The continuous evolution of Hindu society in terms of political, caste, and philosophical aspects has contributed a lot to the societal reforms. But this evolution came up with some defects also.
Those new philosophies which came for the purpose of reform in the caste system have themselves become a caste. Political orientation has caused the next level of division among Hindus in current times.
Philosophical Division
This is the worst division in Hinduism because all those previous philosophical clashes were in-terms of intellectual level but now it has turned into physical fights. In brief words, philosophical division means the schools such as Vishnavaites, shivites, Vedantic, Advaita, dvaita and new schools such as ISCKON, Shankaracharyas has certain inner philosophical difference with them.
During those times the difference between the school wasn’t much impacting the society because at those times governments weren’t democratic in nature. But now this philosophical difference has caused enormous damage to the unity of Hindus. During those times the great Indian saints were debating at the intellectual level and that didn’t hurt much to the harmony of the society.
But now this philosophical difference can hurt a lot to the Hindu society because it will become tough to unite Hindus under one philosophy. I have presented a screenshot of the comment which was done by a person who is Hindu but belongs to another school on Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev. This is actually only one example to show “How ideological difference among the Hindus is hurting Hinduism in a bad way“.
This happens with every Hindu school and the above was just an example. When one school starts to criticize another school in such cases Hindus will lose the belief in their own religion and they will think other religions will give peace to them and they will start to convert. This ideological difference is a big hindrance to Hindu Unity.
Caste and political Division
Casts are derived basically from the Varnas system but later on, most of the caste emerged out of the Bhakti moment and religious scholars. But the caste system was good social security for the person until the pride entered it.
Some of the caste orient themselves with a certain political ideology and they started to hate the other. Both caste and politics have become synonyms to each other and it has become tough possible to separate both.
Caste was supposed to act as social security by promoting the unity and sense of “OUR PEOPLE” but ended up creating a false EGO and division among Hindus. When politics entered the caste it started to divide them in terms of the upper and lower caste. Politicians started to divide by favoring some of the casts in the name of the reservation and they made certain casts their vote bank.
This caste system has created a huge hole in the unity of Hindus because certain communities started favoring certain political parties. During election times it ends in disputes. We all know that congress has created a successful gap among the Hindus which is Dalits v/s upper casts. This is the major setback to a country like India where diversity has become a curse instead of becoming a boon. The worst danger is I see so many young guys have been filled with the poison of the caste conflict.
People have oriented so much to the political parties that they even started to criticize their own religion. The propaganda of political parties was so strong that they made certain caste people believe that all Hinduism rituals are rituals of Bramins but not Hindus.
Possible solution
It is very tough to find the solution for the philosophical division because it is the game of the belief and everyone thinks that their philosophy is the best and truth than others. One possible solution could be schools/followers should follow their school without criticizing the others. Another possible solution could be drawn from Swami Vivekananda’s words:
For the next fifty years, this alone shall be our keynote — this, our great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from our minds.
Swami Vivekananda
For the caste/political division Hindus must stop identifying their caste with the political parties. Another possible solution is inter-caste marriage and it should be promoted because it nullify the superiority of the caste felling that they carry.
Summary: In the present context it is highly important to unite the Hindus in the country. Continuous attack by leftists has caused a great sense of division among people. If it is not fixed then it is very easy to dismantle Hindu society.
