An Allegory for Chanting!

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In the Indian system, there are 3 ways of self-emancipation, namely, Bhakti marga (by way of riveted devotion), Jnana marga (by way of illumined knowledge) and Karma marga (by way of selfless action). There are schools for propounding each way, and ISKCON is one such organization that is aligned with the path of Bhakti. They hold devotion to Lord Sri Krisna as the means of self-realization (though they ardently follow the Bhagavadgita which upholds all three ways) and propose the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra as instrumental in effecting the devotion. When I attended a presentation by Mr.Arun Raghavan, a full-time member of the FOLK community, he gave a beautiful correspondence of how chanting can be one of the most effective means of self-purification.

In his own words, it goes thus:

"Imagine a glass filled with muddy water. Our mind is like that glass (Yes! all our cups are already full) - water being our ideas and thoughts, and mud, the negativity filled into us from extraneous sources. This mud clouds our mind and does not let us clearly see the path of realization. Now shake the glass - it is an agitated mind - and the entire water becomes muddy. The mind is even more clouded. Some gurus say that meditating in silence clears the mind. This is similar to keeping the glass still. What happens is that the mud settles down and water temporarily appears to be clean. At the slightest disturbance, the mud unsettles again. Blindly forced meditation does not give long-term benefits, and this is where chanting helps. Chanting a mantra over and over again is like pouring clean water into this muddy glass. Hare Krishna Maha-mantra is one such clear water prescribed by the Lord Himself. As clear water starts pouring in, it begins to displace the muddy water and the cup overflows, throwing out parts of both clear and muddy water. The Lord has given us an unlimited supply of clear water so lets keep chanting and constantly pouring it into our minds. Slowly, our minds get more and more clear. This process takes time but it gives long-term benefits. The mud will be removed for good. Finally, you can follow the chanting by meditation, and as you can see more clearly, it gives better results."

Another practical benefit of chanting is it seems to be an easier approach to mind-control. In meditation, one has to forcefully subdue all distracting thoughts and try to focus the mind. In restless minds (like mine), this becomes extremely difficult. Chanting does not need one to force the mind at all - one can let all the distractive thoughts come and, only in a matter of moments, one can feel those thoughts evaporating away all by themselves.

The Kurukshetra in us!

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Mahabharata is the longest epic poem in the world. Written in 2,20,000 lines over 18 books, its written material could outweigh all the vedic scriptures together, hence giving it a new interpretation as a Maha-Bhaar-Ata (Sanskrit for 'therefore very heavy'). The Vedas and Upanishads were not graspable at the common man's level, hence epics like Mahabharata gained importance, which convey the same concepts of Dharma and Karma in more allegorical ways. Over the years, scholars have interpreted the Mahabharata in innumerable ways and tried to imbibe (and sometimes contort) its messages into all facets of the Hindu life.

In the hands of a Ram Gopal Varma, it can look like a commercial thriller, Satyajit Ray could make a documentary out of it and Maniratnam will make it an art epic. We don't know with what perspective Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata (though it was a story of his own grandchildren). I came across an esoteric perspective today, one which Vyasa may appreciate too..

What if Kurukshetra, the scene of the pivotal battle, is, rhetorically, our own body. The duration of war, the time of our one lifetime. The 5 Pandavas, the five senses that hold our fort during this war. Krishna, our mind, who controls and guides the senses, though behind the scenes. The 100 Kaurava brothers are the hundreds of evils in the world around us, that are constantly trying to dominate the kingdom of our souls. All the chapters of Mahabharata before and after the war could be the metaphysical aspects of our souls journey before birth and after death respectively (In fact, the point that there are several chapters after the war may prove that their is a long life even after our death). Bhishma-pitamah and Dronacharya, the mightiest of the enemy side, could be Desire and Attachment, the two toughest bonds for the soul to overcome. Bhishma (Desire) was overcome with the help of Shikhandi, who was neither a man nor a woman, a middle path. Drona (Attachment) was subdued by tricking him with the lie of his son Asvatthama's demise, a painful and forceful detachment.

This allegory should infuse in each of us the belief that the war will be won in the end. Our life is a kingdom that we have to fight to rule over. Our life may be a 'Kshetra' that the Kuru and Pandavas will fight to win but ultimately it is the sacred ground on which the sanctity of divine mind will stand, in preparation for that momentous occasion when the holy revelation (the Bhagavad-gita) will unfold and due enlightement will deservedly dawn upon us!

Bibliography :
Williams, Monier. Indian Wisdom. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1963.

Xenophobia... Xenophanes...

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Xenophanes (born ancient Greece, about 500 yrs before Christ) was a wisdom seeker who questioned the origin and nature of the world. In this attempt, he initiated the Pluralist school of philosophical thought that gifted the world with Theistic (on God) and Epistemological (on Knowledge) contributions.

He pointed out that 'God is beyond all forms, mode or thought', because whenever societies ponder God, they give it forms resembling their own dominant racial characteristics (like African gods are dark skinned with broad noses, Indian gods are brown skinned with Aryan features). Similarly, the powers endowed upon Gods are forces that we see in nature. The human mind, with its finite intellect, can only impose anthropomorphic characteristics on God, hence God in true essence was above and beyond.

"How do we know?" was the path-breaking question he had posed which (grossly and subtly at the same time) slapped in the face of Homer and Hesiod's mythologies. He started a skeptic outlook which laid the foundation of an epistemological approach to Philosophy. At one point, he was highly respected and hailed as a significant personality in all of Greek dominion.

".. stare too long into the abyss, and the abyss stares back into you" - Neitzsche

His constant skepticism eventually turned its head back on him, and he got consumed with it in his later days. He started telling people not to take his ideas as the truth (and just as 'truth-like'). He cast aside the power of human belief and said that knowledge however true will not be acceptable unless it is supported by relevant evidence and justification. He started calling for caution over the soundness of one's own judgement and rational evidences. A measure of his skepticism can be seen in his quote, "Even if we land upon the Truth, we will not know that we have done so, for, belief reigns over all human inquiry."


Bibliography :
Copleston, Fredirick. A History of Philosophy, Vol 1. New York: Image Books, 1993.
Thilly, Frank. A History of Philosophy. Allahabad: Central Publishing House, 1993.

Image credit : Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Sexist Samska̅ras

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Grhya Sutras - a section under the Kalpa Sutra collection, which are the addendum texts to Vedic Literature, deal with the various Samskaras of Hindu tradition. Samskaras are specific rituals (more appropriately, rites of passage) that mark important milestones in the lifetime of an individual (in fact, they overflow the exact period of a lifetime just a little bit, as the first Samskara happens before birth and the last just after death).

The pre-natal Samskaras of Garbhadana (at time of conception), Pumsavana (around the 3rd month of pregnancy) and Seemanta (around 8th month of pregnancy) are performed with specific intentions for enhancing the chances of bearing a male offspring.
Subsequently, the important milestone of initiating a child into studies, the Samskara of Upanayana is clearly prescribed only for a male child. Upanayana is supposed to give a second birth for the male child as he starts the first ashrama - Brahmacharya - of his life which subsequently goes into a cycle of 4 ashramas. The female counterpart has no similar ashramic connotations at all. Their presence is only felt in the Grahastha-Ashrama due to their part in marriage, family and procreation. The next two important stages of Vanaprastha and Sanyasa have no female presence. The final funeral rite is also permitted to be performed only by a son and not a daughter. Isn't a female being deserving of a chance to meditate on God or introspect on this universe or even seek the final liberation (moksha)?

There are many such instances spread throughout the Hindu scriptures where the male sex is given clear attributions and assignments but nothing is mentioned about the female counterpart. Is this a deliberate miss, an intentional sidelining of the female sex to show the status of subordination to them? They are not permitted the study the vedas (similar to the restrictions imposed on the Sudras - the lowly castes), all references to the supreme and to various administrative and scholarly attributes are masculine in nature.

The Samskaras are obviously sexist, but are our other scriptures sexist too? Why this discrimination, when Hindu's call themselves one of the most liberal and egalitarian religions of the world? When we blame other major (esp. Semitic) religions of debasing women, how can we accept the authority of Hindu texts which also lack neutrality and universality in their messages?