Sanatana Dharma and Plantation Hinduism (Second Edition Volume 2): Explorations and Reflections of an Indian Guyanese Hindu

By Ramesh Gampat

Christian Missionaries worked hard to convert immigrants. Their first order of business was to denigrate Hinduism, designate Hindus as heathen, and disparage their culture, food and even attire. Immigrants stubbornly resisted, led by the tiny educated elite, including Brhmaas whom we call Brahmins. Conversion was a failure at least up to the end of the 19th century but picked up a self-generating momentum thereafter. The result is that the share of Hindus in Guyana’s Indian population declined from 83.5 percent in 1880 to 62.8 percent in 2012. The largest portion of the contraction was lost to Christianity. The loss notwithstanding, even a casual observer would conclude that Guyanese Hindus, at home and in the Diaspora, are a very religious people. Many of us do a jhandi or havan once annually; others do the more elaborate and costlier yajña, where everyone is welcome, once or twice in their lifetime. Most of us do a short daily puja – prayers, offerings, reading the stras and listening to bhajan – in our homes.

An important, but perhaps unintended, way immigrants countered conversion to Christianity was an unplanned movement towards a “synthesis” that brought Hindus, regardless of caste or sect, under a “unitary form of Hinduism.” The “synthesis” began around the 1870s and was completed by the 1930s to the 1950s. Guyanese Hindus call the unified corpus of religious beliefs and practices that emerged from the “synthesis” Sanatana Dharma. Ramesh Gampat labels it Plantation Hinduism in this path-breaking book.

The book argues that the brand of Hinduism practiced is inconsistent with Sanatana Dharma, called Vednta by the more philosophically inclined. Plantation Hinduism features an extraordinary dependence upon purohits (pandits), which has anaesthetized the Hindu mind and render him unable to think, question and inquire when it comes to Dharma. Rituals and bhakti have been degraded and turned into desire-motivated worship; devats have been misconstrued as Brahman rather than as limited manifestation of the one non-dual pure Consciousness; belief in the multiplicity of gods encourages image worship; and superstitions anchor Guyanese Hindus to tradition and mere belief. Plantation Hinduism is little more than desire-motivated actions, dogmas and superstitions. Absent is the idea that Sanatana Dharma is a spiritual science no less scientific than hard sciences, such as physics and astronomy. The central message of Vednta is the innate divinity of every person and the freedom to realize that divinity through anubhava, direct personal experience of Supreme Reality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796078572

Ramesh Gampat

Ramesh Gampat is an economist, who worked for about three decades with the United Nations Development Programme. He is the author of several books. The two most recent ones are Guyana’s Great Economic Downswing, 1977-1990. Socio-Economic Impact of Co-operative Socialism (2020); and Essays. Guyana: Economics, Politics and Demography (2022). Dr. Gampat has also published academic papers on inflation, poverty, international trade, human development, gender and corruption. He lives with his wife just outside Atlanta, Georgia.

Book preview

SANATANA DHARMA

AND

PLANTATION HINDUISM

Explorations and Reflections of an

Indian Guyanese Hindu

Second Edition

VOLUME 2

RAMESH GAMPAT

Copyright © 2020 by Ramesh Gampat.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/06/2020

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Praise for Sanatana Dharma and Plantation Hinduism

This book will become required reading for Hindus of Guyana, wider Caribbean, Caribbean Diaspora and others. It is a towering intellectual achievement of analysis and clarification of Hindu practices and ideas. This kind of informed and scholarly tome on Guyanese Hinduism is long overdue. It represents a welcome deviation from the ritualistic simplicity of the pandits and the misrepresentations of academic cultural studies. Gampat establishes the foundation for research in a new field, hence the true value of this landmark book. It also diagnoses a fundamental problem, which involves the failure of Hindus to think for themselves. The fixation on materialism blinds the understanding of the intricate knowledge embedded in the Hindu texts and makes many Hindus susceptible to manipulation by the pandits and politicians. Ideas of astronomy, philosophy and the social sciences are embedded in this book, as well as an inductivist epistemology of darśana as a

mode of investigation. I highly recommend.

— Dr. Tarron Khemraj, Professor of Economics and International Studies, New College of Florida

The first batch of 246 Indians set sail for Guyana in 1838 … the writing piques the imagination right away. An intense personal response to the lived experience of what the author calls Plantation Hinduism, is intertwined with the immigration story of Indians in Guyana. Shlokas like Om Poornamadah, and poems like the Indian Centenary Hymn, embellish the work. This is a hard look at Hindu practices examined against Sanatana Dharma by a scholar-practitioner through a Caribbean lens

— Dr. Anuradha Kathi Rajivan, Economist and former Head of the Human Report Development Unit, United Nations Development Programme

Dr. Ramesh Gampat’s book is a must read for anyone interested in religion and culture. Much has previously been written about Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism, but his thesis on Plantation Hinduism is fascinatingly unique and original in scholarship. The author skillfully addresses various issues, including those that revolve around caste and terms such Brahmins and Pandits. His Hindu life in rural Guyana and experiences outside provide him with experiences that enriches his book.

— Dr. Somdat Mahabir, Scientist and Professor

This is a very compelling work of empirical research and personal expression. It interrogates issues in the Caribbean, and the wider world, by critically examining religious-socio-cultural topics such as the re-creation of Hinduism in Guyana, the disintegration of the caste system, conversion to Christianity, and the role of the pundits and mandirs in society. Gampat’s bold and brave style of writing will surely provoke praises as well as condemnations. Truth be told, this is a book with no holds barred.

— Dr. Kumar Mababir, Former Assistant Professor, University of Trinidad and Tobago, and 2011 National Award (Silver) Recipient for Education

Also by Ramesh Gampat

Guyana: From Slavery to the Present. Volume 1: Health System

Guyana: From Slavery to the present: Volume 2: Major Diseases

Perspectives on Corruption and Human Development, Volume 1 (co-edited with Anuradha Rajivan)

Perspectives on Corruption and Human Development, Volume 2 (co-edited with Anuradha Rajivan)

In memory of my mother and father

who instilled in me

the value of fair play and education

and

To Hindu intellectual kṣatriyas

on whose shoulders

rest the defense of Sanatana Dharma

Om Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaat Poornamudachyate;

Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornameva Avashishyate

Om Shaantih, Shaantih, Shaantih

Filled with Brahman are the things we see;

Filled with Brahman are the things we see not;

From out of Brahman floweth all that is;

From Brahman all – yet is He still the same.

Om peace, peace, peace

Another translation:

Whole is that, whole too is this and from the whole,

whole cometh and take whole, yet whole remains.

- Peace -invocation, Īśāvāsya Upaniṣhad.

In the Bhagavad Gītā the Śruti and the Smṛti get themselves blended.

Because of its being an exhaustive collection of spiritual laws,

the Gītā is called Śruti. These spiritual laws when applied to life

are called the Sanatana Dharma – eternal order and righteousness.

The Gītā may therefore be treated as a manual of the Sanatana Dharma

– Swami Chidbhavananda 1984: 39.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 1

Preface

Acknowledgement

Chapter 1. Things Fall Apart

Introduction

Plantation Hinduism: Meaning of the Term

Plantation Hinduism: Structural Features

Plantation Hinduism: Substantive Features

Reader’s Guide: An Extended Tour of the Book

Chapter 2. The Great Drama: Indian Immigration to Guyana

Caste and Religious Composition

The Early Years of Indian Indenture

Indians Revolutionize Guyana

The Long Struggle Continues

Chapter 3. Immigrants: Does Name Tell Caste?

Varṇa is not Caste

Jati, the Closest Approximation of Caste

Data and Methodology

Major Findings

Conclusion

Chapter 4. Proselytization: Assumptions And Approach

Major Christian Missions

Stage I of Proselytization: Hinduism as Personification of Evil

Stage II of Proselytization: Major Assumptions

Stage III of Proselytization: The Approach

Stage IV of Proselytization: Resisting Conversion

Chapter 5. Proselytizing to Indians: The Record

Early Lamentation

The Data

Indian Population Only: Evolving Religious Composition

Migration and Decline of the Hindu Sub-Population

Guyana’s Population: Evolving Religious Composition of Indians

Chapter 6. Coexistence Of High Literacy And Ignorance

Pre-Independence: Poor School Attendance

Indifference of Colonial Authorities and Plantocracy

Indifference of Indian Parents

Education: Progress After the Mid-1930s

Long Tradition of Debates Among Indians

Losing the Oral Dharmic Tradition

Untangling the Hindu Conundrum

Chapter 7. Christian Missionaries: How They Saw Hindus and Hinduism

Hinduism is a Cursed System of Beliefs

Monotheistic or Polytheistic?

Utter Contempt: The Coolie Parson

Rampersaud, the Creole Hindu Coolie

Chapter 8. Religion And Tradition

Vaiṣṇavism

Vaiṣṇavism is as Old as Time

Geography of Vaiṣṇavism

Shared Values and Diversity

Chapter 9. Democratizing Hinduism: Erasing Barriers

Opening Sanatana Dharma to All

From Hut Temples to Mandirs

Community Worship

Prominence of Brahmins

Degrading the Great Tradition

The Synthesis- A Mixed Blessing?

Caste and Brahmin Priests: Indispensable to Hinduism?

The Arya Samaj: What It Is

Arya Samaj: A Challenge to Plantation Hinduism?

Endnotes

Selected Sanskrit (Transliterated) Words

References

Index

TABLES, FIGURES AND BOXES

Table 2.1. Region of origin of a sample of immigrants from India to British Guiana, 1865-1917

Table 2.2. British Guiana: Two estimates of religious composition of immigrants: 1865-1917 and 1874-1917 (%)

Table 3.1. Name and caste: No consistent relationship

Table 3.2. Muslim immigrants

Table 3.3. Religion and caste of a sample of emigrants from Calcutta to British Guiana, 1865-1917

Table 3.4. Sample of Indian immigrants, 1874, 1889, 1890 and 1899

Table 3.5. Sample: Immigrants with same or similar-sounding names

Table 5.1. Religious composition of Indian population, 1911, 1921 and 1931 (numbers)

Table 5.2. Religious persuasion of Indians, 1931 and 1946 (percentage)

Table 5.3. Indian population by religious persuasion, 1880-2012

Table 5.4. Religious affiliation of national population, 2002 and 2012

Table 5.5. Religious affiliation of Indian population, 2002 and 2012

Figure 5.1. Indian population: Religious composition, 1880 and 2012

Figure 5.2a. Hindus as share of Indian and total population (%)

Figure 5.2b. Muslims as share of Indian and total population (%)

Figure 5.2c. Christians as share of Indian and total population (%)

Figure 5.2d: Other as share of Indian population (%)

Figure 5.3 Guyana’s population: Religious composition of Indians, 1880 and 2012

Figure 6.1. Illiteracy rates, 2002 and 2012

Figure 6.2. Closing of the Hindu mind

Figure 9.1. The synthesis: Evolution of a unitary form of Hinduism

Box 1.1. Divinity is within

Box 1.2. Plantation Hinduism: Three structural features

Box 1.3. Plantation Hinduism: Substantive features

Box 1.4. Sanatana Dharma and Plantation Hinduism

Box 4.1. The Heathen Indian immigrants: Some objections they raised against conversion

Box 5.1. Data: Note on religious affiliations of Indians, 2002 and 2012

Box 6.1: CaribbeanHindu Network discussions: Glimpses of role of pandits

Box 7.1. Sanatana Dharma: Its enduring and universal beauty

Box 7.2. Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata: Bridge to India

Box 8.1. The six principal attributes of Viṣṇu

Box 8.2. For the Hindu, God is both Mother and Father and all else

Box 9.1. A chamar ritual

Box 9.2. Hinduism: The principal saṁskāras

Box 9.3. Meaning of the word arya.

Box 9.4. Arya Samaj: Against image worship

CONTENTS

VOLUME 2

Preface

Acknowledgement

Chapter 10. Bhakti And Murti: Are we Off The Mark?

We Practice a Degraded Version of Bhakti

Bhakti: Intense Love of God, not a Petition for Worldly Things

How Shall I Know You, O Yogi? Through Bhakti

Śraddhā: Its Importance to Bhakti

Arjuna’s Fundamental Question: Bhakti or Jñāna?

Image Worship

Hindus do not Worship Idols

The View from Vaiṣṇavaism

Chapter 11. Karma Is Not Destiny

Have We Made a Mockery of Karma?

Karma According to Sanatana Dharma

Karma and Akarma or Action and Inaction

Chapter 12. Misunderstood Rituals And Persistent Superstitions

Obsession With Rituals

Rituals: More than Show and Commerce

Widespread Belief in Superstition

No Room for Luck and Superstition

Chapter 13. Gods And Reincarnation

Many gods: Yet Another Misunderstanding

Millions of gods but only One God

Diminishing Belief in Reincarnation

Reincarnation as a Fundamental Pillar

Buddhi: Prerequisite for Spiritual Growth

Chapter 14. Pandits: Priests, Entrepreneurs Or Both?

According to the Śāstras: Who is a Pandit?

The Guyanese Pandit

Extra-Mandir Entities

Making of a Pandit

Bad Pandits Drive Out Good Ones

Chapter 15. Puruṣārthas, The Three Big Bs, And More

Hinduism Stands Apart

The Puruṣārthas

More on Dharma

Nirguṇa and Saguṇa Brahman

Brahmā, Brahman and Brahmaṇa

Relation Between Brahman and the Universe: Three Views

Could these Views of Brahman be Reconciled?

The Mahāvākyas

Chapter 16. Pinnacle Of Hindu Philosophy

What is Vedānta?

Vedānta is Both Philosophy and Religion

The Prasthāna-traya of Vedānta

The Six Orthodox Philosophical Systems

Advaita Vedānta: Three Propositions

Chapter 17. Organic Unity: An Alternative View Of Reality

Life of Rāmānuja: A Selective View

Rāmānuja: The Universe and Souls are not an Illusion

Rāmānuja’s Theism: Two Central Pillars

Viśiṣṭādvaita and Vaiṣṇavism: Different and Separate?

Chapter 18. Quo Vadis – What can Be Done?

What Are The Issues?

Moving Forward: A Tentative Agenda

Endnotes

Selected Sanskrit (Transliterated) Words

References

TABLES, FIGURES, PLATES AND BOXES

Table 14.1. U.S.A. Pandits’ Parishad: Financial Statement 2014

Table 15.1. Dharmic traditions and Abrahamic traditions: Central values

Figure 10.1. Arjuna’s question to Sri Krishna (Bhagavadgītā XII.1)

Plate 14.1. A relatively large mandir in rural Guyana

Plate 14.2. An Indian man (a beggar on the street) with pagri on head

Box 10.1. Who is a guru?

Box 10.2. Nārada’s Aphorism No. 2: Sa tvasmin parama-prema-rupa

Box 10.3. Meaning of yoga

Box 10.4. What is śraddhā?

Box 10.5. The Jñāni and the Bhakta

Box 10.6. Swami Vivekananda: Hindus do not worship idols

Box 11.1. Karma invalidates fundamental tenets of Abrahamic religions

Box 11.2. Saṁskāra and Vāsanā

Box 11.3. Dispassion

Box 11.4. The metaphysics of Bhagavadgītā

Box 12.1 The Guyanese Hindu jhandi

Box 12.2. Whoever offers Me with love a leaf, a flower …

Box 12.3. Yajña: Shifting its meaning from rituals to renunciation and selfless service

Box 12.4. Mere bath in a sacred river is not enough

Box 12.5. Japanese also believe in ghosts

Box 12.6. Bhojan mantra and more: A wonderful shloka from Bhagavadgītā

Box 13.1. Yājñavalkya: Who was he?

Box 14.1. Guyanese pandits: Key points

Box 14.2. The U.S.A. Pandits’ Parishad: Income and expenditure, 2014

Box 14.3. Varna: Hierarchical and sealed?

Box 15.1. Fundamental principles of Sanatana Dharma

Box 15.2. Only in Sanatana Dharma: God as Mother

Box 15.3. The spiritual core of Hinduism: The Upaniṣhads

Box 16.1. Śaṅkara: Great philosopher and saint

Box 16.2. Meaning of the word darśana

Box 16.3. An eternal religion?

Box 16.4. Negating all

Box 16.5. Śruti and Smṛti

Box 16.6. Bhagavadgītā: Practical Vedānta

Box 16.7. Brahman as the substratum (ādhāra): What does it mean?

Box 16.8. Māyā is inexplicable

Box 16.9. Advaita Vedānta: Major theories of causation

Box 17.1. Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja: Two great philosophers, brāhmaṇas, fountain of humility, wellspring of equality

Box 17.2. Bhakti Schools of Vedānta

Box 17.3. Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Nimbārka and Madhva: A very abbreviated insight into their philosophy

Box 17.4. Rāmānuja’s Philosophy: The idea of Śarīra-Śarīrī

Box 18.1. Mere intellectualism does not illumination bring

Box 18.2. Vedānta: Science of human possibilities

Box 18.3. Only jñāna is liberating

Box 18.4. How does one acquire jñāna?

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The reaction to the previous edition of this book was both expected and unexpected. For reasons I cannot explain, the print is smaller than usual, which makes for difficult reading, particularly because my target audience are those Hindus 40-45 years and over. Indeed, I have received several emails complaining that the small font size detracts from the utility of the book. Those feedback were expected. There were others who told me, orally, via email or both, that a book of this nature was long overdue and hoped the book would be widely read. I expected purohitas (pandits) in particular to react strongly and negatively to the book but that did not happen.

I have listened to the advice of friends and others to issue the book in two volumes and to use a larger font size. Volume 1, which contains chapters 1 to 9, focuses on certain aspects Indian Indenture, evolution of the religious persuasions of Indians, literacy levels, some of our important beliefs and values, and the transformation from traditions based on sect/caste to a homogeneous brand of Plantation Hinduism, which is not exactly the same as Sanatana Dharma. The transformation began from around the 1870s and was more or less completed somewhere around the 1930s to the 1950s. Volume 2, occupying chapters 10 to 18, discusses the major religious beliefs to which most Guyanese subscribe and my own understanding of Sanatana Dharma. The concluding chapter is an effort to chart the way forward.

Aside from breaking this huge book into two volumes, the second edition adds stylistic niceties to aid reading, and corrects minor typographical and grammatical errors. However, these changes leave the substance of the book intact.

I sincerely thank my readers for their advice and support.

Ramesh Gampat

December 2019

PREFACE

This book is an attempt to enhance my own understanding of a religion, a way of life more precisely, that has been the guiding light of my life. My search may be likened to a spiritual self-exploration, a pilgrimage of the mind, a testament to the yearnings of the soul. Along the journey I have discovered that the brand of Hinduism most Guyanese Hindus practice is not wholly the same as that of Sanatana Dharma, also known as Vedānta. While the fit leaves much to be desired, I am not critiquing our beliefs and practices for I do not aim to cast stones. Even so, it seems to me we have forgotten that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life, a lived faith, that leads from mundane existence to pure, unalloyed joy or liberation from the cycle of repeated birth and death. The path to infinite, pure, non-dual Consciousness is not mere belief or dogma; it is a spiritual science. The path has been tested and proved correct by our Ṛṣis and saints and is open to all and sundry. Ultimate Truth is not a belief but an exhilarating and transformative experience that removes all differences, that brings the experience of the oneness of existence. The foundation of science is experiment and experience. This is also true of Hinduism, which emphasizes anubhava, knowledge derived from direct, personal experience, not beliefs and dogmas. Seen this way, Hinduism is the science of human possibilities.

The problem confronting Guyanese Hindus is a simple: we refuse to think for ourselves and place complete trust in pandits, most of whom behave like religious entrepreneurs, selling adulterated services to Hindus at whatever price the puja market dictates. The exploitation of ordinary Hindus by pandits (commerce among people) comprises one side of the Guyanese Hindus equation. The other is that we, pandits and ordinary Hindus, treat Hinduism as commerce between gods and men, which is what our numerous rituals are geared towards, mistakenly. We believe, unwittingly or not, that the goal of life is to accumulate karma. Kāmakāma, sensory desires, on both sides of the equation, rule and ruin our lives. It traps us in Samsāra, bondage or the attachment of the Puruṣa to the guṇas of Prakṛti – sattva, rajas, and tamas -, so that, like animals, we live at the sensory level only. Our mind and senses run outward and rarely run inward: we dwell mostly at the level of pravṛtti (outward action) and only a little at the level of nivṛtti (inward contemplation). The latter is the source of all values – moral, ethical, spiritual. According to Śaṅkarācārya, the judicious blending pravṛtti and nivṛtti makes for a complete philosophy of life, which integrates all aspects of life in a balanced way.

Most Guyanese Hindus do not like to read, and are confused by the numerous religious texts: the Vedas, Upaniṣhads, the large number of Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Bhagavadgītā, Rāmāyana, etc. Quantity, both of texts and gods, overwhelms. I suspect many of us bosom up an unvocalized question, too timid to air our thoughts: if I have to read one book to learn about Sanatana Dharma, which will it be? My response is that the immortal Bhagavadgītā contains all that is necessary to follow the four puruṣārthas (goals) and a life of spirituality, a life of compassion and selfless service, a life of fulfillment, as opposed to mere religion. I hope my critical perspective leads to a deep rethinking of why we accept certain beliefs and practices, why we are essentially passive Hindus and how we can move forward. In a sentence, my principal argument is that we need to reassess the whole desire-motivated ritualistic religious enterprise we practice. For this, we need to return to the Upaniṣhads, including Bhagavadgītā, which contain such a reassessment. Our Ṛṣis found that ritualism, the business of seeking to go to heaven (Svargaloka) and lust for worldly things consume our energy, drive us after ephemera and thus trap the jīva in bondage.

I spent a great deal of time researching and writing the two chapters that examine the assumptions, approach and record of proselytization to Indians. Christian Missionaries were very crafty, imaginative, proactive, creative and persistent. They were also frustrated by the meagre results of their efforts. The 133 years from 1880 to 2012 saw the number of Indian Christians increasing from around 1,000 to about 57,000. That Indian Christians represents less than a fifth of the Indian population today is a testament to the resilience of Hinduism in Guyana and its Diaspora. Today the mumbo jumbo dished out by many pandits in the name of Hinduism, their refusal to entertain questions, clarifications and views, their overriding self-interest, their arrogance, hunger for respect and perceived authority are turning away young intelligent Hindus. Some young people have converted to Christianity. Our pandits need to educate themselves in both Dharma and secular education; otherwise, they will be unable to cater to the scientifically-minded young people of today. Pandits, and all of us, must understand that Total Reality comprises both the secular and the sacred and that Hindus have never separated them into distinct parts. Both must be pursued simultaneously. One must not be pursued at the expense of the other otherwise chaos results.

This tome, which consumed many years of my life, is the first book-length treatment of Hinduism in Guyana. I apologize in advance for its length. If it’s any consolation, the book is divided into three parts, which may be read sequentially, in any order or alone, depending upon the reader’s interest. The book is likely to raise eyebrows and enrage some people, not the least pandits. If it leads to a renewed discussion of our brand of Hinduism and a better understanding of Vedānta, I would not have labored in vain. Now for a confession: I am not a scholar of Sanskrit or Hinduism and I did not set out to pen a scholarly tome on religion. My views are that of a layman, which is based on what my father and extended family and others passed on to me, my own observations and discourses with other Hindus. This knowledge is supplemented by extensive reading and studying of the Śāstras in translation, and numerous scholarly treatises on Hinduism.

There are numerous Sanskrit words and phrases scattered throughout the book. My policy is not to italicize words and phrases many Guyanese Hindus know, including dharma, karma, deva, purohita, and puja. All other Sanskrit words and phrases will appear in italics. Further, the standard Roman transliteration is generally not used for common Sanskrit words and phrases, which are written as they are pronounced, but is employed for unfamiliar ones. I struggled with the issue of gender and half-heeded the advice of a female colleague of mine who read the entire manuscript: should I follow convention and use he and other pronouns and nouns of the male gender in a generic sense, use only feminine pronouns, use words that refer to both genders or simply use the plural form, such as ‘they, us, and we? How should one deal with other genders including LBGTQ? The gender labyrinth is complex and treacherous. I have adopted an eclectic approach to this dilemma that employs of all four options with context dictating the particular choice.

Having written a book of over 375,000 words, I have become possessed by a strange and uneasy feeling. I might have written from my heart, but fear I am poorly equipped, in terms of learning and anubhava, to articulate the central tenets of Vedānta or to judge others – my fellow Guyanese Hindus. I have merely indulged, so it seems in retrospect, in moral speculation, which I now realize bears little, if any, comparison to moral action. I have not endured the pangs of deep suffering, lacerating experiences of life, engaged, in a word, in prolonged tapasyā, to pontificate on how others conduct or should not conduct their lives. Yes, I have pondered and still do on the meaning and purpose of life, but I feel a void, more acutely now, in my moral understanding and empathy even after so many thousands of words. What a tragedy it is to expend so many words only to realize one’s shallow love and compassion for others, let alone selfless service to others. Words, Paul Kalanithi (2016:43) movingly and memorably writes in his wonderful book, began to feel weightless as the breath that carried them. It is the character of one’s deeds and intention that matter and high morals are the foundation. High morals are a necessary condition for spirituality, which means that the search for Truth must begin in the secular world. Since my own spiritual journey is yet to take off, how can I talk to others about spirituality? Needless to say, the reader will form his or her own opinion, which I respect.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Any substantive research project is not a solo venture even though one person might have authored the final document. This is the case with the present book, and I am most grateful for the support, intellectual, material and moral, of many people over many years. My first debt of gratitude, a deeply profound one, goes to my late father, who introduced me to Bhagavadgītā when I was still a child, as I lay in bed, too early in the morning for a young boy to rise, listening to him chanting shlokas aloud and reading the English translation and commentary. His critical position on our beliefs and practices and on pandits influenced me tremendously and inculcated in me a good deal of wonder, skepticism and a hunger for knowledge. I have vivid memories of my mother as she sits in her creaky rocking chair early in the morning with an old and blemished copy of Bhagavadgītā in her hand, reading silently. Both of my parents would always touch Bhagavadgītā to their forehead before reading it, a practice I have inherited and am proud to carry on. On Hindu festival (Utsava) days, religious days as we call them, all preparations squarely fell upon my mother’s shoulders even though she had nine hungry children screaming for attention. Now, in my mature years, I often wondered how she managed. She must have been a woman of tremendous inner strength, resolve, fortitude and devotion to her family to endure a life of sacrifice and penance of the highest order. Always contented with whatever comes her way, she rarely complained or unwarrantedly rebuked others. My mother, the eldest child of her parents, was simply an extraordinary and a rare human being. I am blessed she is my mother, now and always.

Pujya Swami Aksharananda provided the necessary spiritual inspiration for this book. He also helped me gained a better understanding of Bhagavadgītā even though my understanding is like a mere ripple in a vast ocean. In the Mahābhārata, Droṇācharyā could not take Eklavya as his disciple and teach him archery because as a teacher of the princes he could not teach other students. In his heart, Eklavya accepted Droṇācharyā as his Guru and made a statue of him at his home. Over the years, he practiced with single-minded concentration on the Guru and eventually became a better archer than Arjuna even though the Guru did not know him or did anything for him. In the same way but of incredibly lower caliber, humbler ambition and far less profundity of devotion than Eklavya, I hold Swami Ranganathananda, who passed away in 2005, as my Guru for I have learned so much from his writings. His The Universal Message of Bhagavad Gita helped me to understand that the quest for truth that lifts one beyond the moral plane rests on anubhava, direct experience, and not an abstraction, speculation, book-learning, beliefs and dogmas. My profound gratitude explains why his name figures so prominently in my citations and references. I owe him an invaluable debt of gratitude that I cannot repay in this life. Anuradha Kathi Rajivan, a United Nations friend and colleague of mine and with whom I co-edited a two-volume book on corruption and human development, read the entire manuscript and humbly shared her profound insights with me. Her knowledge of Vedānta is unmatched. Her feedback led me to rethink, rewrite and reorganize large portions of the book. The book’s title builds upon her suggestion. Without the benefit of her guidance the book would have been poorer. I am forever grateful to her. My thanks also go to Biplove Choudhary and Pramod Kumar, both former United Nations colleagues, who read parts of the book and graciously offered their comments.

I am thankful for the encouragement, both substantively and morally, of Somdat Mahabir, a man who possess the necessary language skills to delve into the Śāstras. He and Richie Pooran read and provided feedback on an early paper, written in 2012, that scoped out the contours of the book. Both have read various chapters and selflessly provided advice on how to improve the book. Over the years, I have learned a good deal from the CaribbeanHindu Network (CHN), of which I am the current moderator. We have had numerous discussions on a variety of issues, including Brahmanism, pandits, conversion, suicide, which is very high among Indian Guyanese, various aspects of Hindu culture, problems affecting the Guyanese Hindu Samaj, attendance at mandirs, management of mandirs, litigations involving mandirs, education of Hindu children, confusion over the dates of our festivals including Holi and Deepavali, and, of course, marginalization of Indians in Guyana and the massive violence periodically directed at them. Each morning the CHN sends its subscribers a shloka and accompanying explanation from the Bhagavadgītā, and we have had numerous discussions of this incomparable Śāstra.

For the enlightenment I have received from the CHN, copious credit goes to those members who regularly participate in our many discussions. These members include, but are not limited to, Pandit Ramrattan, Kishore Harcharan, Udayabhanu Panickar, Naidoo Veerapen, Somdat Mahabir, Richie Pooran, Nanda Sahadeo, Ram Sahadeo, Gopal Singh, Sachin Subryan Muttoo, Rajya Laxmi, Hari Singh, Patanjali Rambrich, Amar Persaud, Mark DeFillo, and Ravi Maharaj. There are several others who I cannot identify by name from their email addresses. Nevertheless, to all these unknown swayamsevaks (selfless volunteers) and intellectual ksyhatriyas who have educated me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Wherever in the book I quote text from email messages (to the CHN or private exchanges), permission has been obtained from the authors. I am superlatively thankful to them. I am also thankful to Karen Budhram, Senior Assistant Archivist at the National Archives in Georgetown, who cleared the way for extraction of records from several General Registers of Indian Immigrants, which are housed at the National Archives in Georgetown, Guyana; and to Brinsley Samaroo, Clem Seecharan and John Benjamin’s Publishing Company for permission to reproduce passages from their published work.

I have had several discussions with friends and relatives on issues addressed in this book. I am grateful to Cha-chas Eng, Flaty, Son Badri, Vinode Badri; all of my brothers but especially Ram Ganpat, Amar Ganpat, Prem Ganpat, Vishnu Ganpat and Murti Ganpat and my only sister, Kamal Sampath; poowahs Nargis Baksh and Auntie Gin; my extended family on the Essequibo Coast, including my sisters-in-law, especially Leela, nieces, especially Ashmeeka Ganpat, and nephews; and my two children, Shivani Gampat and Chris Gampat. My thanks also go to Rajendra Basit, Anil Bedasie, David Dabydeen, Malcolm Harripaul, Kumar Mababir, Lalita Mahabir, Shanti Mahabir, Shashikant Nair, Sase Narine, Senior Counsel and former Speaker of the National Assembly House (Guyana), Baytoram Ramharack, Ravi Dev, Indu Sookdeo, Mabel Singh-Persaud and Tej Rao, all of whom have helped me in one way or the other during this soul-searching journey. The book would have been a far more painstaking and time-consuming task were it not for the invaluable assistance of Gitamrit Jogai. For her love, her critique, editorial assistance and for taking on a good chunk of our daily chores, words can hardly express my gratitude.

Chapter 10

Bhakti And Murti: Are we Off The Mark?

Bhakti is the easiest path to the one non-dual, infinite Brahman;

Hindus do not worship idols or murtis for these are little more than aids

to fix the mind upon Divinity

The intention of this and the next three chapters is to flesh out the major markers of the brand of Hinduism that emerged from the synthesis and practiced with gusto today by about 180,000 Guyanese Hindus at home and about an equivalent number abroad. This one focuses on two major features of Plantation Hinduism: bhakti and whether Hindus worship an image (murti). The discussion of each feature in these chapters adopts a two-pronged approach. That is, a major characteristic of Plantation Hinduism is set out, which is followed by how that feature is seen in Sanatana Dharma as I understand it. Each of these may occupy one or more sections. To avoid monotony and irritation, I will not qualify Sanatana Dharma with as I understand it, although that is what I wish to convey. I want to emphasize that my take on any specific trait may or may not, partially of fully, reflect the position of Sanatana Dharma. Before diving into the discussion, carcā in Sanskrit, four caveats are in order.

First, with all sincerity, I commence on a note of humility for my own knowledge of Sanatana Dharma is limited. Pray I do not overstep the boundary prudence dictates or allow my arrogance and biases to run ahead of me. While I have a relatively sizeable vocabulary of Sanskrit and Hindi words, I do not read or write either language with ease, but my understanding of the spoken language is better. My own understanding of Sanatana Dharma is based upon what my parents and relatives taught me, my observations, what I learned from Swami Aksharananda, and what I read from scholarly translations, mostly by Hindus scholars, including several Swamis most of whom are associated – or were but are no longer on earth – with the Ramakrishna Mission and the Chinmaya Mission.

Second, if I sound critical in setting out the principal features of Plantation Hinduism, that is unintentional. I want to be crystal clear: I am not criticizing Hinduism as practiced by Guyanese Hindus. My hope is that my arduous struggles to understand how Plantation Hinduism squares up with Sanatana Dharma offers a measure of comfort. Third, because of the intertwined nature of the issues discussed in these four chapters, some repetition is unavoidable. Others are errors of commission to make the issues stick in the minds of those who read these chapters. In allowing more repetition in these chapters than may be judicious, I am aware I add to the sense of frustration and perhaps ire of the reader. I plead that the decision is made on good faith. Fourth, I claim not that Indian immigrants came to British Guiana uncorrupted, as spiritual people with high moral and ethical standards. Nor do I claim that immigrants and their descendants were corrupted on the plantations, stripped of any humanistic virtues they might have brought from India. Both positions are contentious and almost impossible to prove or verify satisfactorily. My arguments do not rest on these claims or positions.

Chapter 9 sets out the synthesis that produced a unitary form of Hinduism Guyanese Hindus call Sanatana Dharma. I call it Plantation Hinduism, which I contend is on a mission to close the Hindu mind even though we are vastly more literate today than prior to the 1950s. It is puzzling that a more literate people continue to be prisoners of pandit-dependency. We shun change and prefer inertia, which implies the suspension of critical thinking. Most of us are too intellectually lazy to read, to question, to inquire and to change beliefs and practices that are outdated, irrational, groundless or not in conformity with the Śruti. We are slaves to the tyranny of tradition and the unquestionable authority of elders and particularly pandits; slaves to madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air …, to borrow from John Maynard Keynes.¹ The result is paralysis of self-learning and poverty of the mind, which claims the heart of Plantation Hinduism. Ignorance, unlike many illnesses, does not go away of its own accord. Unlike a bodily infection, there is no antibiotics for the infection that plagues Plantation Hinduism. This is precisely what Swami Dayananda – a great spiritual personality, who is not the same person as Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati - in his The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita: No form of ignorance is dispelled by itself; to remove ignorance one must gain knowledge, by making use of the valid means of knowledge. If I am ignorant of myself and want to know who I am, I must find some means of knowledge capable of making me know myself.²

The statement If I am ignorant of myself and want to know who I am, assumes two things: I know I am ignorant, and I want to breakout of this ignorance. Ignorance is most difficult to escape if people do not believe, or refuse to believe, they are ignorant; there is no need to explicate what does not exist. Acceptance of ignorance is a necessary precondition for the removal of the infection (ignorance). The unhappy outcome is that the four objects or goals of life – the four puruṣārthas or the Hindu theory of value – have been reconfigured, not deliberately but through the sheer force of everyday behavior and attitude. Guyanese Hindus who subscribe to Plantation Hinduism – which is most of us - have, in effect, sidetrack Dharma (law, virtue, righteousness) and have almost forgotten mokṣa (liberation from interminable cycle of birth and death). Most of our thinking, behavior and attitude is motivated by Kāma (desire, enjoyment), which may bring Artha (wealth), though the means to Artha may be unethical and immoral. But if the means are corrupt, so is the end, regardless of how noble the end is. In this way, we undermine Dharma, which is supposed to be the foundation for the pursuit of the other three puruṣārthas.

We Practice a Degraded Version of Bhakti

Bhakti is a core pillar of Sanatana Dharma, but Guyanese Hindus practice a degraded version. We see Brahman – usually translated as God - only at the altar³ of our home and in the temple and that is where bhakti is offered. Outside of these two sites, we are wrapped up in the all-consuming but futile struggle to accumulate things and enlarge our prestige and power. We are slaves to our ego. The two-sites-only idea reveals how we think of religion and practice it: those are the only places in the cosmos we find Brahman. Yet we accept that the same Brahman, on whom we meditate, is also right in front of us in multiple millions of names and forms. The inconsistency breeds a separation between the secular and sacred worlds, which is strengthened by the conviction that religion is about dogmas and rituals. An important behavioral feature follows from this distorted view of bhakti: worship is motivated by the desire for something worldly, which transforms karma into action intended to service ourselves and a few others around us. Desire-motivated worship leads to desire-prompted action. We see only the external reality, which drives result-oriented actions, and it is difficult to convince us of the futility of pursuing only material ends.⁴ Selfishness clouds the buddhi and deprives us of the understanding that we worship God by serving people around us. At whatever venue Guyanese Hindus worship, devotion and prayers are invariably prompted by desire for something. Prayer is a concept that baffles and beguiles. It eludes definition. Among other things, it includes meditation and monologue and seems geared to foster religious commerce between gods and men.

This short-sightedness is reminiscent of what Śri Ramakrishna once told the young Narendra Nath Datta, who later became Swami Vivekananda: Meditate closing your eyes on God within you, and when you open your eyes, the same God is in front of you in these forms. Serve them.⁵ Serve your fellow human beings in whom the same infinite, immortal Atman resides: See God with your eyes open at the time of work, and with eyes closed at the time of meditation.⁶ There is only one God, not two, who is both inside and outside, immanent and transcendent, and omnipresent.⁷ Brahman is everywhere and, therefore, should be worshipped and served everywhere. The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣhad (II.2.12) declares Brahmaivedam amṛtam – this whole world of manifestation is the same immortal Brahman. Brahman is in front of you, behind, on the right, on the left and above, and everywhere else. The entire manifested universe is Brahman; there is nothing else. The shloka continues: brahmaivedam viśvamidan variṣṭham – this viśvam or universe is only that supreme divine Brahman.⁸ Nārāyana – Brahman – is both inside the human being and outside also. Hence, we must worship God by His manifested names and forms, including the people all around us. Service of man is worship of God – that, and not selfishness but the pinnacle of bhakti. Śri Ramakrishna memorably puts it this way: every jīva is Śiva. Service of the jīva is worship of Śiva. This is pure Advaita, non-dualistic philosophy that leads to love and compassion,⁹ which is lacking in Plantation Hinduism, the religion we practice. If devotion and prayer is part of religion, so too is work but Guyanese Hindus have not reached this level of spirituality as yet. My devotees, Krishna says, are very practical, work hard for the benefit of all, and know how to work harmoniously in a team, with the goal of removing suffering. My devotees work with compassion and in the spirit of seva.¹⁰ From this standpoint, most Guyanese Hindus are not devotees of Bhagavān Krishna, neither by bhakti nor karma. Most of us will not accept what I have just written.

Bhakti requires devotion and worship of an iṣṭa-devatā (one’s chosen deity as representative of Divinity) with attributes (name and form), and/or of several other deities that are not as important as the iṣṭa-devatā. Bhakti and rituals are thus inextricably tied; one requires the other for its sustenance. Devotion to the iṣṭa-devatā, repeating, silently or aloud, Its name (jāpa yajña), offering of prayers, satsangs, and singing of bhajans accompanied by music are central to bhakti as practiced by Guyanese Hindus both at home and in the mandir. Worship at home is usually done by kneeling or standing in front of the iṣṭa-devatā, eyes closed, hands clasped with or without flowers lightly pressed between the two palms, while prayers are offered, and mantras chanted.

At the end of the worshipping session, which can be as little as a few minutes to about half an hour or more, the flowers are placed at the feet of the deity. So too are fruits, a leaf, food, water or other offerings. Some worshippers may light one or more diyas or one or more agarbati (a thin, elongated stick of incense) or both before offering prayers and use them at the end of the session to ārati the iṣṭa-devatā and other deities, as well as selected adults if the worship is a family session. Time permitting, ārati may be followed by reading, singing or chanting a few shlokas from the Bhagavadgītā, the Ramayana, or other religious texts. Devotes may sing the Hanuman Chalisa - I can still hear my father’s irresistible, melodious but haunting voice piercing the darkness and silence of the early morning - or bhajans or play them on an entertainment system (a stereo, a CD player or even the computer). This is the usual form of upāsana at home, in front of the family altar. It may include the entire family or just a single person, and usually performed early in the morning, the evening or both, depending upon the worshipper’s time and Śraddhā.

Worship at the mandir is a congregational affair, as Veer and Vertovec note,¹¹ and temple theology is predominant. By this I mean the audience sits on the floor, the pandit and his entourage sit on a raised portion of the floor to distinguish them from the audience (mandir hierarchy), and a strict set of rules and procedures governs the puja. The purohita exercises monopolistic control over all aspects of the puja, performs it mechanically and rarely with explanation. The audience submissively sits and listens and regularly nods its appreciation; some of them, eyes closed, breathing slowed, become deeply absorbed. But it is not unusual for several members of the audience to fall asleep. At times unpredictable, the presiding pandit’s musical entourage erupts into singing of bhajans during the actual puja (but not throughout the puja). Certain members of the audience, and sometimes the entire audience, may join in the singing. Naturally, singing is accompanied by music from the harmonium, dholak, tabla, jhāl, manjeera, dhantal, and shack-shack, which some of us call maracas. Especially in the Diaspora of recent, the sitar, tambura and a keyboard may be part of the assortment of musical instruments. Sometimes bhajans are beautifully sang (in Hindi), and the music fitting, lifting and moving. One truly feels the presence of Divinity at these times.

The comingling of puja and singing is a disturbing recent trend. Singing bhajans to music while the purohita conducts the puja makes it all but impossible to hear what he is saying. Frequently, the singing is meant to exhibit the singer’s talent and pump up her ego; most of the singers are women as are mandir attendees. The worshipping session is followed by ārati, food and mingling, gossiping, talking names, and bad-talking others. Rarely if ever is there a take-home message from the puja, and thus spiritual growth does not take place. Gopal Singh, a member of the CaribbeanHindu Network (CHN), trenchantly observes: One of the things I have observed in most Mandirs, is that ‘Rumors and Gossip’ are ‘chanted’ more often than mantras.’"¹² One’s cognitive capacity is simply overwhelmed by the cacophony and sensory overload. The processing capacity of the conscious mind is estimated at 120 bits per second. That bandwidth, or window, is the speed limit for the traffic of information we can pay conscious attention to at any one time, writes cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levition. The brain’s speed limit sets the boundaries to our ability to listen and understand others. To understand one person speaking, the brain needs to process 60 bits of information per second.¹³ Given the speed limit of 120 bits, we can barely understand two people speaking at a time. Under most circumstances, one will not be able to understand three or more people speaking, including singing, at the same time. Consequently, even if the pandit’s voice is heard over the singing, mandir attendees will be unable to process what he is saying. More often than not, the singing and music completely silences the pandit’s voice, which is probably what he wants.

Whether at home or in the mandir, it is impossible to do upāsana twenty-four hours a day. One cannot do ritual or sit in meditation all day long as there is the pressing business of life to attend to. One can, however, keep Supreme Reality as the final goal all day long, doing actions with great śraddhā, dedicating them to Him, and work selflessly for others. This way, social welfare is promoted and one’s spiritual growth moves forward. Such a mindset, such an attitude to work is called yajña, which Krishna gave to us in Bhagavadgītā by rescuing the idea from its purely ritualistic moorings. Instead of yajña, we pray at the home altar or temple only for ourselves: O God, save me, give me a nice job or let me win the lottery! Rarely do we pray for others, ask God to shower His blessing upon someone else. We make bhakti and worldly desires inseparable.

One cannot but agree with Surendranath Bhattacharya: Our attachment to worldly objects is so deep-rooted that we do not willingly part with them, even for the sake of truth. It is possible that our worldly-mindedness unconsciously obscures our vision, and we try to interpret things in a manner that fits in with our own beliefs and likings.¹⁴ What kind of religion is this? It is contrary to Krishna’s teaching in Bhagavadgītā, which is essentially a teaching of practical spirituality, practical Vedānta, spirituality in action. Swami Vivekananda noticed this conundrum long ago and expressed his dismay in words that reverberate through the corridors of time: I do not believe in a God or religion which cannot wipe the widow’s tears or bring a piece of bread to the orphan’s mouth.¹⁵ Religion is transformed into spirituality only when we work for the welfare of all and do so cheerfully. Spiritual life is a life of cheer, happiness and concern for others, not a life of piteousness or sorrow. By selflessly working for all, one advances along the spiritual path as well. Two goals are achieved simultaneously: service to others and spiritual growth.

Our version of bhakti springs from irrationalism and mental exhaustion. This is why some of us weep during worship; others may shout and dance and speak a strange language. Many of us take to the path of bhakti because it is the easiest path to God that does not require reading and digesting the Śāstras, which relieves us of the need to know what the Śāstras say. This way, we are our own authority, and interpret things to fit our own beliefs and likings. Neither irrationalism nor mental exhaustion is not bhakti, but a special form of action or spiritual sacrifice motivated by ignorance and desire.¹⁶

Whether or not we are aware that our practice of bhakti is inconsistent with what bhakti is in Sanatana Dharma, I do not know. Perhaps our special version of bhakti has been handed down to us, and we have accepted it blindly and unthinkingly, without subjecting it to critical evaluation.

Here, at this point in the discussion, it is necessary to note that there are two broad categories of Guyanese Hindus, aside from the pandits. First, there is a large group of Hindus who depend entirely upon pandits. Many of these pandits are considered gurus and ācāryas (Box 10.1). These devotees do no research, reading, inquiry or self-learning. Unquestionably do they accept as gospel whatever rolls off the pandit’s tongue, regardless of whether he is almost illiterate or not or whether his sermon makes sense. These devotees engage in counter-learning. This group of Guyanese Hindus offer devotion to a Personal God, the very foundation of bhakti, at home and in the temple, but always in exchange for a reward, which could be a material object, success, such as passing an exam, getting a promotion, recovery from illness, guidance through difficult and uncertain times, good relationship with others, and such like.

My father-in-law likes to say that as we pray we think about the goat curry, the neighbor we hate, what we are going to do with the bunch of plantain we stole. This group of Hindus uses neither their intellect nor budhhi (more shortly), but rather their five senses. We lead a sensate life and therefore exist at the sensory level only. Hence our passive acceptance of pandit-authority as the natural order of things. We blindly adhere to tradition and scrupulously follow what was done in the past; as it was, so it shall be. We are either trained to anesthetize our mind - learned helplessness, as psychologists call the phenomenon – or to suspend its functioning when it comes to our Dharma. In effect, most of us are bhaktas by ignorance, mindlessly imitating what others do; of course, there are some true bhaktas among us. We forget that our tradition requires challenging and questioning of gurus and acharyas, but these must be politely and respectfully and without desire to humiliate anyone or to display one’s knowledge. Questioning is a search for truth, which means that there is a Truth beyond the pandit’s word that must not be accepted at face value, as mere belief, but must be experienced directly.

The second group, a tiny minority, comprises Hindus who see pandits as almost equivalent to con artists and strives for enlightenment mostly on their own. These Hindus are not submissive to pandits. Among this group is a sprinkling of intellectuals, who have become arrogant to the point of narcissism and delude themselves into thinking that intellectual knowledge of the Śāstras is all there is to spiritual enlightenment. Like the pandits, these intellectuals do not practice what they preach but expect the rest of the Hindu flock to heed their word to the letter. This is hypocritical. These conceited intellectuals – including yours truly, dear reader – pretend that morality and the teachings of the Śāstras do not apply to them. Members of this group, like those of the first, hanker after the fruits of karma, actively seek ways to swell their egos and crave after social standing, respect, prestige and power over others – only not as openly. They have mastered the art of subtlety.

While those in the first group do not pretend to be learned, group two Hindus are learned but most are not true intellectual kṣatriyas for they do not defend Dharma and perform selfless actions. Consequently, many intellectual in this group are people of perverted intellect.¹⁷ That is, they are intelligent people with a tāmasik buddhi, people who perhaps wishes to do good but not without reward – the good is tainted by self-interest. This point was made by the Indian scholar D. S. Sarma even before I was born. He puts the issue this way: In many theistic systems intellect is generally suspect, and an uncritical acceptance of things which cannot stand the test of reason is often encouraged. The result is that many people who are actually critical in all other things are notoriously uncritical in matters religious.¹⁸ These intelligent people fail to understand that knowledge must bring modesty and humility. Service rendered for display or with a hidden agenda, or more generally, with a self-interested motive, increases one’s arrogance and often crosses the boundaries of morality.

Summing up, the principal features of bhakti as practiced by Guyanese Hindus are –

1. Bhakti is neither selfless love for God nor a means to seek the truth within oneself with earnestness and sincerity, nor a means to obtain freedom from emotional disturbances and thus to develop the buddhi

2. Bhakti is not a means to obtain eternal freedom from bondage or the miseries of the world

3. Bhakti is a way to obtain something - reward - in exchange of worshipping; it is private commerce with the gods

4. Bhakti perpetuates the fallacy that there are many gods instead of one Supreme Reality that is the substratum of all that was, is and will be. It further conveys the idea that each god must be propitiate separately to fulfill one’s desire, which strengthen our belief that religion is about beliefs, dogmas and rituals. This way, bhakti is unavoidably linked to rituals, which, in turn, are desire-motivated karma

5. Therefore, Guyanese version of bhakti perpetuates bondage and adds to one’s stock of karma-phala rather than exhausting it

Our bhakti is a degraded version of bhakti as selfless devotion to Divinity, love for its own sake. Premised on selfishness, our bhakti is really religious commerce between gods and men. Our bhakti religion allows us to see Brahman only at the home altar and the mandir. Outside of these, it is all samsāra or worldliness. Going to the altar or temple and doing some rituals – this is enough for us. We have separated religion from life and confer upon it a sectional rather than an integral perspective. This way, the essence of religion, which is direct personal experience of Truth, has been reduced to belief and dogma. We now bask in ignorance and, even more tragically, believe that ignorance is truth. This is the lowest level of religious understanding, and our idea of religion is to pay a pandit to do jhandis and havans. This is cheap religion, bhakti for pennies. Our religion locks us in a vicious cycle: Passivity and submissivenessàdependence upon panditsàlack of capacity for self-learning and critical inquiryàpassivity and submissiveness. The cycle continues.

Bhakti: Intense Love of God, not a Petition for Worldly Things

This understanding of bhakti, as per the heading, runs counter to what Guyanese Hindus understand and practice. Our bhakti is contractual bhakti: we worship, offer something to the gods, and expect a return, a fulfillment of some desire. On the other hand, real bhakti is complete identification with the Divine and removal of one’s identification with one’s separate self. A devotee of God is a lover all so that all love is included in love of God. That is what the Nārada Bhakti Sūtra teaches: to a devotee God is present in every being. Bhakti, then, is not the language of the tongue; it is the language of the soul, of the heart. It is not the language of a dry mind but of a mind saturated with love for all beings and things. The distinction is between conditional and unconditional bhakti; one belongs to Plantation Hinduism, the other to Sanatana Dharma.

The Sanskrit word bhakti is made up of two parts: the root bhaj, which means to be attached to God, and the suffix ktr, which means love. The word thus means intense devotion and service to God. A very flexible word, bhakti also means to be attached to, to be devoted to, or to resort to. Two important qualifications are in order. First, as Radhakrishnan observes, bhakti involves a duality between the worshipper [jīva] and the worshipped [Brahman]. If a philosophy of immanentism is so interpreted as to destroy man’s sense of creatureliness or God’s transcendence, it has no place for devotion or worship.¹⁹ Similarly, Svāmī Tapasyānanda writes: Bhakti or devotion requires two – the adorable and lovable God who is a Person as also the Supreme Being on the one hand, and the devotee who finds his fulfillment in service of Him, on the other.²⁰ The distinction between creature and creator is the ontological basis of bhakti. While bhakti requires two entities, liberation requires three entities: the soul, which must be liberated; the fetter (this world of experience, prakṛti), which binds it; and the Supreme Being, who releases the soul from bondage. That Supreme Being behind the universe – its substratum -, is a divine Person, and because I am person, God appears to me, and to you, as a Person.

Second, the word bhakti is employed in a dualistic sense to mean both the