I am a Hindu. I come from an orthodox Brahmin family.

Being a vegan, respecting all kinds of

life forms, respecting others’ beliefs and rituals are some of the many things that I have been
brought up with. My childhood was full of Grandma’s stories and mythological texts. All of
these full of valor, kindness, wisdom and truth. I identify myself as a Hindu, and a proud one at
that, but what I find today, is the alarming increase in the number of pseudo-atheists around me.
Atheism has evolved as a separate concept (thanks to the Ultra-modern Western world) but it
poses challenge to the very concept of Karma. In Sanatan Dharma, we are taught to respect all,
irrespective of him/her being a believer or an atheist. The best examples of this are self
proclaimed atheist turned Godman Osho and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who
still enjoy a huge following among the masses.

When I look back to my faith, my values and my beliefs, I find that all of them revolve around
the singular concept of Karma. In simpler words, “You reap what you sow”. Most of us would be
well acquainted with the phrase, “जजजज जजजजज जजजज जजजजज”. In the Sanatan culture,
or in any culture for that matter, if your good deeds overweigh your bad ones, you are entitled to
a place in heaven. Though most of us assume that the concept of “heaven and hell” is largely
mythical, I think in a different way.

Most of the pseudo-atheists straightaway quash the concept of God being an omnipresent moral
governor of the world. Here, comes the difference between Indian Nastiks and Western pseudo-
atheists. In the Sanatan way, we call non believers as Nastiks (those who do not believe in that
form of God/Goddess as to how the common society perceives them to be). Nastiks do believe in
the concept of Karma and the cycle of rebirth. On the other hand, pseudo-atheists, which largely
function as an extended arm of the Western missionaries refuse to acknowledge God in any
form. Their sole mission is to make us forget our rich history and inheritance.

Being a Hindu, I am extremely proud of my religious scriptures i.e. the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana which provide intricate details of that era. Given are two different scenarios when
pseudo atheism posed a serious challenge to the faith of billions :-

➢ The Ramayana tells me how Ram rescued his wife Sita , from the demon king Ravana
and later abandoned the same pregnant wife because he chose his duties as king over his
 marital vows. The same Ramayana tells me how Ram built a bridge out of sand, stones
and tree branches to reach Lanka from Rameshwaram. A lot of Hindus find it a fortunate
thing to ever visit the Ram Setu, but then, in 2010, a pseudo atheist state government of
Tamil Nadu along with the weak Central Government, file an affidavit in the Supreme
Court to demolish the Ram Setu for the sake of trade increase between Sri Lanka and
India leading to massive protests from Hindus and Buddhists both the sides. Later on, a
US based science channel “Discovery” proved that the Ram Setu was a man made
structure much in line with what the scriptures said about the same.
➢ A similar kind of controversy erupted when the issue of Dwarka was raised by the
Gujarat State Government in 2000 when Keshubhai Patel was the Chief Minister of
Gujarat. A group of divers were sent underwater by the Ministry of Culture to find
answers about the drowned city of Dwarka. The pseudo-atheist lobby amongst the media
got active and termed this move of the state government as a “sheer wastage of time and
money”.

These two incidents brought into light a lobby which consistently took an anti people stand just
to offend the overwhelming majority of believers in India.

A lot has been said about Feminism and Sanatan Dharma. Some people portray it as a constant
tussle between women and the religious institutions. Hereby we take two cases to understand the
same:-

➢ Shani Shinganapur

A temple in Ahmednagar district, Shani Shinganapur serves as a place of faith to millions of

devotees. The temple shot to fame in 2016 when women entry in the temple premises put up a
question to the temple authorities. The Bombay High Court identifies women as the primary
stakeholders in the case and were finally allowed to enter the temple premises.

➢ Sabarimala

A temple in Kerala with Lord Ayyappa as it’s presiding diety which did not allow women
between the age of 10-48 years to enter the temple premises. The Hindu women, who were the
primary stakeholders in the case were fine with not entering the temple premises because all-
male and all-female temples are a common practice in Southern India. There are 7 all-female
temples in Southern India with women serving as priestesses as well as the cleaning staff. An
organization then questioned this practice of not letting women inside the temple premises
leading to huge violence between several factions of Ayyappa devotees. The Supreme Court
passed a judgment allowing women to go inside the Garbhagriha of the temple.

It doesn’t take an expert’s mind to discover what happened in Sabarimala was a typical case of
Communists promoting Atheism. A similar phenomenon happened in Tibet in 1959 when the
Communist government of the country began interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the
monastery. It ultimately let to the Dalai Lama seeking asylum in India, where he has stayed ever
since. Even in Sabarimala, the two women who approached the Supreme Court included one
Muslim lady and another, a Sri Lankan Atheist who suddenly became so pious and devout that
she wanted to enter the Sabarimala premises. Whatever is happening to the religious institutions,
may it be the Russian Church, the Buddhist Supreme Monastery or our very own Sabarimala, all
of this is being done solely with the purpose to decrease the influence of religious leaders on the
common public and with an intention that the people blindly follow their political masters and no
one else.

I do not think that Sanatan Dharma needs to prove its pro-women stand. We proudly proclaim as
being the only religion which explicitly tells about Goddess Durga being more powerful than all
other Gods collective. This very belief of a woman being all powerful is what scares these
pseudo-atheists because the very basic principles of Sanatan Dharma include woman worship
and are way ahead than today’s feminism. May it be the Dakshineshwar Temple of Bengal or the
Kamakhya Temple of Assam, women in Hindu culture have always been associated with various
important aspects such as knowledge, power, fertility and so on.

As a follower of the oldest and wisest religion on the planet, I have seen my religion undergo
major necessary changes such as abolition of Sati, child marriages, polygamy and so on. These
changes were the demand of time and had to occur as social evils are prevalent across religious
lines. But today, we need to understand that there is a deliberate attempt by self proclaimed
atheists and their missionary parents to undermine the values of Sanatan Dharma. One needs to
ask them some legitimate questions such as:-
 ● Why can’t the church ever have a female Pope?
● Or why do these same people forbid polyandry but promote polygamy?
● Or how does having a Ghoonghat become anti-women but Hijab cannot be questioned.

It is ironical that the same hypocrites teach us about Feminism. Being a Hindu, I find myself and
millions of others to be on the defensive in various issues such as Ram Janmabhoomi, Krishna
Janmabhoomi and others. It is really sad that if Allahabad is renamed to its original name,
PrayagRaj, then it is called as appeasement politics but when Hanumanpur is converted to
Humayunpur, it is termed secularism. When Faizabad is called Ayodhya, it becomes radical
Hindutva, but when some pseudo-secular governments ban Durga Visarjan, it is termed as
‘protecting the secular fabric of the country’.

The concept of Atman has been one of the most beautiful concepts of Hinduism. Since human
body and its conscience in the easiest terms is nothing but matter and since modern science has
proved that matter simply integrates or disintegrates but never ceases to exist; hence the concept
of Atman is not just philosophical but also scientific. The indestructibility of Atman has been
beautifully told in the Shrimad BhagwadGeeta which says:-

“ जजजज जजजजजजजजज जजजजजजजजज जजजज जजजज जजजजजज

ज जजजज जजजजजजजजजजजजजज ज जजजजजज जजजजजज जज ”

Which literally translates into, “The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he
be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.”

Hindu religion has always succeeded in intriguing the scientific world as the religious scriptures
mention about organ transplant, plastic surgery, aero-vehicles, gravitational pull, nuclear
weapons and on many such topics where we still have a lot to discover, hence establishing it as
the most sensible and scientific ‘way of life’.
Conclusion:-

Today, we are witnessing a war between believers and atheists, between faith and the faith-less.
What we need to understand is that it is necessary for us to identify those bigots who undermine
the values for which we stand. We need to identify those pseudo-atheists who spread poison in
the name of rationalism. They pose a threat not just to the culture but to the very idea of Bharat
as a nation. Recent debates on Vande Mataram being against the tenets of some religion is all
irrational stuff poured in by these atheists to stoke controversies and create a divide. I wrap up
with my last statement that you have all the authority to question the existence of God, but to do
so with a vested interest to create a divide within the country is highly condemnable. Be a
Nastik, but never an atheist.