Hindu family system

 Reasonable religion

One of the reasons that may be responsible for the blindfold faith in present Hindu race is the breaking of joint families. The unitary families emerged in last three-four decades and now family means a couple and their two children.

Indian family system was totally different where there were brothers, cousins, grand parents and their parents. The joint family system was the base of faith of individual that if anything happens wrong, my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, uncles and their uncles and relatives will come forward to help. B.N. Luniya in Evolution of Indian Culture made brief notes on later Vedic age and epic period and stated, “Joint family was the framework of the society. The eldest male member of the family was the head. He was expected to show high sense of responsibility and duty towards other members of the family. He commanded great respect and authority in the family.”

The psychological aid to individual that my family is there to support me in my bad days and my parents are there to guide me and therefore this joint family system helped people to progress without getting superstition for small things. But now, people feel distress and alone in their lives and therefore they think and found the way that now god will help when they caught in some wrong situation.

Basically, human is also an animal and therefore fear of losing and fear of unknown force them towards the unknown, who is someone more powerful and stronger to save them when in need. They imagine this powerful in a shape of human and made them god like Nietzsche looked to Zurastha, superman, who is above good and evil.

And it was philosophy in past in Hindu land that provided vision and logic against excessive religions and superstitions. Philosophy guided mass to live in accordance to truth and to make better living and directed society about the ethics and moral values of life including saving environment and also saving wild life. There are hundreds of trees and herbs which are counted precious in Indian religion and scientific approaches proved that they are useful to mankind in most of the ways.

The greatest merit of Hindu religion was that action or duties is the core of religion of Hindus and there was no need of teaching morality or ethics to children because it came as either innate or in empirical form.

The children had certain ages to learn, language, grammar, metaphysics, administration, armour, military business and at last epistemology. The system was developed as per the age in which there was limited role of religion to play and to interfere.

Ancient religion lead by philosophy clearly give a view that religion that time was not blind faith but was based on thought process and asked people to think, “The self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers through their sharp and subtle intellect. A wise man should keep down speech and mind, he should keep them within self which is knowledge, he should keep knowledge within self which is the great and he should keep that great within the self which is the quiet. Rise, awake! Having obtained your booms understands them, the sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over, difficult is the path of the self the wise tell it” Yama to Nachiketa, Katha Upinsad of Yagur Veda.

Philosophy never forced people for dogmas and also for social evils in contrary it helps people to think openly and logically. Those who were called learned help the mass and directed them towards right knowledge. It was the duty of learned to settle the case or dispute rationally. The matrix of life was action, “All works, good or bad, all must bear and do bear fruits” The mysteries of Karma, Brahmin Yoge, Allahabad 1898.

The crux of the Hindu religion was Karma, every individual is born with certain debt and in his new life he has to repay the debt by karma, obviously by good karma (action). The doctrine of karma was so important that nothing was more important the karma which was duty, duty towards family, duty towards society and duty towards humanity.