Confederation of village SC/ST organisation: Meeting held on 18.09.2010 at Gingee

“A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.” Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar

THE HINDU VIEW OF LIFE

The Hindus seek comfort in the view that the Hindus have survived and take this as a proof of their fitness to sruvive. This point of view is well expressed by Prof.S.Radhakrishnan in his Hindu View of life. Referring to Hinduism he says,“The civilization itself has not been a short-lived one. It had reached a stage of civilization which has continued it’s unbroken, though at times slow and static, course until the present day. It has stood the stress and strain of more than four or five millenniums of spiritual thought and experience. Though peoples of different races and cultures have been pouring into India from the dawn of History, Hinduism has been able to maintain its supremacy and even the proselytizing creeds backed by political power have not been able to coerce the large majority of Hindus to their views. The Hindu culture possesses some vitality which seems to be denied to some other more forceful currents. It is no more necessary to dissect Hinduism than to open a tree to see whether the sap still runs”. The name of Prof. Radhakrishnan is big enough to invest with profundity whatever he says and impress the minds of his readers. But I must not hesitate to speak out my mind. For, I fear that his statement may become the basis of a vicious argument that the fact of survival is proof of fitness to survive. It seems to me that the question is not whether a community lives or dies; the question is on what plane it lives. There are different modes of survival. But all are not equally honorable. For an individual as well as for a society, there is a gulf between merely living and living worthily. To fight in a battle and to lie in glory is one mode. To bear a retreat, to surrender and to live the life of a captive is also a mode of survival. It is useless for a Hindu to take comfort in the fact that he and his people have survived. I am sure he will cease to take pride in the mere fact of survival. A Hindu’s life has been a life of continuous defeat and what appears to him to be life everlastingly. But is really a life which is perishing everlastingly. It is a mode of survival of which every right-minded Hindu, who is not afraid to own up the truth, will feel ashamed.

Babasheb Dr.B.R.Ambekar writings and speeches, Volume-I-Annihilation of Caste.

Confederation of village SC/ST organisation

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Meeting held on 18.09.2010 at Gingee

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