Research Paper submitted by Swami
Sadasiva Giri during a Vedanta Seminar, conducted by Sri Vishnu Mohan
Foundation on the 14th and 15th of September 2019, at Sri Gnana Advaita
Peetham, New Giri Road, T Nagar, Chennai-600017.
Part One: PREAMBLE
THEORY
AND PRACTICE IN
INDIAN
PHILOSOPHY
|| कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्-गुरुम् ||
OBEISANCE TO KRISHNA, THE
UNIVERSAL GURU.
The esteemed
status of Indian Philosophy remains in its adaptability to all times, its
applicability to all environments, its suitability to all sections of society,
and finally its acceptance by peoples belonging to all walks of life. Many, among Indians, might have heard or read
in the immortal epic of Mahabharata, the story of a butcher by
profession, and as such, most likely to be an illiterate, imparting India's
exclusive and invaluable wealth, which is its pre-eminently famous spiritual knowledge viz. the Upanishadic Wisdom,
to a traditionally ordained mendicant monk, belonging to an eminently higher
class, by all social considerations.
This episode shows that Indian philosophy, apart from its theory, ever
remains as a working principle in day to day life, for all sections of society
and to people of all walks of life, irrespective of their caste, creed, tongue,
profession and status in society. In
this context, the relevance of the spirit of Vedanta Darshana, in
today's modern world, is taken up first, along with a little comparative study
of different Philosophies and Faiths. At first, the socio-cultural background
of Indian Civilisation is taken up, to understand Indian philosophy correctly.
Without grasping
India's age old culture and way of life in its entirety, in its true
perspective and in its very essence, the Western Civilisation finds fault with
India's Sanatana Dharma, the eternally ideal way of life, the sanest
idea of living, which is rooted
in Varna-Ashrama-Dharma, the observance of a class system, based upon the callings of the people.
This developed further into a sort of caste system, in the long run, in the
natural evolutionary process, through prolonged genetic inheritance, extending
to many centuries and thereby into even millenniums.
Many Siddhis
(miraculous rare gifts) and excellence in profession are acquired by a section
of people, by pursuing the same profession for centuries, extending to
millenniums. Those people would be born
repeatedly in those families pursuing the same profession, due to their Kaarmic
link with that profession and with those professionals. Like the Labrador breed of dogs inheriting
the retrieving capability without any training, the genetic inheritance has its
own advantage in Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System. At the end of a person’s life in this world,
whatever skills and virtues were developed and earned till then get carried
forward to the next innings, when the same individual is born again in this
world, with a new body.
In this age-old system,
deserving recognition and dignity of labour are granted to every profession and
every professional in a uniform manner, as each member, pursuing different
occupations is, as important as the other.
This is evident when we look at the long row of Naayanmaars, i.e.
Saivaite Saints seen in a Shiva Temple and the row of Aalwars
i.e. Vaishnavite Saints seen in a Vishnu Temple. They were born in a variety of different castes
and sub-castes, very high and abysmally low, in social consideration. But they all are sitting in the same pedestal
now, as equals in all respects, and that too for all eternity. They are the
different adjuncts or to be more precise, the different bodily forms of the
same universal Aatman, the Spirit, which is ever changeless and eternally
ONE.
Aatman is not many; Aatman is only one, like the endless
space; it remains eternally the same. This is the firm conclusion of Adwaitic
philosophy and it is arrived at, through sane and irrefutable logic. Indian philosophy thrives eternally, based
upon this basic principle of oneness, which is the unity of Spirit, in a vast
diversity of bodies representing matter.
(When anybody mentions Indian Philosophy, it is generally understood as
Shankara's Adwaitic Philosophy, as its
penetration into Indian psyche is so deep and widespread, throughout the entire
length and breadth of Indian sub-continent, latitude-wise from Kargil in northern
Kashmir, to the southern tip of Cape Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and longitude-wise
from Dwaraka, Gujarat, (in olden days from Gandhaara which is presently
Kandahar in Afghanistan) to Dibrugarh Town, in eastern Assam. The reforms that Shankara introduced in all
levels of religious observances and philosophical convictions are fully valid and
vibrant even today i.e. after a long gap of more than two millenniums,
according to the calculations of some traditional Mutts. At present, this conviction of Adwaitic
Philosophy is gradually getting extended to all the far-flung areas of the
world as well.) Let us investigate this
highly meaningful stanza of Bhagavad-Geeta for more clarity and correct
grasp of the issue involved in the present discussion. BG/chap. 5/stanza
18.
विद्या-विनय-संपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि |
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ||
"The
wise are ever looking, with the same eye, at a Brahmana endowed with
learning and culture, a benign cow, a haughty elephant, an unclean dog and a wretched
Chandala, the consumer of dog meat." In this stanza, two extreme ends, prevailing
in the society, by considering the mental purity perceived in each individual
belonging to various divisions of society, are mentioned. Brahmana remains at the top end and
Chandala at the bottom end. These two
extremes surely cannot meet with each other in the empirical realm; but they
can meet with each other in the realm of Aatman, as Aatman is
only ONE and the same, eternally.
As such, the West, who are generally ignorant of this most subtle
principle of one's real being, which is अमरत्वं, immortality, would constantly point out a serious
flaw in India's Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System and that cannot be helped at
all. The Indian community which is
rooted in the Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System, right from the untraceably
ancient times, (the real meaning of Sanatana) neither need to worry nor
pay any heed to the destructive criticism of the purely body-conscious Westerners. Immensely more elucidation is being provided further,
now.
Here,
it is stated that the wise are समदर्शिनः i.e. of equal view, which means that the
wise are truly objective in their assessment of anything. In this context what one should understand is
that, the word, Sama-Darshinah, verily means Brahma-Darshinah. The word Sama
is a synonym of Brahman. See the
confirmation; "निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म" Brahman is ever flawless
and Samam i.e. well balanced. BG/chap. 5/stanza 19.
As such, we should
understand that the wise are ब्रह्म-दर्शिनः, in other words, viewing Brahman (ब्रह्म) in everything i.e. viewing the substratum or the spirit in all
objects. This doesn't mean in any way, that the wise really
consider all the earlier mentioned five categories of entities i.e. the ones
from Brahmana to Chandala, as equals in the empirical viewpoint. Equality is valid only in the realm of Aatman. In the realm of relativity, which is the
realm of matter, there will be only inequality to whichever direction one may turn,
and it is totally unavoidable also. (In this context, the psyche is also
classified as matter, as anything that is not Spirit, must be grouped in the category
of matter, as per Saankhya Darshana. As such, body should be understood as
tangible matter and psyche as intangible matter; in any case both include in
the category of matter.) The earlier mentioned five categories of creation
cannot remain as equals materially, when they are considered as five
distinctively different bodies.
At this stage I am
compelled to bring two great social reformers of the 20th century, belonging to
India, to this topic; firstly, Shri Narayana Guru Swami of Kerala and secondly
the great Mahatma Gandhi. Both tried
alike, very hard, to bring equality to the empirical realm also. It is left to the logical assessment of the
wise, to evaluate and arrive at a correct conclusion, whether these great
reformers could achieve any appreciable success of lasting nature, through
their endeavours. In Gandhiji's reform
movement of equality that took place in a silent and secret mode and to
commence with a trend-setter beginning, Sir C. Rajagopalachari's daughter was
married to one of Mahatma Gandhi's sons, to set an example for all others to
follow suit. This was altogether a fancy
idea for people of those times, who were educated by the British to serve their
selfish interests of breaking India's Sanatana Dharma, which is India's
back-bone of unity, and through that, to rule this country as long as they
wanted or could have wished for.
As there was a terrible
imbalance in India's social life, at that point of time, due to a highly
selfish and ruthless Braahman-domination, this movement of
equality was unavoidably necessitated and that too in a particular view point
only. The Brahman community
should engage itself in a life of ceaseless austerities and penance; this is,
what is expected of Brahman community by Shaastras. Instead, they turned to a life of pleasures
due to the strong influence of English education. The Braahman-community is respected
for their noble character and virtues cultivated through a life of long drawn
out austerities and penance. Without
fulfilling their ordained duties, if they start demanding special privileges
and respect from all other communities, it becomes a terrible domination and
exploitation of other sections of society.
Respect is a great asset which must be earned laboriously in the long
run and not at all to be demanded. This
was the basic cause of the terrible imbalance in Indian social life, at that point
of time.
As an antidote to one
poison, the administration of another poison becomes most necessary. After nullifying the ill effects of the
former poison, the latter one also should get neutralized without lingering for
long periods, thereafter. But, usually,
it doesn't happen so, as one would desire that to be. In most of the cases, the latter poison
lingers in the body in the form of a hangover with various side effects, for
some time. To remove the ill effects of
this hangover another poison will have to be administered as its antidote,
later. This process ever continues
helplessly in the evolution of any society.
This is how any society evolves, sometimes upward and other times
downward. In the present context,
unfortunately, it has turned out to be a downward march.
Sri Narayana Guru Swami's
most popular slogan was “ഒരു ജാതി, ഒരു മതം, ഒരു ദൈവം” “There should be only
one caste, one religion and one God”. Gandhiji's sayings also were not greatly in variance
from Narayana Guru Swami's slogan, when he said “ईश्वर अल्ला तेरे नाम.” i.e. the Hindu
community's Easwara or God and the Muslim community's Allah are only synonyms
of the same Truth. But can these slogans
become really practical? Will the Muslims and Christians ever welcome this
slogan wholeheartedly? If they welcome it,
it would be done with a hidden agenda of converting more and more Hindus into
their Faiths, saying that the Hindus have confessed that other Faiths are
acceptable to them and as such, there is nothing wrong in converting more and
more Hindus to their Faiths. The slogans
of these great reformers have turned counter-productive in all respects now.
Equality in empirical
realm can be achieved, of course, by following either of these two available methods. The first method is by making all members of
the society Saatvic (sublimely pure) or all becoming Saatvic of
their own accord and the second method is, by making all Taamasic (used
here in the sense of mentally perverted) or all becoming Taamasic, like
filthy Chandalas. In either of
these two ways, equality can be achieved in empirical realm; there is no doubt whatsoever,
in this matter.
In our present context,
surely both these reformers would have desired, to gain equality through the
former method only i.e. all sections of society becoming Saatvic. But how has it turned out to be now, in the
gradual evolutionary process? All have
become uniformly Taamasic, leaving aside all their Achara i.e.
religious and traditional values. This becomes
clearly evident from inter-caste marriages and inter-religious marriages. The present democratic governments, to enhance
and enrich their vote-banks in great measure, propagate these marriages, even
through advertisements, providing all sorts of helps, encouragements, incentives
and enticements.
In all these cases the
sufferers are uniformly the Hindu community and there also, precisely the upper
caste Hindus. The others have turned out
to be gainers genetically, wherever it is अनुलोम i.e. the male member
belonging to a higher caste. If it is प्रतिलोम i.e. female member belonging
to the higher caste, it would turn into a terrible degradation of genetics
which will affect the physical and mental health of the society adversely. The higher caste-female would not be able to
match, even remotely, the sexual urge and animal passions of the lower caste-male. If they are of the same caste the sexual-urge
and passions would be well balanced.
This is the gist of Shastra’s dictum in this regard. Whenever water is mixed with milk, water will
be the gainer and milk will be the loser, in density. There is a proverb in Malayalam "let a
thorny shrub fall over a plantain tree or let a plantain tree fall over a
thorny shrub; in both cases, without doubt, the adversely affected species should
be the plantain tree and not the thorny shrub." So, in this manner, the
social and spiritual evolution steadily goes down.
Arjuna, considering the
threatening consequences of a full scale war, which would decimate an
abnormally huge number of male warriors on each side of the army, tells Krishna
(Bhagavad-Geeta chap.1, stanza 42) "स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः | सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च" | i.e. "in the unfortunate event of such a war, a large number of young
women would become widows and subsequently they would become a fallen lot also. From that stage, due to an unrestrained
admixture of castes, the genetic and spiritual stature of the society starts
going down steadily, touching the nadir before long."
Generally, the off springs born from such
inter caste and inter religious marriages are found to be lacking terribly in
moral strength and higher values of life.
This would be a terrible genetic degradation. Without achieving equality in the psychic and
spiritual levels, if we try to bring equality to the level of matter alone,
which is bodily equality, this type of degradation takes place. These off
springs would never be interested in the most famous
Tamil-reformer, Tiruvalluvar's ideal of "ஒழுக்கம் உயிரினும் ஓம்பப்படும்" the
gist of it being, one should, by all means, choose the option of death without
any hesitation when a totally unavoidable choice is to be made between merely being
alive, without virtuous ideals, and undergoing death.
Due to a lack of moral strength
we come across more and more suicidal deaths and crimes related to sexual
misconducts, these days. The present
state of an admixture of castes and religions has come into being widely, in a
passage of about 75 to 100 years now. This is stated after a
comprehensive and objective study of the situation prevailing in India, today.
This is particularly mentioned here, for everyone to reflect deeply and to
arrive at the real cause of all problems, which is a life devoid of a strict adherence
to any Religious Faith. Without this,
mankind would remain much below the level of quadrupeds. A religious life alone makes a noteworthy distinction
between man and animal. When reason overwhelms faith, religion which is based
on faith, suffers terribly. The rational
approach towards life should be replaced by faith, which could be even blind
faith initially, which would become agreeable to reason in the later part of
one’s life.
Now returning to the main
track. When the West say there is
hostile discrimination in Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System in India, they
only consider the bodily equality, as they are totally ignorant of Aatman,
the Spirit. The West are considering Anaatman,
the non-Self, their body, as their real Self when they make such allegation of
in-equality in India's Sanatana Dharma. (In the view of some, it might
be the psyche to be their real Aatman).
In their view, if the individuality has gone, they conclude that they
are no more relevant thereafter. In deep
sleep, individuality vanishes temporarily but no harm is felt by anybody for
one's existence during deep sleep or after waking up. India is concerned, only with the spiritual
equality, as those engaged in guiding humanity (in political and socio-cultural
levels) in India, from the very ancient times, were endowed with this spiritual
knowledge of oneness of Self without a break.
This is the basic difference between Indian view and the Western view.
The western view is the view of the body-conscious people and the Indian view
is the view of the people of true wisdom.
We need not worry if the West say there is hostile discrimination in
Indian social order. Still furthermore,
if there is any seeming discrimination of any sort, felt by anybody, even in
India, it will definitely turn to be for the great advantage and benefit of
such discriminated communities and individuals, as it provides in great
measure, unsatiated urge and impetus for spiritual evolution in them which would
culminate in their spiritual perfection, later on.
By going through the
heart-melting (bone-melting as per Ramana Maharshi's version) biography of the
Harijan Mystic-Saint, Nandanar (who was born in an abysmally low cast and who,
in his later life became inseparably ONE with his beloved Lord Nataraja of
Chidambaram, in letter and spirit, leaving no trace of his physical body) this
statement of mine would become valid and clear to all. Now, quotation from Thomas Kempis' "THE IMITATION
OF CHRIST" is provided to support this statement further. Thomas Kempis says in
Chapter 35 of Book III; "The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that is to come."
Again, in Chapter 51 of Book III he says, "And you will say: the
sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory." Here, what the great Thomas Kempis means by
these statements is, the input of a spiritual aspirant is so silly and unworthy
to be compared with the Himalayan output that will accrue later. Input is like an anthill and the output is
exactly similar to the Himalayas.
In Sanatana Dharma,
the immortal state of liberation i.e. Moksha, is not denied to any
individual based on the caste-system, as all are fully eligible for that lofty and
invaluable attainment. This is evident
when one looks at the long row of Naayanmaars in a Siva Temple,
numbering sixty-three, to be precise.
These mystical saints were born in different families belonging to all
the different castes, pursuing various occupations; very high and abysmally low,
from one extreme of a virtuous Brahmana and a righteous king of kings,
to the other extreme of a ruthless gambler, a sinful forest-hunter, a slavish
Pariah and a forbidden Chandala.
In all these cases, their evolution and the subsequent spiritual
perfection became a reality as they engaged themselves in the occupation,
ordained by Shastras to each individual and community. Karma's seeming superiority or
inferiority is not at all an issue in
Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System, as all occupations in
this world are said to be permeated by flaws and evils in a variety of kinds
and in a variety of measures. As such,
before spiritual enlightenment also, all are to be tied to one single post and
should be considered as equals sailing by the same boat, in this sense. There is no occupation in empirical plane
without the slightest trace of any flaw or evil. A Brahmana should be able to respect
the dignity of labour everywhere, in all communities; otherwise he would be fit
to be called only a Brahma-Bandhu the scum of Braahman
community.
Now, this fact becomes
unmistakably clear by following Shankara's life. When Shankara was confronted, face to face,
by Lord Vishwanaatha of Kashi, in the guise of a Chandala, carrying a
pitcher of seeming arrack (but in reality the ambrosia of gods) accompanied by
four dogs (the symbol of the four Vedas in this context), Shankara
commanded the filthy looking Chandala to clear the way for him, by
withdrawing himself to a safe distance, on either side of the path. As a bolt from the blue for Shankara, came the
retort from the Chandala, in the following words, "What do you mean
by your command of clearing the path; i.e. if it is the body that should get
away, both of our bodies are created by the same five basic elements of matter,
and as such, both are equally perishable and filthy also; if you mean that it
is the Spirit, which should get away, both of our Spirits are one and the same,
totally devoid of any Karma or action to even move away. In that case
how can I move away from your path?"
From this shockingly piercing and least anticipated retort from the Chandala,
the famous मनीषा-पञ्चकम् (the five immortal
stanzas highlighting the quintessence of Adwaitic Philosophy and the psychic
balance of the person endowed with this wisdom in practical terms) flowed out effortlessly from the mouth of Shankara, which turned out to be
a heart-felt apology, to the Chandala-looking Lord Vishwanaatha of
Kashi. The highly pleased Lord
disappeared from the scene of this episode, after blessing Shankara with
longevity and vitality to register total success in his grand reformative
mission. Unequivocally and emphatically
Shankara confesses through the hymn, that the person, established in the
constant awareness of one's own being as inseparably one with the omnipresent
and ever changeless Brahman, is accepted by him (Shankara) without any
reservation on his part, as his (Shankara’s) most venerable Guru,
irrespective of that person being, in the bodily sense, a Chandala or a Braahmana. Now we return to Bhagavad-Geeta. BG/18/48.
सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि न त्यजेत् |
सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः ||
"O'
son of Kunti, one should not give up the duty (for doing which one is born in a
particular family belonging to a caste) earmarked to the people of a caste,
even though it (the duty) may look much inferior in the eyes of the world at
large. For, all occupations are
permeated by evils and flaws, in one form or the other, exactly like the fire
remaining murky and associated with smoke in different measures." As such, attaining the
invaluable gain of liberation from transmigration alone has remained valid and
relevant in this Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System, eternally. The following Geeta-stanzas provide
more clarity and confirmation in this regard. BG/18/45.
स्वे स्वे कर्मण्यभिरतः संसिद्धिं लभते नरः |
स्वकर्मनिरतः सिद्धिं यथा विन्दति तच्छ्रृणु ||
Krishna says - "Remaining
devoted to one's ordained duty by birth, an individual attains perfection in one's
profession and through that, complete success in all his or her
endeavours. O' Arjuna, now listen to my elucidation
that explains the methodology to attain this perfection, by pursuing one's traditionally
ordained duty."
Here, in this context,
the two compound words, कर्मण्यभिरतः and स्वकर्मनिरतः are very important words with greatly implied meaning and these two words deserve
some thorough explanation. Any individual engaged in any seemingly inferior Karma,
which is only in the eyes of the world, should pursue that Karma
ungrudgingly, till the end with a steady, positive and optimistic mental
attitude; to be more precise, welcoming it as a rare blessing, graciously bestowed
upon him or her by the inviolable Supreme Destiny (the Cosmic Will) in the form
of serving the society, and through that service, pleasing God. Contrary to this mental attitude, if the
service is done grudgingly, with a heavy heart, the individual would never
achieve नैष्कर्म्य, the state where no more Karma remains to be
exhausted, which, in other words, amounts to a state of qualifying to attain Moksha.
यतः प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् |
स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ||
"A human being achieves perfection in all his endeavours, the
harbinger of eternal liberation, by constantly worshipping through his ordained
duties, Him, from Whom have emerged, the origin of all actions of Jeevas,
and by Whom, the whole universe is permeated by."
As such, there cannot be any hostile discrimination
against any profession or professional based upon class or caste, in whichever
way one may look at it. This is the underlying secret of harmony seen among the
followers of Varna-Ashrama-Dharma-System,
from untraceably ancient times, as the basic aim of life is to attain Moksha. In this system, it is the spiritual unity that
is of paramount importance, amid bodily diversity. This system worked perfectly well in the
earlier Yugas and Kalpas (cycles) when Satva-Guna was high
in the psychic realm of the cosmos. In
the present dark age of Kali-Yuga, due to the deep-entrenched ignorance
of one's own Self, this system seems to be a prejudiced one, in the view of the
ignorant, whoever it may be. Such a
person might be from the West or the East; such persons are guiding the world
today, both socially and politically. Politicians'
total interest remains always in promoting their vote-bank; they would be the
least bothered if the society or the nation they guide is ruined as a result of
their selfish actions and motives. As
such, most people who are totally ignorant of their own Self today, would
consider this sanest system of Varna-Ashrama-Dharma, as a hostile
discrimination, deserving total condemnation.
Such people don't see any discriminative flaw in the system of aristocracy,
prevailing even today, in many European countries. (In the United Kingdom, there exist the
parliament having the House of Lords and the House of Commons) In fact, the essence of this caste system
remains in all civilisations of the world, in one form or the other. But it won't be called or known to be a caste
system in all the other parts of the world except in India; that is the only
difference.
Through extensive DNA
tests, it has been confirmed, that Indian Civilisation is the most ancient one
existing today. The Harappan
Civilisation remains a testimony to this claim i.e. to establish, that it is
more than five thousand years old, in its ancientness. As we have no means to trace backward further
up, through more valid DNA tests now, we are settling at Harappan Civilisation,
to claim Indian-civilisation's ancientness.
In fact, the period of Ramayana is more than nine thousand years old; it
may be much older even. The tangible science of Astronomy, with the help of the
occult science of Astrology leads us to this conclusion. (In this contentious issue of Ramayana's
ancientness, for greater enlightenment, please go through my book on
AYANAMSA.) The Aryan invasion theory,
their migration into Indian peninsula from the north, i.e. from Central Asia or
from north west, i.e. from Iran and Afghanistan is completely demolished today. Contrary to their claim, it has been
established today that the inhabitants of Indian peninsula are the ones who
migrated to Iran and to the other far-flung areas of the Middle East. If there is any similarity in DNA between
Indian and European communities, it must be, due to the migration of Indian
communities to the European Continent and not in the vice versa order.
The educated
people of modern India, should become aware of Lord Macaulay's extensive
travel-missions which were undertaken by him in the true spirit of a
pilgrimage, throughout the entire length and breadth of India for about five
years, during the early part of the 19th century and his subsequently prepared
research findings, the outcome of a thorough study of India's Sanatana
Dharma and which were formally submitted to the House of Lords in the
British Parliament, prior to 1835. Lord
Macaulay was specially deputed to India to do that job, so that the cunning and
crafty rulers of the British Empire could draw a new India-policy and subsequently
implement the same in India, to keep India under their administrative control
for extended periods. He worked as a Resident
(the designation of a High Commissioner existing in those days) of the British
Empire in the princely state of Cochin for some years; but today he is widely
remembered as a reformer of the Indian educational system. The widely acclaimed model education system,
introduced by Lord Macaulay, was in vogue from 1835 to 1960 in all parts of Kerala. Today it is still retained with negligible
changes here and there, all over India.
Macaulay broke India's back bone of social unity (based upon its
spiritual integrity) and the resulting harmony in an unassuming manner, by
making Indians feel that India's traditional Guru-Kula-System of
education is inferior to the system followed in Britain. A small extract of Macaulay's report is
presented here.
"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 unity 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, and as such, 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
people."
Lord Macaulay
served as a Resident of the British Empire, during the long reign of the
most renowned ruler of Cochin Kingdom, the legendary Rama Varma Tampuraan,
popularly known as Shaktan Tampuraan. (Birth AD 1751; Reign as informally
delegated Administrator from AD 1769 to 1791, Reign as Crown King of Cochin
Kingdom from 1791 to 1805.) In his
painstaking report, Macaulay tries to emphasize a fact repeatedly, that he
could not come across a single incident of theft or beggary in India as the
people were leading a perfectly contented life, in a harmonious atmosphere.
When Macaulay
recorded this, he could clearly understand the lifestyle of a mendicant monk in
India, as totally different from beggary, as the people in India offered Bhiksha,
in other words, alms to a mendicant monk with utmost devotion and respect. If mendicancy in India is elaborated a little
further, it could be said that Macaulay could see the great God of gods in
India, namely, Lord Siva called Lord Visvanatha, wandering about in the temple
town of Varanasi as a Bhikshaatana-Murty, a mendicant of the highest
order, setting up a pre-eminent example to the whole world, with regard to the
spirit of total renunciation. This
should be understood as "the true sign of greatness lies in total
renunciation,” in Sanatana-Dharma's viewpoint. What a lofty ideal and unique example! Much more information is available in this
regard in Appendix II (REASON VERSUS FAITH) of my book, titled BHAKTI YOGA,
published by Vishnu Mohan Foundation in 2018.
In Sanatana
Dharma, popularly known as Hinduism, the eligibility to enter the school of
philosophy is gained by pursuing the path shown by the powerful beacon of
religion, in the beginning. By leading a
profitable religious life ordained by the Vedas, which gets elucidated
in detail, through the likes of Sage Bodhayana and Apastamba, the spiritual evolution
of Indian society started gaining momentum in India. By leading a life based on total faith in the
eternal Vedas, the compendium of all knowledge and wisdom, the intellect
sheds its waywardness, sluggishness and all negative thoughts and tendencies.
Waywardness is due to the predominance of Rajo Guna and sluggishness,
along with negative thoughts and tendencies, is due to the predominance of Tamo
Guna in one's nervous-system. The
mind is the subtle and symbolic central point in the nervous-system. The nervous-system acts as the connecting
link between the astral body and the physical body. Once these Gunas of lower nature are
shed to a great extent, the mind attains Satva Guna, i.e. purity of Spirit,
which would be evidently perceptible in the form of a shining aura around an
individual's face. Use of cosmetics never
brings this shining aura and attraction to the face.
Pure Sattva
Guna is self-effulgence, in other words, light consciousness. This effulgence is axiomatic, omnipresent and
beyond sensory perception. This is the Saguna-Brahman,
popularly referred to, as Bhagavaan, endowed with all the eight Animaadi-Siddhis
i.e. the miraculous gifts defying anyone's logical conclusions. This Saguna-Brahman is ceaselessly
engaged in the act of spiritually evolving this world through creation,
sustenance and destruction.
In the 11th chapter of Bhagavad-Geeta, when Sanjaya tells Dhrutaraashtra
that he was perceiving Krishna's splendour, matching a thousand suns at their
rise, he verily remains in the state of light consciousness. दिवि सूर्य-सहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता | यदि भाः सदृशी सास्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः || (BG/11/12) This
effulgence which is a subjective experience of the purified intellects and which
is beyond day and night, is well confirmed by Thomas Kempis, from his own
intuitive experience, in the immortal treatise, "THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST"; in Book III, Chapter 47. “Eternal life is worth all these and even greater battles.
Peace will come on a day which is known
to the Lord, and then, there shall be no day or night as at present, but
perpetual light, infinite brightness, lasting peace, and a safe repose.”
Christians, especially in India, are totally unaware of such a gem
of a literary work called "THE IMITATION OF CHRIST". Christian missionaries
engaged in conversion activity in India, as preachers and promoters, have
confirmed this fact to me, that they were not aware of this literary work. This ignorance of the Self stimulates
them to remain content, like frogs in a well, which was exposed by the great
monk of India, Swami Vivekananda, when he spoke for 21 min. and 50 sec., during
the third chance he got, on 19th September, 1893, during a World Religious
Conference, held in Chicago, USA. Swami
Vivekananda used to keep a pocket edition of THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST with him always,
during the progressing stage of his spiritual Sadhana.
In this land of Sanatana
Dharma, the land of the eternal Vedas, the land where the immortal
epics (worth to be called two Encyclopedias of evolution of socio-culture and
wisdom) of Ramayana and Mahabharata are acting as beacon lights
for all to evolve in their life; in such a land of harmonious existence, the
act of converting Hindus into Christianity, by pointing out the caste system
and the seeming discrimination prevailing in the system, shows the height of
present Christianity's total ignorance of the ultimate Truth, the Aatman. In India, even the rationalists called Chaarvaakas,
who are atheists as well, never met with any threat to their life and
belongings, from the very ancient times and this is the height of India's
tolerance and forgiveness. If the
attitude of Western Civilization is one extreme, the attitude of Indian
Civilisation is the other reciprocal extreme.
With the
attainment of high purity of अन्तःकरण, the psyche,
the intellect would be able to concentrate and contemplate on the subtler and
higher Truth, which remains transcendental.
Gaining eligibility is much more important than getting initiation in
the spiritual path; exactly like the practice of drying up the firewood
thoroughly before lighting it, to receive smokeless flames. The popular saint of the 19th century, Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa, the illustrious Para-Bhakta, who remains as the driving force of Ramakrishna Mission, whose life and teachings remain ever green and
transparent in the memory of the world, intuited his transcendental Self
at the very stroke of initiation as he had attained total purity of his psyche
through sustained worship of Goddess Bhavataarini, the name of Goddess Kaali
or Durga in Dakshineshwar, situated in the close vicinity of Kolkata.
In Hinduism
alone, religion and philosophy, eternally remain complimentary to each other;
never contradicting with each other.
Quite contradictory to this, if we trace the long history of the West,
we can see that religion and philosophy have remained at logger heads for most
of the time, there.
This happens
because the religious faiths and philosophies in the West are ignorant of the
real nature of one’s own Self, the Aatman. In the West, both, religion and philosophy
have remained without any logical and proper foundation. Western philosophy, which is nothing but a free-thinking
intellectual exercise, doesn't have the blessing and backing of any religious
faith and reciprocally the religious faiths in the West do not enjoy the
blessings and backing of a sane and objective philosophy. According to my conviction, only the immortal
Christian literature, "THE
IMITATION OF CHRIST"
remains as an all-time exception to this statement of mine. The intuitive experience of Thomas Kempis
cannot be included in the section of philosophy as it is an experience of the
subjective, at the same time a highly purified, intellect. As such, it must be included in the section
of religion only. The eternal irony is
that there should be some exception everywhere, in all places and matters
concerning everything.
What is mentioned
in ‘The Holy Bible’ remains mostly in the form of parables, which is in a
symbolic language. Only the fully
enlightened Souls can grasp and decode the spirit, the implied message of ‘The
Holy Bible’. The others, the prejudiced lot, interpret ‘The Holy Bible’, in
their own subjective manner, to serve their selfish interests. The strong urge
for converting non-Christians into Christianity is the result of
mis-interpretation of ‘The Holy Bible’. In
the fourth gospel attributed to John, we can see some parallels of Adwaitic
Philosophy in some places. Amid all these
shortcomings in today’s Christianity, we can still say with reasonable pride
that, men of intuitive wisdom of Aatman, the Gyaanis, have lived
in the West also (within the fold of Christianity) like Saint Francis of Assisi
and Thomas Kempis, the Dutch Mystic. But
their number is too small for a mention. This statement of
mine is the very proof of my objective view in this matter, devoid of any
prejudice whatsoever, towards other Philosophies and Religious Faiths. In
today's world, we would stumble at the very first step itself, when we try to
make a comparative study of all other Philosophies and Religious Faiths with
India's Sanatana Dharma, keeping all of them on one side, and India's
Sanatana Dharma alone on the other side.
There is only the
element of religion in Christianity and Islam. The high priests of these religious faiths
never allow any philosophy or philosopher to thrive anywhere in their vicinity.
The incident of Socrates' sentence to
death, for blasphemy, belongs to the era of BC when Christianity was still to
be born. The incident of Socrates, (belonging to 399 B.C.)
undergoing capital punishment for his most enlightening, forward-looking,
outspoken and reformative convictions and utterances ever remains as a blot in
the history of European Civilisation. In the era
of AD, we shall take the example of Galileo who belonged to Italy, pursuing research
in the field of Astro Physics. He taught
the scientific community against the conviction of Christianity, existing in
those days, which said - "The Sun is the entity that remains orbiting the stationary
Earth." The ecclesiastical
community took it as a serious encroachment into their exclusive domain and as
such, a direct challenge to their religious authority. They threatened him with dire consequences
and told him either to change his conviction to the contrary, or to face the charges
of blasphemy, which would surely fetch him a death-sentence. Galileo remained least wavering in his conviction and
faced death sentence with true manliness. From this incident we could infer
that Galileo had the intuitive experience of Aatman.
Now we take up
the second example. The greatest
philosopher of the West, during the 18th century (1724 to 1804), Immanuel Kant,
a German, to be more precise a native of Prussia, had to be confined to his
native town, without any other option on their part, by the civil
administration of Prussia, during the last quarter of Kant's life. This had to be done due to the terrific
pressure from Vatican. If Kant could
have remained roaming about in Europe freely, without any sort of a restriction,
many bigotries thrust upon the followers of Christianity would have collapsed
subsequently.
The firm belief
of rebirth of a Soul existed in Christianity till AD 553. It was removed from that Faith by Emperor
Justinian (who ruled over vast areas of Europe from Constantinople, the present
Istanbul) through a regal decree, to satisfy the prejudicial interests of a
licentious courtesan whom he made his queen.
(The decree proclaimed the preaching and practice of rebirth theory, as a
punishable offence capable of even inviting a death sentence.) She was a court dancer, one in a group of approximately
four hundred or more. She could not keep
her head high in front of her ex-co-dancers after becoming the queen and as a
result of that she got all of them killed one after the other. To prevent any formal mention of her despicable
past, by people in public gatherings, she made the emperor issue this decree,
encouraged by her dreaming imagination that she would not be alive in a new
body to receive the punishment for her most heinous crime. This could happen as
the Pope of those times, Pope Vigilius (AD 537 to 556) opted to remain
spineless and as such silent, as he was elevated to that pre-eminent post with
the full political and social backing of the people in power, especially of the
Empress.
The Vatican
leadership in those days didn’t have the required guts even to resist the
implementation of this decree (not to entertain any thought of defeating it
decisively later). They grudgingly kept
silent and as a result of that, this 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 may be taken as a wake-up call by the
whole Christian community, without getting offended.
The most
important cause for Christianity's down-fall and the subsequent degradation is
the removal of the rebirth theory from that Faith in AD 553 through the regal
decree of Emperor Justinian. In fact, from the frightening idea of taking
rebirths, 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 like a horse without bridle
reigns. The Karma Theory that
guides Hinduism can neither be grasped by rationalists nor be appreciated by followers
of other religious faiths, without attaining the required mental purity; which
is the thinning of the feeling of “I and Mine”.
The Christians, without getting offended in the least, should
introspect into what is stated here.
They would never indulge in conversion to Christianity anymore if they
understand the Karma Theory properly.
Honestly speaking, this is not my conversion-call for the followers of
other religious faiths (especially Christianity) to come into the fold of
Hinduism. If Christians follow their
Faith, taught by their Divine Guide and Guru par excellence, Jesus
Christ, in letter and spirit, they would realize their True Self and
attain the kingdom of Heaven or God which they believe in. Self-realisation or liberation from rebirth
or attaining the kingdom of God cannot be anything different for Hindus,
Christians or followers of any other Faith.
This is my unshakable conviction.
As such, where is the necessity for me to convert a Christian or a follower
of any other Faith to Hinduism?
All the Religious Faiths are based on blind
faith only, projecting a subjective view, in the beginning. In this matter no
religious faith is an exception. I welcome this fact unreservedly with an open
mind. There is no harm in it, during the
initial stages of spiritual progress.
The followers of all religious faiths are required to evolve spiritually
in that manner only in the beginning.
But one cannot remain within the limited circle of a religious faith
eternally, remaining like a frog in a well.
One must transcend the subjective religion finally, and reach the
objective realm of philosophy, after obtaining all the benefits accruing from a
profitable religious life. For
transcending religion, one requires the strong support and guidance of a sane
philosophy. Without this guidance of such
a philosophy, no one can transcend the barriers of religion. No individual can be exempted from this
mandatory requirement.
According to the convictions of Christianity and Islam, only those
willingly and formally converting themselves to those Faiths, will attain the
highest spiritual perfection. This is an
extremely subjective view. All the quarrels
in the world, in the form of crusades, have sprung from this subjective and
narrow-minded view, which is nothing but senseless bigotry.
Today, religious intolerance remains at its zenith and the virtues
of forgiveness and tolerance taught by Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed,
remain at their nadir. This intolerance
results in violent Jihad in Islam, in which the Sunny Muslims are
engaged in suicide attacks against their own brethren, the Shia Muslims, at
mid-day, even on Fridays, when it is mandatory for every Muslim to engage
oneself in Namaz, the most important act of rededication of oneself to the
inviolable will of Allah.
In the act of conversion, religious intolerance reflects clearly,
in Christianity. The tangible gain
accruing from such a mass religious conversion would be - in such a hypothesis
- "Vast areas of the whole world could be kept under Vatican's direct
control for religious domination, and administered by the same power-centre
politically as well, indirectly. The
other great benefit would be the promotion of tourism industry in and around Vatican."
As philosophy and religion have remained complimentary to each
other, within the fold of Sanatana Dharma, in India, we have never
experienced any great problem, at any stage of our mental, social and spiritual
evolution. If any serious problem
arises, the Saguna-Brahman, the light consciousness of Cosmic Spirit
would descend to the empirical realm assuming a name and form to bring back the
temporarily lost balance again. This is
the principle behind the advent of Avatar in Hinduism. We have the eternal Vedas to guide us
at each step of our evolutionary progression.
The Vedas of Sanatana Dharma belong to the अपौरुषेय category. The word अपौरुषेय means axiomatic, as they don't belong to the agency of any individual by
authorship or composition. The Vedas
remain eternally objective. They remain
vibrant during the manifested state and remain dormant during the unmanifested
state of the universe.
The Vedas are called as Shruti due to its revelation of
intuitive hearing from within. The eternal Vedas, after coming to the
empirical plane through a medium or an agent, are transmitted to the succeeding
generation through the means of articulation of sound on the part of the Guru
and grasping and retaining the same through hearing and repeated articulation of
it daily, on the part of the disciple.
The Vedas have come to vibrancy through the indirect agency of
many sages of highly purified intellects whom we call मन्त्र-द्रष्टारः, men who have
intuited the Vedas. We never call
them मन्त्र-कर्तारः authors or composers of the Vedas. Here the role of a मन्त्र-द्रष्टा is like a radio set. The मन्त्र-द्रष्टा who is called the
Rishi for a Mantra, only acts as a medium. He is neither the author nor the composer of
the portion of Shruti which is known after his name. By the act of intuiting a portion of Shruti,
that particular person becomes the Rishi for that particular Mantra.
For example, Sage Aghora and the legendary Yaagnyavalkya are two of such
mediums who are popularly remembered today.
The former is the मन्त्र-द्रष्टा for Shata-Rudreeyam, popularly known as Rudram
and the latter is
credited with gifting the entire branch of शुक्ल-यजुर्वेद to humanity. They
were endowed with the special gift of catching the अनाहत-ध्वनि, the self-existing sound
waves in the eternal space. As this knowledge presented to humanity by Vedas,
ever remain objective and unprejudiced, the great philosophers of India,
starting from Veda-Vyasa, and Shankara chose Shruti as an
irrefutable authority to arrive at a final conclusion in matters of transcendental
nature and to establish their philosophies, on this unshakable foundation.
The human intellect is finite, with its various inconsistencies of
limitedness and the tendency to err at any point of time. No one can deny this
fact. As such, how will it be possible
for anybody to arrive at a conclusion, about this Wisdom of Self, which is
transcendental, with the help of this limited intellect, totally brushing aside
the help of the eternal Shruti, that remains constant and
objective? If anyone dares to do that,
it would be like arriving at the full quantity of water in the vast ocean by
measuring it with the help of a bushel or measuring the eternal space with the
help of a yard stick.
Here arises, the absolute necessity of a dictum that remains constant,
sane, objective and as such, eternally valid.
Otherwise, we cannot arrive at finality in transcendental matters. Only for that purpose of enlightening humanity
in transcendental matters, Shruti has come into being. In our Shastras there is a term called
अनवस्था meaning a state devoid of a
conclusion. In न्याय-दर्शन, which is purely intellectual logic, this state of अनवस्था is glaringly evident. As per this Darshana,
the logical conclusion of a theologian, which remained valid till today can become
invalid when a cleverer theologian emerges at a later period to invalidate
it. This invalidation of an earlier
stand and the validation of a new stand is acceptable in Nyaya Darshana
as they remain ceaselessly tossed about, in the ocean of endless articulation,
being unable to dock with any point of shore, due to the defect of अनवस्था i.e. the lack of a final
conclusion in their system of philosophy.
Providing some laughter to the students, Shankara
metaphorically equates them to तार्किक-बलीवर्दाः, the oxen endowed with great stamina and strength to pull a cart to
seemingly endless distances, at the same time remaining impotent, being
incapable of begetting at least a progeny of their own gene. The metaphor is mentioned here to convince the
futility of seemingly endless arguments and counter arguments. But in Vedanta Darshana, this problem
never occurs as the finality is always arrived at, from the authority of Shruti
alone, which gets duly confirmed by the intuitive experience of the purified
psyches, capable of transcending, even the realm of Saguna-Brahman.
Buddhism and Jainism have some welcome features,
like total non-violence, which may be fully acceptable to Hindu Philosophy as
well. But as they don't accept the Shruti
of the Hindus to arrive at a final conclusion, their philosophies are rejected
in the first consideration itself, as invalid.
Buddhism developed into four distinctive views through the direct and
indirect disciples of Buddha, later. This, itself, is the proof that Buddha’s
original philosophy is different from these four views. Buddha never endeavoured to present his
philosophy as a recorded document, written by himself, unlike Shankara. As
such, it migrated to many Asian countries, taking strong roots there (in China,
Japan, South-East Asia and Sri-Lanka) as there were few takers for it in
India. Jainism remained confined to a
limited area in India, around some districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan and
Maharashtra.
Khalsa Pant remained within the fold of
Hinduism during its initial days. It was founded and established in its present
form by the 10th and last Guru, in the order of the Sikh Gurus,
who is reverentially remembered as the valour personified, Guru Gobind Singh. He, after performing a grand ritual of Sahasra-Chandi-Maha-Yagna
in Patna, Bihar, created the nucleus of this institution. He named that nucleus
as PANJ-PYAARE, the beloved-five. Those, five (who voluntarily came
forward to sacrifice their lives as नर-बलि, the mode of sacrificing even human-beings, like that of animals,
for the sake of the institution and for pleasing Goddess Durga) are ever hailed
highly and they and their descendants have a venerable and distinguished place
in the management-history of Khalsa Pant.
With this small group as the nucleus, the Religious
Faith of Khalsa Pant got established.
Guru Gobind Singh, on that occasion, chopped off his left little finger
in front of Goddess Durga, in order to please Her, by offering Her, a stream of
his own blood, which itself amounts to a symbolic sacrifice of नर-बलि (human sacrifice).
The complete and total dedication of Guru Gobind Singh was irrefutably
proved, by that sacrifice. (Again, he
proved his fearlessness at the end of leaving his body which occurred from the
treacherous attack of the Muslims.) This
happens to be the mode of ritual, which is Taamasic in its nature,
ordained by the Vaamaachaara tradition, which
is contrary to the Dakshinaachaara tradition, the Saatvic Path. This injunction of offering own blood is generally
observed at the culmination of any grand Chandi-Maha-Yagna (in the Vaamaachaara
tradition) as explained in Durga-Sapta-Shati, a portion of Maarkandeya
Purana.
The place of that ritual is hailed as Patna Sahib
Gurdwara, in Bihar. That is one
of the most sacred pilgrim spots for the Sikh community. But later, for silly political reasons, the Sikhs
started saying that they are alien to the land of Sanatana Dharma and as
such, they prefer to remain as a separate minority community. But anyone can dismiss this claim of theirs
easily, by pointing to the world-renowned Durguiani Mandir, situated in
the Golden Temple Complex, in Amritsar, Punjab, where the valour-personified
Goddess Durga, ever remaining un-compromising with the demoniac forces,
remains as the presiding and protecting deity of the Sikh-community, by the
side of Akal Takt, the supreme headquarters of Khalsa Pant. The basic purpose of founding the Khalsa
Pant was to safeguard the north-western frontiers of India from the
invasion of ruthless Muslim community, belonging to Iran, Afghanistan and
Central Asia. As Hindus in general, are
of sober nature, predominantly Saatvic, they lacked the required courage
and robust valour to engage these Taamasic forces in dreadful battles. For that purpose alone, Guru Gobind Singh
created and readied a new tribe of valiant warriors by the name, Sikhs, (growing
their hair and beard, wearing turbans, etc.) possessing Spartan qualities,
adamantine spirits and ever remaining fearless in dreadful battles and during all
other occasions.
ॐ शम्
