INTEGRAL HINDUISM: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME
HAS COME
By S.P. Attri (USA)
1. Every scripture has two messages: One
"timely" which is time-dependentor occasion-dependent
and is, therefore, temporary or perishable, belonging to the ideas
or conditions of the people of the period & the country in
which it is produced, and the other "timeless" which is
occasion-independent, restricted to no time, transcending time,
eternal, imperishable & applicable to all ages.
2. The commentators of these scriptures speak to us from their
experience & express in a new form that is relevent to their
age & responsive to its needs. When we come to our own times,
we find that our times are different, our habits of thought &
our mental backgrounds are not the same as those of ancient
commentators. Therefore, if we restate old principles in new ways,
it is not because we want to (just for the heck of it), but
because we must in order to keep on learning & learning is the
key to our survival. Therefore, we must be flexible enough to be
willing to learn to deal with the challenges of the changed
environment & make proper adjustments. We cannot recreate the
environment & the conditions of Gita's times but our searching
minds & bursts of new knowledge can re-arrange old principles
to fit the changed conditions, thereby giving older truths greater
glow in the new environment. Thus most knowledge is related to
& is a function of time.
3. Change is the law of life & systems even more advanced than
ours aresure to follow because our life is a mixture of necessity,
chance, & reaction to conditions in the environment & the
determinism of nature. Man has to do the work of the world &
he has to exercise his intelligent will. If he acts blindly, he
acts more like an animal than a man. This action is controlled by
the Law of Karma, which is the natural order of Deed &
Consequence, is transcendental & timeless and is covered in
abundant detail in the fascinating & extraordinary world of
Gita with its profundity & infinite treasure of truth. But we
need to keep an open mind on the "timely" as well as the
"timeless" aspect of Gita's messages. What we don't know
we may be afraid of or it may be uninteresting or it may be
exciting, sublime, & beautiful. When a glimpse is taken into
the sacred pages of the Gita, it is seen that emphasis is on the
Karma Yoga or the Method Of Work. Karma rather than Janama is
emphasized in Gita. When struggle between Right & Wrong is on,
he who abstains from it out of false sentimentality, weakness or
cowardice, would becommitting a sin. This is the Karma Yoga
message of the Gita in its simplest form.
4. The Four-Fold order of society was created according to the
division of labor & work and is described in the Song
Celestial (The Bhagwad Gita). Two things should be noted about
this social ordering model of the Gita. First, Gita's caste model
is timely, need-based, & occasion-dependent. Second, emphasis
in the Gita is on the Guna (Aptitude) and Karma (Function) and not
on Jati (Birth). According to the Mahabharata, the whole world
wasinitially of one class but later it became divided into four
divisions on account of needs of SPECIFIC DUTIES. Thus the
four-fold order was the result of human evolution & was
strictly occasion-dependent. There is nothing static, ultimate, or
absolute about the caste system which has changed its character in
the process of history. Today it cannot be regarded as anything
more than an insistence on a variety of ways in which social
purpose & work can be carried out. Functional grouping of
society always has & always will continue to be evolved
according to the needs of the time. This is because it is
need-based, occasion-dependent, and ever-evolving.
5. The present morbid & divisive condition of the Hindu
society into castes, sub-castes, & sub-subcastes, is opposed
to the unity taught in the Gita which stands for an organic as
against an atomised or compart mentalised concept of society. Gita,
therefore, does not support the existing present social order or
castes with its birth rigidity & confusion. Gita confronts the
theory of four-fold order head-on & enlarges it scope and
meaning by showing that man's outward life must reflect his inward
being; the surface must reflect thedepth & profundity. Each
individual has his inborn nature, Svabhava, and to make it
effective in his life is his duty, Svadharma. Each individual is a
focus ofthe Supreme, a Fragment of the Divine. So long as our work
is done in accordance with our inner nature, we are righteous,
& if we dedicate it to God, our work becomes a means of
Spiritual Perfection. This emphasis of Gita on Svabhava,
absolutely & explicity demonstrates that human beings are tobe
treated as individuals & not as types or stereotypes. The
individual Svabhava& Freedom Of Choice emphasized in the Gita
counsels mankind against Stereotypy but does not compell them.
Society needs & has to have a functional organization &
all functions are equally important & essential for the health
of the society & are socially equal. Evolution of life through
history & environment alters many pre-existing identities
& categories. Nothing inthe Gita generally or specifically
prohibits this evolution or alteration. Thus what was a reasonable
Social Model in Gita's times may not be a reasonable model today
& vast changes may be needed in our social system.
6. The number & types of work & functions that need to be
performed now-a-days run into thousands. Existing jobs are
changing & evolving into new ones all the time. As against the
four job descriptions of Gita's times, we now have thousands &
all are important & need-based. The old & simple caste
labels,four only in number & belonging to to an era long past,
no longer suffice and are now an achronistic & archaic and
have lost their meaning. In the present environment, labels go
with the job to be performed and not with the person. Because of
this, an individual must seek rational experimentation &
justification for his beliefs. Further, the basic nature of
Individual Svabhava & Freedom Of Choice emphasized in the Gita
does not seem or attempt uniformity which is impossible but seeks
an Integrated Variety.
7. Modern requirements of work mandate that we use Job
Descriptions rather than the old archaic caste labels which are
not Job-Descriptive any more. To use caste-labels (hereditary or
non-hereditary) now, is meaningless at best & cruel & evil
at worst. It leads to intolerance, hatred, & untouchability
and at social level sets one section of society against the other,
by dividing them into upper & lower castes, into elites &
subjected classes. This division is totally incompatible with
Hindu Spirituality which is inspired through the eons by the
mighty scriptures of the Vedas, the Upnishads, Gita, and various
other out pourings of our Rishis, Sages & Seers & with the
long tradition of Hindu Compassion & Hindu Dharma. Without a
shadow of doubt, it is totally Un-Hindu and against the teachings
of Gita. Thus untouchability is being practised not because of
Hinduism but inspite of Hinduism. It is totally Un-Hindu. The
concepts of Elite & Subjected classes came with the Semitic
Religions of Exclusivty that have divided mankind into two
opposing groupsof Believers & Kafirs (Infidels.. who must not
be tolerated & must be eliminated in the name of their
"Only True God"). The historic record of these
Exclusivity Religions (Islam & Christianity) is stinking with
class oppression in all forms and with mass-slaughter &
unmitigated terror inflicted upon non-Moslems & non-Christians
for centuries. These two Semitic Religions have also been the
largest traffickers in slavery but tout themselves as
"Religions of Brotherhood." This lie conceals the true
character of these barbaric creeds and provides a subterfuge for
their violent imperialist actions. Many evils crept into the Hindu
Society because of the atrocious system that the Moslems &
Christians brought with them & practised their barbaric
cruelties upon the defeated Hindus who were reduced to the status
of untouchables forcenturies by the Moslem invaders & rulers.
The mental pain & inner convulsions of the Hindu people from
the implementation of these diabolical Islamic plans shook the
Hindu society to its very core. There are many examples of
revolting anti-Hindu customs that crept into the Hindu society
from the revolting rule of the Moslem kings. Among these are the
Female Child Infanticide, Female Child Marriage, &
Widow-Burning (Sati). These gruesome anti-Hindu customs crept into
Hinduism as it tried to adapt itself for survival under the
brutality ridden Moslem tyrants & to prevent their Hindu girls
from becoming the victims of the lusty, lecherous,
fornication-prone Jihadi soldiers of All-Merciful Allah. The
custom of Purdah (a variation of Islamic Burqa or Veil)practised
by some Hindus was picked by the Hindus during the Islamic
domination of the Hindu society during the rule of Moslem kings.
Defecation in private (Moslems did not like to defecate in the
jungle as the Hindus did, that was considered a practice of the
Kafir Hindus and, therefore, against the teaching of the Koran)
& the carrying of their night soil was required to be done by
the hateful Kafir Hindu prisoners and this is an example of
Islam's ignoble oppression of Hindus at the hands of their Moslem
rulers & its subsequent addition to Hindu customs is an
example of the terrible social damage to Hindu social system done
by the oppressive & barbaric systems that Moslems brought with
them to India & corrupted the Hindu System.
A section ofHindus adopted the idea of this kind of untouchability
from its alien Moslem aggressors & started practising it among
themselves. It has to be painfully recognized that these Hindu
adaptations were occasion-dependent & need-based brought about
by the survival needs of the time. We have no need for this
Islam-induced garbage into our Hindu system & specific female
adaptationsto save Hindu girls from from Moslem loot, raid,
plunder, & inhuman rape arenot needed anymore. We, therefore,
can do scum removal & get rid of Islamic Barbaric Garbage from
our Hindu System now. And it behooves us Hindus to get rid of this
Un-Hindu system of Untouchability as fast as possible.
8. At this time, our objective should be to treat all Hindus as
children ofone Common Mother Hindu, which is the idea behind
INTEGRAL HINDUISM whichdoes away with the injustices of the caste
system & with the system ofUntouchability which is a relic of
the Barbaric Islamic Rule over India inerstwhile centuries.
INTEGRAL HINDUISM fits in perfectely with another important
Hinduism Principle of ALL IN ONE & ONE IN ALL. Integral
Hinduism does not remove anything essential from Hinduism, it is
additive rather than deductive and only provides an alternate
structure forHinduism. Everything else of the Hindu system &
the essence of its philosophy stay the same. Hinduism loses
nothing except its chains & its good-for-nothing hereditary
caste-labels. Integral Hinduism replaces
divisive/differential/fractional/fragmented structure of Hinduism
with anOrganic structure of Hinduism which is another name for
Integral Hinduism. The synthesis of the caste-free Integral
Hinduism with the postulate of All In One & One In All
multiplies the Multi-Splendor Of Hinduism. It violates no Hindu
principles, it only restates old truths in a new form and fully
complies with the teachings of Gita.
9. For sometime, Hinduism has had difficulty in giving expression
to its elegant & exalted, noble & sublime principles of
the Vedas, the Gita, & other scriptures because of a perverted
caste system which crept into the Hindu system during the rule of
the Oppressive Moslem kings in India. The abolition of the Caste
System & its ugly cousin of Untouchability would speed up the
march of Hinduism towards its Destiny of Greatness.
Arise Hindus!
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