Pari's Blog

This article touches upon some of the salient aspects of Hindu philosophy that is intrinsic to and permeates Hindu culture. If you want to get into a critical study of any of the schools of Hindu philosophical thought (the various belief and knowledge systems and their excruciating preponderances on metaphysics, logic, cosmology, ontology, etc) then S. Radhakrishnan’s Indian Philosophy Vol 1 & 2 has been a perennial starting point. If completely new to Hindu culture, then one may start with The Collected Worls of Swami Vivekananda – Vol 1 & 2 (of 9 volumes).

Going forward, one needs to remember that Hinduism is not a religion, but a culture (see article on Hinduism). Thus it goes without saying that Hinduism does not have any one authoritative source or “bible” (like most religions do). One may quote from Hindu texts, but to use that quote to characterize all of Hinduism would be a mistake. The only authoritative source if any, is delegated to one’s own critical thinking, with scores of in-depth resources to act as guidance.

The following are my two cents, Hindu philosophy from 10,000 feet:

• Yoga: the art of unconditioning
• Identity
• Moving beyond intellect
• Karm! / Engage! / Act!
• Independent Thinking
• Multivalency
• Multivalent Pluralism
• Impermanence / Transience

Yoga: the art of unconditioning

The science of yoga is one of the six darsanas (schools of thought). It is about exploring the nature of ourselves at the sensorial, emotional, intellectual, existential, and spiritual level (that’s a rough translation of: indriya, manas, buddhi, karm, and atman).

The end product of these schools of thought, yoga, is about unconditioning the mind. Hindu thinkers understood that any attempt in scientific inquiry becomes error prone when the mind is tainted, biased, or conditioned. One must first uncondition the mind. That is the aim of yoga. Else science, reflection, and spiritual growth becomes a drudgery of trial and error, ups and downs, instead of a more steady progress or spiritual unfolding. This is how science is today: a discovery is made, then it has to be reworked for accuracy, and so on. Same when dealing with day-to-day problems. When you solve personal conflicts, after doing some yoga, there is much more clarity (less chance of being tainted by prejudices or personal issues).

Shiva - The Absolute Yogi

Without yoga, the unconditioning of the mind takes place through lessons in life – a constant grinding process {reminds me of Shani (God in the form of “maintainer of karma”), the way he straps you on to his sesame grinding mill (எள்ளுச் செக்கு) and grinds you, slowly, in the wheel of time… until you’ve learned your lesson or decide to pro-actively reflect and evolve yourself. If you propitiate Shani as your guru make sure you’re ready to put in a lot of mental stamina; his  very stern and stoic-like approach is one thing you don’t want to mess with :-)}.

Unconditioning is a constant peeling away of layers and layers of conditioning and dispensing with the intellectual “thicket of thorns”. There is always a “new you”, and the “old you” becomes almost a total stranger that you can hardly recognize, jettisoned in the junk yard of time. Conditioning chains you down, misleads you, and stifles your level of growth towards understanding, compassion, and acceptance.

{A class of yogis known as Aghoris see “conditioning” as graha-bhutanis — leech-like parasites from a different dimension, that suck away at your life-energy through thought vortexes created by engaging/trapping the mind in wistful preoccupations, that need to be painfully stripped away}.

{For the benefit of others, there are several systems of yoga. Often everyone follows a combination of these, with or without their knowing. The major being: bhakti yoga (devotion, divine love, metaphysical inspiration), jnana yoga (wisdom, higher knowledge), karma yoga (action), raja yoga (meditation), hatha yoga (activation of chakras or astral/spiritual energy centers in the body through asanas). Yoga as it is popularized today is specifically hatha yoga.}

Identity

All this means, one has to be prepared to let go of any sense of identity (which is much more than just giving yourself a new name and donning a saffron robe).

While India is far ahead of most countries in terms of sheer diversity and pluralism, on the individual level there may appear to be little freedom for drastic deviation. You can be as radically different from your neighbor as you want, provided you belong to a jaati or clan that supports your world view and behavior. But two persons within the same clan are expected to be similar in culture (as in be a Roman in Rome). For example, if you belong to the jaati of farmers, you’re expected to be like one. If you start spending your time in chemistry or grand philosophical thoughts (and neglecting your duties as a farmer), it would be undesirable. When people within a particular jaati  find they can’t fit someone into any of their cultural frames of references, they see that person as an aberration and become obsessed to trying their level best to fix the person or make the person fit in. Maybe that’s what culture is about? If they allowed too many deviants, it wouldn’t be a culture any more right? Probably that’s how India keeps her diversity of so many different sub-cultures intact. Allowing for radical differences yet, similarity within each.

While the USA lags behind in cultural expression, it excels in encouraging individual expression. At the same time, individual expression in the USA is not too rosy either, without the cultural collective (no jaati to belong to) people do feel isolated — and try to fill in the void by keeping their minds busy (constantly hijacked) by the entertainment or consumerism industry. There are way too many artists, poets, philosophers, who have gone depressed or even committed suicide because they didn’t find a culture that nurtures such deep expressions of Truth. The same if in India would have become say bhakti expressionists, or into classical literature/dance/music, or some sort of yogis, or even gurus.

Speaking of cultures, Hindus have been leaders and critical thinkers in terms of philosophical thought (pursuit of Truth, epistemology, ontology, spirituality, etc). Americans have been leaders in materializing them and applying it to life. India had yoga for years, but it is only the USA that has taken it and materialized it for the betterment of life. Like everything else in the universe, this is also all a “tandavam” (cosmic dance, between Shiva and Shakti). Like the dance of millions of particles attracting, repulsing, fusing, differentiating, exploding, imploding… so also cultures come into being, collide, merge, fuse, mutate, disappear, create new ones. In India this had happened at an accelerated pace where scores of faiths and darshanas mixed and fused to create what is known as Hindu culture today. All this has happened before, and will happen again, and again.

**When I migrated back to India when I was kid, it still stands in my memory how so often I was asked on the bus, bus stop, etc — “what is your jaati”? Why so? Because people noticed I was very different. They didn’t try to desperately fit me into their own frames of references, they just needed to know what jaati I belonged to. I always answered I belong to no jaati. For all practical purpose for them, even  “no jaati” was also a jaati ;-), and they were satisfied with knowing just that (though puzzled). Also the candidness with which they asked that question is worth pointing out — something you will never find today, especially in cities — nobody will ask you what your jaati is directly, almost a taboo to do so. FYI, if they’d asked me today, I’d answer I belong to the jaati of philosophers :).

Moving Beyond Intellect

यदा  ते  मोहकलिलं  बुद्धिर्  व्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा  गन्तासि  निर्वेदं  श्रोतव्यस्य  श्रुतस्य  च ।।
- Bhagavad Gita, 2.52

When your intellect crosses the thicket of delusion, then you shall become disgusted,
with that which is yet to be heard and that which has been heard.

The phrase “when your intellect crosses the thicket of delusion” is referring to intellectual noise one accumulates by having the intellect in overdrive. The phrase “that which is to be heard and that which as been heard” is commonly used to refer to the sacred texts – the Vedas. According to Hindu philosophy, even if you burn all the Vedas, it will be rediscovered independently by any culture again. As these are fundamental/natural laws (of the consciousness, human nature, universe, existence, etc). Just like if you destroy every evidence of Newtons Law of Gravity, it will be rediscovered. Hence not “just that which has been heard”, but “that which is to be heard”. In short, the above quote is referring to becoming dissatisfied with the intellectual writings of the great spiritual texts, like the Vedas, including the Bhagvad Gita itself.

The intellect (buddhi), is important, as it is necessary for survival. The “sword of knowledge/intellect” (as the Bhagavad Gita also refers to it as) acts as a guardian preventing us from going down dark alleys, the wrong path. But when you’re using it for reflection and as a tool for inquiry, at some point or the other you’ll reach a impasse, a point of no progress where you feel dissatisfaction or frustration (or even aversion), and look towards higher grounds (such as jnana, bhakti, raja,…). You also you begin to realize the intellect does nothing to nourish your soul. When not restrained, instead of bringing you towards experiencing the Whole, it draws you away from it, and drains you.

Karm! / Engage! / Act!

Yoga by itself will not get us anywhere, unless it is applied to life, as in karm (to act) or to engage in life with the sword of yoga (as Krishna calls it, as Kali wields it, or as Shiva embodies it). Karm when undertaken with yoga leads to outward expansion which bootstraps your inner growth (and automatically dispenses with the need for too much reflection). It accelerates your inner growth far more than doing yoga without karm.

Inner growth never really comes from yoga, meditation, intellectual reasoning, nor reflection alone, but in their application in life experiences. Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, so also nothing can substitute for life experience. This is also one of the essential messages of the Gita as well: to act (as in to engage it in action, in life) armed with yoga.

That’s why the yogis tell us that the most practical path to us today is to engage in life, with yoga. I guess this is what was meant by karma yoga (and not just the stereotyped “selfless service” alone, but simply to engage, to act).

This is why even the Bhagavad Gita does not emphasize becoming a sadhu, but moderation, and in applying yoga in life, i.e. to act. The caveat being that moderation is different for everyone depending on what stage they are in (one man’s moderation may be another man’s extreme). Regardless, the idea is to not to assault oneself into spirituality but to do pace oneself steadily. Just as over-exercising can harm your muscles, so also the connection with your spirit (and vice versa: under-exercising can make it impoverished).

कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् ।
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते ।।
- Bhagavad Gita 3.6

He who sits restraining his action-senses while brooding over the objects of the senses, with deluded mind, is said to be a hypocrite.

In the above quote, I consider “brooding over the objects of the senses” to include even intellectual preoccupation with oneself.

यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन ।
कर्मेन्द्रियैः कर्मयोगमसक्तः स विशिष्यते ।।
- Bhagavad Gita 3.7

He who controls his senses with his mind, Arjuna, and without attachment engages the sense-actions in the yoga of action, is superior.

It is about inner growth and outward expansion. It’s about change, that makes you change less, as in “to be firmly situated in [the Self]” (as in what comes with स्थितप्रज्ञ).

Independent Thinking

Independent thinking is about evolving, by churning your soul for answers, and not to get distracted by intellectual debates, nor cheating (by burying your head in books – as that wouldn’t be churning your soul, but just filling your head). Critical thinking and independent thinking is a core part of the Hindu thought. It is what prevents it from becoming a religion or from being hijacked by religious zealots.

I believe that critical thinking (and to be an independent thinker) has two purposes. First it is needed to take yoga and put into action, to engage it, in all walks of life with effort. Secondly it serves as the critical feedback loop for you to refine your yoga / path further. For how else would you know, without testing it? which comes from engaging in life.

Also, like that of the yogis, independent thinking is a very personal experience. In that regard, you might say the yogis took the word “independent” in independent thinking to an all new level, allowing multiple and sometimes even contradictory theories to coexist and yet all be still valid.

I feel all the siddhars and aghoris were independent thinkers. They did not follow any “religion” or even a “spiritual path” (these words didn’t even exist back then), but approached it from first principles, from acute experimentation and observation (not reflection or brooding) at the level of yoga + karm + critical thinking + bhakti.

Multivalency

I believe the core Hindu philosophy that permeates almost all walks of life in India is the concept of multivalency. That is, a world where the boolean expression A • A’ (that is, A and not A) is not a contradiction or an indeterminate state, but perfectly valid. It is a philosophy of life that allows for multiple and parallel realities to coexist.

If you refer to ten different spiritual traditions across cultures and continents, you’ll find that one says there are 6 states of consciousness, and another says there are 10, and another 42. Which is right? All. These sages couldn’t care less about petty questions of that nature. They saw. They wrote. The end goal is to elevate your mind to that level experienced by the sages. This is why numerous spiritual traditions coexisted in India, each flourishing in it’s own right, without fighting over who’s right or wrong. I’m not talking about the intellectual debate halls of ancient India – they were not yogis or siddhars, but end-users of the insights of yogis.

Another example. There maybe more than dozen “birth-places” of Krishna (or Rama) in different parts of India. Each believing without a doubt in their heart, that so and so place is the birth place of Krishna or Rama. On top of that, when they travel from one region to the another (say from South to North), they’ll accept folks who say a spot in that region is the birth place of Krishna, and will worship it with full reverence (i.e. not just as a “possible alternative”). When they return back to the South, they return to accepting that birth place in total.

How is it possible? The same way that Hindus go to a Vishnu temple and accept that Vishnu is God in total, and then right after that go to a Shiva temple and accept Shiva is God in total, and can go to a Durga, Murugan, Ganesha, or Shani temple and accept each of these as God in total. That is, not as another God, but each as the “one God” in totality.

If you find all this intriguing or boggles your mind, then read S. Radhakrishan’s Indian Philosophy Volume 2. The book is definitely not for the faint-hearted, it’s definitely like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant. The six darshanas (systems of Indian philosophical thought) will amaze you: the phenomenal depth with which Hindus had brainstormed the nature of knowledge and the means of acquiring knowledge – steeped in epistemology, psychology, logic, and metaphysics. It is often quoted that people who undertake a serious study of the six darshanas without being tempered with yoga (i.e. when approaching it purely intellectually), a few will succeed, most will become insane or driven to suicide, that’s how hair-splitting it is. It seems the hair-splitting logic will drive/impel you to take your conscious to higher levels, without which you either reach a dead-end or become trapped in a hysteresis loop.

All this is not so confusing if you look at it this way: the pursuit of spirituality is a very personal and serious undertaking — of removing layers of conditioning (usually through some form of yoga or the other). For every bit of progress that one makes moving closer to the Atman, the universe constantly restructures itself, splitting itself at every instant into one of many multi-verses, giving each individual his own cosmic view, within that multi-verse. It’s this built-in multiverse understanding of the universe (i.e. multiple realities functioning and flowing in parallel) that I believe is what gives rise to the multivalent fabric of Indian society, which in turn lends to its unparalleled plurality.

Multivalent Pluralism

Multivalent pluralism (yeah, I’m inventing words left and right :)), is about genuine acceptance of people exactly as they are without having to water down their culture. In India you can walk down any street and you’ll see people of cultures and faiths so dramatically different from each other — and they wear it on themselves with pride (this can be seen emerging slowly in highly multi-cultural cities in the USA — but still far from competing with what you’d see even in an average town in India). Not to mention the latest addition into the churning mill: that of American/Western culture (“jeans, shorts, night life, public displays of affection,…”), which is being assimilated at such a rapid rate compared with just a decade ago.

In short, multivalency allows you to have your cake and eat it to :).

Contrast this to secularism where people of multiple cultures learn to live together either by “tolerance” (a somewhat pretentious kind of acceptance) or by stripping each other down to a common denominator culture (“Americanism”) — as opposed to having lots of rich vibrant sub-cultures (“Hinduism”). Secularism is always on its tippy toes, watching out so as not to risk offending anybody. It takes the color out of culture. An African colleague once told me the irony of how Americans portray Africa as being uncivilized/backwards, and yet tourists come to Africa to experience culture (in particular in areas that are untouched by conflicts introduced by greed, struggle for power, resources, religion, etc).

{I borrowed the term “multivalency” from quantum physics, as in the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Schroedinger Wave Function, which allow for an electron or photon to exist in multiple states simultaneously as well as exhibit dual nature of particle and wave simultaneously}.

Impermanence/Transience

This is another core philosophy that permeates Hindu culture. It might even be that it is this which gives rise to multivalency. It is about impermanence, transience, fleetingness of time, of seasons, of cosmic cycles, and of life. I believe the whole idea of microcosm and macrocosm reflecting each other arises from this deeper understanding/acceptance of transience or cycles, that like multivalency, is almost hard-wired into the Hindu culture.

“All this has happened before, and will happen again, and again, and again….”
– [paraphrased] spoken by a Cylon while hooked up to its collective conscious, in the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica.

When I first heard the above quote, I thought it was just pertaining to the wars and conflicts that were going on… only later in the series I realized it pertained to something on a much grander scale, of cosmic proportions, closer at home to Hindu philosophy. So it didn’t come across a surprise, that the Battlestar Galactica theme/opening song had the Gayathri Mantra embedded in it.

I used to think that we had two options out of this: engage (as in, कर्म्, act, and “embrace the moment”) or disengage (as in Lord Murugan’s advice, “சொல்  அற, ‘சும்மா  இரு’” – Just Be. Simply Be. Be Still.). But I realize that unless you have the mental stamina and determination of that of a siddha or yogi,  the best way to hande it, is both. Wholesome engagement, tempered with yoga.