Wednesday, February 22, 2006

N.P.UPADHYAYA

I am basically a tolerant believer in Hinduism. I possess respect and honor for practically all the religions in the world including the Christianity and the Islam.

My intellectual attention had been drawn some decades back by one book penned by famous American writer, Samuel P. Huntington on "Clash of Civilization." However, reading that book that time I had thought that Huntington was talking of a remote possibility and that we the believers of all the religion in the world will henceforth live as brothers and sisters and make the world a better place to live in.

However, things are not going my way.

Instances of sad events here and there have been causing irritation and anger among believers of different religions.

I remember what Ambassador Akram from Pakistan embassy some years back used to say on clash of civilization. In effect he did not believe in what was written by Huntington . But things are taking apparently a shape that bodes ill for the entire religions of the world.

A week ago, one Nepali weekly published that the pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses could well be found in the undergarments of the citizens of the developed West. I was amazed. How this could happen but I had to believe that A COLLEAGUE OF MINE PRINTED IT. Those who make a mockery of other religions are doing great injustice to the believers of other religions. Tolerance factor must prevail everywhere.

The Danes I know are a simple and friendly breed of people. Nevertheless, a cartoon recently printed by a Danish cartoonist has created havoc in the entire Islamic world. The believers of Islam the world over have reacted very sharply to the extent that even the Muslims living in India too expressed their anger.

Save Nepal , a comparatively tolerant country, which has a sizeable population of the Muslims have some how or the other appear to have tolerated the sad event. After all, it is nepali blood in them that has made them tolerant. I salute the Nepali Muslims for their patience. This is how things should be taken at times even if it pained.

Look the example of Nepali toleration: A Hindu King's Palace faces Southward the glorious presence of two Muslim Mosques! Learn from Nepali examples. It is a rare phenomenon indeed.

I fully agree with the Pak President Musarraf who has been day-in-day-out making speeches on what he calls "Enlightened Moderation". By this term I think he means that he advises his own brethren the world over to be moderate and respect others as well. Concurrently, he is sending signals to the developed West that sees Islam as an alien religion to begin a sort of "dialogue of cultures" hoping apparently that the initiation of dialogues in and among various religions and cultures would allow every one to understand the other better and in the process the negative portrayals by one of the other would vanish ultimately one fine morning in the thin air.

It is time that the West understands Islam better and vice versa through the extensive holding of seminars, talk programs, slide shows, films and exchange of visits to one another's holy shrines.

Let's learn from each other's religion and their practices. This will bring us all closer And in the process we will understand each other better.