This was the question my Cousin Sister Mrs. Kalyani Venkatesh asked me.
I did not feel bad when she asked me this question, as I know her intention is not to undermine me. She was asking me because she knows I do not believe in such narratives.
For those of you who do not know, all of the above popular people are Pravacha Kartas. [People who give discourses based on their knowledge and expertise]. Except that the three learned gentlemen focus on spirituality and path to spirituality.
All three of the Pravacha Kartas have their own Wiki pages. If you want to have a look you can do here: Garikapati Narasimha Rao, Chaganti Koteswara Rao, Nanduri Srinivas.
Broadly, all three prominent people listed above talk about Hindu religion. Here I would also like to mention that none of them talk low of other religion.
The answer to the question put by my cousin “Why are you watching videos of the above mentioned Pravacha Kartas?” is two fold.
I am curious to know the following these Pravacha Kartas have. It is a huge number running into millions and it also shows how a section of the Hindu society is spending time on. These respected Pravacha Kartas have subscribers in millions and it means all of them want to listen to the future videos also.
If we extrapolate this to the national level with the huge number Hindu religious Pravacha Kartas, we are looking at a large population of Hindus spending a substantial time on religious activities.
The next part of my answer is “what is the content of the spiritual and religious discourses?” of these Learned and hugely successful Pravacha Kartas.
To put it one line, the content is a set of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” and how to please various Gods.
To propagate these set of rules, superstition is packaged with these set of rules.
While a certain amount of self-discipline is a must for a peaceful life, rules at every instant of our daily hinders creative thinking which is the essence of this human life. It hinders because, we are not aware or exposed to “Out of the Box” thinking.
To end simply, a substantial number of citizens of Hindu Religion are spending a lot of time on set of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” and trying to please Gods.
As the world is swept by a wave of “Micro Entrepreneurship”, and great opportunities coming up because of Modiji’s extraordinary focus on scoring high on International “Ease of Doing Business” Rank, will Hinduism slow our Rate of Growth?
I believe, Yes. It will.
Just look at our History. Hinduism failed to us Militarily. Now that Democracy is protecting us Militarily, rapid spread of Hindu Superstition is our major enemy against better Standard of Living.
The Govt. of India has made this very clear.
In a letter to Shri. Garikapati Narasimha Rao, while congratulating him on being given the Padma Shri honor also made it clear that practical and not superstitious teachings are the way forward.
And, Dear Kalyani I have stopped watching these videos!!
