QUOTES ON SCRIPTURES - IV
QUOTES ON HINDU SCRIPTURES - IV
SATGURU SIVAYA
SUBRAMANIYASWAMI: (1927-2001) American born. He was one of Hinduism's
foremost spiritual teachers, a prolific author and publisher of Hinduism
Today magazine.
He called Hinduism, the Greatest Religion in the World.
"Hinduism is so broad. Within it there is a place for the insane
and a place for the saint...There is a place for the intelligent person and
plenty of room for the fool. The beauty of Hinduism is that it does not demand of
every soul perfection in this life, a necessary conclusion for those who
believe in a single lifetime during which human perfection or grace must be
achieved. Belief in reincarnation (avatar-अवतार) gives the Hindu an acceptance of every level
of humanity. Some souls are simply older souls than others, but all are
inherently the same, inherently immortal and of the nature of the Divine."
"Hinduism, the Eternal Way (or Sanatana Dharma- सनातन धर्म), has no beginning,
therefore will certainly have no end. It was never created, and therefore it
cannot be destroyed. It is a God-centric religion. The centre of it is God. All
of the other religions are prophet-centric. It is the only religion that has
such breadth and depth. Hinduism contains the deities and the sanctified
temples, the esoteric knowledge of inner states of consciousness, yoga and the
disciplines of meditation. It possesses a gentle compassion and a genuine
tolerance and appreciation for other religions. It remains undogmatic and open to inquiry. It believes in a just
world in which every soul is guided by karma to the ultimate goal of Self
Realization (aatma-gnyan-आत्म-ज्ञान), or moksha-मोक्ष , freedom from rebirth. It rest content in the knowledge
of the divine origin of the soul. It cherishes the largest storehouse of
scripture and philosophy on the Earth, and the oldest. It is endowed with a
tradition of saints and sages, of realized men and women, unrivaled on the
Earth. It is the sum of these, and more, which makes me boldly declare that
Hinduism is the greatest religion in the world.
***
Dr.
HEINRICH ZIMMER - (1890-1943):
The great German Indologist, a man of penetrating intellect with keenest aesthetic
sensibility. One of his famous works in the Bollingen series include ‘Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and
Civilization and Philosophies of India’.
"We of the Occident are about to arrive
at a crossroads that was reached by the thinkers of India some seven hundred
years before Christ. This is the real reason, why we become both, vexed and
stimulated, uneasy and yet interested, when confronted with the concepts and
images of Oriental wisdom."
"It is well known that our
Christian Western tradition has long refused to accept the wisdom of the pagans
on an equal footing with the body of revelation that it cherishes and worships
as its own. The fact that there are virtue, wisdom, and inspiration
to be found even among the historical enemies of Christianity.""The whole edifice of Indian civilization is imbued with spiritual meaning. The close interdependence and perfect harmonization of the two serve to counteract the natural tendency of Indian philosophy to become recondite and esoteric, removed from life and the task of the education of society. In the Hindu world, the folklore and popular mythology carry the truths and teachings of the philosophers to the masses. In this symbolic form the ideas do not have to be watered down to be popularized. The vivid, perfectly appropriate pictorial script preserves the doctrines without the slightest damage to their sense."
 |
| God SHIVA in His Nataraja (with the Cosmic dance) नटराज |
“In one of the Puranic accounts
of the deeds of Vishnu in his Boar
Incarnation or Avatar (Varah Incarnation -वाराह अवतार ), occurs a casual reference to the cyclic
recurrence of the great moments of myth. The Boar, carrying on his arm
the Goddess Earth whom
he is in the act of rescuing from the depths of the sea, passingly remarks to
her: “Every time I carry you
this way….” For the Western mind, which
believes in single, epoch-making, historical events (such as, for instance, the
coming of Christ) this casual comment of the ageless god has a gently
minimizing, annihilating effect. It is
easy for us to forget that our strictly linear, evolutionary idea of time is
something peculiar to modern man. Even the Greeks of the day of Plato and
Aristotle, who were much nearer than the Hindus to our ways of thought and
feeling did not share it. Indeed, St. Augustine seems to have been the first to
conceive of this modern idea of time."
***
IRWIN BABBITT - (1865-1933): Harvard literary scholar and cultural
thinker, will always stand as a monument to American intellectual culture
at its finest. Babbitt was fascinated with Asian religion and philosophy. He
was one of the principal critics of the twentieth century, and an influential
teacher of T.
S. Eliot.
"East bowed low before the blast in humble
deep disdain, It let the legions thunder past, and plunged in thought
again."
***
Dr. ANANDA KENTISH COORASWAMY - (1877-1947):
Late curator of Indian art at the ‘Boston Museum of Fine Arts’, was unexcelled
in his knowledge of the art of the Orient, and unmatched in his understanding
of Indian culture, language, religion and philosophy. He wanted India to remain
Indian and continue to demonstrate that a pattern of life rooted in religion
and philosophy can also be elegant, graceful and fully satisfying. In India
philosophy has been the key in the understanding of concrete life, not a mere
intellectual exercise in abstract thought.
He is the author of ' The
Dance of Shiva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture'
Praising
this grand achievement of art, he writes about the image of the Nataraja: "This conception itself is a synthesis
of science, religion and art. In the night of Brahma, Nature is inert, and
cannot dance till Shiva wills it. He rises from His rapture, and dancing sends
through inert matter pushing waves of awakening sound, and lo! matter also
dances appearing as a glory round about Him. This is poetry; but nonetheless,
science.
Whatever the origins of Siva's dance, it became in time the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.”
Whatever the origins of Siva's dance, it became in time the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.”
“How amazing the range of thought and sympathy of those rishi-artists
who conceived such a type as this, affording an image of reality, a key to the
complex tissue of life, a theory of nature, note merely satisfactory to a
single clique or race, not acceptable to the thinkers of a country only, but
Universal in its appeal to the philosopher, the lover and the artist of all
ages and all countries…”
“Every part of such an image as this is directly expressive not of any
superstition or dogma, but of evident facts. No artist of today, however great, could more exactly or more wisely
create an image of that Energy which science must postulate behind all
phenomena. “It is not strange that the figure of Nataraja has
commanded the adoration of so many generations past; familiar with all scepticisms,
expert in tracing all beliefs to primitive superstitions, explorers of the
infinitely great and infinitely small, we are worshippers of Nataraja still.”
"Hindus have grasped more firmly than others
the fundamental meaning and purpose of life, and more deliberately than others
organized society with a view to the attainment of the fruit of life; and this
organization was designed, not for the advantage of a single class, but, to use
a modern formula, to take from each according to his capacity, and to give
to each according to his needs." " If it be asked what inner
riches India brings to aid in the realization of a civilization of the world,
then, from the Indian standpoint, the answer must be found in her religions and
her philosophy, and her constant application of abstract theory to practical
life."
The essence of the Indian experience, rooted in “a constant intuition" of the unity and harmony of all life. Everything has its place, every being its function and all play a part in the divine concert led by Nataraja (Siva), Lord of Dancers.
He has described the Bhagavad Gita as "a compendium of the whole Vedic
doctrine to be found in the earlier Vedas,
Brahmanas and Upanishads, and being therefore the basis of all later
developments, it can be regarded as the focus of all Indian religion."
"There are many gods in Hindu pantheon, but they are no more
than the imaginative shadowing
forth of all-compassing, all penetrating spirit."
"Hinduism emerges, not as a post-Vedic development, atheistic
declension from the lofty visions of the Upanishads, but as something handed on
from a prehistoric past, ever-changing and yet ever essentially itself, raised
at various times by devotional ecstasy and philosophic speculation to heights beyond the grasp of thought, and
yet preserving in its popular aspects the most archaic rites and animistic
imagery."
He detected in India “a strong national genius...since the beginning of her history.”
He found Indian art and
culture “a joint creation of the
Dravidian and Aryan genius.”
Of Buddhism, he wrote:’ “the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to
distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism, or to say in what respects, if any,
Buddhism is really unorthodox. The outstanding distinction lies in the fact
that Buddhist doctrine is propounded by an apparently historical founder.
Beyond this there are only broad distinctions of emphasis.” No right-wing
historian could dare put it so boldly in Indian today
"Hinduism is not only the oldest of the mystery religions, or
rather metaphysical disciplines, of which we have a full and precise knowledge
from literary sources .....but also perhaps the only one of these that
has survived with an unbroken
tradition and that is lived and understood at the present by
millions of men..."
The Indian tradition is one of the forms of the
Philosophia Perennis, and as such, embodies those universal truths, to which no
one people or age can make exclusive claim. "....We must, however, specially mention the Bhagavad Gita as probably the
most important single work ever produced in India; this book of eighteen
chapters is not, as it has been sometimes called, a "sectarian " work,
but one universally studied and often repeated daily from memory by millions of
Indians of all persuasions; it may be described as a compendium of the whole
Vedic doctrine to be found in the earlier Vedas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads, and
being therefore the basis of all the later developments, it can be regarded at
the focus of all Indian religion.”
***
ROBERT
ARNETT: professor,
has lectured widely throughout America including the Smithsonian Institute and
Harvard and Yale
Universities. He has been interviewed on National Public
Radio, Voice of America and various television programs. In his new book’ India
Unveiled’, he says:
"Hinduism is greatly misunderstood in the
West. Most occidentals do not realize that Hinduism is a monotheistic belief in
only one God, who as Creator is beyond time, space and physical form. The
entire pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses are merely representations of
different attributes of the One, Unmanifested Spirit. Hinduism created a
different deity for each of God's numerous qualities to make God seem more real
and approachable."
"Hinduism is a very tolerant religion. It does not have claim
exclusivity of the true God for only itself.'
The Rig Veda, clearly states: "Though men call it by many
names, it is really One."
PIERRE
SIMON DE LAPLACE - (1749-1827):
French mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer. A contemporary of
Napoleon. Laplace is best known for his nebular
hypothesis of the origin of the solar system.
"It is India that gave us the ingenious
method of expressing all numbers by ten symbols, each receiving a value of
position as well as an absolute value, a profound and important idea which
appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit. But its very
simplicity, the great ease which it has lent to all computations, puts our
arithmetic in the first rank of useful inventions, and we shall appreciate the
grandeur of this achievement the more when we remember that it escaped the
genius of Archimedes and Appollnius, two of the greatest men produced by
antiquity."
***
ALBERT WEBER - (1825-1901): Author of The History of Indian Literature,
London 1878.
He writes: “When we compare the doctrines, aims, organization of this
(Pythagorean) brotherhood with Buddhistic monarchism, we are almost tempted to
regards Pythagoras as the pupil of the Brahmins…Dualism, Pessimism,
metempsychosis, celibacy, a common life according to the rigorous rules,
frequent self-examination, meditation, devotion, prohibitions against bloody
sacrifices, kindliness towards all men, truthfulness, fidelity, justice, and
all these elements are common to both.”
***
FRANCESCO CLEMENTE: Italian born Indophile, New York artist Clemente was born in 1952.
His art was displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
recently. He is the youngest artist ever to receive a full-museum retrospective
at the Guggenheim. Clemente arrived in India in 1973 and since then he made more than
ten trips, immersing himself deep in India's philosophy, religion, art
and crafts.
"The Gods who left
thousands of years ago in Milan (Europe) are still in India."
"In Indian diversity
there is still the memory of very refined expressions which we have lost."
GEOFFERY MOORHOUSE (1931-??): author of several books
including India Britannica,
and Om: an
Indian Pilgrimage
He has observed: "No other country has lived with so complicated a past so equably,
assimilating everything that has happened to it, obliterating naught, so that
not even the intricate histories of European states have produced such a rich
pattern as that bequeathed by the Mauryas, the Ashokas, the Pahlavas, the
Guptas, the Chalykyas, the Hoysalas, the Pandyas, the Cholas, the Mughals, and
the British - to identify a few of the people that have shaped India's
inheritance."
"Religion, flourishes here as it
does nowhere else. Other lands may surrender themselves totally to a particular
faith, but in India most creeds are deeply rooted and acknowledged fervently.
Virtually the whole population practices some form of devotion: the Indian
without the slightest feeling for the divine, without a spiritual dimension to
his life, is exceedingly rare."
"Incomparable and inimitable she is, India is also our great paradigm."
***
GOLDSWORTHY LOWES DICKINSON (1862-1932): Son of portrait painter Cato Lowes
Dickinson. He was brought up in a Christian Socialist environment and though he
later rejected Christianity he saw his work in the context of its social
utility. He was a pacifist during World War I, and he was later instrumental in
the conception of the League of
Nations
Dickinson, a friend of E. M. Forster, in his "Essay on the Civilizations"
thesis, wrote: "The real antithesis is not between East and
West, but between India and the rest of the world. Only India is
different; only India un spools some other possibility fantastically. India is
the odd man out of the global citizenry."
Dickinson firmly believed, "because religion, religion, religion everywhere had transported the land to somewhere nearly extraterrestrial. All other countries were located on planet Earth, in present time, in specific material conditions- which were so much 'maya' (illusion-माया) or secondary reality in India, where what was important had migrated over the mountaintops into the clouds."
Dickinson firmly believed, "because religion, religion, religion everywhere had transported the land to somewhere nearly extraterrestrial. All other countries were located on planet Earth, in present time, in specific material conditions- which were so much 'maya' (illusion-माया) or secondary reality in India, where what was important had migrated over the mountaintops into the clouds."
"Indian religion has
never been a system of dogma, and is not entangled in questionable history.
Indian philosophy and religion have always affirmed that there is; that by
meditation and discipline an internal perception is opened which is perception
of truth."
"In the first place, India has never put Man
in the center of the universe. In India, and wherever Indian influence has
penetrated, it is, on the one hand, the tremendous forces of nature, and what
lies behind them that is the object of worship and of speculation; and, on the
other hand, Mind and Spirit; not the mind or spirit of the individual person,
but the universal Mind or Spirit, which is in him, but which he can only have
access by philosophic mediation and discipline....It is very much in harmony
with the spirit of western science than with that of western religion. And this
fact is exemplified not only by the religious and philosophic literature of
India, but by its art."
***
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950): a vegetarian and Nobel Laureate for Literature. He was an active
socialist on the executive committee of the Fabian Society along with Annie
Besant. Famous British Author and Playwright, of books
such as Pygmalion.
G. B. Shaw remarked: "The
Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We
veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender
expressions which carry the mark of the Creators hand."
"In the face of an Indian, you can see the natural
glory of life, while we have covered ourselves with an artificial clock."
"The apparent multiplication of gods is
bewildering at the first glance, but you soon discover that they are the same
GOD. There is always one uttermost God who defies personification. This makes Hinduism the most tolerant religion
in the world, because its one transcendent God includes all possible gods. In
fact Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and
crudest idolater, are equally at home with it."
***
W.CROOKE: (-/-) in his book, in 1896, 'The Popular Religion and
Folklore of Northern India' he wrote: "Among all the
great religions of the world there is none more catholic, more assimilative,
than the mass of beliefs which go to make up what is popularly known as
Hinduism."
***
Sir CHARLES NORTON EDGCUMBE (1864-1931): British diplomat and colonial administrator, a famous scholar and linguist
of Oxford, observed on his book Hinduism and Buddhism - An
Historical Sketch:
"Let me confess that I cannot share the
confidence in the superiority of Europeans and their ways which is prevalent in
the West."
"European civilization is not satisfying and Asia can
still offer something more attractive to many who are far from Asiatic in
spirit."
"Indian religions
have more spirituality and a greater sense of the Infinite than our western
creeds and more liberality. They are not merely tolerant but often hold that different classes of
mankind have their own rules of life and suitable beliefs and that he who
follows such partial truths does no wrong to the greater and all-inclusive
truths on which his circumstances do not permit him to fix his attention....and
are more penetrated with the idea that civilization means a gentle and
enlightened temper - an idea sadly forgotten in these days of war."
"The claim of India to the attention of the
world is that she, more than any other nation since history began, has devoted
herself to contemplating the ultimate mysteries of existence and, in my eyes,
the fact that Indian thought diverges widely from our own popular thought is a
positive merit."
"Hinduism has not been made, but has grown. It
is a jungle, not a building. It is a living example of a great national
paganism such as might have existed in Europe if Christianity had not become
the state religion of the Roman Empire, if there had remained an incongruous
jumble of old local superstitions, Greek philosophy, and oriental cults such as
the worship of Sarapis or Mitras."
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***
Sri
SWAMI SIVANAND SARASVATI MAHARAJ (1887-1963): founder of The
Divine Life Society, with headquarters in Rishikesh, Himalayas, began as a
physician before he turned sanyasi.
Swami Sivananda said: "Hinduism stands unrivaled in the depth and
grandeur of its philosophy. Its ethical teachings are lofty, unique and
sublime. It is highly flexible and adapted to every human need. It is a perfect
religion by itself. It is not in need of anything from any other religion.
No other religion has produced so many great saints, great patriots, great
warriors, great Pativratas (chaste women devoted to their husbands). 'The more you know of the Hindu religion, the
more you will honor and love it. The more you study it, the more it will
enlighten you and satisfy your heart.'
***
JUAN (Joan) MASCARO (1897 - 1987): Lectured at Oxford University, Parameshvara College in Jaffna, the University of
Barcelona, and Cambridge University.
"Amongst the sacred
books of the past, the Upanishads can be called the truth the Himalayas of the
soul. Their passionate wanderings of discovery to find that sun of the spirit
in us, from whom we have the light of our consciousness and the fire of our
life; the greatness of their questions, and the sublime simplicity of their
answers; their radiance of joy..."
"In
the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna becomes the soul of man and Krishna the charioteer of
the soul."
"The greatness of
the Bhagavad Gita is the greatness of the universe, but even as the wonder of
the stars in heaven only reveals itself in the silence of the night, the wonder
of this poem only reveals itself in the silence of the soul."
"the essence of the
Bhagavad Gita is the vision of God in all things and of all things in
God."
"The Gita is like a little shrine in a vast temple, a temple that is both a theatre and a fair of this world. Self harmony, or self-control, is again and again praised in the Bhagavad Gita - All perfection in action is a form of self-control, and this sense of perfection is the essence of the Karma yoga of the Gita. The artist must have self-control in the moment of creation, and all work well done requires self-control. But the Bhagavad Gita wants us to transform our whole life into an act of creation."
"If Beethoven could
give us in music the spirit of the Bhagavad Gita, what a wonderful symphony we
should hear."
***
Madame ALICE LOUIS-BARTHOU writes: "I look upon the Occident (Europe) with
abomination. It represents for me fog, grayness, chill, machinery, murderous
science, factories with all the vices, the triumph of noise, of hustling, of
ugliness...The Orient is calm, peace, beauty, color, mystery, charm, sunlight,
joy, ease of life, and reverly: I find the exact opposite of our hateful
and grotesque civilization..... If I had my way, I should have a wall built
between the Orient and the Occident to keep the latter from poisoning the
former; I should go and live where you can see clearly and where there are no
Europeans."
***
Professor
H. G. (Hugh George) RAWLINSON (1880 - ) author of several books including India, a short cultural history
He remarks: "almost all the theories, religious, philosophical, and mathematical,
taught by the Pythagoreans were known in India in the sixth century
B.C."
***
W. J. GRANT writes in his book The Spirit of India:
"India indeed has a preciousness which a
materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her
thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which
marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human
urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes India will be
searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands."
"The
religion of the Hindus is rich in legend and stupendous allegory. It is a
religion of great dignity and beauty. Its wrestlings with reality are as
courageous as any in the whole history of mankind..' Indian thought has
generally been contemplative, it has seldom been enamored of the material side
of life."
"In the realm of
religious philosophy she has given to us the most searching examination
of the ethical law the world is ever likely to have. No Greek was more splendid
in his scientific fidelity than the quiet company of Indian thinkers who made
the Upanishads and traced the whole beauteous outline of the Eastern
spirit."
"There are cities in
India whose grace and charm are matched only by the sweetness of an immemorial
religion. Nowhere else in the world have I been so exquisitely invaded by the
mystic quality of life."
"She is grave and old and stupendous. Her
accents are for the calm and gracious. Her temples are laden with
symbolism....and internal beauties. It is true, that India is royal...India has
been royal at heart from her very foundations of her memory."
 |
| The ASHOKA CHAKRA A symbol of India, signifies constant progress and a sign of Dharma & Knowledge |
"India's greatness is in her humility; her
weakness is her strength. She is both wiser and more effective than the West,
for she does not declare that reform is not a new shirt on Sunday morning but a
clean heart at the Throne of Grace. Justice without spirit of justice is as
much of an achievement as a river without its water."
***
Dr. A. L. BASHAM: One
of the leading authorities on ancient Indian culture. He is the author of The Wonder That Was India
He states: "Our over-all impression is that no other part
of the ancient world were the relations of man and man, and of man and the
state, so fair and humane. In no other early civilization were slaves so few in
number, and in no other ancient law book are their rights so well protected as
in the Arthashastra... In all her history of warfare, Hindu India has few
tales to tell of cities put to the sword or of the massacre of
noncombatants...To us the most striking feature of ancient Indian civilization
is its humanity....Our second general impression of ancient India is that her
people enjoyed life, passionately delighting both in the things of the senses
and the things of the spirit...India was a cheerful land, whose people, each
finding a niche in a complex and slowly evolving social system, reached a
higher level of kindliness and gentleness in their mutual relations than any
other nation of antiquity. For this, as well as for her great achievements in
religion, literature, art, science and mathematics, one European student at
least would record his admiration of her ancient culture."
"India was cheerful land, whose people, each
finding a niche in a complex and slowly evolving social system, reached a
higher level of kindliness and gentleness in their mutual relationships than
any other nation of antiquity."
"The Rig Veda lists a number of stars and mentions twelve divisions of the sun's yearly path (rashis) and also 360 divisions of the circle. Thus, the year of 360 days is divided into twelve months. The sun's annual course was described as a wheel with twelve spokes, which correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac."
"The theory of the great cycles of the universe and the ages of the world is of older origin than either Greek or Babylonian speculations about the "great year," the period within which all the stars make a round number of complete revolutions. But there is remarkably close numerical concordance in these theories. The Indian concept of the great year (mahayuga) developed from the idea of a lunisolar period of five years, combined with the four ages of the world (yugas) which were thought to be of unequal perfection and duration, succeeding one another and lasting in the ration of 4:3:2:1.
The last, the Kaliyuga, was one-tenth of the mahayuga or 432,000 years. This figure was calculated not only from rough estimates of planetary and stellar cycles, but also from the 10,800 stanzas of the Rig Veda, consisting of 432,000 syllables. The classical astronomers calculated the great period as one of 4,320,000 years, the basic element of which was a number of sidereal solar years, 1,080,000 a multiple of 10,800. According to Berossus, the Babylonian great year was a period of 432,000 years, comprising 120 "saroi" of 3,600 years apiece. The Rig Veda talks about the annual motion of the earth. The diurnal motion is described in the Yajur Veda. The Aiteriya Brahmana explains that "the sun neither sets nor rises, that when the earth, owing to the rotation on its axis is lighted up, it is called day" and so on."
***
More Quotes to follow...
More Quotes to follow...
To be continued...
Siddharth S. Sinha
सिद्धार्थ स सिन्हा
ssselan@yahoo.in
Siddharth S. Sinha
सिद्धार्थ स सिन्हा
ssselan@yahoo.in
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