(Video) How Narendra Modi's Ram Temple Gamble Boomeranged. Sort of.

The occasion was supposed to cement the Hindu faithfuls around a single god. It is set to expose the deep faultline within the religious right in India instead.

Well, here it is. My first video with English subtitle. The thumbnail says: Why are the Shankaracharyas confronting Modi?

This explains how the four top religious leaders in Hinduism have chosen to counter the Modi governments’ brazen attempt at politicizing the Hindu faith around the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya where Babari Mosque once stood. The event is set for tomorrow, January the 22nd.

I strongly recommend you watch this for the sheer visual appeal of the footage I have used. And also, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL for regular such videos. For those who enjoy reading, English transcript follows the video.

Transcript.

Recently, a person used derogatory adjectives meaning 'ignorant' and 'wisdom-less' for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The then leader of the Indian National Congress and former member of the National Assembly, Mani Shankar Aiyar, faced suspension from his own party after criticizing Modi in December 2017, using the term 'low' when referring to him.

In April 2019, during an election speech, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi questioned, "How are all these thieves named Modi Modi Modi?"

For these comments, he was sentenced to two years in prison by a Gujarat court. 

However, this time, someone has accused him not only of being 'wisdom-less' but also of saving a terrorist from being arrested. How did such an atmosphere arise? What will happen to the person who criticizes Modi like this now? How does this controversy relate to today's Indian politics?

In the quest to find answers to these questions, I welcome you on today's journey of awareness (Bodh). I am here to engage in a dialogue (Varta) with you in this journey.

In the previous issue of this series, I said that I would next start discussion on the role of faith in the founding of modern India. However, due to the unfolding events, I am now present with this special issue of Bodh Varta.

This story begins with the date set for the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The temple is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will oversee the consecration ceremony of the idol named 'Prana-Pratishtha' in the temple.

In the ceremony, representatives from the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who have played active roles in the construction of the Ram Temple will be there. So will be Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, along with top officials. 

Renowned Bollywood artists are also participating in the program. Indian television channels have been continuously promoting the program as 'grand and divine,' claiming that invitations have been sent to thousands of people.

Amid this, news has broken that the four Shankaracharyas, arguably the highest religious leaders in Hinduism are going to skip the program. These Shankaracharyas are considered the successors of the 8th century spiritual leader Adi Shankaracharya who is credited for revitalizing the Vedanta philosophy in the Indian subcontinent. 

Among them, Swami Nishchalananand Saraswati, a Shankaracharya from Puri, expressed his views on Narendra Modi in a video, calling him 'unintelligent' and 'lacking wisdom.'

Until now, all four Shankaracharyas have not given a common statement.  Not all of them are equally confrontational towards the Indian government and the chief of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, Chhampat Rai, who is also the vice president of the VHP.

However, the common concern is that the temple is still incomplete, nearly two years away from completion. Therefore, the consecration ceremony is not scripturally justified. They have questioned: why not consecrate the temple after completion in a year or so? They have also insisted that the whole program be held according to the instructions in the scriptures.

They (the Shankaracharyas) have implicitly expressed their main concern over the politicization of the religious event by the ruling party in India for the gain in the upcoming elections in April.

There is one more dimension of this polarization. Congress party refused to participate in the event, claiming it was politically motivated. In response, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Congress of being anti-Hindu or anti-Hinduism. When the Shankaracharyas also refused to participate in the event, Congress found an opportunity to hit back: Are they too anti-Hindu?

Notably, the controversy extends beyond the concerns of the Shankaracharyas. In one video from the media portal LallanTop, two Hindu 'saints' in Ayodhya are seen engaging in a heated debate stooping very low in an attempt to make their point. 

If you want to know the details of the objections by the four Shankaracharyas, please read this article in a pro-Hindutva portal. This also explores the opinions of Shankaracharyas on the caste system and social order.

Now let's briefly discuss the implications of this debate for the ongoing politics of religion or faith in India.

When the controversy with the Shankaracharyas began, Champat Rai, the Chief of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra stated that as the temple belonged to the Ramananda sect of Hinduism, Shankaracharyas skipping the event will have little meaning.

The Shankaracharya of Joshi Math sharply rebukes him like this: why not transfer ownership of the temple to that sect then?

 In the same interview with ABP Television, he has also mentioned that not only the highest ascetics of the Ramananda community have not been actively involved in the construction process of the Ram Temple, they have not even been invited to the inauguration ceremony.

This dispute has highlighted the facet of pluralism inherent to Hinduism. In contrast, the agenda of organizing the entire Hindu community around the construction of the Ram Temple was initially aimed at homogenizing the faithful around one icon of Ram.

In this context, Shankaracharya Abhimuktananda Saraswati of Joshimath, who is known for his outspoken views, recently discussed the intersection of religion and politics on the ABP television channel. 

There emphasizes the connection between religion and politics in the Indian context saying: The Hindu faith has survived the thousand years long onslaught from outside becaue the faith was separate from political power. The day you invest divine power in a ruler, the faith dies the day the ruler dies and people are forced to adopt the faith of the new ruler.

This is the exact point the opponents of India's ruling BJP and its ideological parent RSS have been trying to make for decades: Do not mix politics with faith.

In the contrary, Champat Rai, the man who oversaw the construction of the Ram Mandir, just went on to proclaim the Indian PM Modi as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Shoaib Daniyal in Scroll.in, an independent news portal among the few that survive in India today aptly says this:

Hindutva is often described as a conservative ideology. In fact, that is how it would like to portray itself, drawing strength from an identity that constitutes both India’s majority as well as its elite. However, as the Ram temple shows, it is more complicated than that. Hindutva is also a modern, political ideology. If faith clashes with politics, the BJP is likely to choose the latter.

He writes: The BJP has to win over millions of Hindus, across castes, to come to power. This is often in opposition to actual Hindu conservatives who would want to uphold an older, stricter form of caste hierarchy and segregation.

The extent to which this hierarchy and segregation is scripturally supported is something I briefly commented on in the previous video: the Upanishads, central to non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy that transcends caste-based or any other form of discrimination, are the central plank of Eastern philosophy unlike the Puranas which say otherwise.

Therefore, this controversy has made me ponder a few things. It is now seemingly impossible to meaningfully challenge the ironclad political machinery built by Indian PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.  Things are so grim, even the opposition party is forced to suspend its own partyman for criticizing the PM. 

In such a backdrop, one Shankaracharya labelling Modi 'wisdom-less' and the two including him openly criticizing the latter provides us a rare window of opportunity to gaze at the state of politics of faith in India today.

When you look through that window, in one side, you see politicians in India who have been aspiring to rule the political stage for decades to come by claiming to protect the Hindu faith. They are more than eager to weaponize faith for the electoral politics.

On the other hand, there are Shankaracharyas who are supposed to advance the legacy of Advaita Vedanta but in practice overlook the central egalitarian Advait tenet of the philosophy and the all-pervasiveness of the indivisible 'Bramha' and engage in scriptural interpretations that contribute to caste-based hierarchy and stratification.

Therefore, questions about the outcome of the upcoming elections in India and whether Narendra Modi will continue to govern there seem secondary to me. What matters is our failure to understand and practice the Advait philosophy.

In all this, I see lessons for those in Nepal who are impatiently advocating for a Hindu Rastra or Hindu Nation: when an individual's private affair like faith is contaminated by politics, all the corruption and depredations of politics inevitably follow their way to the faith.

Just as the current Secretary-General of the Hindu Mahasabha, Devendra Pandey, has made the accusations that a sum of 14 billion Rupees has been embezzled in the construction of Ram temple. 

Just as the supporters of BJP and Narendra Modi are now raining abuses and insults towards the Shankaracharyas.

As if that were not enough, Aalok Kumar, the leader of VHP has gone as far as claiming that the opposition parties will lose the 'Core Hindu support' for skipping the inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya.

After discussing these issues, I would like to ask the viewers: regardless of the political views, if you practice faith as a way to liberation, how do you feel about all this politicization of faith and the mudslinging among the faithfuls?

Whether you have read, heard, or watched Ramayana and Mahabharata, those works might have inspired you, instilling reverence for the characters and faith in the process. That is perfectly fine.

Even in today's world, the number of people who do not believe in religion is very small, faith remains an indomitable aspect of human life. Despite the progress made by science, the importance of faith and spirituality in human society persists.

However, how do you feel when someone alleges that Bhagwan (God) Ram's temple construction involved corruption and embezzlement; and that cheap vote-bank politics was exercised during the construction and inauguration of the temple?

How do you feel about the abuses and insults against the Shankaracharyas and the petty politics of even creating fake Shankaracharyas?

In the end of this video, I will reiterate a quote from Swami Abhimukteshwarananda, a prominent Shankaracharya of Joshimath:

"In history, when a ruler became a religious figure, the era of religion ended with his reign's end. A new ruler comes, and a new faith imposes itself.'' History is witness to the horrific violence that accompanies the process.

For this, look no further than the medieval empires in Europe, Arabia, and Africa. In the first video of this series, I have briefly explained how that dynamics shapes the world even today.

Where faith belonged to the people and the politics to the state, the invaders came and conquered political power but the faith survived. The gruesome violence like the one during the Crusades did not have to take place.

I think this is the important lesson that we should draw about the politics of faith today.

The fundamental point I have understood in this entire controversy is this: whether it is the Indian  political establishment led by Narendra Modi or the religious establishment led by Shankaracharyas, in the arguments of both sides, there is only the influence of the faith-based 'dwait' or the dualistic philosophy. 

There all you will find is devotion and rituals. The division between big and small. Self and others. Temple and devotees. Real and fake rituals. Human and God. For and against. 

Just like among the people with the dualistic faiths in the West, where the division leads to politicization of the faith, people in the East are also ramming politics into faith.

While the Vedanta, the core of Eastern Philosophy, states that nothing other than the 'Bramha' is true in the universe. Not the divisions and classifications. Not even between god and humans. There is no self and other.

The day we in the East grasp the wisdom of this home-grown philosophy and prioritize knowledge over belief in our spiritual lives, faith will no longer be weaponized for murky political ends. We won't have to hear that someone has embezzled billions in the name of our faith.

Likely, I will continue this discussion of politics around the Ram Temple in the coming episode of Bodh Varta. After that, we will move back to our scheduled inquiry in the role of faith-based politics in the founding of Modern India.

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