Dear Hindus,
Today, let me introduce you to a Roman named Libanius. Tell me if his story looks familiar.
He was born in 314 AD, at a time when the first Christian Roman Emperor had just ascended the throne. At his teens, he was a witness to the reign of the next Christian Emperor Constantius II and was seeing the emergence of Anti-pagan sentiments and laws and abandonment/conversion of temples. Yet what did he do? He continued to praise the Emperor in order to keep his aristocratic title and royal salary.
When suddenly, a pagan emperor named Julian ascended the throne and took measures to recover temples lost to the church and re nourish paganism. And you know what he writes then? Typical woke stuff. Quoting from his extract:
"Though we are bound to rejoice at the restoration of the temples, we must not surround the reform with an atmosphere of bitterness in case we in turn hear similar accusations made against us (this is the sort of thing that is happening at present). The sons of Thalassius converted temples into a house. They acted in conformity with the policy approved by the emperor of that day. I do not approve of it, but this was legal at the time".
He asks the pagan emperor Julian to be "soft" on the Christians.
Then, as Rome reverts to Christianity and waits for Chrisitians to gain a solid number in the aristocracy, Emperor Theodosius I begins the mass imperial persecution of pagans- temples to be closed, sacrifices to banned, public worship to be banned, festivals without religion and so on.
Now Libanius realized but it was too late. He wrote an entire book called "Lamentations" as to how pagan temples and pagan worship practices are suppressed en masse. But it was too late and and him writing a book wouldn't do anything to protect his faith for his next generation. An extract from Libabius' letter to the Christian Emperor Theodosius I:
"[Christians] hasten to attack the temples with sticks and stones and bars of iron, and in some cases, disdaining these, with hands and feet. Then utter desolation follows, with the stripping of roofs, demolition of walls, the tearing down of statues and the overthrow of altars, and the priests must either keep quiet or die. After demolishing one, they scurry to another, and to a third, and trophy is piled on trophy, in contravention of the law. Such outrages occur even in the cities, but they are most common in the countryside. Many are the foes who perpetrate the separate attacks, but after their countelss crimes this scattered rabble congregates and they are in disgrace unless they have committed the foulest outrage.
Temples, sir, are the soul of the countryside: they mark the beginning of its settlement, and have been passed down through many generations to the men of today. In them the farming communities rest their hopes for husbands, wives, children, for their oxen and the soil they sow and plant. An estate that has suffered so has lost the inspiration of the peasantry together with their hopes, for they believe that their labour will be in vain once they are robbed of the gods who direct their labours to their due end. And if the land no longer enjoys the same care, neither can the yield match what it was before, and, if this be the case, the peasant is the poorer, and the revenue jeopardized".
Hindus, don't be like Libanius who thought that the task of fighting for his faith could be postponed to the next generation just for enjoying a few decades of money and power.
धन और दौलत ये सब एकदिन मिट्टी मैं मिल जाइगा , परंतु हमारा धर्म सनातन है और उस धर्म को सनातन बनाये रखना हमारा कर्तव्य है , न केवल हमारी आनेवाली पीढ़ी का है।
Today, let me introduce you to a Roman named Libanius. Tell me if his story looks familiar.
He was born in 314 AD, at a time when the first Christian Roman Emperor had just ascended the throne. At his teens, he was a witness to the reign of the next Christian Emperor Constantius II and was seeing the emergence of Anti-pagan sentiments and laws and abandonment/conversion of temples. Yet what did he do? He continued to praise the Emperor in order to keep his aristocratic title and royal salary.
When suddenly, a pagan emperor named Julian ascended the throne and took measures to recover temples lost to the church and re nourish paganism. And you know what he writes then? Typical woke stuff. Quoting from his extract:
"Though we are bound to rejoice at the restoration of the temples, we must not surround the reform with an atmosphere of bitterness in case we in turn hear similar accusations made against us (this is the sort of thing that is happening at present). The sons of Thalassius converted temples into a house. They acted in conformity with the policy approved by the emperor of that day. I do not approve of it, but this was legal at the time".
He asks the pagan emperor Julian to be "soft" on the Christians.
Then, as Rome reverts to Christianity and waits for Chrisitians to gain a solid number in the aristocracy, Emperor Theodosius I begins the mass imperial persecution of pagans- temples to be closed, sacrifices to banned, public worship to be banned, festivals without religion and so on.
Now Libanius realized but it was too late. He wrote an entire book called "Lamentations" as to how pagan temples and pagan worship practices are suppressed en masse. But it was too late and and him writing a book wouldn't do anything to protect his faith for his next generation. An extract from Libabius' letter to the Christian Emperor Theodosius I:
"[Christians] hasten to attack the temples with sticks and stones and bars of iron, and in some cases, disdaining these, with hands and feet. Then utter desolation follows, with the stripping of roofs, demolition of walls, the tearing down of statues and the overthrow of altars, and the priests must either keep quiet or die. After demolishing one, they scurry to another, and to a third, and trophy is piled on trophy, in contravention of the law. Such outrages occur even in the cities, but they are most common in the countryside. Many are the foes who perpetrate the separate attacks, but after their countelss crimes this scattered rabble congregates and they are in disgrace unless they have committed the foulest outrage.
Temples, sir, are the soul of the countryside: they mark the beginning of its settlement, and have been passed down through many generations to the men of today. In them the farming communities rest their hopes for husbands, wives, children, for their oxen and the soil they sow and plant. An estate that has suffered so has lost the inspiration of the peasantry together with their hopes, for they believe that their labour will be in vain once they are robbed of the gods who direct their labours to their due end. And if the land no longer enjoys the same care, neither can the yield match what it was before, and, if this be the case, the peasant is the poorer, and the revenue jeopardized".
Hindus, don't be like Libanius who thought that the task of fighting for his faith could be postponed to the next generation just for enjoying a few decades of money and power.
धन और दौलत ये सब एकदिन मिट्टी मैं मिल जाइगा , परंतु हमारा धर्म सनातन है और उस धर्म को सनातन बनाये रखना हमारा कर्तव्य है , न केवल हमारी आनेवाली पीढ़ी का है।
P.S. forgive if there are mistakes in my Hindi 😀
جاري تحميل الاقتراحات...