Dear friends & members, Sometimes when I travel abroad (mostly as part of my job) to parts of the world in Europe or the Far-East cities, I meet with people in those countries who the moment they come to learn I hail from India, strike up a conversation about Indian philosophy, religion, and spiritualism.... It all invariably starts with their noticing my vegetarianism at the dinner table. They curiously ask me how I manage to survive on a strict diet of milk, bread, butter, jam, corn-flakes and green salads and soups and then invariably the conversation gradually veers around to talk of Indian mysticism, the 'kumbh-mela', varieties of Indian gods and cow-worship.... **************** During such conversations, I have always been amazed how little is the knowledge the average western mind possesses about the fact-sheet of India's great religion and philosophy. In comparison, the average Indian mind's knowledge of Christianity or Buddhism, I would venture to say, is almost encyclopaedic. For example, very few commoners in the western world know anything about the source of all religious scipture in India -- the Veda. A few of them have heard of the 'Bhagavath-gita'. The Gita has crept a little into the common awareness of the west mainly because it has been popularized somewhat over the years by serious literary personalities in Europe and America such as Aldous Huxley, Herman Hesse, Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson and others. But little do commonfolk in the west know that the Gita owes its original inspiration to yet another evenmore ancient source viz. the Upanishads, which in themselves are again only a sub-text of a vast body of scriptures known as the Vedas. *************** When I start explaining to my curious western friends about the fundamental features of the Vedas, the first thing to utterly amaze them is the fact that the Vedas have no human authorship; that there is no one person who actually wrote it down; that they have all been bequeathed, from one generation to another, across millions of years in India through the oral tradition of learning called "guru-sishyA parampara" (master-disciple school of oral learning). When I further explain to them that we Hindus regard the Vedas as "apowrushEyam" -- i.e. it does not owe its existence to any human authorship; that it stands alone as a self-existent, self-evident and eternal body of Truth; that it was only been revealed to ancient seers ("rshis") who merely intuited it all through spiritual insight gained by years of 'tapas' (penance and self-sacrifice).... When all this is explained to them, the western friends cannot help asking me incredulously, "But how can what you say be true!" On my part, I try not to be unduly surprised or offended by the incredulity of the average western mind vis-a-vis the very idea of "apowrushEyam". After all, Christians and Muslims, we know belong to the religious tradition of "Peoples of the Book" (i.e. the Bible and Koran) which are sacred scriptural books which owe their authorship and inspiration to individuals -- such as the Prophets Mohammed, Jesus, Moses and others. To the average western mind so accustomed to its principal Book of scripture, the Bible, being attributed to authorship by the Apostles of Jesus, it can be indeed very, very difficult to comprehend the very idea of "apowrushEyam". ************ To convince yet such incredulous westerners, very often, I resort to a simple analogy in order to drive home to them the validity of the idea the Vedas are "apowrUshEyam". The analogy is borrowed form the western world -- the world of physics and classical music -- and then constructed in simple terms, in the language and idiom of the western world again, so as to help them relate really well to the idea, to grasp its essentials and comprehend it thoroughly. Here is the analogy which I share with you all too in the hope that you may all wish to ponder upon it and, if found convincing, may well want to use it yourself in explaining the concept of "apowrushEyam" to your own friends and acquaintainces (western and otherwise) who may appear to you as difficult "doubting Thomases". **************** Einstein once said that while Beethoven only created or crafted his music, Mozart's own was so pure that it seemed to have been ever present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master. Einstein believed much the same of Physics too -- i.e. beyond observations and theory, lay the music of the spheres which, he wrote, revealed a "pre-established harmony" exhibiting stunning symmetries. The laws of nature such as those of Relativity Theory, were waiting to be plucked out of the cosmos by someone with a sympathetic ear. Thus it was far less laborious calculation than the creative or intuitive processes of "pure thought" to which Einstein attributed his theories. Scientists often describe the general relativity theory as the most beautiful theory ever formulated. Einstein himself always emphasized the importance of recognizing the theory's beauty. "Hardly anyone who has truly understood it will be able to escape the charm of this theory". The theory is essentially one man's view of how the universe ought to be. And amazingly, the universe did turn out to be pretty much as Einstein imagined. *************** The great Einstein regarded his General Relativity Theory not as something born out of personal intellectual effort or inspiration but as Truth which he happened to "discover" as "pure", "pre-established harmony". Einstein held the music of Mozart in the same light. Mozart's music too was not so much music "composed" as music "waiting to be plucked out of the cosmos by someone with a sympathetic ear". In much the same way above as Einstein regarded his discoveries in Physics, or he appreciated the music of Mozart, I explained to my western friends, the Vedas too -- the principal source and inspiration of all religious thought and scripture in Indi -- they too are regarded by the Hindus as "apowrushEyam": in other words, the Vedas are "so pure that they seemed to have been ever present in the universe", "waiting (as it were) to be discovered by the masters" known once in ancient India as "rshis". The Vedas too are thus "pure thought"; they are "pre-established harmony" revealing the great laws and the "stunning symmetries" of the Cosmos and all Existence. And like Einstein's theory, I further go on to explain to my friends, the Vedas too are "essentially one man's view -- i.e. the "rshi's" view -- of how the universe ought to be. And amazingly, the universe did turn out to be, in several ways, pretty much as the Vedas and the "rshi-s" imagined"! ************* When I had taken to pains to explain all of the above to my western friends, it sometimes occured to me that not withstanding the simple but persuasive relevance of the analogy, they still went away a little confused and unconvinced by the thought that anything in this world could be "apowrushEyam" --- un-authored, self-existent, self-evident and eternal. Let us for a moment leave westerners aside; their incomprehension and incredulity can be quite forgiven. What about Hindus themselves, I ask? How many of you are totally convinced and yet not-so- convinced about the idea? Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |