Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of Bharatham-5.3. : Swami Krishnananda.

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#Opinion : Tuesday, January 26, 2021. 06:57. AM. 2322.
Chapter- 5. Introduction to the Epics - 3.

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So these are some of the conclusions that we wisely draw from the contents of the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, the Upanishads and the Smritis, which laid down for us the pattern of the very concept of the aims of existence – dharma, artha, kama, moksha – in connection with which it became necessary to tell you something more as to what moksha is. Moksha is not something that will take place in the future; it is an eternity that is operating. Moksha is identical with timeless eternity, and therefore inasmuch as it is not in time, it is not a question of tomorrow. It is not an after-death affair. There is no question of ‘after’ because there is no time there. It is a just now, here. That is moksha. This is a hard nut to crack. Ordinary minds cannot grasp this subtlety of the very concept of freedom of the spirit, which is not tomorrow’s matter; it is a matter concerning just this moment, and this place where you are seated. It is a question of here and now, as they say. So much about the basic scriptures, the foundations of Indian culture, which are recorded for us in the Vedas, or the Srutis as they are called, and the Smritis.

The essentials of the practice of religion, the practice of these injunctions of the Vedas and the Smritis, which I tried to delineate in these few days, though they appear to be clear to some extent, they did not become clear to every mind and every person for all times. Even you people who are all well-educated and clear-headed students will not be in a position to keep this in your mind for a long time. After hearing all this, when you go out from this hall, you will again think that God is outside the world, He is above in heaven, and moksha is after death. These ideas will persist in you like a dragon wherever you go, and if such educated persons can find it hard to maintain the true spirit of what culture in the sense of freedom of the spirit is, what to talk of common folk, the rustics, the farmers, the tillers who are more body-oriented than intellectual or spirit-oriented? But to them religion had to give sufficient attention.

The culture of India is not only for intellectuals, it is not only for students in the university, it is not only for Brahmins or pundits, not also merely for Kshatriyas or rulers and administrators, not only for the traders, but also for the lowest downtrodden. The very purpose of the culture of India is to see that the spirit of freedom is inculcated into the minds of even those who do not know what freedom is. Even if you do not know what freedom is, it is necessary for you to be free. You are so very untutored in the art of living that you do not know that you are bound. Merely because you have no consciousness of there being such a thing called freedom, it is not proper for those who have such consciousness to exploit you.

Indian culture is a broad-based, charitable action of enlightened ones for the purpose of bringing the very same enlightenment into those who do not know that they are bound. Even to the lowest and the most unlettered, this spirit of the freedom of the soul has to be introduced gradually by a process of education. Cultural values are actually processes of education. Today we have education, but the subjects are compartmentalised, departmentalised specialisations in certain sciences and the humanities, as we call them. But culture, which is inseparable from true education, is so inclusive that it has not ignored the operation of any aspect of human nature.

Therefore, it became necessary for the promulgators of India’s culture, especially in ancient times, to find some way or means to drive into the minds of those who are not academically qualified, those who are not pundits, what religion is. When I use the word ‘religion’, please be cautious to keep in mind that it is not used in the sense of anything that is not of this world; it is always used in the sense of an enlightening scientific operation taking place in this very earth itself, in your very body. It is an imminence, and not merely a transcendence.

To be continued ....

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