Subhas Mitra June 2022
धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः (Religion protects only when you protect your Religion).
Be it the seed of a crop or plant or “seed of thoughts”, geophysical condition matters a lot for seedlings i.e. where we grow, live & what we eat and wear.
Seedlings of the thought process itself might have “Theistic” and “Atheistic” compositions. People of Bengal are no different from other places but then why “Hindus of Bengal” are adaptable to historical assaults & injustice, both during Muslim rule as well as Christian rule? In present India, they are more a Bengali and less a Hindu despite standing on a sinking boat (demography).
Origin of Theistic and /or Atheistic thoughts:
In my pursuit to understand, I wrote THREE posts. In one, I quoted British Lt. Richard Eton’s Islamization of Bengal between 1204 to 1760 published in 1788 & The Bengal by James Wise, 1883 ) that says both Hindus & Muslims in Bengal were not serious about their religion. Buddhists could not resist conversion to Islam despite their adherence being better. In another article, I blamed Christian “Inculturation” via Cambridge, Oxford, and ‘some’ designed Hindu renascence. In the 3rd I told about communists’ Atheism that only hates anything Hindu and glorifies Islam-Muslim & British-Christians.
Sources of Theistic / Atheistic thoughts:
1. Hindus: एतद्योनीनि भूतानि सर्वाणीत्युपधारय |
अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगत: प्रभव: प्रलयस्तथा || 6|| Gita Ch-7.
Know that all living beings are manifested by these two energies ( परा and अपरा, material or inferior AND superior or transcendental) of mine. I am the source of the entire creation, and into me, it again dissolves.
2. The Bible:
God is the creator. The sevenfold ministry of the spirit in Revelation 1:4: John to the seven churches, Revelation 3:1: And unto the angel of the church in Sardis, Revelation 4:5: And out of the throne, Revelation 5:6: And I beheld.
3. These are matters of faith but free-thinking has it that even in denial there is Theistic and Atheistic denial.
Theistic Denial:
The term “La ilaha illallah” means “there’s no God but God”/ Allah ……..It is denying God in its then prevailing conventional ways /means/belief but not denying absolutely.
Atheistic Denial:
Buddhism completely denies God but then they say Buddham Saranam Gacchami (बुद्धम शरणम गच्छामि). They do not say “SUNNYAM or Nirvana” swaranam gacchami.
Immunity shield for followers of respective religions:
1. A Christian is told: Do anything but if you feel guilty or go against the Bible, go to Church and Confess, you are FREE. If still some sin remains, Christ will redeem it on the Day of Judgment.
2. A Muslim is given to understand that life is a transitional struggle to achieve the finest entitled sensual pleasures after death. If your action helps protect/promote your religion and fellow Muslims and Ummah, your “Rewards” are guaranteed after Qayamath (days of Judgment).
Even if you kill a Muslim, all you do is, “proof that it was a blasphemy case”. Never avoid Salat (Namaz), Zikhr (remembering Allah at every breath) or Istighfar (Allah’s protection from evils) & Hajj, Jihad, etc.
3. Buddhists: They say Dhammam swaranam gacchami take shelter with Dharma and Dharma will protect and guide you to your Nirvana. Since they do not believe in reincarnation KARMA has no place in DHAMMA.
A Hindu has no such immunity shield. He is subjected to “Cause and effects “i. e KARMA. You are responsible for your Karma (action). Even God will not save you until you have
earned your entitlements.
My wild imagination is some “Bengali wise men” might have thought “If God wouldn’t help me” why do I bother about Him? (Desert God and Allah are better in such a case.) But when common people found the need for divine intervention in life, they preferred SHAKTI marg through TANTRA, Mantra, Yantra which at the time included black magic – जादू टोना and occultism. Here too there is a hitch – the route is full of hard work and consistent labor (साधन, तपश्या ) thus they might have found “Buddhism” the easiest. Bengal and the entire North East became almost Buddhists during Buddhist rule. Hinduism influenced Gangetic Bengal and Orissa – Bihar adjacent areas and retained beliefs in Rarh রাড় region despite the fall of Bhurishrestha Kingdom of Rudranarayan. That region too started getting intellectual dilution with Christian conversion center coming up at Srirampur, Hooghly albeit in disguised.
Was religious indifference in Kashmir, Kerala & Bengal an ill-effect of Tantra?
Hinduism is INDIVIDUALISTIC but is so diverged yet so tolerant that if the husband worships Shiva, the wife can worship Krishna at her own will. We have no Catholic-Protestant or Shia – Sunni divide but our communities divide starts with Buddhism, Jainism, and this TANTRA that flourished around the 1st century CE.
A bit of unveiling of Tantra is needed to show how it differs from the Upanishad / Vedanta school of Hinduism. There are three sampradayas (sects) – Kashmir (Shivaites), Bengal ( Shaktism), and Kerala (Srividya). My personal opinion is the Tantric effect had something to do with Hindu’s inconsistency with Hinduism in Kashmir and Bengal where Hindus are 2% & 31% appx respectively while in Kerala Hindus are only for headcount(56%) but the province is run by Abrahamic.
Tantra is also called KAULA or KULAMARGA (family practice) / KULACHAR (Family conduct). This might have brought distance between families in the same locality as the seed of community disunity as fallout of the concept of “self-contained unit”.
Hindus who refused to convert to Islam:
With Tantric Buddhism taking a back seat or moving towards Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet with the advent of Islam, local Hindu wise people might have chosen Bhakti Marg without giving much thought to SHIVAISM ( Shaiba). Many great Krishna Bhakts were born even before the arrival of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (18 February 1486 – 29th June 1533).
I will talk only about ONE of them today, to show why weak & feeble spiritual attachment / Dharma among Bengalis, in general, paved the way to “atheism” and they “distorted” Hindu philosophy and rituals for material gain or false image-making to become acceptable invaders. Post-1757 there might have been a rush to become a gentleman to a white Master of Calcutta. Some intellectuals converted to Christianity and resorted to an outright denigration of Hinduism with logic beyond the understanding of non-English knowing Bongs.
That might have infiltrated and started pilferage our ritualism as we find in Durga Puja Idol / Pratima making, etc.
Have we ever tried to understand the mental agony of our sages, seers, and ascetics might have undergone since the arrival of Islam in Sindh and the Church in Madras? They have witnessed their Guru’s / forefather’s achievements being destroyed on one hand and on another hand no further search and research work could be undertaken. They might have spent full energy on preserving & protecting their achievements and followers. But the core spirit did not die.
निरीश्वरवादि वैष्णब : An atheistic Krishna Devotee :
It happened to Hindus of Bengal in the 13th century that gave completely new meaning to their religious tuning of mind. It also touched even Ajlaf( local convert) Muslims’ minds.
The influence of atheistic Buddhist philosophy in Hinduism and seeing followers are deserting Islam might have made him find a Middle Path and declare:
সবার উপরে মানুষ ধন্য তাহার উপরে নাই।
मनुष्य से बढ़कर कोई नहीं .
“There is none greater than Human”.
This is a complete ATHESITC statement that is pronounced by a Krishna Devotee who composed thousands of Bangla Bhakti geeti, Kirtan, Padabali, and Bhajan (storytelling through songs ). Here he defies Bhagwat Geeta Ch-7, Verse 6 (above) as well as the concept/theory of VISWARUPA विश्वरूप.
This was pronounced by ( বাংলার মধ্যযুগের এক কবি বড়ু চণ্ডীদাস (1370-1433 AD নানুর (বীরভূম)) a devout Krishna Bhakt and poet BADU CHANDIDAS born in Nanur village of District Birbhum, WB.
Not only Hindus but even Muslims considered this as ( ইতিহাসের সর্বশ্রেষ্ঠ মানবিক বাণী) one of the greatest messages or saying by mankind, says ( নাসির উদ্দীন ইউসুফ: সাংস্কৃতিক ব্যক্তিত্ব ) Nassiruddin Yusuf, an eminent thinker of the day.
This pronouncement’s good effect was Ajlaf and Arzal (Dalit) Muslim separated from Ashraf and the Bad effect is lots of beef-eating, so-called, atheist Hindus in WB who ruins us from within.
(To be Continued –Part- II)
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