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A Krishna-devotee once asked a Christ-devotee what he thought of the ‘ten thousand wives’ of Krishna. The latter suggested that they must be understood as the ten thousand good qualities that accompanied Krishna. The first man was touched by the absence of criticism and argumentation. It also prevented his going into defensive patterns, and he reciprocated with a secure openness to dialogue about Christ as well as Krishna.
Openness and mutual respect are the hallmarks of the hyper-diverse Indian sub-continent’s prominence. As long as Indians lived with each other, and employed each other, the land prospered with her divinely-endowed natural resources. Some kinds of differentiation naturally occurred between communities, but only where rigid vertical or horizontal boundaries were imagined into existence did it prevent dialogue and mobility based on equality.
Self-appointed priestly classes of all religions invent the symbols and rituals that help them corral their faithful, and perhaps protect their incomes. Efforts to break free of ceremonial fences produced spiritual exploration and the many religions that grew in, or were welcomed into, the South Asian sub-continent. In Vijayanagara (today’s Karnataka), Madhwacharya broke away from the vertical silo of advaita, and Basava discarded the horizontal barriers of caste. Paradoxically, all those who were allowed to dissent remained within the broad bounds of a unifying set of stories and traditions that came to be called ‘Hinduism’ – seemingly stable and eternal.
However, where rigidity was excessive, people left the system altogether, especially those who did not have the caste privilege of the above two saints to dissent. This author’s own faith journey has traversed multiple denominations. The gaps in interpretation under one set of priests were balanced by alternatives that, all taken together, produced a more cogent faith, not loss of faith. Salvation is a gift of God, and its understanding needs permission to disagree, and a diversity of inputs.
If a person’s inputs are not diverse, it can also lead to religious or ethnic tribalism and wrong attitudes to other communities. This, too, cannot lead to salvation of a person, nor prosperity of a nation. Faith must be personal, free of undue priestly domination, thus allowing the nation to be one’s tribe.
As in her past, India’s future depends on her being comfortable with her many religions and the dialogue between them.