I would like to offer a different perspective to the very important issue of the forces dead set on not allowing the Modi government to succeed. We realise that it is not the BJP or the Sangh Parivar that is the enemy for those forces. Or do we? This is my point and it is the focus of the cited article as well. My intention is to strengthen the author’s astute perceptions with facts gleaned from the new Indocentric Cosmology – thereby positing the discussion in a more objective framework. It is important for clear-sighted individuals to come forward at this stage of the global developments in which India is central. I make this statement because the dangers we face today are remarkably similar to the struggle that surrounded the Second World War. It needs to be understood that there is something much larger at stake than the success or failure of right-of-centre politics or economics. I will elaborate the issue further ahead.
I have resided in India for the past 44 years, since 1971. Over this long stretch of time I have seen the ups and downs of political parties, fluctuations in economic strategies, the rise and fall of once-thought unassailable ideologies, and even substantial cultural mutations, much to the chagrin of traditionalists; and of late the appearance of the newest tool on the block for foreign ‘invasion’ – the Internet. I have witnessed a growth in prosperity primarily evident in rural areas (where I prefer to live). In the 1970s and well into the 1980s, villages, picturesque and even pleasing to the eye, were a conglomeration of thatched huts. There was hardly a brick and cement building in sight, except perhaps that of the largest landholder of the area. This panorama has changed radically. The concrete habitations we now see may not be so aesthetically pleasing, but they do a better job in protecting their inhabitants than thatched huts. Above all, they indicate a new-found prosperity.
In this stretch of over forty years, what is it that has remained unchanged, and has certainly intensified? It is what V. Anantha Nageswaran admirably points out in his article: anti-Hinduism, plain and simple. I am a first-hand witness to this underlying obsession that has become so deeply entrenched in the Indian way of life, to the point that we must question if it will ever be eradicated. Not only have I been a witness, I am a perpetual target of those same forces as well. I have first-hand knowledge of their machinations to degrade Hinduism, and the obscene manner in which anyone who has an influential voice for the Dharmic cause must be discredited and ultimately silenced, by fair or foul means. And irony of ironies, even the apparently staunch upholders of the culture often lend their full support to such discrediting campaigns without realising what masters they are serving in doing so.
Anantha Nageswaran insightfully wrote that it may take ‘several generations for a millennium of slavish thinking to be shed. The risk is that the idea of India may be…buried before that happens, with its potential and promise remaining unfulfilled.’ The ‘idea of India’ is what needs to be discussed but by a cosmological and more objective approach. This has nothing to do with politics or economics, or even the mutations in culture reflected in the aspirations of the youth which often seem offensive to traditionalists. True, it is Hinduism that is in the dock. But even this is too simplistic and does not do justice to the essence of the matter. What do we mean by the word?
Actually it is the Sanatana Dharma that lies at the core of the hostility and relentless undermining that afflicts India in an increasing measure. Nor is this a recent phenomenon. Its seeds were first planted some 2000 years ago and have been gaining strength ever since. After successfully decimating all ancient cultures where aspects of the old tradition were to be found, those forces zeroed in on the only space on planet Earth where that Dharma had survived and been securely lodged. In other cultures where once the Dharma existed, esoteric schools called it the Perennial Knowledge. As the only surviving civilisation India was entrusted to keep the flame burning and the thread unbroken. Such is the burden of destiny she carries. It is a burden for the entire planet.
What we witness today is the last-ditch effort to re-group forces hostile to the perennial knowledge and finally to submerge that Dharma in the sea of ignorance we have inherited from the dark ages, to entrap the entire Earth, not just one nation, in a prison of spiritual backwardness; that is, to extirpate the Knowledge from its only surviving bastion. This is indeed a hegemonic struggle, but it is not a lust for worldly dominance or economic enslavement, as Hinduism’s adversaries strive for. It is a struggle for the elimination, once and for all, of the Sanatana Dharma, or the perennial knowledge that had once thrived across the globe in pagan cultures.
This true objective has been tactfully camouflaged. What is worse, a superb strategy was elaborated to make it almost impossible to realise where the root lies and what is the true objective of the hostile campaign, or even to pinpoint the real adversary. In contemporary society with its shallow yardsticks this strategy was a simple but fundamental one: to place the outer garment donned by the Sanatana Dharma – that is present-day Hinduism, the attire it adopted for itself during this 9th Manifestation of 6480 years (starting in 234 BCE) – on a par with the Abrahamic and exclusivist religions which are late-comers, having arisen as recently as in the past Age of Pisces (234 BCE to 1926 CE). That outer garb may be put on a par with religions – though scholars agree that Hinduism, even as it stands today, does not fit into the category of religion – but in no way can the Sanatana Dharma (the perennial knowledge) be categorised in this fashion. Having fully attained the objective of parity the forces hostile to its survival have succeeded in diluting the Dharma and obscuring the real issue: that India was entrusted with its survival, being its only living and flourishing example.
The truth be told, this could only come fully to light in the present millennium, after the battle lines were fully drawn, resulting in the extreme polarisation we observe today. We bear witness to this monumental occurrence. It is a battle being fought on this soil, at this very time. And, I repeat, it is equal to the stakes at play during the Second World War. This is not a struggle for survival of Hinduism or Islam or Christianity, or whatever. India’s struggle is, and always has been, for survival of its very raison d’être: the Sanatana Dharma, well beyond all religious creeds and the societal structures they have given birth to across the globe. Still of greater importance is the survival of the Earth herself: the Sanatana Dharma is the repository of knowledge (veda = knowledge) that explains the destiny of our very planet because it is the involucrum of the soul of the Earth, its direct expression, as it were; in mythology (the language of the soul), this eternal soul-essence is captured in the Daughter Principle of the hierarchy, better known as Durga, or Bharat Mata herself.
If we do not understand what lies at the root of these pernicious efforts to undermine the rise and flowering of the Indian soul, we will fail to gain focus and determination in the battles being waged in the external strata – in the political sphere, for example. Yes, not allowing the Modi government and associates to succeed is the goal set by the adversaries. However, as Anantha Nageswaran elaborated so well, this is truly a last-ditch attempt to squash Hinduism, its contemporary avatar, because the nation cannot rise to its pre-destined heights while 80% of its population continues to remain trapped in the cage of an inferiority complex. Centuries of condemnation of idol worship (the principal target) have seeded and nurtured a sense of inferiority – though it must be understood that this could never have happened if the knowledge (veda) foundation of the Dharma had not been contaminated. But what does deep thought reveal of that negation? Again, it is suppression – nay, extermination – of the Goddess because she is the giver of all Form, be it the human form or the carefully-crafted murthi that is housed in the most sophisticated and sublime conceptualisation of sacred architecture of all times – the Hindu Temple, itself the repository of all the veda contained in the Sanatana Dharma. Passage in and through the Dark Ages resulted in this magnificent feat of preservation, of these exquisite paeans to the sanctity of Form in its myriad manifestations. And indeed, similar to Hinduism during that dark era, the temples themselves were targeted because they upheld Form, the preserve of the Goddess, no matter which godhead the temple housed. All, every such manifestation is part of her undivided Being. She embraces all because all are her cosmic expressions. It is time to call a spade a spade: the Goddess herself was the target across the ages, regardless of the gender of these idols. These are eternal truths that only India still cherishes.
In the first half of the last century, Sri Aurobindo embarked upon the agenda set for him to re-establish the Dharma by bringing down the power he knew to be the transformative agent required for the endeavour. This was the supramental Truth-Consciousness, known to Rishis of old but not incorporated by them into the evolutionary matrix since that was not their objective. Time had to fulfil itself. This did happen at the outset of our current 9th Manifestation. But since his efforts would mark the next leap in evolution from a race under the rule of Mind to Supermind, naturally the forces entrenched in the old consciousness would rise up and defend their hitherto unchallenged fiefdom. Together with the Mother, his co-worker and perhaps the most adept occultist the world has ever known, they set about their task with Sri Aurobindo going into seclusion right at the onset of the new Age of Aquarius, 1926. The first serious threat to their evolutionary undertaking came soon after with the rise of Nazism at the very time they joined in their mission, the second half of the 1930s. They realised that the Evolutionary Yoga they were engaged in for the Earth, with its promise of a grand new order, had to be set aside because of the threat Nazism posed.
This is a perspective closed to most thinkers; though Sri Aurobindo is appreciated for his nationalism and wisdom, hardly any are aware of just who he was and his own very special mission. It is cosmic and global, not trapped in parochialism of any sort, even of the Hindu brand – an oxymoron, where Hinduism is concerned, it needs to be added. Indeed, when veda is absent, the thrust for survival degenerates into fundamentalism: forces take over, filled with good intentions and zeal, but without a basis in sound knowledge, as contained and preserved in the Sanatana Dharma, the movement is led by those unable to bring to the agenda that wide consciousness which alone is capable of re-establishing the very Dharma they seek to uphold, protect and further. Inflicted as the entire nation is with the fixation of parity, as I call it, lamentably they become reactive, which results in the true character of the Dharma becoming perverted in order to react to the hostile avalanche of abuses, pulling it down to a level where Hinduism does not belong. Indeed the parity fixation is a trap almost all have fallen into. This is where the champions of the cause presently find themselves; it is a black hole that must be resisted at any cost.
Here is an extract from The Mother’s Agenda, Volume II, 1961, where she speaks of the threat the Second World War posed (translated from the French):
That is why the war started: it was to halt the Work [the Evolutionary Yoga of Transformation]. Because at that moment there was an extraordinary descent of the Supermind; it came like that (the Mother makes a gesture of a massive descent). What a DESCENT! It was exactly in 1939. Then the war started and brought a stop to it all. Because if we had continued the work (of transformation) regardless, we were not sure of being able to finish it before ‘the other’ would not have made a mishmash of the earth, and then that would have brought a set back to the whole thing for centuries. It was necessary BEFORE ALL ELSE to stop that action of the Lord of Nations, the Lord of Falsehood [a title given in occult circles to the predominant Asura of our times, at that point consolidated in and working through Nazism].
In their wisdom the Mother and Sri Aurobindo knew that if in India the new Power could not be rooted and activated, the entire planet would be swallowed up by the Asura, just as the myths describe. (For this reason I call myths – recurring history.) They were criticised by many because of their apparent support of the Allies during the Second World War; the above quote provides a better explanation. In this light recently I wrote a four-part series entitled A Cosmological Perspective, the Time-bound Necessity of War, in which I refer to the same action of that hostile Power, but from the cosmological angle, the point being to present to the public a basis in knowledge for statements, perceptions such as these which might elude the capacity to understand these subtleties by the layman. It is a language that pre-supposes a certain yogic background. I quote a relevant portion:
Usurpation is the keyword. The strategy is to use accepted symbols of higher goals based on the sacred sciences. We recognise the tactic without any difficulty regarding Nazism; but how many really question why those sacred Vedic symbols became the emblem of that entire movement? We must now question: How is it that Hitler came to adopt the Swastika as his signature among all the symbols at his disposal to choose from? Nazism was rooted in Christian soil, not Indian; and yet, not only was the Swastika adopted but the usurpation extended to the overall goal of his movement: the establishment of a superior race, the Aryan. This choice touched the heart and soul of the Veda and made the label ‘coincidence’ unacceptable: the only Aryan worth mentioning is the victorious Warrior of the Rig Veda – the world’s oldest Scripture…
Here again we are faced with a ‘gap’ due to unknowing, similar to the opening left in the time-fabric by the event of 1938 [the massive descent the Mother mentioned]: a cloud hangs over the significance of the Rig Veda. To date there is no consensus on the real meaning of its enigmatic verses. That unknowing, that unconsciousness permitted not only Hitler to usurp the Aryan as symbol of the superior race he intended to establish in Germany, but Indologists joined in the chorus, some of those of most repute from Germany itself. They not only fanned false ambitions by their interpretations of the Rig Veda, they also contributed to a persistent North-South divide on the subcontinent.
The point I am making is to recognise how precariously the Earth was poised on the brink of a sombre abyss at the border of the new Age, due entirely to ignorance – of a cosmic status – indeed, the Cosmic Ignorance that must give way to the Cosmic Truth of the Vedic Age. And India stood then, and continues to stand, at the heart of it all. (A Cosmological Perspective, the Time-bound Necessity of War, Part 3, ‘India as Centre-Soul’. The entire series can be found at:www.puraniccosmologyupdated.com.)
This vision is based on objective knowledge. It is part and parcel of the updating methodology central to the Sanatana Dharma, for which reason it is able to survive and refurbish itself according to the demands of the new Age. It is knowledge rooted in the cosmic harmony, and as long as that lives, so long will the Dharma live and thrive. But to bring it to an end, the seemingly unbeatable weapon has been the strategy of derailing used by the adversary for the past two thousand years. The main objective, apart from a pernicious undermining, has been to disconnect the Dharma from its cosmic moorings, the preserve of the sacred Feminine. In this way, no sense can be made of the role India plays for the world which then helps us understand why I can make the statement that our times are the equivalent of the Second World War. Indeed, out-and-out brute force and usurpation was not the solution then to destroy the Dharma, so this time a more subtle strategy has been evolved, utilising the contemporary social and political structure as an almost infallible weapon to achieve parity. Once that is accomplished, for the wrong reasons, the Sanatana Dharma is lost forever and India’s reason for existence is obliterated. All the forces worldwide were marshalled to attain this aim when Narendra Modi began his rise on the political stage. It was an open and undisguised assault, impossible to ignore. Anantha Nageswaran described the operation accurately. But the people of India knew in their hearts what was at stake and defeated those forces at the polls. The Bharat Shakti made sure that her command would prevail. We may analyse all the troubling aspects of current world affairs and the root cause will always be found to be the same. In India, as explained so eloquently by Anantha Nageswaran, the battle lines are obvious.
There is a persistent underlying thread running through the Sanatana Dharma, as well as a unique methodology for perennial renewal and re-establishment. This is precisely what we are experiencing today: the re-establishment of the Eternal Truth. Therefore it can safely be stated that when the war with the dying old order is over, and Knowledge (veda) is finally victorious, the Earth will be the home of the new and most luminous creation ever conceived. It is India’s destiny to introduce that new order, the New Heaven and the New Earth, of the Veda.
More conclusively, in my article I point out the unusual fact that Nazism adopted entirely Vedic symbols for their movement. This is the most revealing fact that India’s destiny to preserve the Santana Dharma was the target at the onset of the new Age, beginning in 1926. Usurpation of its sacred-most symbols was the means, the implication being that they inspire and engender the worst evil the world has ever known. Apart from the Swastika, sacred to Ganesh, their attack on Jews would seem to have had an occult origin and strategic purpose as well because the symbol sacred to ancient Judaism is the two interlaced triangles and which graces even the national flag of Israel; this is the symbol sacred to the other son of Shiva, Kartikeya. But as mythology records, together with his mother, the evil forces out to take possession of the Earth are finally and conclusively vanquished.
Each nation is a Shakti or power of the evolving spirit in humanity and lives by the principle which it embodies. India is the Bharat Shakti, the living energy of a great spiritual conception, and fidelity to it is the very principle of her existence. For by its virtue alone she has been one of the immortal nations; this alone has been the secret of her amazing persistence and perpetual force of survival and revival. (Sri Aurobindo, Foundations of Indian Culture, The Sri Aurobindo Library, Inc. New York, 1953, p.5-6, original edition; later published as The Renascence of India.)
Sri Aurobindo wrote these words in the beginning of the last century. They are more pertinent now than ever. Could he have imagined that the polarisation brought about by forces seeking hegemony over the very soul of the planet would reach the extremes we witness today? Being the 9th Avatar and conscious of his mission, he certainly must have. The entire volume from which this pertinent portion has been extracted should serve as the holiest of Holy Books, the virtual guidebook for the nation as she moves through the tumultuous upheavals that lie ahead in her struggle to virtually hold her own amidst forces that are intent on drawing her off course. In this regard, it ought to be mentioned that Hindus are to be admired for their courage across the centuries in face of untold brutalities inflicted on them because of their ancient beliefs and culture. They have held firm – and they must continue to do so because we are in the midst of the most conclusive battle the civilisation has ever known; it is not to be taken lightly. Confusion reigns supreme because enemies are within. The order of the day – indeed, the main characteristic of the new order – is the all-embracing quality of the Goddess and her cosmic manifestation, the Body of the Supreme. It is transformation not destruction, not marginalisation but the wisdom and the courage and the ability to put each thing in its place. Blanket parity is not the enlightened way. The victory would mean an atmosphere established across the country where each section of its society can be accommodated in such a manner as to be able to contribute its best to the overall harmony. The cosmos is truly the greatest demonstration of diversity in unity imaginable. The Dharma has suffered undeniable scarring, but in spite of it all it has not perished. This is the gift Hindus can proudly offer the world. Some day what that exactly means for the Earth will be understood by all. The planet is blessed by the fortitude Hindus have shown.
In his quoted words Sri Aurobindo makes a fundamentally important point. He states clearly that ‘each nation is a power of the evolving spirit and lives by the principle it embodies’. The issue of course is that hardly any nation is aware of what that embodied principle might be. All are infants in the ability to perceive the contours of destiny, for example as laid down in the simple Vedic aphorism vasudhaiva kutumbakam, the whole world is one family. The nations of the world cannot even reach the point of acknowledging that we are allequal parts of that One Family. The division between large and small, big economies and minor, north and south, and so on, reflect this limitation. The true cosmic harmony is now being unveiled as the model to follow – and it is Indocentric. The Eurocentric is over, but it is not going to gracefully withdraw. The way to face any onslaught is armed with the only Powers the Goddess knows best how to wield – the Power of Truth, of Knowledge: they are invincible.
Let us look at it in terms of our Solar System. No single planet in the System, be it large or small, claims a right to hegemony of any sort. Size and lustre make no difference in the grand scheme of things. It is exclusively the totality that matters, the whole; and each planet plays its own particular role within that concert, no single unit houses a greater purpose than its companions in the cosmic scheme destiny has mapped out for our unique System. It is the duty of a more mature civilisation like the Indian to understand Sri Aurobindo’s words and to use them to forge ahead into the new times in the fulfilment of her destiny.
Simply put, each thing/planet/nation must find its true place and value in the grand scheme of the Earth’s destiny. Each nation is a part of the whole and together this concert of nations can create a symphony the harmonies of which have been heard (sruti) and understood only by the most evolved souls (the Rishis). Modelled after our very own solar system and as its third planet, the Earth’s own Dharma is to foster the Soul, to provide the field – unique in this System and perhaps in the entire galaxy – where the Soul can be unveiled to play the role for the whole of humanity that it plays for each individual. The individual centred on the psyche can never serve lesser powers but only the highest, just as Sri Aurobindo wrote a century ago, and give expression only to THAT in all aspects of life.
The Earth herself is the Chosen One – not any one philosophy, any single creed or religion or ideology – but this third planet we inhabit herself: We incarnate here to help the Earth realise and fulfil her destiny – nothing more, nothing less. We hear the slogan service to the nation often enough. This is a call to serve the Earth, to helpher fulfil her noble task.
To this end, this grand Lila is reaching a culmination, a now or never moment in a very long and seemingly limitless evolution of the spirit. It means that now is the time to become aware of the stakes, higher now than ever they have been, and to become conscious instruments in the hands of Bharat Shakti. In this exercise India plays the role of the Sun in our solar system. She is the Centre – not a superpower let it be stated clearly – but the unique soul-centre of the Earth, where the Supreme descends yuge-yuge to re-establish that which is eternally true.
India alone, when she finally takes possession of her centre-ship, can allow each nation to find its place in the grand Harmony and to contribute its unique worth to the Whole. She cannot allow herself to be pulled off-centre – because that is the goal of the adversary, which would constitute victory for the forces hostile to the Sanatana Dharma: to engage India in a lesser hegemonic struggle. But India must see more deeply into the essence of the struggle; for forces hostile to the Dharma the objective is indeed to ‘harvest souls’. I say, let the harvesters reap whatever they like. But India must penetrate into the heart of the matter. She must see the potential contribution of those very antagonists that seek to destroy her before she can bring her age-old Dharma to express the glories it holds for the whole Earth.
The West, after passage through the Dark Age with its history of abolishing all pagan cultures, has embraced the Judeo-Christian ethos. This choice has resulted in a civilisational expression apparently at odds with the spirit and soul of India. Be that as it may, that choice resulted in a marked affinity with matter and the external dimensions of life, out of which evolved the current political ideologies as well as the concept of secularism that bears little relevance to a Vedic culture. It enjoys a prosperity India cannot seem to parallel, try as she might. But is this commensurate with her true destiny? To follow the lead of the West and extend the life of a dying consciousness?
Let the West, now led by the United States of America (and this too is in the just order of things) continue to support with their wealth and rajasic missionary zeal the less materialised nations. Let a thousand Mother Theresas come to Indian soil and ‘harvest the poor’, certainly not those souls who belong to the Sanatana Dharma, but the poor, even the poorest of the poor. It is their dharmic obligation to do so; even as it is India’s dharmic obligation – the whole of India, all Indians included – to uphold and to protect that Dharma. The Harvesters know nothing of the other, the ancient Dharma that India has held from time immemorial in her sacred Bhoomi. Leave that to the care of the wise, to the wisdom of the Mother – for she alone knows what is best for her children.
Thea
Aeon Centre of Cosmology
at ‘Skambha’ Palani Hills, South India
14.5.2015
www.aeoncentre.com
Gurucharanam Saranam
The Despairs As Well As Hope before Hindus
In the Rig Veda we find this verse: We are surrounded by dasyus from all sides. They do not perform yagna; they are non-believers. Their observances are different. O’ Slayer of enemies! Kill them, destroy their tribes. The history of religious intolerance is quite old and unpleasant. Holding a flashlight on this stagnated pool is only to lift up one to a refreshing perspective. The conflicts between devas and asuras in the scriptures are interpreted as the history of conflicts between Dravidians and Aryans. Prior to the Aryan cycle, the Dravidian race dominated. From the accounts in the epics and puranas and other ancient texts, it can be known that the Dravidians were an advanced civilization. Many among them like Bali, Ravana and Mayan were titans of that age possessing superhuman skills. Their technological prowess and architectural skills were superb. They had airplanes and mystical weapons, which could be either a much advanced version or a prototype of today’s nuclear weapons. They had built magnificent palaces and cities. As ages went by, the Dravidian civilization decayed. Great geological changes occurred. There was the great Flood. The Kumari continent (Lemuria) of the Dravidians had gone underneath the deeps. The ice age had set in. Then a new race emerged from the snowy cool mountains and terrains – the white Aryans, may be 10000 – 15000 years ago. They began to conquer the moribund Dravidian civilization – the asuras, daityas, rakshashas, nagas, vanaras and other aboriginal races which inhabited the earth from previous age cycles.
It seems that the Dravidians chiefly worshiped Siva. It has been established from the excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa that the worship of Siva existed even before the emergence of Aryans. Some historians say that the Aryan, Greek, Roman and Celtic religions developed from the ancient Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia. The Sumers built their cities and towns dedicated to the worship of gods and goddesses like sun, moon, vayu, water, etc. But, who inhabited Sumeria? It must be a branch of ancient Dravidians, who were spread throughout West Asia in ancient times. According to researchers, the old Sumerian texts mention that people arrived from south by sea and occupied the land. Sumerian seals were one among the artifacts recovered from Indus valley, which establishes the early contact between the two civilizations.
The Aryan worship was notable for its fire worship and sacrifices aimed to appease various nature deities like Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varnua, etc. Nevertheless, the Vedic seers perceived Truth as an organic whole. God was perceived as a Cosmic Archetypal Person (Purusha) from whose sankalpam emerged the universe including the sun, earth, moon and other planets and all sentient and insentient beings. Although the Rig Veda assigns the creation to Purusha, the Vedic community gave importance to the worship of guardian deities. In the Vedic religion the spiritual authority was vested with a community of priests or purohits, who called themselves as brahmanas. They considered themselves as superior claiming their origin from the face of the Cosmic Purusha. The status of kshatriyas, vaisyas and sudras dwindled according to the limbs from which they originated from the Purusha, such as from his arms kshatriyas, from navel the vaisyas and from the legs sudras although such a theory of genesis is viewed as a clear misinterpretation of Purusha Sukta. The brahmanas who now grouped themselves as purohits became specialized in complex fire rituals, which they conducted for the rulers who wanted to ward off threats from natural forces as well as expiation of sins for their misdeeds. The Vedic priests conducted rituals for the ruling class and the elite who generously gifted cows, land, grains, gold etc. and granted them special privileges. The sudra had no spiritual or social privileges under the Vedic dispensation.
II
According to few historians, a group among the Aryans decided to migrate to Iran protesting against the corruption of Vedic priests and established the religion of Zarathustra (the Parsi religion). In the Zarathustra religion the devas were treated as unholy spirits. In India too, some wise men were unhappy with the greedy Vaidikas and their pompous rituals and sacrifices. These wise men withdrew to forests and mountain caves and began to meditate on the mystery of life. They received visions of truth and shared their knowledge to the keen disciples who approached them. Their teaching came to be known as Upanishads, which means ‘learn sitting near the master’. They propagated the wisdom path. It is from the Upanishad rishis the ashram and guru-sishya tradition originated. The Upanishad seers saw God as pure Consciousness beyond name and form. However, these rishis lived a secluded life away from worldly pursuits, which they took as mind’s unprofitable diversion. Therefore, their profound and egalitarian ideology could not be developed into a religious culture among the masses. So, they continued to live trapped in the decadent religious practices.
Efforts were on to liberate the people from this pathetic condition and spiritual downfall from the time of Sri Krishna itself. Krishna taught humanity the first lessons of religious tolerance and tried to harmonize worldly life with transcendental wisdom. He initiated the concept of an undivided and eternal Supreme Entity which rules over the universe and whose light guides all sentient and insentient beings remaining in their innermost self. One can find the basic principles of a perfect spiritual science in the teachings of Sri Krishna in Bhagavat Gita. Through the famous verse in Bhagavat Gita yadhaa yadhaa hi dharmasya glaanirbhavati bhaarata, abhyuthanam adharmasya tadaatmaanam srijaamyham, Sri Krishna was presenting an alternative spiritual path, i.e. the system of an (epochal) spiritual mediator, an avatar or Guru medium, who will lift up humanity whenever dharma is in peril. Krishna said: Surrender your heart completely to me; love and worship me; bow only before me abandoning all other paths. Then you can see me, this is my promise. I am the one who love you the most; you submit all dharma to me. Find refuge in me and do not fear because I will save you from all sins and slavery.
Through this exhortation, Sri Krishna was trying to liberate the society from the domination of Vaidikas and Vedic ritualism. According to some thinkers the Mahabharata war was a war between Sri Krishna and the spokesperson of Vedic Dharma, Dhronacharya. Such a pernicious and colossal war in which almost all kshatriyas of the land were perished was not fought just for resolving a family feud. It could have been as well a rebellious war against the hegemony and injustices of a priestly social order, which supported a corrupt regime. When Krishna passed away from the scene with the end of Dwapara yuga, the Vedic religion re-established its supremacy. Krishna’s life and teachings were misinterpreted to suit the tradition. The profundity of Krishna’s teachings was lost in the fanciful tales of the poets who portrayed Krishna as Makkan Chor or Radhe Krishna, who flirted with gopikas.
Then the Sage Kapila came with Sankhyan philosophy. The Vedic religion had become unpopular with the masses. The philosophy of Sage Kapila freed the concept of God and Creation from the ritualistic framework of Vedic religion. Sankhyan philosophy can be said as a refinement of the philosophical discourse of Upanishadic Rishis and their jnana path. Buddhism and Jainism were influenced by the Sankhyan philosophy. People suffering from an oppressive religious and social order wanted a Savior. Buddha was that Savior. Buddha’s religion was egalitarian and based on right action, human love and compassion. There was no place in it for meaningless rituals and caste discrimination. The whole of India and many other nations in Asia accepted the ideology of Buddha.
III
The period of Buddhism between 600 B.C– 800 AD was the golden period of Indian history. Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka, Vikramaditya, Harsha and Kanishka were the great emperors of this age. It was during this period several other great souls like Patanjali, Sree Sankaracharya, Kautilya, Aryabhatta, Charvaka, Susrutha, Kalidasa, Amarasimha, Vararuchi, Bhairavi, Varahamihira, Dandin, Banabhatta, Subandhu, Bhathruhari, Bhavabhuti and others lived spreading the glory of India around the world. The great growth of Buddhism was intolerable to the Vaidikas although the Buddhist Sangha constituted a large number of Brahmins. Buddhism and Jainism which came as protest movements against the Vedic religion were depicted as Atheists and their followers were ridiculed and persecuted. It was another chapter of religious intolerance. Buddhism was soon split into two sects – Hinayana and Mahayana, incorporating the very practices which the Buddha abhorred such as the veneration of deities, animal sacrifice and inclusion of mantric and tantric rituals into the Buddhist canon. Soon Buddhism weakened and migrated outside its land of origin.
During the Gupta period, the Vedic religion regained its upper hand. The Indian society under Vedic religion was highly segmented on the basis of caste. Each caste, tribe or guild had different gods (kula devata), mostly lesser and unholy spirits compared to the beautiful gods of higher castes. This crippled the spiritual and social solidarity of Hindu masses. Eventually, the Gupta dynasty declined and foreign intruders began to mount attacks on India. The local rulers who were in mutual enmity went to the extent of seeking assistance from these foreign intruders in order to defeat their enemies in the neighborhood. India had fully degenerated socially and politically after the decline of Buddhism. It was at this moment in history Islam made it entry into India. The kings of India bent their knees in front of the ferocious sultans. Thousands and thousands were massacred and all wealth looted. Thousands were forcibly converted. Those who refused were put to the sword. Their womenfolk were raped. Some jumped into fire. Many thousands were taken as slaves to die in the enemy lands. Hindu temples and Buddhist viharas were razed to the ground. The holiest of holy temples of Hindus at Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi were demolished and masjids built in their place. The world famous Buddhist library at Nalanda was burnt to ashes.Islam inflicted horrendous pain not only on Hindus but also on Christians and Jews. Islam was born out of a historical frustration in the area of spirituality. Despite the efforts of many earlier messengers like Sri Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir and prophets like Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ, people had not yet accepted the true path and relapsed again and again to the faith in many messiahs, gods and demigods. Some among the early persecuted Christians believed that the ferocious power of Islam was the curse of God on them for deviating from their true faith.
Buddhism and Jainism were basically protest movements against the Vedic religion, against its caste segregation and priest-craft. However, Buddhism and Jainism had never posed a threat to India’s fundamental culture and unity. Even when there were differences, the undercurrents of culture remained the same. Buddism and Jainism never ‘de-nationalized’ the people of India, as a well known westerner put it. The Indian religions never displayed religious hatred or bigotry as seen today in a manner that would tear away the very unity of the country and its cultural foundation. India was always known for its religious tolerance compared to other nations. The Indian society was not politically segmented on the lines of race, class, caste and tribe as it is seen today. However, changes took place in the fabric of Indian society after India was colonized by the British. Although during the rule of the Muslim Sultanate and Mogul kings, a lot of Hindus were forcibly or otherwise converted to Islam, it had not affected the pan Indian Hindu identity and culture. It was difficult to convert the majority Hindus, who were spread across the length and width of the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. With the end of Mogul rule the advance of Islam came to an end. During the British period also serious efforts were made for the conversion of Hindus. However, Hinduism outlived all these attacks while the Islamic conquests and European colonialism had uprooted the native cultures and beliefs in the continents of America, Europe, Africa and other places. They forced their religion on the conquered people and thus Christianity and Islam became the biggest religions in the world.
It was in South East Asia Islam and Christianity failed because Hinduism and Buddhism strongly resisted the efforts of global religious conversion. At the time of independence, the Hindu population in India was more than eighty five percent. Nevertheless, the thousand year long Islamic and British rule had greatly affected the Hindu society politically and socially. Several social evils and superstitions in Hindu society were demolished. The reform movements began by Ram Mohan Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekanada, Aravind Ghosh, Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar, Sri Narayana Guru and others helped. There was a constitution which ensured social justice to the deprived classes in order to prevent the hegemony of a Brahmanical social order. Concepts such as freedom of religion and secularism were included in the Constitution. When the hold of religion was separated from the political system after independence, the Hindu religion was not accepted as the state religion, although the Hindus were in majority. At the same time, two theocratic states came into existence dividing India – Pakistan and Bangladesh. This caused big distress to the majority of Hindus. The efforts of the British succeeded to restrain Hindu religion politically and socially. In one way, the partition of India was unavoidable, because both the British and Indian leaders had realized that it was impossible to restrain and make the Muslims live under a democratic set up among the majority Hindus. Whenever and wherever Muslims form the majority, they would opt for a theocratic society under Islamic laws. This is inbuilt in the Islamic theology.
IV
Behind the British occupation of India, there were not only political and economic aims; one of their main objectives was to convert the people of India into Christianity. The British saw the Indians and their religion as primitive. They strongly believed that only through Christianity the Indian souls could be saved. Several missionaries from Europe arrived in India for this purpose. The British administration extended all assistance to them. However, they soon realized that it was almost impossible to convert the Hindus. This fact has been mentioned in the book ‘Letter on the State of Christianity in India in which the Conversion of the Hindus is Considered Impractical’, written R. Abe Dubois, a missionary in India during the British period. The British administration and the missionaries who arrived in India changed their tactics when they understood that it was not easy to convert the Hindus. First, they began to study about the religion, philosophy and culture of India. They were surprised to find the history of a very ancient and profound culture. They thought that a people who was so much degenerated and colonized could not be the heirs to this great culture and philosophy. They picked up the theme of conflicts between deva and asura in the Puranas and described it as the racial conflicts between Aryan and Dravidian population. It was William Jones, Max Muller and other Indologists who propagated this concept first. Sri Rajiv Malhotra has done a detailed study of this subject in his book ‘Breaking India’.
The Indians who were living for centuries in unity and brotherhood suddenly became Dravidians and Aryans, hill tribes, dalits, etc. They defined Indian society as a conglomeration of isolated groups which had no common bonds. Through this they aimed to divide Indian society on the basis of race, caste, language and region and held Hinduism responsible for all these evils. The missionaries thought that they could convert more and more Hindus into Christianity by exploiting and aggravating this situation. The Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu is a big example for this. During the British period, Christian missionaries in India like Bishop Robert Caldwell and others provided ideological fire for this movement. They spread the idea that the Aryans, after coming to India, destroyed Dravidians, their religion and culture and therefore Aryans were the enemies of Dravidians. The books and articles written by these missionaries and their preaching raised a cloud of racial hatred. Thus the Hindu religion, language and culture were seen as the enemies of Dravidians. In 1916 an organization was founded by the name Justice Party. It is this organization which has become the Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam (DMK) in the political scenario today. During this period there was a big tide of religious animosity in Tamil Nadu. A lot of people in Tamil Nadu converted to Christianity. Sanskrit and Hindi, the language of North Indians were opposed. The Hindu face of Tamil Nadu underwent change like that of Kerala. The Aryan-Dravidian racial conflict spread to Sri Lanka also. The European colonialists adopted the method of polarizing the people of India on the lines of caste, class, religion, race and language, which kept them alienated from the national mainstream through social and political confrontations. Thus religious intolerance is perpetuated in the form of political and social protest movements.
V
Western culture or Arab culture is incapable of leading the human race towards peace and spiritual fulfillment. Today, the influence of western materialist culture has led humanity to all types of vulgarity, family breakdown, health hazards and environmental damage. There is disillusionment and disquiet everywhere. The murderous jihadi groups are slowly digging the grave of Islam, which has grown through a history of bloodshed. Majority of its followers are blind to any other truth, therefore, are confined to their self-imposed ideological isolation. The world is in need of a new spiritual path to forge ahead, which would form the basis of the faith of future humanity. Navajoythi Sree Karunakara Guru said that only the wisdom tradition (jnana path) of the rishis provide such a unitive spiritual view, which has been developed through ages of spiritual enquiry and culture. Guru mentions that all religions, sages and prophets have their own place in the historical march of humanity. Therefore, we should not berate any religion or prophet. What we can do is to pray for a good transformation with a benign vision and largeness of heart. The slogan of mere religious harmony is not enough. The human race has to be guided to the path of one Supreme Godhead, who is not Hindu, Christian or Muslim. God rules over His entire creation equally. Although God is formless, Guru said that God has a shape. A formless God has no necessity to create a world full of forms and names. Manu Smriti provides a rational view of creation thus:
‘This universe was enveloped in darkness- unperceived, undistinguishable, undiscoverable, unknowable, as it were, entirely sunk in sleep. The irresistible Self-existent Lord, undiscovered, creating this universe with the five elements and all other things was manifested dispelling the gloom. He who is beyond the cognizance of the senses, subtle, un-discernible, eternal, who is the essence of all things and inconceivable, himself shown forth. He desiring, seeking to produce various creatures from his own body, first created the waters, and deposited in them a seed. This (seed) became a golden egg resplendent as the sun, in which he himself was born as the progenitor of all worlds. The waters are called Narah, because they are the offspring of Nara; and since they were formerly the place of his movement (ayana), he is therefore called Narayana… That Lord having continued in the egg divided it into two parts (male and female) by his mere thought. Its (the egg’s) womb, vast as the mountains of Meru, was composed of the mountains and the mighty oceans were the waters, which filled its cavity. In that egg were the continents, seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe; the gods, the demons and mankind.
The male creation of God is the Manu of Manvantara cycles who is not to be confused with the author of Manu Smriti with the same name. The female part is known as Satarupa. The echo of this idea of a Cosmic Person is also reflected in the Semitic religions. The word Adam is said to have originated from the Sanskrit root ‘Adi’, which means the beginning. The great Rishis taught us that Guru Principle is the qualitative transformation, the creative intent of the formless Brahman. (Brahman is different from the god Brahma. Brahman denotes to Almighty God). The Tantra texts mention that God exists in the form of Guru (Primal Guru, the Cosmic Purusha) in the middle of a thousand-petalled lotus. The solar system is created by the sankalpam of this Cosmic Preceptor, known as Manu. Thus Manu is the authority of a solar system. The Indian sages calculated the age of universe in terms of Manvantara after the name of Manu. We should remember that the words ‘manushya’, ‘manava’, ‘manuja’ and even the English word ‘man’ is derived from the root Manu. There is an interpretation that the word Bharat is derived from Manu. Manur Bharata Iti Bharata, i.e. the land governed by Manu is Bharat. One wheel of creation (kalpa) is set to the time periods of fourteen such Manus. In the long duration of a Manu age partitioned by cosmic ages such as Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, several spiritual authorities manifest age after age. It is this spiritual view of Indians which makes them tolerant to other religions, sages and prophets. Only through such a cosmology, the human race can be united and liberated from religious intolerance. Only a Guru who comes as the authority of the age within this cosmology can lead all people to a unitive spiritual path. Navajyotisri Karunakara Guru has not brought a new religion; He has only reinterpreted the Sanatana Dharma concepts in tune with the age. During this age of religious conflicts only such a unitive spiritual ideology can save us.
Hi Robert, re- reading this again – and recommending Michael Cremo come to the website and study this article on the Map. He visited Ankor Vat and described the visit in Atlantic Rising (May June 2015 issue). He needs help with the part on Vishnu and his emanations.
patricia
This entire piece is apparently a covert effort to practice exactly what it overtly decries at the beginning. The end betrays that the entire piece is not in tune with the Indian spirit but with the Western ambition of undoing the Hindu Dharma. Why should India import mother Theresas here. There are poorer countries elsewhere where their services are most needed. Secondly if Theresas do aspire in real services to the societies, let them cleanse the West of the crimes that are plaguing them. For, the proverb says ‘Oh, phyisician, heal thyself first’.
Hinduism does not despair. Krishna shows in Mahabharatha that God will take sides in a war; but blesses those who are on the side of the Dharma.
So the above lamentations are not of a genuine Hindu.
s.r.krishna murthy.
Dear Krishnamurthy, if you read the entire piece it is very clear that Thea has clearly mentioned how the battle-lines against Hindu Culture have been drawn and the motivations of the hostile forces who wish to destroy the Vedic culture. With remarkable perspicacity she has unraveled the deepest motives of the dark forces and their strategies to derail the Vedic Culture and thus has armed us with the knowledge necessary to defend our Mother well. She has clearly defined the role of India as being the center of the Earth and the how the very plan of the hostile forces is to take her away from the center and deprive her of the role of Guru among nations, the nation to harbor the first of gnostic races that Sri Aurobindo propheised about. She has stated that as the center of the Earth, it is her destiny to weave a cosmic harmony out of the nations of the Earth by revealing to them their embodied ideals, and thus to realize the Vedic Ideal of “World is a Family”. Clearly a part of this role also requires her to put each of the communities in India in their right places and reveal their roles and contribution to India’s own dharma. It is in this regard, she has stated that even the christian missionaries are performing their dharmic duty by materializing and educating India’s poorest and we should see deeper than their surface efforts at converting people. Thea has objected to conversion in this essay and in innumerable essays and I have not met a person who has been as systematically targeted by christian missionaries as Thea has been, precisely because of her opposition to conversions. In fact, if India is still Hindu and has not become a christian nation, it is largely due to Thea’s efforts.
In the last paragraph while stating that it is the dharmic duty of missionaries to convert, she has also stated that -“even as it is India’s dharmic obligation – the whole of India, all Indians included – to uphold and to protect that Dharma.”
But she wants us to look deeper and see that even these missionaries have a role to play in shaping the dharma of this country, and this cannot be taken as approval of missionary activity.
You need to learn not just to read, but also to understand.
Krishna Murthy your assessment of Thea’s open letter as ‘Western ambition of undoing the Hindu Dharma’ is quite far from the Truth. You have very much misunderstood the last paragraph of this letter, and probably everything else in it. Thea’s mention of Mother Teresas and ‘harvesters of Indian souls’ does not reflect her support of such activity at all. She is acknowledging that it is some people’s dharma to fall into this trap, but clearly India’s Sanatana Dharma is much greater and will prevail over such ignorance. If you are open to reconsidering your faulty snap judgment, you will find that Thea is a great proponent of the Sanatana (eternal) Dharma. She has revealed things about it that are truly necessary for India and for the world to move forward into this eternal knowledge/gnosis, leaving superstitions and dogma in the past age where they belong. To judge her Open Letter as ‘Western ambition of undoing the Hindu Dharma’ is a knee jerk reaction that does no service to the Dharma you feel you are protecting. It is up to you as to whether you want to become better informed as to the real intention and Shakti-force behind her writings. It is also up to you whether or not you wish to let xenophobia (or whatever else has elicited this comment from you) cloud your judgment on such important matters for India and the world.
Below are some links to Thea’s writings, which if you read with an open mind/spirit, I imagine you would come to an entirely different conclusion than the above.
http://patrizianorellibachelet.com/BookIndex0.html
http://puraniccosmologyupdated.blogspot.com/