I introduced this work in my earlier blogpost and commented that I would present my observations about Hindu identity after I have received a copy of the book which I had ordered.
I have received the copy and was enthralled by every word in the book and every turn of phrase by Vamsee Juluri.
Juluri, your work is a tour de force comparable only to the great French practitioner of the literary school of naturalism -- Emile Zola. Juluri, what you have produced is a masterpiece in mellifluent prose, a tribute in fire, to our pitr-s who have given the world an abiding ethic: sanathana dharma.
I deem it a privilege to present a review of this gem of a book by Vamsee Juluri. It is for every reader to enjoy the powerful message delivered by Juluri. He has exposed the frauds of academics and media foisting Hinduphobia. He counters the frauds with brilliant repartees and counters, thus presenting a world-view framed on the inviolate principle of dharma. He underlines May 2014 as a watershed in history and warns against complacency and arrogance, calls upon every Hindu to participate in rebuilding Hindu civilization.
The coverpage is a fitting summary of the book, presenting the image of Narasimha avatara.
The work starts with an invocation:
Agnirme vachi sritah vagdhrdaye hrdayam mayi
Isano me manyau sritah manyurhrdaye hrdayam mayi.
Vamsee Juluri interprets this succinctly: For some words are born in fire alone.
This powerful work of Juluri is born in fire, so is the first rica of Rigveda which starts with the prayer: Agnim Ile purohitam… Rigvedic rica was born at a time when there was no Hinduphobia. Juluri’s recounting of the prayer is born at a time punctuated by academic hinduphobia which gets mimicked in the media.
Children of Bharatam Janam born after independence achieved in 1947 will understand the suffocating nature of discourse about Hinduism. India today is perhaps one of the youngest nations on the globe with 75% of the population less than 35 years of age and yearning to fulfil their purushartha, realizing their best potential in a harmonious world.
Contents of Juluri’s book are a dramatic introduction to the scope of this work delivered directly and without offering any apologies and directly confronting the practitioners of Hinduphobia who have fostered fraudulent myths about Hinduism and even proposing ‘alternative’ history. Surely, the phrase ‘alternative’ history should ring a bell. I was a partner in an enterprise of an academic workshop held in Hawaii (together with Profs. Madan Lal Goel, TRN Rao, Bharat Gupt, in the Association of Asian Studies annual conference in 2011) which debunked a Wendy Doniger’s bizarre portrayal of a civilization focusing on her pet theme of sexism, seeing sex everywhere. See an account presented at http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/Interrogating-Wendy-Doniger-1.aspx
We should thank Juluri for succinctly presenting the core features of the Hinduphobia of which Doniger scholastic sophistry is but one sample. Most of post-independence intellectual endeavours have been spent on debunking the myths, distortions, and outright lies spread as canards to belittle the contributions made by people who lived and continue to live by Sanathana Dharma aka Hinduism.
Preface: Your Hinduism
Part 1. Desa Kala Dosha: the ideologies of Hinduphobia
1. The academic mayasabha
2. The myth of ‘alternative’ history
3. The myth of Aryan origins
4. The myth of vedic violence
5. The myth of a hindu history without a hindu view of God
Part 2. Sanathana: A hindu view of God
1. Civilization: A prelude
2. Tvameva, You alone (Veda and Upanishad)
3. Cousins and Friends (Krishna and Rama)
4. The greatest love (Dasavatar)
5. Teacher (Gita)
Conclusion: Jagat Guru
Notes
In a no-holds-barred rendering, Juluri pays a tribute to the readers while discussing in the Preface, ‘Your Hinduism’: ‘You are an achievement. You may not fully know why just yet. But you have probably felt, in some quiet way, the fact that you belong to something significant that has come before you in history. You might not always know how to express that feeling, but you know that it inspires you, and elevates you.’ What a mellifluent way to introduce the nature of Hinduism in words which resonate in fire: ‘(civilization) is a way of knowing the world, a way of giving meaning and value to the contents of life. It is a resource, most of all, for living intelligently. It is a form of culture, an expression of sensibility, a way of harmonizing science, philosophy and ethics in a people’s every thought, word and deed. You can call it a religion, a way of life, or a civilization, you can call it what you will. But no word will suffice. A billion people on this earth still call God by the same names that people did thousands of years ago. What exists on this earth unchanged for that long? What religion exists on this earth for that long, when so many people have distorted religion and dragged it down from being about love and freedom to being about hatred, coercion and war? Hinduism could have been wiped out a long time ago. But it wasn’t. You are here…We came from a world of wisdom we can barely fathom in today’s terms. And we are here, still. We belong to a moment in history when Hinduism is beginning to wake up, if not from a long slumber, then at least a long silence. We did not speak to the world, and to ourselves, as Hindus, in a very long time. For reasons of strategy, and sensibility, we have been modest and easy-going about religion, despite some unpleasant encounters in history with forces to the contrary. For nearly three generations before us, from the time of India’s nominal independence in 1947 to the present moment of exuberant hope in 2014, Hinduism has been a religion lived in silence…This book advances an unusual claim, neither entirely academic, nor entirely spiritual, though it engages critically with the dismal academic approach at the feet of the spiritual promise of Hinduism, in the second…The key premise is simply this: Hinduism is about intelligence, more than anything else…It was the mark of a civilization whose most ancient sacred chant says: May your life-giving rays awaken my intelligence. May your life-giving rays awaken my intelligence so that I may see You. And in that exultant joy of worthy sacred adoration that is You, know this, that there is only You. We pray not for unverifiable pleasures in the afterlife. Not for material gain in this, but just for wisdom to know happiness, light and joy; for the wisdom to know truth…It is simply about returning to the core of our civilizational self-understanding, which is to respect intelligence, and let it guide our actions and affairs. The Sanathana Dharma. We might call it Nature’s Intelligence. It is a way that seems the wisdom in preserving life, and minimizing pain…To me Hinduism is essentially a way of knowing life, intelligently.’
You can see from these limited excerpts, the work of Juluri is a stunner, it is a call for action NOW.
Juluri has truly armed the present and future generations with a s’ankhanaada for returning to the core values which our forefathers and ourselves hold so firmly and practice resolutely.
Juluri's work is a sterling example of intellectual resistance against Hinduphobia. This resistance movement is what Juluri refers to as 'rearming Hinduism'.
I have tried to present the magnificent work of Juluri by excerpting his own words. It will be a sacrilege on my part to impute any further narratives recounting unpleasant encounters in history. I cannot help but recount one encounter: the colonial loot, and vivisection of my motherland, Bharatam, impoverishing my forefathers, many of whom died in famines which could have been prevented and leaving the present and future generations to cope with the problems of survival, of overcoming hunger and poverty to live in a society with humane work-opportunity for my fellow citizens, allowing them to realize their fullest potential.
The question of Hindu identity is irrelevant. A Hindu has a destined role to perform, to live by dharma which is the resolute response to the imperative: abhyudayam (welfare) and nihs'reyas (bliss). That is, a Hindu identity will be realized in performance, protecting dharma.
Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Centre
From the blurbs about the book:
"While the name of the book "Rearming Hinduism" may give the appearance of militancy, this book is anything but that. It is a wise and passionate take on a much misunderstood religion which placed wisdom at the core of it all. One of the greatest gifts we can give to our ancestors is if we can understand them. And if, by doing that, we can understand our existence as well, then isn't that worth working hard for? Worth fighting for? Vamsee does just that. More power to him."
- Amish Tripathi, Author of The Shiva Trilogy
Rearming Hinduism is a handbook for intellectual resistance. Through an astute and devastating critique of Hinduphobia in today’s academia, media and popular culture, Vamsee Juluri shows us that what the Hinduphobic worldview denies virulently is not only the truth and elegance of Hindu thought, but the very integrity and sanctity of the natural world itself.“For a civilization is not just buildings and machines, but its people, their thought, and their culture. It is a way of knowing the world, a way of giving meaning and value to the contents of life. It is a resource, most of all, for living intelligently.”
By boldly challenging some of the media age’s most popular beliefs about nature, history, and pre-history along with the Hinduphobes' usual myths about Aryans, invasions, and blood-sacrifices, Rearming Hinduism links Hinduphobia and its hubris to a predatory and self-destructive culture that perhaps only a renewed Hindu sensibility can effectively oppose. It is a call to see the present in a way that elevates our desa and kala to the ideals of the sanathana dharma once again.
Buy it now: http://www.amazon.in/Rearming-hinduism-1-Vamsee-Juluri/dp/938403052X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
http://www.rearminghinduism.com/