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The Emerging National Vision by Sita Ram Goel
Part 2
continued....
Today in India, Christianity is ideologically equipped. Over the
last so many years, Christian missionaries have been studying
Hindu religion, Hindu society and Hindu culture and tearing them
to bits. They know when and where to attack, when and where to
retreat. They know all the strategic points. They know all the
tactics. Islam has not been studying our religion or society or
culture. But it knows that when it says that it stands for
monotheism, that it stands for equality, that it stands for human
brotherhood, the Hindu tends to run away. Whenever Islam calls the
Hindu a communalist, the Hindu runs away. So far as its own
ideology is concerned, Islam has a lot of centers where Islam is
taught in depth and detail. A lot of finance is also available for
these centers. New Islamic universities are coming up. You may
have read in the newspapers that a 15 crore scheme has been made
for an Islamic Cultural Center in New Delhi. Hidayatullah has
spoken about it. The money will come from the Islamic Cooperative
Bank floated by the Arabs. The Government of India will also make
a contribution.
But there is not a single Hindu center worth the name in India. We
have lots of ashramas and mathas and some publishing houses. We
have many swamis and lots of talk about Hindu religion and Hindu
culture. But there is no Hindu center which develops Hindu
scholarship, which studies the whole range of Hindu heritage,
which tries to know and to make known Islam and Christianity and
Communism inside out. There is no Hindu center which can provide
comparative studies and a clarity of vision and which can equip us
for an ideological battle. The National Vision which is emerging
has not only to be re-affirmed, it has also to be ideologically
equipped.
...I should like to add one more point. We should not see this
ideological battle as taking place in India alone. That will
narrow down our perspective. The ideological battle which is
taking place in India is part of a world-wide battle. We are not
alone. We have our allies abroad. Our allies are not foreign
governments and foreign financial institutions. Our greatest ally
is the indomitable and immortal human spirit, the deeper culture
of the human soul. The wave of humanism, rationalism and
universalism which has been sweeping over the Western world is our
strongest ally. Christianity, for instance, is almost dead in the
West today. They give money to the Christian missions under the
mistaken impression that the missionaries are doing social service
in India. But if we make it known to the West, to the people over
there, that the Christian missionaries are using their money for
subverting Hindu society and Hindu culture, we shall find many
allies.
Islam is a hard nut to crack because Islam is still living in a
world of die-hard dogmatism. Islamic lands are under a deep spell
of darkness. It is very difficult to penetrate these lands
physically. We can go into the homelands of Christianity. We can
speak to them, we can appeal to them, we can discuss with them.
Their minds have opened up. But the mind of Islam is a closed
mind. It is not easy to open it up.
I have discussed this problem of Islam with Ram Swarup. He says
that ideas can penetrate every wall, travel everywhere. May be we
are unable to go physically into Islamic lands with our message of
humanism, rationalism and universalism. But we can give a call to
them to throw away their closed creed and feel free. We can invite
them into open sunshine of natural spirituality which is Sanatana
Dharma. The Islamic lands are in the throes of a deep crisis. Most
of their students who go to Western universities, who come to
Indian universities, do not want to go back to their Islamic
countries, Iran and Iraq and so on. They find the atmosphere at
home suffocating. They are our allies.
So we should not see this ideological battle which is raging in
India today in isolation. It is a world-wide battle. Christianity
has its allies abroad. Islam has its allies abroad. So has
Communism. But we also have our allies abroad. Our allies may not
have money as their allies have. Our allies may not have physical
power, military power, as their allies have. But we must remember
that our ally is the human spirit everywhere. We must appeal to
this human spirit, seek succor from this human spirit, as we go
into an ideological battle. We are bound to win...
Sitaram Goel
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