HVK Archives: The heritage of all humanity
The heritage of all humanity - Observer
Bimal Mohanty
()
26 June 1996
Title : The Heritage Of All Humanity
Author : Bimal Mohanty
Date : June 26, 1996
Publication: Observer
THE, recent past has seen quite a crop of articles, books
and writings attacking and criticising the `Hindu'
concept of religion and spirituality Attacks on and
criticism of Hindu philosophy - practically the most
ancient of living philosophies - is nothing new. Being
amongst the oldest, it obviously has been exposed
toincisive criticism the most. It's survival perhaps
proves its own strength.
Hindu religion is mainly criticised on three grounds: (a)
it is branded as a religion preoccupied with self centred
individualism.
(b) It is barbaric having hundreds and millions of gods
to worship,
(c) it teaches only negation and denies enjoyment of
life fully.
Hindu religion is a way of existence, a code of conduct
for all in the life while living. In the grand cosmic
design in which we are all participating, doing one's
duty well is obligatory. Hindus call it Maha Yajna the
great endeavour where sacrifice is of essence. The scrip-
tures speak definitively on this. Specific codes of
conducts have been laid down for knowledge seekers,
householders and asceties with emphasis on their duty
towards others.
The Hindus' search for excellence in all endeavors of
life is deep rooted. It aims all bringing out the best in
him so that he performs creditably in whatever he does.
The faith urges one to discharge obligations to all
around him, every day of his life in the form of Nitya
Yajnas and selfishness is farthest from the concept.
Hindus do worship a number of personal Gods. Yet the core
concept of God. The Ultimate, in Hindu philosophy is He
who is without form (Nirakar) and beyond the limits of
definition.
Through many arguments, ex-planations and deductions, all
Hindus have come to accept this as the truth, not with
standing shades of qualified interpretation. How is it
them that in Hindu religion we have come to worship
perhaps the largest number of manifestations or idols and
have even come to discard tolerance amongst sects built
around such idols worship?
This calls for a pragmatic understanding of the concept
of the ultimate God in Hindu religion and the true
meaning of idol worship, which far from being a
distortion is indeed a necessary means in the persuit of
the ultimate goal (the realisation of Paramatma)
The concept of the Ultimate God in Hindu philosophy is
not easy to comprehend without deep meditation,
unflinching desire for truth, acquiring of true
knowledge, and grace of the teacher (the Guru), Even then
as the Lord has said some perceive it asstrange, some
describe it as full of wonder, some hear about it in awe
and wonder, some hear about in awe and still fall to
understand it.
Now let us look at the question of denial and negation.
What a colossal misunderstanding. In the grand cosmic
creation, every living being is crated with a purpose.
The main is endowed with a body, its sense organs, the
mind and intellect so as to assist him in discharging his
obligation in his progress towards the ultimate goal.
According to the Hindu philosophy, four stages of life
are the accepted norms which also include the life of a
normal worldly householder and allows that man must enjoy
and be happy in all through his life. Contrary to the
belief. a Hindu does not negate the role of the sense
organs at all. It only makes two distinctions. Use of
sense organs must be controlled to the extent that it
aids you in your progress to achieve your ultimate goal
and not for simply gratification of base desires. Second,
it urges one's intellect to constantly remain the master
of your organs and not let you be enslaved by them. To be
a slave is not the human nature No other philosophy Is
perhaps so full of research on the topics of desire and
role of sense organs as the Hindu philosophy. Why and how
they lead to human degradation has been amply explained.
Find philosophy considers the human birth as too unique
and too precious and endowed with tremendous potential to
lift itself -to reach the final destination.
Vivekananda put it so forcefully when he said: "All
criticism against the Adyaita (non-duality) can be summed
up in this that it does not conduce to sense enjoyments
and we tire glad to admit that. The Vedanta system begins
with tremendous pessimism and ends with real optimism of
the super-sensuous.
That real happiness is not in the senses but above the
senses, and it is in every man. The sort of optimism
which we see in the world is what will lead to ruim
through the senses.
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