Hindu religion an overview Part 2

Because we have ignored all these injunctions we have increasing divorce rate, delinquent children and uncared for old people. If children do not get sufficient attention they are bound to go astray, commit crimes and ruin society.

It is extremely important to restore the sanctity of marriage and family. In the modern world premarital and extramarital physical relationships have become very common. If parents lead immoral lives how can children follow the right path? How can any society be healthy if families are disrupted?

After parents, teachers play a vital role in building character of children. In India the word used for a teacher is guru. The word has a profound meaning. It has been said that a guru is like the light of wisdom, which dispels the darkness of ignorance.

A guru is expected to look upon his disciples as his own children. But today we have teachers and self-proclaimed spiritual leaders who rape their students and followers. What a steep fall!

The Indian scriptures declare that knowledge of the self alone is the right knowledge. Though secular knowledge is also important spiritual knowledge is more important. The disciples are exhorted to speak the truth and follow Dharma. It is because people have given up Dharma that the world is in such turmoil.

The vedas (Indian scriptures) have described the goals of human life as Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

The most important goal of life is Moksha or self realization. Considering the varied nature of human beings the scriptures advocate four paths for achieving this- Karma yoga, Bhakthi yoga, Jnana yoga and Raja yoga.

Karma yoga: Karma means action. The scriptures have described a number of rituals to be performed on different occasions. These rituals keep the mind busy and prevent it from going in wrong directions. That is why the scriptures say karma purifies the mind.

We are also urged to indulge in social service without expecting any reward. By serving others we are expanding our consciousness. It helps us to overcome egoism and takes us closer to our real nature.

Hence service to fellow human beings is hailed as service to god because god resides in every human being. A karma yogi sees god in others and tries to help them in whatever way he can.

Bhakthi Yoga: Bhakthi means devotion to God. Love directed towards a particular form of God is called devotion. In no other country can you find so many forms of God. Many people misunderstand this and think that Hinduism teaches that there are many gods.

People eat different types of sweets. Some do not like sweets which are relished by others. The source of sweetness in all is sugar while other ingredients vary. Does it make any sense to say that all people should eat only one kind of sweet and all other sweets should be banned?

God is like the sugar and the various names and forms are like the other ingredients. It is also important to remember that devotion to a particular form of God is only a step towards self-realization when the worshipper becomes one with the worshipped.

This path is suited to those who are emotional in nature. They express their devotion to god by singing hymns and worshipping. Bhakthi yoga also teaches people to see their chosen form of god in everyone and love everyone.

Jnana Yoga: Jnana means enlightenment. The Bhagavad geetha extols Jnana saying that there is nothing comparable to it in this world. It is defined as experience of the oneness of soul and the universal spirit. The Upanishads impart Jnana about the self. Knowledge of the self alone is the right knowledge.

The scriptures encourage people to analyze the nature of the world and oneself. There is no place for blind faith. They use many parables to explain the nature of the world. The core of the Indian scriptures is that this world of names and forms is only an illusion and that God (Brahman) is the only reality.

The world is superimposed on God just as a piece of rope is mistaken for a snake in semidarkness. Due to ignorance about the real nature of the universal spirit it is perceived as the world.

The Upanishads describe the various states of human mind. In a dream a person may see himself as driving a chariot. Where did the chariot come from? It originated in the mind.

The experiences of the dream state are negated in the waking state and vice versa. In the stage of deep sleep we do not experience anything. The Upanishads point out that the soul is beyond these stages. The soul does not sleep. It is a witness.

That is why a person says after getting up from sound sleep- “I had a nice sleep. I do not know what happened”. How does one know that nothing happened? The state of no activity has to be witnessed. It is like watching a blank screen when no movie is being projected.

There is a book titled discrimination between the seer and the seen. An object is seen by the eye. With respect to that object the eye is the seer. But we know that when a person is absent minded be may not notice it even if the eye has seen.

The mind sees through the eye and with respect to the eye the mind is the seer. In the stage of deep sleep the mind is inactive but the soul never sleeps and is the eternal witness.

The soul is beyond the senses and the mind and is the ultimate seer. That is why the Upanishads declare that God can never be understood by senses or the mind. All the scientific methods are useless in the pursuit of self knowledge.

The Upanishads declare that God is known to the unknown and unknown to the known. This paradoxical statement implies that a person who thinks he knows God is ignorant and one who has experienced it knows not how to describe it.

The sage Ramana maharshi advocated the path of self enquiry. A person has to ask himself “who am I”. The human body is a product of union of an ovum and a sperm. The fertilized ovum goes on dividing and subdividing into hundreds of thousands of cells which are organized to form the human body.

It is made of many parts. With which part can a man identify himself? The sense of “I-ness” persists even when a man loses some parts of the body. Hence it is clear that “I” cannot be a body.

It is said that the cosmic spirit appears to have become the world. But the spirit itself does not undergo any change. Then how can it become the world. This is a mystery beyond human comprehensions.

The cosmic spirit is described as both the material cause and the efficient cause. Just as a spider weaves a web using itself the cosmic spirit creates the world out of itself. The power of the cosmic spirit is known as Maya.

The advances in physics have enabled modern man to understand the truth of ancient Indian scriptures. Einstein revealed that matter and energy are inter-convertible thus underlining the oneness of entire cosmos.

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