CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Digital Commons @ Butler University Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies Volume 17 Article 5 2004 Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialgoue: Idol- Worship, Cow-Protection and Conversion J.K. Bajaj M.D. Srinivas Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs Recommended Citation Bajaj, J.K. and Srinivas, M.D. (2004) "Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialgoue: Idol-Worship, Cow-Protection and Conversion," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 17, Article 5. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1314 The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. Bajaj and Srinivas: Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialgoue: Idol-Worship, Cow-Protection and Conversion Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Idol-Worship, Cow-Protection and Conversion J. K. Bajaj and M. D. Srinivas Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai MAHATMA Gandhi epitomised the ideal Brahmanas there - those of them of a believing Hindu in modern times. He who are given to . proper was deeply read in the classical literature of deliberation, who are adept in the Indian civilisation that constitutes the perfonnance of their karmas, who considerable scriptural corpus of Hinduism. are not under the direction of others, But he did not derive his faith from this who follow the straight path and source alone. His beliefs and practices were who are solicitous for dharma - do derived at least in an equal measure from in that context. what the common Hindu of his time believed and practiced. In this respect also In contexts that pertain to routine day­ he was following the classical discipline. to-day living, to the ordinary vyavahara of I~ Hinduism the prevailing belief and the world, the authority in fact shifts away practice among the people is taken to be the from the Brahmanas to the Sudras and valid source of dharma. Thus, the \ Women; being responsible for the proper Taittiriyopanishad says: 1 conduct of vyavahara, they are the repository of valid authority in this domain. Whenever you are in doubt about The Paramacharya of Kanchipuram, a the action or behaviour proper to personage deeply seeped in classical any context, then do what the Hinduism and entirely devoted to following Dr. J K. Bajaj is currently Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in Chennai. He has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Punjab University in Chilndigarh and has taught and conducted research in various places in India. He is a Member of the Indian Council for Social Science Research, the Governing Body of the National Council of Rural Institutes, and the Advisory Board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He is editor of Ayodhya and the Future India. (Chennai: Centre for Policy Studies, 1993) and co-authored with A. P. Joshi and M D. Srinivas Religious Demography of India (Chennai: Centre for Policy Studies, 2003). Among other works co-authored with M D. Srinivas is Timeless India Resurgent India: A Celebration of the Land and People of India (Chennai: Centre for Policy Studies, 2001), of which a Hindi version is in press. M D. Srinivas is Founder Chairman and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Policy Studies in Chennai. He has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Rochester. He is or has befm a Member of the Advisory Board on History of Science (Modern Period), INSA; the Indian National Commission for History of Science, INSA; and the Central Sanskrit Board. He is also Vice Chairman, Governing Body; of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Along with co-authorship of the above books, he has written Measurements and Quantum Probabilities (Hyderabad: Universities Press, 2001) and co-edited with M S. Sriram and K. Ramasubramanian 500 Years of Tantrasangraha: A Landmark in the History of Astronomy (Shimla: lIAS, 2002). Journal ofHindu-Christian Studies 17 (2004) 3-11 Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 2004 1 Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 17 [2004], Art. 5 rI' i 4 J. K. Bajaj and M. D. Srinivas the classical discipline, advised a questioner 1. to ask the Sudras and Women about proper practice and conduct in all contexts of Mahatma Gandhi engages in his continuous ordinary vyavahara. The Paramacharya was and varied dialogues with his own people as echoing the advice given by the highly well as with others from his secure anchor­ regarded dharma text, the Apastamba age in sanatana dharma. To understand his Dharmasutra, which says:2 position in various contexts, therefore, it is necessary to understand what being a Stribhyah sarvavarnebhyascha follower of sanatana dharma means for dharmaseshan pratiyat ityeke ityeke him. One should learn the remaining Mahatma Gandhi offers one of the most ,I Dhannas from women and people of succinct definitions of the basic tenets of !i all varnas, so say some, so say being a follower of sanatana dharma in an ,II 'I some. article that he wrote following his visit to 1 Madras and other places in south India I I Mahatma Gandhi was well versed in this during the latter half of September 1921. It tradition apd discipline; he conscientiously was during this visit to the heartland of and consciously followed it; he deliberately Hindu orthodoxy that Mahatma Gandhi took tried to model his thoughts and responses on upon himself the further penance of wearing those of an ordinary pious Hindu. This only a loincloth to cover his body. In a makes him the ,appropriate authority to speech at Madurai on September 22, consult when trying to understand what the Mahatma Gandhi took the vow "to discard ordinary Hindus of our time feel and believe at least up to the 31 st of October my topi about dharma, how they react when\ and vest and to content myself with only a confronted with other beliefs and practices, loincloth and a chaddar whenever found what they find necessary for protection of my body.,,3 The acceptable in the latt~r and what they find to single loincloth became the regular dress of be beyond the pale. Mahatma Gandhi from then onwards, and Mahatma Gandhi proclaimed himself to thus he came to resemble even more a bea Sanatan~ Hindu, a Hindu who believed traditional Indian man of religion and and followed the timeless discipline. Yet he diviriity. engaged in a continuous and prolific During this visit to south India, dialogue with Christians at all levels. The Mahatma Gandhi repeatedly asserted his dialogue began in childhood and continued claim to being a Sanatani Hindu and throughout his life. All throughout he perhaps meditated much on the meani~g of remains steadfast in his respect for being a follower of sanatana dharma. Christianity and the person of Christ; but he Immediately following the. visit, he wrote an' is equally steadfast in refusing to accept the article in Young India of October 6, 1921 uniqueness of the Christian experience or defining his conception of a Sanatani Hindu. the Christian God, and he vigorously denies The definition he gave then surpasses his the legitimacy of Christian criticism of usual succinctness and simplicity of Hindu beliefs and practices and their right to language. He wrote:4 convert others to their faith. It is perhaps wise to read this dialogue of Mahatma I call myself a Sanatani Hindu Gandhi as representative of the largely because: unarticulated dialogue ordinary Hindus have 1. I believe in the Vedas, the been having with Christianity. Upanishads, the Puranas and all that goes by the' name of Hindu http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol17/iss1/5 2 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1314 r Bajaj and Srinivas: Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialgoue: Idol-Worship, Cow-Protection and Conversion Core Issues of Hindu-Christian Dialogue 5 scriptures, and therefore in avataras II. and rebirth, 2. I believe in the varnashrama We have mentioned Mahatma Gandhi's dharma in a sense in my opinion perception of Hinduism because it seems to strictly Vedic but not in its present us. that the dia~ogue between ordinary popular and crude sense, Hmdus and theIr conscientious leaders 3. I believe in the protection of the seems to have floundered on the bedrock of cow in its much larger sense than precisely the four beliefs that he lists to be the popular, of the essence of being a Hindu. 4. I do not disbelieve in idol-. These four beliefs and practices arise worship. from the fundamental understandino- of ~induisn: about creation and man's pla~e in These four beliefs and practices that It. For Hmdus all creation, both sentient and Mahatma Gandhi defines to be fundamental insentient, is manifestation ofthe divine and to being a Sanatani Hindu form the basis of . man is a mere part of this divine cre;tion. the religious commitment and life of an , Mahatma Gandhi at another place illustrates ordinary Hindu. All the four seem to conflict this Hindu atti~de by referring to the first with the beliefs and practices of Christianity. verse of Isopamshad, which says that In fact, during Mahatma Gandhi's time, even those of the Hindus who were educated Isavasyamidam sarvam yatkincha in the Christian-inspired education system of jagatyam jagat India would have found it difficult to accept God pervades everythino- that is to these four tenets. In the educated Indian be found in the Universe. I:> discourse of Mahatma Gandhi's time, belief in Hindu scriptures, varnashrama dharma, ~ahatma Gandhi calls this "one incredibly sanctity of the cow and idol-worship had SImple mantra of the Isopanishad" to be the become problematic if not disreputable, "essence of Hinduism.