THE Hindu concept of global family did not limit itself to humans and Gods. It got extended to all other living beings also. Firstly, unlike the Semitic dogma Hinduness experienced the presence of soul in each living being. Not to find godliness in what all that came out of God was to the seer of the Hinduness as illogical as the absence of sweetness in the sweet-meat prepared out of sugar.
It will do good to remember here that the Semitic theologies went to the extent of denying the existence of soul in a woman who, it was argued, was created out of the rib of the man. When a magnetic rod is broken into two does any one of them cease to be a magnet? But our Semitic friends would like to believe so and stick on to it with unflinching faith! But the Hindu thinks otherwise. His faith is God’s DNA and is inexhaustible and is replicated in all His manifestations. Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Geeta (10-20) says that soul is present in every organism. Sarvabhootaa-shayasthitah is the expression He uses. So the Hinduness classified the entire creation not as animate and inanimate but as chara and achara, the moving and the static. Each and every living being has equal right to live on earth as equal partners. Also Hinduness taught:
(The earth is mother of all and conversely all are her children worthy of equal affection and protection.)
This created in the inheritors of Hinduness a sort of Eco-consciousness. It is this that inspired Valmiki to make even the creepers and trees of the forest wail at the abduction of Sita and a bird Jatayu air-attacks the abductor and sacrifices its life. It is again the same that made Kalidas’s deer weep at the departure of Shakuntala. It is again the same that made philosopher poet Bhartruhari address the elements as:
(‘Oh Mother Earth, Father Air, Friendly Fire, Kindred Water Brother Sky’, humbly conceding ‘the blessing contact of Thee all brought me Supreme Bliss.)
In the Kindergarten book of Panchatantra virtually you find a big eco-family wherein animals, birds, fishes and men live together with all the pluses and minuses of day-to-day worldly life. In fact, the modern ‘eco-friendliness’ is too poor a word for Hinduness to accept. Eco-brotherliness is its word. Not global-village but global family – not Vasudhaiva Gramakam but Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – is his ideal.
Pursuit of Truth and its negation
Now coming down to man as a species, he has in him an uncommon faculty to think and reflect. He has been provided with intelligence and that distinguishes him from the rest of creation. Hinduness recognised this fact of nature and allowed man to have unfettered play of that singular faculty called intelligence. It agreed that each man is singularly original in his thinking and no curbs of any sort could be there upon that. Here it will do well to recall Bhisma who said to Yudhisthira:
(Dear Son, Infinite are the ways of the wise, as infinite as the trails of birds in the vast sky and tracks of fishes in the endless sea.)
Hinduness does not put a full stop on human intelligence. It is a story of encouragement to all, at all times, to pursue Truth. The pursuit outwards was known as Science and the pursuit inwards as darshan, both two faces of the same Single Truth. Here we may do well to remember poet Tagore. To explain the wholeness of the tree he said ‘the branches of a tree are its roots above the earth and the roots its branches beneath the earth.’ Similarly, it can be said truth discovered outside is science, truth realised inside is spirituality. The only insistence here is ‘don’t say I have found the truth; say I have found a truth.’ It means Hinduness had the robust common sense to admit that there shall be no end to that pursuit. This gave it the natural breadth of vision and readiness to accept what is experienced by the seekers of Truth from wherever they are. That is why we find here scientists like Aryabhatta, Varahamihira and Bhaskaracharya, despite their being against the then prevailing notion of sun’s and earth’s movements, were extolled to Rishihood. Similarly, seers like Buddha, Shankara and Vivekananda despite their open repudiation of the outgrown sterile customs and ceremonies were accepted and revered as divinities. Learning from the history of Hinduness we can safely surmise, had Galileo, Copernicus and Bruno been born in Hindusthan they too would have been honourably nominated to the Rishi Sabha! And Jesus would not have been crucified but considered as Paramahamsa.
Persecution of man or a group is due to the total absence of this noble feeling. Bigotry and self-aggrandisement are the executors on stage here. This is what we witnessed in the case of Jews in the first century, Syrian Christians in the fourth century and Parsis in the eighth century. They were driven away from there home and country by the intolerant hordes. Here again it is the attitude of Hinduness that gave them refuge in the land of Hindus. Each group was granted unconditional freedom to safeguard its community, customs and beliefs fastidiously. In the act of this beneficence Gujarat, Konkan and Kerala behaved in the same way. None was squeezed into nothingness as the minorities in Pakistan.
So far I have dealt upon only a few of the chief features of the Hinduness. But the moot question is, ‘is it relevant today?’ The answer is ‘yes’, very much relevant, perhaps more relevant than ever. Today many universal bodies guarding human rights, environment etc. have sprung up and after much deliberation they have made necessary declarations and passed resolutions. Gather all of them. Study them and ponder over. You will find that many of the ideas expressed there are recent echoes of the age-old Hindu pronouncements. Naturally, they are relevant even today, especially because of the track record of Hinduness.
But can this Hinduness fulfill its task in these days when the talk is that of clash of civilisations? I honestly feel it can. It has the potential. On two counts I feel confident – one, that of behaviour and the other that of structure.
First: On the plane of behaviour Hinduness never gets outdated. It has a tremendous tenacity to renew itself. Take the case of music. They say Sam Veda is the source of Indian music. From there centuries along it grew to perfection. Then reached the Europeans in the 16th century with their violin and the ‘octave’ musical notes. Our classical artists saw the new instrument. They approached it with inquisitiveness, assessed it with prudence, accepted it with a mind to experiment, adopted it with an element of risk to suit to their sapt swaras and finally assimilated it with conviction into their classical musical system. Today there are ever-so many well-known violin-vidvans all over the country and the classical Karnatic Music to this day continues to be uncontaminated by the Macaulay virus. With this at my back I said I am confident.
The second: About the structural factor: – I think I can explain it better by a story from Mahabharat. Once the all-devouring sea called a meeting of all the rivers and complained to them ‘What is this? You are all my tributaries and you ought to bring to me good tribute. You always bring tall sky-shooting trees. They are very difficult to chew and digest. I hear of canes. They are smooth, slim and sweet. Why can’t you bring them to me?’ Rivers fearfully looked at each other and delegated Ganga to speak. She pleaded, ‘Not that we did not try, Sir. Every time what happens is this: These trees are highly naughty. They never respect us, they belittle us, pooh-pooh us. Provoked we swell up and attack them in their strong-hold, rush to their roots and wash them off of all the mud and sand. Grip lost those mighty giants fall into our whirls and with ease we bring them fresh to your honorable self.’ ‘What about cane?’ intruded the master impatiently. Ganga explained: ‘Yes sir, it’s a different story. These canes are very amicable, Sir. They grow all along our tanks. They laugh with us, they play with us. They never flout. They live in bushy spiral coils. They have no trunks big and small. Top to toe it is all one long stalk with intermittent root-rings. To uproot them we can’t reach their roots because there is no centralised root-system at all. Where to strike is the problem. We flow into their coils; they allow us to pass through. They won’t mind dipping even. But they stick to their ground. They hold together. And when we pass by empty handed they rise up fresh and bright and smilingly thank us with soft words ‘very nice of you; you have bathed us well; so cool, please be with us tomorrow also.’
I think you have caught the message of the story. Vyasa termed this as Vaitasa Vritti – Cane Syndrome. Structurally Hinduness possesses this Vaitasa Vritti, resilience. This is my second reason for confidence.
So, these two traits of Hinduness, the power of assimilation and the power of resilience shall enable it to meet the demands of time effectively. It shall not entangle itself in the clash of civilisation as some would imagine. True to the Hindu phenomenon of avatar it shall assume form suitable to times, act suitably and finally fulfill its destiny.
(Concluded)
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