Harvesting Wisdom

There is a perceptible rise in public awareness regarding spiritual matters. The rise in communication mediums, primarily internet, have contributed to that.
Concurrently, communication mediums, notably Television, Magazines, even Newspapers have also contributed to spread of manipulated information to serve commercial interests.

Nevertheless, the urge to seek and realize truths of life is on the rise among the people all over the world. While this causes many people to examine their belief systems and seek deeper truths and meaning in their life, many others are also prompted to go beyond their conditioned belief systems and seek truths in other sources. Such endeavours are resulting in increase in adherents towards diverse belief systems and practices such as yoga, Nature reverence, gnosticism, pre-christian native indigenous belief systems of Americas, Europe, etc.

Such rise in consciousness influences the wider public in like manner. Sustained rise in such explorations may provide a counter to the consumerist consciousness that prevails human society today.

Such rise and fall of higher consciousness among public may also be cyclic in nature. Somewhat similar to the change of seasons.

Like the rains providing nourishment to growth in Nature, rise of spiritual consciousness nourishes spiritual growth.

Similar to the rain water that runs off, and is lost if not harvested and stored, the spiritual realizations that occur during the times of rise in spiritual consciousness need to be stored in clean protected manner for subsequent use in times of lesser abundance.

As in the case of natural springs that provide water throughout the year, some places, kshetra, are perennial sources of spiritual inspiration and often become centres of pilgrimage.
Just as the capacity of a spring to supprt large populations is limited, depending on its size, and may need to be augmented by rainwater harvesting, the spiritual inspiration provided by such kshetra need to be supplanted by preservng spiritual realizations experienced during times of abundance for later use.

Just as in water harvesting it is important to ensure that the containers used are clean, and protected from pollutants, similarly, it is important to ensure that the mediums used for preservation and dissemination of spiritual truths are clean themselves and protected from ingress of pollutants.

The vedas have been such containers of adhyatmika jnana filled by numerous unknown rishis millenniums ago, that has stood the test of time providing pure spiritual wisdom to thirsty seekers and inspiring them towards realization. The precise manner in which the vedas were formed and transmitted ensured that their spiritual wisdom were preserved and remained unpolluted. puranas, shastras and other texts of bharatiya samskriti also served similar purpose. One common feature to all these texts is that it is the message of the texts that is of paramount importance over the period of occurence, location or even the author himself. So much so that, in the case of the most important of all texts- vedas, the rishis who originally realized the vedas remain unknown.

The puranas stress on the underlying dharmika, adhyatmika jnana transcending limitations of time, locality and authorship. Even the personalities portrayed in the puranas are superceded by the principles and values that they uphold. Thus it is righteousness- dharma, that governs actions of Sri Rama in Ramayana. Mahabharata, through gita, encourage transcending of personal identities and advocate action for actualisation of karma without concerning about results.

This independence from limitations of personalities, authorship, location and period helps preserve adhyatmika jnana in bharatiya samskriti perennial and pure, like water stored in sterile containers protected from contaminants even though handed over through generations.

This aspect is absent in many other cultures, that have suffered as a result, where either the water-
(a) was not stored well in times of plentitude- spiritual wisdom was not handed down to subsequent generations in intact manner that could sustain for long,
or
(b) was contaminated by personal touch- personality/ies dominated/superceded the message,
or
(c) fixated in locality and thus became inaccessible- limited to geographical area,
or
(d) was exposed to the elements at one time that made it stale- got associated with a period of time, enmeshed in the customs of that time, and thus became dated.
or
(e) was wasted by the careless- destroyed/distorted by materialistic aggrandizers.

In times of spiritual plentitude the received wisdom need to be retained and preserved well to tide over the inevitable times of scarcity as well as to give direction to future generations.

The unknown rishis of yore have shown the way, creating the vedas and developing a samskriti that acts as a container to protect and preserve the spiritual wisdom received through generations, quenching the spiritual thirst of millions through millenniums.

Preserving of this samskriti, its adhyatmika content, and augmenting its harvested wisdom during times of availability without contaminating, are the responsibility of contemporary inheritors of bharatiya samskriti.

kama sutra and rasa

Did Rishi Vatsyayana physically explore all that in kama sutra before creating the text ?

Did the sculptors of various sensual sculptures in india, have people standing in such pose before them, while they created such sculptures ?

The difference between a creation that is produced as a result of physical experience and that which is produced as a result of intuitive experience is that in the former, the focus is on, and remains on, the physical aspects as experienced through the senses while the latter transcends limitations of physical senses and inspires experience of the essence.

The difference is similar to that between a dead body and a living body- the vital living aspect. Howsoever perfect the dead body is, and imperfect the living body may be, the latter has a vitality that makes it engaging which the other lacks.

This is the reason the realisation aham brahmasmi cannot be experienced purely through experience from physical senses.

This origin of kama sutra, through intuitive experience in the mind of a realized sage, makes it much more than a manual on sex. It is a tool aiding in living dharmically, while experiencing life, assisting in fostering awareness and intuition, leading up towards realization.
So are the other texts, sculptures, dance forms and music of bhArat. They have the quality of rasa– that which inspires experience of the vital, by the discerning viewer/listener/reader.

bharatiya samskriti, comprising of such texts, scuptures, dance forms, music, thought and spiritual outlook, derivative of intuitive experiences, aids in sustaining dharma in society and inspires people to realise themselves.

Meeting of minds

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Can bharatiya worldview meet western worldview ? Can both come together and co-exist ?

bharatiya Worldview

bharatiya worldview or darshana is based on the original thought processes that shaped bharatiya samskriti through millenniums, exemplified by thoughts such as: –

“lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu”
May all worlds experience well-being

“sarveshAm swastir bhavatu, sarveshAm shantir bhavatu, sarveshAm poornam bhavatu, sarveshAm mangalam bhavatu”
Health, peace, fulfilment and auspiciousness to all beings

“sarve bhavantu sukhinaha, sarve santu niramayAh, sarve bhadrAni pasyantu, mA kashchit dughabhAgbhaved”
Well being, fulfilment, secure-prosperity and happiness to all.

“Aum, shAntiH shAntiH shAntiH”
Peace to all

“vasudhaiva kutumbakam”
Whole universe is family

These altruistic thoughts were the result of realization by rishis that supreme reality is one and the apparent diversity is a result of perception. This realization inspired them to understand themselves as comprising of purusha and prakriti, integral with the supreme reality; and they nurtured Nature and respected all beings.

Western Worldview

Western worldview is based on thought processes that shaped the aggrandizing behaviour of alexander’s greece, imperial rome, the catholic church and its offshoots- islam and protestant christianity, capitalism, communism, nazism and fascism. This worldview is characterised by fixation on materialistic things. Its roots may extent to the ancient egyptians who built massive tombs and displayed attachment to material objects.

The Contrast

In contrast to bharatiya darshana, western world view is unable to consider life as spiritual. It is perennially fixated on things physical and on material acquisitions.

bharatiya darshana considers supreme reality brahma as pervading the whole creation. Western worldview considers supreme reality as confined to some place apart from this world called ‘heaven’ and entirely dependent on the allegiance offered by the people on earth to feel contented; or they fail to recognise any supreme reality at all, beyond what is perceived by their limited senses.

While bharatiya darshana recognises spirituality as the core of every being, every creation in the world, western worldview denies spirituality in every being in this world, assigning it to an entity out of this world called God or Allah, an entity that threatens ‘eternal damnation’ upon people unless they bow down to it. Or else denies spirituality altogether, both in this world and in every other world, terming it ‘super-natural’, ‘meta-physical’, ‘irrational’ etc.

A Metaphor

Metaphorically, bharatiya darshana inspires and provides opportunity to consider life as a sacred experience and to rise up to spiritual heights using intuitionary wisdom, like a bird rising in air using its wings.
The western worldview on the other hand impels people to behave like processionary caterpillars in their beliefs while wallowing in materialism, like a worm crawling in mud.

The western mind seeks to expand horizontally in the flatworld of materialism while bharatiya darshana inspires growth in a third dimension- the spiritual dimension.

The Question

This poses the question- Can a bird that rises in air dialogue with a worm immersed in mud ?

Answer

It is possible only if the bird stops flying and immmerse itself into the materialistic-mud world of the worm.
But, if the bird does that, it is not flying any more and will not be able to explain to the worm. On the other hand, the bird will have mud sticking on its body that will weigh down and hamper its movement of wings.
Even if the bird joins the worm in materialistic world and dialogues with it, the worm, limited in its flatwordly experience, may not comprehend the experience of flying that the bird talks of, it may misconstrue the message.
Some worms may even seek to devour the bird in their relentless search towards self-aggrandizement.
The case of Jesus was one such, of a bird who got devoured by the aggrandizing imperial rome that later hoisted his skeleton as a divine symbol from spiritual dimension and used that to maliciously brainwash and subjugate millions of people.

At present there are many birds who, through conditioning, have forgotten their wings that if used could take them to spiritual heights, and are instead engaged in crawling in the materialistic mud, competing with worms. Many such birds have, through lack of use, shrivelled their wing muscles.

When such birds exercise their wings, gradually developing their muscles, they may realise that they have the capacity to rise above the materialistic mud world and experience a new dimension.
With such continued exploration of the spiritual dimension, their intuitionary wisdom will gather strength and help them reach further heights. As they continue to do that, the mud sticking on their body, materialistic attachments, will dry out and fall away, making them lighter, feel more free, and able to fly higher.

When the birds start to fly, the worms may get curious. Many of them may discover that they too have budding wings and exercising it, over time, attain heights. Some others who do not have wings may start to introspect. When they emerge from such introspection, like from a cocoon, they may also have acquired wings that could take them to spiritual heights.

When that happens, dialogue between the bird and the worm-turned-fly would be meaningful.
It would be only then that bharatiya samskriti would be understood by the reformed western mind- one that recognises its own spirituality.

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A clarification:- bharatiya darshana and western worldview are not genetically acquired. They are acquired during the course of life. Upbringing and environs definitely plays a part in consolidating them. But it is quite possible for a person born and brought up in bharata deshaH to have western outlook (in fact most indians do so) while another born and brought up outside acquires bharatiya darshana through spiritual enquiry (although rarely does it happen).