Editing Ram Swarup (section)

== Views ==
=== Hinduism ===

Ram Swarup upheld the polytheistic interpretation of the [[Vedas]] by rejecting the concept of one God,<ref>{{cite book|last=Goel|first=Sita Ram|title=Defence of Hindu Society|year=1987|publisher=Voice of India|location=New Delhi, India|url=http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|quote="In the Vedic approach, there is no single God. This is bad enough. But the Hindus do not have even a supreme God, a fuhrer-God who presides over a multiplicity of Gods." – Ram Swarup|access-date=2011-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> and states that, "only some form of polytheism alone can do justice to this variety and richness."<ref>{{cite book|last=Goel|first=Sita Ram|title=Defence of Hindu Society|year=1987|publisher=Voice of India|location=New Delhi, India|url=http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|access-date=2011-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Swarup was influenced by [[Sri Aurobindo]], whom he held to be the greatest exponent of the Vedic vision in our times.<ref name="autoref1">Goel:How I became a Hindu. ch.8</ref>

Ram Swarup was "most responsible for reviving and re-popularizing" the [[Hindu]] 'critique' of [[Christian missionary]] practices in the 1980s, according to Chad Bauman. He insisted that monotheistic religions like Christianity "nurtured among their adherents a lack of respect for other religions".<ref name="ReferenceA">Pentecostals, Proselytization, and Anti-Christian Violence in Contemporary India by Chad M. Bauman, Oxford University Press, 2015</ref> In the 1980s, he and Goel were involved in a "vigorous debate" with the [[Christian Ashram movement]] represented by [[Bede Griffiths]].<ref>Theology in the Public Sphere Sebastian C. H. Kim</ref> Swarup has been named one of the most important thought leaders of the Hindu revivalist movement.<ref name="Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt 2009, p. 240"/>

=== European paganism ===

Swarup also had an interest in European [[Neopaganism]], and corresponded with Prudence Jones (chairperson of [[Pagan Federation]]) and the Pagan author [[Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir]].<ref>Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu, 2001</ref> Under the influence of Ram Swarup, other Hindu revivalists also took an interest in European paganism.<ref>Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt: Hindutva zwischen „Dekolonisierung“ und Nationalismus. Zur westlichen Mitwirkung an der Entwicklung neuen hinduistischen Selbstbewußtseins in Indien In: Manfred Hutter (Hrsg.): Religionswissenschaft im Kontext der Asienwissenschaften. 99 Jahre religionswissenschaftliche Lehre und Forschung in Bonn. Lit, Münster 2009, S. 233–248.</ref>

[[Christopher Gérard]] (editor of ''Antaios'', Society for Polytheistic Studies) said: "Ram Swarup was the perfect link between Hindu Renaissance and renascent Paganism in the West and elsewhere."<ref>{{Cite web|date=1999-04-01|title=The Voice of India|url=https://www.hinduismtoday.com/magazine/april-1999/1999-04-the-voice-of-india/|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Hinduism Today|language=en-US}}</ref>

Swarup has also advocated a "Pagan renaissance" in Europe, saying {{blockquote|Europe became sick because it tore apart from its own heritage, it had to deny its very roots. If Europe is to be healed spiritually, it must recover its spiritual past—at least, it should not hold it in such dishonor...}} He argued that the European Pagans "should compile a directory of Pagan temples destroyed, Pagan groves and sacred spots desecrated. European Pagans should also revive some of these sites as their places of pilgrimage."<ref>Hinduism Today. July 1999. Antaios 1996 (Interview with Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel){{cite web |url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1999/7/1999-7-07.shtml |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-01-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061030024504/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1999/7/1999-7-07.shtml |archive-date=30 October 2006 }}</ref>