Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Work Hours
Monday to Friday: 7AM - 7PM
Weekend: 10AM - 5PM
Gede MN Natih
Dear friends,
Writing this paper has taken me on a journey back through the stages of my own life and has enabled me once more to contemplate the streams of thought that have flown into the vast ocean that we call Hinduism. A glorious religion that cradled me as I was born into this world and shaped my life as it has shaped the lives of millions of people over thousands of years. It is a journey which explores not only Modern Hindu Movements, but most of all, the concept of Sanatana Dharma, a religion without beginning or ending.
I am a Balinese Hindu and thus belong to one of the countless streams of belief that make Hinduism so rich and also so complex to define. I believe that in my beginning is my end and here follow the thoughts of one who wishes ever to learn and grow and ever to seek the Eternal Truth which lies at the heart of all the world’s great religions.
Following the Turkish (A.D. 1300-1400) and Mughal invasions (A.D. 1400-1750) the Hindu Community became increasingly defensive. It held on to every external ritual and every historical accretion as if they were the very essence of religion. The Hindu social system became rigid and stagnant. Ignorant and selfish priests became dominant and had commercialized religion: they fed the population on antiquated rituals and obsolete customs. The advent of the British (A.D. 1754-1850) saw the Hindu community in one of the darkest periods in the history.
The British conquest of India brought about a cultural confrontation between the East and the West; the vigorous Western civilization challenged the presuppositions and values of the Hindu culture in almost every walk of life—social, cultural and religious. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote: “The impact of Western culture on India was the impact of a dynamic society, of a modern consciousness on a static society wedded to medieval habits of thought which, however, sophisticated and advanced in its own way, could not progress because of its inherent limitations” (Discovery of India, p. 290). The Christian missionaries were shocked by such customs as polygamy, child-marriages, the burning of widows, the harsh caste-system and the cruel practice of untouchability. They believed that the dynamic qualities of their religion and culture would shake the roots of the ancient Hindu philosophy. In 1837, Frederick Store felt that Christian influence would become so great that Hinduism would eventually be eradicated: “I believe there is a very general feeling among the people that some great crisis is at hand in their religious policy; and the common belief is that Hinduism will be supplanted by Christianity.” (See G.S. Banahatti, The Quintessence of Vivekananda)
The impact of such a cultural encounter, however, produced results which rather surprised the Western critics of Hinduism. Enlightened Hindu leaders spot-lighted the shortcomings and evils that had crept into Hinduism and aimed at a transformation of the Hindu society. They came forward to change the deplorable religious conditions of their community. However, they reaffirmed the inherent worth of the Hindu tradition and sought to offer a pure understanding of Hinduism. They endeavoured to place before the Hindu the principles and practices of ‘ancient Hinduism’, and sought to reconstruct Hindu social life accordingly.
During 1850-1950, Hinduism found itself; and the Hindu society passed through an age of reformation. The self-discovery of Hinduism expressed itself in a number of movements. These movements emerged spontaneously in different parts of the country and brought about a radical reorientation of Hinduism, the effects of which are resounding in the Hindu community even today. Among these, we shall discuss here the Brahma Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Theosophical Society, the Ramakrishna Mission and the Sarvodaya movements.
The establishment of Brahma Samaj in August 1828 by Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) constitutes a landmark in the Hindu religious history. It was the first reaction to the Western attacks on Hinduism. Rammohan believed that Hinduism had to be reformed if it had to withstand these external attacks and survive internal decay. Through the Samaj, he attempted to inject new life into the traditional Hinduism.
Rammohan did not blindly accept the ritualistic and irrational practices and customs followed by his family or taught by the priests. He felt that the blind acceptance of anything on the sheer weight of ‘traditionality’ was a mistake. He believed that the worthiness of a tradition should be based on its spiritual and social values. He, therefore, sought to examine religious beliefs and practices on a rational basis. His major concern,
however, was not to undermine the Hindu faith but to give it a new meaning by pruning the dead and parasitic limbs from the Living tree of the Hindu tradition.
Rammohan studied Hindu scriptures extensively. He also learnt Persian and Arabic. He read Qur’an and became intimately familiar with the Islamic tradition. He studied the Bible too and acquainted himself with the Christian tradition. He saw in each certain intrinsic and basic similarities, and a common spiritual core. According to him, that core was the ‘unity’, personality and spirituality of God. His study of different religions strengthened his predisposition towards monotheism. When the house of Brahma Samaj was built, he dedicated it to the worship of One God. He held that ‘theism’ is one and that there were three historical versions of it, viz. Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. He accepted all religions as legitimate. He was, in fact, one of the pioneers of the study of Comparative Religion.
Rammohan devoted his life to the improvement of the socio-religious conditions of his countrymen. He believed that love of God ought to find its expression in the service of mankind. Since all social matters had religious overtones in the Hindu tradition, it was only natural that any reform in it should have resulted in social changes. Rammohan denounced child-marriage. He worked courageously for the abolition of sail – the practice of immolating widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands and for the emancipation of women in general. He favoured widow-remarriage and worked for the outlawing of polygamy. He discounted the efficacy of image-worship. He aimed at the
promotion of a pious, ethical life – a life of charity, morality and
harmony among men of all creeds.
Rammohan’s services to the cause of education need special mention. He fully realized the need in India for liberal education. He also realized that this instruction must einbiace advancements both in science and technology. He made it clear, however, that Western education need not turn Indians into Christians. In this sense, Rammohan’s work proved to be a set-back to Christian missionaries in their proselytizing activities; and the Hindu intellectuals began to take pride in their own heritage.
Devendranath Tagore (1817-1905) was the next outstanding figure in the movement of Brahmo Samaj. His father Dwarakanath Tagore was one of the collaborators of Rammohan Roy in the establishment of Brahma Samaj. Devendranath had a great admiration for Rammohan. He, along with other Bengali intellectuals, aimed at balancing the onesided emphasis on Western education. He attacked the blind imitation of the West. He opened schools for teaching Indian as well as Western ideas. He stressed the cultivation of Sanskrit and Vedic lore. He attempted to spread Vedanta “free from the blind worship of the idols.” He doubted the efficacy of rites and ceremonies. And yet he sought to be faithful to all that was genuine in the ancient Hindu tradition out of which he recovered a thorough monotheistic faith.
Devendranath awakened the Hindu society to the ‘danger of the invasion of Christianity.’ He discussed with his friends ways and means of protecting the Hindus and their tradition and started a school for ‘Hindu welfare’. He encouraged the Hindus to take initiative in social reform and participate in public activities. He wanted his countrymen to follow what Rammohan advocated. He worked incessantly for the emancipation and education of women for which he made efforts to establish schools for girls. He also aimed at preventing widow-remarriage, drinking, child-marriage and polygamy.
Devendranath Tagore developed a ceremony of initiation in the Samaj; he along with some other members went through it. Some members, however, wanted to completely rationalize the doctrines of the Samaj. But Devendranath was against that kind of ‘intellectual assessment of spiritual values.’ Consequently his rationalist friends, led by Akshay Kumar Dutt, broke away from the Samaj and started the ‘Friends’ Society’, they wanted to develop the Samaj on the lines of positivism and humanism of Comte and Spencer.
Keshubchandra Sen (1838-1884) gave a new turn to the Brahma Samaj. He was educated in a Hindu college. He studied Western philosophy and sociology and was drawn into the liberal movement of his times. He gave up idolatry and felt a longing for something higher and deeper.
When he read a publication of Brahma Samaj in 1857, he found that his own convictions were reflected in it. He joined the Samaj as an enthusiastic worker, and soon became its secretary. He started a forum for philosophical and theological discussions on Brahmo theism. In 1860, he also started a Sangat Sabha; he required from all the members of the Sabha the abandonment of caste and the sacred thread. He prohibited idolatry and condemned the dancing of public women in the temples.
Keshubchandra Sen was a talented leader and an outstanding orator. He organized a body of devoted workers. He gave up his job and devoted his full time to the work of the Samaj. He tried to carry the message of the Samaj to every corner of the country. He undertook extensive lecture-tours to expand the Samaj into an all-India movement. He started the Indian Mirror, first as a fortnightly paper in English, then as a weekly and finally as a daily paper. He started another paper in Bengali, named Tattvabodhini Patrica. Realizing that a better system of education was the crying need of the times, he started the Calcutta College in 1862. For the education of women, he launched a women’s magazine called Brahma Bodhini, and started Brahmika Samaj—a prayer meeting exclusively for women.
Keshub delivered a lecture in 1886 entitled ‘Jesus Christ, Asia and Europe’. In that he gave a universal interpretation of Christ and paid his homage to the ‘Carpenter of Nazareth’. This lecture evoked severe criticism from Christian missionaries who thought that he was misinterpreting Christianity. Orthodox Hindus were equally furious; they said, ‘Keshub is embracing Christianity’. The resultant controversy had a disruptive influence on the Samaj. Besides, the young members were attempting to introduce drastic and radical changes into the Samaj in spite of the caution given by Devendranath Tagore; the gulf between the old generation and the new generation widened so much that they could not remain together. Keshub, along with his young workers, separated and established the Brahma Samaj of India in 1866.
The membership of the Brahma Samaj of India was thrown open to all men and women of every race and country. Keshub declared “Our cathedral is the universe, our object of worship is the Supreme Lord, our scripture is intuitive knowledge, our path to salvation is worship, our atonement is self-purification. Our guides and leaders are all the good and great men. In this catholic Brahmo faith, there is no trace of sectarianism, no cause of dissension. It is the property of all ; hence it is not a sectarian body. It belongs to all who, as the true worshippers of one true God, will love Him and do the work He loves.” The scriptures of Brahma Samaj of India included selections not only from the Vedas but also from the Bible, Qur’an, Zendavesta and so on. Even the architecture of the ‘Bharatavarshiya Brahma Mandir’ was a harmonious blend of the Hindu, Gothic and Buddhist styles.
Keshub ran into serious difficulty in 1878 in connection with the marriage of his daughter with the Maharaja of Cooch Behar. Both the bride and the bridegroom were below marriageable age (i.e. 14 and 18 respectively), according to the Marriage Act of 1872. This Act had been framed by Keshub and passed with his help. Keshub gave his consent to the marriage of his daughter. To add to this, the marriage was performed according to the Hindu rituals (as per the wishes of the bridegroom’s party). All these things infuriated the Brahmas of the old school as well as of the new school. Many of his friends and collaborators left him. He was disowned by his friends and subjected to persecution. This resulted in another schism, leading to the formation of the Sadharana Brahnia Samaj under the leadership of Anand Mohan Basu.
Keshub’s break with Devendranath Tagore, the opposition of Hindu orthodoxy and the differences of his own companions distressed him very much. His mind’s sorrow led him to pray daily and intensely. A new phase in the life of Keshub and in the movement of Brahma Samaj began when he called his church The Church of New Dispensation. A significant event at that stage was the meeting of Keshub with Ramakrishna. Under the latter’s influence, Keshub not only admitted the existence of Brahman, but also the ‘power of Brahman’ which Ramakrishna called the ‘Mother’. With reference to ‘idolatry’ also, Keshub was persuaded to appreciate the need of the human mind for concrete symbols. Consequently, the custom of addressing God as ‘Mother’ was introduced in the ‘Church of New Dispensation’. Arti, liturgical worship and homa, Vedic offering were introduced. Keshub began to teach that the worship of divinity in a variety of forms enriched monotheism and endeavored to explain the ideas that underlay each Hindu god.
The scriptures of his Church included selections not only from the Hindu texts but also from the Bible, Qur’an, Zendavesta and so on. In the service of his Church, he used choice extracts from the teachings of different religions. The emblem of his church was made of the cross, the crescent, the trident and the Vedic Om. He held that the promotion of harmony of religions was the real mission of Brahma Samaj. Keshub began as a disciple of the Christ, then became a Brahmo and ended up as a universalist.
The Brahma Samaj movement, from the very inception, represented the endeavours of the English educated Indians. The actual membership of the Samaj was never large, but its influence in social and religious reform has been tremendous. It had vast influence on every major religious current which evolved in India during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Under the impact of the Samaj, obsolete religious practices were given up and the social-reconstruction activities were undertaken. The Samaj gave impetus to the resurgent spirit of Hinduism and arrested conversions by the Christian missionaries. The Brahma Samaj provided political leaders to the country at that time and gave a boost to Indian nationalism. Sectarian fragmentation, however, enfeebled the Samaj which was gradually absorbed in the main stream of Hinduism.
THE ARYA SAMAJ
While Rammohan Roy used his understanding of Western tradition and Islamic culture to revalue and reform the Hindu tradition, another movement began under the leadership of Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883) which violently reacted to all foreign influences. The Arya Samaj is one of the most important and thoroughly indigeneous religious reform movements in modern India.
Dayananda was born of orthodox Hindu parents in Morvi in Kathiawar. His education was strictly Hindu in nature. He was invested with the sacred thread when he was eight and he began his study of the Vedas and performance of daily worship.
Three incidents in his early life had profound influence on his later life. Once while observing the holy fast of Sivaratri, he saw a mouse eating the offerings dedicated to God. Dayananda wondered how an insignificant mouse could do such sacrilege to wards God who is omnipotent. Disillusioned by image-worship, he broke the fast. Nevertheless, he continued his Vedic studies within the guidelines of a traditional education. The next important incident of his life was encounter with deaths in his family—deaths of a sister and an uncle, both of whom were very close to him. Those deaths sent Dayananda into a period of deep reflection over the problem and meaning of life. The third notable incident in his early life was his flight from home and family for avoiding marriage that his father had prearranged for him. The impact of these incidents made itself felt in his later years. He displayed an open contempt of idolatry, made a determined effort to seek salvation and rejected everything (even family and marriage) that interfered with his supreme purpose.
Following his escape from home, Dayananda spent some time as a brahmachari (a religious student) ; after the lapse of some time, he got initiated into the forth stage, i.e. of a sannyasi (ascetic). It was at that time that he was given the name of Swami Dayananda Saraswati by which he is popularly known. Henceforth he led a life of complete renunciation and dedication to service of mankind.
The public ministry of Swami Dayananda started with an exhortation from his teacher : “I want thee to go forth into the world and spread enlightenment among mankind.” Dayananda undertook to devote his life to the dissemination of Vedic knowledge and to fight relentlessly against the falsehood and corruption that had crept into Hinduism. He undertook preaching tours throughout the length and breadth of India; he participated in public discussions; and put forth enormous literary work. In 1875, Dayanand established the Arya Samaj on being confronted by the problem:
……how to reform Indian religion, how to effect a synthesis of the East and the West in such a way as to guarantee the intellectual and spiritual supremacy of the Indian people, do full justice to the attainments of other nations and to provide a universal-programme of religion.
Dayananda discovered the solution of the problem in accepting the Vedas as the revealed word of God. He asserted that the Vedas are the true source of all knowledge and religion. He maintained that the truth of the Hindu religion could be revealed only by a return to the Vedas. In them was to be found the purest and the oldest religion of mankind. Vedic Hinduism could help bring about the highest development of society realizable by man. The Arya Samaj recalled India to her Vedic tradition and to the mission of spreading the saving knowledge offered by the Vedas to all mankind. The method by which that objective was to be accomplished was through the founding of one chapter of Arya Samaj in every country of the world with further chapters subordinate to them. This organisation was to become an International Aryan League. Also colleges were to be established whose purpose was to teach the truth of the Vedas; that was the origin of the Dayananda Anglo-Vedic colleges and the Gurukula colleges.
Dayananda rejected idolatry, the avatara of Vishnu and the miracles. He saw no conflict between religion and science. He expounded the Vedas in terms of pure and exalted monotheism. Dayanand considered the Vedas to be devoid of the ‘misconceptions’ that exist in the popular Hindu beliefs. He claimed that the many gods of the Rig Veda were really diverse names for the one eternal God. He rejected the ‘absurdities’ of the Smritis and the Puranas. He vigorously fought against the caste-system and worked enthusiastically for educational, social and political reforms.
Dayananda sought to convert apostate Hindus back to Hinduism. Since apostates were supposed to be ritually unclean, he instituted the ‘suddhi’ ceremony wherby they were officially reinstated in Hindu brotherhood. The right to undergo ‘suddhi’ was extended to the untouchables, ‘a highly unorthodox and innovative measure’ (Zaehner, p. 159).
The continuous polemics carried on by the Samaj against the Christian and Muslim missionary activities created a good deal of animosity and antipathy towards the Samaj. When India was partitioned, Arya Samaj lost a great deal of its property to Pakistan and many of its devoted workers were slain. Since then their influence is considerably reduced although they still carry on their educational, missionary and philanthropic work, most notably in the Punjab.
The Arya Samaj stands as a dynamic affirmation of the worth of Vedic ideals in the Hindu heritage. It appeals to all the Hindus, regardless of caste, and its teachings could be understood by all the Hindus and not merely by the intelligentsia. It taught infallibility of Vedas, strict monotheism and a return to purified sanatana dharma. The Samaj condemns ‘idolatry, animal sacrifices, ancestor-worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings in temples, the caste-system, untouchability and child-marriages’ due to their lacking any foundation in the Vedas (Zaehner. 159).
THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
A Russian Lady, Madam H.P. Blavatsky and American army man Col. H.S. Olcott started the Theosophical Society first in New York and later established it in India. They taught a universal religion whose roots were found in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. They popularized in Europe and America a number of oriental books of quality like the Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, Dhammapada, and so on. They called the attention of the people of the West to the Eastern faiths and evoked their interest in them.
Theosophy sees human religiousness as one basic tie binding all human beings together and man as a fragment of the Divine. It holds that the Divine reveals Itself in the cosmic process and that the universe is a process of unfoldment of its potentialities. It also maintains that religion is the perpetual quest of the human spirit for the Divine and that the different religions are merely the several methods adopted in that search. It finds similarities in the essentials of different religions. It believes that each religion originates from prophets and sages whom it calls ‘adapts of spirituality’; they are supposed to constitute a brotherhood of mystics.
Theosophy does not announce any dogma or set of dogmas. It does not demand subscription to any one creed from its followers. It does not attempt to convert individuals. It attempts to demonstrate the truths of all religions. It maintains that it is a synthesis of all religions. It goes a step farther and affirms that it is a synthesis of science, philosophy and religion.
Mrs Annie Besant (1847-1933), a great champion of theosophy, believed that Hinduism alone could be the source of inspiration and national regeneration of India; she saw it as a powerful unifying force ever at work and holding the nation together. She believed that the revival of Hinduism was a national necessity and found its philosophy vigorous, peace- loving and charitable. She stood for a revival of the entire edifice of Hinduism. She emphasized the conceptions of karma and rebirth and of devas and avataras.
She was equally critical of some of the obscurantist practices of the Hindu society and suggested reforms based on a synthesis of the values of the East and the West. She deprecated a blind imitation of the West; she insisted that new adoptions should not lose sight of the past traditions of the country.
She had a great enthusiasm for the upliftment of India. She deprecated the absence of co-operation between two sexes in Indian public life. She pointed out that education ought not to be the monopoly of men. She worked for the uplift of the depressed classes and for the establishment of an Indian ideal of education. In 1898 Besant founded the Central Hindu College at Benares and in 1915 the Indian Home-Rule League. She always aimed for freedom and unity of the Indians and for the ancient Hindu ideals.
Theosophy gave a tremendous impetus to the spirit of Hindu renaissance. It inspired a spirit of pride and hope among Indians. It brought about a change of attitude in the English-educated youth – from contempt and scepticism to one of love and enthusiasm towards their religion. It helped to create a national spirit throughout the country. It vigorously defended the Hindu tradition, Hindu faith and practices. It helped the reclamation of Hindus who had forsaken Hinduism.
THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT
During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) of Bengal, became an important religious figure. Unlike the ‘Liberal movement’ which sprang from the Western-educated intelligentsia, Ramakrishna represented the broad stream of Hinduism. He was at home with the traditional doctrines and attitudes of the Hindu tradition.
Ramakrishna was not a scholar or a philosopher. He believed that complicated questions of doctrine and dogma were irrelevant to religious experience. He viewed everything from a spiritual plane of simplicity. The essential aspect of Ramakrishna’s life was its intense and passionate spirituality. The intensity of his desire led him to the goal of spiritual realization. He was once asked by one of his disciples:
“Sir, have you seen God?”
Ramakrishna replied, “Yes, I have seen him just as I see you, only in a much intenser sense. God can be realized. One can see and talk as I am doing with you.” (Gambhiranandaswami, History of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Calcutta, 1957, p. 20).
Ramakrishna’s zeal for the realization of God took him beyond his orthodox background into other great religions. In deep spiritual devotion, he realized the God of both Christianity and Islam. Like Rammohan, he desired to have a knowledge of other religions. He lived as a Muslim while assimilating the ideas of Islam and as a Christian while assimilating those of Christianity. He experimented with all the paths accessible to him and found that all spiritual paths sought the same glorious goal:
What men believe is of secondary importance; piety is all that matters. Every religion, whatever its doctrine, becomes the true religion when man dedicates himself in love to God and serves his neighbour in love. So there is no sense in exchanging one religion for another. Union with God should be sought by Christians in Christianity, by the Muslim in Islam and by the Hindus in Hinduism.
(See Albert Schweitzer, Indian Thought and its Development, p. 210)
Ramakrishna’s religious experience validated the twofold nature of God: (i) God with form and (ii) God without form; Ramakrishna called the former personal God with whom a relationship could be established as with a human being. He could be viewed as one’s father, mother, child, lover, etc; the only requirement is that one has to approach God with love. The personal deity is an active sustaining deity. Ramakrishna viewed this active God as Sakti or the Divine Mother of the Universe.
Ramakrishna called the Impersonal Deity Brahman. It is ‘without attributes, without motion, immovable, unshakeable’. It is the Absolute. One cannot comprehend it but only merge into it. Ramakrishna used the image of the salt-doll dipped into the ocean to explain the nature of Brahman. The doll has solid form before it is put into water, yet it soon dissolves and merges into the vastness of the sea. The realization of the Absolute puts one into the nirvikalpaka state.
With the realization of the personal and impersonal aspects of the Divine Being there appears to be a problem of choosing between the two. But to Ramakrishna they were one and the same being. They might be perceived as different, but in truth they are inseparable. The Lord manifests Himself either as Brahman or Sakti according to the needs of the aspirants. However, Ramakrishna made it clear that an individual vision of God should never be regarded as the only form of God which can appear to man. Even in one’s own life, at one stage the personal God may be more satisfactory and the impersonal one at another stage. Ramakrishna asks us to remember that both are one and the same and that we should never be completely satisfied with a single aspect.
What is the discipline that one should follow in order to experience God. According to Ramakrishna, an attitude of total desire for God is one of the first qualities necessary. He held that he who yearns for Him shall find Him. God cannot remain hidden from an earnest seeker.
The second requirement was faith in God. Lack of faith, Ramakrishna thought, caused suffering to mankind. The quality of innocence, the child-like faith was necessary in all spiritual quest. Beyond desire and faith, Ramakrishna also taught renunciation of woridlines.
………When you recognize the world to be unreal and ephemeral, you will no longer have any love for it. You will renounce it from the mind, and become free from all desires. When you succeed in this act of renunciation, you come to know God who is the Cause of the Universe.
To achieve detachment, he taught intellectual discrimination. He also emphasized sexual continence or brahrnacarya. He maintained that the loss of ego was also necessary for the vision of God. Egotism was like a cloud that blocked a clear perception of the radiance of God. He maintained that the ego was the basis of all worldliness. The complete loss of ego characterized the nirvikalpa state. The person who cannot lose ego totally cannot realize the Absolute.
Ramakrishna’s sayings and parables show a great amount of knowledge and wisdom. His explanations of the form and nature of God are inspiring. His methods of realizing God are traditional ; he emphasizes innocence, chastity, faith, renunciation, etc. in seeking God.
Ramakrishna’s teaching is marked by its all-compassing universality; he staunchly defended Hinduism in all its form and yet he never once condemned other religions.
The eminence of Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) as Ramakrishna’s chief disciple is certainly undisputed. By creating the Ramakrishna Mission, he preserved and extended the influence of his Master. To his monks, he proposed the duty of social service – the service of the sick and the poor. Vivekananda stood intensely for the necessity of upholding and continuing the Hindu religion; as such, his beliefs are the direct reflections of Ramakrishna.
He managed to incorporate into one stream of knowledge the rationalistic approach of Rammohan Roy, the intensely nationalistic approach to religion adopted by Dayananda and the passionate spiritualism that was so characteristic of Ramakrishna.
In Vivekananda, Ramakrishna saw the man who was capable, both intellectually and spiritually, of spreading his message. Consequently Vivekananda’s life after Ramakrishna’s death was spent in arduous travelling, which included trips to world religious congresses such as the one held at the Chicago’s World Fair in 1892 where he eloquently conveyed the salient features of Hinduism. He preached to the Hindus the abandonment of superstition, untouchability, caste pride, etc., as well as the practice of love and service of fellowmen.
Vivekananda saw the need of adopting Western technology and education. He advocated that scientific thought and research must penetrate India ; but he maintained that they should be combined with the fundamental spiritual attitude of the Indian religions.
SARVODAYA MOVEMENT
Mahatma Gandhi adopted the word ‘Sarvodaya’ to describe his religio-social ideal after reading John Ruskin’s book, Unto This Last, in 1904. The basic precepts of the book, in Gandhi’s estimation, were three:
i. The good of the individual is contained in the good of all
ii. a lawyer’s work has the same value as a barber’s as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work, and
iii. the life of labour, i.e. the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman, is the life worth living.
Gandhi envisaged a society in which all considerations of high and low were wiped out, and equality among all, was firmly established. Gandhi hoped for a society where inequalities of wealth were eliminated. The essence of Sarvodaya is the prosperity of all. This does not, however, mean that it. is materialistic in character. Sarvodaya symbolizes Gandhi’s whole social philosophy, making provision for both material prosperity and spiritual welfare. According to Gandhi, the Sarvodaya movement could be effective only when the participants purified themselves. He insisted, therefore, on certain ethical disciplines. The first discipline was truth which was equated by Gandhi with God. With a pure heart, one could strike through the relative truths and catch a glimpse of the Absolute Truth. The very sincerity of a searcher armed with pure motives would set him on the right path. This concern for Truth led him to the study of other religions. He believed that the discovery of merits in other religions would contribute to the enrichment of religious life and to the revival of the neglected aspects of one’s own religious thought and practice. He gave Hinduism a new dimension of the spirit by continually relating it to progressive discovery of Truth.
The next discipline advocated by Gandhi was non-violence which he considered a quality of the spirit ; it was intertwined with Truth. To him non-violence was the means and Truth the end. If the means were kept pure, then the desired result (Truth) would necessarily follow. In his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, Gandhi interprets the Mahabharata war on nonviolent lines. Although the Gita was apparently written to encourage Arjuna to wage war, the war which it really advocated, according to Gandhi, was a war in the spiritual realm. It encouraged war of holiness within oneself. This interpretation of the Gita surprised a good many Hindus. But Gandhi firmly maintained that the Gita taught non-violence.
Gandhi corrected two errors which were consciously or unconsciously held by the masses of India. First, the dangerous misunderstanding of the law of karma, that is, everyone has to suffer the consequences of his deeds and there is no need to change things. This belief had led to an unhealthy tolerance of the many economic and social evils, taking away the initiative of the individual and dynamism of the society. The other error he saw was that meditation was considered higher than work which made it possible for the able-bodied to eat without work. Both these errors had reduced the masses of India to poverty and helplessness. Gandhi taught the dignity of work by his own example. Gandhi made the ‘bread labour’ part of his religion and injected dynamism and creativity into his nonviolent movement. “God is continuously active”, said Gandhi, “if we would serve Him, our activity must be as unwearied as His.” Work changes society ; idleness degenerates it. One must, therefore, work and work in a spirit of service.
Gandhi knew only too well the corruption and degradation that had crept into the Hindu tradition in practice. He knew the elements in it that bad become obsolete and had lost their value in the context of new times. The Hinduism that was dear to Gandhi was purified Hinduism, purified and sanctified in the crucible of his life and experience. “What we see today”, he said, “is not pure Hinduism, but often a parody of it.” He was, however, aware of the basic vitality of Hinduism which had successfully survived the vicissitudes of history for over three thousand years. He saw in it elements of the highest quality which had kept it alive.
In his conception of Hinduism, Gandhi had no place for untouchability. He denounced untouchability as a travesty of religion and a blot on Hinduism. “I have never been able to reconcile myself to untouchability. I have always disregarded it as an excrescence.” he wrote. Within a lifetime, Gandhi, by his teachings, personal example and reforming zeal transformed the untouchables into a fearless, progressive and vital part of the Indian nation:
………Untouchability is repugnant to reason and to the instinct of mercy, pity and love.….And I should be content to be torn into pieces rather than to disown the suppressed classes. Hindus will certainly never deserve freedom, nor will they get it, if they allow this noble religion to be disregarded by the retention of the taint of untouchability. And as I love Hinduism dearer than life itself, the taint has become for me an intolerable burden. Let us not deny God by denying a fifth of our race the right of association on equal footing.
In the history of Hinduism, at no other time was there a man who staked his all for the upliftment of the depressed and the suppressed castes of India. And in so far as this reformation was in relation to the so-called lowest stratum in the Hindu community, its effect touched every stratum of Hindu society, thus setting into motion one of the most powerful liberalizing forces in human religious history.
Gandhi saw Hinduism as a living organism liable to growth and decay’. He was aware of its points of strength and weakness. He was foremost to recognize the injustice of the caste-system as he found in India of his day. He offered relentless battle against it. His very insistence on Truth led him to focus its revealing light on the cruelties of the prevalent caste system. The caste system was, he believed, opposed to the basic concept of love. Therefore he sought to break loose from the shackles of the past and declared that unless Hinduism washed away the dirt of the distinction between the high and the low, it could not survive.
With all his zeal for reform Gandhi remained convinced of the basic truths of his own tradition. When an American correspondent asked Gandhi the reason for his loyalty to Hinduism, he answered : “Believing as I do in the influence of heredity, being born in a Hindu family I have remained a Hindu. I should reject it, if 1 found it inconsistent with my moral sense or my spiritual growth. On examination I have found it to be the most tolerant of all religions known to me. Its freedom from dogma makes a forcible appeal to me inasmuch as it gives to the votary the largest scope for self-expression. Not being an exclusive religion, it enables followers of that faith not merely to respect other religions but to admire and assimilate, whatever may be good in them.”
Gandhi called himself a sanatani Hindu (orthodox) on his own terms. The so-called orthodox Hindus disputed his claims, but obviously, his sanatani Hinduism was different from the conventional one ; else, he could not have been the revolutionary champion of the depressed and the oppressed classes of India. Still less could he have developed his spiritual affinities with the Buddha, the Christ and Muhammad. “I call myself a sanatani Hindu,” he wrote, “because (i) I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Purãias and all that goes by the name of Hindu scriptures ; (ii) I believe in the Varnasramadharma, in a sense in my opinion, strictly Vedic but not in its present popular and crude sense ; (iii) I believe in the protection of the cow in its much larger sense than the popular, and (iv) I do not disbelieve in idol-worship.”
The freedom of choice and action available to a Hindu at every stage appealed to Gandhi. The idea of spiritual unity and fundamental oneness of all things in Hinduism fascinated him. In it he saw an outlook and a way of life where the individual was enabled to exist in tune with the Infinite. It gave him the philosophical root of tolerance. Following the Hindu view, Gandhi held that all the great religions which had helped the spiritual development of humanity were true and necessary. However, Gandhi believed that the satisfaction of a particular people was to be found chiefly in its own tradition ; for it provided the cultural root age to the individuals as well as the direction and meaning to their lives.
The ideas and ideals of sarvodaya espoused by Gandhi are being practiced presently by Vinoba Bhave, Jaya Prakash Narayan and other followers of the Mahatma after his death. They believe that sarvodaya is the only effective alternative to violent change advocated by certain secular ideologies.
As one analyses the modern Hindu movements, one realizes that they emerged at a time when a reorientation of Hinduism was urgently needed. The challenges of Western science, technology and religion had almost undermined the confidence of the Hindus in their own religion. Since Hinduism had no central religious authority to face these challenges, the responses were variegated. A process of search for the basic values in the Hindu religious tradition was started. These movements reconditioned Hinduism as it were; but they did not impair its basic structure. Besides, due to the pioneering work of stalwarts such as Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Rabindranath Tagore, Dr Radhakrishnan and many other Indologists, Hinduism regained its balance and confidence; it is now making its influence felt in the Western Hemisphere as well. Dr C.E.M. Joad aptly describes this phenomenon as ‘the Counter attack from the East.’
What is the present condition of these ‘reform movements’ ? Though many of them continue to operate, the vigour and vitality which they had exhibited in those pioneering days appear to have diminished after the emergency was successfully met. It looks that they have been absorbed into the general stream and, thus, become indistinct in the reformed and reformulated Hinduism. In the face of the lack of a centralized organization, this achievement looks amazing and almost miraculous. However, basically it points to the inherent dynamism of this ancient religious tradition and its capacity for adoption and adjustment.
Thus, throughout this paper and as each of the movements discussed has run its course we have seen the uniqueness of Hinduism. It is a religion which has no founder and so no point in time when it could be said to have begun. By its very nature it is cyclical, with ancient practices often returned to and yet renewed to suit a modern context.
Hinduism caters for all levels of consciousness and personal stages on the evolutionary path through life. It is no doubt a complex religion but one which reflects and supports its devotees through the on going cycle of life’s joys and challenges. With none of the core doctrines associated with a founder, it has a fluidity which embraces diversity and the new, while still retaining that which is most ancient.
The development of Hinduism in Bali and the growth of Balinese Hindu movements in the 20th Century demonstrate that same cyclical spirit and sense of inclusion. In 1927 the Indian Noble Laureate and educator Rabindranath Tagore was invited by the Dutch administrators to visit the Hindus of Bali. After his visit to Bali, Tagore declared that the Balinese were real Hindus and that while the Indians had worked out the old Hindu belief philosophically and metaphysically, the Balinese had opted for an aesthetic elaboration of their religion.
Bali saw many changes during the early 20th Century, not least the conquest of Bali by the Dutch. Reprehensible in so many aspects for Bali at least this meant closer ties with Java and a part in the movements which ultimately led to a new and free Indonesia.
A dynamic society, the Balinese considered the Dutch were not doing enough to set up schools and thus set about making schools with Dutch medium of instruction. One of these was the HIS founded in 1924 by the Sila Dharma ( Pillar of the Religion ) association in Klungkung, where Mrs Gedong Bagoes Oka received her first education.
In the 19th Century the majority of Balinese practiced Balinese Hinduism with many Hokkien Chinese settlers practicing Buddhism and several thousand Muslims, Bali Selam, practicing Islam. Communities functioned independently with mutual respect. Sometimes they would come together, for example, Bali Selam would sometimes become members of a subak (irrigation committee). It was not until the 1930’s that the Christian missionaries converted a small member of Balinese to Christianity.
After the Dutch conquest though life on Bali continued much as it had done since before, small developments in Balinese religion were underway, especially in the towns; the Balinese tried to respond to the new situation. In 1917 the Stiti Bali (Bali Association) was established by Ketut Nasa and encouraged its members to support their own Balinese religion. It later adopted political attitudes and did not last for long. However in 1922 a sekaha jongkok ( a kind of savings bank ) in North Bali became the Santi (Peace) Association. Santi founded a girls’ school and members wanted to renew the religion of Bali so that it would harmonize with modern trends.
Written publications at this time also contributed to the wind of change. In October 1924 Goesti Tjakratanaja started a new periodical entitled Bali Adnyana (Thoughts from Bali) in Singaraja. This was followed in 1925 by Ketoet Nasa’s Surya Kanta (Sun Crystal) journal which sparked the formation of the Surya Kanta association. Appealing to the Wratisasana, a 16th Century Javanese text containing various ethical rules, the association sought to encourage a deeper awareness and wider cooperation, to promote the progress of land and people.
In 1933 the first translation of the Bhagavad Gita, made by the Muslim poet Amir Hamzah ( 1911 – 1946 ) appeared in Poedjangga Baru, a periodical with a tremendous influence on contemporary Indonesian literature. For many Balinese this translation was probably their first introduction to the work, unknown in their own tradition. Later on it was to take an important place in Balinese Hinduism with the Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia recognizing it in 1962.
In the 1930’s many Balinese were also buying a little booklet entitled ‘Tiga Jalan Kesempoernaan’ (Three Ways to Perfection) published by the Minerva theosophical bookshop in Batavia in 1921. The booklet contains the Indonesian translation of a speech made by Annie Besant where she talks about bhakti marga, the way of love and devotion to God.
It is the discussions held by the Bali Dharma Laksana congress at Denpasar in 1938 which perhaps show one of the most profound changes to take place in Balinese Hinduism during this period. The congress met to decide upon a name for Bali’s religion. While some suggested Agama Siwa Buddha, reflecting Bali’s synthesis of these two great world religions, others suggested Agama Hindu Bali, an amalgam of original Balinese elements with aspects from India. What is most evident from these discussions is that although the unity of religion, culture and society continued to be stressed by the leading renewers among the Balinese, they too had started to make distinctions; they were attempting to find a name for their religion while previously religion had not been seen as something separate and distinct. ( One notes however, that the sense of religion as a way of life is still inherent among the Balinese; this is surely what makes it hard for us to define our religion for believers from other faith traditions ).
In conclusion, the student of Hinduism has a fascinating journey of exploration ahead but it is a journey which requires some preparation. Western friends are very accustomed to living life according to linear beliefs and patterns of existence and to having a beginning, middle and end of things. Lives too are viewed in the linear concept of one birth, life and death. What Hinduism has instead, is a cyclical perspective of life, even of the cosmos itself; death is not the end of life but the door to the next cycle, to birth – and this is true of the universe as much as the human being.
When we travel with an open mind we may explore the dimensions of Hinduism, not prejudging but marveling at this ever-turning life force and at those very movements of people which have sprung up in times of need to rekindle the Hindu spirit.
……..Batara Siwa, lord of the dance, woken from slumber by Batari Durga, oh dance this world into being and when it is the time, destroy, only to create again – the seed shoots from the ancient womb of Mother Earth, and the wondrous cycle of life begins once more……..
Dr. Gede MN Natih, MA is an Indologist who was educated at Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan, India and Exeter Univ., England. He is active in the World Conference for Religions and Peace (WCRP – United Nations) New York, a member of the Governing Board of Asia Conference for Religions and Peace (ACRP, Seoul), and the Governing Board of the Indonesian Conference for Religions and Peace (ICRP, Jakarta). He was invited to attend The United Nations Millennium Peace Summit in New York.
- Disampaikan dalam orasi ilmiah pada Dies natalis dan Wisuda STAH DN Jakarta Th 2008
