A famous tale is told of Gautama Buddha - he was peacefully meditating under a tree when an angry traveler arrived on the scene and started hurling abuses against Buddha. Unmoved by the tirade, the glow and peace of Buddha never changed and the radiating energy had a calming effect on the traveler whose anger slowly settled and awestruck, the man patiently waited for Buddha's meditation to come to an end. After some time, Buddha opened his eyes and with a serene smile looked at the man. The now not-so-flustered traveler enquired, "Tathagata, I insulted and abuse you, yet you never reacted. Did you not feel bad or hurt?". Buddha calmly responded, "Suppose you would want to give me a gift and I refuse to accept it, with whom will the gift stay? You, right? It is my choice whether I accept the gift and it is also my choice whether I accept the abuse."
A Hindu society which has grown up on a steady diet of such stories - stories from the Panchatantra, from the Jataka, from Mahabharat, from Ramayana or from the Upanishads - such a Hindu society is geared to be at poise, be graceful and be calm. Whether or not, a child has been read out such stories by his/her grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts or teachers, the natural centuries of conditioning shines through making the child (and his/her future adult version) less susceptible to a violent reaction to abuse or hurt inflicted later on in life.
Having grown up like this, it is now but natural to wonder why does this Hindu society respond/react in the times today (especially since May 2014) with a rush of adrenaline, with anger and with 'intolerance' towards any abuse thrown at its gods, at its scriptures and at its symbols - case in point, Amazon Prime's Tandav web-series (the background can be found here and here). Are we over-reacting as a society? Are we, as many liberal individuals have pointed out, so fragile that our faith gets threatened at the drop of a hat?
