ON BEING A HINDU ANYWHERE IN THIS WORLD

Sometimes I did wonder why at school assembly I had to sing hymns in praise of the Lord. 
Praise my soul the king of heaven to his feet my tribute bring,
Ransomed healed restored forgiven (converted another meaning)
Who like me his praise should sing 
Praise him praise him 
Praise him Praise him
Praise the everlasting King......
Then end with prayers
Followed by
Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thine will be done etc etc....
ending with "Through Jesus Christ our Lord."

One day during divinity period ( in my times it was compulsory in our school later non Christians were not required to attend) I questioned my master why is salvation through only Jesus Christ alone? Why not through Mohammed? Or through our Sahastra kote hindu gods? 

The answer was 6 of the best at the end of the DIVINITY period. Mind you normally we used to be caned often in school, but the after divinity class caning's left us whimpering, like suddenly Jesus had blessed the Master with more strength in his Arms. At night we were afraid to show our stinging , red welted backsides to our parents as we were afraid we would be removed from our beloved "Bishops School". 

I am not ashamed to say that at a point in time we started looking down upon Hindu Gods and Goddesses as "what stupidity" How can some body be a vayu Putra (son borne by the wind) Agni Putra (borne of fire) Yet we never questioned and took it as gods own truth that Jesus was born of a Virgin. 

May be Christians know how to convert so smoothly that we never did realize what happened. Though luckily I was of a questioning bent of mind, in fact most of us were, so little damage was done. Yet the maximum damage which occurred was a loss of faith. We became atheists !!!! The author down below has written a very nice article and has subtley conveyed the inner anguish she feels at the situation today. Please do read.

Shared from Facebook.

Written by a lady named "Anurita Anupam" residing in London.

A must read for all INDIANS  : -

I am confused as a Hindu who wants to stay secular and each day this confusion increases……Yes I am born as a Hindu in India , went to a Christian school ….celebrated Diwali at home but Christmas in school with equal fervor. Visit to a Cathedral or hearing Bible verses never instilled any fear that my religion is at stake …because as a Hindu I am supposed to be secular and accept all religions.

In India its fashionable to be a secular Hindu….
But I really wonder aloud today, what would have been the reaction in media and our so called intellectuals if a school run by a Hindu trust or organization had opened a school amongst Christianity dominated area and had sung verses from Gita or Mahabharata!!! All hell would ha ve broken loose for sure.
14 years of education in a Christian run school did not make me a Christian ..I am still a Hindu but I have one more reason in my life to be happy when its Christmas …

As a Hindu if I can handle 33 crores of Gods and deities, I can definitely handle few more Gods and still be a Hindu…I don’t fear ..I am a Hindu …I imbibe ..i don’t run away ….but what am I supposed to do when I see my Muslim and Christian friends refusing Prasad/or rejecting getting a tilak done on their forehead…how many of Muslims and Christians have visited ..Vaishno Devi or Tirupati…

Now …just ask how many Hindus have visited Ajmer Sharif or Deva Shareef or Swarna Mandir or Cathedral. Is so called secularism, has to be only a Hindu’s responsibility !
If India has to be secular then state should not interfere with religion …but then why should my tax money has to go for Haj subsidy ..Is that not a special favour to one religion.This is my question …but as a Hindu am still confused….if just one Haj subsidy allows my Muslim brothers and sisters to be happy then am happy to still let them do it. I would love to hear stories of their trip ….am happy to say “Eid Mubarak”…I don’t fear because I am Hindu .

Why my so called intellectuals never blamed successive governments for allowing such communalism …why they never returned their awards ….
Why St Stefens in Delhi is allowed to give preference only to Christian candidates while hiring ……They exist on a piece of land which belongs to INDIA and not to Hindus, Christians or Muslims …then preference to anybody on the basis of religion is communalism and not secularism.

Why authors and scientists and people like Dibakar Bannerjee never protested against St Stefens ?

Currently am residing in a country which claims with pride that we are a Christian nation and the world media doesn’t target it at all. Britain easily refuses permission to create a Mosque higher than St Paul's Cathedral… A Mosque which will be built by their own citizens living and working in this country, but BBC doesn’t run a documentary on the plight of Muslims being tortured and not given equal rights in Britain !! They don’t get a lecture from Obama to embrace secularism as yet!!
However , in India I still don’t support demolishing a Mosque which was built by an Invader !! A nation with 80% of its population as Hindus has taken more than 60 years to built a Temple for their deity. As a Hindu I would still support a Temple and a Mosque together there …..rather than just a Temple …I don’t boast my religion ….. and I Don’t believe that I am the best…I believe that all are equal for I am a Hindu.

If my son has to marry a Christian girl tomorrow ..I will not ask the girl to convert…I have no such concept ..but my son will have to convert to Christianity just to marry the girl of his dreams ….is that not communalism which is openly being practiced by minorities in India ….!! If inter-caste marriages are supported then why not inter-religion ……let there be true secularism in India …..and not this blurred version of secularism, created by pseudo –intellectuals !!

I have no award to be given back …no talent to make a documentary or debate the issue on a TV channel. But my belief that God is one and all religions should be respected gets shaken everyday in my Mind….As a Hindu …am I being taught to stay oppressed in India ? Is that secularism??

I am a woman, a Hindu woman, who wants to teach her son to respect all religions …and want to tell him that if you light a candle in a Church, bow your head in a Mosque, do seva in a Gurudwara…. You will not cease to be Hindu …….for you are a Hindu and always will be a Hindu .You will never learn to fear .

Yes I am…… confused …..but I still don’t fear for I am a Hindu .I will not eat Beef but will not support a ban on it !! but please don’t mock my religious feeling by doing a Beef –Party just to mock me !! at least that much I can expect .

If you want to return your award then return it and say that you‘ll accept it back only when beef –ban is removed, haj subsidy is stopped, polygamy among muslims to be declared illegal, no special reservations for any minority in their institutions ...., triple Talaq to be stopped and no compulsion of change of religion in inter –religion marriages !!