Nurturing a Healthy Skepticism
How It Will Help Hindu Children
The video by Infinity Foundation has stirred up reactions from Hindu parents worldwide. While this is primarily a video about a courageous and gracious Hindu mother from the USA, parents in India thinking this happens only in the USA are in for a shock. Don’t we remember how Indian schools and colleges trained our children to protest against “Hindu fascism” when the Indian Legislature passed the CAA? The truth is that this can happen anywhere to any Hindu parent. And so, we need to seriously think, pool our resources, and unite as a worldwide community to raise Hindu children to be discerning.
The question on all parents’ minds is how to prevent this. The mother seems to have done everything in her power. But she couldn’t stop her children from being influenced by anti-Hindu forces. Many say that merely knowing oneself (Svayambodha) is not enough; we must also understand the enemy (Shatrubodha).
While it is essential to know oneself and the enemy (read up about the two terms Svayambodha and Shatrubodha here), is that also enough?
Between Svayambodha and Shatrubodha, the missing piece is a dose of healthy skepticism. Hindu children must be taught to think, question, and develop Viveka (the ability to discern). They will also ask us many questions, but a true Hindu never runs away from them. It is our nature to seek and find the truth, even if it is inconvenient. Let children ask questions. Encourage debate at home. Only then will they learn to hold others to the same standards.
Hindus quickly perceive and take offense when other Hindus try to influence them. It’s not that we do not know how to identify an attempt to proselytize (trying to convert), even though we are non-proselytizing people. Many Hindus are put off by the ISKCON method of attracting people to the fold. But the same - and much more aggressive tactics - of Abrahamic proselytization is not recognized as a threat for two reasons:
Within India, the minority-majority outlook on every facet of public life and the resultant secular narrative keep Hindus in a perpetual state of guilt if they feel like objecting to aggressive proselytization.
Outside India, of course, there’s a feeling that it’s “their” country, so they can do whatever they like to us. We are outsiders abroad, so we should be grateful for even being allowed there, different as we are.
Let’s come back to ISKCON. Ironically, when ISKCON people push the Bhagavad-Gita, many parents recoil and tell their kids to stay away from people who pester them. Hindu parents also recognize that you will feel beholden once you accept something from somebody. The sense of being indebted to someone robs us of the ability to think straight. Again, we can spot it a mile away when our minds haven’t been messed with. For example, when ISCKON hands out its Bhagavad-Gita, many Hindus understand that the minute you take something “free,” you will feel obligated. It will be harder to say “no” to the next thing they ask of you. But the same smartness fails us when Abrahamic institutions offer “free” help, new converts offer “free” prayers for us, or the local newspaper (with its ideological aggressiveness against Hindus) is given at a deep discount.
Talk to your kids about the money trail and why there is no “free” lunch. When someone offers something free, where are they getting the money from? Who is sponsoring them? What’s in it for them? What’s the catch?
Do we tell our kids to be cautious about accepting help from people with a hidden agenda? (which is almost everyone except dharmiks). When children are made aware that Marxism and other schools of thought come with a hard-wired need to convert others into their point of view, they will have clarity and not get fooled easily. Young people must know that almost every secular and religious ideology is driven to replicate itself, virus-like. Only Dharmik “religions” are an exception to this rule.
Similarly, Hindu parents know all about the stereotypical car salesman and warn their children against being taken in by sweet talk, behind which lurks a desire to make a sale. But the same discernment fails us when we see an Abrahamic, liberal, rationalist, or atheist trying to convert us into his mode of thinking. We alert children to car salesmen, don’t we? Then why do we never discuss the tactics used to convert, to change one’s opinion, to persuade by hook or crook?
We need to teach our children that almost everybody we meet will try to sell us something. It’s a fact of life. Marketers are easy to deal with as they give us material things when we part with our money. Far more dangerous are the ideological marketers, who hijack our mind-space (and time) to make us work for them. The singular exceptions are dharmiks themselves. We are not rewarded for influencing someone, so we don’t even try. It’s not part of our nature or teachings. So it becomes all the more bewildering that our young people go to college, and along comes the academic or ideological equivalent of a car salesman who manages to convince our kids that we (parents) are the duplicitous and greedy ‘car salesmen’!
Just as we warn them to be wary in buying-situations, we should teach kids always to think, “What’s in it for the person trying to convince you of something?” Are they doing it because they believe they can get to their heaven? Are they making money by turning you against your ancestors and traditions while holding on to theirs? If we are as careful about parting with our time and mind-space as we are with our money, the next generation will be safe.
Be aware of the Hindu tendency to make fun of the “brainwashing” of a Sri Sri Ravishankar or Sadhguru or any other Hindu guru while not using the same sharpness to spot the brainwashing lurking in The Washington Post or the Times of India, the latest Netflix show, movies, or simply, in all the words and images surrounding us.
Aren’t we careful in teaching our kids to recognize phishing, identity theft, and other scams which could leave them vulnerable? Similarly, by teaching our children not to be fooled by people with an axe to grind, we can keep them safe from phishers, marketers, proselytizers, and anti-Hindu activists. Let’s teach our children to be safe by nurturing a healthy skepticism in them.