The Essence Of Hinduism

The essence of Hinduism
By Shashi Tharoor (Under Sceretary United Nations)


Openness is the essence

"I cherish the diversity, the lack of compulsion, and the
richness of the various ways in which Hinduism is
practised eclectically."

The questions a candidate for public office has to answer
from the media can cover any subject, and intrusiveness is
difficult to resist. Still, I have been surprised with the
frequency with which, of late, journalists from Boston to
Berlin have expressed curiosity about my religious
beliefs. I tend to think of faith as something intensely
personal, not really a matter I feel any desire to parade
before the world. But, in an era where religion has sadly
become a source of division and conflict in so many
places, I had to concede that the question was a
legitimate one — especially after one of my rivals
specifically appealed for support on the grounds of his
religion.

Nature of faith

It's true, in my view, that faith can influence one's
conduct in one's career and life. For some, it's merely a
question of faith in themselves; for others, including me,
that sense of faith emerges from a faith in something
larger than ourselves. Faith is, at some level, what gives
you the courage to take the risks you must take, and
enables you to make peace with yourself when you suffer
the inevitable setbacks and calumnies that are the lot of
those who try to make a difference in the world.

So I have had no difficulty in saying openly that I am a
believing Hindu. But I am also quick to explain what that
phrase means to me. I'm not a "Hindu fundamentalist": I
see Hinduism as uniquely a religion without fundamentals.
We have an extraordinary diversity of religious practices
within Hinduism, a faith with no single sacred book but
many. Hinduism is, in many ways, predicated on the idea
that the eternal wisdom of the ages about divinity cannot
be confined to a single sacred book. We have no compulsory
injunctions or obligations. We do not even have a Hindu
Sunday, let alone a requirement to pray at specific times
and frequencies.

Unusual religion

What we have is a faith that allows each believer to reach
out his or her hands to his or her notion of the Godhead.
Hinduism is a faith which uniquely does not have any
notion of heresy — you cannot be a Hindu heretic
because there is no standard set of dogmas from which
deviation would make you a heretic.

So Hinduism is a faith so unusual that it is the only
major religion in the world that does not claim to be the
only true religion. I find that most congenial. For me, as
a believing Hindu, it is wonderful to be able to meet
people from other faiths without being burdened by the
conviction that I have embarked upon a "right path" that
they have somehow missed. I was brought up in the belief
that all ways of worship are equally valid. My father
prayed devoutly every day, but never used to oblige me to
join him: in the Hindu way, he wanted me to find my own
truth. And that I believe I have. It is a truth that
admits of the possibility that there might be other
truths. I therefore bring to the world an attitude that is
open, accommodating and tolerant of others' beliefs. Mine
is not a faith for those who seek certitudes, but there is
no better belief-system for an era of doubt and
uncertainty than a religion that cheerfully accommodates
both.

The misuse of religion for political purposes is of course
a sad, sometimes tragic, aspect of our contemporary
reality. As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan once said,
the problem is never with the faith, but with the
faithful. All faiths strive sincerely to animate the
divine spark in each of us; but some of their followers,
alas, use their faith as a club to beat others with,
rather than a platform to raise themselves to the heavens.
Since Hinduism believes that there are various ways of
reaching the ultimate truth, the fact that adherents of my
faith, in a perversion of its tenets, have chosen to
destroy somebody else's sacred place, have attacked others
because of the absence of foreskin or the mark on a
forehead, is profoundly un-Hindu. I do not accept these
fanatics' interpretation of the values and principles of
my faith.

Divinity and the self

But what does it mean to me to be a practising Hindu? I
have never been particularly fond of visiting temples. I
do believe in praying everyday, even if it is only for a
couple of minutes. I have a little alcove at my home in
Manhattan, where I try to reach out to the holy spirit.
Yet, I believe in the Upanishadic doctrine that the divine
is essentially unknowable and unattainable by ordinary
mortals; all prayer is an attempt to reach out to that
which we cannot touch. While I have occasionally visited
temples, and I appreciate how important they are to my
mother and most other devout Hindus, I don't really
frequent them, because I believe that one does not need
any intermediaries between oneself and one's notion of the
divine. "Build Ram in your hearts" is what Hinduism has
always enjoined. If Ram is in your heart, it would matter
very little what bricks or stones Ram can also be found in.

Essential openness

So I take pride in the openness, the diversity, the range,
the lofty metaphysical aspirations of the Vedanta. I
cherish the diversity, the lack of compulsion, and the
richness of the various ways in which Hinduism is
practised eclectically. And I admire the civilisational
heritage of tolerance that made Hindu societies open their
arms to people of every other faith, to come and practise
their beliefs in peace amidst Hindus. It is remarkable,
for instance, that the only country on earth where the
Jewish people have lived for centuries and never
experienced a single episode of anti-Semitism is India.
That is the Hinduism in which I gladly take pride.
Openness is the essence of my faith. And that's the
perspective from which I would seek to serve in an office
which must belong equally to people of all faiths, beliefs
and creeds around the world.