Vedanta and Indian Culture

Spirituality, the Life-centre of Indian CultureIndian civilization is more than five thousand years old.   During this long period it produced a unique type of highly advanced and variegated culture.  In spite of the innumerable regional, social and linguistic diversities of the country, there has always been a basic unity in Indian culture.  Moreover, this culture maintained unbroken continuity from Vedic times to the present day, in spite of countless wars within the country, invasions from outside and two centuries of subjugation by the British.  This indestructible unity and unbroken continuity of Indian culture are derived from its deep spiritual foundations. 

Swami Vivekananda has pointed out that every civilization or culture has a particular life-centre, a dominant characteristic or trend.  According to him the life-centre of Indian culture is spirituality.  By spirituality is meant a way of life oriented to the ultimate purpose or goal of life which is the realization of the Supreme Spirit or God. 

Unity of Philosophy and Religion in IndiaIndian spirituality is deeply rooted in the ancient philosophical and religious traditions of the land.  Philosophy arose in India as an enquiry into the mystery of life and existence.  A parallel situation arose in ancient Greece also.  But, as Swami Vivekananda pointed out, the Greek philosophers confined their enquiries to the external world, and the method they employed was only speculation, whereas in India philosophical enquiries were carried out in the inner world.  Indian sages, called Rishis or ‘seers’, developed special techniques of transcending the senses and the ordinary mind, collectively called Yoga.  With the help of these techniques they delved deep into the depths of consciousness and discovered important truths about the true nature of man and the universe.

The sages found that man’s true nature is not the body or the mind, which are ever changing and perishable, but the spirit which is unchanging, immortal, pure consciousness.  They called it the Atman.  The Atman is man’s true Self, the true knower, the true source of man’s knowledge, happiness and power.  The Rishis further found that all individual selves are parts of infinite Consciousness which they called Brahman.  Brahman is the ultimate Reality, the ultimate cause of the universe.  Ignorance of man’s true nature is the main cause of human suffering and bondage.  By gaining correct knowledge of Atman and Brahman it is possible to become free from suffering and bondage and attain a state of immortality, everlasting peace and fulfilment known asMukti.

Religion in ancient India meant a way of life which enabled man to realize his true nature and attain Mukti.

Thus philosophy provided a correct view of Reality, while religion showed the correct way of life; philosophy provided the vision, while religion brought about the fulfilment; philosophy was the theory, and religion was the practice.  Thus in ancient India, philosophy and religion complemented each other.  In fact, they together constituted a single endeavour, an integral discipline.  This integral religious philosophy or philosophical religion was called Vedanta.  The term Vedanta comes from the fact that its basic principles constitute the last part or culmination of the ancient scriptures known as the Vedas.  

The VedasThe Vedas are the oldest and most authoritative scriptures of Hinduism.  All other scriptures are subordinate to them.  They were not composed by anybody but were ‘revealed’ to the Rishis; hence they are also called ‘Shruti’, ‘that which is heard’.  The earlier part of the Vedas may have been composed between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C.  There are four Vedas: Rig-veda, Yajur-veda, Sama-veda and Atharva-veda.  Each of these has four divisions: Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads.

Samhita:  This section is a collection of hymns addressed to various deities.  Many of these hymns have deep mystical significance.

Brahmana:  This portion deals with various rituals and also with moral principles.

Aranyaka:  This portion contains various meditations.  Some of these meditations are mental recreations of external rituals.

Upanishads:  These are the records of the transcendental experiences gained by Rishis by following different contemplative techniques.  These experiences are actually revelations about Atman, Brahman and other eternal, universal truths regarding the ultimate Reality.

These eternal truths and principles of the spiritual world, lying scattered in the Upanishads, were brought together and codified by Badarayana in the form of sutras or aphorisms in the 5^th century B.C.  These sutras known as Brahma Sutras form the foundation of the system of philosophy known as Vedanta-Darshana.

Vedanta

Thus the term Vedanta stands for three inter-related things:

(a) the Upanishads collectively, which form the last and the most important part of the Vedas;
(b) the eternal truths and principles of the spiritual realm;
(c) the system of philosophy based on Brahma Sutras.

However, it is mostly in the last sense of Vedanta Darshana (Vedanta Philosophy) that the term Vedanta is commonly used.

In this connection it should be pointed out that five more systems of philosophy arose in India in the early centuries of the Christian era.  These are:

1)     Mimamsa, founded by Jaimini

2)     Vaisheshika, founded by Kanada

3)     Nyaya, founded by Gautama

4)     Sankhya, founded by Kapila

5)     Yoga, founded by Patanjali

These five systems of philosophy always remained confined to small groups of intellectuals.  They never became identified with the mainstream religion of the land and, in due course, they ceased to be in vogue.  Vedanta alone remained the main philosophy of India from the Vedic period, and Vedanta alone got identified with the religion of the land.  As already mentioned, Vedanta is both philosophy and religion.  This combined religious and philosophical tradition of India came to be called Sanatana Dharma, “Eternal Religion” and, still later, as Hinduism.http://www.belurmath.org/vedantaindianculture.htm