Saturday, July 7, 2012

Defining Indian Culture

Recently, a group of us in Bangalore with diverse backgrounds, interests and talents (political, technical, artistic) got together to form a close-knit forum called 'manthana' मन्थन (ಮಂಥನೆ). The objective of this forum (as I understood) is "Glory through Grounding in Indian Culture". Specifically,
  • Celebrate pristine Indian culture or aarya samskriti (आर्य संस्कृतिः) and wisdom (भारतीय विज्ञानम्‌)
  • Boost self-esteem of Indians through deep awareness of India's unique heritage and its value.
  • Discover pathways to glory through firm grounding in indigenous Indian approach to life
  • Rekindle passion for living Indian values among the younger generation.
It is debatable whether glory comes through grounding in Indian culture. However, we'd like to start with that belief (or working hypothesis) and explore where it takes us.

There was confusion at the outset regarding what we mean by "our roots" and "Indian culture". Some questions:
Since India has been a melting pot of cultures for millenia now, which one can we call "our culture"? Wouldn't it sound "exclusive and fanatic" if we pick one as ours? People had very different ideas (legitimate indeed) of what we should do. Some ideas were: "doubt everything", "be all-inclusive in everything", "take religion out of the picture", "experience rather than analyze". etc.

I felt that it is important to clearly articulate what is understood by well-regarded individuals as culture, as Indian culture and Indian approach to life to set a common mental platform for addressing the above questions and make the discussion less nebulous.

I will attempt to do that in this post.
http://surasa.net/mindmaps/culture.html

What is Culture (संस्कृति) ?

I found the following definition to be very precise and apt (in Hindi):

संस्कृति सत्य-निष्ठ जीवन मूल्य है |
In English:
Culture is a set of life values (cherished and practised) in tune with Truth (or one's perception of it).
Our personal and social conduct is an output and manifestation of our culture.

There is an excellent speech by Chanakya in the TV serial "Chanakya". He gives this speech during a period of utter confusion and low self-esteem in Pataliputra's Hindu society due to mass exodus to Buddhist culture due to its permissive morals, and the local ruler using them to silence the Hindu scholars' outcry over his oppressive rule.

Among several companies I worked for, NetApp talks a lot about preserving its culture as the most important for the organization. Its founder, Dave Hitz puts it neatly - our core values (trust, integrity ...) shape individual conduct, repeated conduct becomes a habit at individual level, and widespread habit in an organization essentially becomes its culture.
So one's culture is derived from one's view of the nature of the world and oneself. What we consider appropriate conduct for ourselves depends on our notion of what is the ultimate Reality of ourselves and the world. This notion of truth can come from
  1. direct perception through our organs of knowledge - senses plus our extrapolation of their data with intellect that we call Science, 
  2. a system of beliefs/hypotheses that we resonate with emotionally and take as truth, called our religion (not necessarily corroborated by 1).
  3. internalization of the perceptions of others whom we respect and follow.

What is Religion (मतम्‌) ?

Religion, according to (m-w.com) dictionary is 
"a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith".
In that sense, one's perception of truth can be called one's religion. That belief or faith could have solidified out of long observation or internalization of outside ideas (1, 2 or 3 above).
So one can say that culture is influenced by religion.

Custom (सम्प्रदायः) vs. Culture (संस्कृतिः)

to be filled in ....

Example: Prevalent World Culture

If our truth perception is that (a) we are conscious material beings with intellect but inherently distinct from each other and (b) happiness comes from satisfaction of desires at physical, emotional and intellectual levels, then individual enjoyment (regardless of the others) - survival of the fittest - is the ultimate way of nature and hence a legitimate value to live by. An amendment to that value after French revolution is the triple value of liberty, equality and fraternity - all men are created equal, and individual's freedom to pursue happiness is inviolable. This is the new "religion" called humanity मानवत्वम्‌. Still, the underlying truth perception stays the same - that we are distinct intellectual beings jostling to satisfy individual self-interests while adjusting to others'. Some corollaries:
  • What we perceive from senses + intellect is the only truth (more an unconfirmed belief than proven fact) and hence a sound basis for forming our values.
  • Happiness comes from satisfying one's physical, emotional, intellectual being. Hence self-interest is the prime motive for any action, which cannot happen otherwise. Though people talk about social upliftment, it is inherently at odds with this truth perception, and hence hasn't been effective in the long-term.
  • Marriage as an institution is at odds with this truth perception as it goes against happiness through physical interchange. We're seeing broken marriages and social chaos as a result of unloved children.
  • Fraternity value conflicts with this truth perception and hence conveniently ignored, resulting in all sorts of exploitation in the world today. Fraternity means brotherhood, or perception of oneness with other beings.  Oneness means experiencing pleasure/pain of others as one's own, and is the basis of social equality, sacrifice. Since that oneness is not experienced from senses+intellect currently, it is felt as unreal and remains just a slogan.

The Truth Perception Underlying Indian Culture

The fundamental truth perception underlying Indian culture is that man (in fact, everything) is much more than a body+life+mind complex. At our inmost core, we are all utterly one being (called Naaraayana नारायणः - the Universal Man) that has become many for the joy of varied self-experience. However, in our current stage of evolution, it self-limits its manifestations (jiivas जीवाः) in a mind+life+body cage separated in consciousness from the universal self and others जीवाः  by a mental smoke screen inside and physical separation outside. The true enjoyer, i.e., me, is the jiva or soul, and the mind+life+body are merely my outer organs. I can perceive my oneness with "others" to the extent I break the smoke screen through Yoga maarga. This breakage and uniting with my true core consciousness awakens me to my native infinite power over nature and illimitable bliss, which is true happiness - the goal of this play of Life.

However, as long as I perceive myself as a mind working in a body, enjoyment of its petty joys and sorrows keeps me away from rending my smoke screen and perpetuates the limitation. This is the main rationale for not running after intellectual+emotional+physical preferences too much. The biggest delusion (that of the atheist) is to think that there is nothing behind the smoke screen - a perfect recipe to slow down evolution. It gets thicker due to mental agitations caused by immersion in the lower enjoyments. Also, mere intellectual understanding won't break the screen.

Everybody can lecture on this topic nowadays because so many books are available to read the theory in Vedanta books. It is in vain until it turns into experience.

How it translates into Indian culture is the crux and where India's unique contribution to the future of the world comes from. Being born in a Hindu social environment and getting steeped in its culture uniquely positions one for this journey due to the long orientation of the psyche of the race to this truth over millenia. However, this is not to say that the door is closed for others. It's just that we have the first mover advantage, if utilized.

What is Pristine Indian Culture?

Indian Culture is based on the above truth perception which is a massive superset of the current truth perception of man as merely an intellectual being shut off from others. This truth perception changes our approach to everything - our life values, our art, our approach to happiness, our social organization.

One who lives according to this truth is the true Aryan (literally, noble person), and he/she can come from any race. Arya Samskriti is living with this perception that one is the soul beyond mind, and one with all others utterly, and also striving after experience of this truth in life.

Now some corollaries:
  • Lasting happiness comes from satisfying the inmost soul, not its three outer layers (mind, life, body). This applies to music, literature and other art forms. Art that expresses the inmost soul of things yields the most happiness.
  • "Doubting Everything" should include doubting one's own intellectual conclusions about things, since intellect is not the ultimate judge of truth.
  • God exists and is nothing but your inmost soul sitting behind the mental smoke screen. Bhakti is aspiration for experiencing one's own highest self as a real sentient being, rejection of lower movements through utter calmness, and surrender of whatever fruits of one's action to the wisdom of the inner self without reservation.
  • Religion is nothing but action out of implicit faith and aspiration that gradually takes one towards actual experience by helping one avoid the snares of pure intellect, which can circle forever in self-made grooves away from truth.
  • Living for a principle (as opposed to satisfying one's desires/preferences) helps overcome the mental smoke screen by quieting the lower three layers and breaking the screen to unite with one's higher faculties. Likewise, marriage is not merely for physical enjoyment but is a training ground to practise love, sacrifice and oneness with others, overcoming outer differences.