QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

continued from previous edition...

Question by a gentleman: You mentioned a little while ago about the predominance of the dogmatic element in Western Christianity, and that the spirit of the transcendental element was perhaps a minor extension of this. Perhaps, the traditional and classical description of Christianity has been that these are not individual elements, but they are a synthesis. They both are required, the structural and denominational on one side, and the transcendental on the other. But, do you see in the evolution of Hinduism, from the non-dualistic to dualistic, from Sankara to Madhva, that development of comprehensiveness to make the proper equilibrium of these two elements?

Swamiji: In Christianity, I am afraid; there is no transcendental or impersonal God element. As I said earlier, the German mystic Eckhart peeped into it but was castigated by the Roman Church. Today, Indian philosophical and spiritual thought is engaged in harmonizing the different outlooks and experiences of Dvaita, Visistadvaita, Advaita, and many other strands in between. In Christianity, the impersonal concept of religion did not find a place, and that is because of too much stress on the historical element of religion. At a particular period, the birth of Jesus Christ occurred, then religion came, and salvation came. When you stress the historical, then naturally, there cannot be any place for the transcendental and impersonal aspects of the Divine. If the transcendental, Advaitic or non-dualistic aspect was there, that would have been a wonderful development. Christianity would have developed, with respect to its own various denominations, a unifying attitude. That did not happen; that was not possible in Christianity. For example, I often used to wonder whether there is a Christianity or a Christian religion at all; there are only denominations: Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, etc. But where is that Christian religion which embraces all these various denominations? That would have been the true Christian religion-transcendental, Advaitic or non-dualistic religion, embracing all Christian denominations. That alone could be the Advaitic or non-dualistic and impersonal Christianity. Up to that transcendental level, all religions are dualistic only. That transcendental level was not developed in Christianity. I used to say, if there was an Advaitic Christianity, it would have accepted all dualistic sects and denominations of Christianity, and established harmony and peace in the West, and could have avoided all those persecutions and violence, the Thirty Years War, practised by the Catholic Church for several centuries. That is why atheism also developed in the West and such remarks as 'religion is the opium of the people'.

India, because of the Advaitic aspect of Vedanta, developed this capacity to harmonize all dualistic religions. That is why Adi Sankaracharya, though represented as a teacher of Advaitic jnana path, was also essentially a great devotee of the personal aspect of the Divine, and has composed many inspiring devotional hymns on it which are very popular in India, like the Bhaja Govindam stotram. He was the one who strengthened our bhakti path, based on devotion to the personal aspect of the Divine, and brought about harmony among the various dualistic sects in India and made for India's unique spirit of harmony between Indian and non-Indian religions. From him came tremendous strength for all the bhakti religions based on the personal God. He composed beautiful hymns on Siva, Devi or the Divine Mother, Visnu, and Krsna--all these he did to strengthen the bhakti religion in India. That was Sankara's contribution in this field.

Earlier, even from the Rg Vedic period itself, about four thousand years ago, the spirit of harmony and concord had started to inspire India through one brief Vedic utterance: Ekam sat viprd bahudhd vadanti-"Truth is one, sages call It by various names'. Later, the development of the Advaitic thought and the truth of the impersonal-personal God of the Upanishads further strengthened this inter-religious harmony.

Jnana and bhakti became combined in Sankaracarya, though, later, the Sankara movement started stressing more and more the Jnana side and not so much the bhakti side. That is being corrected today by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. Therefore, the harmony among the various spiritual paths comes from the central thread of spirituality present in all of them. That will be the method India will adopt in the modern period also, because of the high prestige of that Advaitic vision, which is full of compassion, understanding, and comprehension. If India has been very, very tolerant in the field of religion, unlike all other countries, it is all due to that Advaitic vision, which says, in the language of the third century B.C rock and pillar edicts of the Mauryan Emperor, Asoka: In religion, samavaya eva sadhuh-'concord alone is right and proper'. That is the fruit of the Advaitic vision. In India, Advaitins alone have felt this beautiful idea of harmony between various dualistic religions and itself. No dualistic religion can find harmony with other dualistic religions. They tend to conflict with each other. In Christianity, therefore, if an Advaitic element enters, then what will happen? 'I am a Christian. You may be a Roman Catholic, or a Russian Orthodox, or a Protestant, it doesn't matter; you are my brother. We are all Christians.' This feeling will come and that is the Advaitic way. Christianity is one, Christian paths are many. Till now, no such Christianity, accepting all Christian paths as its own, has developed. It is the same with Islam also. There is no Advaitic Islam which can own all its paths---Shia, Sunni, Bahai, and Ahmadiya. As of now, the predominant Sunni Muslim state strives to weaken or even eliminate all other Islamic denominations. Shias are persecuted in Sunni dominated Pakistan; Pakistan has also passed a bill in its Parliament, declaring Ahmadiya Muslims as nonIslamic. But all these Islamic denominations are living in peace and harmony in India!

Building up a unified Christianity will involve this understanding of an Advaitic vision of Christianity, of which all Christian sects are but various expressions. That, I am sure, is developing in the modern age. All dualistic religions are narrow and intolerant. As soon as they come under the Advaitic influence, they become broad and tolerant. Some of the Christians in India are highly respectful of this Advaitic element, not as opposed_ to Dvaita, but as including Dvaita. That is how Adi Sankaracharya and his grand-teacher, guru's guru, Gaudapada, of the seventh century AD, have expressed the range of Advaita. I am quoting three verses from the Ma ndukya Upanisad Karika by Gaudapada on which Sankaracarya has written a wonderful commentary:

Sva-siddhanta-vyavasthasu dvaitino niscitd drdhain; Paraspararn virudhyante tairayam naa virudhyate-

'Every Dvaita or dualistic system is deeply engaged in establishing the truth of its own system, and thus it comes into conflict with other dualistic systems; with all these conflicting systems, this Advaita or non-dualistic system has no conflict.' [3.17]

Advaitam paramartho hi dvaitam tadbheda ucyate; Tesdm-ubhayathd dvaitarn tenayani na virudhyate

'Advaita is the supreme truth and Dvaita or dualism is said to be an aspect of Advaita. To the dualists, both are dualistic. But with such dualistic views, this Advaita has no conflict.' [3.18]

Asparsa-yogo vai nama sarva-sattva-sukho hitah; Avivado'viruddhasca desitas-tam namamyaham-

'This Advaita is well known as asparsayoga-yoga of "non-touch" or non-duality. It is devoted to the happiness and welfare of all beings. It is without any disputation and contradiction. I salute the one who taught this truth.' [4.2]

That is one aspect of the greatness of this Mandukya Upanisad and its karika by Gaudapada. That comprehensive vision is a great gift of India's Advaita, by which India became largely free from sectarian intolerance, violence, war, or even persecution of atheists or agnostics. Generally, dualistic religions will persecute atheists and agnostics. That has not taken place in India. They were also respected, and that is the India even of today. Everybody is free to practice religion, or to do without religion as an agnostic. That is also in free India's Constitution today and the people welcome that provision in our Constitution.


Question by a lady: About India, the conception is that the lack of technological progress somehow is tied up with the emphasis on spirituality. Would you say that Hinduism is essentially anti-modern technology and progress, and how pragmatic is your Hindu tradition?

Swamiji: Hinduism is something very strange. It is never against technology, never against science, not at all. It has no built-in antipathy as we had in the Western world against the development of science. In Western history, ancient Greeks were for science. Then came anti-science with the emergence of Christianity as a widespread religion, and the setting in of the Dark age in Europe. And Western people began to take interest in science only when they came in touch with the ancient Greek culture. During the intervening 1500 years, Western people were taught by the Roman Catholic Church to be against all sciences and some scientists had to face death at the hands of the anti-scientific, all-powerful Roman Catholic Church. Technology is only an offshoot of science. The truth is that modern India takes to science and technology greedily with the greatest ability. As a recent report says, India has the fourth largest technical manpower in the modern world. Great Indian teachers also have said, 'Go in for science, go in for science'; because, India respects all knowledge, all technology. We have got one Goddess of Wisdom, Goddess of Learning, presiding over every type of knowledge, beginning from shoemaking up to the highest spirituality. That is Sarasvati. You will find in the worship of Sarasvati, a carpenter places his instruments before the Goddess, and a doctor puts his stethoscope there, for her blessings; so also, great scholars put their books there. The Vedas will be put in front to worship Sarasvati. Every knowledge is sacred, according to the Indian tradition. There is nothing low, nothing high, so far as knowledge is concerned. With that background, India cannot, Hinduism cannot, have anything to say against technology or science.

Today in India, we are developing science and technology, mathematics, astronomy, medical science, surgical science, etc., in a big way; but it is not new to India. Two or three thousand years ago, India developed many sciences and technology, and according to the contemporary standards, India was very high in that field. I am quoting the words of an Arab muslim scientist of Cordova, Moorich, Spain, by name Qadi Sa'id (10291070 AD). He writes:

The first nation (that has cultivated the sciences) is (the people of) India who form a nation vast in numbers, powerful, with great dominions. All former kings and past generations have acknowledged their wisdom and admitted their pre-eminence in the various branches of knowledge....
Among all the nations, during the course of centuries and throughout the passage of time, India was known as the mine of wisdom and the fountainhead of justice and good government, and the Indians were credited with excellent intellect, exalted ideas, universal maxims, rare inventions, and wonderful talents....

Today's Western astronomy is nothing but a more precise form of putting what India has spoken about astronomy and cosmic evolution long ago. Similarly, medicine, surgery, and even plastic surgery. This information you can get in the famous book Story of Civilization, Vol. 1, Our Oriental Heritage by the famous American author and historian, who died last year, in 1981, Prof. Will Durant. He writes of not only the above subjects but also India's contribution to mathematics, the decimal system, the value of zero, heliocentric theory, and the law of gravitation. Anyone can go to New Delhi today and find a tall thick iron pillar, cast about 1500 years ago, standing in sun and rain all these years, without any touch of rust on it. The country which has all the above scientific discoveries to its credit cannot be against science and technology, as mentioned in your question. But the spiritual development of people and the intense attraction of the inner life took away some energy from this physical field. That happened in history; physical sciences began to die out because of human interest being shifted to the religious side after about tenth century AD. That is being corrected in the modern period. We shall retain our spiritual heritage, but activate the great scientific heritage by which alone we can overcome human undevelopment in India today. That was the great contribution of Swami Vivekananda in the modern period.


……………………..to be continued…….

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