The Eternal Order

A very interesting passage for your reading pleasure:

What is to be done and what is not to be done, what is proper and not proper - these things you already know, of course, because you have a certain innate sense about them. No one can plead ignorance of what is right and wrong. This knowledge is universal.

What do you mean by universal knowledge? All monkeys, for example, born to live on treetops, need to know something about the law of gravity - and they do. Ifyou were to observe the mother monkey, yo would see that she has no concern about whether there is a baby holding onto her or not as she jumps from tree to tree. The baby monkey, however, holds onto its mother's bosom for its dear life. It is definitely afraid of falling, whereas the mother is not. She just keeps leaping from one branch to another, while her baby holds on tight.

Suppose, however the baby monkey had to undergo some education to know that there is a law of gravity operating, that it must hold on tightly in order not to fall, and that it if did fall, it would be injured or it would die. If all of these hings had to be taught to monkeys, many of them would die for want of education and the species itself would sooner or later become extinct.

Fortunately, every baby monkey, without being educated, seems to know what is done and what is not to be done. Without going to Harvard or Cornell, without joining the Moral Majority, it knows very well that 'I will fall if I let go of my mother.' That 'I will fall; is one piece of truth and 'if I fall, I may hurt myself' is the second piece of truth the monkey seems to know. The third piece of truth is, 'To fall and get hurt or be killed is not good forme or for my species.'

Instinctively, then, the monkey knows all this. Since monkeys are made to live on treetops, the minimum knowledge every monkey must have in order to survive is to know, 'I will fall; objects come down; I will be the victim if I don't hold on to the other branch when I leap.' This knowledge must be given to monkeys along with the creation. Only then is there any hope of a monkey living its life on the treetops.

Such knowledge is instinctive and is what we call the creation. If that knowledge is not given to a monkey and it has to be educated in order to know how to survive, then I would say that there is a defect in the creation.

Similarly, as a human being, I am born with a faculty of choice. Unlike a monkey, however, I can choose to live on treetops, on the 20th floor of a building in Manhattan, or in a cottage on some riverbank. I can choose to go to Alaska and keep only my nose out or I can live in the tropics. Because I have the faculty of choice, I can choose my course of action. I can choose various ends and various means to achieve those ends.

That human beings seek securities and pleasures is a common fact that we have already analysed. And in seeking these ends, they have to follow certain means to achieve them. More often than not, upon analysis you will find that the problems lie only in the means and not in the ends.

(For example, stealing in order to provide for the family. The end is 'providing for the family', which is not wrong. But the means, 'stealing', is wrong.)

This passage is interesting because it shows that we have a naturally in-built consensus of what is right and what is wrong.

This blog is about Hinduism, basically. Hinduism, or Sanatana Dharma, is one of my passions. This blog would be my avenue to muse over the thoughts and teachings I'm currently going through in this stage of my life.

I'm attending a Diploma course in Hinduism Studies. I find it really useful to build up my almost-non-existent knowledge in Hinduism. Only after going to the lessons do I realise that there is actually so much more to be learnt and that I'm such an ignorant person! I want to share this so-little knowledge I've gained so far with my readers and I would be very happy if someone gets benefitted from my writings here.

What is Vaidika Dharma? It is just an another name for Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma has become such a common name that most are using it in the blogger's world. I wanted my blog to be a little uniquely named and as such I've given it as Vaidika Dharma. I will use the word "Hinduism" for convenience's sake, although it was a name that was only recently given to this particular practice of Sanatana Dharma.

Hinduism is nothing but a collective philosophical and religious thought by ancient Indians. The stress here is on the "ancient" because the current Indians do not own rights to the teachings that were given by our Rishis. Hinduism is unique in comparison to Judeo-Christian religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Hinduism does not have a single founder, we do not worship a single God, we have more than one philosophical school of thought and no one scriptural authority!

We do not have a founder to be named, but if he has to be named then there is only one person. He is Vyasa. We cannot actually call him a founder because there were many before him. But he is a very important person. Before his time, the Veda was passed down only through word of mouth. It was Vyasa who compiled the Veda into 4 different Vedas (Yajur, Sama, Atharva, and Rig). It was Vyasa who wrote the Puranas. It was Vyasa who wrote the Mahabharatha, and together with it, the Bhagavad Gita. He also wrote the Brahma Sutra. He systemized the Vedic "Hindu" thought. We will talk more about scriptures in the next blog post.

There are three important persons who have helped in the evolution of Hinduism. They are Swamis Ramakrishna, Shivananda, and Chinmayananda. Their scriptural compilation and teachings of Hinduism gave birth to Modern Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion that keeps growing and evolving. It NEVER stops! This is very unlike the other religions in the world. You name it! The word "Sanatana" itself means ever-lasting, universal and eternal. The teachings of Sanatana Dharma is relevant at all times because there is continuous evolution. "Dharma" means, the way of life.

In Hinduism, the goal is not to attain Moksha. This is a common misconception that everyone has. There are two lifestyles that is presented to man for him to choose. If he wants to experience the pleasures of life, he could choose to live a life as an house-holder. If he doesn't want the pleasures but wants to be a spiritual person, he can renounce all his pleasures in life and commence his journey towards moksha. Both lifestyles are equally important in Sanatana Dharma. A materialistic goal is also a spiritual goal according to Hinduism.

What do you call the people who follow Sanatana Dharma? Well, there is a word in the scriptures given to those who follow this teaching. It is "manushya". It is originating from the root word "manu", meaning first man. "Manu" comes from the root word, "man", which means mind. Another word for "man" is "manas". Now where does this word "manas" comes from? The brain, antahkarana, is made up of 4 parts: ego (ahankara), memory (citta), intellect (buddhi) and manas (questioning tendency). So essentially, "manushya" means a man who wants to know and therefore questions! This leads to conclude that essentially everyone is born a Hindu!! Because all humans born in this world strive for knowledge and want to know. This is a simple yet a beautiful truth and shows that Sanatana Dharma is actually for everyone!!!