Tattva

The major contribution of India, in the world today, is in the sphere of spirituality. The rich spiritual heritage of India, as expounded by the Seers in Vedanta and more recently by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, is the most important ‘thing’ which India can offer for global prosperity and welfare.

Here is a verse from the world’s oldest written religious scripture, the Rig Veda.

Idham Mitram Agnim Ãhu atho; Dhivya Sah: Suparnah Garûthman |

E’kam Sath Viprah: Bahudhãh Vadhanthi, Agnim; Yama Matharisvãnam Ãhuh: ||

– Rg Veda - Verse I-164.46

Translated, it means the supreme truth or the ultimate reality is only one, and wise people know this truth by different names. This verse forms the basis of Hindu or Sanatan Dharma (The eternal religion), where everything perceivable and non-perceivable through the five senses is essentially one and inseparable. The Hindu Shastras say that only a veil of ignorance, described as Maya or illusion, keeps us (Jiva) away from the supreme soul (Ishwara).

The Vedanta school of Hindu Philosophy has three sub-schools. These are Dvaita (Dualistic stage), Vishishta Asvaita (Qualified Non-Dualistic stage) and Advaita (Non-dualistic stage). The most important and revolutionary system of thinking in Hinduism is Non Dualism or Advaitwaad. This is the final stage of human philosophy and nothing goes beyond it. In this system of thought, the living, non living thing and the supreme reality are essentially one. The whole world is unreal and Brahma is the only reality. The universe starts, exists and merges in the supreme like a bubble in water. The soul is essentially pure and is part of the Supreme. A veil of ignorance or Maya keeps us away from our own true nature. When we remove this veil of ignorance, our soul reaches its logical destination and becomes one with the Supreme itself. This system of thought believes in Nirguna Brahaman or God without any form or attributes. Sri Adi Shankaracharya was the biggest proponent of this philosophy and this philosophy overshadows all other systems of thought in its content, reach and universality.

Today, we should ask ourselves why such great philosophies with a magnificent universal outlook have been created and have prevailed only in the Hindu civilization. These philosophies sharply disagree in their point of view, but have lasted through the test of time over thousands of years and are actively followed even today. How is this possible? To understand this we need to analyze the Hindu system of thought.

The Hindus have always given importance to logic and superiority of mind over everything else. The wealth and power of the Hindu kings has always bowed down to the saffron clothes of a monk. The Hindu thought has always looked to gain spiritual advances instead of acquiring material possessions. The best intellect of every age was directed towards in search of god rather than gold and diamonds.

One hundred years back, Swami Vivekananda asserted this when he said: “Here in this blessed land, the foundation, the backbone, the life centre is religion and religion alone. Let others talk of politics, of glory of acquisition of immense wealth poured in by trade, of the power and spread of commercialism, of the glorious fountain of physical liberty; but these the Hindu mind does not understand and does not want to understand. Touch him on spirituality, on religion, on God, on the soul, on the Infinite, on spiritual freedom, and I assure you, the lowest peasant in India is better informed on these subjects than many a so-called philosopher in other lands. We have yet something to teach to the world. This the very reason, the raison d’être, that this nation has lived on, in spite of hundreds of years of persecution, in spite of nearly a thousand years of foreign rule and foreign oppression. This nation still lives; the raison d’être is, it still holds to God, to the treasure house of religion and spirituality.”

Swami Vivekananda’s dream of future India was that along with material prosperity, which would be hers, she would, as the Queen of Nations, extend the hand of peace and blessedness to all peoples of the world. Today Hindus, despite their wealth of ancient knowledge, have been unable to realize his goal because they are not united. Swami Vivekananda realized that being of one mind is the secret of a strong society and appealed to the Hindus to unite as per the call of the Vedas. Rightly so, to make a great India in the future and to inspire the world in the right direction we need the collective coordination of Hindu will.

Obviously, this is not a vision which can be realized within a few days or even a few years. It requires the untiring, silent endeavor of hundreds and thousands of dedicated missionaries. It requires stout and steady hearts, which shall remain unshaken amidst adversities and temptations. Swamiji called out to the youth and said ” This is the time to decide your future while you possess the energy of youth, not when you are worn out and jaded, but in the freshness and vigor of youth: work! Let us therefore, take up this great cause of Hindu unity and dedicate our life towards it. Let this be our determination and may He, the Lord bless us and lead us to the fulfillment of our aims.”

Hemant Dubey is a project engineer for Kenworth Truck Company. You can reach him at A-Hemant.Dubey@paccar.com

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 11:37 am and is filed under Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.