Hinduism: knowledge, reason,
meditation: What we believe
The Charleston
Gazette; Charleston, W.V.; Oct 8, 2000; Dr. Kanoj K. Biswas
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Abstract:
In 1952, British philosopher
Arnold Toynbee addressed the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh University.
He predicted the world would still be dominated by the West at the close
of the 20th century. But in the 21st century, "India would conquer her
conquerors." Pre-empting the place held by technology, religion will be restored
to its earlier importance, and the center of world happenings will wander
back from the shores of the Atlantic to the East, where civilization originated
thousands of years ago. The term "Hinduism" is a misnomer. When the "Anu"
people left India (that includes modern India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bang-ladesh
and Afghanistan) following the Battle of the Ten Kings, and were defeated
by King Sudas in 3750 B.C., they settled in Persia (now Iran). Their language
changed from Sanskrit; especially the "s" sounds changed to "h." The "Sindhu"
River was changed to the Indus River, and the people were called Hindus by
the Iranians. Eventually, the Greeks omitted the "h" sound altogether and
called the country "Indoi." Actually, India is called Aryabharta (land of
Aryans). Arya is a Sanskrit world meaning "noble." The word Aryan originated
from the word Arya. India is also called BharatBarsha (land of King Bharat)
or Hindusthan (place of the Hindus). "Sthan" is a Sanskrit word meaning "land"
or "place."
Hinduism is a universal religion and not an organized religion. Instead,
it is personal and a nonprophetic religion. Compared to other beliefs or
faiths, there are more than 500 prophets in Hinduism. These individuals are
called seers, rishis, saints or divine human beings. In Hinduism, humans
are not divided into groups, believers and nonbelievers. There is no doctrine
or dogma in this system. There is no intermediary or prophet between human
being and supernatural being (God, Brahman, Vishnu, Agni, Kali, Saraswati,
Vayu, Indra). Sages refer to the name of God with different names, but the
truth is the same.
Self (Soul, Atman) is indestructible, immortal and neuter. It enters the
body, and when the body dies, the soul goes into another body (reincarnation)
until there is "Moksha," the soul's liberation (joined with God, Paramatman,
Brahman) which is infinite. All the souls are finite and parts of Brahman
and can be compared with the rays of the sun and Infinite Brahman with the
sun. According to this universal tradition, Sanatana (without any beginning
or end) Dharma, God (Brahman) is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.
There is no one birth, one death, heaven, and hell in Sanatana Dharma as
in other belief systems. According to some faiths, humans enjoy the same
lives in heaven as on this Earth, and God is partial to some who are believers.
In Hinduism, there is an external ritual, but to know God (Brahman), people
have to search internally through knowledge, intelligence, meditation and
Yoga.
| Full Text: | |
| Copyright Charleston Newspapers Oct 8, 2000 |
In 1952, British philosopher Arnold Toynbee addressed the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh University. He predicted the world would still be dominated by the West at the close of the 20th century. But in the 21st century, "India would conquer her conquerors." Pre-empting the place held by technology, religion will be restored to its earlier importance, and the center of world happenings will wander back from the shores of the Atlantic to the East, where civilization originated thousands of years ago. The term "Hinduism" is a misnomer. When the "Anu" people left India (that includes modern India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bang-ladesh and Afghanistan) following the Battle of the Ten Kings, and were defeated by King Sudas in 3750 B.C., they settled in Persia (now Iran). Their language changed from Sanskrit; especially the "s" sounds changed to "h." The "Sindhu" River was changed to the Indus River, and the people were called Hindus by the Iranians. Eventually, the Greeks omitted the "h" sound altogether and called the country "Indoi." Actually, India is called Aryabharta (land of Aryans). Arya is a Sanskrit world meaning "noble." The word Aryan originated from the word Arya. India is also called BharatBarsha (land of King Bharat) or Hindusthan (place of the Hindus). "Sthan" is a Sanskrit word meaning "land" or "place."
The Sanskrit language (the oldest existing Indo-European language) is akin to most Indo-European languages (including Greek, Latin, Old German, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Celtic) and even holds similarities with modern English words. The word "religion" is derived from Latin, "re" meaning "back" and "ligare" meaning "to bind or hold." Something to hold should be true and verified by others. The word "religion" corresponds to the word "Dharma" in the Sanskrit language (from the Sanskrit verb "dhri" meaning "to hold"). Even the English word "man" came from the old Sanskrit word "mana" (mind). That is "man is a being with the mind." It is also possible the word is related to the Hindu mythological first man "Manu" and his offspring is "man." A human being has a mind and should be a thinker.
The Sanatana Dharma originated in India after the last Ice Age. This is the oldest extant religion of the world and is based principally on the scripture Vedas (Sanskrit word meaning "knowledge"). According to Orthodox Hindus, Sanatana Dharma also includes Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, which all originated in India. People in these sects are called nonorthodox Hindus. There are about 1 billion orthodox Hindus in the world, mostly in India and Nepal. More than 500 million nonorthodox Hindus (Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs) live in the world.
Hinduism is a universal religion and not an organized religion. Instead, it is personal and a nonprophetic religion. Compared to other beliefs or faiths, there are more than 500 prophets in Hinduism. These individuals are called seers, rishis, saints or divine human beings. In Hinduism, humans are not divided into groups, believers and nonbelievers. There is no doctrine or dogma in this system. There is no intermediary or prophet between human being and supernatural being (God, Brahman, Vishnu, Agni, Kali, Saraswati, Vayu, Indra). Sages refer to the name of God with different names, but the truth is the same.
Hinduism does not have one particular scripture. The oldest scripture is the Rig Veda; the earliest part of it is at least 8,000 years old. People memorized their scripture because there was no written language during that time. Vedas are called sruti (heard) and others are called smriti (memory). There are four Vedas and 20,358 verses in all. Other major books are Puranas, Upanisads, Bhagavad- Gita, Brahma-Sutra, and other auxiliary scriptures, including Ramayana, Mahabharata and Dharma-Sutra.
Not acknowledging the existence of believers and nonbelievers, Hinduism represents knowledge (know the truth), reason upon the truth, and then meditation upon the Self (Soul, Atman) to his or her fulfillment to attain salvation (Moksha in Hinduism and Jainism), and (Nirvana) in Buddhism. Not a single soul will be deprived of this destiny. All the Hindu Seers (what they observed through their lives) who attained this Moksha related their experiences to future generations. They also observed and experienced the same truth through meditation and ultimately through Yoga (union with God, Brahman, Paramatman).
Self (Soul, Atman) is indestructible, immortal and neuter. It enters the body, and when the body dies, the soul goes into another body (reincarnation) until there is "Moksha," the soul's liberation (joined with God, Paramatman, Brahman) which is infinite. All the souls are finite and parts of Brahman and can be compared with the rays of the sun and Infinite Brahman with the sun. According to this universal tradition, Sanatana (without any beginning or end) Dharma, God (Brahman) is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. There is no one birth, one death, heaven, and hell in Sanatana Dharma as in other belief systems. According to some faiths, humans enjoy the same lives in heaven as on this Earth, and God is partial to some who are believers. In Hinduism, there is an external ritual, but to know God (Brahman), people have to search internally through knowledge, intelligence, meditation and Yoga.
The main questions many people ask in this universal tradition are:
(1) Where do we come from?
(2) What is God (Brahman or Supreme Being)?
(3) What is the relationship with our Supreme Being (God or Brahman)?
(4) Where is our future?
(5) What is our relationship with other human beings, other beings, and also the environment?
(6) What is our relation to our body with Soul (Atman) and God (Paramatman, Brahman)?
These questions are answered by many sages and can be read in different books, especially the Upanisads. Every human soul can experience it according to his or her intellectual development and desire.
Hinduism stands for truthfulness, nongreediness and nonviolence. But nonviolence does not mean cowardliness. If Hindus think they are right and truthful, they will give their lives for their universal tradition. There is no permanent heaven and hell in this religion.
The main features of Hinduism are as follows:
(1) All-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and unmanifest reality.
(2) Karma (doings), law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his or her words and deeds.
(3) Reincarnation.
(4)The universe undergoing an endless cycle of creation, preservation, and dissolution (Hindu trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, respectively).
(5) No intermediary (prophet) and son of God, last prophet, for salvation as everybody will ultimately attain salvation or Moksha or Nirvana by repeated births and deaths according to their own Karma (doings).
(6) No vicious, angry and jealous male God. Rather, the Supreme Being is without any gender. If God is jealous of other gods, what does it signify? If He is, then He is just like any other human being and is jealous of his rivals. Does this make sense? This is the reason why Hindus believe in thinking (think for yourself and decide). Hindus do not accept any or a last revelation from God unless it is verified by each individual, as humans have a mind, and they have to think before they accept it as truth (as any new scientific invention is only acceptable if it is proven by everybody).
(7) More spirituality and less theism and materialism.
(8) Respect for all, including all beings and environment.
(9) No sinner and every person has some good and bad qualities, and bad behavior could be corrected by good work, self-control and respect for other people.
(10) All human beings will be salvaged through four methods of Yogas (union with God) either singly or combined. These are Jnana (knowledge), Bhakti (love and devotion), Raja (meditation) and Karma (selfless work) Yogas.
Unlike the prophetic religions, there is no Creation date and timings in Hinduism. In this universal system, there is no burning of books, no heresies, no iconoclasm, no blasphemies, no miracles, no holy wars, no missionaries, no destruction of temples, buildings or churches, no punishment with murder for apostasy, no plunder or booty, no slavery, no conversion by bribery, no forceful conversion by sword, no special chosen people of God, and practically no conversion as this universal tradition deals with his or her own behavior.
This religion has no contradiction with modern science and technology. Scientists like Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan enjoyed these universal traditions in their lifetime and mentioned them in many lectures. Many people are very ignorant in this universal tradition, which came to America just over 100 years ago through Swami Vivekananda. Many people are ignorant of the word "idol" or "icon," and they believe that many Hindus probably worship an object. It is like photography or chemistry symbols to understand God from finite to infinite. This is why Hinduism starts with this symbol, icon or form that is called Sakar (with form) and eventually ends without form (Nirakar) to the Infinite (God, Brahman, Paramatman).
Hinduism is a mystic religion with many symbols. Unless one understands the meaning of these symbols, one cannot appreciate Hinduism. In Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox churches, people use many idols or icons in their rituals, like the Hindus.
Hindus are never forbidden to read any book on any faith, religion, philosophy. There is no heresy in this universal tradition. Hindus believe that when you have that feeling of attaining salvation, you sense the feeling of "Sat-chit-ananda" (Sat means "being in its totality," chit means "is endorsed with consciousness," and ananda means "bliss"). The genius of Hinduism is to combine divergent practices and beliefs into one overall system - unity in diversity. As Hinduism is not an organized religion, it has no relation to politics.
In Hinduism, there are many gods and goddesses. These are the attributes of God (Saguna). When people become more knowledgeable and do meditation and Yoga, they envision God without attributes (Nirguna). As man is the mind and consciousness, he or she works for his or her own destiny. Of the 108 extant Upanisads, ManDukyo Upanisad (epitome of all the 108 extant Upanisads) speaks of the entire range of human consciousness (four states: waking, dream, sleeping and turiya (superconscious state) beginning from the waking state and ending with supreme absolute state of super-consciousness, where all objective relations and perceptions of duality are completely negated, and It says unequivocally that the Absolute Reality (God, Paramatman, Brahman) is nondual (Advaita) and attributeless (Nirguna). In one sentence we can summarize that this Sanatana Dharma, or eternal tradition, starts with polytheism, pantheism, dualism, and ends eventually with monism - I am with God; God and I are one.
Most of the faiths and other religions originated in Asia. All Indian and European people (Indo-European) are non-Semites. Indians kept their Sanatana Dharma (eternal tradition) and language (Sankrit - oldest Indo-European language), but the Europeans were victimized by a Semitic faith and lost their Pagan culture. However, they kept their non-Semitic language. Sanatana Dharma is the oldest religion and has survived more than 8,000 years while others disappeared, including Egyptian, Babylonian, old Iranian, old Arabian, Greek, Roman.
Most Hindus read three books (Triple Canon) - Upanisads, Bhagavad- Gita and Brahma-Sutra (mainly for swamis). Very few read the original Vedas, except a few important sentences.
I conclude this article with a quotation from David Frawley, the world-famous American Vedic scholar:
"Let us re-examine humanity's oldest and enduring spiritual tradition, which of the religions of the world can perhaps most rightfully call itself 'Eternal Tradition,' in order to help understand our deeper and greater potential. This eternal teaching begins and ends with the Self (Soul, Atman). The revelation of our True Being, which is consciousness, freedom, bliss and immortality. May all beings come to recognize that Self! May all cultures come to build their societies upon it! Namaskaram!"
Biswas is a physician and is knowledgeable in Indo-European languages and religion.