The challenges of religious debates
Brahmans expressed their anguish on Shriram’s
donating the Dakshina of Bhagvat Pravachan to
Harijan Fund. Pandit Dulichand Shastri was
of the opinion that the offerings received in
temples, shastra pravachans, or katha - kirtans
should be used only in Brahmabhoj (feeding the
Brahmans). Under his leadership, other
Brahmans too started saying that giving the
offerings of Katha Pravachan to sudras (Harijans)
was a sacrilage. Letters of protest started
pouring in the office of ‘Sainik’. Paliwalji
would keep those letters in front of Shriram
and smile. For some time, appropriate answers
were given by Shriram, but the protests
remained unabated. The same contention used
to be repeated in one way or the other.
When the complaints didn’t stop even after
replying personally to all the objections,
Shriram published a small article in ‘Sainik’.
In the same issue, he also published the
contents of eight letters objecting to Bhagvat
Katha. The title of the article, which was
essentially a reply to those letters, was ‘Hari
ko bhajai so hari ka hoi’ (meaning – God loves
those who remember him constantly). Giving
examples from scriptures and the life sketches
of saints, it was established in the article that
- “Caste, color, creed, state of health, lack of
education, etc are no barriers to attain God’s
love. Even the most degraded persons, after
coming to the refuge of God, have attained
salvation. When God’s love can be obtained
by everyone without any hindrance, then a
petty cash received in His name can also be
utilized for the welfare of suppressed sections
of the society. There is nothing bad in it; rather
such utilization of money should be
considered an act of virtue and piety.”
The article written on the basis of examples
from scriptures further annoyed Pandits
Dulichand, Gaurang Sharma and Nalini Gour.
The trio reached the office of ‘Sainik’ and went
straight to Pandit Shriram Sharma and
arrogantly asked – “Have you studied
scriptures at all or just cursorily scanned
them?”
Shriram replied – “Respected Sirs! I have
studied according to my wisdom and
understanding. If I have committed any
mistake, please tell me.” Saying this he folded
his hands in humility. The Pandits considered
this gesture as their ridicule. They became
more arrogant and said – “Young Pandit!
Don’t be so arrogant of your scholarship. If
you are proud of knowledge, then do
Shastrartha (debate on scriptures) with us; and
prove your point in accordance with shastras.”
Shriram got up from his seat and said – “I bow
to your scholarship and age. I have no interest
in shastrartha. I wrote whatever my prudence
thought to be appropriate. If anyone feels it
to be wrong, my apologies to them. I am not
adamant about it.”
Pandits thought that Shriram was shying away
from shastrartha; his study was incomplete and
hence fearing the defeat, he was not accepting
the challenge. Considering this to be their
victory, they burst into loud laughter; and
went back arrogantly, as they had come.
Paliwalji came to know of this incident. He
said – “Shriram! Were you afraid of those
people or didn’t you have sufficient evidence
in favour of what you have written?”
Shriram said – “There was neither fear nor
dearth of evidences; but those people
appeared to be fanatically stubborn. Any
confrontation with them meant unnecessary
tension. I felt they came only for quarreling.
Therefore in order to avoid a worthless
confrontation I begged their pardon.”
Bapu’s example
Paliwalji praised his wisdom. Then he
narrated a similar story of Mahatma Gandhi.
In Allahabad, one Shastriji challenged him. He
started arguing – “Will you make the lower
caste people to wear Yagyopaveet; teach them
Japa of Sandhya - Gayatri?
Bapu replied – “Every person, who has faith
in Veda – Shastras, has the right to wear
Yagyopaveet and do Japa of Sandhya - Gayatri. If
Harijans don’t have the right to wear
Yagyopaveet and do Sandhya - Gayatri; then the
people of other castes too don’t need them.”
On this reply, Shastriji said with the intention
of confrontation – “Do Shastrartha.” In order
to avoid him, Gandhiji said – “There is no
need of it. I accept my defeat in front of you.”
After narrating this incident, Paliwalji said –
“Shriram! Like Bapu you have taken a wise
step.”
In that decade of the thirties, there was a
boom of Shastrarthas. There used to be plenty
of Shastrarthas between the scholars of Sanatan
Dharma and Arya Samaj. The progressive
explanation of the religion and tradition that
was given by Swami Dayanand on the basis
of Vedas, annoyed the orthodox people. Such
people tried to bind Sanatan Dharma in a
narrow definition that was based mainly on
traditions and foolish assumptions. In fact
Sanatan Dharma, in its original form, is quite
inclusive and generous. The truth of the Vedas,
sayings of great men and scholars and the last
but not the least, whatever sparks of thought
are generated in the pure mind of a Sadhak are
considered valid in the exposition of Sanatan
Dharma.
The people, whose selfish interests were hurt
by the religious revolution of Arya Samaj,
made a narrow definition of Sanatan Dharma
simply to protect their self interests. Whenever
the rounds of arguments, debate or
confrontation took place between them and
the volunteers - scholars of Arya Samaj, there
was never any consensus. Instead, the
agitating scenes of heated dispute and conflict
were generated.
Foolish conditions
Several times the conditions to be met for
winning / losing a Shastrartha used to be
foolish. For example, once there was
Shastrartha between Mahatma Vedbhikshu and
Pandit Jagannath in Banaras. It was decided
that the loser would have to shave his head
and, keeping the scriptures involved in the
debate on his head, go to Ganga barefooted.
So far it was tolerable. There was another
incident in which two scholars of Allahabad
were to engage themselves in Shastrartha with
the condition that the winner would be entitled
to marry the daughter of the loser. Both were
married and were almost of the same age.
Whoever would have won, he would have to
marry the daughter of the opponent. This was
equivalent to marrying one’s own daughter!
When this condition became publicly known,
the religious leaders interrupted and
prevented this debate from being held. In
Avantika, the condition of Shastrartha was that
the winner would strike the deity / scripture
of the opponent by shoes. The topic of
Shastrartha was ‘idol–worship’. Sanatan scholar
was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Had he lost he
would have to go to the Shiva temple and
declare his defeat. In the event of Arya Samaj
scholar losing the battle, the same treatment
was to be given to Vedas.
At some point of time, the aim of Shastrartha
would have been genuine. In order to
understand the meaning of a scripture, two
or more scholars would come on the stage.
There used to be intellectually enlightening
debate among them, which cleared the
understanding of participating people. This
process became intense after the rise of Swami
Dayanand; but it continued properly only for
a few decades. Later on it became quarrelsome
and genuine scholars stopped participating.
The answers given in response to the
objections on the program for Harijan
upliftment in the form of an article in ‘Sainik’
were in the form of that kind of healthy
debate. The challenge given by Pandits to
Shriram was the ugly side of Shastrartha. Next
day they sent a message that Shriram should
declare himself defeated in the newspaper.
Shriram refused to oblige. He sent a reply that
he never accepted the challenge and hence
there was no question of winning or losing.
They wrote three – four letters and each time
the reply was sent in the same tone. Finally
they got a pamphlet printed and distributed
from their side. Shriram neither replied to it
nor expressed any reaction to it in the
newspaper or through a separate pamphlet.
Disintegration of Theosophical Society
It was hardly one year since the passing away
of Dr. Annie Besant in 1933 that her institution
– the Theosophical Society started
disintegrating. The way she had
wholeheartedly imbibed Indian religion or the
Sanantan Dharma, no one could challenge her.
At that time two powerful currents of
religious revival were busy cleansing the dirt
and debris of Sanatan Dharma – first
Theosophical Society and second Arya Samaj.
But the alternate definitions of Indian culture
and spirituality that they were propagating
didn’t encompass the total ethos, insights and
perennial message of Indian heritage. Both
the movements considered Veda – Vedang as
the original source of Indian religion, but
neither of them gave recognition to
Avatarhood, idol-worship, devotion,
polytheism, fasting etc. Both movements
opposed casteism, superstition and outmoded
customs. They supported women education
and considered child marriage to be
antireligious. With these healthy reformations,
they also committed one excess. That excess
was in the form of limiting the horizon of
Sanatan Dharma. Theosophical Society was a
movement restricted to scholars. It had no
understanding of the collective psyche of the
masses. Arya Samaj did touch the society
extensively.
Commenting on the philosophies of Arya Samaj
and Theosophical Society, Pandit Sripad Joshi
had written – “The refined form of
Theosophical Society appeared as if Sanatan
Dharma was an Indian version of Christianity.
In the same way, Arya Samaj too appeared to
be very different from prevalent Hinduism.
It is the brave arm and bold face of Indian
religion, but it is not complete in itself.”
Sanatan Dharma that Dr. Annie Besant
supported was essentially an exponent of
Hinduism in its entirety. The discourses on
yoga, bhakti, anushthan, avatar, puja, rebirth, etc
from the mouth of a British woman surprised
not only the Indian scholars but also the
western scholars. That also restored the faith
of many Indians in their hoary spiritual
heritage.
Dr Annie Besant was a famous scholar and an
impressive speaker. She belonged to a very
noble family. Prior to coming to India, she
worked for the Fabian Society – a British
socialist movement. Authors like George
Bernard Shaw were her colleagues. She had
extraordinary command over English. Bernard
Shaw once wrote that there was no person in
England comparable to her in delivering a
poetic speech. In fact, there was no speaker
comparable to her in the whole of Europe. She
was of the view that India possessed enough
wealth of spirituality (in the form of principles
of Sanatan Dharma) that could be shared with
the rest of the world. Once she said – “Sanatan
Dharma is under the clouds of extremism. It
is the Indians who can take up the anushthan
of dispersing these clouds.” At her level, she
also tried to conduct an experiment, but it
failed badly. This failure led to disintegration
of the Theosophical Society. Due to the shock
of this disintegration and also due to her old
age, she finally shed her physical form in 1933.
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