'Hindutva'- way of life

Hindu word is derived from river (Indus / sindhu), in the ancient period land of people living on the other side of Indus were considered as Hindustan. Way of life in this area is then termed as Hindu, collection of all rituals, practices of worship and different ways later on became part of Hindu religion. Our country is practicing Hindu way of living for more than four thousand years. Hindu as religion is one of the important aspect of this way of living, but nature of this way of living not just constitutes ‘Hindu’ religion rather it encompasses people of all the religion living in this land of Hindustan. In this context it is broadly considered as Indian culture. . Even our Supreme Court in famous Manohar Joshi case declared that ‘Hindutva’ is a way of life and everyone in India have right to profess , practice his way of life granted in our constitution.

At present, due to various misunderstandings and use of religion in political process talking about ‘Hindutva’ or even about Ramayana or Mahabharata in public became very much problematic. Situation is so grave, if someone is talking about ‘Bhagvatgita’ then also he is termed as Anti-secular. Surprisingly Swami Vivekanand in 1893 used ‘Bhagvatgita’ to show the world importance of Hindu aka Indian culture. In an parliamentary democracy based on ‘First past Post System’ religion become very easy tool for mobilizing people, as religion is numerically homogenous group.

As an Indian, I have pride in my culture, culture is very dynamic term and it constitutes past and present and continues with human life. For me culture means it is an impression of human kind’s soul on the nature. Same is true about Hindu culture, I tried to know various facets of Hindu –as way of life and I come to know some of the strengths of Hindu culture, while thinking constantly about how come Hinduism which evolved many years ago and still going strong.

First thing which came to my mind is dynamism of Indian culture, it always tried to adopt changes what it has witnessed since its inceptions. Apart from British rulers all others who came to India became part and parcel of our culture. Shak rulers, Kushan rulers or present era of ‘macdonaldization’ illustrate this. ‘Hindutva’ always tried to accommodate new things and always gave support to innovative things. As per readings of social scientist Asghar Ali Engineer in the rural areas of our country Islam got more Indian ethos than of western Asia.

As a student of political science I am very much impressed by ideology of Liberalism, dynamisms of Liberal understanding always attracted me. Liberal understanding always successfully faced challenges and molded itself, I always believed that Hindu culture also posses same enthusiasm, vibrancy. Saint Dyaneshwar said ‘’जो जे वांछील तो ते लाहो’ and I think this is closely linked with one of the attribute of Liberalism, that is of Liberty of Individual.

‘Hindutva’ also attracts me due to its diversity; I can say that Indian culture is like a rainbow having different shades which are deeply attached with each other. Our culture is guideline in this globalized world, heavily dependent on economics, interdependence is key of today, number of regional, world organizations are emerging on world platform. To become successful they have to handle diversified nature in their organization, I am proud that on this count Indian culture is best guide for them. European Union has already acknowledged the fact.

Tolerance is another facet of our culture, from very early period we believed in power of tolerance and humanity. Indian thinking always believed for welfare of all ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ is brilliant example of this. Our legacy always asked us to believe in tolerance, humanity. Our freedom Movement under Mahatma Gandhi is one of the best suited examples of this. We always emphasized on social building rather than materialism, it is also important attribute of our culture.

‘Democracy’ in modern world became monopoly of western world but if we looked into our past then we can find some references of republic states , though it was not prosperous like present system of governance , we get some of the roots of democracy. Even presence of vibrancy and intolerance is suggestive of democratic nature of our culture. Other than political democracy our culture always supported spiritual democracy. Presence of different streams like shaiv , vaish , sects like tantric etc support this argument.

To conclude I must say, principles like Sawaraj, sarvodaya or concept of Ramrajya propounded by Mahatma Gandhi are base of Hindu culture. Maharshi Arvind Ghosh was also insisting on the fact that at present world has become materialistic and to ensure overall development of human being Indian culture is the only possible way however, it does not mean that western thinking is totally wrong or irrelevant rather we are open to accept new ideas with keeping intact our Cultural ethos.