யாம் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ்வையகம்.
LET ME SHARE
THE BLISS I ATTAINED, WITH THE WHOLE WORLD.
REASON VERSUS
FAITH
(YUKTI VERSUS
BHAKTI)
India is
hailed as KARMA-BHOOMI (the land of religious rites), DHARMA-BHOOMI (the land of ethics & morality) and GYANA-BHOOMI (the land of intuitive
knowledge of the Self, the Aatman) from time immemorial. Endeavours pursued in the right direction
bestow maximum favourable results in this specially blessed land of God and
this process will culminate in spiritual perfection in a normal and systematic
evolutionary process. The time taken to
achieve this goal depends upon the individual's zeal.
The
Legendary monarch, Bharthruhari, who turned an ascetic (endowed with the
intuitive knowledge of the Self) all of a sudden in his later life, and who
became a classical poet of the highest order, wrote a Sanskrit literary work of
exceptionally great quality, consisting of hundred-stanzas each, in three
separate topics namely, नीतिशतकं, शृङ्गारशतकं
and वैराग्यशतकं (a century of stanzas
each, on Ethics & Civility, on Amorous Love and on Asceticism).
In नीतिशतकं, in the last sub-topic of कर्म-पद्धति consisting of ten stanzas, (emphasising Freewill over
Fate), he extols
the rare fortune of getting a birth in this meritorious land of wisdom of Aatman,
that is India. If one is ignorant of
this fact, one would be wasting such a rare fortune of a birth bestowed upon
him by God and such a person's endeavours are likened to the following deeds of
a dullard of the highest order, in the following verse.
स्थाल्यां वैडूर्यमय्यां पचति तिलखलं
चान्दनैरिन्धनौघैः सौवर्णैर्लाङ्गलाग्रैर्विलिखति वसुधामर्कतूलस्य हेतोः | छित्वा कर्पूरखण्डान् वृतिमिह कुरुते कोद्रवाणां समन्तात्
प्राप्येमां कर्मभूमिं
न भजति मनुजो
यस्तपो मन्दभाग्यः ||
"A person having obtained the rare fortune of getting
a birth in this sacred land of India, where even small inputs will result in
great outputs with regard to the spiritual pursuits, and not leading an austere
spiritual life to earn liberation from the dreaded disease of Bhava-Roga
(भव-रोगः),
in other words transmigration or rebirth, is engaging himself in such worthless
pursuits similar to what is stated
hereunder.
1. "Utilising a (वैडू्र्य)
Lapis-lazuli-pot with sandal-wood cuttings as fire-wood to prepare a porridge
of gingili-oil-cake (எள்ளு-பிண்ணாக்கு in Tamil)
2. "Utilising a gold-tipped ploughshare to get ready a
nursery of soil-bed, for amassing अर्कतूलं, in other words,
wind-carried fibers similar to cotton fibers, clinging to sun-plant seeds to
promote the distribution of seeds to far flung areas (எருக்கம்-பஞ்சு in Tamil)." [As per Vedic injunctions, ploughing the soil with
the gold-tipped ploughshare is mandatory while preparing the ritual-ground (याग-भूमिः) for very important rituals such as Ashvamedha, Vaajapeya
and the like.]
3. The act of providing protection (in the form of shade)
from the exposure to the scorching tropical summer sunlight, with the stems and
leaves of a superior variety of plantain, for the newly transplanted saplings
of Raagee.
How worthless, childish and silly those pursuits would be,
equally worthless would be this dullard's pursuits also, ultimately amounting
to a mere waste of precious time and energy." A better simile cannot be found in the whole
range of literature, anywhere in the world.
Spiritual
knowledge is the legacy of this great land and as such, India is stated to be
the eternal Guru or preceptor,
endowed with the rare ability of showing the right path whenever humanity is
overcome with intellectual and spiritual gloom.
In a symbolic expression, our Globe Earth is described in the
mythological literature of the Hindus as a lotus flower in which India occupies
the central part of pericarp in it. (भूपद्मत्तिन्नु
कर्णिकयायिट्टु भूधरेन्द्रनितिलल्लो निल्कुन्नु - ज्ञानप्पाना of Poontaanam Namboothiri,
in Malayalam). Each atom of this hallowed land radiates peace, contentment
and bliss as this land is said to be predominantly of SATVA GUNA the nature of which is contentment, forgiveness,
intellectual purity, splendour and eternal bliss.
The symbolic
story of churning the ocean of milk by Devas
and Asuras (described in the Puranas)
was the beginning of evolution of the present perceptible form of Earth. As per the
story, along with the goddess of wealth (लक्ष्मीः) and so many other
invaluable objects like the divine nectar (अमृतं), the
wish-fulfilling divine cow (कामधेनुः), the
wish-fulfilling divine tree (कल्पवृक्षः), the
wish-fulfilling divine gem (चिन्तामणिः), the Moon-god (सुधांशुः, the radiator of nectarine rays), the celestial world-bewitching damsels headed by Urvashi,
the divine breed of white elephants having four tusks headed by Indra's
carrier, Airaavata, the divine breed of horses headed by Uchchaishravas also
came out of the ocean of milk along with so many other invaluable objects, as a
result of the churning.
At that
time i.e. before the commencement of this process, the Earth was not revolving
on its own axis to generate day and night, and as such, there was no question of the (23 degrees)
tilting movement of the Earth which generates the seasons. The same portion of the Earth was facing the
Sun all the time (exactly like our Moon's same portion facing the Earth now)
while Earth was orbiting the Sun. The
eastern hemisphere was always facing the Sun, India being at the centre of the
hemisphere which would mean that it was always mid-day in India's
longitude. From present Japan's
longitude it would look like evening Sun and from present England’s longitude
it would look like early morning Sun. At
that time the geological arrangement of continents and oceans had not taken a
concrete shape as it is perceived today.
At that time, the process of creation, to be more precise, the
evolutionary transformation of Earth had progressed up to the stage of Mahat
(the first stage of manifestation) from the previous stage of Avyakta, viz.
unmanifested or intangible, remaining dormant in the sleeping stage.
Light, symbolises Satva Guna (प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव B.G.Ch. 14, verse 22. Here प्रकाशं i.e. light, denotes Satva, प्रवृत्तिः Rajas and मोहं Tamas) and that
is the cause of India being predominantly Saatvic, due to the continuous exposure to
the Sun's light. The western hemisphere remained engulfed in
darkness as it was not facing the Sun at all.
The symbolic churning resulted in
the mass of the Moon (witch hitherto remained an integral part of the Earth)
getting kicked out or jettisoned forcefully into the space from Globe Earth,
giving the Earth a colossally violent thrust or push that resulted in the Earth
starting to revolve on its own axis providing day and night and also the
tilting (23 degrees) movement, providing the seasons of spring, summer, etc.
The Moon started orbiting the Earth as its satellite from that moment. (The Geologists opine that the Moon would
have got separated from the area of the Pacific Ocean.)
We know that at the time of launching a
rocket, it soars into the space generating equal and opposite counter thrust
for its forward movement. This counter
thrust was the cause of Earth's revolution on its own axis. The principles of time and space came into
being from that moment. The western
hemisphere started facing the sun for the first time. That is the reason for a new day to commence
always in the eastern hemisphere and to end in the western hemisphere. The Rishis or seers belonging to Sanatana
Dharma intuited these truths directly by leading a life of constant
austerity and penance and subsequently enlightened the whole world about these
rare phenomena. The science of astronomy
and astrology, closely linked with computation of empirical time and relative
space, came into being in India from those ancient days. This logic is irrefutable. There can be no other logical reason for a
new day to commence in the east, in New Zealand’s longitude and end in the
west, in Honolulu’s longitude.
The
customary usage of directions of east and west has come into being with the
initial revolution of Earth on its own axis.
Next, the logic behind the assumption of the remaining two directions,
north and south, came into being from the intuitive knowledge of (अर्ध-नारीश्वर-तत्वम्) the
principle of a single entity, from head to toe, of a half man and a half woman by the
Rishis, whose intellects were far superior to a super computer existing
today.
In Sreemad-Bhaagavata Puraana, (Skandha 3,
ch. 20, verse 50) it is stated that "when Creator Brahma could not
accelerate the pace of creation as desired by him, he transformed himself into
the form of a man and a woman. Those
first man and woman were Swaayambhuva-Manu (word meaning - the self-born
patriarch) and Shataroopa, (word meaning - the female endowed with
myriad forms). From them humanity got
multiplied." Etymologically the
words man and woman are derived from the word, Manu, the man possessed with a
discriminating intellect. This shows the
link between Sanskrit and English, as all the European languages have
originated from the divine language, Sanskrit and have got transformed as we
see them today.
The symbolic Purusha,
endowed with a body, ruling the terrestrial plane as its Spirit, is lying flat
on his back over the surface of the Earth; head facing east and legs facing
west. The head gets exposed to sun-light before the lower part of the body,
just like the head getting exposed to the world first, at the time of birth of
a child. In such a posture, the Purusha's
right half of the body would get aligned with north pole and left half of it
with the south pole. The right half represents
the male principle and the left half the female principle. The male principle's superiority in muscular
strength and shape is reflected in the right half of the body remaining more suitable for hard work in comparison with the
left half. In a small minority of cases
only, this rule will disagree and there is a special logic behind it and that
is not the central issue here. The
male and female principles are assembled
in each and every individual's body judiciously, irrespective of one's identity
with a particular form of sex. That is
why female individuals also remain north-paws instead of south-paws, in the
vast majority of cases. This is the
principle behind dual polarity, in the sense, the north pole remaining male and
south pole remaining female, always attracting each other or in other words
remaining fully focused to each other ceaselessly. Either of the poles cannot exist without the
other. If we understand this principle
well, we will see the whole world, whether it is the realm of macrocosm or
microcosm, as the embodiment of Lord Ardha-Naareeswara and we would
never abuse or pollute the tangible form of nature which is verily the physical
body of the Cosmic Person, ever remaining vibrant and
evolving.
The Manas-Tatvam,
the individual-consciousness i.e. the feeling of separate identity, came into
being with the Moon starting to orbit the Earth. Moon is the Karaka or cause for mind and vegetation. [चन्द्रमा मनसो जातः|
The Moon came into being from the Cosmic Person's mind. (Purusha-Sukta). पुष्णामि
चौषधीस्सर्वाः सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मकः| "I nourish and sustain the
entire vegetation by becoming the Moon, the cause of essence of all saps."
(B.G. Ch. 15, verse 13)] The vegetation came into
being on Earth from that moment and it started evolving from one-celled
vegetation to different proportions of forms and sizes. Amoeba, Moss, grass, creepers, shrubs and
trees represent different stages of
evolution of the vegetation. This
phenomenon started generating oxygen and that established the condition for the
existence of life force on our planet, the Earth. Thereafter, the creation started evolving
further, the single-celled beings, aquatic beings, insects, birds, wild animals,
dinosaurs, etc. till it reached the fully evolved human beings possessing the
sixth sense which we call the discriminating faculty. It took millions of years for this
evolutionary process to reach the present state.
In Bhaagavata
Puraana we read that the Creator, Brahma, derived perfect
satisfaction with the creation of human beings and he stopped creating newer
varieties of beings from that moment. (Skandha 3, Chapter 20, Sloka
50) The species created till then belonged to
horizontal-vertebra category unlike human beings who alone belong to
vertical-vertebra category. This is the
cause of humanity's sixth sense.) The human beings alone are endowed with an
intellect capable of discriminating right and wrong unlike all other beings and
as such, would be capable of realising their own true Self. The process of
evolution reaches its vertex with this realisation of oneness
with the
whole cosmos; सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म. The Vedas originated from the Supreme
Consciousness. To be more precise, it
should be said that the Vedas came into vibrant state from the hitherto
dormant state. The sound of Vedas
started filling all the quarters from that moment when the perception of the
subject and the object got established on Earth.
The Vedas
of the Hindus, the most ancient literature, provide the code of conduct
for human beings for all occasions. They
are classified as Varna Dharmas and Ashrama Dharmas, disciplines based on genetic inheritance, callings, social and
spiritual evolution of an individual. They are immortal treatises as they
transcend the realm of sensory perception.
They belong to the category of अनाहत-ध्वनि,
in the sense, not produced by anybody's agency, unlike the beating sound of a
drum, as sound is the special attribute of space, remaining inseparable from
it. The Rishis
of yore, sharpened their intellects, through prolonged austere life, so as to
intuit the Vedic sounds existing in the eternal space. As such, the Rishis are called मन्त्र-द्रष्टारः which means perceivers of Mantras (the secrets)
through intuition and not inventors or discoverers of Mantras. The very word Veda denotes knowledge.
The Vedas provide teachings to humanity, belonging to any stage of
evolution. Those who aspire sensory
pleasures and material prosperity can derive them by following those teachings
which enlighten them to realise their desired goal. In that section, various rituals are
recommended for material prosperity and other material benefits like rains,
progeny, attainment of heaven after the fall of this body and the like. If the goal is liberation from rebirth, the
Vedas show the path to attain that also.
On the whole, the Vedas have come to enlighten mankind with
extra sensory knowledge. As such, there
is no room for reason when we interpret or deal with Vedic
knowledge. In fact, the very
purpose of Vedic knowledge is to
enlighten, edify and elevate humanity to the level of perfection in the transcendental realm, through the
attainment of satisfaction in the material realm initially and thereafter
through focussing the mind to one's real being i.e. the Self. This, otherwise,
cannot be grasped by any amount of intellectual brilliance, how much so ever
great it would be.
For example,
no one can ever realise that he is the Spirit or Aatman
which is of the nature of ultimate Purity,
remaining ever Realised
by being the Subject (None
can say with conviction that one is unaware of oneself) and remaining eternally
Free
from all sorts of entanglement. Shankara defines Atman as नित्य,
शुद्ध, बुद्ध, and मुक्त-स्वभावः (Eternal, Pure,
Ever-realised and Devoid of any entanglement with any matter. This is the state of one's true and basic
nature) This fact cannot be grasped, for sure, through the help of
one's intellect, unless one is instructed by the Vedas to be so, as
everybody's identity is firmly entangled with the body.
As far as Sanatana
Dharma, popularly known as Hinduism is concerned, religion
and philosophy have never remained at logger heads with each other at any point
of time; instead they have ever remained complimentary to each other. Whenever religion turns into bigotry, philosophy
would assume the role of a watch dog in correcting it and in guiding it by the
right path. Similarly, whenever
philosophy becomes dry, hollow and devoid of substance, religion would act as a
beacon light in guiding it towards the goal.
During such times, the ruling deity, the presiding Spirit of the land
would assume a physical body to show humanity the right path and to restore Dharma
again. This is the basic reason for Sanatana
Dharma's eternal existence. This is
the logic behind the theory of Avatar-hood as well. We have an unbroken succession of (कर्म-प्रधान-अवतार) action-oriented
Avatars like Lord Shree Rama coming to this world for re-establishing Dharma
by vanquishing the dark forces preaching and promoting materialism and
rationalism and to dispense justice through ideal civil administration by being
the ruler of the land. "रामराज्यम्"
or the kingdom of Lord Rama remains as the ideally
administered state in the imagination of humanity for all times. Then we have
(ज्ञान-प्रधान-अवतार) wisdom-oriented
Avatars like Sage Veda-Vyasa who come to this world to enlighten
humanity in spiritual i.e. transcendental matters by being the Guru or
preceptor. Sage Vyasa is commonly
accepted as their preceptor by all those remaining within the fold of Sanatana
Dharma who devotedly accept the supremacy of the Vedas. This is reflected in the age-old practice of
performing Vyasa-Pooja on the full-moon day of the Aashaadha-Month,
coinciding every year with the month of July, which is the celebrated birth day
of Sage Veda-Vyasa.
This is not
the case in Christianity and in Islam which are followed by the vast majority
of world population today. In these
religious Faiths, there exists only the element of religion, based on
unquestionable faith. As these Faiths
never enjoyed the support of an irrevocable and well-established philosophy
based upon a sensible and sound logic, they have remained directionless at one
time or the other during their protracted evolutionary progression and as such,
they have gone astray on many occasions without returning to the original
path. This is to say that the
Christianity or the Islam that is being practiced today, by the innumerable
followers, cannot be accepted as the unpolluted and Original Faith, instituted
by those great and enlightened Teachers, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Otherwise, the existing concept of Jihad in Islam and Conversion
of non-Christians into Christianity would have never come into practice.
Spiritual
degradation has taken place in these Faiths at various stages of their progression
and evolution. The divisions of Sunni
and Shia initially and the subsequent splinter groups of Haqqani, Wahabi,
Ahmadiyya, Taliban, Boko-Haram, etc. are the result of deviation or fall from
the original state in Islam. In the
Islamic nation of Pakistan, the religious sect of Ahmadiyya, originally
belonging to Sind Province, showing equal devotion to Lord Krishna of the
Hindus, are declared a non Islamic religious minority sect, according to the
existing constitution in that country.
Similar
divisions can be seen in Christianity also, in the form of Roman Catholics,
Syrian Catholics, the different protestant groups, etc. Except the Roman Catholics, the other groups
don't accept the hegemony of Vatican and as such, don't show any allegiance or
respect to the papacy in Vatican. They
ceaselessly quarrel with each other in all petty manners. They remain co-operative and united, only
in breaking the back bone of Hinduism, by converting Hindus in large numbers,
to any sect of Christianity.
As a result
of such deviations from the original Faith (in personal convictions and/or in
general conventions), the institution of philosophy was never allowed to gain a
firm foot-hold in those areas where Christianity is practiced today. Philosophers have been subjected to various
types of persecutions and capital-punishments for alleged blasphemy in Europe
and elsewhere in the past, at different times.
The case of philosopher Socrates, (belonging to 399 B.C.) undergoing capital
punishment for his enlightening, forward-looking, outspoken and reformative
convictions and utterances ever remains as a blot in the history of European
civilisation. Socrates' convictions and
conclusions are clearly reflecting in his disciple, Plato's writings. But we have to assume that with the passage
of some decades the intellectual community would have got reconciled to
Socrates' philosophy and would have felt remorse for their wrong doing. That
might be the reason for the acceptability of Plato's writings and teachings
during the later period and for Plato's escape from the dreaded fate, underwent
by his preceptor earlier. Some opine
that Plato belonged to a superior cast or class by birth in comparison with his
illustrious preceptor Socrates and that could have been the reason for his
escape from the dreaded punishment of death undergone earlier by his
preceptor. But this statement cannot be
accepted as logically correct if we proceed by commonsense in this issue.
Astronomer
Galileo (AD 1642), another reformer who was a physicist and researcher,
declared that Earth was orbiting the Sun even though it seemed that the Sun was
moving around the Earth. The Christian
high priests of those times, took Galileo's statement an infringement and encroachment
into their domain and interpreted it as a clear case of blasphemy and he was
subjected to capital punishment. This
is because those religious faiths have remained basically dogmatic and ever
prejudiced. They were rooted in bigotry
and ignorance of the true nature of The Self i.e. Atman, providing no
room whatsoever for objectivity and openness, in the form of allowing free and
sensible discussions, debates and deliberations which would have lead to
logically correct conclusions thereafter.
Political
dominance also played its part in influencing Christian thinking significantly
during later times. During AD sixth
century, Emperor Justinian who ruled over vast territories of Europe from
Constantinople, the present city of Istanbul, chose a courtesan from among his
entertaining group of dancers numbering a few hundred (said to be five hundred
by some chroniclers) to become his better half.
She, after assuming her new role in the palace as the queen, got all her
erstwhile co-dancers eliminated from this world, as she could not keep her head
high with prestige, in front of them.
Subsequently, to push her licentious past life into oblivion (which she
wrongly believed she could do) and to get rid of the consequences of her highly
sinful acts of eliminating those co-dancers and to remove all those acts from
the domain of public discussion, she made the emperor issue a regal decree
invalidating the Christian-conviction
(existing in those days) of any
soul‘s rebirth which is also called the transmigration of an individual. The implied meaning behind the decree being,
she would not exist in future in a new body to reap the fruits of her
despicable past Karma. The decree was promulgated in AD 553 in
Constantinople. The decree proclaimed,
in unequivocal terms, the preaching and practice of the rebirth theory a
punishable offence capable of inviting even a capital punishment. This is clearly evident from the subsequent
disappearance of transmigration theory from Christian ecclesiastic thinking and
teaching. This occurred during the
papacy of Pope Vigilius; AD 537 to 556.
The succeeding Popes Pelagius I, AD 556 to 561; Pelagius II, AD 579 to
590; and Gregory I, AD 590 to 604; also remained silent in this matter. Actually, Apostle John's Gospel is clearly
stating that there is rebirth for an individual soul. If this is not accepted, one cannot explain
the inequality of individuals in the physical and mental realms from the very
time of birth.
{"Through knowledge, insight, meditation,
asceticism, contemplation, absorption, renunciation and similar disciplines, it
is possible to overcome the narrow restrictions of bodily life while still on
earth, so to become aware of one's divine nature. Mathew's Gospel describes the goal in this
way: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is
perfect." (Mathew 5/48) But the
path to perfection is paved with many reincarnations, until the individual is
fully awakened to being the child of God and performs the works of a
Christ."
"Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the
very works' sake. Verily, Verily I say
unto you. He that believeth in me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do." (John 14: 11---12) Quoted from page 121, JESUS
LIVED IN INDIA Penguin Books India 2001 Edition}
प्रयत्नाद्यतमानस्तु योगी संशुद्धकिल्बिषः |
अनेक-जन्म-संसिद्धस्ततो
याति परां गतिम् ||
This verse is quoted
from Bhagavad-Geeta (chapter 6, verse 45). "The Yogi, applying
himself with sincere effort, becoming purified of sins, and attaining
perfection through many births, thereby achieves the highest goal."
The Vatican
leadership in those days didn't have the required guts even to resist the
implementation of this decree, needless to say, to defeat it decisively. Actually, Pope Vigilius' ascension to the
throne of Vatican became possible only through the magnanimous blessings of the
Empress. Then where is the question of
defeating the implementation of the decree?
They grudgingly kept silent and as a result of that, this particular
belief of no transmigration for an individual soul came to remain deep rooted in
Christianity till today through a protracted passage of time extending to
millenniums. This could be taken as a
wakeup call by the whole Christian community without actually getting offended.
The most
important cause for Christianity's down-fall and subsequent degradation is the
removal of rebirth theory from that Faith in AD 553 through the regal decree of
Emperor Justinian. In fact, from the threatening idea of taking
rebirth to reap the fruits of past despicable Karma alone, any human being is
desisting from committing sinful acts.
Otherwise a human being would become exactly similar to a horse without
bridle reigns. The Karma Theory in
Hinduism cannot be grasped by the rationalists easily. (The Sanchita, Praarabdha and Aagaami
divisions in Karma Theory are explained threadbare In Chapter III of BHAKTI
YOGA.)
The
Christians, without getting offended, should introspect into what is stated
here. They would never indulge in
conversion any more if they understand the Karma Theory properly. This writer has no desire, to convert any
Christian to the Faith of Hinduism which is Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal
Faith. If Christians follow their Faith,
taught by their Divine Guide and Guru par excellence, Jesus Christ, in
letter and spirit, they would definitely realise their True Self and attain God
Almighty. Self-realisation or liberation
from rebirth or attaining the Kingdom of God cannot be anything different for
Hindus and Christians or for followers of any other Religious Faith. This is the unshakeable conviction of this
writer. As such, where is the necessity
to convert a Christian or a follower of any other Faith to Hinduism? The act of conversion of non-Christians into
Christianity is totally against the teaching of Jesus Christ which gives
paramount importance to unlimited tolerance and forgiveness.
Philosophy
thrives only through sensible logic. The
Chaarvaaka-Faith, which originated in India, even very much
before Jesus Christ, doesn't accept the supremacy of the Vedas of the
Hindus. They believe only in
intellectual reasoning confined to sensory perception and as such, they preach
atheism. They don't believe in the
transcendental existence of the Atman also. As a result of that, they preach humanity,
to indulge in pleasures as much as they could before the fall of the existing
body. ऋणं
कृत्वा घृतं पिबेत् is their age-old
slogan which is very famous also. This
means that even by incurring financial debts, one should consume ghee to make
one's body energetic, strong and muscular.
(They question the existence of Vaikuntha, Kailasa or
liberation of a soul from rebirth, as no one has ever returned to this
empirical realm to confirm these statements of after-death experiences to be
valid.) In spite of
these basic differences, they are still allowed to remain safely within the all
engulfing and all-inclusive fold of Indian ethos, marked by its limitless
tolerance and forgiveness. At the same
time, Chaarvaaka-Faith is never allowed to remain within the
formal fold of Sanatana Dharma.
This is not the case we usually encounter, elsewhere in the world.
Religion is
based on total faith and philosophy on sound logic. The logic of philosophy should never be at
logger heads with the statements in the Vedas, i.e. Upanishads,
in this context. This is the stand of
Shankara and all other preceptors of various DARSHANAS or doctrines who
remain within the fold of Sanatana Dharma and who believe in the
supremacy of the Vedas. By
following religion in letter and spirit to the required extent, an individual
becomes mentally purified and subsequently becomes qualified to enter the
school of philosophy. The convention,
from good-old times, used to be to “take initiation into the order of world
renouncing monks firstly and thence, to formally engage in the study of
philosophy.” (“सन्यस्य श्रवणं कुर्यात्” is the injunction
in general.) After formally entering this school
of philosophy, religious injunctions cease to be mandatory for further
evolution and as such, do not bind an individual as they used to bind
previously, in earlier life. This doesn't
mean that such an individual would violate religious injunctions
deliberately. One section of those,
still confine themselves to शिष्टाचार i.e. conventions of the faithful and
the others don't, because their mind is withdrawn from the empirical plane
totally. This is
because the Ultimate Truth which is beyond intellectual perception, could be
intuited only through transcending all injunctions and restrictions. At this stage, the individual consciously
doesn't abandon or decry the injunctions, instead he outlives or transcends
them or to be even more precise, the injunctions leave him alone to remain
fully free of any entanglement. But till
this stage is reached, an individual has no right to flout or question the
validity of religious injunctions formulated by the originators of ethical
standards.
With the
advent of the British into India seeking new pastures for business and its
influence on India's ethos, Indian thinking started becoming rational or Yukti-oriented gradually. They planned
their moves judiciously to register steady success. The introduction of coffee was one of the
initial moves. In the beginning, coffee
was given free of cost, for about a month, to the Brahman community in
Kumbakonam to make them addict to the stimulant-drink. (This information is available in Internet
collections. It is no secret. Anyone can access it.) No one could suspect coffee's subjugating
power as it stimulates the mind and senses instantly. Once, having become addict to any stimulant,
one's will power is broken effectively in a great majority of cases. With a broken or a weak will-power, resisting
temptations becomes very difficult. In
such a situation, faith will give way to reason automatically without any
resistance whatsoever. Such a person can
be retrieved only through protracted subjection to aversion therapy. But if one is not even aware of this fall
from one's spiritual status, nothing can be done about it. This resulted in looking at anything having
come from England as sublime and superior and as such, welcome; and all that is
Indian to be worthless and inferior and as such; uncivilised and
unwelcome.
The late Paramaachaarya
of Kanchi Mutt, Shri. Swami Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, tried to
prevent this erosion of ethical values in the Brahman community with all
the might under his command and disposal for some decades. But he could not
register any success in this matter.
This reflects in one of his discourses, delivered during the fag end of
his extensive and illustrious pontificate covering a major portion of the 20th
century. In that discourse, he confesses
with a heavy heart that the austere life he had lead till that moment,
unrelenting to Adharma, has proved totally insufficient to prevent the
erosion of values in the Braahman community. He says further, that he withdraws all the
sermons delivered by him till then and all are free to choose the paths of
their personal liking, thereafter.
Imagine the extent of heart-break and disappointment the great Seer would
have felt within himself at that time!
The audio file of this topic in the Seer's voice is available with the
writer of this essay.
Subsequently,
rationalism started controlling religious faith in India almost totally within
a time span of a few centuries.
Religious injunctions started being looked at, through the prism of
reason as Hinduism is very liberal allowing great freedom to its followers. In
other religious faiths rationalism could not make so much of an impact as they
didn't allow any freedom of thought in religious matters to their
followers. These foreign Faiths are
having their influence mostly in the empirical plane and not in the
transcendental plane. In fact, those faiths have emerged basically, to teach
humanity to live like good human beings upholding basic ethical values, using
their discriminating faculty, unlike animals.
We
know well, how the priestly class of Jews dominated and exploited the Jewish
masses during the days of Jesus Christ.
Nobody had the guts to question their authority even in a dream. In such an environment, God Almighty sent to
this world the great Messiah, in the form of Jesus. Treading the path of non-violence and
truthfulness in letter and spirit, as taught by the Vedas of the Hindus in Saama-Veda,
particularly in Brihat-Saama (अक्रोधेन क्रोधं, सत्येनानृतं - winning over the adversaries
propagating violence, falsehood and all sorts of negativity through peace,
friendliness, truthfulness, sacrifice and integrity), Jesus
registered complete victory over the dark forces which resulted in the
commencement of a new era viz. the Christian Era.
Similarly,
materially powerful chieftains were exploiting and dominating the weaker
sections of society in places, situated in and around Saudi Arabia, during
Prophet Mohammad's life-time by kidnapping and enslaving them, particularly
their women-folk through various unethical means to serve their selfish
interests. To provide justice to the oppressed, Prophet Mohammad restricted the
upper limit for number of marriages in the case of men as four, in Islam. This
doesn't mean that it is mandatory for a Muslim-male to keep four married women
at any particular time. This clearly
explains, in what an uncivilised and selfish manner, generally people were
living at that time, in those areas; when at the same time, in unbroken
succession, a highly evolved and civilised society lived in India from much
earlier times extending to some millenniums, to be precise, from Lord Rama's
time which, in the process, goes back to far away periods of BC.
If
we go through Indian History, from the times of Mohammed Ghazni, (10th century
AD) who invaded, looted and fled with the gold and other valuables from Somnath
Golden Temple, situated in Gujarat-coast 18 times, (which repeatedly got
renovated also, after each looting) we would understand the highlighted matter
in this context. The subsequent Muslim-invaders, mostly from Iran,
looted and settled in India dominating the local population ruthlessly and, in
the process, establishing Muslim empires in India. By going through the recorded history, we know
how cruel and uncivilised those Muslim rulers were. When it came to capturing and holding on to
political power they behaved like ruthless monsters. They had no consideration whatsoever, whether
it was a fatherly figure, an elder brother, an uncle or any other relative who
was within their clan. They should
ruthlessly finish-off all those who were likely to come between political power
and themselves. That used to be their
wont.
Allaudin
Khilji and Aurangzeb are two glaring examples, notorious for their cruelty and
uncivilized behaviour. Allaudin Khilji
killed in cold blood, his own paternal uncle, Jalaluddin Khilji (the founding
Sultan or monarch of Khilji dynasty) who happened to be his father-in-law also,
to ascend the throne. (Only in Islamic
Faith, paternal cousins of the same genetic order get married with one another;
there is no feeling of Haram in this practice for them.)
Aurangzeb
took out a procession on an elephant's back, in broad daylight, displaying his
eldest brother Dara Shikoh's separated head and torso. The remaining two brothers, Shuja and Murad
Baksh were also killed, one after the other through treachery and intrigue
before he put his indelible stamp on the throne of Mogul Empire, finally. As Aurangzeb suspected threats to his life
constantly, he was afraid of stepping out of Red Fort and even going to the
nearby Jama Masjid for Namaz daily. As
such, he constructed a small Masjid within the Red Fort for his personal
worship which is called Moti Masjid. He
incarcerated his own father, Emperor Shahjahan, in the confines of Agra Fort
till his death. The only consolation
given to Shahjahan was that he could go on gazing at the marvel of Taj Mahal
(his own creation and the proof of his eternal love for his consort) which
happened to be the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal Begum (1593 – 1631
AD), as long as he wished, from the confinement of Agra Fort. (Aurangzeb was the sixth child of Mumtaz
Begum. She died immediately after her
14th delivery due to excessive bleeding, at the very youthful age of 38. She started giving birth to the next child
from the age of 20, almost at the interval of 15 months.)
In
comparison, Emperor Shahjahan was in no way better than his monstrous son,
Aurangzeb, when it mattered in capturing the throne. Strangely and deservingly, he reaped the
fruits of his own Karma in his very life time.
(By virtue of creating the monumental Taj Mahal and other pieces of
architectural importance like the Red Fort in Delhi, his despicable past often
escapes the close scrutiny of chroniclers, to a great extent.) Where is the ideal of Shree Rama, renouncing
everything and setting out to the forest to fulfill his father's vow, granted
in the form of boons to his step mother Kaikeyee and where is the monstrous
behaviour of Allaudin Khilji and Aurangzeb?
Lord Shree Rama's noble and disciplined life and magnanimous behaviour
and the latter ones’ monstrous conduct would ever remain glaringly as two
extremes, 180 degrees out of phase with each other, for all eternity.
Lord Macaulay, a member of the House of
Lords in British Parliament, was deputed to India to study the culture,
convention and way of life prevailing in India in those days (19th century AD)
and to submit a comprehensive report to British Parliament so that the British
Government could frame a new India Policy through which the British would be able to
keep India under their administrative control with the help of a strong
military, commanded by the British at the top level and served by submissive
and non-betraying Indians at the grass root level, and to remain highly
benefited as long as it would be convenient and possible to them. This was altogether a cunning move of the
British Government. To fulfill his
mission, Lord Macaulay travelled through the entire length and breadth of India
staying for weeks and/or months together at a stretch, in various places of
many states in India, as a paying or non-paying guest of many Rajas, Maharajas
and commoners, enjoying the hospitality of the amicable people of Indian
sub-continent. He undertook this
travelling mission in the real spirit of a life-time penance and pilgrimage for
some years at a stretch, and finally prepared a comprehensive and
thought-provoking report. The gist of
the report was that India was a peace-loving country where he could not
perceive theft and beggary anywhere, as the people were leading a contended
life. As such, it would be difficult for
the British to win the hearts of the people of India and to keep them
constantly favourable to serve the interests of the British Empire.
The Ashrama Dharma of Sanyaasa,
(which is the fourth and final in the order, i.e. renunciation of
worldly duties and subsisting on Bhiksha, in other words alms) existed
vibrant, in those days. But Macaulay
could distinguish beggary from the mendicant way of life of a Sanyaasin
when he saw the great respect shown to the community of such mendicants by the
general public in India and that was the reason behind his statement that India
was a Land devoid of beggars. In
fact, the great God of gods, Shiva, is perceived as a mendicant, with a begging
bowl in his hand (भिक्षाटनमूर्तिः), accepting
alms from the Divine Mother, Vishalakshi.
This can be seen in the
legendary city of Varanasi, the cultural capital of India from good old times.
The following information on Lord
Macaulay's report is available in internet collections. (Vikiquote.org) This
seems to be a small edited portion of the full report. There are claims and counter-claims with
regard to its authenticity. Another
report, in full, extending to many pages, is also available (submitted to
British Parliament on 2nd February, 1835).
This second one was a subsequent report, pertaining to educational
grants to be given to the student community in India, presented for approval of
British Parliament. Lord Macaulay's
thinking on India and its culture is clearly visible in this subsequent report
and one can draw one’s own conclusion, on the authenticity of the earlier
report, in the light of this report of 1835.
“I have travelled across the
length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who
is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in
this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not
think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of
this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I
propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for
if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English, is good and greater
than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and
they will become what we want them to be, a truly dominated nation.”
As Hinduism
has remained very much tolerant and friendly upholding the principle of
non-violence, it has been attacked by Christianity and Islam through religious
conversions, overtly and covertly through various types of enticements, false
propaganda and other methods of pressurisation tactics. Initially Islamic tribal chieftains from
Iran, Afghanistan and some other central Asian countries invaded north and
north-western parts of India at regular intervals to plunder the local wealth
and later to flee away. They were not
originally inclined to settle here and to administer those areas brought under
their control through invasion. Later,
when the Moguls came invading northern parts of India, they decided to settle
here and started governing those areas invaded by them through a crude form of
civil administration, under which all inhabitants of the state were not
considered equals. They started
collecting taxes from the local Hindu community to remain in their
kingdom, as Hindus. Those
incapable of paying taxes had no other option other than converting themselves
to Islam.
Some
disgruntled elements living in the Hindu kingdoms, in those days,
willingly converted to Islam to escape the wrath of the local Hindu
rulers, seeking political protection and financial aid. Only the Rajputs, the princely rulers of
Rajasthan, and the great Maratha-warrior Chieftain, Shivaji, could resist the
gradual spread of Mogul Empire in India.
In the meantime, the Hindu religious leaders maintained a rigid posture
by refusing to re-admit those new Islamic converts back into the fold of Hinduism
again. In fact, there are liberal
provisions in Hinduism to re-admit those willing to return to their
parent Faith by making them undergo the appropriate procedure of atonement
(प्रायश्चित्तम्). In this
matter of reconversion, the religious leaders should have shown magnanimity and
farsightedness to keep their flock together, united and intact.
The new religious faith of Khalsa Pant, the Sikh Religion, was founded by the
great Guru-Gobind-Singh to resist the onslaughts of Islam and to fight the
injustice caused by that menace in this land, in a united manner. He raised a rare class of people, of
Spartan-spirits and of adamantine-nature physically and mentally, exuberating
valour and fearlessness, to protect the frontiers of India. The spirit of Khalsa Pant was
to sacrifice anything and everything to protect our mother land from foreign
invasion and domination, and to re-invigorate the Sanatana Dharma once
again. Now for silly political gains,
the political community belonging to Khalsa Pant disown their identity
with Sanatana Dharma, which should be considered most unfortunate.
How Guru Gobind Singh created a special group of PANJ-PYAARE (The
most Beloved Five) and made it the nucleus of Khalsa Pant, is very
well known in the annals of Indian history.
When Guru Gobind Singh announced in front of the gathering of Sikhs,
after the completion of the Sahasra-Chandi-Maha-Yagna in Patna Sahib,
Bihar, “that Goddess Chandi i.e. Durga, was demanding Nara-Bali
(human-sacrifice which is common in Vaamaachaara-Traditions), five
extraordinarily brave men stood up offering themselves as Bali. They are hailed forever as the
PANJ-PYAARE (The most Beloved and Courageous Five).
The great Guru didn’t offer them as Bali on that
occasion. It was only to demonstrate
their total dedication to the cause of Khalsa Pant, that they were asked to
remain separate from the rest of the congregation for some time. Later on, they were entrusted with the
administration of the institution.
Instead of a formal and total Nara-Bali, Guru Gobind Singh
chopped off his left little-finger and offered through that act, a stream of
blood in front of Durga as a symbolic gesture of a Nara-Bali. Those five and their descendants have a
venerable position and status in the history of Khalsa Pant. Every Indian youth should go through that
portion of history with legitimate pride to re-discover nationalism and one's
true identity. At this juncture the
memory goes back to a few decades when Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengal,
claimed themselves totally alien to Hinduism, in order to gain some silly financial
benefits in the form of some educational grant from the government of West
Bengal. The great Swami Vivekananda, the
founder of the institution, would have re-entered his body in the interment to
question this despicable erosion of principles and values, if it were not
cremated.
With the
British assuming the administrative duties from the Moguls in Delhi, in the
early 19th century, Indian civilisation started taking a new turn. But, by that time, those having got converted
to Islam already, could not be brought back to Sanatana Dharma in
the wide spread territory of the erstwhile Mogul Empire spread over the states
of U.P., Bihar, M.P., Bengal, Maharashtra and the southern region of Deccan
plateau.
During the
British Raj in India, wherever they allowed the local monarchs to survive as
administrators, the British had fixed some conditions for their survival. Regular payment of a tribute to the British
Empire and maintenance of the office of a Resident (the old version of
the present High Commissioner) deputed by the British-empire were two important
requisites in the list of conditions.
The Resident would collect the tribute on behalf of the British Empire
and would give instructions to the local monarch, to safeguard the interests of
the British Empire. According to those
conditions, the local monarch didn’t enjoy the freedom to independently punish,
for any serious offence, any subject converted to Christianity. It should be done with the concurrence of the
British Empire only. This enthused the
disgruntled elements in some kingdoms, to convert to Christianity. In the kingdom of Travancore, many Hindus
opposed to the monarch's rule there, utilised this special privilege by
converting to Christianity in a large scale, in the areas in and around
Kottayam. That made Kottayam District a
perceptibly marked Christian-majority District (about 75%), from those early
days.
The
liberal approach of Hinduism providing maximum freedom to its followers
and not interfering in the matters of other religious faiths would seem an inherent
weakness in Hinduism for many but it should be stated here with great
affirmation that this is the real strength of Hinduism. By being liberal,
accommodating divergent views in theology, Hinduism remains eternally
vibrant and active. It is Sanatana Dharma, the religious
faith of eternal existence. The
Religious-Faiths of Christianity and Islam were born at a particular time and
in a particular place. The followers of
those Faiths, themselves, confess this without any reservations. Anything that is born will also die or
disappear, without any doubt, at another time.
No one can refute this statement.
Here, what is meant by the disappearance of those Religious-Faiths is
that, they will lose their present identity and merge with this eternal
religion which can give room to any Religious-Faith to remain within its all
engulfing fold. It is like the endless
space. The definition of space is that
it remains as "the principle that gives room to anything and everything to
remain within its fold". As contrasting Religious-Faiths are remaining
within the fold of Sanatana Dharma already, how will it disallow newer
entries from joining it, in future? As such, losing their present identity,
Christianity and Islam will come into the fold of this eternal Religious-Faith
in the future, definitely. This would be
synchronized with the advent of Kalki-Avatara.
Even though
Christianity doesn't preach rationalism in the formal sense, rationalism has
crept into it slowly with the long passage of time. Many Popes have condemned the materialistic
attitude and lack of faith in the scriptures among Christian Community,
especially in the United States of America.
The fast development of science and technology took place mainly in
those areas where Christianity is followed today and as such, they are mainly
responsible for spreading rationalism and with it the inseparable materialism
also, throughout the world.
A follower
of Khalsa Pant would never question the injunction of growing a
beard, wearing a turban over the head and a bangle of steel over the
wrist. Similarly, a follower of Islam
would never entertain a thought even in a dream to question the validity of Sunnat or such other injunctions in
order that he should see the daylight, the next day. Christians also are a faithful lot having
great regard towards their religious injunctions, in spite of turning rational
in mental set up these days. But can the
Hindus claim the same with regard to their religious injunctions? Why is it so?
Hindus seem to be stupefied by the onslaught of western
civilisation. An average Hindu may try
to be religious at home but he doesn't have the courage to stick to the
conventions in public, like having a tuft on his head. Similarly, he may have sacred ash, (the end
product of matter in the empirical plane, the symbol of Paramaatman or Shivam,
the Eternal Truth,) etc. on his forehead at home but before going out for
daily work he might remove those marks from his forehead. This shows that the
average Hindu definitely lacks in moral strength today. Due to this they remain dis-united and devoid
of a common cause.
The
missionary activities of Christianity and Islam have thrived in India due to
the liberal outlook of Sanatana Dharma.
In the charitable activities of the Christian Missionaries, in the field
of education and health, the objective of conversion remains clearly in the
core of their heart. The real aim of
religious conversion is to exercise a
strangle-hold on the followers, so that their basic loyalty would be directed
towards the Headquarters of those Faiths.
If a vast majority of Indians are converted to Christianity, India
could be administered indirectly from Vatican for long periods, without
generating any particular hatred or ill-will in those new converts. In the ultimate analysis, this would amount
to conquering India more effectively, cunningly and decisively than to do the
same through using military power.
The
religious conventions (in other words आचारः)
should be given deserving importance in the scheme of promoting
religious-faith. At the end of Vishnu-Sahasranama-Stotra
in the Phala-Shruti part, it is stated आचारप्रभवो धर्मः which means by sticking to the ordained conventions, one
acquires the moral strength to follow one's religious faith. Let us see what Bhagavad-Geeta says
in this regard. श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् | स्वधर्मे निधनं
श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः || (B.G.
3/35) This means
that "It is beneficial by far, to stick to the duties ordained by one's
religious faith, how-much-so-ever those duties may seem to be insignificant, in
the eyes of the world. The duties that
are despised by one's religious-faith may look glamorous and welcome in the
worldly consideration. But they will not
help a person to evolve spiritually and to reach the ultimate perfection. Even if one happens to meet with death by
adhering to one's duties, ordained by one's religious-faith, still it is to be
considered more profitable." For,
such a person will definitely reach higher levels of evolution after leaving
that particular body. At the same time, duties forbidden by one's
religious-faith bring dreadful miseries all the while, finally taking the
individual to lower levels of spiritual evolution.
Faith
transcends reason. God is ever eager to
manifest His miracles and bestow His bounties on the believers who have
surrendered to Him wholeheartedly and unconditionally. To avail the bounties of God's miracles,
mankind should shed the doctrine of rationalism completely and reaffirm its
total faith in the teachings of Shruti, Smriti, Puranas, saints'
utterances and one's own Guru's sermons.
Rationalism breeds selfishness and in the process generates an endless
chain of vices and miseries. Communism
is the worst form of rationalism. It
preaches equality in the empirical plane of existence. This is impossible to achieve as equality
exists in the realm of Atman alone. In
the empirical plane it is ever unequal and this cannot be changed by any reformer. As such, rationalism will have to give way to
faith sooner or later as rationalism would guide humanity to total gloom,
frustration and failure only. All the
ills that the world experience today are the result of lack of religious faith
and non-compliance of religious injunctions.
This is applicable to all Religious-Faiths, particularly to Hinduism.
As mentioned
in Lord Macaulay's report to British Parliament in 1835, our age-old education
system of (गुरुकुल-वास-पठन-संप्रदायः) "learning
by residing in Guru's home, serving him in his day-to-day life" is the
most ideal system of education through which ideal citizens used to be rolled
out into the society who never remained mere bread-winning individuals in their
later life. Character refinement through
inculcating ethical and spiritual values into the student community were more
important than imparting technical knowledge, for those preceptors who
maintained the Guru-Kula-System of education in India from times
extending back to millenniums. Now,
during the present times, the eternally noble profession of imparting wisdom
and knowledge to the student community is carried out in the spirit of running
an industry or a business institution with the sole aim of making money.
There are narratives in the Upanishadic part of Veda
and some Puranas that in some cases the student community had only
tended the Guru's cows for years at a stretch submissively, without
attending any teaching class. But the Guru
calls the disciple one day and tells him that he could go back home and lead a
householder’s life and whatever wisdom or knowledge is required to lead a
successful life in this world would gleam in his intellect automatically. Rishi Saandeepani, the Guru of
Krishna and Balarama sent them back home, keeping them for 64 days in his Guru-Kula,
with his infallible blessings that all the knowledge and wisdom available in
the Vedas and the codes of conduct would gleam in their intellect,
subject to the requirement of any situation.
The reference of this is made in the episode of Sudama nicknamed Kuchela,
meeting Krishna in Dwaraka. (vide Sreemad-Bhaagavata, Skandha 10,
chapter 80, Verses 42 & 43). This
definitely would be irreconcilable and unpalatable for the community of
rationalists. But this is deliberately
mentioned here by this writer to stress the paramount value and importance of
the Guru's unfailing blessings over and above the disciple's
intellectual brilliance and learning capability.
The present system of education helps only to generate
bread winners in large numbers, glaringly disproportionate to the existing
job-opportunities, without giving importance to the development of good
character and civilised manners in the student community. Today, there is no guarantee for the student
community in securing a job to earn a livelihood, in spite of possessing a
certificate of merit. To get a menial
class IV job of a peon, hundreds of graduates and post graduates are waiting in
the queue. Living hard pressed, to earn
a livelihood, some of these take to immoral ways of life from a very young age.
They indulge in smuggling narcotics and gold to become milliners
overnight. What a pity! O GOD!
There would be minor exceptions everywhere but that will not help to
assess the true state of affairs. This
is the result of following the western system of education, forsaking our
age-old system and this is the first blemish that India should overcome
by all means with all the resources under India's control.
The second blemish is the most popular therapeutic
system of the day, Allopathy, which provides incentive to humanity in an
indirect manner, to lead a life of one's liking without any discipline. According to this system, which is based upon
symptomatic treatment of diseases, one need not maintain proper discipline in
one's habits with regard to eating, sleeping, mating, recreating and so on
unlike Ayurveda System which gives great importance to a disciplined way
of life. In Allopathy the goal is
to remove the symptom of any disease from the body. But in Homeopathy
and Ayurveda the goal is the removal of the root cause of any
disease. If the symptom is removed
without removing the cause, a new disease with an external appearance of a new
symptom can emerge at another time, in a new environment. This is the basic difference in its approach
and application existing in Allopathy and in other systems like Ayurveda.
The inventor of Homoeopathy, Dr. Hahnemann, having
practiced medicine through Allopathic System for quite some time
initially, became disgusted with it due to the basic flaw in the system and
started scoffing at it later. According
to him there is no medicine in Allopathy without having any side effect
or reaction. The reaction may be instant
in a few cases and procrastinated in the vast majority of other cases which will
not come into the purview of anybody's notice easily. When the reaction becomes evident after a
time span of 25 years or if it gets extended further to the subsequent
generations it can surely escape the scrutiny of anybody. This therapy promotes the gradual erosion of
vitality in the body and becomes the indirect cause of HIV Virus which
turns into AIDS later. The theory
of "immoral sexual life causes HIV AIDS" is totally wrong and
untenable. If the real cause is immoral way of life how it appeared in the
first person who transmitted it to others through physical contact? Immoral way of life is not a new
phenomenon. It has come to this world
with its very genesis. It remained at
all times in variable proportions in this world. But there was no perceptible trace of HIV
AIDS till about 1980.
To understand this issue correctly we should understand the
logic in the case of a tree and its seed initially. The tree is the gross
expanded form of the seed and the seed is the subtle condensed form of the
tree. Therefore, we should understand
that all the features in the tree are available in the seed with the exception
of nothing. Similarly, any feature
existing in the macrocosm exists in the microcosm as well, for sure. Any feature can remain untraceably dormant
and therefore, can exist undetected in the microcosm for any duration of time
and the same feature can present itself
in the vibrant perceptible form when the favourable environment
arrives. The theory that HIV virus
came into the body from outside, from another person, through sexual contact or
transfusion of blood is totally wrong and as such, untenable. Immoral sexual life or transfusion of blood
acts as a catalytic agent for the perceptible evidence of HIV virus in a body
instantly; that is all. It is not like
getting a new commodity from the market by paying its price, which the medical
community claim it to be. The real cause
is the erosion of vitality (ओजस्) in
the body to the extent of demolishing the immunity system provided by nature in
each body, in full measure.
Allopathy indirectly
encourages humanity to indulge in pleasures to one's heart's content. Subsequently, it offers them various remedial
measures to overcome the ill effects of such indulgence also. It provides a long list of such facilities
available in the system after conducting elaborate researches.
"1. We can remove any decayed organ or tissue in the
body and replace it by transplanting a new healthy one whether it be heart,
thyroid, kidneys, liver, eyes, skin or hair and make you healthy and happy
again. It infuses optimism into mankind by stating that any decayed part of the
body is replaceable.
2. Without the semblance of labour pain we can conduct
deliveries of children for you. (By conducting premature surgical deliveries,
the medical community want to raise their earnings into manifold proportions by
extracting incubator rent also, irrespective of the situation warranting such a
decision of a surgical delivery. Four-
or five-times income will accrue from a surgical delivery in comparison with a
natural delivery. So, they have taken a
vow to conduct any delivery through surgery alone. The justification for such act is that they
get extremely a smaller number of delivery cases, these days, due to the family
planning programme of the governments and what they usually used to earn from
four or five delivery cases previously, had to be earned from a single delivery
case itself.)
By undergoing surgical delivery, the concerned woman is
subjected to serious losses - physical, mental, emotional and monetary - which
include mainly loss of beauty and health to the woman, due to the newly
acquired obesity.
(a). In a case of a natural delivery the wounds would heal
completely, in three or four-days’ time, most probably, much before the 10th
day. In the case of a surgical delivery,
the incision wounds get healed in a prolonged period of time, and that too with
the help of heavy intakes of anti-biotics along with other necessary
medicines. The incision wounds take
three months or even more to get healed completely. This adversely affects the health, in
addition to heavy expenditure of money.
(b). The practices (existing In India) connected with
rejuvenation-course after delivery, which is traditionally called प्रसव-रक्षा, becomes
impossible when the wounds are not healed even after 3 months. The uterus and other parts of the abdomen
don’t shrink in a time-bound manner, in such cases, resulting in an ugly
projection of abnormal and untimely obesity which directly reflects in a total
loss of beauty with over-weight. This obesity would remain life-long.
(c). The milk-yielding glands in the breast become
activated instantly, with the appearance of labour-pains only. In many cases of surgical delivery, surgery
is conducted before any sign of labour-pains, even before a week or ten
days. As such, there is no possibility
of the infant child receiving its mother’s immunity-giving milk which is a
special gift of nature. The mother’s
milk helps, particularly, the brain development of an infant child.
(d). In the case of the children born of surgical delivery,
a valid horoscopic chart cannot be drawn.
A chart based upon the natural birth-time only, will reveal the destiny
of an individual correctly. But, for
their very survival, the community of Astrologers say that the birth-time given
by the maternity centres are also valid.
As such, the noble and divine science of Astrology becomes
irrelevant. There are many more
dis-advantages due to surgical delivery.
All of them cannot be presented here, on this occasion.
3. We can replace the decayed cells of any part of the body
through plastic surgery and make you look handsome and youthful in appearance
again.
4. We can provide you surrogate mothers and fathers to
beget children (if you are having any handicaps) whom you can claim your own,
legally.
5. We can delay your death by keeping you in Intensive Care
Units, under ventilator facility, as long as you or your people wish that to be
so. Our only advice for you is that you
should have sufficient money to pay the bills for our services in the form of
medical treatment and advice; that is all."
The practice of transplanting organs and tissues generates
so much of evil which is reflected in many incidents that have taken place in
Noida, near Delhi and elsewhere in somewhat recent past, where international
business rackets, dealing in human organs, were collecting various human organs
covertly, by killing defenseless innocent children, numbering many hundreds, to
enrich their human organ bank. Allopaths
are more interested in improving their earnings than caring for the welfare of
humanity at large and as such, remain totally business minded.
In America, since many decades, anyone with a live medical
insurance policy alone could enter a medical care centre. As such, where is the spirit of service in
maintaining such centres? The same situation has come to India also now. The study of medicine entails too great an
expenditure these days and the medical community finds justification in
extracting great amounts of money for their services from the public.
By seeing Allopaths, the practitioners of other
systems like Ayurveda also have started following their footsteps by
referring every case to scan centres and labs of their choice from where they
would receive a fixed share of test-fee and scan-fee as their rightful
commission. The medical community is so alert and clever that no aggrieved
person could claim any compensation for their omissions and commissions in
diagnosis of disease, prescription of medicine and conducting surgery. To get confirmed and to remain reassured that
no organ from the body was removed without the knowledge of the patient and his
people, during the course a surgery, one has to undergo further tests conducted
by some other surgeon, these days.
My thoughts go to Mr. Samuel Johnson's writing with regard
to the word "Doctor" in his dictionary (the first of its kind) at
this juncture. Samuel Johnson writes the
meaning for the word "Doctor" in the following words. "A gentleman who provides medical
treatment to a patient till his medicine kills the patient or nature cures the
disease." Samuel Johnson's writings were studded with
sarcasm throughout the writings which used to produce instant laughter among
people, but they never remained without merit and teachings to humanity. Much more has to be said to enlighten and
educate humanity with regard to the "practice of medicine"
today. But that is earmarked for a
future occasion due to some compelling reasons.
In India, till the past one hundred and fifty years or so, diagnosis of
disease and prescription of medicine used to be done without demanding any fee
to maintain the profession truly charitable, noble and meritorious.
The third blemish is the democratic system of
administration that is pursued throughout the world today, India being no
exception. It is glamorous and as such,
welcome for anyone, to think that one is totally free to lead a life of one's
personal choice. How enticing it is to
hear such a statement! But if we start
reflecting deeply, we would soon realise, that there would be no difference in
life style, in the case of human beings and other species of beings, in that
case. A disciplined religious life alone
separates human beings from all other beings.
The inevitability of religion is so great, that without it the entire
humanity would be groping in darkness exactly like the visually blind moving
forward.
If we proceed by reason, our first
conviction has to be "I am the body; not even the individual residing in the body”. When all the subsequent logic is arrived at
on an earlier wrong-premise, which happens to be the basic foundation; how can
we claim that the proceedings are valid and sane? A democratic constitution can aptly be compared
with a super structure built on quick sands.
The laws in the present democratic system of administration are framed
from a state of total ignorance of Aatman. Preyas i.e. material prosperity is the
only goal for everyone in democracy, giving no thought for Shreyas which
is spiritual wealth. In this system the
government should remain appeasing the voters always in order that it should
remain in power for the full term for which it is elected by the people; and if
possible, to get it extended to another term.
A Dhaarmic way of life would be bitter to the mind and senses but
it will ever be sweet to the Soul, in other words to Aatman,
the Self. If we aspire for eternal life,
we should follow the teachings of the Vedas which advises us to
consciously increase the Satva-Guna in us which will culminate in the
realisation of our Aatman, the true Self.
Sanatana Dharma doesn't accept
democracy as a valid system of administration.
This is because, in a democratic set up, the Government cannot ensure
the fulfillment of their duties from the voter community, lest it should get
voted out of power at any time. In
democracy, the voter community will go on asserting their privileges and rights
vehemently, without fulfilling their duties, by utilising the infallible
missile of voting rights. Sanatana
Dharma insists that a king, in the role of an administrator, should impose DHARMA
(the duties, to be observed by the inhabitants of a state) on the subjects
without any leniency or compromise; at the same time himself adhering to it, in
letter and spirit. In this regard, the
king will have an enlightened Guru and he will do anything as per the
guidance of the Guru.
Lord Shri Rama; the legendary Chola-King,
Manu-Neeti-Cholan; and Emperor Bharata (after whom India is hailed as Bhaarata-Varsha)
are some of the role models (belonging to Indian peninsula) who have earned
eternal thrones in the hearts of humanity by being ideal administrators. Some of the early Caliphs of the middle east
and Solomon, the wise, are some of those rulers who have occupied eternal
thrones in the history of the outside world.
Democracy may be worthy to be followed in Satya-Yuga,
the perfect age, when Satva-Guna remained full to the brim in the hearts
of humanity. But during Kali-Yuga
when Tamo-Guna rules supreme, democracy leads everyone to a life of
sensuality and as such, it would not be suitable even for a dream world. Due to the democratic rule imposed by the Aasuric
community, the world over, which is the basic cause of total pollution
every-where, we have reached a dead end in our evolutionary progression from
where we don't know what to do next and where and when to take a new turn. I conclude this topic now here, only for the
time being, leaving it, at the same time, to elaborate discussions, debates and
deliberations in the future.
The Red Sea
giving way to Moses and his followers to cross over to Africa when they were
persecuted mercilessly in Israel and the same Red Sea refusing to yield to the
closely chasing tormenters of Moses on horseback, which ultimately resulted in
their drowning is an incident stated in Old Testament which is beyond the logic
of rationalism. But it is a fact for the
faithful. This writer believes it to be
true. Similarly, River Yamuna gave way
to Vasudeva to carry infant Krishna to Nanda-Gokula in spite of the river being
in total spate. Lord Krishna lifted
Mount Govardhana to save the inhabitants of Nanda-Gokula from the impending
deluge caused by god Indra's ire.
Pandavas received the gift of Akshaya-Patra, the copper vessel
yielding bountiful meals from Sun-god, during their twelve years of life in the
forest. Padmapada Acharya could cross
the Ganga by walking over the water's surface on the call of his Guru,
Adi-Shankaracharya, who was at the opposite bank of the Ganga. An endless account of such miraculous deeds
could be narrated. These occurred by
following the path of faith. Even if the rationalists refuse to accept these
incidents as facts, they would not become fictions, for that matter. These incidents belong to the category of
miracles. Leave alone these
miracles. Firstly, before denouncing
these miracles, the rationalists should strive hard to grasp the logic behind
the magic-show of a magician. If that is
done, they would learn to remain wonderstruck and subsequently, would learn to
remain humble, keeping quiet.
God has
withdrawn His miraculous powers from the vibrant state and has kept them in a
dormant state as humanity believes only in the power of science and technology
which has been developed by them through reason. But God is ever ready to exhibit such miracles
again when it comes to save the inhabitants of this world when catastrophes
befall them suddenly. But, for this to
happen, mankind should have made itself worthy and eligible to receive the
grace of God by renouncing the doctrine of rationalism completely from the
mind. Also, the mankind should embrace
the path of FAITH without the slightest wavering of mind. This is the only solution to overcome all the
ills that humanity experience today. OM
SHANTI.
(This essay
is being written with the sole objective of awakening the Indian community in particular,
whether they live in India or elsewhere, from their prolonged slumber in the
realm of Atman, forgetting their glorious heritage. No Indian should ever happen to repent that
he or she was not aware of these facts stated herein, or else, he or she would
have amended his or her thinking and his or her way of life much earlier. Still it is not too late to amend oneself
consciously. When a new change is
inevitable, anything new would be looked at with reasonable suspicion in the
beginning, and it should be so, by all means.
There is nothing wrong in it.
Nothing should be accepted blindly.
At the same time, one should try to understand that there is nothing
subjective in this essay. Sensible and
open logic is maintained throughout this essay with an objective outlook. As
such, after awakening, one should remain loyal to the cult of Faith steadfast,
without giving any more chance to rationalism, to lift its head again. OM SHANTI.)
सत्यमेव जयते
नानृतम् ||
सनातनधर्म
एव जयते; न पाखण्डधर्मः ||
ॐ शान्तिः
शान्तिः शान्तिः ||
LET ME SHARE
THE BLISS I ATTAINED WITH THE WHOLE WORLD.
