Ambedkar-Philosophy of Hinduism
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AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
Who told you to neglect spirituality and Sanskrit learning?<br />
What have you been doing all this time?<br />
Why have you been indifferent?<br />
Why do you now fret and fume because somebody else had more brains, more energy, more pluck and go than<br />
you?<br />
Instead <strong>of</strong> wasting your energies in vain discussions and quarrels in the newspapers, instead <strong>of</strong> fighting and<br />
quarreling in your own homes - which is sinful - use all your energies in acquiring the culture which the Brahmana<br />
has, and the thing is done.<br />
Why do you not become Sanskrit scholars?<br />
Why do you not spend millions to bring Sanskrit education to all the castes <strong>of</strong> India?<br />
That is the question.<br />
The moment you do these things, you are equal to the Brahmana!<br />
That is the secret power in India."<br />
This again assumes a utopia. The non-Brahmana castes have to just get more <strong>of</strong> something and they can also be a<br />
brahmana.<br />
How do they get that something?<br />
Be born with it?<br />
Or magically acquire it by delinking themselves with the real world and just assume that they can get that<br />
something just by sheer force <strong>of</strong> will?<br />
Except for a few cases, it doesn't require much “brains” or “pluck” to do many tasks. All you need to do is<br />
train people in that task and they will do it. Now consider the time Vivekanada lived in. Non-Brahmana castes were<br />
actively denied education. Forget education. Some castes couldn't even drink water from the same well as that <strong>of</strong><br />
the brahmanas. There existed a system which denied every opportunity to those people and yet Vivekananda is<br />
blaming them for not getting opportunities. He also blames that system (partly, not fully), but that is besides the<br />
point.<br />
Consider this example - "Okay, you weren't allowed go to school and learn math. Now you have a family to take<br />
care <strong>of</strong> and get little time for other pursuits. But why are you whining that you can't solve differential equations?<br />
Why quarrell in homes that you weren't allowed to go to school? Instead <strong>of</strong> wasting your energy in such things, why<br />
don't you just learn math and then solve differential equations?"<br />
So the point is that even well-meaning individuals end up supporting a brutal system because they don't<br />
rely on real world evidence and instead rely on myths.<br />
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