Religion and life are inseparable. Religion is an integral part of man"s life. It is the foundation or code of conduct necessary for making a better man and society. The task of Religion is to make men and nation True, Just, Honest, Pious, Compassionate, and Divine.
Practice Religion and become divine.
May Lord Bless you.
Swami Sivananda
That man kills his soul who, having procured the exceptionally fit vessel of a human body, the source of all blessings and a most rare boon, yet easily obtained and piloted by a preceptor and propelled by a favourable wind in the shape of Myself – fails to cross the ocean of mundane existence.
Srimad Bhagavatam (11-20-16)
Life without religion is worse than death.
Swami Sivananda
The religious feeling of a scientist takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings, is an utterly insignificant reflection.
Albert Einstein
Introduction
History and to some extent science suffer from paranoia. They belittle all that comes within their grasp, and deny that which is beyond. The ideas and the ideals of the East were contemptuously labelled primitive, pagan, heathen and foolishly unsound and superstitious till a few years ago. Many were the self-appointed redeemers of the lost soul of the East! Till a few great men whose soul was awake realised a marvellous truth.
The sun rises in the East. For the light, people turn to the East. And "the three wise men came from the East", too. The religions of the world had their origin in the East. Whilst the earthly power of the West might for a time challenge, ridicule and oppress the overwhelming spiritual wisdom of the East, eventually the latter not only survives, but conquers its town oppressor, for this wisdom uses not weapons but love to win the opponent over. The flesh decays. Weapons rust. Wealth is reduced to dust. Empires crumble. The life-and-death struggles of heroes are dismissed with a few brief sentences in a history book. The earth's crust has borne with equal indifference the stamping foot of the tyrant and the dancing feet of the jubilant, and has opened a small pore to receive both.
This drama is necessary, very much so. Without it, the spirit that lies asleep in the human breast would not awake, but it is that spirit that ultimately endures. The East proves it again and again.
When crowns rolled in the dust of Europe, and when Western pre-Christian civilisation and religious faith were consigned to oblivion, the East was awake, and she is still awake. Today wise men of the West recognise that matter decays and spirit endures. They see in the Spirit the purpose and meaning of Life. More and more of the scientists and philosophers of the world openly admit that the present fashion of exalting material values over the spiritual is disastrous.
When they see that through all the vicissitudes of political upheaval, natural and national calamities, changing physical and mental climates, the Indian spirit has managed to survive, they legitimately pose the question: "What is her secret?" The answer is simple: "Religion".
Religion does not "belong" to India. The fundamental scriptures of the Indian pray for the welfare of all beings, repeatedly assert that they are for the Human Being. "Hindu" is a foreigner conferred title; and if Indians use it still, it is only because - "What's in a name, anyway!" In fact, the Hindu does not recognise the multiplicity of religion.
The spirit of religion is fundamental to the soul of Man. You may stick any label on it, or call yourself a "free thinker" - it is the spirit that is important. The truly religious Indian clung to that spirit. When he was questioned by others, he confessed that his was an "ancient or eternal religion" (Sanatana Dharma). Sanatana Dharma also meant to him the path which led him to the Eternal, which immortalised him, or revealed to him his own essential immortal nature (all of which were implied by the word sanatana).
Without sacrificing this spirit, the Indian was ever ready to adapt its formulations to suit changing conditions. He has never yielded without resistance! The resistance he offers is like a filter which allows only Truth to pass through. In the preservation of the religious spirit, the Indian often resorts to internal spring-cleaning tactics, generating curative fevers within his own body spiritual.
When Lord Buddha challenged some of the beliefs of the people of His time, the first reaction of the orthodox was to cast Him and His followers out as heretic. On closer examination, when they discovered that His philosophy represented and re-presented that Eternal Truth, they eagerly accepted it, readjusted their thinking, and proclaimed Lord Buddha as one of the manifestations or incarnations of their Deity! No doubt they realised that His teachings were the same as their own fundamental beliefs, which hadwith the passage of timebeen overgrown with a good deal of the moss of perversion and superstition. This they were glad to discard.
Thus has the spirit of religion been preserved in India. Over the centuries, an unwritten code of conduct of behaviour and of idealism has been developed to connote a "Hindu". The religion is not governed by a rigid set of dogmas and doctrines; and if, here and there, a pseudo-religious leader lays some down, he is only proving that Hinduism is not even tied down to the "dogma of no-dogmas". It gives Man, every man, the freedom to seek the Reality and to share it with all. It recognises that God alone exists. He is One, but not even restricted to Oneness, and so He can be called variously! He is the Centre of all beings, as near to the most pious Hindu saint as he is to the devout Christian or Muslim, as he equally near to the atheist and to the sinner! Its legends dramatise this enigmatic truth by tales of demons, who hated God, but reached Him because this hatred was whole hearted, and therefore bound them to Him (which the word religion means).
That perhaps is the secret of its vitality, and the fountain of its eternal youth. This Ancient Religion is ever new, rediscovering itself in every new revelation of the Truth, be it philosophical or scientific. Hence, it is eternal. It is concerned primarily with Truth, though it does not turn a blind eye on other aspects of life which might involve half-truths and falsehood. Truth it clings to; it is ever ready to adapt itself of changing conditions.
I have endeavoured to garner the main stream of thought, perennially gushing from this eternal fountainhead of Religion. The theory that the tenets of this ancient religion are the common denominators of all the "religions" of the world is gaining ground, and more and more people are convinced that the original broadcasters of this religion lived in the Arctic circle and migrated southwards, sowing the seeds of Truth as they went. There is a great mass of scientific literature in support of this. But to me, whether all these data are valid or not, the spirit underlying them is invaluable. Religion (ligature) must unite; that is what the word means. That which disunites is not ligature, but fracture!
Swami Venkatesananda
I - One Experience - Many Expressions
One of the things in which we take special pride in India is the peaceful co-operation of the different religions there. Only when political considerations interfere, religious distinctions acquire some prominence; otherwise it has been a country where all religions were welcomed, not merely tolerated, but were appreciated by the practitioners of other religions.
President Dr. Radhakrishnan.
In Madagascar a Christian girl asked me, "Why do you Hindus worship so many gods, whereas we worship only One God?"
I replied with a question, "How many Gods are there?"
"Only one," she said.
"Then why do you say 'my god and your gods', as though you yourself believed there were several?"
She did not utter another word, for only those who are themselves not sure that there is only one God, argue. Those who believe in the One God know that, albeit in various ways and forms, everyone worships Him alone. Though He can be called by many names, and approached by different people in different ways, the Indian believes that there is only One God. "Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti ", declare the Vedas. "Truth is one, sages express it in different ways." Expression only is different, not the realisation, nor the experience. A group, representing many different nations, sit drinking milk, each in his own cup, round the same table, experiencing the same sensation (that of drinking milk), but each identifies that milk with a noun from his own language, a sound strange to his companions. His cup may be different, his word for milk incomprehensible, but the milk is the same.
All prophets and all religions sing the glory of the One God. Just as the language of the song is different, so the context in which each Prophet expresses his experience is different. Moreover, people to whom they address themselves, have different capacities of understanding, some big, some small, some so weak that they can only see veiled truth, others strong and able to bear the unshaded light. Prophets and sages had, and still have, a difficult and delicate task in adapting their wisdom and knowledge, to the degree that is assimilable and suited to the taste of their listeners. He is a bad host who, himself a diabetic, insists that his guests must observe his own strict regimen. One formula or concept of God should not and cannot be forced on all. The very fact that all religions, even newly concocted ones, eventually split up into sects, shows that the very nature of humanity is incapable of assimilating a uniform concept. Such dogmatic streamlining would lead to a twofold tragedy. (i) It would for ever imprison the Infinite in a finite concept. All concepts are finite. It is thus the Grace of the Infinite that It inspires infinite finite viewpoints, thus fulfilling a mission otherwise impossible. (ii) It would turn away from its redeeming portals millions, who either cannot comprehend, or do not comprehend, or concede that concept. But, of course, both these are impossibilities.
True religion reaches out to each one of us, at his own level, and elevates us from there, to the supreme goal, the ideal, the Truth, to God.
In the East, we have recognised the differences, have argued over them, and ultimately recognised: (a) the unity underlying (again!) all the differences, and (b) the need for the differences themselves.
If this recognition has not welded us into a uniformity, at least it has enabled us to be more understanding in the realisation that (in the words of President Dr. Radhakrishnan).
"The ways may twist and turn, but when you once reach the top, the spiritual landscape which you discern is exactly the same. All those who by different routes have come up to the top, are people who belong to one family".
Only one religion really exists, for, according to Dr. Radhakrishnan, religion is "a personal encounter of the individual with the Supreme, and not merely a doctrinal conformity or ceremonial propriety", and even in its literal sense, it is that which unites the individual with God. Different clanish religions are the creations of man's diseased mind, vanity and vested interests - or, as a concession we may say that they are mere expedients.
On our planet we have only one ocean, and yet we have a number of them marked on the map, the distinction being a nautical expedient. God is One. The religion that leads Man to Him is also one. Some call Him Krishna or a thousand other names, and the religion, Hinduism. Some call Him Christ, and the religion Christianity. The devotee of Christ is Christian; the devotee of Vishnu is Vaishnava; the devotee of Siva is a Saivite; the adorer of Isvara is an Arya Samajist; he who adores Allah is a Muslim, but all of them believe in the One Fundamental Truth.
There is no difference - superiority or inferiority - among the Prophets either. Each one comes from Him, is of Him - is He Himself. The one who came later is not necessarily superior to the one who came earlier. Rain fell last year, a thousand years ago, and this year. Is this year's rainwater superior to last year's, or that of a thousand years ago?
He comes to all His children, in the way in which they can recognise Him, and with the message which they need. He is nobody's domestic servant, and no one can dictate where, how and if He should incarnate. All are His children. He comes to help primitive man in the jungle, as He comes to guide the Roman emperor. We do not believe that there is a single heathen to be saved by proselytisation. Though the Hindu religion has a ritual for the most trivial event in life, there is no ritual for religious conversion.
Conversion is tantamount to an admission of the superiority of one faith over another, of one path over another. That in our eyes is blasphemy, as well as moral disaster, for faith thus shaken can never be strongly built again.
The followers of the sage, saviour or Prophet have, however, the duty and privilege of serving their fellowmen with the Gospel they themselves received from their Master. The attitude here is not one of self-righteousness, religious or intellectual vanity, but one of worship of the Supreme Being, Who dwells in the hearts of all those whom we thus serve.
II - Common Source - Common Goal
Just as the waters of all the rivers which had their source in the universal rain eventually reach the same ocean, though the rivers may be known by different names, all faiths originated in Him and lead to Him.
A Sanskrit couplet.
"The whole mass of Rig Veda and other Suktas mainly describe the following phenomenon: rising of the sun with splendour making a round of the heavens; setting and sleeping in the nether world for some months". These are the words of the late RA. Sastri, a Sanskrit research scholar, who, as a remarkable old man, ventured out of his ancestral home in South India, to undertake a pilgrimage to the Land of the Midnight Sun. Inspired by his study of the Vedas, and the thesis of Balgangadhar Tilak, indicating that the North Polar region was the original home of the Aryans, he not only visited Scandinavia, but toured several European countries, re-discovering vestiges of the basis of the Vedic Religion. To me, the words "Aryan" and "Artic" have a similar ring, and there certainly are an odd collection of facts which indicate these vestiges.
A good while ago, an Indian sage, when asked by some newcomer to India what was the religion of his country, replied, "We belong to a very ancient religion". This religion, in his eyes, did not have to distinguish itself from others in relation to itself. In its eyes, there was no other religion. It is the ancient and eternal (Sanatana) religion (dharma). Even in using these two words, let us not be eager to distinguish it from any other religion, for that is against the spirit of religion.
The word "Arya" need not be confined to a race or ethnic group. In Sanskrit it simply means "respectable person". The religion of these "respectable people" needed no name!
Its birth was in Scandinavia, probably a warm, mediterranean type Scandinavia. A sudden reversal of climate, indicated by recent analysis of bog pollen, and the discovery in modern times of mammoths frozen in the Siberian tundra with subtropical herbage still undigested in their stomachs, may have sent the population in an explosion southwards, seeking survival. With the Aryan went their ancient religion, migrating through Europe, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, right over to the Indus valley where their "ancient religion" acquired its present name, Hindu - the religion practiced by the dwellers beyond the Indus or Hindus.
As explosions never confine their energy to one direction, it may have also descended to India through another route, via Central Asia (China and Tibet). In spite of scattering, the Aryans were conservative enough (like the Jews) not to lose their cultural and spiritual heritage. They were also liberal enough to give and take whatever was good in their own and others' faiths. Remarkable significance may be seen in the fact that all the major religions of the world of today are known to have originated in these two cultural belts. All are rooted in the same Ancient Religion, and according to climate and historical necessity, have grown into different forms. Unfortunately, this has led to their being known by diverse names.
Geographically, Scandinavia and India could not be much further apart, yet some affinities between them are striking. The very names of the two countries, dividing between them the Scandinavian peninsula, hold a strange secret. Norway to the Norwegians is "Norge", and Sweden to the Swedes is "Sverige". In Sanskrit "Naraka" means "hell", and "Sverga" means "heaven"! Not myself knowing these countries, this puzzled me, but Scandinavian friends soon explained it. Norway is a hard, barren land, from which agriculturists find it hard to scrape a living. They must seek to live from the sea, but their coast is a terrific maze of rocky islands, reefs and rockbound fjords, with turbulent winds from the high mountains and storm in winter, a sailor's nightmare.
Sweden, on the other hand, has much flat land, and good agricultural areas in the South. Much of its coast is on the Baltic, is low lying, with sheltered harbourage. No wonder that Norge is Naraka and Sverige Sverga! What must have originally been nicknames for the two, so different sides of the Scandinavian peninsula must have consequently become their names. And it is possible that the later Hindus, living for generations in India, forgot the original simple meaning of Naraka and Swarga, and conjured up romantic descriptions of extra-terrestrial hells and heavens.
Even our myths and legends have their parallels. Solomon Reinach in his book "Orpheus" says: "Hindu legends concerning the origin of the world ... a giant was supposed to have been sacrificed by the gods, and all living creatures issued from his severed limbs. The same idea is found among the Scandinavians".
Again the Gita (XV-1) speaks of the wise calling the universe "the indestructible peepul tree having its roots above and its branches below, whose leaves are the metres or hymns ... below and above spread its branches, nourished by the Qualities of Nature, etc." In Nordic myth Yggdrasil is that great tree of the universe, with the tips of its branches invisible "growing" into the clouds above, and about its roots coiled the Great Serpent, gnawing forever at those roots ... who else but Serpent Time, the Couch of Narayana! The world of men, Middelgard , was situated on a plane half way up the trunk.
A Swedish friend, tasting for the first time our Indian dish Payasam, exclaimed, "But this is just like "Risgryns grot" with rice and milk and almonds and cardemum; just as we have it as a ritual dish at Christmas!" Payasam or sweetened rice is a dish eaten at a festival in South India on the fourteenth of January! Perhaps both festivals were once the same, and celebrated the return of the sun after the winter solstice.
In the old days Scandinavians made the dish with barley. Perhaps the migrating Aryans only forsook barley when they came upon the native rice across the Indus. Now Scandinavia imports from them the more palatable rice!
Some Scandinavian scriptures are called "Eddas", phonetically identical with the Hindu "Vedas". In Egyptian and Babylonian mythology, water is called "apsoo", the Sanskrit word meaning water. There are very many more similar expressions, revealing a common strand running through all the scriptures too - the Quran, the Bible and the Vedas and Upanishads.
The original scripture was also one; we all know that the bulk of it has been lost. The Veda, the Bible, etc., are the residual fragments. There is fierce controversy as to which is the Word of God - the Quran or the Bible. Who can tell? To a man who knows only the Chinese language, English, French and German look alike. You must be God to recognise "the Word of God". The Indian has no hesitation in recognising that all scriptures are the Word of God.
As I have already pointed out, as this religion migrated South, the "respectable" nomads readily adapted and adjusted their faith to suit local climatic and social conditions, and accommodated within it the essentials of the existing faith in the new country. Often these account for the differences found among the religions. For instance, even today a Hindu priest who will not dare to wear a shirt in the temples of South India, has to wear an overcoat in the Himalayan shrines, because it is extremely cold there. These superficialities do not affect the heart of religion, which is universal.They should not be permitted to mar the spirit of love and understanding, which has unfortunately been undermined over the past few centuries by self-seeking egotists who have used these superficial differences to further their own inhumanities.
While it is true that organisation is essential to propagate religion, it also creates vested interests which egotists exploit - unfortunately in the fair name of religion.
Beverages have to be preserved in bottles or some such containers. Their distribution needs bars with their distinctive appearance, barmen with their uniforms, and cups and glasses. People who need these beverages look for the bars, and in them, for the barmen, from whom they get the beverage in a container, drink and then leave the container behind. They do not make the bars their home, nor do they swallow the glasses along with the beverage.
Even so, for the preservation and distribution of the spirit of religion, we need temples and churches, priests and clergy, liturgy and rituals, but we should imbibe the spirit, and not lacerate our lips by chewing the glasses, i.e. clinging to the rituals. Therefore, Dean Inge used to say that institutional religions which begin by strengthening, end by strangling.
Let us never forget: before religion God existed. Institutional religion has necessarily to limit the Truth or God, in order to enable the finite soul to ascend through finite steps to the Infinite. But we should never allow the letter to kill the spirit. One who lives in the spirit of religion will realise the wisdom that prompted the great Emperor Asoka to cut into rock the edict "Do not quarrel about religions", and Prophet Muhammad to warn his followers against condemning others' faiths, lest they should thus provoke those others in retaliation to blaspheme against the Lord.
Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, similarly commands: "Do not unsettle anyone's faith".
I repeat - all the scriptures of the world proclaim the same truth. In prehistoric times, religious folks took great pains to protect their scriptural wealth. I know that the South Indian Ghanapaati (one who has mastered the Vedas), learning the Vedas by heart, literally meant inscribing every word on the tablet of his heart by an ingenious procedure. First on palm leaves, and later on parchment, our ancestors (whether they were "Hindus" or Jews) strove hard to preserve the scriptures.
Preservation was easier in India than elsewhere, though the care, foresight, wisdom and compassion, with which documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls were preserved and 'passed on' to posterity, should command our admiration. Religion and civilisation can thrive only when and where there is peace. In the West, for at least two thousand years past, there have been wars and unrest more or less continually. Hence, we find warlike gadgets and thoughts thriving there. And in the East, where there has been comparative peace, religion and culture have been preserved. Even so, the Indians boldly admit, in the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan - "No religion has a monopoly of truth". If it has been preserved in India, it is meant for all mankind.
In order that an ignorant generation may not, in an attempt to cover up its own intellectual inadequacy, tamper with the text to make it "more intelligible", the Brahminic tradition in India strictly prohibited the least alteration of the text of the scriptures (especially the Vedas). Similar prohibitions are found in other religions too.
But anyone could write a commentary!
As a matter of fact, it is incumbent on one who wishes to establish a new school of philosophy, to prove that his philosophy is based on the authority of the Upanishads, etc. This prevented their neglect and disuse, in addition it compelled the philosopher to prove his spiritual worth. Scriptural interpretation is a delicate task. Take for example the ridicule that the pioneers in aeronautics had to encounter. The scriptures did say that angels had wings and flew, but they did not say that machines could not have wings and fly. Therefore, the pious men, who condemned as heretics the scientists, who felt that flying was possible, were merely illogical in their interpretation of the scriptures.
Interpretation of scriptures is inevitable. I have not come across one person so far who takes all the scriptural statements as literally true. While interpreting them, we must beware of misinterpreting them. While making the relevant deduction, we should be careful to see that we do not deduce falsehood and discard truth.
The interpreter of a scripture should therefore:
(a) Go right to the source of the scripture itself, without being misled or biased by other interpretations.
Many expressions like "religion", "education", "dharma", "atonement", "gentleman", have lost their original meaning, as generation after generation of "scholars" heap on the words a little more of its own intellectual rubbish.
He should study the scripture afresh, and
(b) Undergo rigorous moral, intellectual and spiritual discipline, which alone will qualify him (the adhikarin in Sanskrit) for the noble, delicate and stupendous task ahead!
Authoritative interpreters of religion in India have, therefore, always been men of intuitive wisdom - sages who had come face to face with the Reality, and had experienced Self-Realisation.
III - Be Ye Gods on Earth
Demoniac, verily, are those worlds enveloped in blinding darkness, and to them go after death, those people who are slayers (ignorant) of the Self.
Isa Upanishad
Philosophers, scientists and psychologists have classified and re-classified mankind, only to discover that, unlike minerals, plants and the other orders of animals where such grouping is possible, Man is unique in his uniqueness, and will not easily fit into man-made water-tight compartments. Each individual is a lovely flower in God's Garden, unique, a special image of God, a unit capable of realising his unity with all. Even in the following classification, it is good to bear in mind that every man is a complex mixture of two or more of the characteristics attributed to the different types.
The lowest type is the animal in human garb, the man who lives without knowing, or ever caring to know why he lives. Describing the nearly animal life of primitive mall, Dr. Leaky, the celebrated archeologist and anthropologist, declares that it had a threefold goal, viz., self-preservation (hunting and eating), preservation of private property, and perpetuation of the species (procreation). These are the characteristics of the higher forms of animals too.
Has the "average man" today any other goal in life? He whose life is restricted to these three animal drives, is no better than an animal, or a mere labourer who labours aimlessly - whether he tills the soil or ploughs an account book, whether he hunts in the forest or in a supermarket as its owner. The animal hunts in the forest, the farmer in the farm, and the business executive or governmental official in his office.
If this statement gives you the impression that it is degrading to be a farmer, business executive, or government official, you are mistaken. It only means - if earning one's livelihood is the only goal of man (whatever be his official or social status), and if he works and protects his private property in order to live and to procreate, then he is an ignorant Labourer (with apologies to this noble profession), and no better than an animal. Nor should be interpreted to suggest that man is superior to animals, etc. I am beginning to feel that it is often the other way round, and that superiority of intelligence is equally accessible to man and animal.
It cannot be argued that man distinguishes himself from animals, by intelligent organisation of his life and the world he lives in. These are a part of the work necessary to fulfil the animal (or instinctual) drives. The honey-bee's organisation of its life and its hive is better than human organization.
(Professor Karl von Frisch of the University of Graz has increased our knowledge of the remarkable way in which bees communicate to one another the direction and distance of a source of nectar from the hive. The returning bee dances on the surface of the honeycomb; a round dance if the source is about a hundred yards away - a circular motion backwards and forwards, somewhat like a figure-of-eight, but with the two rings superimposed one on the other. If the source is more than a hundred yards away, however, the bee dances a real figure-of-eight, wagging her abdomen as she reaches the straight side joining the two half-rings of the figure. A lot of nectar stimulates a vigorous, rapid dance; a lesser quantity promotes a slower movement. The bees can tell from the dance the distance and direction of the source of nectar, because the angle (between the point of reversal in the dance and the top of the circle) represents the angle between the direction of the sun and the route of the food).
Man's only title to distinction is self-consciousness and his aspiration to God-consciousness. If he possesses this, he is a Man, even if the Civil Status office calls him a "labourer".
In course of time, during the individual's biography, he graduates to the next higher type. He who takes note of the people around him as well as himself, and wants to promote their happiness and welfare too - he is a (social) worker and is longer a mere labourer.
He wants to live, but he wants his neighbour also to have what he has. He has risen above the animal, but has not yet entered the human kingdom. He still has four (feet or) hands, as it were, with two of which he serves others, and with the other two serves his own selfish ends.
This half-man begins to think. He realises that however much he strives, his body decays and is bound to die. He is less and less interested in acquiring and accumulating goods, which he is forced in any case to leave behind him here. He is prepared to sacrifice them to promote the happiness of his neighbours. Self-lessness enters the heart of Man, and he eagerly parts with what he even needs, so that his neighbour may be happy. His perceptions sharpen, and he realises that his neighbour's miseries are as unending as his own, and that any amount of work to promote the neighbour's welfare is doomed to failure. It puzzles him. Why is it that this fruitless task seems inevitable and inexorable? He enquires: "Who am I? How am I in relation to my neighbour? What is this world? What is the purpose of life, or has it any?"
He, in whose heart these questions stir, is a seeker after Truth. He is a Man. Man must ask himself why he lives, and he must seek to know the meaning of life, for "the unexamined life is not worth living", as Socrates put it. In fact, it is not life at all, but inert existence.
These questions burn in the heart of the seeker, in whom the animal-nature has been sacrificed and burnt in the fire of enquiry. That is the true animal sacrifice (of archaic Hinduism) and the real burnt-offering (of archaic Judaism).
Burning (1) destroys, (2) purifies, (3) gives warmth, and (4) illumines.
This inner spiritual burning: (1) destroys ignorance, (2) purifies the heart of all selfishness, etc., (3) fills the heart with the warmth of humanity, and (4) illumines the seeker's Path. It sheds a beam of light on the Path of Truth which he pursues.
When in that Light, he finds that knowledge, that understanding of the Truth which he seeks, he becomes a sage. He has reached the ultimate goal of all existence. The difference between the seeker and the sage lies in the spiritual awakening or enlightenment. How long does it take for the seeker to become a sage? What is the distance between these two points in evolution? It is the same (to put it in lighter vein) as the distance between the tip of the nose and the tip of the tongue, in most of us, so near and yet so far - "it looks as if we can do it right now (and touch the tip of the nose with the tip of the tongue) but it may take a long time".
If a child is asleep and I ask you, "When will he wake up?", what is your answer? Maybe the next moment, maybe next morning. Maybe we attain Perfection or enlightenment now. Maybe we do so after a few thousand years or life-times. But it is generally agreed that, if the fire of enquiry is intense enough, and if the animal nature is completely burnt in self-sacrificing service and charity, we can attain enlightenment immediately.
The labourer is ignorant of Reality. The worker has a glimpse. The seeker seeks. The sage knows.
We must kill or sacrifice the animal in us, sublimate the human, seek and find the Reality. That is life. That is the purpose of life; one must become a sage. The goal of the body is the grave, and that of the soul is God-realisation, a direct vision of the Truth. The sage "sees" the Truth. A rishi is one who sees - the Seer. The word "Bishop" also has the same connotation. Rishi or Bishop is a man of vision.
It is the sage who gives us our philosophy and our religion (our Dharma), the light that illumines the path of our life, that prevents us from retrogressing into the animal, and that enables us to progress towards super-manhood, sagehood and eventually divinity. The sage is our Guru, whom the devout Hindu regards as God Himself.
The sage is the saviour and redeemer. His influence is not confined to the people of any one category, but to all of them. Sanatana Dharma does not neglect or ignore anyone. The very word "Dharma" signifies that it upholds, supports, and prevents from retrogression anyone who seeks it. The labourer is prevented from degenerating into an animal, by injunctions and prohibitions, under the penalty of going to hell! The worker is elevated further from his status, by the tantalising invitation to heaven, as the reward of good actions. The seeker is made to realise that the ultimate Reality frees him from the shackles of birth and death, and thereby, of sin and suffering. And it is the sage's duty to keep the flame of spiritual knowledge alive in all. He is the Guru of all.
IV - The Lamp is not Furniture
The Guru's form is the basis for meditation; The Guru's feet are the bases of worship; The Guru's words are Gospel-truth; The Guru's grace is the root of Liberation.
Guru Gita
To the Indian, the Guru or the sage-preceptor is verily God on earth. This deification of the Guru has come in for a lot of criticism from unthinking people, the self-styled rationalists and free thinkers. What they fail to realise is that the spiritual seeker stands at the opposite pole from them. Whereas they value their own ego-centred personality and its opinions, the seeker realises that the ego is the greatest of all granite walls, standing between him and God. The best, if not the only implement, with which to pull this wall down, is total self-surrender to the Guru, regarding Him as God. Incidentally, those who follow the "free thinkers" are really not following them, for is it not the teaching of the free thinkers that 'one should not follow another'? The tragedy here is - when this perverse teaching enters the immature heart, it succeeds in assisting that arch-enemy of all spiritual aspiration, the ego, thus defeating the lofty aim of the free thinkers themselves.
The seeker's path is regarded as "the razor's edge", and the Kathopanishad asks him to "arise, awake, and, having resorted to the feet of the Guru, attain the Knowledge of the Self". Lord Krishna too asks the seeker to serve, fall at the feet of, and learn Self-knowledge from the Knowers of Truth. Nor is this attitude a sample of the Indian's blind faith! The Holy Christian Fathers say in their inspiring scripture "Philokalia":
" ... spare no effort in trying to find a teacher and guide ... cleave to him with body and spirit, like a devoted son to his father, and from then onwards obey all his commands implicitly, accord with him in everything, and see him not as a mere man, but as Christ Himself".
Indian scriptures declare: "Brahmavit Brahmaiva Bhavati" - "the knower of the Absolute becomes That". A simple analogy will make this clear. A few pieces of cold and black charcoal, thrown into fire, become fire, no longer cold nor black, but glowing red and hot. The human-ness of the human being who has "touched" God, and is in union with Him, is thus transmuted into the Divine.
The electric lamp, so long as it remains in the shop, is an article of commerce, a piece of furniture. But at home, when it is plugged in to the mains, it is no longer a piece of furniture, but a lamp which illumines the house. It is the Power, the Light, of God that flows through the Guru.
God is the centre, and all of us are on the circumference - whether on the upper (virtuous) or the lower (vicious) semi-circle. There is a way in which each of us can reach Him ("however sinful you are", in the words of the Bhagavad Gita), immediately via the shortest route (geometrically, the straight line). The Guru is the radius, the shortest line, the straight path, to that Centre, which is God. He is "the way, the truth, the life"; "no man cometh unto the Father but by" Him, in the words of the Holy Bible. To the devout Christian, of course, the statement implies that Lord Jesus is the Way, literally, though even he is authorised lay the Holy Bible. To the devout Christian, of course, the statement implies that Lord Jesus is the Way, literally, though even he is authorised by the Holy Fathers to regard his individual Preceptor as Christ Himself. But the spirit behind it is that the path to God lies through the manifest God, i.e., Guru.
It is God at the Centre Who, in His supreme love and compassion, reaches out to man, on the circumference, as the radius or the Guru. It is "visible" to the seeker on the circumference when he turns towards the Centre (God), not otherwise. To that seeker the radius itself is the Centre right through, for it is nothing more than the extension of the Centre. His faith (if it is real) will not let him rest half-way in cheap hero-worship or personality cult, but lead him right through to the Centre. However, he should not treat the radius as only the path to the Centre, thus making a distinction, which is illogical in the context, and disastrous to him in as much as this lukewarm faith might lead him away from the radius, looking for the Centre somewhere else! When he adheres to the radius, devoutly regarding it as the Centre Itself, he will reach the Centre, where he will certainly realise that the Centre, the radius, and the point on the circumference, are one and the same. That is when he himself becomes a sage, Guru, and therefore God!
To each seeker, therefore, there was only one Guru (though the converse is not valid, and a Guru may and does have many disciples), even as from a point on the circumference there can only bee one straight line to the Centre. It is possible and even desirable for the seeker to meet many saints or spiritual teachers and derive some benefit from their company and teaching. But the Guru is only one. By its very definition the word "Guru" means, in Sanskrit, "the dispeller of darkness". When there is darkness in the room, the lamp that first entered that room is the dispeller of the darkness. You may introduce many more lamps into that room to make it brighter, but the "dispeller of the darkness" is only one.
"When the chela (disciple) is ready, the Guru is found". This is the truth, but has bewildered many a Westerner, as well as people of the East. All wonder, "But how do I Know when I have found my Guru?" You will know, but how to explain this! There seems to be only one analogy to describe the situation.
The untouched maiden, nature stirring her to maturity, longs for a mate, finds him, just as he finds her, and to him alone she loses her virginity. She feels herself maturing, no longer a girl, and to that beloved alone she owes it. Only one man could have given her this feeling, setting her on the path of womanhood. And, "She knew him" to borrow a Biblical expression. Even if she married others later on, only he gave her the knowledge of womanhood - only one.
In the same way, to a seeker the Guru can only be one, though this should not lead to clanish fanaticism.
Though Guru, disciple and initiation on the one hand, and teacher, pupil and instruction on the other appear to be synonyms, there is a vast but subtle difference. The distinction between the Guru and the teacher has been explained. The disciple is one who has disciplined himself and is eager to get going, to be initiated into spiritual activity; whereas the pupil is like the pupil of the eye, which acts as a channel for the light without the ability to assimilate it, and, what is worse, contracts when the light is very bright! The Guru-disciple relation is inviolable and irrevocable, whereas the teacher-pupil relation might even turn topsy-turvy. "Initiation" is giving the first push along a certain path of activity, and there might be quite a few initiations before the disciple is well on the path, even as the virgin has a number of "first experiences" (viz., first pregnancy, first parturition) before she is established in motherhood. Instruction is more intellectual and idealistic, and is subject to change (and hence admits of argumentation and even scepticism), whereas initiation is spiritual activity where argument and scepticism are meaningless obstructions.
The Indian is emphatic that without a Guru, the right knowledge cannot be acquired by any man.
As I said earlier, there is a big risk in depending upon oneself, in that one may then succumb to the temptations of the lower, impure mind and the ego, mistaking them for the voice of the soul. When we are engaged in the daily battle of life, it is seldom possible for anyone to have a level head! Only a balanced mind is receptive to true wisdom. This is obviously the reason why, even when the players in a game of football are honest and friendly, they appoint a referee to conduct the game and guide them. The Guru is our referee and the scripture forms the "Rules of the Game" of life. The seeker, both in the East and in the West, is called upon to lay himself bare before the Guru or the spiritual preceptor. In a highly interesting Christian book "The Way of a Pilgrim", the author says:
"The Starets (the preceptor) sent me away with his blessings, and told me that, while learning the prayer, I must always come back to him and tell him everything, making a very frank confession and report; for the inward process could not go on properly and successfully without the guidance of a teacher"
Mankind is a pyramid with a broad base and narrow peak. The number of highly evolved persons, the sages, is bound to be very few in each generation; but the tragi-comedy of the modern world is that great men, few as they are, are not recognised by the people of their generation. Not because the latter are stupid. They are clever. They can today glorify, deify and worship an incarnation of God or a great saint of the past, because they need not practise His teaching. But they ignore the saints of today and the living incarnations of God, because of the irksome necessity or a duty to follow their teachings. Posthumous adoration is the cunning plan by which the clever man makes use of the saints. It suits his convenience.
The tradition in India has always been immediate adoration of the living saint, the Guru, as God. The sage is an undoubted authority on religion or dharma. To him it is unambiguous, incontrovertible, intuitive and direct revelation. It is one of the incongruities of modern thinking that we call one an "authority" on a subject, who quotes others as his authority, just as we call someone a "brilliant" doctor who depends upon the greatest number of instruments and gadgets. If he is brilliant, his instrument would be his own brilliance! The sage is the Light of Truth Itself. His words are the bases of our dharma, the light that guides us on the path of our life.
V - Angels of Light or Denizens of Darkness?
Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance; thereby beings are deluded.
Gita
Angels of Light or denizens of darkness. Which shall we be? The choice rests with us.
If we walk in the Light enshrined in our scriptures and shed by the Prophets, Saviours and sages on the path of our life, we shall be angels of Light. If we deliberately turn away from the Light, we shall be denizens of darkness, fruitlessly bemoaning our miserable fate.
From sages and scriptures we learn the ancient religion. They are the pillars on which it rests. They are the wings that enable the individual soul to fly to the realms of peace, prosperity and perfection, health, happiness and harmony.
The greatest scientist of this century, Dr. Albert Einstein, declares:
"The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true sciences. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of true religiousness."
But the pseudo-scientist is convinced that "religion is the opiate of the masses". If you transfer part of the money that is in your pocket into mine, our problems will be solved - say the economists. Sociologists, psychologists, technicians, and politicians, have all their own solution to offer to human problems. Are they charlatans? No. They are "workers", working for human welfare, but clumsy in their blindness, so that, in spite of the manifold blessings conferred by these self-appointed benefactors upon humanity, we seem to be going from bad to worse. The faster these good men drive humanity to its goal of peace, happiness and-prosperity, the farther that goal itself recedes. Why?
The answer is simple. The artist has brilliant colours and the best of intentions, but a smudgy canvas with no light; and though he wants to paint a lovely face, after wasting time and paint, he is shocked at the sickening product. He should have had light and a prepared canvas, then his talents would not have been wasted.
That light is dharma or religion. The canvas of humanity is the self of man. We have not bothered to evaluate the worth of the heart of man, nor to lift the mask and see if he is truly a human being or an animal in human garb. We have indiscriminately (for the "benefactors" themselves were without the light of religion or dharma) poured precious and powerful scientific knowledge into the hearts of the denizens of darkness. They, in their turn, endeavour to put the light out in others' hearts too. Good milk is poured into unclean cups, and is turned to poison. The urgent need is for self-purification, for the knowledge of how to turn away from evil.
God is omnipresent, God is good; yet evil exists, an enigma to many, a powerful spur to doubt in God's goodness, a haunting Devil (devil - a touch of French and it means "of evil"!). Manifest in many ways, evil lies also in the mud-slinging between leaders of different religions, accusing one another of being the Devil's disciples. The Devil, horned, tailed, hooved, a Positive Force - how otherwise explain the existence of evil?
The Hindu theory that "God alone exists" has been declared fals by Christian theologians, because it seems not to take into account the existence of evil. Yet the Biblical Genesis presents the same problem! God created Adam in His own image, and specifically commanded him not to eat of the forbidden fruit; yet the Devil in the shape of the Serpent was able to persuade Adam to eat it. Who created the snake, giving it equal or greater power than God?
In probing after consciousness of the whole structure of Being, the Indian sage comes upon these transcendental questions, which he admits the human intellect cannot answer. The question itself is the product of ignorance, and cannot be answered upon the same plane in which ignorance exists. A scientist would call this the "Uncertainty Principle". When asked questions on such transcendental points, Lord Buddha remained silent. He demanded that, instead of wasting our time in polemical dispute, we should concentrate on the evil of delusion that encircles us. Lord Krishna in effect demands the same. Light and Darkness have been created by God, and the man of discrimination should walk the path of Light, He proclaims.
Of every picture light and shade are the parts. Hence our Master Sri Swami Sivananda defined evil as "negative" good. Just as dirt has been defined as matter not in its proper place, evil may be defined as conduct unbecoming - animal-nature in the human. This evil we are now concerned with may be termed personal or subjective evil, that which seems an inherent affliction of the human heart. This problem we may ponder over, but some waste their precious human birth by worrying over evils in Nature Herself! "Terrible" earthquakes, "ghastly" famines, etc., etc. The Universe is the Body of God, analagous to our own body. For all we know, earthquakes may be eruptions to rid that body of poison, like eruptions in our own bodies. Famine may be God's self-purifying fasting in relation to His Body. The healing and purifying effect is not restricted to those directly affected.
Cleansing pity lies also in the heart of the beholder. A nation-wide disaster is often an exercise in world-wide compassion. Compassion in the hearts of those who are feeling their way along the path to God is a helping light. Doubt fed by evil in the heart of the atheist makes him fulminate against the idea of a God (presumably good, if He is worth anything at all) tolerating such misery. He is the man who is usually the one who stubbornly refuses to make any sacrifice to alleviate that misery. He nurses that evil of doubt within him, not realising that if he turned away from the inner evil, the outside evil would disappear.
It has been observed that the world-wide help that is sometimes brought to a national disaster, generates more loving kindness and joy among those stricken, than if they had been left to jog along in their daily rut.
To live, fully and completely, using every gift God has given you in your being, is to turn automatically away from evil. The word "live" is but a reversal of the word "evil". When you are evil you do not live! That is the first rule, the first step in life. If this step is not taken, anything that is put into our hands can and will be used only for evil, for we still exist in the shadow of the picture, and shadow itself is the rule of evil. Our eyes, not yet opened in the darkness, can sense the light and must turn towards it. That itself will enable us to live and promote life.
The veil that still shrouds that path ("veil" is nothing more than jumbled "evil"), is selfishness seated in the little self spelt ironically with a capital "I", making the good man vile (still the same old four letters!).
From the word "live" we should exorcize this image of the ego. Now we get "lve", which is dumb and lifeless for want of a life-giving vowel. We hunt for the antithesis of the exorcized vowel, the opposite of selfishness. It is self-surrender, which seeks nothing for self - the symbol for nothing is "0". Give "lve" a beating heart so that "live" may become "love". No danger here. Love is the antithesis of all evil.
This magic will not transform the whole world immediately to a paradise, where police, prisons and armies no longer exist. The Law of Evolution does not envisage universal perfection at a particular moment in history. Perfection - call it salvation - is individual. Eradication of evil is individual too. The world continues to exist, serving as the school for other evolving souls.
To you, today, the primary school has ceased to be of value, but remember, it is still busy educating your grandchildren. The world will still continue to have its good and evil, together bringing up to its surface a liberated soul with all its faculties unfolded, even as dirty mud and clear water help bring up to the surface the charming lotus. This soul will be full of the love of God (religion), love of wisdom (philosophy) and love of humanity (dharma). Such men should be our leaders, for they know what humanity needs, and what can truly be beneficial to all mankind.
Only such people will be able to handle the powers of Nature constructively, not they who have all the mathematical formulae and the technical know-how in their brain. As an Indian (Saiva Siddhantam) scripture points out - "the virtues of a loveless man are sinful". Has not the world already witnessed that "good knowledge" possessed by men of evil heart will be used destructively?
We should not ask, "Does evil exist, and why?" but, "How can I be free from evil?" Light and darkness constitute the world, and there is no use wracking our mind over them. When we are in the dark, we should make up our mind what we want to do. If we want to see and to do (to live, in other words), we should seek the light. If not, go to sleep! For darkness promotes inertia and "death".
Light is dharma. It will dispel the darkness of evil. Once it is there, we shall not be overcome by evil any more, and evil will vanish from our sight. That is the nature of light. Even the flame of a small candle has not experienced darkness - all the darkness in the world cannot defy the candle. In the eyes of God, the Supreme Light of Lights, there is no evil, no pain, no calamity, no misery. It is only because we are unable to look through His eyes, and we are foolishly identifying ourselves with this little body and finite mind, that we see evil, entertain evil, and bring evil to ourselves and others, too.
Evil is a shadow. It veils the truth. In the darkness of ignorance, man suffers from a thousand fears, and in his restless anxiety to get rid of them, multiplies them to his own and to mankind's misfortune.
The story is told of Alexander the Great, how he tamed a wild horse, Bucephalus. The horse was offered to his father, King Phillip of Macedonia. No one dared ride him. All Alexander did was to turn the horse to face the sun, so that he could not see the haunting shadow. Alexander knew that his shadow was what terrified the horse. So the wild horse became tame.
Face the Light of Dharma. The darkness of ignorance and the shadow of evil will vanish from your sight. All the forces of nature are at our disposal, all the blessings showered upon us by hosts of scientists, economists and politicians. Only the Light will make them fruitful, but that Light must shine in every individual heart.
VI - The Wedding of the Century
He who understands the manifest and the unmanifest both together, crosses death through the unmanifest and attains life eternal through the manifest.
Isa Upanishad
How can Light lead to darkness? Indian religion has often been blamed for the "backwardness" of the country! It is a primitive political technique. To camouflage one's own complicity in a crime, the criminal loudly proclaims of the victim, "It is his own fault". When India was truly religious, she was also economically prosperous, and enjoyed a Golden Age of Cultural Pre-eminence.
The religion of India has never tolerated laziness. "You cannot remain idle for a single moment," declares Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The Upanishads command Man to produce abundant food (material wealth). The Smritis (Moral Codes) exalt the householder's life, and hold out the threat that if a man should die without leaving a son behind him, he would have to spend some time in a special hell, and thus forbid a man to "cut off the family line".
We have been told that India glorifies poverty! What a lie! It is like an orientalist reading in a medical journal that a person suffering from serious digestive disturbances should drink only whey, and then declaring that in that country people dislike all food.
Renunciation and poverty were prescribed for a certain group of persons, for the seeker after God was, naturally, not interested in worldly wealth. Coupled with this was the fact that these men of God were highly venerated. Ignorant people transferred this veneration to poverty! Poverty thus began to be looked upon as a symbol of holiness - the ideal for all! Not only were many foreign Indologists shortsighted enough to reach this conclusion, but many Indians were themselves guilty of this grave error. All this admirably suited political invaders and proselytising missions.
There can be little doubt that in India religion and spiritual knowledge were greatly valued. They did not then, nor do we now, suggest that it meant exclusion of all material pursuits. They have always pleaded that there should be a healthy union or synthesis of the two. They have always pleaded that the Light of spiritual values should also illumine our path in our material pursuits.
Let us first ask ourselves, "Are the orientals backward? If so, in what ways?" It has been the rule that the conqueror sets the fashion. The colder European climate compelled Europeans to wear woollen socks and leather shoes. It became their habit. When they came to warm South India, their dress became the fashion, a symbol of culture. Those who did not adopt it were at first laughed at, and later even frowned upon. With European dress, it became difficult to sit on the floor, as was the Indian custom. Chairs and tables moved into "modern" Indian homes. They were the signs of progress. Their absence was "backwardness". What nonsense! The person who is able to squat on the floor can also use chairs and sofas, but one who is accustomed to chairs and sofas becomes their slave, and can not do without them. The man who walks barefoot becomes immune to changes in weather, one whose feet are always covered with socks and shoes "catches a cold" when he goes without them, and suffers from athlete's foot when he wears them in warm clammy weather! Signs of progress! "Old-fashioned" is perhaps synonymous with "adaptable and hardy".
The West is industrially more advanced, no doubt, but is a non-industrialised peaceful country backward? Is it a praiseworthy civilisation that fought the two devastating World Wars? Where were they fought, and who were the originators of the Wars - the civilised West or the backward East? No backward oriental has been found guilty of wholesale massacre of people - and Hitler who had millions of people gassed was not an oriental.
These facts do not minimise the importance of material progress, nor hide the fact that, whatever be the reason, the East and India in particular, took too long a nap from her dharmic vigilance, but her ideal (and who does not fall below his ideal?) has been a balanced synthesis of Matter and spirit, science and religion, expressed in the following parable:
A blind man and a lame man were sitting at a street corner, begging. In this age of speed, when everyone is rushing about without ever thinking why, who has the time or the inclination to stop and drop a coin in the begging-bowl? Unluckily both of them were unable to pursue their probable benefactors.
One day, the lame man said to the blind one: "Brother, please carry me on your powerful and strong shoulders. We shall be able to pursue these people and get something out of them." The lame man could not walk, and the blind man could not see. But now the lame man guided the blind man, and the latter carried the former. Their problem was solved.
The truly religious man does not condemn scientific research and progress. He is not averse to material advancement, machines and motor cars, where they are constructive. But what religion does decry is blind pursuit of materialism, which is as dangerous, as the blind man's venture to pursue someone across the road he might cause a major road accident. Modern prophets of all religions all over the world have reorientated their outlook on life. There is none today who encourages idle fancy and a lame, impractical approach to religion. All want religion to be translated into terms of actual daily life. My own Master, Swami Sivananda's maxim, therefore, was: "Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realise".
This century, God willing, will see a stupendous union, the wedding of this Age, the marriage of Science and Religion. Like the blind man, Science must carry Religion on its shoulders, and be guided by its vision. Thus can be brought about unimagined progress in all fields of human activity and aspiration. It will be the revival of the true spirit of the ancient religion.
We speak of "the ancient religion". Aldous Huxley calls it "The Perennial Philosophy". "Sanatana Dharma" is yet another name for the same thing, though these noble Sanskrit terms have been used by a clannish religious sect, to further its own vested interests. Sanatana means immortal, and also immortalising. "Dharma" is that substratum common to all religion. Detailed connotation of these two words is given in "Sanatana Dharma", a wonderful book by His Holiness Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha.
He gives the following scriptural definition of the word "Dharma": "that which prevents us from going down ruining ourselves in any manner or respect whatsoever, and makes for our welfare, progress and uplift all-round".
Of course, the Swami goes on to distinguish it from the word "religion", which he feels is "very small and circumscribed". However, the rootmeaning of the word "religion" is almost a paraphrase of the word Dharma. "Religion" is "to bind again" - to bind mankind together by the cord of love, and to bind man once again to the Omnipresent God. If the West has strayed from that ideal, so also has the East strayed from Dharma.
Rightly interpreted and understood, therefore, dharma or religion is the light that enables us to take note of the neighbour (i.e. all living beings), and do our duty by them, and also to become aware of the indwelling divine omnipresence and to realise It.
Dharma or religion demands that the two should be simultaneous, a revelation of the symbolism of the Holy Cross, in which the horizontal bar represents Lord Jesus' commandment, "Love thy neighbour as thyself", and the vertical beam, the commandment, "Love thy God", the two to be welded into a single act of loving his Omnipresence.
If, however, either has to be given precedence, during the training period, religion or dharma asks that man should first know his Self, that he should "seek the Kingdom of God first". That knowledge is the Light, as it were, in which he will be able to perceive himself and the world in the correct perspective. Hence it was that the Lord, according to the Holy Bible, created Light before other beings.
VII - The Light Within
To those whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge of the Self, like the sun, knowledge reveals the Supreme.
Gita
"Know thyself' has been an ancient commandment, and it is as valid today as it was in prehistoric times. Self-knowledge is basic to dharma or religion. How else does one love the neighbour as "oneself"? The knowledge of one's self is the surest way of awakening in one's heart that deep and abiding love of God that religion demands. Even introversion of one's vision, the first step towards the acquisition of this knowledge, promotes humanity in one's heart.
Politicians, scientists, priests, businessmen, doctors, advocates and social leaders are all only men, and humanity must be their first consideration. When they turn their gaze inward and in the Light that ever shines within, perceive the Self which is the God-in-man, only then will they learn to "love the neighbour as thyself". This basic knowledge is like preparing the soil, without which all efforts at cultivation will be fruitless. Man should become human first, and that is the first task of Dharma.
The two maxims, "Knowledge is power" and "Power corrupts" read together, lead one to wonder at the inevitable conclusion. Power tends to exploit, enslave and oppress the weaker one. We have seen in the modern world, in this "Machine Age", that the Powerful Man tends to substitute robots for men, for the simple reason that the robots do not question his motives nor refuse to participate in his foul-play. Where men are retained, the Powerful Man grinds them into human robots mechanically relaying their Master's Voice! The saving grace in this destructive trend is that the killer ultimately kills himself, even as fire, though it burns others, burns itself out. The fiercer the power, the sooner the end is reached. The saner man discovers the folly of knowledge without wisdom, which is usually at the root of corrupt Power, and realises that mankind will not survive unless man becomes wholly human, leaving behind him the image of the lion-headed god (see Ch XVII).
If knowledge is power, wisdom is love. Whereas knowledge is of the intellect, wisdom is of the soul, says Walt Whitman. Wisdom is the radiance of the God-in-man. Wisdom is the Light within which enables man to see his way in this labyrinth of chaos and confusion. Knowledge is power, wisdom is its restrained and proper use - "it" here stands for knowledge and power.
A motor car is good, but the man behind the wheel must be wise, self-controlled and human. He must realise that the life of a child on the road is more valuable than his right to drive fast. The man who can see himself as the victim of the accident is a religious man, a wise man, a man of Dharma.
Without this Light of wisdom, the best of intentions would still lead us to hell, or rather create it here! To illustrate this, we go to a sumptuous hotel with every luxury calculated to promote our happiness. We are surrounded by friends and are ready to enjoy ourselves in that "heaven on earth". Suddenly the lights go off and there is the sound of an explosion outside. The whole place becomes as fearful as hell itself. Our one aim then is to get away from the hotel as quickly as possible. But, in the darkness we cannot even get out with our limbs intact. With the lights on, we were very happy. Without the lights we stumble and perhaps break a few bones.
With the Light of wisdom to guide us, earth is a paradise and life a song of joy, but in the darkness of ignorance this very earth proves to be a hell.
Lord Buddha equated Light with knowledge, wisdom and Dharma (Dhamma). The Bhagavad Gita does so, too. There is a hidden warning here which should not go unnoticed. Light can only be used to illumine the path of oneself and of others. It is not a candle to be sold in the market. Men of religion should beware of turning religion to material advantage - making a business of Dharma.
The darkness of ignorance engenders fear in our heart. In it we mistake a rope for a snake and feel that our life is in constant danger. The light of the knowledge that the soul is immortal and the body is perishable will liberate us from this morbid fear. In the darkness of ignorance, we conjure up "enemies" whose only interest in life is to harm us. We are men seeing ghosts in trees and posts when walking through a strange country at night. We suffer from pride and prejudice - and these add to our miseries.
The light of Truth will enable us to see that we are one with all humanity, with the entire universe and that the Great Love that is God links us all forever. We shall learn to love all, and live in harmony with our neighbour.
VIII - Chasing the Shadow
That, the Light of all lights, is said to be beyond darkness; knowledge, the knowable and the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all.
Gita
When we are not guided by this inner Light, we are often misled in our quest for happiness. The Light reveals to us that happiness is within. Its absence makes us feel that it is in the objects of sense-pleasure. The striving to obtain them in mistake for the Light becomes so intense that the aim of the quest itself is quickly forgotten! Two dogs begin to fight for a piece of bread. The fight grows more and more fierce. They forget the bread and chase each other hither and thither, still fighting.
Forgetting that the highest happiness is within - in God - man invents extrovert methods of obtaining pleasure. He earns money to acquire other means of buying pleasure. Soon, he gets so deeply immersed in the business of earning money, that money becomes his goal and he earns money, automatically gathering it, at a great loss of personal happiness. In the absence of light, we fall into the trap of exploiters who create an illusion of progress and comfort, to cheat us. Take two examples. We are civilised now and our womenfolk do not have to do the household chores like sweeping, washing, etc., as their grandmothers did. Machines do them, but machines are expensive. A husband has to work harder to produce the money. Result number one is: transferred slavery! If the wife is sympathetic and finds no real use for the saved time, she works as a shop assistant sweeping and washing there for a wage. That is result number two. We have now completed the dreary circle and arrived back at the starting point. The manufacturers of these gadgets exploit the simple housewives.
Even where this does not happen and where there is real increase in leisure, people go on a holiday to enjoy it. They rush around preparing for the holiday. When they get to the destination, they rush around settling down. They visit buildings, eat in hotels and roam the parks and beaches (all of which they had "at home"), and return from the holiday - exhausted! A few weeks' work after this further exhausts them, and they must have another holiday. Travel agents exploit the situation by advertising that only a holiday will save you from breakdown.
These unfortunates have no philosophy of life.
The Light within is ignored, while they chase the shadow cast by the interplay of Spirit and Matter, mistaking shadow for substance. The Inner Light (the religious spirit) will enable them to perceive Self-knowledge, the real goal of life. The Light will also reveal to them, through an examination of the deep-sleep state and the moments of pleasure after sensual enjoyments, that real happiness, the fountain-source of supreme bliss, is within. This will transform the world from the pleasure-garden which it is now thought to be, into an evolutionary medium for every individual.
Sin and suffering are only the direct result of ignorance of Divine Omnipresence. Ignorance itself is sin, and suffering is the curative phase of ignorance. That Inner Light which dispels this darkness of ignorance removes once for all these two concepts from our mind. The miracle is twofold, the worst sinner is instantly transformed into a glorious saint, and suffering loses its significance.
One common question asked is - "Is religion necessary in order to do good and to be good. Do we need this beacon to help us steer clear of sin?"
It is valid only if we confine ourselves to the narrow interpretation of religion as an act of private or public worship and an obligatory turning away (in the sense of running away) from the world. The Ancient Religion we are discussing as we shall see when we discuss Karma Yoga, demands of us the pursuit of a very different ideal. It is what the Holy Cross symbolises to me, an Indian, "love of God" and "love of the neighbour" simultaneously. In fact, this Love is the Light of God.
Only this can, therefore, prevent us from straying from our path. Without its guiding beam we may abandon the path when the power or pressure that started us on it is weakened by the pleasures of the wayside inn. How many political parties and social organisations have crusaded against poverty and pledged their service to the poor, but the poor in the world still remain poor, even under the very rule of these "benefactors"! Why? Very soon, when the benefactors assume the position of power they fought for, there comes confusion of ideals. In the absence of a determination to face the Light, they are misled by the shadow. They themselves lose direction in the maze of the paraphernalia of power.
Another question is asked. "If the object of religion, in part at least, is to promote good neighbourliness, can it not then be identified with ethics, and need we necessarily associate the Reality or God (whatever be the Name) with it? Is it not,possible to have a moral code, like traffic regulations, to govern our life, framed to promote goodness in us and prosperity in the world?" Perhaps, yes, but it is good to remember that even in the case of traffic regulations, they have been found to be ineffective until road-sense has been instilled in peoples' minds. Similarly, unless the religious spirit has been awakened in man, it will not be possible to have real law and order, peace and prosperity in the world.
God or the Ultimate Principle is the basic factor in the religious spirit. He is the Governor and the Supreme Judge in the Inner World. Only recognition, however feeble, of His Presence, will awaken this religious spirit. Only that Moral Code based on God and His Law, will be enduring. Man made laws are always violated by man.
Much unrighteousness in the world today can be directly attributed to violation of Divine, Eternal Law by man-made law and codes of morality, themselves therefore innately immoral.
Political boundaries give rise to wars. Monetary systems promote corruption and exploitation. Sectarianism leads to riots. Religious dogmas encourage bitterness. If you say that these are inevitable in any society, then you have already admitted that unrighteousness is inevitable.
Perhaps it is, but we, you and I, each entangled in this net because we are turning away from the Inner Light and chasing our own shadows, must escape from entanglement by seeking God and His Righteousness. This escape route is the Ancient Religion.
IX - Popular Myth and Philosophy
"Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Therefore, speak I to them in parables."
Lord Jesus
The Light of this Ancient Religion is available to us in several forms. Solar rays are life-giving. The Sun is considered the deity presiding over our eyes, yet if one who has not trained himself, gazes directly at the midday sun, he may losee his eyesight. The eye specialist tells him to sit in the shade of a tree and look at the sun through the green foliage or through some such filter. Even so, the Light Itself shining through the fundamental scriptures (the Vedas and their end-portion particularly, known as the Upanishads), often dazzles our vision.
The all-merciful spiritual teacher provides shelter from the fierce effulgence of that Light by giving us the cool shade of a tree. Myths and legends are its leaves and through them the life giving Light filters down so that we may bask in its lustre without being blinded by its glare. Neglect and even rejection of mythology is a great pity. The modern seeker after truth, proud of his "rationalism", impatiently explodes the value of myth as unimportant, irrelevant, a figment of primitive imagination, bunkum, mumbo-jumbo. How sad is his blindness, how vain his idea that he is so advanced, his ancestor so primitive. Myth grew from the brave attempt to express the inexpressible, and perhaps myth is still the surest way of coming close to solving that insoluable problem.
Our knowledge of the Ancient Religion is derived from two sources. The Vedas and the Puranas (source-books of Knowledge and mythology respectively). Their antiquity tempts the modern young man to doubt their validity.
In the analysis of myth and legend and in establishing the validity of philosophic speculation, two types of proof should be sought:
(a) The intellectual proof: this should be reasonable. Applying this to myth we must give the benefit of the doubt, on the proven assumption that vast changes have taken place on this planet over the years.
(b) The pragmatic proof: i.e., they should have practical significance in our lives. Here there is a pitfall. It is disastrous to assert that legends can be accepted for their pragmatic value though they themselves are totally untenable. This will defeat the purpose of their acceptance, for once their emotional appeal is lost, the valuable influence they exert wanes.
There has been controversy over the question: "Did Jesus Christ actually live as alleged in the New Testament?" Arguments are advanced for and against. Muslims say that Jesus was not crucified. Christians say that He was. Both of them quote scriptures. Theresa Neuman actually suffered stigmata and people have verified this, but we are told "It is possible under hypnosis or selfhypnosis, to produce stigmata." Many devotees have had direct visions of Lord Krishna. I have met some of them. Shall we disbelieve them all?
Certain events cannot be proved. When it comes to the existence of divine beings or of God, we have to cultivate faith. For that matter we can turn round and ask anyone: "Can you prove that that man is your father?" Only the mother can tell, it is a question of faith. In this the Vedas and other scriptures are our spiritual mother. Scriptural testimony of the Reality is referred to in Sanskrit as Aptavakya which literally means "the utterance of one who has reached the goal or gained enlightenment" credible and authoritative. If we accept his advice, we shall be benefited, not he.
Whether Rama, Krishna, Buddha, or Jesus actually lived here or not, is for us not essential. The essential question for us is - "Does His biography and do His teachings inspire us and enoble our life?".
In relation to life, myth and legend have a validity far greater than history. "The only lesson we learn from history," said Bernard Shaw, "is that we do not learn from history." History only repeats itself, but the value of the myth lies in its compelling power derived from its association with Deity and Deity's manifestation in an attitude of intimacy and faith which is absent in history.
The status of Deity is not accorded to historical personages.
The mantle of divinity falling on Christ and Krishna alike, exert an unfathomable influence on our life. On this in Them our devotion is fixed. On this in Them we meditate. By virtue of that meditation we grow in the divine virtues embodied in Them. That is the purpose of mythology. This value in mythology I emphasise without thereby refuting the believer's faith in the historic fact of what others might assume is legend.
Scepticism often condemns legend as incredible. To the layman some scientific pronouncements of the anthropologists also seem incredible and fantastic, yet, because they are "scientific" he admits them to be true. Approached with the same scepticism we have for myth we discover that our reverence for the scientist's conclusions is based on certain arbitrary tests and reconstructions of society's structure and the doings of human beings alive millions of years ago, tests and reconstructions at least as questionable as blind faith in the scriptures.
Incomplete knowledge founded on scrappy data is more often than not the basis of the scientist's judgment of the remote past. The scripture at least claims to be nearly as old as the events it narrates.
Take for instance the scientific assertion that St. Paul wrote only five (and not fourteen) Epistles, based on the "Computer Test Findings" of a Scottish Clergyman that the others are different in style. How flimsy an argument! Does not our own style undergo great changes over the years? There is a lot in what Dr. John Lewis says in his "The Religions of the World made Simple" "But legend after all is poetic history and may teach us more about the. Buddha than the bare facts of his life." This is true of Christ, Krishna, etc.
"Myths to the Greeks were the living tissue that fleshed out the bare bones of their official religion," says LIFE International, dealing with "Greece". It is equally true of the Ancient Religion. Myths have great philosophical truths hidden in them. A colourful presentation of Indian philosophy is found in the Puranas (literally, "old ones") which are, unfortunately, in Sanskrit. Since it is no longer a common spoken language, we tend to ignore the fact that the names occurring in the scriptures have literal and significant meanings.
Here are some:
Isa (or Isvara) is perhaps just the verb of IS (Existence)! Perhaps it is derived from the same original root as Jesus, Jehovah, and Isis. Isvara is "Inner Ruler" - the Conscious Power in everything.
Vishnu: All-pervading.
Vasudeva: One who dwells in everything - even in an atom.
Krishna: One who is dark, one who attracts, one who purifies.
Rama: In whom one rejoices or rests.
Siva: The abode of auspiciousness.
Narayana: The soul of all embodied beings, the inner Prompter, the Witness of all, also "Son of Man".
This is true even of Biblical names:
Jesus: One who saves people "from their sins".
Christ: A Polish lady once told me that this is to be pronounced "Hristhe" with a guttural sound.
Hristha in Sanskrit means "dweller in the heart" - God!
All these are the attributes of the One God Whom we all adore. Myths have, thus, a dual role to play, as the repositories of philosophy in their esoteric form, and as the inspirers of wisdom and humanity in and through the narratives themselves.
Gods and Goddesses Who abound in the legends of the world are permanent images of philosophy. Today not only artists and poets, but also philosophers and psychologists are turning to Greek mythology for inspiration. Lord Russell emphasises the influence of Greek religion on Greek philosophy, and, through such philosophers as Pythagoras and Plato, on Christianity itself.
Language changes and words change their meaning, but myths endure. The myth is "perennial language", preserved and handed down from generation to generation, so perpetuating philosophic truths. Sooner or later, their message is decoded and the truths hidden in them rediscovered.
Let us consider for a moment the wealth and wisdom contained in a much disdained Indian tradition, worship of an animal-form. I refer to Lord Ganesha or Vignesha. These very words have simple meanings. Ganesha means "Lord of the hosts, multitude of beings, or servants of the Lord". Vignesha means the Lord of obstacles or impediments who can avert them. These two names supplement each other beautifully. By enabling us to play our role in the community to which we belong (and that is the object of our paying homage to the Chief), we have everybody's cooperation and all obstacles are removed. We also have the blessings of the Lord's servants.
Lord Ganesha is our First Lord of Auspiciousness. To ensure the successful completion of all undertakings, the Indian was asked to worship Him. The ancient sage who instituted this custom had greater insight into the springs of success than has the modern psychologist or expert business manager. Let us see how. Ganesha is represented as an elephant-God and has a rat for a vehicle. Strange that the rat does not get crushed by His heaviness, and stranger still, one of His titles proclaims that He moves very fast. A puzzling statement! We have been given intelligence to understand it, not to dismiss it as absurd. Let us use it.
In the animal world, the elephant is regarded as a very wise animal. The rat is a destructive creature and is perhaps the only one which destroys (paper, books and clothes) without reason, purposelessly and for the mere joy of destruction.
We have a rat within ourselves. It is doubting intellect, the doubting Thomas (lamas, in Sanskrit, means "darkness" - the rat is very active at night when it is dark, and even so is the intellect of an ignorant man!) The rat destroys all books just as his doubting intellect destroys all knowledge. It has no faith at all, and will not believe. With the incisive teeth of foolish argument and wrangling, it tears everything. Its purpose is not to know or to learn, to gather and construct, only destructive argumentation gives it great joy. Yet the rat intellect can never be destroyed! What shall we do? Unless the elephant of wisdom rides this rat, governs it and guides it, it will ruin our lives, and push us into mess after mess in whatever work we undertake.
Why is the elephant regarded as a symbol of wisdom, power and strength? The elephant is the only animal which has its organ of action (the hand) growing out of its head! That is why it is wise. In our case, the brain (thought), the mouth (speech) and the hands (action) are at a little distance from one another. Hence, we find that men think one thing, say another and do something entirely different. Unless these three are integrated - as in the head of the elephant - we cannot attain success here, and we cannot become wise. Thought, word and deed must agree; then we are wise.
Again, the elephant is the only animal whose "hand" hides its mouth. We talk more and do less, therefore we achieve very little. Our deeds must be louder than our speech, then our words will have power.
That is the picture of the elephant-God (wisdom) riding the rat (intellect). The rat is not crushed, it is part of the picture; it cannot be. Just so, the intellect cannot be destroyed; but if it is governed, controlled and guided by real wisdom (whose main characteristics are sincerity, truthfulness and practice), the very same intellect can and does become extremely auspicious and constructive. It takes us fast to be successful conclusion of all our undertakings.
Jung found in the myths symbolic archetypes of human response. Psychology draws great lessons from myths. That it should be "beyond argumentation", the essential qualification of hypnotic or auto-suggestion, is important here. The suggestion should be "planted" in the mind and allowed to grow there. The ancient Indian sage knew, too, that it was disastrous to encourage rationalisation of the deities, their forms and doings. Always it is the intellect, without the guidance of faith or wisdom, that clamours for such rational approach. Rationalisation in its inadequacy might often undermine devotion, defeating the very purpose of the Ancient Religion. Sages, therefore, gave us the symbols, hymns and methods of worship. If we cultivate devotion and carry on that worship with faith, the hidden truth will reveal itself when the time is ripe.
X - The Veda, the Holy Book of India
'The first and foremost speech, O Brihaspati, that sages sent formulating their visions - speech that was their best, was stainless - it revealed with love the Divine Mystery within them.
Rig Veda.
Even the thought of such revelation thrills the heart. The Veda, acknowledged by even great Western scholars as the oldest scripture, has been preserved and handed down from generation to generation from several thousand years B.C. Indians believe that the Veda is the breath of God, and my own Master Sri Swami Sivananda supports this view and says, "The date of the Vedas has never been fixed. It can never be fixed." (All about Hinduism).
Professor Max Muller pays a glowing tribute to the Vedas - "The Rig Veda is the most ancient book in the world. The sacred hymns of the Brahmanas stand unparralleled in the whole world, and their preservation might be called miraculous."
The religion of India is based on the Veda. The Indian is firm in his conviction that "all other scriptures are subject to verification by the Veda. Any philosophy will be allowed to stand and flourish, but it must conform to the Veda."
"Veda" means "knowledge". Knowledge is eternal. Newton did not create 'gravitation', but discovered it. It was there already, and he merely removed the veil of ignorance that covered it. The great Truth revealed in the Veda is eternal. In the Veda it is unveiled, discovered, revealed. The Indian's belief, of course, embraces the "form" too. Even the sound-form in which the Truth has been presented and preserved (the hymns) is not thought to be of human origin. It was "seen" by the Rishi (the Seer) and recorded.
A thought occurs to us. Even an inspired thought occurs to the mind, usually as a result of some self-effort preceding it. We desire to know; we strive; and the thought occurs 'to us. In spiritual revelation, this succession of events is absent. Even as, while you are reading this page, you are aware that it is distinct from you, and it is not a product of your thought, word or deed, so the Rishi perceives the Revelation deep down within himself, with the eye of intuition. He recognises its divine origin. He is not the author. He claims no copyright. It is a divine treasure, it is a property of the Divine, the Omnipresent God. Hence it is that I assert again and again that this religion does not "belong" to the Indians, that this revelation is not exclusively for the Hindus - but is the property of the one who seeks it.
The Rishi and successive generations of seekers imposed upon themselves the sacred duty of preserving its purity and of handing it down to posterity exactly as it was revealed to the original seer. How did they achieve this? Their technique is clear. By appointing a section of the community (the Brahmanas) the guards and preservers of this treasure. No pain was too great for them to learn, recite and teach it. There were no books; the scriptures had to be learnt by hearing. Hence, the Veda was called "sruti" (learnt and taught by hearing). Incidentally, even today it is regarded as blasphemous to learn the Veda from a book; one may not learn the correct pronounciation, and thus the purity of the scripture may be lost. Such was their zeal in the preservation of the Veda.
The student learnt it by heart. He did not merely cram it. By a delicate, artistic and rigorous process of learning, he literally inscribed every hymn and every verse on the tablet of his heart. The Brahmana's duty was to recite the Veda (a portion of it) every day, and there were special occasions during which it was obligatory upon him to do so. In spite of this, it might happen that sickness or other causes might prevent him from reciting the Veda for a period of time. Yet, if it had been learnt by the proper method, it was impossible to forget it.
I have heard two of the Vedas being recited: The Yajur Veda and the Sama Veda. Even without understanding the meaning or the words, the mere vibrations produced by them, the rhythm of their metre, and the lovely harmony of their sound, are so elevating that they compel us into self-forgetful contemplation of the Supreme Being they glorify.
Though tradition has it that the four were simultaneously "breathed" by the Creator, Who has four faces, the Rig Veda is regarded as the most ancient of the four. It consists of hymns or Mantras. The Yajur Veda contains details of the various rituals that had to be performed by the community. Sama Veda was the first invocation set to music. Incidentally, Sama, psalm and song - do they not sound alike? They mean the same pattern. The Atharva Veda contains charms and spells for the fulfilment of various earthly desires, and Vedic historians feel that whereas the first three were Aryan in their origin, Atharva Veda was perhaps a sort of amalgam of Aryan culture and the glorious culture that existed in India itself when the Aryan settlers arrived. The Aryans were culture-conscious, but not class-conscious. Anything that they found useful and fruitful, and which did not undermine true culture, they made their own, thus conquering the world by assimilation on the one hand, impregnation on the other, understanding being the catalyst. Exactly the same could be said about the then-prevalent Dravidian culture in India.
By great sages and saints like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Swami Sivananda, and President Dr. Radhakrishnan, that Aryan spirit is continued even in our own times. They have, even as their forebears of ancient days had, opened the door for the mutual flow of ideas between religions like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc., and even between these and schools of scientific and philosophic thought. In fact that is what "Veda" really means. It is not only a particular book, but "knowledge", though knowledge which is not merely the result of reasoning and thinking, for that circumscribed knowledge is likely to be tainted by imperfection and tinted by prejudice. Revealed knowledge of all kinds is Veda. That is why the Indian is not averse to studying the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (11.4.10) specifically includes even history and the sciences in "the breath of God". Several savants in recent time have endeavoured to prove that the Vedas contain great scientific truths, and that the ancient religion we are discussing is based on science. One of them is Sri Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, whose book "Sanatana Dharma" is a fascinating exposition of the scientific bases for some of the much-maligned aspects of this religion.
Veda is not opposed to science. It includes science. Veda, and Science, mean "Knowledge". I do not wish to create the impression that all that is good and noble in the "Ancient Religion" is Aryan in origin! Far from it. Religion is not an inert, non-radiant, non-absorbent rocky substance! Religion is a living force, and life is a perennial process of give-and-take. The Ancient Religion that I discuss here does not have a single original source. It has had many tributaries: that is its strength and glory.
Scholars, as usual with their preoccupation with history and their own ideas of "proof", assert that the present-day Indian religion called Hinduism is in the main an amalgam of Aryan and Dravidian thought. Some even believe that the fourth Veda, the Atharvana Veda, is of Dravidian origin (not to be regarded as divinely inspired!), and that certainly the Indian epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata) and also the Puranas or legends are of Dravidian origin. Maybe.
Who are the Dravidians? They who were in India before the Aryans came. Good! But the scholars do not stop there, but go on to ask the question, "From where did they come?" People are still labouring under the ludicrous notion that Man was born in one small village in Central Africa (or, as the Dravidian scholars have it, in the continent that now lies at the bed of the Indian ocean), and that, as they multiplied they migrated! Every country, every landmass, that has existed from the time of creation, has had life of some sort, and Man obviously inhabited all parts of the world at the same time. And, that Man had and has his own religion, his own language and culture. Later, there have been small-scale and large-scale migrations, which resulted in the fusion of several (not only two) cultures. The Aryans, as they travelled along Europe and the Middle East, had not insulated themselves against the reception of religious knowledge from the natives of those countries; they gave and they took. It is not possible now to draw up an income and expenditure account to find out which way the balance lay. Nor is it possible now to remove the Dravidian influence from Hinduism, nor the Aryan contribution. It is like a young man wishing to get rid of the father (or mother) element in his body, which is the product of the union of the two.
It is not impossible to accept the theory that the Aryan invaders conquered India. Nomadic tribes are usually more united (on account of the ever-gnawing sense of insecurity), and therefore stronger than "settled" communities, who have the leisure and reason (wealth and jealousy) to fight among themselves and grow weak. That is what happened to India when the European invaders came in recent history. It is quite possible that the conquered Dravidians accepted part of the religious beliefs of the conquerors. But evidence is largely to the contrary. The Dravidians accepted the conqueror's language (a common practice even today), but there may be a different reason. The Dravidian language, Tamil, was much more difficult than the Aryan Sanskrit - hence it was easier for the Dravidians to learn Sanskrit than for the Aryans to learn Tamil, in order to effect a complete integration of the two communities. However, Sanskrit could not replace Tamil, which survived as the language of the people, who for a time regarded Sanskrit as the sacred tongue.
But, in the field of religion, it was the Aryans that were thoroughly absorbed. Temple (and therefore Idol) worship was Dravidian, obviously because they led a settled life; the nomadic Aryans could not afford it, and therefore confined their worship to fire, which could be (and had to be, for food) kindled every day.
The caste - and the "stages-of-life" - systems that we shall discuss later, were also perhaps of Dravidian origin; they needed settled life, whereas in nomadic life, clear-cut division of labour is not always possible. Nor is there any evidence that the Aryans had these even in their own Nordic homes, at least in the way in which it developed in later Indian religion.
Either these were of Dravidian origin, or they were evolved by fusion of cultures. In praise of the Dravidians, a lot could be said. The urge to colonise is not born of a sense of superiority or of affluence, but of inferiority and poverty! True, when a race or a king is powerful, a few people may invade a neighbouring state and conquer it; but large-scale emigration is the effect of poor climatic and living conditions. Cold climate is not conducive to cultural pursuits as much as warm climate. It is the wealth of India that tempted the invaders, ancient and modern; that the Indians were "backward" and that the invaders came to uplift them is sweet bluff to camouflage villainy. In fact a great number of present-day (post-Independence) Indian scholars boldly claim that it was only after the Europeans had established colonies in the East that their own mother-countries became civilised: the inference being that it was the economic and cultural-wealth of India that promoted the civilisation of the West and denudation of the East.
The Aryan settlers were totally absorbed by the local people, the Dravidians. The religion that was born of this fusion of cultures and thought patterns, contains in it the elements of dynamism and the world-and-life acceptance of the nomadic Aryans and of the spirit of renunciation, asceticism and world-and-life negation of the settled Dravidians (it is noteworthy that Yoga, vegetarianisrn and other ascetic practices are also ascribed to the Dravidians), who sought to realise the Supreme Being here and now, and not just earn a holiday in heaven, as the Aryans sought. Hinduism also absorbed the Dravidian Gods, Rama and Krishna (remember both were dark-skinned) and formulated the theory of the Avatara or Incarnation of God.
There again is a ridiculous notion that the Aryans hated the Dravidians, and that the Vedic expressions "Asuras" "Dasyus" etc., referred to the Dravidians to fight whom the Aryans invoked the assistance of the Vedic gods. Nothing could be farther from truth. Asuras were people not with dark skins, but with dark souls! These Asuras could have been found among Dravidians, as much as amongst Aryans themselves. The Asuras, to my mind, were irreligious, ungodly, morally derelect, anti-divine people. The Aryans could not hate the people amongst whom they had come to settle: in fact, it may well be that they came to India as refugees (from the Ice Age cataclysms of the North) and not as invaders at all.
The Veda, as it has come down to us today, might also be of combined Aryo-Dravidian origin, though dogmatic statements concerning this may be left to "omniscient" research scholars! Part of the revelation could have come to the Aryans in the Arctic Circle, and part of it could have come to the Dravidians in what is today the East and the Middle East. I do not have the authority to call the latter as "interpolations" fit, only to be removed and discarded. Divine Revelations never cease. God is not like the Broadcasting Station with a "closing time". Hence the Indian believes "Anantaa vai Vedaah" (Vedas are endless).
XI - Creation, according to Veda
All this, whatever moves in this unmoving world, enveloped by God.
Isa Upanishad.
This apparently inert universe, this insentient matter, has puzzled scientists and philosophers alike. Scientists have wondered "what" it is, and philosophers have pursued the "why" of it. After centuries of such pursuit, we have gone no farther than the simple scriptural paradoxes! Such is the lure of knowledge and such is the compelling inner urge in Man to think, and to think logically, that he insists on unravelling this mystery with the only instrument he has, his own intellect, however imperfect and undeveloped it is.
The Rig Veda in a famous Sutra declares, "The non-existent was not, the existent was not. Then the world was not, nor the firmament, nor that which is above. How could there be any investing envelope, and where? ... How could there be the deep unfathomable water?" (Wilson's translation).
Human intellect cannot possibly grasp the mystery of creation, for the intellect is limited to logical thought, which operates on pairs of opposites. The word (or the idea) "existent" immediately suggests its opposite. The word "knowledge" implies a knower, apart from it. "Subject" is such only in relation to an object. One might logically arrive at the conclusion that before this diversity was created, one alone could have existed. The Rig Veda, while conceding such a possibility ("That One unbreathed upon breathed of his own strength; other than That there was nothing whatever"), and assuring us that "sages having meditated in their hearts have discovered by their wisdom the connection of the existent with the non-existent", dramatically asks "Who really knows? Who in this world may declare it? Whence was this creation, whence was it engendered? The Gods were subsequent to creation; so who knows whence it arose?"
However, meditation and intuitive wisdom born of it, enable us to perceive the "connection between the existent and the non-existent", i.e., the truth that they are one - the two poles of the one transcendent reality, which is One and Many at the same time!
Yet it will not do to evade the issue of creation. We see in this world that all that exists has had a birth. Therefore the universe as a whole, too, should have a birth. At least that is what our reason suggests, and for which it demands confirmation. The Rig Veda provides an answer, in the graphic Purusha Sukta.
"Purusha is verily all this (visible world), all that is, and all that is to be; he is also the lord of immortality, for he mounts beyond (his own condition) for the food (of living beings)." This idea is echoed in Srimad Bhagavatham. God created the world in order that the individual soul might perfect itself. The Purusha Sukta declares, "Purusha, who has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, investing the earth in all directions, exceeds (it by a space) measuring ten fingers." Here we have an idea which finds its parallel in the Holy Bible. God created the world. He created Man (i.e., the body of man) "out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." In other words, He Himself entered (as the breath of life) into the body of man. The Purusha Sukta, therefore, tells us that He has thousands of heads, etc., i.e., all these are His, the Indweller's. Though pervading all, He is not exhausted by them, for He exceeds the universe by "ten fingers" (obviously, a bit of healthy humour - once it is recognized He is "beyond" the universe, who can measure whether that extension is ten inches or ten billion miles?)
The world was created for the perfection (symbolically the food) of man; but why was created? There is no answer. It is His Will. "Three fourths of Purusha ascended; the other fourth that remained in this world proceeds repeatedly, and, diversified in various forms, went to all animate and inanimate creation". Here the Veda gives different proportion, only one fourth covers the universe and three-fourths remains "uncreated". This one-fourth is projected repeatedly.
We do not know if the universe was ever created ex nihilo! If we concede this, we shall be caught in the absurdity that before that hypothetical date in the far distant past, there was nothing (i.e. no universe) for ever and ever! Moreover, the effect is always in the cause. And, if matter was in God and was projected as the effect on a certain date, how was it possible for that hidden cause not to have materialised at all before that? Hence the Indian conviction that creation-dissolution, projection-absorption is an ever recurrent cycle (Samsara) which is beginningless, but which will cease for the individual who transcends it by the realisation of the Absolute.
At the commencement of the creation of the universe in the beginning of each cycle (kalpa), from that one-fourth of the Supreme Being engaged by creation, emerges the Viraja (the First Man of Cosmic Dimensions). From here onwards, it is scientific, psychological and moral unfoldment, graphically portrayed for easy comprehension.
To the discerning, the following description is a soul-uplifting divine commandment to treat one's own life as an opportunity to sacrifice for the well-being of others, for we are told that Sacrifice gave birth to the universe. The Viraja or Virat Purusha allowed Himself to be sacrificed. The whole universe is nothing but a part of His own Body, and He allowed that unity to be cut up into infinite diversity in order that we - you and I - may live, enjoy and evolve into Perfection. Through self-sacrifice alone can Man save himself and become the saviour, (illustrated than in the life of Lord Jesus).
From that sacrifice were born the Vedas themselves, for knowledge is the fruit of self-sacrifice. All the animals (the animal-wealth) were born of that sacrifice. Even so were born men of different professions and natures. Thus are we reminded that all of them (human and sub-human beings) are but parts of the Divine Body, born of the sacrifice of the Supreme, with the sole purpose of evolving into Godhead.
"The moon was born from his mind." Psychologists and even medical scientists know that the moon and moon-phases exert a profound influence on man's mind. Sir Bernard Lovell, working with the great Jodrell Bank radio telescope definitely asserts this, as a result of his studies of cosmic rays.
"The Sun was born from his eye". The Sun "sees" the world, and so do the eyes!
"Indra and Agni were born from his mouth". They refer to the faculties of taste and speech respectively. "Vayu from his breath" - whose meaning is obvious (Vayu is wind).
"From his navel came the firmament, from his head the heaven was produced, the earth from his feet, the quarters of space from his ear, so they constituted the world". We shall presently see what the three-fold division of the universe could have implied. Space (ether) was born of His ear, and sound-waves are known to travel in space even today.
Thus was the universe born at the beginning of the Kalpa (Cycle). It is nothing but one-fourth of the Supreme Being. Since it is not full, it does not satisfy the soul of man which is none other than the consciousness of the Supreme Being, deluded into limitation. Humanity is in the position of the true owner of an estate who is not satisfied when a usurper (here nescience) "grants" to him only a small portion, yet that part is not essentially different from the whole. The universe with all its diversity is nothing but God. All beings that dwell in it are His own "limbs" as it were. It is an inspiring thought.
XII - The Vedic Religion
The Divine is all this, that has been and that will be.
Rig Veda.
From the day God created man and bestowed intelligence on him, he has sought God. This has been compared by our saints and sages to the attraction that iron feels for the magnet, and the seeds of the ankola tree for the tree itself (it is said that the seeds adhere to the trunk as they drop down). This is the only way in which the Cosmic Being expresses Its Cosmic Unity. To give a crude illustration - a male actor playes the role of a female character; He stands in front of a mirror and is irresistibly compelled to visualise his own real form and figure! God-realisation is the goal, for the simple reason that the God alone is the Reality, the Sat.
This Sat has been viewed from different angles by different people. The indescribable has been described variously by wise men. The urge to do so is irresistible. The Vedas contain many such picturesque descriptions. Now the Supreme Being is called Indra; again Mitra, Varuna, Agni, etc. But the Vedic seers were definitely not polytheists, nor were they primitive Nature-worshippers as some deluded "rationalists" regard them. If they were, would they declare in soul-stirring terms: "Ekarn sat vipra hahudha vadanti" ("The Reality is One; the knowers of the Veda speak of Him variously")?
The One Consciousness pervades the entire universe, and It is the Reality in us too. In deep devotion when we pray to that Reality and, when the necessary self-forgetful rapport is established, the Reality responds to our prayer. The One God dwelling in the clouds snowers rain on us. He in the sun illumines the earth. He, within the bowels of the earth, makes it spin, bringing about day and night revolving around the sun, bringing about the changes of seasons. (The scientist is perfectly right in telling us that the clouds rain, the sun shines and the earth rotates, and in describing how these things happen; but he is unable to say "why", nor in the ultimate analysis, what that great power or intelligence is that brings about all these wonderful phenomena).
The Vedic seers visualised (God's) Nature as made up of three planes, (elsewhere a list of fourteen planes is given; which is but an amplification of the original three). The Shatapata Brahmana declares, "There are three lokas (planes, worlds) the world of men, the world of the manes, and the world of gods." The Atharva Veda makes the description a little more graphic: "This world of men is the feet, the world of manes is the abdomen and the world of gods is the head of That Being." These three planes were described and designated as bhuh, bhuvah and svah; or prithvi, antariksham and divi; or earth (the world of men), the atmosphere (the world of the manes) and the solar region (the world of the gods).
Something very interesting emerges from this division. Were the Vedic seers conscious of the existence of these three distinct gravitational fields - the gravitational field of the earth, that of the moon and that of the sun? In the Bhagavad Gita we have the mystifying description of the paths that souls traverse after leaving this earth. They who leave this earth by night, during six months of the year when the sun's rays are more slanting and therefore less powerful, are said to reach the path of the moon; they return to the earth. The souls that leave the earth during the day-time, and during the six months when the sun's influence is more powerful, reach the solar light, and, if they are knowers of the Supreme Being, will not return to this earth again, but will eventually attain union with the Supreme Being. (Of course, the sage of Self-realisation who meditates on Om, while leaving the body, attains liberation here and now).
When we meditate deeply over these statements, it looks as though the Yogis of yore were in possession of psycho-physical secrets which enabled them consciously to project their subtle body. The denser ones just managed to get into the gravitational field of the moon. The less dense ones got into that of the sun, and the extremely subtle ones pierced even the solar orbit and passed into the Beyond. We come across a few great saints and Yogis even in recent times (Ramalinga Swami was one of them) who were able to convert even their physical body into a mass of light and disappear (immediate liberation). Obviously they knew the technique of "rocketing" the molecules of their body at the speed of light and thus converting them into light. However, if the necessary inner purity and illumination have not been acquired, this interplanetary levitation cannot be achieved. An interesting instance of this type is provided in the story of Trisanku. He is rocketed by sage Viswamitra with the intention of sending him to the solar orbit. Trisanku is too gross to get anywhere near it, and is obviously hurled back to the earth!
That we do not know how this is done is no excuse for denying it. I do not know how the atomic bomb is manufactured; but I dare not deny its existence.
The consciousness or the aspect of the Reality or God that governed these planes was given the various designations Indra, Mitra, Varuna, etc.
Even though electricity is one, the functions it performs in and through a lamp, a fan, a refrigerator and a stove are different (and even contradictory). God is One. He works (from the layman's point of view) through the sun, the clouds and the earth, creating, preserving and dissolving all living beings here on earth. We know that both the vegetable and the animal (including human, of course) kingdoms subsist because of the mysterious life-force they derive from the sun, clouds (rain) and the earth. The Indian sages "saw" not the effect (birth and growth), not even the immediate cause (the chemical components of water, earth, etc.), but the Great Intelligence hidden in these which organised these elements, and bestowed upon them the power to act and react on one another in a manner best calculated to promote birth and growth. They realised it was One Power; else, harmony would be unobtainable and one element would militate against the other. But they also recognised the functional differences in the avenues of expression of that Power and called God-in-the-Sun "Surya", God-in-the-wind "Vayu", God-in-the-fire "Agni", etc.
This, again, is not a strange Indian concept. K.M.Sen says in his book on "Hinduism": "A comparison of the Vedas with the Iranian Avesta, the Greek and Roman literatures and even Teutonic and Nordic tales (for instance the Eddic poems) reveals striking similarity between their respective mythological beliefs. For example, the Vedic god of the sky Dyaus is none other than the Greek Zeus, the Latin Jupiter, the old Norse Tyr and the old Teutonic Ziu. Apart from mythology, their views on life and death, the earth and the heaven, seem to have much in common."
We saw that the sages had "seen" that the phenomena around the earth could be broadly divided into three planes or layers - bhuh, bhuvah and svah. Each of these has its own specific characteristic. Bhu loka is the most substantial or solid of the three, it is the plane of "becoming"; that which is subtle in the other two has become gross here. The God who presides over the earth is said to be Agni or fire. Did those ancient seers know, as the modern scientist knows, that deep in the core of this globe on which we so complacently live, there is blazing fire of unimaginable heat? God dwells in our heart; and the earth's God dwells in the heart of the earth - and who is that? Fire. This Fire presides over the earth's atmosphere, too. Hence, rockets entering the earth's atmosphere too hastily (without reverence!) get burnt up. Hence, the Indians not only honoured fire, but performed all their auspicious ceremonies in or in the presence of the sacred fire (which, incidentally, shared the characteristics of the gross and the subtle and so symbolically formed the bridge between the seen and the Unseen). Spitting on fire, blowing fire out with the mouth, or desecrating fire in other ways is considered sinful; it is blaspheming against the Lord of the earth. When man reaches the journey's end on earth, his body is offered into the fire: the God he worshipped while he was alive delightedly accepts this offer.
The Vedas spoke of Agni or fire as Vaisvanara, "the divine being existing with all men". It is the same divinity that shines as the sun, also as lightning in the sky. Vaisvanara is the fire that dwells in the human organism, as the factor that causes the temperature of the body and as the gastric fire. They recognised that fire was born of water (lightning has the watery clouds as its source) without which food could not be produced on earth. Fire hidden in the earth aided this growth of food. And, finally, fire in the body cooked that food and digested it. They visualised the whole process as Yajna (sacrifice), a principle that was instituted by God Himself (as the Viraja Purusha we have discussed already) and that is indispensable for the preservation of beings in the world. Dr. Heinrich Zimmer says that "a knowledge of such affinities and inter-relationships constituted an important department of the earliest Aryan priestly wisdom. It might be described as a kind of intuitive and speculative natural science."
God divided into deities is only an attempt to overcome the inherent weakness of intellectual concept, an attempt to manifest inconceivable Truth in a form whose light will penetrate the barrier of the intellect and reach the consciousness beyond.
Thus the bhuvar-loka or the lunar region is presided over by God-in-the-wind, Vayu. The Purusha Sukta, which gives an inspiring picture of phenomena as springing from God, says Vayu was born of the breath of God, and so becomes the giver of life. Because of this, he is given almost equal rank with the Chief of gods, Indra. He is often associated with Parjanya, the particular God-in-the raincloud, who by the way is also given equal rank with Indra sometimes. Wind is a close associate of the cloud, that wafts the latter over the land and sea, in order that the cloud may rain. Vayu is an element, extremely subtle, not to be confused with the gales and storms which are but its grossest manifestations. The Rig Veda gives them distinctive names: the Maruts, led by Matarisvan. In order to bring out the essential identity, however, the Veda regards Marut also as the wind-God, saying they were children of Vayu. Vayu in association with Parjanya rules the bhuvarloka, or the atmosphere above earth's own.
Vayu is also the life-force, Prana or the vital air. Therefore, it "carries" the soul to the lunar region when the body is discarded here. The progress beyond depends upon the purity of the soul and several other factors.
The svar-loka is the region of light or the sun. The symbolism used in describing the sun is surprisingly scientific. He rides on a chariot drawn by seven horses - obviously an allusion to the seven colours of the spectrum. The driver of this chariot is Aruna or the Dawn. The charioteer is without legs; he cannot stop the chariot and get away - and the chariot is perpetually in motion. Suras or the devas or gods who dwell in this region are so called because they have bodies of light, without any shadow at all. From time immemorial Light has been associated with the highest Truth or Reality or God. One, therefore, feels that Truth is covered by the golden disc of the sun, and that once this disc is pierced, Truth will be seen. The sun's twelve qualities are personified as twelve deities called Adityas. Some regard these twelve signs of the zodiac. What is of special interest to us, however, is the epithet "Mitra", by which the sun is known. He is the friend (Mitra) of all. This aspect again is specifically extolled in the Vedas. Mitra is the god who calls men to activity, who sustains heaven and earth (by attracting the planets to stay in their orbits!) and who beholds all creatures with unwinking eyes. Usually, however, Mitra is glorified in conjunction with Varuna.
Together they guard the world and promote righteousness. Mitra rules the day and Varuna the night. But, in the Vedas, Varuna assumes great importance. (In the Gita, Lord Krishna specifically names the Sun and Varuna as His special manifestations). The root-meaning of the word Varuna is "one that covers". He covers the earth with the darkness of night. The soul that is enveloped by the darkness of ignorance, is caught in "the noose of Varuna" taken to the world of the manes and returned to the earth, for further self-purification before permitted to enter the higher region. You cannot deceive the all-seeing eye of God which Varuna symbolises. Darkness does not blind His vision nor does seclusion exclude Him. God, in His aspect of Mitra, the golden disc, the friend of all, beams upon all creation, but as not all of His creatures are able to absorb all of Him, (god in His aspect of Varuna, "one who covers", protects them from Himself.
In his "Frontiers of Astronomy", Fred Hoyle suggests that the atmosphere of the earth gives it a green house effect, i.e. allows the heat of the sun to enter it, but does not allow the radiation of the earth to escape; if this were not so "the whole Earth would be plunged into a permanent glacial condition". He says, "The gas of main importance in this respect is water vapour".
He adds,"Our atmosphere provides a protective skin around the earth. Besides supplying the air that we breathe, it shields us from all harmful radiations, particularly from gamma rays, x-rays and ultra violet light". All of which is a scientific description of Varuna.
Wonderfully, though even the light of the golden disc, fully absorbed, would annihilate us, we seek to find that which it itself hides. So sings the Isa Upanishad.
"The face of truth is covered with a golden disc. Unveil it. O Pusan, so that I who love the truth may see it. O Pusan, the sole seer, O controller, O Sun, offspring of Prajapati, spread forth your rays and gather up your radiant light that I may behold you of loveliest form. Whosoever is that person (yonder), that also am I".
The Atharva Veda explains how Varuna knows who is pure-hearted and who is not. "The mighty ruler of these worlds (Varuna) beholds as though from close at hand the man who thinks he acts by stealth; all this the gods perceive and know. If a man stands or walks or moves in secret, goes to his bed or rises, or what two men whisper as they sit together, King Varuna knows; He is the third who is present". This passage is worth meditating upon.
Varuna is even regarded as the King of gods the same as Indra. This is neither confusion nor contradiction. The fact that one "deity" is called upon by several names, and that the function is said to be performed by several deities, only proves that all of them eventually pointed to the same One God. Mitra, Varuna, as also Indra (who is regarded as an overall king of all these gods) have general authority over the entire universe (consisting of the three planes). They answered people's prayers when they were addressed by the specific titles, they responded by manifesting the specific functions and blessed the prayerful. (This is as simple as pressing a particular key producing a certain vibration or sound in a piano. The key is given a name). It is God associated with a definite function. The Kena Upanishad illustrates this through an interesting story.
The gods and the demons often wage war with one another, which philosophically symbolises eternal conflict between good and evil. On one such occasion, when the gods as usual had ultimately triumphed, they prided themselves on their might. They had forgotten that the victory belonged to the Indweller, God. The Lord understood this, and wanted to quell this pride; God loves the good and therefore removes undivine qualities from their hearts in His own mysterious ways. He appeared in front of them as a huge mysterious Being. The gods turned to Agni, the Fire-God, and requested Him to find out what this Being was.
Agni approached It. It asked Agni, "Who are you?" Agni explained that He was Fire, and could burn up everything in the twinkling of an eye. It placed in front of him a blade of grass and said, "Burn this, then." Agni tried with all his might, but failed. Frightened by this failure, Agni ran away.
The gods then sent Vayu, the Wind-god, and he too suffered a similar fate at the hands of the mysterious Being. He tried wit hall His might, but could not shake the blade of grass.
Then they prayed to Indra, their chief, to find out what It was. When Indra went forward, that Being disappeared and in Its place was the Divine Mother, Uma, who enlightened Indra as to the identity of that Being. "It was God, Indra. The victory belonged to Him. All glory be to Him," she said.
Each of these deities presides over a plane of existence or a function of the human being. But the Vedic seers never allowed themselves to forget that eventually all these had to lead them to Selfrealisation. For instance, Agni (Fire God) presides over the power of speech. (Hence, even in common parlance we refer to the fiery speech of an orator). In the Veda (Taittiriya Brahmana) there is a Mantra: "Agni is in my speech, speech in the heart, heart in me, myself in the immortal and the immortal in Brahman".
All the functions of the human are the spokes as it were of the wheel of his personality whose hub is the heart, or life. Life itself is a function of the individuality (I) as it were. This individuality is based on the immortal (Soul). This Soul is in essence Brahman or the Absolute or God. It is from Him that the Soul, the I, life and the various senses and faculties of the human being (and the deities presiding over them) derive their power. The Hindu never forgets It.
Hindu often invokes various deities, though he realises that these deities are aspects of the same God, Who is One. What is still more mysterious, he gets what he wanted.
An illustration may clarify his approach. Mr. Ram is the head of a family, works as a Judge of the High Court, is a tennis champion and also an amateur actor. He has a son who is an Advocate of the High Court, also plays tennis and takes part in the drama along with his father. In the Court, the son addresses his father, "My Lord" - he dare not say "Daddy, my client is not guilty". At home, he does not say - "My Lord, I am going out for lunch today" - he uses the familiar mode of address. At play, he regards his father as a companion or even as an opponent! In a drama, the father might play the role of the son's aunt, and the son would address "him" appropriately. One role is different from the other; and there is a mode of address and behaviour suited to each, which will be entirely out of place in any other.
Even so the Vedic seer used the various names of the One God, and obtained from Him whatever he needed. This effect was made possible on account of the intensity of his own faith and devotion. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna specifically declares, "Whatever be the form that the devotee wishes to worship, I confirm him in faith in that deity. He obtains from that deity whatever he wants, though all those blessings are bestowed on him by Me."
This faith and devotion acted as the switch, as it were, to bring into operation the particular aspect of electricity appropriate to the occasion. This is particularly true of the various mantras that we use. Each Mantra has a specific power. In other words, it is a switch which releases a particular aspect of the electric power. Electricity is the same, but it does numerous jobs, often contradictory, producing the heat of the stove and the cold of the refrigerator. Each one has its distinct switch, which brings it into operation. The overall control is vested in the main switch which is directly linked to the Power Station.
In the same manner each of the gods has his own special power and a special way of invoking that power. The aggregate of these is the Personal God Who is directly linked to the Supreme Being. All this knowledge was not superficial. It tore the veil of appearance and recognised the indwelling Spirit or Power. Mystic methods were invented to "propitiate" this Power.
XIII - The Holy Trinity
Thou art Brahma (the creator) and verily thou art Vishnu (the protector); thou art Rudra (the redeemer) and thou Prajapati (the Lord of beings).
Maitri Upanishad
While listening to an illuminating talk by a Methodist Minister, explaining the Holy Trinity of Christian Faith, I was struck by its similarity with our own faith. The Father is the Creator; we call Him Brahma. The Son is the Redeemer; we call Him Shiva. The Holy Ghost is the Preserver; we call Him Vishnu. The three are not three different entities, but One. This truth is brought out in Indian philosophy through subtle but incisive logic - legends explain it in picturesque language.
Brahman or the Absolute is beyond description, one and indivisible. Leave It alone! You can neither comprehend It, nor describe It. Maya or the illusory power of Brahman has infinite potentialities, all of them capable of being grouped generally into three Modes called Satva, Rajas, and Tamas. To help understanding, I might give an illustration. Fire has light, heat and smoke. Maya has Satva, Rajas and Tamas. Satva is light, purity wisdom and divinity. Rajas is "heat", desire and activity. Tamas is "smoke", ignorance, inertia and stupidity. All creation including the Trinity - is within the shadow of Maya.
The Satvic portion of Maya (the aspect which is all-light) gave rise to the manifestation of the Trinity. One can picture the ocean, disturbed. This disturbance generates currents and counter currents. These cross currents continuously, interminably, run into one another. One current can predominate, but is always or intermittently under stress from one or both other currents. A crude illustration gives another aspect. Molasses in a sugar factory is again and again subjected to chemical action, each time becoming less sweet. So pure Satva may lose the whole sweetness of its purity. Likewise the other modes, Rajas and Tamas, in the constant stress, lose the essence of themselves.
The purest Satva is Vishnu; the Rajasic aspect of Satva is Brahma; and the Tamasic aspect of this Satva is Shiva. Now forget this and re-affirm that these three are One and One alone. There is no essential difference among them. They are all manifestations, as it were, of the Absolute Being. Indian legend has it that the Trinity once took birth in the mortal world to test the chastity of Anasuya. Anasuya brought them together and they re-combined into One, Lord Dattatreya. This is a beautiful way of reminding us that the Trinity is One in Three or Three in One.
The symbolism is brought out beautifully in the Vedas. Brahma is "cosmic evolution", literally. The Sages visualised it as a creative power of God. Of the Trinity, Brahma is hardly ever worshipped. A legend clothes this truth, but there is no difficulty in understanding that the worshipper, being himself created (born), concerns himself primarily with the two aspects of God he has to contend with, the Preserver, Vishnu,. and the Redeemer, Siva.
In the Veda, Vishnu is an Aditya or "son of Aditi". Aditi occupies a remarkable position in the Veda. She is the Mother of all gods; the Supreme Creative (illusory) Power or Maya! Vishnu is Light, not the candle-light, but the Light that nourishes. Lord Krishna refers to this in the Gita: "I am Vishnu among the Adityas". This sustaining light is simultaneously in the three planes (the "lokas") of men, the manes and the gods. On earth it is manifest as fire, in atmosphere as lightning, in "heaven" as the Sun. To Vishnu as Trivikrama, are ascribed deeds. One was to measure all existence in three strides, as the Sun measures the world, rising, in the zenith, and setting.
The Brahmana, a portion of the Veda, poses a magnificient concept of Truth. Vishnu is Himself the sacrifice. The entire universe is the sacrifice of God. From this stems the concept that God Himself appears as all phenomena and the objects of creation, sacrificing" Reality to produce the illusion of the world. So the universe has been built with sacrifice, even as a house is built with bricks. Vishnu is the Preserver and the Sacrifice, the law that governs the universe. Truth reflects in every mirror, for us the mirror image is that only the spirit of self sacrifice guiding mankind makes possible the sustenance of the world common-weal. Vishnu as a personal God is visualised as holding a conch, a discus, etc. - all of them symbolic of some great Truth. The conch produces the "OM" sound - "the Word that was with God, the Word that was God". The discus is called "Sudarshana", which literally means "perfect vision", though it is visualised as a weapon. This weapon of perfect vision obviously annihilates imperfect vision of the Truth or ignorance! It is the Preserver's task to preserve righteousness on earth; to achieve this He incarnates Himself again and again. Legends describe ten (often twenty four) of these incarnations which, by the way, also gives us a picture of cosmic evolution.
Shiva does not so incarnate Himself. In the Vedas, this Member of the Trinity is hailed as "Rudra" and also as "Shiva", one superficially contradicting the other. Rudra is "terrible or frightening", Shiva is "auspicious or pleasing". That is just what Redemption is! To those who are voyaging across the ocean in a luxury liner, the ocean is delightful; when the ship is sinking, how different this liquid death looks! To the good man Redemption is most welcome and auspicious; to the evil-doer, death is terrible. Another interpretation is that "Shiva" literally means "in whom all things lie", i.e. God in Whom all find rest. He is a Destroyer, only in so far as Redemption involves Destruction, but as a Redeemer He is Protection too. The role of Shiva drinking poison to save the world from destruction underlines this truth.
Thus the Transcendental Reality is first conceived of as a cosmic Personal God, and then shown to be a God full of compassion for all creatures, who actively participates in the protection and redemption of all. The One appears as many. The One plays many roles. The One is worshipped in many ways. The One is approached from diverse angles. Hence, the Vedas proclaim: "The Unborn is manifested and understood variously". The unborn child is unrelated to anyone; but the moment it is born, it is son to its father, brother to its brothers and nephew to its uncle.
Him we adore in all, as all, and ultimately as the all-in-all. The grandeur of the Indian concept of the Ultimate Reality is thrillingly summed up in the bold utterance: "That thou art". "You yourself are That!" "I am That Supreme Reality". This superb declaration, this clarion call to all humanity, this transcendent harmony of all vibrations, is proclaimed in the Upanishads, the last part of the Vedas.
XIV - The Magnificence of Liberating Truth
"All the choir of heaven and furniture of earth, in a word all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any substance without the mind. So long as they are not actually perceived by me or do not exist in my mind, or that of any other created spirit, they must either have no existence at all, or else subsist in the mind of some Eternal Spirit."
Berkeley
Here is the Last Word of the Vedas, the Greatest Truth: "All these gods, these five great elements - earth, water, fire, air and ether -, all these small creatures, and these others, the seeds of creation, the beings born of egg, those born of the womb, and the others born of sweat, plants, horses, cows, men, elephants, whatever else which breathes, and moves and flies, or is immovable - all these are guided by Consciousness; and are supported by Consciousness; the universe has Consciousness for its guide; Consciousness is the basis or stay of all. Verily, Consiousness is the Absolute, the Ultimate Reality", declares the Aitareya Upanishad.
It is towards this grand goal of human existence that the hymns and rituals of the Vedas lead. All the forms and formalities lead to the Ultimate Truth which is declared as Consciousness. This Consciousness "dwells" in all and is all, in It there are no distinctions between animate and inanimate nature. Though the entire universe or creation is aglow with this Consciousness, It Itself transcends even that creation.
This Consciousness is the "unified field" towards which the modern scientists are working; whether they will be able to reach it with their finite instruments - for even their finest, the intellect, is itself finite - is for time to prove. This is the Realisation or direct immediate experience in which even the subject and object fuse into one. Our sages and Yogis did not stop with the statement "I experience that Consciousness", as though the subject is the experiencer and that Consciousness was apart from him - even as this paper is different from your eyes. Consciousness has no "differences". It is the One, in which there is no distinction of subject and object; no I, you or he; no here or there.
"That which is the subtle essence, in that all that exists has its Being. That is the Truth. That is the Self. That thou art", declares the Chhandogya Upanishad. The Guru instructs here, "You O disciple, are non-different from That Consciousness. When you have shed the scales of ignorance, then you will experience the Truth, that you are not the body, finite mind and intellect nor the self arrogating ego, but you are That Consciousness."
The wise disciple meditates and realises, "I am That Consciousness". This is the declaration of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Even this formula is in dualistic language, for language or expression is always dualistic. The experience of oneness is not capable of being described in words. Just as you cannot even describe what you experience when you eat sugar candy. You may say, "It is sweet". You pre-suppose the other man has tasted something which is sweet, and he can guess what your experience is, but you have not expressed your own experience. When such is the case even with worldly experiences, how about experiencing and expressing the extremely subtle Truth which is Consciousness?
Hence, the Vedas exhorted all those who would want to attain this supreme experience to purify themselves, to steady their mind and to learn the art of meditation, assuring all that in the fullness of time, everyone will experience this Truth, without need for explanation. This is true of physical science, just as it is true of spiritual science.
In the words of Aldous Huxley: "It is only by making physical experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of matter and its potentialities, and it is only by making psychological and moral experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of mind and its potentialities. In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life, these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realise them, we must fulfil certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid".
Who is daring enough to listen to this call? We aspire to be swimming champions, but we refuse to enter the swimming pool before we can swim. We are not prepared to take the preliminary steps, and we say, "Prove that I will remain afloat and will be able to swim, before I agree to enter the water". We will never learn to swim and will perhaps die grumbling that all this talk about swimming is pure nonsense, even as the atheist or materialist might say today that all this talk about God or an Ultimate Reality is hallucination. Come, jump in and learn to swim in this ocean of Consciousness. The Vedas paint a sublime picture of Creation, but quickly reveal the Truth that the painter, the canvas, the variegated colors, and the observer of the portrait - are "all" one Consciousness.
XV - Creation versus Illusion
"Gradually philosophers and scientists arrived at the startling conclusion that, since every object is simply the sum of its qualities, and since qualities exist only in the mind, the whole objective universe of matter and energy, atoms and stars, does not exist except as a construction of the consciousness, an edifice of conventional symbols shaped by the senses of man".
Lincoln Barnett in "The Universe and Dr. Einstein."
Physics stops with the analysis of "matter", and that is its proper realm. The ultimate in physics is energy, which is extremely subtle matter. The dividing line between matter and energy is thinning daily and, with Einstein's declaration that matter is nothing but dense energy, has nearly disappeared.
Less dense, or rather subtle, energy binds together more dense energy. The physicist is satisfied with this much, and when he is asked another question: "Why are there two forces in the atom - the electrical force which attracts the positively charged protons and the negatively charged electrons towards each other, and the nuclear force which binds together several positively charged protons in the same nucleus?" "That is how it is", says the scientist, "we are not interested in the question - why!" The philosopher sees in this arrangement the hand of Mighty Intelligence. He introduces the third element, consciousness, to the scientist's duality of matter and energy, but quickly absorbs these two into the One Consciousness.
The sages have analysed all matter and reduced it to the three modes of nature - Satva, Rajas and Tamas. The scientist, too, has analysed all matter and arrived at the dead-end of three (electron, proton and neutron). They have used different terminology - perhaps to refer to the same principles. Let us assume that: Satva is neutron. Rajas is proton. Tamas is electron.
(a) Satva is purity, light - close to God or the Ultimate Reality. Because of Satva the cosmos has stability and is held together. Even so, within the nucleus, the neutron holds the atom together.
(b) Rajas is the active principle. It compels activity. It keeps everything in motion. Similarly, protons have a positive electric charge and keep the electrons dancing around.
(c) Tamas is inertia, darkness or stupidity which creates illusion and delusion (with the help of Rajas). The electrons are the building bricks of the material universe.
(Some mystics interpret Satva, Rajas, and Tamas as Order, Energy and Inertia.)
The phenomena themselves are not complicated. All substance is, (we know "scientifically") differentiated by the number of electrons and protons. Dancing electrons, elusive and perhaps delusive as well, create it in combination with protons, in the form of molecules. Even as Tamas is intractable and difficult to overcome and conquer, the individual electron is impossible to analyse and locate. It was first deduced only by the supposition that it was there.
The nuclear scientist Oppenheimer says that within the nucleus, protons and neutrons are sometimes interchanged. Protons become neutrons and vice versa. This is also true of Satva and Rajas. Only the dynamic man (and not a lazy man) can sublimate his dynamism (Rajas) into purity (Satva) and become a saint. A saint who is full of Satva is also dynamic in unselfish activity. Again, it is the neutron that is used in breaking other atoms to create nuclear power; for the simple reason that because of its neutral electric charge, it is not attracted or repelled by the other atom. Even so, it is only Satva (which is free from the Tamaso-Rajasic impulses of love and hatred, likes and dislikes) that is capable of piercing the veil of ignorance, and enabling us to see the Light of Lights, God, and share His Power.
An atom with these three fundamental components has the power to blow up a whole city. This is Shakti (Power). But this power does not get released haphazardly? Because, in each one of these atoms dwells God or Chit (Consciousness), which governs this power, keeps these three elements together, brings about differentiation, and is thus responsible for the manifestation of the Universe. That consciousness is the Reality. The Ultimate Reality is the consciousness within each atom of existence - perhaps within the neutron, proton and electron. It is veiled by appearance or Maya - the universe of names and forms is the result.
In the realm of inanimate matter one plus one equals two, but in the realm of sentience or life one plus one equals ...? Infinity? God plus Maya, Man plus Woman, Reality plus appearance. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. An idea is built up of its component thought, but it is not the sum of their addition one to the other, the Ultimate Idea is the uncountable, the Reality, God.
Can this Reality hidden in the atom be perceived by the senses or any physical instrument? Unlikely. As Zimmer admits that science cannot go further than it has, and cannot even prove an isolated electrons, even so, Lord Krishna makes this dramatic declaration in the Gita: "I (God) am not apparent in this universe, though I pervade all, because I am surrounded by Yoga-Maya."
Yoga is union - Maya is illusion. Yoga-Maya is illusion caused, the union of these three elements of Satva (neutron), Rajas (proton) and Tamas (electron). So long as we are busy analysing the phenomena composed of these three, so long shall we be away from the Reality, the Consciousness-Power within them, which is also behind the intellect of the scientist and the metaphysician. It is to that within that one points as the "I".
The word universe points to one, and this alone convinces us that the stuff of which the entire universe is made is the same, and throughout we find Power and Consciousness, which pervade everything. All things can ultimately be broken down to Power (Life), guided by Consciousness. These seem to be the Ultimate, but that is not so. There cannot be two masters. What happens if Power disobeys Consciousness, and what happens if Consciousness misuses Power? In Indian mythology, Shakti, which is Power, is regarded as the female aspect, and Shakta (or Shiva) which is Consciousness, is regarded as the male aspect of the Cosmic Being. These are not separate entities, but are one. In India this is symbolised in an idol in which one half has the male form and the other half the female form, Ardhanareeswara.
Shiva and Shakti are not separate entities, but are one and we come to the conclusion that what exists is "conscious power" and not consciousness and power.
The entire universe can be reduced to Chit-Shakti, Conscious-Power. This is the one and the only power that exists. Even the word "individual" points to this truth. It is the telescoping of two words indivi(sible)dual.
We have fallen into the habit of thinking in terms of subject-object relationship. In the thirteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna describes Matter (or Power, or Life) as the "field of knowledge" or the object. It is noteworthy that these had more or less been described earlier as "My inferior Nature" (i.e., the Nature of God). He then describes Himself as the Witness-Consciousness or Knower of the field in all of them. One (He) alone exists. Matter, Power or Life in His own Nature (or Body) and He Himself is the Indwelling Intelligence or WitnessConsciousness. This happens even in our own personality, looking at it empirically. When there is pain in the eye, the intelligence within treats it as an object in pain, and hence we are aware of the pain. Whereas, in normal circumstances, that eye would be regarded as part of the subjective intelligence itself, becoming aware of the objects of the world it perceives. The distinction between this intelligence and this power or life, therefore, is a play of words, a figure of speech.
The two, matter and soul, life and spirit, Shakti and Chit, are indivisibly one. That is the ultimate point of synthesis. This Chit-Shakti has always existed, and from this point of view, there has been no evolution. Nothing has ever taken place. This is the standpoint of Gaudapada and Vasishtha.
Fred Hoyle, astronomer and scientist, supports this view when he says that this universe has had no beginning at all, and that it has always been essentially in the same state. He feels that rudimentary hydrogen is being constantly recreated all over the universe, created, not out of nothing, but by reduction of the complex to the simple!
Perhaps the hydrogen atom being the lightest (with atomic weight one) indestructible and immutable finale, and when all other atoms are somehow "destroyed", they reduce themselves to the ultimate irreducible hydrogen atom. This rudimentary hydrogen exists today as it did millions of years ago, before by permutation and combination the other elements were evolved. So in fact this alone exists now - in the other combinations.
This alone will exist when the other elements are destroyed, and the cycle is completed. The whole thing will then be broken down again to the rudimentary hydrogen! Hence, argue Gaudapada and Sri Krishna - only it exists even now, though in different apparent combinations.
This is supported by science, too. The scientist's own viewpoint is that only this rudimentary matter exists even now, though it appears as the different molecules, elements and, therefore, objects. From this angle of vision, there has been no change, no evolution.
That which has been evolved by the combination of several other things is not the Ultimate Reality - for it is still reducible to its own components - and the combination took place (creation) and will come to an end (destruction).
Gaudapada declares, "That which is non existent before and after, does not exist now, either. Thus, the worldly objects which are illusion merely appear to exist".
Sri Krishna provides the positive aspect of this truth in Srimad Bhagavatham XI. 19/7, "O Uddhava, this threefold modification (birth, existence and death, or body, mind and senses) that arises in you is an illusion and is not real; because it appears in the middle (now) only, and not in the beginning nor in the end. These states of birth, death, etc., do not touch the substratum (the Self, or God-in-Man, Which alone is real). That (the Self) which was, is and will ever be, alone is the Reality".
Yoga-Vasishtha supports this theory. Vasishtha says that nothing happens in this universe! Let us take an illustration. Seen through a microscope, the skin is a teeming crowd of cells engaged in feverish activity. But look at it with the naked eye. It is a placid piece of leather, smooth and inert. Similarly, when we take a narrow view of this universe, we see a lot of activity, creation and evolution. If you adopt a cosmic vision, you will perceive the homogeneous essence, in which nothing takes place.
The Reality is unchanging, but the appearance changes. Maya is the name of this power of change. One of the meanings of Maya is "something which does not exist", a conundrum meaning "I don't know". How can a "thing" not exist? In such statements of self-concealed fallacy, the sages hid the key to the Reality, which can never be attained by the perverted intellect nor the immature soul, but only by the discriminating.
We have just seen that Chit-Shakti exists. If all of us are Chit-Shakti, if all of us are atoms, how is it that you are different from me? Pursuing this question to its logical conclusion, we shall come to a dead-end. Just this has happened in nuclear research. All that science has discovered is that there are electrons, neutrons in and protons in an atom, but the actual velocity and position of the individual electron is mere conjecture. We cannot locate and isolate the electron. The moment a light-ray touches an electron, it is displaced. Similarly, the moment we turn the Light of Consciousness upon this illusory feature, Maya, we discover that it shifts and we do not see it, and therefore this riddle of the universe can never be solved.
One of the greatest scientists, Max Planck, admits that "Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature, and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve."
This nature is also referred to as Samsara (world-process or, more simply, repetitive history) the eternally revolving wheel of form. It is beginningless! Yet, in its impact on the human soul, it does exist. One cannot lightly brush it aside. According to the view of one school of philosophy, this Samsara is nothing but the fruit of the Karmas (actions of countless souls). As a plain statement of truth, it is perfectly clear. A city exists only as the fruit and the labour of millions of men, women and animals. Action or activity sustains this universe or Samsara. Action leads to reaction, to its reaction and so on.
All these are projected on to the subtlest form of matter. It vibrates, producing the various forms demanded by the Karmas of countless souls. Thus, Samsara refers to the subtle universe of vibrations. This vibration itself is cosmic Karma. It is constantly renewed by the actions of living beings - hence the word "Samsara". Here, again, it is the Shakti that vibrates, witnessed by Chit or cosmic consciousness at various levels.