This ground-breaking paper by Sri Acharyaji was originally written in 1996, and was later presented as an academic paper at World Association for Vedic Studies Conference, Stevens Institute of Technology, July 29, 2000. It has become legendary since 1996, and is often cited as one of the first papers in history documenting anti-Hindu bias in academia, as well as leading to the global movement against anti-Hindu bigotry.
"Word As Weapon: The Misuse of Terminology in the Study of Hinduism" By Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya "The term 'Sanatana Dharma' more accurately communicates the axiomatic metaphysical nature of this concept than do the less meaningful and concocted terms 'Hindu/Hinduism'. Thus, when the terms 'Hindu/Hinduism' are repeatedly used by both Euro-American and Indian scholars, as well as by actual followers of this eternal spiritual tradition, we fall very far short from fully communicating the metaphysical, ethical and ontological components of the world-view of Sanatana Dharma. The former term i.e., 'Hinduism' - is a word mistakenly created to describe a culture in a purely ethnic, national and social context. The latter 'Sanatana Dharma' - is describing an illustrious science of Being in a purely philosophical - and therefore highly rational, and inherently beautiful - sense. It is understandable that the terms 'Hindu/Hinduism' will continue to be used periodically as a matter of convenience. After all, it takes time, coupled with continuous education, for people to break themselves of a two hundred year old habit. For the sake of accuracy, as well as to uphold the dignity, beauty and grandeur of our ancient and sacred religion, however, we must always do our utmost to use the much more meaningful, linguistically correct and beautiful name Sanatana Dharma when referring to our religion. Our religion is Sanatana Dharma. The use of inaccurate, and often consciously and maliciously distorted, terminology has been a double-edged source of oppressive discourse. The use of such terms has been made use of by an intellectually lethargic tradition of South Asian scholars who view the religion of Sanatana Dharma, not as the noble living tradition that it is, but as their personal academic plaything. On the other hand, Hindus themselves have then blindly accepted these non-indigenous and inaccurate terms, and unknowingly adopted them as their own. Thus, while the bulk of the blame must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the oppressors, the victims too need to free themselves of a colonialist-induced mentality of inferiority and acceptance of their oppression. It is my fervent hope that we followers of Sanatana Dharma will stop using the terminology of our antagonists to describe our religion. We must begin to call our religion by its true name: Sanatana Dharma. We must never use the words 'idol' and 'mythology' to describe, respectively, our murtis and sacred stories again. We must reclaim our heritage. Such positive change might come about slowly, one person at a time. Every revolution, however, begins with thoroughly grasping the power of the word...." VISIT HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS GROUND-BREAKING ARTICLE: http://www.dharmacentral.com/forum/content.php?26-Word-As-Weapon Please forward this information to all sincere spiritual seekers. Aum Tat Sat
