Hinduism in the modern era
This article is an excerpt from HINDU GODS AND HEROES STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF BY LIONEL D. BARNETT, M.A., Litt The Wisdom of the East Series Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor |
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The colour of Divinity
The Times of India, March 23, 2016
K M Gupta
Shiva, Vishnu, Kali and Krishna are usually painted in blue. Is God blue or black, white, yellow, wheatish, or some other? To the vedas and upanishads, God and the universe are identical. ‘Aham vava srishtirasmi—I myself am the universe’. The mahavakyas that give the essence of the vedas and upanishads, like ‘Aham Brahmn Asmi’ and ‘Tat Twam Asi’, also suggest God and the universe are identical. He tells Utanga, ‘I am the cheating, I am the cheated, and I am the act of cheating. I am the hating, I am the hated and I am hate. I am the sinner in sinners, I am the virtuous in the virtuous. In vedanta, the world is the worldstuff, Brahmn, in evolution called vivartha. So things cannot be otherwise.
God is the zero-dimensional worldstuff, nirguna Brahmn. When it takes dimensions upon itself, it becomes the world, saguna Brahmn. Good, evil, pleasure and pain affect only the physical dimensions of the worldstuff, saguna Brahmn, not the worldstuff itself, the nirguna Brahmn.
Everything said, it looks like vedanta’s God, Brahmn, identical with the universe, is ‘chameleon-like’ for it takes every colour to suit every occasion. If a chameleon changes colour to suit its surroundings, what is its original colour? What is the true colour of God and the universe?
Since God and the universe are identical, both are of the same colour — hiranya, golden-yellow. The male aspect of God, Purusha, deposits his retas, semen, into the matrix of his female aspect, Prakriti, and fertilises it. So he is called hiranya-retas, and she is called hiranya-garbha.
Recently, astrophysicists at Johns Hopkins University conducted a cosmic survey of 200,000 galaxies and measured the range of the light from a large volume of the universe. Finding the ‘true colour’ of the universe was not the lookout of the scientists, but incidentally they found that the net colour of the universe is beige -- yellow-grey, pale brownish, yellowish, sandy fawn, grayish tan, light grayish, yellowish brown, and so on. Originally it is French for natural, unbleached wool.
Beige is not a colour commonly known or identified. Its descriptions do not give a clear idea of what it is. The JHU team leader acknowledged this difficulty. In an interview to the media he said anyone is welcome to suggest a better term for the colour of the universe. Suggestions poured in. Some of them are: cosmic latte, cappuccino cosmica, cosmic cream, cosmic khaki...
In nature, leaves are green, the sky is blue, blood is red, yolk of egg is yellow, and so on. We take these as their natural colours. But how do things in nature get their ‘natural colours’? As we know, any colour is a wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Green is a wavelength in electromagnetic radiation from the sun, and so on. Leaves are green because they absorb a specific wavelength which we call green from the spectrum and reject the others. Yolks of eggs absorb a certain wavelength and reject the others to become yellow. Blood absorbs a certain wavelength and rejects the others to become red. So what is the original colour of leaves, yolks, blood and the sky? What is the original colour of milk and marigold? What is nature, God, in original unbleached wool?
Satya-nārāyaṇa
In Northern India, and especially in Bengal, you will often find Hindus worshipping a god whom they call Satya-nārāyaṇa and believe to be an embodiment of Vishṇu himself. The observance of this ritual is believed to bring wealth and all kinds of good fortune; a Sanskrit sacred legend in illustration of this belief has been created, and you may buy badly lithographed copies of it in most of the bazaars if you like, besides which you will find elegant accounts of the god's career on earth written by quite a number of distinguished Bengali poets of the last three centuries. But curiously enough this "god," though quite real, was not a Hindu at all; he was a Bengali Moslem, a fakir, and the Muhammadans of Bengal, among whom he is known as Satya Pīr, have their own versions of his career, which seem to be much nearer the truth than those of the Hindus. In their stories he figures simply as a saint, who busied himself[117] in performing miracles for the benefit of pious Moslems in distress; and as one legend says that he was the son of a daughter of [H.]usain Shāh, the Emperor of Gaur, and another brings him into contact with Mān Singh, it is evident that tradition ascribed him to the sixteenth century, which is probably quite near enough to the truth.[38][ See Dineshchandra Sen, Folk-literature of Bengal, p. 99 ff.]
Jagadisa of Eral
The next instance belongs to the twentieth century. A few years ago there died in the village of Eral, in Tinnevelly District, a local gentleman of the Shanar caste named Aruṇāchala Nāḍār. There was nothing remarkable about his career: he had lived a highly respectable life, scrupulously fulfilled his religious duties, and served with credit as chairman of the municipal board in his native village. If he had done something prodigiously wicked, one might have expected him to become a local god at once, in accordance with Dravidian precedent; but he being what he was, his post-mortem career is rather curious. For a legend gradually arose that his kindly spirit haunted a certain place, and little by little it has grown until now there is a regular worship of him in Eral, and pilgrims travel thither to receive his blessings, stimulated by a lively literary propaganda. He is worshipped under the name of "The Chairman God," in affectionate memory of his municipal career, and as Jagadīśa, or "Lord of the Universe," a phase of the god Śiva.
Changes in the popularity of deities
Can we trace any uniform principle running through the bewildering variety of changes [in Hinduism] that we have observed? Consider the changes through which Vishṇu has passed. At the beginning a spirit of vaguely defined personality, he appears successively as a saviour-god, as the mystic saint Nārāyaṇa, as the epic warriors Kṛishṇa and Rāma, as a wanton blue-skinned herd-boy fluting and dancing amidst a crowd of wildly amorous women, and as the noble ideal of God preached by the great Maratha and Rāmānandī votaries, not to mention the many other incarnations that have delighted the Hindu imagination. What does all this mean? It means that the history of a god is mainly moulded by two great factors, the growth of the people's spiritual experience and the character of its religious teachers. As the stream of history rolls on, it fills men's souls with deeper and wider understanding of life. Old conceptions are pondered upon, explored, tested, sometimes rejected, sometimes accepted with a new and profounder content, and thus enlarged they are applied to the old ideals of godhead. When Indian society had organised itself out of tribal chaos and settled down under an established[119] monarchical government, it made Indra the king of the gods, ruling with the same forms and under the same conditions as a human sovereign. When men of finer cast realised that the kingdom of the spirit is higher than earthly royalty, they turned away from Indra and set their souls upon greater conceptions, ideals of vaster spiritual forces, mystic infinitudes.
Attracted thus to worships such as those of Śiva and Vishṇu, they filled them with their own visions and imparted to these gods the ideals of their own strivings, making them into Yōgīśvaras, Supreme Mystics. And so the sequence of change has gone on through the generations. Most potently it has been effected by the characters of the preachers and teachers of religion. Almost every teacher who has a personality of his own, whose soul contains thoughts other than those of the common sort, stamps something of his own type upon the ideal of his god which he imparts to his followers, and which may thereby come to be authoritatively recognised as a canonical character of the god. India is peculiarly liable to this transference of personality from the guru to the god whom the guru preaches, because from immemorial times India has regarded the guru as representative of the god, and often deifies him as a permanent phase of the deity. Śaivas declare that in the guru who teaches the way of salvation Śiva himself is manifested: Vaishṇavas tell the same tale, and find a short road to salvation by surrendering their souls to him.
We have seen cases of apotheosis of the guru in modern and medieval times; reasoning from the known to the unknown, we may be sure that it took place no less regularly in ancient ages, and brought about most of the surprising changes in the character of gods which we have noticed. Sometimes the gurus have only preached some new features in the characters of their gods; sometimes, as is the Hindu fashion, they have also exhibited in their own persons, their dress and equipment, their original ideas of divinity, as, for example, Lakulīśa with his club; and their sanctity and apotheosis have ratified their innovations in theology and iconology, which have spread abroad as their congregations have grown. Thus the gurus and their congregations have made the history of their deities, recasting the gods ever anew in the mould of man's hopes and strivings and ideals. There is much truth in the saying of the Brāhmaṇas: "In the beginning the gods were mortal."
Prakriti or Nature
M S Rao
The Times of India, Oct 19, 2011
Sure way to liberation
The three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas – along with Prakriti or Nature composed of eight aspects – earth, water, fire, air and ether or akasha, mind, intellect and ego – are identical. Gunas are considered only when distinction is to be made in the temperaments and the attainments of jivatmans or individual souls. Otherwise in the aggregate, gunas and Prakriti are synonymous. From a blade of grass to Brahma the Creator, jivatmans are bound by gunas until they transcend them.
Brahma the Creator is also bound by gunas, but his functional status is greatest, for he is cosmic-centred, not body-centred like other jivatmans. He considers cosmos as his body. Yet he is not a liberated soul and is involved in the gunas of Prakriti; more so, because creation itself is not possible without gunas as material.
Brahma is endowed with Prakriti laya – identification or Oneness with the Cosmos or the Universe as a whole – so he will not be born again. At the end of the prevailing kalpa, he enters into a phase known as krama mukti, gradual liberation and then transcends the gunas, vacating his position to another worthy.
Prakriti or the mayashakti inherent in Ishwara is also known as svabhava. Variation in karma is based on variation in the three gunas. And karma leaves its samskara or impress on the minds of jivatmans. As samskaras get refined, they modify the nature or svabhava of jivatmans. Karma and svabhava are thus interrelated and inseparable; a fact to be borne in mind by a sadhaka desirous of liberation. Thus varna or grade of evolution of a jivatman is based on his svabhava or nature. It is possible to know the varna of a jivatman from his svabhava or his karma. Of the two, svabhava is subtler and difficult to discern. A man of intuition alone can see that karma is gross. It is possible for one to know the svabhava and varna of a jivatman from the karma to which he is naturally given or inclined. The way in which a man makes use of his life is, therefore, a sure indicator of his varna. Creation is impossible without distinction and differentiation; and this process automatically implies and involves variation in the three gunas. No two things or beings are alike in Nature. Going back to sameness is going back to destruction. Creation, therefore, proceeds on the basis of distinction and differentiation of one from the other, which process seems to lead to infinity. Limbs in the body vary with their functional differences; bodies vary, species vary, attempts vary and, for that matter even temperaments and attainments of individual souls vary. There is beauty and grandeur in the panorama and infinite varieties displayed and exhibited by Nature; what is more, this is a perennial and eternal process. And in the process, it reveals to the discerning ones the Omnipotence of the Divinity behind Nature or Prakriti. Nature thus affords immense scope and opportunity in variety and diversity for all individual souls, without exception or partiality, not only for transformation and evolution from low to high, but also for enlightenment and liberation from the cycle of repeated births and deaths.
Hinduism and the power of concentration
The Times of India, Jul 14 2015
Anup Taneja
The one who has developed his powers of concentration can read in minutes what another person could read in eight hours. According to Swami Sivananda, “There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point“. When Swami Vivekananda was living in Chicago, he used to go to the library , borrow a large number of books, take them home and return them the next day . This aroused the curiosity of the librarian, so much so that one day she asked him, “Why do you take out so many books when you can't possibly read them all in one day?“ Swamiji replied that he read each and every word of the books he borrowed with full concentration. Seeing the librarian not being convinced by his reply , Swamiji asked her to test him. She opened a book, randomly selected a page and paragraph, and asked him to tell her what was written there. Swamiji repeated the sentence verbatim, without looking at the book. Seeing the wonderful powers of concentration and retention of Vivekananda, the librarian was left completely dumbfounded.
Students these days often complain that despite having studied copious notes a number of times, their confidence gets shattered at examination time as they are unable to remember what they studied. They often wonder how to develop their powers of concentration and retention.To achieve concentration power, three yogic techniques are suggested.
Oxygenate the brain
For those who are required to sit for long hours at a stretch, their blood tends to get accumulated in the lower half of their bodies w in the lower half of their bodies which means that sufficient quantity of oxygen is not pushed to their brain. This in turn negatively impacts their power of concentration. To oxygenate the brain, practise `sirshasana' (stand on your head with legs upward) for 5-10 minutes daily . The brain draws plenty of blood through this which contributes to sharpening of memory and concentration power. Also, avoid sitting for long hours at a stretch; take a fiveminute brisk walk at regular intervals.
Combine meditation with chanting
While meditating, mentally repeat your chosen mantra Aum, So'ham, Satnam or any other.Then mingle the mantra with the incoming and outgoing breaths. The powerful vibrations of the mantra will permeate each and every cell of your body, bringing the breath under your control.This in turn will improve blood-circulation in your body , reduce stress levels, and increase your power of concentration. Practise this technique for about 20 minutes daily , preferably in early morning hours.
`Trataka' and visualisation: This technique involves steady gazing. Light a candle and place it so that the flame is at the level of your eye. Look straight at the flame without blinking the eyes for half a minute or for as long as you are able to keep your eyes open. Concentrate on the flame with eyes open till tears come. When your eyes get tired, close them and visualise the after-image of the flame in front of your (closed) eyes. Then open your eyes and again gaze at the flame without blinking the eyes. Do this for five minutes before going to sleep and before you begin your studies. This will do wonders to your power of concentration.
Swami Sivananda says, “When you study a book, focus your whole mind on the subject in hand. Do not allow the mind to see any external object or hear any sound. Collect all the dissipated rays of the mind. When the mental rays are concentrated, illumination begins.“
