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HINDUISM in the SECOND MILLENNIUM Swami Nityasthananda" Introduction Origin of Any Religion Can Be Traced to the Inherent Urge in Man to Go Beyond Sensory Experience

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HINDUISM in the SECOND MILLENNIUM Swami Nityasthananda HINDUISM IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM Swami Nityasthananda" Introduction Origin of any religion can be traced to the inherent urge in man to go beyond sensory experience. Man cannot remain satisfied within the boundaries of objective experience which calls for an experience beyond itself. If man could remain satisfied within the ambience of sense-bound experience, no progress of knowledge, culture and civilization would be possible. So in everyone of us there is an urge to go beyond the ordinary run of life, and this "consciousness of the beyond is the raw material of all religions." Swami Vivekananda says that "the real germ of religion is the struggle to transcend the limitations of the senses" (Complete Works of Swami Yivekananda, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama Vol.II, p.S9). Hinduism originated in the Vedic religion of the Aryans who were worshipping different natural forces by attributing a personality to each of them thus presupposing a conscious principle behind these forms. This lure of consciousness led them to one Ultimate Reality which is called by different names and worshipped in different forms. So Vedic Rsis declared, "Truth is one and sages call it by various names." This seminal vision of the Vedic seers accounts for the catholicity and all-absorbing power of later Hinduism which provided a fertile filed for various kinds of experiments and explorations in the realm of religion, both theoretically and practically. Theoretically it gave rise to various philosophical schools encompassing all shades of philosophy ever thought of by mankind. And practically it evolved inexhaustible paths of spiritual practices to reach that ultimate Reality. Swami Vivekananda says, "from the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticisms of the Buddhists, and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindus religion." (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama Vol.Il, p.6). This intense and extensive religious activity induced Cramb to remark, the "India is not only the Italy of Asia; it is not only the land of romance, of art and beauty. "Swami Nityasthananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order' who has authored several books in Kannada and has to his credit several translations. Presently, he is the editor of the Kannada Journal of the Ramkrishna Order, Viveka Prabha at Mysore. °W;:)1I1U! ssousnotosuoo SnO!~!I;:)l ~U!lPU!){U;:) S;:)SSBW ;:)lll ~UOWB P;:)AOW AllUnO:) ;:)1I1JO 1I1PB;:)lq pUB ljl~U;:)1 ;:)ljl moqsnonp ~UBlds OljM 1U;:)W;:)AOW!l){Bljg ;:)ljl JO SlU!BS JO roqumu ;:)lj.l °SgSSBW ;:)ljl JO iocdse pmOnOW;:) ;:)1I101 ~unB;:)ddB 'UOnnIOA;:)l snO!~!pl remdod B SBM lU;:)W;:)AOW!l){l'.ljg ;:)ljl 'souruuao 19!PBg JO UO!~n;:)l ;:)ljl P;:)Z!-I;:)PBll'.q:) lBljl suounjndod glj1 JO ;:)l!P gq1 01 ~U!UUuo:) JO 11ns;:)1 ;:)lj1 SB pUB suouejnocds IB:)!SAqdB1;:)W dq1 01 lSB11uO:) uI °ws!npu!H JO g:)Ug1S!Xg Al;)A ;:)1I1 U;)lB;)l41 01 pouroas 1Blj1 sWHsnw JO UO!SBAU! gq1 Aq posod ;):3UgUBlj:) ;:)lj1 ;):)BJ 01 p;:)~l;:)W;) lI:)!ljM 1UgWgAOW !l){l'.ljg Sl! 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S! 1I Z9P Hinduism in the Second Millennium 463 Philosophical Schools During the early period of this millennium four important theistic schools of Vedanta arose in South India, namely, the Visistadvaita system of Ramanuja, the Dvaita system of Madhwa, the Saiva system of Meykandar and Veerasaiva system of Basava. The first one was propounded by Ramanuja who was supposed to have lived a long life of 120 years between 1017 AD to 1137 AD and he belonged to the lineage of traditional Vaisnava saints of Tamil Nadu called Alwars. Ramanuja's main concern was to establish a theistic school of Vedanta emphasizing the supremacy of Bhakti as a path of realization in contrast to the absolutistic school propounded by Shankara, in which the path of knowledge was given paramount importance. He conceived of ultimate Reality as a Personal God full of auspicious qualities; the individual souls (cit) and material universe (acit) to be His attributes but inseparable parts of His being. The individual souls are many and the realization that they are inseparable parts of God leads to liberations, and this realization comes through Bhakti (devotion) and praptti (self-surrender). Ramanuja preached this path of Bhakti to one and all, without making any caste distinction, and accepted even the low caste people to his fold-making his sect a mass movement known as Srivaisnav, which in later period experienced a schism, dividing itself into two separate traditions known as vadagala (northern school) and tenkala (southern school). The vadagala school is oriented towards the study of Sanskrit scriptures and emphasizes self-effort as a necessary concomitant to God-realization , while the other school stresses the study of Tamil Vaisnava literature called prabandha and trusts more on irrevocable dependence on God. In later years Vedanta Desika, a great scholar, poet and philosopher, wrote several works in Sanskrit and Tamil explicating the Visistadvaita system. Another theistic school that emerged during this period was the Dvaita school of Vedanta, established by Madhwa of Karnataka, who was an uncompromising critic of Sankara's non-dualism. He, with his powerful logic tried to substantiate the fundamental difference between god and soul, between god and material world, between individual souls, and between the soul and the world. In his philosophy, Sri Hari is the Supreme Reality (Hari Sarvottama) and all else is dependent on Him and unswerving devotion to Him alone leads to liberation. 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