Can we fight without matching the enemy’s weapons?

It is time to acknowledge the real danger to Hinduism. Inaction is no action; indifference is no defense. Silence is not the answer. it is a recipe for impending danger. Let us learn from our forefathers who were bloodied to death for their belief in Hindu dharma. We all believe in dharmo rakshati rakshitaha, Dharma will protect those who protect dharma.

Ahimsa Paramo Dharma

Dharma himsa tathaiva cha[3]

When we see adharma is rampant and attacking our dharma, it is not dharma to ignore it. Adharma needs to be rooted out. We cannot be silent spectators to what is happening to Hindu Dharma when it is being bitten, beaten, siphoned, and manhandled. We have to face the reality or face the devil. There is nothing wrong with fighting for, protecting Dharma. As Siva Yogaswami said, "It is a sin to kill the tiger in the jungle. But if he comes into the village, it may become your duty." When the tiger rampages the village, we cannot sit and say that killing is adharma.

Similarly, when others coming to our villages like the tigers, either we have to allow them to kill us, or we take steps to kill them. The choice is not hard to make. Every country has an army to protect the boundaries of the country. Killing the enemies who encroach our lands is dharma. Similarly, it is dharma to take appropriate action against those who encroach and openly declare war against Hindu dharma. Hinduism is in peril. Hindus are more responsible for the eventual extinction for their failure to wage war against the known enemies - Christians and Muslims.

Stephen Knapp warned us that we must be prepared to wage war to defend and protect our Vedic culture. He says, “We cannot allow ourselves to be led into the danger of endless debate that leads to inaction. We all must be pro-active in some way to help defend and spread Vedic culture. Then we can work together to keep the freedom we presently have to practice the Vedic traditions and keep India as the homeland of a thriving, dynamic, and still living tradition. Such freedom does not come without its challenges, and we must be prepared as a society to meet those challenges. To take such freedoms for granted means that it is only a matter of time before they are lost. And that is exactly what some people want to happen. So, we must be willing to work all the harder to prevent such a decline of our Vedic heritage.” (The War Against Hinduism, 360 Hinduism, 2016)

According to Karl Popper “ If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.” This is what happened to Prithvi Raj when he defeated Muhammad Ghori 16 times when he attacked Delhi. Every time he defeated Ghori, out of his boundless tolerance and rules he followed in the battles, Prithvi raj let him go. He should have known that Ghori was interested in occupying Delhi at any cost even to the extent of killing him. His Dharmic values did not allow him to kill. But Ghori has no such ideals. He killed Prithvi raj even though he is incredibly talented who can target and shoot any object by listening to the sound. We Hindus have all the talents but getting stifled by our moral fabric. Swami Rama Tirtha says, "The policy of appeasement is never successful. It increases the demands of the bully and encourages his unreasonableness." Hindus must learn that Tolerance is a one-way street, and it is never reciprocated. Hindu genocide on Kush mountains, mass killings of millions of Hindus during Islamic rule and Goa inquisition where lakhs of Hindus were either killed or subjected to untold misery ere never retaliated by Hindus.

Mahabharata war was fought to restore dharma and root out adharma. Pandavas could have left the kingdom without aspiring for those 5 villages. Negotiations failed. Lord Krishna could not convince the Kauravas to grant five villages to Pandavas to live. To establish dharma, Pandavas agreed to wage war against Kauravas. Bhagavad Gita is an eye-opener for all Hindus to ascertain the need to protect humanity from adharma. Arjuna wanted no part of this to wage war and kill people as if adharma is better than dharma. Arjuna wanted to leave the battlefield as if the problem would get solved. Lord Krishna told him not to act foolishly and showed why we should fight. Now Hindus have the responsibility to protect Hinduism for the welfare of the humanity and preservation of ahimsa. No Hindu wants a war against any other religion.

Lord Krishna did not advise them to practice ahimsa and leave the kingdom. Similarly, Rama did not allow adharma of Ravana to prevail, he fought and killed him, along with many thousands of soldiers. We Hindus have to look deep inside us and find out as to what needs to be done when our existence is at stake, our Temples are being destroyed, our Gods are being broken and maligned, the sanctity of our rituals are maligned, and when they openly proclaim to wipe our ancient rich Hindu Culture. Shall we just watch our demise and untold misery?

Why our Gods have been portrayed with weapons? Goddess Durga Devi is depicted as having weapons such as discus, sword, bow with an arrow, Trishul, mace, thunderbolt, snake, and flame to defend dharma from unrighteous demons. As per Devi Mahatyam, in her numerous manifestations, she killed Madhu and Kaitaba, Mahisasura, Dhumralochana, Shambhu and Nishumbha, Raktabija, and Chanda and Munda.

Obviously, it makes us wonder why others take such violent and deceptive tactics to demean us, insult us, rebuke us, offend us, and rampage us. The Endowment Minister of AP mentioned that more than 400 incidents have happened affecting the Hindu Temples over the last year in the State. Imagine that number of such incidents if we go back and look at the last ten years, 100 years, and even 1000 years. It will make our heads spin. Kshatriya blood must be infused in every Hindu body to protect the values, ethics, morals, and freedom in Hindu Dharma.

Hindu feelings and Sentiments are hurt by these kinds of attacks by Christians on Hindu dharma. Their dreams of living in peace and worship their Ishta devatas are being shattered. These attacks are wrenching their hearts. Their stomachs are growling. Their bodies get shivered. They become speechless to see the kind of defacement, destruction, and demolition of Hindu institutions. It is not in the blood of Hindus to demean and denigrate any other religion. We only concentrate on self-realization and self-improvement rather than attacking others. We never attacked other faiths, never destroyed their places of worship, and never invaded any other country to establish the Hindu hegemony. As a result, it is exceedingly difficult for many Hindus to digest the kind of attacks their places of worship are subjected to.

Hindu apathy encourages other religions to be aggressive, indifference promotes other faiths to advance their agenda, silence enables others to be violent, lethargy empowers them to openly convert Hindus, inaction allows them to encroach Hindu lands, tolerance inspires them to be intolerant, non-violence instigates them to be violent, patience prompts them to attack our Temples, and refusal to acknowledge the threat from Christianity and Islam will usher in the extinction of Hinduism in the not far distant.

For centuries, we are led to believe in two fallacies. 1) Nothing will happen to our Sanatana Dharma. 2) All religions are the same. These are the two fallacies that made us blind to reality.

1. George Santayana stated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We Hindus must look at the history of Bharat and how our population is dwindling and what can be done to prevent erosion. Failure to take appropriate action to counter numerous attacks on Hindu dharma will only usher in the great calamity. Negligence in looking at the real picture state by state will make us shiver, tremble, and tremor. We do not have time to put down the flames that are burning the Hindu House along with Sanatana Dharma. Unless a concerted, aggressive, and determined effort is made to protect Dharma, Dharma will not protect us.
2. The second fallacy is that all religions are the same. Even a cursory look at the scriptures of other religions reveals that they are different from Hindu scriptures. There many violent and deceptive practices abound in enabling  followers to attack the Temples, break the idols and tarnish the Hindu image.

It is up to Hindus as to what course of action they want to take to extinguish the fires and allay the fears gripping them. Hindu are looking forward to the guidance, comfort, and leadership from religious leaders during these uncertain times. Their involvement will alleviate the fears and boost their spirits to counter the ant-Hindu activities. It is time we Hindus take a stand and say enough is enough.

As Hu Shih, a Chinese thinker and ambassador to the U.S. in the 1940s, once put it, “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 2,000 years without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. … China was overwhelmed, baffled, and overjoyed. She begged and borrowed freely from this munificent giver.”

M S Golwalkar called Christians anti-nationals. “As the Christians were indulging in such activities and consider themselves as agents of the international movement for the spread of Christianity and refuse to offer their first loyalty to the land of their birth and behave as true children of the heritage and culture of their ancestors, they will remain as hostile and will have to be treated as such.” (P:259)

As everybody knows that Pope Paul came to India as a guest and stabbed the host by saying that he will establish a cross on India and convert them to Christianity and destroy Hinduism by mass conversion in villages and tribal areas with billions of dollars pouring in from foreign countries. N. S Rajaram says that “They see the Hindus, because of their traditions of tolerance, as a soft target that is safe to convert by hook or by crook. Vatican officials, including the present Pope, have made no secret that the conversion of Hindus remains the highest priority” (P:2)

Stop Religious Conversion: Prevent uprooting of the Hindu Culture

According to Swami Dayananda (1930-2015), religious conversion “implies a destruction of… culture. The living religious traditions, intimately woven into the fabric of their respective cultures, have to be allowed to live and thrive. Religious conversion should stop—the aggressive religions should realize that they are perpetrating violence when they convert.”³ Evangelism, then, is tantamount to ethnocide. This view leads naturally to Swami Dayananda’s central and most distinctive claim, that is, that the attempt to convert others constitutes an act of violence. What makes it worse, in the case of Hindus converting to Christianity, is that it involves an act of violence committed against people who because of the putatively (and I stress putatively, since this also has been contested) non-proselytizing nature of their religion are religiously “unarmed” (ashastrapaani). “Thus, the conversion is not merely violence against people; it is violence against people who are committed to non-violence,” the Swami argues. “In converting, you are also converting the non-violent to violence.”³ And in another context, “Religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence and it breeds violence.” Here, then, is where Swami Dayananda’s explanation of violence against Christians blurs, at least indirectly, into a justification for it. “The religious person in every individual is the innermost, ... she is connected to a force beyond the empirical… That is the reason why the hurt caused by religion can turn into violence… When the hurt of the religious becomes acute, it explodes into violence. Conversion is violence. It generates violence… Conversion is, therefore, a rank, one-sided aggression.”³

“Conversion uproots individuals, devastates families, creates discord in communities, and destroys ancient cultures. This is what we have been arguing for several years. We need all cultures, and therefore all religions. With the destruction of religion comes the destruction of culture. Our religion and culture are intertwined. The religion has gone into the fabric of the culture.”(2008)

On a daily basis, the Christian pastors have been threatening violence against the process of reconversion back to Hinduism that had been launched by the VHP. It is as if they do not want anyone to have the right to do what they are already doing. It was Rev. V. K. Nuh, secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Convention who said, “If someone tries to impose their faith, Christians in this region will not surrender. There will be a battle and we shall have no option. There will be a physical and religious war if attempts are made to propagate Hinduism by forceful means in the Northeast.” In this same line of thinking, Rev. M.D. Oaugma, head of the Garo Baptist Convention of Meghalaya said, “It could be a threat to Christianity if we remain silent to the VHP’s game plan of mass conversion. We shall have to fight; we shall have to resist.” (Maharashtra Herald, July 11, 1998). Efforts must be herculean to stop the further erosion of the Hindu population, stop the massive inflow of Christian funds, and raise the conscience of Hindus about the impending danger of being a minority soon.

The previous part-1 of the article can be accessed below link:

https://www.savetemples.org/post/hindu-edifice-is-on-fire-pause-everything-be-part-of-ghar-waapasi.-part-1-of-3/843