The Ultimate Hindu

Like most of us, I8217;ve had my bouts of the national disease: Bapu-bashing. It is prone to strike severely in one8217;s teens and twenti...

Like most of us, I8217;ve had my bouts of the national disease: Bapu-bashing. It is prone to strike severely in one8217;s teens and twenties. 8220;Weirdo8221;, 8220;Kinky old man8221;, 8220;Wasn8217;t much fun for Kasturba or Harilal8221;. Plus all those Abha-Manu jokes that every collegiate wit comes up with, especially after getting stoned on Floyd and Tull no, I absolutely can8217;t repeat them. The disenchantment was a reaction to the political and social betrayal of his ideals by our elders. How could we respect Gandhi, the property of such a cynical old bunch of sinners?

But if we do a Mendelian skip, we hit Bapu. Scrape away the bird droppings, and that toothless smile shines out with amazing sweetness, the Mickey Mouse ears seem about to wiggle in fun. Albert Einstein8217;s words ring aloud: 8220;Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth8221;. Bapu was beaten up, stoned, jailed and finally shot. But he kept his cool, like a real Gita-bhakt and staunch karma yogi. Check out a few of his views: A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority. Faith is not imparted like secular subjects, it is given through the language of the heart.

A clear testament against the politicisation of faith and the re-writing of histories, wouldn8217;t you say? And eerily predictive of the Hindutva agenda? His point seems obvious: we Hindus don8217;t NEED self-hypnosis of the manufactured kind to feel good about ourselves. We have plenty going for us already, if only we read the Upanishads. Bapu did not abandon the quintessential Hindu characteristic of questioning. He said: 8220;All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error8221;. There speaks a righteous Hindu surely, empowered by the mind-fire that has kept us reforming and evolving? We never needed military victories in the name of God to feel proud of Hinduism, it was the opposite. And Bapu upheld this: 8220;It is poor faith that needs fair weather for standing firm. That alone is true faith that stands the foulest weather8221;. Is that not a proud testament of belief in Sanatana Dharma, which endured everything that came its way and still holds the hearts of so many millions? Islam and Christianity have no power to hurt 8220;us8221;. We can learn a couple of good things from them instead. Our ancient enemy is within, as adharma in caste, gender and ecology. If the 8220;bosses8221; of the mother faith behave with impartial love and respect, who would leave something as beautiful as Sanatana Dharma? 8220;Nothing can be more hurtful to an honourable man than that he should be accused of bad faith8221; said Bapu sadly. That8217;s why it8217;s unbearably ironic that he died saying 8220;He Ram8221;.