(Trinidad Express) Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra has expressed concern about errors creeping into Hinduism locally.
“What I have seen is too much emphasis on ritualism, the ritual part of it. And sometimes with very shallow understanding of the philosophy of the religion,” he said.
He voiced his concerns at a media briefing on the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Indian Hindu monk and famed spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda held on Friday at the Indian High Commission in Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain.
Speaking about Vivekananda’s teachings he said the most important point is revision of the understanding of Hinduism.
“And I stress this point because a lot of confusion and errors have crept into understanding this religion not only in India but in Trinidad and Tobago among the so-called priests and pundits of this country about what Hinduism really amounts to,” he said.
He noted that Swami Vivekananda spoke about Hinduism it is a “totally different interpretation”, where he speaks of a universal religion, and one that has always believed in tolerance and universal acceptance.
Mishra explained that an understanding of vedanta, the core of Hindu philosophy, will give a different perspective of the religion.
“[It] is the most rational and scientific way of understanding what it stands for. [A religion] bereft of all prejudices and all that creeps into our mind, and brings this sort of hierarchical feeling in the society, brings us in equal distribution within the society, brings us separation between us, between the so-called higher caste and lower caste, between the priest and the not-so-learned people; it breaks all that down,” he said.
Mishra recalled that from childhood he fell under the “spell” of Vivekananda, his teachings gave him a new perspective and he has taken that influence forward in his life.
He noted that Vivekananda had begun raising the nation’s consciousness in India even before Mahatma Gandhi.
