Gurus with Business Interests made it possible to convert to Hinduism

Yesterday I wrote about western gurus on the Kumbh Mela and mentioned how strange it is that people who would not be allowed in many Hindu temples can get high Hindu posts. I mentioned that one can buy such posts and that religion is thus very sellable. Hindus thus sold the basic principle of Hinduism that there is no way of converting to this religion. Let’s take another look at the question of conversion and maybe you can then understand why I say it is all about money.

If you go far back to the time when Hindu scriptures were written, you will find the reason why the authors did not write about any possibility to convert to Hinduism. You need to understand their mentality and the idea of life they had. They intentionally avoided writing about conversion because they had a philosophy of ‘pure blood’. It is the same people who brought the caste system into place and separated people strictly from each other, so that they would not get married in between castes and mix blood of different castes that, in their eyes, should not be mixed. Obviously, they did not want blood of non-Hindus to be mixed in blood of pure Hindu families – and that is why they did not write anything as to how you could convert. On the contrary, they wrote that you have to be born to Hindu parents to be a Hindu.

Over the course of time, there were of course people who wanted to change the rigid rules that those ‘pure blood’ philosophy brings along. Dayananda Saraswati for example, the founder of the Arya Samaj, reformed a lot of wrong traditions and became more generous. He opened the doors for lower caste people, even allowing them to read the scriptures which were forbidden to them until that point. The Arya Samaj also allows inter-caste marriages – but through this, another sect formed that is based on Hinduism.

Before that, there was Buddha, who protested against many bad things happening due to religion. He fully refused a lot of the teaching of the Vedas and was, in the consequence, kicked out by Hindu people. The result: another religion.

In reality, Hinduism is very flexible. I once wrote that its flexibility is one of Hinduism’s biggest disadvantages. There are so many sects because people made their own interpretations of what is written and maybe not very clear or just not suitable for them. And that is where business interests turn out to be more important than the basics of the religion people are following.

There were a lot of Indian gurus who went to the west to find followers there. They were preaching Hinduism and finally started initiating foreigners, non-Hindus, and made them their disciples. They made them Hindus – it was good for business! These Indian gurus were most probably well aware of the fact that it is technically not possible but in order to establish their business in the west, with foreigners, where there was less competition and a new market, they decided to ignore that. They went with their shop to the west and opened Hindu franchisee outlets in foreign countries.

It doesn’t matter whether it is ISKCON devotees, disciples of other gurus or members of different Hindu sects, they all started pretending being Hindus, acting like Hindus and dressing like Hindus. Some of them even became their own gurus and created their Ashrams in Haridwar, Rishikesh, South India and other places, not only in this country but around the world.

A lot of people protested against this, too, saying that these Indian gurus were doing wrong, that foreigners were not even allowed in temples but now consider themselves Hindus. Saying that you are a Hindu and dressing like one won’t make these people accept you as one.

Nevertheless, modern Hindu organizations in India, like the RSS, who promote Hinduism and everything that they believe belongs to it, started converting people to Hinduism. They go to those places where Christian missionaries had converted lower caste people with the promise of food and work and just give them a higher offer if they convert to Hinduism again. We know however that they simply have a hidden political agenda and are Hindu right wing activists. They claim to be non-political but use religion for their purpose.

Some people asked me: if I am against the strict rules and narrowness of religion, why do I support people who don’t want non-Hindus to convert to Hinduism? Why don’t I support more openness and tell Hindus they should accept foreigners, too? The answer is easy: I don’t even believe in the concept of religion. I am not advocating Hinduism nor am I supporting any other religion. If you asked me, I would tell you not to join any religion at all. If you are determined to do so however, I think you should properly follow it. You are the one who wants to believe in Hinduism – so you should see that converting to Hinduism breaks their basic concept. Of course you can choose one of the modest versions that different sects present to you but then you will be a member of that sect and that is most probably not what you want either and I would not consider you a Hindu but simply a follower of that sect.

If you want to believe in the original form of Hinduism, you cannot convert to it. You are either Hindu-born or you are non-Hindu. If you follow any guru or sect, you are a member of a Hindu-based sect or cult. I think it would be best, however, if we all could just be humans instead and not let religious leaders earn a lot of money through their manipulation.