World Hindu Congress rejected ‘Hinduism’ that was popularized as part of 150-year Christian conspiracy to proselytise practicing Hindus.
How does one define Hindu? Is it Hinduism or Hindutva? What’s “Sanatan Dharna”?
These precise questions were sought to be addressed at the three-day World Hindu Congress (WHC) held in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
Over 2,000 top prominent Dharmic leaders, organizations and stakeholders from 61 countries met for a quadrennial marathon session that ended last Sunday. At the brainstorming sessions, serious effort seems to have been made to clear the air on “Hindutva” as a concept, philosophy and universal sustainable way of life.
In a significant declaration adopted, the Hindu leadership rejected “ism” as a suffix or affix to describe “Hindus”. Instead, the universal philosophy adhered to by over 1.2 billion people in about 100 countries will now be known by “Hindutva” or “Hinduness”.
For starters, Hinduism, Hindutva and Hinduness may not make much of a difference. But, for practitioners, Hindutva defines their way of life outlined in “Sanatan Dharma”—the eternal abode of everything that a righteous Hindu individual, family, community stands for, both animate and inanimate.
Rejection of the very word “Hinduism” is all the more important. As the “ism” was associated with the 150-year-old conspiracy to depict Hindus or Hindutva with “oppressive and discriminatory attitude” or belief. Well, if one were to simply delve into the very origins of “Hinduism”, it definitely was part of a larger conspiracy to discredit one of the oldest civilizations through which humanity evolved.
The “isms” were routinely attached to regressive, retrogressive, radical religious or spiritual movements. Isms were derogatory and negative, apart from being divisive in spirit and content. Isms were also attached to non-mainstream and fringe movements. Given this historical context, the World Hindu Congress, that prides itself as the largest congregation of Hindus globally, rejected and totally discarded “Hinduism”.
Yet another reason for the World Hindu Congress to discard “Hinduism” was the very origins of this coinage. Hinduism was introduced and popularised by Monier Monier-Williams through his handbook on Hinduism. Let’s not ignore the fact that this handbook on “Hinduism” was published way back in 1877 by Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge.
With this in the backdrop, one can easily infer the motive behind this intellectual dishonesty possibly committed as part of a larger game plan to build anti-Hindu narratives, demonize the civilization and not spare even the most pious and spiritual leaders in Hindu pantheon including the sages and saints. World Hindu Congress seems geared up to expose this well thought out 150-year-old well-crafted plan.
Rightly, Hindus globally seem to have signalled a shift away from this conspiracy and be represented by “Hindutva” or “Hinduness” that’s more inclusive and an all-encompassing philosophy outlined by Sanatan Dharma. Hindutva, as defined by World Hindu Congress is simpler and represents the eternal nature of its philosophy and the way of life distinct to Hindus over millennia. Again juxtaposing Hindutva against Sanatan Dharma owing to political expediency or individual prejudices was recognised by the World Hindu Congress through its declaration adopted unanimously. By placing Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma on diametrically opposite stands is perhaps one way of attacking everything that’s good and beautiful in the way of life itself.
In fact, the Hindu centric Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat went a step further to explain how it was misrepresented to fuel bigotry. Hindutva was above all the “isms” like capitalism, communism and materialism is what Dr Bhagwat asserted during the inaugural session of the World Hindu Congress. Even if these “isms” and religions led to some materialistic gains for a few, happiness, bliss and peace was something that were found wanting even today.
Dr Bhagwat’s speech explained in some detail the “inclusiveness” of Hindutva while differentiating it from what’s sought to be depicted by the rival ecosystem. For instance, “all sampradayas” or traditions led to the ultimate purification under the wider Hindutva umbrella. This tolerant umbrella was not only willing to accommodate just Bharatiya traditions, but also foreign faith practitioners that descended on Bharat over the ages.
This year’s theme for World Hindu Congress was, “Jayasya Aayatnam Dharmah”, which loosely translated means “Dharma, the abode of victory”. Here again, the intent was made very clear. The RSS chief said in no uncertain terms that Hindus were not seeking or looking at victory over “anyone else”. Instead, Hindus seek victory for all in progress, development and spread of prosperity at materialistic, spiritual and meta-physical levels. Mata Amritanandamayi added another spec to Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma. Amritanandamayi, also known as “Amma” (the mother) from Kerala, pointed to Supreme Consciousness and Supreme Knowledge of the universe that differentiated Hindutva from others.
The World Hindu Congress decision to move ahead with Hindutva and Sanatana Dharma is a significant step going forward. This will be a precursor to Hindus seeking to play a meaningful role in global affairs to realise “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”—the entire humanity as one big family.
K.A. Badarinath is Director and Chief Executive of the New Delhi based non-partisan think-tank, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies.