Tattva

In spite of a continuous onslaught of Islam and Christianity that have swallowed Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the population in the small island of Bali is still around 90% Hindu – the magic of adaptive changes.

“It is a miracle of harmony, of the adaptation of the free inner life to the outward necessity of things.” - John C Ransom

Hindus of South-East Asia

Tides of Hinduism from Bharat have washed distant shores around the planet through ages. Southeast Asian nations were apparently the first to get the celestial essence of dharma, outside the greater Bharat territories.

Hindus in Southeast Asia, especially Bali, Kalimantan, Malaya, remnants of Java, Sumatra and Yogyakarta have undergone manifold adaptations to a changing society and climate in a great struggle for existence against expansionist, theo-political forces of the world. This dates back to 200 BC, when Vaishya traders who were frequent travelers between Vedic Bharat, Java and Sumatra were the noble carriers of Sanatana dharma to Southeast Asia. During the Maurya and Gupta periods and later on, Buddhist missionaries also started radiating harmonic rays of Buddhism to Siam, Laos and Vietnam, propagating Ramayana, Mahabharata, Jatakas, Upanishads and Buddhist sutras as well. Since then, Southeast Asia has seen the rise of Hindu republics from the Taruma Kingdom of the 4th century to the Majapahit Empire of the 13th century. With the fall of Majapahits at around the 16th century, Hinduism started its decline, at the tip of the sword.

But in this journey of decadent existence, Balinese and Tenggerese nations have adapted their practice of ancient Agama Hinduism to a great extent in order to strive in the archipelago. In spite of a continuous onslaught of Islam and Christianity that have swallowed Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the population in the small island of Bali is still around 90% Hindu – the magic of adaptive changes.

Modern Balinese and Tenggerese Hinduism and the unconceivable Acintya

Acintya is the Hindu all-in-one almighty to the Balinese. Acintya, in Sanskrit, means ‘one who is unimaginable or unconceivable’. During the 16th century, when Islam and Christianity started howling in the woods of Bali, Java and Kalimantan, the Balinese felt the spiritual need to introspect toward a single source of energy. And Hinduism had it all. Brahman, the concept of infinite, omniscient, shapeless, omnipresent, genderless, and omnipotent was in the Rig Veda and all subsequent Vedas and Vedantas. Brahman is somewhere void of any trait and hence “nirguna” according to Advaita and core-Saiva philosophies, while it is with traits – “saguna” – as per Dvaita and core-Vaishnava schools of thought.

Towards the fall of the Majapahits in Java and the advent of Islam in the archipelago in the 16th century, Saiva sage Nirartha, a Brahmin who was also the royal priest in the Gelgel kingdom of Bali, made a maneuver to explain and popularize God Acintya. It is interesting that in the World War era between 1914 and 1945, Christian missionaries attempted to raise havoc but failed to describe a one-God theology to Balinese as the latter had already discovered their savior in the form of Hindu one-God Acintya. Later, they started calling God Acintya as Sanghyang Widi Wasa (God Almighty), a reply to alien monoliths.

As the eternal Brahman, Acintya is also the infinite, omnipotent, and all other Gods, including the trinity, Wishnu (Vishnu), Brahma and Siva. Perhaps this is the reason why Acintya is not worshipped directly, but through His manifestations only. The lineage is intact as infinite Brahman gives birth to Hiranyagarbha (the golden womb) out of which all Devas arise. Acintya is indeed the Balinese name for Brahman. Tenggerese people, the direct descendant of Majapahits, also worship the trinity in addition to Buddha, whereas Sanghyang Widi Wasa Acintya is the source of all divines.

Acintya, the Brahman

As we have been discussing how God Acintya has granted the path to rediscover Brahman to the people of Bali, the last Hindu pillar, let us now take a deeper dive. Acintya is void of clothes and often evoked with an empty throne that might have the historical connection with the empty throne of God Rama during His exile of 14 years. But it has a broader message, that Acintya stands for and is emptiness, the origin and destruction of the universe, the Supreme Being above and beyond all senses. On these grounds, God Acintya is the nirguna Brahman of the Advaita School, as He does not have any trait and is the ultimate source of all, representing the infinite emptiness. But at places, He is also versioned as the supreme deity-form with cosmic aura and hence, gunas as well, to an extent, relating to saguna Brahman of Dvaita School. This explains practically the Acintya Bheda-Abheda (differences and yet only-one) essence – uniquely positioned between absolute monist Advaita and dually monist Dvaita poles as the universally accepted ‘integral monism’. Although the Balinese Agama tradition traces back to the Southern Saiva core-schools, Vaishnava and Buddhist threads only nourished Balinese Hinduism and Javanese Hindusim with the heritage of a composite richness. Indeed this Brahman is unthinkable. Indeed Brahman is Acintya.

Hence, Sanghyang Widi Wasa is none other than the Vedic narration of the creator almighty who has saved its people against all odds of modern and evil expansionism. We bow to Acintya, the unconceivable Brahman and congratulate our own brothers in Bali, Kalimantan and Tenggerese nations for successfully assimilating the highest tenets of the Vedas into daily life; for raising the Sanatana flag high and valuing the highest glory of the Vedas.

Aum aditysyaparamjyoti
rakta teja namo’stute
svetapankaja namo’stute
bhaskaraya namo’stute

Aum Swasthiastu

Ajoy Chatteree is a graduate student currently working as a Project Lead for Cognizant Tech Solutions. Ajoy is interested in philosophy, Dharma, politics, technology, the environment, and music. He lives in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Hindu History. 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.