IT is utterly sickening that a columnist in Kaieteur News recently made a very bigoted and disparaging statement, implying that ancient Hindu scripts denigrate dark-skinned people and Africans. This is most reprehensible and nothing can be further from the truth. This was exactly the modus operandi of some of the early Indologists and missionaries hired by the East Indian Company who wrote scathing essays on the Bhagavad Gita, but who actually never read this supremely universal text. There has been a long tradition to misconstrue, subvert, and demonise Hinduism, its tradition and culture, and as it has failed miserably in the past, so it will continue to fail in the future.

The ideas and messages enshrined in the scriptures of the oldest civilisation in the world have stood the test of time because they are essentially timeless and appeal to the highest and noblest aspirations of man.
The word ‘Hindu’ occurs nowhere in the classical scriptures of Hinduism. It is derived from the word Sindhu, which is the name of a major river that flows in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The ancient Greeks and Armenians used to refer to the people living beyond the river Sindhu as Hindus and gradually the name stuck.
The more apt and proper description is Dharma or Sanatan Dharma. There is no English word that can convey the real purport of what is really Dharma; the closest representation of what it means can be expressed in terms of duty, path of moral or righteous conduct, that which maintains, sustains and hold, the fixed unchanging universal law/principle, etc. But Dharma is beyond mere righteous conduct; it is the art of living to realise our essential nature which is SAT, CHIT, ANANDA (Truth, Consciousness and Bliss). The classical Hindu texts from the 4 Vedas, the 108 Upanishads, the Vedanta Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, the Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), the Itihasas and Puranas (histories) to the Dharma Sastras (law books), directly or indirectly, exhort us to realise the Self (the Atma), our real identity as distinct from the body, the mind, ego and intellect. That Self (Atma) is the same in all beings, regardless of race, colour, religion, social status, etc. The Mundaka Upanishad expresses this beautifully: “Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart/Everything that moves, breathes, opens and closes lives in the Self/He is the source of love/And may be known by love but not through thought/He is the goal of life/Attain this goal”.
A seeker on this path sees no one as inferior or superior, demolishes all distinctions of race and colour, and loves all beings [and not limited to humanity alone] with pure, unconditional love. In the Yajur Veda it is written: “The one who loves all intensely begins perceiving in all beings a part of himself/He becomes a lover of all/A part and parcel of the Universal joy/He flows with the stream of happiness and is enriched by each soul.”
The sacred texts of Sanatan Dharma are the greatest gifts to humanity. They free the mind from fears and ignorance; provide a radical solution to all of life’s problems, and the attainment of complete freedom, peace and bliss. They are anchored in the perennial quest for the truth and nothing but the truth, and completely dismissive of all narrow sectarian concerns and tribalism. They offer the real antidote to fanaticism and the fanatic spirit itself, which is wrecking so much havoc on our fair world today. The philosophy is grand and universal and embraces the essential unity and brotherhood of all mankind. If this were not so, the great American philosopher and critic, Henry David Thoreau, would not have written thus: “In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems so puny and trivial.”

The ancient texts mentioned a Varna System based on the innate tendencies, temperaments, karmas, and attributes of people, (but not on their birth), which exists all over the world and which is essential for social cohesion and growth. This has nothing to do with the caste system.

It is a great myth to say that the caste system is an intrinsic part of Hinduism. This myth is believed by corrupted elements within Hinduism and is also propagated by elements outside Hinduism with the mischievous intent of proselytising. The degeneration and corruption of the Varna System into the oppressive caste system was the work of evil-minded people with vested interests, who crushed all norms of human behaviour and human fellowship and distanced man from man. The foreign invaders of India took advantage of this and corrupted it even more (most notorious being the British) to maintain their stronghold over the people. Spirituality has absolutely nothing to do with fair colour or dark colour; it is the colour of our thoughts, the colour of our heart and mind and our consciousness that matters; these were the ideas and issues discussed in these ancient texts. The ancient seers who lived the message enshrined in these texts had tremendous compassion for all beings; their love was universal and their mission was always the enlightenment and redemption of mankind. That same spirit was echoed by the great poet, philosopher and spiritual master, Rabindranath Tagore who wrote: “The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.”
I would also like to end this letter by leaving readers with the following words from Sir Arnold Toynbee (British historian; 1889-1975): “At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together into a single family.”

CECIL RAMKIRATH