Opinion | Veg Or Non-Veg? Why What Bageshwar Baba Says Doesn’t Matter

The Hindu faith has come a long way from its organic beginnings lost in the mists of time; the only constant has been its historic ability to change with the times—when necessary

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A major aspect of the Hindu faith that escapes the comprehension of many is that there is no single book, god(dess), belief or custom that is binding on all. No rite of passage is mandatory (though many Brahmins, for instance, still have thread ceremonies) and no one is obliged to obey any preceptor. Everything is by choice, from how and where to pray to when and who. If only this catholicity of Hinduism had been widely known, social media would be a quieter place.

There was outrage on social media this week on two issues involving the Hindu faith, in cities thousands of kilometres apart. The first was in Kolkata’s suburb of Liluah, where a spiritual leader from Madhya Pradesh, Bageshwar Baba, urged his audience to celebrate the coming Navratri ‘properly’, which in his opinion meant abjuring non-vegetarian food. He also described as “frauds" those who claim to be Durga devotees but persist with eating meat and fish.

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The second happened in Paris. The arrival of a large contingent of visitors from the Swaminarayan sect at the Eiffel Tower was preceded by the removal of women employees of the monument for that period, supposedly in keeping with their specific request. The important word to note is ‘sect’, but that escaped the general discourse and the incident was seen as a regressive aspect of the entire Hindu religion instead of just........

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