Is Hindu Society Pacifist Coward or

Is Hindu Society ? Pacifist / Coward or Aggressive/ Brave Swami Vigananand Joint General Secretary Vishva Hindu Parishad International Coordination vigyananand@yahoo. com

Hindu civilization in the past never accepted pacifism as their civilizational dogma. Neither Hindu state nor their functioning arms and society in general accepted pacifism dogma in conducting its state functioning or society. The highest cardinal principle of the Hindu Dharma and society is “Satyameva Jayate na anaritam” (Truth alone trumphs not untruth) (3 -1 -6 - Mundaka Upanishad ), Not Ahimsa Paramodharma which was the principle accepted and practiced by Renunciate Monks, Sadhu, Sanyasi, Yati, Muni, Bhikshu, etc

The State Emblem of Bharat is part of Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar and the motto “Satyameva Jayate” (Truth alone trumphs) in Devanagari script inscribed below the profile of the Lion Capital. After the Independence, the Government of Bharat adopted this as State emblem on 26 th January 1950. From the earliest time or from the very beginning of Hindu civilization the cardinal principal of the society is Truth not Ahimsa Paramodharma. Satyen uttabhita Bhoomi – 10 / 85 / 1 Rig Veda (meaning Truth is holding the Earth).

Except Monks, Sadhu, Sanyasi, Yati, Muni, Bhikshu, nobody practice Ahmisa Paramodharma. Millions and millions Hindu pray to Almighty every day Tejoasi Tejomayee Dhehi Veeryamasi Veeruamayee Dhehi Balamasi Balamayee Dhehi (Yajur Veda 19/9) Give us vitality and strength like yourself. Our Shastra says to the spiritual practicenor that Nayam atma Bal hinena Labhyo - (Katha Upanishad) (The physically week is unfit for realization to the self) Hindu Dharma and Shastra also propagate fearlessness.

Abhayam Nah Karatyantriksham abhyam Dhyava Prithavi Ubhe Ime Abhayam Paschad abhayam Purastad uttarad adharad abhayam Na Astu (Atharva Veda 19 / 15 / 5) Meaning - We must be fearless in sky, on earth, and in front and back and up and down i. e. we must practice fearlessness from all sides and on all places. Abhayam Mitrad abhayam amitrad Abhayam Jnatad abbhayam Puro Yah Abhayam Naktam ambhaya Diva Nah Sarva Asha Mama Mitram Bhavantu Atharva Veda 19 / 15 / 6

Meaning - We must be fearless from friends and enemy alike We must be fearless from known and unknown We must be fearless in night and day all sides become our friends and should cooperate with us. Hindu Society never practice pacifism in their day-today life. Pacifism was exclusively reserved for Ascetic For example – Ramayana – Ravana kidnapped Mata Sita. Thereafter, Bhagwan Ram organized Army, killed Ravana along with his Kin and relative and recovered Mata Sita. He never compromised.

Mahabharat – When the great war of Mahabharat was just to be started, Arjuna said to Shri Krishna, at the sight of these kinsmen arrayed for battle my limbs give way, and my mouth is parching; nay, a shiver runs through my body and hair stands upright Krishna I do not covet victory; nor kingdom, nor pleasures. Govinda, of what use will kingdom, or luxuries, or even life be to us. Those very persons for whose sake we covet the throne, luxuries and pleasures – teachers, uncles, sons and nephews and even so grand-uncles and great grand-uncles, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law and other relations – are here arrayed on the battlefield risking their lives and wealth.

At one stage instead of fighting, Arjuna wanted to become Sadhu. Then Bhagwan Krishna gave discourses which are recorded as Bhagwad Gita. In the end of this discourse Arjun said to Krishna, by Your grace my delusion has fled and wisdom has been gained by me. I stand shorn of all doubts. I will do your bidding. I am ready to fight. In the Great War, he killed all the people who were standing in the side of Adharma. Hindu society celebrates Vijaya Dashmi, the victory day, a religious ceremony and worship Arms in each and every house. Therefore Hindu society was brave and they resisted any invasion on the soil.

Strong and brave resistance of Hindus to all foreign invasions. Alexander started his victorious journey from Macedonia. On way to India he defeated every one. Finally he confronted Hindu might on the frontier of India on 326 B. C. He had some early success. In due course of fighting with Hindus, he was severally injured, lost and returned and he died on the way. After Alexander, Selucus Nicator, cross the Indus River. He was also defeated by Maurya King Chandragupta.

Demitrious attacked India and he was defeated by Hindu King Kharvel and chased out of India. Thereafter Bactrian King Menander attacked India and was badly defeated by Hindu King Pushyamitra. During the first and second century Saka & mighty Kusan, barbarian tribes from Central Asia, continuously attacked India but always were defeated by successive Hindu Kings. The Barbarian Huns who once destabilized Europe, had also attacked India and they were finally defeated in India. You cannot find the trace of Kushans, Saka and Huns in India. Hindus resisted and defeated the invaders in the prolonged struggle for about 600 years.

After this the Islam confronted with Hindu might. A great Islamic Scholar – Philip K Haiti wrote in his famous book “The Arab” about victory of Islamic Army. “Within a generation of the Prophet’s death, the primitive Arab, fired by the indestructible faith and imbued with an utter contempt of death, had become the master of the Byzantine territories of Syria, Palestine and Egypt and the Sasanid territories of Persia and Iraq. Such rapid expansion of religious and military power is without a parallel in the annals of world history. Islam in the 2 nd expansion concurred Turkish-speaking territories of Outer Mongolia, Bukhara, Tashkand, Samarkand, etc.

The supremacy of Islam in Central Asia was so firmly established that the Chinese ceased to dispute it. In 711 A. D. Islamic army crossed Gibraltar strait into Spain and conquered one of the fairest and largest province of Europe. In 720 the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees and gradually subdued the Southern half of France. 732 A. D. which marked the first centenary of prophet’s death, the Arabs had set up the largest and most powerful empire of the world, extending from the Bay of Biscay to the frontier of India and the frontiers of China, from the Aral Sea to the Upper Nile.

Attack on India Islamic attack on India started on 636 AD. Hindus repulsed all the successive attack on India. There was one attack by Arab on Sindh Naval base - Debal. Arab Army was badly defeated and their General Mughairah was killed. Arab Historians Baladhuri wrote about this incidence. “This is a very important incident because when the mighty Islamic army was gaining victory elsewhere in the World, and no one stood to challenge them, the news of Mughairah’s defeat gave shock to the Arab.

Muslims were terrorized by these defeats. In these successive attacks by Islam Army on India Hindus severely defeated them each time. Many of their Generals like Ubaidullah and Budail were killed. Budail death in war with Hindus made Caliph crestfallen and he wrote to the Hajjaj the Governor of Baghdad, every time Musleman army goes on expedition of Hind, every time vast number of Musalman were killed. So think no more of such design. This is again very important when Islamic Army was gaining victory in Europe, Central Asia, Africa, Gulf and Middle East Asia, Syria, Palestine, Persia, they were being crushed in India.

Finally with great difficulty Musalman could get foothold in India in 711 A. D. The Arabs Scholar William Muir states the following facts. The Arab dominion in India limited to the two petty states of Multan and Mansurah. And here too, they could exist only after renouncing their iconoclastic zeal and utilizing the Hindu deity (Idol) for their own political ends. It is very strange sight to see them seeking shelter behind the very “buds” they came here to destroy. In Central Asia, the idolaters had been rooted out. But this experiment failed in India as Islam was confronted with a faith, which though deity worshiper, defied death and looked at life in this world as one link in the eternal chain of births and deaths.

There is a lesser known fact that even our renounciate Monks, Sadhus, Sanyasins resisted foreign invasion not only through spiritual and religious influences but also physically taking arms in their hands. Further they organized army to resist the invaders. Therefore, we can definitely say that Hindu society was never a pacifist. Wherever Islam went, they destroyed culture, tradition, civilization and finally converted them into Islamic land. Therefore you can now see 58 countries in the Islamic world. Hindus bravely resisted Islam, and defeated them. Hindus finally survived and today it is a Billion strong society.

Arabic Poet Hali lamented on Islamic failure to Islamise India in his poem Dine Hajaji ka bebak beda Kiye par jisne saton samundar Jo Jehun me ataka na sehun me bhatka Wo aakar dahane ke Ganga me duba Translation The Islamic armada crossed the seven seas confidently Without any interruption They remain unchallenged everywhere – lands, seas or mountains But the same Islamic armada got drowned in the Ganga (Mighty River)

The question arises why we lost to Islamic invasion? Answer in short is 1. “ we Hindus forgot aggression 2. We become self satisfied in our own territory 3. We do not try to defeat enemy in their homeland or in their territory 4. We always fought war to defend our country in our own land After Islamic Invasion, 15 century onward European Christian such as Portuguese, French, Dutch and British attacked our motherland. We Hindus resisted all of them. Mentally we never surrendered before them. We kept our freedom struggle alive till 1947.

We Hindus were resisting foreign invasion from Europe, Middle-east from the time of Alexander. We must remember all these onslaughts. Inspite of these onslaughts we are the only surviving civilization with continuity of dharmic, cultural, social, and spiritual ethos whereas other civilization of world like Roman and Greek of Europe, Egyptian of Africa, Mesopotamian and Persian of Middle-east, Incas, Maya and Aztec of South America were wiped out and become part of archaeological museum. This proves the strength of Hindu Civilisation. We are celebrating 150 th years of first war of independence of 1857. We were almost in a position to kick out the British from our soil, but because of some mistakes we could not achieve the goal in 1857.

After the 1857 incident an intellectual forum of Britishers were formed to know why the Hindu society is resisting foreign invasion right from Alexander, from where they are getting the inspiration, strength and courage. In their study many things came out. The things, which are very relevant to today’s topics, are following: 1) Hindus believe in immortality of soul-defied death and looked at life in this world as one link in the eternal chain of births and deaths. 2) Hindu society is an arm worshipper such as on Vijaya Dashami (Durga Puja) they worship arms. 3) Many of Hindu Gods and Goddess are equipped with arms

4) Their ideal Heroes in their history Bhagwan Ram and Krishna were fighters of par excellence. 5) After Vijaya Dashmi ( Durga Puja) Army is kept ready for fighting. Sometimes the neighbouring Kings fight war each other to show their strength and preparedness. In this way they get real practice of war. NOTE: (1) Yuddham vai rajanyasya virym (13. 1. 5. 6. Satapatha Brahmana) The real strength of Kshatriya lies in fighting very often.

(2) We were taught in our history text books written by Marxists and European Historians that Hindu Kings were always infighting themselves and they do not focus fighting the invader, therefore, they lost. This is totally wrong. Earlier I have explained how our Kings were resisting the foreign invaders unitedly. For example. Arab Historian Baladhuri wrote - In the reign of Caliph Muawiyah (661 -680 A. D) Abdur Rahman was appointed governor of Seistan and entrusted with the task of conquering Kabul. After a month’s siege Abudr Rahman obtained possession of Kabul. But the Hindu king of Kabul made an appeal to the warriors of Hindusthan and got support from the Hindu Kings. Musalman were driven out of Kabul. He recovered all other country and advanced as far as Bust.

- Islamic Historian Utbi wrote in his bok Kitab-I-yamini – 1008 A. D. Mahmud Ghaznavi determined to attack Anand Pala, (one of the King of Hindu Shahi dynasty on the frontier of India and Punjab). Anand Pala sent ambassadors on all sides inviting the assistance of the other princes of Hindustan, who now considered the expulsion of Mahommadans from India as a sacred duty. Accordingly, the Rajas of Ujjain, Gwalior, Kalinjar, Kanauj, Delhi and Ajmer entered into a confederacy and collecting their forces advanced towards Punjab with the greatest army that had yet taken the field. The Indians and Mahommadans – remained encamped (at Waihind) forty days without coming into action. The troops of the idolaters daily increased in number. The Hindu women, on this occasion, sold their jewels and melted down their golden ornaments to furnish resources for the war.

Though the Kings have a small regular army but during the time of war or fighting, farmers, artisans, ordinary village folks etc also join the army to fight. This way the ordinary civilian learned the art of fighting as well as fearlessness. 6) Arms training (Dhanur Vidya) were part of regular education. By observing the above facts, the British devised a plan to subjugate the society and country for ever. They also wanted to make sure that there should not have any resistance in the future. The draconian law they brought after 1857 is the Arms Act of 1860. It was to disarm the Hindu society i. e. no one should possess arms. If any one possess arms he would be severely punished. In 1870 the Act was made more harsh. Subsequently amendments were made in the said Act in 1891, 1919, 1920. The Arms Act of those years still continues with the present Government of Independent India.

The idea behind the Arms Act was to destroy the resisting capability of Hindu society in two ways i. e. If the society does not use the arms, they will lose their capability of using arms in the fighting. After that the new generation would be of coward mentality, which will be easy for them to keep under the British Empire forever. Therefore the society became scared to keep arms. Successive Governments of Independent India continue this Arms Act. You will be surprised to note that in 1888, Indian National Congress passed a resolution against this Arms Act.

Our great revolutionary Hero Saheed Bhagat Singh wrote an article in Kirti Magazine in October 1928 with the title “Repeal Arms Act”. (This article is still relevant in modern India. ) In this article the Shri Bhagat Singh gave his logic that if we do not repeal the Arms Act immediately the future generation of India would be of cowards as they could not even defend themselves from thieves and dacoits and the society would always be looking forward for protection and help from police. What we see in our day-today life is as predicted by Saheed Bhagat Singh. One person with few knifes or fake bombs or a small pistol can hijack a plane of 300 or more people, or take hostages of a full bus. This is one of the examples that how our society has become incapable due to Arms Act.

The Arms Act is only to restrict the civilized Hindu society from possession of Arms. The dacoits, Goonda, Mafia, smugglers, naxalites, and terrorists have a free access to any sorts of arms. Most of them are Muslims to whom Arms Act has no effect. In the beginning of 20 th century our Revolutionaries under the leadership and guidance of Sri Aurobindo, Sri V. D. Savarkar, Rasbehari Bose, Kartarsingh Saraba, Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandrasekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh started taking arms in their hands to kick out the British Empire from India. Our revolutionary movement started getting momentum. During this period Shri M K Gandhi appeared in Indian scene and suppressed this revolutionary movement and imposed his pacifist dogma (Ahimsa and Satyagrah) borrowed from Leo Tolstoy, “Passive resistance”.

With this Gandhian movement becoming popular in India, the Hindu society lost chance to re-arm themselves. Thereby Hindu society was suppressed by Gandhian pacifist dogma. This pacifist dogma is infused deep in the blood of Hindu society. Cells of this pacifist dogma is multiplying in our bloods like cancer in the independent India and killing our Hindu society. Never in the history Hindus were pacifists. Only after 1860 the Hindus become pacifists, which is still continuing. Therefore we can see the humiliation of Hindus all over the world.

What is the way out? 1) First repeal this Arms Act in Bharat 2) Hindu worldwide has to give up their self-centred and the highly individualistic approach and same time they have to become society focus. 3) Hindu society has become more money centred, and converted into moneymaking machine. Other things, which are necessary to protect the Hindu society, is ignored or forgotten. 4) The Hindu society should start school based on semi military training just like sanik school 5) Hindu society has to establish their schools and make military training compulsory

6) Hindu society should become more generous 7) Wherever possible worldwide the Hindu society should use legal and constitutional means for military education and training 8) The Hindu society should encourage scouting & sports among Hindu youths 4 th and 5 th suggestion is only to change the psychology of Hindu Society (Swami Vigyananand)