The essence of Hinduism
By Sashi Taroor (Under Sceretary United Nations)

Openness is the essence

"I cherish the diversity, the lack of compulsion, and the richness of

the various ways in which Hinduism is practised eclectically."

The questions a candidate for public office has to answer from the

media can cover any subject, and intrusiveness is difficult to

resist. Still, I have been surprised with the frequency with which,

of late, journalists from Boston to Berlin have expressed curiosity

about my religious beliefs. I tend to think of faith as something

intensely personal, not really a matter I feel any desire to parade

before the world. But, in an era where religion has sadly become a

source of division and conflict in so many places, I had to concede

that the question was a legitimate one — especially after one

of my rivals specifically appealed for support on the grounds of his religion.

Nature of faith

It's true, in my view, that faith can influence one's conduct in

one's career and life. For some, it's merely a question of faith in

themselves; for others, including me, that sense of faith emerges

from a faith in something larger than ourselves. Faith is, at some

level, what gives you the courage to take the risks you must take,

and enables you to make peace with yourself when you suffer the

inevitable setbacks and calumnies that are the lot of those who try

to make a difference in the world.

So I have had no difficulty in saying openly that I am a believing

Hindu. But I am also quick to explain what that phrase means to me.

I'm not a "Hindu fundamentalist": I see Hinduism as uniquely a religion without fundamentals.

We have an extraordinary diversity of religious practices within

Hinduism, a faith with no single sacred book but many. Hinduism is,

in many ways, predicated on the idea that the eternal wisdom of the

ages about divinity cannot be confined to a single sacred book. We

have no compulsory injunctions or obligations. We do not even have a

Hindu Sunday, let alone a requirement to pray at specific times and

frequencies.

Unusual religion

What we have is a faith that allows each believer to reach out his or

her hands to his or her notion of the Godhead.

Hinduism is a faith which uniquely does not have any notion of heresy

— you cannot be a Hindu heretic because there is no standard set

of dogmas from which deviation would make you a heretic.

So Hinduism is a faith so unusual that it is the only major religion

in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. I find

that most congenial. For me, as a believing Hindu, it is wonderful to

be able to meet people from other faiths without being burdened by

the conviction that I have embarked upon a "right path" that they

have somehow missed. I was brought up in the belief that all ways of

worship are equally valid. My father prayed devoutly every day, but

never used to oblige me to join him: in the Hindu way, he wanted me

to find my own truth. And that I believe I have. It is a truth that

admits of the possibility that there might be other truths. I

therefore bring to the world an attitude that is

open, accommodating and tolerant of others' beliefs. Mine is not a

faith for those who seek certitudes, but there is no better

belief-system for an era of doubt and uncertainty than a religion

that cheerfully accommodates both.

The misuse of religion for political purposes is of course a sad,

sometimes tragic, aspect of our contemporary reality. As U.N.

Secretary General Kofi Annan once said, the problem is never with the

faith, but with the faithful. All faiths strive sincerely to animate

the divine spark in each of us; but some of their followers, alas,

use their faith as a club to beat others with, rather than a platform

to raise themselves to the heavens.

Since Hinduism believes that there are various ways of reaching the

ultimate truth, the fact that adherents of my

faith, in a perversion of its tenets, have chosen to destroy somebody

else's sacred place, have attacked others because of the absence of

foreskin or the mark on a forehead, is profoundly un-Hindu. I do not

accept these fanatics' interpretation of the values and principles of

my faith.

Divinity and the self

But what does it mean to me to be a practising Hindu? I have never

been particularly fond of visiting temples. I do believe in praying

everyday, even if it is only for a couple of minutes. I have a little

alcove at my home in Manhattan, where I try to reach out to the holy

spirit.

Yet, I believe in the Upanishadic doctrine that the divine is

essentially unknowable and unattainable by ordinary mortals; all

prayer is an attempt to reach out to that

which we cannot touch. While I have occasionally visited temples, and

I appreciate how important they are to my mother and most other

devout Hindus, I don't really frequent them, because I believe that

one does not need any intermediaries between oneself and one's notion

of the divine. "Build Ram in your hearts" is what Hinduism has always

enjoined. If Ram is in your heart, it would matter very little what

bricks or stones Ram can also be found in.

Essential openness

So I take pride in the openness, the diversity, the range, the lofty

metaphysical aspirations of the Vedanta. I cherish the diversity, the

lack of compulsion, and the richness of the various ways in which

Hinduism is practised eclectically. And I admire the civilisational

heritage of tolerance that made Hindu societies open their arms to

people of every other faith, to come and practise their beliefs in

peace amidst Hindus. It is remarkable, for instance, that the only

country on earth where the Jewish people have lived for centuries and

never experienced a single episode of anti-Semitism is India.

That is the Hinduism in which I gladly take pride.

Openness is the essence of my faith. And that's the perspective from

which I would seek to serve in an office which must belong equally to

people of all faiths, beliefs and creeds around the world.


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