Do Hindus need unity?
There is a lot of talk about the nearly billion Hindus worldwide needing unity and coming under one umbrella. I think the whole beauty of Hindus lies in that we are such a diverse community and very comfortably so. We are diverse in the sense of different regions having specialized festivals and even celebrating the same festival with different customs. We like different Gods to various extents, our favourite deities could differ. We seek spiritual guidance under different saints and sampradayas helping all the myriad saints thrive.
Hinduism has never been under one umbrella and that is what is beautiful about Hindus. Historically, it has led to the development of various schools of thought and different philosophies, each having its own following.
The recent calls for Hindu unity arise from the threat of Western religions, especially Christianity. The invasion of Christian missionaries who are converting hordes of Hindus to Christianity by unethical means has alarmed India and the Hindus. This has increased the calls for Hindu unity, which in essence means, to institutionalize Hinduism.
Hinduism has never had a single head or governing institution. Each of its myriad ashrams, sampradayas, paramparas and groups has its own head or institution set with one or more saints heading them. The biggest distinction from Western religions is probably this, that there is no codification of Hinduism or any single body saying what is correct or accepted and what is not. That remains true today, that even under threat from organized religions, the beauty of Hinduism lies in its non-codified, free-to-interpret and personal essence.
While Hindus needn’t be unified under one central command - we certainly need no Pope or Vatican - social cohesion would be a good idea. Once again, when for thousands of years each person or group has been given total freedom, it is atrocious to think that all Hindus should agree on how to group socially. Moreover, there are already innumerable Hindu social groups existing, some that are extremely large and many that are small. Therefore, there is no necessity to unify in that aspect either.
My wish is to just let Hinduism evolve on its own without much pressure for it to unify. Unification of Hindus will ultimately only lead to the demise of the beauty and flourish of Hinduism that has lasted many millennia.
Do you agree? Or are you among those calling for Hindu unity?
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