Pravasi Bharatiya
Akeyan in Sydney, Australia
The special Deepavali Edition on the state of Kashmir was agonizing. The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the plight of Kashmiri Pundits, the apathy of rulers, the systematic change of name/culture in the Valley, the propaganda of toxifying young minds on anti-India and Hindu sentiments is appalling. This has been going on for over two thousand years since the appearance of new religions and will go on till it is stopped. It is time to stop this suppression, now or never. Who is going to stop this and how? Do we expect an awakening from these fundamentalist forces or are we going to influence a change in the perception of ?Their Concept of God?? Haven'twe learnt anything from history? Haven'twe heard about the slaughter of Hindus in North Western Himalayan regions now infamously called ?Hindu Kush?, haven'twe heard about the recent genocide and suppression of Hindus in Fiji, Bangladesh and Pakistan?
Just as I write there is the disturbing news about the arrest of Shankaracharya of Kanchi. The worrying aspect is not the arrest but the lack of an uprising against it, especially in his home town of Kanchipuram. The media which goes overboard in reporting about human right violation about minorities in India is strangely muted on this issue, where a person revered no less than a pope is arrested and treated as a common criminal on the most auspicious day in Hindu calendar. The passive resignation to a social issue is lifting its ugly head; it is worrying to find some sections of Hindus celebrating the arrest of the Shankaracharya.
We the likes of Gurmit Singh Aulakh, writing to Pakistan President about the mistreatment of Sikhs in India and mentions ?while Pakistan has a record of treating minorities well, India?? He is doing injustice to his faith and to Guru Tegh Bahadur, he is deliberately misleading Sikh Children and youth to enhance his own popularity, we have the likes of the Karunanidhi, Dravidian party leaders, and rationalistic groups dishonoring Hinduism at every street corner. That they don'tfind other religions irrational is another matter. They are doing injustice to the children of Tamil Nadu by preventing them to learn about the glory of their own culture. After all, they wouldn'tbe in power if they debunk the Aryan invasion theory would they?
Who is to blame? Is it these self-styled narrow-minded and corrupt leaders or is it the fault of the educated, spiritually conscious persons for not educating these youth about Dharma? It is time that all educated promote unhesitatingly and assertively the concept of Vasudhaivakutam-bakam, in a way that the deaf can hear, the blind can see and the ignorant understand. We owe it not only to us but to the entire universe.
Loka Samasta Sukino Bhavantu.
(skky@rediffmail.com)
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