"अनुवाद" का विकल्प चुनकर हिंदी में पढ़ें

Before you begin please make sure that you have read the introduction

Bageshwar Dham Sarkar – A Scientific Perspective

Please remember that this is neither a religious nor a political commentary but just an academic endeavor to inform the public about Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.

Chapter 6: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri religious?

Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri has been currently advocating “Hindu Rastra” where he is inviting people to follow Sanathana Dharma. Does this make him religious?

Let us consider the distinction between religion and dharma.

Revealed Religion v/s Evolved Religion

According to some researchers, Zoroastrianism is said to be the first revealed religion. Revealed religions have a founder who reveals the tenets of the religion to the masses. Zarathustra is the prophet associated with this. Revealed religions (Prophetic Religions) also have a single holy book that all their followers adhere to. The book of Zoroastrians is called Zend Avesta.

Zoroastrianism is followed by Judaism, where Abraham is their prophet and the book is called Bible (Torah). This is chronologically followed by Christianity (Jesus Christ, Bible – New Testament) and Islam (Prophet Muhammad, Quran).

There are also a set of Commandments that should be followed at any cost.

Some smaller cults and religions sprang up now and then over the last few centuries but they won’t be considered here though they come under the revealed religions.

As against these revealed religions, we have Evolved religions, those religions that evolved on their own without any specific individual founder or prophet. It is a misnomer to call them religions as they have no specific tenets, no founder, and no single book. All practices have evolved and are part of their socio-cultural ethos. These practices are universal and are common to all tribes, settlers, and nomads.

The rituals, practices, customs, and traditions are common to all ancient civilizations with slight modifications due to geographical and ethnic modalities. Take, for instance, the Mapushe natives of the South American continent or the tribals of Papua New Guinea. They have so many common rituals that match with the Hindus. Almost all other ancient civilizations have been wiped out and the only existing ancient civilization is Sanathana Dharma. All other civilizations and religions have either been forgotten or destroyed.

Indigenous groups from all over the world continue to follow these traditions. The majority of the indigenous groups have been destroyed by invaders or converted to either Christianity or Islam. Only those groups that escaped the tyranny retained their original customs and traditions.

There are tremendous similarities between these indigenous groups and civilizations, and Sanathana Dharma. They do not have any prophet or a book. Rather like Hinduism, they may have plenty of individuals associated with them as well as written material. Or they may not have anyone in particular and no written material. Most of the time, these rituals are passed on from one generation to another through oral communication.

The common factors in these evolved religions are the afterlife, witchcraft, sacred places, ceremonies, and moral codes of conduct.

Hence, it is more appropriate to classify all revealed religions under one category and all indigenous cultures including Hinduism under another category. In religions, God and his messenger get the highest prominence whereas in indigenous groups the community’s culture becomes more important.

So, let us call it Religion v/s Dharma.

Monotheism v/s Polytheism

Monotheism propounds a single God who is the creator and the belief that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. The almighty is said to be responsible for all that happens in this world.

It was Zarathustra who for the first time introduced a single almighty. The Zoroastrians have a God named Ahura Mazda. Many researchers consider that the word Ahura comes from the Sanskrit word Asura. Ancient Persians did not pronounce ‘S’ (just like Sindhu became Hindu).

The word Assur (Ashur) may have been borrowed from the Assyrians who had a God in this name. In the Vedic period, ASURA meant a demigod or demon with both good and bad qualities. In early Vedic texts, AGNI (Fire) was one of the Asuras who could help or harm people.

Zarathustra probably gave importance to both these qualities and hence fire is used in the Zoroastrian temples even today during worship. There is a misunderstanding that fire itself is worshipped by Zoroastrians, but this is not so.

According to some researchers, Judaism (400 BCE) borrowed Ahura and called it YAHWEH or JEHOVAH. This became GOD (Gudan) in Christianity and later ALLAH in Islam.

Hence, Asura is the only God of all these religions. Though Asura has both benevolent and malevolent qualities in Monotheism, in Hinduism Asuras are mainly depicted as danavas, rakshasas, and daityas. Our Ithihasas (history represented by Ramayana and Mahabharata), and Puranas (a vast genre of Hindu Literature) mention several important Asuras who were principally malevolent to common people but were great worshippers of Hindu deities.

The word Polytheism is used to distinguish it from monotheism. However, this is not entirely correct. There are no Gods in indigenous groups, ancient civilizations, or Hinduism. They are deities, representing an aspect of nature. For instance, according to Vedic texts, the five aspects of nature (Pancha Bhutas) are Vayu (Air), Varuna (Water), Prithvi (Earth), Agni (fire or Sunlight), and Akasha (Space).

As the Westerners could not fathom a religion with so many deities with so varied characters, they called them Gods. This attribution continues even to this day though there is no almighty in Hinduism.

However, the influence of Hindu deities was so powerful that, according to me, it spread all over the world, from Cambodia in the East to Columbia in the West.

For example, there is a temple called Angkor Wat in Cambodia worshiping Vishnu, whereas there are statues in San Augustin, Columbia, of Garuda, Ganesha, and Lingams (representing Shiva).

Watch the following video from Shri Praveen Mohan to know more about it.

The most surprising thing I discovered, through YouTube videos (of Itchy Boots), was a place in the South American continent. There is a place called Rama in Nicaragua, and the inhabitants living around there are called Rama Indians even to this day. You can cross-check this information by typing ‘Rama Nicaragua’ in Google Maps or ‘Rama Indians’ in Google Search.

There also seems to be a connection between Hindus and Mexicans hundreds of years ago. In addition, there were contacts between Hindus and Sumerians, Mayans, Incas, Egyptians, and scores of ancient civilizations.

Ramayana also talks about Sugriva’s Atlas from the Andes to the Alps and from Antarctica to the Arctic regions. Watch the video from Shri Nilesh Oak to learn about it more.

In Mahabharata, Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, travels to several places all over the earth during his exile.

Tribals in South America and Romani people in Europe still have names like Ganesha and Shiva. They do not know the origins of these names but have been using them because their ancestors did.

Almost all ancient civilizations, including Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Japanese also worshipped several deities.

Hence, it is more appropriate to distinguish Monotheism from worshipping hundreds, thousands, or millions of deities.

So, let us call it Monotheism v/s Paganism.

Believer v/s Non-believer

The monotheistic religions are also called faiths because they are dependent on the belief systems of the followers. It is desirable to accept what is been told without questions being asked. A complete surrender to the almighty is expected.

The followers will have to strictly follow the rules and regulations laid down in the religion. All followers have no other recourse but to follow the religion obediently.

Prayer becomes the major service one can offer to God. It becomes compulsory that everyone adhering to the religion offers prayers regularly. The prayer involves either seeking help from God or conveying thanks to God.

Believers seem to have a total disdain towards non-believers.

Zoroastrianism doesn’t encourage conversion. This is the reason why there are very few ‘Parsees’ who have survived. Only a few hundred are still there in Iran, where the religion originated, whereas the majority of them, which runs to a few thousand, live in India.

It is very difficult to get into Judaism as they have very strict rules. Despite the holocaust where millions of European Jews were killed, they have managed to survive and thrive as a contributing community.

However, Christianity and Islam thrive on conversion. They consider paganism to be evil. To rescue those who follow polytheism from hell, they are prepared to go to any extent, including the killing of non-believers.

History is replete with millions of people killed all over the world in the name of proselytizing for the two religions. Indigenous groups were annihilated or converted almost all over the world except in India, where despite over a thousand-year rule by invaders, the majority of the people remain Hindus.

The problem with the belief system is that the believers think what they believe is the only truth and all else are unfit to exist. Even though the believers know that their belief is unscientific, they still adhere to their beliefs without wanting to modify their attitudes.

I have discussed elsewhere that attitudes and beliefs are based on bias, prejudices, stereotypes, and superstitions. By defending their beliefs to be more important than knowledge, the believers have been conservative.

Non-believers have ample choice to practice their dharma. They are allowed to ask questions and seek the truth. Knowledge is given greater importance than belief. You are free to accept or reject any practice, ritual, customs, and traditions that are passed on to you through generations.

The term “Sanathana Dharma” can be roughly translated as an eternal way of life. It only refers to the culture, traditions, mores, taboos, customs, and rituals. All the deities mentioned in Vedas and other literature refer to diverse aspects of nature. Every human on earth has an ancestor who was practicing Sanathana dharma. Sanathana dharma is practiced even today everywhere except where the religions have destroyed them.

Even in India over a thousand-year rule by the invaders has changed the people from seekers to believers. However, they don’t share the same attitude with that of believers of disrespecting other belief systems. Irrespective of their thinking, Hindus still very largely stick to their culture, and hence Sanathana dharma is retained by them.

Another characteristic of Sanathana Dharma is its ever-changing nature. It doesn’t stick to one book or one way of doing things. As and when there were needs, modifications were made to defend the dharma from attack and destruction.

The Bhakti movement was introduced later into Hinduism and this brought about a phenomenal change. There was the revolutionary advent of music, dance, art, architecture, iconography, etc., which made the culture stronger. These are retained even to this day and continue to astound everyone.

Worshipping is not compulsory in Hinduism. Like everything else, there is diversity here, too. One can engage in pagan worship, Idol Worship, nature worship, animism, ancestor worship, spiritism, etc. and all these are left to the choice of the individuals.

Worship is not the same as prayer done among believers. The ‘non-believers’ invoke the deity onto the idol, which is known as “Prana Prathista” and then perform Pooja by greeting its presence. Anyone can observe that a devotee does Namaste to the deity, the same way you greet another person. Sometimes you prostrate before the deity, just like you do so before the elders in the family. Always thank the deity for helping you to overcome the obstacles in your life and not ask for gain or forgiveness.

The deities could be in a temple or they can be at home. Visiting a temple is not mandatory. In earlier times, a temple was not built for so-called worshipping purposes. The objective was to summon positive energy from the cosmos and share it with people. A temple was not only a learning center for children and adults but also a recreation center with music, drama, folklore, and kathavachan (storytelling).

Hindu literature mainly deals with medicine, surgery, grammar, technology, cosmology, astronomy, navigation, calendar, philosophy, psychology, science, etc., and one can see that these are not religious. Every custom and tradition has a scientific basis and provides solace to the individual who follows them.

Schools of philosophy in Hinduism vary from theistic to atheistic, materialistic to non-materialistic, and ritualistic to spiritualistic. No one says “I am right” or “You are wrong”. Everyone has the freedom to choose whatever they would like to do.

Life is cyclical and there is no judgment day. There is no complete surrender to the almighty. Intolerance towards other religions, beliefs, cultures, and practices is absent. The concept of live and let live becomes most important.

Hence, it is more appropriate to distinguish believers from non-believers.

So, let us call it Believer v/s Seeker.

Conclusion

As against religions that are revealed, monotheistic, and dependent on belief systems, we have Sanatana dharma or Hinduism, which is dharmic, paganistic, and encourages inquiry. However, the most important point that should be noted here is, that even Hindus have become believers and not seekers due to the relentless (for over one thousand years) invasion and influence of monotheistic religions. This change was necessary as the monotheistic religions were condemning Hindus for being polytheistic and for idol worship.

One inherent characteristic of Hindus is, that they don’t persecute or pressurize other groups saying our religion is the best and no one else should exist. In India, the beauty lies in Shaivas, Shaktas, Vyshnavites, and Smartas, all living together in harmony. The mantra is, we have respect towards our God, but at the same time, we do not disrespect others. Unlike the religious invaders who destroy temples, burn libraries, kill innocent people, pillage property, etc., Hindus know co-existence and how to live in harmony.

Nevertheless, similar to other religions, Hinduism also shares a large number of inhuman individuals. There are good people everywhere and there are bad people. Irrespective of whether someone follows a religion or not, the qualities that make them human are universal.

The time is now not to stick to religions but to develop Humanity, Morality, and Spirituality (HMS). It is ‘good over evil’ once again. People who choose good will always support HMS irrespective of their religion, creed, sect, or dharma.

So, when Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri advocates “Hindu Rastra” by inviting people to follow Sanathana Dharma, he is asking them to develop tolerance, acceptance, and inclusivity.

So, this does not make him religious but makes him a campaigner of HMS.

Bageshwar Dham Sarkar – A Scientific Perspective

Chapter 1: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Scientifically Comprehensible?

Chapter 2: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Performing Magic?

Chapter 3: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Encouraging Superstition?

Chapter 4: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri a Mystic?

Chapter 5: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Removing Possession?

Chapter 7: Is Shri Dhirendra Krishna Shastri Genuine?