by Dr. Ananda Reddy
India is known for her infinite diversity of cultural patterns, religious expressions, languages and customs. This is her strength and this is the secret of her long survival as a culture and a nation.
But now, as days and years pass by, this diversity, instead of binding the nation together," seems to have culminated in contradictoriness and mutual exclusion." (Nolini Kanta Gupta, Vol. 1, p.53) Especially, two major religions in India seem to be dividing the country in two irreconcilable divisions, endangering her glorious future.
Sri Aurobindo had worked for an India that would be free for the sake of the world. She would gain freedom not only for her sake but also in order to give to the world her vision of spirituality which is supposed to unite not only religions and castes and creeds but mankind itself.
Unfortunately, this dream of Sri Aurobindo seems to be moving further in time-future. In order to understand what we need to do at this critical juncture, when the nation's soul is suffering from the deep wounds meted out to her by religious riots, we need to go a bit deeper into the historical development of India.
Going back into her cultural history, we know that "wave after wave of the most heterogeneous and disparate elements Sakas and Huns and Greeks....." entered " into the oceanic Indian life and culture" (Ibid, p. 54 ) and got merged in her culture as though it was her destiny to assimilate all the conflicting elements. The first voice of challenge to this ever growing spiritual spirit that was founded on the Vedic knowledge was that of Buddhism "not so much, perhaps, of Buddha as of Buddhism", ( ibid ) opines Nolini Kanta Gupta. The basic challenge that was posited by Buddhism was that it denied the authority of the Vedas, and in this denial it denied the spiritual fullness of life, which, in fact, was central to the Vedic socio-religious life. It left such an indelible impression on Indian life that even today, after almost two thousand five hundred years it is still a dominant character of Indian life!
The synthesis sought by the Indian genius for bridging the gap with Buddhism was that it embraced the Buddha as one of its ten Avatars and the doctrine of Buddhism, its tenets of Nirvana and Maya became the last stage of Caturvarna, namely, the stage of the moksha and sannyasa.
However, this schism between Buddhism and Vedanta was one that was within the family, and "were commensurable" says Nolini Kanta Gupta. The antinomy was not antagonistic. " The idea or experience of Asat and Maya," were there already in the Upanishads as seed thoughts - but not so focused until Buddhism brought them out.
Hence, the real outside schism, the foreign element was that of Islam which revolutionised Indian life patterns. "It was a psychological cataclysm on par with the geological one that formed her body" (ibid, p.56) emphasised Nolini Kanta Gupta. It is to incorporate this alien element into its life-spirit that India is still struggling — and it is truly her test.
Is it really possible for the Indian soul to pass this test and assimilate Mohammedan element also? To a similar question Sri Aurobindo answered, way back in 1926:
"Why not? India has assimilated elements from the Greeks, the Persians and other nations. But she assimilates when her Central Truth is recognised by the other party, and even while assimilating she does it in such a way that the elements absorbed are no longer recognizable as foreign but become part of herself. For instance, we took from the Greek architecture, from the Persian painting etc.
"The assimilation of the Mahomedan culture also was done in the mind to a great extent and it would have perhaps gone further. But in order that the process may be complete it is necessary that a change in the Mahomedan mentality should come. The conflict is in the outer life and unless the Mahomedans learn tolerance I do not think the assimilation is possible.
"The Hindu is ready to tolerate. He is open to new ideas and his culture has got a wonderful capacity for assimilation, but always provided that her Central Truth is recognised. (A.B. Purani, Evening Talks, 2'" series, p. 48, 1961)
"The assimilation of the Mahomedan culture also was done in the mind to a great extent and it would have perhaps gone further. But in order that the process may be complete it is necessary that a change in the Mahomedan mentality should come. The conflict is in the outer life and unless the Mahomedans learn tolerance I do not think the assimilation is possible.
"The Hindu is ready to tolerate. He is open to new ideas and his culture has got a wonderful capacity for assimilation, but always provided that her Central Truth is recognised. (A.B. Purani, Evening Talks, 2'" series, p. 48, 1961)
This kind of assimilation could be possible because Hinduism basically believes that the supreme Divine is One at the same time it is also there in the heart of each living form. And most importantly, this supreme Divine can be realized or approached in innumerable ways, as many ways as there are people. With this catholic spiritual attitude it has become a vast ocean of spiritual culture and experience.
The demand of the times is that India brings about a 'spiritual fusion and unity' into the deep psychological problems of religions. Nature has tried and succeeded in the fusion of blood — all the present races are really a fusion of races, say the scientists, though, as Sri Aurobindo remarked: "there are seven root races and others are sub-races." ( ibid ) Nature seems to be trying at present a large fusion of cultures between the East and the West - a process that had started with the building of empires and the process of imperialism. For such a fusion of culture, North America seems to be Nature's laboratory. But Nature seems to have left to India to solve the most difficult problem - the fusion of religions.
To a question by a Muslim disciple Sri Aurobindo answered:
Question: "Had Mohammedanism no message for India?"
Sri Aurobindo: "I have written clearly that the coming of so many religions to India was part of her spiritual destiny and a great advantage for the work to be done." (Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, August, 2000)
Sri Aurobindo: "I have written clearly that the coming of so many religions to India was part of her spiritual destiny and a great advantage for the work to be done." (Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, August, 2000)
This is one of the great works that India has to solve not only for herself but for the world. Can India ever solve this problem? That is the real question. A solution is there, not on the political level, but on a spiritual plane which alone can achieve the fusion of religions and the necessary unity.
A Possible Solution
Once Swami Vivekananda had remarked that the ideal combination of man would be a "Hindu soul with a Muslim body"
(Nolini Kanta Gupta, Collected Works 1, p. 56 ). Islam is basically "a dynamic spirit" that had set out "to conquer the physical world for the Lord" ( ibid ) - an attitude that is quite complementary to the Hindu attitude to life as seen after the influence of the Buddha and of Shankaracharya. But unlike other religions which mingled into Hindu life and spirit, Islamic religion maintained a strong uncompromising individuality, and it was very difficult to be assimilated.
There is a very interesting set of correspondence between Sri Aurobindo and a Muslim disciple of his, written in the early thirties, which I would like to quote to show the possibility of India coming through this problem of religious fusion. I take the liberty of quoting at length the relevant passages of this correspondence.
Disciple: "I wish also to ask this: The Mother has often issued notices saying, "When a man comes here, [the Sri Aurobindo Ashram] he ceases to be a Hindu or a Mahomedan etc." Though there is sufficient pressure on the Mahomedans to cease to be Mahomedan, does anybody cease to be a Hindu? Is the idea even believed by any Hindu sadhak? ....Under these circumstances, God alone knows if it is right or sensible for me to live on and see the ruin without doing anything to bring in the Mohamedan influence here. When I surrendered, I had not ceased to be a Mahomedan as I did afterwards."
Sri Aurobindo: "If there is anybody in this Ashram who is a Hindu sectarian hating Mahomedans and not opening to the Light in which all can overcome their limitations and in which all can be fulfilled (each religion or way of approaching the Divine contributing its own element of the truth, but all fused together and surpassed), then that Hindu sectarian is not a completely surrendered disciple of Sri Aurobindo. By his narrowness and hatred of others he is bringing an element of falsehood into the work that is being done here.
"When I spoke of the outside world, I meant all outside including the Hindus and Christians and everyone else, all who have not yet accepted the greater Light that is coming. If this Ashram were here only to serve Hinduism I would not be in it and the Mother who was never a Hindu would not be in it.
"What is being done here is the preparation of a truth which includes all other Truths but is limited to no single religion or creed, and this preparation has to be done apart and in silence until things are ready. It is in that sense that I speak of the rest of the world and all its component parts as being the outside world - not that there was nothing to be done or no connection to be made; but these things are to be done in their own proper time.
"Do you tell me that all the people here show the spirit you speak of against the Mahomedans or are you generalizing from particular cases? If it is as you say, I am quite ready to intervene to put a stop to it. For such a spirit would be entirely opposed to the Truth I am here to manifest." (Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, August, 2000 )
Sri Aurobindo: "If there is anybody in this Ashram who is a Hindu sectarian hating Mahomedans and not opening to the Light in which all can overcome their limitations and in which all can be fulfilled (each religion or way of approaching the Divine contributing its own element of the truth, but all fused together and surpassed), then that Hindu sectarian is not a completely surrendered disciple of Sri Aurobindo. By his narrowness and hatred of others he is bringing an element of falsehood into the work that is being done here.
"When I spoke of the outside world, I meant all outside including the Hindus and Christians and everyone else, all who have not yet accepted the greater Light that is coming. If this Ashram were here only to serve Hinduism I would not be in it and the Mother who was never a Hindu would not be in it.
"What is being done here is the preparation of a truth which includes all other Truths but is limited to no single religion or creed, and this preparation has to be done apart and in silence until things are ready. It is in that sense that I speak of the rest of the world and all its component parts as being the outside world - not that there was nothing to be done or no connection to be made; but these things are to be done in their own proper time.
"Do you tell me that all the people here show the spirit you speak of against the Mahomedans or are you generalizing from particular cases? If it is as you say, I am quite ready to intervene to put a stop to it. For such a spirit would be entirely opposed to the Truth I am here to manifest." (Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, August, 2000 )
In the same vein but on another occasion, he wrote to the same Muslim disciple:
"There is no place for rigid orthodoxy, whether Hindu, Mahomedan or Christian in the future. Those who cling to it, lose hold on life and go under — as has been shown by the fate of the Hindus in India and of the orthodox Mahomedan countries all over the world...In the supramental creation fundamental truth will always find a place; but orthodoxy means a clinging to narrow limitations, and limitations of that kind cannot exist in the supramental creation. All that is permanently true will be taken up into the creation of the future." (1932): (Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, August, 2000)
I guess that at a deeper level these reactions of the religious fundamentalists could be a reaction against the modern denial of the fundamental values of life - God, Soul, Truth, etc. Old religionism is showing its ugly face only to threaten the ugly modern economic barbarianism. The economic barbarians are those for whom the only effort is a greater amassing of objects of comfort, pleasure and lethargy. Against this fundamental materialistic man is the rise of the religious fundamentalist seen all over the world. Maybe this terrorism will take us beyond religion and beyond the fundamentalism of materialism. Ultimately, it is all a clash of fundamental unregenerate attitudes of materialism and of religion. Both have to give way to the new consciousness or the supramental creation. As man has not consented to be spiritualised, he is having to face these drastic ways of destruction and horror. It is his resistance to the New Consciousness that is the cause of all these crushing and painful and bleeding circumstances!
A fusion of religions does not come through a religious dialogue or a religious tolerance. That is because the spirit of tolerance towards each other is not a true spiritual fusion. It is a moral and a religious concession only - it does not indicate anything deeper in one's consciousness, except perhaps a bit of wideness of mind and heart. It is only a Sri Ramakrishna or a few other individuals like Sant Kabir who resolved in their consciousness this spiritual fusion. Otherwise, the tensions have always remained hidden in the heart of both the religious communities - like the fire simmering in embers. The least provocation and the fires of hatred, violence, vengeance leap forth, ending in massive deaths and unthinkable cruelty from both sides. This hatred is largely in the subconscient of these communities and the politicians and religious bigots only add fuel to this subconscious fire of hatred which threatens at present to engulf the whole country.
When the same Muslim disciple asked Sri Aurobindo in 1932:
Disciple: "Formerly I believed that if the Hindus and Mahomedans fight in India the Mahomedans will win, but I have slowly begun to doubt this. I want to ask Sri Aurobindo if there is any likelihood of such a fight and if the forces are nearly equal on both sides or one side is superior to the other.
Sri Aurobindo: "It is to be hoped that in time the present mentality will pass away and both the communities learn to live as the children of the same Mother. If they fight, neither are likely to gain but both to lose, even perhaps giving an opening to a third party as has happened before in their history." ( ibid )
Sri Aurobindo: "It is to be hoped that in time the present mentality will pass away and both the communities learn to live as the children of the same Mother. If they fight, neither are likely to gain but both to lose, even perhaps giving an opening to a third party as has happened before in their history." ( ibid )
To the same Muslim disciple who wrote to Sri Aurobindo in a challenging manner, the Master replied:
Disciple: Again, when Sri Aurobindo writes about what he is going to manifest here, I wonder why such a great thing is partial. Why should that creation be formed in such a way as to exclude Mahomedans from it and put on them an all-round pressure which is experienced by nobody else. To give up one's past and forget it or to try not to think about it is one thing; to go through the humiliation of taking up the way of others is most difficult, almost shameful, and I have lost faith in it.
Sri Aurobindo: It is news to me that I have excluded Mahomedans from the Yoga. I have not done it any more than I have excluded Europeans or Christians. As for giving up one's past, if that means giving up the outer forms of the old religions, it is done as much by the Hindus here as by the Mahomedans. Every Hindu here - even those who were once orthodox Brahmins and have grown old in it, - give up all observance of caste, take food from Pariahs and are served by them, associate and eat with Mahomedans, Christians, Europeans, cease to practice temple worship or sandhya (daily prayers and mantras), accept a non-Hindu from Europe as their spiritual director. These are things people who have Hinduism as their aim and object would not do—they do it because they are obliged here to look to a higher ideal in which these things have no value. What is kept of Hinduism is Vedanta and Yoga in which Hinduism is one with Sufism of Islam and with the Christian mystics. But even here it is not Vedanta and Yoga in their traditional limits (their past), but widened and rid of many ideas that are peculiar to the Hindus. If I have used Sanskrit terms and figures, it is because I know them and do not know Persian and Arabic. I have not the slightest objection to anyone here drawing inspiration from Islamic sources if they agree with the Truth as Sufism agrees with it. On the other hand I have not the slightest objection to Hinduism being broken to pieces and disappearing from the face of the earth, if that is the Divine will. I have no attachment to past forms; what is Truth will always remain; the Truth alone matters." ( ibid )
Sri Aurobindo: It is news to me that I have excluded Mahomedans from the Yoga. I have not done it any more than I have excluded Europeans or Christians. As for giving up one's past, if that means giving up the outer forms of the old religions, it is done as much by the Hindus here as by the Mahomedans. Every Hindu here - even those who were once orthodox Brahmins and have grown old in it, - give up all observance of caste, take food from Pariahs and are served by them, associate and eat with Mahomedans, Christians, Europeans, cease to practice temple worship or sandhya (daily prayers and mantras), accept a non-Hindu from Europe as their spiritual director. These are things people who have Hinduism as their aim and object would not do—they do it because they are obliged here to look to a higher ideal in which these things have no value. What is kept of Hinduism is Vedanta and Yoga in which Hinduism is one with Sufism of Islam and with the Christian mystics. But even here it is not Vedanta and Yoga in their traditional limits (their past), but widened and rid of many ideas that are peculiar to the Hindus. If I have used Sanskrit terms and figures, it is because I know them and do not know Persian and Arabic. I have not the slightest objection to anyone here drawing inspiration from Islamic sources if they agree with the Truth as Sufism agrees with it. On the other hand I have not the slightest objection to Hinduism being broken to pieces and disappearing from the face of the earth, if that is the Divine will. I have no attachment to past forms; what is Truth will always remain; the Truth alone matters." ( ibid )
India has had the master-key to this serious problem — the key named 'spirituality' which looks at expressions of life, religions, art, science, businesses, services - all as forms and names of the single spirit, the Divine. A spiritual person is one who has the fundamental and essential experience of whatever religion he may choose to belong, and has a catholicity of understanding, which comes essentially out of his deeper inner self, of an appreciation of all facets and expressions of life as facets of a single Reality.
Secondly, we have to bring this inner-experience into our thoughts and emotions and actions - it is the best way to lead us beyond religions, into the spirituality of the future. This adherence to a higher truth without the barriers of customs, creeds, ceremonies is the thing that is wanted in India. It may seem an ideal that is beyond the possibility of the common man. But a spiritual symbiosis is the only way of the Future. The principle of symbiosis, exemplified in the 100th monkey, can come of use here: a strong nucleus of spiritual aspirants, a small group of seekers of the adventure of consciousness, seeking and assimilating the New Consciousness is enough to start an atomic reaction which could one day explode as a spiritual-bomb engulfing all humanity in a new Light and Life. [emphasis added]
(A talk given in Bangalore, at Sri Aurobindo Complex, 2004. It is inspired by Nolini Kanta Gupta's article: 'The Basis of Unity', Collected Works, vol.1 and by the correspondence between Sri Aurobindo and one of his Muslim disciples.)