The arrest of Sankaracharya of Kanchi came as a big surprise to most people. Of course one quarter asked if anyone would dare arrest Pope if he were alleged to have a hand in murder!
Hindus, I hear, are followers of extremely kind and accommodating religion. Well over a hundred Americans have already informed this to me. Of course they dont consider my being born in a family of Hindus make me Hindu. They know for sure, I dont agree we have to be part of any religion to be called human.
ut incidentally, I explain them back, that in India, being born makes all the difference. As our friend Vulcan Jena (in a recent posting at yahoogroup) made an excellent point recently, which I quote:
"What Manu did five thousand years ago, preachers of GOD still trying to continue & maintain it. Manu made Hindu society into four classes. There is no mobility. You are born a brahmin, that is the only way to be a brahmin. And that is the highest society, the topmost class. Then number two is the warriors, the kings: the Khyatriyas. But you are born in that caste, it is not a question that you can move. Then third is the class of the vaishyas, the business people; you are born in it. And the fourth is the sudras, the untouchables. All are born into their caste. That’s why, until Christianity started converting so many Hindus, particularly the sudras, who were ready, very willing to become Christians, because at least they would be touchable. Amongst Hindus, sudras are untouchable, and there is no way to get out of the structure.For your whole life you have to remain the same as your forefathers remained for five thousand years. For five thousand years there has been a stratified society. Hindus were not a converting religion, because the great question was, if you convert somebody, in what class are you going to put the person? Brahmins won’t allow you, and you would not like to be put with the sudras, the untouchables."
Well, not to say that one is better than the others. And if Pope can indeed not get arrested even after a murder case against him, then its a shame indeed. If not, lets investigate further and see why we have not made so many arrests so far.
But then people like you and me get arrested on daily basis. Laws like TADA or POTA or Patriot Act are already in place. See what they did in the post-riot Bombay or Gujarat or the fifty years of Kashmir.
Asian Age in 1999 came out with a flyer story on how Indian army officers raided the house of a Kashmiri family and killed their dog. Reason: it was barking. And so the conclusion was simple: A dog that barks at Hindu army must be a pakistani dog!
India never had so much conflict with any other land on this planet as poor (economically at least) Pakistan because of religious differences. And common people and domestic dogs have been paying the prices. Whereas the ones like religious ‘seers’ and ‘imams’ (he has now come forward to support the sankaracharya...who knows the Muslim preacher might be having a pandora’s box too) call the shots...

Tags: Saswat, Hinduism, Orissa, India, Philosophy