As Hinduism marches into the 21^st century, it is facing enormous challenges.  The encroachment of western values and the western tradition toward business will undoubtedly have a monumental influence upon Hindu society, culture and youth.  Initially the offerings of cheap labor and relaxed laws for work will make India one of the up and coming darlings of the new “Global Economy”.  But the cost on social structure and religious values will be tremendous. 

 

As India is poised to become an economic powerhouse within the emerging global economy, this has not come without a price.  The religious tradition is coming under enormous stress, as religious pluralism is taking a toll with imported religions such as Christianity.  Hinduism has not faced a religious challenge such as it now faces in its recorded history.  As India is emerging from the “help” the British provided in dealing with the Muslim intrusion, it faces its greatest challenge with government control of religious institutions, and conversion based religions that are literal economic and political powerhouses.  So the 21^st century will become an age of the Hindu activist or Hinduism may very well fade into the pages of history, becoming a little known and obscure religion.  This frightening reality could happen in as little as one hundred years, and has great potential to manifest within 2 to 3 hundred years. 

 

In the upcoming age of the activist, Hinduism faces many great challenges.  For millennia, Hinduism was not a religion oriented toward activism.  The culture, society, and masses in general are not familiar or comfortable with activism.  Being an evolved and highly tolerant religion has promoted an atmosphere of lethargy, sameness, and perpetual uninvolvement.  With western values becoming stronger, the primary motivation is Artha.  While this is not initially an issue, within the emerging economy under western influence the potential for this to become the sole issue is quite strong, as it has been the motivating force in western society. 

 

For Hinduism to survive, it must quickly evolve into a religion of volunteerism.  While western society has had literally hundreds of years to make this evolutionary step, Hinduism does not have the luxury to hundreds of years.  This obviously can pose numerous problems, as it is difficult for people to make these changes en masse over a short period of time.  Learning from the western model, we can access that two types of volunteers will be required:  1) those that contribute money 2) those that contribute time.  There is a third group that contributes money and time, but they are in a smaller number.

 

The group that contributes money must recognize their changing role within society.  Philanthropy will become the term to describe this group.  Their role will be tremendous, as they will fund the second group, those that contribute time.  Not only will they fund, but also they will need to contribute to compensate for those that cannot.  Without proper funding Hinduism will be able to do very little to survive in the next hundred years.  Upon the reception of proper funding the second group will be allowed to step into action.  The volunteer will literally be in the trenches toward helping Hinduism regain its status as one of the world’s major religions. 

 

The second group, volunteers, will require several qualities.  They must be:

 

1. committed,
2. dedicated,
3. resourceful,
4. creative,
5. and have the ability to follow through on projects and objectives of their group in a timely manner. 

 

This is one of the most critical challenges facing Hinduism, as most volunteers will be weak on some of these areas.  Training programs will become necessary in order to train volunteers properly.  Without the ability to complete projects in a timely manner, each organization will become impotent in their ability to effect change in a positive manner.  Volunteers that ‘volunteer’ but don’t complete their tasks, work, or projects will actually harm the important work being performed to aid Hinduism.  Even with huge numbers of volunteers, little can be accomplished without committed volunteers.  Volunteers are literally the backbone of any type of effort such as needed within Hinduism.   Hinduism is very weak in this area.  Though there are numerous ‘grass roots’ movements, there are relatively few large well-organized groups working cohesively with one another for the betterment of Hinduism.

 

Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.