RECONVERSION AND CONVERSION TO HINDUISM
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Hinduism and its scriptures never recommended spreading of Hindu faith like other religions do. Islam and Christianity strongly recommend conversion of others.Jesus said to his disciples.. "Go and spread my message"Hinduism is a way of life as stated earlier. However Islam and Christianity propagated their religions and the actions were sanctioned.Spain destroyed churches after Moors were thrown out and built churches. Dutch destroyed many Hindu shrines in South India.There is nothing more that can be told about Islam about these activities. They immensely destroyed Hindu temples, sculptures, art, paintings throughout India as Islam was against idolatry practices and prohibits dance and music.In the latest act they disfigured Bamian buddhas in Afghanistan. Aurangzeb the Mughal ruler at Delhi threw out all artists from the court. He destroyed great paintings in Bijapur palaces after the city fell to him.Islam believes that the world has been created by Allah and entire world belongs to him and therefore every one has to be a Muslim. Others have to lives as second class citizens paying zizia tax which they claim that it is collected to protect them. Whenever Islam ruled, it persecuted Hindus very greatly They used all methods to propagate the religions that included force, intimidation, coercion,awarding benefits,offering jobs, threat to life and honor,rape, murder etc.Hinduism never acted that way. Hindus were thus converted since many centuries. Sadly after independence of India Hindus are struggling for their identity in a land of Hindus. To day India is a land of votes and govt is formed by counting heads. Muslims are trying to increase their strength by producing children without any check while Hindus are struggling to produce even one kid. The balance of populations will surely change after some time and islamization is lurking at corner. Therefore there is a necessity of introducing systems for reconversion into Hinduism. But Hindus suffer with caste phobia. To which caste a convert belongs. Which caste will accept him. Will he be Arya samaji? What will be his Gotra? Such convert again suffer from group behavior and struggle for identity.The caste system in India is very rigid and this has to be really discussed at very high level by religious Gurus and pundits. This has to be introduced although it is not easy.Unless Hinduism is freed from caste virus things will not be easy.We have four varnas, Brahman, Kshatriya Vysya and shoodra. Probably the reconverts will form the fifth category and would be discrminated.
In this context, a story may be recalled as it is highly relevant. Si Krishna Deva Raya was a very noble and illustrious ruler of Vijaynagar empire. He was a man of letters. He was a poet king of repute. Yet, he had his own strong and weak points. He had a royal barber who always attended on him . One day, he came to the palace and found king in deep sleep in a reclining couch and he without disturbing the king he did his job of conducting the shaving operation. After some time, the king woke up and saw the barber standing with folded hands near him. The king asked the barber to do his job as he woke up. Barber replied to him very politely that he had already completed his task.The king was greatly surprised and was highly impressed with the barber and asked him to request for anything that would be given to him. The barber requested the Emperor that he may please be converted in to a Brahmin and King agreed.
The next day he called his ministers , priests reputed Brahmins of court and directed that the barber be converted in to a Brahmin. They were shocked and remained tight lipped. They were highly scared to say any thing and they knew that the King would seriously punish them if they refused. They knew about the sudden rise of temper in the king. Therefore they nodded heads and went home and had no sleep. The priests were greatly agitated and were scared too. At last they decided to seek help of Tenali Ramakrishna ( Rama Linga)a talented court scholar and poet who was known for his skills, humor and versatility. They narrated the problem to Rama Krishna who immediately assured them that he would find a way out very soon and save them from the serious situation. He thought for a while and told the Brahmins his plan. The Brahmins went to king next day and said that they were ready to take up the job and requested the king that the barber besent with them. The king agreed and called the barber and handed him over to the Brahmin and they took him away. After few hours ,the king grew curious and wanted to see what the priests were doing with the barber. From the guards he found out that the priests were at the Tungabhadra river Ghat at city outskirts. He proceeded with his escort and reached the spot. There he found Rama krishna with a black dog along with an helper. The dog was being dipped in water after every two minutes and was taken out.The poor dog was shivering in cold and was also crying. He was reciting some verses. The king went close and asked Ramakrishna what he was doing and why he was cruel to the animal.Ramkarishna replied that he was converting the dog into a cow. The king laughed loudly and remarked , "How foolish you are Ramakrishna! Can a dog be converted into a cow? How it is possible? You appear to be a fool indeed.Please leave the poor dog or else it would die" Ramakrishna cleverly replied, " Your honor and majesty, When a barber can be converted into a Brahmin, I can also convert a dog into a cow? The words pierced kings heart and knew at once what the scholar really meant. He realized that Ramakrishna has taught him a lesson. The king went back to his palace and called for the barber and he arrived soon. The king told him that it was not possible to convert him into a Brahmin and therefore he could ask something different. The king gave him costly presents and sent him away. The scholars and priests were greatly relieved as they were saved by Ramakrishna from a tricky situation.
Thus it can be seen that in Hinduism as per scriptures there is no way out for conversion . This is a hard truth indeed. but due to the present situation in the country it may be necessary to introduce some methods for such job.
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Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Hinduism and its scriptures never recommended spreading of Hindu faith like other religions do. Islam and Christianity strongly recommend conversion of others.Jesus said to his disciples.. "Go and spread my message"Hinduism is a way of life as stated earlier. However Islam and Christianity propagated their religions and the actions were sanctioned.Spain destroyed churches after Moors were thrown out and built churches. Dutch destroyed many Hindu shrines in South India.There is nothing more that can be told about Islam about these activities. They immensely destroyed Hindu temples, sculptures, art, paintings throughout India as Islam was against idolatry practices and prohibits dance and music.In the latest act they disfigured Bamian buddhas in Afghanistan. Aurangzeb the Mughal ruler at Delhi threw out all artists from the court. He destroyed great paintings in Bijapur palaces after the city fell to him.Islam believes that the world has been created by Allah and entire world belongs to him and therefore every one has to be a Muslim. Others have to lives as second class citizens paying zizia tax which they claim that it is collected to protect them. Whenever Islam ruled, it persecuted Hindus very greatly They used all methods to propagate the religions that included force, intimidation, coercion,awarding benefits,offering jobs, threat to life and honor,rape, murder etc.Hinduism never acted that way. Hindus were thus converted since many centuries. Sadly after independence of India Hindus are struggling for their identity in a land of Hindus. To day India is a land of votes and govt is formed by counting heads. Muslims are trying to increase their strength by producing children without any check while Hindus are struggling to produce even one kid. The balance of populations will surely change after some time and islamization is lurking at corner. Therefore there is a necessity of introducing systems for reconversion into Hinduism. But Hindus suffer with caste phobia. To which caste a convert belongs. Which caste will accept him. Will he be Arya samaji? What will be his Gotra? Such convert again suffer from group behavior and struggle for identity.The caste system in India is very rigid and this has to be really discussed at very high level by religious Gurus and pundits. This has to be introduced although it is not easy.Unless Hinduism is freed from caste virus things will not be easy.We have four varnas, Brahman, Kshatriya Vysya and shoodra. Probably the reconverts will form the fifth category and would be discrminated.
In this context, a story may be recalled as it is highly relevant. Si Krishna Deva Raya was a very noble and illustrious ruler of Vijaynagar empire. He was a man of letters. He was a poet king of repute. Yet, he had his own strong and weak points. He had a royal barber who always attended on him . One day, he came to the palace and found king in deep sleep in a reclining couch and he without disturbing the king he did his job of conducting the shaving operation. After some time, the king woke up and saw the barber standing with folded hands near him. The king asked the barber to do his job as he woke up. Barber replied to him very politely that he had already completed his task.The king was greatly surprised and was highly impressed with the barber and asked him to request for anything that would be given to him. The barber requested the Emperor that he may please be converted in to a Brahmin and King agreed.
The next day he called his ministers , priests reputed Brahmins of court and directed that the barber be converted in to a Brahmin. They were shocked and remained tight lipped. They were highly scared to say any thing and they knew that the King would seriously punish them if they refused. They knew about the sudden rise of temper in the king. Therefore they nodded heads and went home and had no sleep. The priests were greatly agitated and were scared too. At last they decided to seek help of Tenali Ramakrishna ( Rama Linga)a talented court scholar and poet who was known for his skills, humor and versatility. They narrated the problem to Rama Krishna who immediately assured them that he would find a way out very soon and save them from the serious situation. He thought for a while and told the Brahmins his plan. The Brahmins went to king next day and said that they were ready to take up the job and requested the king that the barber besent with them. The king agreed and called the barber and handed him over to the Brahmin and they took him away. After few hours ,the king grew curious and wanted to see what the priests were doing with the barber. From the guards he found out that the priests were at the Tungabhadra river Ghat at city outskirts. He proceeded with his escort and reached the spot. There he found Rama krishna with a black dog along with an helper. The dog was being dipped in water after every two minutes and was taken out.The poor dog was shivering in cold and was also crying. He was reciting some verses. The king went close and asked Ramakrishna what he was doing and why he was cruel to the animal.Ramkarishna replied that he was converting the dog into a cow. The king laughed loudly and remarked , "How foolish you are Ramakrishna! Can a dog be converted into a cow? How it is possible? You appear to be a fool indeed.Please leave the poor dog or else it would die" Ramakrishna cleverly replied, " Your honor and majesty, When a barber can be converted into a Brahmin, I can also convert a dog into a cow? The words pierced kings heart and knew at once what the scholar really meant. He realized that Ramakrishna has taught him a lesson. The king went back to his palace and called for the barber and he arrived soon. The king told him that it was not possible to convert him into a Brahmin and therefore he could ask something different. The king gave him costly presents and sent him away. The scholars and priests were greatly relieved as they were saved by Ramakrishna from a tricky situation.
Thus it can be seen that in Hinduism as per scriptures there is no way out for conversion . This is a hard truth indeed. but due to the present situation in the country it may be necessary to introduce some methods for such job.
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3 comments:
Dr. Prabhakar Sir, it is indeed an interesting and a tough task ahead for the highest system of the Hindu community. If the person coming back to Hinduism has a dynasty that was converted some 3-4 generations back, then we can make them sit in the same caste. Also, i have read that people who are converted Christians take their caste with them. Thus the very purpose of Christianity is at threat. Hence we should make sure that the back convertor sits in the same caste. Also, with reservations based on caste, non will prefer to be in the upper castes.
1Q here, can you explain us the origin of other upper castes like Reddy, Kamma, Kapu etc.? and does BCs come under Sudra?
Yes I shall do that. Plesae await my separate article or in comments column. The reply would be very large. I shall make it a separate article.Thanks for query.
When Aryans converted native Indians (Dravidians) to Hinduism they also instilled caste system into their DNA. It is clearly visible in the author's statement. Everybody born as a human. Nobody born as Brahmins are Dalits. God did not create caste. It was human who created caste. Muslims believe that God created human in a noble image. Christians believe that God created human in His own image.But Hindus created gods in their own image.That sums up everything.
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