copyright © 2017 by neha bali. thank you for downloading
TRANSCRIPT
Copyright © 2017 by Neha Bali.
ISBN: 978-1-5323-3705-5
Thank you for downloading this East Rock book.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
thereof in any form whatsoever. All rights reserved under International and Pan-
American Copyright Conventions. Address queries on rights and permissions to the
publisher East Rock, USA.
Digital edition published worldwide by East Rock, sole proprietor Neha Bali,
Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Digital edition derived from the hardcover The Hindu Culture: A Clear and
Concise Summary by Mrinal Bali, Copyright © 1997 by Mrinal Bali, ISBN 81-900850-0-
X.
Also by Mrinal Bali
The Swami and the Children: A fictional explanation of the Hindu culture for youngsters.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Knowledge
Divine origins
Texts
Age
Challenges
QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY
Brahman
The Search
Ultimate destination
Only humans
Summary
HOW TO ACHIEVE BRAHMAN
Atmaan
Methods for achieving Brahman
Yoga
Common objective
Patanjali's yoga
Yama
Niyama
Asana
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
CLOSURE
SOURCES
INTRODUCTION
THE HINDU CULTURE is just that—a culture. It is a way of life, not a religion.
First came the culture. Later came all the deities that Hindus today worship,
such as Rama and Krishna. We will not debate their divinity. In this treatise, we stick to
the facts. The fact is that Rama and Krishna were practitioners of a culture already
existing. Repeat: first came the culture. Therefore, to really know the Hindu culture,
we must study it as originally founded by the founding sages and recorded in the
founding texts—the Vedas and their subtexts such as the Upanisads.
The texts are vast. The foremost Veda, the Rg Veda Samhita, alone has 10,589
mantras or verses. The basics of the Hindu culture are scattered all over the texts.
That’s because the Hindu culture was not founded by any one sage but by many sages
across many generations. The sages observed nature, contemplated on the
observations, then experimented with methods by which to achieve the one
paramount objective that the sages called Brahman, pronounced Brahmaa ending
with the nasal sound of the n. Most Hindus ritually repeat the words Om and Atmaan
without realizing, as you will see shortly, that Om and Atmaan are but different names
for the same paramount objective—Brahman. By trial and error spanning generations,
the sages honed their observations and perfected the methods by which to achieve
Brahman. Read the texts and you can actually sense the maturing of the thinking as
one generation built upon the experience of the generations past. The basics of the
culture are thus scattered all over the vast texts.
From the vast texts, this short treatise extracts the basics of the culture and
presents them in succinct form.
KNOWLEDGE
HUMANKIND’S KNOWLEDGE OF nature has advanced over time. For a culture to
continue to survive, it must make rational sense that fits our present knowledge. If it
doesn’t, discard the culture. This book is for ages high school and up, by when you
have sufficient knowledge to decide if the Hindu culture makes rational sense. If it
doesn’t, discard the Hindu culture, delete this book, and send the author an e-mail for
your money back.
DIVINE ORIGINS
SOME ARDENT FOLLOWERS of the culture emphatically state that the Vedas were
revealed to the founding sages of the culture by some God. Do not believe this. If you
do, read no further and throw away this book, for it will not enlighten you.
Writes Jawaharlal Nehru, a past scholar and statesman of India:
Many Hindus look upon the Vedas as revealed scripture. This seems to me to be peculiarly unfortunate, for thus we miss their real significance—the unfolding of the human mind in the earliest stages of thought. And what a wonderful mind it was!
The Vedas (from the root vid, to know) were simply meant to be a collection of the existing knowledge of the day . . . I could not approach these books, or any book, as Holy Writ which must be accepted in their totality without challenge or demur. Indeed, this approach of Holy Writ usually resulted in my mind being closed to what they contained. I was much more friendly and open to them when I could consider them as having been written by human beings, very wise and far-seeing, but nevertheless ordinary mortals and not incarnations or mouthpieces of a divinity . . .
(The Discovery of India)
Yet India today worships myriad Gods. There is a profound reason for this.
Once you understand the basic culture, you will understand why. Suffice it to say for
now that if you are concentrating on this book with undivided attention, then you are,
at this very moment, practicing the Hindu culture, and if later in the day you
concentrate on something else, no matter what, whether this book or a God imagined
with several heads and limbs or even a piece of asymmetric rock picked off the road,
you are still practicing the Hindu culture.
TEXTS
THIS BOOK DRAWS extensively from the original texts of the Hindu culture, but on
occasion the book also draws from later texts such as Bhagavad Gita if a later text
explains a founding concept more clearly.
The original texts of the Hindu culture are the Vedas. Four Vedas were
composed. Each Veda comprises of sections titled Samhitas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas
and Upanisads. This book draws extensively from the Upanisads.
It is not known how many Upanisads were originally composed. One hundred
and eight have survived. Of these, sixteen were recognized as authentic by Sankara, a
noted past Hindu sage, and on ten of them Sankara wrote extensive commentaries.
These ten are today regarded as the principal Upanisads and are italicized in the list of
texts below.
Atharva Veda
Samhita. Brahmanas & Aranyakas. Upanisads: Kaivalya, Mundaka, Jabala, Mandukya, Prasna.
Rg Veda
Samhita. Brahmanas & Aranyakas. Upanisads: Kausitaka, Aitareya.
Sama Veda
Samhita. Brahmanas & Aranyakas. Upanisads: Kena, Chandogya, Vajrasucika.
Yajur Veda
Samhita. Brahmanas & Aranyakas. Upanisads: Isa, Maitri, Subala, Taittiriya, Brhad-
aranyaka, Katha, Paingala, Svetasvatara.
AGE
IN RECORDED HISTORY, the Hindu culture is the world’s oldest surviving culture. No
precise date, such as the date of birth or death of a founder, can be ascribed to the
Hindu culture, for as stated earlier, it was founded by many sages deliberating over
many centuries. Clues of its age come from astronomy and archeology.
In the original texts of the Hindu culture are noted some astronomical events
that astronomers calculate occurred about 4500 BC.
Historians, however, argue that astronomical events are not reliable indicators
of age because astronomical events can be inserted retroactively to render an older
age. The archeology of human migrations provides another and considered more
reliable estimate of the age of the culture.
The founding sages of the Hindu culture descended from Aryas or Aryans. The
Aryans originated from the steppelands between Poland and central Asia. They
practiced agriculture but were predominantly pastoral. They had tamed the horse and
yoked it to a light spoke-wheeled chariot, the most efficient transport of the time.
We don’t know why, but around 2000 BC the Aryans were on the move. They
migrated east, west, and south. Along the way, they conquered the local populations
and established themselves as the ruling class. Some became ancestors to the Baltic
and Slavonic people. Some migrated to Europe and became ancestors to the Greeks,
Latins, Celts, and the Teutons. Some entered the Iranian tableland and attacked the
Middle Eastern civilizations. Some of this stock then turned eastward and invaded
India.
The Aryan invasion of India was not a single, concerted action but a series of
invasions spanning several centuries and involving many Aryan tribes. Chief among
the tribes was the Bharatas. The Bharatas, along with local Indian thinkers, founded
the Hindu culture. Archeological evidence suggests that the Bharatas migrated into
India about 1500 BC.
Even if we ignore the older evidence of astronomy and consider only the
archeological age, the Hindu culture is still the oldest surviving culture in recorded
history.
CHALLENGES
THE EVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest also
apply to religions and cultures. Survival is constantly challenged; only the fit survive.
The Hindu culture has in the past been challenged by three of the world’s major
religions: Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.
Buddhism was born in India in the 6th Century BC. The founder of Buddhism,
Siddhartha Gautama, later known as Gautam Buddha, preached his first sermons in
Varanasi, India. In the 300 years after Buddha, Buddhism gained popularity in India
and also spread abroad. It engulfed most of Asia including Tibet, China, Japan, and
the Pacific rim. In its own birthplace, India, however, Buddhism virtually disappeared:
today less than one percent of India is Buddhist.
Next came Islam. After the death of Mohammad, Islam’s last prophet, in 632
AD, Islam spread like wildfire across Mesopotamia, Armenia, Syria, Africa, Persia, and
eventually India. After a series of invasions starting 711 AD, Islam conquered India.
The last Islamic ruler was Bahadur Shah Zafar. The British banished him from India in
1858. If we consider this date as the end of Islamic rule in India, then Islam ruled India
for more than 1,000 years. In that millennium, Islam tried to convert India by consent
and by the sword, yet today, only about thirteen percent of India is Muslim.
Next came Christianity. India has a branch of Christians called Thomas
Christians. They trace their origin to St Thomas, one of Christ’s twelve apostles. In 52
AD, St Thomas landed on the Malabar coast of India and established branches of the
Syrian church. European travelers traveling India in the 7th Century AD record the
existence of well established Syrian churches in southern India. Thereafter came
Dutch, French, and British conquerors, all Christians, of course. The British eventually
conquered all of India and ruled India for more than three centuries. Christianity
today spans most of the world: thirty-two percent of the world’s population is
Christian. In India, however, in spite of more than three centuries of Christian
domination, less than three percent of India is Christian.
Why is it that three major religions of the world, which converted most of the
rest of the world, could not budge the Hindu culture? What is it in the Hindu culture
that stands rock steady?
Read on and find out.
QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY
BRAHMAN
THE HINDU CULTURE has at its roots the paramount desire of any life form—to live
forever, be immortal.
The founding sages of the Hindu culture were no exceptions. They too desired
immortality, and they desired immortality not in some after-life paradise but right
here and now, in this life. The desire for immortality led to the founding of the Hindu
culture.
While the rest of humanity implored myriad Gods for immortality, the founding
sages of the Hindu culture took a different approach. They reasoned that if
immortality was possible, then nature must have created something immortal. If they
could find that something immortal, perhaps they could emulate it and themselves
become immortal. They began a search of the universe for something immortal.
First, however, our ancestors defined immortality. What, after all, were they
looking for? What is immortality?
Our ancestors defined immortality as the state of no change. A change involves
a start and end, a birth and death. Immortality can't change. No start, no end. No
birth, no death.
To the state of no change, our ancestors gave a name: Brahman, pronounced
Brahmaa, the n nasal. Another name for it is Atmaan. (The n is again nasal.) Yet
another name for it is Om, also often spelled as Aum. Brahman, Atmaan, Om—all
three names for the state of no change, without a beginning, without an end, no birth,
no death.
Brahman, said the sages, cannot be described, for any attempt to describe it
limits it, and a limit is a change: it has a beginning and an end. Brahman has no
bounds. Brahman is forever.
. . . This Brahman is without an earlier and without a later, without an inside,
without an outside. This Brahman is the all perceiving. This is the teaching. (Brhad-
aranyaka Upanisad)
The sages said the only way to describe Brahman is in terms of na iti, na iti, not
this, not this.
. . . Now therefore there is the teaching, not this, not this for there is nothing higher than this, that he is not this. Now the designation for him [Brahman] is the
truth of truth . . . (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
Brahman, said the sages, is simply tyat—that.
. . . Which is the one God? . . . He is Brahman. They call him tyat (that). (Brhad-
aranyaka Upanisad)
Note that the one God, Brahman, is not a superhuman, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent God residing somewhere in the stars watching us and
tallying our good deeds with bad deeds and rewarding or punishing us, holding us
forever in fear. This God, Brahman, is instead a state of existence—the state of no
change.
THE SEARCH
HAVING DEFINED IMMORTALITY and given it a name, Brahman, the founding sages of
the Hindu culture set out to observe the universe for something that never changes.
A modern high school student, armed with the knowledge of the atom and its
characteristics, would immediately conclude this search as futile. All matter is
composed of atoms, and the atom suffers ceaseless change: the particles in the
nucleus constantly rearrange themselves; electrons orbit; electrons change orbits and
jump between orbits; electrons also jump between atoms; atoms close together repel
each other; atoms far apart attract each other through gravitational forces that exert
across space and tug at every other atom in every corner of the universe. All matter in
the universe thus suffers ceaseless change.
The founding sages of the Hindu culture did not know the atom. After much
time spent searching the universe, the sages came up with naught. Everywhere they
looked, the sages observed that the universe suffers ceaseless change.
This observation, that the universe suffers ceaseless change, led the sages to a
profound conclusion about how we perceive the universe. What our five senses
perceive, they concluded, is not the real universe but the apparent universe. The
distinction is important. Look around you. Whatever you observe is changing even
while you observe it. It may be changing visibly or deep down at atomic levels, but it is
changing. The material universe that we see is, therefore, apparent, not real.
Back to the search for something unchanging.
Having exhausted the search for something that never changed, our ancestors
then asked: Is there something that at present changes endlessly but that can be
brought under control and made unchanging?
Since the material universe suffers ceaseless change, nothing material can be
immortal. What's left? Only one thing. In the entire universe, there is really only one
creation of nature left that can be controlled and made unchanging, and that is the
mind—the thought process, the consciousness.
You are not your body but your mind. All humans have the same basic body.
What distinguishes one human from another is the mind.
The five senses of your body provide inputs with which your mind perceives the
universe. This is important: it is not with the senses that you perceive the universe; it is
with your mind.
It has happened with us all that we missed seeing something right before us or
did not hear somebody calling us. When somebody called you, your eardrums
vibrated; your inner ear magnified the vibrations; your auditory nerve conveyed the
vibrations to the brain. The organs of your sense of hearing did their work, yet you did
not hear. You did not hear because your mind was elsewhere, and your mind was
elsewhere because you put it there.
. . . (They say) my mind was elsewhere, I did not see, my mind was elsewhere, I did not hear. It is with the mind, truly, that one sees. It is with the mind that one hears. Desire, determination, doubt, faith, lack of faith, steadfastness, lack of steadfastness, shame, intellection, fear, all this is truly mind. Therefore, even if one
is touched on his back, he discerns it with the mind . . . (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
Brahman, the state of no change, or immortality, is, achievable with the mind
and only with the mind. Make your mind steady and unchanging as Brahman, and
you achieve immortality.
ULTIMATE DESTINATION
WHILE SEARCHING THE universe for something that never changes, the sages came to
another conclusion: all matter in the universe seeks Brahman—the state of no change.
Look around you. A rock prefers to remain where it is, where all forces on it balance
each other. If an imbalance makes it change position, it again wants to come to rest
where all forces on it balance out again so that it doesn’t have to change position
again. The sages said that eventually, whether now or after eons of change, all matter
will achieve the state of no change—Brahman. By “all matter” the sages meant literally
all matter—animate and inanimate.
At this point, the sages extrapolated their thoughts to the hereafter. They said
the search for Brahman extends from birth to birth. This too was based on observation
of nature. Nature preserves in the next generation the stronger traits of past
generations, thus making a life form increasingly stronger from generation to
generation. This progression, observed the sages, is heading toward a state when a life
form has conquered all weaknesses and never has to change again—that is, has
achieved Brahman. All life forms are thus progressing toward Brahman from birth to
birth.
This also applies to the entire universe at large. This universe is not the first
universe. Neither is it the last one. Other universes have come before. More will follow
—until the entire universe achieves Brahman, the state of no change, immortality.
You, a human, are no exception. You too have come before. You may have
come in a different form, in a different outer shell or body, but you have come before,
and you will come again and again until you achieve the ultimate destination—
Brahman.
Never was there a time when I [Krishna] did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings;
nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. (Bhagavad Gita)
In whatever condition one quits his present body, in his next life he will attain to
that state of being without fail. (Bhagavad Gita)
If a man fails to attain Brahman before he casts off his body, he must again put on a
body in the world of created things. (Katha Upanisad)
Whether in this birth or after more births, you will achieve Brahman, and then,
merged in Brahman, you, as Brahman, will become immortal.
The sages said that this universe was, in fact, born from Brahman. As all beings
at the end of the day return home, so is the universe striving to return to its roots—
Brahman.
This is the truth. As from a blazing fire, sparks of like form issue forth by the thousands, even so, O beloved, many kinds of beings issue forth from the immutable
[Brahman] and they return thither too. (Mundaka Upanisad)
From me all emerge, in me all exist, and to me all return. I am Brahman—One
without a second. (Kaivalya Upanisad)
ONLY HUMANS
WHILE THE ENTIRE universe is striving for Brahman, the sages said only the human
is the closest to achieving Brahman.
The universe is striving for Brahman without knowing that it is. Only the human
has a consciousness developed enough to be aware of Brahman. All objects are on a
ladder of increasing consciousness. At the bottom of the ladder, with the least
consciousness, are inanimate objects such as rocks. Higher up on the ladder are
animals. At the very top is the human.
. . . [the human] of all beings is most endowed with consciousness. He says what he has known; he sees what he has known; he knows what is to happen tomorrow; he knows the gross and the subtle. In his mortality he desires the immortal. Thus is he endowed. In other animate beings, understanding goes no further than hunger and thirst. They do not say what they have known, nor do they see what they have known. They do not know what is to happen tomorrow, nor do they know the gross
and the subtle. To a certain point they go, but they go no further. (Aitareya
Aranyaka)
Your birth as a human is special. Out of all creation, only you are aware of
Brahman, are the closest to achieving Brahman, and only you can make a conscious
effort to become immortal in Brahman.
Then do it, said the sages. Achieve Brahman, and do it in this very life. Don’t
wait for more births. Do it now.
Self-luminous is Brahman, ever present in the hearts of all. He is the refuge of all, he is the supreme goal. In him exists all that moves and breathes. In him exists all that is. He is both that which is gross and that which is subtle. Adorable is he.
Beyond the ken of the senses is he. Supreme is he. Attain thou him! (Mundaka
Upanisad)
He, the self-luminous, subtler than the subtlest, in whom exist all the worlds and all those that live therein—he is the imperishable Brahman. He is the principle of life. He is speech, and he is mind. He is real. He is immortal. Attain him, O my friend, the
one goal to be attained! (Mundaka Upanisad)
Taking as the bow the great weapon of the Upanisads, one should place in it the arrow sharpened by meditation. Drawing it with a mind engaged in the
contemplation of that, O beloved, know that imperishable Brahman as the target.
(Mundaka Upanisad)
. . . That from which these beings are born; that by which, when born they live; that into which, when departing, they enter. That, seek to know. That is Brahman.
(Taittiriya Upanisad)
He who realizes the existence of Brahman behind every activity of his being—whether sensation, perception, or thought—he alone gains immortality. Through knowledge of Brahman comes power. Through knowledge of Brahman comes victory
over death. (Kena Upanisad)
Let my life now merge in the all-pervading [Brahman]. Ashes are my body’s end . . .
O mind, remember Brahman . . . O mind . . . remember Brahman. (Isa Upanisad)
Whosoever, O Gargi, in this world, without knowing this imperishable [Brahman] performs sacrifices, worships, performs austerities for a thousand years, his work will have an end. Whosoever, O Gargi, without knowing this imperishable [Brahman] departs from this world, is pitiable. But, O Gargi, he who knowing the imperishable
[Brahman] departs from this world is a Brahmana (a knower of Brahman). (Brhad-
aranyaka Upanisad)
This, verily, is that. This indeed was that, the true. He who knows that wonderful being, the first born as the Brahman, conquers these worlds, and conquered likewise may that enemy be and become non-existent . . . (for him) who knows that
wonderful being, the first born as the true Brahman. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
Brahman may be realized while yet one dwells in the ephemeral body. To fail to realize him is to live in ignorance and, therefore, to be subject to birth and death. The knowers of Brahman are immortal. Others, knowing him not, continue in the
bonds of grief. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
Let, therefore, the wise aspirant, knowing Brahman to be the supreme goal, so shape
his life and his conduct that he may attain to him . . . (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
In its desire to achieve Brahman in this very life, the Hindu culture stands apart
from all other major cultures and religions. Other major religions promise eternity
after life. The Hindu culture insists on attaining immortality now, in this very life.
SUMMARY
In summary, the founding sages of the Hindu culture defined immortality as
the state of no change and named the state Brahman. All creation is striving toward
Brahman, coming increasingly closer to Brahman from birth to birth. Whether now or
after more births, all creation will achieve Brahman.
Out of all creation, only humans have the consciousness developed enough to
achieve immortality in Brahman in this very life, without waiting for more births.
Says Swami Vivekananda, a noted past sage of the Hindu culture:
Nature’s task is done, this unselfish task which our sweet nurse has imposed upon herself. She gently took the . . . soul by the hand, and showed him all that is in the universe, all manifestations, bringing him higher and higher through various bodies till his glory came back and he remembered his own nature. Then the kind mother went back the same way she came, for others who also had lost their way in the trackless desert of life. And thus is she working, without beginning and without end. And thus through pleasure and pain, through good and evil, the infinite river of souls is flowing into the ocean of perfection [Brahman], or self-realization. Glory unto those who have realized their own nature; may their blessings lie on us all.
(Complete Works of Vivekananda)
This is the foundation of the Hindu culture. The rest is how to achieve
Brahman. Let us go now to the methods that the founding sages suggested for
achieving Brahman.
HOW TO ACHIEVE BRAHMAN
ATMAAN
TO ACHIEVE BRAHMAN, where to find it? The founding sages said Brahman is
everywhere.
Brahman is this immortal. In front is Brahman, behind is Brahman, to the right and to the left. It spreads forth below and above. Brahman, indeed, is this universe. It is
the greatest. (Mundaka Upanisad)
What is called space is the determined of name and form. That within which they are
is the Brahman, that is the immortal . . . (Chandogya Upanisad)
Brahman is in all creations of nature. Brahman is in every rock, in every plant,
in every animal, in every human, in every atom of every creation. To find Brahman,
you need not look far. Look within you. Brahman is there.
He who knows Brahman attains the supreme goal. Brahman is the abiding reality, he is pure knowledge, and he is infinity. He who knows that Brahman dwells within the
lotus of the heart becomes one with him and enjoys all blessings. (Taittiriya
Upanisad)
To help us sharpen our awareness of Brahman within us, the founding sages
gave it another name, Atmaan, but the sages repeatedly emphasized that Atmaan and
Brahman are not different. The Atmaan within and Brahman without are one and the
same.
. . . Know the Atmaan within and the Brahman without, and . . . realize their
identity. The Atmaan is Brahman, and Brahman is all. (Isa Upanisad)
(Note: Atmaan in English is often translated as the Self. In this treatise, we will
stick with Atmaan instead of Self.)
What is called Brahman, that is what the space outside of a person is. Verily, what the space outside of a person is. That is what the space inside of a person is. Verily,
what the space inside of a person is. (Chandogya Upanisad)
What is within is also without. What is without is also within. He who sees difference between what is within and what is without goes evermore from death to death.
(Katha Upanisad)
Now the light which shines above this heaven, above all, above everything, in the highest worlds beyond which there are no higher . . . that is the same as this light
which is here within the person. (Chandogya Upanisad)
He who is the Atmaan in man, and he who is the Atmaan in the sun, are one. He who
knows this truth overcomes the world . . . (Taittiriya Upanisad)
He who glows in the depths of your eyes—that is Brahman; that is the Atmaan of yourself. He is the Beautiful One, he is the Luminous One. In all the worlds, forever
and ever, he shines. (Chandogya Upanisad)
He that has once known the glory of the Atmaan within the ephemeral body . . .
knows that the Atmaan is one with Brahman, lord and creator of all. (Brhad-
aranyaka Upanisad)
. . . He is that luminous form which gives heat in the yonder sun, the wonderful light on the smokeless fire, as also the fire in the stomach which cooks (digests) food. For thus has it been said, he who is in the fire, and he who is here in the heart and he who is yonder in the sun—he is one. He who knows this goes to the oneness of the
one. (Maitri Upanisad)
Throughout the texts of the Hindu culture, the founding sages repeatedly
emphasize the oneness of the Atmaan within and Brahman without. In fact, the sages
often speak of the Atmaan in the same manner as they speak of Brahman.
Now next the instruction in regard to the Atmaan. The Atmaan indeed is below. The Atmaan is above. The Atmaan is behind. The Atmaan is in front. The Atmaan is to the south. The Atmaan is to the north. The Atmaan, indeed, is all this (world) . . .
(Chandogya Upanisad)
. . . This Brahman is without an earlier and without a later, without an inside, without an outside. This Brahman is the Atmaan, the all-perceiving. This is the
teaching. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
The immortal Atmaan is the sun shining in the sky, he is the breeze blowing in space, he is the fire burning on the altar, he is the guest dwelling in the house; he is in all men, he is in the Gods, he is in the ether, he is wherever there is truth. He is the fish that is born in water, he is the plant that grows in the soil, he is the river that
gushes from the mountain—he, the changeless reality, the illimitable! (Katha
Upanisad)
. . . This Atmaan, who is pure consciousness, is Brahman. He is God, all Gods; the five elements—earth, air, fire, water, ether; all beings, great or small, born of eggs, born from the womb, born from heat, born from soil; horses, cows, men, elephants, birds; everything that breathes, the beings that walk and the beings that walk not.
The reality behind all these is Brahman, who is pure consciousness. (Aitareya
Upanisad)
This is that great unborn Atmaan who is undecaying, undying, immortal, fearless, Brahman . . . Brahman is fearless. He who knows this becomes the fearless Brahman.
(Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
. . . He is never seen but is the seer, he is never heard but is the hearer. He is never perceived, but is the perceiver. He is never thought but is the thinker. There is no seer but he, there is no other hearer but he, there is no other perceiver but he, there is no other thinker but he. He is your Atmaan, the inner controller, the
immortal . . . (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
Containing all works, containing all desires, containing all odors, containing all tastes, encompassing this whole world, without speech, without concern, this is the Atmaan of mine within the heart; this is Brahman. Into him I shall enter on departing
hence . . . he who believes this will have no more doubts . . . (Chandogya Upanisad)
That God, the maker of all things, the great Atmaan, ever seated in the heart of creatures is framed by the heart, by the thought, by the mind. They who know that
become immortal. (Svetasvatara Upanisad)
Concludes Swami Vivekananda:
After long marches here and there, in temples and churches, in earth and in heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul and find that He, for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is nearest of the
near, is your own self, the reality of your life, body and soul. (Complete Works of
Vivekananda)
Knowing that Brahman without and the Atmaan within are one and the same,
the founding sages of the Hindu culture then developed methods by which to reach
within and achieve the Atmaan or Brahman and become immortal in Brahman.
METHODS FOR ACHIEVING BRAHMAN
OVER TIME, SIX methods were developed. In no particular order, they are:
Mimamsa method of Jaimini.
Nyaya method of Gotama.
Samkhya method of Kapila.
Vaisesika method of Kanada.
Vedanta method of Vyasa.
Yoga method of Patanjali.
All six methods are followed today. The most popular is Patanjali’s yoga, to
which we confine this discussion.
YOGA
YOGA, A SANSKRIT word, means union—union with Brahman or Atmaan, both one
and the same. Instructions on yoga are scattered throughout the texts of the Hindu
culture. Patanjali organized the scattered pieces in the coherent system that we know
today.
We don’t know when Patanjali lived. A grammarian by the name of Patanjali
lived in the 2nd Century BC, but we don’t know if he is the one who organized yoga.
COMMON OBJECTIVE
All methods of achieving Brahman have the same objective: disconnect the
mind from the senses.
You and the universe are a chain of three links.
The universe is one end of the chain. The middle link is your body and its
senses. The other end of the chain is your mind.
When one end of the chain rattles, it rattles the rest of the chain: when the
universe changes, your senses sense the change, and your mind is affected.
You cannot control the universe. Neither can you control your senses: as the
above hearing example illustrates, your senses work no matter what. Then there is
only one way to make the mind steady: disconnect it from the senses: that is, remove
the mind link from the chain.
Then what’s left of the chain is just the body and its senses connected with the
universe. When the mind is completely disconnected from the senses and kept
disconnected, Brahman—immortality—is achieved. Then the body will someday
wither away and die, but the mind, steady in Brahman, will live on forever.
It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body—to cast it off like a
disused garment. (Complete Works of Vivekananda)
One who is able to withdraw his [mind] from sense objects, as the tortoise draws his
limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge. (Bhagavad
Gita)
PATANJALI'S YOGA
MEDITATION IS THE way to disconnect the mind from the senses and achieve
immortality in Brahman. Patanjali’s yoga teaches meditation in eight steps.
YAMA
START WITH YOUR actions. Actions reflect the state of the mind. A restive mind
produces restive actions. The reverse is also true: control the restive actions, and your
mind calms down. Yama is controlling the actions.
Perform no action that ruffles the mind. Be good. Do good. Speak the truth.
Don’t harm others, not in action, not in speech, not even in thought. Good actions
produce a calm, steady mind.
. . . According as one acts, according as one behaves, so does he become. The doer of good becomes good, the doer of evil becomes evil. One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action. Others, however, say that a person consists of desires. As is his desire, so is his will; as is his will, so is the deed he does, whatever deed he
does, that he attains. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
NIYAMA
NIYAMA MEANS ROUTINE. A routine fixes the tasks performed daily at set times. A time
to wake up, time to eat, time to start work, time to end work, time to sleep, done over
and over again, day after day—this is niyama. The steadiness of a routine develops a
steady mind.
He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can
mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. (Bhagavad Gita)
Niyama must be balanced. A niyama of excesses is not a niyama.
There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or
eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. (Bhagavad Gita)
After some months of steady practice of yama and niyama, the early results of
practicing yoga start showing.
Lightness, healthiness, steadiness, clearness of complexion, pleasantness of voice, sweetness of odor, and slight excretions, these, they say, are the first results of the
progress of yoga. (Svetasvatara Upanisad)
ASANA
SO FAR, PATANJALI’S yoga has focused on actions. Asana is the first step toward
meditation.
Asana means the posture of meditation. Asana is the practice of maintaining
your chosen posture of meditation for extended periods of time. The common posture
of meditation is to sit cross legged, spine erect, hands clasped across the front.
Holding the body steady with the three (upper parts, chest, neck and head) erect causing the senses and the mind to enter into the heart, the wise man should cross
by the boat of Brahman all the streams which cause fear. (Svetasvatara Upanisad)
One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear,
completely free of sex life, one should meditate . . . (Bhagavad Gita)
Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an
easy, natural posture, with the spine straight. (Complete Works of Vivekananda)
Any posture which is easy and steady is an asana; there is no other rule. (Sankhya
Sutras)
You may choose any posture, but having chosen it, don’t change it. Brahman
means no change. Don’t change your actions, don’t change your niyama, and once
chosen, don’t change your asana.
Choose a place for the asana, and don’t change the place either. Reserve that
place for yoga only. Allow no other activity there.
In a level clean place, free from pebbles, fire and gravel, favorable to thought by the sound of water and other features, not offensive to the eye, in a hidden retreat
protected from the wind, let him perform his exercises (practice yoga). (Svetasvatara
Upanisad)
To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusa grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should neither be too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and should practice yoga by controlling the mind and the senses,
purifying the heart and fixing the mind on one point. (Bhagavad Gita)
Worship is possible in a sitting posture, because this encourages meditation. The meditating person is compared to the immovable earth. There is no law of place;
where the mind is concentrated, there worship should be performed. (Vedanta
Sutras)
Note that nowhere in the texts of the Hindu culture is written that meditation
must be performed in a temple only. As the above verse emphasizes, “there is no law
of place.” Pick any asana and any place. Once chosen, don’t change either.
PRANAYAMA
THE PACE OF your breathing indicates the state of your mind. A restive mind
effects fast, shallow breathing. A calm, steady mind effects slow, deep breaths. Since
the state of the mind affects breathing, breathing also affects the mind: control your
breathing and you can steady a restive mind. This is what underlies the ancient advice
that when losing your cool, count slowly from one to ten. Counting one to ten slowly
regulates the breathing, which steadies the mind. Pranayama is the practice of
regulating your breathing.
Repressing his breathings here (in the body), let him who has controlled all movements, breathe through his nostrils, with diminished breath; let the wise man restrain his mind vigilantly as (he would) a chariot yoked with vicious horses.
(Svetasvatara Upanisad)
Regulate your breathing: slow in, slow out. Regulate the breathing a few
minutes a day to start with, longer over time until all your waking hours you are
conscious of your breathing and regulating it. Reduce your breathing to as slow as you
comfortably can. Keep that rate of breathing for some time before slowing it further.
The average human breathes twelve to twenty times a minute. Yogis breathe once
every three to four minutes. Some yogis even slower.
Equally important is to smooth your breathing. Avoid jerky breathing. Also
avoid shallow and rapid breathing. Breathe deep, slow and smooth in, slow and
smooth out.
To control your breathing, you must concentrate on it, and concentration
creates a positive loop: concentration on your breathing, or on anything for that
matter, slows your breathing, and slower breathing helps you concentrate better.
No matter where you are, you breathe. Thus you can practice pranayama
anywhere, while driving, riding a train, while shopping, over lunch, in a meeting—
anywhere. Try it, and watch your mind grow steady.
PRATYAHARA
AS NOTED EARLIER, the material universe is undergoing ceaseless change, and your
senses register the changes. You can do nothing to stop your senses from sensing the
universe. Not only do your senses respond to every change in the universe, your mind
reacts too. Certain odors and sights you like; other odors and sights you don’t like.
Likes and dislikes are functions of the mind. Pratyahara is the next step toward
detaching the mind from the senses.
Pratyahara is imposing on the mind two disciplines: conquer desire, and work
without attachment to the fruits of the work.
A desire gratifies the senses. Pratyahara is the determination to resist sense
gratification. Addicted to sugar drinks? Resist sugar drinks. When you develop such
determination, the senses get subdued and your mind breaks free of what Swami
Vivekananda called “the thralldom of the senses.”
He who has succeeded in attaching the mind to the centers of perception at will, or in detaching it from them, has succeeded in pratyahara, which means “gathering towards,” checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. When we can do this we shall really possess character; then alone we
shall have taken a long step towards freedom. (Complete Works of Vivekananda)
On this there is the following verse: “The object to which the mind is attached, the subtle Atmaan goes together with the deed, being attached to it alone. Exhausting the results of whatever works he did in this world he comes again from that world to this world for (fresh) work.” This (is for) the man who desires. But the man who does not desire, he who is without desire, who is freed from desire, whose desire is satisfied, whose desire is the Atmaan—his breaths do not depart. Being Brahman he
goes to Brahman. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
On this there is the following verse: “When all the desires that dwell in the heart are cast away, then does the mortal become immortal, then he attains Brahman here (in this very body).” Just as the slough of a snake lies on an anthill, dead, cast off, even so lies this body. But this disembodied, immortal life is Brahman only, is light
indeed . . . (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
When all the desires that dwell within the human heart are cast away, then a mortal
becomes immortal and (even) here [in this life] he [attains] to Brahman. (Katha
Upanisad)
Material enjoyments, which are due to contact with the material senses, are certainly sources of misery. O son of Kunti [Arjuna], such pleasures have a beginning
and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them. (Bhagavad Gita)
Pratyahara extends the elimination of desire to also the fruits of work.
We all work. We work for a desired outcome such as money or recognition.
Pratyahara is work for the sake of work, as a duty, but without the desire for the fruits
or results of the work. Do your duty. Let the results fall where they will.
. . . Now listen to the knowledge of yoga, whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Partha [Arjuna], when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself
from the bondage of works. (Bhagavad Gita)
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the
fruits of action . . . (Bhagavad Gita)
Be steadfast in your duty O Arjuna, and abandon all attachment to success or failure.
Such evenness of mind is called yoga. (Bhagavad Gita)
There is no work that affects me [Krishna], nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about me does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work . . . All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as did the ancients, you should
perform your duty in this divine consciousness. (Bhagavad Gita)
One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned
up by the fire of perfect knowledge. (Bhagavad Gita)
Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independent, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of
undertakings. (Bhagavad Gita)
One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily overcomes material
bondage and is completely liberated . . . (Bhagavad Gita)
One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the supreme God [Brahman], is not affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water. (Bhagavad Gita)
It is not possible for an embodied soul to give up all activities. But he who renounces
the results of activity is actually renounced. (Bhagavad Gita)
To achieve such control over the mind that one can detach it at will from the
senses and free it from all desires is tough to achieve. The weak cannot do it. Only the
strong, well practiced in yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, and pratyahara can.
O might-armed son of Kunti [Arjuna], it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the
restless mind, but it is possible by constant practice and by detachment. (Bhagavad
Gita)
DHARANA
BY NOW, THROUGH yama, niyama, pranayama, and pratyahara, the mind is steady
enough for the final effort toward Brahman—meditation. With asana, you have
practiced sitting in your chosen posture of meditation for extended periods of time.
Dharana is sitting in asana and concentrating the mind—meditation.
Concentrate on anything, any object or simply close concentrate on blanking
your mind of all thought. You may also choose a short chant and repeat the chant over
and over again. Whatever you choose as your focus of concentration, don’t change it.
Many yogis concentrate on the symbol of Om, on the cover of this book, or
chanted Om repeatedly. Om, also often spelled Aum, is another name for Brahman.
Brahman, Atmaan, Om—all one and the same. This word Om is no ordinary word.
. . . These letters A, U, M, pronounced in combination as Om, may well be the generalised symbol of all possible sounds . . . All articulate sounds are produced in the space within the mouth beginning with the root of the tongue and ending in the lips—the throat sound is A, and M is the last lip sound; and the U exactly represents the rolling forward of the impulse which begins at the root of the tongue and continues till it ends in the lips. If properly pronounced, this Om will represent the whole phenomenon of sound production, and no other word can do this . . .
(Complete Works of Vivekananda)
Om is a popular symbol and chant that yogis concentrate on for dharana.
He, who knowing it thus, praises this syllable [Aum], takes refuge in that syllable, in the immortal, fearless sound, and having entered it, he becomes immortal, even as
the Gods become immortal. (Chandogya Upanisad)
Of that goal which the Vedas declare, which is implicit in all penances, and in pursuit of which men lead lives of continence and service, of that will I speak briefly. It is Om. This syllable is Brahman. This syllable is indeed supreme. He who
knows it attains Brahman. (Katha Upanisad)
Om is Brahman. Om is all. He who meditates on Om attains to Brahman. (Taittiriya
Upanisad)
Fire, though present in fire sticks, is not perceived until one stick is rubbed against another. The Atmaan is like that fire: it is realized in the body by meditation on the sacred syllable Om. Let your body be the stick that is rubbed, the sacred syllable Om the stick that is rubbed against it. Thus you shall realize the Atmaan, who is hidden
within the body as fire is hidden within wood. (Svetasvatara Upanisad)
The syllable Om, which is the imperishable Brahman, is the universe. Whatsoever has existed, whatsoever exists, whatsoever shall exist hereafter, is Om. And whatsoever
transcends past, present, and future, that also is Om. (Mandukya Upanisad)
Aum is Brahman. Aum is all. Aum, this verily, is compliance. On uttering ‘recite’
they recite. With Aum they sing the saman chants. With Aum . . . they recite the prayers. With Aum the Advaryu priest utters the response. With Aum does the Brahma (priest) utter the introductory eulogy. With Aum one assents to the offering to fire. With Aum, a Brahmana begins to recite, may I obtain Brahman. Thus wishing,
Brahman, verily, does he obtain. (Taittiriya Upanisad)
Sit upright, holding the chest, throat, and head erect. Turn the senses and the mind inward to the lotus of the heart. Meditate on Brahman with the help of the syllable Om. Cross the fearful currents of the ocean of worldliness by means of the raft of
Brahman—the sacred syllable Om. (Svetasvatara Upanisad)
Disciplining the mind to stay focused on your object of concentration is
difficult. Initially, the mind will want to wander.
. . . Let the mind run on. The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true. Until you know what the mind is doing, you cannot control it. Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But you will find that each day the mind’s vagaries are becoming fewer and less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer. In the first few months you will find that the mind will have a great many thoughts, later you will find that they have somewhat decreased, and in a few more months you will find that they are
fewer and fewer, until at last the mind will be under perfect control . . . (Complete
Works of Vivekananda)
From whatever and wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the
Atmaan. (Bhagavad Gita)
One way to tame the monkey of the mind is to start dharana with puja, a short
worship ritual such as the slow, rhythmic chanting of a hymn, any hymn. This helps
harness the wandering mind. Says Swami Brahmananda, another noted sage of the
Hindu culture:
It is of vital importance that a man begin his spiritual journey from where he is. If an average man is instructed to meditate on his union with . . . Brahman, he will not understand. He will neither grasp the truth that lies behind the instructions nor be able to follow them . . . However, if that same man is asked to worship God with flowers, incense, and other accessories of the ritualistic worship, his mind will
become gradually concentrated on God, and he will find joy in his worship. (The
Eternal Companion)
DHYANA
Dhyana is prolonged dharana, when you sit in concentration for increasingly
longer time. The universe around you will continue undergoing ceaseless change, and
your body senses will register the changes, but you, concentrating your mind in deep
meditation, will not be disturbed.
It is said that Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana, was in dhyana when
ants built an anthill around him. (The name Valmiki was apparently given to him later
in life because the name means born of an anthill.) Valmiki’s body must surely have
reacted to ant stings, but his mind, detached from the senses, in dhyana, remained
unchanging, steady, raptly focused on his object of concentration—Rama.
SAMADHI
SAMADHI, THE FINAL step of Patanjali’s yoga, is never coming out of meditation. A
yogi in samadhi merges into Brahman and becomes immortal.
Just as the flowing rivers disappear in the ocean casting off name and shape, even so the knower, freed from name and shape, attains to the divine person, higher than
the high. (Mundaka Upanisad)
The yogi in Brahman himself becomes Brahman, and Brahman is forever,
immortal.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q) What are the origins of the word “Hindu?”
Today’s Indus river was at one time called Sindhu. The Islamic invasions
brought invaders who, in their Persian language, pronounced S as H. Thus the
Sanskrit word saptaah for week became haftaah and similarly Sindhu became Hindu
for people living on the other side, east, of the river Sindhu.
Q) Why do Hindus have so many Gods?
There is but one God in the Hindu culture—Brahman. As quoted earlier:
. . . Which is the one God? . . . He is Brahman. They call him tyat (that). (Brhad-
aranyaka Upanisad)
Those who achieve Brahman also become Brahman.
He, verily, who knows the supreme Brahman becomes Brahman himself . . . He crosses over sorrow. He crosses over sins. Liberated from the knots of the secret
place (of the heart), he becomes immortal. (Mundaka Upanisad)
Some of the deities of the Hindu culture are those believed to have achieved
Brahman and are, therefore, themselves Brahman. For example, in the (Bhagavad
Gita), Krishna speaks of himself as Brahman or Atmaan or Om, all one and the same.
I am the Atmaan . . . seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the
middle and the end of all beings. (Bhagavad Gita)
Unintelligent men, who know me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know my higher nature,
which is changeless and supreme [Brahman]. (Bhagavad Gita)
I am the father, mother, maintainer and grandfather of all this universe. I am what
is to be known. I am purity, and I am the syllable Om . . . (Bhagavad Gita)
. . . I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and
eternal and which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness. (Bhagavad
Gita)
There is one other reason why there are so many deities in India. Brahman is
achieved through meditation. Mediation is concentration on any object of your
choice. You may pick a flower, a tree, or a stone idol. You may choose a figure with
multiple arms and legs. You may choose a dragon. It does not matter. The result of
meditating on the object of your choice, no matter what the object, will be the same—
you will achieve Brahman, the ultimate goal.
Q) Why didn’t the Hindu culture spread beyond its place of birth as did Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity?
Hindus found that everywhere in the world, in every religion and culture,
everybody is striving for Brahman. The chanting of hymns, whether in a mosque or in
a church, is the practice of concentration, which is meditation.
Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti. That which exists is one. Sages call it by various
names. (Rg Veda Samhita)
I am in everyone’s heart as the Atmaan, and as soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular
deity. (Bhagavad Gita)
Thus it is that when Buddhism emerged in India, the Hindus accepted Buddha
as an idol to meditate on. Bodh Gaya, in the state of Bihar in India, where Buddha
meditated, is as much a pilgrimage for Hindus as it is for Buddhists. Hindus believe
Buddha achieved Brahman and is, therefore, worthy of worship.
When Christianity came to India, the Hindu culture similarly accepted Christ.
Hindu children freely attend Christian schools.
It is because [the Hindu culture] has been so permeated with the spirit of Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti that she has known relatively little of religious fanaticism, of religious persecution, of religious wars. Characteristically, she has sought the truth
in every faith—even in faiths not her own. (The Spiritual Heritage of India)
In its acceptance of other religions and cultures is the Hindu culture’s maturity
and strength. All cultures and religions being equal and striving for the same goal in
their own ways, the Hindu culture found no need to spread beyond India.
Q) Why do names in the Hindu culture often end with an “a?” For example, Ram becomes Rama; Ashok is Ashoka; Krishn is Krishna.
In Sanskrit, names and words often end with a colon. That colon of Sanskrit
effects a fade out rather than an abrupt end of a word. Ram ends abruptly; with the
colon the end fades out. Ashok ends abruptly; with the colon the end fades out.
English has no punctuation that effects a fade out. To simulate the fade out, the
best that English can do is to add “a” to the end of the word. Thus Ram ends abruptly
but Rama simulates Sanskrit’s fade out. Ashok ends abruptly but Ashoka simulates
Sanskrit’s fade out.
Q) Is the Hindu culture casteism?
Let’s understand first what a caste system is.
A society is organized in four groups of people: intellectuals, who foster
knowledge and conceive the order of a society; administrators and warriors, who
administer and protect the order; business people, who produce goods and acquire
wealth; and laborers who perform work and service. Whether it is India or the United
States or Australia or Japan, every society has this basic organization.
The Hindu culture recognized this structure thousands of years ago. In the
Hindu culture, the four groups are called: Brahmanas (intellectuals, also active seekers
of Brahman), Ksatriyas (administrators and warriors), Vaisyas (business), and Sudras
(labor). Dr S. Radhakrishnan, a past scholar and statesman of India, summarized the
work of the four groups:
Wisdom conceives the order, power sanctions and enforces it, wealth and production
provide the means for carrying out the order, and work carries out. (The Principal
Upanisads)
How is it determined who belongs to which group in a society? Is one free to
choose his occupation?
The caste system is determining one’s occupation by birth. If born to
Brahmanas, one’s occupation is Brahmana for life. If born to sudras or laborers, one’s
occupation is sudra for life. One’s choice or ability does not matter. In the caste
system, birth determines occupation.
Did the caste system—that is, determination of one’s occupation by birth—
exist in the Hindu culture at one time? Yes. Does it exist today? In the minds of many
Hindus, yes. By law, determining one’s occupation by birth is banned in modern
India.
India is not alone to have at one time or another practiced the caste system. For
many centuries, the United States had the caste system of slavery: the offspring of a
slave was automatically also a slave by birth. (Slaves are sudras.) The United Kingdom
is another example that to this day practices the caste system: royalty is a caste in the
United Kingdom because royalty is established solely by birth. (In the parlance of the
Hindu culture, the royals of UK would be ksatriyas.)
Note that the Hindu culture has derived one significant benefit from the caste
system: the texts of the culture survived because of the caste system.
The texts of the Hindu culture are vast. They fill many thick volumes. The (Rg
Veda Samhita) alone has 10,589 mantras or verses. The texts were composed when
there was no printing. The only method of preserving the texts from one generation to
the next was by memorizing them and passing on from generation to generation.
Memorizing thousands upon thousands of complex Sanskrit verses is a
mountain of a task. Few would volunteer for such a task. Would you? Would you
dedicate yourself to memorizing thousands of Sanskrit verses for half your life and
then spend the rest of your life teaching the thousands of verses to your children?
Yet in the history of the Hindu culture, that is exactly what happened. This is
exactly how the culture and its voluminous texts were passed on from generation to
generation. The task was accomplished by the caste of Brahmanas.
The occupation of the Brahmanas was to learn, preserve, and propagate the
Hindu culture and its texts. Were it not for the dedication of the Brahmanas to this
task the texts of the Hindu culture might well have been lost to the multiple conquests
that India has suffered over the centuries.
The texts of the Hindu culture were put to print in the 10th Century AD. With the
advent of printing, preservation by memory became obsolete. Furthermore, while
memory was confined to only the Brahmanas, printing made it possible to
disseminate the texts to the masses.
Q) Is the Hindu culture vegetarian?
The Hindu culture encourages a vegetarian diet. There are, however, exceptions
in the ancient texts of the culture.
Now if one wishes that a son, learned, famous, a frequenter of assemblies, a speaker of delightful words, that he should study all the Vedas, that he should attain a full term of life, they should have rice cooked with meat and eat it with clarified butter,
then they should be able to beget (such a son)—either veal or beef. (Brhad-aranyaka
Upanisad)
Apparently, meat was prescribed for certain situations. Note the reference to
beef. Evidently, the reverence given today to the cow came later.
Scientific evidence increasingly suggests that vegetarian diet is more suitable
for the human body. How did the Hindu culture recommend a vegetarian diet
thousands of years ago?
Philosophy states that there are two sources of knowledge: rationalism, which is
knowledge gained by reasoning, and empiricism, which is knowledge gained by
experience. The Hindu culture’s recommendation of a vegetarian diet stems from
centuries of experience.
Q) Why is having a family or personal guru important to many Hindus?
The guru, teacher, any teacher, school teacher or a spiritual teacher, holds a
high place in the Hindu culture. In fact, the word upanisad is derived from the Sanskrit
upa, near, ni, down, and sad, to sit—sitting down near, as a student before a teacher.
Some scholars translate upanisad as “sitting near devotedly” to a teacher. The Hindu
culture is, in fact, a compilation of the teachings of many, many generations of
teachers to their students. The sages of the Hindu culture asserted that Brahman
cannot be achieved without a teacher to show the path.
There are three branches of duty, sacrifice, study and almsgiving. Austerity, indeed, is the first. The second is the pursuit of sacred wisdom, dwelling in the house of the teacher. Absolutely controlling his body in the house of the teacher is the third. All
these attain to the worlds of the virtuous . . . (Chandogya Upanisad)
“For I have heard from persons like you, revered sir, that the knowledge which has been learned from a teacher best helps one to attain his end.” To him, he [the teacher] then declared it. In it nothing whatsoever was left out, yea, nothing was
left out. (Chandogya Upanisad)
Having scrutinized the worlds won by works, let a Brahmana [seeker of Brahman] arrive at non-attachment. The (world) that is not made is not (won) by what is done. For the sake of this knowledge, let him only approach, with sacrificial fuel in hand, a
teacher who is learned in the scriptures and established in Brahman. (Mundaka
Upanisad)
Unto him who has approached in due form, whose mind is tranquil and who has attained peace, let the knowing (teacher) teach in its very truth that knowledge
about Brahman by which one knows the imperishable . . . (Mundaka Upanisad)
To many it is not given to hear of the Atmaan. Many, though they hear of it, do not
understand it. Wonderful is he who speaks of it. Intelligent is he who learns of it.
Blessed is he who, taught by a good teacher, is able to understand it. (Katha
Upanisad)
Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart
knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. (Bhagavad Gita)
Again, there are those not conversant in spiritual knowledge who, by hearing from others [teachers], begin to worship [Brahman]. Because of their tendency to hear
from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death. (Bhagavad Gita)
The emphasis everywhere in the words of the founding sages of the Hindu
culture is on finding a guru, a teacher, who is a true yogi, who has to a good extent
progressed toward Brahman.
Q) Are the verses recited by pundits in pujas taken from the original texts of the Hindu culture?
Most are from the Vedas. A common example is the Gayatri mantra or verse.
Bhur bhuvah swah tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. We meditate on the adorable glory of the radiant sun; may he inspire
our intelligence. (Rg Veda Samhita)
Q) Is every Hindu expected to renounce the material world, live in seclusion, and seek Brahman?
Seek Brahman only when you are ready. You will know when you are ready.
This Atmaan cannot be attained by instruction, nor by intellectual power, nor even through much hearing. He is to be attained only by the one whom the Atmaan
chooses. To such a one the Atmaan reveals his own nature. (Katha Upanisad)
Q) What does the Hindu culture say about the pursuit of wealth?
Listen to the sage Vasistha tell Rama:
Acquire wealth. This world has for its root wealth. I do not see the difference
between a poor man and a dead one. (Ramayana)
There are numerous other references to wealth in the original texts of the
Hindu culture. Examples:
Resplendent God, grant us fame and wealth acquired in a thousand ways with skill
and honest labor. (Rg Veda Samhita)
To Him alone we pray for friendship, for wealth, and for valor. He alone is powerful,
and He alone can protect us from injury and confer wealth on us. (Rg Veda Samhita)
This dawn whose transcendent and refreshing rays are seen all around us, grant us great riches, fair in form, and blissful wealth that is attained without much struggle.
(Rg Veda Samhita)
Go forward, feet, press quickly on, take us to the houses of our rich relatives. Let
unconquered, unplundered, foremost riches lead the way. (Atharva Veda Samhita)
Acquire wealth, says the Hindu culture, but acquire wealth without getting
attached to it. The greatest character trait of Rama in the Ramayana is that he, a prince
born into royalty and having enjoyed the luxuries of palace life, turned and adapted
immediately to life in exile in a humble hut in a forest because he was never attached
to his wealth.
Wealth is a result, a fruit of work. As stated earlier, you have the right to work,
but you have no right to the fruits of the work. Repeat:
Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independent, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of
undertakings. (Bhagavad Gita)
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the
fruits of action . . . (Bhagavad Gita)
Q) What is the status of women in the Hindu culture?
. . . One should not despise any woman. That is the rule. (Chandogya Upanisad)
If she does not grant him his desire, he should buy her (with presents). If she still does not grant him his desire he should beat her with a stick or his hand and overcome her (saying) with (manly) power and glory, “I take away your glory.” Thus
she becomes devoid of glory. (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad)
In spite of the above diverging views in the original texts of the Hindu culture,
out of the major cultures or religions of the world, the Hindu culture is the only one
that exalts women to the status of God—women who are believed to have achieved
Brahman. Examples are Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and Saraswati, the goddess of
CLOSURE
NOW THAT YOU know the Hindu culture as it was originally founded by the
founding sages, know also that you are free to, if you desire, choose a different path, a
different culture or religion, one that you may think is more suited to your nature. No
matter which path you choose, you will still be seeking Brahman. The other culture or
religion may have a different name for Brahman, but each time you chant a hymn, you
will concentrate your mind, and that is seeking the unchanging, steady state of
immortality in Brahman.
May you achieve Brahman in this very life. May you become immortal in
Brahman.
SOURCES
CHIEF AMONG THE many sources from which this book is derived are listed below in
alphabetical order by last name of author.
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1995.
Chand, Devi. The Samaveda. New Delhi, India: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1995.
Chand, Devi. The Yajurveda. New Delhi, India: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1994.
Deussen, Paul. Sixty Upanisads of the Veda. (2 vols.) New Delhi, India: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1995.
Nehru, Jawaharlal. The Discovery of India. New Delhi, India: Oxford University
Press, 13th impression, 1993.
Nikhilananda, Swami. The (Bhagavad Gita). New York, NY, USA: Ramakrishna
Vivekananda Center, 1979.
Prabhavananda, Swami. (The Spiritual Heritage of India). Hollywood, CA, USA:
Vedanta Press, 1979.
Prabhupada, Swami. (Bhagavad Gita) As It Is. Los Angeles, CA, USA:
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972.
Radhakrishnan, S. The Bhagavadgita. New Delhi, India: HarperCollins, 10th
impression, 1996.
Radhakrishnan, S. The Principal Upanisads. Winchester, MA, USA: Unwin
Hyman, 1989.
Sarasvati, Maharshi Dayananda. The Rigveda. (5 vols.) New Delhi, India:
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Veda Pratishthana, 1977.
Vivekananda, Swami. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. (8 vols.)
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