When Rigveda meets Indo-secularism www.dailyo.in /politics/hindu ism-rigveda-secularism-in dia-sanskrit-vedic-h ymns-sri-aurobindo - swami-vivekananda -dayanand-sa raswati-max-mueller/s tory/1/8897. html POLITICS | Long-form | 09-02-2016 When confronted with attacks on all fronts, social consolidation of identity-conscious Hindus becomes inevitable. Such a precedent is unwelcome for Indo-secularists, who, it seems, endeavour to thwart such consolidation. Further , they dismiss with ridicule any contention that Hindus are discriminated against. Such outright dismissal leads to further neglect and deprivation. Fabricated Indo-secularidioms of all sorts are bandied around to "placate" sentiments, but it is obvious to anyone with an iota ofdiscernment that a good number of Indo-seculars are not conciliatory agents. Secularists, it seems, are not very vocal to voice their condemnation when the Hindu community becomes victim of aggression. They, however, are overtly concerned at any such possibility for others, even when there is no foreseeable danger. Thus, so to make sure that no social consolidation ofidentity-consciou s Hindus ever takes place, they throw around appeals to higher morality while guilt- tripping Hindus at the same time by naming and perpetually shaming them (sometimes even falsely) for acts of even minor aggression. Thus, phrases such as "Hindu religion 'respects' all religions" are thrown around relentlessly. These phrases are helpful in decontructing Hindu identity. On the otherhand, the non-Hindu identity is upheld and enhanced by constantly dealing with them as religious groups. They are referred to as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Parisis, etc. Such parlance creates social differences. The Hindus by contrast are dealt with as a group only when they have to be named and shamed. Otherwise, they are spoken of in terms of caste groups, linguistic groups, gendergroups, age groups etc. As Hindus have to "consider a ll religions as eq ual", their iden tity as a grou p is effective ly nullified. Suc h appeals, it has to be observed, are never made to other religions. While any effort to minimise bloodshed is certainly commendable, it can easily be seen that minimising conflict has never been the intention of Indo-secularists. They enhance the conflict by falsely depicting "minorities" as perpetual victims of violence and bigotry at the hands of Hindus and completely overlooking acts of "minority aggression and fundamenta lism". They enhance the conflict by inculcating into non-Hindus a feeling of victimhood and shielding their religion from reform by censorship and persecution of its critics . It is clear that deconstruction of Hindu identity is the sole purpose of these idioms. The immediate consequence is that "minorities" continue to enjoy social, economic and material benefits to the detriment of Hindus. The long-term consequence is deconstruction of Hindu identity to such a degree as not be able to put up any united front against oppression. Eventually , Hindus have interiorised much of maliciously fabricated secular parlance. This post intends to examine a "secular" phrase which is supposedly taken from Hindu literature एक एक सद सद ि वा ि वा बह धा बह धा वदत वदत ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti A Rgvedic phrase , this is suppo sedly taken t o mean that "all religions are same". A most common translation runs as "truth is one, wise call it by many names". Is it really so?
