Short Stories, Novels, Literature, Poetry, Essays, Articles, Experiences, Interviews, Columns and more at TeluguPeople.com

Hinduism: A Philosophical Perspective
- Mr. Vijaya Raghavan Tirumala

Page: 1 of 1

================================================================= (These are my thoughts that were shaping up for the past 6-8 years. While looking to find a good site to discuss these views, I came across several articles by Lakshmi Prasanthi, which ticked me off to post here) ================================================================= Right! What is Religion after-all? Is it a set of rules imposed upon us to elevate ourselves above others (every religion considers itself superior to others)? Or a framework to enrich our lives together? Understanding religion is a very complex process, especially in India, since every minute our thoughts will be influenced indirectly by suggestions from various channels (omnipresent babas, swamis, movies, above all our parents if they are believers of above mentioned groups). We really need to think outside the box to understand the true/absolute purpose of religion. There is a lot of data available from past researchers of religion (Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Buddha, Arabindo, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, and to some extent even Rajneesh). Everybody who was somebody in the philosophical scene of ancient India devoted themselves to understand and realize the ABSOLUTE. It is intriguing that almost all the ancient religious practices have some scientific meaning hidden in them. I believe that the true purpose of religion is to promote the collective elevation of society and to enrich it for generations to come. This consistent development of thought will some day lead us to living in harmony and the eternal mantra of 'Global Village', where peace is the main ingradient than a rarity. For everybody to live harmoniously, borders should collapse. They have several layers of meaning, these Borders. Borders Collapse, in a person suggest to take off the curtains of his mental outlook, otherwise termed as Ego. Only an egoless person can interact equally well with somebody and nobody. It is with this purpose that Krishna in Gita says, 'Ego is the root cause of evil'. Oh, how much we praise and take pride in ourselves for being Hindus. How proud we are when it comes to declaring to this world of our 4000-5000 years of history and philosophy. Alas, we only 'Talk the Talk'. We never even try to 'Walk the Talk'. Borders Collapse, in a society means to dissolve the groupism which eventually promotes hatred. If you can LOVE the opposite group equally well, what is a group for, in the first place? Borders Collapse, in an international scene mean Global Village where every one lives in harmony with others, irrespective of caste, religion, race, creed or gender. The order in which I mentioned these divisions is very important, you see? If you are grown up in a village in India, all that matters to is your caste. When you come out on your own into a City full of other religions, all that matters to you is your religion. When you come outside the country and live abroad, all that matters to us is our race. Oh, how many fwd emails do we exchange to shout the greatness of Indians and India!!! And ofcourse wherevere you go, the one thing that is eternally existant is the gender-bias. Even in a country like US, where individual freedom is much cared for, women do not have the same mind set and options as men do. To some extent women are to be blame themselves for such a sorry state-of-affairs. And I am almost positive, one day when we are to live in outerspace with population from other planets, we definitely take pride in being earthlings. No matter what we do and where we are, humans need that groupism to promote themselves and satisfy their ego. This, I am sure, was not in the minds of our ancestors who established the religions. Religion is a framework for us to fall back upon, if circumstances go against us. If we, on our own, can account ourselves for whatever happens to us, there is no need for such a framework at all. Religion is like a three-wheel cart that kids use to walk. Once they know how to walk on their own (Which is what we want, right?), we discard the three-wheel cart even though it is with its help that we have learned a great deal about walking. All the religions, teach us the same fundamentals, 'LOVE THY NEIGHBOR' ('But don't get caught', is one mischievious reply!). The essence of religion is to create Harmony than to divide the society into pieces. The fault lies not in the religion, but the interpretors of it, who cannot rid themselves of their beliefs while learning the religion. Adi Sankara, got rid of Buddhism not because it is against Hindu religion, but because common people are misunderstanding the true purpose of 'Nirvikara' concept. After him, people formed a group as the true followers of Sankara. Then came Ramanuja, a great philosopher. I dunnow whether he knew a lot about Sankara himself, but he definitely came across the misgivings of the so-called 'Followers of Sankara'. Thus, he himself tried to realize the ABSOLUTE, but again people formed a group after him too. In fact, while he was a student, Ramanuja was taught an ultimate truth called 'Astakshari Mantram'. His guru, Yamunacharya, warns of the consequences in HELL, should Ramanuja decide to give away this MOST sacred mantra to common people. Not heeding to his warnings, Ramanuja goes onto a temple top, assembles hords of people, to spread out the word, an easy to heaven. When his Guru questions, Ramanuja replies that he is happy to go to HELL if he can lead so many people to Heaven. And then after him, came his followers, who until recently crossed swords with the followers of Sankara. The greatness of Hinduism does NOT lie in proclaiming its greatness, but in proclaiming its humbleness while accpeting the greatness of Others. While women are barred from religious practices today, it is just an abberation in the intial establishment. During the times of Sita & Mandodari, women were equally qualified to perform religious rites. In fact, woman IS needed for a man to perform any religious rites. In our increasingly male-dominant society, we later even banished a widow from her right to live, while happily going along with a widowers remarriage. The root cause of all this, I believe, is the lack of education. By education, I mean, not a regular degree that helps you get a government job or get good bucks, but an education that refines the way we think. So it is with us, Education is not in attending classes, or in getting degrees. Education lies in mentally educating oneself by constantly evaluating ones actions and deeds. By giving voice to what we think is right/wrong, we put a seed into the young and upcoming minds who can later on think on their own and thus contribute to the society. ================================================================= There were a lot of stages where I started digressing, so I apolozise for lack of continuity. I have more and much more to type down, but I should learn how not to get encompassed by a valley of thought that exists in the mountains of other thoughts. After all, it is the mental landscape based on which we evaluate ourselves!

Achroacytosis aquifuge evacuant cabana expatiate communicate fusilier imporosity. Ingoing chaser alkanna bodying defend.

Read 3 Comment(s) posted so far on this Article!

Page: 1 of 1