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Transcript of SAPG
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AMRITA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, AMRITAPURI
The Hindu Wisdom
Self Awareness and Personal Growth
Submitted By :
Sreenath N
AM.BU.P2MBA11049
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Introduction
Hinduism is the oldest ofthe worlds faiths. It is a complete way of life. It is a dharma or way
of life evolved by the great sages and seers of ancient India. Its traditions extend back before
recorded history. The early phase of the Vedic tradition in India is dated between 10000-
7000 BCE. In spite of the fact that it first evolved more than 5,000 years ago, Hinduism
(Sanatana Dharma) is also very much a living tradition. And as such, Hindus are arguably the
most intensely religious people on the earth.
As I mentioned earlier I do not believe Hinduism as a religion. It is a system of life. India
remains a predominantly Hindu country. One more reason why it is not a religion is that other
religions across the world are known and they have founder and
Its ethos has evolved down the ages through its the ancient Hindu traditions, customs,
philosophy and culture. In spite of many attacks on Hinduism by varied invaders, in spite of
rumors of decay and disarray, Hinduism has outlived all announcements of its impendingdemise. Hinduism's greatest feature has been its positive ideas and those who do not belong
to it are not infidels or heretics. Hinduism does not believe in bringing about a mechanical
uniformity of belief and worship by a forcible elimination of all that is not in agreement with
a particular creed. Hindus have never conquered, plundered or committed genocides on other
peoples and they never will, primarily because the deeper values enshrined in the Sanatana
Dharma are against such mindless violence and expansionism.
In Hinduism, you get a sense of the way in which the divine is made accessible and
recognized as a part of all existence. It is not separated, as in the separation of church and
State. At a more samsaric level, a Hindu also understands more than any other religionist in
the world, the concept of a harmonious global society that should unite, prosper and live in
peace. LokasamastA sukhino bhavantu and vasudhaiva kutumbakam are not mere empty
words spoken by Rsis a long long while ago.
Freedom and Tolerance in Hinduism
Freedom was born in India. Doubt, the mother of freedom, was born with the Rig Veda, the
most sacred scripture of the Hindus which has the following:What are words, and what are mortal thoughts!Who is there who truly knows and who can say,|
Whence this unfathomed world
And from what cause!
Freedom of the mind created the wondrous world of the intellectthe world of Hindu
rishis, philosophers, poets and dramatists.
India has had an unrivalled tradition of religious freedom and tolerance. That tradition was
born of the consciousness that truth can never be the monopoly of any one sect or creed.
Infinite tolerance is the hallmark of Hinduism. The first statement of tolerance in Hinduism
comes from the Rig Veda and the Bhagavad Gita:
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"Let good thoughts come to us from all sides" or "The truth is one but the wise call it by
many names" or Lord Krishna saying that "Whoever invokes a deity by whatever name, it is
Me he invokes".
Hinduism allows absolute freedom to the rational mind of man. Hinduism never demands any
undue restraint upon the freedom of human reason, the freedom of thought, feeling and willof man. Dogmatism, on the other hand, stifles mental elasticity and turns people into
"psychological antiques." In Hinduism, the attitude of freedom and generosity to other faiths
is bound up with the conviction that the religious life has its source and certainty in the
eternal deeps of man's soul.
The Vedas
The Vedas are not puerile babblings of rustic troubadours, but sedate out-pourings of
exceptional minds in quest of God. Early Rig Vedic hymns were composed between 6,000-
1500 BCE. Like indestructible gems they have come down during many thousands of years
in spotless perfection. From the Vedas they evolved the Upanishads, whose copious enquiriesinto the nature of man, the Universe, and God, strike us with speechless wonder. They
evolved the most perfect language in the world, Sanskrit, with a scientific alphabet and
perfected vocabulary, and a grammar which is itself a great work of art. Their intellectuals
vying with each other, propounded six systems of philosophy explaining man, universe, and
God, before which Aristotle's and Plato's theories look like juvenile endeavors, which fell flat
on their own country-men. They discovered the Earth's dual motions, and studied the courses
of constellations and stars, and founded the twin sciences of astronomy and astrology. They
probed the human frame, and perfected a system of medicine for the welfare of the body,
evolved the science of Yoga for the health of the mind, and the Tantra Shastra to develop the
psychic and esoteric forces latent in man's being. They brought out Dharma Sastras to guide
man's conduct in society, Grihya Sutras to guide the conduct of house-holders, and a unique
science, Meemamsa, prescribing sacrificial lore for the attainment of individual and national
prosperity. They codified the laws of sanitation, town-planning, architecture, sculpture and
enunciated the principles of music, dancing, and the art of love. They laid down principles of
state-craft, and of the art of war, with human and animal strategy, with physical weapons, or
shastras, and enchanted weapons or astras.
The English knowing world began to read of the greatness of Indian civilization in the 18th
century. Scholars, one after another, caught glimpses of its luster, and becoming curious,
slowly unveiled the enveloping shroud and gaze with ever growing wonder at is astonishing
extent. Russian, German, Italian, Swedish, French, and American intellectuals also turnedtheir telescopes on the Indian sky during the period, and expressed their appraisal in no
uncertain terms.
The Vedas (Book of Knowledge) are the greatest legacy of India, a prodigious body of verse,
philosophy and hymns that is among the world's oldest written sacred scriptures.
The Vedas are the discoveries of the laws of nature, the world and the being living in it and
the Ultimate Truth. They are called apauruseya grantha (authorless works) as they are not
books composed by men at a particular period of time. Ancient sages received these eternal
Truths as revelations in meditation.
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The Four Vedas are the primary texts of the spiritual and religious records of the ancient
culture and teachings of India. The four Vedas are the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas.
The religion of the Rig Veda is well known. It is pre-eminently the worship of Nature in its
most imposing and sublime aspect. The sky which bends over all, the beautiful and blushing
dawn which like a busy housewife wakes men from slumber and sends them to their work,
the gorgeous tropical sun which vivifies the earth, the air which pervades the world, the firethat cheers and enlightens us, and the violent storms which in India usher in those copious
rains which fill the land with plenty, these were the gods whom the early HIndus loved to
extol and to worship. Such is the nature-worship of the Rig Veda, such were the gods and
goddesses whom our forefathers worshipped more than four thousand years ago on the banks
of the Saraswati. The conception of the nature-gods and the single-hearted fervency with
which they were adored, argue the simplicity and vigor of a manly race, as well as the culture
and thoughtfulness of a people who had already made a considerable progress in
civilization. The Vedas were handed down from mouth to mouth from a period of unknown
antiquity. When the Vedas were composed, there was probably no system of writing
prevalent in India. But such was the zeal of the Brahmins, who got the whole Vedic literature
by heart by hearing it from their preceptors, that it has been transmitted most faithfully to usthrough the course of more than 4,000 years with little or no interpolations. This is unique
monument to their tremendous memory. One of the conspicuous feature in ancient Indian
education as it used to be was the training of memory. Education was by means of oral
instruction and the learning by heart of classic literature. The learned men did not rely upon
his library, but upon his memory alone. The memory thus trained and relied upon was
capable of marvelous feats; even now there are men who know by heart hundreds and
thousands of verses of Sanskrit literature which they have learnt once and never forget.
Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy. No religion, perhaps,
lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as Hinduism. The Mahabharata, Ramayana,
Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas and Smriti contain the earliest messages for
preservation of environment and ecological balance. Nature, or Earth, has never been
considered a hostile element to be conquered or dominated. In fact, man is forbidden from
exploiting nature. He is taught to live in harmony with nature and recognize that divinity
prevails in all elements, including plants and animals. The rishis of the past have always had
a great respect for nature. Theirs was not a superstitious primitive theology. They perceived
that all material manifestations are a shadow of the spiritual. The Bhagavad Gita advises us
not to try to change the environment, improve it, or wrestle with it. If it seems hostile at times
tolerate it. Ecology is an inherent part of a spiritual world view in Hinduism.