Buddhiyoga in Geeta - Chapter 12 - Hindu Religion and Geeta and Buddhiyoga

12. Hindu Religion, Geetaa and Buddhiyoga
12.1 Religion and Dharma
At the outset in Chapter 1, I said that I want to pass on to you my understanding of Hindu religion as I have gathered it from the study of Geetaa. Many say that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Now let's understand why that makes sense.
Dharma means religion, but only in the original sense of either word. Here is how.
Religion has a modern conventional divisive connotation, the exact opposite of the meaning it ought to derive from its etymological root. Religion derives from “re+legare” meaning to bind back or bind together. A religion, thus, ‘binds’ the society together and upholds it. However, religion has come to mean a particular set of beliefs that binds a particular subset of humanity together. And in that sense the different sets of beliefs have given rise to different religions. To the extent that each one holds itself to be the only valid set of beliefs regarding the “supreme”, it fails to bind the total human race together as one, which ought to be the real meaning and purpose of “religion”.

The Samskrut (or Sanskrit as English would have it) word “Dharma” derives from the root “dhru” which means to uphold. The meaning of “Dharma” is very close to that of “Religion” in its truly fundamental sense. I am not about to compare religions. Nor am I going about elevating Hindu religion above others. Yet, I cannot even begin to describe the Hindu Dharma in all its diamond-like multi-faceted brilliance.
My purpose here is to go the root of the Hindu religion and understand how it can come closer to being a Dharma or a religion that it is supposed to be in the true sense of the word, or in other words ‘a way of life that can hold humanity together and lead it on the path to Yoga that is the logical and natural destination of the long journey’. My basic contention is that Hindu Dharma has become Hinduism or just another ‘religion’, because it has abandoned its connection to Buddhi and to yoga practice as a routine way of life.
I see Dharma or a religion as akin to a climber's rope laid out from the foothills of worldly life to the peak of spiritual Self-Realization that is forever concealed above clouds of self-delusion. The rope is anchored along the way by means of examples of yogis and saints whose life and message serve as beacons. And what is unique about the Hindu religion is that its yoga tradition lays out many ropes from the same foothills to the One peak, but along different routes of different difficulty and different directness to the peak. The most direct ones demand the most difficult, steep ascents, and the less direct ones are along the winding hillsides. Followers are free to choose any rope to grasp. I resist the temptation to try to extend this analogy to other religions; I don’t have the requisite knowledge to do so.

Where does that leave the atheist or non-believer? In this analogy, the atheist looks down upon the rope as something for the weak to hold on to, and for those with blind faith to follow. Atheists too believe in climbing the hill, but just because it's there, i.e., being good without a well-founded or well-articulated reason or purpose, or in other words, just for the excitement of it. And they don't believe there is any reachable peak above the clouds, and that anyone who claims to have reached above the clouds and seen or reached the peak cannot prove it, and is therefore not to be believed. Actually, they would not even concede the existence of ‘clouds’, but simply treat the human limits of life span and abilities as just so much closed-end world in itself. To me, that view with self-imposed limits seems rather closed-minded and disabusing any possibility of exceeding our own limits in talent, senses and knowledge.
12.2 Dharma and Geetaa
Geetaa has used the word “Dharma” in its various shades of meaning, all of which pertain to duty in one way or another and none of them pertains to ritualistic religion. “Dharmya” is another word – an adjective - Krishna used in Geetaa that derives from “Dharma”. It means arising from following Dharma or that which upholds Dharma. This adjective is used in Geetaa (1) for the war itself, (2) for the dialog between Krishna and Arjun, and (3) for his immortal advice articulated in Adhyaaya 12 that gives a description of the “most beloved devotee” (or Yogee, or Jnyaanee (Knower) or Sannyaasee).
“Dharmya” dialog was one in which the participants – Krishna and Arjun - were discussing the resolution to Arjun's dilemma arising from his confusion regarding his Dharma or duty.
“Dharmya” war arose because the Paandavas, who meticulously followed their Dharma for the “well-being of all”, tried every possible recourse short of confrontation and were left no other course of action.
The “Dharmya” dialog is so called because its study and practice will lead one on the proper path of Dharma leading to the destination of Yoga.
Nowhere in the use of the word “Dharma” or “Dharmya” is there any allusion to rituals or sectarianism. It's all about duty and yoga and about nothing else. Note, too, that ritualism is mentioned in Geetaa (Adhyaaya 2 and 9) in an unflattering way.
Now you may see why Hinduism is not a “religion” but a way of life. Then again, any true religion is a way of life and not a divisive, sectarian, holier-than-thou profession, a way of life for spiritual uplifting of all its adherents. In that fundamental sense Hinduism is a religion that is a way of life. As the vedic scripture says, “The Truth is but one. Sages speak of it differently”. Just because sages have spoken differently, there is no sane reason for strife among the followers of the sages. I believe that you get the gist of what I am saying. Thus, I believe that Hinduism is a religion that is a way of life for spiritual uplifting, with the ultimate goal of attaining Yoga that is Self-Knowledge, Self-Realization, Unity with the Supreme One.
Now let’s take another look at Dharma from a different angle. There is a verse in Mahaabhaarat that sets humans apart from animals thus: “Food, sleep, fear and sexual intercourse are common to humans and animals. Dharma is what’s special to them (humans). Those without Dharma are (living) like animals.” Animals live by their primal instincts and for basic, primal needs. There is no need to discuss at length the limits of animals’ mental abilities, but suffice it to say that they are very limited. Human mental abilities seem limitless. Humans take their instincts to a whole new level beyond the primal instincts and needs by first searching past the immediate physical vicinity and the immediate future. They model the surroundings in terms of cause-and-effect behaviors and project the future outcomes. Then they act purposefully to harness their knowledge to recast their surroundings in the ways nature never seemed to intend. Let me clarify this.
The Wheel for instance does not exist in nature as a natural device, but human being invented it a few years ago and life was never the same again. I say a few years, because that’s how long it has been in the life of the universe, a mere flash in the pan.
When I watch a National Geographic wildlife show on TV, I see lions and deer, or predators and preys in general, living in one general area. Lions routinely hunt among deer for their food. Deer do not seem to do anything more than run for their life, let one or a few of them fall prey and go on with life if they don’t end up in the lions’ jaws. Threat to life is nothing personal, but just a numbers game. Some fall prey but others – enough - survive and go on, without any clue as to what they can or should do about the threat, or even to conceive the idea of being able to do anything about the threat.
Humans in similar situation have devised means and weapons to overcome physically more powerful predators (I say ‘physical more powerful’ because humans have become the most prolific predators even with their physical inferiority); they organize and build fortifications; they consciously recognize the threat, don’t accept it as the way nature intended, and act to eliminate it. This difference underscores the human abilities not to just take nature ‘as is’ but to try to understand it and work it to their advantage. Of course, its modern implication is that we have abused nature so much that it will take its sweet revenge upon us, but that’s whole another ecological issue and not the topic of discussion here.
Just in passing, I mentioned TV above as if that’s just another natural part of life. Take a pause and think how it is part of human’s way of harnessing the elements above and beyond what nature ‘intended’ in terms of primal instincts and basic needs.

Vedic sages went deeper in search of the meaning even behind the human ability and propensity to “better” their worldly life with physical safety and security, with amenities and comforts, with sensual pleasure and indulgence, etc, i.e., with the knolwledge just for the sake of knowledge. The sages developed the discipline of yoga to search for the meaning of life and have told us that this search is very individual and must be accomplished by each one on his/her own. They showed how one can yoke one’s abilities that transcend the obvious physical abilities and harness their natural powers that are not even known in the normal course of life. They have shown systematic ways of controlling the human faculties that are taken for granted as ‘involuntary’ by the modern science. They have stated that the very real culmination of such effort is in a Self-Realization that transcends all knowledge of physical existence as we come to perceive and know it through our senses. They went on to formulate the practices that would help one progress in this search effort. They have stated that this pursuit is not limited to one lifetime, but rather spans many lifetimes of hard work. These practices prescribed by the sages form the core of the Hindu religion.
Human beings are creatures of habit, forming or inventing practices above and beyond primal instincts, converting them into habits, which they then practice as extensions of their instincts. They have done the same to the sages’ prescription for life to transcend the mere physical self and to attain the ultimate joy or bliss of knowing our true identity. The Dharma so prescribed slowly crystallized into individual practices and habits, and social customs and traditions. With this reasoning, a question that comes to my mind is, “Can a religious practice that is more a habit than a purposeful pursuit be really a Dharma?” But then again, who am I to ask what constitutes purpose that makes the practice a Dharma in the truest sense, and what doesn’t. The trouble with “purpose” is that, when the “purpose” of one religion clashes with that of another, all hell breaks loose.

So let me get back to the topic of this last chapter of the book. The purpose here is to give a bird’s eye view of the Hindu religious practices and how they relate to the Yoga, or Buddhiyoga to be more specific.

12.3 Dharma and Religious Practice
Dharma is hard to sustain in practice in its pristine form. The human being is a creature of habit, and the individual has the habit of reducing repetitive work to a habit. It is actually efficient to do so. On an individual level, habit implies that Buddhi is given a rest – often well-deserved. Society as a whole also reduces common practices to social habits called customs, which, over time, becomes tradition. This is also efficient in that each generation doesn’t have to reinvent the customs and traditions. Society implicitly gives the collective Buddhi a rest, but often at the peril of distancing the tradition from its Dharma and yoga roots and making the tradition devoid of sustaining meaning.
Hindu religion is arguably the most ancient religion. Its innumerable facets are often derided as anachronisms and irrelevant. However, the religion that is founded on the most scientific discipline of yoga cannot be so easily dispatched. What we need to do is to revisit the moorings and rebuild the practices to be relevant in modern times and yet fully consistent with the eternal yoga discipline.
Buddhiyoga on the individual level comprises comprehension, analysis, decision and execution, as I already discussed in the last chapter. Execution, in turn, comprises action, self-monitoring and self-correction. On the social level, Buddhiyoga implies a constant monitoring of the course of the customs and traditions and consequent diagnosis and collective self-correction. Buddhiyoga does this on an individual level as I have argued extensively before. The collective Buddhi must similarly take up the reins of the social psyche and drive the “chariot” of society on the yoga path. What I propose then is the role for the collective Buddhi to wake up and take charge of its rightful place as the pilot.
I had mentioned in an earlier chapter the role of Raajarshi, a king who is a yogi or is advnced on the yoga path. But Raajarshi as a real person is now an anachronism, like monarchy. However, the role of Raajarshi is still real and must be played by intellectual leaders who have not buried their heads in the sands of disbelief in or cynicism of all that is ancient knowledge.
Customs and traditions cannot be allowed to take on a life and meaning of their own. They must be scrutinized by Buddhi by using the Yoga lens and diagnosed for the defects and aberrations that then need to be corrected.
I am sure that the true intellectual leaders will rise up to this task and do much better justice to it than I can.
I will now turn my attention to describing the many facets of Hindu religion, its customs and traditions, its institutions and their relation to yoga as I understand both. I will start with what you are familiar with and gradually lead towards the unfamiliar including what you may have read or heard of, even if in unflattering mentions in the modern English writings both in the East as well as in the West.

12.4 Hindu Religious Practice - Traditions, Customs and Rituals
“UNDER CONSTRUCTION”

Topics to be discussed:

Family customs: respect for parents, elders, teachers, Righteousness, duty, and numerous basic values.
Daily worship and prayers, daily ‘purification’ rituals, charity, ...
Holidays, epics and scriptures: idols and ideals. Examples and illustrations.

Traditions:
Four Varnas
Four Ashrams
Sixteen Samskaaras

Multi-deities and One Supreme: Paradox of One Supreme vs may gods. Idol worship in relation to worship of the ‘formless’. (Golden calf of the Old Testament – idols as the object of worship)
Regular worship: daily, weekly, monthly
Occasional celebrations and holidays
Bhajan, Keertan, satsang, Lectures,
Epics: Ramayan, Mahabharat
Scriptures: Vedas, Upanishats, Puraanas
History, great kings and kingdoms
Sages, saints and their literature: This is my connection to all of the scriptural heritage.