Friday, November 18, 2005
Religion conversion
Yesterday we were discussing about religion conversion. A few questions arises:
Why do people get converted to Christianity or Islam from Hinduism?
What is the impact of these conversions on the society?
Why do we create such hue and cry?
To find answers, I tend to look into my own experience:
I used to know one girl, I forgot her name, whose family were converted to Christianity from Hinduism. She was working as a receptionist in one of my dealer’s office at Nagpur. I used to visit their office almost once a month. I used to have conversation with her about her religious belief, her family background etc.
She was from a poor family. The family consisted of parents and three daughters. It seems, before conversion, her father, a mason by profession, was a habitual drunkard. Her mother was a permanently sick person. Whole family used to fall sick very often. They were subjected to taunt and humiliation from their relatives and society as a whole. The father used to beat the wife and children regularly. (This is the story till today of quite a no. of Muslim families around the slums of Hyderabad, with two differences; no. of children not less than five, almost all the children, irrespective of their gender, start earning by the time they are 10 or 12) Not able to sustain the torture, the mother left the house along with the children to her sister’s place at Gondia, a town in Maharashtra/ Chhattisgarh border (mostly populated by tribals and have a good population of Christians.) There they came in contact with a father (priest) and got converted to Christianity. Subsequently her father also joined them and he also was converted to Christianity.
After conversion, the father stopped drinking and started looking after his family, the mother also got cured. The children progressed in their studies. This girl, the second one, started working, contributing to the welfare of the family. Their newfound religious kins were very helpful and respectful to them. All her relatives were against their conversion and used to take every opportunity to harass them. But they were happy. She gave credit of their happiness to Christianity.
I think that time she was hardly 18 or 19, not much educated, may be only SSC passed. I used to listen to her stories and think; what could I tell this poor girl about great Hindu tradition or philosophy.
Today thinking about them, I don’t know whom to blame. Or I am not at all sure that there is anybody to be blamed. Here, if some people believe that by adopting Christianity or for that matter any other faith, (there are quite a lot of white Christians adopting Hinduism) they are benefited, what is the harm in that?
I can see the eyebrows are rising, nostrils are flaring. But why can’t we accept the simple facts of life without making an issue?
Why do people get converted to Christianity or Islam from Hinduism?
What is the impact of these conversions on the society?
Why do we create such hue and cry?
To find answers, I tend to look into my own experience:
I used to know one girl, I forgot her name, whose family were converted to Christianity from Hinduism. She was working as a receptionist in one of my dealer’s office at Nagpur. I used to visit their office almost once a month. I used to have conversation with her about her religious belief, her family background etc.
She was from a poor family. The family consisted of parents and three daughters. It seems, before conversion, her father, a mason by profession, was a habitual drunkard. Her mother was a permanently sick person. Whole family used to fall sick very often. They were subjected to taunt and humiliation from their relatives and society as a whole. The father used to beat the wife and children regularly. (This is the story till today of quite a no. of Muslim families around the slums of Hyderabad, with two differences; no. of children not less than five, almost all the children, irrespective of their gender, start earning by the time they are 10 or 12) Not able to sustain the torture, the mother left the house along with the children to her sister’s place at Gondia, a town in Maharashtra/ Chhattisgarh border (mostly populated by tribals and have a good population of Christians.) There they came in contact with a father (priest) and got converted to Christianity. Subsequently her father also joined them and he also was converted to Christianity.
After conversion, the father stopped drinking and started looking after his family, the mother also got cured. The children progressed in their studies. This girl, the second one, started working, contributing to the welfare of the family. Their newfound religious kins were very helpful and respectful to them. All her relatives were against their conversion and used to take every opportunity to harass them. But they were happy. She gave credit of their happiness to Christianity.
I think that time she was hardly 18 or 19, not much educated, may be only SSC passed. I used to listen to her stories and think; what could I tell this poor girl about great Hindu tradition or philosophy.
Today thinking about them, I don’t know whom to blame. Or I am not at all sure that there is anybody to be blamed. Here, if some people believe that by adopting Christianity or for that matter any other faith, (there are quite a lot of white Christians adopting Hinduism) they are benefited, what is the harm in that?
I can see the eyebrows are rising, nostrils are flaring. But why can’t we accept the simple facts of life without making an issue?
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"Today thinking about
them, I don’t know whom to blame."
Yes Bikashji. And if anyone finds happiness is whatever they do or whatever religion they choose, then good for them.
But the history of conversion in India is very different, that is why you see the 'nostrils flaring' :). It is not equivalent to the white Christians we see converting to Hindusim today. Christianity and British/Spanish/Dutch etc imperialism went hand in hand. The Church was just an extension of their armies....ideological warfare on the minds of the gullible natives...rendered more gullible because of their own weakness for fair skin ! Islam's conversion by sword is even more well known. When we gained independence, the most logical step would have been to ban such type of conversions. But then there was Nehru. Anyways. The point is Hindus have every right to feel angry about such activities.
On the other hand, if some people are so weak that for everything (poverty, alcoholism, fights etc) they blame others, including the religion they are born with, then they are pathetic indeed. And perhaps, Hinduism is better off without such people.
them, I don’t know whom to blame."
Yes Bikashji. And if anyone finds happiness is whatever they do or whatever religion they choose, then good for them.
But the history of conversion in India is very different, that is why you see the 'nostrils flaring' :). It is not equivalent to the white Christians we see converting to Hindusim today. Christianity and British/Spanish/Dutch etc imperialism went hand in hand. The Church was just an extension of their armies....ideological warfare on the minds of the gullible natives...rendered more gullible because of their own weakness for fair skin ! Islam's conversion by sword is even more well known. When we gained independence, the most logical step would have been to ban such type of conversions. But then there was Nehru. Anyways. The point is Hindus have every right to feel angry about such activities.
On the other hand, if some people are so weak that for everything (poverty, alcoholism, fights etc) they blame others, including the religion they are born with, then they are pathetic indeed. And perhaps, Hinduism is better off without such people.
Well, well, the nostrils are really flaring. I am amused to be castigated as a weak person, for which I need time to give a positive response. Now as ‘Hinduism is better off without people like us’ let’s see the kind of people are most suitable.
The no.1 position should go to RSS chief K.S.Sudarshan. who on 17th Nov. called upon the Hindus to multiply to counter the minority population ‘Teen se kam nahin, aap jitna zyada kar sakte utna achcha’. Let’s all follow his call and bear at least half a dozen.
There are better vintage quotes from some other luminaries about whom I must enlighten my friends in near future.
Jokes apart, I can assure you that the need of the hour for Hinduism is more and more people like me to raise our voice to take Hinduism to modern, progressive way.
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The no.1 position should go to RSS chief K.S.Sudarshan. who on 17th Nov. called upon the Hindus to multiply to counter the minority population ‘Teen se kam nahin, aap jitna zyada kar sakte utna achcha’. Let’s all follow his call and bear at least half a dozen.
There are better vintage quotes from some other luminaries about whom I must enlighten my friends in near future.
Jokes apart, I can assure you that the need of the hour for Hinduism is more and more people like me to raise our voice to take Hinduism to modern, progressive way.
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