Eternal India Encyclopedia

Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems

Eternal India

encyclopedia

SANSKRIT

India is the only civilization which evolved a grammatically,

scientifically and phonetically structured language - Sanskrit.

Vidya

is learning,

Vidyapathi

is teacher,

Vidyarthi

is student,

Vidyalaya

is school. There is no other language having such facility.

Further, it is the most phonetic of all the world’s languages, based

on the movements of the tongue, vocal cord etc. In fact, the

Vedas

are written in prose and poetry in such a way that reciting them will

create changes in the body metabolism. India’s dance, music,

painting, sculpture, architecture and art forms — all are around

spiritual themes and have no conflict with secularism.

Vegetarianism

: Yet another of India’s contribution is its concept

of vegetarianism. It has now been realised in the West that tre-

mendous damage is being done to land and water resources due to

the non-vegetarian habit. It is estimated that an animal has to be

given 10 kg. of food grains in order to produce one kg. of food,

showing the huge wastage that takes place when food is tracked

through the animal chain. If non-vegetarianism is practised, at the

present rate of the West, by all humans, some parts of the world

will become desert due to overutilisation of land. Vegetarianism is

proved to be far more prudent from the point of view of health,

longevity, temperament of the people, economics and ecologically

sound. Vegetarianism is a part of humanitarianism. Three hundred

million people in India are vegetarians. It has been proved all over

the world that vegetarian food serves all the needs of human beings

and that non-vegetarian food is positively harmful to health.

Man-Animal-Nature

: Apart from the economic and ecological

aspects of Man-Animal relationship, Hindus inculcated spiritual

relationship between Man and the other creations. Inert matter

plus life is plant, plus consciousness is Animal, plus awareness is

Man, plus realisation is God. At the awareness level all are same,

which gave rise to the concept of Non-duality, the

Advaita

concept

of Sri Shankaracharya which has been considered as the most

rational of all theories. The

Aatman

is the same in all beings, which

is the same as

Paramaataman,

i.e. the Divine Principle. The West

accepts only three levels of consciousness - waking, dreaming and

deep sleep. Hindus have postulated the fourth state - Turiya, a kind

of super consciousness level which is beyond the five senses.

Thousands of saints and sages have experienced this state of

Turiya,

even in this century itself. Ramakrishna, Ramana and

Aurobindo have experienced the

Turiya

state. Ramakrishna lived

as Christian and Muslim in order to understand their faiths and

declared that one could go to God by any route. Today Sai Baba has

devotees from every part of the world, and h$ has thus paved the

way for a universal religion, which is not a substitute for the

existing ones, but common to all faiths.

Hindus postulated the four

Ashramas

—

Brahmacharya,

Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa—

taking into account the

spiritual and mental state of mind during the successive years of

one’s growth to adulthood and old age. They evolved the four

castes, based on the attributes of persons. Though it has been

corrupted and brutalised with perverse connotations now, it was an

appropriate social organisation at one time. They suggested the

four

Purushaarthas

—

Dharma, Artha, Kama

and

Moksha

— right-

eousness, wealth, desire and freedom. They insisted that

Dharma

should guide and restrain pursuit of

Artha

and

Kama.

In other

words, means are as important as ends. When one goes beyond his

needs and capabilities, he cuts corners and takes to devious ways.

The

Bhagavad Gita

suggested that one has only the right to work

and not for the fruits of one’s action, which is an excellent postula-

tion to the modern world of managers and professionals. Whatever

be the effort, brilliance and power, the outcome is not directly pro-

portional to the input factors. Something beyond determines one’s

success or failure, guided by the merits and demerits of actions in

the previous births. This explains the gross inequality in the world,

success and failure, joy and sorrow and infinite diversity of creation

and events.

SURRENDER TO GOD

Krishna in his

Bhagavad Gita

teachings has also given a num-

ber of ideas on how to make life fulfilling and rewarding. He has

suggested that the best way to get happiness is to do all actions in

the name of God, surrendering oneself to Him. Such an attitude

removes anxiety and tension about the outcome and paves the way

for mental peace. And, finally, actions do not get tainted which only

would lead to consequences in the next birth. Hinduism is not

fatalism, as is commonly interpreted in the West. There is suffi-

cient room for removing sins by

Bhakti

and action. Even the gravest

sinner can get redemption, provided he approaches the Almighty

through spirituality. Thus religion comes to the rescue of Man to

pass through the

Samsara

of life. Buddha realised that life is full of

sorrow, and one should find happiness by right conduct. The Ten

Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the eight codes of

conduct of the Buddha, Patanjali’s

Yama

and

Niyama

all are ethics

and morals to govern one’s life. The theoretical basis for all these

is the Hindu concept of non-dualism, re-incarnation, cause-effect

relationship, the three gunas -

Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas

- methods,

Yoga,

meditation and so on. Patanjali also gave excellent methods

for achieving physical health and mental peace in the world.

While Westerners accept only heredity and environment as re-

sponsible for one’s physical and mental characteristics, Hindus de-

clared boldly that the third element is the Prarabdha, inherited from

the previous birth. This explains why dull parents beget brilliant

children and vice-versa. Musicians and scholars are born to illiter-

ate parents. Children are born blind and maimed though they were

born to healthy parents and forefathers. There is something beyond

the hereditary factor. Thus the theory of successive births and the

concept of Prarabdha explain such unexplainable phenomena.

Unlike Western concepts, such as Man is born in sin, Indians

consider that everybody is divine, and accepts that a few realise it,

while others are ignorant of it. Hindus also consider that one can

reach God through

Bhakti maarga, Gnana maarga

and

Karma

maarga.

They clarified that

Bhakti

is the easiest way for the

common people, while

Gnana

is for the most highly evolved per-

sons.

Universal Appeal

: It can be seen from the above that Indian

thought and wisdom, theories and postulations, philosophy and

mysticism, religion and spirituality are of Universal and eternal

value. Modern civilization which has been guided by science and

technology and the various social disciplines can take advantage of

these for reducing sorrows and resolving conflicts as well as for

increasing peace and happiness. Mankind is losing a great deal by

not getting a proper understanding of the relevance of these teach-

ings to modern times.

(N.S.Ry)