Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1992)Ram Swarup
The thought of my simple-minded mother heartbroken over her beloved son's conversion from his birth religion into an Abrahamic religion was deterrent enough for me to maintain the status quo. The vision of her disappearing into the horizon as I am saved by the second coming of Christ at the end of times and the image of her burning in hellfire whilst I, because of my foresightedness in following the Shepard, savouring the sweet nectar of bliss was just too much for me to stomach. I cannot blame her for feeling the way she felt. After all, it is her life experience. In her eyes, as the script of Ram Swarup's view suggests, there is no reason to embrace another religion as the Hindu religion has it all. It has been around since the beginning of time. There must be a reason why unlike the other new kids of the block, its philosophy of living in harmony with our inner self, the environment and the cosmos resonates with other Eastern, African, American Indian and other ancient belief systems.
My mother perceived the Abrahamic religions as disruptive, combative and condescending at best. Her childhood encounters reinforced the idea that the nuns that she had met had ulterior motives in their niceties. She had seen families torn apart and marriages disrupted because of the divisive natures of Western belief systems. In her eyes, Hinduism has been and is still able to provide emotional solace and intellectual support to last this lifetime and the ones beyond. Period.
Ram Swarup is a respected figure. Starting as a freedom fighter, he later was a prolific writer on matters critical against Christianity, Islam and Communism. Through his association with the publication house, Voice of India, he churned out many Hindu revivalist articles. The West sang praises of his scathing articles about communism but was not so complimentary on his views of Abrahamic religions.
In this book, he asserts that the political differences between tribes, people from different parts of the world were content with their pagan beliefs, living in harmony with Nature with their own set of social mores that kept them going as a society. The Hindu type of faith spread eastwardly as far as Japan and westwardly as far as Central Asia. In fact, the Lithuanian language shares keen similarity to Sanskriti language. The last pagans in the Baltics who were forcefully converted by the Templar Knights had many Hindu deities. In fact, the Africans were not in a dark continent, but, on the contrary, were illuminated with their own advanced philosophy. The Native Americans, whom the Spaniards looted were not just bison-hunting savages but with their profound way of life. The Aztecs and the Mayan who were systemically infected and forcibly converted to accept Christ at gunpoint had a shared belief system with the Hindus.
The Abrahamic religions need to put their act together. They need to engage in public relation to erase their checked past to rebrand themselves. They should erase the perception, to the non-believers, of a jealous God who is hot on the trail of a recruitment drive. Or perhaps, their past intentions persist, but their modus operandi may have varied. The perception of a heathen is the religions are means to exert power and a modality to squander money.
Ironically, India, a subcontinent that was referred to as the fatherland of mankind, exuding with advanced knowledge and skills has morphed into an ignorant, divided, self-hating society that has forgotten its past glory and needs validation for its own existence.
On a happy note, the author believes that the future is bright as India has reawakened. Even though it was pushed under the wheels of the bus of the Industrial Revolution, it has wriggled itself out to clasp its hands on to the driver's seat. Now, it needs to steer its wheels.
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