Re-conversions, really?

What have RSS and other religiously finicky groups been thinking when they declare that conversions and re-conversions have been taking place since several years and that they are now converting masses. 'Ghar Wapsi' is a shame name given to this concept and what they need is self introspection. All those who are involved in this ridiculous activity should sit back, relax and think about what religion they really belong to! 

Do we as individuals ever think about why we follow a certain set of rituals prescribed by our so-called religion? What is religion in the first place? Why are we branded with a certain religion and what inside us is the real religion? Thanks to my parents' teachings and a secular schooling in 'Fravashi Academy' I have grown up with friends from all religions and faiths and have always been taught at home to inculcate radical thinking about all faiths. To me, Religion is faith. Something that can keep me going in the worst of my days in life. Something that will give me strength from within to get up and fight every time life throws me off my feet. I'm sure all those Hindu patriots involved in conversions have read about Mahatma Gandhi and his life? Then they must remember reading this small detail in his biographies - 

Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, as a child, was afraid of the dark. He dreamt of ghosts in his sleep and just couldn't cope with darkness. He was comforted by his mother at such times who told him to recite the name of 'Ram' and nothing will go wrong with him. He did so and overcame his fear. - 

What did his mother do when she told him that Ram will protect him? She induced faith in his mind. Faith that there is an entity bigger than himself that has the power to protect him. Now, interestingly, I, as a child, was also afraid of darkness. I dreamt of things that I was scared of. I dreamt that a tiger would attack me (ridiculous, I know, but I was a child then). I'd get up in the middle of the night terrified by such dreams and couldn't sleep. Now, my mother, unlike Mr. Gandhi's mother, told me that she and papa would protect me if any such danger should arise and I should not worry about it. I believed her as a kid and slept soundly. This continued for a long time in my childhood as far as I remember. What did my mother do here? Exactly what Mr.Gandhi's mother did! Induced faith. Faith that someone more powerful than me will protect me. So are Mr. Gandhi and I from different religions? NO! If I convert to another religion today, will my faith change? NO! Because this faith has been instilled in me since when I was clueless about religion. Gradually, as I grew older my family taught me to believe that it is not someone else but myself who can overcome all my fears. They taught me to believe in myself and not some external entity. Now my faith in this concept is so strong that I can fight away my problems by drawing strength from within me. That's my religion! Am I Hindu? Many will say no! Because I do not perform any Pujas or keep any fasts or visit any temples to revive my faith periodically. Because my faith lies within me. I don't need to go to some place or perform any rituals to revive it. I, as an individual, have grown over and above the limiting boundaries of religion.  

I am not demeaning religion here. Religion is a very essential factor in our lives. This is because, not everyone can extract the strength from within. One needs to believe in a power that is protecting oneself. One needs to fear a power in order to refrain from wrong doings. This is certainly very necessary and that is the reason different religions and faiths came into being. In school (I have studied in a Parsi school), as a part of our history curriculum (I'm sure this amazes some people because many of the RSS members may have studied in the same board of education and learnt the same things in class), we were taught about all different religions. What their beliefs are and what festivals they celebrate. We celebrated all these festivals in school irrespective of what religion we belonged to. I have inculcated as many good values from all these teachings as I could. I didn't think that this is a Buddhist teaching and so I shall not follow it. If I liked the moral and believed in its virtues I inculcated it not bothering which religion preaches it. So what should I call myself? Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Zorastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, ... ?

These patriots of religion believe that they are undoing the wrong deeds of their ancestors by re-converting the converts. Let us assume that they are converts from the pre-British and British era. Let us believe they were forcibly converted. In those times, people who may have been converted may have suffered a miserable conflict of faith given the circumstances and conversion of religion/faith would have certainly been painful as they had to change their traditions and practices and tune their minds to a completely different way of living (that's what religion means to many! A set of rituals and a way of conducting oneself). So no doubt it was a sad phenomenon that took place in those days. BUT... It was then! Now, the ensuing generations of those families did not suffer the pain of conversion. They were born in the new faith of the family and have very harmoniously inculcated the faith that was induced in them. They very willingly and wholeheartedly practice their faith and are happy with it. If this generation of these families suffer from nightmares, they will instinctively think of their faith of power, may it be Ram or Allah or Jesus! So what good are you patriots doing by re-converting them? You are doing the same sin that your ancestors committed. You are giving them the same pain that their families were given 100 years back. Beginning a new life with a completely new set of faith systems for these families is going to be as arduous as it had been for their families then. Conversion was a sin then and will remain a sin!

It's a shame that members of RSS who call themselves true Hindus have failed to achieve this understanding of religion even after practicing it for an entire lifetime! If this conversion is so that you generate a greater mass of people of the same faith so that you feel safer where you live then you are a narrow minded coward! Many say that they fear being among people of a different faith. I ask why? What do you fear? Do you think you will lose your faith system if you spend time with those of a different faith? If so, then your faith is not based on strong foundations in the first place. If you fear losing your faith, that means you don't know why you are following it in the first place! If this conversion is to create a bigger vote bank then you are cold-hearted manipulators! If you cannot see a human being as a human being and the image of a person in your mind stinks of their caste and religion then there is something wrong with you, not with that person. I have friends and acquaintances from all faiths and religions and I feel as comfortable with a Christian, a Muslim or a Buddhist believer. Please let us not forget that our faith does not define us. We define our faith!