Dalits must be welcomed into the most sacred temples
The Times of India reports that hundreds of "upper caste" families are observing satyagraha and priests have left the temples in protest against Dalits being allowed to enter the sacred temple of Lord Jagannath in Orissa.
This conduct by these "upper caste" Hindus is in direct contravention of the basic tenets of Hinduism as laid out in the Vedas and Upanishads, and as articulated by the highest and most learned Hindu religious leaders such as the Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Veer Savarkar, and Ramkrishna Paramhamsa.
I sincerely urge the "upper caste" families concerned to invite the Dalits into the temple of Lord Jagannath and make them feel welcome. They are as much the beloved children of Lord Krishna as is anybody else on this universe. Anyone who prevents a child of Lord Krishna from entering Krishna's temple is a sinner. A thousand years of ignorance caused by the Dark Ages of Medieval Islamic rule over India and the active Casteist Divide and Rule policies adopted by the Muslim and British rulers has given rise to the evil of hereditary Casteism in Hindu society. It is now time to rise above it and become once again the one family that the Vedas say we are.
Discrimination by "upper castes" against "lower castes" such as this temple episode, and revenge by the lower castes in the form of Casteist discriminatory policies such as SC/ST/OBC Reservations constitute the fundamental enemies of Hinduism. Any Hindu who participates in such Casteist discrimination against his/her own Hindu brothers and sisters is an enemy of Hinduism and of all Hindus.
It is only ignorance that causes us to participate in these evils; ignorance caused by a thousand years of Islamic and British Casteism to keep us divided and to rule over us.
But now that we are free, we have no excuse to continue with hereditary Casteism and discrimination.
Remember that Dasyu Ratnakar became Rishi Valmiki. The father-less Satyakam, bastard son of unmarried Jabala, became a Brahmin. Casteism was nener meant to be hereditary.
Manu never intended us to discriminate against and mistreat each other based on Caste.
Lord Krishna does not care about the Caste of his children. Those "upper caste" families who are thinking they are doing Lord Krishna a service by keeping Dalits out and his temple clean and pure, are actually guilty of mistreating Lord Krishna's own children.
Can a father be happy when one of his sons prevents the other from entering his house to meet his father ?
"Upper caste" families mistreating Dalits our of ignorance are committing a terrible sin, and the punishment can be the destruction of Hinduism in India. Just like Hinduism was destroyed in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir.
Those who engage in Casteist discrimination and mistreatment strengthen the hands of the enemies of Hinduism. Those who prevent the children of Krishna from entering his temple offend Lord Krishna most terribly.
Sins are no less punishable if conducted through ignorance. Ignorance itself is a sin.
Coming soon after recent reports of Congress distributing arms to Dalits in Congress-ruled Maharashtra, and soon after, numerous co-ordinated desecrations of Ambedkar statues by unknown miscreants in various far-flung parts of India in the same week and many on the same night, and then the resulting Dalit Casteist violence in Congress-ruled Maharashta to protest the desecrations, this temple "satyagraha" might be yet another attempt by the Congress Party to create Casteist tensions among Hindus. The "upper caste" families on satyagraha against Dalits might be innocent pawns being encouraged from behind the scenes by the local Congress party cadre. That still would not reduce the culpability of the protesting "upper caste" families though. Lord Krishna will not forgive them for being so stupid as to play into the hands of a well-known evil-doer like Antonia Maino (who calls herself Sonia Gandhi; the Bofors scam and organizing the "accidents" that killed her rising rivals Rajesh Pilot and Madhav Rao Scindia being among her major achievements).
Is all this part of Antonia Maino's master plan to destroy Hinduism ?
The Times of India reports:
Upper castes on strike against Dalits in temple
[17 Dec, 2006 0030hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK]
BHUBANESWAR: Angry over Dalits being allowed into the 300-year-old Jagannath temple in Kendrapada district, upper caste residents of a hamlet of 1,400 families on Saturday resorted to 'satyagraha'.
The district administration has sought three more armed police platoons in the coastal village to prevent any violence, even as over 1,000 people, including women and children, sat on hungerstrike in front of the shrine, where no puja has been offered for the last three days.
Dalits had entered the temple with police protection on Thursday. In a letter to the Kendrapada DGP, district collector Kashinath Sahoo said the situation at the village remains "very tense" and violence may erupt anytime as the upper caste people have refused to accept the Dalits' entry into the temple. There are 400 Dalit families in the village.
District authorities have also urged the government to ask the endowment commission to intervene as no rituals have been performed in the shrine for the last three days. "Once rituals are conducted smoothly, normalcy will easily be restored in the locality," said a senior officer.
The situation in Keredagada village remained tense as housewives stopped cooking and children stopped attending classes even though schools were open. Instead, children gathered near the temple and raised anti-administration slogans with their parents.
The protestors blamed the administration and Dalit leaders for the situation. "So-called Dalit leaders from Bhubaneswar instigated Dalits here to break the century-old tradition," alleged Suren Swain, an upper caste resident of Keredagada village.
Almost all the priests have gone into hiding. "We will not go to the temple until it is purified through chanting of mantras," said Narahari Pani, a local Brahmin.
Meanwhile, Ambedkar Lohia Vichar Manch, which has been fighting for Dalits, on Saturday asked the state government to immediately open the temple gates. In a letter to home secretary T K Mishra, the group also demanded that members of Keredagada Jagannath Temple Trust Board be sacked.
They cautioned the state government that Dalit families in Raj Nagar area in Kendrapada district were no longer safe.
posted by Harsh Vardhan @ 12:50 pm
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5 Comments:
Hello boss!
First I am not a Brahmin ok..
You are shortsighted in so many counts so I think you must be a so called Indian High Caste..
You seem to blame the behaviour of Jagganath priests on Congress, then blame sonia for destruction of hinduism.
Come to your senses ok.. You high caste brahmin people have problems in attitude towards dalits etc.. Accept that first then only you can think of solution.
If your hinduism has disappeared in most places then it will also happen naturally in india too don't blame sonia for this.
Your high caste people think that you are soo intelligent and you tend to find reasons behind each and every event and don't look down on your own selfish intentions.
You claim that local congress is behind jagganath events and high caste priests are so naive to accept the lessons of local congress. What an immagination so if the local congress person preach them to convert to Islam then according to your logic then the priest will be the first to convert.
You can moderate this blog and not publish it like your brothers of Puri Jagganath.
Firstly, I am not your "boss". So stop sounding like a Mumbai gangboy.
Secondly, you seem to be a narrow-minded Casteist moron. Try to meet people from other Castes and broaden your mind.
Thirdly, try to develop some writing skills. In your comment all you have done is to abuse me. You have not presented a single fact in support of any of your allegations.
Fourthly, when you abuse me like you have, consider leaving your name. Only cowards sling mudballs from anonymity.
Harsh
hi Harsh,
Even I remember one incident when one of my friend from ( from south america) visit the Jagannath Temple just to appreciate the beauty of 'Lord Krishna'..priest scolded on him with the tag 'Maliksha'.
I was surprised that in which time we are living.
Somehow he managed to get a darshan there with help of some local people he knew...but from deep insight he was thinking of not going to any temple.
Hi Pradeep,
Thanks for mentioning this. This is indeed sad.
In my opinion, this is a result of 1000 years of slavery oppression and mistreatment by foreigners faced by the people of India.
It is therefore natural that common people of India look upon foreigners with suspicion. They don't know who is from South America and who is a racist grandson of General Dwyer (Jallianwalla Bagh mass-murderer) from Britain, do they ? Please ask your friend to understand.
Time will solve the problem.
Dalits are not foreigners, so mistreating them is a different matter altogether.
Harsh
yupp..that us quite ethinic in nature..
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