Inside the mind and heart of Venkatesh Sridhar

I know that’s a pretty provocative line, but I was browsing through a group blog called and came across a blog by Mahesh titled We shall live to the end of times, for we have done no wrong . An intriguing title right? So, I clicked on it and off I read his post.

And after going through it - I thought <quote>Religious Fundamentalism … well thats what it is, its funda is mental!!!</quote>

Mahesh starts off by talking about his effort to answer an oft asked question (as per him) as to what is the future of Hindus? Now, I would rather me more bothered about my future, but that’s the Virgo in me ;).

And his entire post talks about how Hindus have been a far more ancient civilization than the Greeks, the Romans and the other great civilizations that have come and gone and that only the Hindu civilization has lived on.

I was actually in agreement with Mahesh till the point he goes onto mention that the RSS or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is uniting Hindus and that this is the need of the hour.

This pissed me off to no extent. I will explain why, but before that let me give you a brief background on my views about Hinduism.

I am not an atheist. But I have always held this belief that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life, which is why it has so many varied traditions and customs and everything is understood and accepted to be different, there are few followers who bury dead bodies, other cremate, even inside the same sect of class - the rituals, traditions, beliefs, everything is unique.

But, what I don’t like is fundamentalism of any kind. Its an apt word in my belief, funda and mental fused together which means the entire funda of fundamentalism is mental to say the least and that’s how the title for this blog was coined.

This is a major reason why I hate the RSS and VHP, they spew hatred, they believing in fighting and in the ‘eye for an eye’ policy. That is certainly not hinduism its hindutva.

Now, Mahesh had clearly excused himself by saying he was a person whose right wing oriented. So probably our views may clash, but I still believe that with an agenda based on violence, the RSS/VHP can never unite all Hindus - because they are trying to converge under the umbrella of this peaceful way of life, which is why we did not conquer any country, we won our freedom struggle majorly on the peace plank.

Hinduism whether you look at it as a religion or a way of life has never asked someone to subscribe to itself, which is why for a long time Hinduism did not have conversion, I am not sure if it has now, but the fact of the matter is that it is a very accomodating religion, which is probably why Mahesh says that Hindus are ‘mild’. The apostrophe’s were his idea and not mine. Maybe, that’s his view that being ‘mild’ is a weakness as the RSS/VHP combine wants majority of Hindus to think.

I think its bullshit, you cannot call me mild, because I do not like war, I believe in peacefully co-existing together. But the RSS/VHP want us to believe that being mild is a weakness, so it is sowing hatred into the minds of the people. Mahesh ends his blog by saying ‘United we stand, Divided we fall’. But, I do not know against what we need to stand that needs the unison of Hindus? What has so drastically changed that makes him prod me to believe that the Hindu religion is under attack?

This is my major spite with the RSS/VHP and by extension supporters of these combines, I do not know what has so dastardly fallen on the Hindu culture/religion/way of life that it makes no sense to me. Maybe Mahesh can help me figure that out. I have posted a comment saying,

Dear Mahesh,
This post of yours got me started thinking and as I typed out a comment to this, I felt that it needed a post of its own. I have it online here at Dear Mahesh,
This post of yours got me started thinking and as I typed out a comment to this, I felt that it needed a post of its own. I have it online here at http://www.venkateshsridhar.com/religious-fundamentalism-well-thats-what-it-is-its-funda-is-mental/

I have asked a few questions and I would appreciate if you would be able to answer them for me.

Regards,

Venkatesh
. I have asked a few questions and I would appreciate if you would be able to answer them for me.

Regards,

Venkatesh

So, I hope Mahesh replies and let’s see if it leads to a discussion where I can learn more and possibly understand more.