Digest Number 2271

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Life a Mystery and an art

 

Life has been a great mystery to man. Its origin, growth, decadence and

disappearance have always exercised his thoughts and emotions. The Hindu

Samskaras were just an attempt to fathom and to facilitate the flow of this

mystery. Through observations and experiences and through faltering and

confidence of ages the ancient Hindus realised that life was an art like any

other art in the world. It required cultivation and refinement. Man born and

left to himself was a mass of elements, crude and brutal and slightly

removed from his fellow citizens of the forest. His life stood in need of as

much care, protection and cultivation as a plant in a garden, crops in a

field and an animal in a cattle farm. The Samskaras involved consciou

efforts to meet this need. The seers and the sages of yore, to their light

and resources, tried to transform crude animality into refined humanity.

 

Life a Cycle

 

As in philosophy so in rituals life was regarded as a cycle. It starts where

it ends. From birth to death it is continuous series of incidents moving

round a nucleus of desire to live, to enjoy, to think and ultimately to

retire. All the Samskaras and their ceremonies emanate from the centre of

life and are concurrent with its circumference. The Ghyasutras, the oldest

manuals of the Samskaras start with the Vivaha (marriage Ceremonies),

because marriage was supposed to be the centre of life which supports and

sustains all social activities. The Smritis, however, begin with the

conception of a child in the womb of its mother, as, obviously, the life of

an individual germinates here and they end with the Antyesti (Funeral

Ceremonies), which apparently mark the end of an individual life. Between

births and deaths like life, the Samskaras revolve.

 

Dogma a Conscious Development

 

In the beginning, the Samskaras, though not automatic, were spontaneous.

There was no dogma and there was no code. Precedent was the only authority;

the question of rationale did not arise. When in course of time the various

ceremonies connected with the Samskaras developed and they were amplified

according to the social sentiments and needs, a conscious attempt was made

at the codification of the Samskaras, and dogmas were fixed. This provided

for the stability of the institutional aspect of the Samskaras, but it

hindered its spontaneous growth which resulted in its stultification and

decay.

 

The Procedure of the Samskaras

 

The forms and procedure of the Samskaras were suggested by ovservation and

reasoning. Even in early times there were elaborate and distinct procedures

of the Samskaras. Their precise origin is lost in the depth of antiquity but

it is certain that they originated in social needs and in course of time

they assumed a religious garb. Symbols and taboos played an important part

in the procedural development of the Samskaras.

 

The place of the Samskaras in Hinduism

 

Samskaras took Life as a whole

 

In the beginning of civilizations life was much simpler than it is at

present and it was not divided into compartments. Social institutions,

beliefs, sentiments, arts, sciences etc. were all closely interwoven. The

Samskaras covered all these fields of life. Religion was all embracing

factor in ancient times and rituals were giving sanctity and stability to

all possible incidents in life, and to this end, they are utilising all the

moral and material resources of the world to which man had an access. This

aim of the Samskaras was to create conditions for the development of an

integrated personality of an individual, who can adjust himself with the

world around him believed to be full of human and superhuman forces.

 

Samskaras and the Three Paths of Life

 

When in course of time the complexities of life increased and distinctions

in action came to be made, the Hindus recognized three definite paths of

life - 1) Karma marga (the Path of Action), 2)Upasana marga (the Path of

Meditation and Worship), 3)Jnana marga (the Path of Knowledge). Though the

samskaras were sufficiently comprehensive in their scope originally, they

came to be included, later on, in the Path of Action (Karma marga) alone.

The first path of life was a preparatory step to the second and the third

ones, meant for the purification of mind (Chitta shuddhi). Therefore though

the samskaras were not of the highest importance in life, they were of the

primary importance and thus essential for every individual. As a matter of

fact they provided a necessary training for a higher type of culture

intellectual and spiritual.

 

Philosophical Indifference and Hostility towards the samskaras and their

reconciliation with philosophy

 

Indian philosophical attitude towards life centred round the idea that

temporal life, in its last analysis, is futile and that a permanent state of

consciousness transcending the earthly existence is to be reached. The

samskaras which blessed the Mundane affairs of life were looked down upon by

retiring aspirants after the transcendental values of life. Some of the

upanisadic thinkers derided all sacrifices, including the samskaras, and

compared them with frail boats unfit for crossing the ocean or mortality.

But the classical Hindu mind, being synthetic and taking a balanced view of

life, was able to reconcile ritualism with philosophy and under the same

sacrificial canopy, side by side with most elaborate sacrifices, the highest

metaphysical questions were raised and discussed. The Charvakas

(Materialists), the Buddhists and the Jains (Heterodox religions) attacked

rituals in vain. The Charvakas, having no rituals and dogmas to rest upon,

died out. The Buddhist and the Jain churches developed their own rituals,

leaving their laity to follow the popular rituals current in the society.

The Brahmanical thinkers never tried to discard them, perhaps, thinking that

people could not live without some kind of ceremonies; the samskaras, being

the best of them. Received their approval.

 

Samskaras and Puranic Hinduism

 

The development of Puranic Hinduism synchronized with the decline of the

Vedic religion and the gravity of religious life shifted from home - the

venue of the samskaras - to the places of pilgimage and the temples. The

emphasis was laid on the idol worship. But though the big sacrifice fell

into disuse, the samskaras survived with the change that some of them, eg.,

the Tonsure and the Upanayana, in some cases, came to be performed at a

temple instead of at home. The samskaras were so closely associated with the

personal life of an individual that they clung to him or her through all

changes and vicissitudes. Their hold on life was so strong that even some of

the deities had to undergo some of these samskaras.

 

The Achievements of the Samskaras

 

The samskaras helped in the refinement and purification of human life,

facilitated the development of personality, imparted sanctity and importance

to human body, blessed all material and spiritual aspirations of man and

ultimately prepared him for an easy and happy exit from this world of

complexities and problems. They also helped in the solution of the many

social problems of importance. For example, the Garbhadhana (Conception) and

other pre-natal samskaras were connected with sex hygiene and eugenics. When

the latter had not developed as independent branches of science, the

samskaras were the only educative agencies in these matters. Similarly, the

Vidyarambha (Learning of Alphabets) and the samskaras beginning from the

Upanayana (Initiation) to the Samavartana (Returning Home from the Teacher'

s) are all of highly educational importance. In early societies there was no

secular agency to enforce compulsory education upon the masses. The

samskaras, being compulsory, served this purpose. Every child, if he was not

mentally and physically invalid, was to undergo a compulsary course of

education involving learning and strict discipline. This maintained the

intellectual and cultural level of the ancient Hindus. The Vivaha samskara

(Marriage) regulated a number of sexual and social roblems by laying down

definite rules on the types and forms of marriage, the limitations of

marriage, the selection of parties and the nupitals. No doubt, these rules

tended to make society static but they also added to the stability and

happiness of social groups and family life. The last samskara, the Antyesti

(Funerals) combined the duties of a house holder towards the dead and the

living. It was wonderful combination of family and social hygiene and

consolation for the survivors. Thus, the samskaras operated in the practical

life as a graduated scheme of human life and its development.

 

The Decline of the Samskaras

 

Like other socio-religious institutions the samskaras also, after serving

their purpose for a long time, declined in course of time due to their

internal weaknesses and external circumstances, which developed in the

history of the Hindus. The creative stage of the samskaras was followed by

the critical, conservative and imitative ones, when the samskaras were

codified, commented upon, compiled and confusedly and poorly imitated. The

result was that they became static and stultified and lost their power of

elasticity and adaptation. tHe time and ideology under which they evolved

were left far behind and new social and religious forces were operating in

the society, which did not fully conform to old social and religious

institutions. Buddhism, Jainism and the many new cults of devotion diverted

the attention of the people from ritualistic exactitude to devotional

practices of worship. The linguistic difficulty was also responsible for the

decline of the samskaras. The Mantras recited in the samskaras were from the

Vedas and the procedure of the samskaras was couched in archaic Sanskrit and

the both have continued to be so till today. Though Sanskrit has ceased to

be the popular language of India and is intelligible to only a few learned

persons, the priests have never cared to change the language of the

sanskaras, as they are always anxious to preserve the mystic and obscure

nature of the religious ceremonies. The natural consequence is the apathy

and indifference of the masses towards the samskara, which have become a

sealed book to them.

 

A far-reaching cause of the decline of the samskaras was the development of

the society from its primitive conditions and the bifurcation and

specialisation of the different branches of human activities. Originally the

samskaras combine religious beliefs and practices, social customs and laws,

educational schemes, rules regarding health and hygiene etc. In course of

time all these aspects of human life developed more or less independently.

So the samskaras lost most of their contents and importance; only its

religious sanctity survived in its truncated form. The samskaras, which once

constituted a serious attempt at the reformation of man, were reduced to

mere ceremonies. The samskaras today are in the majority of cases a matter

of routine benefit of effective influence.

 

Hinduism assimilated foreign elements in its fold throughout its long

history. These elements conformed to the broad outline of Hinduism, but they

did not find minute ritualistic details congenial to them. They performed

the most important samskaras like the Vivaha (Marriage) and the Antyesti

(Funeral), which they could not escape, but they had little use of the minor

ones. The advent of Islam in India eclipsed Hindu culture and in the major

part of the country there was no free opportunity to perform religious

rites. For their safety the masses abstained from ostentacious ritualistic

procedure and only a few orthodox families performed them at their great

risk. The later and modern impact of materialism from the west has attacked

Hinduism on a different plane. Through western educational system and

foreign medium of instruction it has uprooted the majority of young people

receiving the new education from their moorings both intellectually and

emotionally. It has made its converts hostile towards the traditional life

of the country, sceptic towards spiritual values of the life and impatient

of any religious discipline. They are getting lost to the very sacramental

conception of life. This constitutes the gravest menace to the samskaras.

The only saving feature for the samskaras is the reaction which is visible

today against materialism in a serious section of humanity, which may

restore the religious and spiritual values to man in future again.

 

Revivalism and the Samskaras

 

In the nineteenth century in Indian the impact of western influences was on

the one hand, capturing the mind of a large number of young people, on the

other hand, it created a reaction against it led by nationalistic cultural

movements. The more orthodox of them, like the Arya Samaja and the Sanatana

Dharma movements, sought to defend the Hindu community firstly by restoring

to the charges hurled by the foreigners against the Hindu religion and

culture and secondly by reviving the old social and religious institutions

with some reforms and simplification, so that they might attract the

educated people intellectually. The samskaras were revived with a zeal and

they appealed to the people for some time, but they are loosing their

influence again. The real question is not the West versus the East; it is

the Old versus New. The samskaras originated in the hoary past when the

problems and the needs of the society were different from what they are

today; the mind of the people was working under an ideology which was

peculiar to its age. Today the society has changed; the man has changed

accordingly; his beliefs, sentiments ans aspirations have all undergone

change. Unless the samskaras are also transformed in the light of new

developments, they cannot appeal to the new mind.

 

Prospects

 

The samskaras were the expressin of human beliefs, sentiments, aspirations,

hopes and fears, and they catered for human needs. With changes in life they

are bound to change. By scientific discoveries many mysteries of life have

been solved and man's control over his environment has immensely increased.

Many natural forces which were feared or respected have become docile

servants of man. Material resources of life are getting multiplied. Many

fields of life which were regarded sacred have now become secular. So, the

awe and reverence with which the religious rites were performed are

diminishing gradually. But in spite of all these changes in the material

aspects of the world, certain central mysteries of life and some fundamental

needs of human existence will remain. Though the evolutionary process of

life has been analysed and studied, the origin of life, its constituents and

their combinations are still puzzling the human mind, and there does not

seem to be any possibility of solving the central problem of life

satisfactorily. At the source of life man is even today experiencing the

mystic touch of the invisible. This fact will keep alive the religious

sentiments in man. Though the magic hold of religion in some fields of life

will be loosened, the human heart will not part with the sanctity which is

imparted by religious sanction. The consecration of life will never cease.

Similarly the fact that life is an art and it requires conscious and planned

efforts for its cultivation and refinement will never die out. The art of

race culture and nation building will always form an important part of human

progress. The samskaras will change their old garbs and will assume new

shapes

[Guest guest]

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap14.htm

An interesting thought occurs to me here. In Sanskrit the suffix "taram" is

used for the comparative degree. "Viryavat" means "strong",

"viryavattaram"

means "stronger". It is said in the Chandogya Upanisad (1. 1. 10) that he

who meditates on the truth of Omkara (Aumkara) with a knowledge of its

meaning, will gain benefits that are "viryavattaram". The implication here

is that those who practise such meditation without knowing the meaning will

obtain benefits that are " viryavat". In his commentary on this Upanisad,

Sankaracharya remarks that those who meditate on Omkara, even without

grasping the principle behind it, will gain much benefit though it may not

be the same measure as that gained by those who meditate on it knowing its

meaning.

 

We may or may not know the meaning or significance of a religious rite, but

we will be duly rewarded if we perform it in deference to great men who have

urged us to do it or because we follow the example of our forefathers who

have done it. What matters is the faith inspiring our action. This applies

particularly to mantra upasana (worship through chanting mantras) more than

to anything else. The reason is that in such worship the proper voicing of

the syllables of the mantra and the vibrations created are what matter in

bringing beneficial results. The meaning of the mantras comes later.

 

In this context it seems to me that performing a rite without knowing its

meaning yields results that are "viryavattaram", that is more potent than

performing it with a knowledge of its meaning (the benefits in the latter

case are "viryavat"). The chanting of mantra, or the muttering of it,

without knowing its meaning, is also more rewarding than chanting or

muttering it knowing the meaning. How?

 

A man sends a petition to the collector through his lawyer. Another man, an

unlettered peasant, has his petition written by somebody else but he

personally hands it to the collector. He requests the official to treat his

case sympathetically. The latter is moved by the man's simple faith and

decides to help him. If we approach the collector through a lawyer and if he

takes it amiss, he might turn against us. Also, if he finds that we have

knowingly committed a wrong, he will have greater reason too be displeased

with us. But if he realises that we have committed a mistake unknowingly, he

may be inclined to forgive us.

 

We must not refuse to perform a rite because we do not know its meaning, nor

must we ask why we should perform what is prescribed in the sastras.

Conducting a ritual without knowing its significance, it occurs to me, is

"viryavattaram".

 

You may take it that this observation of mine has not been made in any

seriousness. But, when I see that intellectual arrogance and deceit are on

the increase and that the ignorant are being deprived of their one asset,

humility, it seems to me that doing things in mere faith is to be lauded.

 

You must, in fact, be intellectually convinced about the need to perform a

religious duty and, at the same time, you must be humble. The mantras are

the laws of the dharmasastras. If we knew their meaning we would be better

able to live according to them.

 

The term "alpakantha" in the verse quoted above [in the previous chapter]

means one who has a thin voice (one who chants the Vedas in a thin voice).

The Vedic mantras must be intoned full-throatedly, sonorously and their

sound must pervade space to the maximum extent possible.

 

The sound of the mantras does good to the man chanting them as well as to

the listener by producing vibrations in the nadis of both. As it fills the

air it will be beneficent both in this world and in the next. This is the

reason why the Vedas must be chanted with vigour, so that their sound

reaches the utmost limits possible.