Hinduism is a Way of Life,
Not a Religion
A sermon delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Blacksburg, Virginia), August 14, 2005,
by Ranes C. Chakravorty MAEd MD, who is a follower of Vedantism, a retired professor of surgery, and a friend of the Congregation.
From
the Rg Veda (about 4000 years ago.) — Translation by Monier Williams.)
In the beginning there was neither nought nor aught,
Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above.
What then enshrouded all this teeming Universe?
In the receptacle of what was it contained?
Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water?
Then was there neither death nor immortality,
Then was there neither day, nor night, nor light, nor
darkness,
Only the Existent One breathed calmly, self contained.
Nought else than It there was nought else above,
beyond.
Where was It then? Before? or was It found above?
Who knows? Who can declare? How and from what has sprung
this Universe?
The gods themselves are subsequent to its development.
Who, then, can penetrate the secret of its rise?
Whether twas framed or not, made or not made;
Only That in the highest heaven sits, the omniscient
lord,
Assuredly knows all or haply knows He not.
Rg
Veda X Mandal 129
About 4500
years ago a nomadic people established themselves in what is today
northwestern India, Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. They called
themselves Ārya and their land Āryābarta. Their
language was called Āryabhāshā. Around the 5th
century BC or earlier it was purified and codified with a grammar and
thereafter known as Sanskrita Bhāshā or the purified
language — today known as Sanskrit — an adjective that has become a
noun!
The
Persians and Greeks tried to conquer Āryābarta, the
land of the Āryans, in the 4th century BCE. They were stopped
on the western banks of the river Sindhu. The invaders called these
people Indu or Hindu because they lived on the river Sindhu. Their
way of life was therefore called Hinduism.
As
the Āryāns became an agricultural and settled society
their wise men gathered together their material and spiritual wisdom
into what they called Veda or knowledge — from the verb Vid — to
know. The Vedas contained the basics of their philosophic beliefs,
which they called Sanātan Dharma — the Classical or Ancient
Dharma. The primary tenets of Hinduism are stated to have been ‘felt’
or realized by ancient seers and sages. Sanātan dharma is
therefore Apaurusheya or superhuman. The final part of the Vedas,
probably dating between the 10th and 5th century BC are termed the
Upanishads or Vedānta — the end of the Vedas.
The
Sanātan Dharma is based on three ‘points of departure’ or
Prasthānatraya — the Upanishads or Vedānta, the
quintessence of the Vedas, the Geetā — the spoken words of
Krshna, well-known universally, and the Brahma-sutra-bhāshya
or the explanation of the detailed and cryptic text about knowing
the Creator.
‘Dharm’
has been translated into Religion which is not quite correct.
Derived from the verb Dhri meaning to support or hold, Dharma really
means a way of life, an ethic.
Our
perception of the world around us is determined by our own
uniqueness and therefore no two world-views are identical. I will
try to summarize the Sanātan Hindu Dharma or Vedantism as I
perceive it.
Today
there are about 2.1 billion Christians, 1.3 billion muslims and 900 million
Hindus. Hinduism is non-prophetic, it does not follow the teachings
or admonitions of one individual or his followers.
Hindus
think of life in two dimensions — one, life might be entirely
temporal and therefore an accident. In this view, death is the final
end — there is nothing before or after and there are therefore no
questions about the meaning or goal of life. This is termed
Chārbākadarshan by the Hindus.
The
other dimension is that there is a continuity after death and
therefore there is a Creator. The relationship of the individual
with the Creator then becomes the basic question of living. This
relationship was the central question of the Vedānta and of
later sages.
Initially,
the Aryans had a system of castes depending upon the work that
needed to be done for the maintenance and good of society. The
castes were therefore interchangeable. Around the 6th century BCE
Sanātan Dharma or Vedantism got changed to a Brahminical
system where caste became immutable, only the three highest castes
had rights and all the rest had to be subservient. The Brāhmans
or the priests and teachers were at the apex in respect though not
in material possessions. This Brāhmanical form of Hinduism
has generally been the accepted way of life for the past 2000 years.
The caste system was legally abolished with independence -
unfortunately, it still exists, generally not too obviously,
specially in the hinterland. Buddhism and Jainism, prophetic and
protestant derivatives of Hinduism were preached in the 6th c. BCE,
largely to counter the caste system.
Vedantism
as opposed to Brahminical Hinduism was reinvigorated in the 8th
century AD by Shankaracharyya and in the 19th and 20th centuries AD
by Rāmmohun Roy, Swami Vivekānanda and Dayānanda
Saraswati.
The
14 principal and oldest Upanishads discuss the following subjects
mainly as questions from students and answers by sages — also called
Muni-s or Ŗshi-s. I have summarized the main questions and
answers below.
A
recurring question in the Upanishads is “What is that knowledge
knowing which, all else becomes known” (Kathopanisad and
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad.) The answer is Parā Vidyā —
the knowledge of the Creator, the Absolute, Brahman.
Who/what
makes the mind think, Life (prāņa) to proceed, people
to speak, the eyes and the ears to perform their functions?
(Kenopanishad 1.1)
Is
Brahman the cause? Whence are we born? By what do we live?
(Svetasvatara 1.1, Prasna 1.3)
The
answers to the questions are in brief as follows. Ekam sad, Viprā
bahudhā badanti. The Creator is one — sages use many names
for It, says the first, the earliest, section of the RgVeda,. The
Creator by definition is unique. (It seems illusory and
self-contradictory to have different gods for the different
prophetic religions.) Vedānta accepts the possibility of
different ways to achieve union with the Creator, and all prophetic
religions are accepted. Thus there is no initiation, baptism or
conversion to Hinduism. There is also no inherited sin. Hinduism is
what you believe in and how you conduct yourself in life.
The
Creator is Satchidananda. It is Sat — it exists, it is
chit — it mentates and cogitates and it is ānanda
- bliss. In its pristine state it is Nirguna or formless.
All-pervading, the Creator, termed Brahman, can be seen in
the manifest universe. This is Advaita Vedanta - Vedanta that
is not Dualistic.
People
who cannot think of a formless Creator can worship Brahman in
diverse manifestations of the creative power — also known as
Deities. Being Saguna or with form and characteristics,
deities can be masculine or feminine and many Hindus worship the
Creator in its male representation — Vishnu or Siva or
the Creator in female form as Kali. This is dualistic and
devotional Hinduism.
Brahman
exists in Itself, out of space and time. Creation is cyclical. Once
the Universe is created (that phase of the Creator is named Brahmā),
it is maintained (by the Creator as Vishnu), and finally it
is destroyed (by the Creator as Siva or Rudra.) And
there exists nothing except Brahman till the next cycle starts
again.
All
living beings, non-human and human, derive from Brahman. The real
essence of each being is a soul, the external form is unreal and is
an illusion.
The
aim of any life is to achieve Moksha or unity with Brahman
and liberation.
Yathā
Nadyāh Syandmānāh Samudré astang
gachchhanti nāmarupe vihāya — tathā Vidvān
nāmarupāt vimuktah parāt param purusham upaiti
divyam. (Mundaka Upanishad 3/2/8)
As
rivers wend to and become one with the Ocean losing their
identities, so do the wise become one with Brahman, discarding their
individual characteristics.
Moksha
is achieved when the individual realizes that he or she is one with
Brahman. This realization can come through knowledge Jnāna-yoga
(yoga means union with), work (karma-yoga), meditation
(Rājayoga) or devotion and worship of a personal deity
or manifestation of Brahman (Bhaktiyoga.) (Note that
prophetic religions stress Bhakti or devotion as the primary means,
the others as secondary or adjunct.)
Each
being is reincarnated after death till it achieves moksha as a human
being. Birth starts a clean slate though acts in previous lives
determine in what state, physical, mental or social, one is born.
The effects of acts in prior lives is called Sanchita (or
accumulated) karma — the effects of actions in this life that
are determined by the individual are called Prārabdha
karma. Sanchita karma causes inexplicable sufferings of children
or apparently good persons — it also explains unexpected and
outstanding abilities and successes. In each life one is given a
chance to progress towards or regress from moksha in the succeeding
incarnation.
Depending
upon the total effects of karma, an individual can also go to one of
a number of higher or lower levels of existence after death,
somewhat corresponding to heaven or hell. However, these are also
not spiritually permanent abodes and each soul has to return to
achieve moksha. The entire Creation exists in Bliss as Brahman is
Bliss itself. This is not always realized by us.
The
Gospel according to St. John starts “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.” This idea of
a Logos or primordial sound is to be found in earliest Greek
philosophy and also in Judaism. Sanātana dharma has such a
Logos or sound, which it terms AUM. Chanted by all Hindus,
Buddhists and Jainas, AUM is taken to represent a
manifestation of Brahman.
The
three parts of the sound — A from the back of the throat, U in the
mouth with closed lips and M resonating in the closed mouth
represent the three phases of Brahman — Brahmā the Creator,
Vishnu the sustainer and Shiva (or Rudra) the destroyer. The
derivation and importance of AUM is found in many parts of the Vedas
and the Vedānta.
I
would like to conclude by playing two short pieces relating to
Vedantism. The first is a stanza from a poem by Shankaracharyya
(8th c. CE). Translated it means “I am changeless, formless and
omnipresent. I have no attachments, I am not knowable. I am
Knowledge and Bliss — I am Shiva the Creator.”
The
second item is from the Kathopanishad (about 5th to 10th c. BC.)
Translated
it means “Listen oh you children of bliss and also those who live in
higher planes- I know that Being, the color of the Sun, that takes
us beyond Death into immortality. Knowing It, the sages are
fulfilled for nothing else needs to be known. This purusha, all
powerful, Blissful that pervades the universe and is in my soul, is
the only way to go beyond death and into immortality.”
Sarve
sukhino bhavantu, sarve santu niramayah. May all living beings
be happy and of good health!
Aum
Shanti, Shanti, Shantih. Let us have Peace from physical
troubles, from mental troubles and from spiritual troubles.
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