Mankind Is A Witness To Turbid And Turbulent Times

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 1 March 2025 "Indians are increasingly touchy, thin-skinned, intolerant and I must add, humourless. Historically, Hinduism had no notion of blasphemy. Unlike in Islam or Christianity, one was not deemed a heretic (or worse) if one said sarcastic things about one's idols and icons. But that has now changed. Hindus have become more like Muslims and Christians in this regard. So have Sikhs and Jains." Ramchandra Guha So very true! Guha is spot-on. My scholarly Hindu friend and poet Mr Mahesh Bajaj 'Anjum' Lakhnavi jokingly says that today's Hindus are neo-Muslims. They sure are. Recently, a priest association has hit out at Akshay Kumar for hugging the Shivling in a devotional music video. What's wrong if one hugs the Shivling? Guha has rightly pointed out that Sikhs and Jains are also emulating Hindus and Muslims in religious intolerance. Visit any Gurudwara and if your head is not properly covered, you'll be given a dressing-down or worse, a rude shove. I teach Buddhist and Jain monks of different sects. Now even these monks cannot tolerate the monks of other sects within the same religion! Digambar monks of Jainism refuse to sit with the Shwetambar monks. Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist monks call Vajrayanis (the followers of Vajrayana sect of Buddhism; similar to Tantra of Hinduism) non-Buddhists. By the way, the Buddha is considered to be the greatest occultist in Tantra, Hinduism but the Orthodox Buddhism avoids calling him (the Buddha) a Tantrik or Occultist because Tantra involves and entails sexual union. Followers of Theravada (the 'way of the elders' in Pali) Buddhism dislike other sects of Buddhism and so on. I wonder, what's going on? No one has any interest in becoming a human. That we're sparring over petty religious issues in the 21st century is all the more shameful and disgusting. Now Modi's Hindus are calling themselves Sanatanis and Lingayats or Veerashaivas of Karnataka resent to be called Hindus! Nowadays, every act or action has a religious tone and ring to it. Intolerance stems from a lack of understanding of one's own religion. Religionists are fighting over extremely trivial theological issues because they've not understood their own faiths comprehensively. They also suffer from 'Emulation Syndrome.' To elaborate it, if Muslims act in an obstinate manner in religious matters, Hindus will also try to follow suit. Seeing the increasing intolerance among the Hindus (sorry, Sanatanis!), Jains (though they're no way different from Hindus as Jainism is a disguised sect of Hinduism) have also become intolerant. Never forget that during the Godhra Genocide of Gujarat in 2002, Jains were more active than Hindus in the obliteration of poor Muslims. In the new millennium, esp. post-2014, Indians have become too touchy about all things. But being a globe-trotter, I've realized that this is not just confined to India, Pakistan or the third-world countries of South Asia. This is now a universal phenomenon. People across the world have become extremely sensitive about their faiths and stupid religious tenets. Though atheism is on the rise, this escalating bigotry is also palpable all over the world. Mankind is a witness to turbid and turbulent times. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/mankind-witness-turbid-turbulent-times/d/134756 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism