Eschewing dogmatism
and violence
(Relevant
extract)
The basic truth of
nature is the One in the many; that is the key to its understanding. The
Indians (Bharathiyas) grasped this
truth; they held fast to this key. People of other countries were content to
lay down certain axioms and enforce belief in them.
They insisted on
acceptance of these axioms and observance of rules and regulations that arose
out of them. They held one single coat before the individuals of the society
where they lived and required everyone to wear that same coat; there was no
alternative coat for people it did not fit. They had to live without a coat to
protect them against the chill wind.
The Indian approach was
quite different. For each aspect or variation of feeling and thinking, volition
and action, they made available a distinct name and form and provided modes of
worship and ways of adoration in accordance with the emotional needs and
intellectual caliber of the aspirants and devotees.
Of course, a few had no
need for such special consideration and treatment, but many took advantage of
this concession and advanced in their march toward spiritual wisdom and
liberation.
The message of India
(Bharath)
(Relevant
extract)
The ancient Indian
religion fostered the faith that the Self in a person is no other than the Over
self, or God. Indian religion directs long journeys by men and women toward the
goal of the splendor of God consciousness or the consciousness of the Divine
— through varied paths, confronted and controlled by varied circumstances, but
encouraged and enlightened by various types of faith.
Although the practices
and rites might be crude, they are not opposed to the ultimate truth. The
seeming contradictions must be interpreted as incidental to the need to inspire
people with varied intellectual, moral, economic, and social backgrounds.
For example, the light
that comes through a tiny piece of colored glass is of the same origin as
bigger, clearer light. The extent, clarity, brightness, etc. of light depends
only on the medium. The source of all light is the One Truth, the Source of
all, the Basis of all, the Goal of all, the Reality in all, and the Centre in
all.
Like the thread on which
pearls are strung as a rosary, God or the Over-self is interpenetrative in all
beings. In all beings. That is the message of India (Bharath). All beings everywhere, anywhere!
Indian spiritualism has
limitless vastness and immensely high ideals; it is a full stream of
sanctifying ideations, flowing along with no decline or diminution, straight
and smooth to the ocean of divine grace. The journey is direct, along a royal
road toward the supreme goal.
What has to be borne in
mind is this: Indian (Bharathiya)
texts on spirituality are the most ancient in the whole world; they are the
earliest studies and discoveries of the Atma,
of personal and impersonal God, and of codes of conduct, individual and social,
based on those revelations and discoveries. In no other country, among no other
peoples, have such ancient teachings seen the light.
There may be some misty
ideas or brief glimpses, but they do not deserve the name “spiritual text” or
“literature”. The Vedic literature pictures not only spiritual inquiries by the
sages and spiritual aspirants and their results but also their lines of
thought, their yearnings and aspirations, their secular struggles, and temporal
problems.
Introspection
Here, Swami brings out
the vastness of Indian philosophy as per the ancient Hindu scriptures, as
compared to the limitations and restrictions imposed by few other religions,
with the analogy of single coat with no option available as alternative coat.
Swami goes on to clarify
that though, depending upon the aptitude, intellect and other attributes, there
may be apparently diverse practices, rituals etc. in Bharath, when one
gets into the subtler aspect of each of them, they all point out towards only
one thing- “Consciousness”. Swami describes this as “Over Self”.
Love.
