OUR SPIRITUAL GOAL IS UNITY NOT UNIFORMITY

OUR SPIRitual GOAL IS UNITY NOT SIMILARITY

(Consolidation of various E-Mails by N. R. Srinivasan. Nashville, TN, USA, August 2018)

I came across an interesting article in which the seven most Sacred Rivers mentioned are   Ganaga, Yamuna, SarasvatI, Godavari, Narmada Kshipra and Kaveri.  Sprouting of Sarasvati after 4000 years gives encouragement to retain Sarasvati among the most Sacred Rivers of India. At the same time   there being no hope of getting back Sindhu or Indus and recovering the land of Saptisindhus hailed in Rigveda and as heptahaindava in Avesta,  it should have motivated to delete Sindhu from the list of  most Sacred Rivers disregarding our priests.  India has long back forgotten Brahmaputra Region as they were all given away to others in recognition of their subservience under their Rule over three centuries.  Under Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Devo Ekah   Vedas proclaimed that the “Sun Never sets in the Prithvee Kingdom of Sanatana Dharma”. The British changed that with their muscle power and declared “The sun Never Sets in the British Empire and that rules the Kingdom of Christianity”. But scepter and crown must tumble down and so after few centuries it has   confined to its origin, jam packed with various faiths threatening Christianity, in British Isles. Sanatana Dharma may be its hope also. That is why missionaries are so active in proselytization in India. In USA many have lost faith in Christianity and say they are Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR). While Hindus in India are desperate to hold on to their castes and their presiding deities called Ishta Devatas   Hindu Americans are not yet ready  to lead the SBNR or stop their children going into the arena of SBNR. To all of them HH Chandrasekahrendra Sarasvati says our Goal should be Unity and not Uniformity meaning we should not uniformly make the same blunder.

Our religious Pundits are hopeful of getting back Sindhu though they too have moved away from the Seven Sacred Rivers mentioned in Rigveda. May be they have found some from among 99 rivers mentioned in Rigveda to complete  their list? But they have not lost hope of Sindhu. So our sacred Kalasa Mantra which we employ in all rituals reads: Ganage cha Yamaunachaiva Godavari Sarasvati Narmade Sindhu Kaveri jalesamin sannidhim kuru”. It is for Hindus in India to think seriously about it. Perhaps Hindu Dharma prevents to get back the land (of Saptasindhu) given as Charity. That makes them ignore Sri Rama who said: “Jananee janmabhoomischa praanaadapi garreeyasi”. It is therefore ideal for them also to follow Sanatana Dharma and go with the afterthought of our Neetisastra Pundits: “Vasudhaiva Kutiumbakam” based on Vedic wisdom and go for wholesale proselytization.

“In my opinion the Vedic religion was once prevalent all over the world. Our long history is sufficient proof of this” says HH Swami Chandrasekahraendra Sarasvati in his book:  “The Voice of the unknown or God (Deivattin Kural in Tamil)” that is presented you to enrich your knowledge and widen your vision that Sanatana  Dharma  does not belong to any founded religion  or to Hinduism coined  and dubbed so,  as is believed today, but to humanity.  Based on Rigvedic wisdom  thoughts “”sanghacchadvam sam  vadadvam”,  “aatmavat sarvabhooteshu”, “ sahannavavtu sahnau bhunaktu sahveeryam karavaavahi” our religious pundits and moral Gurus promoted the concept of “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam”, “sarve janaah sukhino bhavantu” etc.  Similarly Vedas are Book of Knowledge educating humanity in Para Vidya (Spiritual Knowledge) to attain Liberation and Apara Vidya (Secular Knowledge)  to lead a   peaceful contented happy life and to live with peace and harmony in the human society. This calls for a thorough review of all the information of our long history that I have  brought to your focus while discussing various discourses sent to you as well  as exclusive E-mails on specific topics contained in Thoughts of the Day, quarterly reporting.

Only ancestors of present day Hindus and the sages were there in the world to start with.  This can be known from the fact that every Hindu remembers his lineage or Gotra originating from a three or five sages passed on by his parents traditionally in his Sankalpa or religious resolution.  This is an unwritten law.   He also knows how old the world has been before him from the religious resolution.  Other cultures have to resort to some historic evidence for their origin.   According to Sankaracharya of Kanchi (Maha periyaval) the ancient Vedic civilization, existed all over the world, with many Sanskrit, Brahmi, Tamil inscriptions on many walls of temples, below the pedestals of statues, etc. 

The term Hindu in the ancient Avesta records is a geographical term and does not refer to a religion and is the aphabramsa (corrupted form) of the word Sindhu. Thapar, Indian historian states that the word Hindu is found as heptahindu in Avesta – equivalent to Rigvedic Sapta- sindhu. Nobody knows what exactly these seven Sindhus are. We have a reference   to   ten rivers in the land of Aryavarta in Rigveda. Rigveda speaks of 3x7=21 rivers and also 99 rivers and so many of them   not identified but guessed somewhat.  Sindhu could mean any large live or active water source.  At the time of Rigveda there was no concept of religion but only Dharma that was created by Brahman for the entire world to rule the world when his task of creation was over (Brihadaranyaka). It is therefore reasonable to believe these Heptahaindva   mentioned in Avesta or Saptasindhus mentioned in Vedas and that further continues with  Sapta Sapta without any explanation that could mean    Seven great water sources of the world called Seven Seas in MNU – “sapta imae loke……..sapta sapta”.

We all pray to Narayana who appeared on shoreless waters (ambasya paare bhuvnasya madhye) as one stretch of water and address him as Dayasindhu Karunasindhu etc meaning “Ocean of Mercy and Pity”. Hence the word Sindhu means ocean also. Thus this vast stretch of water should have given birth to   seven Khandas (divisions) like Bharata Khanda, Aindra Kanda etc.  Our priests in USA refer to USA as Aindra kanda in Sankalpa where the same Universal Dharma prevailed for all humanities. I do not know why and how our priests in USA caught up with the idea of Aindra Khanda for USA!  This gave birth to the modern concept of 7 continents.  Please refer to the Rigveda Durga sukta mantra, “Visvaani noe durgaha jaatavedah sindhum na naava duritaati parshi” Here the mantra quotes a simile:  “like crossing the ocean with a boat”. Here Sindhu means Ocean.

Vedic texts have a wide geographical horizon, speaking of oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts. “Eight summits of the Earth, three shores or desert regions, seven rivers or oceans.”--asthau vyakhyat kakubhah prthivyam tri dhanva yojana sapta sindhun RV.I.35.  The Avesta’s  hapta  həndu are preemptively equated with the Vedic Sapta Sindhavaḥ or vis-a-vis: In Vendidad 1.18 these are described to be the fifteenth of the sixteen lands created by Mazda.  Refer to the Saptarishis of the Rigveda and also the later seven seas and the seven climes and similar references in Avesta!   In classical Greeco-Roman geography and astronomy Climes were the divisions of the inhabited portion of the spherical Earth by geographic Latitude.

The 7 continents of the world are North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The "Seven Seas"   is an ancient phrase   for     seven oceanic bodies of water:    The Arctic ocean, the North Atlantic ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean,  the   South Pacific ocean  and the Southern (or Antartic Ocean)

The Sanskrit word drāviḍa is used to denote the geographical region of South India.  This was coined by Adi Sankaracharya (590—477 BCE) when he was questioned as to where he had come from by locals in Mandhata to which he proclaimed himself to be a "Drāviḍa Śiśu," with shishu meaning 'child' or 'child of' and dravida being a sandhi word combining the elements dravya, meaning water, and vida, meaning meeting place. Therefore, drāviḍa means "the place where the three waters meet" with those "three waters" being the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. May be they had some other name then?   Southern Brahmins are known as Pancha Dravida while Northern Brahmins are known as Panch Gauda, denoting geographical region. At the time Sankara lived on this earth the word Hindu or Hinduism did not exist and he was therefore a DRAVIDA BRAHMANA who postulated Advaita Philosophy of Sanatana Dharma.

From the researches of historian Siddharta Kak we find the evidence of flourishing Vedic culture and Sanatana Dharama not only in the Northern part of India Pakistan Afghanistan Tibet etc. but from Australia to Americas.   HH Chandrasekarendra Sarasvati says California could be Kapilaranya supported by the nearby existence of Ash Island and Horse Island in his Book of Dharma. It is therefore reasonable to believe Veda refers to Ancient Seven Seas where Dharma as created by the Supreme (Brihadarnyaka) was followed by mankind   and there was no religion of any kind including modern Hinduism then.  This was what makes HH Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati to say that Vedic religion was once prevalent all over the world.  The word Hinduism did not exist then. If it existed Sankara would have said he is a Hindu instead of Dravida Sisu.    Seeing the wide prevalent Vedic religion once   all over the vast stretch of land Persians called the people who practiced them as Haindavas     as they could not pronounce the letter “S.”  The   vast stretch   water  exclaimed as   hindu for sindhu  gave birth to modern name Indus from Sindhu,  and those settled on its bank were identified as  Sindhus by those who spoke Sanskrit and  in turn Hindus, by those who spoke Persian. That was the basis on which the present Hinduism of India is understood but not Haptahaindava.  So the Population that was identified were Haindavas who followed Dharma. Then who could be those Haptahaindavas referred in Avesta and Saptasindhu referred in Vedas. I believe this refers to the entire population of the world to be in tune with Vedic dictum Aaatmavat sarvabhooteshu and the later thought Vasudhaiva kutumbakm by moral teachers in Nitisasatras and “aano bhadrantu kratavah yantu visvatah”  and terms like “lokaah smastaah,  “sarvejanah”,  considered as one  human lot in Sanatana Dharma that is  focused in our daily prayers.

We see the Unity of Faiths and not Similarity that HH Chanderasekaharendra Sarasvati speaks,   in Sanat Kumara Esoteric Tradition. In Sanat Kumara Esoteric Tradition, Sanat Kumara is the great guru and savior of Earth. Believers see him in all the major religions, as Skanda/Kartikeya in Hinduism, Brahma-Sanam Kumara in Buddhism, Ancient of Days in Judeo-Christianity and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.  Sanat Kumara is also considered as Al Khadir (green man) known to Sufi Muslims (According to Dakshinamurti).

Being Western educated you may dismiss all this as mere speculation or myth. Of late lot of research  going on in the field of archeology is brought to limelight as well as  decoding the mystery contained in  mantras and slokas of Rigveda,  Hanuman chalisa, Puranas etc.,   in search of  True History of India.  History of India at preset taught in schools is what  was at once   researched  with directives to Europeans with the specific goal to justify that Christianity was even older than Hinduism,  politically motivated about which I have talked   a lot quoting from several modern Indian Historians including  Velansamy of Hawaii Temple.  We all criticized the Time measurement as projected by Surya Siddhanta and also about the age of earth. Recently I brought to your attention a Rigveda mantra that describes Brahman as a mystic bull that roars periodically as having 4 horns, 3 feet,  2 heads with 7 oval shaped hands. If you simply write down these numbers it indicates 4320000000 human years that is a Kalpa and we are in Svetavaraha Kalpa.

Chatvaari sringaa trayoe asya paadaa dve seershe sapta hastaaso asya I tridaa baddho vrishbho roeraveeti maho devo aavivesa || Rigveda IV-58-3 

The syllable Om conceived as the Bull possesses four horns, three feet, two heads, He has seven oval shaped hands.  This Bull connected in a threefold manner, eloquently declares the Supreme (as Kaalapurusha), The-Self –luminous Deva has entered the mortal everywhere.

Brahman is a Kalapurusha and appears in each Kalpa announcing his arrival that is indicated as the roar of the mystic Bull. You can thus see the mystery contained in these Veda mantras. I am neither a Vedic scholar nor a modern archeologist engaged in reviewing the past history as taught in schools with political bias. You have to go through the writings of scholars like Siddharta Kak, David Frawley etc. to know the True Spiritual or Religious History of the World and India in Particular.

V
eda existed as one Samhita and was a Book of Knowledge of both Para and Apara Vidya. It is meant for humanity and not for Hindus alone as we think and consider sacred exclusive to Hindus. It is sacred meaning vital to all human beings. Vedavyasa edited the Rik Samhita and divided them as Rik, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas and their Upanishads. Vedavysa seem to be a general name, like Brahma or Indra, referring   to all those who edit Vedas  from time to time.   It is stated in the life history of Madhvacharya that Madhva met Vedavyasa, discussed Brahmasutras and came out with his most recent philosophy of Dvaita    as an improvement   over  Advaita and Visishtaadvaita. That rethinking even Sankara started as revealed in his Tattva Bodha and confession before Lord Viswanatha in Varanasi after    boldly proclaiming his Advaita Philosophy to suit the times and to fight the atheistic tendencies that became silent on GOD if not denial!

I have talked lot about the Universal oneness, One God and One religion that is Vedanta which is good for all Hindus in India bringing down all sectarian walls,   to live in peace and harmony in a secular country   like USA in several of my lectures of which few are indicated below.  Hinduism in India to-day is very much disturbed by sectarian conflicts, caste and race conflicts,  Proselytization,   agitation for minority religious status  to take advantage of political concessions,     Aryan-Dravidian Controversy, Hindutva, Brahmin hatred, Hindu-Muslim fight, Al-quid–a  thereat etc. though it has declared itself as Sovereign Democratic Secular Republic., separating religion from politics.  Political parties are behind all these agitations and killings. Hinduism at first should bring unity within itself and bring all Dharma based religions together as in Vedic days and practice Vedic Dharma as its religion. They only say so but practice differently. Then the Abrahamic religion will remain peaceful practicing their religion even though they are too small in number together. That should come from countries like UK, USA and Rome Papacy. They should also ban all parties and their activities who practice atheism since the motto of the country is Satyameva Jayate  that  all should follow that being the cornerstone of Vedanta religion.

http://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2012/01/sanatana-dharma-is-for-humanity-not-for.html

http://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2015/09/is-sanskrit-language-of-tndian-or-hindu.

htmlhttp://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2015/11/why-i-am-called-hindu-and-my-following.html

http://nrsrini.blogspot.com/2016/05/vedanta-religion-everlasting-universal.html

Often our great spiritual leaders in USA like Rajiv Malhotra, HMEC, David Frawley are drawn to    these agitations in India and are drawn into negative thoughts instead positive thinking and conversion of American Hindu mind to Sanatana Dharma and Universal Oneness instead of Universal Brotherhood and Unity of Religions.  If all dharma based religions come together in USA, as we rightly started in the beginning, then even Abrahamic religions may come together learning from us if focused on SBNR group. We started well in USA after listening to Vivekananda but recently JAINA, Sikhs, Swami Narayans, Saibabas, Buddhists want to establish their own domain and are running to White House.

Our temple Executives are more worried about present financial Management not Spiritual Management and least worried on restoring  Hinduism to our SBNR oriented children with mixed marriages (every wedding you see is focused on it) which has a good chance of catching up Sanatana Dharma if properly focused instead turning atheist. Our 400 and odd temples should not become archeological relics of past glory but missionaries to promote Universal Oneness that will preserve Vedic culture and Dharma amongst Hindus in USA.   It is in this context I wrote our Hindu culture should focus on Discover Vedic Culture and Sanatana Dharma Camps instead Discover India Camps.  Hindus in India have a poor opinion about us and think we are materialistic while Hindu Americans think anything connected with India is Hindu and that all American Hindus are Indians and all Indian culture is Hindu culture.

There are significant number of Hindu Americans who have vague idea about India or the language or customs.  That is why some of the Hindus from other Asiatic countries have also started their own Hindu Temples not based on Agama or Sakta worship as in Hindu temples operated by Hindu migrants from India. This works against the Spirit of Sanatana Dharma and Universal Oneness.  Today there are different temples of Swami Narayan Faith, Saibaba Faith, Gurudvaras of Sikh Faith, Motivation to depart from worship of their deities in Hindu temples by Jains and Buddhists etc. in USA for a small population raising sectarian walls as in India. I believe a proper spiritual education focused on all these things in imparting Secular education, Para Vidya at our Vedic heritage classes and Bal Vihar schools will curb such growing tendencies in its infancy.

This article has been inspired by the talk given by HH Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati to Tamil audience titled Deivathhin Kural – Voice of God. “All religions have one common ideal, worship of the Lord, and all of them proclaim that there is but one God. In my opinion the Vedic religion was once prevalent all over the world.  The important message of Vedanta to the followers of the various faiths is to live in harmony with one another. The goal must be unity, not uniformity”. In Deivathin Kural he refers to two Words—Voice & Deva both in Singular. This is in accordance with the Veda manta “Om Tad Brahma”. Meditate on Brahma the GOD with one voice that is OM. This Universal GOD has  no name where G=Generator; O=Operator  and D=Dissolver a word written with all capital letters G O D. OM  also consists of three letters  A U M. For Pronouncing A one has to open his mouth indicative of beginning or Creation, U warrants you to continue the sound indicative of continuity or Preservation and M needs closure indicative of Dissolution.

In conclusion let me remind you the wise advice from our spiritual Gurus of modern times Swami Dayananda, Swami Chidananda and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

“The Mandirs have to play a significant role in the growth of the Hindu community in terms of its capacity to uphold Hindu Dharma. We need to make temples not just a center of rituals and congregation but lighthouses of philosophy and knowledge, which are the basis of Hindu Dharma. Creating an environment where the youth understand, appreciate and love their Hindu culture is a crucial need today, as is uniting all Hindu temples under one umbrella” 

APPENDIX

VOICE OF GOD—“DEIVATTIN KURAL”

(HH Chandrsekhrendra Sarasvati in his   Book of Dharma in Tamil)

All religions have one common ideal, worship of the Lord, and all of them proclaim that there is but one God. This one God accepts your devotion irrespective of the manner of your worship, whether it is according to this or that religion. So there is no need to abandon the religion of your birth and embrace another.

The temple, the church, the mosque, the vihara may be different from one another. The idol or the symbol in them may not also be the same and the rites performed in them may be different. But the Paramatman who wants to grace the worshipper, whatever be his faith, is the same. The different religions have taken shape according to the customs peculiar to the countries in which they originated and according to the differences in the mental outlook of the people inhabiting them. The goal of all religions is to lead people to the same Paramatman according to the different attributes of the devotees concerned. So there is no need for people to change over to another faith. Converts demean not only the religion of their birth but also the one to which they convert. Indeed they do demean God.

"A man leaves the religion of his birth because he thinks there is something wanting in it," so you may think. 'Why does Swamigal then say that the convert demeans the new religion that he embraces? “I will tell you why. Is it not because they think that God is not the same in all religions that people embrace a new faith? By doing so, they see God in a reduced form, don't they? They presumably believe that the God of the religion of their birth is useless and jump to another faith. But do they believe that the God of their new religion is a universal God? No. No. If they did there would be no need for any change of faith. Why do people embrace a new faith? Is it not because that the continuance in the religion of their birth would mean a denial of the blessings of the God of the new faith to which they are attracted? This means that they place limitations on their new religion as well as on its God. When they convert to a new religion, apparently out of respect for it, they indeed dishonor it.

One big difference between Hinduism and other faiths is that it does not proclaim that it alone shows the path to liberation. Our Vedic religion alone has not practiced conversion and the reason for it is that our forefathers were well aware that all religions are nothing but different paths to realize the one and only Paramatman. The Vedas proclaim: "The wise speak of the One Truth by different names.” Sri Krishna says in the Gita: "In whatever way or form a man worships me, I increase his faith and make him firm and steady in that worship.” And says one of the Azhwars: "Avaravar tamatamadu tarivari vahaivahai avaravar iraiyavar". This is the reason why the Hindus have not practiced- like adherents of other religions- proselytization and religious persecution. Nor have they waged anything like the crusades or jihads.

Our long history is sufficient proof of this. All historians accept the fact of our religious tolerance. They observe that, an empire like Srivijaya was established in the East, people there accepted our culture and our way of life willingly, not because they were imposed on them by force. They further remark that Hinduism spread through trade and not through force.

In my opinion the Vedic religion was once prevalent all over the world. Certain ruins and relics found in various regions of the planet attest to this fact. Even historians who disagree with my view concede that in the past people in many lands accepted Indian culture and the way of life willingly and not on account of any force on our part.

All religions that practice conversion employ a certain ritual. For instance, there is baptism in Christianity. Hinduism has more ritual than any other religion, yet its canonical texts do not contain any rite for conversion. No better proof is needed for the fact that we have at no time either encouraged conversion or practiced it.

When a passenger arrives at a station by train he is besieged by the driver of the horse-cart, by the rikshawala, by the cabbie, and so on. He hires the vehicle in which he likes to be driven to his destination. It cannot be said with reason that those who ply different vehicles are guilty of competing with one another for the fare. After all it is their livelihood. But it makes no sense for the adherents of various faiths to vie with one another to take a man to the one and only destination that is God.

There is a bridge across a river, consisting of a number of arches, each of them built to the same design and measurement. To the man sitting next to a particular arch it would appear to be bigger than the other arches. So is the case with people belonging to a particular religion. They feel that their religion alone is great and want others to join it. There is in fact no such need for anyone to leave the religion of his birth for another.

The beliefs and customs of the various religions are different and cannot be a cause for complaint. Nor is there any need to make all of them similar. The important thing is for the followers of the various faiths to live in harmony with one another. The goal must be unity, not uniformity.

Source: "Hindu Dharma"- English translation of "Deivathin Kural", a collection of invaluable and engrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi MahaSwamiji