IMPORTANT FEATURES OF INDIAN CULTURE
(Extracts from an old interview with eminent Vedic Scholar Late Swami Dharmanand Saraswati(Vidyamartand) by William T.Anderson, University of Washington included in Swamiji's book 'In Search of Truth')
Question: What in your opinion are some of the main features of Indian culture?
Answer: (1) The first most important feature of Indian culture based upon the Vedas and other shastras is perfect faith in God. We must have full faith in Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent God, who sees all our actions and knows all our thoughts. This perfect faith makes us pure and removes all fear and anxiety. According to the Vedas, God is one but He is called by various names because of his different attributes:
Ekamsad vipra bahudha vadanti - Rig Veda 1.164.46
(2) The second important feature of the ancient Indian culture is belief in the immortality of soul. The Vedas tell us that soul lives in the body but it is mortal. The Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita also stress the same point. Belief in the immortality of soul makes a man face death bravely.
(3) The third main feature of Indian culture is unshakable faith in the law of karma which in simple words means as you sow, so shall you reap. Birth & re-birth theory is linked to the law of karma. As one birth is not enough to have knowledge of all kinds and acquire perfection, one has to have several births before the soul attains emancipation. The belief that some holy rivers and holy places of pilgrimage can wash away all sins is antagonistic to the law of karma.
(4) The fourth main feature of Indian culture is universal love and friendship, the Vedas enjoin upon us to look upon all beings on earth as our friends:
Mitrasyaham chakshusha sarvani bhutani samikshe mitrasya chakshusha samikshamahe (Yajur Veda 36.18)
It is this teaching which leads to world peace on which the Vedas lay great stress. Needless to say that the customs like hereditary caste-system and untouchability, the ideas of superiority based upon race or country are opposed to the ideals of universal love and friendship. Says the last hymn of the Rigveda:
Samani va akutih samana hridayani vah.
Samanamastu vo mano yatha vah susahasati (Rig Veda 10.191.4)
"Common be your aim and your hearts united, your mind be one so that all may happily live together."
(5) The fifth main feature of Indian culture is the spirit of service and sacrifice denoted by the word "Yajna". The Vedas and other shastras lay the greatest stress on performing Yajnas and cultivating the spirit of service and sacrifice.
(6) Connected with this is the ideal of benevolence which constitutes the sixth feature of Indian culture, as Rigveda says "A man who eats alone eats only sin"
kevalagho bhavati kevaladi (Rig Veda 10.117.6)
Note: The essence of above complete mantra is that one who does not utilise his wealth for noble deeds or does not offer it for the use of his fellow being, but fills only his own stomach, he is selfish and has earned the wages of sin only.
The same idea is corroborated in the Manu Smriti by Manu who says: He who cooks only for Himself is a sinner. The Bhagvad Gita supports the same idea that food which is eaten without feeding others first is the food of sin:
Bhunjate te twagham papa ye pachantya tmakaranat (Gita 3.13).
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Source: : In Search of Truth by Swami Dharmanand Saraswati(Vidyamartand), published by Samarpan Shodh Sansthan, Sahibabad.
Contributed by :
( Y.K. Wadhwa ji)
(Extracts from an old interview with eminent Vedic Scholar Late Swami Dharmanand Saraswati(Vidyamartand) by William T.Anderson, University of Washington included in Swamiji's book 'In Search of Truth')
Question: What in your opinion are some of the main features of Indian culture?
Answer: (1) The first most important feature of Indian culture based upon the Vedas and other shastras is perfect faith in God. We must have full faith in Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent God, who sees all our actions and knows all our thoughts. This perfect faith makes us pure and removes all fear and anxiety. According to the Vedas, God is one but He is called by various names because of his different attributes:
Ekamsad vipra bahudha vadanti - Rig Veda 1.164.46
(2) The second important feature of the ancient Indian culture is belief in the immortality of soul. The Vedas tell us that soul lives in the body but it is mortal. The Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita also stress the same point. Belief in the immortality of soul makes a man face death bravely.
(3) The third main feature of Indian culture is unshakable faith in the law of karma which in simple words means as you sow, so shall you reap. Birth & re-birth theory is linked to the law of karma. As one birth is not enough to have knowledge of all kinds and acquire perfection, one has to have several births before the soul attains emancipation. The belief that some holy rivers and holy places of pilgrimage can wash away all sins is antagonistic to the law of karma.
(4) The fourth main feature of Indian culture is universal love and friendship, the Vedas enjoin upon us to look upon all beings on earth as our friends:
Mitrasyaham chakshusha sarvani bhutani samikshe mitrasya chakshusha samikshamahe (Yajur Veda 36.18)
It is this teaching which leads to world peace on which the Vedas lay great stress. Needless to say that the customs like hereditary caste-system and untouchability, the ideas of superiority based upon race or country are opposed to the ideals of universal love and friendship. Says the last hymn of the Rigveda:
Samani va akutih samana hridayani vah.
Samanamastu vo mano yatha vah susahasati (Rig Veda 10.191.4)
"Common be your aim and your hearts united, your mind be one so that all may happily live together."
(5) The fifth main feature of Indian culture is the spirit of service and sacrifice denoted by the word "Yajna". The Vedas and other shastras lay the greatest stress on performing Yajnas and cultivating the spirit of service and sacrifice.
(6) Connected with this is the ideal of benevolence which constitutes the sixth feature of Indian culture, as Rigveda says "A man who eats alone eats only sin"
kevalagho bhavati kevaladi (Rig Veda 10.117.6)
Note: The essence of above complete mantra is that one who does not utilise his wealth for noble deeds or does not offer it for the use of his fellow being, but fills only his own stomach, he is selfish and has earned the wages of sin only.
The same idea is corroborated in the Manu Smriti by Manu who says: He who cooks only for Himself is a sinner. The Bhagvad Gita supports the same idea that food which is eaten without feeding others first is the food of sin:
Bhunjate te twagham papa ye pachantya tmakaranat (Gita 3.13).
--------
Source: : In Search of Truth by Swami Dharmanand Saraswati(Vidyamartand), published by Samarpan Shodh Sansthan, Sahibabad.
Contributed by :
( Y.K. Wadhwa ji)
3 comments:
Twisted manipulation of facts to justify a fairy tale and conjecture. Lots of deliberate conniving to conceal facts and present a distorted farcical tale.
Seems to be the hopeless dream of a frustrated Swami who failed to realise himself, forget about realising God.
Phenomenal clarity of thought demonstrated by the lucid presentation of commonalities of our scriptures. Only if other faiths could learn from it, the world would be such a better place to live.
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