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Eternal India
encyclopedia
Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems
strengthen their convictions of their own religion. Its followers
never took to the sword or unleashed
Jehad
, or a crusade as
Muslims and Christians did. It suggests a variety of methods for
self-realisation and serving mankind. Hinduism is freedom. It
does not worry about criticism and outrage against its ideals by
others.
The Hindu religion is all-inclusive. It accepts all religions as
true. It tolerates teachings of other faiths which are even contra-
dictory to Hindu beliefs and doctrines. It encouraged other religions
to propagate their faith on Indian soil. Indians gave refuge to Jews
and Parsis who were driven out of their homeland. Christian
missionaries were given facilities to set up and operate their
missions. Though Christians converted Hindus, the latter had no
interest in bringing other faiths into the Hindu fold. Islam used co-
ercive and punitive methods to convert Hindus; yet Hindus did not
retaliate. Hindus were humiliated, and Hinduism ridiculed; Hindus
bent their head in silent submission. This attitude has been inter-
preted as weakness of Hindus and vulnerability of Hinduism.
The universal approach of Hindus can be seen from the follow-
ing Vedic declarations :
“aa no bhadraaha, krathawo yanthu vishwathaaha"
Let noble thoughts come from every side.
“vasudhaiva kutumbakam”
The world is one family.
“loko samastha sukhino bhavdnthu”
Let people all over the world be happy.
“sarvam brahmamayam jagath”
The whole world is
Brahman.
“ekam sath vipraa bhahudhaa vadanthi”
Truth is one; sages call it by different names.
Hinduism declares that different religions follow different
paths to reach the same God.
“aukashaath
pathitham thoyam yathha gachchhathi saagaram
sarva deva namaskaarah srikeshavam prathi gachchathi”
Just as water from the sky takes different courses as rivers but
still reach the ocean; so too all prayers and prostrations (in differ-
ent religions and languages) go to the same God.
The concept of integration of life is another unique feature of
the Indian thought process. Everything is done with an underlying
spiritual theme whether it is breathing, working, playing etc. The
Hindu starts his day with a prayer to Mother Earth. “Please
forgive me for treading on you and hurting you. Please make all my
actions auspicious."
Prayers to water, air and other elements are made with a view
to preserving the ecological balance and also for restraining Man
from his exploitative tendencies.
INDEBTEDNESS
The concept of indebtedness is unique to the Indian way of life.
As per the Indian concept, Man should not only be grateful to
fellowmen and to God, but also to the whole of creation including the
planets and stars as well as to Animals and Nature. A devout
Hindu starts the day expressing his gratitude to and in praise of the
Sun and the planets. All those living on this planet depend on the
Sun and, therefore, the Hindu starts with
Adityahridayam,
followed
by the seven planets and the two mythical planets - Rahu and Ketu.
Similarly, wind, water, fire, earth, mountains, rivers, plant life,
animals and bird species - all are revered and worshipped. It is
postulated that everything in the Universe is interconnected, and to _
that extent, our lives are affected by them and our lives affect them
too. To the Western mind, praying to such animate and inanimate
things may look absurd. But to the Indian mind, indebtedness and
obligation go to purify his mind and develop humility, in the sense
that his life is dependent on so many entities. In contrast to the
Western concept of conquering the Himalayas, Indians pay homage
to Himavan. Instead of exploiting rivers they are considered to be
Pancha Maathas
(five mothers). Treating nature as inert matter
has led to widespread brutalising, which has now upset nature’s
balance and created environmental degradation. Therefore, in a
sense, India’s concepts help in preserving the ecological balance
and prevention of environmental degradation. Seeing God in every-
thing would help to treat nature’s manifestations as partners in
progress.
In the social sphere, India is the only civilization which gave
pride of place to women. While the Western mythology portrayed
women as the temptress who caused the downfall of Man, the
ancient Hindu gave a high place to women in society.
Parasakthi
-
the ultimate power - is conceptualised as woman. We call our
country Motherland: our rivers and other entities are considered as
Mother.
Pancha pathivrathas
have set an example for all time to
come. Most male deities in India have their consorts, whom Hindus
worship with equal reverence. Bhagwan Ramakrishana revered
even his wife, Sarada, as Devi. He worshipped Bhadrakali and
Durga. Rama was known as Sita’s husband
(Sitapati),
but Sita
was not known as
Ramapathni,
Rama’s wife. Similarly La-
kshmipathi, Giijavallabha, Umapathi and so on. There were women
philosophers and scholars of the calibre of Gargi and Maithreyi in
ancient India. The Man-Woman relationship was beautifully
evolved in the spiritual plane, apart from the physical aspect. The
concept of
Ardhanareswara
— half-Man and half-Woman - is an
excellent concept.
"prithvi thwaya dhrutha Loka, devi thwam vishnu na dhrutha,
thwaamacha dhaaraya tnaam devi”
“pavithrani kuruchaasana
”
“samudra vasane devi, parvatha sthana mandate,
vishnu pathni namasthubhayam paadasparsham kshamaswa me."