The United Hindu Dharma and Vedic Identity

Filed under: Hindu Dharma by Jeffrey Armstrong |

It is commonly observed and felt that many Hindus are having an identity crisis. Of course, all the cultures ravaged by the colonial era are currently more or less damaged in their personal identities. This is partially the result of the onslaught of a modern industrial reality running over their traditions, denigrating them and consigning them to the historical scrap heap wherever possible in the name of progress.

As a result, it is a given that the citizens of any colonized culture feel much damage to their self-esteem with a possible loss of faith in the traditional ways of their culture. In fact, the same thing is also experienced by the disenfranchised minorities of those same colonizing countries. In order to speak clearly about the various issues regarding self and self-esteem in the context of Hindu Dharma and the Vedas, we need a clear lexicon of English terminology. Without this, we will find ourselves in the confusion of the subjectivity language. This is especially true when bringing Sanskrit ideas and concepts into English.

Clear Limitations
Let’s start with the word identity which is actually based on the idea of self-identification, that is, a self looking for an identity. The starting point of Hindu/Vedic Sanatana Dharma philosophy is that the numerous souls in the realms of matter are all atmas or if we can borrow an English word to act as an approximate term, souls. These souls then have come into the material energy, which is described in the Bhagavad-Gita as composed of eight separate energies: earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, buddhi (sometimes translated intellect) and aham kara (which is the energy of identification with matter as self).

The Yogic/Vedantic idea is that the atmas have somehow substituted ego (the idea that I am matter) for pure self or atma awareness. This confusion has arisen because the atmas have come to the realm of matter and forgotten their true identity in the process. In the absence of a remembrance of their true self, they construct an identity that is temporary and based upon the circumstances of birth, family, society or some other material designation.

Another way to say this is, as Krishna put it in the Bhagavad-gita (ch.18 v.61), that the souls are riding on a machine made of the material energy. So we all reincarnate in our subtle body (mind, buddhi and ahamkara), going from body to body collecting experience, until we are ready and qualified to return to the transcendental realm, from where we originally came forth into matter of our own free will. That going back is called Moksha or liberation and whatever we are or do in that transcendental consciousness is called our Sanatan Dharma or our true eternal self-nature.

Spiritual Evolution is by Choice
The reason for the justly famous tolerance of the Hindu culture, is that those who know that the souls are here on an evolutionary journey from and toward the Transcendental Realm, realize that each soul must discover these truths and make them their own. No one has the right or ability to force the process. Since each atma has shown up here as an individualized unit, each one is responsible for their own decision to stay in the material world or to leave. In the Hindu Dharma, there is no mandatory program of liberation within a certain number of lifetimes or ever for that matter.

In this way you could say that the entire culture of Bharata/India was set up as a large campus for life learning and at the PhD level one would volunteer to learn the lessons of Yoga, Vedanta or some other form of liberationist and Salvationist Vedic teaching and then either become a professor (Guru) or simply graduate and leave as a liberated soul (Sadhu). This is one reason there is so much confusion over what Hindu Dharma is, because those who are at a certain stage or level in the curriculum are sensitive not to force their meditation or view of Ultimate Truth on the others. This sensitivity is different from the modern damaged self-esteem that makes some Hindus hesitant to discuss these subtle spiritual matters with strangers either out of fear or embarrassment.

Oneness is Vedic Spiritual Glue
The Vedic culture, with its long term cyclic view of the material world and a vision that all living entities in all bodies are in fact sparks of Divinity encased in the darkness of matter, made India a patient culture , inclined to take the long view. This sameness of vision or Oneness is one of the most profound concepts in Hindu/Vedic thinking. You could also say that this oneness of identity between all atmas, that we are all really eternal beings, is the glue that has held Hindu culture together for thousands and millions of years. The gesture of Namaste, that recognizes the atma in the heart of all beings, is an elegant reminder of this glue of sameness and mutual respect that has sustained Indian society during many difficult periods of history. This is also the basis of the concept of “Vasudeva Kutumbakam”, that in a certain sense everything is part of one great reality and that we are all participating in a grand scheme of soul-based evolution and learning, that we are all in one family and from the same Source.

Yes, the Vedic view is that we are all just one big family in eternity. But are we one big happy family here on Earth? Obviously not! In fact the family is in such big trouble that the primary Hindu/Vedic text for our times, for the Kali Yuga, is the Mahabharata, the story of extreme unrest in Vasudeva’s family. That unrest has been so disturbing and quarrelsome, that ever since the time of the Mahabharata war, the fragmentation of Hindu/Vedic culture has been more or less a constant challenge.

Two examples of the historical symptoms of that chaos were the Jain and Buddhist reformations which produced a hybrid of the Vedic culture with a final conclusion that is partially opposed to the Vedic conclusion. The emergence of these reformations threatened to undermine the very basis of Vedic purpose and evolution through their denial of the final goal of return to the realm of Brahman through the acceptance of the Vedas.

Adi Shankara the Spiritual General
That threat was met and in part countered by the appearance of Shri Adi Shankaracharya, whose Advaita form of Vedanta had the power to displace the nihilistic Jain and Buddhist logic with the renewal of the doctrine of the Transcendental Brahman as the ultimate goal of spiritual evolution. He was a great hero in Hindu/Vedic history as most Hindus understand and appreciate. His slogan was: “Jagat mithya Bramha satya”, or “The world is illusory and Brahman (the One transcendental reality) alone is truth”.

Like a great transcendental general, the mighty Adi Shankara established spiritual forts in the four corners of Bharata and revived the fading vision of Hindu/Vedic wisdom. Yet there was an important Vedic truth left out of Adi Shankara’s revival plan, which he left for later Acharyas to re-establish. His emphasis on Brahman as an impersonal and homogenous reality had a tendency to negate the eternal (and temporal) individuality and merge the individual soul or atma into a state of oneness with no further need for an individual self. This led to slogans like: “Those who speak don’t know and those who know don’t speak.” following which, the distinctive beauty of the transcendental reality within Brahman became a closed book.

Yet the Vedas abound in references to the continuation of personhood and individuality as well as an Ultimate Abode in the final transcendental state for both the individual atmas and the Parama Purushas or Supreme Persons. But in his extreme need to unite India with the glue of “Oneness”, Adi Shankara inevitably ignored those “Difference” texts which promote the cause of continued individuality in the transcendental condition. In other words, Shankara revived the Vedic body but in the process, purposely obscured the Vedic conception of continued individuality of soul due to the needs of the time. India was reunited but the vitality of eternal individuality, an important part of the Vedantic message, was suppressed by a historical necessity, through an over- emphasis on the truth of oneness or sameness.

Many Acharyas Stressed Divine Individuality
The cure for this imbalance in the Vedic culture was not long in appearing. Over the next thousand years, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharaya, Vishnu Swami, Nimbarkacharya, Guru Nanak, Guru Govind Singh, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and many other great mystics, poets and Acharyas, all stressed the importance of understanding that the atma, though one in essence with Brahman, is also an individual being, as are the Supreme Beings (both male and female) and that the atmas have a choice to remain as individuals once they are transported back to the realm of the Transcendental, the Para Vyoma or Transcendental Abode.

This continued individuality is the basis of the Bhakti portion of the Vedic culture. It is based on the eternal exchange of love between Vasudeva, His Female counterpart and all the individual members of the spiritual family, the atmas. The real meaning of this Distinctivist (wrongly called Dualist) Vedantic view is that the atma is actually an eternal individual and that individuality is their true identity in the context of Brahman or eternal non-dual reality.

The Cast System is Not Hindu or Vedic
As such, according to this Vedic view, when the atma comes to the realm of matter, it will temporarily acquire a vehicle (body) of a certain type in each lifetime, depending upon the previous use of free will and the subsequent karmic reactions. The qualities of that body and its specific characteristics will determine the earthly Dharma of the soul for that particular lifetime (Brahmana, Kshatria, Vaishya, Shudra). In that body, both the gross and subtle, they will have a tendency to work according to the qualities and propensities of the body/mind complex and is called in Sanskrit ones Sva-dharma. (The degradation of this practice is the basis of the present day perverted caste system by birth).

But because of historical circumstances, these two aspects of the one Vedantic view of the Hindu/Vedic culture have become separated. Following Adi Shankara, the truth of Brahman is being taught around the world and in India by many teachers but the truth of our eternal individuality has mostly been neglected. Of course, you would expect that a people who have been conquered and dominated for a thousand years might have trouble speaking up as individuals either materially or as their true self. It would be easier to speak the great truth, that we are ultimately all One, in such a situation. Unfortunately, practicing this partial truth also encourages a loss of our final spiritual identity, a lack of self esteem and a disconnect between the material identity needed to live on planet Earth and the eternal self we truly are according to Hindu/Vedic teachings. Living with integrity on this planet is known in Sanskrit as Bhumi Dharma.

Unity, Diversity and Distinctive Individuality
Seen from another perspective, historically, no one in the Vedic culture was forced to embrace either the conclusion of Oneness or that of Distinctive Individuality. All were free to find their way through the Vedic curriculum and embrace those parts of its vast learning that seemed important and true to them at any point in their evolution. Still, when the culture of Bharata was intact and homogeneous, the representatives of all forms of Personalist and Impersonalist views and everything in between understood each other to be valid representatives of the Vedas in spite of their points of disagreement as to the Ultimate truths. It was usually a respectful disagreement, where unity and co-operation within the Hindu/Vedic society was maintained. In that way, no follower of the Vedas denied that we are truly one, as Vedic followers, in spite of the variety of our opinions and no one denied that eternal personhood is a true Vedic path even if they did not embrace it for themselves.

In truth, all the schools of Vedanta are partial representations of the possible truths of the Vedas which have currently lost their unity of group purpose during an emergency period of Indian history. The history of Vedanta shows that both Oneness and Transcendental Individuality, have been accepted by the great acharyas of Sanatan Dharma culture, as legitimate teachings of Vedanta. Therefore, they should not only be taught separately by Sampradaya but also together as the components of the one great unified Hindu/Vedic curriculum that they were intended to be. Otherwise sectarianism will fragment the Hindu community, which is exactly what it is currently doing.

The adversaries of Hindu Sanatana Dharma culture have been enjoying the advantages of that disunity. Until we learn to honor our differences in a spirit of oneness, distinctiveness and mutual respect, we will create disunity and animosity through speaking harshly and with disrespect of the Vedic truths embraced by various Hindus. We need to embrace both our unity, our diversity and our distinctive individuality. We also need to learn to cultivate our Sanatana Dharma, Sva-dharma and Bhumi Dharma as the three aspects of human life.

The Two Great Epics are Neglected
This leads us to another subject where the identity loss in Hindu/Vedic culture is very obvious. The two great epics of India, The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, document the descent to Earth of the Supreme Beings as both the male and female Divines, at two times in India’s recorded history. Now if this is not history and these are just fables made up by a primitive people, then as a culture we should say so now, once and for all. Otherwise we should say clearly that they were either: A. Avatars who appeared to lead us back to the nondual Brahman, or B. they were the appearance of God, the theological Absolute Truth in Personal form both Male and Female, (Which is noticeably missing in many world religions.) descended upon the Earth for the well being of all.

Then why have Hindus been so slow to bring this truth forward. There are animated or well-acted versions in many languages of the stories of Moses, Jesus, Greek tales, Arabian Nights, even the Hobbit but where is the assertion for global consumption, from the spiritual leaders of India, that the two defining historical moments in the history of India, were either the saguna descent of the nirguna Brahman or the historical appearance of the theological being-God-so avidly worshiped by the Middle Eastern and other religions.

Why so shy on this important historical point? If you asked most people what Hinduism is they would tell you about many-gods, cows, caste, reincarnation, widow-burning, oneness etc but they would not say that God appeared in India twice in actual history. So then, why doesn’t the world know the real identity of Ram and Krishna as historical appearances of either God or Brahman or both. No wonder Hindus have an identity crisis, Ram and Krishna have one! The Ramayana and Mahabharata are stories about the eternal nature of the souls and their ability to have an unending relationship with the Supreme Beings and their friends in the realm of Brahman, or they are about the retrieval of our eternal nature as part of the nondual Brahman. Either way, they are the biggest, most important and identity defining events in the history of Bharata.

Hindu Dharma is not Spread by Force
Of course, anyone who really understands Hindu Dharma knows that these great truths are not something that is shared at gun point or by force in any way. But if it is true that in India’s history God or Brahman has appeared at least twice, wouldn’t that be something to share with the whole world, just as a matter of speaking one’s cultural truth? Even though the complete story of Hindu/Vedic dharma is more complex than just these two Avatars, if they each got their own epic poem, isn’t that a logical place to begin the story? Aren’t these two epics in so many ways, at the core of the Hindu national identity, cultural identity and as standard bearers of the definition of the eternal Sanatana Dharma?

The Meaning of the Flag of Arjuna
I would like to end this discussion with a question: Why was Hanuman on the flag of Arjuna? If Arjuna is the best friend of Bhagavan-God, the Supreme Person of God or Brahman and Hanuman, the perfect servant of Bhagavan Ram, the Supreme Person of Brahman, is on his flag, what does this say about how we should envision our identity as Hindus. If this was not a difficult question for most Hindus, we would not be in this state of identity confusion.

The simple answer is that Arjuna and Hanuman are two very dynamic role models for the formation of our eternal identity as Hindus, our temporal identity as citizens of this planet and for guiding our ultimate return to the pure Brahman state. Nothing less than this is Absolute Truth for an enlightened Hindu. If we can have the self-confidence, devotion to Divine Seva and sense of purpose of Arjuna and Hanuman, combined with a profound respect for all branches of the Vedic tradition, and if we can treat all living entities as the eternal divinity we all see them to be, then internally we will have the strength and common vision to tell the amazing story of Hindu Dharma to the whole world and externally the world will again see the unity of the Sanatan Dharma culture as well as its true greatness.

According to Vedanta and Yoga, we are currently and perhaps eternally, simultaneously one and different. One with everything and yet distinct and individualized or unity in diversity, should be our motto. I know that Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Chaitanya and all the great acharyas who have ever blessed Bharata with their holy presence, would wave that flag with great enthusiasm. We are in the beginning stage of a global renaissance of Hindu Sanatana Dharma. The Vedas say that we can all unite under this eternal banner of love, the desire for truth, respect for individuality, oneness, least-injury to other beings and the enduring hope for eternal freedom for all. Together we can show the world by our personal example, the greatness of Hindu/Sanatana Dharma culture. Our slogan could be: Hindu Dharma-Oneness in Diversity, Identity for Eternity.

May all be fed May all be safe May all find peace
Jai Shri Krishna! Jai Shri Ram! Jai Arjuna! Jai Hanuman!