The Hindus in India and world over are liberal people, open societies in modern age and they do participate & celebrate all festivals of different sects & religions. They believe in coexistence and idea of "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam...वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम meaning THE WOLE WORLD IS A FAMILY. The phrase is taken from an ancient Upanishad called Maha Upanishad. This verse is also engraved in the entrance hall of the Indian parliament. The Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi used this phrase in his speech at the World Culture Festival, organized by Art of Living (AOL), adding that "Indian culture Is very rich and has inculcated in each one of us with great values, we are the people who have come from Aham Brahmasmi (अहं ब्रम्हास्मि..I am the Brahman, ....I am the Truth) to Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, we are the people who have come from Upanishads to Upgrah (उपग्रह..Satellite)". True, today the nations of the world though different in beliefs, faiths, culture, language, history and geography are so integrated and inter-connected that any small event in one part of the world triggers echos &. Vibrations in other part.
The Christmas day is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ among billions of people around the world. Christians consider Jesus to be the Messiah (Christ) and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. These ideas are no different from what Lord Krishna echoed in the Bhagwad Gita, the spiritual guide for mankind which promises him/her to achieve self realization and ultimately, the moksha ((मोक्ष... Liberation), the God realization by walking on various paths like karma yoga, gyan yoga, bhakti yoga etc. Christmas day coupled with the new year celebrations every year are big international events and I think there is hardly any nation or boundaries (except few Islamic and atheist countries where the celebrations of Christmas are banned) where the festivities and joyous mood is not found during these days.
In India, some proponent of Hindu faith take objections in celebrating the Christmas & Christian new year and advocate in celebrating only Hindu festivals and Hindu new year. Many messages and posts are found on social media now a days suggesting this. However, they forget that the Hindus do celebrate their Hindu festivals and also Hindu new year (of course with varying dates of new year, like Tamil new year, Marathi new years, Bengali new year, Gujarati new years etc.). They also forget that when the Hindu faith believes in the idea of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, what is harm in celebrating festivals of other religion and fellow custodian of planet earth? Hindu religion is not so weak and it does not get polluted by simply celebrating the Christmas or an Eid. The true Hindus do believe that their holy scriptures, the Vedas and the Bharwad Gita unequivocally proclaim that there is one God that is described in many ways. A quote from Vedic literature says that;
In Sanskrit....
आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम् ।
सर्वदेहनमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति ॥
akashat patitam toyam, yatha gacchati sagaram, sarva deva namaskaram kesavam prati gacchati:
Translation in Hindi...
आकाश से गिरा हुआ जल, जिस प्रकार सागर में ही जा मिलता है; वैसे हि किसी भी रुप की पूजा/उपासना/नमस्कार, एक ही परमेश्वर को पहुँचती है ।
Translation in English...
As the rain water falling from the sky go to the same ocean, the worship of every deity goes to the one and same God.
Having the strong beliefs in one God in a pure Hindu mindset, a true Hindu will not hesitate to go to a church, a mosque or a temple to close his/her eyes and pray to his own God. The place, time, attire & any physical boundaries are of no significance or consequence to him/her. So, why some Hindus oppose the celebrations of Christmas by Hindus? Such people are not true Hindus and are in fact involved in the business of religion. They definitely do have some agenda and vested interests. Their other objection is that why Hindus follow English Calendar and not a Hindu calendar? The Hindus do follow the English Calendar as most of the nations follow it and due to the very nature of international business and today's modern need of a common international interface & reference point of time for all communications, it becomes mandatory to use the English Calendar. The historical fact of legacy of British rule is also a reason for following the English Calendar as even after achieving Independence in 1947, India could not switch over to Hindu calendar for which, reasons may be many. However, Hindus do follow the Hindu Calendar too to celebrate their Hindu festivals and perform important rituals, pujaas (worships), marriages etc. and the choice is also purely left to individual for doing or not doing so due to openness and liberal ways of Hindu religion. In every Hindu household in India, one may find a Hindu calendar or a Panchang (पंचांग) too. These proponents of Hindu calendar also use English dates on their cheque books, their property documents and all other correspondence for their personal convenience but show rigidity and aversion when their fellow Hindus celebrate festivals of other religions.
Best way is to ignore such suggestions and people.
The Christmas day is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ among billions of people around the world. Christians consider Jesus to be the Messiah (Christ) and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. These ideas are no different from what Lord Krishna echoed in the Bhagwad Gita, the spiritual guide for mankind which promises him/her to achieve self realization and ultimately, the moksha ((मोक्ष... Liberation), the God realization by walking on various paths like karma yoga, gyan yoga, bhakti yoga etc. Christmas day coupled with the new year celebrations every year are big international events and I think there is hardly any nation or boundaries (except few Islamic and atheist countries where the celebrations of Christmas are banned) where the festivities and joyous mood is not found during these days.
In India, some proponent of Hindu faith take objections in celebrating the Christmas & Christian new year and advocate in celebrating only Hindu festivals and Hindu new year. Many messages and posts are found on social media now a days suggesting this. However, they forget that the Hindus do celebrate their Hindu festivals and also Hindu new year (of course with varying dates of new year, like Tamil new year, Marathi new years, Bengali new year, Gujarati new years etc.). They also forget that when the Hindu faith believes in the idea of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, what is harm in celebrating festivals of other religion and fellow custodian of planet earth? Hindu religion is not so weak and it does not get polluted by simply celebrating the Christmas or an Eid. The true Hindus do believe that their holy scriptures, the Vedas and the Bharwad Gita unequivocally proclaim that there is one God that is described in many ways. A quote from Vedic literature says that;
In Sanskrit....
आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम् ।
सर्वदेहनमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति ॥
akashat patitam toyam, yatha gacchati sagaram, sarva deva namaskaram kesavam prati gacchati:
Translation in Hindi...
आकाश से गिरा हुआ जल, जिस प्रकार सागर में ही जा मिलता है; वैसे हि किसी भी रुप की पूजा/उपासना/नमस्कार, एक ही परमेश्वर को पहुँचती है ।
Translation in English...
As the rain water falling from the sky go to the same ocean, the worship of every deity goes to the one and same God.
Having the strong beliefs in one God in a pure Hindu mindset, a true Hindu will not hesitate to go to a church, a mosque or a temple to close his/her eyes and pray to his own God. The place, time, attire & any physical boundaries are of no significance or consequence to him/her. So, why some Hindus oppose the celebrations of Christmas by Hindus? Such people are not true Hindus and are in fact involved in the business of religion. They definitely do have some agenda and vested interests. Their other objection is that why Hindus follow English Calendar and not a Hindu calendar? The Hindus do follow the English Calendar as most of the nations follow it and due to the very nature of international business and today's modern need of a common international interface & reference point of time for all communications, it becomes mandatory to use the English Calendar. The historical fact of legacy of British rule is also a reason for following the English Calendar as even after achieving Independence in 1947, India could not switch over to Hindu calendar for which, reasons may be many. However, Hindus do follow the Hindu Calendar too to celebrate their Hindu festivals and perform important rituals, pujaas (worships), marriages etc. and the choice is also purely left to individual for doing or not doing so due to openness and liberal ways of Hindu religion. In every Hindu household in India, one may find a Hindu calendar or a Panchang (पंचांग) too. These proponents of Hindu calendar also use English dates on their cheque books, their property documents and all other correspondence for their personal convenience but show rigidity and aversion when their fellow Hindus celebrate festivals of other religions.
Best way is to ignore such suggestions and people.
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