Modernization or uprooting of the cultural Identity ???
You must have seen a lot of scientific backing towards religious literature and way of life lately. How the ancient texts were not mythological stories, rather a part of history or why we pray to god, why join our hands and pray to god bowing down, so on and so forth. Well, this following piece of information may surely make you question yourself, especially if you don't believe in these practices, or claim to be a liberal, leftist, progressive, modern Hindu.
Let's start by asking all these questions again, Why a temple? Why do Idol worship? Why have so many Gods?
Okay let's dig even deeper, why should we pray? Why these traditions should be followed at all?
Why after all the scientific backing this thing is still ridiculed upon and some people still hang onto such things? This is all just a waste of time probably for some.
Today, we are going to understand the real emphasis of this, how it affects our lives at a micro scale, without us even realizing. Our traditions are at a risk because of the concept of modernism, we have stopped tending to our culture and traditions. People have stopped going to temples, they have no knowledge of the Guru Kul structure long lost in our history, or Hindutva as a way life. The adverse effect of this is that we tend to live an individualistic lifestyle, which all-in-all is not something bad, but we forego our roots, our values in the process. Even if our Indic revolutionaries shower us with endless knowledge, we must understand that this gives us an identity. Succumbing to the ways of the west does not assure anyone their root identity. One would always feel the alienation at some point in their lives, because we are not one of them, no matter how hard we try. The reason being, when we travel to a foreign land, say the USA for example, we get attracted by the churches over there, we celebrate their holidays and take part in their cultural activities mindlessly, knowing fully well that we also have traditions of our own, yet they choose to look the other way. Take all Muslims across the globe, from the moment they step forth in this world, they are taught their religious texts and traditions, and hence the values are embedded deep within their subconscious mind. They follow all their rituals, and their cultural values are ensured to have propagated from one generation to another. Now, even if we consider that someone amongst the aforementioned are progressive and don't delve into the same practices any longer, the difference here still lies that they are well versed about their culture, values, literature and traditions.
On the flip side, we Hindus have become negligent about ourselves as an identity. We show that we don't care about such things and later on feel proud about it. Why is it not possible to choose not to follow all these and become individualistic in nature after being fully aware of who we are and what we stand for. See, unlike other customs and practices, Hindutva invites criticism and flexibility, but let's not take advantage of that flexibility and bend it as per our will so much that we no longer have any links to lean back to this ideology at all.
There is another aspect to viewing this situation, it is because advancement has driven us apart from our core roots. We feel lazy to learn Sanskrit, read our Bhagwat Gita, Vedas, Puranas, etc. even though we might find translations that match our needs. Why stand dumb in front of people who have no knowledge about where you come from and what Bharat and Hindutva has given to this world, yet speak against it and question your beliefs time and again? We must muster the knowledge and courage to teach people and propagate our ideology and if not that at least be capable enough to shun the vague allegations they address upon us.
Remember, there is no pride in not knowing, we must always thrive to know more, and for that one must study and learn, even if one begs to differ with some aspects of it.
There are five basic moral foundations every human subscribes to, namely :
1. Care/Harm: We tend to ensure that nobody is hurt.
2. Fairness/Reciprocity: Giving everyone an equal chance.
3. In-group/Loyalty: One's loyalty to the group they identify with.
4. Authority/Respect: A feeling of reverence for a leader.
5. Purity/Sanctity: An idea that attaches the value of purity and impurity to an entity.
People give varying degrees of importance to these five foundations. As per the present propagation of culture and traditions, we see that those people who thrive for modernism or call themselves progressive, tend to value the first two moral foundations. Whereas staunch Hindus who follow their path with all their seriousness care for all five.
For instance, whenever people express their contempt regarding the violence against the Dalits and Muslims, the first moral foundation comes into play. When the liberals back gay rights, the second foundation is expressed. When we talk about nationalism the third moral value comes into play. When we express our reverence towards Hindutva, it's due to the fourth value of in-group/loyalty. When we talk about banning beef consumption, the fifth value is expressed.
The conclusion to be drawn from this is that due to whatever constraints we migrate to another country, we must not fall prey to Westernization in such a way that we only start prioritizing on the first two moral values and turn a blind eye towards the other three, in order to blend in, gain popularity and look "cool".
Every human makes decisions using these five values, that's why one must know the values that motivate a person's line of thinking. Now, you must be wondering why I should explore these areas, I'd rather have them introduced to my way of life, the advanced, modernized, and progressive one.
Let's counter this with another research that shows that one can't expect a society to flourish by appealing to the goodness of people. This might work in the short run. But at one point, you must introduce a provision for a punishment. Don't worry I am not leading you to the path of extremism, rather the path to slight enlightenment. On connecting the dots you understand that a society can flourish only a little using the first two values. But the other three values are essential to creating a provision of punishment. Let me explain this concept simply using 'The Commons Dilemma', where some scientists gathered a group of volunteers to play a game. Each volunteer was given some money and was asked to chip in as per their wish at the end of each round. The experimenter would double the money and divide it equally among the players. It was observed that after the first round, some players refused to chip in, knowing that the money, even though doubled, would get divided equally among everyone. Ultimately, everyone stopped chipping in, meaning everyone was at loss. Later on, the experimenter introduced a new rule for punishment for those who refused to contribute. Consequently, everyone began to chip in once again.
What people can't assimilate is why these traditions need to get involved in all their day to day activities. People although may have ample time to surf the internet and waste it watching nonsensical reels, but would have a firm stand against joining their hands and to pray for simply 5 minutes. This is a clear depiction of the lack of the In-group/loyalty moral value. This is why they fail to understand the value or importance of all these traditions, hence they refuse to bend their ways or way of thinking, leading to unhealthy arguments, which evidently opens the path for polarization. One might even garner more likes on Twitter as a result, but that comes at a cost of our society's progress.
Prachyam has therefore taken it upon themselves, to provide you with the right tool and guidance to broaden your vision and although this might seem like another Indic blog to you readers, it is of utmost importance that this narrative should win. Why, you say? Well it's because there is a only a slight difference between Mutiny and Revolution, that the ones we lost were labelled as Mutiny and those we won, as people who are trying to bring a revolution. But the truth be told, History is only written by those who win, so let this article sink in to your minds, let this revolution not get lost in this long list of this World's Mutinies . We never know whether we'll win or lose, but you must try to re-kindle the spark of revolution within you, always.