Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems

ANCIENT CONCEPTS, SCIENCES AND SYSTEMS

UNIQUE FEATURES OF INDIA AND HER CONTRIBUTION TO HUMAN PROGRESS

and the State were separated in the West. Thereafter, social be- haviour was considered to be based only on humanism. Education and state laws were made secular. These are justified, since theology in the West had no scientific basis. But in India, science without religion is lame, and religion without science is considered as blind. Far more spectacular developments will unfold in the coming century, surpassing what has been achieved so far, all of which will be beyond the imagination of the present generation. Man may even colonise the other planets and harness the atom for providing energy for satisfying his insatiable needs for self-gratification. But these discoveries may not solve the mysteries of creation, life and death. The secular route may not help us to find answers to questions, such as the purpose of creation and life. The basic ques- tions will ever remain a mystery as long as Man continues to go in the present direction, without pausing to think as to whence he came, and where he would go after death. It is only the Indian civilization that has attempted to find possible answers to some of these perplexing questions. The Indian civilization is one of 49 which flourished prior to the Christian Era. The Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and so on, are now mere ruins of brick and mortar, leaving no trace of their past glory. What remains are the Colliseum in Rome, the Pyramids in Egypt and temple pillars in Athens — all of which are of archaeological curiosity and tourist interest. But the Indian civi- lisation is still living and vibrant, with an unbroken continuity of 5,000 years. Some of her unique thought and features, which are clearly distinct from Occidental thinking, will be of universal inter- est and eternal value. India’s ancient teachers did not care much for history; and therefore, there is a great deal of speculation about the dates when the Vedas were written, who wrote them, and so on. The saints and sages were so self-effacing that they did not even put their names as authors of their voluminous writings, which shows their total lack of selfishness. This feature has no parallel in any other culture or nation. Their concern was solely service to mankind. With their extraordinary super-sensory perception, they evolved innumerable concepts of eternal utilitarian and spiritual value; and that too without the help of any mechanical or other aids. ABSTRACT CONCEPTS They evolved many abstract concepts which are now taken for granted, such as zero, infinity, decimals, the currently used interna- tional numerals, etc. Another amazing feat was their concept of time, including relative time. One day in the Bhuva Loka was said to be one earth year; one day in Satya Loka 1,000 earth years and so on. The Universe came into being 4,320 million years ago. The present era is the second part of the first Brahma, Swethavaraha Kalpa, Vaivaswatha Manvanthara, first leg of the Kaliyuga, the total of which works out to roughly 4,300 million years. One cycle of Brahma expands for about four billion years, and contracts for an equal duration. The modern Big-Bang theory is indicated in the

The miracles of Science and Technology have brought in the possibility of providing abundance of goods and services for the comfort and convenience of mankind. Already one-third of the human race in the affluent world is enjoying material prosperity, while the lower one-third is still living in poverty and privation. One feature common to both the affluent and the afflicted is that genuine happiness and mental peace are eluding them, which can be attained only through a journey into the inward realm of one’s being. It is precisely here that Indian thought and wisdom will be of invaluable help to the human race. From the beginning of civilization four battles have been raging with no prospect of their abating. Firstly, Man has been ruthlessly exploiting Nature and her endowments for satisfying his ever in- creasing needs and greed. Secondly, Man is equally ruthless with the animal kingdom, brutally exploiting animals and treating them as insentient animals. The third battle is between Man and Man - hopelessly divided into races and ethnic groups, religion and lan- guages, tribes and nations. The fourth battle is Man against Himself, that is man perceiving himself as the body, mind and intel- lect, and man as a divine spark, as a part of universal conscious- ness. The reason for these wars is that, while technological develop- ments, employing the forces of Nature, are racing ahead in aimless directions with a death wish as it were, the present nature of social organisations in all the ideological models is lagging far behind. They have not yet evolved suitable solutions to organise mankind in a way that Man can sustain himself on this planet in harmony with Animals and Nature as well as his fellowmen. GENUINE SPIRITUALITY Social organisations are based on social science disciplines, which, in turn, are based on secular and empirical principles built around specific disciplines, such as politics, economics, psychology, sociology, law, logic and so on. But all these have been decoupled from spirituality and the essence of religion; and, therefore, there is no solution to transform Man to a state where he can identify himself as part of divinity. Such a transformation cannot be achieved through the present route of secular enquiry and behav- iour. While ethics and morals are essentially general principles common to all religions, it is not possible to internalise such ideals by the secular route. Perhaps genuine spirituality only can bring about this transformation and internalisation of ethics and morals. At present, religion and spirituality are largely Friday and Sun- day exercises between Man and God, while social relations be- tween Man and Man are governed by social science principles separated from religion. This attitude and approach in the West has its origin in the medieval age, when the Church and the State colluded and conspired — each using the other for its own self- interest. Thousands of dissidents were tortured to death, and women were burnt at the stake as witches. Scientists who spoke against the prevalent doctrines in holy books and State laws were excommunicated and punished. Therefore, rightly so, the Church