Relevance of Vedanta and Hinduism in Modern Days

Modified from (By Swami Amarananda - courtesy Prabuddha Bharata)

The term ‘Hindu’ is the dis-figuration of the word ‘Sindhu’ the great river of the northern India (this river-Indus-is still called Sindhu in Indian languages). 'Hindu' has been in the Indian vocabulary since about 1200 years.We shall, however, use the term ‘Hinduism’ to denote our religion of even earlier epochs. The closest Sanskrit word for ‘religion’ in the distant past was dharma. Dharma was the prescribed, correct mode for individual and social life.

Swami Vivekananda was the first Hindu to discover the common basis of the creeds of the Hindu sects. These are:

(i) veneration of the Vedas,

(ii) theory of reincarnation and karma,

(iii) theory of the cyclic creation, sustenance and destruction of the cosmos,

(iv) goal perceived as liberation from suffering and access to bliss, and

(v) acceptance of diverse spiritual paths and the individual’s right to choose one or more among them.

It is the avastha-adhikara doctrine (avastha means the level of evolution and the corresponding aptitude for a spiritual discipline; adhikara means the competence of a person to take up a particularly higher course) - as illustrated through the spiritual ministration of Sri Ramakrishna - that helps the modern man to comprehend the seemingly contradictory approaches in different areas of Hinduism, or to appreciate the life of an aspirant who takes up several of such approaches.

The excellence of Hinduism should be evident :

(a) acceptance of plurality of a approaches, democracy in establishing creeds,

(b) balance between the two ideals-monarchal and social,

(c) basic formulations espouse the scientific vision,

(d) great elaboration of steps leading to inner transformation, and

e) abundance of saints suffused with spiritual force.

The Vedas say: When you have doubt regarding an act or a profession, go to a scholar who is a yogi, who has not lost his independence by being salaried: ask him what he will do if put in a similar situation, and do as he would have done.’

One Hindu custom, generally found in Vedic literature and developed in post-Vedic Puranic lore, is considering God as mother. Historically speaking, this had a salutary effect. India’s ancient history gives proof of the existence of women philosophers, saints, poets, artists and administrators. Saunaka in the 5th century BC mentions 27 women seers of the Rig Veda, the ancient-most literature of mankind.

The intellectual conviction that transcendental mysticism is the goal of religion; this is the central message of Hinduism.

We should bear in mind that from the date of the demise of Emperor Harsha in the year 647 AD up to 15 August 1947 there was no Hindu governing any vast portion of India, and that for a period of 1300 years Hindus were at the mercy of rules of alien faiths. Therefore the Hindu society today is like an unmended old boat which requires repairs. There is need of a fresh look at our marriage system, at our democracy-shy priest craft, at our service-shy religiosity. Our women should be given proper education; and all gender-related inequalities, in social as well as religious practice, should be brought to an end. Our tribal populations should be brought into the national mainstream through the sharing of our cultural heritage.

The major religions of the world fall under three categories: those arising on Indian soil, those formed by the lapping of the former Sino-Japanese ethics and art, and those issuing from the Middle East.

The spiritual feast is one great particularity of Hinduism Religion ultimately is an individual affair, to be taken seriously; this is illustrated through the system of having an ishta-devata, i.e. each person having the right to choose his or spiritual ideal. Hindus can resolve the dichotomy between the two ideals-the personal God and the impersonal one. This is the watershed between Abrahamic religions and eastern religions such as Theravada Buddhism, Jainism and Vedantic Monism. So, Hindus as a class are better suited than the members of other religions to have genuine sympathy for both the ideas. This is a great advantage when inter-religious dialogue is gaining momentum.

When our religion is thus made comprehensible to the modern man, when the practices incompatible with Vedanta are purged, when our education is spiritualized through de-secularization, when our nation gets united by the application of Vedanta, only then will Hindus be able to impress the world outside. Only then can our acharyas deliver what is expected of them - showing how to have the correct attitude to solve modern and ultra-modern problems: pollution, population explosion, escalating terrorism, ecological imbalance, unprecedented pauperization of man, ‘genetic bomb’ etc. Only then the song of the Puranic ballad will have significance today.