HINDU HISTORY

CONTENTS

Humankind's only hope for the future

Dear Reader, 

I welcome you to this page where I have done some loud thinking on humanism.

I'd like to give a brief background as to why this  page has been created. I have seen the  hate  mail  that  is  being posted on some newsgroups and the replies being given.

This has motivated me to share what I have always held dear and which I owe to the principles  like "Vasudhaiva  Kutumbakam"  ( The  world  is  one  family) and "Ekam Satya, Viprah Bahuda Vadanti" (Truth is one, people call it by many names).

I have inherited this outlook from human thinking that comes from that part of our globe which is geographically today known as Bharatvarsha, (also known by other names like Aryavarta, Jambudwipa, Hindustan or India).

But such ideas are not specific to any one part of our globe, they have existed in different parts of the globe wherever the right thinking of Humankind has prevailed.

At  the  forefront  let  me  state that my viewpoint is that of a rationalist, an agnostic and a humanist.

Rationalists and humanists will never be in a majority in a world as long as we are all being programmed  ( brainwashed by sectarian nationalist education) to look upon people in our slice of  the world as countrymen and those in other parts as enemies or at least foreigners.

Rationalists will be a majority only after we are conditioned by a reformed future education and a reformed future tradition to look upon ourselves as humans first and last.

To  digress  a  little,  phenomenon  for  humans  will  never be  within  the bounds of human understanding and hence we will always have an infinitely large part of phenomenon beyond human knowledge.

As a species capable of abstract thinking we human beings have, since consciousness came into being, tried  to  understand  what  was  beyond our knowledge. But rather than forever engaging in understanding what is beyond human knowledge, a large majority of  the Homo Sapiens ( who are distinct  from  the animal  kingdom by the large brain bestowed on us by evolution) have sought solace in giving the unknown part of phenomenon that exists beyond
human knowledge; the common noun "GOD", with differring proper nouns.

These names and the concepts built around the proper nouns differred in different parts of  the globe and THIS DIFFERENCE has been the main reason to incite humans to slaughter others from their species.

As I am a rationalist and an agnostic,I belong to this smallest minority in the globe. For me the only enemies are wild animals and natural disasters (and extra-terrestrials?).
 

I cannot comprehend how and why a species capable of abstract thinking, can look upon those among their  own  species  as  mortal  enemies  because  the  name  that they have given to the unknown is different.

Yes as a rationalist I can understand that most humans need psychological solace in thinking that there is an almighty who is taking care of us and to whom we could pray  in  times of  crises  and feel that we have done our best. To whom we could ask for boons in normal times.

But why should the different names given to the unknown lead to slaughter for centuries together?

We should ultimately have a scenario where there is one  world  state of  humankind,  where  the ruling philosophy is that all humans are free to find their own personal way of co-relating with the unknown. They may call it the unknown or a diety as long as it is purely personal aspect and not a social aspect. Where those who give a certain name for the unknown as their diety no longer exist as religious community and as nations - we have one world state. And one is free to be an agnostic or a theist. And theists do not organise as social entities and nations antagonistic to one another.

In this scenario for a theist his/her path to co-relating with the unknown is as private as the colour of the underclothes  he/she wears and has no social bearing whatsoever.

In this scenario we could say the pre-history of humankind is over and history begins.

Some positive thinking theists express a feeling today in the following words:

Mandir, Masjid, Girijaghar mein baat diya bhagvaan ko,

Dharti Baati, Sagar Baata, Mat baato insaan ko. Mat baato insaan ko.
(You have divided God into temples, mosques and churches, You have divided the land and the
oceans, But please do not divide human beings in this way.)

In Vedic literature we have terms like "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam"
(The world is one family) and "Ekam Satya, Viprah Bahuda Vadanti" (Truth is one, people
call it by many names).

Now the above thoughts are theistic and I am an agnostic. But at least I can see that these are philosophies trying to unite all humans as theists. We agnostics do not even need any emotive bonding. For me (and for other rationalists, I presume) bonding is logical. Sectarianism, nationalism,
religion is illogical and in practice, have so far been harmful to the human species.

I know that the crime of the type "Your money or your life" will always be with us even in a rationalist scenario.

All history has been so far been a struggle or a human civil war.A religious fanatic would say that it has been a struggle with those of other religions, a Marxist would say that it has been a class struggle. I would say that it has initially been a struggle with the forces of nature and wild animals. This was
so in the days of savagery, later on in the days of barbarism,the struggle was with those of other tribes for women, cattle and other forms of wealth and then onwards when the differences in the name given to the unknown was established in human consciousness, this difference gave a legitimacy for this
civil war in the human species to be carried out on a grand scale.

I do not know how the human species is finally going to be shaken out of its brittle adherence to warring camps legitimised by the difference in the names given for the unknown. If it is going to  be through education - then it could be a peaceful but agonizingly slow process and take about a hundred thousand years. But if unfortunately it is going to be through the culmination of the
human civil war in a thermonuclear-nutron-biological world-wide clash which will see the extermination of a third to almost all of humankind - it would virtually destroy all past civilization.

All history with all its positive and negative aspects is our history the history of our species. My being a human is not foremost or uppermost for me.....
.....IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT CONSTITUTES MY BEING. 

People ask me how did I convert to being a rationlist and an agnostic or was I born as one? My answer to them is "No Sir, I was only born as a human, I was innocent of what a hindu or a muslim or a christian is. I am told I was baptised into the hindu faith and then through my friends at school and home I
was taught to hate the enemies of "my" nation, "my" faith, ad nauseam.

I made myself a rationalist and an agnostic after a lot of mental struggle to rid myself of prejudices. I cannot claim that I have rid myself of all prejudices. They still could be there. I am trying to find them out and get rid of them.

People also ask me than what do you think of the babri masjid.Are "we" not right in demolishing it. My answer to them is "Okay there was a temple before the masjid came to be built in 1528. But then before the temple was built the land was vacant. It was used by nature for an useful activity - to grow trees.
We are thinking humans, let us build a school there for rational and humanistic education." In fact a rationalist would like a scenario where all places of religious worship are converted into schools for rationalist and humanist education.

Some ask me if I believe that was there no tyranny in middle ages on the Hindus, which lead to the conversion of many hindus to Islam "by force of circumstances". My answer to them is; "Okay, this is true. But then before this conversion, the same way as they were hindus, we were all humans before consciousness divided us into being members of various sects, before this
consciousness came into being we were all simians, and before we became simians we were lower mammals, and before that reptiles and amphibians and single-celled organisms and before that we were a part of the inorganic soil and lava that came from the sun and the BIG BANG....." How far behind are we to go?

Let us look at the future and at least open our minds towards being humans and humans alone. To harbour a vision of a world state. A future where all kinds of sectarianism is relegated into the dustbin of history.

Where the attitude to the unknown is strictly a personal issue, not even a family one the same way as the colour of one's underclothes is.

Dear reader, I only wish to add that in my heart of hearts I am only a fellow human and not a member of any nation. My agenda is for human integration worldwide. A goal whose pursuit may even seem stupid today. But there is no other goal for humankind.

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