About 10 years ago, | happened to share the dais with Yashwant Manohar, a noted writer, who identified two things “polluting” India’s Budhism: (1) Osho and (2) Vipassana. At that time the significance of his statement was not fully appreciated.
Now, the ill-effects of Vipassana seem to be evident from the big Debate that is going on in Dalit Voice on Vipassana. Many writers, including stalwarts like Raju Kamble and Anil Rangari have criticised S.N. Goenka who is engineering the Vipassana (meditation) movement. Dr. Vinod Wanjari is reportedly coming out with a book. know Raju Kamble and Anil Rangari, both ardent Ambedkarites, and their criticisms do carry weight.
Dr. Tulsiram, a JNU scholar and editor of the Vishwa Ashvaghosha, said about three years ago:
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has organised several “World Hindu Buddhist Conferences”, at Haridwar, Modi Puram, Sarnath, Rajgir, Bodh Gaya and Lumbini. At these conferences it was falsely claimed that since Budhism is an essential part of Hinduism, those who want to embrace Budhism should embrace Hinduism directly. At these meetings Vipassana Guruji Goenka is also reported to have participated.
3-point pact: We do not know what Goenka’s was stand but it was reported that Bhikku Vinayarakkhita Dharmayatana, Maharagama of Sri Lanka, disclosed an agreement between Goenka and the Kanchi Shankarachari. Asoka the Great had constructed 84,000 stupas over the remains of the Budha and keeping alive the same tradition, S.N.Goenka was building a pagoda at Bombay. He also disclosed a pact between the Kanchi Shankarachari and Goenka.
He also disclosed that on Nov.11, 1999 at the Mahabodhi Society office, Sarnath, Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti and Satyanarayana Goenka met and issued a joint communique agreeing on the following three points:
- Due to whatever reason some literature was written in India in the past in which the Budha was declared to be a reincarnation of Vishnu and other various false things about him, this was very unpleasant. To foster friendlier ties between Hindus and Budhists we decide that whatever has happened in the past should be forgotten and such belief should not be propagated.
- To forever remove this misconception, we declare that both Vedic 1and Samana are ancient traditions of India (Vishnu belongs to the Vedic tradition and Budha belongs to the Samana tradition). Any attempt by one tradition to show it higher than the other will only generate hatred and ill-will between the two. Hence such a thing should not be done in future and both traditions should be accorded equal respect and esteem.
- Anybody can attain a high position in society by doing good deeds. One becomes a low person in society if one does evil deeds. Hence anybody by doing good deeds and removing the defilement, such as passion, anger, arrogance, ignorance, greed, jealousy and ego, can attain a high position in society and enjoy peace and happiness.
Goenka ranked with Babasaheb: The agreement ranked Goenka among the three great Budhist revivalist leaders along with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.
(1) “The first visible revival of Budhism in India started with Anagarika Dharmapala, who founded the Mahabodhi Society of India in 1891, which located the historic sacred sites sanctified by Budha’s presence and protected these places for the benefit of people. This society maintains those places of Budhist worship with deep devotion.
(2) “Then it was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of indian Constitution, who along with more than 6,00,000 of his followers embraced Budhism at Nagpur in India on 14th of October (Ashoka Vijaya Dashmi) in the year 1956.
(3) “Again it was in the year 1955 that Shri Satyanarayana Goenka took his first Vipassana meditation course in Yangoon (Burma) and unknowingly got committed to work for the spread of Budha’s Dhamma throughout India and the world through his ten-day Vipassana meditation courses with its secular flavor, non-sectarian ingredients and universal appeal, which is unique to the Budha’s teaching”.
In Aug.2002, when | saw this article on International Dalit Forum, | lodged a strong protest. | do not think many people in India know about this pact between the Kanchi Shankarachari and Goenka on Budhism.
Bodh Gaya conspiracy: | do not know how many Budhists in India would accept Goenka as their representative in the talks with the leaders of Brahminism. As a matter of fact, | had warned three years back about the Brahminical Social Order (BSO) attempting to depict the Budha as a Hindu. i had also requested people like Jaysuriya to warn foreign tourists and pilgrims not to fall prey to such propaganda.
The above-mentioned pact appears to be a part of the same conspiracy. We cannot forget the Brahminical conspiracy at Bodh Gaya.
| agree that the relations between Hindus and Budhists should be friendly. But the above pact is no solution. The Bodh Gaya Tempie should be handed back to Budhists before any pact. The Budhists have raised this question in the UNO forum also.
Coming to the pact itself (clause-1), | am happy that the Kanchi Shankarachari has realized that it is wrong that “some literature was written in India in the past in which the Buddha was declared to be a reincarnation of Vishnu and other various false things about him*.
But he does not condemn such books. Just saying “such belief should not be propagated” is not enough. How to know that the Kanchi Shankarachari does not \J consider the Budha as an avatar of Vishnu unless this is done? Goenka must also condemn all such ancient Brahminic literature which depict the Budha as an avatar of Vishnu:
About clause 2 of the pact, the Kanchi Shankarachari has said all religious traditions are equal. Such traditions under Hinduism are represented by castes. If the Shankarachari declares all the castes as equal, that would be in keeping with the ancient tradition. We are given to understand that the Adi-Shankara had declared that atma in all human beings is same.
So, Goenka should ask the Shankarachari that all temples in India should have priests of all castes in proportion to the population of each caste.
Blocking Bahujans: Clause-3 of the pact is also highly commendable. The Shankarachari has realized that “anybody can attain a high position in society by doing good deeds. One becomes a low person in society if one does evil deeds”. So, he should declare that the worth of a man depends on his deeds and not on his birth.
Goenka must now ask the Kanchi Shankarachari to make a non-Brahmin as the Shankarachari.
If these things are accepted the entire Bahujan Samaj of India would appreciate Goenka and the Shankarachari. The pact between them would be then meaningful. Or else, the Bahujans would feel the pact as part of the attempts by the BSO to block the Bahujan awakening and thus maintain the status quo with Brahminic hegemony.
This is urgent. And important as leaders of Bahujan Samaj have declared conversion of 30 million Bahujans to Budhism in 2006 on the golden jubilee of Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion. o
(kimndas@nagpur.dot.net.in)
