Source

TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, December 10, 2003: Vishal Agarwal (“source”) of the Hindu Mahasabha of America submits the following article:



India is currently witnessing a Hindu revival that is attributed by most political commentators to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organizations. Such reductionism ignores the pioneering work of Sita Ram Goel, who practically lead an independent movement for the intellectual defense of the Hindu society for several decades. After a long illness, during which he was bed-ridden most of the time, but was mentally alert till the end, Mr. Goel passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 3, 2003.



A millennium of intolerant Islamic rule, followed by two centuries of British colonial exploitation and missionary propaganda have created a Stockholm Syndrome in the minds of several Hindus. It has become very fashionable these days to attribute all ills of Indian society and economy to Hindu Dharma. Self-alienated, elitist Indian intellectuals, primarily owing allegiance to Marxism, but working in tandem with Islamist elements in India and abroad, tend to denounce any public expression of Hindu faith as “fascism.” Political correctness is slowly squeezing out Hindu Dharma from all public arenas even though the faith forms the essence of Indian culture, and is the oldest and one of the few continuous spiritual traditions in the world. In the name of “secularism” and “social harmony,” Leftist historians have been distorting India”s history on a large-scale. Professional “secularists” and “liberals” have been opposing resistance of Hindus to their impending physical extermination in large parts of South Asia (Pakistan, Kashmir, Bangladesh, North East India) in numerous ways. In short, every effort is being made to transform Hindu Dharma from a vibrant, living faith into a museum artifact meant for posthumous “scholarly” study.



Through his writings, Mr. Goel vehemently opposed this progressive vilification and marginalization of Hindu Dharma in India. He argued that Hindu Dharma would cease to exist if Hindus themselves become just non-thinking brown clones of the secularized West. Mr. Goel believed that Hindu Dharma has much to offer to contemporary human civilization, just as it has enriched the world in the past in many different ways. He pleaded that in order to understand human suffering, we must do a first hand study and evaluation of totalitarian ideologies masquerading as religions, instead of indulging in cliched explanations.



Owing to a systematic censorship of his views by the English media in India, he set up his own small publishing house, “The Voice of India.” This publishing house has tried to present a Hindu view of other religions and ideologies, and has supported fledgling but brave authors whose work has questioned the dominant paradigms of Indian history. Mr. Goel’s work inspired an entire generation of writers to fight for truth at great personal cost and it will continue to motivate many more competent scholars for several decades to come. The Bharatvani Institute, with its website here, is proud to acknowledge him as one of its main sources of inspiration. The website hosts many of his own writings and has a more detailed saga of his life.

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