Gods and their books

While reading many scriptures or holy books like the Bhagavad Gita, Qur'an, Bible, Ramayan, etc., I always wonder why these books are considered or called holy or sacred? Most of these books claim to dictate the message of some particular God, which is also supposed to be the creator of our universe (Allah in the case of the Qur'an, Krishna in the case of Bhagavad Gita, some other God in the case of Bible and so on). Surprisingly, all these books are not written by the God whose message they claim to deliver. I wonder why these gods didn't bother to write these books themselves if that message was so important and necessary for the human species that these books claim they created. After all, if you can create a complex living being like humans and the whole universe around them how much effort it takes to create a book, just like a product manual along with the product. So, several messengers ultimately delivered this divine message. Another wrinkle is that these books were not written by the messengers who delivered the message so that at least they can verify the content and attest it as a true copy, rather most of them came into print after many years of the reported divine incident of message delivery. These books claim to deliver an "absolute knowledge" for mankind. In today's world, most of these books are the property of some organized religion or other and they are used as manuals for framing rules and regulations (dos and don'ts) for that particular religion. Anything mentioned in those books becomes sacred or divine for its followers and anyone challenging them is labeled as evil or atheist.

As such just as literature, all these books about which I am talking are good to read. They are quite entertaining and full of some nice stories. They try to teach many good things via these stories. The only problem is they are written in some ancient languages that are either no longer in use or are spoken in very few regions of the world but the good part is there are many reliable translations easily available and one can read them in their own language. Most of them are reasonably priced (or even sometimes free) and easily available. I read many of them and they make a decent read if one reads them just as a literary book. They teach some very good things as most of the books that we read do and also help us to understand religions that follow these books. But things are totally different when religions or organizations appropriate these books and form societies based on them. They make their own concept of super almighty God which is supposed to be the ruler of this world. They have their own rules about many things like marriage, the role of women in society, how to pray, whom to pray, what to pray, what to eat, what to wear, etc. These rules are preached as a new way of life in the beginning and once they gather enough strength and power and become dominant then these rules are forced on people in the name of religion (God and its commands) and people who don't follow them or challenge them are considered as outliers and face discrimination and many other problems, even a death sentence.

So, people need to ask themselves, why do they give so much importance to these books? After all, these are just books like many other books written by various authors who wanted to share their knowledge and wisdom. Any single book can not contain everything humans are required to know. A single book can not teach everything required to live our lives as every human is different and they can have different needs. I agree that they can be useful in some subject areas like philosophy, religion, or history but there is a huge amount of knowledge outside the scope of these books which is equally important and equally relevant. Actually, the source of knowledge or information doesn't matter much but its relevance and contents do matter a lot. It doesn't matter who said it but it matters what was said and how relevant it is. Verifiable and relevant information is useful no matter from where it comes and unverifiable, outdated, or wrong concepts are useless no matter from which book or which person they come, it's as simple as that. I hope that people will understand this simple fact and at least stop fighting based on what is written in some books and what is not. Humans are much more than just a book. No single book can define us or guide us. We must learn to respect each other first then only any book can teach us anything. As long as we lack some of these basic decent qualities like love and respect for each other no matter which book we read or follow it's not going to make us better people.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)

Who is Guilty?

This is a very special post, which is why it might look very emotional, lengthy, or even over the top. Many incidents mentioned here are directly or indirectly from my real-life experience.

Recently, I wrote a post about the book Bhagavad Gita As It Is. I discussed a few lines and paragraphs from that book that I found highly objectionable and shallow in their content. I thought those lines were conveying the wrong message to their readers. I received lots of positive as well as negative feedback about this post, on the blog, and also on Facebook, where I share all my posts. People wondered why I could not ignore a few comments from the book; many books make these types of comments, and people should ignore them. This book is not a novel or any magazine for entertainment purposes; it is one of the religious books that people study, read, and derive their beliefs from. Some said it's a great book because it attracts a lot of devotees from the Western world towards Hinduism (I think most people can become ISKON members after reading this book, but not Hindus, as the book is not about Hinduism). Many also advised me that, as a Hindu myself, I should feel happy that my religion is spreading in the world because of this book. Some said it was just a small black spot on a big white paper; I should look at the white paper, not the black spot. But I disagree with all of them, any religious book, Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Qu'ran, or their translations, or any other book if it preaches hatred or discrimination against women or any section of society should be condemned and exposed in a timely manner; otherwise, consequences can be disastrous. Many of these small black spots have, over time, become black pages of our history, for example, untouchability, casteism, Sati Pratha (burning of a woman alive along with her husband after her husband's death), child marriage, forced widowhood, slavery, racial discrimination, and many more things.

I mainly objected to the lines from the book, which, according to me, spread the message of hatred about nonbelievers and treat women as an inferior sex compared to men. I have seen enough hatred and women's suppression in my life. As a kid, I watched the life of my Nani (my maternal Grandma, in Uttar Pradesh, from where I come, we call Nana and Nani to maternal Grandpa and Grandma). She was a great lady, uneducated but with great courage and great devotion towards God. She became a widow at a very young age (maybe 20 or 22), soon after my mother's birth. Society at that time treated widows very kindly but not very fairly. Men, after their wife's death, could remarry within months, but women were not allowed to remarry. In the event of their husband's death, first of all, they used to get the blame for that death (bad omen), and then widowhood was forced on them. Their heads used to get shaved, and they were only allowed to wear white or any pale-colored clothes, no ornaments, and no makeup (reason: to protect them so that other men wouldn't get attracted towards them). They have to behave as if they are not alive; they used to be there as shadows of their bodies, devoid of any color, any desires, just moving bodies. My Nani at least had a daughter to look after; she devoted all her attention toward her, but many are not that lucky. She was very well respected because of her kind behavior and dedication toward God; she always worked hard. I always saw her doing some work for somebody; she never sat quietly, as if she didn't know how to rest, as if her life depended on her usefulness in the family. She used to be possessed by a ‘Deity’ or ‘Devi [‘Devi Angat Yene’(in Marathi)] sometimes. [During this condition, the individual completely transforms his or her expression and behavior (personality) to resemble some deity. The person is then supposed (or pretends) to be possessed by a deity during that period. He/she behaves in a convincing manner, making appropriate actions and sounds to appear as if he is in a trance and pretends to know answers to all questions by devotees surrounding her/him]. This still happens in many villages, and it is mostly women who do it. I knew this was not the real herself, but I think this was her only chance to command, her only chance to dominate the world around her, her only chance to dictate terms and feel in control of something. She never complained about her situation; she believed it was her fate, and she saw how other widows are treated in society. Her belief in God was unshaken. She was convinced that it was how God wanted them to live, it was how written in the scriptures, what she or people around could do? Nothing, as it was all her fate and her fault. I salute her every time I remember her. It's not easy to live life like that. She is the person who gave me the inspiration to fight against all these malpractices. She and the people around her were not bad, but were hypnotized by centuries of false propaganda about these scriptures, how men are superior to women, how women are to blame for their misfortune, and how or girl child is a burden on a family.  Their thinking was paralyzed, and society was conditioned to think in a particular way. Pundits, many scholars quoted lines from scriptures to authenticate these traditions, to support these beliefs.

She died at the age of ~60. I wonder whether she ever lived her life after her husband's death; she only lived for others after that fateful tragedy. That single incident defined the rest of her life. Sati Pratha was banned decades ago. After the sati ban, a widow was not burned alive after their husband's death, but was not allowed to live a normal life either. The widowhood was forced on them. I knew something was wrong. How could God be so cruel to some people for no fault of theirs? But I realized later it was not God, it was God's words, the words from the Vedas, Gita, Bible, Qu'ran, and many other scriptures used to justify these acts. People twisted words, extracted whatever meaning they wanted, gave references from age-old books that have no relevance in today's world, and justified these practices. They gave a divine angle to their desire to rule, a desire to use women and other weak sections of society for their benefit. I saw it happening with many other people, including my neighbors and my sisters; they were suppressed just because they were women. "God made them women, and now they should behave and live as God wants women to behave and live; we can't interfere in this, it's God's will," this was the justification offered for these things. We worship women in our society, but never ask them if they want to be worshiped or not. Qualities like tolerance, patience, selflessness, and dedication are good, but they were forced on women so that they won't be able to even protest where it's necessary to protest. Their wings were clipped so they couldn't fly, and after some time, they forgot that they could fly. They started believing it was not meant for them. People of my generation who lived in Indian villages and even in some cities must have seen many women like this, and I hope they understand what I am talking about.

The reason why I am so sensitive towards such comments about women or weaker sections of society lies in all these experiences. I can understand Dr. Ambedkar's anger when he said, 'I was born as a Hindu but will never die as a Hindu'. I can understand when in spite of being a woman, she doesn't want to give birth to a girl child, even willing to kill her, she is scared to bring her into this world. Did we ask why?. It's not only her who is responsible for this, but it's the society, it's the years of discrimination, it's the justification of male dominance and preference, and the belief that women are inferior to men, and yes, holy books, they have their share in this crime too. If these books get the credit for all the good things that are in our society, these books should share the blame for these bad practices. These prejudices and fears are deeply rooted in society; unless we remove them, we cannot stop any of the above. Laws can only be effective to a limited extent, and we need to reform the thinking of society. 

This article is not against Hinduism or any society, culture, or country. I was born in a Hindu family and lived most of my life in India, which is why most experiences are from there. India is my motherland, a beautiful place, and a lovely country. I am sure people from other religions and countries must have faced or seen similar situations in their lives and might have felt similar pain. A lot of things have changed now, and the situation is much improved in urban areas of India, but still, a lot needs to be done, and we cannot allow the wheels of time to go backward by neglecting such texts, as you never know which holy book might become authoritative in the future, and people start following it.

It is not only about my grandma and her life, but it is also about the countless women (and other social classes like untouchables) who suffered and are still suffering because of this prejudice. We all can point fingers at each other; each generation will point the finger at its previous generation and say they started it, and we just followed. I am sure this long trail of blame will end with some person (or a group of people) who twisted the meaning of texts to preach their own philosophy, or even they might point their finger at some book, whose authors we are not sure about, they are long dead, and that book can't defend itself, so who is guilty here?. Are those women guilty just because they were born as women? Is society guilty, which watched this happening and even participated in the crime actively? Are those males guilty who believe that women are inferior to them? Are we guilty who still can't convince people to correct mistakes if they find them in the scriptures or in any holy book? The book becomes important because of its readers, and the movement becomes popular because of its followers, so we are all part of this crime, and we cannot escape the blame.  Now it's our chance to rectify it, so let's not make the same mistake.

If people can't understand after reading the reason behind my reaction to certain lines from "Bhagavad Gita as it is," then they may never understand it. I share my views on the blog, so I thought I should also share the reason behind those views. It's a very long post, but the topic is very important and close to my heart. Thanks for reading and for your patience. Please share your views.

Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing.