It is nature's law that whatever is new today will be old in the future. In our lifetime we have seen a humongous change. People will remember the A to Z of London without which you would be lost. It is redundant today. Remember the old phones, radio cassettes, video players, the queues to go and pay the utility bills and the council tax? Remember the licence you had to stick on your car windscreen, going further back our parents grew up in times when charcoal was used to cook food. The same principle applies to ideologies.
Communism, Socialism, Colonialism, these were ideologies for which millions of people died. Today these ideologies are irrelevant. Something similar is true of religions. Although the fundamentals may remain true their interpretation and implementation may change so that a new orthodoxy takes hold. Local undesirable customs and beliefs creep in. An example is the custom that our mothers and grandmothers had to follow and that was to cover their heads in front of male elders. Today it is unthinkable that women had to endure these rules. It is for this reason that Sanatan Dharma has a mechanism by which reformers appear continuously. They challenge the negative practices that have become the part of Dharma and bring changes. In Trotskyite terms there is a permanent revolution in Sanatan Dharma to check the undesirable practices that creep in.
Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism is the only religion that has this mechanism and that is why it is simultaneously the oldest and the youngest faith in the world. Almost every state of India has produced saints who are great thinkers and visionaries. The great Tamil poet and philosopher Tiruvalluvar who flourished from either the 1st. Century BC or 6th Century AD was a great reformer. He was the author of Tirukkural (sacred couplets). He condemned the Caste system and meat eating strongly and tackled a huge number of other social ills. As India suffered waves of invasions and almost a thousand years of subjugation first from the Mughals and then from the British, Sanatan Dharma was engulfed by wrong practices. Over 500 years ago the first signs of Dharma rising began with the appearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He introduced the Sankirtan movement which galvanised a long-suffering Hindu nation. He welcomed everyone from any background to make direct contact with Shri Krishna by way of chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. At a stroke he removed any Caste barriers. One of the greatest Mandir is being built in Mayapur near the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Today the Hare Krishna movement is established in large parts of the world. They have translated the Bhagavad Gita in all the main languages of the world.
Guru Nanak, Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekanand and Sri Aurbindo were all reformers who gave a new vision to the masses. There were poets like Tulsidas and women like Meera who revived the Bhakti movement. It was in such circumstances that gave birth to the Swaminarayan movement in Gujarat in the beginning of the 19th Century. Gujarat at the time was passing through a dark age. According to Sadhu Mukundcharandas in his book, Vachnamrut Handbook (insights into Bhagavan Swaminarayan's Teachings) there was extreme poverty in Gujarat. Hunger was rife. Calamities like earthquakes, famine, epidemics like plague, smallpox and cholera were common. Dacoity was everywhere. In 1811 a swarm of locusts ravaged Patan in North Gujarat and proceeded to Saurashtra and the Amdavad District in which it devoured crops and trees including the bark. Swami Mukundcharandas quotes a renowned scholar and author Kishorelal Mashruwala (1923). In his work, 'Sahajanand Swami athwa Swaminarayan Sampradaya' he wrote: 'At a time when Gujarat -Kathiawar was steeped in darkness, with his power, Sahajanand Swami enlightened infinite hearts, inspired thousands to sacrifice themselves on his guidance, subjugated the looting instincts of scores of Kathy's and Kolis, reestablished the extinct Brahmacharya ashram, enlightened the ascetic order which had become uncontrolled and wanton, laid down the ideals of self control for the Gurus and acharyas who had lapsed, gave women a well defined status in society and sampradaya, thus uplifting them, accepted non- Hindus into Hindu Dharma, boosted literature, music and arts, propounded ahimsa yagnas, became a teacher of forgiving, was a proponent of the paths of pure Bhakti and pure Gnan(knowledge). He was a teacher of Bhagwat Dharma and extoller of the principles of Ved Vyas. If incarnations do occur on earth, then he can, without doubt be given the title of avatar.
Additionally, Sahajanand Swami preached against superstition, violence, animal sacrifices, caste discrimination, female infanticide and sati. He advocated strict adherence to ancient vedic traditions which had stood the test of time. Today the BAPS Swaminarayan movement is the most dynamic Hindu spiritual movement. With over 1100 Sadhus who have given up all worldly pleasures and under the guidance of Gurus such as the late Pramukh Swami Maharaj and Mahantswami Maharaj millions of youth are taking to a spiritual life. Some of the grandest Hindu temples have been built and are being built in many parts of the world by BAPS. A magnificent Mandir is being built in Abu Dhabi, the first in a middle eastern country.
It is therefore very sad that the whole Swaminarayan movement is criticised by some when one or two sadhus from some Swaminarayan sampradaya make controversial comments. We have to be extremely vigilant about those who want to divide us for their personal agendas. These mischief makers are from within our community. There is a video clip going round that claims that the Hare Krishna movement is building Krishna Mandirs in India to collect money and send it to the USA. The Hare Krishna movement has introduced Sanatan Dharma to the world. In fact it is the only movement which actively seeks followers all over the world. Srila Prabhupada founder of ISKCON will be remembered as one the greatest saints in Hindu history. Every Hindu should support this Sanskirtan movement. Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Ramdev, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sant Tarlochan Singh Das, Mohanji and Baba Gurinder Singh amongst others who are promoting Dharma all over the world.
We quite often hear that Hinduism has too many denominations or sampradayas and that is dividing us. To the contrary I believe the more sampradayas the better. They bring new ideas and new energy. The current president of India is Droupadi Murmu. She is from a tribal community. She is also a Brahma Kumari. The credit goes to the Brahma Kumari Spiritual movement for being able to reach out to the president when she was struggling in personal life. Unity in Diversity is the unique feature of Sanatan Dharma. We must defend any unfair attacks on any of our sampradayas.
Nitin Mehta MBE www.nitinmehta.co.uk
Comentarios