As a young NRI who sees that far too often, I concur wholeheartedly. Many of the most fanatical RSS/VHP types dabble in the same sort of "headless chicken, top 10 things great about Hinduism" gibberish that fanatical Evangelicals, who look like complete and close-minded fools claim as their mainstay. These are some of the people that taught a generation of young Indians far, far away from India (including myself) that Hinduism promotes the caste system and that we worship cows. Now tell, me... is it Christianity or Islam that is responsible for the rot within? I can only imagine that the weak blame others; especially when they don't come up with strategies of significance to counter it.shiv wrote: The bleat that "everyone else is doing it" and India is the land of Hindus and therefore Bharat-Rakshak should allow criticism of other faiths and protect Hinduism is a call for "reservation" that only protects the boring Hindu bleaters who in my opinion are doing nothing other than cry at their misfortune or curse those whom they feel are bringing that misfortune on them.
I can't help but laugh when I hear of these mid-aged men in the US or India (that have no regard for their health though extol the values of Yoga, have no understanding of tolerance though cite the immense acceptance that Hinduism has built into its core principals that they never follow, and have no real compulsion to donate their time and energy to worthy causes though they they on and on about how Hinduism will die out without it) going out and setting up little conferences on Hindutva and sharing ideas of how India can purge itself of Islamic influences or how everyone else is stupid in the world because India had flying machines and atomic bombs in the 4 Millenia BC. Its the most bizarre knee-jerk reaction to the West I have seen.
The success of Hinduism to survive all these years is because we have maintained a philosophy that is all inclusive... in a sort of assimilative way. We have absorbed countless cultures throughout the ages, and they have become a part of the Hindu pantheon. Which is one of the main reasons why we have oodles of "Gods." There is a mysterious beauty to Hindu thought but a concrete universalism that enables it to transcend from theory into practice, and that is made a mockery of by the hard-line elements who have an idea of Hinduism that only a 3 year old can appreciate.
When we should idealize a Swami Vivekanada, who awed people of all races and creeds with the power of his words and the greatness of his thoughts, what bothers me most is that some forumers here and enough Hindus in India place simple-minded Missionaries that treat religion as a matter of War, on that said pedestal.