Ideas of Aryavarta
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In this Article we will discuss some of the important ideas that the concept of Aryavarta gave us. Please note that here, Aryavarta is used to resemble the idea of Ancient India as a whole, including its socio-political, economic and spiritual ideas, gained through the Vedas and Upnishads through a long span of time.
What Imporant Ideas did Aryavarta gave us?
A Total Way Of Life
The first fundamental principle that Aryavarta gave us is that "the Reality is one without a second." This reality is beyond description by human mind. Hence it is indicated by a single world, "Brahman". Aryavarta provided mankind's oldest spiritual declaration, the very fountainhead of faith on the planet.
Spoken in mathematical context, the search for ultimate truth was started by the Hindus through a method analogous to the solution of a transcendental equation where unknown cannot express as an explicit function of the known, requiring a trial-and-error solution.
Education
"He who is possessed of supreme knowledge by concentration of mind, must have his senses under control, like spirited steeds controlled by a charioteer." says the Upanishad. From the Vedic age downwards the central conception of education of the Indians has been that it is a source of illumination giving us a correct lead in the various spheres of life.
A single feature of ancient Indian or Hindu civilization is that it has been molded and shaped in the course of its history more by religious than by political, or economic, influences. The fundamental principles of social, political, and economic life were welded into a comprehensive theory which is called Religion in Hindu thought. The total configuration of ideals, practices, and conduct is called Dharma (Religion, Virtue or Duty) in this ancient tradition. From the very start, they came, under the influence of their religious ideas, to conceive of their country as less a geographical and material than a cultural or a spiritual possession, and to identify, broadly speaking, the country with their culture. The Country was their Culture and the Culture their Country, the true Country of the Spirit, the 'invisible church of culture' not confined within physical bounds.
Organized Society
Aryavarta gave us the concept of organizing the society appropriately, without any discrimination, to suit the economic growth of the individuals and state. It focused on all round development of the human society, in harmony with the nature. It gave us the Caste System (or Varna System).
he Caste System (or varna-ashrama) has been one of the most misrepresented, misinformed, misunderstood, misused and the most maligned aspects of Hinduism. If one wants to understand the truth, the original purpose behind the caste system, one must go to antiquity to study the evolution of the caste system. Caste System, which is said to be the mainstay of the Hindu social order, has no sanction in the Vedas. The ancient culture of India was based upon a system of social diversification according to SPIRITUAL development, not by birth, but by his karma. This system became hereditary and over the course of many centuries degenerated as a result of exploitation by some priests, and other socio-economic elements of society.
Caste therefore was not only an institution which ought to be immune from the cheap second-hand denunciations so long in fashion, but a supreme necessity without which Indian civilization could not have developed its distinctive character or worked out its unique mission. But to recognize this is not to debar ourselves from pointing out its later perversions and desiring its transformation. It is the nature of human institutions to degenrate, to lose their vitality and decay, and the first sign of decay is the loss of flexibility and oblivion of the essential spirit in which they were conceived. The spirit is permanent, the body changes; and a body which refuses to change must die.
Conclusion
A major portion of the ideas evolved from Aryavarta are written in Vedas.
The Ideas that Aryavarta gave us are what one can call the cheat book to life.
To make better sense of it, imagine you are playing a video game and some one who already played it is with you, he can take you through the entire game easily without letting you probably be defeated even once, now imagine another person who can show you deeper bonus levels or extra rounds that generally not everyone know existed and get you through the statue with the bonus points, now imagine playing it along with the maker of the game who is ready to give it all out to you but not directly.
Vedas are pretty much what this life is, provided you know what to learn and how to. Vedas are the manifestation of knowledge from those saints that have been to those life's extremes that one could possibly not imagine.
They are but a simple set of rules and suggestions understanding which would simply let you know yourself.
To talk about practicality, Vedas provide you insights on how better one can be equipped in understanding life in the sense of what it means and how it can be better handled.
What would happen if there were no Vedas?
Without Vedas:
- No Brahmasutras, to clarify rituals
- No Buddhism, to overcome shortcomings of Vedic practice
- No Upanishads, to clarify the philosophical essence of Vedas
- No Vedanta, which developed abstract philosophical concepts from all the above.
- No Mathematics, Astronomy, Ayurveda (Medical Science) and scientific concepts which came from the above
- No Puranas.
The way of explaining these facts are truly appreciable.
ReplyDeleteMay Lord Ram save humanity.