One person can lead the horse to water, but even forty people can’t make it drink.
Eastern wisdom
The Aryan civilization… The Vedas…
For thousands of years, this mystery attracted minds of the greatest thinkers of mankind. Many nations tried on these beautiful attires and the same number of nations suffered defeat after touching this eminent ideology. One cannot dally with the Aryan concept; it is a holy thing which shall be treated reverently to unveil its mysteries merged with eternity.
The value system of the Aryan civilization and its history are described in the Vedas, the Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Shrimad-Bhagavatam. These scriptures were composed five thousand years ago by the great ascetic Shrila Vyasadeva, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are sure that for traditional Christian nations this truth is unacceptable as they do not admit that in this world God can have other incarnations than Christ. Anyway, every book gives the exhaustive information about itself. According to this information, in the world there is no any other most ancient and complete ideology than the Aryans’. Straight away we need to express a reservation that it is not our purpose to prove in our book the ancientry of the Vedas compared to other scriptures because neither ancientry nor the ethic background can be the criteria for perfection. The standpoint can be very ancient but absolutely incorrect or unacceptable for today’s realities. For instance, the Aryan society had the external structure which can be hardly applicable today due to the modern high technology and the life style dictated by this technology. When approaching the Aryan civilization, typically know-nothing people take this very external structure. They, thus, conclude that being an Aryan is the matter of origin or being an Aryan means to be brave and predominant over the rest. And to achieve these, it is enough to have the white skin, the relevant scaffold of skull and so on. According to opinions of such people, the nation which will prove its Aryan origin owing to the “superiority” of its blood will get the right to instruct others and seal their fate.
To put it mildly, this conception is not very correct. Being an Aryan is not a matter of origins but of life style. Those unable to get the insight of the psychology of this life style do not understand what it means to be an Aryan. We will try to present to our readers the basics of the philosophical concept of the Aryan civilization and implied social and public traditions, will try to describe those requirements which were laid out by the Aryans for members of different social classes and then it will be up to the reader to decide if he/she is an Aryan or wishes to be an Aryan.
Any civilization is connected with the prevailing ideology by invisible strings. In return, the ideology should as much as possible address in detail the set of the following issues:
1) How did life originate?
2) What is the meaning of life?
3) What laws govern the material world?
4) How to extend life?
5) How to build a society where everybody could be happy?
6) Why are all living beings born in different conditions?
7) How to protect lucky people from envy and intrigues of unlucky ones?
8) How to protect unlucky people from contempt and violence of lucky ones?
9) What social framework is required for the right interaction in human society?
10) What purpose does the community development serve?
11) What is death and how to meet it?
12) Is there anything beyond the death strip?
The answers on these questions become the basis for the behavior both of each individual and society in general.
On the one hand, one can say that to sustain the existence a living being (or a nation) should ensure:
1) food,
2) rest,
3) reproduction,
4) protection.
To achieve these four conditions of existence, all living beings behave differently. What does the choice of this behavior depend on? The experience shows that this choice determines the further destiny both of an individual and society in general, and the answers on the raised questions have a great impact on aspects of the behavioral choice. In this respect, the Aryan culture is of great interest as it possesses the complete philosophical concept for dealing with the above mentioned questions
We will try to present the Aryan philosophy, the system of values and the social and public structure in order to understand their psychology with the resultant life style.
It is vitally important to study the nature and the psychology of soul as only knowledge of its nature and understanding of its needs can resolve all differences in what is called “life”.
The Author
This is a must for any society to have a philosophical concept based on which it forms its life style. The Aryan philosophy is presented in their Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita. It is the earliest scripture which complete presentation here may not be appropriate. In general, the ideology presented there may be described as follows.
One is born in this world and at first sight it does not depend on him/her in which conditions he/she is born. Someone is born dark-skinned and lives in Africa, someone is red-skinned and lives in America, someone is white-skinned and lives in Europe. One is born in a poor family, another is born in a rich family, one is beautiful, another is ugly, one is healthy, another is ill. All living beings are born in different conditions and they do not have an answer on the question: why does this happen? Despite differences in living conditions, all living beings in this world show three common tendencies:
1) The intention to exist eternally and have the perfect body.
2) The intention to be happy (via pleasures and power).
3) The intention to develop the knowledge (or be always able to acquire it).
By contrasting these three intentions to real conditions in which we live (a temporary and completely defective body; the whole chain of sufferings: birth, illness, ageing and death which cannot be escaped by anyone; imperfect senses which are not capable to give the objective information on the surrounding world), the Bhagavad-Gita leads us to search for a certain element which is the source of the above mentioned intentions of any individual.
This brings up the question: if we are only these bodies, then why are we striving for eternity? Be that, our consciousness would indifferently refer to the idea of disappearance like the dead (inanimate) matter. Why do we resist the idea of disappearance? Why did the Mother Nature (of course, if it was its initiative) have to give us temporary bodies and the desire of eternal existence? Where do these contradictions between our desires and capabilities come from?
Everything in the material world is imperfect because it is temporary. Nothing that is temporary can ensure in contact the perfect happiness which we are so striving for. Where from do we take this strive for continuous happiness? In fact, we do not stop to desire happiness even a single second. It never happens that a living being in the material world is looking for sufferings! On the other hand, though, in this world no living being has got the experience of such happiness. Where do we take such striving from? And why can’t any amount of suffering and disappointment make us stop to desire happiness? A comprehensive consideration of the given questions shows that striving for continuous happiness is the integral part of consciousness (i.e. life) irrespective of conditions of material body.
Our senses are so limited and imperfect that actually no one can tell which portion of truth related to the external world they might convey. For instance, the Sun seems to us the circle with the size of a simple coin but actually it is huge. Similarly, we are not able to hear certain sound frequencies, not able to see subtle energies, etc. Our body, therefore, is a very fragile and imperfect data transfer instrument, but our consciousness always strives to be knowledgeable about everything going on around us.
Having investigated the strivings coming from consciousness and having become convinced of their full contradiction with the abilities of the body, the Vedas came to the conclusion that consciousness (life) was not the integral part of the body (the dead matter). The Vedas put forward the idea of the soul, namely of an element which differentiates an alive body from a dead one and which is the carrier of consciousness. At a time when soul leaves body, the latter becomes the harmonic part of the nature (a corpse) with no any contradiction of it. A dead body like matter in general is absolutely indifferent to whatever is done to it. It has no more strivings for happiness, existence or knowledge. Consequently, it is vitally important to study the nature and the psychology of soul as only knowledge of its nature and understanding of its needs can resolve all differences in what is called “life”. In return, when the idea of soul is accepted, it means to answer such questions as:
1) What are the nature and characteristics of soul?
2) How did soul appear in the material world?
3) Where is its true home?
4) How can one return there?
To be fair, it should be noted that no other religious or philosophical concept in the world than the Aryans’ has got a more complete system of answers on the given questions. It is likely the reason why it has got a close attention of great minds of all times ever.
Now, according to the Aryan concept, if a living being is a spiritual parcel which is striving within us to eternity (as it is eternal), happiness (as it is blissed) and knowledge (as the knowledge is its integral part), consequently there should be the world where it possessed all these. Otherwise, where do all its strivings come from? And why did the nature endowed us with qualities which are absolutely unused in this world? A living being cannot strive for anything which is not known by it. Everything we are striving for is the proof that we are aware of it.
On the other hand, if a living being is of spiritual nature, why did it happen to be here? The answer on this question is in those intentions which a living being is trying to realize here. As have been already said, by its characteristics a spiritual parcel is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. At first sight, this statement sounds contradictory. If soul is eternal, why did it come to this temporary world where it has to obey the inviolable law of birth and death? Here one is suggested to carefully examine what soul strives to realize in the material world. This striving explains the reason of our appearance in this world which has become for us more important than eternity.
If we are attentive, we can notice that in the material world all living beings have the thirst for domination and enjoyment. To enjoy means for us to use all encountered objects (both animate and inanimate) for our pleasure. In fact, there is no one single moment when we stop striving for enjoyment. The term “dominate” means that we are able to obligate everybody (both animate and inanimate) to fulfill our will. In this situation, our attitude is rather interesting. Each of us thinks that his/her mentality is so perfect that by obeying it everyone can be happy (Freud called it “the sense of worth”).
If we are attentive, we can notice that if we do not make any efforts (based on upbringing and rules of conduct), we spontaneously “radiate” these very two moods. If we try to realize here our desire to bend other living beings to our will and use them for our pleasure, it means that we did not have such an opportunity in the spiritual world. At first glance, this statement sounds contradictory. This brings up the question, if we did not have any opportunity either to enjoy or dominate, then where does our striving come from? As a living being can strive only to the things which were seen or known.
At the beginning we have told that consciousness of living beings expresses the constant desire to be happy; then we noted that in the material world we try to realize this desire by means of power and pleasure. This fact points out that we did not have such an opportunity in the spiritual world. This, in turn, means that the bliss of living beings in the spiritual world did not depend on both abilities to dominate and enjoy. But then where do we take this striving for power and pleasure?
We were to know the One Who was able to enjoy and dominate in order to start striving for these by ourselves. Hence, we can make a conclusion, that in the spiritual world there is some living being who dominates and enjoys the possibility to associate with all other living beings who do not dominate but serve Him and feel the bliss from it. This personality is usually called the Supreme Personality of Godhead or God. According to the Aryan philosophy all living beings are inherent parcels of this Supreme Personality. They have the same qualitative nature as He does, but differ from Him quantitatively. This quantitative difference does not allow living beings to take upon controlling functions without creating disharmony. But the qualitative unity maintains this tendency in all living beings to take controlling functions. When this demand from living beings arises, God, so to say, has got two choices:
1) suppress this desire and bring into line with His will (violence).
2) give the opportunity to realize this desire (generosity based on the absence of envy).
One of the qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the complete freedom from envy. By virtue of this pure and sublime nature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives all living beings free choice. Those living beings who misuse this freedom and prefer the material existence come to this world. The point is that the Aryans consider the material world as the place where living beings realize their desire to live without God. Where does this desire appear from?
According to the Vedic scriptures, the Lord in the spiritual world is surrounded by numerous devotees who have special feelings for Him. Many of them are called personal associates. They have got particular close relationships with the Lord. This intimacy depends on the extent of love they have developed for the Lord. The Lord treats all living beings equally and fairly. This means that He always exactly sees the “amount” of living being’s love for Him and always fairly responds everybody according to this criteria. It would not be possible that a novice devotee should receive the special attitude of the Lord and an elevated devotee – the neutral one. This is the true criteria of justice.
Living beings are very small and the Supreme Lord is infinitely great. Therefore, a tiny spiritual parcel is not always able to understand or correctly assess the Lord’s behavior and the motives of His deeds. This limited perception becomes the reason why some spiritual parcels fall into a state of disagreement with the Lord, “rebel’ and feel hostility toward Him. Thinking that the Lord is unjust, these jivas (living beings, spiritual parcels) feel the need to appear in such a place where He is not there and try to confirm their own ideas of justice. Such justice as a rule consists of the fact that a personality desires to see him/herself in the center of all events (the feeling of own sense of worth). This way, some part of eternal inhabitants of the spiritual world shifts their God-centered consciousness to self-centered. As said, the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s nature is completely free from envy. This means that when someone does not want to associate with Him or connect his/her happiness to Him, it does not make Him angry. He does not punish such personalities or taking advantage of His power force them to conform to His absolute power, but He gives them an opportunity to make their own society and realize their ideas of justice. For the Supreme Personality of Godhead it is not worthy to have a humble behavior and a psychologically browbeaten condition at the point of the sword of His power. He values only and only free ostents of love.
Being parcels of the Supreme Personality, living beings possess His qualities. The Aryan literature is the only one on the planet which contains comprehensive details about the Supreme Personality of Godhead: descriptions of His appearance, character, environment, behavior. This takes place because only they really communicated with Him! This is the uniqueness of this literature! The Vedic scriptures state that the Lord demonstrates 64 qualities:
1. His features are beautiful,
2. all auspicious marks can be found on His body,
3. His features are pleasing the eye,
4. He is effulgent,
5. He is strong,
6. ever youthful,
7. wonderful linguist,
8. truthful,
9. talks pleasingly,
10. fluent,
11. highly learned,
12. highly intelligent,
13. genius,
14. artistic,
15. extremely clever,
16. expert,
17. grateful,
18. firmly determined,
19. an expert judge of time and circumstances,
20. sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures,
21. pure,
22. self-controlled,
23. steadfast,
24. forbearing,
25. forgiving,
26. grave,
27. self-satisfied,
28. possessing equilibrium,
29. magnanimous,
30. religious,
31. heroic,
32. compassionate,
33. respectful,
34. gentle,
35. liberal,
36. shy,
37. the protector of surrendered souls,
38. happy,
39. the well-wisher of devotees,
40. controlled by love,
41. all-auspicious,
42. most powerful,
43. all-famous,
44. popular,
45. partial to devotees,
46. very attractive to all women,
47. all-worshipable,
48. all-opulent,
49. all-honorable,
50. the Supreme controller,
51. changeless,
52. all-cognizant,
53. ever fresh,
54. sat-chid-ananda (possessing an eternal blissful body),
55. possessing all mystic perfections,
56. He has inconceivable potency,
57. uncountable universes generate from His body,
58. He is the original source of all incarnations,
59. He is the giver of salvation to the enemies whom He kills,
60. He is the attractor of liberated souls,
61. He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes,
62. He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Him,
63. He can attract all living entities all over the universes by playing on His flute,
64. He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation.
Among these, 54 qualities also belong to jivas (His inherent parcels, namely all the living beings). Depending on the extent of their love of
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