Weaknesses of Hindu religion #4

Weaknesses of Hindu religion #4

4) Beggar Gurus and No Charity

One of the greatest misconception of Hindus is that the gurus or spiritual leaders should live like beggars and not have any worldly belongings. I think this concept has originated from the ancient sadhus and rishis who gave up all their wealth, other belongings and attachments and went to live in the forests. They were either naked or wearing dead animal skins. Buddha also did this initially but he found that this path is not really useful or is even a hindrance for achieving enlightenment. He came up with the middle path where there is no extreme indulgence nor extreme austerity and poverty. His idea is "Not letting go of things but letting go of clinging to things". False idea that is indoctrinated in almost all Hindus is that only beggars can live enlightened lives. But the problem is they do not realize that the beggar could be attached to the small piece of cloth that he is wearing whereas a millionaire could be unattached to his/her millions. Buddhism would not have spread to East Asian countries without the help of kings and emperors who spent lot of money erecting monuments and sending missionaries.

Because of this concept, a hindu religious or spiritual organization has failed in charity and social work. So only non guru landlords did charity if any. But obviously they were doing it for their own fame and political power in society. In modern times there are many gurus around whom organizations have been built and they have become capable to participate in social work and charity. And organizations need not be doing charity directly. They can also help by waking up more and more people to follow a path which in turn will lead to more charity and social work. But if an organization is getting rich, the doubting hindu mind wakes up and tries to defame and demonize it. There is no need for any other religious groups to do it. Hindus are capable of doing the damage needed!

Charity has to come from an organization. Individuals can do charity on their own but it is not going to be very effective. In India, I think the only charities that will survive are those who will call themselves secular or those from well organized monotheistic religious groups.