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Challanges to Hinduism
Dear Friends:
This time I will try to look at ourselves. Sometime ago, I wrote that
Hinduism is 'somewhat eclectic', without really knowing the history of
it. The truth is, Hinduism is *not* eclectic. I apologize for this
slip.
I will begin by quoting from Sri T.V. Kapali Sastry in "Lights on the
ancients", to talk about the history of eclecticism. My understanding
of eclecticsm is mainly from this book.
****
" Certain bold thinkers in the West dissatisfied with the philosophies
began to choose what they considered to the best in each of the systems
known to them and presented it as a whole, a workable hypothesis. they
called it eclecticism. Victor Cousin...asserted... "Each system, is not
false, but incomplete amd in reuniting all incomplete systems we should
have a complete philosophy, adequate to the totality of consciouness". "
*****
Eclecticism is the product of the speculative mind(s). The question is,
how does Hinduism differ from that? Simply stated, by being differently
concieved. The RigVeda describes that the Seers climbed Indra like a
ladder (Rishi Madhuchhandas). Sri Aurobindo described that as the climb
from one realization to another, and therein lies the difference. The
Scriptures are not speculative.
However, at a time when in the streets of Calcutta, the babus considered
it "culture' to drink liquor and walk the streets, when reading Bangla
was considered by them to be unfashionable, the disciple of Maharshi
Devendranath Tagore, Sri Keshab Chandra Sen tried to introduce
eclecticism to set moral standards back in society. Unfortunately, this
goes against the spirituality in Hinduism, and the Brahma-samaj suffered
from that. Sri Bijoy Krishna Goswami, who was the Brahma-pracharak in
East Bengal, resigned and went 'step climbing Indra'.
This is an issue that we need to keep in mind, because if we lose focus,
we could be in disarray.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
