[world-vedic] Arya Is NOT a Racial Term --PART 2 REPLY

[Guest guest]

Anthanarik replied:

"vediculture , "Mahesh Raja" <mahesh.r@v...> wrote:

Mr George and Jans concocted imaginations ---bye bye.

You are just displaying your ignorance and possible Hindu chauvinism.

BTW, they are the foremost Indo-European religous scholars. Your

sources are post Vedic. I would recommend Puhvel's Comparaive

Mythology. A great resource for a Vedic Group (besides the Vedas of

course)."

 

You are mistaken when you say Hindu chauvinism.

Read the following it will explain how we are NOT Hindus ---as you imagine.

 

SCIENCE OF SELF REALIZATION 3 Discovering the Roots

By his Divine Grace AC BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

 

Krsna Consciousness:

Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?

 

When attempting to place the Krsna consciousness movement within a

convenient historical-cultural context, many people identify the movement

with Hinduism. But this is misleading. Srila Prabhupada disavows connection

with the pantheism, polytheism, and caste consciousness that pervades modern

Hinduism. Although Krsna consciousness and modern Hinduism share a common

historical root--India's ancient Vedic culture--Hinduism has become, along

with the other "great religions," a sectarian establishment, whereas Krsna

consciousness is universal and transcends relative, sectarian designations.

 

There is a misconception that the Krsna consciousness movement represents

the Hindu religion. In fact, however, Krsna consciousness is in no way a

faith or religion that seeks to defeat other faiths or religions. Rather, it

is an essential cultural movement for the entire human society and does not

consider any particular sectarian faith. This cultural movement is

especially meant to educate people in how they can love God.

Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are

preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not. One will not find the

word Hindu in the Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, there is no such word as Hindu in

the entire Vedic literature. This word has been introduced by the Muslims

from provinces next to India, such as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Persia.

There is a river called Sindhu bordering the north western provinces of

India, and since the Muslims there could not pronounce Sindhu properly, they

instead called the river Hindu, and the inhabitants of this tract of land

they called Hindus. In India, according to the Vedic language, the Europeans

are called mlecchas or yavanas. Similarly, Hindu is a name given by the

Muslims.

India's actual culture is described in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is

stated that according to the different qualities or modes of nature there

are different types of men, who are generally classified into four social

orders and four spiritual orders. This system of social and spiritual

division is known as varnasrama-dharma. The four varnas, or social orders,

are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya. and sudra. The four asramas, or spiritual

orders, are brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. The varnasrama

system is described in the Vedic scriptures known as the Puranas. The goal

of this institution of Vedic culture is to educate every man for advancement

in knowledge of Krsna, or God. That is the entire Vedic program.

When Lord Caitanya talked with the great devotee Ramananda Raya, the Lord

asked him, "What is the basic principle of human life?" Ramananda Raya

answered that human civilization begins when varnasrama-dharma is accepted.

Before coming to the standard of varnasrama-dharma there is no question of

human civilization. Therefore, the Krsna consciousness movement is trying to

establish this right system of human civilization, which is known as Krsna

consciousness, or daiva-varnasrama--divine culture.

In India, the varnasrama system has now been taken in a perverted way,

and thus a man born in the family of a brahmana (the highest social order)

claims that he should be accepted as a brahmana. But this claim is not

accepted by the sastra (scripture). One's forefather may have been a

brahmana according to gotra, or the family hereditary order, but real

varnasrama-dharma is based on the factual quality one has attained,

regardless of birth or heredity. Therefore, we are not preaching the

present-day system of the Hindus, especially those who are under the

influence of Sankaracarya, for Sankaracarya taught that the Absolute Truth

is impersonal, and thus he indirectly denied the existence of God.

Sankaracarya's mission was special; he appeared to reestablish the Vedic

influence after the influence of Buddhism. Because Buddhism was patronized

by Emperor Asoka, twenty-six hundred years ago the Buddhist religion

practically pervaded all of India. According to the Vedic literature, Buddha

was an incarnation of Krsna who had a special power and who appeared for a

special purpose. His system of thought, or faith, was accepted widely, but

Buddha rejected the authority of the Vedas. While Buddhism was spreading,

the Vedic culture was stopped both in India and in other places. Therefore,

since Sankaracarya's only aim was to drive away Buddha's system of

philosophy, he introduced a system called Mayavada.

Strictly speaking, Mayavada philosophy is atheism, for it is a process in

which one imagines that there is God. This Mayavada system of philosophy has

been existing since time immemorial. The present Indian system of religion

or culture is based on the Mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya, which is a

compromise with Buddhist philosophy. According to Mayavada philosophy there

actually is no God, or if God exists, He is impersonal and all-pervading and

can therefore be imagined in any form. This conclusion is not in accord with

the Vedic literature. That literature names many demigods, who are worshiped

for different purposes, but in every case the Supreme Lord, the Personality

of Godhead, Visnu, is accepted as the supreme controller. That is real Vedic

culture.

The philosophy of Krsna consciousness does not deny the existence of God

and the demigods, but Mayavada philosophy denies both; it maintains that

neither the demigods nor God exists. For the Mayavadis, ultimately all is

zero. They say that one may imagine any authority--whether Visnu, Durga,

Lord Siva, or the sun-god--because these are the demigods generally

worshiped in society. But the Mayavada philosophy does not in fact accept

the existence of any of them. The Mayavadis say that because one cannot

concentrate one's mind on the impersonal Brahman, one may imagine any of

these forms. This is a new system, called pancopasana. It was introduced by

Sankaracarya, but the Bhagavad-gita does not teach any such doctrines, and

therefore they are not authoritative.

The Bhagavad-gita accepts the existence of the demigods. The demigods are

described in the Vedas, and one cannot deny their existence, but they are

not to be understood or worshiped according to the way of Sankaracarya. The

worship of demigods is rejected in the Bhagavad-gita. The Gita (7.20)

clearly states:

 

kamais tais tair hrta jnanah

prapadyante 'nya-devatah

tam tam niyamam asthaya

prakrtya niyatah svaya

 

"Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto

demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship

according to their own natures." Furthermore, in the Bhagavad-gita (2.44),

Lord Krsna states:

 

bhogaisvarya-prasaktanam

tayapahrta-cetasam

vyavasayatmika buddhih

samadhau na vidhiyate

 

"In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and

material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute

determination for devotional service does not take place." Those who are

pursuing the various demigods have been described as hrta jnanah, which

means "those who have lost their sense." That is also further explained in

the Bhagavad-gita (7.23):

 

antavat tu phalam tesam

tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam

devan deva-yajo yanti

mad-bhakta yanti mam api

 

"Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are

limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of

the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme abode." The rewards given by

the demigods are temporary, because any material facility must act in

connection with the temporary body. Whatever material facilities one gets,

whether by modern scientific methods or by deriving benedictions from the

demigods, will be finished with the body. But spiritual advancement will

never be finished.

People should not think that we are preaching a sectarian religion. No.

We are simply preaching how to love God.