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Hinduism strives for the betterment
of all religions and through them of the entire world.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Hinduism is the culmination of
the cultural evolution of mankind. As a universal
movement, it has always tried to unite the people of
the world into one international family, believing
as it does in the dictum, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’
– ‘The whole world is one family’ propounded
in Vedas and Upanishads.
Hinduism stands for unity in
diversity. It also stands for the co-existence and
peaceful evolution of all religious, political,
social and economic systems of the world, because it
is the mother of all religions and cultures.
Hinduism never tried to spread hatred towards any
religion. Its philosophy of ‘Sarva dharma
samabhava’ (Equal respect for all religions) alone
can hold together a great country like India as well
as the world with its diverse faiths and customs. It
should be noted that unlike Europe, India remained
one nation in spite of different languages, way of
life and faiths. Hinduism teaches that all Gods are
one; they differ only in name. Hence Hindus have
never insulted other religions in any manner
whatsoever. The search of those who really want to
believe in any almighty, all-pervading and universal
religion ends when they discover Hinduism.
One of the guiding principles
of Hinduism is improving the lot of the human
society. The Sanskrit word ‘Dharma’ means that
which sustains human society. Hence Hindu Dharma
embraces all the factors responsible for human
welfare and growth.
HINDUISM : SYNONYMOUS WITH HUMANISM
If Hinduism has a defining
message, it is humanism. There is space in its philosophy for every one,
which is one reason why India is a home to every single religion in the
world. Anyone who has been persecuted anywhere else, whether Parsee in
Muslim Iran or Jew in Christian Europe, has found an undisturbed haven in
India. The attitude of Hinduism to other faiths continued to be liberal.
Hinduism is synonymous with humanism. That is its essence and its great
liberating quality.
ESSENCE OF HINDUISM
The core of Hindu thoughts
and practices has an underlying message for all – unity in diversity of
man, nature and his beliefs. Besides Hinduism itself recognises that
change and dynamism are parts of life and of cosmic reality. Hindu thought
recognises the universe as continuously changing. One dynamic equilibrium
is continuously giving way to another dynamic equilibrium. It has been
rightly observed by Sir Monier Williams : “Hindus were Spinozates 2000
years before the existence of Spinoza, Darwinians many centuries before
Darwin and Evolutionists before the doctrine of Evolution had been
accepted by the scientists of our times”.
It is time we restored the
long lost dynamic equilibrium of Hinduism, reform it in the light of new
insights, perceptions, knowledge, a new sharpening of the mind’s eye and
use it to carve out a new way of life, and a new design of politics and
economics. One of the strongest thrusts of a reformed Hinduism would be to
arouse awareness about the need for a reasoned faith. Most Hindu myths and
rituals, parables and legends have deep meaning. Their inner rationality
must be explored and laid bare. A reasoned faith takes man to higher
stages of spirituality.
In its highest and purest
form Hinduism means belief in the cosmic spirit that pervades every part
of life. As the Atharve Veda says: “He is Aryama; He is Varuna; He is
Rudra; He is Great God; He is Agni; He is Surya; He is great Yama”. The
cognition here is of divine existence and not of a particular divine
individual. This “He”, this spirit, this divinity, is within every
man. He has only to awaken his mind and search for it within. The more his
mind is awakened, the greater is the realisation of divinity and the
nearer he is to the Ultimate Reality. It is only through continuous
awakening of the mind, that a true vision of reality can be attained. And
one can do this without following any rigid creed or fixed path.
A reformed Hinduism could
provide spiritual underpinning to our national objectives and bridge the
gap between what is said and what is done in public life. It could become
a silent but potent force for the successful implementation of many of our
important schemes and programmes. Take, for instance, the goal of
preservation of our environment. No single factor can arouse as much
public awareness in this regard as the Hindu value of living in harmony
with nature. “The earth is our Mother, we are its children”, - say the
scriptures. If the sacred values of treating the earth as Mother are fully
imbibed by the nation, a strong national commitment would emerge, which
would be the best guarantee for our material and spiritual success.
MOTHERLAND
The concept of patriotism - the grand vision of motherland
and the glorious ideal of spiritual nationalism of the Vedic Aryans is
elaborately expounded in 63 shlokas of Bhoomisukta of Atharva Veda. The Rishi
says, "Mata Bhoomih Putro Aham Prithviyaah" (this land is my mother
and I am her child). According to the Rishis, India is not merely the land of
birth. She is the Punya Bhoomi, Karma Bhoomi, Dharma Bhoomi, Moksha Bhoomi and
Pitru Bhoomi.
The concept of one nation called Bharatvarsha is very old.
“Uttaram yat samudrasya himatres chiva dakshinam
varsham tat bhartam nama bharati yatra santati”
(Vishnu Purana)
(The country north of samudra and south of Himalayas is called Bharatam her
people are called Bharateeya)
The Mahabharat also contains very patriotic reference to
the country, "Bharat is the greatest land on the earth and it alone is the
land of noble actions while the rest are lands of pleasure".
THE HINDU WAY OF LIFE
The three fundamental principles that govern the
behaviour of a Hindu are: -
-
Fearlessness (Abhay) - This is derived from the concept
of Oneness of the Reality. Fear is of another; but when there is no other,
fear cannot exist. Therefore all activity should follow the Truth without
any distraction caused either by persons or circumstances.
-
Detachment (Asanga) - This implies continuous analysis
of that which is transitory in the world and to keep oneself detached from
it. This does not mean running away from life. One should live in the world
but let one do so as a lotus flower, which is born in water, subsists in
water, but lives above it.
-
Non-injury (Ahimsa) - This is not to be taken in the
physical sense. It means that one's actions should not cause emotional
distress to another.
The three directions in which a Hindu should canalise his
work: -
-
Sacrifice (Yagna) - This is continuous effort in life
to sacrifice the negativity of the mind and substitute it with positive
values.
-
Charity (Dana) - This is not giving of alms. It is the
act of creating the plenty from which others can partake.
-
Austerity (Tapas) - This is persistent effort to
sublimate the physical senses in order to eliminate the animal in man.
While acting in this manner, it must be remembered that the
approach to life should be intelligent. It is because of the intellect that man
is a rational being, and this faculty must be continuously exercised in our
worldly activity as well as for subjective advancement. Intellect should be
trained to respond promptly to the impulses received by it from outside. It
should develop the faculty of "decision-taking" and to that extent
accept responsibility for its judgement and consequent direction to the physical
body to act in a particular manner. This is what "Karma-Yoga" is. It
is a dynamic approach to life, where man is producing his own destiny for
"as he sows, so shall he reap."
In order to get the maximum efficiency, intellect should be
maintained in a state of equanimity. Nothing could disturb this condition more
than the incidence of the individual ego. Therefore the advice is to surrender
the ego at the feet of the Lord. Refrain from association with the reaction of
any action, and consider every act as an act of prayer. Keep tuned to the
"Source of Energy".
So as to be able to live in the aforesaid manner, the
physical form also needs appropriate care. "A sound mind in a healthy
body" and therefore it is necessary to regulate the food, exercise, work
and leisure habits of each person, by himself, to suit the needs of his body.
This is the way to eliminate misery and lead a full and happy life.
The first verse of Isavasya Upanishad embodies the essence
of Hinduism. It says:
"All this, whatsoever moves in this universe including
the universe, itself moving, is indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or globed by
the Lord. That (the multiplicity of names, forms, composition and activity)
renounced, thou shouldest enjoy. Covet not anybody's wealth (worldly
possessions)."
It is the achievement of this stage of worldly existence
that leads to Collective Consciousness, wherein you are one with the entire
cosmic energy that is manifesting itself in different worldly forms - in their
totality named Creation. This is Hinduism - not only a view but a positive way
of life that experiences the entire creation as the projection of the same and
the one Unmanifest Creator.
In this context, Hinduism views all religions to be uniform
in their approach to the Unmanifest. The differences in ritualism are
inconsequential. All methods of prayer are good and lead to the same junction
from where the common path of identification with the Creative Energy begins.
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HINDUISM:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PERCEPTIVE SCHOLARS?
Hinduism
is the oldest religion in the world and although many western thinkers
have defined and interpreted it in a narrow way for decades, it is rather
the religion of the people of India. ‘Hindu’ word might have meant at
one time as people belonging to the Indus but in effect covered all those
who were born in India and shared its values. Not long ago in the last
century even Karl Marx and other scholars were also fond of referring to
Indian population in general as ‘Hindoos of India’.
Hinduism
has always been regarded in the western eyes as comprehensive and
enormously complex. It emphasises ‘the right way to live’ and it
certainly emphasised a life style and not merely a faith meant for
after-life. It never had any rigid commandments on its adherents and that
was its beauty. That is why it could spread over half of the globe
thousands of years back. Largely embracing vegetarianism but still there
has not been any stigma to non-vegetarianism. It believes as much in
asceticism as in the finer aspects of enjoyment expressed in various forms
of art. Its cults express themselves in all the richness of external
observance and the devotion of internal meditation, in the simplest
beliefs and at the same time obtuse reasoning of philosophers. The
greatness of Hinduism has been in the fact that it is not in any real
sense a missionary religion, yet it could spread far and wide. Even today
other semitic religions perceive it as a threat as in its wider spectrum
of beliefs it could be world religion in the future decades again.
Gunther
Dietz Sontheimer, an Indologist and scholar of Hindu jurisprudence has
identified and interpreted Hindu civilisation focusing on living folk
cultures and traditions. His views are relevant for academic import.
In
Hinduism: The Five Components and
their Interaction, Sontheimer’s approach to Hinduism is not to work
out another monolithic conceptualisation, like many scholars, but to first
distinguish the different layers, forms, strands, currents or
‘components’ and treat them each in their own right and then to view
them not as watertight compartments but rather as interacting with each
other in a fluctuating process over thousands of years. Sontheimer’s
five elements are : the work and teachings of the Brahmans; asceticism and
renunciation; tribal religion; folk religion and bhakti. In Sontheimer’s
view, the history of Hinduism is the history of a dynamic interaction
among the five components identified by him and “the work and teaching
of the Brahmans” is just one of them.
Hinduism
is a human phenomenon of immense magnitude and is overpowering not only by
reason of that, but also owing to its bewildering variety. Despite its
all-too-obvious inconsistencies particularly for a lay westerner, Hinduism
is one whole. A summary presentation of all its characteristic features is
bound to throw the apparent inconsistencies of Hinduism into higher
relief. This is, therefore, a religion which has to be met on its own
terms.
The
worldly orientation of entire religious life of Hindus can be seen in its
manifold expressions. Hindu gods could give to their worshippers what the
world contained. Help from religion was sought for all purposes, moral and
what appears often as questionable. Religion and morality ran along
parallel courses.
The worldly character
of Hinduism, its liberated spirit in earlier times is often not stressed.
Hinduism differs fundamentally from Christianity in this, that for its
followers it is not an alternative to the world, but primarily the means
of supporting and improving their existence in it.
Apart
from being a matter of detached intellectual interest, it remains a great
issue for mankind. Though many other faiths are in shambles in the
contemporary world, Hinduism, with all its craggy outward manifestations,
leads to better understanding of religious urge in the man, which is
innate.
As in all other
religions, in Hinduism also there is belief in another world and in all
the supra-mundane things which form the staple of every religious system.
Moksha is a mere talking point verbiage. Salvation is never the
object of the religious observances and worship of the Hindus. The main
object is worldly prosperity and this absorption in the world has made the
doctrine of rebirth in it the most appealing and strongly held belief
among all the notions put forward by them about existence after death.
They so loved the world that they made the possibility of leaving it for
good even after many cycles of birth as remote and difficult as possible.
Albert Schweitzer had
the insight to perceive this and said that Hinduism was not a religion of
world negation. Actually the religion is for the world and there is no
unworldliness in it. At the same time, the world is also for religion and
the two cannot be separated. Therefore, in Hindu society every worldly
activity is under the control of religion and everything religious is
involved in the world.
The inseparability of
the secular from the religious is clear in Hinduism. To the Hindu, his
whole life is religion. To other peoples, their relations to God and to
the spiritual world are things sharply distinguished from their relations
to man and to the corporal world. For a Hindu the religion, not confined
to commandments, becomes a way of life. To him, his spiritual and temporal
life form are compact and harmonious whole and religion never received a
name from Him because it never had for him an existence apart from all
that had received a name. Nirad Chaudhary, in his inimitable style once
commented that a new Hindu intellectual could hoist European rationalism
with its own petard. Hindu worldliness is also really religious.
Nirad Chaudhary always
maintained that Hinduism has been a victim of both moral and intellectual
dishonesty. On the one hand, there have been people who have gone to
Hinduism for certain motives, but have never had the courage to avow them.
They have camouflaged their motives in rigmarole. This is specially true
of the present age. On the other hand, there have been others who have
suppressed these very aspects, always refusing to take them for what they
are. Both groups have offered explanations for them which, if they are not
due to ignorance, can only be set down to hypocrisy.
Ascetics with contempt
for worldliness created an impression of greatness by behaviour which was
abnormal. The fact is that the more rational a set of men are, the more
ready are they to succumb to an assertive irrationality.
The profoundest part of
Hinduism is an esoteric religious experience. Hinduism is as peculiar in
the emotions it evokes or satisfies as it is in its beliefs and rites.
Some Hindu writers have
almost catered to western expectations and demands while writing about
Hinduism. Thus one ladles out Vedanta to the intellectually debilitated,
another Yoga to the physically degenerate and a third Tantra to the erotic
maniac who has not the courage of his lechery. So there is a good deal of
deliberate misrepresentation of Hinduism.
The contemporary
sensuality in the whole of the west is seeking vicarious satisfaction in
the erotic aspect of Hinduism. This is the reason why this aspect is
greatly distorted.
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