Being Hindu and Being Christian in India: Posts by Two Indian Ladies!

A couple of days ago, my cousin sister, Ms.Annie Cyriac*, shared something that she has written on Whatsapp. 

[* See Note at the page bottom]

While reading her Whatsapp post, I could gauge her anguish over certain social issues that have been eroding the ethos of our great nation. The same Indian values and culture on which we have been proud regardless of our religious or social status or political outlooks!

But more than being an independent expression of thoughts, her writing in reality was a spontaneous response to the thoughts posted by another young lady some time ago on her Facebook page which has become a so-called 'viral post' on the internet. Obviously, thousands of Indian net savvy citizens mostly representing 'Young India' have been liking her post and sharing it wide to make it viral.

That information came from my daughter which her aunt, Annie, confirmed later. 

That made me to search and find the original 'viral post' titled 'Being Hindu' posted by Ms.Anurita Anupam who introduces herself in her post as a 'confused Hindu'. I also found references of her post on site like this ! I read this confused lady's post too carefully and realized the importance of the response made by my non-confused sister. 

Anurita , in my opinion, has only made a passionate expression of thoughts arising out of her mental confusions. But her writing has the taste of some deep rooted frustration and more interestingly, her attempt to find the the root cause of her frustration, created more frustration. That was what I felt by reading her post.

But the disturbing fact is that there exist thousands who share similar confusions in their minds. That explains the main reason for her post becoming  very likable to many and becoming viral.

No nation can neither progress nor attain peace when it has so many confused minds. It reflects warning signals about the onset of societal illness. It is essential that all right thinking citizens do some thing to mitigate such illnesses before it develops to some thing more vicious!

In Annie's response, I visualized an honest effort in that direction. But it is like a preventive medicine and cannot invade the minds of those already infested with the viral thoughts, unless they really want to get rid of those.

Yet with the permission of Annie, I am making an attempt to make her thoughts too in the public domain for those interested in knowing the other side. The following is Annie's response to Anurita's viral post:

"STRIVING  TO BE A WORTHY CITIZEN...." By Annie Cyriac.

[A recent post I read about a confused Hindu has prompted me to write this!]

I am an Indian. I am a Christian. I am not confused. But I fear for my countrymen who are confused.

I was born in Mumbai and I have loved to celebrate Diwali with my neighbors-lighting lamps, bursting fire crackers, and gorging on the Indian sweets.

Christmas was just as exciting- singing carols and sharing home made cakes with our neighbors.

At the Catholic school we attended, the school prayer was chanted in unison irrespective of whether we were Christians, Hindus or Muslims. As kids, religion didn't matter. 'Secularism' was just a word in our social studies text book. It was what we unknowingly practiced.

Later on when we shifted to Gujarat, religion was not an issue at all. All the families in the colony lived in harmony. During Navarathri festival, my cousins and I would look forward to donning our new glittering attires and dance the 'garba' late in to the night. It saddened my heart to read that recently non-vegans (read non-Hindus!) in Gujarat were forbidden from participating in the festivities.

As a child I have also lived abroad in a non secular Muslim country. I would roam around the vicinity with my local Arab friends. They'd communicate with me through gestures and broken Hindi. I thought it fun to cover my head and mimic their ways as they kneel for 'namas'. Neither language, nor religion nor nationality mattered then.

I do not believe that all hell would break loose if a school run by a Hindu Trust in a Christian dominated area sang verses from the Gita or the Mahabharat. We cannot expect them to quote the Bible in any case; can we?

I recall my Hindu friends chanting 'Rama-rama' in the adjacent prayer room while we Christians said our evening prayers along with the nuns at the convent hostel we stayed during my teens. At present I work in a Hindu run school and each morning when the prayers are recited, the few Christians teachers there, do bow their heads in respect!

Christian churches are open to all. They don't get defiled if a person another religion or caste enters it. Christians and Muslims don't go to a temple for fear of insulting the sentiments of some Hindus who consider it as an act of defilement. Remember how even Indira Gandhi was once refused access to the famous Guruvayoor temple of Kerala? I had once innocently entered the Thirunakkara temple with my insistent Hindu friends without really realizing the implications during my college days. I now realize that it was indeed a great folly from my part as it could have caused a great uproar had the Hindu temple authorities had known my religion!

I do not refuse the 'prasad' given to me by my Hindu friends after they come back visiting their temples. For me, all food come from God and my conscience is not shaken. The Bible says that 'food will not commend us to God' and we are no better if we eat or not any food that is passed on from the temples or Gurudwaras or the Mosques! The important thing is to live in harmony with all and not to cause your brother or sister (from whatever faith system) to fall.

I do not care if my tax money goes to subsidize some of my country men's Hajj pilgrimage. Every year I gladly contribute to the temple festivals near my home and school. 

If St.Stephens (college in Delhi) gives preference to Christian candidates, thousands of other private institutions in India give preferences to candidates of their own religious choice.  There could be an equal number that do not do it that way. For that matter my own daughter had to pay a donation to get a seat in a Christian run college in spite of her having high marks! There are institutions (run by people from all religious affiliations) who follow the rules meticulously and those who violate those rules occasionally or frequently.

If a mosque is not allowed to be built higher than the St.Paul's Cathedral in a Christian dominated nation, is that really torturing of Muslims? What then should we say about the burning of 11 churches in north India in the past 18 months? And what about the demolition of the Babari Mosque on the 6th December, 1992?

In the Christian faith, marriage is a sacrament. For a marriage to be conducted in a church, it is essential that both the bride and the groom to be Christians, just as it is compulsory for a Hindu to take a dip before entering in a temple. I have witnessed inter-religious marriages taking place in the church with either the groom or the bride from another faith  simply willing to declare as embracing the Christian faith for the sake of getting the marriage ceremony conducted in the church only to satisfy the other side! It is needless to say that they do it later in a temple or any other such place of their choice, again for the same purpose!

It really did not matter in India with its secular standing!

I am not for polygamy or for reservation (of government jobs on the basis of religion or castes). I do not welcome the beef ban nor do I welcome the beef party! But I have the sense enough to realize that the latter that happened here and there was not to mock any religion, but was only a kind of protest as beef eating is not yet a constitutional violation in this country. I am only alarmed a bit when someone rake up this issue as if it is against the Hindu religion because I have read the Hindu sacred texts that justify meat and beef eating! I do understand the compulsions of some in a democracy trying their best in raking up or making issues like this touching the soft senses of some people  desperately hoping that they make political gains!

I encourage my children to read the Bible. But I also encourage them to read other religious texts. I do not consider that their religious faith would be at stake if they read other religious books!

For that matter how may of us have an in-depth understanding of our own religions or their true teachings? In reality most of us claim to be Christian or Hindu or Muslim not because of our real faith or convictions, but because of being born to parents branded in any of those religions! Most of us are 'nominal' Christians, Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs!

Again can any one become true Christian or Hindu or Muslim or Sikh by compulsion? If I say tomorrow that I am a Hindu, does that make me a Hindu? What difference it would make even if I give it in writing?

Recently a woman writer was asked to step down from the dias just  to please a Hindu seer who refused to sit beside her. Can we blame our intellectuals for protesting against such a growing intolerance in a progressive nation of the 21st century?

I am an Indian woman. I am a mother and a teacher. I teach my children that the world is a global village. But now whe I hear the students saying ' all Indians are my brothers and sisters' in our school assembly, I fear for the future of these innocent kids who have to grow up in an era where stray dogs are given more importance than human beings, where communal political parties proceed with their agenda, where drug pedaling is not a big crime and where lynching and rape are nothing very big!

I am not a confused Christian. My faith stands firm. I also have faith in my friends-Hindus, Christians and Muslims. They are my brothers and sisters and India is my mother land just as theirs. A mother cannot be partial; no matter if her children are dark or fair, smart or stupid.

Secularism is not just a word meant to be confined to the Social Studies text book, it should be ingrained in the hearts of every Indian.

When in need for blood, will the gender, religion, caste or creed really matter for the recipient patient?

Don't say that the Hindu blood is different from a Christian or Muslim blood!

I do not know whether Ms. Anurita or any one of her followers would ever happen to read the above. If they do, I hope they really come out of their confusions.

And truly, there are nothing to get so confused!

As Annie puts it: let us truly strive to be worthy Indians! Our roots and bloods are the same! 

[* Annie Cyriac is an English language teacher working in Amrita High School Mooledom in Kerala. Her husband is Dr.Jenu Alex. Her daughter, Rebacca incidentally got media attention while casting  her first vote together with her grandmother and candidate, Mrs. Thankamma Alex  in the recently held elections in Kerala (Image above shows Malayala Manorama e-paper  Kottayam edition  report dtd 6-11-2015 in p-4). Annie had been a teacher in Maldives some years ago. Her life experiences can be read in her blog site titled  'Notions']

   

What Will You Do If It Happens in Your Life ?

Yesterday I got a call from a person whom I had known well some decades ago. Without him elaborating, I perceived that he was in great distress. He was hesitant to tell or ask for a help. He needed something at that moment to save him and his family from immediate financial ruin. I am happy that I could do something yesterday for him even though it might not sustain him for ever. That in any case is up to the invisible ministers of the universe administration who are all around us !

Any way to tell you the truth, giving is a great pleasure. A pleasure you have to know for yourself. Much more than what you get from receiving. Again, if you are in a position to give, it is a higher privilege vested on you !

I would like to tell some thing more about the person who called me yesterday. When I met him the first time, he was an engineering technician cum supervisor of an engineering construction company. This company was entrusted with some chemical plant erection contract for my company where I used to function as the engineer- in-charge. This was some time in the early 1980's.

He spoke my mother tongue and hence in another couple of days he became very close to me. I found him a very talented technician with superb skills in engineering erection and construction. He did not possess any worthy certificates of formal education. But his skills and knowledge he gained through practical experience and observations were commendable. He was also a good leader for his team of construction workers. I found that his company was making a good fortune simply depending on the skills of this man.

One day I pointed out this to him and encouraged him to set up his own construction contract firm. He acted on it with some initial guidance from me and soon established a very successful engineering construction company. He bagged a few independent contracts and soon his company prospered with very good profits and financial status. I remember the time when he brought his first graduate engineer and first qualified accountant he recruited for his firm to me and introduced them to me. 

Soon there after he became so immersed in his business that his contact with me snapped. For some more time I used to hear about him. By this time he had become a really wealthy man. Wealth and money with him were much more than an engineer like me could amass in a life time ! Later I also learnt that he was very influential in the local politics also as some of the political leaders who became very prominent later were his proteges.

Nearly two decades later, he appeared to me all of a sudden in a new prominent restaurant that was opened in the area where me and my wife had gone to dine. He was the owner of the restaurant. He told me that he had he had diversified his business. Though he was showing due respect to me, he talked much about his influences and holds in politics, police and the like. He offered me any help with his battalion of goons that he had raised for his protection and maintenance of business activities, if at all I needed some of those !

My God ! What a transformation money and power can bring about ! I thought .

Nearly another decade passed. One fine morning I was surprised to find him in my office.

This time, he was a ruined man. His money and wealth had all gone. He was now facing successive failures. But he was confident of making a come back !

Then I did not hear from him for another year. Then one day, he came to my house.

He wanted to tell me his story. I listened. He was still a ruined man financially. It was difficult for me to believe that he did not have anything even to buy food for the day.

But, yet he appeared to be happier and pious than he was an year ago when he met me in my office.

Then he told me another thing. He told me that he and his family are now followers of Jesus Christ.

It was something difficult for me to believe. He was a staunch Hindu and a supporter of a militant ideology earlier !

Who converted him ? None. That was what he said. He was converted to be a christian by none other than Jesus Christ ! Too difficult for me to digest, being a nominal christian my self !

Was it his financial ruin that forced him for this change of mind ?

Perhaps yes. But the financial ruin had forced him to attempt suicide en masse with his family. But at that time of great distress when they were about to die, it was Jesus who brought about a change in them. A change to live a different life ! That was what he told me !

I could read the sparkle of happiness in his eyes, even at the time of great uncertainty in continuing with his earthly life. Later I met his wife and his children. I found the same in their eyes too.

I kept observing him in his trials and tribulations of earthly life in his new way of life. Perhaps this time he was facing more troubles. But yet he and his family continued to sustain triumphantly. There were inducements to go back to his earlier way of life. Perhaps he could make his life materially successful once again. But I find them not willing to do that for the transcendental joys they have found now.

There are things in this world which are beyond our understanding !

While I type this in, another story also came into my mind which thought of sharing with you all.

While I was a small boy, I used to hear about one of the brothers of my grand mother, who at that time served the lone international airline company of India at that time as a pilot.

He was an aristocrat of our family having married to a lady from similar backgrounds while we all remained at our villages as their crude country relatives.

As a boy I had an immense desire to meet this great uncle of mine who flew airplanes, a rare fascinating machine of those days.

I used to hear our family members talking about his life styles, his salaries and the like. While we went to village schools, his children never went to schools for studies, which used to be for lesser mortals. Instead, they were taught at home by tutors to make them pass the prestigious Cambridge school certificate examinations.

We never had an opportunity to meet him or his family while he flew over the globe.

Then some time in early nineteen sixties, the news about his losing job percolated to the family circles. He was suspended pending enquiry for some irregularity at the fag end of his career.

For a couple of years he sustained by consuming all that were at his disposal to come to a naught at some time later.

He fell from a height, down to stark realities of life ! They had relatives and friends elsewhere. He could have approached some of them with whom he was in contact. Those who matched his life style earlier.

But the stark truth all of a sudden made him realize that such friends and relatives are of no use when you are in real trouble. Aristocrats have no time for failing fellows ! Even he would have done the same way had he remained in the same fashion !

So what is next for the aristocrat who was defeated in life ?

Death ?  Yes, that is what the rule book of theirs said.

So this great uncle with his entire family decided to end their lives one fine day. They had faced a humiliating reality of life with no possible solution.

But his youngest son in his pre-teens spoiled their plans.

It was this time that some of the other family members extended a helping hand.

My father was one among them.

That resulted in this great uncle living in our home for more than three years. As a high school boy at that time I got the opportunity to learn many things from this man who was also a royal air force pilot of world war-2. He had become a  down to earth friend of mine !

Many times this thought used to come to my mind.

What would I do if such a thing happen in my life ?

I do not know.

It's a difficult thing.

But it does happen with many in this world.

Money, wealth and power do come and bless many abundantly. But it also could vanish all of a sudden just as it came !

So what have I learnt from these ?

First, if I am not abundantly blessed with these, I should be happy.

God is listening to my daily prayer: " Father, give us this day the daily bread ."

But if He bestows more than that, it is an additional responsibility. I should be careful. I should consciously make efforts not to get carried away by this wealth, money or power.

I should make conscious efforts not to hurt others with these material power gadgets that are under my command. I should feel humbled and should think of using these for the benefit of others, if possible.

If I do not, what is going to happen ? Perhaps nothing.

But I would indeed lose the opportunity to help.

An opportunity to get refreshed by the joy and pleasure that the god within me radiated from deep inside me.

Observing all these, I guess,  I am learning the meaning of this prayer that Jesus taught:

"Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil."

That I have been reciting almost every day for years !

But now in real life situations, I prefer to go by the advice of Jesus to the rich man, as narrated in my favorite book :

" When in honest doubt about the equity and justice of material situations, let your decisions favor those who are in need, favor those who suffer the misfortune of undeserved hardships.”

READ THIS ONLY IF YOU HAVE A SPIRITUAL CURIOSITY !

If you have chosen to read on you are a spiritually curious personality. Religious inquisitiveness comes from the flicker of spirituality that we all have in our minds.

So I wish all success in your endeavour to seek and find truths about true spirituality and true religious faith. May the Almighty God, the First Source and Centre of all Powers in the whole of the Universe who is Our Divine Father bless you abundantly in your efforts to truely seek and love Him thereby move to perfection from the bonds of imperfection in your first level of existence as a living being blessed with a unique personality gifted by the same Divine Father.

As we are all children of this same Divine Father God, we are all from the same ancestry. Since we all have unique personalities we are all different, but our roots are the same!

We all have a God consciousness which is a natural inbuilt mechanism. Just as we have natural instinct to seek our biological father, we do have this instinct to seek our spiritual (by the term spiritual I mean something that is beyond our present sensory levels) father too. Again the degree of the strength of these instincts vary from person to person.

In India, most of the people recognize the existence of a guiding force resident on each individual which guides a person to recognize good from evil.

We Indians frequently refer this as our Inner Voice or 'Anter Atman'( meaning Inner Soul) or Mana Sakshi (meaning witness of the mind). So a person tuned to the guidance of his inner soul knows what is right and what is wrong. This concept is deep rooted in the Indian people with their beliefs predominantly originating from Hinduism.

The Urantia Book has re-inforced the truthfulness of this in a much more assertive and detailed manner. The Urantia Book calls it the Mystery Monitor originating directly from the Universal Father God and tells us that it is a separate entity that is now resident in the minds of all of us on earth and it is also known as our Thought Adjuster.

The Urantia Book treatise on the origin, purpose and work of Thought Adjuster is a vast and highly inspiring source of knowledge. I recommend that you read the Paper dealing with this topic in the Urantia Book itself.

The purpose of this blog is different. For us humans, religion is some thing which takes us to an almost illogical level of consciousness.

We have a religion. We are either a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist, Jew or something of that kind. We follow that religion in our efforts to seek God and get blessings from our God. Culture, faith, creeds, customs, history, superstitions and philosophy are all mixed up in our religion and faiths.

If you listen to your inner voice, you can very well separate good and bad from your religion. Unfortunately we normally do not venture into that.

We are too obsessive about our religious faiths and suspicious of all other faiths. Normally we do not even bother to find the essence of our own faith and that of the other faiths is beyond our reach. At least that is the way we treat it.

Let me tell you this. I was born as an Indian Christian. Again, there are large numbers of christian denominations and I being a Christian do not have much idea about all these.

Our religious knowledge is limited and greatly constrained. It is mostly true with my brothers and sisters who are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and the like.

We are ignorant about our religions. Our own as well as those others around us. And that leads to suspicion and suspicion leads to hatred and mutual distrust. Often this kind of a situation is exploited by vested interests for perpetuating their own agendas.

I have almost reproduced these words from a page of my Urantia India website where I have included brief details and concepts of all the major religions of our world.

In case you feel like reading those click here to visit that page.