Writer- Pranay Kumar (Academician and Senior Columnist)

The dharma of India is the cornerstone of its civilization. The phrase “Dharayati iti dharmaah” signifies that the law is that which upholds, sustains, and even elevates. In Sanatan culture, dharma refers to the fundamental character or nature of an entity. Dharm has always served as a symbol of responsibility in India. Dharm has no place for ill – practices or superstitions. It is dynamic rather than inert. Because of this, Indian sages equate motion with life and inertia with stagnation. Yes, even if some customs, superstitions or evils enter into it in the flow of time, but still there is enough scope for its infiltration. The ancient but uninterrupted cultural stream of India occasionally became tainted by modern societal ills or adversities, but every hundred or two hundred years, great saints and great men would emerge to clean them up. They worked quite hard to achieve it, and they were very successful in doing so. Such an era-promoting saint was Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru and founder of the Sikhs. His life was the epitome of kindness and service. Like most Indian sages, he also gave voice to the truth felt in comparison to the scriptural truth. He had personally witnessed the savagery of Islamic conquerors and mediaeval cruelty. Their minds used to be troubled by the downtrodden state of the Hindus who were being converted by trickery, terror, and seduction. At that time, Islam, which was influenced by the idea of Kufr-Kafir, had total control over Punjab and Sindh. In front of their eyes, the temples of the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jain were being destroyed, and females’ honour was at risk. There was no solution found. Then, Guru Maharaja, who was upset and got disappointed, said:

”खुरासान खसमाना कीआ हिंदुस्तान डराइया।।

आपै दोसु न देई करता जमु करि मुगलु चड़ाइआ।।

एती मार पई करलाणे त्है की दरदु न आइया।।”

Even the Sufis plans Auli’s to expand Islam while disguising it as monotheism would not have been a secret to visionaries like them. The fact that some Hindus freely converted to Islam under their influence also made him unhappy and dissatisfied. It is only fitting that he used his own words to summarise the teaching of the Upnishads: “God is one, He is omniscient, omnipresent, and He has presented Himself in numerous forms.” He spoke out against idol worship and outward ceremonies and emphasised the value of Guru-grace, name recall, and pure behaviour. His actions and teachings made a huge difference in defending modern Hindu society against the Islamic storm. He travelled roughly 45,000 kilometres throughout his lifetime. He travelled from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka and to all other places, including Mecca-Medina, Tashkent, Iran, Iraq, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Bangladesh, etc., and via his “sadness,” he established direct communication with the current religious-social leadership. He carried forward the spiritual tradition of India by removing the factors that weakened the society. He gave the guidance of Kirat Kar, Naam Japu, Vand Chhako (Eat by sharing), giving inspiration to Purusharth and Paramarth. He inspired society to live with self-respect and fight against injustice and atrocities.

The border regions, such as Punjab-Sindh, Kabul-Kandahar, which were prevented from being converted during the lifetime of Guru Maharaja on the basis of might-sword or deceit-temptation, as well as practical mantras and mechanisms to survive in the future, are regrettably still experiencing horrific conversion today. Punjab is currently experiencing a storm of conversion, not wind. There, classes other than the poor, exploited, and neglected are also being converted indiscriminately alongside the educated and wealthy classes. It is incredible that this conversion business is taking place there under the pretences of curing cancer, treating the sick, relieving joint pain, somewhere to get rid of stress, depression, and addiction, somewhere to remove sterility, somewhere to get married, somewhere to get a job, and somewhere under the pretence of obtaining a visa for a foreign country. It is interesting to note that all of these “apostles” or “preachers” who become Christians through new clergy or converts make claims to miraculous feats in the name of supernatural abilities or faith-healing.
Such claims of miraculous power include not only illiterate or less educated persons but also doctors, engineers, lawyers, police and government officials, businesspeople, large landowners, etc. One such religious phenomena that has attracted the attention of the entire world is the emergence of Pentecostalism in Punjab. It is thought to be the branch of Christianity that is expanding the quickest globally. This information can be used to estimate that Ankur Yosef Narula’s organisation, the “Church of Science and Wonders,” which claims to have more than 3 lakh adherents worldwide and several branches and centres in nations like Britain, America, Canada, Germany, etc. Remember that Narula is not the only charioteer of Christianity spreading in Punjab; there are several active neo-Christian preachers like him, and they all have a large following on YouTube as well as numerous centres and regular followers. In 23 districts of Punjab, there are reportedly over 65000 priests active, all of whom have conversion as their primary stated goal. The Dalit, tribal, and underprivileged groups are their easy victim. The best results come from drawing them in. To ensure that the newly-consecrated Christians do not feel alienated from their traditional cultural stream, they openly use Punjabi symbols such as the turban, langar, gidda, tippa, and others into their Christian propaganda. The clergy-preachers of Punjab are operating this campaign under the cover of unbelievable-miraculous claims in the tribal areas of Northeast India, where missionaries formerly carried out the business of conversion under the guise of service-education-medicine.

Keep in mind that this conversion involves a change of nationality in addition to a transformation of faith, belief, and worship. Following conversion, a person’s perception and attitude toward their country, society, and culture change. He is estranged from his traditions, forefathers, and ancestry. In addition to getting hurt, he occasionally harbours grudges of hatred or inferiority toward them. Dreams and goals for the future also vary as a result of the alteration in heritage and the perfect or ideal society of his imagination. From land, river, mountain, ocean and pilgrimage, the centre of his thinking and reverence towards nature and environment changes. His whole perspective on life’s ideals, values, pride, past and present victories and losses, honour and humiliation, enemies and friends, and so forth, changes. The invaders that attack the nation, the forces that enslave the nation, and its destruction afterwards cease to be issues of suffering or shame for them and instead are frequently seen with pride or mindless neutrality. The fierce opposition to the conversion from nearly all of India’s saints, gurus, great men, and liberation fighters was not without cause. Wherever the eternal occurred, there was division in the nation; this, too, is not simply a theory or a fiction of one’s mind but a sobering fact of history. Therefore, it would be acceptable to take the tightest action against the populace in response to the flourishing conversion on the basis of deceit, force, fear, seduction, etc. from the perspectives of protection, promotion, and national unity-integrity of India’s diverse and pluralist culture. This will be a sincere homage to Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji on the occasion of Guru Purab and the 553rd Prakashotsav from this thankful nation, including its adherents.

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