| Once upon a time India was considered to be a land of heavenly life; every man and woman who lived here was equivalent to divine beings. The mention of 33 billion manifestations of Gods in the Indian scriptures refers to these inhabitants of ancient India. It is a country of golden heritage and glorious past. All branches of knowledge and civilization are said to have emanated from the Indian Philosophy and Culture which were spread across the globe through the dedicated altruist endeavors of the rishis. India was supposed to be the eminent guide of the entire world in pre and post vedic age. The scientific and socio-economic development here was so advanced those days that India was often referred as a "Dimond Bird" - a symbol of immense prosperity. The periphery of the Indian culture was so vast that practically the whole world was lying in its domain of influence until several thousands years ago.
A large number of scholars and researchers of - world-history, oriental culture and intellectual evolution have elucidated different aspects of ancient India from time to time. Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya had reviewed the foundation and expansion of the culture and civilization of India and had prepared a comprehensive research document on contributions of India to the entire world. The authentic information compiled by him in 1972-73 during a voyage oversees is like a concise encyclopedia which is presented in this volume along with some of his other writings on the topic.
The fundamental elements, principles and practices of the divine Indian culture are presented in the volume nos. 33 and 34 of the Vangmaya series. The present volume gives details with evidential information and references on the global expansion and historical contributions of this most ancient culture to the civilization and cultural development of the rest of the world. While talking about the grand glorious past of this orgulous culture, one often wonders - why then a country like India lost its divine values and is virtually facing a melange of cultural pollution and rigid traditions coupled with all round decline of moral tendencies?
This volume does throw light on the past two thousands years of cultural darkness and crises of value system. It deciphers the course of events in the distant past history which led to practical devastation of the edifice of the divine culture followed by rapid decline in the moral values and propagation of misconceptions and misinterpretations of philosophy, religion and the science of spirituality of the ancient times.
Study and evaluation of culture as a whole cannot be completed without taking into account the psychological makeup of the concerned societies. Attitudes, convictions and faiths of people play a crucial role in shaping of cultural developments. The author has paid due attention to these aspects too.
Because religion deals with intrinsic faith and deeper sentiments of a person, Acharya Sharma considers revival of human-religion in the righteous direction as the best mode of resurrection of divine cultural values. His trenchant knowledge, authenticity, non-prejudiced progressive attitude and rational thinking with scientific delineation and open-mindedness are transparent in his writings on eternal necessity and impact of religion in human life. He points out how the diversion of religious system from its ideal path leads to cultural devolution and damage. He also analyzes the state and nature of religion in ancient India in this context.
The author describes the scientific nature and universality of the religious principles emerged from the vedas and shows how the associated establishment of cultural system too is scientific and useful for the righteous progress of life in the modern age. Details on the fundamental elements, disciplines and different methods of practical implementation of the formers in human life are given in volume nos. 33 and 34. Scientific validity - including information on research in modern laboratories, of these practices is also discussed in the above volumes... |
