‘Hinduism is not a religion. It is a way of life’ is attributed to Swami Chinmayananda SATGURU BODHINTHA VEYLANSWAMI disputes this and states …If Hinduism is not a religion, it is only a way of life; then Christianity is a religion and therefore no way of life. What is religion without a way of life? Does not a religion guide us in our world, in our life? So, it is an empty, high-sounding statement.” Very interesting arguments but this is a case of putting words into someone’s mouth. A plain reading of the statement helps one understand that the stress was on ‘Hinduism’ not being a ‘religion’ and not on the incompatibility of religion and way of life. Having looked up the argument, delving deeper may throw some light! The key word that is under dispute is “Religion” which originates from the Latin word “religiō” and refers to ‘fear of the supernatural’ leading to ‘religāre’ - to tie up, from re- + ligāre - to bind. To sum up, religion is defined as ‘belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny’ (dictionary.reference/browse/religion) Ethnic groups arise from this ‘tie up or bind’ giving rise to various religions. The relevant word actually merits discussion is ‘Hinduism’. What is “Hinduism”? Sanskrit which is considered the mother language of India (Bharat) and the language of Indian philosophy does not contain the word ‘Hindu’ The Persian word for ‘Sindhu river’ was ‘Hind or Hindu’ and this was the geographic name that referred to the land alongside the river ‘Sindhu’ and ‘Hindus’ referred to the people of that area. The Westerner called the river ‘Sindhu’ as ‘Indus’ and ‘Hind or Hindu’ became undivided India. It is significant to note that ‘Hindu’ of the Persians and India of the Westerner have no religious significance – it is merely geographical The identification of ‘Hindus’ as the people of modern India is akin to the case of transferred epithet and refers to the people of modern Pakistan. If ‘Hindus’ are people residing in ‘Hindu’ then the real ‘Hindus’ today are the people of Pakistan. India is a western concept. Our nation is really the ancient “Bharat” which does find mention in the ancient literature of this country. Bharat was the land ruled by king “Bharatha”. Bharatha means the devotee of goddess “Bharathi” – the goddess of knowledge (Bha means light representing knowledge and rata means devoted) and hence need not refer to any single person. Religion as defined above cannot apply to people of Bharath since knowledge dispels fear of the unknown (read supernatural) and eliminates the need for ‘religion’ Sadguru’s definition of ‘mata’ as opinion is certainly relevant. For knowledge to flourish, all opinions are of equal importance (Sarva mata samdbhava). This led to the traditional tolerance of the ‘Bharathiya’ philosophy enabling all ways of life to co-exist and flourish. This tolerant way of life is known as “Dharma” which comes from the root Dhr, which means to uphold, sustain, or uplift. Since the very nature of ‘Bharatiyatha’ is tolerance, there is no room for fanaticism or heretic intolerance. The Dharma is to be defined and acted upon by the individual based on the mata (opinion) held by him. Dharma cannot be defined as any specific law as can be seen from the following sloka Tarko pratistha srutayo vibhinnah nasau munir yasya matam na bhinnam Dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam mahajano yena gatah sa panthah Thus it is amply clear that the Bharatiyatha (not Hinduism) is a way of life based on the path chosen by the individual on the basis of his mata (opinion) and the exponent of that mata, with tolerance being the key component of each mata. The spirit of this way of life has been expressed in the following sloka: Akashat Patitam Toyam Yatha Gacchanti sagaram. Sarva-Deva-Namaskaraha Kesavam Prati Gachati. which means just as drops of water from the sky do end in the ocean, the salutations to various Gods reach the same ultimate divinity. This is the universal message of Bharat to the entire world since it believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – this world is one family. (The sanskrit slokas in this write-up are the contributions from my father)
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 09:06:00 +0000