The religious culture which now goes by the name of Hinduism
… gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no
universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up no single narrow
path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously
enlarging tradition of the Godward endeavour of the human spirit. An immense
many-sided and many-staged provision for a spiritual self-building and
self-finding, it had some right to speak of itself by the only name it knew,
the eternal religion, Sanatana Dharma…. (Sri Aurobindo, 1919)
Of recent years there has been an academic controversy
amongst the more scholarly followers of Sri Aurobindo on the subject of whether
he should be considered a Hindu and whether his teachings could be classed as
Hinduism. Unfortunately there are many western or westernised Indian
followers of Hindu gurus who will do their utmost to dissociate themselves from
the word “Hindu” which Hindu author and writer Rajiv Malhotra refers to
the syndrome as the U- Turn.
Such individuals who
try their best to escape any association with the word Hindu typically feel
that their sage/guru is of universal importance, belonged to the whole world,
and cared about everyone – Hindu or non-Hindu alike. Therefore it is a travesty
for such a great universal teacher to be called a Hindu. What they fail to
realise is that the basic teachings of Hinduism (the Vedas, Upanishads, Gita
and other sacred literature) are every bit as universal as their own cherished guru.
Hinduism
and Universal are synonymous
All the thousands of
true Hindu sages through the passage of time have always said that their
teachings are universal, and have had a concern for all humanity. This does not
make them non-Hindu. This just means that at its core – Hinduism itself is
universal and embraces the whole of humanity, allowing all to drink the nectar
of its wisdom without giving up their identity. But they don’t want to
attribute the quality of universalism to Hinduism, because it is unfashionable;
Hinduism being associated in the media with backwardness and social ills.
“But to limit Sri Aurobindo to Hinduism
is like characterising modern science and technology as purely Christian, since
by and large they originated in the Christian countries.”(Mangesh
Nadkarni)
This
is quite wrong. Sri Aurobindo acknowledges (and nobody
would dare argue otherwise) that he first achieved direct spiritual experience
reflecting upon and practicing the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads,
with intense devotion to Krishna. Without these he would not have been able to
achieve his spiritual realisations, and develop his philosophical teachings. On
the other hand, modern science was not developed by persons who were following
a Christian line of thought or enquiry. It was developed by enquiry and study
into material reality, independently of religion.
Hence, the
relationship between Sri Aurobindo and Hinduism is quite different to the
relationship between modern science and Christianity. Sri Aurobindo’s teachings
can be said to be unique and universal – but these teachings would not have
developed without the creative field of experimentation that Hinduism provides.
Sri Aurobindo was a heroic spiritual experimenter, like the ancient Vedic
sages, who wanted to use his experiences and knowledge to transform and save
the world. It is accurate to say that the teachings of Sri Aurobindo flowed out
of traditional Hinduism.
The development of
modern science did not flow out of Christianity. In some respects it developed
in spite of Christianity. The Church often tried to silence persons whose
research led them to propose hypotheses that went against certain Christian
notions such as the world being 6,000 years old, the world being flat, and the
sun going round the Earth, opposition to the theory of evolution etc. By
contrast, Sri Aurobindo faced not one iota of difficulty or persecution from
the Hindu orthodoxy in publishing whatever he wanted to and pursuing whatever
line of spiritual enquiry and experiences he preferred.
To summarise, I’m not
saying that one has to “limit Sri Aurobindo to Hinduism” if they don’t want to,
but it is ridiculous to say that “to limit Sri Aurobindo to Hinduism is like
characterising modern science and technology as purely Christian, since by and
large they originated in the Christian countries”. The relationship between Sri
Aurobindo’s teachings and Hinduism is radically different to the relationship
between modern science and Christianity.
Rajesh
Patel
May
8, 2012
http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/sri-aurobindo-indias-greatest-mystical-visionary/
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