VEDANTA, THE WAY OUT FOR INDIA AND THE WORLD ... 1
Does the Vedanta have much of a chance of flourishing in a land of personalities more than principles? I dare say no. India is full of images and idols and cares not much for abstract principles unless clothed in colour and costume. It is the mentality of the race that yet again needs to go back to its pristine roots. There it must drink of the original fountain of its spiritual inspiration and bring back thence to this land of dreams and dolls the culture of its ancient past.
The personality perishes, not the impersonal principle. But India has so beautifully woven into its national fabric the idealised myth of imagery in religion that it has now permeated the very soul of its national living and become one with its civilisation. And, yet, it is an aberration of sorts that needs principled rectification if India is to once again rise to national eminence and take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
The Hindu race stands on the rock-like foundation of the Vedas and cannot but flounder in its evolution as a people if it cuts itself from its spiritual moorings. The impersonal principles of the Vedas serve as the secure roots which have anchored the Hindus to their civilisation source and should they be forsaken through overmuch of superficial dual culture of forms and follies, the Hindus will decline into self-demeaning material culture. Such a state must not obtain for a people predominantly given to the pursuit of the spirit. It is here that the study of the Upanishads will set right the national course and the national discourse, too, and enable the race to rise to the occasion in an age of increasing global participation in the idea that transcends finite limitations and embraces the infinitude of existence.
The Upanishads are a mine of strength that will revitalise the race and refresh its resources for a resurgence and a rise. The shift from preset personalised culture of life to the impersonal will allow the free flow of personality ever more along democratic lines without centralising the same in select individuals. Thus will progress overall for the polity be better achieved as the country flourishes on a wider basis.
But the key to achieving this education in the Vedas and the Upanishads will lie in the re-introduction of Sanskrit in the curriculum with emphasis laid on the Gurukul method of education suited to modern terms.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Swami Shankarananda (seventh President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission) with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet at the Belur Math.
Comments :
Does the Vedanta have much of a chance of flourishing in a land of personalities more than principles? I dare say no. India is full of images and idols and cares not much for abstract principles unless clothed in colour and costume. It is the mentality of the race that yet again needs to go back to its pristine roots. There it must drink of the original fountain of its spiritual inspiration and bring back thence to this land of dreams and dolls the culture of its ancient past.
The personality perishes, not the impersonal principle. But India has so beautifully woven into its national fabric the idealised myth of imagery in religion that it has now permeated the very soul of its national living and become one with its civilisation. And, yet, it is an aberration of sorts that needs principled rectification if India is to once again rise to national eminence and take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
The Hindu race stands on the rock-like foundation of the Vedas and cannot but flounder in its evolution as a people if it cuts itself from its spiritual moorings. The impersonal principles of the Vedas serve as the secure roots which have anchored the Hindus to their civilisation source and should they be forsaken through overmuch of superficial dual culture of forms and follies, the Hindus will decline into self-demeaning material culture. Such a state must not obtain for a people predominantly given to the pursuit of the spirit. It is here that the study of the Upanishads will set right the national course and the national discourse, too, and enable the race to rise to the occasion in an age of increasing global participation in the idea that transcends finite limitations and embraces the infinitude of existence.
The Upanishads are a mine of strength that will revitalise the race and refresh its resources for a resurgence and a rise. The shift from preset personalised culture of life to the impersonal will allow the free flow of personality ever more along democratic lines without centralising the same in select individuals. Thus will progress overall for the polity be better achieved as the country flourishes on a wider basis.
But the key to achieving this education in the Vedas and the Upanishads will lie in the re-introduction of Sanskrit in the curriculum with emphasis laid on the Gurukul method of education suited to modern terms.
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Swami Shankarananda (seventh President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission) with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet at the Belur Math.
Comments :
Debaprasad Bhattacharya While I fully accept your contention from intellectual standpoint, very few people are endowed with the capacity to appreciate the impersonal aspect of Godhead. Doesn't the Gita categorically say that hardly a few among thousands of people care to seek God, only a few of thousands of such ultimately know me ?
Sugata Bose I know that, too, but my contention is that India will have to through increased education and awareness of the masses align itself with the pristine philosophy of the Vedas in a more undiluted way for it to develop to its true potential. It may take time but it will have to come to pass eventually and it will. That does not mean that the masses will all rise in self-consciousness together but increasing numbers of people must and will attain to it.
Sharmistha Chatterjee Thoughts so lofty, so sublime and so pristine and elite... sentences like..."There it must drink of the original fountain....land of dreams and dolls the culture of its ancient past";
"The impersonal principles of the Vedas serve as the secure roots which have anchored the Hindus to their civilization.....the Hindus will decline into self-demeaning material culture."....entangle us in a labyrinth of rich splendour.
Whereas there are such bold and beautiful approach in the other sentences that it makes a definite imprint on us and give us the jolt to pause , ponder and realise.
"The impersonal principles of the Vedas serve as the secure roots which have anchored the Hindus to their civilization.....the Hindus will decline into self-demeaning material culture."....entangle us in a labyrinth of rich splendour.
Whereas there are such bold and beautiful approach in the other sentences that it makes a definite imprint on us and give us the jolt to pause , ponder and realise.
No comments:
Post a Comment