Gurucharanam
Saranam
Sanatana vs. Hindu culture
Indian
culture represents a unique all-embracing world-view and a vibrant way of life.
The cultural stream of India is very extensive and comes down from eternity. It
had never been just a philosophical conception cut off from practicality. India’s
spiritual vision leads our awareness to eternity through the rise and fall of civilizations,
as revealed by the sages through the concept of Manu cycles or the Manvantara
order, spanning billions and billions of years, measuring the age and rhythmic
movement of the universe. In spiritual terms, the continuity of this cosmic
vision functioned through an all-inclusive spiritual concept known as Sanatana
Dharma, which meant an eternal system of dharma in relation to creation, life
and existence. This spiritual culture was shared and perpetuated through a line
of spiritual masters and their disciples and came to be known as Guru-Sishya
Parampara or the Wisdom Tradition - the jnana marga.
We
can see that the source of everything related to Indian culture and heritage
has been derived from this wisdom path handed down through the Guru-sishya
tradition. It had existed as a righteous and sublime way of life inspiring and touching
all aspects of life. It nourished Dharma, i.e. the right knowledge and right
conduct that enriches and expands the horizon of life. This spiritual vision of
India had existed as a life-vision related to the inner transformation of life-force
or jeeva, which can be seen as the practical expression of spirituality.
The wisdom path of India aims to lift man from his bare emotional existence to the
highest pedestal of consciousness and human values through a process of
transformation, which ends with mukthi, i.e. liberation from the
cycles of births and deaths. This vision of the Indian sages is constituted by the
ancient Manu-centric Sanatana Dharma, from which this spiritual culture originated.
When
we deliberate on this subject, we have to highlight certain fundamental truths.
We can understand it in depth only through a review of Indian culture, which
flows in two distinct socio-spiritual streams, i.e. the Sanatana culture
and Haindava culture (ritualistic Hinduism), as distinct from each
other. We know that the ancient-most culture of India is known as Arsha
Bharata Samskara or Sanatana Dharma, which is the rishi culture.
Manu – the Nucleus of Creation
We
have to re-examine the eventful history of how Sanatana Dharma could not
elevate itself to its desired status and how it has got degenerated into the
present day Haindava culture, through its long course over the ages. We
cannot understand this history without mentioning about the kaala ganana
or cosmic age calculation.
Indian
Cosmic Time Calculation
1
Kalpa = 14 Manvantaras
71
Age Quartets = 1 Manvantara
1
Age Quartet = Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali = 43,20,000 years
The
wheel of time called as Kalpa, Manvantara, Chaturyuga etc. is related to the parinaama
or evolution of an atomic life-form into the absolute status of Brahman through
the ebb and flow of srishti, sthithi, samhara and moksha i.e.,
creation, sustenance, dissolution and ultimate liberation. In the duration of a
Kalpa, the creation completely merges with Brahman, the Supreme Light. This
system of time is determined and ordered for the time-bound evolution of karma
and dharma of all life-forms beginning from the microbial life-forms. The
history of man’s spiritual quest reveals two types of realities. One is his
subjective individuality and the second is its cosmic identity linking him
organically to the Cosmic Truth in a parental relationship, God being the Cosmic
Father or Creator.
The
rishis measured every episode of creation in terms of Manvantara equivalent to
the age of a Manu. Every solar system and life cycles originates from the sankalpam
(conception) of Manus. In the endless march of time, uncountable Kalpas and
Manu cycles have gone by, which would explain the reason behind a vast and
expanding universe. For the same reason, the Indian rishis named God as Brahman,
its meaning being ‘That which Expands’.
The
cosmic phenomenon has got a nucleus, a functional centre from which everything
manifests. That nucleus is the Manu, the Absolute in the form of the Archetypal
Preceptor God, the instrumentality through whom the Will of the Absolute is
carried out, controlling the temporal dimension including karma and dharma.
Every yuga in a Manvantara fulfills the law of evolution in a structured way. The
wisdom tradition envisions a gradual evolution through various time segments
known as satya, treta, dwapara and kali yuga within the time
period of a Manu, consisting of seventy one age quartets or chatur yugas.
There are fourteen such Manu cycles in a single episode of creation known as kalpa.
We can guess the depth of Indian spirituality when we know that the length of a
chaturyuga itself has a duration of 43,20,000 years. We are in the
seventh cycle of such an episode of creation, initiated by Vaivaswata Manu, the
seventh Manu. In the present Manu cycle, this is the Kali yuga of the twenty
eighth chaturyuga. There are forty three chaturyugas (28+43=71)
yet to pass to complete the present Manu cycle.
The History of Spiritual Deviation
When
this Manu-centric age calculation was distorted, the karma and dharma to be
followed according to each age went wrong. Twenty five chaturyugas have passed
in this manner. It would be difficult for us to grasp its magnitude in one
word. In the Manu-centric Sanatana Dharma, Manu alias the Cosmic Purusha is the
Creator, not the Trimurti gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. From the time the
puranas, the mythological treatises began to explain creation in terms of
trimurty gods, changing the time order of Manu as beginning from Brahma, the
ancient Sanatana stream of spiritual culture took a diversion and began to flow
through a diversified path, fragmenting Indian spirituality into three broad
sects, Saiva, Vaishnava and Saketheya with
hundreds of sub-sects.
Sanatana
Dharma Trimurti
System /Hinduism
Creation
begins from Creation
begins from
Manu
alias Purusha Brahma/Vishnu/Siva/Devi
Ashram Tradition Temple Tradition
Guru Centric (wisdom
tradition) Priest Centric
(ritual tradition)
Navajyotisree
Karunakara Guru explains the history of this spiritual diversion in the
following words:
‘What
we are going through is the time-order of Manvantaras. That is our perspective
or cognition of the world. In the Manu-tradition a great spiritual evolute fell
from grace (in the third chaturyuga of the present seventh Manvantara). As a
result the Brahman initiated a corrective in the seventh chaturyuga (by
evolving the Trimurty system) which was brought to a completion in the eleventh
chaturyuga. Thereafter astral matters related to mukti were revealed which got
codified as Vedas, Sastras and the Upanishads, without changing the old
Manvantara order (to reaffirm that order). Since the sages could not transcend
those who received these astral matters did not enquire into the reason why they
had received such knowledge. They used their intellect in understanding the
path shown by the Almighty and charted their version of the Manvantara
time-order chaturyugas, manvantaras and kalpas as subservient to Brahma. Thus
they could not invoke Manu, the First Guru and grasp the Error and correct it.
This is a peril that has befallen us.
‘The
Error was repeated again and again as the evolutes, who were the spiritual
authorities of revealed knowledge, could not discover the mystery and unravel
it in full before us…. The feeling of ‘I’ (Aham Brahmasmi) developed in the
line of Manus. In the higher planes of knowing it was seen that all the wisdom
and knowledge attained so far have come through it (the Manu tradition). This
‘I-ness’ can be seen in any of the books of Vedanta. You talk to any common
person - this bloated notion of a free ‘I’ (ego) can be seen. When this comes
up in the circle of ascetics (brahmacharis), then such notions come forth
through the master-disciple lineage. In the tradition of deity-worship
(devaparampara), the ‘deva’ (god) I am devoted to or the ‘devi’ (goddess) I am
devoted to is the greatest and most glorious (is observed). Because of such
possessiveness in individuals, all kinds of deities, chamundi, yakshi, pey,
maruta, matan, mantramurthi (dark, evil spirits such as succubi, ghosts,
ghouls etc.) became the ‘Lords’. This has happened because of people’s
selfishness and egoism…..
‘Due
to the emergence of Varnasrama, castes and castes upon castes, those who
worshiped according to the Trimurti tradition could not function in accordance
with the goodness of the Age. Earlier to this, tales were created using the
medium of Srutis and Smritis and they were presented as authentic. Before that,
as there appeared the creed of ‘materializations’ (siddhi), some sanyasis
themselves handled the traditions of siddhi. As it all came up to this, the
tradition of Manu faded away even from memory. This degradation of the times is
due to the refusal to modify the customs that required a change according to
the age and the falsification of the ideology that the abode of Brahman should
all the time be with the celestials (devas) and Brahmins’.
Rediscovering the Wisdom Path
The
Manvantara time-reckoning was thus re-charted bringing it under the trimurti
tradition, giving it a new definition. It distorted the Sanatana spiritual
culture that followed the Guru-centric jnana path respecting the age-specific
dharma and karma. Moreover, the status of Guruhood was substituted by the temple
tradition involving priest-craft and worship of devi-devas. Guru-hood in the
Sanatana culture transcends the statuses of all spiritual entities including the
trimurti gods, devi-devas as well as the planes of rishi, sanyasi, etc. above the
trimurtis. This deviation fragmented the Indian society spiritually as well as socially.
As already mentioned, this mistake gave India two contradictory spiritual
characteristics. We can identify these two spiritual characteristics in terms
of the Arsha Bharata Samskara guided by the guru tradition, and the Haindava
culture, which has grown through the popular temple tradition with all sorts of
superstitions, caste restrictions, untouchability and so on. The Haindava
culture was strongly established here in which different spiritual entities
with different identity, naama-rupa – names and forms and rituals were installed
in temples and worshipped in order to appease them through tantric and mantric
rituals with the intermediacy of priests. Along with this, the practices of
blessings, performance of siddhi, miracles and exorcism also emerged.
The
jnana path tried to nourish the qualities of truth, love, compassion and
humility through right thoughts and deeds and strived to earn punya - virtue
through the ways of karma and dharma and bhakti for attaining spiritual
sublimity. In contrast, for the
fulfillment of desires and other objectives, when people began to adopt a faith
system based on the worship of spiritual entities beginning from trimurtis,
demigods, yaksha, gandharva, kinnara, bhuta ganas and other angelic beings
as well as all types of demonic and disturbed spirits roaming the earth’s atmosphere,
these meritless spiritual practices resulted in the physical deformity as well
as mental degradation of the populace. They were further made to suffer
confined in the ghettos of caste, religion, clan, tribe, with each caste, clan
and tribe owing allegiance to different gods, occupation, customs, rituals, etc.
Such a degrading and retrogressive culture was perpetuated in the society
through mythology, language, arts and literature, religious edicts, etc. as
well as through the wondrous tales of siddhi and through the scholarly discourses
about maya, dvaita and advaita. This spiritual diversion has been
the root cause for the subsequent spiritual fall and cultural degradation of
Indian society. The concept of
age-specific spiritual reformation is resisted by the orthodoxy substantiating
the chaturvakyas (four great enunciations) in the Vedas, all of which
try to imagine the individual soul as equal to Brahman, the Supreme. ‘Aham
Brahmasmi’, one of the chaturvakyas means that ‘I am Brahman’. The
individual soul is only part of Brahman, not Brahman itself, said Navajyotisree
Karunakara Guru.
Vedas
are bound to Yuga Dharma, i.e. they are age-specific. The sages in every age
receive the revealed 'word' from Brahman, which becomes the Vedas. The wisdom
tradition worked through the Guru-sishya order. Guru is the highest symbol of perfection,
the connecting link to the Absolute Truth. Such a Guru would be the spiritual
authority of the age, of karma, dharma, jnana and mukthi. The wisdom tradition is
a knowledge related to life and its fulfillment. With the advent of Vedic
ritualism, this pure life-culture became defunct. The graceful Guru fathoms the
threefold time and the cause-effect background of life-experiences. This inner
fathoming or mental absorption of an omniscient Guru is to be known as Smriti.
The word Smriti means Guru’s perception of those karmic entanglements,
which are behind the emotional swings in life, in the form of sorrows and
happiness, and the advice Guru gives to the disciple for overcoming such
hurdles is to be considered as the Veda or Sruti. When one approaches a
Guru in order to liberate the soul from its emotional and karmic entanglements,
such process of learning sitting beside the Guru is Upanishad. Such a culture
of learning from the Master and living by his guiding words was the essence of the
Wisdom Tradition of Indian spirituality. When the spiritual guidance of such a
Guru embodiment was unavailable, people began to lead life unaware about the evolving
course of dharma, accepting the Vedas and Upanishads - the pre-historic
catalogues of dharma, as the inviolable source of wisdom.
Re-establishing Sanatana Culture
The
saying that ‘Guru Sakala Dharmata’ is based on this exalted vision
of the absolute truth of God. The absolute truth of God self-manifests and gets
activated through Guru and his Word, which is to be followed by the family -
the mother, father, children and others. The divine Word revealed through the
Guru becomes the guiding force behind the institution of family - the Grihasthashram
and Grihasthashrama Dharma, orienting life and culture to a pedestal
of absolute purity and sublime truth. It
is this lost guru-disciple ashram culture which we have to re-establish as the
highest aspects of Indian culture and spirituality. Today, unfortunately, the
householders are totally cut off from this ashram-centric spiritual culture. The individual as well as family life is affected
by the good and bad deeds of ancestral souls. There are also the negative influences
because of the distorted worship of maligned spiritual entities, followed by
the families as mentioned earlier. The Guru parampara of Navajyotisree
Karunakara Guru strives to unburden the individuals, families and gotras from
the negative karmagati and spiritual influences, through a way of life
that follows the word of Guru vigilantly by mind, word and deed, keeping only
the Atmajnani Guru in the heart. Only the realized and divinely authoritative
Guru can perceive the karmagati of a person and guide one to the Absolute
Truth through ultimate bhakti, the surrender in devotion, realizing that
‘Guru Saakshaat Parabrahm’, i.e. Guru is the very embodiment of Brahman.
We
can thus see that this guru-sishya tradition is the essence of the spiritual
soul of India, which strives to evolve the human spirit from the status of a
human to the many dimensions of the divine such as deva, rishi, sanyasi,
jnani, bhakta and muktha leading to ultimate liberation. These spiritual
embodiments are related to expanding levels of human consciousness related to
spiritual evolution. Guru Margam or the wisdom path combines jnana, karma, yoga
and bhakti in order to nourish dharma and through that one’s success in life by
way of enhanced punya and through that, fortune and wealth. Navajyotisree
Karunakara Guru reminds us that we have lost this wisdom tradition. The history
of the degeneration of this wisdom path is very old as it began twenty five
chaturyugas ago in the present Manu cycle.
The
spiritual view of India is a path that strives to fulfill dharma,
i.e. the duties and purpose of life,
artha, the earning of wealth
etc. required for attaining material and spiritual well being, kama,
exhausting or fulfilling all desires and finally, earning mukthi, getting
release from the cycles of births and deaths. It is essential that we realize when and why
this wisdom tradition was lost to India. The backbone of Sanatana culture was
to realize the path of evolution in a natural and rational way and moreover, in
accordance with the will of God. It was intended to actualize this knowledge in
life and evolve oneself to the path of jnana. We should be able to understand
that the prayer ‘Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu’ as the essence
of this spiritual culture. The Indian
spiritual concept is the path of fulfilling the purpose of life through karma
according to dharma and the concept of parinama or evolution through the
wheel of time. It is a complete life-vision in which from an atom to the
Absolute attains perfection undergoing transformation. It is in this manner
that the Indian spiritual concept had existed as the richest spiritual path in
the world. We have to realize that our present spiritual, cultural and social
situation is very pathetic. The spiritual guidance of Navajyotisree Karunakara
Guru sheds light on the cause-effects of this spiritual degradation, which is
both ironic and distressing.
The
Guru’s is a path of spiritual renaissance to redeem the society from this
spiritual degradation and value erosion. Guru brings to our focus the deviation
occurred in the transformational path of spirituality relevant to the age and
to dharma and karma. It is an indisputable fact that Guru’s movement of
spiritual renaissance, as a correction to this situation, is able to impart to
the modern world a new light and inspiration, brilliance and strength. Guru
presents before us a new path of karma and dharma respecting the yuga dharma
in order to rectify the situation taking into consideration the spiritual as
well as material aspects. In Santhigiri, Guru has begun to develop it as a liberating
culture without the restrictions of caste, religion, class, gender etc. to fulfill
the dictum ‘One Caste, One Religion and One God for Humanity’.
(Paper
presented in the National Conference on ‘Guru Tradition, Cultural Creativity
and Social Change’ at Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India on 8th
and 9th April, 2015. by Honorable Swami Navananma Jnana Tapaswi, Director, Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India)
