The Dharma Manifesto

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by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya


  a) Distinguishing between Indian nationalism and Vedic restorationism. Many difficulties arise when these two separate concerns become indistinguishable, as they very clearly have in the minds of almost all “Hindu nationalists.” Indian nationalism is a movement based on race, ethnicity and geography. Vedic restoration, on the other hand, is a religious, cultural and philosophicalone. The RSS has, in my opinion, been more of an Indian nationalist movement than a Vedic restorationist movement. This is the primary reason why the BJP lost the Indian national election of 2004 so badly — because they tried to appeal to Muslims, Christians, pseudo-secularists, and other non-Hindu Indians by merely presenting themselves as patriotic Indians, rather than appealing exclusively to the majority community as follower of Sanatana Dharma.[13] The RSS’s main concern has become Indian nationalism rather than Sanatana Dharma…and this has only set the movement back.

  b) Within the present-day Vedic restorationist movement, we must clarify the difference between Hindu revival (a political, social and cultural phenomenon), which the RSS is predominantly engaged in, versus Vedic Reconstruction, (an intellectual, academic, philosophical and spiritual matrix of projects), which is precisely what such individuals as David Frawley, Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, Shrikant Talageri, Subhash Kak and myself, as well as other, more traditionalist Vedic thinkers are engaged in. Both are projects of seemingly rival significance, and the different natures, goals and methods of these two separate projects need to be understood.

  c) Within the parallel projects of Hindu revival and Vedic reconstruction, we need to distinguish between a neo-Hindu versus a traditionalist world-view, which has been addressed to a much greater extent in my book, Radical Universalism: Are All Religions the Same?[14]

  The RSS is currently a neo-Hindu, revivalist, Indian nationalist movement. What it needs to become is a traditionalist Vedic reconstructionist movement. Like some of the nineteenth century neo-Hindus of the past, the RSS has done much good for the Indian nation-state historically. The RSS has been on the front lines of defending Hindu India from foreign aggression through both missionary and military attacks.[15] The sacrifices of countless individual RSS members are too numerous to mention. Today, however, both India and Sanatana Dharma need much more. The RSS needs to change quite radically if it is going to maintain itself as an effective organization in the future.

  The following is a ten-point program that Hindu Nationalists should implement if they truly wish to transform their nation of India for the better:

  1. Annihilate the immediate existential threat from the Communist terrorists, Islamic Jihadists and Christian missionaries who have enslaved your country.

  2. Stop graduating countless engineers, “IT professionals” and medical personnel, and instead begin to once again encourage your children to become philosophers, sadhus (sages), artists, thinkers, warriors and leaders.

  3. Revive the Kshatriya (warrior) spirit of your ancestors and no longer revel in weakness in the name of ahimsa (non-violence).[16]

  4. Re-Aryanize, re-Vedicize and re-spiritualize the entirety of your present-day culture.

  5. Eliminate the Dalit (untouchable) problem once and for all by allowing those many individuals who are eligible among this community to enter the varna system in accordance with their inherent individual psycho-physical nature. If a Dalit behaves like a brahmana, then he is a brahmana. Period!

  6. Learn to interact with modernity in a successful manner. That means, without excuses, and by rededicating yourselves to excellence and perfection in everything you do and communicate.

  7. Build your own economy instead of depending upon the West for economic success via immigration and outsourcing of jobs. To do this, you will need to completely exorcise your economy of even the slightest taint of socialism and collectivism. Once and for all — socialism simply does not work!

  8. Start to carry yourselves with courage and pride in your Vedic heritage, rather than viewing this heritage as an embarrassing burden from the past. If you do not reclaim your immense Vedic heritage, someone else will reclaim it from you.

  9. Make spoken Sanskrit the sole recognized language of your nation.

  10. To successfully achieve all of the above, stop reaching for any and all excuses for why you have not yet been able to achieve these goals. Victory belongs only to those who reject excuses. Then, and only then, will Bharat[17] regain the respect of the world.

  Dharma Nationalism: A New Revolutionary Approach

  The new stage that Hindu activism needs to take is undoubtedly the revolutionary approach. It is clear that Indian Hindus now need to enter the post-RSS phase of Hindu activism. As a starting point, twenty-first century Hindu activism needs to make a sharp break from its more paranoid and pessimistic past, and begin to start thinking in much more realistic, concrete, strategic and winning terms.

  The enemies of Dharma have had the gift of being able to think and strategize on a long-term basis. Their end goal has always been the end of Dharmic civilization and the creation of their own dystopic vision of reality ranging centuries into the future. Contemporary Hindu activism, on the other hand, has only seemed able to operate reactively, only thinking about whatever injustices have just occurred in the news today — and even then only rarely reacting effectively, if at all. The contemporary Indian Hindu activist movement needs to stop looking for excuses, and beat the enemy at their own game.

  A truly revolutionary Dharma activist movement has not existed on the world scene until 2012. The seeds of its birth have now come to fruition in the form of the Dharma Nationalist movement.

  Indeed, the Indian nationalist fueled “Hindu” activism of the past will now quickly take a back seat to the spiritually-fueled Dharma Nationalist activism of the future. Unlike parochial “Hindu nationalism,” Dharma Nationalist activism is, indeed, comprehensively total in its application. It is based primarily upon spiritual and philosophical concerns, and only secondarily on ethnic and national concerns. It is motivated by the spiritual insight and compassion gifted to us by the eternal Truth of Sanatana Dharma, and not merely on an empty pride residing in the relative and temporal, ever-changing geographical boundaries of the nation-state of India. It fosters a true, selfless action akin with that of the rishis, and not merely a series of political calculations based upon the personal need for power and aggrandizement.

  More crucial than any other juxtaposing comparison to the failed Hindu activist endeavors of the past: Dharma Nationalism presents a clear, realistic, and achievable strategic diagram revealing exactly how society should be best structured in order to ensure the maximal amount of happiness and prosperity, to the fullest degree of qualitative and spiritual depth, for the greatest number of living beings.

  Prabhupada’s Varnashrama Strategy

  “An intellectual’s strength is in his learning, a ruler’s strength is in his army, a merchant’s strength is in his wealth and a laborer’s strength is in his attitude of service.”

  Chanakya Pandita (c. 350–283 BCE)

  One of the greatest inspirations and early theorists of the political tendency that has now come to be called Dharma nationalism has been the great Vedic sage A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Prabhupada’s writings, while focused primarily upon overtly spiritual topics, also commented upon a wide variety of themes relating directly to the core ideology of the Dharma Nation movement, including social structure, politics, economics and culture.

  The center of Prabhupada’s specifically political theories consisted of the revival of the traditional varna and ashrama Vedic social organizing principle. Without delving too deeply into a very complex and highly sophisticated philosophy of social organization, the concept of varna is predicated upon the universal recognition of four general classes of human beings: intellectuals, administrators and warriors, merchants and farmers, and laborers. Ashrama, on the other hand, recognizes four distinct
, temporal stages in society: student, householder, retiree, and the spiritually devout. Dharma Nationalist philosophy accepts the importance of eventually implementing the system of varnas and ashramas in society. In the 35-year period following the passing away of Prabhupada, however, there has been no success on the part of his followers in practically implementing Prabhupada’s dream into reality.

  The Varnasrama Manifesto for Social Sanity[18] is a very good book written by Harikesha Prabhu in an attempt to further explain Varna-ashrama theory with the goal of using this social organizing schema as the ideological foundation of a hoped-for Vedic political movement. I personally read this work when it first came out in 1981. It contains many good ideas and psychological insights into the natures of the four varnas especially.

  Unfortunately, however, I have personally seen over the last four decades that the vast majority of Varna-ashrama theorists have made the mistake of positing Varna-ashrama social policy as a strategy for the acquisition of political power rather than realizing that Varna-ashrama is actually meant to be implemented “after the revolution,” so to speak, as the ideal manner in which to socially organize an already established Dharma Nation — thus putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Varna-ashrama is not a political strategy; it is a social policy. Not understanding this essential distinction between these two specific aspects of political science is the primary reason why no one has ever been able to institute any serious Varna-ashrama community anywhere in the world.

  First we need to establish a Dharma Nation politically, and only thereafter do we institute Varna-ashrama socially. This is not to say of course that we cannot recognize individuals today in accordance with their particular varna and ashrama. We do, and we must.

  [1] “Une époque de basses eaux,” in Eléments (Summer 2009), quoted by Tom Sunic in “Communication: The Terror of the Hyperreal,” at The Occidental Observer, 28 July 2009 (www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/Sunic-Communication.html).

  [2] Usually translated as “Hinduness.”

  [3] Born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, an Irish social worker who abandoned Christianity and became a follower of Sanatana Dharma.

  [4] The second leader of the Theosophical Society after Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891).

  [5] “Indian People’s Party.”

  [6] Reactionaries do not look to ancient or Classical antecedents for guidance for the present, but tend to only look back a few generations at most.

  [7] From “The Authentic Reactionary,” printed in The Modern Age: A Quarterly Review (Winter 2010), available at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Web site (www.mmisi.org/ma/52_01/davila.pdf).

  [8] See Guillaume Faye’s Archeofuturism: European Visions of the Post-Catastrophic Age (London: Arktos, 2010) for more on this innovative concept.

  [9] My term for the deceivingly comforting psychological phenomenon exhibited by any given generation that convinces them that the particular era in which they find themselves represents the most important and advanced era in history. A much more healthy approach in reconciling one’s subjective perception with the particular times in which one finds oneself was nicely stated by the German philosopher Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) in the following manner: “Live with your century, but do not be its creature.” (From On the Aesthetic Education of Man, in Friedrich Schiller, Essays [New York: Continuum, 1993], p. 110.)

  [10] Edgar Julius Jung, Deutsche über Deutschland: Die Stimme des unbekannten Politikers (Munich: Langen-Müller, 1932), p. 380.

  [11] Savitri Devi and Savarkar were in agreement on several basic issues concerning Hindu nationalism. Babarao G. D. Savarkar, brother of V. D. Savarkar, even wrote the Forword to Savitri Devi’s book A Warning to the Hindus.

  [12] “India is dear to us because it has been and is the home of our Hindu Race, the land which has been the cradle of our prophets, and heroes and Gods and godmen …. The real meaning of Swarajya then, is not merely the geographical independence of the bit of earth called India. To the Hindus independence of Hindusthan can only be worth having if that ensures their Hindutva — their religious, racial and cultural identity.” (Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Hindu Rashtra Darshan, in Selected Works of Veer Savarkar, vol. 4 [Chandigarh: Abhishek Publications, 2007], pp. 218–219)

  [13] Approximately 83% of the Indian population consists of followers of Sanatana Dharma — a clear majority.

  [14] Radical Universalism: Does Hinduism Teach that All Religions Are the Same? (Delhi: Voice of India, 2008).

  [15] Balraj Madhok, the president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh party in the late 1960s, is a living example of the patriotic fervour of Hindu nationalism. He wrote the following in 1970: “Western countries also have been exerting to exploit India’s illiteracy and poverty by using their economic aid measures, their cheap and provocative literature, and, above all, their missionaries as instruments for a campaign of mass conversion. We want to warn these foreign powers not to indulge in activities that violate India’s sovereignty and independence and demand that the Government of India take stern measures to curb them.” From Indianisation? What, Why and How (New Delhi: S. Chand, 1970), p. 103.

  [16] Ahimsa was the name for absolute non-violence, as practiced most notably by Gandhi, albeit in a distorted, non-traditional form.

  [17] India.

  [18] Varnasrama Manifesto for Social Sanity (New York: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1981).

  3. OPPOSITION TO THE NATURAL WAY

  “In philosophy, a single naive question oftentimes suffices for the whole system to collapse.”

  Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994)[1]

  Abrahamism

  The Abrahamic worldview is today represented by five closely aligned ideological tendencies: Judaism, Pauline Christianity, Islam, Marxism, and to a less significant extent the Baha’i movement. Of these Abrahamic tendencies, Marxism is the only self-stated atheistic one, the others being religious in nature. The greatest real-world challenge and philosophical polar opposite to the entire Dharmic worldview has historically been, and continues to this day to be, the Abrahamic mentality and worldview.

  While some very important theological and ritual distinctions can be seen between them all, nonetheless the specifically religious-oriented aspects of Abrahamism — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — share a common worldview, psychological make-up, and guiding ethos. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are historically referred to as the “Abrahamic” religions because all three religions trace their origins to the prophet Abraham, and can thus be seen to be quite similar in many aspects of their respective outlooks. The following are only a few of the similarities that they all share.

  1. All three have a shared acceptance of the teachings of the Old Testament prophets (Christianity, in addition to accepting the Old Testament prophets, also accepts Jesus. Islam, in addition to the Old Testament prophets and Jesus, also accepts Muhammad).

  2. Anthropomorphic monotheism. The supreme god of Abrahamism is seen in very human terms, including in his exhibition of such very human emotions as anger, jealousy, prejudice and vengeance.

  3. A profound sense of religious exclusivity, creating two strictly delineated camps of “believers” in opposition to everyone else.

  4. The belief that there is only the one true faith, and that any other form of religious expression external to the one true faith is necessarily wrong.

  5. The acceptance of terrorism, violence, mob action, and aggressive missionary tactics to spread their religion.

  6. A common sense of being in a war to the death with the Dharmic (“pagan”) world that preceded Abrahamic ascendency.

  7. The centrality of unidirectional prayer to commune with their god, with systematic meditation practice playing either little o
r no part in the practice of their respective religions.

  8. A belief in the existence of angels, the devil, demonic spirits, and the like.

  9. All three teach bodily resurrection, the Final Judgment, the creation of the soul at the time of conception or birth (as opposed to the soul’s pre-existence), the binding effects of sin, and so forth.

  10. The importance of a holy day of the week set aside for prayer and rest (for Jews, Saturday; for most Christians, Sunday; for Muslims, Friday).

  These are only a few of the elements of the Abrahamic worldview, of which mainstream Christianity is an integral part.

  Up until 2000 years ago, the Dharmic worldview was by far the predominant worldview of most of humanity. Though there were thousands of diverse individual cultures, languages, foods, customs and traditions among the ancients, most of these ethnically varied cultures were united in their deep respect for, and attempted adherence to, the Natural Way.

  This ancient uniformity in adherence to Dharma was the case for tens of thousands of years until the radically anti-human and anti-nature Abrahamic ideology suddenly burst upon the world scene 4000 years ago with an evangelical fury, religiously-inspired violence, and zealous civilization-destroying vengeance the likes of which the civilized world had never seen previously. Never before had the multiple ancient and noble pre-Christian cultures of the world ever experienced such massive destruction, death, persecution, forced conversion, and cultural annihilation performed in the name of an artificially expansive religion as it witnessed at the hands of the new Abrahamic ideology that had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere, onto the world stage. It was in the wake of this never-before-experienced juggernaut of Biblically inspired destruction that the light of Dharma began to swiftly wane, and that Reality as it was known up until then was turned, literally, on its head.

 

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