Around 300 Christians belonging to 60 families at Vikasnagar in Dehradun returned to their roots i.e. Hinduism on February 25. The home coming ceremony was organised at a temple by Dharam Jagran Vibhag. After performing a yajna, Shankaracharya Shri Raj Rajeshwaranand sprinkled holy Ganga jal on them. They were also gifted lockets etched with the emblem of Om.
Addressing the gathering Shankaracharya Raj Rajeshwara-nand said Christians are trying to lure Hindus to Christianity. Religion can never be changed. It is high time we should come forward to save Hinduism otherwise the Hindus will become minority in the country. He said Hindu dharma is the oldest living way of worship of the world. It is not formally enunciated by any one particular individual or prophet. It is rather collective accord of revelations of truths to several seers. In order to sustain and cushion it and to promulgate it, various rishis and acharyas and many noble souls have dedicated their lives. They relinquished their selfish motives and consecrated their authority and total energy to the service of Hindu dharma. We need not just relish in the loftiness of our illustrious past, rather, we should aspire for that dignity and distinction in the present, he said. Through ?Sangthan? ?Sanskar? and ?Sewa? (Unity, character and service) our Hindu society may progress and take its rightful place of honour, he emphasised.
Shankaracharya said that everyone who has taken birth on this land is originally a Hindu. This land had been a Hindu rashtra and will continue to be a Hindu rashtra. Islam came into existence only 1,400 years ago and the Christianity only 2,000 years ago. We should introspect, what people were before 1,400 years or 2,000 years ago, he said. Definitely they were Hindus. It is also a fact that there was no untouchability and no discrimination was made on the basis of caste and creed in Hindu dharma before the arrival of Islam and Christianity. Feeling of untouchability which is against humanism was spread by the Muslims and Christians under their policy of dividing the Hindus. Hindus are extremely innocent, liberal, humble and trustful. Their virtues and noble qualities were used against their own religion. Otherwise there was no discrimination and untouchability in the Hindu dharma and no one was prohibited to enter the temples in the long past. If this was not true, how Meera accepted Ravidas her guru and Kabir made Ramanand his guru, he emphasised.
Speaking on the occasion, Prant Pracharak of RSS Shri Shiv Prakash appealed to the Hindus to remove and forget the evils of the Hindu society. He said that untouchability is one of the greatest evils of the Hindu society. This sin has led lakhs of our Hindu brothers and sisters to conversion into Christianity. When they were deprived of their rights, love and affection and co-operation by the so-called upper caste people, they were forced to embrace Christianity and give up their own religion. It is a matter of great pride for the Hindu society that the Hindus who had left their Hindu dharma and became Christians have decided to embrace Hinduism again. Now it is the duty of the Hindu society to accept these Hindus and make relations with them. Hindu society can attain its glorious past only by removing its evils like untouchability. Atrocities on Hindus in Hindustan are increasing day by day, their places of worship and faith are being attacked and they are being ignored despite being in majority, it is a matter of great shame and this can only be ceased only by the unity of Hindus, he said. (RS)
