Unique features of Hinduism

We have the rare privilege of being born as human beings and we desire to live happily in this world Pain and sorrow, trials and tribulations, these provide the incentive to think about the course of our lives, about the causes of our griefs, and the way to overcome them. Our present troubles are the effect of some cause, near or remote. This ultimate cause of our suffering must be spotted out and destroyed. All other remedies will be only temporary and palliative. If the root cause is not tackled, the suffering is bound to recur, if not in the same form, in some other manner.

Great religious leaders directed their attention to its discovery and each of them offered a solution, which, he felt, was the best to eradicate it. The Buddha was oppressed by the sufferings he found all around him He sought out various teachers; but none of the methods suggested by them appealed to him. Finally, he sat in meditation under the Bodhi tree and enlightenment dawned on him He formulated his theory of illusion (soonya vaadam). He felt that the only way to remain unaffected by any trouble is to realise that everything in the world is an illusion, and, in that realisation, to remain unaffected by pain as well as pleasure.

Christianity did not correlate sin and sufferings as cause and effect. According to it, all men are sinners, and can expiate their sins only by believing in Christ. It also averred that the present is the only life vouchsafed to us, and salvation is a case of now or never. There is no future or past life according to that religion. It is the same with Islam also. Belief in Christ or Prophet Mohammed, as the case may be is the only way to go to heaven. According to both these religions, the unbelievers went to hell. As these two religions did not believe in another birth after the present one, the entire emphasis in their teachings was on going to heaven after death.

Hinduism, on the other hand, postulates a series of births, and proclaims that the sorrows and sufferings of each life, like its joys, are the result of our karmas (deeds) in our past lives. Consequently the Hindus do not speak of eternal damnation, as the Christians and Muslims do. The Buddha too believed in karmas and cycle of births because he was the product of the Vedic tradition.

The logical consequence of the assertion that only those who believed in Christ or in Prophet Mohammed, as the case may be, will go to heaven, is that those who were born in the world before the advent of Christ or Prophet did not attain salvation. This position cannot be accepted. Moreover, these two religions did not give a rational explanation for present sufferings or provide a remedy for them. The Hindu theory of karma and cycle of births and deaths alone offered a satisfactory explanation. Each person has "earned" the sorrows of his present life, as he has "earned" its joys, by his karmas in a previous life, and can "earn" happiness in his present and future lives, by the performance of good karmas.

The special feature of the Hindu religion is that there is no sanction in the Sastras for proselytisation. But other religions believe in conversion. Some people are genuinely worried over the gradual depletion of the Hindu fold by conversion to other religions and ask whether we should not also do propaganda for our religion and adopt the method of congegrational worship prevailing in other religions. This view led to the founding of the Brahma Samaj, the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha. But their hold on the public has weakened after the passing away of the founders of these movements.

If there is no suffering in this world, there can obviously be no scope for religious propaganda or for conversion. A passenger getting down from a train is beseiged by drivers of a variety of conveyances, each claiming merit for his and trying to get the "fare" for himself. The object of all of them is to take the traveller to his destination. Similarly missionaries of each religion try to get at the suffering man and tell him that by embracing the particular religion, he will go to heaven. Christianity has spread in the world through the enthusiasm of the evangelist missionary, who sincerely feels that his is the last and truest word in religion. To save the heathen soul, he uses the unlimited monetary resources behind him, feeling that there is nothing wrong in offering inducements like jobs, medical relief and education, in order to get converts, whose souls, he sincerely believes, will thereby be saved. According to historians, Islam forged ahead with the help of the sword. The Muslim religious leaders obviously felt honestly that even threat can be employed to rescue the unbeliever.

Buddhism preached ahimsa and universal love. The love that overflowed the heart of the Buddha and his sincere disciple, attracted people to that religion. The spring of life of Buddhism is this outflow of love. The core of Hinduism is the generation of love in others by the precept and practice of highly developed individual souls. The scrupulous adherence to observance of religious discipline and practices and the

Immoral excellence of great men account for the survival of Hindu, religion in such large measure, in spite, of vicissitudes, The Spiritual eminence of these few men and there all-embracing love, sustained the faith of the multitude, who felt drawn towards them, like bees to flowers and bats to fruits. Buddhism laid emphasis on the practice of love to all; in Hinduism the cardinal principle is to develop that love in oneself as the fragrance of the soul. The great men of the Hindu religion did not profess to uplift or save others by their teachings: they made themselves pure and their precept and practice made for the spiritual education of those who came in contact with them. One, who is not himself pure, cannot teach others to be so.

There is evidence to show that the Vedic religion is the most ancient religion and was once current in most parts of the world. Now it has shrunk within the confines of this country, as new religions gained appearance. How did they grow? The reason is to be sought in our faltering allegiance to the Vedic religion and our fitful observance of its practices. The "weakness" of our religion, about which people are worried, is not due to our not doing propaganda for it, but to our own lack of faith in it and our own failure to conform to its tenets. In fact, propaganda is not sanctioned, for, it is enjoined that one should not be told unasked and one who has devotion, should not be told the truth. The strength of a religion does not lie in the numbers of those who practise it; but in the conduct of those who practise it. The best "propagandist" for the Hindu religion is the Hindu who lives up to its tenets. It is on account of such great men that our religion survives even to-day.

Another significant feature of our religion is that it has no name, because at one time no other religion existed. As it taught the practice of eternal Dharma, it was referred to only as Sanaatana Dharma. When other religions came into existence, they were called by the names of their founders, to distinguish them from the prevailing Vedic religion.

To preserve Hinduism, it is wrong to resort to the methods employed by the competing religions. On the other hand, We should fall back on the life breath of our own religion, i.e., on karmaanushtaana as taught in it. There is no need even to combine in congregational patterns. Ours is purely a religion of the individual. When an individual prefects himself, his example will be emulated by others. The true prayer is not for getting relief from suffering, but for keeping out evil thoughts from the mind and for making good thoughts always dwell there. When misfortunes one after another overtook the Pandavas, Kunti prayed that they should be vouchsafed strength to remember God constantly. According to Hinduism, the only way to get rid of sin is to perform the prescribed karmas by which the accrued sins will be expiated and fresh sins will be warded off. The discipline of karmaanushtaana will make for health and for purity of body and mind. The way of religion is not to grieve over c suffering, but to pray that evil thought may not get a foot- hold in the mind in moments of distress. Then the power of endurance will develop and suffering itself will lose its sting. Such a perspective is the outcome of Jnana which has to be acquired by each individual by his own efforts. That is why our religion is individualistic and not congregational in nature.
                                                Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi

Truth, first step towards God realisation

No human being is infallible but hardly a few own their faults, No one need feel disheartened when he commits a misdeed unintentionally or by force of circumstances.

If he openly expresses his regret before the Almighty and assures Him that it will not be repeated, he will certainly be granted reprieve. Everyone is bound to err at one time or another and no one is free from blemish-even as paddy is covered with a thin layer of husk, pure water by a film of foam and gold jewellery mixed with traces of copper. Some culprits, however, by sheer luck, escape legal punishment. What is required is sincere repentance for one's weakness. Each one can worship and appeal to that manifestation of God whom he has chosen as his personal deity and call Him by any attribute but he must undertake to utter truth only.

Truth, which forms the first step towards God-realisation, alone will ultimately triumph. Harischandra discarded his empire, his wife, his son and withstood severe ordeals but refused to utter one lie. In a sense, God Himself is a thief as He "Steals" the devotees' hearts. Lord Siva is described in Sri Rudram as the "Bandits' leader" -"Taskaranam Pathaye."

Sri Kripanandavariar in a discourse pointed out that man's grief mainly springs out of his mistake in chasing short- lived pleasures, believing them to be genuine and permanent. He sows seeds of sorrow but expects a rich harvest of happiness. He is often compared to a tortoise, feeling merry when it is thrown in a big tank, little realising that the water is being heated from beneath. He gets lured by desires, cherishes fond hopes which get belied and is unable to extricate himself from worldly pulls because of the strong bonds of family attachments.

Advising a gathering to take a oath never to utter falsehood and reminding them of the elementary lesson imparted by Hindu religion -Sathyameva Jayate- Sri Kripanandavariar illustrated how honesty always pays rich dividends, by telling the story of a professional thief who vowed never to speak a lie. He managed to get entry into a palace and as he was about to break open the treasury, met an unfamiliar Counterpart (the king himself in disguise) and by an arrangement they equally shared two of the four precious diamonds, leaving the remaining in tact. The next day, the king asked his minister to inspect the stock but the latter. not aware of the previous night's episode, appropriated the other two gems for himself but reported that all the four were missing. The king exposed the Minister's lack of morality and replaced him by the honest thief. Devotion to God will never go unrewarded and Sri Variar explained the significance of Good Friday. when Jesus Christ, who prayed for the pardon of even his enemies, departed from this world.
                                                                 April 22, 1973

No objection to pleasures sanctioned by Dharma

Hindu scriptural texts have said in unambiguous terms that acquisition of wealth is no sin; nor is there any virtue in being poor. The ancient thinkers-the venerable seers-have included wealth (Artha) in the four Purusharthas, the fundamental aspirations one should have, the other three being Dharma  (righteousness) Kama (pleasure) and Moksha (deliverance of the soul). In Tamil, the four Purusharthas are described. As Aram, Porul, lnbam and Veedu. All that the thinkers insisted was that wealth be earned through proper means. Similarly, there is no harm in enjoying pleasures which are not opposed to the dictates and principles of Dharma. One is entitled to all happiness that is derived from leading a pure and noble life, the individual performing his duties faithfully.

Dharma has always been assigned the first place and Moksha is the supreme goal to be realised by man. However well-placed financially and otherwise, when faced with the stark reality, he will know that all happiness he enjoys is transitory and often mingled with misery and suffering. It is natural that he longs for pure joy, ever-lasting happiness, free from any trace of misery and pain. This supreme bliss beyond earthy existence cannot be realised so long as the soul's bondage in the body continues, which, in turn, is the result of the individual's past actions. Hence, to attain deliverance one has got to free oneself from the effects of Karma. A life characterised by disinterested service and duty and annihilation of ego has been suggested as the means to the goal.

Swami Raghaveshananda, in a discourse, said every action done with attachment, with an eye on the fruits, was binding. Man should learn to perform all secular and religious duties as an offering to God without bothering about the results. Even from the mundane point of view, his efficiency would increase as he would be free from anxiety about the outcome of his actions.
                                                                      December 30, 1985