"Were Tagore alive today he would admire. the amazing achievements of science and. technology in our life time, but I think he would

Transcription

1 "Were Tagore alive today he would admire the amazing achievements of science and technology in our life time, but I think he would remind us of his words... : 'The world is constituted of facts, that they may themselves constitute new discoveries to the explorer and illustrate new laws to the scientist, but never their significance which can only be comprehended through our spiritual vision." - Mark Tully

2 THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF WORLD CULTURE Post Box 402, 6, B.P.Wadia Road, Basavanagudi, BANGALORE Founded : iiwc@vsnl.net Website : Founder Presidents Shri B.P. Wadia & Smt. Sophia Wadia A voluntary non-political organisation registered under the Societies Act, with the objectives of promoting human brotherhood and culture. President Vice-President Hon. Secretary Joint Secretary Members EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Justice Sri M.N. Venkatachaliah Dr. R.N. Nagaraj Sri Y.M. Balakrishna Sri L. Chandrashekar Sri K. Jairaj, IAS Sri D N Munikrishna, IPS Sri Prakash Kambathalli Sri V.J. Prasad Dr. K. Raghunatha Rao Sri M. L. Ramprakash Smt. R. Vijayamma Patron Rs. 15, Life Member Rs. 1, Ordinary Membership p.a. Rs (Plus admission) Rs Library Deposit Per Book Rs Bulletin Subscription p.a. Rs Edited and Published monthly for the Indian Institute of World Culture, 6, B.P.Wadia Road, Bangalore by Sri M.L. Ramprakash Price Rs per copy September 2011 RELIGIONS AND RELIGION (Source : Aryan Path June 1935) In this issue we print a provocative article by an eminent Indian nationalist who is also a liberal-minded Christian. Dr. Bharatan Kumarappa writes on the defects of Christian missions and missionaries in India, and suggests certain reforms with a view to making their work useful. It might be pointed out that what is said about Christian missions and missionaries equally applies to all agencies and agents of every proselytising creed. Again, the weaknesses and claims of nonproselytising creeds such as Brahmanism or Zoroastrianism are as baneful, howsoever different they may be in their effects on the moral and social order in India. The article does not raise what appears to us to be a fundamental question :- Is there a necessity for any organized separative religion to persist as a competitor of other creeds in any part of the globe? We hold the view that Religion is necessary for the well-being of man. Religion illumines the mind, unfolds intuition, and unites man to man. But this cannot be said of any organized religion, which, whatever its name, narrows the mind, engenders blind belief and fanaticism and divides man from man. Once an Adept spoke of the churches as anti-christ and the same may be said of every organized religion. Because of the evils of the latter, Religion has come to be regarded and not only in Soviet Russia-as an opiate. We are not overlooking the fact that the Soviet authorities primarily " took up the fight against religion as an integral part of the economic liberation of the working classes." In sober truth, one of the pressing needs, perhaps the most pressing need of our civilization is Religion. Not a new religion ; the world has been hitherto sufficiently cursed with the intellectual extinguishers known as dogmatic creeds. What is needed to-day is freedom from the extremes-atheism is one, sacerdotalism is the other. Masses cannot be freed from the grip of these two monsters but a large number of individuals can free themselves. Printed by : Sri Venkateswara Printers, Rajajinagar, Bangalore -10. Ph : , (for circulation among members only)

3 To-day the individual needs the aid of some living power, some energy which would enable him to drive the engine of existence without injury to himself and to others and through it gather the experience which would not only sustain his whole being but unfold it to its full capacity. The True Religion alone can provide that power. The human individual suffers from his attempt to follow two religions--one, the creed into which he is born and bred or into which he has been converted, and second, the impulses and the principles, good and bad, which he follows mostly unconsciously and which form his real inner religion. The result is compromise at every turn between the sacred and the secular, between the urge of the flesh and the voice of conscience, between belief and reason, between concrete thoughts and vague intuitions, between personal affections and altruistic aspirations. The pressing need of the individual is a philosophy of conduct and of action which would reduce this conflict to the minimum, and bring about an integration in himself. The occidental as well as the oriental needs this integrating influence of true Religion. Therefore to try to buttress the tottering churches and temples is not rendering real service to our civilization. That which is true in the outworn creeds is crushed by the debris of rites and ceremonies, of blind belief and exclusive claims; the priest has elbowed out the prophet and the latter is allowed by the former only to enchant the worshipper from a long distance. As the magic, used to invoke the sages, is that of the priest, no response comes. No, the old creeds should be allowed to die their natural deaths. An attempt should be made to present the soul-satisfying philosophy of the old Sages. That religious philosophy or philosophical religion offers a way of life for the intelligent man and woman of to-day. Its fundamental principles can well form the basis of action and conduct and these may be tabulated simply thus :- II Virtue brings its own reward, and vice and sin their own punishment. I Everything existing exists from natural causes. III The state of man in this world is probationary. 2 THE UNITY OF ALL LIFE (A talk given by Rabindranath Tagore in Argentina in 1924) Source : May-June 2011 The thoughts and sentiments I express in my writings have their philosophical foundation. But I lack the training of the professional philosopher. In India, philosophy infects the very atmosphere we breathe. Quite unconsciously, I shape all my thoughts and my life on the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads. I can therefore only discuss with you what I consider to be the central idea in our own religion. The idea is that truth implies unity, a unity expressed through many and varied manifestations, a unity which, when we are able to realize it, gives us freedom. To a man ignorant of a foreign language, the literature contained in it appears to be a stupendous jumble of words, and the speech mere sounds that confuse the mind. When he learns and understands the language, he is freed from the bondage of his ignorance. Likewise, a path is a meaningless division on a farm unless we understand that, although at first glance it divides, in reality it connects the farm with our neighbour. When we regard our self as the sole and final end, we separate the self from the great life of the world. As soon as we admit that the self must establish a harmonious relationship with the all, then for the first time, we realise what the word 'freedom' means. Until a poem reveals to us that unity of perfection that permeates the words and the grammar and transcends them, we find no joy in it. The world is like that poem: it is constituted of facts that may themselves constitute new discoveries to the explorer and illustrate new laws to the scientist, but never their significance a significance which can only be comprehended through our spiritual vision. Because this truth of perfect interrelation goes far beyond mere facts or the contents of the poem, it carries us instantly across them, making us free. like the beauty of a rose that takes no time in leading our minds beyond the innumerable physical facts of that flower to its ineffable harmony. 3 (Contd in Pg 7)

4 THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF WORLD CULTURE No. 6, B.P. Wadia Road, Basavanagudi, BANGALORE ENDOWMENTS AND OTHERS - PROGRAMMES SEPTEMBER 2011 PROGRAMMES WILL BE HELD IN WADIA HALL September 3 Saturday 6.15 pm : SPECIAL PROGRAMME Topic: 'Tenets of Ancient Indian Polity, Part-1,' Speaker: Dr R. N. Nagaraj, Vice-President, IIWC September 4 Sunday 6 pm : Smt. Leela R. Sastry Memorial ( Birthday) Endowment Programme.,Sugama Sangeetha by Smt Suma K. Prasad September 6 Tuesday 6.15 pm : Dr. Jayalakshmi T.K. Memorial Endowment Lecture. Topic: 'Teachers Through The Ages' Speaker: Prof K. Rajagopalachar September 7 Wednesday 6 pm : Smt. Rangubai Karpur and Karpur Subba Rao Memorial Endowment Programme Devotional Songs- "Purandaradasa" by Smt Madhuri September 9 Friday 6.15 pm : Justice S. Rangarajan Memorial Endowment Lecture. Topic: "Redesigning the Legal System for a clean public life". Speaker: Mr. N. Vittal, former Central Vigilance Commissioner September 13 Tuesday 6.15 pm : Sri B. Suryaprakash Memorial Endowment Lecture. Topic: "Relevance of Astrology in today's World of Stress". Speaker: Prof N S Murthy September 15 Thursday 6 pm : Renaissance Artists and Writers Association Endowment Programme `BHARATANATYAM' Danseuse: Smt. Aparna S., Disciple of Smt Sumana Nagesh, Founder of Natyashree Academy' September 18 Sunday 6 pm : Sri M.L. Shankaranarayana Rao Memorial Endowment Programme BHARATANATYAM'. Danseuse: Kum Surabhi Bharadwaj, Disciple of Natyasree K.M. Raman September 20 Tuesday 6.15 pm : Madam Sophia Wadia Memorial Lecture. Topic: Ancient Oriental Psychology Key to mysteries of life. Speaker: Sri M.L. Ramprakash September 21 Wednesday 6 pm : Smt. Nagarathna Lakshmana Rao Memorial Endowment Programme Carnatic Classical Vocal Music by Smt. Sharada Mohan, Disciple of Vidushi Ganakalashree Smt. M.S. Sheela September 23 Friday 6.15 pm : Prof. P.R. Brahmananda Memorial Endowment Lecture. Topic: "Developing an Index of Democratic Governance in India". Speaker: Dr. Sandeep Shastri September 24 Saturday 6.15 pm : SPECIAL PROGRAMME Topic: "Tenets of Ancient Indian Polity, Part-2". Speaker: Dr R.N. Nagaraj, Vice-President, IIWC September 28 Wednesday 6.15 pm: Sri P.S. Narasimhan Memorial Endowment Lecture. Topic: "Divine Origin - Mahalakshmi and Saraswathi in Vedas". Speaker: Dr. C.L. Prabhakar, Director, Nada, Veda Adhyayana Kendra (R ), Bangalore. OTHER PROGRAMME S: SEPTEMBER-2011 September 2 Friday 5 pm (WH) : Topic: "We CAN Root Out Corruption". Speaker: Dr. Ali Khwaja, Chairman, Banjara Academy and Hon. Director, Helping Hand September 4 Sunday 11 am (WH) : Launching of the Website on Prof S.K. Ramachandra Rao, Sri Yellappa Reddy presides September 8 Thursday 6 pm (WH) : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Infosys Foundation Presents Light Music Concert by Sri Dhananjay Hedge, Honnavara September 10 Saturday 3 pm (WH) : Workshop on Vedic Astrology, Organised by SCOPE (R ) Astrological Institute, Contact:Sri Kashyap September 11 Sunday am (WH): Book Release Programme by Ankita Pustaka September 11 Sunday 6 pm (WH) : Book Release Programme by Dr. Manjunath

5 September 16 Friday 6 pm (WH) : Light Music Programme by renowned Singer and Composer Vidwan Shankar Shanbhogue September 17 Saturday 10 am (WH) : Programme by NRI Parents Association September 17 Saturday 6 pm(wh) : Sri M.A. Narasimhachar Music Foundation (R). Carnatic Classical Vocal Duet by Vidwan K.V. Krishna Prasad and Vidwan S.R.Vinay. Violin: Vidwan Anand Vishwanath, Mrudagam:Vidwan Chethan Kumar September 22 Thursday 6 pm (WH) : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Infosys Foundation Presents Carnatic Music : Saxophone by Sri Sridhar Sagar- Bangalore September 25 Sunday am (WH) : Book Release Programme by Ankita Pustaka September 25 Sunday 6.15 pm (WH) : Sri Lakshman Sriram (USA), presents a live Karaoke Musical Evening "Ramu Remembers Raag Pahadi" Timeless collection of old Film Songs Based on Raag Pahadi September 29 Thursday 5 pm (WH) : Book Release Programme by Bhandhavya School, Bangalore September 30 Friday 6 pm (WH) : `BHARATANATYAM' Danseuses: Master Rutwick and Kum Dweeti, Disciple of Prof. M. R. Krishnamurthy, Kalakshithi, Bangalore CALL ARE WELCOME PH : The other Programmes are by external individuals or organizations and are only hosted on the premises of the IIWC. IIWC does not necessarily endorse the views/opinions of the sponsors or the proceedings of the programmes and IIWC does not take any responsibility for these other programmes. WH: (Wadia Hall) MH: (Monorama Hall) Please Note : November 1st, Tuesday from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm sale of old and discarded books, magazines and our publications. HOLIDAYS : September 1 : Thursday : Ganesha Chaturthi September 27 : Tuesday : Mahalaya Amavasya 6 We have. in the Upanishads, the great saying Only he knows the truth who realises himself in all beings and all other beings in himself Let us try to understand this saying, for in understanding it we shall come to a truth which, as I said, lies at the basis of all we call civilization. An individual who succeeds in dissociating himself from his fellows may imagine that thereby he attains real freedom. But we know from our experience in history that this is not a fact, and that where people live under the compulsion of fear of their neighbours, they cannot attain their full humanity. Only those who can cultivate a feeling of sympathy with others, of understanding and of cooperation, achieve that relationship which is a great deal more than the numerical fact of their all being on this Earth together. Civilisation, itself the fruit of inter-communication, and of escape from the dungeons of obscurity, is producer of the arts, of literature, of religion and of ethics, all of which can embody external values. They will never emerge from that kind of crowd which only represents an unrelated or imperfectly related number of people. The best and highest type of society is one that is forever active in trying to solve the problem of mutual relationship. Only thereby can wider areas of freedom for its members be acquired. For humanity, the perfect relationship is one of love. This truth has itself been the foundation of the teaching of the Buddha. According to him, we can only reach our freedom through cultivating a mutual sympathy. To gain this freedom we need to liberate ourselves from the fetters of self and from all those principle that we must apply to an imprisoned world. What we call 'progress' does not necessarily conform with this ideal. With a purely material progress the greed for things tends to become a passion, thereby promoting unbridled competition and conflict. A reign of ugliness spreads like a callus over the whole world. A mere addition to the height of skyscrapers or to the velocity of speed can lead only to a savage orgy of boasting and exaggeration. Along this road, the human spirit will be vanquished by the demon of senseless accumulation, and will remain the perpetual victim of a moral slavery. -A A A 7

6 HUMAN SPIRIT RISES TO MEET JAPAN'S TSUNAMI Posted by Yuka Saionji on Mar Someone overseas called me on my cell. She said she wanted to connect to anyone who is in Japan, and so she called the country code and their own mobile number. which happened to be the same as mine. I didn't fully understand everything she said, because it was English, but I knew enough to know that she really wanted to support the Japanese people. It really gave me so much hope. Last night when I was walking home (since all traffic had stopped), I saw an old lady at a bakery shop. It was totally past their closing time, but she was giving out free bread. Even at times like this, people were trying to find what they can do and it made my heart warm. In the supermarket, where items of all the shelves fell, people were picking up things so neatly together, and then quietly stand in line to buy food. Instead of creating panic and buying as much as needed, they bought as little as they needed. I was proud to be a Japanese. When I was walking home, for 4 hours, there was a lady holding a sign that said, "Please use our toilet." They were opening their house for people to go to the restroom. It was hard not to tear up, when I saw the warmth of people. At Disneyland, they were giving out candies. High school girls were taking so many so I was thinking, "What???" But then the next minute, they ran to the children in the evacuation place and handed it to them. That was a sweet gesture. My co-worker wanted to help somehow, even if it was just to one person. So he wrote a sign: "If you're okay with motor cycle, I will drive you to four house." He stood in the cold with that sign. And then saw him take one gentleman home. all the way to Tokorozawa! I was so moved. I felt like I wanted to help others too. A high school boy was saved because he climbed up on top of the roof of a department store during the flood. The flood came so suddenly, that he just saw people below him, trying to frantically climb up the roof and being taken by the flood. To help others, he kept filming them so their loved ones could see. He still hasn't been able to reach his own parents but he says, "Its nobody's fault. There is no one to blame. We have to stay strong." There is a lack of gas now and many gasoline stations are either closed or haave very loooong lines. I got worried, since I was behind 15 cars. Finally, when it was my turn, the man smiled and said, "Because of this situation, we are only giving $30 worth gas per each person. Is that alright?" "Of course its alright. I'm just glad that we are all able to share," I said. His smile gave me so much relief. I saw a little boy thanking a public transit employee, saying, "Thank you so much for trying hard to run the train last night." It brought tears to the employee's eyes, and mine. A foreign friend told me that she was shocked to see a looong queue form so neatly behind one publi phone. Everyone waited so patiently to use the phone even though everyone must have been so eager to call their families. The traffic was horrible!! Only one car can move forward at green light. But everyone was driving so calmly. During the 10 hour drive (which would only take 30 minutes normally) the only horns I heard was a horn of thank you. It was a fearful time -- but then again a time of warmth and it made me love Japan more. When I was waiting at the platform, so tired and exhausted, a homeless person came to us and gave us a cardboard to sit on. Even though we usually ignore them in our daily life, they were ready to serve us. Suntory (a juice company) is giving out free drinks, phone companies are creating more wi-fi spots, 1,000,000 noodles were given by a food company, and everyone is trying to help the best way they can. We, too, have to stand up and do our best. Whenever there is a black out, people are working hard to fix it. Whenever the water stops, there are people working to fix that too. And when there is problem with nuclear energy, there are people trying to fix that too. It doesn't just fix itself. While we are waiting to regain the heat in the cool temperature or have running water. there were people risking their life to fix it for us An old woman said, on a train: "Blackouts are no problem for me. I am used to saving electricity for this country, and turning off lights. At least, this time we don't have bombs flying over our heads. I'm willing to happy to shut off my electricity!" Everyone around couldn't say a word in response. * * 9