(In reply to: Guru Purnima Has Its Roots in Buddhism and Jainism, Not Hinduism)
In the colonial vestiges of India, infested by the brown British, there is far too much bullshit to debunk on any given day. Considering the importance of the task, however, I’ll disband with long winded articles, and illustrate through a set of sentences, why they are precisely Bullshit. Bullshit, as in something which is intended to persuade without any regard for the truth; of course, considering its toxic effects, literal Bullshit is far more benign.
The current object of interest is a piece by the former CEO of Prasar Bharthi, whose Goebbelian skills, while being of great attainment, is nonetheless, by its very nature, not one that produces work that is worth any intellectual discussion. The blatant contradictions of the fluff piece is, illustrated in the conversation between Ram and Sir.
Ram: The author notes that ‘Gurukulas/ Pathashala were restricted to ‘Brahmans’, while mentioning right in the next line about how these ‘rules’ could be broken for ‘select Kshatriyas’. It is a mystery how ‘Brahmans’ could teach arms training; mysterious still is how the army was trained in arms.
Sir: Was there really an army, though?
Ram: The author claims that there must’ve been, for how else could Arya-dom spread. Surely, then, by the tales of the author himself, a society which didn’t restrict arms training should’ve easily won. Ekalavya, the Nishada king, was afterall better than Arjuna.
Sir: ‘Brahmans’ were probably like mages of Europe, who could command supernatural powers. They probably didn’t need an army.
Ram: Erm… Okay…. So Brahmans taught inferior methods of fighting, so that ‘Kshatriyas’ could protect them from asuras? Are you mad?
Sir: Stop oppressing me, you Hindutva fanatic.
Ram: Fine. The author, claims that the Bhakti movement was led by gurus of all castes, who then helped endear ‘non-Brahmanical’ Hinduism. How were these gurus trained? Through ethereal Vaishnavic power, pervading the Brahman?
Sir: May be they were trained by the Buddhists or the Jains?
Ram: … so they had a change of heart and became one with their ‘oppressors’? They did this when Buddhism and Jainism were in a dominant position?
Sir: Stop oppressing me, you long-nosed Brahmin.
Ram: Erm.. I’m a Kshatriya, dude.
Ram: The author’s claim that ‘Guru Purnima is not a Hindu’ practice, is premised on there not being a scriptural ‘mandate’. Surely then, by his own ‘criteria’ for origination, he must’ve produced ‘mandates’ in the Buddhist/Jaina traditions for such a practice. Yet, curiously, while describing practices in far off Korea, and Tibet, the author can’t be bothered with this crucial piece of ‘evidence’, in his own system of reasoning.
Sir: Erm… Yeah, like you Hindutva people understand logic.
Ram: Furthermore, if Indians mere magnanimous enough to equally revered Ustads, and Pundits, how could they discriminate so cruelly among st their own kind ?
Sir: No man, ‘Brahminism’ was really cruel. The influence of ‘Buddhism, Jainism and Islam’, must’ve rubbed off on it and made it less restrictive.
It must’ve been this way. ‘Brahminism’ was perpetrated by the all powerful priests, like the Jews and the Catholics in Europe.
Buddhism must’ve been the Lutheran revolt of India. It must’ve been this way. Surely.
Ram: So Bhakti movement is the counter reformation?
Sir: Bingo! I’m glad we see eye to eye.
Ram: We sure do.
(Postscript: This need for finding European history and theology in India has a long history, as noted by Prof. S N Balagangadhara. The endless theorizing, which break down completely, when seen as a whole, is a mere symptom of the sick state of the intellectual tradition in India.
Dharampal’s tome the ‘The Beautiful Tree’, uses data from British surveys from the early 19th century, to destroy this toxic shabda-jala, that governs our beliefs about India today. He notes how, in the heartland of Dravidian-oppression, the Madras presidency, where 50% of those enrolled in traditional schools were ‘Shoodra’, while Brahmins/Chettris made up only 20%. The educational system, that a battered and decaying India sustained in the 18th century, was notedly better than ones in England by British administrators, or likely indeed than the one that produces mere WASP clones today.
It’s a disgrace that eminent idiots such as our author above are the goats eating down our tax money. May the colony die! May the Beautiful tree spring forth again!)
