A WIDE CANVAS
ARE HINDU MUTTS RELEVANT?
Every sect of Hindus has its own Mutts, presided over by a Pontiff or Acharya. Their main job is to keep the flame of knowledge and practice of their traditions alive. Our Hindu system is such that none of them has the power to alter anything, so they keep repeating the old teaching and assume everything is just fine.
Mutts and modern times
If one observes carefully, thinks deeply and reflects honestly, one cannot fail to notice that traditional practices have been given up substantially- Consider for instance:
- Upanayanam is not performed at the right age and it is not followed by Vedic learning. Middle and upper class children, who attend regular schools, have no exposure to Vedic learning at all.
- Marriage is not conducted at the right age, especially for girls
- The marriage ceremony is conducted routinely, perfunctorily and all ceremonies compressed into about 3 hours.There is much ostentation not connected to the religious injunctions.
- Married people do not follow the so called grihasta dharma.
- Girls routinely take up jobs and careers after education, married or not.
- Brahmin youngsters routinely go abroad for job, if they can.
- Youngsters after marriage do not live with parents, not do they take care of them in old age; in some cases, they may be useful as baby-sitters; otherwise they are not an integral part of the family.
- Youngsters, boys or girls, do not even wear traditional Hindu dress, even at home.
I am keeping mainly Brahmin families in mind, as it is they who mainly claim to follow the Mutts..
All these are against the traditional instructions. Kanchi Paramacharya was the last big Acharya to talk about these matters openly, but even he gave up such talks after he gave up administration of the Mutt. Mutts have been unable improve matters.
My purpose here is not to imply that people are wrong. It is just to show that the spirit of the times has overpowered and overtaken us. A time has come when it is impossible for a Brahmin to live in the prescribed way. For example, he has to take up jobs or occupations which are not proper for him, if one goes strictly by the sastra. Role of women in families is fast changing.
Times have changed, but not the sastra; in our system, the sastra cannot change! So, the Mutts are powerless: the cat has closed its eyes ! They simply have to acquiesce. This is a problem faced by all traditional religious organisations like the Catholic Church in a fast-changing social milieu.I have friends from pious Catholic families who too feel the change of times. They say attending the 'mass' does not have the same effect on them as it did say, 20 years ago.
It is not that Hinduism has not understood or anticipated this and prescribed a solution. It is just that the traditional Mutts have not integrated it in their teaching.
Muslim Rule and the Mutts
Kashi Vishvanath Temple destroyed and converted into a mosque
The big change in India occurred after the Muslim invasion, when the small , independent Hindu kingdoms in Rajasthan , Punjab, Kannauj, etc fell . Though the Muslims could not conquer and hold all of India at any one time, they did establish pockets of power and under the Mughals controlled most of India. Lot of conversions took place during the Muslim rule. What could the Mutts do in those times?
Kutub Minar was constructed out of materials from destroyed Hindu and Jain temples from Pithorgadh, the capital of Prithviraj Chauhan, the last Hindu king of Delhi.
Pictures taken from various Web sites.
Vidyaranya, the Pontiff of the Sringeri Mutt was instrumental in the establishment of Vijaynagar kingdom, which stemmed the further expansion of the Muslim rule in the South for two centuries; after its fall to the Deccan Muslims, Maratha power rose for another century and a half; when it fell, power passed on to the British. During the Muslim rule, all the areas in which our Mutts were operating were under Muslim rule! In fact, the Kanchi Mutt had to shift from Kanchi, where it was not safe under the Nawabs of Arcot, and had to go to Kumbakonam, under the limited protection of the Tanjore kings. So, the orthodox Mutts could not do much for the people, when they were themselves fighting for their existence! The greatest disconnect happened between the common people and Hindu religious leaders at this time.
Saints Takeover!
But God did not abandon us. Almost right from the days of Muslim invasion, Saints started appearing all over the country especially where Muslim rule was intense and protected the Hindus- especially the common man!. Just see the names and areas of the saints!
Jnaneswar 1275 -1296 Maratha
Namdev 1270- 1350
Ramanand 1299 -1410
Narsinh Mehta 1414- 1481
Purandaradasa 1484- 1564
ChaitanyaMahaprabhu 1486 -1534
Mira Bai 1498 -1557
Tulsidas 1497 -1623
Tukaram 1577 - 1650
Samartha Ramdas 1609 -1681
Bhadrachala Ramdas 1620 -1680
Sadashiva Brahmendra 17th Century
Bodhendra d.1692
Sridhara Ayyaval 1635-1720
Narayaana Tirtha 1650-1745
Sri Tyagaraja 1767-1847
There have been many others like Jayadeva, Pothana, Vemana, Arunagirinatha,etc. I have not taken into account the earlier Saivite and Vaishnavite saints. I have concentrated mainly on the Mulsim period to show how it is these saints, not connected with any mutts who helped the common man face the conditions of Muslim rule. It will be interesting to know, from their records,what the Mutts did during this period. We simply do not know.
3 Factors saving Hindus
I want to point out 3 important factors which saved Hindus then in the South.
1. The work of the Madhwa Saints/Acharyas.
2 The work of Samartha Ramdas
3. The work of Bodhendra.
During the period when Muslim rule was disrupting the Hindu dharma, several Saints/Acharyas appeared in the Deccan region. They went round the country and spread Bhakti among the common people through Sankirtana.
From www,veethi.com
Vyasaraja(1460-1539) the Madhwa seer was close to Krishnadeva Raya (1471-1529). He travelled the country and installed 732 images of Hanuman in the South ( the present states of Andhra, Telengana, Karnataka and Tamil Nad) for the common people to rally round and worship. It may be noted that Hanuman is the darling of all sects of Hindus, and his worship is simple. He entrusted many of these images to the care of non-Brahmins. Thus he found an effective way of uniting people! Why 732? There are some theories, but they are not relevant. Vyasaraya was the guru of Purandaradasa.
All the images installed by him are of the same type.
By YonMan 33 (Own Work)
CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons.
Most educated Indians today do not have an idea how Vijayanagar empire saved South India from the kind of ravages that the North suffered. But Vijaynagar fell, in 1565 in saving the South.
CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons.
Most educated Indians today do not have an idea how Vijayanagar empire saved South India from the kind of ravages that the North suffered. But Vijaynagar fell, in 1565 in saving the South.
The Marathas flourished from 1674 to 1818.At its peak, it controlled most of India (the yellow portion in the map) The others in the south and other areas were their vassals.
The linguistic states in India have made people totally ignorant of what Vijaynagar and Maratha empires contributed to saving Hinduism from the Muslim rulers. By the time Marathas fell, the English had taken over. Thereafter, the threat to Hinduism was more subtle and indirect,but even more pervasive and powerful than before, the effects of which we still suffer!
The power behind Shivaji (1627-1680) was Samartha Ramadas (1608-1681). Before Shivaji rose to power, the Muslim rulers had not only destroyed Hindu temples, but also stipulated that no new temples should be built or renovated. Samartha Ramdas outwitted them by establishing his Bhajan centres where he installed Rama and Hanuman and this movement caught on among the common people who rallied behind Shivaji in establishing Swaraj.
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Samartha Ramdas Maharaj
Lord Hanuman installed by Samartha Ramdas at Varanasi.
BY Kalyandasdomgaon (Own Work)
CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative Commons.
Is there any special reason why Hanuman was chosen by Vyasaraja, a Madhwa saint, and Samartha Ramdas, an Advaita saint? Well , it is that our God is one- it is foolish people who imagine differences! If God does not unite us, is he God, and who else will? Hanuman is dear to all of us! Hanuman symbolises victory over all odds, all obstacles! Both these saints advocated simple devotion for the common man.
This is also what Sri Bodhendra, the 59th pontiff of the Kanchi Mutt (1638-1692) stressed. He had travelled in the North and saw the suffering of Hindus under Muslim rule. He found that it was becoming impossible to observe all the sastric injunctions. But being a Pontiff of a Mutt, he could not take liberties. So he studied our Sastras thoroughly and found out that the Sastras themselves had anticipated the hard days in the Kaliyuga, and prescribed a remedy: that was to chant the names of God.As the popular saying goes:
Kali kalmasha chittanaam
Paapadravya jeevinaam
Vidhi karma viheenaanaam
Gati: Govinda Kirtanam.
In the Kali age, people's minds are polluted, their means of livelihood are tainted, their rituals do not follow Sastric injunctions; the only way is to chant the names of the Lord (Govinda).
Though he was the pontiff of the Mutt, he spent his days in spreading Nama siddhanta, and laid a strong theoretical foundation by writing authoritative texts based entirely on our Scriptures, right from the Veda onwards.
Thus we see that in the days of Muslim trouble, it is not the regular Mutts which helped the people in general, but only the saints who advocated devotion, not rituals!
As I have shown earlier, the British approach to destroy Hinduism was subtle and cunning: through administration, education and encouragement to the Christian missionary work. Outwardly, they did not interfere with our religion, but in all other possible ways, they made deviation from our religion both attractive and profitable! Since we had lost economic independence , and had to depend on paid employment, our religion gradually lost hold. We are still Hindus, but not in the old way.
This was recognised by Sri Ramakrishna! He clearly said that conditions were not suitable for the way of Karma ( which meant Vedic karma); people were not fit for the path of Jnana; so devotion was the only possible solution. 'The path of Bhakti as shown by Narada is the only suitable path for our age' was his prescription.
Sri Ramakrishna in Bhava Samadhi in the house of Brahmo Samaj leader Keshab Chandra Sen- 1879.
Though all our Mutts accept devotion as one of the ways, they do not yet advocate it as the main means.
The mutts are seen mainly as the mouthpiece of the Brahmins, especially in the south.I see the Mutts have failed in the following ways:
- they are still divided into sects,each talking of its own glory in splendid isolation; have no overarching arrangement to make Hindus realise their basic unity
- they have not made any effort to promote education among Hindus, combining Indian genius with the western elements, which cannot be ignored now.
- they have not understood the global threat to Hinduism and made efforts to counter them.
- they have ignored the organised action from Islam and Christianity and have done nothing to counter them among the targeted groups.
At the same time, the modern gurus with their magnificent ashrams have damaged the Hindu cause by 1. Talking indiscriminately about Vedanta, as if it is easy for every one and 2. By talking things like 'all religions are true' etc- even when no other religion has accepted that stand. Even Ramakrishna Math is guilty of this blunder. After all, they have their eyes on international following! They have all global vision, and what happens to Hindus in India is not their concern!
The Mutts will have to reinvent themselves to acquire contemporary relevance. But the problem is that Hindu life is not organised around or integrated with the Mutts! We venerate gurus and acharyas, but there is no sastric injunction about compulsory affiliation to Mutts. It only seems to be a convention! Let us think about it.
Note:
The Mutts face a basic irreconcilable problem: how to face modernity, which they cannot avoid, with traditional teachings- sastra- which they cannot alter!
This has resulted in absurd situations. People have given up many aspects of Achara/dharma. The Mutts cannot stem this rot. They merely witness. The traditional view is that the Veda/Upanishad cannot be printed, but many foreigners are freely translating them and publishing them with their own strange interpretations which get very wide circulation in the world, and the Mutts cannot counter this! No Mutt has even published an authoritative version of our scriptures and other sacred books.
Kanchi Paramacharya is the one who, over a period of 60 years, explained all aspects of our traditional religion, compiled into 8 volumes.. But the basic theme running through it all is that Brahmins abandoned their traditional dharma and therefore society has deteriorated. (This idea is reflected in the Tirukkural 134) We can understand if a few families here and there abandon their dharma; but how to account for the wholesale displacement and disappearance of Agraharas, especially in Tamil Nadu? Village after village has been vacated, most temples in the villages are without regular worship and patronage. People can contribute money and renovate it; but who will maintain it thereafter, in the absence of a regular local community?
This is a universal phenomenon: in the West we see churches getting abandoned. Our ideas about life and the traditional support base have changed. Till about 70 years ago ( the first tenancy reforms in the old Madras state), the brahmin community was mainly rural, surviving on the basis of an age-old system of mutual obligations. Since then large scale, drastic and simultaneous changes in political, economic and social systems have completely altered the contours of modern life. No one can be singled out for blame. Are the brahmins the cause, or the victims?
The Acharya also stressed simple living,austerity, reducing material wants, etc.- something stressed by Gandhiji too. These are fine, and necessary. But none today can escape the sweep of modern technology which is making life complicated. Some powerful universal force is at work. None has understood it so far.
However, there are many thinking persons, not Hindus, who advocate a return to simplicity- as in such movements as 'Voluntary Simplicity'.
What the Hindu religion advocated has become an economic necessity today. But the world is not listening.
Note:
The Mutts face a basic irreconcilable problem: how to face modernity, which they cannot avoid, with traditional teachings- sastra- which they cannot alter!
This has resulted in absurd situations. People have given up many aspects of Achara/dharma. The Mutts cannot stem this rot. They merely witness. The traditional view is that the Veda/Upanishad cannot be printed, but many foreigners are freely translating them and publishing them with their own strange interpretations which get very wide circulation in the world, and the Mutts cannot counter this! No Mutt has even published an authoritative version of our scriptures and other sacred books.
Kanchi Paramacharya is the one who, over a period of 60 years, explained all aspects of our traditional religion, compiled into 8 volumes.. But the basic theme running through it all is that Brahmins abandoned their traditional dharma and therefore society has deteriorated. (This idea is reflected in the Tirukkural 134) We can understand if a few families here and there abandon their dharma; but how to account for the wholesale displacement and disappearance of Agraharas, especially in Tamil Nadu? Village after village has been vacated, most temples in the villages are without regular worship and patronage. People can contribute money and renovate it; but who will maintain it thereafter, in the absence of a regular local community?
This is a universal phenomenon: in the West we see churches getting abandoned. Our ideas about life and the traditional support base have changed. Till about 70 years ago ( the first tenancy reforms in the old Madras state), the brahmin community was mainly rural, surviving on the basis of an age-old system of mutual obligations. Since then large scale, drastic and simultaneous changes in political, economic and social systems have completely altered the contours of modern life. No one can be singled out for blame. Are the brahmins the cause, or the victims?
The Acharya also stressed simple living,austerity, reducing material wants, etc.- something stressed by Gandhiji too. These are fine, and necessary. But none today can escape the sweep of modern technology which is making life complicated. Some powerful universal force is at work. None has understood it so far.
However, there are many thinking persons, not Hindus, who advocate a return to simplicity- as in such movements as 'Voluntary Simplicity'.
What the Hindu religion advocated has become an economic necessity today. But the world is not listening.
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