1. Thomas Babington Macaulay

2. Hinduism is a Panentheistic Religion

3. Friedrich Max Müller

4. Alan Octavian Hume

5. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

6. The Death of Religions and Becoming Truly Spiritual - Sundarar

7. Science and Spirituality in The Indian Subcontinent

8. Science and Spirituality in The Indian Subcontinent - contd

9. The Raja Rao Award for Dr. V.V. Raman

10. Annie Besant

11. Destroying Alienation and Enjoying a Life of Joys - Vallalar

12. George Uglow Pope

13. Some Western Tamilists

14. Sister Nivedita

15. BEING is Magical - Vallalar

16. Ronald Ross

17. On History and What Macaulay Actually Said

18. On God and Gods: Monotheism and Polytheism

19. On Vedic Deities: Personifications of Principles

20. On Vedic Deities: Personifications of Principles

21. The Hindu Triune

22. The Hindu Triune

23. Skanda-Muruga

24. On cultural symbols and hallmarks

25. The Lotus

26. Hinduism is the Ever Reforming Religion

27. Song of Liberty

28. Infallible Word of God?

29. Musical Instruments

30.. The One Way is the Way of Enlightenment and Love - Vallalar

31. Evolution and Transcending of All Religions - Vallalar

32. Yaadhum Oorae

33. The Peacock

34. The Banyan Tree

35. The Six Great Traditions of Hinduism

36. The Coconut

37. The Six Great Traditions of Hinduism

38. The Cow

39. Narada

40. Agamas Are Caste Free

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Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 1859)

Macaulay was an superb essayist, a very entertaining, if not always reliable,
historian, poet, grandiloquent orator, and enlightened statesman for his times.
He had supreme command of his mother tongue, and learned enough of other
languages to make allusions in his writings to Latin, Italian, French, Spanish
and German authors in the original.

Macaulay came to India in 1834 and spent a little over two years there. He was
not very popular among the English residents in Calcutta who saw him as an
official who was going to curtail their overseas privileges. A topic of long
range import at the time was whether general education in India should be in
Sanskrit and vernacular languages, or in English. Macaulay was vastly learned in
the literatures of Europe, but colossally ignorant of Indian writings. He tried
to make up for this deficiency by discussing with eminent Ori-entalists. His
conclusion was "that all the historical information which has been collected
from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what
may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in
England."

Such statements were typical of Macaulay's penchant for hyperbole, and his
haughty posture vis-à-vis Non-European cultures. But it must be recalled that
he was just as sharp with all subjects, whether the Earl of Marlborough or James
Boswell whom he called "a man of the meanest and feeblest intellect .... always
laying himself at the feet of some eminent man, and begging to be spit upon and
trampled upon" and described the biographer of Johnson as "servile and
imperti-nent, shallow and pedantic, a bigot and a sot, bloated with family
pride, an eavesdropper."

Macaulay was scathing too in his condemnation of the rottenness of the British
judicial system in Bengal under Impey. "No Mahratta invasion had ever spread
through the province such dismay as this inroad of English lawyers. All the
injustice of former oppressors, Asiatic and European, appeared as a blessing
when compared with the justice of the Supreme Court," he wrote. This is not the
language of an imperialist waving the glorious exploits of his people in
uncivilized lands!

In another speech, Macaulay forcefully condemned the British Supreme Court in
Bengal which he called mischievous, and "the terror of Bengal, the scourge of
the native population, the screen of European delinquents, a convenient tool for
the government for all purposes of evil, an insurmountable obstacle to the
government in all undertakings for the public good." This was no arrogant
imperialist talking. He once asked, "Are we to keep the people of India ignorant
in order to keep them submissive?" He was for the freedom of the press, and
championed the view that Indians and Europeans were equals before the law. He
argued for appointing Indians to high and responsible positions in government,
and for the admission of Indians into the Indian Civil Service. He had the
vision to declare in the middle of the 19th century, "The scepter may pass from
us ... Victory may be incon-stant in our arms."

Macaulay genuinely believed, however mistakenly and haughtily, that the people
of India would benefit from being not simply exposed to, but fully imbued in
Western education. On this matter, he spoke not as a bigoted nationalist, but as
a man who understood the forces of history. He referred to the backwardness of
his own country when Greek and Latin treasures were rediscovered in Europe, and
stated rightly that if Britain had stuck to her Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French
heritage, she would have remained medieval for ever. Macaulay also drafted the
Indian Penal Code.

It was due to Macaulay that English education was introduced in India. The
liberating thoughts of Europe played no small role in awakening the dormant
energies of the Indian mind. It is no irreverence to Sanskrit to admit that ,
not Vedic pundits, but English-educated Indians initiated and led modern India's
freedom struggle. Every language has its day in history. The past three
centuries have belonged to English, French, and German, as the next few may
revert to Chinese, Arabic, or Hindi.

No non-military-conqueror has had greater impact on the intellectual history
of another great nation than what Macaulay has had on India. His introduction
of English in India led to the intellectual and scientific resurgence of its
people. Today, even the most virulent (Indian) critics of Macaulay would want
their children to be educated in English rather than in Sanskrit or in a
vernacular. Strange is history!

I believe it was a French Indophile, whose own country lost to the British in
its attempt to colonize India, who coined the term Macaulayite. (If the French
had won, we would be having Duplexites.) The derogatory word refers to a Hindu
who is so indoctrinated by English education that he looks down upon his own
people and culture. This term derives from Macaulay's hope to form a body of
Indians who would think like Englishmen and help propagate the values and
interests of Europe in India. His hope wasn't fulfilled, but Indians have
benefited immensely from Macaulay's initiatives.

V. V. Raman
27 January 2006

Those of us who have been outreaching to non Indians and non Hindus,
and not just presenting a sectarian but a pan Hindu view, grappled with
this problem long ago. The most correct word to describe Hinduism
would be 'panentheism'. It is the oldest and most widespread form of
belief system and differs widely from the word pantheism as you'll see
below. It straddles monotheism, pantheism and polytheism but is not
limited by those terms.

Panentheism is the belief in a One God who is the creator, preserver and
destroyer of all existence, and where He is immanent and yet transcends
His creation. Apart from this, it includes a hierarchy of several gods
(small g) who are 'distinct and separate' from the One God, and who are
also worshipped. Since creation, preservation and destruction is a one
continuum, we can say that the One God and the many other gods are
co-creators, co-preservers and co-destructors of existence. But this is still
not polytheism.

The One God and the several gods are also polynomenic, polymorphic
and polyadventic, and each icon or murthi in all the half a million temples
represent that. Each murthi has a distinct 'identity and character' from
each other (the 32 forms of Ganesha, 12 forms of Muruga, 64 forms of
Siva, etc). It is these various installed murthis that can be described as the
many forms of God and the gods, each form having being revealed in a
mystic vision to saints in the past, and envisioned yet again by devout
Hindus all through history and even today.

Therefore we see the One God and the many gods are 'distinct and
separate' as well as the envisioned murthis having unique 'identity and
character', while yet the One Lord immanates all gods, and all gods share
the same essence with the One God. It is dipolar. [It encompasses the
various philosophies of advaita and dvaita but negates the inherent
controversy as the ultimate reality does not negate the relative reality.]

Complex? The word to describe this is panentheism. The last sentence
would be 'Hinduism is the worship of a One Supreme God, as well as a
number of other gods, in many forms and names'.

This is what we taught the Hindu and non Hindu children in a few paras
and they understood it very well.

I hope Hindu writers and scholars start using the term panentheism as
this is the only term that would cover all the sampradayas and excludes
none. It is the term that underlines the 'Hindu identity' as well as shares
commonalities with the indigeneous faiths of the world. This view
maintains the uniqueness and identity of all the sampradayas and
philosophies, not placing one above the other, and all are free to use any
name, word, form or term of their choice.

I also hope that this current textbook controversy brings to an end the
old 'politically correct' but seriously erroneous description of 'Brahma the
creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer'.

Pathmarajah

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From Wikipedia:

Panentheism (Greek words: pan=all, en=in and Theos=God;
"God-in-all") is the view that God is immanent within all Creation or that
God is the animating force behind the universe. Unlike pantheism,
panentheism does not mean that the universe is all God or that God
contains the universe inside Godself. In panentheism, God maintains a
transcendent character, and is viewed as both the creator and the original
source of universal morality. The term is closely associated with the
Logos of Hellenistic philosophy in the works of Herakleitos, which
pervades the cosmos and whereby all things were made.

In short, a panentheistic deity is an emergent property of Existence.

Ancient Panentheism
There are more archeological records of panentheistic cultures than any
other variety in the hunter-gatherer societies. Modern anthropologists
have discovered that virtually all the aboriginees of various continents
have deep panentheistic worldviews when they have the concept of a
Goddess (there are vanishingly few male-centric gods in primitive tribes)
and pantheistic when they do not. In fact, the difference is actually quite
hemispheric: North American natives were largely pantheistic, with the
exception of the Cherokee who were monotheistic, while South American
peoples were largely panentheistic (as were ancient South East Asian
cultures). The Central American empires of the Mayan, Aztec and Incans
were actually polytheistic and had very strong male deities.

Neoplatonism is panentheistic. Plotinus taught that there was an
ineffable transcendant God 'The One' of which subsequent realities were
emanations. From the One emanates the Divine Mind (Nous), the
Cosmic Soul (Psyche) and the World (Cosmos)

Panentheism in Christianity
The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches have a doctrine
called panentheism to describe the relationship between the Uncreated
(God, who is omnipotent, eternal, and constant) and His creation that
bears surface similarities with the panentheism described above but
maintains a critical distinction.

Most specifically, these Churches teach that God is not the "watchmaker
God" of the Western European Enlightenment. Likewise, they teach that
God is not the "stage magician God" who only shows up when
performing miracles. Instead, the teaching of both these Churches is that
God is not merely necessary to have created the universe, but that His
active presence is necessary in some way for every bit of creation, from
smallest to greatest, to continue to exist at all. That is, God's energies
maintain all things and all beings, even if those beings have explicitly
rejected Him. His love of creation is such that he will not withdraw His
presence, which would be the ultimate form of slaughter, not merely
imposing death but ending existence, altogether. By this token, the
entirety of creation is sanctified, and thus no part of creation can be
considered innately evil except as a result, direct or indirect, of the Fall of
man or similar active rebellion against God.

This Orthodox panentheism is distinct from the "hardcore" panentheism
described above in that it maintains an ontological gulf between the
created and the Uncreated. Creation is not "part of" God, and God is still
distinct from creation; however, God is "within" all creation, thus the
Orthodox parsing of the word is "pan-entheism" (God indwells in all
things) and not "panen-theism" (All things are within/part of God but
God is more than the sum of all things).

Panentheistic God-models are exceptionally common amongst
professional theologians (exegetes, Christian ethicists, and religious
philosophers.) Process theology, Creation Spirituality and Panentheist
Circle, three Christian views, contain panentheistic worldviews.

Panentheism in Judaism
When Hasidic Orthodox Jews first developed as a movement and a
theology, their theology was somewhat panentheistic, even though they
themselves did not use this word. More strictly, since this doctrine states
that the universe is God yet God is more than the universe, it is a type of
pantheism. Non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews viewed this theology as
heretical. However, after the schism between Hasidic and non-Hasidic
Orthodox Jews closed in the mid 1800s, panentheism became an accepted
way of thinking in Orthodox Jewish theology. While not the mainstream
point of view, panentheism has become more popular in the
non-Orthodox Jewish denominations like Conservative Judaism and
Reform Judaism through the writings of rabbis like Abraham Joshua
Heschel, Arthur Green, Wayne Dosick and Lawrence Kushner.

Panentheism in Hinduism
Some interpretations of Hinduism can be seen as panentheistic. Satguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, said that "panentheism is the view that the
universe is part of the being of God, as distinguished from pantheism
("all-is-God doctrine"), which identifies God with the total reality. In
contrast, panentheism holds that God pervades the world, but is also
beyond it. He is immanent and transcendent, relative and Absolute. This
embracing of opposites is called dipolar. For the panentheist, God is in
all, and all is in God."

Certain interpretations of the Gita and the Shri Rudram support this
view. For example, Lord Krishna's saying to Arjuna: "I continually
support the entire universe by a very small fraction of My divine
power," has been interpreted to support panentheism. (Bhagavad Gita,
Chapter 10, verse 42.)

The panentheistic view of Hinduism has been termed by some scholars
as monistic theism. For example, in Vaishnavism, it is interesting to note
that the schools were all panentheistic. Vallabhacharya's school of pure
monism, Nimbarka's school of Dvaitaadvaita and Ramanuja's school of
qualified monism are all panentheistic. Additionally, Chaitayna's school
of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is also panentheistic. In Saivite theology, some
schools of Saiva Siddhanta and Kashmir Shaivism are also panentheistic.

Panentheism in Ayyavazhi
In reference to the concept Ekam, though Ayyavazhi is considered as
monistic, there are also many quotes in Akilattirattu Ammanai to suggest
it as a panentheistic faith. For example, during the Vinchai, inside the sea,
Narayana seeing Vaikundar says that "You are Sivan, you are Thirumal,
you are Nathan, you are the Tapas, and you are the one who
omnipresent in all which exists". And when Vaikundar was jailed in
Thiruvananthapuram he alleviated the Santror by saying "I am the one
who created the Ekam and the one who is omnipresent everywhere"-
(Akilam 13:395).

It is painful to write about Max Müller because it is like recalling a friend
who has betrayed you. This foremost Indologist of the 19th century and
insightful writer on language, religion, and myths who had only the nicest
things to say about Hindu visions in most of his speeches and publications was
also as scheming as any evangelist whose goal is to uproot the faith of a people
and replace it by one's own version of God and the hereafter. This author of 600
plus pages on the History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, this scholar who
pleaded the cause of Indian languages, especially Sanskrit, in England, calling
for the establish-ment of centers for the study of Indian languages; this man of
erudition who undertook the momentous task of transforming a heap of Sanskrit
manuscripts into a complete edition of the Rig Veda with commentaries and notes;
this editor of the fifty-one volume opus on The Sacred Books of the East, this
scholar who wrote, "If we were asked under what sky the human mind has most
fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered over the
greatest problems of life, and has found solutions to some of them which well
deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant - I should
point to India;" this seeming Indophile whom Tilak described as Veda Maharishi
Mokshamoola Bhatta of Go-teertha (Ox-ford); this savant who studied Hindu
writings more than many practicing Hindus; this same person also made in his
private letters such horrific statements as that, "Large number of Vedic hymns
are childish in the extreme; tedious, low, commonplace;" that his goal was to
show Hindus the root of their religion, for by doing so, one could uproot "all
that has sprung from it during the last three thousand years." In his estimate,
"the worship of Shiva, Vishnu, and other popular deities was of the same and in
many cases of a more degraded and savage character than the worship of Jupiter,
Apollo or Minerva." As he expressed the view that "Hinduism was dying or dead
because it belonged to a stratum of thought which was long buried beneath the
foot of modern man."

As a Hindu, I am incensed when I read such statements. However, from the
perspective of the history of ideas, cultures, and religions, I understand why
thinkers like Max Müller descend to such levels. The fact is, when one is
indoctrinated in any particular religious system and grows up as part of it
with deep fervor, one seldom has much respect for other paths to spiritual
fulfillment, even when one pays lip-homage to them. Whether it was the Buddha
with respect to Hinduism, Shankara with respect to Buddhism, Ramanuja with
respect to Advaita, Tamil Shaivas with respect to Jainism, Dayananda Saraswati
with respect to Sikhism, Christian Crusaders with respect to Islam, or Muslims
with respect to every other religion, the denigration of other religions and the
hope that some day one's own religion will triumph and replace all other
existing ones are characteristics of most people who are emotionally,
culturally, and historically rooted to any specific religion. In this framework,
it is hard to decry Max Müller as evil or hypocritical. In so far as I recognize
the constraints that cultural conditioning imposes on one's judgment, I feel
more sorry than outraged by his anti-Hindu diatribes. It is an expression of
Hindu largesse that notwithstanding his sectarian schemes and myopic views on
spirituality, enlightened Indians still recognizes his unwitting propagation of
Hindu visions and India still accommodates Max Müller Bhavans in some of her
major cities.

Aside from his views which were distorted by the lens of 19th century
Eurocentrism, this accomplished pianist had studied Greek and Latin and other
languages and was drawn to philology. He declared, when still in his early
twenties, that "language will speak and decide whether there has been a
community and connection in the intellectual development of different people."
Linguistic parallels between Sanskrit and some European languages as also
between Vedic and Greek mythopoesy were the foundations of the now defunct Aryan
invasion theory, much more than scheming trickery to justify British
colonization of India. It is too bad that Hindu scholars in the 19th century did
not study European languages, religions, and cultures to as much depth and with
as much thoroughness as the Europeans we readily condemn, to formulate a
convincing Out-of-India theory to explain what are undoubtedly fascinating
puzzles that can't be brushed aside as coincidences.

V. V. Raman
January 31, 2006

Ever since the 1857 battle for independence, the people of India became more and
more politically united in their resentment of the British on their soil.
Ironically, this unity was facilitated by British rule which had imposed a
uniform language (English) among the intellectual elite of the country. The
sense of nationalism was also inspired and intensified by a pride in ancient
Indian history which was being integrally re-cast in systematic ways by scholars
from the intruding race. Organizations were established in various regions of
India to express the sense of national commonalty of the people against the
British presence in India.

Finally, in 1885, the Indian National Congress (INC) was formed as the first
Pan-Indian political group which would voice the call of Indians collectively
and forcefully for the British to leave India. Its ultimate goal was to gain
complete political independence from the British, which it did in a little over
six decades.

The history of that period is complex and still subject to debate and different
interpretations by scholars. But we do know that one of the founders of the INC
was an Englishman. His name was Alan Octavian Hume.

The story of how all this came to be is interesting. Hume was first a member of
the Indian Civil Service. He served the British government for more than three
decades in various capacities in different parts of India. He did much for the
educational system and for the development of newspapers in Indian languages. He
pleaded with the authorities to repeal unjust and immoral taxation of the
subject peoples. Such excessive concern for Indians was not commendable in the
eyes of the authorities. So he was retired from his position.

Hume's claim to glory in Indian history comes mainly from his dedication to the
Indian cause after this retirement from government service at the early age of
fifty three. In 1883, he appealed to the graduates of Calcutta university to
come forth and take over the leadership of India. In this context he read the
following poem:

Sons of Ind, why sit ye idle,

Wait ye for some Deva's aid?

Buckle up, be up and doing!

Nations by themselves are made!

Yours the land, lives, all at stake, tho!

Not by you the cards are played;

Are ye dumb? Speak up and claim them!

By themselves are nations made.

What 'vail your wealth, your learning,

Empty titles, sordid trade?

True self-rule were worth them all!

Nations by themselves are made!

Whispered murmurs darkly creeping,

Hidden worms beneath the glade.

Not by such shall wrong be righted!

Nations by themselves are made!

Sons of Ind, be up and doing,

Let your course by none be stayed;

Lo! the Dawn is in the East;

By themselves are nations made!

Hume convinced the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, that an organization of educated and
enlightened Indians would be a useful and constructive channel through which the
rising discontent of the intellec-tuals and the masses alike could be prevented
from spilling over into violent actions. Thus it was that on December 28, 1885 a
galaxy of some seventy Indians, professionals like lawyers, teachers,
journal-ists, etc. for the most part, gathered in Bombay to form the Indian
National Congress. Hume served as the First General Secretary of the Congress.

Some have said that Hume was planted by the British government to serve as a
kind of safety-valve for the rising discontent among Indians. To their surprise
and chagrin, the INC took on a momentum of its own, growing in membership and
political protests, defying government bans and imprisonments. But at least one
Indian writer has stated that "those who suggest such a thing are guilty of
ingratitude to that great man who is responsible for founding an institution
which ultimately brought us independence."

Whatever the truth, the simple fact is that the occupation of India by the
British was morally wrong. So whatever they did, their actions were always
looked upon with suspicion. Whether they built schools and railroads or did not
do these, whether they introduced English, or retained Persian and Hindi, they
would be damned. That is the price a nation pays for being in an ethically
untenable position.

V. V. Raman
February 1, 2006

It is doubtful that there has been another woman - or even man - who, in the
19th century had been to more countries and continents than Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky (HPB). Born in Russia, she traveled in ship and on land, in trains and
on horseback, and sometimes walked many miles to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria,
the Balkans, France, England, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Java, Japan,
Burma, Tibet, and India: and this list is not complete.Often she went from
country to country under the direction or guidance of her Master: a certain
Morya with whom she communicated telepathically.

During her Himalayan retreat in 1867 and 1870, HPB is said to have acquired
occult powers. They say she had acquired the truths of ancient civilizations:
Egyptian, Chaldean, Hindu and more which she had come to know through
supernatural means. HPB was convinced that all religions, including the magic of
ancient Egyptian priesthood, embodied secret doctrines about the ultimate nature
of man and the cosmos, and that these had been revealed to her.

Blavatsky landed in the United States in 1873, where she met two like-minded
Americans in New York City: Colonel H.S. Walcott and W.Q. Judge. In 1875 the
trio founded The Theosophical Society. Theosophy was defined as "Divine Wisdom,
or the aggregate of the knowledge and wisdom that underlie the Universe." The
goal of the society was to form a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood of Humanity,
without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color; to encourage the study
of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science; and to investigate the
unexplained laws of Nature, and the powers latent in Man. These embody whatever
is best in the humanistic, spiritual, and scientific realms. Above all, the aim
of the society was to bridge science and occultism and to win over physics to
psychic phenomena, which has always been a popular enterprise. Madame Blavatsky
and Col. Walcott went to India in 1878, because the Master had instructed them
to do so. The following year saw the publication in Bombay of the journal, The
Theosophist, of which Blavatsky was the first editor. The headquarters of the
Theosophical Society were established at Adyar, a suburb of Madras, where it has
flourished since then as a dynamic scholarly, intellectual, and spiritual
center.

Madame Blavatsky wrote extensively. Of her three principal books, Isis Unveiled
(1877) was described as "a master-key to the mysteries of ancient and modern
science and theology." The Secret Doctrine (1888) is the classic text for which
Madame Blavatsky is most famous. This synthesis of science, religion, and
philosophy might strike the uninitiated as a bewildering jumble of 19th century
physics and ancient mysticism, and it could impress the average reader by its
numerous technical jargons. It contains quotes from Newton and Maxwell,
Boltzmann and Clausius. Those with some knowledge of technical and mathematical
physics may find the work to be somewhat confused. The Key to Theosophy (1891),
the third book, has been called "a clear exposition ... of ethics, science, and
philosophy."

Towards the end of her life, prior to the publication of The Secret Doctrine,
something unfortunate, not to say, awkward, happened. Two of HPB's valets in
Adyar, a certain Mr. Coulomb and his wife, began spreading the word that the
mystic was a fraud, and that the display of occult powers arose because of a
secret conspirator. The Society for Psychic Research in Cambridge appointed a
committee to investigate, and came up with a damaging report. This caused a
temporary hurt to HPB's reputation, but not for long run, if only because those
who accept the supernatural are not easily moved by allegations or proofs to the
contrary. If anything, in a world dominated by inscrutable science and its
offshoots, every instance of something magical is acclaimed by the general
public, irrespective of its empirical validity or lack of it.

If one accepts the possibility of occult powers, as many people do, then there
is reason to believe that HPB was as authentic as any. But if one rejects this
possibility, then one becomes as skeptical about her as about anybody. In any
case, the lady had a remarkable memory, a grand sweep of knowledge in a variety
of fields including the qualitative aspects of science. She could recall arcane
passages from ancient lore, and was deeply convinced of karma, reincarnation,
astral planes, and invisible Masters. She was very sure, as a good many still
are, that Vedic rishis had spoken science in Sanskrit. She was also convinced
that there existed worlds beyond ordinary space and time.

In outlook and travels, HPB was a true internationalist, but in heart and spirit
she was more Indian than aught else. Like so many others from across land and
sea, Madame Blavatsky had more than a fascination for India. She loved the
country and its people, its culture, and above all, its spiritual heritage. And
she has left behind a global movement that is dedicated to a spirituality than
transcends nation and language.

Tevaram 7:2

The Death of Religions and Becoming Truly Spiritual
To be genuinely spiritual is to rise above being religious and which is possible only when the soul is absolutely FREE and PURE. As we can see the religious mind is NOT an OPEN mind, it remains basically fixated to scriptures and such stuff and clings stubbornly to them , becoming quite combative and irrational when their believes are challenged. When such a mind undergoes Tiikkai ( > Sk. Diksa) the BURNING of the soul that turns the DIRT within into ashes, then the soul becomes FREE and OPEN to receive and appreciate the bewildering and different ways in which BEING has disclosed Himself and continues to disclose. BEING cannot be arrested into a religion or cult - He always OVERFLOWS all such human attempts remaining always a SURPLUS that humiliates the thinking mind.

The religious mind cannot avoid CONFLICT both internal and external as we can see in world history. The most barbaric crimes have been committed and millions of people have been killed in the name of religion. The fanatic individuals are also denied peace of mind and happiness. Such events that are tormenting are the Tiikkai, the burning that slowly purifies them and make them arise above religions.

These kind of events are enacted by BEING who appears as the Siva who smears Himself with the Sacred Ash pure and white like the pearls, But having burnt the DIRT He also assumes the iconic forms where such souls are replenished - not with the same that has been burnt off but with something NEW and NOVEL and which simultaneously makes them EVOLVE one step higher and with that become better human beings. It is such an understanding of BEING which makes the human beings truly spiritual and with that become a true devotee and who LOVES BEING and in that also loves ALL. The religious person hates and despises the people of other religions but certainly not so the truly spiritual mind. Having freed themselves from such madness, they begin to worship BEING, the Most High, the GROUND of all submitting themselves not to scriptures Rishies prophets messiahs and so forth but only to BEING.

But what would transform a religious person into a truly spiritual one and who would become so humble that he would describe himself not as one in service to BEING but as the one in service to those in such a service as Sundarar describes himself here?

It is the application of the notion of DEATH to religions. All the religions , no matter how mighty they are and widespread are doomed to disappear one day just like so many mighty empires in world history. For the fundamental units of all scriptures, the words and images are doomed to dissolve when the time comes and along with that the religions. Any religion founded upon words and images are subject to decay and death and all because there is Siva the Destroyer who destroys all such fixations to PURIFY the human soul so that they are  FREED to move even higher.

11.
muttu niiRRup pavaLac cenjcadaiyan uRaiyum
pattar pantattu etirkoLpaadi paramanaiyeep paNiyac
cittam vaitta toNdar toNdn cadaiyan abvan ciRuvan
pattan uuran paadal vallaar paatam paNivaaree.

Meaning:
BEING, the Most High shows Himself as the One who smears Himself with the Pearl-white Sacred Ash ( to signify that He burns all dirt) and at the same shows Himself as coral-red bodied with the hair flowing luxuriantly ( to signify that He furnishes with something novel and good). Because of this He and as He shows Himself in the temple of EtirkoLpaadi, becomes the One who is loved by all  those who understand  Him as thus and begin to worship Him as the Most High, above all the gods and so forth. I , the Nambiyuuran, the servant of all those in the sacred service to BEING  and the dear son of Siva, the Long-hared , decided to sing all these metaphysical insights and I am sure all those who sing them with understanding will also begin to worship the FEET of such a BEING.

Loganathan

Lecture by
Professor Varadaraja V. Raman
Presented
At the Conference on
Science & Spirituality
Organized by
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Delhi, India
Sunday February 5, 2006

Introduction
Since the dawn of history, the Indian subcontinent has produced poets and philosophers who reflected on the majesty of the universe, on the meaning of life, and on the mystery of human existence. The ancient wisdom of Indic seers gave rise to a civilization that has stood the test of time and lasted for millennia. It has grown and been enriched by a hundred forces, both welcome and unwelcome, that have forged the course of India's history. The visions and values of the sage-poets which gave rise to Indian culture continue to inform and inspire the people of India in remarkable ways. And they have also had impacts on the thought currents that illumine human civilization.

A perennial refrain that runs through the rich panorama of Indian culture is that there a trans-physical cosmic principle that sustains and stirs the physical world of which we humans gain transient awareness during our fleeting terrestrial sojourn. This insubstantial undergirding entity is what we call the spiritual dimension of the world. It cannot be grasped by the probes of the mind, nor made to conform to the paradigms of logic, and its essence can only be inadequately conveyed through words and symbols. But it is there, proclaim the seers of India, because they have had glimpses of that subtle web that weaves the world of space and time, of matter, energy and causality. This assertion constitutes what may be called the spirituality thesis of Indic culture.

Over the centuries there have been thinkers in India who had challenged or rejected the spirituality thesis. Yet, the fact remains that right from the first utterance of Vedic hymns through the aphorisms of the Upanishads, and all through the massive corpus of the literature affiliated to these, spirituality has been a guiding light in every manifestation of Hindu culture. In fables for children and in grander narratives such as the epics and the puranas, in art and music and dance and poetry, in games and in architecture, even in sculptures representing carnal intimacy, the spiritual light is present implicitly or explicitly in every aspect of Indian mainstream thought.

The science component
All this led to the assessment of Indian culture as being essentially spiritualistic. This assessment did not arise from misrepresentation by foreigners, but has been proudly proclaimed by many eminent Indian thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Though accurate in principle, it also led to the misimpression that Indian thinkers were focused on matters metaphysical, on God and afterlife, on soul and salvation, and on little else. As a matter of fact, however, in classical and ancient India, aside from and superimposed on the spiritual foundation, there have also been serious inquiries into the nature of gross matter and thinking mind, observations of sun and moon and prediction of eclipses, questions about what constitutes life and what is inanimate, analysis of the properties of metals and non-metals, classification of plants and trees, study of the effects of herbs on health, and such other matters that properly belong to the scientific realm. From Vedic thinkers who wondered about how the world emerged to Bharadvâja in the Mahabharata and Uddâlaka runi of the Upanishads, countless sages have posed and reflected on fundamental questions, and proposed hypotheses and theories to explain many aspects of physical reality. Wonderment at the celestial spheres inspired interest in planetary periodicities which led to computations and mathematical insights. Some of these percolated into an awakening Europe through the intermediary of Islamic scholars and later, through Christian missionary commentaries. They were among the factors that led to the emergence of modern science. Thus, classical Indian mathematicians have a legitimate place of honor in objective histories of the roots of modern science. The point to remember is that the thirst for knowledge and understanding which is at the root of all scientific quest was very much present in the classical Hindu world.

Likewise, technology also thrived in classical India. Indian inventors created and produced tools and textiles, manufactured alloys, sculptures and magnificent structures for worship.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, technological, medical, and practical fields of investigation were still flourishing, and metaphysical spirituality remained strong and sturdy. However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the scientific creativity and contributions of earlier eras came to be marginalized and were gradually erased from the collective memory of the people. It was in this context that Western scientific worldviews began to enter the Indian scene.

Western Reactions to Indian Wisdom
At this point let us reflect a little on the scenario in which Indian wisdom entered the Western intellectual arena in the later half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At that time, many thinkers in the West were becoming disenchanted with the crass rationality and stringent empiricism of a cold and calculating science that was chopping every fullness of experience into its ultimate irreducible bits, and unweaving the multicolored splendor of the rainbow into water droplets in air and laws of refraction. There was a near-rebellion against a science that tended to regard the human being as little more than a complex machine ruled by the laws of physics and chemistry. This was the period when the Romantic Movement was emerging in European culture. The thinkers therefore welcomed Indic visions for its grasp of the integrated whole, its insights into the nature of consciousness, and its recognition of the relativity of knowledge gained through sensory perceptions.

So, the keenest among them reacted positively to Sanskrit writings. Recall William Jones's exclamation to the effect that "Sanskrit is more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin and more exquisitely refined than either." Goethe exclaimed exuberantly that "Kalidasa understood in the fifth century what Europe did not learn until the 19th century … that the world was not made for man, and that man reaches his full stature only as he realizes the dignity and worth of life that is not human…" We have all heard of the high praise that Schopenhauer gave to the Upanishads: "In the whole world...there is no study...so beneficial and as elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are products of the highest wisdom." Or again, recall how Emerson referred to the Bhagavad Gita as "the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."
One can go on and on. The point is that the West did not discover India in an unhappy confrontational context. Enlightened Western thinkers recognized India's greatness without having to become defensive about their own culture. They bore no grudge against the civilization from which the lofty ideas came. Many of them were fascinated and thrilled by what to them were new and insightful visions on life, existence, and the human condition. Such was the case before the obsession of missionaries to save Hindu souls took over.

Indian Encounter with Modern Science
India discovered the scientific framework of the West in a very different setting. It occurred at the same time as British political aggression and economic exploitation were creeping into the land. It was in this unhappy circumstance that Indians of the late ninth and early twentieth centuries encountered the post-Copernican science initiated by Galileo, Newton and other scientific giants of seventeenth century Europe. As a result, in the later half of the nineteenth century, when India confronted Western culture which had barged in with enormous advantages in material strength and craftiness, the reactions to modern scientific perspectives were not excitement and exhilaration, but resentment and anger. Indian reactions were of two kinds. One was to argue that in ancient times India too had a technology that rivaled what the West had in the nineteenth century. Ironically, those who took this position were not aware that great mathematics and astronomy, practical chemistry and physical theories had been developed in classical India. It was only after years of research instigated by Western scholars and later pursued by Indian, that modern India became fully aware of her own ancient scientific heritage.
Another reaction was to affirm our spiritual strength vis-à-vis the materially stronger intruders. Hindu intellectuals played, if not overplayed, the spirituality card to emphasize their own intrinsic strength in this domain. Unfortunately, unlike the kshatriya Vishvamitra when he had to recognize Vasishtha's spiritual prowess, the invaders from the West did not exclaim: "dhik kshatriya balam! Brahma tejo balam, balam!" Instead, they ignored, if not belittled, Indian spirituality and successfully went on with their job of gaining political and economic domination, and succeeded. Many Indians were awe-struck by the practical fruits of Western technology. This stark reality began to sow doubts in the minds of some Indians as to the value and relevance of spirituality in a world which was ruled by a might that seemed to have emerged from a different intellectual framework.

At the same time, Indian thinkers who studied modern science systematically began to realize that there was more to it than gunpowder and gadgets. They understood that modern science is based on meticulous experiments, subtle concepts, sophisticated mathematics, testable hypotheses, falsifiable theories and such. They also realized that the scientific enterprise had no more affiliation to colonialism and imperialism than Hindu spiritual visions have with casteism and untouchability. This recognition led most Indian scientists of the early twentieth century to a deeper understanding of both science and Indian spirituality.

Let us look into this matter specifically with respect to some eminent scientists of the twentieth century. The Vedic sage-poets had said that the one truth is spoken of in various ways by the learned. This is also case of how, in a society of free and independent thinkers, thoughtful persons regard their tradition and philosophies in different ways. The greatness of India lies as much in the freedom she has often given her children in entertaining diverging reflections as in those reflections themselves.

Jagdish Chandra Bose
J. C. Bose was the first great modern scientist of India in that he was the first to contribute significantly to international science. He was abreast of the latest developments in the science of his times. He experimented with the possibility of transmitting electromagnetic waves, and was one of the first, perhaps the first to achieve this, though credit for this has often been attributed uniquely to Gugliemo Marconi. In any case, this was an awesome achievement.

Bose was a thinker deeply rooted in our tradition in the best sense of the term. He did not hesitate to declare that he was sometimes inspired in his perspectives by the spiritual seers of India. He was imbued in the Vedantic vision of the oneness that integrates the world. Often he insisted that we need to seek the unity behind the multiplicity. He talked about erasing the demarcation between the living and the non-living. Long before twentieth century physics developed the notion of a Theory of Everything, Bose argued at the 1900 International Congress in Paris that the goal of science must be to arrive at an understanding of natural phenomena in their seamless all-embracing grandeur. Here was a transference of metaphysical monism into the scientific paradigm of unified fields.

Bose resonated with the universality that is implicit in the utterances of some of our sage poets. The Vedic declaration that all humanity is a single family - vasudhaika kutumbam -, and the prayer for the happiness of one and all, implicit in lokâ-samastâ-sukhinô bhavantu, are visions that emerged in this ancient land. Bose was very aware of these, and when he dreamed of a scientific institution where people from different countries would come and work together, he remembered the glory days of India. He said: "I am attempting to carry out the traditions my country which, so far back as 25 centuries ago, welcomed scholars from different parts of the world within the precincts of the ancient seats of learning at Nalanda and Takhsashila."

In Bose we see how it is possible to integrate India's rich heritage with modern worldviews and develop a scientifically meaningful and spiritually uplifting framework, as long as it is done with due respect for the methodology of modern science.

Prafulla Chandra Ray
Prafulla Chandra Ray was the first great chemist of modern India. Upon his return from Scotland where he had gone to do his doctoral work, the bright young chemist who had absorbed the best from what was still only Western science, returned home to his culture too. Unlike some of the babus of British Raj, Ray gave up tie and trousers, and took on the graceful Bengali attire of dhoti and kurta. After an encounter with Mahatma Gandhi he adopted an even simpler life-style.

His search for a new element led him to a thorough study of the properties of some salts of mercury. His discoveries in this field established his reputation on the international scene. Ray was also a scholar. Inspired by Mercelin Berthelot's work on the origins of alchemy, he undertook a scholarly study of the history of chemistry in India, and brought out an erudite two-volume treatise on the subject, with references and all, which has become a classic.

But this was not the only way in which Ray affirmed his affiliation to his tradition. He lived like a rishi, very much like an ascetic devoting himself to knowledge and to the pursuit of truth. But he was a rishi of the modern age. Scholar and scientist though he was, he realized that there can be no religion or spirituality without caring for fellow humans. Thus, he utilized his knowledge for practical purposes by founding factories and industries which not only produced articles of common use such as soap, condiments, and pottery, but also provided jobs to thousands of people, and gave a boost to the country's economy. Untouched by the honors that were showered on him, he gave away much of what he earned for worthy causes: to students, for scholarships, and for the establishment of research laboratories.

P. C. Ray earned the admiration of his countrymen for his science and learning, and their enormous respect for his humility and humanity. He showed us all that it is possible to imbibe the knowledge and worldview of modern science without abandoning the roots and fruits of one's culture. Ultimately, while all nations must transform and be enriched by new discoveries and fresh insights, every culture and civilization must be nourished by the visions and wisdom that have grown from its soil. The challenge to every generation is to be enlightened by the new without losing the treasure-seeds of its own precious past.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
Let us now turn our attention to Srinivasa Ramanujan who blazed like a brilliant comet in the mathematical firmament and vanished all too soon. He confounded the best mathematicians of the time with his uncanny insights into some of the most esoteric chapters of pure mathematics. Ramanujan brought forth theorems and formulas like multi-colored scarves from a magician's hat. His results demanded days and months and reams of paper for formal proof.

Ramanujan's mind was an extraordinary phenomenon. His creative powers had all the mystery of an unfathomable genius. He reported that his mother's reluctance to let him sail to Cambridge to pursue mathematics was completely revoked as a result of a dream she had had in which the Goddess of Namagiri revealed that one day her son would shine in an assembly of European scholars. It was believed that some of his theorems were unveiled to him in the nocturnal silence of his dreams by the same goddess!
What can we make of all this, except to exclaim that the human brain is far more complex than what science has been able to unravel? Clearly, there is a wealth of understanding that remains untapped in the deepest recesses of human awareness. All the nuggets of information are not within reach of normal brains, but many of them become accessible to extraordinary minds in unfathomable ways.

It seems to be extraordinarily difficult, not to say impossible, to explain the creative genius of artists, poets and mathematicians in terms of genetic codes or complex neural networks. While we must respect scientific exploration into the modes and mechanics by which such matters may be explained some day, perhaps there are more things in brain and consciousness than are dreamt of in our sciences. This unrecognized dimension of human consciousness may well be part spiritual reality. For, like truth and justice, spirituality is intangible, beyond space and time. Yet, it is very much present in a world of meaning and values. Could this be the intangible spiritual basis of the universe of which the sages spoke? Could it be that aspects of that reality are accessible only to the most creative artists, poets, mathematicians and mystics?

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman
In the Hindu tradition, divine manifestations are sometimes represented in blue. It is said that because the infinite sky appears bluish and dark, and because the Divine too is infinite, its representations are colored blue. This is meaningful from a spiritual perspective, for it sees in the visible vastness of the blue of the heavens a symbolic manifestation of the spiritual substratum of the universe.

But blueness can also be understood from naturalistic perspectives in terms of the properties of matter and the laws of physics. This aspect of the blueness of the sky and of the oceans intrigued Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, another great Indian physicist of the twentieth century. While investigating this, Raman discovered a till-then unrecognized feature of light when it is scattered from the molecules of liquid or gas. Known today as the Raman Effect, it was a discovery with enormous import, for it has enabled scientists to probe into the structure and composition of molecules in new and ingenious ways. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery: the first Indian, indeed the first Asian scientist, to be thus honored by the international community.

Raman's devotion to physics was like that of a bhakta to his ishtadevata. He breathed science in every waking hour of his life. Religion, for all its cultural and social value, did not appeal to him as much as physics did. If he enjoyed music, it was the physics of music that captivated him. If he marveled at the sky it was the physics of its blueness that fascinated him. If he admired the sparkle of diamonds, it was the study of the play of light on their crystalline structure that drew him to them.
Did this lack of interest in traditional rituals make Raman a non-spiritual person? I think not. Actually, his path to the Divine was through a systematic study of Nature. Raman's goal at one time was "to bring into existence a centre for scientific research worthy of our ancient country where the keenest intellects of our land can probe into the mysteries of the Universe, and by so doing help us appreciate the transcendent Power that guides our activities."

We recall Lord Krishna's message in the Bhagavad Gita that there are three paths go spiritual fulfillment: the bhakti, karma, and jñana margas. Saint Thyagaraja added the gâna-marga or musical path. So too, there is the vijñâna marga for scientists. Here again, we see the recognition of spirituality in the thoughts and visions of yet another great Indian scientist of the last century.

Satyendranath Bose
Satyendranath Bose's investigations into the nature of light led to a momentous discovery about an important property of the ultimate units of light: namely, the photons. It explained why it is possible to generate instantaneously zillions of photons by the strike of a matchstick or the flip of an electric switch whereas this cannot be done with particles like electrons or protons. This is because of a deeply hidden property of the two kinds of particles: They obey what physicists call two different kinds of statistics. The statistics followed by photons is known in technical jargon as the Bose-Einstein statistics, and all particles which, like the photon, are subject to it are known as bosons.

We recall that the rishis of India maintained that the phenomenal world is embedded in a spiritual reality. And they recognized the primacy of jyoti in the perceived universe when they declared: sûryom jyotir , jyotir sûryom; agnir jyotir, jyotir agnir; indro jyotir, jyotir indrah. In the Hindu mystic tradition jyoti refers to transcendent light. Thus, we may say that Satyen Bose's work uncovered features of the ultimate essence of the physical manifestation of jyoti. Through Bose's discovery we became aware of the mathematical basis of the physical laws that make light what it is.

Here again, the physical and the non-physical, the material and the spiritual are deeply intertwined. Claims of the superiority of one over the other arise from partial understandings. Matter and spirit are to be looked upon as the two sides of a single unfathomable mystery. Many aspects of the spiritual world have their reflections in the physical. Only the embodied spirit can reflect on the spiritual. Only the spiritually awakened body can appreciate the complexity of the physical world.

Bose felt strongly that India's scientific advancement should occur through the medium of Indian languages. In this matter he had great respect for Japan and Russia which did not depend on English or French to become equal partners in international science. Whether one agrees or not with Bose's view on this matter, the thrust of what he was saying was that since culture is absorbed and assimilated through language, total abandonment to a foreign language on the part of the thinkers and intellectuals of a nation tends to alienate them from one's own roots, and leads to pale imitations of other cultures. Some Bollywood creations and Indian TV programs show the wisdom in Bose's view.

Subrahmanian Chandrasekhar
Our bodies are made up of chemical elements: nitrogen, phosphorus, iodine, carbon and such. But where did these elements come from? In ancient times, few people even raised this question. One of the achievements of twentieth century astrophysics was to discover that all heavy elements were formed in the core of gigantic stars that at one time became so hot in their deep interior that the simpler nuclei of hydrogen and helium fused therein into heavier nuclei. Such a super-hot stellar furnace is known as a supernova.

During his voyage to Cambridge in 1930, young Subrahmanian Chandrasekhar, barely 19 years old, discovered through the calculations that he made which stars have the potential to become supernovas and under what conditions. There was some initial resistance to Chandrasekar's ideas, but now the theory is fully accepted by the international scientific community. Indic thinkers had stated that consciousness is a spark of the Cosmic Whole. Now we also know that our physical bodies consist of star-dust. And Chandrasekhar was involved with that discovery.

Though he was deeply read in Hindu epics and Indian philosophy, he was one of the Indian scientists of the twentieth century who were disillusioned by Hindu spirituality because they felt that preoccupation with the transcendent had thwarted the emergence of science in classical India. Some of them voiced the fear that the past was unduly enticing modern India to its mystical worldviews, and they regard this as an obscurantist hurdle on the country's path to scientific awakening. So they had little interest in traditional religion or spirituality. Chandrasekhar frankly described himself as an atheist. Megnad Saha, the eminent astrophysicist whose equation provides a key to the understanding of stellar structure and evolution, used to express such views also.

Yet, the works of many modern Indian scientists serve to raise our consciousness to levels from which the world looks rich in spiritual content in the broadest sense of the term. To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour is a spiritual experience too, and that is precisely what the physics of Satyen Bose, Megnad Saha, Subrahmanian Chandrasekhar, and the like have enabled us to achieve.

continued

A View of Spirituality
We see all around us chaos and cacophony cluttering the world. Even up there in the heavens, amidst stars and galaxies, there is incessant turbulence and turmoil.

Underlying all this is an all-pervading harmony that keeps everything in balance. This is the rita of Vedic vision. Associated with it is a transcendental peace that is invoked by the shanti mantra of the Indic tradition. This is the spiritual basis of the universe, and it can be experienced and envisioned in a variety of ways.

To the scientific inquirer it is unveiled as the laws of nature which govern the world. These laws are intangible. Who can see or touch the law of gravitation or electromagnetism or the symmetry groups that orchestrate the song and dance of the world from the minute microcosm to the inconceivably vast galaxies sprinkled in the cosmic stretch? Their effects on matter are perceived as reality. Yet the laws have been there all through eternity and are omnipresent in the cosmic stretch. They are, in the phrase of the rishis, the akshara or the imperishable essence of the universe.
One may get a taste of its essence in the ecstasy of devotional music, in the bhajans and psalms and sacred utterances of religious traditions. Or again, one may feel the vast encompassing magnificence of it all through concentration and contemplation. Thus, every heart that prays, every soul that meditates, and every mind that reflects and probes into the complexity of the cosmos, and gets a glimpse of the spiritual ocean in which we are bathed, whether we recognize it as such or not.
Modern science has unraveled the principles governing the physical world. This is not unlike the discovery of the rules of grammar and prosody, symmetry and syntax that govern every line in a sonnet. Such analyses, impressive as they are, say little about the grandeur and glory of the poetry. The unraveling of meanings and feelings which are implicit in the cold and calculable world is accomplished through other modes.

At the material level, we are inconsequential in the vastness of space. But without us, the world would be dark like a dungeon in stark midnight. All the light and color, splendor and beauty of the universe are unraveled only in the human head. No proton or planet, no star or supernova has the slightest inkling of the magnificence of the multi-splendored universe wherein they have been spinning and whirling for eons. They know nothing of shrieks of joy or pangs of pain. But for us, all the dust and stone, waves and vibrations would be cast in the dark expanse, unnoticed and unsung for all of eternity.

Without human awareness, there can be no reckoning of space or time and their intertwining. Neither the golden sunset nor patterns on butterfly wings, neither the fragrance of jasmine nor the sweetness of honey would be aspects of the physical universe without the super-complex sensory apparatus associated with our cerebral paraphernalia. And of course there would be neither art nor philosophy, no science or technology, no music or mathematics in the cosmos without embodies consciousness. The emergence of awareness was therefore as great an event in cosmic history as the first big blast of its material birth. It is awareness that detects meaning in a mechanical and mindless world. It is as if by our presence we have lit up the whole universe.

But how did the world subsist for eons before Homo sapiens emerged? The cosmos without humans is like a mindless blind monster wandering in the wilderness of uncharted space-time, and yet without missing a step on the path that has been meticulously carved for it by mathematically precise laws.

But how are we to explain the capacity of human consciousness in relation to its temporal and spatial insignificance? How is it that to none but the human mind the universe becomes comprehensible? According to Hindu sage-poets, if there is splendor in the perceived world and pattern in its functioning, and if it can all can result in the grand experience of life and thought, then even prior to the advent of humans, there must have been a consciousness of a vastly superior order, a Grand Experiencer that spanned the cosmic range in space and time. This is the Brahman of the spirituality thesis.

Brahman is not a He or She that prescribes or proscribes human behavior, nor a principle that is compassionate to the suffering or considerate to the repentant. Rather it is the mute cosmic awareness that has been there before the first tick of time and the first blast the gave rise to the world. It bears witness to every event and episode in a cyclic cosmos, it is there in every heart-beat of cosmic history.
Furthermore, in the pithy Upanishadic aphorism, tat tvam asi: Thou art That, every conscious entity is a spark from the stupendous primordial flash. In other words, in this vision, we are all faint echoes of the Grand Experiencer, miniature lights as it were, which have emanated from that primordial cosmic effulgence, like photons from a glorious galactic core, destined for terrestrial experience for a slender slice of time, only to re-merge with that from which we sprang.

Is this really so, as is it only mythopoesy, one might wonder. If it be mythopoesy, let us remember that poetry and prayer are for the human spirit what the telescope and the microscope are for human eye. Lenses enable us to discern entities beyond our normal visual recognition, and profound poetry is a response of the spirit to that which is not fathomed through logic and reason. Poetry brings home to us, indeed it forces us to reckon, the world of experience, not in terms of sense data and charts and proofs, but in subtle and holistic ways. It reveals meaning in life and majesty in the universe, which lie in a realm beyond the plane of rigid rationality. Poetry is mystic experience verbalized.

Indic spiritual vision paints consciousness on a cosmic canvass; recognizes the transience of us all as separate entities, yet incorporates us into the surrounding infinity. It does not rule out other manifestations of Brahman, sublime and subtle, carbon or silicon-based, elsewhere amidst the stellar billions. It recognizes the role of matter, and the limits of the mind, but sees subtle spirit at the core of it all.

The Samvad India Foundation is a non-profit Public Charitble Trust incorporated in New Delhi. Every year it presents the Raja Rao Award that honours and recognizes writers (including scholars and critics) who have made an “Outstanding Contribution to the Literature of the South Asian Diaspora.” Raja Rao, one of the greatest living writers of our times, has very kindly consented to the Award being named after him. The Award may be given to writers whose contribution is
significant but who may not necessarily be international celebrities or who may not have won major literary awards. Previous awardees include Dr V Dehejia (2003), Professor Edwin Thumboo (2002), Ms Yasmine Gooneratne (2001) and Mr KS Maniam (2000).

This year’s recipient is Professor VV Raman.

Citation presented to him by Professor Nitant Kenkre

V. V. RAMAN, the recipient of the Raja Rao Award this year, is a multifaceted personality. He is an eminent philosopher, physicist, writer, author of superb quality original work in each of those
categories, and a man distinguished by a sense of humor and wisdom as well. Raman's breadth of knowledge, expertise and interests is impressive.

Raman was born on May 28, 1932, in a Tamil family which had settled down in Bengal. Blends of opposites, as of the North and the South in the case of his upbringing as a child, characterize him
and may explain the keen insights he always displays into the nature of his surroundings. As a small boy, he learned to recite Vedic hymns in Sanskrit and Pater Noster in Latin. He read the Koran and the Torah.

He has an impressive facility in German and Spanish, in handling equations of theoretical physics and in constructing verses, in pragmatic practice and historical scholarship, in science and art. His
undergraduate work was in physics, his first postgraduate degree in mathematics. His doctoral work in Paris, carried out in the medium of
the French language under the supervision of the Nobel laureate Louis de Broglie, was in theoretical physics, specifically on the mathematical underpinning of quantum mechanics.

As a youth, Raman was drawn to poetry and philosophy, to mathematics and music, to languages and literature. He was fascinated by the depth
and scope of meaningful knowledge that science has brought to humanity, and impressed by the power and coherence of scientific methodology.

He grew up reading and reflecting on humanity's heritage. With strong links to his own tradition, he now regards himself as a human being most of all, with respect and sympathy for all that is enriching,
ennobling, and enlightening in human culture.

After obtaining his doctorate from the Sorbonne, and publishing his research in the Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, he returned to India and worked at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.
Then he served the UNESCO for a few years, during which time he became more interested in the history and philosophy of science. His varied
interests and abilities led him into avenues of work well outside the narrow confines to which many brilliant physicists are limited.

Eventually, he settled down at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA as a professor of Physics and Humanities. He went on to publish
extensively on the historical, philosophical, and social aspects of science. His scholarly papers on those matters have been on the history of thermodynamics, the origins of physical chemistry, the genesis of the Schrödinger equation, the early reactions to Einstein's theory of relativity, the impact of the Copernican revolution, and on the
Euler-D'Alembert controversy in 18th century mathematical physics.

He has also written on such topics as the history of the theory of gravitation, of the energy conservation principle, and of acoustics. These writings were published in various scholarly journals,
Proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences, American Journal of Physics, The Physics Teacher, The Journal of Education, Chronicle of Higher Education, Mathematical Intelligencer, Impact of Science on Society (UNESCO), Science and Culture, Indian Journal of History of Science, Journal of Chemical Education, Historical Studies in the
Physical Sciences, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Science and Sprit, CHOICE Magazine (Journal of the AALS), Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, Prajna Vihara: Journal of Philosophy and
Religion (Thailand), Hermeia (Germany).

The following are books by Professor Raman on these topics: "Science and Relevance;" "Scientific Perspectives: Essays & Reflections of a Physicist-Humanist;" "Variety of Science History;" "Glimpses of Ancient Science and Scientists." His book "Variety in Religion and Science" discusses the religious visions from intercultural perspectives as well as scientific insights from various people and
cultures.

Professor Raman has received numerous citations from his students about his teaching excellence. In 1988, nominated by his university's president, he was a recipient of the Outstanding Educator award,
presented in Washington D.C. by the American Association of Higher Education.

As to Raman's contributions to the elucidation and propagation of Indic culture, he has lectured profusely on many aspects of Indian heritage
and culture. He is the author of multiple books on that theme. In the early 1980s he initiated a journal called INDHER (Indian Heritage) to educate children of Indian origin living beyond the shores of India on
aspects of their culture and heritage. Out of the articles in this journal grew two books: "Glimpses of Indian Heritage," and "Satanama: Hundred Names from India's Past," both published by Popular
Prakashan in India. He gave a series of lectures on Verses from the Bhagavad Gita of relevance to the Modern World, which were published later as "Nuggets from the Gita" by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He wrote a series of articles on Indian perspectives for India Abroad which are the basis of his "Reflections from Alien Shores," also a Bhavan's Book.

Since the 1990s Professor Raman has been very involved with the emerging academic field of Science and Religion. In this field he has published papers in ZYGON: the international journal on Science and Religion, as well as in SCIENCE AND SPIRIT. The following articles are relevant in this context: "Science and Religion," Connections and
Contradictions, CHOICE July, August 1996; "Vedanta and Modern Science," International Vedanta Conference, January 1996, Madras; "Science in
the face of religion and mysticism," World & I, October 1996; "Science and Religion: Some Demarcation Criteria," Zygon, September 2001; "Science and Spirit: A Hindu Perspective," Science and Spirit, November 1998; "Science and Humanism in the Modern World," Prajna Vihara: The Journal
of Philosophy and Religion, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2001; "Which is More Dangerous? Science or Religion," Science and Spirit; "Science and Spirituality from a Hindu Perspective," Zygon, March 2002; and "Was
heisst Kulturelle Differenz?" in Die Macht der Diffetenzen, Hermeia, Band 4.

Over the years, Raman has been a member of the Calcutta Mathematical Society, American Physical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers, Philosophy of Science Association, History of Science Society, the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. He has served on the Editorial Board of The (American) Physics Teacher. He has served as the President of various cultural/social organizations including The Interfaith Forum of Rochester, The India Community Center of
Rochester, The Bengali Association of Rochester, the Rochester Tamil Sangam which he founded, The Martin Luther King Commission of Rochester, The
METANEXUS Institute on Science and Religion, the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science.
He was elected the 2004-2005 METANEXUS Fellow on Science and Religion, in which capacity he delivered six lectures at the Hillel Hall of the
University of Pennsylvania on Indic Visions in an Age of Science.

He is currently writing a web column entitled "Reflections on Remote Roots," which is widely circulated to people of Indian heritage in many
parts of the world. It is another grand survey of various aspects of Indian heritage and culture with deep insights. The erudition and intelligent understanding of our brilliant past (and present) in
India and also of other human cultures he displays in that column are impressive indeed.

To those who know him from close, Raman is also an intelligent and inspired prankster. This unusual but charming facet of his that arises from his great sense of humor reminds one of Krishna. Listening to
Raman is always an educational experience. Conversing with him is always a pleasant event. It is impossible to come in contact with this person without coming away awed, inspired, and warmed.

The enormous work that Raman has done even in his 'retired' years is definitely deserving of the Raja Rao award.

Even during the days of the Raj, many people born in Britain developed a special
fondness for India, her people, and their culture. One of the more illustrious
among them was a lady known to Indians as Annie Besant. She was Annie Wood
before she married Frank Besant, a clergyman with whom and with whose religion
she severed all connections, after becoming a socialist and atheist.

She fought for the poor and for equal rights for women in her native England.
She co-edited the National Reformer, and re-published a pamphlet on birth
control for young married couples, which had been censured as a work "full of
indecent physiological details." This political liberal was one of the founders
of the British Labor Party.

In 1889, when she was 42 years of age, Annie Besant happened to read The Secret
Doctrine of Madame Blavatsky, which is a treatise on theosophical mysticism,
nineteenth century science and ancient religious. The work had a great impact on
her life. She was drawn at once to Theosophy and to India.

Annie Besant was 45 when she landed on Indian soil. One of the first thoughts
that came to her mind was that she had been born a Hindu in a previous birth.
From then on began a deep love for India and commitment to India's cause which
only increased with time. She adopted the Indian way of life, and decided she
should strive to revive India's past glories which, she felt, had been sorely
marginalized. She proclaimed in her journal New India that she loved the Indian
people as she loved none other, and that her heart and mind had been laid on the
alter of the Motherland. Such was the effect of her inspiring letters and
speeches that Mahatma Gandhi once said that Annie Besant had "awakened India
from her deep slumber."

It was through her efforts and dedication that the Central Hindu College was
founded in Varanasi. She understood more than most English-educated Indians the
relevance of the country's culture and traditions for its people. "Hinduism is
the soil in which India's roots are stuck," she wrote, "and torn out of that,
she will inevitably wither."

Annie Besant was held in the highest esteem by the major freedom-fighters of
India. She was president of the Indian National Congress, and went into British
jails for her stand on Indian independence. She tried to build a bridge between
the rival groups in the nationalist movement; one led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and
the other by Gopalakrishna Gokhale, but was unsuccessful in this effort. In 1916
she established the Home Rule League whose goal was autonomy for India from the
British. In this context she declared: "There is no birthright in the white skin
that it shall say that wherever it goes, to any nation, amongst any people,
there the people of the country shall give way before it, and those to whom the
land belongs shall bow down and become its servants." She was one of the first
in history to express her abhorrence at racism. She wrote that "the colour bar
and all it implies are largely due to thoughtlessness, to silly pride of race
which has grown mad ."

And again, she had the breath of vision to say: "These are the true tests of the
value of any man or woman, white or coloured: merit of character, merit of
ability, merit of service to country. Those who can serve best, those who help
most, those who sacrifice most, those are the people who will be loved in life
and honoured in death."

Unfortunately, in her later years, after Annie Besant moved to Adyar as
president of the Theosophical Society, a rift developed between her and the
Central Hindu College which was once a topic of great public controversy, though
now long forgotten. A root cause for this was that she imagined herself to be a
mystic, an Arhat and a Mukta with super-psychic powers: such as the ability to
read Mars and Mercury and the Solar System, and to predict the future. More
seriously, she began to assume the role a cult figure, demanding implicit
obedience from one and all her followers. Then again, she prepared the stage for
a new Messiah, declaring the fourteen-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti to be the
successor in the lineage of Zoroaster, Thoth, Buddha, and Jesus. In this context
she established a World Order of the Star of the East of which she declared
herself to be the Protectress. She managed to acquire a ranch in the United
States and gave it to J. Krishnamurti. In 1929, J. K. let it be known to the
world that he was no messiah, and he relinquished everything she had given him,
except the Ojai Ranch.

Annie Besant was thus a strange mixture of social activism, unbounded love for
India, fighter for India's freedom, delirious mystic pushed to the verge of
megalomania: all of which made her a remarkable person in history. Her rich and
active life spanned more than eight decades. Her contributions to India will be
remembered with affection and gratitude. K. M. Munshi rightly described her as
"one of the makers of modern India; the greatest foreign and the only European
who threw her lot completely and unreservedly with India."

VaLLalaar On Life Free of Death.-7

Destroying Alienation and Enjoying a Life of Joys
More than two thousand years ago , the poet KaNiyan PuuGkunRanaar declared ìyaatum uuree yaavaruG keeLirî ( All cities are my cities and all people are my brethren). This social philosophy has become well entrenched in the Tamil mind and has served the anchor pin in their fight against all discriminatory social philosophies that emerged at various times and in various garbs. VaLLalaar attends to this problem in his own unique way and because of which he was in fact criticized severely by the casteic Hindus of the 19th cent Tamil Nadu.
He says quite clearly: You are NOT an alien to me and I am your loving brethren who would never use any words that will humiliate you, make you small miserable  and so forth but only that are great and edifying. But he goes further and asks the question: How that he, just a normal person like all others who are given over to such alienations and social decimations, has become one who abhors all these and expresses only LOVE unto all?

It is all because he has become LIFTED up in metaphysical maturity and all because he was blessed with metaphysical illuminations that have served to CLEANSE him of all such evil dispositions. One becomes naturally the LOVING kind of person who hates to alienate self from others only when one becomes spiritually lifted up and which can be done only bey being-with-BEING. To purify the souls BEING assumes the icon of Dancer and dances in the common GROUND of all, the Potu Ambalam and which can also be taken as the deepest part of the brain where He enacts various kinds of Cittadal, dances that affect thinking. BEING creates various kinds of tensions and conflicts in the soul and through them makes the person see how inhuman he us whenever he alienates another person and pushes him down in social status.

Here it is interesting that VaLLalaar calls attention to the great importance on REFLECTING on the existing social reality without dismissing it as Maya Irreal and so forth as in done in the Mayavada Vedanta and so forth. Taking the social reality as it is, we must REFLECT on the inhumanity present there without covering it up, closing our eyes to them and pretending it doesn't exist etc. The Hindu society, as some say, is quite barbaric for not only castes exists where different groups of people become alienated groups with inter-dining and inter marriages disallowed, but also there is a pressure to classify them along the VarNa lines - each caste claiming that it is higher than others and so forth and here the Brahmins being the most notorious where they claim such a status by virtue of birth alone.

VaLLalaar was deeply hurt by such social realities and rose above it all into true spirituality only by reflecting and realizing how barbaric it is all. The root cause is that all such people are very low in spiritual development and the only way to solve this problem is to spiritualize them through pulling them unto BEING let Him play His games in their mind.
But why should he recommend this to all? Why can't one go on with a life of hatred where one struggles heroically to maintain the high social status of the caste into which one is born?

No one can be genuinely HAPPY with a such a life. Hatred breeds misery and slowly it KILLS the person who hates. In this way it certainly takes the person away, far far away from the possibility of ever enjoying later the Deathless Existence of immeasurable joy.

The alienating discriminating individual not only suffers but also KILLS himself and becomes an easy victim of the killer forces deep within.

7( 5582)
niir piRaroo yaan unakku neeya uRavalanoo
nedumoziyee uraippan naRik kodumozi colleen
caaebuRavee aruLamutam tantu enai meel eeRRik
tanitta perum cukam aLitta tanittap perumpattitaan
ciir peRavee ti[otuvil tiumeeni tarittuc cittaadal purikinRa tirunaaLkaL adutta
oorpuRavee itu nalla taruNam iGkee vammin
ulakiyal uniyvaaRu uRRiduviir viraintee

Meaning:
O Friend ! You are not an alien to me and I am your loving brethren, I shall never use any of the cruel and hurting words but only those which are edifying and spiritually uplifting. And I do this all because as I stood depending wholly on BEING, He showered  upon me the nectar of deep metaphysical illuminations that cleansed me of all such evil traits. Having destroyed the evil tendency to alienate and discriminate against others, I now enjoy immense joy all blessed by the BEING who stands as One and above all. He assumes the guise of the Dancer and dances various kinds of mystical games in the deepest recesses of the human mimed.  Such days are the noble days and you should reflect deep upon the meanings of such games not forgetting at all meditating deeply upon the social reality where such alienations are to be seen. Thus this bodily existence constitutes the fine opportunity to do all these and lift up yourself to enjoy a life of Deathless Existence of immense joy.

In 1820 there came into the world a child in Prince Edward Island in Nova Scotia
whose family moved to England soon thereafter. The child, who was born in a
family called Pope, was named George Uglow (probably a Cornish name, but of
highly debated etymology). Eventually he came to be called G. U. Pope. He was
barely twenty when he came to South India, landing in a small town near
Tuticorin. He fell in love right away with Tamil and Telugu, as well as
Sanskrit. He had already mastered Latin and Hebrew.

Pope's The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva Nayanar was first published from Oxford
in 1886. In gives an introductory essay which begins with the declaration that
"The weaver of Mayil?r, known now only as Tiruvalluvar, was undoubtedly one of
the great geniuses of the world . He is the venerated sage and lawgiver of the
Tamil people." He affirms from his knowledge of both Tamil and Sanskrit that
Tamil "is an independent language with a copious and original vocabulary, having
a very clear and philosophical grammatical system, very highly cultivated, and
in every respect equal to Sanskrit itself."

The translations themselves are somewhat verbose and contrived for rhyming words
in English. But the work has an exposition of the grammar of the Kural, a
detailed glossary and concordance, as well as several couplets from Beschi's
Latin version of the Kural which is not otherwise easily available.

The Kural is no doubt the most widely known work of its kind in Tamil
literature. But there is a no less interesting work, similar in concept: an
anthology of 400 quatrains authored by various poets, all didactic in nature.
This classic was also translated by G. U. Pope. In one of the verses here a poet
reminds us that we must respect people for their intrinsic worth and
contributions, and not on the basis of their caste (133): "As none condemns the
ferryman for being born into a lower caste, but cross the stream with his help,
so take the good and wise teaching from one who is learned irrespective of his
caste, low or high." Another reflection on caste occurs elsewhere in Naladiyar
(195): "When men speak of good caste and bad caste, it is a mere form of speech,
and has no real meaning. Not even by possessions, made splendid by ancient
glories, but by self denial, learning, and energy is caste determined."

Pope also translated Manimekalai, the classic Tamil epic, and the Tiruvacakam.
He also wrote scholarly papers on the "Poets of Tamil Lands," and "The Lives of
Tamil Saints." He was also a student of Saiva Siddhantam, a topic on which he
reflected deeply and wrote. He described it as "the choicest product of the
Dravidian intellect, and the most elaborate, influential, and undoubtedly the
more intrinsically valuable of all the religions of India." In one of his final
essays he analyzed this system of philosophy and explained the true Saiva
Siddhantic doctrine of emancipation thus: "When the Soul, finally set free from
the influence of threefold defilement through the grace of Shivan, obtains
divine wisdom, and so rises to live eternally in the conscious full enjoyment of
Shivan's presence, in conclusive bliss, this is emancipation."

Pope was a self-made scholar. He did not study for any formal higher degree. He
was awarded a Master of Arts degree by Oxford University when he was almost
sixty. He was also made a Doctor of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In
his later years he served as Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford, and taught
Tamil and Telugu to students of the Indian Civil Service.

G. U. Pope's love of Tamil language and culture is reflected in the following
statement he made. "Tamil is a sophisticated unique language, with a rich
vocabulary. It is the mother of all South Indian languages, Tamil literature was
designed to create high moral standards, ethical codes, and Thirukkural is a
great example of that. It is in a land of people with very high ethical codes
and who nurture human discipline that such moral books are created and could be
created. Thirukkural is as clear as an unpolluted spring. Yes! Thirukkural, the
unique book, has come to remove the impurities of this world. Within a short
time of my learning Tamil, I commenced translating Thirukkural, for the benefit
of Europeans. It took several years to complete the translation and I offer my
gratitude to God for the final result."

In this age when rage towards Western scholars clouds the minds and writings of
many Neo-Hindu intellectuals, it is difficult and unpalatable to recall, let
alone acknowledge, the love and labor of Western scholars who went deep into
Indian culture, religion, and literature. Many of them were Christians and many
were missionaries, for sure, and they were all products of a culture that was
proselytizing both religiously and on the secular-scientific plane, as were the
Hindu and Buddhist missionaries who spread the religion and wisdom of classical
India to other South Asian lands in another era of history. But this did not
diminish their respect and appreciation for whatever was best in India's
heritage.

When, in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese missionary Padre Henrique
Henriques (1520 -1600) set up the first Tamil press in South India, and
published the first Tamil-Portuguese dictionary, he could not have imagined how
many European scholars would follow him in the study, elucidation, and
propagation of the Tamil language, and the translation of Tamil classics into
European idioms.

Robert di Nobili (1577 - 1656) was an early Italian Tamilist who authored such
works in Tamil as Atma Nirunayam and Tivviya Mantirikai. This Jesuit priest came
to be called Tattuva P?ar. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to win converts,
he feigned to be a Brahmin, tuft, dhoti and all, and preached his own religion's
doctrines as if they were from Hindu scriptures.

Another illustrious Jesuit-Tamilist was Constatino Giuseppe Beschi (1680 - 1747)
who wrote a Tamil-Latin dictionary, a work on Tamil grammar in Latin, a
commentary on the Vedas in Tamil, as well as a story entitled Kuruvin Katai:
Story of a Teacher. His many other works on and about Tamil include a Latin
translation of the Tirukkural.

Already in the early decades of the nineteenth century some scholars had
proposed that Tamil and Telugu belonged to a language-family different from the
Sanskritic. This idea was elaborated in the middle of that century by Robert
Caldwell (1814 - 1891) who was a comparative linguist. He was the one to
proposed the name Dravidian for the family of languages that includes, among
others, Tamil, Talugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. He got this name from the
Sanskrit dr?da which occurs in a seventh century Sanskrit text, referring to
the languages of the south. Caldwell has been rightly criticized by some Indian
scholars for making such a bifurcation because it causes a divide between Tamil
and Sanskritic Hindus, but modern linguists tend to regard the Dravidian as one
of four major language groups in India, the others being Indo-European, Munda,
and Tibeto-Burman. We are all familiar with the now defunct Aryan Invasion
Theory. Caldwell proposed an even more silly Dravidian Invasion Theory by which
a proto-Dravidian language came into India with invaders from the north-west.

It was Father Peter Percival who started in 1855 the first Tamil weekly, with
two Tamil scholar-associates. It was called Dina Vartamani. The magazine was
successful for about twenty years. Percival was a great lover of Tamil language
and literature. He wrote a Tamil-English Akar? (dictionary), and also
published a collection of nearly 5,000 Tamil proverbs and maxims in the
original, along with English translations.

Then there was Miron Winslow (1789 - 1864), an American who came all the way to
Ceylon to spread the Gospel. He became so fond of Tamil that he moved to Madras
and lived there for the rest of his life. He published a Comprehensive
Tamil-English Dictionary (975+ pages) which has been reprinted many times. The
equivalent of Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English dictionary, this is a
comprehensive work with more than 30,000 words, which cover "the Common and
Poetic Dialects of the Tamil language, including its principal Astronomical,
Astrological, Mythological, Botanical, Scientific and Official terms; as also
the names of many authors, poets, heroes, and gods."

One can go on and on with many more names. What is unpleasant in the recall of
all of this is that every author I have mentioned above was a Christians
missionary. We of the Hindu faith do not engage in conversion, and we have
little sympathy for those who come to change people of our tradition into their
fold. But, as history would have it, for whatever selfish reason, a good many
Christians took great interest in Indian culture and literature, even while they
stated explicitly that their goal was to change "heathens" into Christians. From
their perspective, however mistakenly (as we see it), they really believed they
were trying to save Hindus from eternal damnation. We may note in this context
that there have been countless Hindus who have delved into Western literature
and philosophies, and developed respect and appreciation for them, while not
having high regard for Christianity. The difference is, except for some New-Age
Hindu groups, few of us are interested to winning the allegiance of Westerners
to Hinduism.

Be that as it may, while many Hindus understandably deride and despise the
Christian Tamilists, I still admire them for their devotion to Tamil, and I am
happy that they unwittingly propagated the language and lore of the Tamils to
the world at large.

Finally, one must mention a Western scholar of Tamil who was not a missionary:
Alain Danilou (1907 - 1994) was French. In fact, he became a Hindu himself,
grew a tuft of hair, and lived in India for many years. He had great love for
the country, and deep understanding of Indian culture: especially its mythopoesy
and music. He too translated some Tamil works, such as Manimekalai and
Cilappatikaram, into English, besides writing a scholarly work on The Myths and
Gods of India.

On a cold afternoon in London in the year 1895, somewhere in a West-End drawing
room Swami Vivekananda was talking about Hinduism and its worldviews to a
handful of admirers seated in a half-circle. In the audience was a skeptical
young Englishwoman named Margaret Noble. He was fascinated by the Swamiji and by
his answers to questions, and she was touched by the mantras which reminded her
of Gregorian chants. She was converted to the concepts of karma and
reincarnation, and she was intrigued to hear Swamiji say that "Man proceeds from
lower to higher truth, and not from error to truth." She was provoked into deep
reflection by Upanishadic comment that "The universe is like a cobweb and minds
are like spiders; for mind is one as well as many."

Miss Noble was convinced right away, in her own words, that this man was "no
mere lecturer. He was as clearly an apostle . as any poor evangelical preacher,
or Salvation Army officer, calling on the world to enter into the kingdom of
God. And yet he took his stand on what was noblest and best in us." She saw in
Vivekananda a spiritually elevated soul filled with devotion and action.

If Margaret Noble experienced a strong attraction for India, Swami Viveka-nanda
was no less aware of her earnestness and potential for commitment. During next
visit to England, he told her: "I have plans for the women of my own country in
which you, I think, could be of great help to me." He could not have been more
direct. So it was that this Irish woman, whose primary interest was in teaching,
who had been involved with the New Education movement of the turn of the
century, and was also searching for some spiritual light, was drawn to India and
her culture, to Hindu philosophy and religion. She decided to dedicate herself
to the cause of distant India. It was a mysterious beckoning, a call for service
beyond self, which goads some to commitments that benefit many others.

The social and living conditions in India at the time were not exactly
attractive to Europeans. On the one hand, Swami Vivekananda suggested to Miss
Noble that she could be of assistance to him in his plans, because he was
convinced she had "a great future in the work for India," because, he said,
"India cannot yet produce great women, she must borrow them from other nations."
On the other hand, he also warned her: "You cannot form any idea of the misery,
the superstition, and the slavery that are here. You will be in the midst of a
mass of half-naked men and women with quaint ideas of caste and isolation,
shunning the white skin through fear or hatred and hated by them intensely..."
These were not the words of Eurocentric arrogance, but of Viv