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Eternal India
encyclopedia
Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems
ANCIENT CONCEPTS, SCIENCES AND SYSTEMS
UNIQUE FEATURES OF INDIA AND HER
CONTRIBUTION TO HUMAN PROGRESS
The miracles of Science and Technology have brought in the
possibility of providing abundance of goods and services for the
comfort and convenience of mankind. Already one-third of the
human race in the affluent world is enjoying material prosperity,
while the lower one-third is still living in poverty and privation. One
feature common to both the affluent and the afflicted is that genuine
happiness and mental peace are eluding them, which can be attained
only through a journey into the inward realm of one’s being. It is
precisely here that Indian thought and wisdom will be of invaluable
help to the human race.
From the beginning of civilization four battles have been raging
with no prospect of their abating. Firstly, Man has been ruthlessly
exploiting Nature and her endowments for satisfying his ever in-
creasing needs and greed. Secondly, Man is equally ruthless with
the animal kingdom, brutally exploiting animals and treating them
as insentient animals. The third battle is between Man and Man -
hopelessly divided into races and ethnic groups, religion and lan-
guages, tribes and nations. The fourth battle is Man against
Himself, that is man perceiving himself as the body, mind and intel-
lect, and man as a divine spark, as a part of universal conscious-
ness.
The reason for these wars is that, while technological develop-
ments, employing the forces of Nature, are racing ahead in aimless
directions with a death wish as it were, the present nature of social
organisations in all the ideological models is lagging far behind.
They have not yet evolved suitable solutions to organise mankind in
a way that Man can sustain himself on this planet in harmony with
Animals and Nature as well as his fellowmen.
GENUINE SPIRITUALITY
Social organisations are based on social science disciplines,
which, in turn, are based on secular and empirical principles built
around specific disciplines, such as politics, economics, psychology,
sociology, law, logic and so on. But all these have been decoupled
from spirituality and the essence of religion; and, therefore, there is
no solution to transform Man to a state where he can identify
himself as part of divinity. Such a transformation cannot be
achieved through the present route of secular enquiry and behav-
iour. While ethics and morals are essentially general principles
common to all religions, it is not possible to internalise such ideals
by the secular route. Perhaps genuine spirituality only can bring
about this transformation and internalisation of ethics and morals.
At present, religion and spirituality are largely Friday and Sun-
day exercises between Man and God, while social relations be-
tween Man and Man are governed by social science principles
separated from religion. This attitude and approach in the West has
its origin in the medieval age, when the Church and the State
colluded and conspired — each using the other for its own self-
interest. Thousands of dissidents were tortured to death, and
women were burnt at the stake as witches. Scientists who spoke
against the prevalent doctrines in holy books and State laws were
excommunicated and punished. Therefore, rightly so, the Church
and the State were separated in the West. Thereafter, social be-
haviour was considered to be based only on humanism. Education
and state laws were made secular. These are justified, since
theology in the West had no scientific basis. But in India, science
without religion is lame, and religion without science is considered
as blind.
Far more spectacular developments will unfold in the coming
century, surpassing what has been achieved so far, all of which will
be beyond the imagination of the present generation. Man may
even colonise the other planets and harness the atom for providing
energy for satisfying his insatiable needs for self-gratification.
But these discoveries may not solve the mysteries of creation, life
and death. The secular route may not help us to find answers to
questions, such as the purpose of creation and life. The basic ques-
tions will ever remain a mystery as long as Man continues to go in
the present direction, without pausing to think as to whence he
came, and where he would go after death. It is only the Indian
civilization that has attempted to find possible answers to some of
these perplexing questions.
The Indian civilization is one of 49 which flourished prior to the
Christian Era. The Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and
so on, are now mere ruins of brick and mortar, leaving no trace of
their past glory. What remains are the Colliseum in Rome, the
Pyramids in Egypt and temple pillars in Athens — all of which are
of archaeological curiosity and tourist interest. But the Indian civi-
lisation is still living and vibrant, with an unbroken continuity of
5,000 years. Some of her unique thought and features, which are
clearly distinct from Occidental thinking, will be of universal inter-
est and eternal value.
India’s ancient teachers did not care much for history; and
therefore, there is a great deal of speculation about the dates when
the
Vedas
were written, who wrote them, and so on. The saints and
sages were so self-effacing that they did not even put their names
as authors of their voluminous writings, which shows their total
lack of selfishness. This feature has no parallel in any other culture
or nation. Their concern was solely service to mankind. With their
extraordinary super-sensory perception, they evolved innumerable
concepts of eternal utilitarian and spiritual value; and that too
without the help of any mechanical or other aids.
ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
They evolved many abstract concepts which are now taken for
granted, such as zero, infinity, decimals, the currently used interna-
tional numerals, etc. Another amazing feat was their concept of
time, including relative time. One day in the
Bhuva Loka
was said to
be one earth year; one day in
Satya Loka
1,000 earth years and so
on. The Universe came into being 4,320 million years ago. The
present era is the second part of the first
Brahma, Swethavaraha
Kalpa, Vaivaswatha Manvanthara,
first leg of the
Kaliyuga,
the
total of which works out to roughly 4,300 million years. One cycle of
Brahma expands for about four billion years, and contracts for an
equal duration. The modern Big-Bang theory is indicated in the