We have faith that the majority of Hindus do not condone such acts of brutality, but it is very important that we speak up as Hindus and show these extremists that they do not represent us. Gandhiji himself spoke directly about this issuein 1947:
“I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus.”
The Hinduism of this murderous mob is not a Hinduism that we recognize or embrace. Our bhakti teaches us that we are all one regardless of race, religion, caste, or gender. Our belief that the whole world, including cows and all species, is interconnected and divine should guide us to treat the whole planet with love and compassion; it should not lead us to perpetrate such acts of brutality. We vehemently denounce all terrorism perpetrated in the name of our religion. Let us speak up for the Hinduism that we know and love: the faith that we are all one, and that violence to one is violence to all.
Hindu brothers and sisters, please sign our petition asking for justice for Mohammed Akhlaq. And all readers, please share the petition far and wide.
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Sunita Viswanath is co-founder of Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, a NY-based coalitionseeking to mobilize people of Hindu faith worldwide to positively focus on and assert principles of tolerance and inclusiveness, ahimsa (non-violence), and sadhana (faith in action) which can be found throughout Hindu philosophy, culture, history, and in Hindu religious practice.
The ego perpetuates conflict in order “prove” that the ego’s defenses are necessary. Without conflict, people would discover that the ego serves no helpful purpose and impedes life rather than protects it. To perpetuate itself and the conflict it relies upon to demonstrate its indispensability, the ego distorts for its purposes all ideas that pass by, including ones characterized as religious ideas. Religious ideas are not immune from corruption by the ego. Thus, all religious ideas have been co-opted by those who prefer to perpetuate conflict between “us” and “them” instead of discovering a path of reconciliation between “us” and “them.” The split between “us” and “them” is always rooted in a history of conflict that caused pain, both to “us” and to “them” but only the pain to “us” matters and must be avenged. To avenge the pain we remember happened to “us” we must cause pain to “them.” The egoistic among both “us” and “them” perpetuate cycles of religiously justified violence for the same ego-based reasons that always assume that conflict and violence are inevitable, so why not make sure we’re getting our opportunities to inflict at least as much violence, pain and suffering on “them” as “they” have inflicted on “us.” To the ego, justice is defined by the measure of pain and suffering “we” have endured compared to the measure of pain and suffering “they” have endured. Since “we” are always much more acutely aware of the pain and suffering “we” have endured than of the pain and suffering “they” have endured, we can justify, religiously and otherwise, inflicting more pain to make sure that the distribution of pain is at least equal and therefore “just.” Reconciliation between peoples with long histories of violence in their interactions requires that members of both “us” and “them” dare to stand up and be counted as social nonconformists who espouse an end to vengeance as a cultural norm. It’s time for many more people in all camps to become radically activated and wiser nonconformist, both among “us” and among “them” so that the distinction between “us” and “them” becomes blurred by our common adherence to forgiveness and resulting reconciliation as the means and outcome of social interactions. Perpetuate conflict and violence or end both by freeing ourselves of ego? That is the question worth asking. It’s the universal question of prime importance, whether or not religious beliefs are involved. Religious beliefs are merely one category of separatist beliefs that the ego invokes to justify conflict. Class, cast, race, education level, ethnicity, sexual and gender orientation and many more categories of ideas and possible human identifiers are likewise available. We in every category of humanity must learn to no longer use demographic categories as excuses to call some people “us” and others “them” and then attack “them” because “they” make “us” feel threatened. Enough of the universal nonsense of the ego. We are not egos. If some of “us” feel uncomfortable and threatened by some of “us,” we must make it our collective purpose to investigate the reasons until we uncover the “why” of such feelings. To do so, we must stop denying and minimizing our emotions as our ego’s rely upon us to do. We are divine beings who have no need of ego’s foolishness. It is folly to deny our hearts and expect to live as if being heartless is not harmful. Heartless people think and do heartless things. The ego celebrates heartlessness as proof that it has triumphed. When ego triumphs humanity dies. We are suffering death by a thousand slices as ego strips our humanity from us and leaves us without dignity or integrity. Enough of catering to the ego. Been there, done that. Now is the time to rise up together beyond ego and triumph together as free people among whom all are welcome as “us.”