A VISION FOR HINDUISM: BEYOND HINDU NATIONALISM

Two radically different ideologies are currently competing for the loyalties of the Hindu community. One of these ideologies, Hindu nationalism, conceives of Hinduness as co-extensive with Indianness. The other ideology, which has been articulated by such figures as Sri Ramakrishna and Mahatma Gandhi, repesents Hinduism as the 'eternal' or 'universal' religion. This is an idea of Hinduism that is pluralistic and all-inclusive. Arguing that Hindu nationalism is not only destructive of communal relations, but that it also prevents Hinduism from emerging as a world religion in the true sense of the term, the author here explores a reconfigured version of the second of these two ideologies.