Who Is Entitled to Speak for Hindu Dharma?

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Universal Hinduism by David Frawley !

Universal Hinduism by David Frawley (Image credit BluOne Ink)

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‘A Hindu Response to the Misrepresentation of Hindu Dharma’

 By David Frawley

Today the mass media recognizes certain spokespersons for various causes, including religious groups. Relative to Hinduism, the media and educational experts consulted are seldom practicing Hindus.

They are usually academics or journalists with some experience of Hinduism or India but present their own opinions, not the views of any Hindu guru or tradition. Commonly they are non-Hindus, anti-Hindus or anti-India political voices, including atheists and communists.

This is contrary to the case of other religions like Christianity or Islam in which practicing members and prominent leaders of the religion are regularly consulted by the media.

The result is that the media and academic presentation of Hinduism is biased against Hinduism and sanatana dharma, while the media presentation of other religions reflects a deference to them.

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While criticizing Islamophobia for misrepresenting Islam, they ignore Hinduphobia for misrepresenting Hinduism. They give the impression that Hindus have never suffered from oppression or exclusion, in spite of the long history of missionary and colonial forces trying to destroy Hinduism, and the Islamist destruction of thousands of Hindu temples over the centuries.

Hindu dharma is not properly taught in modern textbooks, though Hindu groups are challenging this and slowly changing it. Fortunately, a new pro-Hindu media is rising in India, including news programs in which a Hindu/Sanatana view is regularly presented, which hadn’t been before.

In addition, new Vedic and Hindu schools are slowly arising globally that will have a great impact over time. A Hindu voice is notably arising in the social media, which has become strong in India.

Media distortions of Hinduism are now quickly challenged and refuted in the social media, often to the dismay of the mainstream media who were not previously challenged for their anti-Hindu prejudices.

Such Hindu activist trends are rapidly growing and are worthy of widespread support and encouragement

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A Hindu Response to the Misrepresentation of Hindu Dharma

We must then ask: What should be the response of Hindus when Hindu teachings, whether of a spiritual, cultural or political nature, are misrepresented or expropriated?

Hindus must challenge all the distortions of sanatana dharma and work to correct them by providing more informed teachings, including through dialogue and debate with those of contrary views, challenging and exposing their biases, prejudices and Hinduphobia.

To counter the commercial expropriation of Yoga, they should broaden and deepen what is taught as Yoga, including in Hindu temples, ashrams and schools. The Indian government initiative for International Yoga Day by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 and its introducing Yoga training into the schools is an excellent example of the course of action to be followed.

One cannot separate Yoga from India or India from Yoga. Similarly, Hindu dharma forms the core of India’s enduring civilization and must be acknowledged as such, not simply as a religion but as a culture and a science of consciousness.

Hindus must reclaim their teachings at an intellectual and media level. This is not to deny non-Hindus from using Hindu based teachings but to encourage them to honour the background from which these teachings derive.

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Yoga is a universal tradition, but one should remember that the universality people admire in Yoga is rooted in its universal Hindu background as sanatana dharma, not in any particular Yoga group.

Teaching Vedic sanatana dharma and Vedanta remains the best counter to the distortions of Hinduism and Yoga. New teachers (acharyas) are required trained in the Hindu way of life, its Yoga practices and Vedantic philosophy, along with new Hindu and Vedic schools and initiatives to teach the Vedic sciences.

They are beginning to arise today, and we must support them.

(Excerpted from Universal Hinduism Sanatana Dharma: A New Awakening, published by BluOne Ink)

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