jabdakhata

Probably the people who have initiated legal action should follow this example. They need to study in greater depth their own scriptures and also Western philosophy, be a master of history and then counter the claims made by the relevant scholar. They need to understand that hard work and sacrifice goes a long way in countering falsifications than mere obstinacy and opposition. They also need to understand that when they oppose anything just because it does not match their own conviction, without fighting it logically and rationally, they are merely following their own ego. Whosoever believes that this work would cause damage to Hinduism and therefore should be withdrawn from market is extremely ignorant, because he/she has underestimated the resilience of the mother of all religions. He/She is simply making the scholar undeservedly a hero or worse a martyr in the  intellectual  circle. Instead one should expose their hollowness and intellectual shallowness. That is pre...

It was at this juncture when calumnies upon calumnies were heaped upon it that Hinduism not only survived but was rejuvenated under a towering figure whose knowledge of both Eastern scriptures and Western science and philosophy put his adversaries to shame. He was none other than Vivekananda. While several noted Hindu scholars had earlier defended their faith against the propaganda and vilification campaigns, notable among them being Bankim Chandra, Aurobindo and Tilak, Vivekananda fought the battle on the enemy’s turf and on a much grander scale. He had to endure attacks from many fronts, even from the orthodox section of his own country whom he was defending, from the missionaries who identified him as their number one enemy, from the offshoot sects like Brahmos and theosophists. But he was undaunted and unmoved. Any lesser mortal would have been overwhelmed by the combined attack, esp. on a foreign soil, but not Vivekananda. He was made of stronger mettle. In his lecture in Detroi...

There is a lot of hot debates and discussion over certain scholar’s “scholarly” depiction of Hinduism. There has been much heartburn over it and now the publisher has withdrawn the book from Indian market. In the past 5000 years or more of Indian history there have been thousands of such scholars who have attacked and denigrated Hindu religion in particular and India in general. Did anything earth shattering happen? In the past two hundred years many European intellectuals and scholars unearthed a lot of hidden meanings, mostly with sexual connotation in the various symbols of Hinduism. Their findings were based on what they saw and what they wanted to believe – stories in Puranas with tales of adultery etc, famous temples with erotic curving, the devdasis in the Soutern temples, the worship of Shiva Linga or phalanx and Yoni or the Shakti principle, the Tantras, esp. the Vamachara with explicit sexual practices prescribed by the aspirants, the Rasa Leela with its apparent erotic s...

It is evident that the composer of Mahabharata and Purana, Vyasa, knew very well the true significance of the Vedic Gods. He knew that when Veda speaks about Indra or Agni, they are not eulogizing a few minor Gods, but rather they, through the Karmakanda, are actually trying to reach out to one Supreme Being in various names and forms which would appeal to  worshipers  of various temperaments. The same concept is then being developed as a higher stage of spirituality in the Upanishads. Karmakanda is thus a step in the ladder to climb up and reach the roof of spiritual ascent, viz. Advaita. Since Shakti is not given due importance in Vedas and yet, got a lot of importance in Mahabharata and Puranas, it is evident that the Vedic sages considered God as an entity without sex. If they had promoted the male principle then Mahabharata and Puranas would have no other option than to follow suit and Tantra would not have become popular. Thus it is also evident that there is a pr...

Rik Veda is claimed to be polytheist by many scholars. In a way it is because there are hymns addressed to apparently various Gods. Most of the hymns are addressed to Indra and Agni, several to Mitra-Varuna, others to different divine entities like Tvasta, Pushana, Savitri, Soma, Ashwins, Rudra and so on. Since these entitles also represented a particular form of nature, many may think that the sages, being awed by the power of nature, composed hymns by ascribing to every natural phenomenon a divine power. The Western scholars also assert that Vedas to Mahbharata to Upanishads represent an evolution of spiritual thought, with Karmakanda of the Vedas with nature worship as the predominant goal is the first stage, Some prominent Puranas with myriads of forms and personal gods the second, Mahabharata with Vishnu as the Supreme Being and Gods relegated to secondary position is the third stage and almost in parallel with the Puranas. Upanishads are the final stage where theology is fully ...

Now with this as the foregone conclusion, what measures Swamiji tells us to adopt in order to ensure that a successful and largely peaceful transition happens. First of all, let us write off the elitists. They are, in the language of Swamiji, “fossils”. To the rest of us, who are more open to the transition, he asks us to collaborate, rather than oppose the transition. So it would be better to help in the transition through sincere help and service, through the worship of the living beings, the masses in various ways, by giving them proper education, by helping in their cause, by treating them with with the respect that they deserve as fellow human beings and co sharers of our lives. In short, the privileged few should sacrifice and willingly give way to the deserving many. This is very difficult, esp. when a society is driven by narrow selfish interests. Therefore the transition or handoff won’t be easy and there may be more trials and tribulations in days to come in every society a...

Another trend that we see worldwide is the decline of the geniuses, extra ordinary merits. In every sphere esp. in science, there are very few ground breaking ideas. So the decline in culture which Swamiji described as one of the chief traits of the coming of the age of the Sudras is probably already evident. There are not literature well worth speaking, no art that can command respect. Innovations are mostly in the commercial realms. Life expectancies and medical cares have increased but so is the need of the persons providing such services, i.e. Sudras, the serving classes. The service industry is growing exponentially and the mainstay of the jobs for a large number of people, again by definition they are Sudras. There are no charismatic leaders and military expeditions are less and less. On a global scale rise of China is an extra ordinary event as China was reduced to a deplorable state in the nineteenth and early twenthieth century. There are a billion people out there whose ris...

Do we see today that such a stage has set in? We see some indications in the social and economic circumstances of the present world. The financial crisis caused by housing bubble is taking a pretty long time to heal. None of the world economies are in a sound state. There is a risk of collapse of currencies and the so called financial stability to blow apart. At the micro level there are insecurities associated with job and life more than ever before. We also see some grave indications in the social system. We see that today political leadership in many states in India is driven by people from the so called humble backgrounds. The elites who have often jeered others with humble backgrounds are fast getting eclipsed. One such sneer was at aimed at one leader who possibly sold tea at some stage of his career. The politics based on entitlements and endolements are not clicking because people are fed up with the elitist attitudes. They are not happy with the feudal mindset. Instead they ...

Now let us see what Swamiji has to say w.r.t the different rule. In a letter to Mary Hale he writes: Human society is in turn governed by the four castes — the priests, the soldiers, the traders, and the labourers. Each state has its glories as well as its defects. When the priest (Brahmin) rules, there is a tremendous exclusiveness on hereditary grounds; the persons of the priests and their descendants are hemmed in with all sorts of safeguards — none but they have any knowledge — none but they have the right to impart that knowledge. Its glory is that at this period is laid the foundation of sciences. The priests cultivate the mind, for through the mind they govern. The military (Kshatriya) rule is tyrannical and cruel, but they are not exclusive; and during that period arts and social culture attain their height. The commercial (Vaishya) rule comes next. It is awful in its silent crushing and blood-sucking power. Its advantage is, as the trader himself goes everywhere, he is a ...

In the early twentieth century however the influence of the British waned, as a result of the two world wars declared earlier and  Europe  was changed beyond recognition. Instead, America emerged as the new Vaishyas. The freedom it offered in matters of pursuing one’s goals made it a prominent destination for talents and it leveraged the talents to increase its commercial dominion.  Warfare  continued throughout twentieth century but the reasons were mainly commercial and not  surprisingly  America was in the centre for most of them. The class struggle at first had shown signs of hope with Russia being pitted against Americas and with the rise of China as a potential power, but soon Communist blocks fell like a pack of cards one after another and Soviet Union became a mere Russia. The powers that had promised establishment of dictatorship for  proletariat  had actually established dictatorship for a privileged few, an oligarch...

Did the Kshatriya rule do any good to common men? Swamiji did not think so. In his words, Even if the kings be of as godlike nature as that of Yudhishthira, Ramachandra, Dharmashoka, or Akbar under whose benign rule the people enjoyed safety and prosperity, and were looked after with paternal care by their rulers, the hand of him who is always fed by another gradually loses the power of taking the food to his mouth. His power of self-preservation can never become fully manifest who is always protected in every respect by another. Even the strongest youth remains but a child if he is always looked after as a child by his parents. Being always governed by kings of godlike nature, to whom is left the whole duty of protecting and providing for the people, they can never get any occasion for understanding the principles of self-government. Such a nation, being entirely dependent on the king for everything and never caring to exert itself for the common good or for self-defence, becomes gr...

If we look back to India once again, we’ll see that a very great and enlightened itinerant monk named Sankara had been able to resist the general decline of the values of the society and almost dispelled a decadent Buddhism from the soils of India and reestablished semblance of the order and social harmony, but he did not attempt in changing the prevailing social system of dominance of the  Kshatriyas . Instead he helped in raising the status and power of the Brahmins through his reformist measures which infused new life into a moribund India. Thus worldwide class struggles had resulted in the establishment of Kshatriya power, which, ruled for a considerable period of time, aided by the Brahmins or the priestly class, who were contented to share that power and influence. This period saw the establishment of large empires across the world, and not merely smaller kingdoms. The large empires were testimonies of the Khastriya powers and  might . At this stage Kshatriyas...

Whenever the social situation declined under one order, exploitation and corruption became rampant resulting in enormous suffering and miseries for common man, a giant tidal wave came and swept everything away, leaving in its wake a completely changed social order. If we look only at India, we’ll see such a change occuring in the recorded history at around 500 B.C, when Brahmin priests held dominance over Indian socio political structure. It is not suprising that the towering personality of Buddha came from a Kshatriya background, as if to emphasize what was going to happen. Buddhism swept India and with it went away the Brahminical orthodoxy, although it did not vanish. It retained its stronghold in the South, but Kshatriyas became more powerful and Brahmins were relegated to secondary positions. Even we saw the rise of Sudras into kingship as was evident in the assumption of power by Chandragupta Mauriya and also that of the dynasty which he replaced – the Nandas. Buddhism did help...

The Second World War however had however a more lasting impact. It was a war at which many things were at stake, of which trade and commerce and class struggles were small parts. For the first time in Karl Marx’s Germany, a man rose from the  Proletarians  and established a dictatorship under the guise of National Socialists. However, far from being influenced by Marx, this person nursed a virulent hatred against the communists. However his Nazi party, which was not strictly a party of the  aristocrats , helped in the rise of common Germans from rank and file into important positions. Hatred became their nemesis, but long after they had been destroyed, there was a lasting impact on the world order. To summarize, the two world wars in Europe and the transformation of Americas in the last century can be looked from the prism of a gigantic change in the  social  order in the West. The wars were indirectly class struggles and they ensured the tr...

A struggle to understand the prevailing social and economic conditions all over the world and a knowledge of Swami Vivekananda’s visions as reflected in his speeches and writings, can provide one with profound insights on the direction in which the world is moving. It does not need any prophetic vision, only some knowledge of history and ability to develop a regression model from the past data into future, based on variables shaped by the present conditions and an inspiration from Swami Vivekananda in his voice without his form. Swamiji’s profound thought was reflected in his essay – Modern India, and several of his letters. He said, “ According to the prevalence, in greater or lesser degree, of the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas in man, the four castes, the Brahmin, Kashatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, are everywhere present at all times, in all civilised societies. By the mighty hand of time, their number and power also vary at different times in regard to different countr...

Mahabharata has an interesting lesson. Queen Draupadi was dragged by her hair in front of an assembly when she was apparently lost by her husband in a game of dice. That was not enough. Kauravas also tried to undress her in front of all assembled guests, in an extreme perverse display. What was more intriguing was the fact that elders who were supposed to protect her and rebuke their errant sons for the moral transgressions, remained silent and passive. The kings who were there in that assembly remained quiet from the fear of retribution. The rest, we know is history. In the great battle that took place, not only were the Kauravas destroyed, but the other kings of India as well. But the battle and the consequences were the result of one woman's humiliation. A similar story, on a grander scale of humiliation, occurs in Ramayana where the chaste and virtuous Sita is carried away forcefully by Ravana of Lanka, for no fault of her. She was treated harshly and cruelly when she ref...

Do we not find the echo of the same love in Narendranath? Of course, else how the same love could be magnified in Swami Vivekananda’s personality? From taking care of an injured soldier, to giving his new clothes to mendicants, to making sure that a friend is able to sit for the examination, his love was probably more channelized before coming out in a torrent or gush in the later period. How do we forget the memorable character in The Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna, of Hazra, whom probably only young Narendra sympathized with, knowing very well that Hazra was somewhat devious in nature. This same love enabled him to carry the shoes of Swami Sadananda, then Sarat Chandra Gupta, on his head, when the latter was unable to walk wearing them and yet was unwilling to leave them behind. Swami Sadananda never forgot that incident. In his later days, when he returned to India, the young Brahmacharins and Sannyasins and his own disciples like Sarat Chandra Chakravarty, the author of the D...