.

These books do not enunciate anew the eternal truths but show how these were practised at the time to which the books belong. A practice which was good enough in a particular period would, if blindly repeated in another, land people into the 'slough of despond'. Because the practice of animal-sacrifice

obtained at one time, shall we revive it today? Because at one time we used to eat beef, shall we also do so now? Because at one time, we used to chop off the hands and feet of thieves, shall we

revive that barbarity today? Shall we revive polyandry? Shall we revive child-marriage? Because we discarded a section of humanity one day, shall we brand their descendants today as outcastes?

our sages taught us to learn one thing: 'As with the Self,

so with the Universe'. It is not possible to scan the universe, as it is to scan the self. Know the self and you know the universe. But even knowledge of the self within presupposes ceaseless striving— not only ceaseless but pure, and pure striving presupposes a pure heart, which in its turn depends

on the practice of yamas  and niyamas—the cardinal and casual virtues. 

Hinduism does not consist in eating and non-eating. Its kernel consists in right conduct, in correct observance of truth and non-violence. Many a man eating meat, but observing the cardinal virtues of compassion and truth, and living in the fear of God, is a better Hindu than a hypocrite who abstains from meat.

The stories told in the Puranas are some of them most dangerous, if we do not know their bearing on the present conditions. The shastras would be death-traps if we were to regulate our conduct

according to every detail given in them or according to that of the characters therein described. They help us only to define and argue out fundamental principles.

As the Gita says, 'There is nothing in the world that is entirely free from fault.' Let us,therefore, like the fabled swan who rejects the water and takes only the milk, learn to treasure only

the good and reject the evil in everything. Nothing and no one is perfect but God. ”