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HPI
NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 22, 2011 (By Rajiv Malik, HPI Chief Correspondent
for India and South Asia):
"The problem of conversion in India will be greatly diminished if
Hindu parents live and practice Hinduism in their lives. Just preaching is
not enough and it is not going to work. You have to walk the talk. Parents
have to put Hinduism into action in their lives so that their children can
observe and follow them. This is how I have taught my children and it has
worked well." These are some of the views expressed by Dr. Ramdas
Lamb, Associate Professor, Dept. of Religion, University of Hawaii while
speaking on the subject- "Effects of Conversion on Native Cultures and
Society" at a meeting organized by Vivekananda International
Foundation on Thursday, 23rd June, 2011. The event, which was attended by a
large number of intellectuals and students of Delhi University, was chaired
by Shri Bharat Gupt, an Associate Professor in English at the College of
Vocational Studies of the University of Delhi. Dr. Ramdas Lamb began his
speech by stating, "There is a need to understand the dynamics of
conversion. I am not against conversion. I cannot be as I am a convert
myself. However, then we need to understand what is conversion and how
conversion is taking place in India today." He went on to say,
"There are three basic types of religions. The first type consists of
those that are based on the teachings of a single prophet. The process of
converting to such a religion involves the pledging of loyalty to a single
religious belief system and a single version of truth along with the
rejection of all other religious beliefs as being false. This is the kind
of belief that is promoted here in Christianity and Islam. You are taught
that only you are good and will go to heaven while all others will go to
hell. Christian or Muslim converts are both taught that their religious
beliefs are more important than their families, than their communities, and
their countries. Their religion becomes more important than even their
fathers and mothers or brothers and sisters. One can leave all those but
cannot the religion. As a result of this mind set, tolerance for others is
often viewed negatively or even rejected completely. When you convert to
this kind of prophetic religion, you often gain the attitude of superiority
over all others who do not think like you." "The second type of
religion is an ethnic religion. Membership is typically restricted to
members of a specific ethnic group. If you do not belong to that ethnicity
you usually cannot be a part of that religion. For instance if you are not
Japanese you cannot be a Shinto. Such religions tend to be numerically
small in size, being bound by genetics." "Then comes the third
type, which includes the universal religions, and Hinduism is one of the
major universal or world religions that I discuss when I teach religions.
Moreover, Hinduism is the largest non converting religion. Universal
religions do not proselytize. When you convert to or adopt such a religious
belief system, it is only for the purpose of expanding your consciousness.
It involves growing with and adding to awareness, not subtracting from or
limiting one's beliefs. You add consciousness and you add awareness. This
is what universal religions ideally teach." Dr. Ramdas Lamb said,
"When my guruji gave me diksha ["initiation"] he told me to
allow thoughts and understanding to evolve and allow my consciousness to
expand. He told me that I was a soul and that a soul has no limitations
whatsoever. Therefore, I should not accept limits on my mind either. Thus
far, I have taught nearly ten thousand students, and I encourage them
likewise to not limit their awareness or their possibilities. I also try to
get my students understand Hinduism as a universal religion. Needless to
say many of them develop a deep interest in Hinduism, because most want to
expand their consciousnesses. They are not looking for a label, like what
prophetic religions will provide them. If you want to enhance your
perception of reality and allow consciousness to grow within, then ignore
the labels, that is what a universal religion gives you an opportunity to
do." He further stated, "What missionaries do not tell people in
India is that Christianity is losing popularity in Christian countries. Why
it is losing popularity is that actually it does have much depth to its
teachings for most people. In India, becoming a Christian involves simply
believing in something. Once people become Christian, they are assured that
they are going to heaven. So much so that even if they kill or loot somebody,
it does not matter as heaven is guaranteed to those who have become
Christian. This way of belief functions to remove responsibility for one’s
actions. Missionaries generally do not have much to offer in terms of
teaching, and if they are asked too many questions, it is not appreciated.
In contrast, my guru always told me that Lord Rama has given you brain and
you must use it for thinking and questioning." Dr. Lamb furthered said
that in a country like India, there is a great need for people of differing
belief systems to learn to live together. However, the promotion of
ideologically narrow religions such as Christianity and Islam in the
country will only lead to further division, not to greater unity.
Introducing Professor Ramdass Lamb, chairperson for the event Shri Bharat
Gupt said, "Professor Lamb is one of the very few professors of Hindu
religion in American Universities. Why he is one of the few, the reason is
that he is Hindu himself. Around forty years back he became a sadhu and
wandered in various places for around one decade. Later on the behest of
his guru he became a householder and a professor. For a lot of die hard
Hindus it is difficult to understand how a sannyasin becomes a householder
but then there are times when certain things become essential as they are
done due to apat dharma [dharma to be followed in emergency situations] or
yuga dharma [dharma to be followed according to the need of a particular
period of time] . But what is most important is that he is one of the very
few Hindus who are there in the American academia."
He went on to say, "You know Hinduism is not taught in India and there
are no departments of religious studies in India. The cruel joke is that
though we declare ourselves the torch bearers of eastern spirituality,
there is no formal study of it at all. This is the real face of the Indian
secularism that thinking about religion is kept out of the educational
system. So as a consequence we have no Hindu professors teaching Hinduism
anywhere in the world. If we are not training scholars in Hinduism then how
will they teach Hinduism in the universities abroad. As a result our own
children are studying Hinduism books written by non Hindu scholars in the
universities abroad."
Shri Bharat Gupt pointed out, "There are forces who say that if the
colour of one's skin is white one cannot be a Hindu and there are others
who say that if you have left India and settled abroad, you cannot be a
Hindu. So according to such people neither Professor Lamb, nor my two
children settled abroad can be treated as Hindus. If this is how we are
going to think, then finally how many Hindus will be there in this world.
Time has come that we now need to openly debate on many such questions and
arguments."
The event ended with a lively interaction between the audience and the
speaker. Expressing their views during this period, some of the youth
leaders of Delhi University made a somewhat sensational revelation that
there were forces which were trying to convert the cream of the students of
Delhi University to Christianity and so much so that around three to four
hundred bright students who came to Delhi from all parts of India were
getting converted every month. Shri Mukul Kanitkar of Vivekananda
International Foundation invited these students to share the details of
such conversions so that appropriate measures could be taken to check this
menace which was there right in the capital of India.
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