The Shape of the Ultimate Reality By Prashant Saxena

Sunday, February 6th, 2011 | Posted by Editor

The Shape of the Ultimate Reality

By Prashant Saxena

http://www.chakranews.com/the-shape-of-the-ultimate-reality/1086

Bhagavad Gita

Hexagonal, triangle, square, fat, large, small etc are all having a definite shape, a definite form. A human body has a definite shape, so does the sun when viewed from the earth. Thus, if one analyzes the fundamental definition of shape and form, then one would realize that these are only the attributes observable by the eye. If one can see or observe something, then only he can tell what shape, size and form it is. How can one observe from a distance, of the shape, size and form of something if he is blind? The ability to visualize enhances the perception of form and shape. Do knowledge, spiritual experience, energy, empty space or vaccum, thoughts, sound that we hear etc have any shape, size or form?

The ONE - the Brahman in the Vedas: He is One and only One, Sustains entire universe, Omnipresent, Formless, All-Powerful, Perfect, Omniscient, Unborn, Eternal and supports us always.He alone should be worshipped. (Yajurveda 40.8)

In Gita, Krishna reveals clearly that the true definition of “him” or the ultimate reality is unmanifested, unborn, impersonal, inconcievable, fixed, eternal, unchanging and immovable. How can the “unmanifested, unborn, inconcievable” have a form, shape or a definite name? Naturally, a name is given by those who try to comprehend a concept or something.

BG 12.3-4: But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and immovable — the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth — by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.

BG 12.5: For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.

BG 12.6-7: But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Prath? — for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.

BG 12.8: Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

BG 10.2: Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin or opulences, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and sages.

BG 10.3: He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds — he only, undeluded among men, is freed from all sins.

BG 10.12-13: Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest. All the great sages such as N?rada, Asita, Devala and Vy?sa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.

BG 9.4: By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them

BG 9.10: This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunt?, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

Some people feel that formless does not have any potency of having a form. Gita clearly tells about the manifestations of the supreme nature (inconcievable, unmanifested and unborn). Naturally, the manifest can contain both form (like material nature, mass, matter etc) and the formless (like knowledge, air, energy. consciousness etc). “Potency” doesn’t only mean the masculine strength to lift heavy weights. It can also means the ability to give birth to a child (feminine ability), ability to understand and memorise (mental ability) etc. It can also mean the ability to have eternal knowledge, manifest in any form, in any color and yet the true form which is formless being unknown. One can breathe air around which is present everywhere (omnipresent), but it is formless. A person has a definite shape like sun as we see from earth, but it is “not omnipotent” as we can neither see that person or the sun everywhere and everytime, whereas the energy is an omnipotent concept which is all around us and yet formless. One cannot live without air and energy.

Brahman, the universe or the ultimate consciousness, is all around us. It touches all the individual consciousness and contains all the bodies in the universe. If we imagine of Brahman, we cannot concieve of its form in both in its physical aspect and the mental aspect . Therefore formless, yet omnipotent and omnipresent. Anything percievable by one’s limited senses is limited in nature. The fact that we can identifiy a being with a form outright limits it. How can a “limited’ being be omnipotent and omnipresent? And hence the understanding of the unmanifest aspect of the supreme truth is difficult (BG 12.5).

An analogy with this manifestation from the unmanifest could be thoughts which appear out of nowhere. In a deep contemplative state, one might get a thought of his relative or a friend, to play a musical instrument, to have fame and name. People might see dreams which are hardly connected to their real life. A human mind contains scattered bit of knowledge and thoughts which keeps on changing and some which manifest randomly out of nowhere. During exam time, one might manifest that knowledge and write something that he might not usually think of. According to many sages, the Veda is also a revelation to many rishis in their heightened state of consciousness. Gita teaches us how one can heighten his consciousness and touch the supreme consciousness. But one might ask what form, shape or size does consciousness have?

BG 9.11: Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.

BG 9.22: But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form — to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

BG 10.8: I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

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Tags: bhagavad gita, Brahman, Hinduism, krishna, Omnipresent, prashant saxena, Spirituality, Supreme Lord, transcendental form, Ultimate reality, Veda, Vedas

Foundations of Vedic Science & Mysticism By Tina Sadhwani

uesday, February 8th, 2011 | Posted by Editor

Foundations of Vedic Science & Mysticism

By Tina Sadhwani 

http://www.chakranews.com/foundations-of-vedic-science-mysticism/1091

Lord Shiva

“As rivers lose name and form when they disappear into the sea, the sage leaves behind all traces when he disappears into the light. Perceiving the truth, he becomes truth; he passes beyond all suffering, beyond death and all the knots of his heart are loosened”

 - Upanishads 

When one looks at the immense sea of knowledge that has come down to us from the Vedic civilization one cannot help but feel overwhelmed at the timeless grandeur and depth of such wisdom. Wisdom that has not only cast its eternal light upon the earth but wisdom that has laid the primal foundations for all the world’s scientific and spiritual ethos. The Supreme Vedic Experience had unfolded within the rishis of antiquity the discoveries of the immutable Source, furnishing cosmological insights into the macrocosm while revealing the transcendental truths of Atma-Vidya, the inner science. 

These Vedic rishis, the oldest and highest luminaries of sentient intelligence have been recognized as the primary ‘seers’ of such wisdom. The ‘seers’ of the Veda. It has often been reiterated that the Veda has been ‘revealed’ and not composed. That it is ‘apauru?eya’, not authored or created by man. One is however bound to question the basis of such knowledge that has been mysteriously perceived or ‘revealed’ as opposed to logically arrived at through intellectual endeavour or scientific investigation. How were the ancient rishis, so early in human history, made privy to information that enabled them to understand the intrinsic operations of the universe without the use of scientific technology, the kind that we are so proud of today? How have the immense structures of civilization, of thought, of language, of communication and of knowledge of the workings of the cosmos been grown from and built upon the foundation of faculties that are often considered the antithesis of reasoning, intellect and science? 

Most of us often think that our own perception of the world and analysis of things is the only level of thinking that exists and the only standard of reality and normality. Furthermore, the modern mind tends to give more credence to rationalism today and considers any deviation from that norm as invalid, unacceptable or merely the work of an inferior mind. The higher truths cognized by the ancient seers are therefore often dismissed as the primitive compositions of an ignorant race or sensational glorifications reflecting mere religious sentiment. 

What is not commonly known is that the fountainhead of ancient enquiry has often been governed by non-ordinary modes of information-processing such as intuition, spiritual cognition and revelation. These have been considered not just alternate operations of the mind but superior and extraordinary modes of experience that transcended the mind.

Moreover, the Vedic mind has always been aware of the multifaceted nature of reality that escapes even the most ingenious forms of speculation and intellectualism. Consequently, the Vedic truths arrived at have been the off-spring of such mystical and intuitive revelations that have occurred through transcendental modes of consciousness. Nevertheless they have still displayed an integrity of the highest intellectual vigour. The supramental consciousness that has been established by the ancient seers in the earth-life, in the world-order, and the power and knowledge that it has unleashed in the form of the Veda, the self-expression of Spirit, cannot be compared to or evaluated by the crudities of the modern rational mind. 

Truth of the Veda 

By delving into the immense Vedic literature one can easily observe the fact that the Vedas are not a set of books or scriptures, for Vedic knowledge is eternal. More accurately speaking, the Vedas can be understood as a cosmic matrix of fundamental knowledge, embedded in the very fabric of existence, echoing the scientific and spiritual laws of the universe that was first revealed to and cognized by the ancient Vedic rishis in their advanced states of consciousness. 

Without an ‘advanced state of consciousness’ which could serve as a provisional key term here to comprehend the basis of such metaphysical insight and knowledge, one could only be considered looking at the infinite knowledge base of the Veda through merely a key hole. 

Sri Aurobindo affirms “The perfect truth of the Veda, where it is now hidden, can only be recovered by the same means by which it was originally possessed. Revelation and experience are the doors of the Spirit. It cannot be attained either by logical reasoning or by scholastic investigation… ‘Not by explanation of texts nor by much learning’, ‘not by logic is this realisation attainable.’ Logical reasoning and scholastic research can only be aids useful for confirming to the intellect what has already been acquired by revelation and spiritual experience. This limitation, this necessity are the inexorable results of the very nature of Veda.” 

The Upanishads (Mandukya) further confirms this fact by explaining the gross, subtle and causal conditions of manifested consciousness corresponding to which there are different levels of reality embedded in the very nature of our experiences. Apparent reality (hallucination, dreams, etc), empirical reality (experiences of the conscious, waking state) and higher spiritual reality (experiences of the superconscious state). Therefore the type of cognition and experience we have (apparent, empirical or supramental) differs depending on the state of consciousness we are in and ‘true cognition’ is said to be cognition at the ‘spiritual level’ of direct experience and revelation. 

When our consciousness is identified with the physical body (sthula sharira) then we are said to experience the waking state (jagrat). When consciousness is identified with the subtle body (sukshma sharira) then we experience the dream state. When consciousness is identified with the causal body (karana sharira) then we experience the deep sleep state. The common aspect shared by these three states of being is the ‘absence of knowledge’ of the true nature of reality. It is emphasized that it is only in the super-conscious state (turiya) that consciousness breaks free from the limitations of all the bodies and takes cognizance of the Absolute Reality (Brahman). 

So the ‘way’ or mode in which we tend to ‘know’ things seems to determine the validity and substantiality of the knowledge thus gained. According to the Yoga Sutras (Patanjali) there are different ways in which we arrive at knowledge, understand it and respond to the environment. These ways of ‘knowing’ are set in a hierarchical mode of information processing in which sensory perception (utilizing the five senses) is considered to be an inferior form of awareness, followed by the conceptual mode (rational, linguistic) and finally by the supramental mode which is intuitive in nature and which reveals to us the true nature of reality. 

The Age of Intuition 

Observation and sensory perception serve as suitable methods of processing information when it comes to the lower functions of consciousness such as thinking, emotions, volition, etc. However our senses are limited in their range of information processing and cannot always solve all problems, especially those of a metaphysical nature. Reasoning and logic take place through the agency of the intellect (buddhi) and hence serve as useful modes when we cannot rely on our senses to provide us with adequate information. However, the intellect has been found to have its limitations too. 

The super-conscious experience on the other hand, moves beyond the faculty of the senses, the mind and the intellect. It enables one to have a ‘direct’ experience of reality without being influenced by the conditioned filters of the mind. It is found most useful in cognizing metaphysical phenomena, true nature of reality, nature of self, etc. The mind and intellect are then meant to serve as useful intermediaries to organize and communicate such esoteric knowledge. 

One can clearly see how the age of pure intuition which defined the early Vedic and Upanishadic thinking was then followed by the age of reason which organized the Vedic insights into scriptural, metaphysical philosophies. This period saw the rise of many conflicting schools of thought, each of which founded itself on the Veda but used its text as a weapon of reason against the others. Today’s age on the other hand is defined more by pursuits of experimental science. 

Early Vedic thinking has however been more holistic, with a tendency towards the synthesis and unity of all knowledge. So by establishing itself in the higher, supramental mode of being the Vedic experience has very early in history discovered the eternal and spiritual fundamental reality that lies beneath all the formation and movement which constitutes the apparent physical reality. 

Considering the intuitive knowing and holistic vision of the Vedic mind, mathematician Pierre Simon Laplace explained it very precisely, 

“An intellect which at a given instant knew all the forces acting in nature, and the position of all things of which the world consists… would embrace in the same formula the motions of the greatest bodies in the universe and those of the slightest atoms; nothing would be uncertain for it, and the future, like the past, would be present to its eyes.” 

The Doors of Spirit 

Given the timeless nature and depth of Vedic insights, it would be safe to assume that the ancient rishis were host to such transpersonal and supramental modes of experience that made them privy to information that is normally out of the range of common awareness. Generally, each and every mode of consciousness gives us access to a different view of some aspect of reality, but the supramental mode offers a more complete and god-like view of existence as one’s consciousness expands to become a super-conductor of information that cannot be otherwise known to us by mere observation or speculation. Hence one seems to then be able to access the universal database or global mainframe because in this state there is a ‘transcendence’ of time, space, personal self and culture. Information processing becomes ‘impersonal’ as there is no longer just a separated, individualized ‘self’ that is having experiences because consciousness expands to include the world and universe at large. In other words, one’s consciousness literally steps out of the conditioned system of the three dimensional reality and moves from being ‘ego-centric’ to ‘world-centric’. 

This kind of experience tends to surpass ordinary sensing, perceiving, conceptualizing, reasoning or understanding and is unlike anything remembered or imagined. It is, the Hindu mystics say, pure intuition, pure consciousness, ‘sat-chit-ananda’ if you may. Yet, even this description of the Supreme Experience is simply akin to the finger pointing to the moon, which is not the moon. It can never be conceptualized or described as it is beyond all thought and imagination. It is nothing within the mind or outside it, nothing in the past, present or future for all these are merely conceptions in time and space. 

In the context of the Vedas, ‘sravas’ literally means ‘hearing’. From this is derived ‘sravana, sruti, sruta’, meaning “revealed” or knowledge that comes through the opening of the mind’s channels. Drsti- direct perception of the truth and Sruti- direct hearing of the truth are hence the two chief powers and faculties of that advanced consciousness, which corresponds to the old Vedic idea of the Truth, the Ritam. Whoever is thus at this advanced level of consciousness, possesses and becomes invariably open to the faculties of drsti and sruti and is then considered the Rishi or the Kavi, sage or seer of Truth. 

In the secret of the Veda, Aurobindo explains that “The Rishi was not the individual composer of the hymn, but the seer (drast¯a) of an eternal truth and an impersonal knowledge. The language of Veda itself is S’ruti, a rhythm not composed by the intellect but heard, a divine Word that came vibrating out of the Infinite to the inner audience of the man who had previously made himself fit for the impersonal knowledge.” 

Furthermore, according to psychologist and philosopher James, an important quality of these non-ordinary states of consciousness is that they are noetic or knowledge-laden. “They are basically states of insight into the depths of truth, unhindered by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations and revelations about the universe at large, full of significance and importance… they carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time.” 

The Supreme Vedic Experience 

Such has been the power and authority of the Supreme Vedic Experience that has left us the treasure of universal, eternal truths and insights. Such insights can only be decoded by the same process that led to its revelation. And it is for this same reason why everyone cannot be considered qualified to interpret the Vedas, unless their consciousness has expanded enough to transcend its own cultural conditionings.

Moreover, the symbols and terms used in Vedic verses when properly recognized and understood possess great value: they are ‘evocative’ and induce direct intuitive understanding. Hence they are meant to be meditated upon and not merely rationalized or intellectualized. He who takes the Vedic verses literally will not be able to move past them towards the higher realities that they point to. That is essentially why one requires the ability to synthesize all visions and perspectives expressed in the Vedas and comprehend it holistically, as an organic whole. 

Interestingly, this is also the reason why in the ancient era ‘Brahmins’ were primarily entrusted with the responsibility of preserving and disseminating the Vedic knowledge, not because of some misconceived racial superiority but because they were considered the most advanced in their consciousness through intense yogic disciplines of meditation and tapasya. 

The ancient Vedic seers have also been aware that no individual could claim to be the exclusive custodian of a direct link to the Divine which is why they never set up any hierarchy, dogma or religion to access or experience the Absolute Reality. With fullness of being, fullness of life and fullness of consciousness they have manifested on earth the sublime voice of Spirit and endowed with such Brahman-Vidya or Supreme Illumination they have ingeniously preserved and delivered to us these universal and sentient truths through the many changing cycles of time. 

“Vast is That, divine, its form unthinkable; it shines out subtler than the subtle: very far and farther than farness, it is here close to us, for those who have the vision it is here even in this world; it is here, hidden in the secret heart” - Mandukya Upanishad III.1.6 

References:

Sri Aurobindo (1956) The Secret Of The Veda

Sri Aurobindo (1940) The Life Divine

Swami Prabhavananda (2003) Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Ramakrishna Math. Chennai.

Mandukya Upanishad – http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html

http://www.swamij.com/mandukya-upanishad.htm

James William (1902) The varieties of religious experience. NY Modern Library.

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Tags: conscious, Hinduism, Mandukya Upanishad, mysticism, spirit, Spirituality, Sri Aurobindo, Upanishads, Vedas, Vedic, vedic experience, vedic rishis, vedic science, wisdom

1 Response for “Foundations of Vedic Science & Mysticism”

Dr. O. P. Sudrania says:

February 15, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Very nicely written and explained. The Truth of this universe both in its gross as well as subtle form needs a vision from “Seen to Unseen” and that requires the ultimate experience; to be gained by transendental meditation only – “Revelation through direct Experience”. Tina has expounded it briefly but succinctly in her above column.

Like any knowledge, the knowledge of this subtle truth requires first a firm faith, then study it under the guidance of an experienced Guru who is himself an enlightened person. Otherwise it ends up like a blind man guiding another blind man. This or as a matter of fact, any other knowldge of a subject, requires a steadfast faith and persevearance to achieve the goal. Unfortunately today in the industry of rampant religion and its fierce competition in the “God Market” needs to be taken care of; it is this modern secular calculus that has become a richest thriving business that is driving and misguiding the larger populace for their socio-political gains, dengrating the real spiritual knowledge. This is the reason that is giving rise to undue razing controversies in the rest of the world against the practice of “Yogas”.

Cudos to Tina for her brilliant master piece article; but it needsa serious person to absorb its subtle meaning. Keep it up.

God bless

Dr. O. P. Sudrania

Review of Kancha Ilaiah’s “Why I am not a Hindu” By Ranbir Singh

Sunday, February 13th, 2011 | Posted by Editor

Review of Kancha Ilaiah’s “Why I am not a Hindu”

By Ranbir Singh

http://www.chakranews.com/review-of-kancha-ilaiahs-why-i-am-not-a-hindu/1100

Anti-Hindu and Anti-Semitic Activist Kancha Ilaiah

Kancha Ilaiah is professor and head of the department of political science at Osmania University , Hyderabad . He is perhaps best known for writing Why I am not a Hindu in 2007. Anyone approaching this work with the prior knowledge of Bertrand Russell (Why I am not a Christian) and Ibn Warraq (Why I am not a Muslim) would certainly have their expectations dashed. In a truly appalling collection of half-truths, lack of methodical research and racial myths, Ilaiah’s book has the dubious distinction of making Hitler’s Mein Kampf look like a literary masterpiece in comparison. Ilaiah shares much else with Hitler, notably his obsession with race and inventing racial categories where they do not even exist. To say in his defence that Ilaiah is inspired by the oppression of Dalits in India would be equivalent to justifying National Socialism and the Third Reich on the basis that the Versailles Treaty was after all rather unfair to Germany .

In page after page this appalling writer spews venom against anything Hindu. If one needs to find a prime example of a dysfunctional illiterate elite who replaced white colonial masters in a Third World kleptocracy, Kancha Ilaiah would certainly be hard to beat. For him Hinduism is basically spiritual fascism. Yet Ilaiah is hardly averse in being ideologically associated with the “f” word himself. His attack on the “Baniya economy” bares unhealthy semblance to the Nazi obsession with Jewish banking houses such as Rothschild holding the German volk to ransom. In discussing Hindu deities Ilaiah echoes the music of Richard Wagner in his addiction to the idea of an Aryan race, even if it as the comic book strip bad guys in his rewriting of Indian history to fit into a racist mould. All Hindu gods have suppression of Dalits as their purpose. Brahma is a light-brown Aryan, Vishnu is blue because apparently this was the colour of the mixed race Kshatriyas, while Shiva is dark because he resembles a “tribal” in order to delude the indigenous pre-Aryan inhabitants of India . The Ramayana is some primeval race war in which the Aryans suppressed the Dravidian south. In a twist to classic anti-Semitic motifs Brahmins control all India ’s political parties, including the Communists. Replace “Brahmin” with “Jew” and Ilaiah could be rendering a speech written by Sir Oswald Mosley in the 1930s. Most incredibly, yet like so many of his remarks which lack any solid basis, cremation was a Brahminist plot to hide the mass genocide of India’s indigenous Shudras.

The contrast between Hinduism on the one hand and Christianity, Islam and Buddhism on the other is explained by the former having “an inborn spiritual fascist” character while the other three possess “basic character of spiritual democracy”. By this stage we should be alleviated of any doubts that Ilaiah has not rewritten world history in manner befitting Himmler’s SS research institute known as Das Ahnenerbe which traversed the corners of the earth to find the origins of the Aryan race. In the end the Nazi ‘scholars’ came back with recordings of Finnish folk music and plaster casts of Tibetan faces which serious academia even then laughed off. Ilaiah fails to provide even this much. Not only does he lack any adequate fieldwork but he omits even using footnotes and bibliography. If Himmler’s research was laughable Ilaiah’s work is not even worthy of being in the joke book section of a dingy run down back street store pungent with the odour of marijuana smoke and empty bottles of vodka – which is what Ilaiah would no doubt have to ply his victims in order for them to read his soul destroying racist monologue.

In summary Why I am Not a Hindu is a wasted opportunity at dissecting the world’s oldest surviving culture. In a free society we should not take offence at our beliefs being criticised. That is the hallmark of a healthy vibrant democracy. Censorship and banning is the character of totalitarianism. Yet academic standards must not be allowed to drop in allowing hate ideologies to stifle the very liberal ideas which allow for democracy in the first place. By then monopolising the public space hatemongers such as Ilaiah effectively muzzle any alternative voices which is what anyone or any ideology with an “inborn fascist character” does naturally. By any academic yardstick the research conducted by the Ahnenerbe was sloppy, lacked intellectual rigour and was ultimately laughable. Yet it prepared the foundations for the Holocaust which was of course anything but a laughing matter. Ilaiah’s book is central to those organisations which claim to be campaigning against caste discrimination. He is the darling of such groups, elevated to the status that Goebbels once enjoyed. But it is only a matter of time before his poisonous racist ideas follow the precedent set by the Ahnenerbe in reaching their ultimate genocidal conclusion. And even then, just as David Irving and Robert Faurrisson deny the Holocaust, there will be “Ilaiahites” who avert their gaze and claim it never happened.

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Tags: anti hindu agenda, anti semitic, anti-hindu, biased, hatred, Hinduism, Kancha Ilaiah, racist, religious discrimination, religious hatred, why i am not hindu

2 Responses for “Review of Kancha Ilaiah’s “Why I am not a Hindu””

indian says:

February 15, 2011 at 4:36 am

Dear Ranbir – I know a long time back that Kancha Ilaiha is a fraud of first order and a third rate intelluctual. I really wonder how can some one give him a professor job at a university. If he indeed has that job as he claims …it must be a fourth rate university. I read some of his articles and most of them will fall apart with a 1st grade student arguments. I left a feed back about the same a while back on one of his articles. My question to Kancha Ilaih: “Will you fight with your university board on behalf of your college attendant that he too must get the same benefits (while working in college) as to what you are getting as a professor?” If Kancha can’t fight for him, then there’s no use he fighting for dalits because Kancha didn’t understand my question and I don’t expect a corrupted mind to understand my question too.

vasu says:

March 10, 2011 at 9:29 am

he is a fraud first order and a ass licker whose love for publicity and american endorsements far exceed his capacity to write anything intelligent. while it is true that he has some reason to grieve for the caste system his old ideas and venom cannot be used to tarnish the progressive minds of the modern day dalits many of who are writers, poets, professionals etc. continuing to sell dalithood to abrahamic religions is not going to solve the problems at the grass root. the goi is doing the best it can to root out the evil of casteism. the way he speaks is nazi language and he wants to see the end of india, including the dalits. his ways are suicidal and i am not too sure whether we are talking of a normal person here.

Actions, Maya and the Ultimate Reality By Prashant Saxena

February 17th, 2011 | Posted by Editor

Actions, Maya and the Ultimate Reality

By Prashant Saxena

http://www.chakranews.com/actions-maya-and-the-ultimate-reality/1111

Actions, Maya and the Ultimate Reality – The Bhagavad Gita

People today have a deep misconception about the scriptures like Veda and Gita. They assume that ‘Maya’ means that world is not real. Some people even think that to free oneself, one has to give up all the worldy activities and chant some mantras. But people forget often that mantras are divine incantantations to understand and rever the nature and its elements like fire (agni-dev), surya (surya-dev) etc. They are also the source of meditation and spirituality. Chanting the mantras without understanding the message is not considered either spirituality or intelligent.

A person cannot live without doing any action. Meditation, breathing, seeing, hearing, chanting mantras etc are all actions. Bhagvada-Gita simply teaches to control these actions and to find the truth.

BG 3.4: Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.

BG 3.5: Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

BG 3.6: One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

BG 3.7: On the other hand, if a sincere person tries to control the active senses by the mind and begins karma-yoga [in Kr?s?n?a consciousness] without attachment, he is by far superior.

BG 3.15: Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

BG 3.16: My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.

BG 3.17: But for one who takes pleasure in the self, whose human life is one of self-realization, and who is satisfied in the self only, fully satiated — for him there is no duty.

BG 3.18: A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.

BG 3.19: Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

When people are attached to their activities and senses, they are under the influence of Maya. It is this Maya that creates an illusion and ignorance. If people are attached to what they hear without analyzing it intellectually, it leads to ignorance. For e.g many people are deluded that Hinduism is divided in cast system “by birth” where people with surnames like Sharma, Chaturvedi, trivedi, Pathak etc are Brahmins. Chaturvedi simply means the knower of the four (chatur) Vedas. Trivedi refers to the knower of the three (Tri) Vedas. What Veda and GITA teach is a categorization of the society, a ‘class system’ and not ‘cast system’, based on profession or Karma and not birth. Brahmins, by its definition and in today’s modern terminology, includes scientists, researchers, teachers, doctors, engineers etc i.e those who indulge in intellectual work and knowledge to know the science and nature. Kshatriyas is the warrior class. Thus all the soldiers in Indian army are kshatriyas irrespective of their religion and surnames. Vaishyas consisted of the business class and Shudras the unskilled labourers.

When people get attached to what they see and how they look, it causes suffering and visual illusions. e.g A girl attached to her beauty finds it hard to accept her change to old age. Thus it is very important to control the mind which controls the five senses.

BG 5.17: When one’s intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

BG 5.18: The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle br?hman?a, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

BG 6.4: A person is said to be elevated in yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.

BG 6.5: One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

BG 6.6: For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

In upanishads, this is the “manmaya kosa” or the mental sheath. Sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste are only the objective channels to the mind and its the mind that can act very subjectively. The mind can chose to hear what it wants and ignore the rest. In a crowd, one’s mind may chose to focus and hear only to what a particular person might be saying. At that moment one might not be able to process any other person. The focus can shift though as per the directions of the mind. Thus the mind is the controller of all 5 senses from which the collected data can be put to use by one’s own intellect. Its a recursive procedure and the intellect can sharpen itself with the information it recieves.  

The ultimate reality is said to be unmanifested, unborn and inconcievable from which everything else, both material and spiritual, is emanating.

BG 9.4: By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them

BG 12.3-4: But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and immovable — the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth — by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.

BG 10.8: I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

Thus Bhagvada Gita teaches directly how manifest arises from the unmanifest. On contrary to the unmanifest, the manifestations are changing, dynamic or limited. e.g Sun which a manifestation of the ultimate reality has a form, color, size etc when viewed from the earth. But are we seeing the truth? Do we think that the Sun or our appearance when we see in the mirror is static? What exactly are we seeing?

Physically, we are growing daily. The change is very slow as per our perception and it is unobservable. We are not the same person who existed some ten years ago. The physical image of our face, weight, shape, size, height etc have all changed. Chemically, we are losing millions of molecules per second in the form of breath (exhale), perspiration, excreta, urination, farts and intaking other molecules in the form of breath (inhale), drinking, eating etc. In brief, a person does not have the same set of molecules or atoms that he had a second ago. Mentally, our thoughts are changing too. What we were thinking a second ago is not the same. Mentally we evolve and our knowledge increases every passing second.

So how can we be the same even in a seconds differentiation? Are our eyes decieving us when we look into the mirror? If we get attached to our looks, then we are bound to suffer when we change or grow old. This suffering due to attachment and ignorance is the constant effect of Maya which is all around us and forever trying to control our mind.  It is only because of Maya that we are not able to understand the ultimate reality or the truth. We see the sun and we think it is the same. But the truth is that the sun is also fading out. It has spent 4 million years and only has another 4 million years to live after which it will convert into a nova or a supernova. It is releasing huge amount of hydrogen in the form of fusion reactions into helium. Therefore, chemically it is not the same any second. Physically it releases long chains of fires or the solar winds, its magnetic field keeps on changing. So again, is our perception decieving us about the shape and size of the sun? Do we think we will be the same person after 20 years with the same strength, healing rate of the cells, quickness of the mind and the body? Do we think that change is sudden that we would grow fragile with white hair and brittle bones overnight?

In Gita, this is explained via the three modes of the material nature.

BG 14.5: Material nature consists of three modes — goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

BG 14.6: O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode become conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge.

BG 14.7: The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kunt?, and because of this the embodied living entity is bound to material fruitive actions.

BG 14.8: O son of Bharata, know that the mode of darkness, born of ignorance, is the delusion of all embodied living entities. The results of this mode are madness, indolence and sleep, which bind the conditioned soul.

BG 14.9: O son of Bharata, the mode of goodness conditions one to happiness; passion conditions one to fruitive action; and ignorance, covering one’s knowledge, binds one to madness.

BG 14.10: Sometimes the mode of goodness becomes prominent, defeating the modes of passion and ignorance, O son of Bharata. Sometimes the mode of passion defeats goodness and ignorance, and at other times ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy.

BG 14.11: The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.

BG 14.12: O chief of the Bh?ratas, when there is an increase in the mode of passion the symptoms of great attachment, fruitive activity, intense endeavor, and uncontrollable desire and hankering develop.

BG 14.13: When there is an increase in the mode of ignorance, O son of Kuru, darkness, inertia, madness and illusion are manifested.

BG 14.14: When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages.

BG 14.15: When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom.

BG 14.16: The result of pious action is pure and is said to be in the mode of goodness. But action done in the mode of passion results in misery, and action performed in the mode of ignorance results in foolishness.

BG 14.17: From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, greed develops; and from the mode of ignorance develop foolishness, madness and illusion.

BG 14.18: Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the abominable mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.

BG 14.19: When one properly sees that in all activities no other performer is at work than these modes of nature and he knows the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental to all these modes, he attains My spiritual nature.

References :

BhagVada Gita

http://www.hinduism.co.za/kosas.htm

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Tags: ancient hindu scriptures, bhagavad gita, bhagavada gita, Gita, hindu book, Hinduism, Maya, meditation, spiritual path, spiritual reality, Spirituality, Ultimate reality, Vega

The Vedic God: An Evolutionary Journey By Gurushankar Swaminathan

Thursday, February 17th, 2011 | Posted by Editor

The Vedic God: An Evolutionary Journey

By Gurushankar Swaminathan

http://www.chakranews.com/the-vedic-god-an-evolutionary-journey/1117

Vedas – The oldest scriptures in Hinduism

The sections of the Vedas that deal with the various facets of the Supreme Consciousness is an articulation of the entire experience that the Vedic seers underwent, in their quest to realize that one supreme reality. What we are going to see below (in the Vedic hymns) is a symbolic and mystical explanation of what was experienced in the deepest of the penances by noble souls like Vishwamitra, Vamadeva, Madhuchandas, Agastya, Veda Vyas etc.

The Vedas make an extremely sincere effort to articulate the various aspects of the Supreme Brahman but they also accept the limitations of the human intellect in comprehending that one absolute reality. The Vedic seers grapple with the enormity of the exercise of attempting to understand the Supreme Consciousness and the myriad manifestations of the same.

Unlike other religious scriptures that position a named God upfront and build fables and a laundry list of dos and don’ts around that God, the Vedas try to understand the Vedic Brahman, attempt to pierce the realm of Brahman’s BEING and peep into its NON – BEING state. The seers also attempt to comprehend the passion of the one that made this universe manifest, established the ORDER that is immutable and identify it to be the ultimate TRUTH, the alpha and omega of everything.

Hymns of Creation (Nasadiya Sukta). Rig Veda 10/129/ 1 – 7

1. At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.

There was not air nor yet sky beyond.

What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?

Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?

2. There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;

Of night or day there was not any sign.

The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.

Other than that was nothing else at all.

3. Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,

And all was Water indiscriminate.

Then that which was hidden by the Void, that One, emerging,

Stirring, through power of Ardor, came to be.

4. In the beginning Love arose,

which was the primal germ cell of the mind.

The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,

Discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

5. A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.

What was described above it, what below?

Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces,

Thrust from below and forward move above.

6. Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?

Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation?

Even the Gods came after its emergence.

Then who can tell from whence it came to be?

7. That out of which creation has arisen,

Whether it held it firm or it did not,

He who surveys it in the highest heaven,

He surely knows or maybe He does not!

The last two hymns seen above articulate a negative assertion that establishes the limitation of understanding and conceptually communicating what NON-BEING may have been.

The Vedic God emerges from NON-BEING into BEING. The Vedic God emerges out of the cosmic ardor/ passion (Tapas), establishes the order (Rita) and personifies the truth (Satya). And it is here that space and time get established.

Rig Veda 10/190/1 – 3

1. From blazing Ardor, Cosmic Order came and Truth;

From thence was born the obscure night;

From thence the Ocean with its billowing waves.

2. From Ocean with its waves was born the year

Which marshals the succession of nights and days,

Controlling everything that blinks the eye.

3. Then, as before, did the creator fashion

The Sun and Moon, the Heaven and the Earth,

The atmosphere and the domain of light.

The Vedic seers now are trying to comprehend as to “Who is this God?” and “Who should they offer their oblation to?”.

Hiranyagarbha (Golden Embryo) Rig Veda / 10/121/ 1 -10.

These hymns throw deep insight into the symbolism, mysticism and poetic nature of the Vedas. The golden embryo is where the Divine resides before coming into BEING. This is not about a logical evolution or a step in creation. By ardor, the Supreme one sacrifices to emerge from NON-BEING into BEING. The one that emerges TO BE is the Lord of Beings, Prajapati!

1. In the beginning arose the Golden Embryo:

He was, as soon as born, the Lord of Being,

Sustainer of the Earth and of this Heaven.

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

2. He who bestows life-force and hardy vigor,

Whose ordinances even the Gods obey,

Whose shadow is immortal life–and death–

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

3. Who by his grandeur has emerged sole sovereign

Of every living thing that breathes and slumbers,

He who is Lord of man and four-legged creatures

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

4. To him of right belong, by his own power,

The snow-clad mountains, the world-stream, and the sea.

His arms are the four quarters of the sky.

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

5. Who held secure the mighty Heavens and Earth,

Who established light and sky’s vast vault above,

Who measured out the ether in mid-spheres–

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

6. Toward him, trembling, the embattled forces,

Riveted by his glory, direct their gaze.

Through him the risen sun sheds forth its light.

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

7. When came the mighty Waters, bringing with them

The universal Germ, whence sprang the Fire,

Thence leapt the God’s One Spirit into being.

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

8. This One who in his might surveyed the Waters

Pregnant with vital forces, producing sacrifice,

He is the God of Gods and none beside him.

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

9. O Father of the Earth, by fixed laws ruling,

O Father of the Heavens, pray protect us,

O Father of the great and shining Waters!

What God shall we adore with our oblation?

10. O Lord of Creatures (Prajapati), Father of all beings,

You alone pervade all that has come to birth.

Grant us our heart’s desire for which we pray.

May we become the lords of many treasures!

It is important to note that these hymns (found above) are a favorite punching bag of those involved in human harvests. They use these hymns to claim that our forefathers never received any guidance, as; they seem not to know the God to whom oblations need to be offered. But the truth is the last hymn calls out the Lord to whom the Vedic seers adore their oblations as Prajapati.

And then the Vedic God sacrifices a one fourth of Self to create animate and inanimate things in this universe. This act is what is contained in the most famous Purusha Sukta, Rig Veda /10/90.

This sukta describes the act of Supreme Consciousness where, the Supreme one, called the Purusha here, sacrifices 1/4th of Self and the remaining 3/4th of the one, oversee and perform the sacrifice. There is a kind of a triple principle at play here. The Supreme Consciousness is the object of sacrifice, the sacrifice itself and one that is executing the sacrifice.

The 1/4th Purusha is the cosmic MAN. This sukta describes the MAN to be so large that HE encompasses the entire earth, possesses thousands of eyes and limbs and it is from this Purusha that all animate and inanimate things are born. This Purusha is the divine emanation.

1. A thousand-headed is the Man

With a.thousand eyes, a thousand feet;

Encompassing the Earth all sides,

He exceeded it by ten fingers’ breadth.

2. The Man, indeed, is this All,

What has been and what is to be

The Lord of the immortal spheres

Which he surpasses by consuming food.

3. Such is the measure of his might,

And greater still than this is Man.

All beings are a fourth of him,

Three fourths are the immortal in heaven.

4. Three fourths of Man ascended high,

One fourth took birth again down here.

From this he spread in all directions

Into animate and inanimate things.

5. From him the Shining one was born;

From this Shining one Man again took birth.

As soon as born, he extended himself all

Over the Earth both behind and before.

6. Using the Man as their oblation,

The Gods performed the sacrifice.

Spring served them for the clarified butter,

Summer for the fuel, and Autumn for the offering.

7. This evolved Man, then first born,

They besprinkled on the sacred grass.

With him the Gods performed the sacrifice,

As did also the heavenly beings and seers.

8. From this sacrifice, fully accomplished,

Was gathered curd mixed with butter.

Thence came the creatures of the air,

Beasts of the forest and those of the village.

9. From this sacrifice, fully accomplished,

Were born the hymns and the melodies;

From this were born the various meters;

From this were born the sacrificial formulas.

10. From this were horses born, all creatures

Such as have teeth in either jaw;

From this were born the breeds of cattle;

From this were born sheep and goats.

11. When they divided up the Man,

Into how many parts did they divide him?

What did his mouth become? What his arms?

What are his legs called? What his feet?

12. His mouth became the brahmin;

His arms became the kshatriyas,

His legs became the vysyas

And his feet became the sudras.

13. The Moon was born from his mind;

The Sun came into being from his eye;

From his mouth came Indra and Agni,

While from his breath the Wind was born.

14. From his navel issued the Air;

From his head unfurled the Sky,

The Earth from his feet, from his ear the four directions.

Thus have the worlds been organized.

15. Seven were the sticks of the enclosure,

Thrice seven the fuel sticks were made,

When the Gods, performing the sacrifice,

Bound the Man as the victim.

16. With the sacrifice the Gods sacrificed to the sacrifice.

Those were the first established rites.

These powers ascended up to heaven

Where dwell the ancient Gods and other beings.

Again, I must add that this sukta is used to debunk the Vedas by harvesters of souls. They point to the origin of casteism in hymn #12. But unlike those that believe in a redeemer to overcome the sin of having born in a particular lineage, this sukta establishes that men are born out of Supreme Purusha. The varna system established in the Vedas is based on vocations and there is nothing in the Vedas that espouses the dogmas that the prevailing caste system sticks to. Some of the cases in point: Yajur Veda 18:48 / 20:17/ 26:2, Atharvana Veda 19:32:8 / 19:62:1.

And this sukta evolves in the Upanishads and Satpatha Brahmanas in a couple of different ways. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (I/4/1-5) shows an evolved Purusha that is established in the self (consciousness of I) and then the fable goes on to state that the masculine Purusha created a feminine principle of Self by splitting into two. And this idea is extended to all animate things like cows, stallions, sheep etc to develop the idea of the Purusha Sukta. Again harvesters of human souls point to this Upanishad to claim that Prajapati did many asinine things!

Once the Vedic God enters the BEING mode, the Vedic seers go on to perceive the Supreme Consciousness as focal point of everything and as the cosmic pillar (Skhamba) that anchors everything in this universe, the SELF of the universe.

Atharvana Veda 10/7/ 1 – 40. I am furnishing only a few of the forty hymns to help us get a drift of the hymns.

1. In which of his limbs does Fervor dwell?

In which of his limbs is Order set?

In what part of him abides Constancy, Faith?

In which of his limbs is Truth established?

3. In which of his limbs does the earth abide?

In which of his limbs the atmosphere?

In which of his limbs is the sky affixed?

In which of his limbs the great Beyond?

8. That which of all forms the Lord of Life

Created–above, below, and in between–

With how much of himself penetrated the Support?

How long was the portion that did not enter?

[The part that did not enter, pertains to the 3/4th part of the transcendental ONE that sacrificed the 1/4th Purusha]

15. In whom, as Man, deathlessness and death combine,

To whom belong the surging ocean

And all the arteries that course within him;

Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

18. He whose head is Universal Fire,

Who has for his eyes the Angirases

And for his limbs the practitioners of sorcery–

Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

21. The branch of Nonbeing which is far-extending

Men take to be the highest one of all.

They reckon as inferior those who worship

Your other branch, the branch of Being.

22. In whom the Adityas, Rudras and Vasus,

Are held together, in whom are set firm

Worlds–that whch was and that which shall be–

Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

23. Whose treasure hoard the three and thirty Gods

Forever guard–today who knows its contents?

Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

Perhaps, the above hymn is where the Puranas draw the fable of 33 Million Devas in Indra loka, though this hymn only talks about 30 aspects/deities of the ONE.

25.Great are the Gods who were born from Nonbeing,

Yet men aver this Nonbeing to be

The single limb of the Support, the great Beyond.

Now that we have seen the way the Supreme Reality emerged from NON-BEING to BEING, the way the universe was manifested, the way life forms were created by the Supreme one, the way the Divine became the pillar of support, it becomes easier to decipher, this false belief that Vedas only espouse myriad Gods. In fact the Vedic mind, cognizant of the multifaceted nature of reality embraces the non-being and being, the manifest and unmanifest aspects of the Supreme Reality. Let us go through a few Vedic hymns.

He is one and only one, Sustains entire universe, Omnipresent, Formless, All-Powerful, Perfect, Omniscient, Unborn, Eternal and supports us always. He alone should be worshipped. Yajur Veda 40:8.

Truth is One; the wise call it by different names. Rig Veda 1:164:46

Power entered within him. He is the one, the onefold, the only one Atharvana Veda 13:4:12

All moments originated from the Purusha like lightning, no one has comprehended him, above, across, or in the center. Yajur Veda 32:2

Divine and formless is the Person; he is inside and outside, he is not begotten, is not breath or mind; utterly pure, farther than the farthest Imperishable. Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:2

However this one Supreme Reality in the Vedas is Brahman and not the ones in Abrahamic scriptures. I will deal in detail what the differences between Brahman and Jehovah and Allah are separately.

Sources:

Raimon Panikkar. The Vedic Experience

Sri Aurobindo (1956) The Secret Of The Veda

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Tags: Brahma, evolution, god, hindu spirituality, Hinduism, Nasadiya Sukta, rig veda, secret of the veda, spiritual reality, Spirituality, Sri Aurobindo, Veda, Vedas, Vedic, vedic experience

2 Responses for “The Vedic God: An Evolutionary Journey”

Jenee Backman says:

March 19, 2011 at 10:36 am

You are a very smart person!

Woo Yong Park says:

May 6, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Amazing and unfathomable knowledge. Thank you very much for sharing this incredible & vast ocean of wisdom with us. I wish, some day, all of us reach or rise to that state of awareness to be able to understand what really Vedas mean in our heart and mind. Have a great day!!!

Idol Worshipping, Western Terminologies and the Modern view By Prashant Saxena

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 | Posted by Editor

Idol Worshipping, Western Terminologies and the Modern view

By Prashant Saxena

http://www.chakranews.com/idol-worshipping-western-terminologies-and-the-modern-view/1131

Idol (also called Murthy) of Radha and Krishna situated in a Hindu Temple

India is the only country in the world where other faiths evolved on the top of the existing one i.e Hinduism. Buddhism, Jainism etc evolved and western faiths like Islam and Christianity were accepted by the people of India. “Athiti Devo Bhava” has always been the mantra. This only shows the true tolerance of Hinduism. Other signs of tolerance in Hinduism is the acceptance of symbology to represent and address the ultimate reality and its various manifestations. This includes names and idols or statues. Some people also address by sitting in a particular direction.

But many westerners look down upon the concept of idol worship. What exactly is idol worshipping? Is there a differentiation between the various idols? Idol worshipping is a very subjective form of bhakti (devotion). It is also a means of meditation and focus to raise one’s conciousness to a higher state. The western concept of worshipping, religion and theism are very different from that of the Hindu point of view. One shouldn’t mix western terminologies with the Indian ones or try to comprehend Indian scriptures from a western prism.

The very definition of theism has originated in the west where god is isolated from the nature, who created the nature and has his own set of miracles to perform. The western conception of god or theism involves fear and hatred. Whereas in Vedic concept, the closest english translation of deva is god. Deva is nothing but a part of ultimate reality which is manifested for a particular role just like science has physics to serve one field, chemistry to serve another and biology another. Thus one cannot say if Hinduism is polytheistic or monotheistic as these very concepts are western. Some people by stating “Veda consists of polytheism”, unknowingly impose a non-spiritual and distorted definition of god from a limited western frame of understanding on to the Vedic conceptualizations which are metaphorically personified. All the devas, that some people percieve as different gods, are part of ultimate reality, and by inducing inferior terms like polytheism they limit the devas in isolation to one another and to ultimate reality. Neither physics is isolated from science nor chemistry, neither wind (vayu-dev) is isolated from the nature (prakriti) nor fire (agni-dev). All the devas, as mentioned in Vedas, are the elements of the nature which are essential for the human survival or constitute the human body. A man cannot live without the sun (Surya-Dev), wind (Vayu-Dev) or agni (Agni-dev). One of the message of the scriptures is to comprehend the truth i.e the ultimate reality which is called by various names, “Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahuda Vadanti”. Thus the conception of polytheism gets contradicted directly when faced with the understanding of the vedic scriptures and the upanishads.

Gitopanishad states,

BG 9.22: But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form — to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

BG 9.23: Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kunt?, but they do so in a wrong way.

Thus, the western definition of god remotely resembles the Vedic conception of ultimate reality and deva. These vedic conceptualizations are reduced when one tries to understand them from western perspective of “God”.

Related to the western conception of God, comes the conceptualization of the term “religion”. It is a word which was never used by the Indians in the past. Buddha never asked to follow something called “Buddhism”, Mahavira never created the term “Jainism” and Vedas do not consist of the term “Hinduism”. These very categorizations were done by the westerners who identified the teachings and induced the various “isms”. What exactly is religion? Religion is a set of beliefs which is blindly followed and usually not questioned. Thus we had plethora of cases of witch burning, crucifications and chopping of limbs of the people who questioned the western gods or western holy books. Buddha was never burnt for questioning the authority of the corrupted or deviated brahmins who distorted the Varna system by “karma” to cast system “by birth”. Instead, he was adored by many. On the other hand, Dharma in its true meaning refers to righteousness, ethics, spirit of questioning, spirituality and scientific bent of mind. It is something which opposes blind beliefs. Hence there is hardly any connect in the western conception of “religion” and sanskrit term “dharma” which has no equal terminology in English. Vedas do not talk of forced conversions or to impose a thought on someone by hook or crook. Veda in sanskrit itself means knowledge. When people blindly believe, it leads to attachment and degradation of intellect. For example, many people when questioned about the origin of life and how it started, instantly reply with the answer “Theory of evolution” not even knowing that the theory of evolution does not talk about creation or origin of life, but the subsequent evolution as theorized. More over, modern scientists are divided on it and the theory has been debunked plenty of times. Some scientists question the theory and other play as an apologist to it. Some people go one step further in their “beliefs” that science will eventually solve everything which marks a sense of their faith in science without even knowing that science only explores the existing and does not guarantee anything. How can a person find a flaw in a concept or a theory if he is attached to it, blindly believes and would not question? Thus, there are many people who follow science religiously and that is not how science progresses. A person may find a flaw in a mathematical or science concept only if he would have a healthy skeptic and questioning mind.

Similarly, Astik in sanskrit means one who understands and accepts Vedas after deep meditation and thinking. Vedas means knowledge and one cannot progress in science/knowledge if he blindly accepts. Thus if one comprehends the fundamental definition of astik, he would realize that it is actually the opposite of theism as blind belief in an isolated god (as per western view) is neither spiritual nor intelligent. But worshipping ( or revering ) the elements of nature, understanding their properties as stated in the Vedas and hence maintaining a balance in the nature is the very essence of spirituality. Hence again, neither monotheism nor polytheism can ever be used to explain the essence of spirituality or the context of the Vedas.

Worshipping in vedic context means to rever the nature, treat it as divine so as to maintain peace, balance and harmony all around. If a person cuts the trees, i.e abuses the nature, for the generation of wealth i.e laxmi, then it is simply not spiritual. Hence worshipping has to be done in a holistic way. Worshipping by animal killing, polluting or abusing the nature and the mankind is neither spiritual nor a vedic form of worshipping.

Thus letting go of the western terminologies and comprehending the scriptures from purely an Indian point of view, one would understand that the ultimate reality as described in Veda and upanishads is comprehended by different symbols i.e various names and idols. Hence, one who doesn’t understand the core of Hinduism i.e the Vedas would normally think that Hinduism consists of various gods and diversifications. But when one tries to move beyond that diversification, he converges to the point of ultimate reality which the vedic seers percieved as formless, nameless, unmanifested, unborn, inconcievable. That very question that converges to the ultimate reality is stated in the “RigVedic Hymn of creation”.

RigVedic hymn of creation :

There was neither non-existence nor existence then.

There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.

What stirred?

Where?

In whose protection?

Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?

There was neither death nor immortality then.

There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.

That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.

Other than that there was nothing beyond.

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,

with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.

The life force that was covered with emptiness,

that One arose through the power of heat.

Desire came upon that One in the beginning,

that was the first seed of mind.

Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom

found the bond of existence and non-existence.

Their cord was extended across.

Was there below?

Was there above?

There were seed-placers, there were powers.

There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.

Who really knows?

Who will here proclaim it?

Whence was it produced?

Whence is this creation?

The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.

Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whence this creation has arisen

- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -

the One who looks down on it,

in the highest heaven, only He knows

or perhaps even He does not know.

Hence, different names and idols were given by the people to comprehend the ultimate reality. As explained, idol worshipping in its true meaning enhances one focus and concentration. Some people concentrate on the idols, some on the light of candle and some on the rising sun. Many idols personify the different aspects of nature. A person who doesn’t understand the essence of symbology, would percieve idol worshipping as some infatuation to a physical form. But for different people it means a different and subjective state of concentration. In mahabharata, Eklavya trained himself in warfare by worshipping the idol of Dronacharya who was considered as a master in the art of warfare.

Gitopanishad explains various steps to achieve or focus on the ultimate reality,

BG 12.8: Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

BG 12.9: My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.

BG 12.10: If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage.

BG 12.11: If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.

BG 12.12: If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind.

BG 12.13-14: One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me — such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.

BG 12.15: He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anyone, who is equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety, is very dear to Me.

But just as in the case of attachment to science, when a person gets overly attached to idol worshipping it leads to counterproductivity and non-spirituality. For example, many people attached to the physical form and ignorant about the higher nature of the ultimate reality, think Shiva is the only god and they look down upon other names to that ultimate reality. Some people think it is Vishnu and some think it is Krishna.

BG 9.11: Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.

Some people dedicate different days to different gods and some forbid eating their favorite meal because it is a tuesday or a saturday, a belief set by people of earlier age and conditioned to the youngsters who blindly believe it. Some people sit in a particular direction in this directionless universe. One may ask where is north, south, east and west? These are only the frame of references created by humans. When they get attached to this idea, they look down upon others who sit in a different direction. Some people even kill in the name of the god “assuming” God would be pleased. This kind of blind belief is rampant specially in the west where hate and fear are propogated in the name of god. One may ask, if God hated us and we were born sinful, then why would he or she even create us? Thus, blind belief and lack of questioning leads to degradation of mind, superstitions and non-spirituality. This is similar to the case where the fans of a politician or a celebrity would demolish public property on hearing any constructive or destructive criticism of him. When extreme attachment comes into the picture, then even contructive criticism is denied and consequently it belittles any freedom to questioning. A person who follows what the others are doing would only blindly believe. This is called the herd instinct. When a member of the herd tries to glorify what the herd follows, he usually sneers at anyone who “questions” what the herd is following. Thus, in a group of science “followers”, people usually tend to look down upon the one who questions the scientific theories. The followers attached to the theory, treat the scientists as gods, quote them blindly without questioning or understanding the basis of the quote and ironically treat the questioners as an outcaste or unscientific. Thus to attain knowledge, to focus or meditate one has to detach from the physical form or world which is forever changing.

BG 15.3-4: The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment. Thereafter, one must seek that place from which, having gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything began and from whom everything has extended since time immemorial.

Vedas although do not mention idol worshipping, they do not criticize or condemn it either. The true experience of the ultimate reality as mentioned in the Vedas and the various Upanishads, cannot be realized through words or names alone. Thus in a higher state of consciousness, a person transcends to experience the formless and the nameless.

BG 3.42: The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.

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Tags: Astik, Gitopanishad, god, hindu idols, Hinduism, idol, idol worship, idol worshipping, Idols, indian idols, manifestations, modern hinduism, symbolism, symbology, Vedas, western thought

2 Responses for “Idol Worshipping, Western Terminologies and the Modern view”

Dr. O. P. Sudrania says:

March 9, 2011 at 2:06 pm

Abrahamic Religions are an outcome of reaction and agrression started against the “Idol” worship. Any reactionary concept remains far away from the “Truth”, which is the essence of the all the religions in their real percespective. Christianity had its toll, followed by the Islam in this order to compete with the prevailing concepts at that time for their survival; meaning to gather ollowers as their foot soldiers. Islam being the youngest child in the field, has been rather precautious and agressive for its spread.

Before these, it was the vedic concept all over, known as “Paganism” or “Heathenism” to the current westerners. This concept was derived and adapted from the Vedic Indian concept and modified as per the local milieu to suit the natives and never propagated hate or intolerance against the others. Everybody was free to live and practice their own faith.

In Vedic concepts, it is unfortunate that the hate campaign started by these later day Desert cults is firstly intentional to propagate their own cult and secondly, ignorance based on lack of knowledge of language. Hence one blind man led the other blind and a mass hysteria developped. Once there wasa sufficient number to lead the society, the aggression and intolerance took the form of violence and plunder.

Vedic concept is based on a perfect scientific basis. It starts from duality to non-duality; from polytheism to monotheism; from saakaar to niraakaar; from sagun to nirgun; from seen to unseen and so on. It an ocean and people dive in at their own choice and the way they like to find their own catches.

Hence vedic philosophy is a nectar of faith based on vast and immeasureable concepts. We see things according to our own colour of the glass. Some people wish to acquire knowledge only to criticise it; there is no need to argue with such ignorants. You can not wake up a person who is just pretending asleep.

God bless

Dr. O. P. Sudrania

Prashant Saxena says:

April 17, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Yes, I understand and agree with your point sir. But theism and vedic concepts are different. Theism itself is a very inferior concept be it polytheism or monotheism.

http://www.chakranews.com/ultimate-reality-and-monotheism/1187