Banning of Geeta

Recent news about a Russian court hearing a petition to Ban "Geeta"provoked me to write this post.

In today’s ‘Fast food  -  Twitter’  world if one is asked to interpret Gita it would translate as:

 For the sake of religion (Dharma) you are justified to kill your brothers.

Is it not the same thing that the Islamist (Jihad) and Christians (Crusade) talk about?

It is not what the holy books talk but

‘Who’ and ‘how’ the words of the holy books are interpreted, that determines the understanding of Religion.

To understand Mahabharat, Gurcharan Das did not go to Ayodhya, Mathura, Varansi or Kasi or make the Char Dham yatra, but he went  to the institution of Liberal art thinking, University of Chicago.!!!

Ancient Indian Culture followed the Verbal method of telling stories / Mythology.

Written works are fairly recent, and there are various version of Ramayana where the core thoughts remain the same but the body around it changes. (Valmikis Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana of south , 12^th century; Ramacharitra manas  of Tusidas, 16^th century.

There was a definitive purpose for the Verbal tradition.

Ancient Risihi’s had the wisdom to keep the Myths relevant,

While the stories and values they reflect would remain the same the context and the interpretation would change with the change of generation, keeping the best of the old but adding the relevance of the new.

Instead of promoting orthodox one track thinking they were meant to promote ideas of liberalism, open mindedness and diverse thinking. Difference of opinion was meant to be celebrated and understood and not condemned with Banners and Bans.

It will need lot of efforts for the ‘Twitter generation’ to understand that there is a Hell of a difference between ‘Dharma’ and Religion. If they do make the efforts the world will be a Heaven.