Key Role of Indian Culture in
the Holistic Revolution Needed Today
Indian Culture (Bh³ratºya Sa®sk•ti) is referred
in the ancient texts as “S³ Pratham³ Sa®sk•ti
Viïvav³r³” — the first and the supreme culture
(Sa®sk•ti) in the world. Is it just a rhetoric way of
ancient descriptions, a kind of ‘self-praise’, or is
there some substance in it? Else, if it is true, then
why we don’t see its greatness today? Whatever
the case may be, a more important query, which
is our focus in this article, is — why should we
discuss the Indian Culture? What is its relevance
and importance in today’s world? A discussion
concerning this query would clarify the other
doubts as well.
Before proceeding with the discussions, we must
keep in mind that the word “Culture” is used in
English as a translation of the Sanskrit (and also,
Hindi) word “Sa®sk•ti” (Sanskriti). In this article
we shall use the words “Sa®sk•ti” and “culture”
synonymously.
As its word-meaning suggests, “sanskriti” is
associated with Sa®sk³ras (intrinsic tendencies).
So the level and nature of one’s sanskriti is
reflected in one’s values, character, overall
personality, and deeds. We often associate
culture only with creative expression of feelings
and intrinsic artistic talents. However, more
importantly, sanskriti, and hence true cultural
development, of a person is inherently associated
with nurturing and elegant grooming of his/her
values, inner beauty, and emotional character.
Sanskriti of society or nation defines the collective
spirit, ideals, conduct, and prominent way of life
of its people. Greater the virtues and values of
(the members of) a society, the more evolved is
its sanskriti. Similarly, the nature or standard of
a sanskriti is judged according to the values and
trends of development it nurtures. The superiority
of Indian Culture (Bhartiya Sanskriti) lies in the
fact that it has originated from saintly wisdom,
science of spirituality, and inner quest for ultimate
evolution. By and large, the basis of other cultures
and civilizations prevalent in the (modern) world
is dogmatic faith and its literal revival and
imposition on the present-day humanity.
Indian Culture is built on the idea of supreme
development of humankind by awakening the
divine qualities and powers indwelling in the
inner self. Therefore, it not only encourages the
refined expression of creativity and hidden talents
of individuals, but also aims at holistic progress
of all in complete harmony with Nature.
The philosophy, principles, and system of life,
and the methods and modes of living guided
and practiced under this sanskriti inspire — a
culture of spirituality, a culture of devotional
spirit, a culture of love, a culture of selfless
service, a culture of sharing and caring, a culture
of positive thinking and seeing the good that
is pervading everywhere, a culture of simple
living and high-thinking, a culture of nurturing
vigor and radiance in life by self-awareness
and self-discipline. It nurtures a perfect art
of living with joy in all circumstances. It can
thus provide solutions to many of the complex
challenges that the world is facing todayincluding those concerning health, security,
environment, and sustainability.
In the Vedic Age, the sanskriti of India used to
be honored as a Dev Sanskriti — A Culture of
Divinity. It was this sanskriti of ancient India that
had shown the light of wisdom, divine humane
values, and spiritual emotional sensitivity to the
entire globe[1].
Today again it is this sanskriti
that will revive in its original form and show
the righteous path to usher in bright and blissful
future. Reasoned justification behind this belief
is the universally accepted fact that — this is the
culture (sanskriti) that endorses the Vedic wisdom
of “Vasudhaiva Kutu®baka®” (Entire world
is like a family) and “Âtmavata Sarvabh¿teÌu”
(Every being is like one’s own self).
Reawakening after the Meandering Tides of
Cultural Civilization:
People often wonder, as to why the divine culture
of India did not continue to guide the world in the
later years as it used to in the Vedic Age? How it
could disappear from the very land where it had
originated? Here, we should first understand the
fact that elements of culture (sanskriti) are like
seeds; they germinate, grow and blossom in fertile
land (of people’s heart and mind) at appropriate
season. So, the manifestation of culture varies
with the trends of time and alters its influence in
different phases of civilizations.
Natural tendencies of most people are driven by
ego, avarice and selfish attachments. As a result,
often the cultural values in every civilization tend
to decline in the absence of an equally powerful
force that can reawaken and guide the mass
mentality towards nobility. Ancient and modern
history of the world has witnessed that from time
to time saints and reformers have appeared on
this earth, inspired people towards the righteous
path and saved humanity from the risk of
disappearance.
The impact of these phases of
reawakening is more prominent and lasting than
the socio-political revolutions.
Because of utter blind faith and wild-type outlook
of the masses at large, there was cultural darkness
in entire Europe until medieval times. Dreaded
inhuman punishments by the so-called courts-oflaw
of religious clergies to anyone not following
their (fundamentalist) dogmatic principles;
incidents of burning people as part of ‘faith’,
etc, were common in that society until the 15th
century. Rest of the western world was almost
a tribal land at that time.
A conference held in
Florence, Italy in the year 1439 AD initiated
religious awakening in Europe. Some European
texts of 16-17th Century refer this as renaissance
of the occidental world. While it was the first (re)
awakening in the rest of the world in the medieval
times, in India, it marked the fifth reawakening.
This 5th phase of cycle of reawakening is known
in the history of India as “Bhakti K³la” (the
period of devotional renaissance).
Altruistic lives and devotional songs of saintly
poets like Ramanuj in the South, and Ramanand,
Tulasidas, Kabir, Mira, and Dadu, etc in the
Central and Northern parts of India generated a
wave of inspirational devotion in the hearts of the
masses in this Age. Ravidas and Kabir conveyed
the mystic teachings of ancient sages like Rishi
Kapil, Rishi Kanad, and Adi Shankaracharya via
lucid songs and poems in the local dialects to
enlighten the masses. Saint Ravidas was like a
pole-star in the cluster of devotional lamps.
These saintly poets destroyed all barriers of
saguna (worshiping a ‘deity form’ of God),including those concerning health, security,
environment, and sustainability.
In the Vedic Age, the sanskriti of India used to
be honored as a Dev Sanskriti — A Culture of
Divinity. It was this sanskriti of ancient India that
had shown the light of wisdom, divine humane
values, and spiritual emotional sensitivity to the
entire globe[1]. Today again it is this sanskriti
that will revive in its original form and show
the righteous path to usher in bright and blissful
future. Reasoned justification behind this belief
is the universally accepted fact that — this is the
culture (sanskriti) that endorses the Vedic wisdom
of “Vasudhaiva Kutu®baka®” (Entire world
is like a family) and “Âtmavata Sarvabh¿teÌu”
(Every being is like one’s own self).
Reawakening after the Meandering Tides of
Cultural Civilization:
People often wonder, as to why the divine culture
of India did not continue to guide the world in the
later years as it used to in the Vedic Age? How it
could disappear from the very land where it had
originated? Here, we should first understand the
fact that elements of culture (sanskriti) are like
seeds; they germinate, grow and blossom in fertile
land (of people’s heart and mind) at appropriate
season. So, the manifestation of culture varies
with the trends of time and alters its influence in
different phases of civilizations.
Natural tendencies of most people are driven by
ego, avarice and selfish attachments. As a result,
often the cultural values in every civilization tend
to decline in the absence of an equally powerful
force that can reawaken and guide the mass
mentality towards nobility. Ancient and modern
history of the world has witnessed that from time
to time saints and reformers have appeared on
this earth, inspired people towards the righteous
path and saved humanity from the risk of
disappearance. The impact of these phases of
reawakening is more prominent and lasting than
the socio-political revolutions.
Because of utter blind faith and wild-type outlook
of the masses at large, there was cultural darkness
in entire Europe until medieval times. Dreaded
inhuman punishments by the so-called courts-oflaw
of religious clergies to anyone not following
their (fundamentalist) dogmatic principles;
incidents of burning people as part of ‘faith’,
etc, were common in that society until the 15th
century. Rest of the western world was almost
a tribal land at that time.
A conference held in
Florence, Italy in the year 1439 AD initiated
religious awakening in Europe. Some European
texts of 16-17th Century refer this as renaissance
of the occidental world. While it was the first (re)
awakening in the rest of the world in the medieval
times, in India, it marked the fifth reawakening.
This 5th phase of cycle of reawakening is known
in the history of India as “Bhakti K³la” (the
period of devotional renaissance).
Altruistic lives and devotional songs of saintly
poets like Ramanuj in the South, and Ramanand,
Tulasidas, Kabir, Mira, and Dadu, etc in the
Central and Northern parts of India generated a
wave of inspirational devotion in the hearts of the
masses in this Age. Ravidas and Kabir conveyed
the mystic teachings of ancient sages like Rishi
Kapil, Rishi Kanad, and Adi Shankaracharya via
lucid songs and poems in the local dialects to
enlighten the masses. Saint Ravidas was like a
pole-star in the cluster of devotional lamps.
These saintly poets destroyed all barriers of
saguna (worshiping a ‘deity form’ of God),nirguna (considering formless God), and savarna
(upper caste), avarna (lower caste) that were
prevalent in the society at that time. Beyond
all the boundaries of ‘religious customs’, they
generated a nectar-flow of inner devotion and
pure knowledge (Vedanta).
Indian Culture has always nurtured this trend of
search for ultimate truth against blind faith. The
first awakening period in India commenced
in the Rig-Vedic Age. It began with the quest
of the rishis (Sages of Vedic Age) to find the
origin and ‘structure’ of Nature, existence of its
Creator, origin of gods, origin of time, ultimate
end of all that exists, and so on ….. They were
indeed the absolute scientists who deciphered the
deepest depth of consciousness and transcendent
knowledge as easily as they understood the
cosmic expansion of Nature.
Tens of thousands of years after the Vedic Age,
(as per the cycle of sublime Nature) the nature
of people and trends of time gradually got
changed. There emerged a period named as the
“Brahman1 Age” in which, gradually the rituals
and customary practices (described in some
parts of Vedas too) replaced mystic knowledge.
Then there was a second phase of cultural
renaissance in India. This reawakening period
was the “Age of Upanishads” when the essence
of pure knowledge (extracted from the Vedas)
was rediscovered, explained, and advocated by
sagacious spiritual scientists. Following the great
tradition of the divine sanskriti propounded by
the Vedic Rishis, in their quest for absolute truth,
the Upanishads even classified the ritualistic part
of the Vedas as non-knowledge.
The cycle of natural change in mass-mentality
continued; gradually the light of spiritual
knowledge dimmed in people’s life; the sociocultural
principles based on karma (deeds)
got linked with janma (birth, creed) and there
grew the misconceptions like casteism, socialdiscrimination,
excessive reliance on fate, etc,
in the Indian society. After which there was
the third period of reawakening. This was the
period of The Buddha.
Buddha’s teachings conveyed four ‘Aryasatyas’
(Noble Truths). The light of Buddhism expanded
across Asia. In fact, what he realized and
preached was the message of wisdom hidden
in the Vedas only. However, his approach was
different, as per the need to change the prevailing
negativity and blind faith in the name of ‘Vedic’
religion in Indian society at that time. This
divergence widened significantly after him.
Misconceptions and distortions of the Vedas
were on the rise. The pure wisdom component
of the Vedas had somewhat diminished even
from scholarly studies. Then in the 8th Centuries
AD, there emerged preeminent sagacious saint
Adi Shankaracharya, who rediscovered the
philosophy of Advait Vedanta and established
centers in the North, South, East and West of
India for dissemination of this pure knowledge.
His epochal endeavors thus resurrected the light
of the Upanishads. (The treasure of knowledge
rediscovered by him during this 4th cycle of
cultural renaissance continues to attract mystics
and spiritual scholars from all around the world.)
Before this knowledge could reach the entire
masses and guide them on different fronts of
life, the predominant rivalries between different
emperors and dynasties, the aftermaths of blind
faith and superstitions in the society, religious
divide between the Buddhists and Hindus, etc,
had weakened the country. The invaders fromWest Asia attacked, looted, destroyed precious
cultural heritage and treatises of ancient texts,
conquered and ruled over this land. The phase
of decline and distractions after Islamic invasion
further darkened in the medieval times.
Then there was an emergence of several saintly
poets and reformers during 15th and 16th Century,
who motivated the much needed awakening of the
masses. This was the 5th cycle of reawakening
in India. The wave of devotion triggered this
time had re-vitalized the soul of the country. But
complete re-emergence of true Indian Culture
was further blocked by the deceptive attacks
of the British. Their colonial rule of over three
centuries suppressed and distracted several
successive generations of Indians from the
real path of their sanskriti. Influence of rapid
industrialization and technological advancement,
though it helped materialistic development, the
efforts required for enlightenment and rise on
the cultural front got widely neglected except for
some superficial attempts on encouragement and
propagation of indigenous art.
Today the world is undergoing haywire
transformations on cultural front and facing
cultural delusions, adulteration, and devolution.
Influence of materialism and commercialization
has become so powerful that it seems to have
engulfed even the social norms and principles of
humanity. It has over-shadowed the way-of-life
of even those who boast about the great cultural
heritage of India. The fundamentalists who shout
against the occidental culture do not seem to
have substantial and sound grounds to inspire
and justify anything in favor of Indian Culture
except loud slogans.
The extent and complexity
of the problem is so vast that only few saints and
handful of their genuine followers may not be
able to accomplish the revival of Indian Culture
in feasible time sans the support of more and
more people across the globe.
It, therefore, appears essential to review the
original form of the sanskriti of India and research
its foundational principles in scientific light. It is
also important to analyze its social aspects and
relevance in the modern circumstances, and
identify the elements that could be adopted in
practice and inspire righteous progress. We shall
attempt to address these points and discuss related
aspects of Indian Culture in some successive
issues of this magazine.
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