Continued from Page 17

The effect of all this renaissance has been, first, to bring the Indian subcontinent back to its trodden path of spiritual greatness, and, second, to shift the emphasis from religious exclusiveness to spiritual inclusiveness. What matters, after all this, is not how these great men and their thinking differ from one another; what matters is the non-difference in the teaching of all of these to humanity in regard to what one has to do in the daily world. It is interesting to note that to whatever school a noted saint or devotee belongs his prayers or compositions always include the thought that whatever birth he may have to take in the future, whatever number of times he may have to be born in the future, his only prayer is that he should not forget the name of God. The unity of Indian culture should be seen in such common characteristic prayers. Every saint would say that our needs and desires are endless and so in our prayers to God we must not seek anything except devotion to him. This is why Hindu religion is one in spite of all the differences in the interpretations of scriptures and the flexibilities given to each seeker. Well might one echo with Jagadguru Sankaracharya of Sringeri: 'You cannot see the feet of the Lord, why do you waste time debating about the nature of His face?'. The experience of the divine integrators listed above and many more not listed here, would be valid even of today because, while the science of a thousand years ago seems ludicrous and even that of a century ago seems quaint, men who report religious and spiritual experience can and do speak to one another across chasms of time without difficulty.

Finally it is important to note that the Hindu thought process itself has always a built-in tendency toward evolution as opposed to revolution. It has continuously shown a flexibility, an adaptability, and a resilience which have undoubtedly been the key to its long survival. As we saw earlier it gradually came out of its own partial eclipse that it experienced during the challenge of Buddhism and Jainism. It showed an extraordinary degree of accommodation and adapted itself to face the continued onslaught of Islam in the 2^nd millenium. It reacted with similar flexibility to the challenge of scientific rationalism as well as that of Christianity. The really most distinguishing feature of Hinduism is that it has always been a matter of faith, not a policy of diplomacy, with Hindu thought to consider all religions as true. Since God can be worshipped in several forms and ways, a true Hindu believes that different religions are just so many paths to God. No religion may assume that it is the only true religion. Each is a path to the same one God. So there should be no hate or distrust of another religion or another point of view with respect to God. In this modern world of strife, competition and hatred this tolerance of other religions and other points of view with respect to God is the major lesson that the world may adopt from the Hindu way of life.

 Ó Copyright. V. Krishnamurthy October 12, 2000

Homepage

Contents