Using the lie of Hindu Dharma promoting the ‘evil’ of the caste system as a red herring to attack the Hindu Dharma has become a norm for the Hindudveshi (Hinduphobic) Communist-Liberal-Abrahamic cabal. They often use this as a means to either denigrate Dharma or deflect attention from real issues as well as Abrahamic crimes. Therefore, it was hardly surprising that Kerala Communist leader MB Rajesh insulted Bhagwan Adi Shankaracharya by calling the latter an advocate of the ‘cruel caste system’.
“In his statement, Rajesh claimed that Shankaracharya preserved the caste system while Sree Narayana Gurudeva worked on weeding it from society. He added that Shankaracharya was the ‘implementer of the cruel caste system based on Manusmriti’. He claimed that the devotees realised by the teachings of Swami Chidanandapuri that Guru’s vision had nothing to do with other Indian Sanyasa Traditions”, OpIndia notes. He was speaking at an inaugural event of an organisational meeting linked to the Sivagiri Pilgrimage.
“Notably, Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Pandita Sannyasivaryan Chidanandapuri Swami recently noted the similarities in the works of Shankaracharya and Sree Narayana Gurudeva and stated they both are the same. Their statement allegedly angered the left, leading to the statement by Rajesh”, adds OpIndia.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan condemned Rajesh’s statement while adding that both Sree Narayana Guru and Sri Adi Shankara belonged to the same ascetic lineage. He further opined that Rajesh was trying to divide Hindus.
Bhagwan Adi Shankaracharya (Adi Shankara) walked the earth at a time when Jain, Buddhists, and other avedic (non-Vedic) faiths totalling 72, were challenging Hindu Dharma. He is credited with having reformed and revived Hindu Dharma. He propagated Advaita Vedanta (non-dualistic philosophy). He also unified Bharat by spreading his Vedic teachings across the length and breadth of Bharatvarsh.
Shankara organized four great mutts across Bharat (Dwarka, Puri, Sringeri and Joshimath). He is said to have renovated the Char Dham, or the four main Himalayan temples of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. He reorganized Hindu worship into the five deity lines of Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha and Surya. His hymns or stotras to all the main Hindu deities remain commonly chanted in pujas and temple rituals in the north and south Bharat.
“It must be remembered that Shankara, while uncompromisingly an advocate of the non-dual Vedantic doctrine, in which rituals, prayer, bhakti and temples were not of fundamental importance at the level of para vidya (ultimate knowledge), simultaneously sanctioned these religious practices as preparatory steps within the rubric of apara vidya, practical knowledge. In this sense, he became the guardian not only of the Vedantic doctrine, but of Sanatana Dharma, Hindu Dharma, in its entirety, both in practice and philosophy”, writes former diplomat Pavan K. Varma in his book, Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker.
Advaita expresses the radical nondualism philosophy derived from the Upanishads. Advaita sees the world as a manifestation of the Parabrahman. In essence, let alone promoting caste divisions, Bhagwan Adi Shankara’s philosophy seeks to eliminate all types of divisions in society. It is beyond the understanding of Communist leaders like Rajesh that Varna and Jati (caste) are different.
“Varna basically means inherent nature. It is the division and specialization of labour available in society. Unlike caste, it is not physical stratification but a mental differentiation. If Jati has been invariably translated as caste, it is reasonable to assume that Jati itself means some type of classification of Hindu society. But, Jati does not exclusively mean classifications in society. It is a much broader term. To cite Amara Kosha again, the term Jati as well as its various synonyms simply mean kind/type”, writes Shrinidhi Rao.
(Featured Image Source: OpIndia)
