Continuity and World Civilization (Nicholas Kazanas, 2016)

8/19/2019 Continuity and World Civilization (Nicholas Kazanas, 2016)

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Continuity and World-Influence of the Vedic CivilizationN. Kazanas, January 2013

0. Abstract. In this paper are examined the elements, ideas and principles thatconstituted the Vedic Civilisation as it appeared in the ancient texts and emphasis isplaced on the inner psychological aspect. The possible influence of this civilisation istraced in other cultures from the ancientmost historical times to our own periodthrough language, poetry, philosophy, religion and science. It laid the basis and gaveclear guidelines for a trouble-free life and the attainment of man’s highest good i.e.wisdom and happiness. The modern malaises of anxiety and stress, criminality,pollution of the environment and the like, would seem to result from people’sdisregard of those principles and from unchecked selfishness and avidity.

To see the Unity one must go back to the very sources of the civilisation/culturewe are examining: this is the ! gveda and the other early Vedic texts. (For much ofthis material I have drawn from Kazanas & Klostermeier 2012).

1. What is civilisation or culture?

There are many definitions and descriptions in the learned publications: see S.Bhattacharya (2007), Kramer & Maza (2002), Pearce (2002), Schafer (2001), Williams(1985), White (1969) etc.

Here we take ‘culture’ as synonymous with ‘civilization’ and in some places with

‘tradition’, although we are well aware that these terms have di! erent meanings.Etymologically, ‘civilization’ goes back to the Latin civis ‘citizen’, civilis ‘civil’ andcivitas city which indicate life in organized cities which had law and order in contrastto barbarians whose behaviour had little order and much rapacity.

Most think of civilization in terms of technology, buildings, artefacts, weaponsand the like. In India too. Thus while village life and the virtues of villagers havebeen praised in India from the Bhagavata Pur"#a to Mahatma Gandhi, it was city-culture that was understood as an embodiment of 'civilization' in the more specific(and narrower) sense. Indian kings and emperors built and dwelled in cities anderected temples and palaces. Indra's – the king of the gods' – dwelling place is a

celestial city, too!

What do we mean today when we say that somebody is ‘civilized’ or ‘cultured’?

We deem ‘civilized’ those people that are not violent, rapacious and selfish; thosethat have civility, a broader education and finer valuation of things and take intoaccount the fact that other people also exist and treat them with due consideration.Cultured people are much the same, but have also wider interests in the history ofmankind, in other nations and in the arts – poetry, painting, music etc. These areinternal qualities and have little to do with large buildings, artefacts and weapons ofwar that help archaeologists define cultures and civilizations. Thus, from this

viewpoint culture and civilization are inner, psychological dispositions that come


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with inborn goodness and with education and training: they are concerned withone’s own refinement and one’s behaviour towards other people and towards theenvironment in which we all live.

In his Republic (370c! ), Plato delineates his first ideal society as a communitywith simple agriculture, animal husbandry, trade and essential crafts, feeding onbarley-bread and bulbs, drinking wine in moderation and singing hymns to thegods. There are other definitions of Civilisation. Thus Yoshinory Yasuda on the Japanese J$mon (11th mill. BCE):

“Respect for and co-existence with nature … proper relationship in accord withthe features of the given region.” Then Again, A. West on Ancient Egypt : “Incivilization men are concerned with … inner life … to master greed, ambition,envy.” (For Yasuda, see Rudgley 1998: 31-33. For West see his publication of 1993:

6-7.)From this point of view modern nations are uncivilized since they do not seek a

workable relation with the environment but strive constantly to “master”, as theythink, nature and in the process they deplete the planet’s resources and cause deadlypollution. In this there is no concern at all to master greed, ambition and envy. Wesee rather cupidity, injustice and selfishness on the increase.

Yet this is the primary concern of the Vedic Tradition: in mastering greed andliving harmoniously with one’s natural and social environment, one discovers one’strue Self which is the same as the universal Self. As Swami Vivekanand said,

“Civilisation is the manifestation of divinity in man” (Kanoria 2012:8).

2. The Rigvedic Culture.

The Rigvedic culture is non-material, unlike the Maltese of the 5th millenniumwith its megalithic temples or the Mesopotamian of the early 3rd millennium withits ziggurats and the parallel Egyptian with it pyramids. The Indus-Sarasvat & Civilization (or Harappan) has buildings, statuary and many artefacts (tools andseals), but the Vedic tradition is oral and this continues down to the Upanishads, thes'tra texts and the epics. What is the axis of this tradition?

The main concern seems to be divinization though this appears in the guises ofdesire for happiness, health, riches on earth or immortality in heaven. Underlyingsuch desires is the knowledge that man embodies the Supreme and that he can realizethis. This is plain in the Upanishads with the mah" v " kyas, ‘this Self is Spirit Absolute’ ayam " tm" brahma and ‘I am the brahman’ aha# brahma-asmi and the vision of unityas in yas tu sarv "$i bh%t " ny-" tmany-eva-anupa& yati / sarvabh%te'u ca-" tm" nam ((&" Up6) ‘Whoever perceives all beings in himself and himself in all beings’.

What is not so well known is that this same knowledge is in the RV too. Yetconsider two statements:


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In these two statements, the seer’s certain knowledge that the Supreme dwellswithin him and Ka#va’s realization of a second birth, we see the very basis of the

later Vedanta Advaita. And it is to this aspect that most Western people turn – thisand similar aspects of Buddhism. Very few people are drawn to polytheism.

This ‘divinization’ " tmajñ" na or brahmavidy" , is achieved through ethicalbehaviour (dharma ‘righteousness’ , suk) t " ni ‘good deeds’ , d " na ‘generosity’), yoga-practice and Soma-drinking. We return to this later (§4). The general picture in theRV encompasses both polytheism and monotheism. Polytheism (Indra, Varu#a,Agni, Sarasvat & etc) is well known. Consider also these passages: –

The One tad-ekam (10.129.2). This Unity appears also in 1.164.46:

éka# sád vípr " bahudh" * vadanty agní # yamá # m" tarí & v " nam " hu+ ‘It being One

the sages call it by many names – Agni, Yama, M"tari(v"n etc’.In 3.54.8: éjad dhruvám patyate ví & vam éka# cárat patat ) * ví 'u$a# víj " tám ‘Moving

yet not moving the One governs all, what walks and flies, this manifest multiplicity’.

And in 8.48.3 : ékaívo'" *+ sárvam idá # ví bh" ty ékam v " idám víbabh%va sárvam ‘One indeed is U)as, the Dawn, and illumines this whole [creation]; the One trulybecame all this [multiplicity]’.

We find also many deities, worlds, phenomena.

One and Many – synchronically. In those times as also today most interest wasshown in the Many, less in the One!

But we should also note that this most ancient Rigvedic culture had, apart fromthis higher spiritual concern, also interest in and knowledge of the subtle world ofmind and of the material world, each world having again three aspects. Long, longbefore Socrates and the other Greek philosophers, the Vedic seers displayed a highlevel of abstract thought with concepts like anumati , asuratva, d " na, pa$kti and thelike.

RV 1.164.25:

inó ví !vasya bhúvanasya gop! " #

sá m" dh$ "ra# p! " kam atr ! " vive !a.

RV 8.6.10:

ahám íd dhí pitús pári medh! "m

% tásya jagrábha ;

ahá! s" # rya iva-ajani.

The mighty Guardian of this entire world,He, the wise One has settled in me, thesimpleton.

Ka!va says: ‘Having received from

my father/teacher the essentialknowledge (medh") of the CosmicOrder (% ta) I was (re)born like theSungod S #rya!’


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Of major importance are the *ulba-S%tras of +pastamba, +(val" yana, K"ty" yanaand Baudh" yana. These formulate principles of Mathematics.

Spiritual concern:

Mental level: Abstract

ideaslike :

Self-realization; Devotion to divinities.

anumati

agreement

vasut " ‘wealth-iness’; "dhipatya ‘overlordship’; etc.

Mathematics : algebra, geometry.

Complex grammar: dh"tus ‘roots’ or ‘seedforms’ and

derivative nouns and verbs with many tenses and moods.

Measure and rhythm in poetry and music.

asuratva

lordship;

d "na

liberality;

pa&kti

fiveness (also‘row’)

Material

world:Astronomy: constellations and calendar.

Geometry ($ ulbas#tras) in building Harappan cities and altars.

Medicine with herbs and mineral substances.

Chanting of hymns; dancing, (U$as in RV 1.92.4 etc, Indra in1.132.7 etc, the A!vins in 6.63.5 and the Maruts in 8.20.22 aredancers long before "iva na%ar # ja; and generally, 10.18.3; 72.6;94.4-5).

Metallurgy: ‘The gods smelting (dhámanta#) like metal-ore (áyas)human generations’ (4.2.17);

‘T&ta like a smelter (dhm" % t ") fans (dhámati) and sharpens( !í !& te) … (5.9.5);

‘Brahmanaspati like a smith (karm" % ra-) smelted [the gods’

generations]’ (10.72.2).

Pottery and other crafts (household utensils, tools, cars and weapons

like bows).

Weaving: ‘Seven threads (tánt #n) have stretched (tatnire) the Sages

to weave (ótav" u) …’ (1.164.5); ‘Mothers weave (vayanti)

garments (vástr ") for the child...’ (5.47.6); I don’t know the

thread (tántum) or how to weave (ótum) nor what they are

weaving (váyanti)’(5.47.6);

Agriculture and Animal husbandry.

Trade with ocean-going boats: n"vá# samudríya#(1.25.7).


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Forming part of the *rauta S'tras they belong to the Kalpa S'tras which are oneof the Six Ved",gas (=“limbs of Veda”).

What is their date?

One modern authority, A. Seidenberg, American mathematician and historianof science, has written:

It is very di-cult to derive “the Vedic ritual application of thetheorem [of Pythagoras] from Babylonia. (The reverse process is easy.)… The application involves geometric algebra and there is no evidenceof geometric algebra from Babylonia. And the geometry of Babyloniais already secondary whereas in India it is primary. Hence we do nothesitate to place the Vedic altar rituals, or, more exactly, rituals exactlylike them, far back of 1700 BCE. … The elements of ancient

geometry found in Egypt and Babylonia stem from a ritual system ofthe kind observed in the Sulvasutras” (Seidenberg 1962: 515).

Seidenberg reiterated his finds in another paper in 1978.

Note that the Mesopotamian ziggurats (=temples with steps) and the Egyptianmastamba-tombs and the step-pyramid of Djoser, all in the 3rd millennium BCE, arebased on trapezoid figures which are found in the ,ulbas%tras and those figures are atthe basis of Vedic altar brick-constructions like the (ma(ana-cit.

Thus latest date for *ulbas'tras must be c2600 BCE. Consequently, the RV mustbe much, much older since it antecedes all s'tra texts.

In the subsequent stages of the Vedic culture we find, moreover the foundations oflinguistic studies: –

Y"ska’s Nigha$- u & Nirukta : first known works on etymology and semantics.

P"#ini’s A'-" dhy" y. : first known descriptive (and prescriptive) grammar thatsucceeded in keeping Sanskrit itself unchanged for centuries and centuries.

Also Patañjali’s Mah" bh") ya and Bhart.hari’s V " kyapad . ya (see Aklujkar,Bhattacharya 1985, Cardona, Murti, Sankaranarayanan).


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being brought back; etc, etc. (Kazanas 2009, ch8.)Also, the *ulbas'tra geometry and trapezoids for mastaba tombs and step-pyramid,etc (Rajaram & Frawley 1997).

b) c2600 on Mesopotamia : Actual trade links. A-nities in religion: Seven .)is; floodlegend; horse sacrifice; magical rituals; etc, etc (Kazanas 2009, ch7).Also the *ulbas'tra geometry and ziggurats (Rajaram & Frawley 1997).

c) Perhaps Judaic culture with monoheism (Kazanas 2009, ch7).

d) Kassites & Mitannis in the Near East (17th-16th centuries BCE):

Apart from Indoaryan names (gods Indara, Marutta/ or noblemen Artad"ma,Tu/ratha etc) in the few near-eastern texts, and horse-husbandry, there was underAgum II in early 16th cent. – “A surge of literacy invention, collection andrecording” (Dalley S. 1991: 47, 229). Thus we have a rennaissance with – perhaps –ideas of Vedic origin.

e) Unity of Being in 1st & 2nd cent CE: This is found amply

Hermeticists and Christian Gnostics 1st & 2nd cent CE (Kazanas 2003).

Neoplatonists and Neopythagoreans 3rd cent CE.(Enneads of Plotinos; Porphyry; Iamblichos).

Influence of Vedic Tradition (?)

This doctrine of the Unity of Being, of Man and Cosmos, must have come from

the Vedic Tradition of India (Kazanas 2003). Then Plotinus’s teaching reflects mostfaithfully Advaita: there is only the One without a second and from his gaze orconsciousness out of love and bliss arises the creation; first comes Nous (=HigherMind or Reason) which as creative cause brings all else into existence with the powerfrom the One; then comes the level of Soul (=subtle world, s%k'ma & ar . ra) and finallythe material embodiments of worlds and creatures. Man can and should strivethrough Self-knowledge to return and merge in the primal unity of the One.

f) Influence on Persians :

Perhaps there was some influence on the expanding Iranians early on and

undoubtedly after the Persian conquests (of Bactria and Gandhara) in the 6th centBCE.

Certainly there were translations of fable-literature 5th cent CE (and some ofthese tales reached Syria in the Near East).

Also there was a translation of 50 Upanishads in 17th cent CE under PrinceMohammed Dara Shakoh and parts of these reached Europe first in a French vesrion.

g) Influence on Europe c 1200:

In what is today Algiers, L. Fibonacci, son of a wealthy Italian from Pisa, wrote amost important book Liber Abacus ‘Book of Calculation’. In it he adopted the arabic

numerals 0 to 9 and the decimal system. This was revolutionary for the West and


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pave the way for Accountancy and Banking for higher Mathematics and Physics andeventually all modern technology.

The Arabs had borrowed their system directly from India!

Sanskrit, Hinduism and Buddism in Asia

4. Sanskrit.

Buddhism spread South in the late centuries BCE. It was established fully in ShriLanka and later spread eastward into Indonesia, Laos and other areas of South EastAsia. Hinduism also spread later. Sanskrit accompanied both religions. So, althoughother influences came later in the Common Era with Moslems and Christians andEuropean languages, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch, nonetheless eventoday many words of Sanskrit origin survive in the languages and dialects spoken inthose communities. Thus in Tagalok - balita ‘tidings’ from S v ) tta ‘what has occurred,news’;

bu1 hi

‘inclination’ frombuddhi

‘higher intellect’,basa

‘reading out’ from v"ca‘recitation’; halaga ‘price’ from argha ‘price’ etc. In Malay - budi ‘character’ againfrom buddhi and harga ‘price’ from argha; also kaca ‘glass’ from k"ca ‘crystal, glass’, puasa ‘fast’ from upar " sa ‘fast’; k" ya ‘body’ from k" ya ‘body’ etc. In other languages,Thai, Lao, Cambodian etc survive a$ gula ‘finger’, " gama ‘religion’, " yus ‘life’, gaja ‘elephant’, ga$a ‘group’, jala ‘water’, j " la ‘net’, tar " ‘star’, d " na ‘gift, charity’, bh"'" ‘language’, vel " ‘limit’ etc (Gonda 2007; Prapandvidya 2005).

Much Sanskrit vocabulary passed into Thai also. Thus than" kh" n ‘bank’ derivesfrom dhan" g" ra (‘house for money/wealth); prach" samph" n ‘public relations’ from praj " sambandha; " k" t ‘environment, weather’ from " k"& a ‘sky’; pr " rthan" ‘prayer/

request’ is changed in Thai in ‘desire’; the o-cial language itself ph"'" ratchak" n


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comes from bh" s" -r " jak" ra; the morpheme k" n (from k" ra) is frequently used incompounds just as it was in Sanskrit (Dash 2011; Prapandvidya 2005).

5. Buddhism spread northward as well into what is today Afghanistan, thenThibet and China, and Sanskrit again accompanied the religion. It entered intoChina in the reign of emperor Ming Ti (58-76 CE) with Indian monks. Themissionary activities of these buddhist monks in South-western China drew theattention of aristocrats and intellectuals by the end of the 1st cent CE. A poem byChang Heng survives from this period (75-100 CE) mentioning virtuous shramanas,i.e. buddhist monks. But the linguistic impact of Sanskrit was as important as thetheology of Buddhism. In the late 3rd cent an Indian monk, Mok)ala, introducedinto Chinese writing 42 siddham letters, i.e. modified brahm & characters that would

help change the Chinese ideogrammatic script and later pass into Japan as well.Thus, eventually, Sanskrit helped reform the Chinese writing system and itsphonetics. In the 4th cent Sanskrit became much better known (both its writing andphonology); but its highly inflectional grammar remained prohibitive for theChinese who were thoroughly habituated to their own isolating language – whereinevery individual morpheme or sound was a meaningful word; so Sanskrit nevergained a foothold in China. But translations of texts began to appear in the 5t cent:Dharmak)ema, another Indian shramana, first translated into Chinese theMah" parinirv "$a S%tra; such translations multiplied in the ensuing centuries. Fromthe 8th cent in China survives in a fragment the oldest extant printed mantras for

goddess Pratisar", while from the 9th cent survives the oldest extant printed bookwhich is the Vajracchedik" S%tra. Thus paper-prints in Sanskrit are far older in Chinathan in India! In 526 Bodhidharma, the Patriarch of Indian Buddhism (28th successorto Buddha) had migrated to China (Chaudhuri 2007; Klostermaier 2002; Yasuda1991; Ch’en 1973; Soothill 1929).

In the 4th cent Buddhism reached Korea, again through zealous missionaryactivity (Klostermaier 2002).

In the middle of the 6th cent Buddhism and Sanskrit entered into Japan. Thepowerful Prince Shotoko Taishi recognized that some of the doctrines of the new

religion had transcendental values and provided a basis for unity and integrity,particularly with the popular ideas bahujana-hit " ya ‘for the good of many’ andbahujana-sukh" ya ‘for the happiness of many’; so he drew up the first Constitution in Japan with 17 articles having as a fundamental factor the buddhist tri-ratna ‘three jewels’ – Buddha, dharma and sa2 ga. He also wrote commentaries on several S'traslike Sad-dharma-pundar . ke etc. 300 years later, c850, King Shomu dispatched Sanskritbuddhist S'tras to the provinces and ordered that they be recited on fixed days andtimes thereby creating strong unity in the whole country. A little later, underempress Shotoku, several texts were printed and thereafter many more. In the early9th cent the system of education opened out to more classes of people while the

monk-scholar Kobo Daishi, under the guidance of the Kashmiri scholar Prajña,


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created new alphabet(s) based on the N"gar & script and called Shittan (a corruption ofsiddham). Here also, we see not only religious but also a political and a linguisticimpact – which, of course, continued in Japan in subsequent centuries (Shashibala

2007; Conze 1993).In the 7th cent Buddhism became the creed of Tibet under the influence of its

ruler Srong Tsan Gambo. He himself was influenced by his two wives: one was aprincess of the Chinese royal house and the other Nepalese. This king also united thecountry under his sway. Later many monasteries were established and to these foundrefuge thousands of monks when the Muslims invaded India and destroyed thenorthern cities Nalanda and Taxila.

6. Hindu influence in Asia.

The R" m" ya$a is a unique example of an ancient epic that has been kept alive inpopular culture: during Dasserah many Ramlilas are performed (especially inNorthern India) with huge participation. Di(pa)vali has become the most popularfeast in India, in many ways a parallel to European Christmas. The TV version of theR" m" ya$a in the 1990s became an India wide hit! (For Hinduism generally, seeKlostermeier 2000.)

The Sanskrit Valmiki R" m" ya$a is paralleled by many versions in other Indianlanguages:

Prakrit (Jaina) Paumacariam; - Hindi Ramacaritamanasa by Tulasidasa; - TamilKamba Ramayanam; - Nepali Adarsha Raghava; Assamese Katha Ramayana; andmany others.

The main attraction of the epic lies in its characters: Rama, the ideal son, kingand husband, Sita the ideal wife and companion, Bharata and Lakshmana the idealbrothers, Ravana the embodiment of evil that receives its due. Good is overcomingevil: ie. a happy end to a long and awsome story.

There are numerous re-writings of the R" m" ya$a in South-East Asian languagesand R" m" ya$a performances still take place all over this area.

Indonesia:Kakawin-Ramayana in Old Javanese. We find present-day leather-puppet show

of R" m" ya$a scenes and dance-dramas. Also Muslim performers: "Islam is ourreligion, R"m" ya#a is our culture."

Laos:

Palak Palang in Lao. Dance-dramas. R" m" ya$a sculptures on old temples(including Buddhist ones)

Thailand:


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Ramakian in Thai. Many sculptures and paintings of R"maya#a motifs. Capitalof Siam was Ayuthya (Ayodhya). Many kings adopted the title Rama.

Cambodia:

Many depictions of scenes from R"maya#a are found on old remples

The R"maya#a is not only part of the civilization of this area but also acontinuing source for civilizing people. It encourages faithfulness, honesty, co-operation etc.

Related to this is the adoption of Indian artha-&" stra (meaning roughly ‘statepolicy’) by indigenous rulers, who often also adopted titles associated with Hindudeities (especially *iva!).

Another feature of Indian civilization that spread throughout South-East Asia is

temple-architecture (and its underlying cosmology): a remarkable mixture of Hinduand Buddhist elements. The Buddhist Borobudur has extensive relieves withMah" bh" rata and R" m" ya$a scenes. The Buddhist Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom arebased on Hindu cosmology (Murphey 2009 and Majumdar 1963).

Indonesia: 5th century Hindu kingdom. Prambanan (Hindu temple): 9thcentury Java; Borobudur (Buddhist) "Majapahit Kingdom (1293-1528) marked theculmination in the development of the Hindu-Buddhist states of island SoutheastAsia" (R. Murphey p.130).

Cambodia: Angkor-Wat: Began by Khmer King Yasovarman I (889-900)

completed by Suryavarman II (1113-1150) and Angkor Thom by Jayavarman VII(1181-12118) (Murphey 2009 and Majumdar 1963).

Even today in vast areas of South-East Asia the remnants of vast Indian-styletemples such as Borobudur in Indonesia and Angkor Vat in Kampuchea andmonuments testify to the Indian past of these countries. It is a vast area and a longhistory.

By the beginning of the Common Era Indian civilization had not only reached ahigh level of maturity in all fields but it was ready to expand into new territoriesoutside the Indian subcontinent. Not only did the followers of the Buddha heed hiscommand to spread his message far and wide, adventurous tradesmen and

enterprising princes also crossed the seas and settled in far-flung countries.

There is evidence of Indian cultural presence in Java around 56 CE and on theMalay Peninsula around 100 CE. Sumatra and Borneo were the home of Indiankingdoms by the 4th century CE. And Bali, still a Hindu oasis today, traces itsassociation with India back to the 6th century (at the latest). Both Hindu andBuddhist religious and cultural influences can be noticed throughout the entire area.

The longest lasting and largest Indian colony was Champa, roughly identicalwith today’s Vietnam. It flourished from the 2nd to the 15th century CE.


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While the earlier Hindu colonies in South-East Asia seem to have been foundedby individual adventurers there were several later imperialistic attempts made by theSailendras (from the 8th century CE onwards) and the Cholas (from the 11 th century

on). Connected with these were large-scale military operations and the appointmentof scions from these royal houses.

Apart from the execution of major building projects in Indian styles, the rulersof these countries adopted names related to Indian deities and followed the advice ofIndian artha&" stra. The languages of all these countries betray a strong influencefrom Indian languages and numerous inscriptions prove that classical Sanskrit wasknown by the cultural elite.

All in all it appears that the Hindu-Buddhist-Indian influence had was a truly‘civilisational’ impact that was exerted by the Indian colonists.

In Japan, apart from Buddhism and Sanskrit (§5, end, above) there were alsocertain Hindu religious elements. Thus in 722 in the T$daiji monastery wascelebrated the worship of Shr & (=Lak)m &) and Sarasvat &, the two great Hindugoddesses. From the 12th cent comes a mantra to Sarasvat & : namo sarasvatyaimah"devyai sv"h" ‘reverence to the great goddess Sarasvat &, glory!’ and from the 13thcent is preserved a painting of her with eight arms while as late as the 1930’s wasfounded a “Sarasvat & sect” called Benten-sh%. An edict of the 9th cent ordains thatIndra and Brahm" should be worshipped at the Enryakuji monastery. Agni andYama, Garuda and Ga#apati were also worshipped in various places and as late as1836 a shrine was dedicated to Varu#a in the Meguro ward of Tokyo. Many people

continue to pray to all these deities even today. (See especially Chandra 2011.)

7. Vedic influences in the West

I have left out the influences of this culture in the Middle Ages after the Moghulconquest, because simply I am almost wholly unfamiliar with this period. I hope Iam forgiven.

More recently, after the British discovered the Sanskrit literature, literary andphilosophical ideas came to Europe and America in the late 18th cent and early 19th

(e.g. Emerson in the US, Schopenhauer in Germany and Eliot in Britain). WithSanskrit, linguistic studies took on new form, intensity and direction. But newstronger influences began to spread in the late 19th cent when various sages travelledto Europe and the USA bringing the teaching of Ved"nta. Many more came to the West in the 20th cent. I shall confine myself only to the mention of the poet T.S.Eliot who quoted in his Wasteland , end, the B) had " ranyaka Up (5.2.1 ! ) d " myata‘restrain yourselves’, gods; datta ‘be generous’, men; dayadhvam ‘be compassionate’,demons. Eliot also cited the Bh" gavad G. t " in his Four Quartets, even though he was aChristian with leanings towards Catholicism.


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Exports to the West from 19th cent onward :

Literature and Linguistic ideas (e.g. Emerson in the USA, Schopenhauer inGermany, Eliot in Britain);

Ved"nta and Buddhism; + yurveda, Meditation and Yoga.

The Ramakrishna Mission.

Shri Vivekananda’s visit to the USA & UK;Sept 1893 “Sisters and brothers of

America” speech in Parliament of Religions in Chicago. 1899-1902 2nd tour in the

West.Many others subsequently – Tagore et al.

Beyond these, India has exported to the West and the whole world three great

items: " yurveda, various forms of meditation and, of course, yoga, which is probablythe best known one. But this is the grossest form of yoga, Ha- ha-yoga, with its taxing" sanas. The basic, the real yoga of Patañjali, has eight limbs or stages.

Patañjali’s yoga is designed to reduce and stop the movements in the mind:

ast ! ga-yoga of Patañjali (2.29).

EIGHT STAGES (LIMBS) OF YOGA

8) sam"dhi

7) dhy"na

6) dh"ra!"5) praty"h"ra

4) pr "!" y"ma

3) " sana

2) niyama

1) yama

absorption

meditation

concentration of the mind

withdrawal of the senses

breath regulation

body position

internal rules

external rules (code of conduct)

yoga ! citta-v% tti-nirodha (1.2)‘Yoga e! ects the cessation of mind-movements.’

All such movements of thinking and feeling are caused, says Patañjali, by 5kle(as.

5 kle!as ‘afflictions’ (2.3)

avidy"

ignorance

asmit "

egoism

(separate ego)

r " ga

attachment,

passion

dve 'a

abhorence

abhinive !a

attachment to

the world


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To harness and dissolve these malignant tendencies, Patañjali prescribed severaldisciplines. In regard to " sanas ‘positions’ he says only that the asana should be sthirasukha ‘steady and easy’! That is all – nothing more. Obviously this has little to dowith complicated and di-cult positions like standing on the head or on one leg, orhave legs entwined around the nape of the neck and so on: such "sanas are neither“steady” nor “easy”! All these are later developments in the commentaries. ButPatañjali says a lot on other practices like dh" ra$" ‘concentration’, dhy" na ‘meditationetc.

One starts with yama, stage 1. There are 5 yama, i.e. 5 regulations for externalbehaviour:

The last one is the key. It implies control of desire. When one does not desire morethan one needs, then there won’t be stealing, lying and injuring others and life willbe simple and pure. If parigraha desire and grabbing and amassing all aroundmotivates us, then egoism asmit " and the other kle(as with ambition, envy and greedwill grow and produce all the evils of our society.

8. ‘Giving’: the virtue of this Age.

The positive virtue to the aparigraha is d " na generosity. Plato’s and Justinian’sdefinition of justice is ‘giving to everyone what is due’. From the RV the ancientseers praised generosity or liberality (RV ).

Giving or liberality :

We live in the Kali Yuga which is the worst epoch and in which dharma isreduced at its lowest. We saw in the last century genocides, tortures and killings on amassive scale perpetrated by totalitarian regimes like these of Stalin and Hitler, whileterrorism continues on all continents of the planet. Events such as these have neverhappened before in recorded human history.

5 regulations (yama) (2.30)

ahi( s"

non-injury

satya

truth

asteya

non-stealing

brahmacarya

life of purity

aparigraha

non-grabbing,non-amassing

) gveda 10.117

B% had "ra* yaka Up

Manusm% ti 1.86

Bhagavad Git "

Hymn to Generosity

datta ‘[humans], give’!

d "nam eka( kalau yuge

‘giving alone in the kali yuga’

8.28; 16.1; etc.


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C&WI of VC 15

9) Descent into Degradation: in each yuga dharma is reduced but each yuga hasits own virtue. One large cycle consists of four yugas (=epochs) each with a specificvirtue to be practised:

In our own Age, the Kaliyuga, the ancient teachings have been pushed aside orhave been wholly forgotten. We see around ever mounting greed for increasing

profits and easy pleasures – all quick and with as little responsibility as possible. Thefeverish acquisition of material wealth is to secure power and the indulgence ofselfish desires. This has two powerful global e! ects. One is the degradation andweakening of man’s natural abilities. The other is the plundering and denudation ofthe planet’s natural resources resulting in the deadly environment pollution.

Starting with the second, the degradation of the natural environment, we allknow of the hot-house e! ects as pollution increases globally – not only in India –from industrial sewage, fumes out of factories and vehicles, chemical fertilizers,insecticides, sprays of every kind and the like.

One glaring example in India is the depletion and pollution of Ganges, felt mostacutely at Kanpur and Allahabad. By the time the river reaches Varanasi othertributaries do provide fresh amounts of cleaner water. Even so, in the region ofVaranasi, although some decades ago the Ganges had an average depth of 60 metres,now it has only 10 and in some spots it almost disappears especially just before theriver meets the Yamuna before Allahabad. (So an article by Jyoti Thottam in theTime magazine, 19th July 2010.) First, the glaciers up in the Himalayas diminish aspart of the general course whereby the perennial ices in the Arctic and Antarcticgradually melt. Second, the Tehri Dam above Rishikesh diverts waters from keytributaries of the Ganges. Third, the explosive uncontrolled growth of cities (like

Delhi and Kanpur) and of agriculture draw increased amounts of water while city-sewers and industries (like the Kanpur tanneries) return only wastewater and toxins.

Other problems are the caste system which condemns millions into poverty andother unfavourable conditions, the cruel treatment of young girls and millions of ill-starred widows and, generally, the increase in the gap between rich and poor orprivileged and under-privileged. This is the modern face of India which has manydeepening wrinkles from the past and the heavy make-up of the present as it assumesthe looks of the West. But now let us look at the attrition of man’s innate powers.

Let us have now some statistics from the year 2002. In Germany, child-development studies (in Tübingen University) revealed that while before 1970

$( Manusm !ti 1.86)

Sat- or K ! ta

Tret#Dv# para

Kali

tapas

jñ"na

yajña

d "na

‘asceticism, austerity’;

‘knowledge, wisdom’;

‘sacrifice, sanctification’;

‘generosity, liberality’.


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C&WI of VC 17

Let us also recall Swami Vivekananda: “Civilisation is the manifestation ofdivinity in man”. Also –

Yoshinory Yasuda on the Japanese J$mon (11th millennium BCE):

“Respect for and co-existence with nature … proper relationship in accordwith the features of the given region.”

A. West on Ancient Egypt : “In civilization men are concerned with …inner life … to master greed, ambition, envy.”

(For Yasuda, Rudgley 1998: 31-33. A. West see his publication of 1993: 6-7.)

ahi( s"

non-injury

satya

truth

asteya

non-stealing

brahmacarya

life of purity

aparigraha

non-grabbing,

non-amassing


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C&WI of VC 18

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C&WI of VC 19

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C&WI of VC 20

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Continuity and World Civilization (Nicholas Kazanas, 2016)

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