Hindu Philosophy- A Rational Life

One or Many?   There is a famous story in the Kandogya Upinsad of Sama Veda, VII Kanda in which a son who returned after studying all Vedas and he tried to impressed his father by orating what he had learned. The story tried to explain that the father felt that his son was sensing proud with the show of orating Vedas again and again. To make his son realized that knowledge doesn’t have the essence of proving show; he asked his son to leave eating food and drinking water for next two days and then come to him to narrate the Vedas he has learned. The son obeyed his father and remained fasting for two days and then came back to him. Then the father asked him to speak all four Vedas. The son only able to remember two Vedas which he learnt with great efforts and only narrated them, the father then again the son to continue the fasting for next two more days and return to him. The son again obeyed and remained on total fasting and returned to his father who asked him to recites all

I encountered with many people who talk about GITA, but that is not my interest to spread any ideology. What make me surprise that BHAGWAT GITA and spirituality are used as synonyms. I again read and re-read BHAGWAT GITA , just to know where I left things behind, I translated chapters after chapters and what I only and only found is that BHAGWAT GITA is the Genesis of actions rather than teaching anything for spiritual or any innate ideas. Unfortunately the Shrimad Bhagwat Gita which is the most important religious book of Hindus is taken as spiritual philosophy at present. Gita means these days that nothing is true and there is no place of materialism in this world. But Gita pronounced this world as real and emphasized on action, right to say, prescribed actions and also the principle of balance life- emotionally and physiologically. The lesson which Gita taught to this Hindu race is the passions and its shortcomings of greed, hatred, desire and so on and encouraged man to sta

  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

  Reasoning is to understand, cause is explanation What is difference between reason and cause? Looking to a lightening in dark sky and in heavy clouds- ‘B’ said that lightning is caused because god is angry. ‘B’ added that whenever god is angry (cause) thunder and lightning started (effect). But ‘C’ on other hand said that to understand the phenomena of lightning it is important to understand the essential requirement of clouds and rattling of clouds. The reason for lightning is there is some charge electric in clouds. The difference between ‘B’ and ‘C’ is not only the process of thinking but also the way they came out. Mostly we take both reason and cause as synonyms and that make great fallacy of judgement. These two words ‘reason’ and ‘cause’ is treated in Hindu philosophy as different but mistakenly taken as same and therefore collapsing the meaningful treatise of Indian Philosophy. Reason is generally taken as thinking, understanding and logically reaching a conclus

  Mostly in Hindu context, when one talk about Brahman then it is taken as Brahma - the creator of this world as per Hindu mythology. The Brahma is the one that created the world, the first cause and the ontological argument of creation. The Puranas describe the religious creation through Brhma. But philosophically, as per Hindu rationality, Brahman is a concept of Advaita (One, single, singular, sole and only) Vedanta that describes a single reality. This reality is attribute less, shapeless, colourless and only the reality of the universe. The concept of Brahman is transcendental and without Brahman nothing exists. Shanker Acharya described Brahman as the stem of the only reality and it is neuter gender and only the ultimate reality. The Brahman is the singularity and there is no duality except Brahman, Brahman is translated as the universe, the cosmos the one and only reality. Shanker while building the oneness philosophy on Hindu soil cleared that there is nothing except Brahman

  Materialism preached that this world is real and other then this world, things are secondary. Hindus by nature practice this materialism but this thought which flourished many times within this civilization was crushed by the idealistic thoughts by showing fear of god and curses of priests. Invention of materialism were interpreted as gift of spiritualism for example the pushp vahana (flower vehicle) described in Ramayana was possible by materialistic approach but it is described as the spiritual vehicle. The Charvaka philosophy school is the oldest materialistic stream of India and even in the epics like Mahabharata, there are quotes of this school and even the name of philosopher Charvaka mentioned. The original text of this school is unfortunately lost but principles of this school are found in references in other schools and in other books. The major setback of this school is that it is largely made to believe that they believe in only one thing which is ‘eat drink and marr

For Hindus, there were no ten commandments and no religious compulsion for hundreds of years. The touch stone of moral life of Hindus was Karma (actions), the only criteria of fruits, if one does good actions, he get good results or vice verse. The theory of karma is the only matrix for morals in Hindus. These karmas are very much  and clearly defined in Surtis and also in Upnisads. The man reaps what he sown. This concept influenced so much that even other religions residing on this land accepted that actions should reap fruits. And these codes of action was prepared according to the concept of right knowledge which philosophies advanced ahead to clear the reality. Katha Upnisad, chapter II-5 illustrated says,   “ Those who are wrapped up in imperfect knowledge, fancy themselves alone wise and learned, they wandered about floundering and deceived, like the blind led by a man who is himself blind. ”   The basic aim of philosophy in leading a life in accordance to the true knowledge was

  Interestingly comparing the philosophy of Hindu race with other parts of the world, we found no trace of the concept of good and evil struggling to overpower. The Hindus had never maintained the work of evil for wrong deeds. There is no evil for original Hindu religion that lures the Adam and Eve to do something wrong and against the divine because good or bad is the outcome of one’s own action. In Christianity and also in Islam and even in other religions, fight between divine and devil still continues and the main work of devil is to work against the divinity and the divine power works to bring the man again on right path. The fight between these two positive and negative powers remained working since the episode of Satan. But for Hindus there is no evil, even the Ravana- the villain in the  Ramayana epic was not an evil power. The Ravana was praised as the wise man and a pundit who knows even more than any other seer. Even the epic describes that the Hero of the Ramayana, Lord Ram

  Worshiping any god is not superstition and worshiping and offering prayers is also not illogical as faith does not accept reasoning but following symbolism of religion blindly, certainly leads to absurdity.   India is the land where philosophy germinated for thousands of years and provided logic and reasoning for the balance life and certainly where religion was similar to deeds and moral and knowledge.   Christopher Hitchens in, God is not great on page 184 states, “ The argument that religious belief improves people, or that it helps to civilize society, is one that people tend to bring up when they have exhausted the rest of their case. Very well, they seem to say, we cease to insist on the Exodus (say), or the virgin birth or even the resurrection, or the “night flight” from Mecca to Jerusalem.   But where would people be without faith? Would they not abandon themselves to every kind of license and selfishness? Is it not true, as G K Chesterton once famously said that if pe

How universe is created   The philosophy started in India with the only key word of ‘know they self’ knowing your self is the knowledge which turns as touchstone and provide liberation to the soul from this life of misery, the main theme of Hindu philosophy on which the religion came out and known as ‘sanatan Dharma’.   There is no example of any sought that made us believe that Vedic people had any type of temples and offerings to the gods, “ The culture that built no temples but worshiped  nature sprits with simple sacrificial rites” Aryan rule in India by Havell.   The Hindu religion started with the pure philosophical thoughts and raised questions to know the absolute and reality first hand rather than worshiping without applying any reason, “There was then neither what is nor what not (truth) is. There was neither sky nor the heaven which is beyond what covered? Where was it, and in whose shelter? Was the water the deep abyss in which it lay? There was no death hence wa

  What is individuality?    Through method of ‘Shastrartha’- debating on an issue with logic and reasoning     King Milinda asking concept of individuality from Nagasena- a Buddhist monk – Milinda- “By ‘I’ you mean you are face, legs or hands,” Nagasena- “I am not the nails, hairs, teeth, skin or brain or any part of the body.” Milinda- “Then you are known by attributes, or by thinking, or by pain or by feelings.” Nagasena- “No Lord King, I am not feeling or thinking or any attribute.” Milinda- “Then how you will describe yourself when you are neither body nor soul and nor any feeling or emotions.” Nagasena- “Just as a chariot, which is neither pole, nor wheels, nor axle and neither spokes, not even the frame and not even the horses, the chariot is the combination of every part and without horses there is no chariot and without wheels there is no chariot, neither a wheel or horse is known as chariot. The combination of the whole is the chariot.” “In the same way the