#Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of India ( Bharatham ) - 6.1 : Swami Krishnananda.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------

#OPINION : Saturday, July 24 , 2021.7:31. AM. 2456.
#Chapter 6: Quandaries in the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
------------------------------------------------------------------

The epics play a significant role in the cultural values of people. This speciality of the epic literature in the world is not in any way less profound than the basic scriptures of the religions of mankind as a whole.

With special reference to the cultural foundations of India we highlighted the inner contents of the Vedas, or the Srutis, as they are called, and the Smritis which, in their wide gamut of comprehension, brought together into a focus all that can be regarded as valuable in life – namely, the universal element, the objective element, as well as the subjective element; or, to put it more plainly, we can say God, world and soul. The universal element is God, the objective element is the world, and the subjective element is your own soul, yourself, the individual. The whole of existence is comprehended in this classification of God, world and soul. Everything that follows as a matter of life in any of its departments has its roots in the concept of this threefold visualisation of reality: God, world and soul.

While the Upanishads, the Vedas, the Srutis, the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, and the Aranyakas centred themselves primarily on the concept of God, world and individual, the Smritis took upon themselves the task of the social side of human existence also, which is not an essential concern of the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads.

I mentioned to you the primary principles of existence which are comprehended in the concepts of God, world and soul, but where is such a thing called society? What do we mean by society? It is the arrangement of the individuals themselves into a group or pattern of living for the purpose of a notion of a systematised convenience. Geographically, ethically, historically or traditionally will the reason behind this classification take a form.

The social classification of human society into the system of cooperative existence, which took care of the welfare of society as well as the political administration, was the subject of the Smritis – the development of society as a horizontal expansion of human individuality and a vertical concern of the personal education of the individual through the stages of life, on which we bestowed sufficient thought. It is the concept of the purusharthas – dharma, artha, kama, moksha – and the varna ashrama dharma, as it is known in terms of social classification of function of people, and the internal educational process of vertical ascent of consciousness. This is something like the foundation of India’s culture: the Srutis and the Smritis. Dharma Shastra is another name for Smriti; Sruti is another name for Veda.

I mentioned before that the emotional side of human nature requires to be attended from the point of view of the correct practice of religion because the rationality on which the Srutis and the Smritis are founded has to be supplemented by the total upsurge of the human personality, which has various psychological aspects. The mind of the human being is capable of classification into intellect, feeling, will, and memory. The aspect of will determines our activities, our projects, our decisions and our occupations in life. The feeling aspect is at the back of even our activities in life, and we do not generally do whatever we do not feel like doing. Compulsions there are, of course, many a time imposed upon us by the rules of the government or traditions of society, which may sometimes be in harmony with our own requirements and feelings, but also may sometimes not be in harmony with our own personal feelings. Anyway, the feeling plays an important role, which subject is taken up by the authors of the epics, especially the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in India, to which we made reference earlier.

To be continued ...

=========================================================