One of our authors wrote a post with the title “Should Hinduism Survive“? I think it should, but leave that aside for the moment and consider a different question: CAN Hinduism survive? And if so, in what form (or forms) will it survive?
I do not consider myself knowledgeable enough to answer these questions with any confidence. What I intend to do instead is to set out some random thoughts and observations, and hope that our commentators can help us approach an answer (or more likely, a range of possible answers)
One response to this question (and for various reasons this response is common among my liberal, secular and leftist Hindu friends) is to say: Of course it will survive. It is non-Hindus who should be afraid of extinction. Hinduism is the religion of over a billion people. It has survived for thousands of years. Groups that claim to be “Hindutvadi” are in power at the Federal and state level in India. Indians who are not Hindu are said to live in a state of fear and trepidation, with the specter of “Hindu-Fascism” hanging over their heads. Conversely, if you ask Hindu Nationalists you may be surprised to get a very different response. While there is a fair amount of jingoism and occasionally there is outright triumphalism, the dominant response is surprisingly pessimistic. I have not done a scientific poll, but I have asked this question of many friends and acquaintances who consider themselves “pro-Hindu” in some sense or the other, and a decisive majority tend to answer that better organized, better prepared and better funded “Abrahamic” religions are taking over India. Hindu survival is hanging by a thread and we probably won’t make it into the next century. Some of this is just the usual way Right wingers in all countries complain that the traditional mores of the people are under threat, the barbarians are multiplying and our leaders are weak. The sky will fall tomorrow unless XYZ is made the supreme leader and drastic (usually extra-constitutional) steps are taken to reverse our present course. But at least in my experience, the Indian version is more deeply pessimistic and a lot of smart people really do feel their culture and religion will not make it past this crisis. Are they right?
The basis for philosophy in science are religion https://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/the-basis-for-philosophy-in-science-especially-biology-and-religion/
Macranthropy and the saMbandha-s between microcosm and macrocosm
Don’t want to comment on the specific issue but one point i would like to make: Hindu liberals would never make the argument about *Hinduphobia* lest they be labeled parochial bigots: Muslim liberals have no such compunctions. Observe around and see if you can really disagree.
— Rohit Pradhan (@Retributions) June 13, 2018
