Vande Mataram

Religion, obfuscation and genuflection.

We Hindus have been, for a long time touching the feet of our fathers, our seniors, family elders, and of course idols. Something that perpetually keeps gnawing at the back of my thinking is this: man created religion. We peopled the skies. I am not an agnostic, rather the view I maintain is that, if the effects of certain belief and faith are indistinguishable from a miraculous act by a divine power, then the question of the existence of that power is quite rhetorical. That is, if you believe that God exists, then he/she/they exist(s).

Didi has been calling me a right wing Hindutva fanatic for a while. In fact, most thinking Hindu men go through an adolescent stage of being extremely right wing, sometimes to the extent of thinking that a certain Adolf had some pretty good ideas.

Most of my friends call me a rabid foaming at the mouth leftist. Such leftists are also usually atheist. I do not know if it is possible to decouple politics and economics from religion.

I prefer to label myself as a ordinary or garden variety Hindu with no particular political leanings. Having said that, there are a few observations to be made.

Religion was created mostly as an aide to survival. Survival comes from being social. This sentence is loaded with multiple layers of meaning. For example, the Great Jasagh, the written code of the Mongol Empire under its greatest lord, Genghiz Khan allowed for respect for the elderly, tolerance for al beliefs. it also called for savage punishment for crimes like gluttony, urinating in running water and so on. All of them crimes against society, things which could hardly be tolerated in the steppes, where survival itself was a matter of cooperation.


Most modern religions have at their base a simple base of rules that make for an ordered society. It is the perversion of these laws to suit the makers which results in the discord we see. At the risk of being a heretic, I could say that we might easily substitute the Indian Civil and Penal Code for the Gita, the KoranSharif and the
Bible. Think of it logically, Prophet Gates provides true believers with a new version of his code every couple of years. He even provides patches and security updates online if you have a registered version. Isn't it time most of the world religions got an upgrade?

So, coming back to the Vande Mataram controversy. This song was called the Indian National Song. So why not sing it? It is also a beautiful song, and actually easier to sing than many national anthems. And lastly, in an era where children do not know who Khudiram Bose and Bhagat Singh were, it might be of some value to sing some patriotic songs to them.

It perpetually surprises me that Indians tend to undervalue their nation this way. Freedon did not come free of cost. That is something that young people should be taught.