Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami has confronted a long-standing misapprehension about our faith, showing us why Hinduism is more than a way of life. It is a spiritual way of life encompassing the four practices (good conduct, devotion, meditation and jnana), the core Hindu beliefs (karma, dharma, all pervading divinity, selfless service, meditation, scriptures).
Transcript of His speech:
“ISN’T HINDUISM SIMPLY A WAY OF LIFE?” This is a question I am frequently asked at satsang gatherings. It invariably makes for spirited discussion, as there is avid interest and a lively diversity of opinion.
Years ago, Swami Chinmayananda, founder of Chinmaya Mission, gave a dramatic lecture on the subject (bit.ly/hinduism-way-of-life). Here are key excerpts: “‘Hinduism is not a religion. It is a way of life.’ You can today hear it in every drawing room wherever youngsters are sitting and discussing Hindu culture and India. You can hear them blabbering this quotation: ‘Hinduism is totally different; it is not a religion. Then what is it? It is a way of life.’ This is a false statement! No thinking man will accept it or give it any credit at all. What an abominable stupidity is wrapped up in such an attractive sentence! ‘Hinduism is not a religion; it is a way of life.’ Oh! I see! And Christianity? It is a religion? Oh! So it is not a way of life? What is religion without a way of life? How can there be a way of life without religion? Think! It is a self-contradiction to say it is not a religion; it is a way of life. If Hinduism is not a religion, it is only a way of life; then Christianity is a religion and therefore no way of life. What is religion without a way of life? Does not a religion guide us in our world, in our life? So, it is an empty, high-sounding statement.
“Swamiji goes on to explain that the notion originated with German Indologists who, in the late 1800s, translated the word mata as religion: “The Germans, who first tried to translate our Sanskrit literature, unfortunately made a great mistake. They used mata for religion: ‘Buddha mata,’ the religion of Buddha; ‘Chraistava mata,’ the religion of Christ; ‘Muhammediya mata,’ Islam. Then they came to Hindu mata, and the poor Germans got confused, because in the Hindu religion there are very many mata. It is a composite mata. Mata comes from the Sanskrit word mati, meaning ‘buddhi,’ ‘intellect.’ That which is crystallized in the intellect is called a mata. Mata only means an opinion! Hindu religion contains Shankara mata, Ramanuja mata, Madhva mata. Various acharyas who have given various viewpoints of life, and the attitudes or the thoughts of the Upanishads—they are all called mata, mata, mata. So [the Germans] they came to the conclusion that Hinduism is not a religion. Then, what is it [they wondered]? It is ‘the way of life!’.
“Hindus inquiring about the merits of this infamous statement are generally not immersed in the practice of Hinduism. They may have in mind that the sum total of Hinduism is to follow dharma, to live virtuously and fulfill one’s duty, and that there is no need to do more.
“Hinduism is a way of life, but it is a spiritual way of life, encompassing good conduct, worship, selfless service, scriptural study and meditation. And what is the definition of a spiritual way of life? Religion!
“While Sanatana Dharma is, as the Germans observed, a family of faiths, it also stands strong and proud as a religion in its own right. These faiths all share certain common elements of culture, liturgy, scripture and basic philosophy as reflected in the core beliefs: karma, dharma, reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity and more. Hinduism gloriously fulfills all the qualities of a religion in every sense of the word.
“Remember, the Germans were no friends of Hinduism. Their redefinition of our faith as a non-religion was a powerful criticism, one that unfortunately Hindus themselves adopted. It is intellectual suicide and a global public relations disaster to deny that our faith is a religion. Hinduism stands proudly with the great faiths of the world, and it does this not because it is a way of life. Vegetarianism is a way of life. Nonviolence is a way of life. But neither is a religion and neither will be invited to a parliament of the world’s religions, as Swami Vivekananda was back in 1893. He was invited and he spoke to the world from that Chicago podium precisely because he was a Hindu.
“Yes, there are those who think using the “H-word” demeans something. But they are wrong. They are neglecting the import of the word religion on the global stage as well as in the local community, among other faith groups. Standing together under the banner of Hinduism, we enjoy the many protections given to religions, and we have a respected, unified voice to the media, to government, to boards of education and planning departments. We have known quasi-Hindu groups who normally refuse to use the H word, but eagerly adopt it when they seek credibility in the broader community, such as in court cases.
“Hinduism’s finest future is to stand side-by-side with other religions, not other ways of life. Hindus who parrot the notion that Hinduism is not a religion are not serving Sanatana Dharma well. They have failed to see how wrong-headed this posturing looks in the eyes of the world. What if the Muslims claimed Islam is not a religion but just a way of life? Or Christianity? Judaism? They don’t do that. They are proud of their spiritual identity. But for various reasons, including the persistent nuisance of the colonized mind, Hindus hold on to this self-destructive fallacy. Numerous swamis who established movements in the West in the mid 20th century perpetuated this idea as a means to teach Vedanta, yoga and meditation to Christians and Jews without provoking religious objections. As a result, such concepts have become household words but without being acknowledged as Hindu. Swami Chinmayananda said it so well: “It is an empty, high-sounding statement.” One we can all avoid.
“Happily, this is changing in small but important ways. The Hindu youth we encounter today are proud of their religion, eager to learn more about it. In universities the world over, Hindu students want to stand proudly side-by-side with students of other religions. The Hindu American Foundation’s “Take Back Yoga” campaign, which works to reestablish the practice as having its roots in the world’s oldest faith, is a bold indictment of the “way of life” argument.
“In each satsang I hold, one basic question invariably arises: “How can I make Hinduism practical in daily life?” I stress that to know and practice Hinduism in the fullest sense, one should engage in all the areas it encompasses: dharma, worship, selfless service, philosophical study and meditation. Together these five make for a complete physical, mental, emotional and spiritual regimen to follow throughout life.
“Devotional practice without philosophy can easily turn into superstition. Philosophy without devotion and selfless service can devolve to mere intellectual argumentation and speculation. Taking Hinduism as only a way of life, one misses out on the inner benefits of devotion and philosophy. And without meditation, one has no way to experience the oneness of atman and Brahman, of jiva and Siva, which leads to illumination and liberation. Let’s look at these five layers more closely.
“Dharma is the foundation of Hindu religion, as encapsulated in the code of conduct called yamas. Yama means “reining in” or “controlling” the base, instinctive nature, such as the tendency to become angry and harm others, to lie or manipulate events in our favor, and to steal to acquire something we desire and otherwise could not have. Such expressions of one’s instinctive nature need to be harnessed, as actions based on them create negative karma and keep one constantly in an upset state of mind. Dharma also includes a wide array of cultural observances.
“Seva, selfless service, is the next facet of Hindu practice. Many individuals serve through giving a monetary donation to a religious or other nonprofit organization. While it is easy to open your wallet or purse and give, say, $50, selfless service offers a more serious commitment, requiring the sacrifice of one’s time. Selfless service need not be limited to the temple; it can be done at work, at school, wherever we are in the world.
“Devotional practices, such as attending puja at a temple, going on pilgrimage, conducting puja in one’s home shrine and repeating a mantra on japa beads, deepen humility and raise the subtle energies to the higher chakras of cognition and divine love.
“Scriptural study builds a firm foundation of philosophical clarity, an accurate understanding of God, souls and world that enhances and informs every aspect of one’s life. Such study includes the Vedas, Agamas, the texts of one’s denomination and the teachings of the saints and sages of one’s guru lineage. Choice of study material should be in consonance with one’s sectarian philosophy. For example, if one’s lineage is advaitic, that study should reinforce the idea that we are already one with God, that nothing has to happen for this to be true.
“Meditation and other yogic sadhanas, the fifth aspect of Hinduism, are the doorway to personal realization. Meditation can propel the individual beyond philosophical concepts about Divinity to actual experience of those truths. This can be compared to reading about the taste of a ripe, juicy mango versus actually taking your first bite. Which would you prefer? There are two primary approaches. The first, raja yoga, consists of regulated breathing, sense withdrawal, concentration and meditation. The second, jnana yoga, is a path of scriptural study, reflection and constant, profound meditation.
“These five religious dimensions are found in all of Hinduism’s diverse lineages, with each sect and sampradaya treasuring and preserving its own cultural, devotional and philosophical uniqueness.”
Hinduism has a number of sampradayas, or what is known as ‘traditions’, ‘spiritual lineages’, ‘denominations’ or ‘religious systems’, whose philosophies, approaches to emancipation, methods of worship, spiritual practices may differ from one another, although they draw their authority from the Vedas, the bedrock of Hinduism. The denominations are linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sites and the questioning of authority. They are centered on one or more gods or goddesses, such as Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu, and Brahma. A notable feature of these denominations is that they do not deny other concepts of the divine or deity, and often celebrate the other as henotheistic equivalent.
The following are the principal denominations by Hinduism is known:
1. Vaishnava Sampradaya, which in itself has four sub-traditions, whose teachings and philosophies further ramify;
2. Shaivite Sampradaya, which like the former, has four sub-classes, which in themselves have subtle differences among themselves.
3. Dashanami Sampradaya,
4. Advaita Vedanta Sampradaya,
5. Shakta Sampradaya, and
6. Smarta Sampradaya.
Zakir Naik and Kamal Haasan
Exploiting their seeming differences and the Hindus’ ignorance of their religions, miscreants and demoniacal humans like Zakir Naik and certain other envious atheists like Kamal Haasan, and notorious louts and heretics in Tamil Nadu, often drive a wedge between Hindus, attempting to smear the religions in many ways.
In the following satsang, Sri Velukkudi Krishnan swami, a Vaishnavite, has given an exemplary explanation of the importance of the existence of the sampradayats, and showing how they neatly dovetail with one another expressing the gestalt of an organically whole conceived by the ancient rishies.
The lunar eclipse on 6.6.2020 and solar eclipse on 14.12.2020 will not be seen in Singapore. There will be a partial solar eclipse in Singapore on 21.6.2020 (Sunday) for one hour and fifty minutes. Partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon partially covers the Sun’s bright light. Normally, it is virtually unnoticeable because of the Sun’s brightness. On 21.6.2020, the eclipse will start at 3.04 pm, and will end at 4.55 pm. Its maximum eclipse time will be at 4.04 pm.
In the Hindu scriptures, certain times of the day, and certain days of the month, and some months of the year are designated as suitable and unsuitable for some actions and activities. Occurrences of some events in one’s life during these times, too, in this regard, have immense impact on us and on the people around us. For instance, when a birth or death occurs in a family, or when there are solar and lunar eclipses, an inauspicious period surrounds the event: it is called Sutak Kaal (=inauspicious time). Any action or activity performed during this time will have negative effects on it, and will yield only adverse results. The scriptures have said that this happens because of the contamination that occurs to the earth’s atmosphere during eclipse. During Sutak period, therefore, certain actions are forbidden.
Of course, people who are enamoured of western science, which borrows its ideology from “empiricism”, the philosophy of science that emphasises evidence, especially as discovered in experiments, would be quick to pooh-pooh such a postulate as claptrap, consigning such beliefs to the bins of western science.
As we all know, empiricism requires all hypotheses and theories to be tested against observations of the natural world, as against resting solely on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation. And, in the same way, we also know that not everything in the world has, however, been subject to test in this way to prove either its existence or non-existence.
Because the scriptures’ assertion of the earth’s contamination during eclipse has yet to be rigorously tested by modern science, that does not invalidate the scriptures’ incontrovertible proofs.
During solar eclipse, Sutak is observed for 12 hours before the eclipse. The following actions are forbidden during these 12 hours:
1. Embarking on a new venture, activity or task.
2. Cooking.
3. Eating.
4. The use of sharp objects like knives or scissors.
5. Answering nature’s call.
6. Handling deities at home or in the temple in any way.
7. Engaging in any sexual activity.
8. Doing one’s toilet like brushing the teeth, combing hair, etc.
On 21.6.2020, in Singapore, Sutak starts at 1.06 am, and ends at 4.55 pm the same day. For children , aged and people who are not well, Sutak begins at 10.04 am and ends when eclipse ends. People who cannot observe Sutak for 12 hours should, at the minimum, observe it for the period recommended for the young and the old.
Swami Sivananda give more details about eclipse in the following article:
WHEN THE gods and the demons churned the milky ocean in days of yore, nectar came out of it. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of Mohini, a charming lady, deluded the demons and distributed the nectar only among the gods. But Rahu had disguised himself as a god. The sun and the moon pointed this out to Mohini who immediately slashed off the demon’s head. Since the nectar had by then already reached up to the neck, he did not die. Thus the head came to be known as Rahu and the body as Ketu. To avenge this betrayal, Rahu and Ketu periodically eclipse the sun and the moon.
Astronomically speaking, when the sun, the moon and the earth are all in line, with the moon or the earth at the centre, a solar or lunar eclipse takes place respectively. At the time of the eclipse, people bathe in the sacred rivers. They do charitable acts. They give cows, money and gold. The day after the eclipse they feed the poor, the Brahmins and the Sadhus. After the eclipse they clean their houses, vessels, etc., and take a bath before they start cooking.
One should not take food during the eclipse. When the eclipse begins the food should by then have been digested. One should take food only after seeing the sun or the moon free from the eclipse. When the clear sun or the moon is not seen before sunset or sunrise, in the case of the solar and lunar eclipse respectively, food can be taken only after the sun or the moon is seen the next day.
Pregnant women should not see the sun or the moon during the time of the eclipse. If they do the child born may have some kind of defect. He may be born deaf, dumb or blind. Householders are forbidden from sexual intercourse on the day of the eclipse, for the same reason. At this time one should take great care in avoiding bleeding, scorpion stings, etc. These have disastrous results. Even an earthworm has a poisonous effect when it bites one during an eclipse. Those who do Japa at the time of the eclipse derive great benefits. The effect of Japa and Sankirtan during the eclipse
contributes towards relieving the suffering of humanity and also of the planets. These people receive the blessings of the gods. They attain perfection quickly. Those who wish to tap the subtle force locked in the Mantra that will cure scorpion stings should stand in water and repeat the appropriate Mantra.
The little intellect cannot understand many things in this universe. Hence, have faith in the words of sages.
Ignorance has eclipsed Self-knowledge. However, this eclipse will disappear. You will shine in your own glory. This is the spiritual significance of the eclipse.
Source: pgs 160-162, Hindu Fasts and Festivals by Swami Sivananda
First off, there is no such thing as “Kuladeivam” (=குல தெய்வ) or “Kuladeivam worship” in Hinduism. It is an arrant superstition that has been spread by ignorant Tamil Hindus in India, and which has virally spread, especially, to Singapore and Malaysia.
Neither the four Srutis nor Upa-vedas and Upanishads, and none of the hordes of Smrities, Puranas, Upa-Puranas, Tamil puranas, the two Ithihaas has made any mention of “Kuladeivam” or “Kuladeivam worship”. Not even the Aimperumkappiyankaḷ, the five large narrative Tamil epics, have mentioned the practice of worshipping “Kuladeivam”.
Neither has the concept of Kuladeiva worship been mentioned by any of the 63 Nayanmars, 12 Alwars, 18 Siddars, four Santhanacharyas, four Kuravars, who are the bastions and stalwarts of Hinduism. Respected Hindu sages like Suyamprakasa Swamigal, Sadasiva Brahma, Ramalinga Swamigal, Ramana maharishi, Pampan Swami, Bothiran Swami, Kulandayanantha Swami, Ekothmma Swami, Kathirkama Swami, Thayumana Swami, Swami Sivananda (of Rishikesh), Paramahansa Yogananda, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Tapovan Maharaj, who appeared in the 19th and 20th centuries, did not make even an oblique reference to the existence of “kuladeiva” worship in their works and teachings.
In sum, “Kuladeivam”, as a god, deity or devata, is not part of Hindu pantheon, and its worship is not part of the voluminous 28 Saiva Agamas, 77 Shakta Agamas, and 108 Vaishnava Agamas (aka Pancharatra Samhitas), and innumerable Upa-Agamas.
How Kuladeiva Worship Popularised and Has Become Endemic
Kuladeiva worship is unknown in all parts of India except in Tamil Nadu, where it had its first outbreak, and soon became endemic when Tamil Nadu periodicals, which have always been known for their notoriety and vile sensationalism, misrepresented Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (aka Kanchi Periyavaal), a revered philosopher and spiritual leader who was the 68th pontiff at Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, who had purportedly spoken about it to a poor uneducated peasant.
Latterly, owing to arrant misinformation purveyed by unenlightened media in India, and on account of uninformed people, who have been putting it about that Kuladeiva worship is part of Sanatana Dharma, a considerable number of innocent Hindus, not least the Tamils, have taken a warped and abnormal interest in the subject.
Etymology of Kuladeivam
Kuladeivam (loosely translated as “lineage deity” or “community deity”) refers to a patron deity or a tutelary, who is classed as a protector or guardian of a place, village, lineage, or even country, culture and occupation, and who, as the Tamil folklore goes, guards and guides his votaries, generations after generations. The Tamil people call them by various names like Grama-devata (or “village deity”) or Kuladeivam (as it is referred to here in this article) “Kaval-deivam” (=”guardian spirit”). Almost every village in Tamil Nadu has more than one of these “deities”. In spite of their ubiquity, however, (as it had been proved in the foregoing paragraphs) Kuladeivams and their worship have no place in the Vedic scriptures and Agamic traditions of Hinduism. They have, if we should trace their nebulous beginnings, grown more out of South Indians’ culture and customs than their having a genesis in authoritative Vedic religion of the rishis.
Kuladeivam and Ishta-Devata are Different
The concept of what a Kuladeivam is in Tamil Nadu should not, however, be confused with the Ishta-devata worship practised in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Andra Pradesh and Nepal, for instance, where certain manifestations of Vedic gods like Goddess Parvathi, Lord Shiva or Lord Vishnu, for example, are revered as the favourite forms worshiped by their ancestors.
E contra, in Tamil Nadu the Kuladeivam has nothing to do with any of the iconic gods and goddesses in the Hindu pantheon; rather they are the deified human ancestors of a clan, community, or family. [According to Kriya Tamil Dictionary (1994 edition), “KulaDeivam” refers to a “deified ancestor of a community”.]
Human Ancestors Are Kuladeivam in Tamil Nadu
To put in another way, the Tamils worship their human ancestors, who had led a virtuous or righteous life, or some elders in the lineage, olden society, gentes, confraternity, locality, neighbourhood, colony, who had performed some meritorious deeds for the good of the village or community that has, as a result, flourished on that account.
In a word, what began as a mark of respect for an ancestor, as a form of reverence and deference, soon led the Tamils to deify them, giving them a status of god and even God.
Disinformation and Misinformation
Today, if one looks at the Youtube, in particular, one will find (to one’s positive bafflement and dismay) an insufferable surfeit of disinformation (=false information deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion) and misinformation (=incorrect or misleading information inadvertently sent in order to influence public opinion) concerning disreputable, un-Agamic, non-Vedic Kuladeiva worship. This has led to pernicious, damaging and extravagant superstitions, confusing Hindus even further, taking them further from the true teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads and Ithihaas. Many an astrologer, self-styled guru, spiritualist, religious advisor, teacher and satsangist not only mislead people by purveying to the superstitions of the Tamils but also put around views and ideas that are completely at variance with the teachings of Hindu archaryas and the scriptures.
Indians’ Notoriety for Hyperbolic Adoration that Leads to Crass Superstitions
Indians in general and the Tamils in particular have earned the noxious and nauseous notoriety for deifying anyone and anything that seizes their imagination. For instance, one will (to one’s prize stupefaction and consternation) discover not one but innumerable temples dedicated and assigned to celebrities, Indian movie stars and even politicians. Is it, therefore, a huge wonder to alight upon their worshiping their ancestors, who were in every way but mere mortals and humans like every one of us reading this article?
The following article is from https://factslegend.org/aryan-invasion-theory-debunking-the-myth/
The Aryan Invasion Theory is nothing but a Myth – British Imperialism’s ugly vestige that is still today taught in Indian schools and all over the world. The whole theory was created out of imagination to put the Europeans as superior race (which they certainly are not). The myth was born in 19th century when Indology became the talk of the day and scholars like Arthur Schopenhauer, Hern Wilhelm von Humboldt and August Wilhelm von Schlegal studied the Vedic literatures.
When these scholars learned about the profound knowledge and wisdom, they couldn’t help buy praise the ancient Indian culture publicly. Unfortunately for many Europeans, this was a shock! They simply couldn’t accept the fact that a far more advanced and a far more sophisticated civilization could exist outside the European boundaries since the ancient times – long before Moses or Abraham even came to existence. Of course, they had to defend Christianity while establishing racial supremacy as well as cultural supremacy. This is where the Aryan Invasion Theory came in.
However as of date, not only the theory stands challenged but proven completely false and mythical. In this article (which will be slightly long), we intend to point out numerous evidences that will debunk the entire Aryan Invasion Theory and at the same time, crush the Western cultural and racial hegemony.
Debunking the Myth of Aryan Invasion Theory
The Birth of Aryan Invasion Theory
As already mentioned, some scholars started praising ancient Indian wisdom and knowledge publicly which other Europeans couldn’t take well. The Europeans started commissioning Indologists who were not historians or archeologists in strict sense. They were just missionaries who got hired by their governments to immediately embark on missions of establishing Western hegemony both in terms of racial and cultural supremacy.
Their starting point was attacking the languages. They immediately started with the assumption that European, Iranian and Sanskrit languages belonged the language family known as Indo-European languages and that these languages separately evolved from a common language that was spoken by the people who came from a different homeland. This mother language was named as PIE or the Proto-Indo-European language. The next logical step was to identify the homeland. How could they? They had no evidence whatsoever and hence, they assumed once again! This time they said that the homeland was located somewhere in Southeast Europe or somewhere in Central Asia.
Still, they needed some evidence to grab on to and then came the event of unearthing the Indus Valley ruins, i.e. the ruins of the civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Immediately after finding the ruins, the Europeans leaped on to that stating nomadic tribes from some other foreign place came and plundered those civilizations and ruined them. They carried on stating that this plundering took place before the so called Aryan Invasion took place. Great! But proof? They didn’t have any verifiable proof to offer and they never did.
Cooking Up the Time Frame for Aryan Invasion Theory
It was very important to assign a date to the so called Aryan Invasion. So, what those missionaries – the so called historians and archeologists did was that they broke down the Vedic literature of the pre-Buddhist era in layers stating that each layer was developed at a gap of 200 years (give or take a few years). The years were calculated using Biblical chronology and the Aryan Invasion was assigned the date somewhere between 1500 BCE and 1000 BCE. As per Biblical chronology, the world was created in 4000 BCE and 2500 BCE was the year for Noah’s flood. Logically, Aryan Invasion was literally impossible before 2500 BCE and hence the time frame of 1500-1000 BCE was the best choice.
Using Excavated Human Skeletons As Proof of Aryan Invasion Theory
Even if the Biblical chronology-based dates were correct, the so-called Indologists had to come up with some hard evidence. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were excavated for 9 years straight – from 1922 to 1931. During this period some bones of the ancients were found. Guess what? The Europeans immediately said that these bones are direct proof that the Aryans invaded and massacred the indigenous people on a large scale!
Professor G. F. Dales who worked at Berkeley University, USA as the Dean of the Department of South-Asian Archeology and Anthropology, wrote a book titled: “The Mythical Massacre of Mohenjo-daro”. In his book, professor Dales points out that the excavation site had a 3-mile circuit and only 37 skeletons (some complete, some partial) were recovered. Problem is, as Professor Dales points out, that these skeletons were recovered in groups and in twisted positions which clearly indicated nothing other than orderly burials. What else? All the skeletons or the partial bones were unearthed from lower town area.
If indeed there was an Aryan Invasion, the indigenous people would have made their last stand at the fortified citadel deep inside their territory and the area should have been littered with evidences like arrow heads, burned fortresses, armor pieces and weaponry. Nothing, absolutely nothing of the sort was found in the area, clearly indicating that the Aryan Invasion Theory was nothing more than a myth.
On top of that, it is completely impossible to imagine that a civilization that was invaded and annihilated by the Aryans was made up of just 37 people. Mass massacre? Really?
Questioning the Very Origin of the Aryan Race
The major problem is that the very word ‘Aryan’ is of Sanskrit origin and it refers to a person who is noble and righteous. Sometimes, the word is used for referring to someone – male or female – as Aryaputra or Aryakanya. Immaculate combing through the whole bunch of Vedic literature never reveals even one single instance of the word Aryan being used to refer to a language or race.
In 1853, Max Mueller introduced the word Arya in English and assigned it the meaning of either a race or a language. The only reason Mueller did this was to add an extra hand of credibility to the myth of Aryan Invasion Theory. It was not until 1888 that Mueller’s definition of the word Arya came under heavy criticism from highly learned historians and scholars. That is when Mueller issued a statement refuting the theory he forwarded! Irony! The exact statement he issued is quoted below:
“I have declared again and again that if I say Aryas, I mean neither blood nor bones, nor hair, nor skull; I mean simply those who speak an Aryan language…to me an ethnologist who speaks of Aryan race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic dictionary or a brachycephalic grammar.”
Unfortunately, it was too late. By the time Mueller issued his statement, French and German nationalist and political groups had already picked up the word to propagate and establish the idea of Aryan race – a race of white people who they considered to be supreme among all mankind.
Problem With Mueller’s Definition of Arya
Though Mueller refuted his own theory at a later stage, his very definition was flawed from the onset. As per the etymological definition provided by Mueller, the word Arya comes from ‘ar’, which literally means, ‘to cultivate’ or ‘to plough’. So, if ‘ar’ is where Arya comes from, then Arya means a cultivator or a farmer. As per the Aryan Invasion Theory, the Aryans were actually a nomadic race who wandered from one place to another. We know that nomadic races were not into farming. There is a clear mismatch in the very definition and the whole concept of nomads.
Use of Incorrect References from Vedas
What makes the Aryan Invasion Theory really funny is that it claims that the invading nomadic Aryans ended up writing the Rig Veda or Rg Veda. As per the theory, these white or light-skinned people from Southeast Europe or Central Asia came to Indian subcontinent, destroyed the indigenous people, mass massacred them, captured and enslaved them and then imposed their very own culture on the Indian subcontinent. Once they did so, they managed to write down all their exploits in Rig Veda.
So, where does this claim comes from? Apparently, Rig Veda speaks of conflicts between dark-skinned Dasyus and light-skinned Aryans. Backing this information from Rig Veda was the discovery of a few charred skeletons that were excavated from Indus Valley.
Based on their flimsy understanding of the Rig Veda and the archeological discoveries of charred skeletons, the stupid Europeans claimed that Rig Veda consists nothing more than epic poetry tales of conflicts between the nomadic foreign tribes and the indigenous dark-skinned tribes. They had absolutely no clue whatsoever about the true meanings of Dasyus and Aryans. How could they even possess that knowledge for they were unwise and blinded by the need for establishing racial supremacy.
The Europeans completely misunderstood the meaning of Rig Veda either because they simply overlooked the same to make their point or because they were too ignorant to even understand the deep meaning of the text. In Rig Veda it is clearly mentioned that India is a land where different tribes thrive together and it is also stated in this sacred text that: “We pray to Indra to give glory by which the Dasyus will become Aryans”. This clearly means two things:
Aryans weren’t created by birth and hence the notion of Aryans being a superior race of people from some other land is completely falsified.
Dasyus (who were basically the ignorant ones) could transform themselves into Aryans (the wise and the noble men) by gaining knowledge. This fortifies the meaning of Arya as defined in Sanskrit and also fortifies the fact that invasion or massacre or Dasyus or the ignorant ones simply out of question.
All the Europeans did was misinterpret the Rig Veda and instead of portraying the social struggle between different races of Indian subcontinent, they simply picked one Indian indigenous race and portrayed it as a superior European race. Really funny!
No Religious Sites Outside Indian Subcontinent
Yet another major problem with the Aryan Invasion Theory is the absence of religious sites outside the demographic boundaries of the Indian Subcontinent. If at all the theory is correct and if the Aryans were nomads belonging to a superior race of light-skinned people and blue eyes, here is one simple logic that requires proper validation:
“Nomads travel around, settle in a place and then move to another location and in the process when they encounter any indigenous people of a certain location, they destroy them.” If that is true, Aryans should have actually been to different places, pillaging, plundering and destroying indigenous people of the places they have been to. They must have established their own culture and religion in those places. They must have built their own religious sites too and they must have written texts similar to Rig Veda.
Unfortunately, no such religious Vedic texts exist outside India. There are no religious sites built outside India. Rig Veda only mentions religious sites inside India. Rig Veda didn’t glorify the Aryan accomplishments in foreign lands. Why so? If Aryans were really the great European race, they should have mentioned their previous trophies in the Vedic text.
This simply means that the Aryans didn’t come from outside India. They were indigenous to India. They were simply Indians and they didn’t belong to superior race. They were simply wiser and belonged to a higher-caste civilized society. The Europeans simply cooked up the whole thing out of jealousy and to prove that they were superior to all races in world and that Christianity was the only religion that is true. Ironic!
Nomad Influx In 1500 BCE Was Imaginary
According to the Aryan Invasion Theory, the nomadic Aryans invaded India between 1500 BCE and 1000 BCE. This again is a brain child of the stupid Europeans. Cornell University’s Kenneth Kennedy has proven this that between 4500 BCE and 800 BCE, India didn’t experience any significant influx of nomadic tribes that could possibly destroy the indigenous tribes.
On top of that, the Indus Valley area had sites stretching well over 1000 miles. Even if a nomadic tribe managed to get in to invade, it is absolutely impossible to believe that people populating the whole area of 1000 miles will abandon their homes for a single invading tribe and flee. Making things even more unbelievable is that a bunch of nomadic war-monger people will write down texts like Vedas and Upanishads of such profound wisdom.
Conflicting the Aryan Invasion Theory, the Rig Veda states that Aryans were urban dwellers and that they had built several hundred cities harboring an assorted collection of professions and managed using metropolitan societal rules. The text also mentioned that the Aryans were seafaring people.
So, a herd of nomads will write that they built hundreds of cities, they had different professions and a very well-organized city? Time to grab a laugh or two!
Furthermore, archeological evidences clearly indicate that after Harappa was deserted, no other people inhabit the area. So, if the nomadic Aryans did destroy Indus Valley civilization, why the hell did they not inhabit the region? And, since they did not inhabit, why the hell did they write a text like Rig Veda stating that the Aryans were urban dwellers? Things don’t really match up.
Aryan Invasion Theory Humiliates Itself By Mentioning Horses and Chariots
Rig Veda has extensively used the word ‘Asva’, which is a Sanskrit word for horse. However, every single use of the word is figurative and not literal. Rig Veda has used the word ‘Asva’ to indicate speed. Nowhere in Rig Veda has it been mentioned that people rode to battles on horses and chariots.
The Aryan Invasion theory only picked up the word Asva and twisted the meaning. As per the theory, the nomadic Aryans came riding to India on horses and chariots. This gave the Aryans military supremacy which helped them to destroy the indigenous people. The early European Indologists cooked up a story stating that just before 1500 BCE, horses were domesticated and then used them to invade India.
So, why did they cook up this story? That’s because, initial archeological digs did not reveal any evidence of chariots and horses in the whole of Indus Valley region. Unfortunately, new excavations by Dr. S. R. Rao have turned up remains of horses belonging to both Early and Late Harappan Periods, both of which predates 1500 BCE by over 2500 years. He even found a clay model of a horse-driven chariot in Mohenjo-daro, which too predates the date of mythical Aryan Invasion.
Ever since Dr. Rao’s discovery, many other archeological digs were conducted by other scholars who recovered horse bones of both domestic and combat variants – all of which predates the 1500 BCE mark. On top of that archeological excavations in Ukraine has also revealed that horse riding was pretty much in practice as early as 4000 BCE. So, the claim that the Aryans domesticated horses somewhere in 2000 BCE and used them to ride into India in 1500 BCE is an example of epic display of stupidity.
Even if we do not take account of the archeological evidences that horses were pretty much in use as early as 4000 BCE, there are other problems with the Aryan Invasion Theory. Chariots cannot be operated in deserts or on mountains. They require flat lands such as Northern India’s Gangetic plains.
If for the time being we assume that yes, Aryan Invasion was not mythical and it really happened then, the nomadic Aryans who were Central Asians or Southeast Europeans as per the theory, had to enter India by crossing desserts and mountains and not just any mountain – the formidable Hindu Kush! Chariots crossing mountains is way too far-fetched. Don’t you think so?
What else? Many recent archeological digs of both Indus Valley civilization and pre-Indus Valley civilization have turned up seals which look like spoked wheels of a chariot and of course, evidences of horses have also been found. So, there is absolutely no way that nomdic Aryans were the first to use horses and chariots somewhere in 2000 BCE. The theory just humiliated itself by making such claims!
The Invading Aryans Were Iron Based Culture. Really?
As per the Aryan Invasion Theory, the invading nomadic Aryans managed to gain military superiority because their weapons were made of iron. This idea popped out of the fact that Rig Veda mentions the word ‘ayas’. The early Indologists translated the word as ‘iron’. Unfortunately, in other Indo-European languages, ‘ayas’ means copper, bronze or simply some metallic ore. Those Indo-Europeans tagged ‘ayas’ as iron simply because no evidence of iron was found in archeological digs of the Indus Valley region.
Though Rig Veda has used the word ‘ayas’, that usage is very limited but gold has been frequently mentioned. No other metal has been mentioned in Rig Veda. ‘Ayas’ has however been mentioned in two other Vedas – the Atharva Veda and the Yajur Veda and interestingly, both Vedas have mentioned different colors for ayas at different times. This means that ayas was a generic term used in Vedic era to denote just any metal. More over, Vedic literature also mentions that Dasyus used ayas for building their own cities.
So, if we take the Aryan Invasion Theory as true then Dasyus (who, according to the theory were indigenous people of India) also made use of iron and hence, nomadic Aryans were not the only ones to make use of iron. Thus, the claim of invading Aryans being an iron culture is not validated.
Harappa Was Vedic Culture Long Before the So Called Aryan Invasion
B.B. Lal from Archeological Survey of India unearthed Yajna-Vedhis in Harappa. He excavated a site named Kalibagan in the Harappan site. Kalibagan was from 3rd millennium BCE. Yajana-Vedhi is actually a fire altar that is built for fire sacrifices. The Vedic texts have extensively mentioned Yajna-Vedhis and yajnas or fire sacrifices. The Vedic text called Satpatha-brahmana has a detailed explanation of the whole geometry and structure of the Yajna-Vedhis. Berkeley’s University of California compared the geometry of the fire altar unearthed by Mr. Lal with Ancient Greek and Mesopotamian geometries and found that under no circumstances, the fire alter can be any younger that 1700 BCE, which predates the date of mythical Aryan Invasion by at least 200 years. So, Harappa was actually a part of the Vedic era that was already prevalent in India for long.
Aryan Invasion Theory Challenged With Language & Literature
According to the Aryan Invasion Theory, the nomadic Aryans came and implemented their own culture and language on the indigenous people. In the ancient times, the area of Indus Valley was one of the most densely populated places on this planet and of course they had their own languages. How is it possible that a horde of nomads just came in, conquered and wiped out the indigenous languages. By all accounts of history, such an event has never happened. Indigenous people, irrespective of the country or area have retained their languages despite foreign invasions.
Compared to classical Sanskrit (that started somewhere in 500 BCE at the time of Panini), the Vedic Sanskrit is known to have way more linguistic changes. These changes take a very long time to happen and does not occur over a period of just two centuries. Remember that the early Indologists said that the four Vedas were created at a gap of 200 years each. Linguistic changes in Vedic Sanskrit simply do not conform to this division and scream that the Vedas were separated by longer periods of times.
Moreover, in none of the four Vedas there is a single mention of any foreign invasion. In fact, all Vedas focus on Sapta-Sindhu (the area of 7 rivers). Apart from that the Puranas explicitly mention that Indians migrated outwards, i.e. out of India. This is proven by the fact that many Aryan names can be found in treaties made with kings of Middle East. Moreover, West Asian texts belonging to the second millennium BCE have names of Vedic gods. This also imply that Indians migrated outwards and that there was no incoming nomadic invasion.
Lord Siva Gives a Big Blow to Aryan Invasion Theory
The proponents of the Aryan Invasion Theory argued that those who lived in the Indus Valley area worshiped Siva and hence, they were Dravidians from South India who inhabited the Indus Valley region. They came up with this argument using two points:
South Indians are today known to be hardcore Siva worshipers.
There are two Tamil words – Civa and Cembu. Civa means to become red or angry. Cembu refers to the red metal copper. However, the early European Indologists took Civa for Siva and Cembu for Sambhu.
They failed to decipher the fact that both the words Siva and Sambhu originate from Sanskrit and not Tamil. ‘Si’ in Sanskrit means benevolent, helpful, gracious and auspicious. ‘Sam’ in Sanskrit means existing for happiness or causing happiness or being kind and helpful or benevolent.
Vedic texts have always used these words in the exact same sense they were first created. There has been no change. There are other important points to remember:
Lord Siva’s home is Mount Kailasa which is located in extremely inhospitable and remote area which today falls in Tibetan Himalayas. That’s north!
Varanasi, which is Saivism’s most auspicious seat is also located in the north.
Rig Veda has extensive mentions of Siva and Rudra where he has been portrayed as a very important and powerful deity.
Based on these points it is argued that Siva was never strictly a Tamil or South Indian god as the proponent of the Aryan Invasion Theory wanted us to believe. Also, Siva was completely a Vedic god.
During the initial excavations of the Indus Valley region, some terracotta structures were found in the fire altars. These structures were presented by the early European Indologists to us as Siva Lingas. They did this to make us believe that those who lived in the Indus Valley were Siva worshipers. Later scholars have disproved this and have shown that those structures were used by merchants and shopkeepers for weighing commodities and that each one of those structures had perfect integral ratio.
The Aryan Invasion Theory Eliminated the North-South Division
One may argue that division is not good (as we know that divide and rule policy of the British was not at all good). However, when we talk about the mythical Aryan Invasion, evidence of North-South division becomes absolutely necessary. If at all the theory is correct (which is not), there are a few questions that the proponents failed to answer:
If the Aryans came from north with a whole different culture and history and drove the Dravidians to the south, how come there is not marked and visible difference in literature, history etc. between north and south? There should have been a North-South division with two different set of historical, religious and cultural developments.
Were there no people living in the south of the subcontinent before the Aryans invaded?
If there were people living in the south, how come they just gave up their own culture, their own history and religion and accepted the culture of the nomadic tribes who just invaded the north and stayed there?
These questions were never answered because there were no answers at all. The theory was a made-up with absolutely no truth in it.
Prehistoric Saraswati River Completely Negates Aryan Invasion Theory
We have often heard of the name River Saraswati. It is not mythical. It is just a dried up river that existed during the prehistoric times. Recent data from satellites as well as field works in archeology have verified that River Saraswati indeed existed. It is not that it just existed, it was massive and was 7-kilometer wide. It flowed down from the Himalayas, across the Rajasthan desert into the oceans. Two important things have come out of the studies:
Dr. Wakankar, a famous archeologist from India and recipient of Padmashree award extensively studied the evidences of River Saraswati and proved that the prehistoric river went completely dry somewhere around 1900 BCE and before it went dry, the river changed its course at least 4 times.
Satellite data along with Indo-French field expeditions have proven that River Saraswati was a perennial river that came to existence way before 3000 BCE.
Interesting Rig Veda has mentioned River Saraswati for over 60 times and River Ganga has been mentioned for only once. The question that comes normally is that if the prehistoric river went dry in 1900 BCE and if the Aryans invaded Indian anywhere between 1500 BCE and 1000 BCE, how come they even came to know about River Saraswati and mentioned the same several times in Rig Veda?
Satellite data and recent archeological studies from the Indo-French expeditions are definitive proofs that the Rig Veda came to existence sometime in 3500 BCE and the Vedic people were very well-versed with the geography of North India. In fact, the Rig Veda refers to Saraswati as “pure in course from the mountains to the sea”. According to the Vedas, the Vedic culture began with Sage Manu who founded the Vedic culture between the banks of the prehistoric rivers Drishadvati and Saraswati. Also, archeological evidences show that River Drishadvati went dry before 3000 BCE and hence, the only way Rig Veda could mention both these rivers is if the text was written before 3500 BCE.
Finally, Discovery of New Sites Negate Aryan Invasion Theory
After Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were discovered in 1922 along the rivers Sindhu and Ravi, archeologists have actually dug out 2500+ different settlements that stretched from Baluchistan to river Ganga and all the way down to Tapti valley. 70 years ago, people believed that majority of these settlements were all concentrated on the banks of Sindhu. However, modern day studies have shown that most of these settlements (about 75% of them) actually sat along the banks of now dry River Saraswati. Interesting all these settlements spanned over an area of 1.5 million square kilometers. That’s one big chunk of land which proves that the area was one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Since River Saraswati went dry somewhere in 1900 BCE, the area experienced a mass exodus somewhere between 2000 BCE and 1900 BCE. These people go scattered in different places. Some went to Middle East, some made their way to northwest while the rest headed for southeast. This mass exodus is proven by the appearances of names of Hindu rulers in different dynasties all over west Asia, which neatly proves that people moved from East towards the West.
There are many other evidences that stand up against the mythical Aryan Invasion Theory and completely falsifies the same. The question is, why was the theory put in place in the first place? The answer is simple! The Europeans wanted economical, social and political dominance so that they could hail their own culture and religion as supreme. The Aryan Invasion Theory did a good job by making Hindus (Indians) feel ashamed of their own culture. Hindus were made to believe that civilization first developed in Middle East and Europe and that Indian culture was a secondary development. The best way to do this was to ensure that Vedic culture is shown to have developed after Christianity came to existence.
The truth is exactly opposite. Christianity and western culture came later and by the time they came to existence, Hinduism was already millennials old and highly developed in culture, science and philosophy. One other reason for discrediting Vedic era as one of the earliest mainstream civilizations was to ensure that advanced Indian scientific knowledge of that era could be attributed to the Greeks, Egyptians and Europeans. It is a shame that today in India, we still teach this big lie and we teach our people the Western misinterpretations of our Vedas only helping the propagation of Christianity right inside our home.
[The following article can be found in Sri Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s “Loving Ganesa”]
Religion is man’s association with the Divine, and the ultimate objective of religion is realization of Truth. Forms which symbolize Truth are only indications; they are not Truth itself, which transcends all conceptualization. The mind in its efforts to understand Truth through reasoning must always fail, for Truth transcends the very mind which seeks to embrace it. Hinduism is unique among the world’s religions. I boldly proclaim it the greatest religion in the world. To begin with, it is mankind’s oldest spiritual declaration, the very fountainhead of faith on the planet. Hinduism’s venerable age has seasoned it to maturity. It is the only religion, to my knowledge, which is not founded in a single historic event or prophet, but which itself precedes recorded history. Hinduism has been called the “cradle of spirituality, ” and the “mother of all religions, ” partially because it has influenced virtually every major religion and partly because it can absorb all other religions, honor and embrace their scriptures, their saints, their philosophy. This is possible because Hinduism looks compassionately on all genuine spiritual effort and knows unmistakably that all souls are evolving toward union with the Divine, and all are destined, without exception, to achieve spiritual enlightenment and liberation in this or a future life. Of course, any religion in the world is a mind stratum within people, isn’t it? It is a group of people who think consciously, subconsciously and subsuperconsciously alike and who are guided by their own superconsciousness and the superconsciousness of their leaders which make up the force field which we call a religion. It does not exist outside the mind. People of a certain religion have all been impressed with the same experiences. They have all accepted the same or similar beliefs and attitudes, and their mutual concurrence creates the bonds of fellowship and purpose, of doctrine and communion.
The people who are Hinduism share a mind structure. They can understand, acknowledge, accept and love the peoples of all religions, encompass them within their mind as being fine religious people. The Hindu truly believes that there is a single Eternal Path, but he does not believe that any one religion is the only valid religion or the only religion that will lead the soul to salvation. Rather, the Eternal Path is seen reflected in all religions.
To put it another way, the will of God or the Gods is at work in all genuine worship and service. It is said in Hindu scripture that “Truth is one. Paths are many.” The search for Truth, for God, is called the Sanatana Dharma, or the Eternal Path, because it is inherent in the soul itself, where religion begins. This path, this return to the Source, is ever existent in man, and is at work whether he is aware of the processes or not. There is not this man’s search and that man’s search. Where does the impetus come from? It comes from the inside of man himself. Thus, Hinduism is ever vibrant and alive, for it depends on this original source of inspiration, this first impulse of the spirit within, giving it an energy and a vibrancy that is renewable eternally in the now.
Naturally, the Hindu feels that his faith is the broadest, the most practical and effective instrument of spiritual unfoldment, but he includes in his Hindu mind all the religions of the world as expressions of the one Eternal Path and understands each proportionately in accordance with its doctrines and dogma. He knows that certain beliefs and inner attitudes are more conducive to spiritual growth than others, and that all religions are, therefore, not the same. They differ in important ways. Yet, there is no sense whatsoever in Hinduism of an “only path.” A devout Hindu is supportive of all efforts that lead to a pure and virtuous life and would consider it unthinkable to dissuade a sincere devotee from his chosen faith. This is the Hindu mind, and this is what we teach, what we practice and what we offer aspirants on the path.
We often send people back to their own religion, for Hindu doctrine would consider it an unseemly karma to draw someone away simply because he believed differently. To the Hindu, conduct and the inner processes of the soul’s maturation are more essential than the particular religion one may be by the accidents of birth, culture or geography. The Hindu knows that he might unknowingly disturb the dharma of the individual if he pulls him away from his religious roots, and that would cause an unsavory karma for them both. He knows, too, that it is not necessary that all people believe exactly the same way or call God by the same name.
A Religion of Experience
Still, Hinduism is also extremely sectarian, altogether adamant in its beliefs. Its doctrines of karma and reincarnation, its philosophy of nonviolence and compassion, its certainty of mystical realities and experience and its universality are held with unshakable conviction. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Hinduism is a religion more of experience than of doctrine. It prefers to say to its followers, “This is the nature of Truth, and these are the means by which that Truth may be realized. Here are the traditions which have withstood time and proved most effective. Now you may test them in your own life, prove them to yourself. And we will help as we can.” Hinduism will never say, “You must do or believe thusly or be condemned.” In Hinduism it is believed that none is eternally condemned. That loving acceptance and unremitting faith in the goodness of life is another reason I boldly say that Hinduism is the greatest religion in the world.
Within Hinduism, as within every religious system, are the practical means of attaining the purity, the knowledge and the serenity of life. Each Hindu is enjoined to attend a puja every day, preferably at a certain and consistent time. He must observe the laws of virtue and the codes of ethics. He must serve others, support religion within his community. He should occasionally pilgrimage to sacred shrines and temples and partake in the sacraments. If he is more advanced, an older soul, then he is expected, expects of himself, to undertake certain forms of sadhana and tapas, of discipline and asceticism.
Though it is broad and open in the freedom of the mind to inquire, Hinduism is narrowly strict in its expectations of devotees–the more awakened the soul, the higher the demands and responsibilities placed upon him. And though other systems of belief are fully acceptable mind structures within the structure of the higher mind, there is no way out of Hinduism. There is no excommunication. There is no means of severance. There’s no leaving Hinduism once you have formally accepted and been accepted. Why is that? That is because Hinduism contains the whole of religion within itself. There is no “other religion ” which one can adopt by leaving Hinduism, only other aspects of the one religion which is the sum of them all, the Eternal Path, the Sanatana Dharma.
I would say that, if it lacked all the qualities of open-mindedness and compassion and tolerance just mentioned, Hinduism would be the greatest religion on the basis of its profound mysticism alone. No other faith boasts such a deep and enduring comprehension of the mysteries of existence, or possesses so vast a metaphysical system. The storehouse of religious revelations in Hinduism cannot be reckoned. I know of its equal nowhere. It contains the entire system of yoga, of meditation and contemplation and Self Realization. Nowhere else is there such insightful revelation of the inner bodies of man, the subtle pranas and the chakras, or psychic centers within the nerve system. Inner states of superconsciousness are explored and mapped fully in Hinduism, from the clear white light to the sights and sounds which flood the awakened inner consciousness of man. In the West it is the mystically awakened soul who is drawn to Hinduism for understanding of inner states of consciousness, discovering after ardent seeking that Hinduism possesses answers which do not exist elsewhere and is capable of guiding awareness into ever-deepening mind strata.
Hinduism’s Unbounded Tolerance
In apparent conflict, the scriptures written thousands of years ago explain how we should live, and saints and rishis and seers throughout the ages have told us that it is impossible to live that way. So, Hinduism has a great tolerance for those who strive and a great forgiveness for those who fail. It looks in awe at those who succeed in living a life according to its own strict ethics. In Hinduism, we have many, many saints. You don’t have to die to be acknowledged a saint in our religion, you have to live. The Hindus, perhaps beyond all other people on the earth, realize the difficulties of living in a human body and look in awe at those who achieve true spirituality.
The Hindu believes in reincarnation. He believes that he is not the body in which he lives, but the soul or awareness which takes on a body for a definite purpose. He believes he is going to get a better body in a better birth, that the process does not begin and end in a single life, that the process is continuous, reaching beyond the limits that one life may impose on inner progress. Of course, his belief in karma assures him that a better birth, that progress inwardly will come only if he behaves in a certain way. He knows that if he does not behave according to the natural laws, to the Hindu ethics, that he will suffer for his transgressions in a future life, or future lives, that he may by his own actions earn the necessity of a so-called inferior birth, earn the right to start over where he left off in the birth in which he failed.
The belief in karma and reincarnation is exclusively Hindu, and yet many people in the world today, whether they call themselves religious or not, are coming to the same conclusions, not from being told to believe but in a natural way, from the inside out. This belief in more than a single life brings to the Hindu a great sense of peace. He knows that the maturity of the soul takes many lives, perhaps hundreds of lives. If he is not perfect right now, then at least he knows that he is progressing, that there will be many opportunities for learning and growing. This eliminates anxiety, gives the serene perception that everything is all right as it is. There is no sense of a time limit, of an impending end or an ultimate judgment of his actions and attitudes. This understanding that the soul evolves gives the Hindu remarkable insight into the human condition and appreciation for all men in all stages of spiritual development.
Hinduism is so broad. Within it there is a place for the insane and a place for the saint. There is a place for the beggar and for those who support beggars. There is a place for the intelligent person and plenty of room for the fool. The beauty of Hinduism is that it does not demand of every soul perfection in this life, a necessary conclusion for those who believe in a single lifetime during which human perfection or grace must be achieved. Belief in reincarnation gives the Hindu an acceptance of every level of humanity. Some souls are simply older souls than others, but all are inherently the same, inherently immortal and of the nature of the Divine.
Hindu Views of the Divine
In Hinduism it is believed that the Gods are living, thinking, dynamic beings who live in a different world, in an inner world in the microcosm within this world in which there exists a greater macrocosm than this visible macrocosm. For the Hindu, surrender to the Divine Will that created and pervades and guides the universe is essential. The Hindu believes that these beings guide our experiences on Earth, actually consciously guide the evolutionary processes. Therefore, he worships these beings as greater beings than himself, and he maintains a subjective attitude toward them, wondering if he is attuned with these grand forces of the universe, if his personal will is in phase with what these great beings would have him do. This gives birth to a great culture, a great attitude, a great tolerance and kindness one to another. It gives rise to humility in the approach to life–not a weak or false humility, but a strong and mature sense of the grand presence and purpose of life before which the head naturally bows.
There are said to be millions of Gods in the Hindu pantheon, though only a few major Deities are actually worshiped in the temples. That God may be worshiped as the Divine Father or a Sainted Mother or the King of kings is one of the blessings of Hinduism. It offers to each a personal and significant contact, and each Hindu will choose that aspect of the Deity which most appeals to his inner needs and sensibilities. That can be confusing to some, but not to the Hindu. Within his religion is monism and dualism, monotheism and polytheism, and a rich array of other theological views.
God in Hinduism is accepted as both transcendent and immanent, both beyond the mind and the very substratum of the mind. The ideal of the Hindu is to think of God always, every moment, and to be ever conscious of God’s presence. This does not mean the transcendent God, the Absolute Lord. That is for the yogi to ponder in his contemplative discipline. That is for the well-perfected Hindu who has worshiped faithfully in the temples, studied deeply the scriptures and found his satguru.
For most Hindus, God means the Gods, one of the many personal devas and Mahadevas which prevail in our religion. This means a personal great soul which may never have known physical birth, a being which pervades the planet, pervades form with His mind and Being, and which guides evolution. Such a God is capable of offering protection and direction to the followers of Hinduism. The Hindu is supposed to think of God every minute of every day, to see God everywhere. Of course, most of us don’t think of God even one minute a day. That’s the reason that each Hindu is obliged to conduct or attend at least one religious service, one puja or ceremony, every day in his temple or home shrine. This turns his mind inward to God and the Gods.
Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, is an Eastern religion, and the Eastern religions are very different from those of the West. For one thing, they are more introspective. Hinduism gave birth to Buddhism, for Buddha was born and died a good Hindu. And it gave birth to other religions of the East, to Taoism, to Jainism, to Sikhism and others.
Three Pillars: Temples, Philosophy, Preceptors
There are three distinct aspects of Hinduism: the temples, the philosophy and the satguru. It is very fortunate that in the last two decades Hindu temples have nearly circumferenced the world. There are temples in Europe, in North America, in South America, Australia, in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia. The Hindu temple and stone images in it work as a channel for the Deity, for the Gods, who hover over the stone image and, in their subtle etheric forms, change people’s lives through changing the nerve currents within them through their darshana. People come to a sanctified temple and go away, and in that process they are slowly changed from the inside out. They have changed because their very life force has changed, their mind has been changed and their emotions have undergone a subtle transformation. The temples of Hinduism are magnificent in their immensity and in their ability to canalize the three worlds, the First World of physical, outer existence and the inner Second and Third Worlds.
Hindu temples are not centered around a priest or minister, though there may be a holy man associated with a temple whose advice is cautiously and quietly sought. There is no sermon, no mediator, no director to guide the worship of pilgrims. The temple is the home of the Deities, and each devotee goes according to his own timing and for his own particular needs. Some may go to weep and seek consolation in times of sorrow, while simultaneously others will be there to rejoice in their good fortune and to sing God’s name in thanksgiving. Naturally, the sacraments of name-giving and marriage and so forth are closely associated with the temple. One has only to attend a Hindu temple during festival days to capture the great energy and vitality of this ancient religion.
In its second section, philosophy, Hinduism has influenced the deep religious thinkers of all cultures through known history. There is not a single philosophy which can be labeled “Hinduism.” Rather, it is a network of many philosophies, some seeming to impertinently contradict the validity of others, yet on deeper reflection are seen as integral aspects of a single, radiant mind flow. In the area of philosophy must be included the enormous array of scripture, hymns, mantras, devotional bhajana and philosophical texts which are certainly unequaled in the world.
In the natural order of things, temple worship precedes philosophy. It all starts with the temple, with this sacred house of the Deities, this sanctified site where the three worlds communicate, where the inner and outer mesh and merge. It is there that devotees change. They become more like the perfect beings that live in the temple, become the voice of the Deity, writing down what is taught them from the inside, and their writings, if they are faithful to the superconscious message of the God, become scripture and make up the philosophies of Hinduism. The philosophies then stand alone as the voice of the religion. They are taught in the universities, discussed among scholars, meditated upon by yogis and devout seekers. It is possible to be a good Hindu by only learning the philosophy and never going to the temple, or by simply going to the temple and never hearing of the deeper philosophies.
Hinduism has still another section within it, and that is the guru–the teacher, the illuminator, the spiritual preceptor. The guru is the remover of darkness. He is one who knows the philosophy, who knows the inner workings of the temple, and who in himself is the philosopher and the temple. The guru is he who can enliven the spirit within people. Like the temple and the philosophy, he stands alone, apart from the institutions of learning, apart from sites of pilgrimage. He is himself the source of knowledge, and he is himself the pilgrim’s destination.
Should all the temples be destroyed, they would spring up again from the seeds of philosophy, or from the presence of a realized man. And if all the scriptures and philosophical treatises were burned, they would be written again from the same source. So Hinduism cannot be destroyed. It can never be destroyed. It exists as the spirit of religion within each being. Its three aspects, the temple, the philosophy and the satguru, individually proficient, taken together make Hinduism the most vital and abundant religion in the world.
Hinduism’s Fathomless Diversity
Hinduism has a grand diversity among its many sects. That diversity is itself a strength, showing how broad and encompassing Hinduism is. It does not seek to have all devotees believe exactly alike. In fact, it has no central authority, no single organized institution which could ever proclaim or enforce such sameness. There is an immense inner unity, but the real strength and wisdom of Hinduism is its diversity, its variety. There are so many sects within Hinduism that you could spend a lifetime studying them and never begin to assess them all. More is there than any single human being could assimilate in a single lifetime. Hinduism, therefore, has the magnetism to draw us back into its immensity life after life. Each sect may be said to be a full religion in its own right, with all the increments of faith, with no necessary part missing. Therefore, each sect works for the individuals within it completely, and each tolerates all the other sects. It does not totally divorce itself from the other sects, denying their beliefs, but simply separates to stress or expound a limited area of the vast philosophy, apart from all others, to be understood by the limited faculties of man.
These various sects and divisions within Hinduism all spring from a one source. Most Hindus believe in the transcendental God as well as the personal Lord or God, and yet there is within the boundaries of the faith room for the non-believer, for the atheist or for the agnostic who is assessing and developing his beliefs. This brings another unique asset to our religion–the absence of heresy. There is no such thing as a heretic in Hinduism, for there is no single right perspective or belief. Doctrine and sadhana are not considered absolutes, but the means to an absolute end, and they can be tailored to individual needs and natures. My satguru would say that different prescriptions are required for different ailments.
In Hinduism there is no person or spiritual authority who stands between man and God. In fact, Hinduism teaches just the opposite. The priests in the temples are the servants of the Deity, the helper, the keeper of the Gods’ house. He prepares and purifies the atmosphere of the temple, but he does not intervene between the devotee and his God–whichever of the many Gods within our religion that he may be worshiping. Without a mediator, responsibility is placed fully upon the individual. There is no one to intercede on his behalf. He is responsible for his actions, for his thoughts, for his emotions, for his relationship with his God. He must work out his beliefs from the inside, without undue dependence upon external influences. Of course, there is much help, as much as may be needed, from those who have previously gone through what he is now going through. It is not enough that he adopts an authorized dogma. He must study and bring the teachings to life from within himself.
Within the philosophy, each philosopher proclaims that God can be found within man if man practices the proper precepts of yoga and delves within himself through his kundalini force. The guru himself teaches the awakening of that force and how God can be realized in His transcendental as well as His personal aspect within the sphere of one’s own personal experience in this very lifetime if he but pursues the path and is obedient.
Hinduism is unique because God and man, mind and God, instinctive mind, intellectual mind and superconscious mind, can merge as one, according to the evolution of the individual. Each one, according to his own self-created karma, has his own fulfillment. Those in the first stages of evolution, whose interests and experiences are basically instinctive, who possess little intellect or mental prowess, are guided by their emotions and impulses, are generally fearful. They have a personal experience of the Deity in the temple, but it is generally a fearful experience. They are afraid of God. Alongside of them during a puja is a great rishi who has had many hundreds of lives on this planet. He has his own personal experience of God, but it is an experience of love, of oneness and of union. There they are, side by side. Each experience of God is as real to one as to the other. There is no one in-between, no arbitrator of the experience to compel the one to see God exactly as the other one does.
Within Hinduism Is a Place for Everyone
Hinduism is as broad as humanity is, as diverse as people are diverse. It is for the rich and the poor, for the mystic and the materialist. It is for the sage and the fool. None is excluded. In a Hindu temple you can find every variety of humanity. The man of accumulated wealth is there, supporting the institutions that have grown up around the temple, seeking to spend his abundance wisely and for its best purpose so that good merit may be earned for his next life. The pauper is there, begging in hopes that perhaps he will eat tomorrow and the God will inspire some devotee to give him a coin or two. So, a Hindu temple is a reflection of life, set in the midst of the life of the community. It is not making an effort to be better than the life of the village, only to serve that life and direct it to its next stage of evolution. The same Hindu mind which can consume within it all the religions of the world can and does consume within it all of the peoples of the world who are drawn to the temple by the shakti, the power, of the temple. Such is the great, embracing compassion of our religion.
The greatness of Hinduism cannot be compared with other religions. There is no basis for comparison. Hinduism, the Eternal way or Sanatana Dharma, has no beginning, therefore will certainly have no end. It was never created, and therefore it cannot be destroyed. It is a God-centric religion. The center of it is God. All of the other religions are prophet-centric. The center of those religions is a great saint or sage, a prophet, a messenger or messiah, some God-Realized person who has lived on Earth and died. Perhaps he was born to create that particular sect, that particular religion, needed by the people of a certain part of the world at a certain time in history. The Hindus acknowledge this and recognize all of the world’s religious leaders as great prophets, as great souls, as great incarnations, perhaps, of the Gods, or as great beings who have through their realization and inward practices incarnated themselves into, or transformed themselves into, eminent religious leaders and attracted devotees to them to give forth the precepts of life all over again and thus guide a tribe or a nation or a race into a better way of life.
The Hindu mind can encompass this, appreciate it, for it is firmly settled in a God-centric religion. The center of Hinduism is the Absolute, the timeless, formless, spaceless God who manifests as Pure Consciousness and as the most perfect form conceivable, the Primal Soul. He radiates out from that form as a myriad of Gods and Goddesses who inhabit the temples and bless the people, inspire the scriptures, inspire the spiritual leaders and uplift humanity in general. It is a one God in many forms. We recently heard a sannyasini at the Ganesha Temple in New York describe this in a most wonderful and profound way, “Siva is the fire. Shakti is the heat of that fire. Ganesha is the red color of that fire. Murugan is the light of that fire.”
There are nearly a billion Hindus in the world today. That’s roughly four times the population of the entire United States. Every sixth person on the planet is a Hindu. Hinduism attends to the needs of each one. It is the only religion that has such breadth and depth. Hinduism contains the Deities and the sanctified temples, the esoteric knowledge of inner states of consciousness, yoga and the disciplines of meditation. It possesses a gentle compassion and a genuine tolerance and appreciation for other religions. It remains undogmatic and open to inquiry. It believes in a just world in which every soul is guided by karma to the ultimate goal of Self Realization, leading to moksha, freedom from rebirth. It rests content in the knowledge of the divine origin of the soul, its passage through one life and another until maturity has been reached. It offers guidance to all who take refuge in it, from the nonbeliever to the most evolved maharishi. It cherishes the largest storehouse of scripture and philosophy on the earth, and the oldest. It is endowed with a tradition of saints and sages, of realized men and women, unrivaled on the earth. It is the sum of these, and more, which makes me boldly declare that Hinduism is the greatest religion in the world.
Source: pgs. xxxv-xlix, Loving Ganesa by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the founder of “Hinduism Today”)
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami has confronted a long-standing misapprehension about our faith, showing us why Hinduism is more than a way of life. It is a spiritual way of life encompassing the four practices (good conduct, devotion, meditation and jnana), the core Hindu beliefs (karma, dharma, all pervading divinity, selfless service, meditation, scriptures).
“Swamiji goes on to explain that the notion originated with German Indologists who, in the late 1800s, translated the word mata as religion: “The Germans, who first tried to translate our Sanskrit literature, unfortunately made a great mistake. They used mata for religion: ‘Buddha mata,’ the religion of Buddha; ‘Chraistava mata,’ the religion of Christ; ‘Muhammediya mata,’ Islam. Then they came to Hindu mata, and the poor Germans got confused, because in the Hindu religion there are very many mata. It is a composite mata. Mata comes from the Sanskrit word mati, meaning ‘buddhi,’ ‘intellect.’ That which is crystallized in the intellect is called a mata. Mata only means an opinion! Hindu religion contains Shankara mata, Ramanuja mata, Madhva mata. Various acharyas who have given various viewpoints of life, and the attitudes or the thoughts of the Upanishads—they are all called mata, mata, mata. So [the Germans] they came to the conclusion that Hinduism is not a religion. Then, what is it [they wondered]? It is ‘the way of life!’.
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