Indian culture has evolved over thousands of years. Culture is not civilization for Indians as now goes the popular belief about culture making it synonymous with civilization. To many in the modern age, all the activities of man appear to be nothing more than oblations offered on the altar of civilization and the State. The traditional culture of India, however, is in marked contrast to this. The three Vedas (Rik, Yajus, Sam) were called Trayividya, the three-fold science. The experiences described therein were real in the most fundamental sense. Perhaps no people in history have been as truthful as the ancient Aryans, and what they have left on record has to be taken seriously and not as the superstitious delusions of an unscientific age. This innate truthfulness has been the most characteristic feature of Indian culture through the ages. As is said in the Mahabharata: Truth alone prevails and not falsehood - Satyameva jayate caritam. Through the ages the prayer has gone forth: From the unreal lead me on to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality – ‘asato ma sad gamaya tamaso mam jyotirgamaya mrityoh mam amritam gamaya. The objectives of Vedic culture are tangible and full-blooded. They are neither quietistic nor ascetic. There is a healthy joy in life and the spirit of adventure.
The present book has been designed to study the various facets of Indian culture, say Hindu culture in this context. Grouped into twenty-five chapters, the study reflects on the deeper insights of Hindu culture, the very core of it which has virtually sustained the glory of the nation called - Bharata for millions and millions of years. Each one of the chapters incorporated in this book has been culled out by different writers of repute and duly edited for the convenience of the reader.
The book starts with a reflection on the foundations of Hindu culture in the first chapter. The traditional culture of India has been essentially individualistic. The embodied personality of a man called Purusha was the nucleus around which all other considerations ranged themselves. This Purusha has been the subject of culture, not the citizen in the political sense. The Purusha was considered potentially divine, and the Supreme Person or Purushottam residing in the body was deemed the recipient of all Yajnas or sacrifices. The culture of the individual consisted in realizing the goal or the four-fold objective of this Purusha, i.e., Purushartha- chatushtaya - Dharma or social and moral obligation, Artha or desire for wealth and domination, Kama or craving for the enjoyment of the senses, Moksha or his deep-seated hankering for ultimate freedom from all bonds. All these four are often brought together under Dharma, a most comprehensive term in which all the strands of Indian culture have been woven together. Dharma is not merely a social and ethical norm or standard, but is something intimate and personal: hence the doctrine of Svadharma or congenial Dharma as propounded in the Bhagavad Gita. The grand means for the realization of Purushartha was called Yajna or sacrifice. The basic idea underlying Yajna is given in the Gita: From food come forth beings: from rain, food is produced: from Yajna arises rain, and Yajna is born of Karma. Know Karma to have arisen from the Veda, and Veda from the Imperishable. Therefore the all-pervading Veda is ever centered in Yajna." Satya, truth or god, as revealed in Veda, is said to be the very backbone and support of the Hindu's physical as well as psychological existence. In the Veda, another concept coupled with Satya is Rita, or the moral or natural order. The means for the attainment of Rita is Yajna.
Chapter two focuses on the religion and language of the Vedas. The gods of the Vedas were the forces and elements of nature herself - sky, sun, earth, fire, light, wind, water, etc. Sanskrit word deva, which later was to mean divine, originally meant only bright. In the earliest Vedic religion, sacrifice or Yajna was the main Karma. The most important of the Vedic gods was Agni, fire. The most popular figure in the pantheon was Indra, the wielder of thunder and storm. Varuna was the custodian and executor of an eternal law called Rita. Rita also became the law of right, the cosmic and moral rhythm which every man must follow if he would not go astray and be destroyed.
Chapter three unfolds the secret of the Puranas which were composed in 4,00,000 couplets by Veda Vyasa over a thousand years (500 B.C. to 500 A.D.). Here he expounds the exact truth about the creation of the world, its periodical evolution and dissolution, the genealogy of the gods, and the history of the heroic age.
Chapter four deals with the philosophy of the Upanishads being the very quintessence of the Vedic thought itself. It is said that there is no study as beneficial and elevating as that of the Upanishads. There are the esoteric doctrines confided by the master to his disciple. These Upanishads are one hundred and eight being the discourses composed by various saints and sages between 800 and 500 B.C. They represent not a consistent system of philosophy, but the opinions and lessons of many men, in whom philosophy and religion were still fused in the attempt to understand the simple and essential reality underlying the superficial multiplicity of things. The theme of Upanishads is the mystery of this unintelligible world - whence are we born where do we live, and whither we go?
Chapter five is a valuable piece of writing on the miraculous benefits of Pranayama which makes one understand the worth of Yogic breathing and the kind of spiritual benefits acquired by doing Pranayama. This article has been extracted from the learned author's book titled Tantra, Mantra, Yoga and Spiritual Bliss and it has been duly edited to fit the present book.
Chapter six dwells on the Vedic concept of Shakti. Shakti is implied for power. Power or force is conceived as the active principle in the universe, and is personified as a goddess. God is worshipped as the Great Mother, because m this aspect God is active and produces, nourishes, and maintains. A Sukta of Rigveda addressed to Vak was later designated the Devi Sukta describes all the characteristics of Shakti.
Chapter Seven throws light on the Hindu divinities like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Kali, and others. Combined with Brahma and Shiva in a triad - of dominant deities was Vishnu who incarnated to help mankind. His greatest incarnation was Krishna who had accomplished many marvels of heroism and romance, healed the deaf and the blind, and lepers, championed the poor, and researched and raised life from the remains of the dead. What is significant about the multiplicity of Hindu gods and goddesses is that they should not be understood as they are and should not be implied that there are so many Hindu gods and goddesses. The Vedas are very clear about that and it is given there that there is only One God. There is a popular saying of the Vedas - God is one but the wise call many - ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti.
Chapter eight discusses Lord Mahavira, the great hero, the Jaina creed, the atheistic polytheism of the Jains, the .doctrine of asceticism, the ways of salvation, and the later history of Jains. Mahavira renounced the worldly life and became an ascetic after the death of his parents by austere self-mortification. After 13 years of self-purification and understanding by self-denial, he was hailed by a group of disciples as a Jina (conqueror), one of the great teachers whom fate had ordained to appear at regular intervals to enlighten the people of India.
