Bhagwadgita - The Hindu Vision of Life.

Bhagawadgita – The Hindu Vision of Life.

The Bhagawadgita sums up the Hindu Vision of Life as no other scripture does. It is not just a dialogue on the purpose of life between the Great Charioteer and The Great Warrior, but it is also a dialogue between a Every Man and his Deeper Self. Like any scripture Gita does not ask people to follow any commandments, but tells him how the choices one makes leads to certain consequences in this life and the subsequent lives. Its basic message is, the destiny of man is in his own hands: " uddared atmana'tmanam – only you can save yourself." (Chapter VI –5). If the man makes the right choices, it will lead him to fulfillment – self-realization, both in this world and the next.

" The concepts of right and wrong", writes Dr.R.Radhakrishnan, in his preface to the Bhagwadgita," do not belong to the sphere of science ; yet it is, on the study of the ideas centring round these concepts, that human action and happiness ultimately depend." The Bhagwadgita is truly a guide for a happy and harmonius life.

Some of the ideas and ideals propounded in Gita are :

(a) Unity and Divinity in all creation;

(b) Nishkama karma – selfless action;

(c) Stitaprajna – equanimity ;

(d) Divine & Demonic Qualities.

(a) Unity and Divinity in all creation :

" The very heart of the Gita's message is ", says the great sage and scholar Ekanath Easwaran, in his introduction to The Bhagawad Gita ( Penguin), " to see the Lord in every creature and act accordingly." There are many verses in the Gita which repeatedly emphasize this fact of Hindu intuition – one-ness of the mankind, nay the universe. It is no wonder that Hindu scriptures proclaim, " vasudaiva kutumbakam" – world is a family.

The Hindu sages in their mystical experience found something changeless in the universe and something that animates all creatures, which they called Brahman or God. They found the same divine spark in everything, both in the animate creatures and inanimate objects. This has now been well corroborated by the physicists when they say that there is no difference between matter and energy and they are interchangable. Water, if frozen, becomes ice, if boiled, becomes vapour. The ice and vapour are two different aspects of water.

The following verse in the Gita (Chapter XIII-28) vividly explains the one-ness of mankind :

samam pasyan hi sarvatra,
samavasthitam isvaram,
na hinsatay atmana'tmanam,
tato yati param gatim

It means 'Seeing the same Lord everywhere, he does no harm to himself or others, and thus he attains the supreme goal'.

(b)Nishkama karma – Selfless Action :

Karma is action and karma is also consequences of action. The law of karma is the law of cause and effect. Every action leads to certain consequences and the relationship between the two is that of a seed and its fruit. What you sow, you reap. Some action leads to its consequences immediately as in the case of fire - you touch the fire which will burn your finger immediately or when you sow rice/wheat you will get a harvest after four months. Some action bears fruit after a gap of time – a mango seed gives you mangos after three/four years.

Nishkama karma is doing action without selfish desire. Man cannot live without action and man cannot achieve without desire. It is the selfish desire which binds him, rather blinds him, to the consequences. It is the selfish desire that makes him use any means to achieve what he wants. Mahatma Gandhi always emphasized the need for purity of means and ends. The means and ends are like the seeds and the fruits. Ends do not justify any means. Action without selfish motive purifies the mind but selfish motive entangles a man into further selfish action – it is a vicious circle. It is like a telling a lie which makes you continuously lie to cover up the original lie.

Nishkama karma ( selfless action) has been explained as 'karmaphala tyaga' ( renouncing the fruits of action ) in the last chapter (XVIII - 2) of the Gita.

kamyanam karmanam nyasam,
samnyasam kavayo viduh,
sarvakarmaphalatyagam,
prahus tyagam vicaksanah

While 'samnyasa' is renunciation ( refraining from selfish acts ), 'tyaga' is renouncing the fruits of action.

In the next stanza, Krishna explains that some wise people say that all action should be renounced as evil while others say that some kind of action – self-sacrifice, gifts and self-discipline should be continued. Then he adds that self-sacrifice, gift and self-discipline purifies man. However, even these acts should be performed without any desire for selfish rewards. Earlier, in Chapter (II –47), Krishna has made it clear that man has the right to action but not for its results and so fruits of action should not be man's motive. He also does not approve of inaction.

karmany eva 'adhikaras te
ma phalesu kadacana
ma karmaphalahetur bhur
ma te sango 'stv akarmani

'Nishkama karma' is the essence of Gita, according to Mahatma Gandhi. Self-less action ( nishkama karma) is a natural step to those who have found divinity in everyone and everywhere. God manifests in different names and different forms and the mankind is a brotherhood of man.

( c ) Stithaprajna - Man of Equanimity .

Gita defines a wise man or stithaprajna, as a man of equanimity or as a man with even-mindedness. Perform work in the world without selfish attachment and have an even mind both for success and failure, and that is yoga, evenness of mind ( Chapter II – 48).

The wise man is not perturbed by success or failure, by pleasure or pain, by gain or loss, by victory or defeat. He accepts both with equanimity. Time passes, success too passes and failure also passes leaving behind some experience, if one is capable of learning. All action leads to either to success or to failure, and if it leads to success, you take the next step towards your goal. And in case it leads to failure, you learn from failure, and try again. So many times success leads to excess and failure leads disappointment, and both cloud man's judgement.

Gita advocates self-control of body, mind and senses. Attachment to sense-objects leads to a vicious chain reaction – the chain of desire, anger, bewilderment, loss of memory, and destruction of intelligence. ( Chapter II – 62/3). When the mind follows the dictates of senses, it is like a rudderless ship which is carried away by the wind (Chapter II – 67).

It is in this Chapter that Krishna explains the transient nature of life – the same person or soul resides in the body which passes through childhood, youth and old age ; after death, the same soul then acquires another body, just as a man abandons worn-out clothes and puts on new clothes. The only thing that clings to the person or the soul is his good or bad deeds (karma) which shape his future or his destiny.

( d ) Divine and Demonic Qualties.

Every human being is born with good and bad tendencies. Since man has a choice, it is for him to choose either of the tendencies, and of course, reap the consequences. The Chapter XVI explains these tendencies in detail.

The qualities of Divine nature are : Fearlessness, purity of mind, devotion to knowledge, concentration, charity, self-control,, sacrifice, study of scriptures, austerity and uprightness, non-violence, truth, freedom from anger, malice and covetousness, renunciation, compassion and gentleness, modesty and steadfastness, vigour, forgiveness. These qualities lead to freedom and happiness.

Ostentation, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness and ignorance are the qualities of demonic nature. These lead to bondage. Of course the doors of God are open to him if and when he repents and reforms himself.

Further, Krishna says lust, anger and greed are the three doors to hell which a man should not enter at all costs. The man who enters these gates will not achieve lasting happiness, leave alone the life's final goal – moksha ( liberation).

The Hindu Vision of Life.

The above four ideas or ideals from the Gita present the Hindu Vision of Life and if followed, would lead to a happy and harmonious life. When you see Divinity everywhere in the world and realize that you are a part of that Divinity, selfishness loses its meaning and nishkama karma ( selfless service) becomes meaningful, stithaprajna ( equanimity ) becomes natural and the man would embrace all the divine qualities.

Gita is a ocean of wisdom and the above four are but a few pearls. When a seeker of truth immerses himself in this ocean, he will find many more. " I find a solace in the Bhagwadgita," Mahamtma Gandhi wrote in Young India (1925), " that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagwadgita. I find a verse here and a verse there and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies – and my life has been full of external tragedies – and if they have left no visible, no indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teachings of the Bhagwadgita."

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A Misleading Portrait ?

June 4,2007.

A misleading portrait ?

Under the headline, "A misleading portrait ", Jotirmaya Sharma reviewed the book by Sudhir Kakar and Katharina Kakar entitled, The Indians: Portrait of a People, in DNA(15/4/07). He said "the projection of a 'Hindu' identity on all that goes in the name of the Indian past is hugely problematic and needs careful delineation...this book will be immortalised by the pamphleteers of the Sangh Parivar for a very long period of time to come."

Sharma's comments made me read the book which I found not merely readable but a guide to understand India and Indians. Sudhir Kakar's Inner World, along with Ashish Nandi's The Intimate Enemy, had '"emancipated us from the certitudes of a popular brand of economic determinism on the one hand, as well as well-worn nationalist pieties on the other " says Sharma, but finds the thesis of the above book that Indian identity is mainly based on Hindu civilization," problematic". After reading the book, I find his comments are more ideological than logical.

The book is a guide to Indian life – what animates it ? What ideas and concepts shape Indians' thoughts, feelings and actions ? It covers all aspects of life : family, caste, role of women, sexuality, health and healing, religious and spiritual life, conflict between Hindus and Muslims, and finally, the Indian Mind.

The authors have provided many insights into Indian life - family is a ' glue that holds Indian society together' which also reflects the fact of lack of faith in other institutions of society; subordination of women ; how the caste is different from clan or tribe due to the phenomenon of untouchability, the biggest blot on Hindu society, as Mahatma Gandhi observed. On Ayurveda, the authors quote Sri Lankan anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere who said, " Without some awareness of the theory of Ayurveda medicine it is not possible to understand much of what goes on in the minds of men in the South Asian world."

The chapter on ' Religious and Spiritual Life' analyses the response of Hinduism to the disruptions wrought by modernity – by traditionalists, the Hindu nationalists and 'flexible Hindus'. While the traditionalists are struck in the old world, the Hindu nationalists promote a singular identity for all the diverse sects and traditions of Hindu society to stem the tide of cultural alienation through missionary religions and globalization. The 'flexible Hindu' confronts modernity by adapting religious heritage to the new situation.The authors observe that the militancy of outlook and actions of the Hindu nationalists are constrained by the two binding elements of Hindu religion and culture : tolerance and universality.

The best chapter is on the Indian Mind. It summarises the basic ideas and concepts which shape the mind of Indians : moksha, dharma and karma. The belief in the 'ultimate reality' is a beacon of 'higher feeling' in the lives of most of the Indians irrespective of class and caste, rural and urban, literate and illiterate, the rich and the poor. The Indians have conviction that there is an order or a design in life over-riding all transitory problems or difficulties.The divinity immanent within each human being nourishes individual's self-worth.

Dharma which can mean moral duty, right action, conformity with the truth of things, is another idea which permeates Indian mind. " The relativism of dharma supports tradition and modernity, innovation and conformity", observe the authors. Karma ( what you sow, you reap) and reincarnation are also part of the Indian mind.

A modern Indian will have some reservations regarding the authors' rather pessimistic view of Hindu-Muslim relations.After enumerating the reasons for the conflict between Hindus and Muslims, the authors feel that India is moving towards a multicultural society rather than a 'composite' culture – salad bowl, not a melting pot ; ghettoism, not a meeting of minds and hearts. If efforts are made to highlight the common human values ( equality, liberty – freedom of thought & expression- , fraternity, compassion and charity, non-violence etc ) which inform all religions and conveyed to the people, especially to the younger generation, India should be able to lead the 21^st century with a new society where acceptance of different ways of life is a part of life. The values of religion are more important than the rituals, customs and practices which have outlived their utility to the religion, society and the individual.

Sharma's misgivings about the portrait drawn by the Kakars may be due to the absence of the contributions made by Muslims and Christians to the making of the modern India in the book. Muslims have contributed immensely to art, architecture, music and dance. Similarly, Christians have made enormous contribution to modern education and health. These have not found a place in the book as the Kakars are portraying the basic features of the Indian social structure and its basis in Hindu religion and philosophy – family, caste and culture. The caste which is not a part of Muslim and Christian religions is prevalent among Muslim and Christian communities as well. This make them both part of the Hindu social structure. The book brilliantly portrays the Indian way of life and view of life.

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The 'untouchables' of India.

The 'untouchables' of India.

The Wall Street Journal (Sept.19) has published a long report under the title, The 'untouchables', Converts to Christianity face extra bias, by Yaroslav Trofimov. Briefly,he makes the following points :

Under India's constitution Dalits are entitled to affirmative actions - federal government jobs and government-funded universities. These provide escape from traditional occupations - emptying village latrines, burying cow carcases, tanning animal hides. However, these facilities are only for Hindu dalits, not for those who are converted to Islam and Christianity. "The plight of India's secret converts, ignored for decades, is now at the forefront of national politics. Partly, driving the change is Indian Christians' new partnership with Islam, a religion frequently at odds with Christianity elsewhere in the world."

The Ranganath Mishra Commision concluded that Dalits retain their stigma even after converting and recommended scrapping the ban on privileges to non-Hindus."The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination earlier also formally rebuked India for denying affirmative action benefits to Dalit converts Christianity and Islam and recommended that the prohibition be removed."

" The Government of India seems quite sympathetic" to such demands, says Sardar Buta Singh, a minister-level official who heads India's agency which overseeing Dait affairs, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. " All the parties have started thinking about this problem, and it can be solve."

The report further states that the low status of Dalits is the punishment for sins in a previous life, according to Hindu scriptures, and they embraced caste-less religions. It adds, " .. great many Dalits are now turning to Christianity, attracted by benefits like education and health care that are sometimes offered by Western-funded congregations." The report then goes on say, " Much to the dismay of Hindu nationalist groups, the number of India's secret Christians has claimed in recent years to an estimated 25 million people, about the size of the officially registered Christian population."

The vote-bank politics has now global ramifications. An Indian commission urging reservation for converts and then an UN body recommending it, and an international daily high-lighting it. I sent some facts to put the issue in perspective to the newspaper which was not published, not even acknowledged .

The report has missed one important fact of life in India - Christianity and Islam in India are as caste-ridden as Hinduism. In spite of professing egalitarianism by these religions, many Christians and Muslim do not inter-marry. " In many Churches in Tamil Nadu, Harijans were seperated from the rest of the congregation by a screen. ..special parts of the cemeteries were set apart for them.." This is from the book, The Defeat of a Congresman ,by the famous BBC correspondent of yesteryears Mark Tully (Alfred A.Knoff,New York, 1991, see pages 63 &64 for more details).

This is what R.L.Francis, President of Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) has said, " On the one hand, the Church demands reservation for Dalit Christians from the government while on the other, it opposes and refuses to provide reservation in the Church structure." Missionaries have been the pioneers in introducing modern education in India and have a large number of educational institutions including medical and engineering colleges.

Contrary to what the author says, there is no scriptural sanction for caste system and the practice of untouchability in Hindu scriptures. Gita and Upanishads, the great scriptures of Hindus, proclaim that man is the spark of the Divine. Valmiki, the saint-poet who wrote Ramayana, was a hunter. Krishna, incarnation of God, was cow-herd. The caste system which started off as the division of labour solidified into rigid social structure due to the repeated invasions of India for almost a thousand years. Author has also not noticed the changes that have occurred in India since Independence. India had a Dalit President and many dalits have been ministers in the central and state governments. Almost 25 percent of the sweepers in the public rest-rooms in Delhi are Brahmins.

What Dalits and the poor in India require is education to empower them and not reservation or charity. This is where the government has failed them. The government is more bothered about the 'commanding heights' of the economy than serving the poor. Of course, the Church has not done much for the poor or dalits.

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God needs no passport.

God needs no passport and man needs no certificate from the gate-keepers of God.

It is very refreshing to read the interview of Arthur J.Pias with Peggy Levit ( India Abroad,Aug10).Her enquiry into the religious traditions of the immigrants, especially Hindus and Muslims, reveals changing nature of the faiths and how they cope up with the new environment in which they have to function. As she observes, they reinvent their faiths. Women take major part in all religious affairs which is not the case in the Indian sub-continent.

Ms.Levits reply to the last question about " Cafeteria Hindus/Muslims" like" Cafataria Catholics" who pick and choose religious doctrines ( abortion, divorce) is a pointer to the future of faith not merely in USA, but in the world itself. She says, " I think there is something unique about what some would call the American religious marketplace. Its myriad religious choices empowers people to grapple with and shape their own relation to their faith without simply accepting what is handed to them by their parents or religious leaders on a platter. I found lots of people who were reinventing their own version of Hinduism or Islam in America. And they are, in large measure, the future of these faith traditions in this country".

I believe that 'God needs no passport', but also man needs no certificate from the gate-keepers of God - acharyas, the priests and the maulavies of the world. God is Word - in the Gita, in the Bible and in the Koran. Everybody has a right to read, understand and interpret the Word in his own way.The gate-keepers of religion/faith have taken away this right of the people, and now, in this age and time, people have to snatch this right from these gate-keepers. Jesus Christ says, love your neighbour like yourself. Gita says, man/woman is the spark of the Divine. Koran upholds human equality and fraternity.Christianity is known for charity while Hinduism is known for non-violence and Islam,solidarity. Let the followers of these religions learn these quality from each other. The world would be better place to live.

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Dalits in India.

Dalits in India

It is not clear what purpose is being served by passing a resolution on the plight of dalits by the United States House of Representatives ( India Abroad,August 3). The plight of dalits was recognised by the founders of the Indian Republic and reservation in government services, and later, in educational institutions were provided for in the Indian Constitution itself. The affirmative action on behalf of African-Americans started here in the USA much later, after Reverend Martin Luther King started fighting for it with his battle hymn, " We shall overcome one day.....". By the way, Reverend King got inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi and his 'satyagraha' – non-violent fight for Truth.

India had a Dalit President, now a Dalit Chief Justice, many Dalit central and state government ministers. One of the chief architect of the Indian Constitution itself was a Dalit – Dr.B.R.Ambedkar . I do not know how many governments in the world today - including the United States - have their under-privileged sections represented in the top decision-making positions. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayavati is aspiring to be the Prime Minister of India. Is ther any chance for an African-American to become the President of USA ?

USA would have served the cause of freedom and democracy as well as the cause of Dalits in India, if only it had not bolstered the military machine of Pakistan over the last few decades. India was attacked by Pakistan at least thrice with American military equipment – 1965, 1971 and in 2001 in Kargil. If USA had given the same amount money to Pakistan for its educational and economic development, both Pakistan and India would have had a better social indicators especially in health and education including the Dalits. But, alas, US priorities are different !

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India is an unnatural nation & unlikely democracy ?

"India is an unnatural nation & unlikely democracy" ?

" India is an unnatural nation & unlikely democracy',says Ramachandra Guha, in his interview with Arthur J.Pais (India Abroad, New York,Aug.17). Earlier in the year he had expressed similar views in his interview in the Indian Express. The interviews were conducted during the release of his book, India After Gandhi – The History of the world's largest democracy.

It is a fashion among the Anglicized Indians to deride India, especially Hindus. Remember they called India's low economic growth as Hindu rate of growth though it was the secular Congress government borrowing the Soviet model was responsible for it. They have no time to delve deep into India's history. They borrow views and perspectives on India from the British and the Orientalists.

Why he says India is an unnatural nation is not clear. Is he worried about the diversity of India ? If yes, is there any nation in this world which is not diverse ? You find diversity or even conflict in United Kingdom between England and Scotland, even Wales. How united is United States of America ? What is common between WASP and the African-Americans or the Mexicans in USA ? If diversity makes a nation unnatural, all nations are unnatural.

A nation as defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary is " congeries of people, either of diverse races or of common descent, language, history, etc inhabiting a territory, bounded by defined limits". J.S.Mill, in 'Considerations on Representative Government' (1872) says, " A portion of mankind may be said to constitute a nationality, if they are united among themselves by common sympathies, which does not exist between themselves and any others...Community of language, and community of religion vastly contribute to it.. But the strongest of all is identity of political antecedents, the possession of a national history and comanility of recollections, collective pride and humiliations, pleasure and regret, connected with the same incidents of the past." If we accept these definitions, India is a nation like all other nations. Guha believes that British created India and fostered by the founding fathers of the Indian constitution. Like all good secularists he forgets to mention the Hindu origins of India in spite of the fact that the Hindu civilization and culture had a long and continuous history in India which binds Tamilians at Kanya Kumari to Kashmiris in Jammu & Kashmir.

In 1954, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan had published a book, Fundamental Unity of India by Dr.Radha Kumud Mookerji, well-known historian and Professor of History in Mysore University and later, Lucknow University. He has enumerated all the elements that bind India together in that book. Of course all of them are of Hindu origin – Hindus invoking all the seven rivers of India ( Ganga to Kaveri )in all auspicious occasions and millions of Hindus going on pilgrimage from Haridwar to Rameshwaram. Then there is largest congregations of world during the Kumbha Mela. He also mentions the four 'maths' (religious/ spiritual centers) established by Adi Shankaracharya – Haridwar in the North, Dwaraka in the West, Puri in the East and Shrangeri in the South. Though India lacked political unity many times in the past except during the time of Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka and Akbar, it had a continuous cultural/religious unity. Dasra and Diwali are celebrated all over India in some form or the other. You will find Ramayana, Mahabharta and Gita in all Indian languages. And this cultural unity is the basis of the political unity.Annie Besant said long ago, ' India without Hinduism is a geopraphical expression".

As far as democratic system is concerned, we can give only two cheers even to USA where not all the votes were counted when it elected George Bush. As even Amartya Sen has conceded that the democratic system saved India from famine whereas it was unreported in China where it claimed many lives. Periodic elections, freedom of expression and freedom of association ( and agitation) have ensured that the cry of the poor is not a cry in the wilderness. It is a tribute to Indian democracy.

Guha has no idea that the germ of equality, liberty and fraternity and democratic rule is in the Vedic hymn – every human being is the spark of the Divine. He has no idea that another is in praise of diversity and freedom of thought & action - just like all rivers lead to the sea, all faith leads to God. That is the reason why all Indians, including the illiterate, took to democratic rule like a duck to water. These Vedic hymns have seeped down to the consciousness of all Indians, especially Hindus. These ideas and ideals have been erased from the memory of the people of other countries in the Indian Sub-continent. That is why democracy is not to be found in India's neighbourhood.

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