The story of why everybody and nobody is a Hindu.
This is fairly new person I met- in fact, very recent. He was dressed in white Daura Suruwal with a topi on his head and looked like he had just arrived from Nepal. He was also wearing an orange and red scarf draped over his neck with various God’s printed over it. To anyone he would have seemed like your average Pandit (priest) but to me he had a special message.
Whilst we were eating some lunch at a friend’s house, he insisted on telling us about the essence of Hinduism. He held an apple in his hand and said that this apple is God and we all have different names for what we call an apple depending on our language. However, the essence of the apple still remains the same. He said everybody’s destination (God) was the same but our journeys (religions) were the only thing that differed. M and I strongly believe in this view and prefer to not label ourselves as belonging to any religions.
Yet I was still weary of his words. If he acknowledges that all religions are essentially aiming toward the end point how can he be a Pandit and practice a specific branch of this journey. Everyone knows (who has ever had an experience with a staunch Hindu priest) that they are very particular about adhering to all the specific precise rules and numbers and positions of things laid out – even if it harms others. I told him it is self-centered to have a notion of pleasing God that only takes and promotes your specific religion whilst belittling others. Surely, instead of saying his way was the right way then his efforts should be aiming toward unity of all journeys toward the same destination. If everyone understood each others journey better then there would be less conflict in the world.
To probe into his beliefs further, M asked whether white foreign people could be Hindus- something Pandits and strict Hindu’s argue against. The Pandit hesitated before he replied that nobody is a Hindu. He said Hindu is a word other people call the religion and the religion itself is undefined. No one converts to Hinduism or from Hinduism it is just a name sake. We all have the same destination it is impossible to convert.
I told him that I don’t like the fact that Hinduism is so intertwined with culture and society. That many people preach gender and caste discrimination in the name of Hinduism and I find it very difficult to affiliate with members of a religion that are so anti-everything. I told him of my experiences of not being allowed near rice or segregation of menstruating women and he said that it does not speak of things like that in any holy book. These are constructs of society and are unproductive.
With such progressive views why aren’t you back in Nepal preaching to the people who need to listen? I asked him. Later, A dai retorted because he cannot earn in pounds in Nepal. Whatever the reason I said, if you are blessed with a vision for change you need to implement it. To that he turned it back round to me and gave me some advice for when I returned to Nepal…
The pandit taught me that with love, the same language and heart I need to indirectly let people know that there are other ways. It is not up to me to tell them there way is right or wrong, people can figure it out as they have equal notions of both within themselves. As long as I am patient and empathetic, not sparing anyone, then I can guide them to better ways. That is Hinduism he told me. He said you have an enlightenment within you and it is only with the enlightenment the we can help people change.
The pandit also taught me that in order to build a new road it might have to cut through people’s land. If you lay down the road on their land without giving them back any land then that it not fair and people will not be on your side. If, however, you give them back some land, then people will be happy and will want to use your road and respect you.
It is for his words that The Pandit from Plumstead is an extraordinary person. Whether or not he is doing good by going back to Nepal it is his words and thoughts that ring true and help change. It is through his endless metaphors and knowledge that he made me feel happier about going back to Nepal and made me feel positive that there is a change to come. It will take time, be painful and test our limits. But we can help change.
He put such small and high tika on my head that it looked like sindoor (powder that married women wear) !
