During the last election to the Lok Sabha when the prospect of the BJP coming to power appeared strong and its Hindutva agenda dominated public debate, a judicial observation was quietly made on the nature of the Hindu religion which had it that Hinduism was a way of life rather than a uniform system of belief. The Press did not report whether any elaboration was made by the court on the basic features of this way of life. The secularist political block too did not show much interest in the remark although the Sangh Parivar seemed to have endorsed it.

As a Hindu by birth who has lived many years with that identity the observation, however, prompted me to take another look at the way I have led life with a view to identifying the Hindu elements in it. I admit my knowledge of Hindu shastras is limited to the Bhagavad Gita and a few Upanishads. I further admit that I had never been a devout person although my faith in God and allegiance to our precepts have survived the ups and downs of life.

It would be apparent that any Hindu element in my life is not the result of conscious adoption made from the shastras but something naturally inherited from my family. I have lived in the way I was made to from childhood and which I copied from elders. It is, in other words, a continuation of the way in which my forefathers lived except for the changes brought about by circumstance or choice.

In our family which at one time had 22 members, I had never found an individual getting precedence over the collective. Happiness was sought and found jointly and bonds and obligations were accepted without grudge. We did not live life in isolation or in a selfish manner. Society was viewed as an elaborate network connecting one to another in love and loyalty not only within one’s own blood relations and caste groups but across the divisions that it was comprised of. The family was the smallest unit of that network which demanded compliance from its members to its wills and ways.

We were taught quite early about the continuity of life, about the permanence of the soul and of its rebirth in a new body after death in accordance with the karma accomplished in earlier incarnations. The fear of karmaphala compelled us to tread the right path and to be humble since we were never sure which karma would be considered bad by an ever-watchful God!

Although Vaishnavism was the dominant cult in the region where we lived, there was no dearth of Saivaites or Shaktas who practised their faiths without any difficulty. Pirs and dervishes too were common sights just as mosques and dargahs were. We understood God to be one who was worshipped in many forms and ways and who manifested Himself in all existing things in the universe. The concept of multiple paths to God and of His presence in everything had a liberating influence on our minds and prompted us to seek harmony with the world we were surrounded with – plants, animals and the environment. Disturbing or denying this harmony would lead to alienation of the self from the omnipresent Him.

Wealth, we were told, was required for the fulfillment of desires and for the progress of the soul to the higher level. However, both the acquisition and enjoyment of wealth must be made in a virtuous manner lest they caused degradation of the self. It was like a double-edged weapon which when acquired honestly and held with humility enabled one to preserve selfrespect and provide for others but would breed arrogance, fuel greed and lead one away from the path of God if gained immorally. Acquiring wealth for self preservation while remaining unmoved by the temptations offered by it was a life-long exercise prescribed to everyone. Western materialism fuelled desire but brought only transient happiness. Our religion, on the other hand, promised lasting peace and contentment to be achieved through renunciation and sacrifice.

Attraction to sensual pleasures spoilt the soul and sealed the path to liberation. Love between men and women, as witnessed in the West, was considered alien just as the accounts of courtship, abductions etc. narrated in the epics were viewed as having no relevance in real life. Marriage was meant not for the satisfaction of physical desires but for procreation and strengthening of the family unit. Wives were, thus, encouraged to give precedence to their motherly roles over that of the consort just as husbands were expected to be dutiful rather than doting.

The caste system influenced our lives and worked roughly in three ways: by putting a bar on marriage outside one’s caste, by restricting inter-caste social contacts and by prohibiting food cooked by one from the lowest caste. However, despite perpetuating injustice on the weakest section of the society, the caste system was not combined with hate nor did it prevent us from being kind and considerate to those at the lower end. We reasoned out their plight as the result of bad previous karma and always heard a warning within ourselves that such could well be our position if we committed any immoral act. The system, thus, redeemed itself a bit by keeping us on the right path and prompting us to be kind and generous.

Like other Bengali brahmins, we ate fish and meat for which justification was drawn from the Vedas where meat consumption by the people of the period had reportedly been mentioned. Meat eating was, however, restricted to animals having five toes which had preferably been offered as sacrifice to some gods. Goat meat fell in the approved category followed by that of deer while chicken and chicken eggs were forbidden. Since sacrificial meat was not always available, meat bought from the market was symbolically offered to a deity before being cooked.

I, finally, make passing reference to some of the contradictions which also marked our daily life: rigidity in religious practice coexisting with broadness in precept, veneration of women coexisting with vilification of their charm, belief in the spirit and the occult coexisting with belief in the sublimity of the soul!How do we lead life now nearly seventy years later? The supremacy of the collective ended long ago and the social bonds have snapped; money and material success have become the new salvation, removing the bar on pleasure and enjoyment; the self has, finally, acquired new godhood with the transcendent withdrawing Himself from His myriad manifestations! To put it simply, my wife and I now live by and for ourselves alone in an apartment, disconnected from our kith and kin. The residents of the building show little interest to be intimate with us. We have two children who stay away from us and live life in ways that do not always conform to tradition, save for their attachment to us. We have none for whom to make sacrifices nor see any other way of making charity than by giving donations to preferred institutions. Age and ennui have pushed us more into vegetarianism although chicken made an entry into the kitchen long ago.Regarding our spiritual pursuits, I recite the Bhagavad Gita every morning with a mind troubled by myriad mundane concerns while my wife weeps before her gods praying for resolution of the same mundane concerns! Renunciation has, nevertheless, set in; brought about more by circumstances than by consciously giving up desires.

Are we living life the same way as our forefathers did? If not, do we still remain Hindus? What is your verdict, my lords?