For many people reading this blog, title is bit confusing or rather a paradox as it seems. How could a person be an atheist and affiliated to a religion? Those from western cultural background find this concept difficult to understand. Let me break it for you.
What I love about Hinduism is its pluralist nature, its vastness and abundance, its diversity or rather vagueness as many people would like to call it and non-adherence to any particular scripture. Complete subordination to any 'holy' scripture restricts free thinking and freedom to question. Hinduism for me is the value system and way of life evolved in this land over a period of time. When I say Atheism, it does not mean non-believing in God but questioning the existence of God, questioning the practises in the name of religion, or any other question which free mind can think of. Many different traditions, thoughts (rather contradictory many times) are allowed to thrive in Hinduism. And that is why I feel I can be an Atheist and a Hindu at the same time.
On Freedom:
One of the defining feature of Hinduism is freedom. Freedom to choose your way of worship or no worship at all, freedom to praise and even criticize Gods, scriptures and rituals. Charvaka questioned the supremacy of Vedas and still we call him maharishi. As Amartya Sen put in in 'The Argumentative Indian’ that, "Indian tradition is the tradition of argumentation." And as a prominent part of this tradition, Hinduism respects rational logic more than scriptures; pursuit of truth over any creed or dogma. Some aberrations had happened during the evolvement of this way of life. But instead of sticking to the books and rules which are written centuries before, this tradition is marching forward and that is admirable. Thanks to the revivalist movements of 19th and early 20th centuries.
On Diversity:
I am compelled to compare Hinduism with pre-independence Indian National Congress party in the sense of its diverse nature. (Don't take it otherwise) In Hinduism, there are innumerable school of thoughts which believe in different things. There are different devotional school of thoughts like Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, etc.; there are philosophical school of thoughts like Yoga, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Vedanta and even the materialistic theory of Charvaka.
By this analogy, in pre-independence Congress also there were many different political thoughts allowed to be the part of it. Swarajist (Motilal Nehru and C.R Das), Socialist (Jawaharlal and Subhash Chandra Bose), moderates (Gokhale, Gandhi), extremists (Tilak, Lala Lajpar Rai), traditionalists (C. Rajagopalachari, Sardar Patel) and many other, were all part of the single umbrella family called Congress.
Some of these fraction split from the Congress, when they felt that they do not have enough voice in the party and some other fraction split from it when party took strong socialist programme. And that is why defining Hinduism in a single definition (as hardliners are trying to do in the name of Hindutva) will be a mistake.
In Congress, every fraction was trying to dominate inside party, to get the presidential seat, to form the government, to get maximum members in working committee; but today, in Hinduism all traditions and sects are living peacefully without much conflict. Because you belong to any tradition or school of thought, peace is the core essence in Hinduism.
On Evangelism:
What I like about Hinduism is its non-evangelist nature. It does not aim at outer conversion but at inner spiritual practices. If you like something about Hinduism whether philosophy or spiritual practices like yoga, mantra or meditation, just inculcate that thing in your way of living without converting to Hinduism. And also Hindus have freedom to adopt any new thought or thing they find fascinating in other culture or religion. There is no central authority in Hinduism to banish you from the religion or to dictate proper code of conduct. Most number of conquests and deaths happened in the history because of and in the name of the religion. Victors often tried to forcefully convert the religion of people from conquered territory. Where are Zoroastrians in Iran?
For me, a true conversion is a change in faith purely for spiritual reasons that follow from an individual seeking higher truths. And for that, one does not need to formally convert to any other religion. Genuine conversion of an individual happens over a period of time by evolvement of his thought. It can happen for an individual at personal level and not for the entire group. It is very unfortunate that many conversions happening now-a-days are not for change in faith for spiritual reasons but for political and material benefits.
Religion vs spirituality:
Problem with people is that they mingle religion (by religion they mean Gods, beliefs and rituals) with spirituality. It is surely not their fault as every religion is somehow mingled with spirituality. Spirituality signifies the search of truth and attaining the peace of mind. According to this definition, I am surely not a religious person, but a spiritual one.
Should Atheist visit temples?
What I find problem with many people announcing themselves to be an atheist is their hostility towards anything related to religion whether it is worshiping places, monuments or architecture. So, should an atheist visit a worshiping place like temple? I do not visit any temple regularly, but Do I visit famous temples? Absolutely yes. Not only temples but mosques, churches and shrines too. I must tell you, you need not be hostile towards temples even if you are an atheist. Because in Indian tradition, temples are the symbols of creativity, art, dance-forms, music, devotion and architecture. Look at the ancient temples. There are Mandapas (Concert hall) in front of inner sanctum sanctorum. In ancient times, music and dance performances were happening there. Even now, in many parts of the country that happens. Same applies for the mosques. Many mosques are excellent form of architecture.
Bhakti movement in Hindus and Sufi movement is Muslims gave new form of blend to Indian culture and music. Basic principle of this movement was, Music and devotion is the way to reach the God. Both music forms immensely contributed to Indian music. You may or may not believe in God, but it would be foolish to not believe in music. Do not cut yourself from the beauty of some well-designed worshiping place or music for the sake of being an atheist. Do not let your ego (as an atheist) come in between to appreciate the monument if not the sculpture of God(?).
On Mythology:
Being an atheist, you should not distance yourself with mythology, as they are more part of our culture than any particular religion. We have the great epics and mythological stories written in India. Mahabharata and Ramayana are the integral part of Indian society. Whenever we try to use analogy in normal situations, we often look to the characters of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Don't we?
If anyone would ask me one defining feature of Indian culture, I would say -"Storytelling." From centuries, we are telling stories and that became great epics. Mahabharata was an epic which told and retold for centuries by different people. Those who wanted to tell stories, they incorporated their own stories in Mahabharata. And that is why there is no single or original version of Mahabharata. During 400 b.c to 400 a.d, in these 800 hundred years, tells of Mahabharata retold by many people in different parts of India, that they became national heritage of India.
Many artists, carvers found inspiration in the legends of Gods. That is why abandoning the mythology for the sake for being an atheist is foolishness. Take Gods as protagonists of the epics if you are not comfortable calling him/her God. This tradition of retelling of epics is continuing in India even today and immensely contributing to the literature, as we can see from the novels of Amish Tripathi's 'The Shiva Trilogy' , and 'Scion of ikshvaku' or from Shahi Tharoor's 'The Great Indian Novel' or from Iravati Karve's 'Yugant' and books by many others.
Conclusion:
Atheism does not necessarily relate to negativity, so here I presented the positive nature of atheism. Like staunch religious people, supremacist tendencies found in atheists too. Being a supremacist is the cause of many problems world is facing. Practice rationale atheism not an extremist one.
And that is why I am an atheist and a Hindu.
Peace.
#Hinduism #atheism #mythology #temple #religion #INC #Veda #Culture #India #Society
What I love about Hinduism is its pluralist nature, its vastness and abundance, its diversity or rather vagueness as many people would like to call it and non-adherence to any particular scripture. Complete subordination to any 'holy' scripture restricts free thinking and freedom to question. Hinduism for me is the value system and way of life evolved in this land over a period of time. When I say Atheism, it does not mean non-believing in God but questioning the existence of God, questioning the practises in the name of religion, or any other question which free mind can think of. Many different traditions, thoughts (rather contradictory many times) are allowed to thrive in Hinduism. And that is why I feel I can be an Atheist and a Hindu at the same time.
On Freedom:
One of the defining feature of Hinduism is freedom. Freedom to choose your way of worship or no worship at all, freedom to praise and even criticize Gods, scriptures and rituals. Charvaka questioned the supremacy of Vedas and still we call him maharishi. As Amartya Sen put in in 'The Argumentative Indian’ that, "Indian tradition is the tradition of argumentation." And as a prominent part of this tradition, Hinduism respects rational logic more than scriptures; pursuit of truth over any creed or dogma. Some aberrations had happened during the evolvement of this way of life. But instead of sticking to the books and rules which are written centuries before, this tradition is marching forward and that is admirable. Thanks to the revivalist movements of 19th and early 20th centuries.
On Diversity:
I am compelled to compare Hinduism with pre-independence Indian National Congress party in the sense of its diverse nature. (Don't take it otherwise) In Hinduism, there are innumerable school of thoughts which believe in different things. There are different devotional school of thoughts like Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, etc.; there are philosophical school of thoughts like Yoga, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Vedanta and even the materialistic theory of Charvaka.
By this analogy, in pre-independence Congress also there were many different political thoughts allowed to be the part of it. Swarajist (Motilal Nehru and C.R Das), Socialist (Jawaharlal and Subhash Chandra Bose), moderates (Gokhale, Gandhi), extremists (Tilak, Lala Lajpar Rai), traditionalists (C. Rajagopalachari, Sardar Patel) and many other, were all part of the single umbrella family called Congress.
Some of these fraction split from the Congress, when they felt that they do not have enough voice in the party and some other fraction split from it when party took strong socialist programme. And that is why defining Hinduism in a single definition (as hardliners are trying to do in the name of Hindutva) will be a mistake.
In Congress, every fraction was trying to dominate inside party, to get the presidential seat, to form the government, to get maximum members in working committee; but today, in Hinduism all traditions and sects are living peacefully without much conflict. Because you belong to any tradition or school of thought, peace is the core essence in Hinduism.
(The Rig-Veda declares: एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति means "Truth is one; learned men call it by various names; The Upanishads declare that all the paths lead to the same goal, just as cows of variegated colours yield the same white milk)
On Evangelism:
What I like about Hinduism is its non-evangelist nature. It does not aim at outer conversion but at inner spiritual practices. If you like something about Hinduism whether philosophy or spiritual practices like yoga, mantra or meditation, just inculcate that thing in your way of living without converting to Hinduism. And also Hindus have freedom to adopt any new thought or thing they find fascinating in other culture or religion. There is no central authority in Hinduism to banish you from the religion or to dictate proper code of conduct. Most number of conquests and deaths happened in the history because of and in the name of the religion. Victors often tried to forcefully convert the religion of people from conquered territory. Where are Zoroastrians in Iran?
For me, a true conversion is a change in faith purely for spiritual reasons that follow from an individual seeking higher truths. And for that, one does not need to formally convert to any other religion. Genuine conversion of an individual happens over a period of time by evolvement of his thought. It can happen for an individual at personal level and not for the entire group. It is very unfortunate that many conversions happening now-a-days are not for change in faith for spiritual reasons but for political and material benefits.
Religion vs spirituality:
Problem with people is that they mingle religion (by religion they mean Gods, beliefs and rituals) with spirituality. It is surely not their fault as every religion is somehow mingled with spirituality. Spirituality signifies the search of truth and attaining the peace of mind. According to this definition, I am surely not a religious person, but a spiritual one.
Should Atheist visit temples?
What I find problem with many people announcing themselves to be an atheist is their hostility towards anything related to religion whether it is worshiping places, monuments or architecture. So, should an atheist visit a worshiping place like temple? I do not visit any temple regularly, but Do I visit famous temples? Absolutely yes. Not only temples but mosques, churches and shrines too. I must tell you, you need not be hostile towards temples even if you are an atheist. Because in Indian tradition, temples are the symbols of creativity, art, dance-forms, music, devotion and architecture. Look at the ancient temples. There are Mandapas (Concert hall) in front of inner sanctum sanctorum. In ancient times, music and dance performances were happening there. Even now, in many parts of the country that happens. Same applies for the mosques. Many mosques are excellent form of architecture.
Bhakti movement in Hindus and Sufi movement is Muslims gave new form of blend to Indian culture and music. Basic principle of this movement was, Music and devotion is the way to reach the God. Both music forms immensely contributed to Indian music. You may or may not believe in God, but it would be foolish to not believe in music. Do not cut yourself from the beauty of some well-designed worshiping place or music for the sake of being an atheist. Do not let your ego (as an atheist) come in between to appreciate the monument if not the sculpture of God(?).
On Mythology:
Being an atheist, you should not distance yourself with mythology, as they are more part of our culture than any particular religion. We have the great epics and mythological stories written in India. Mahabharata and Ramayana are the integral part of Indian society. Whenever we try to use analogy in normal situations, we often look to the characters of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Don't we?
If anyone would ask me one defining feature of Indian culture, I would say -"Storytelling." From centuries, we are telling stories and that became great epics. Mahabharata was an epic which told and retold for centuries by different people. Those who wanted to tell stories, they incorporated their own stories in Mahabharata. And that is why there is no single or original version of Mahabharata. During 400 b.c to 400 a.d, in these 800 hundred years, tells of Mahabharata retold by many people in different parts of India, that they became national heritage of India.
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| Mahabalipuram Temple, Chennai (Photo Credits: Myself) |
Conclusion:
Atheism does not necessarily relate to negativity, so here I presented the positive nature of atheism. Like staunch religious people, supremacist tendencies found in atheists too. Being a supremacist is the cause of many problems world is facing. Practice rationale atheism not an extremist one.
If you do not properly understand what atheism in Indian context is and proclaims to be an atheist with prejudice about religion (not just Hindu religion) in mind, you will end up losing contact with the great cultural heritage, rich mythology, beautiful architecture, soothing music, and great dance forms.
And that is why I am an atheist and a Hindu.
Peace.
#Hinduism #atheism #mythology #temple #religion #INC #Veda #Culture #India #Society
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What a brilliant article...thank you sir for posting it...In short...the atheist is who appreciates the sculpture of god !!
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