Being a friend of many scholars who teach Hinduism and South Asian culture, sometimes I was asked to assume the role of guest lecturer to university students to expose my experiences in the Hare Krishna movement and the traditions of the East. Opportunity when it happens so tempting, I always hasten to explain the difference between a cult religion like Hinduism and Krishna Consciousness, which is the perennial philosophy ie the truth learning, which is the basis of all religious traditions. In India, this truth is called Sanatana-dharma that the soul is eternal. And this is very far from Hinduism today. Invariably I am asked to explain the origin of the Hare Krishna movement and this leads to a debate on the creation of the universe and the beginning of religion as we know it today. Because a question of the origins of a modern movement develops into a discussion about the most distant origins? Given my usual response to a student who wants to know when it started the Hare Krishna movement: If I had to take a point of time when the movement was born, I should say that started with the Catur-mukha Brahma, the designer of the universe has four heads, the first being created at the dawn of creation. This clears up a little 'things? course, since most people are not aware of the eternal nature of Krishna consciousness, and because of the lack of knowledge, identified with Hinduism, begins by explaining how the origins of Hinduism are shrouded in mystery and that its roots are in Sanatana-dharma. I explain that unlike other world religions, Hinduism can not be reported to a single founder, but in fact is a collection of religions of different traditions in il Vaisnavismo costituisce il nucleo. Allora spiego che cos'è il Vaisnavismo: l'adorazione del Supremo Signore, Visnu, in ognuna delle Sue diverse manifestazioni, compreso Krishna, Sua originale manifestazione. Questa verità costituisce il cuore del sanatana-dharma e fu rivelata al primo essere creato, Brahma. Quando Brahma apparve per la prima volta, racconto loro, portò con sé la conoscenza vedica. Il Signore Visnu, Dio, il creatore originale, dette a Brahma rapide visioni della realtà e del mondo spirituale e anche informazioni su come vivere in questo mondo. Questa conoscenza fu trasmessa da maestro a discepolo in una successione esoterica. Lascio understand that in a sense I am allowing to get into this esoteric tradition. In fact all that and 'written in holy books, to be interpreted by a guru (spiritual teacher) true, because often the things you read contain many truths that escape the eyes of people do not fully realized in the consciousness of Krishna.Questo is the way where parampara, or disciplic succession, it works. I am introducing students to what I learned from Srila Prabhupada, who was instructed by his master, and so back to Brahma. The wisdom of this tradition has a long history and this is where the students want to learn more. Mindful of the academic statements, explain what poco si sappia sulle origini di “Indù”: negli anni '20, nel cuore dell'India, furono scoperti i resti di un'antica civiltà indù. Queste antiche rovine hanno una speciale caratteristica pari a quelle della Mesopotamia, della Cina e dell'Egitto, che la classifica come una delle quattro più antiche civiltà conosciute dall'uomo. Si stima che sia esistita dal 3000 avanti Cristo al 1800 avanti Cristo, ma le sue radici penetrano nel periodo neolitico, 7000-6000 anni prima di Cristo. Al suo apice (secondo quanto dicono gli storici moderni) la Indus Valley era sorprendentemente sviluppata, con città progettate, agricoltura, opere scritte, architettura e così via. I siti dove si è scavato all'inizio were on the Indus River in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent, which explains why this culture has been so named. At its greatest development, scholars suggest that in 2200 BC, the Indus civilization occupied an area larger than Europe. Yet what do we really know it? Actually very little. The most promising discovery includes an ancient form of writing, but it is completely incomprehensible. Of course, various theories are offered regularly: some say that writing is a form of the Aryan (Indo-Iranian or Indo-European), others propose to be a part of the Munda family of languages \u200b\u200bwidely spoken in eastern India and related to some Southeast Asian dialects. And still others - the theory is perhaps the most popular of all - argue that it comes from the family of languages \u200b\u200bDravidians of southern India. But no one knows the truth. The imagination runs without a brake on the possible ramifications of a careful deciphering. Today, after seventy years in which an infinite number of scholars have desperately done research on blind artifacts impaired, these are just fragments of a forgotten culture. Add to this the theory of 'Aryan Invasion *, now strongly put in doubt stating that the Indus Valley was violated by foreign invaders in sometime in the second millennium before Christ, and this makes it clear that the world of scholars have done little research on the origins of Hinduism.
Given this lack of information, tell students that becomes more important to see that says that the Vedic tradition itself. The universe is repeatedly created and destroyed. At first, we learn, before time and space, c'è solo Visnu, l'essere primordiale favolosamente maestoso con quattro braccia, con lunghi capelli neri corvini ed una carnagione scura, meravigliosamente bella. Egli solo esiste, ma con uno scopo. Dalla sua posizione regale nell'infinito mondo spirituale, Egli crea una nuvola nel cielo, nella cui ombra manifesta un grande oceano. L'acqua di questo oceano è trascendentale — spiritualità in forma liquida. È da qui, affermano i testi Vaisnava, che si origina il mondo materiale. Esso è quindi chiamato: “le acque della creazione”. Nella freschezza di queste acque divine Visnu si sdraia per dormire. Mentre è in questa condizione di riposo, immerso nelle acque, Egli comincia a respirare profondamente con respiri regular, and this manifests itself over time. Spend eons. Then, while still breathing, emanating from His divine body universes in the form of bubbles, which in turn expected to become innumerable worlds. Although these bubbles transcendental turn away from Him, they are not separated from His essence of existence. Indeed, he expands on several secondary forms of Vishnu, almost identical to your original image in cosmic sleep and penetrates each of them. Now in each universe, with all the basic materials in some form, he relaxes on the coils of a serpent with a thousand heads, Sesa, who cradle gently back and forth, preceding its primary act of creation. To achieve this goal, Visnu ago His belly button pop out a beautiful lotus that grows and flourishes in a wreath decorated with thousands of petals. On top of it, Brahma, the first created being, made its appearance in the world of three dimensions. He is the first creature Vishnu, chosen to create the rest. Brahma was born an adult, but sees only darkness. The sun has not yet been created, and even the moon. Anyone and anything around him. Look to the right, left, front and back. While looking intently in all directions, suddenly appear in place of his four heads. Even with this increased capacity, however, sees nothing and can not understand the world around him and void the purpose of his presence. He decides to go down the stem of the lotus hoping di risolvere il mistero della sua origine. Mentre discende prudentemente lungo lo stelo appena creato, vede svolgersi una creazione — tracce turbinanti di mondi non formati, pianeti che stanno per formarsi. Tutto questo fa muovere qualcosa nel suo intimo. Comincia a intuire la ragione del suo esistere, il suo scopo originale, il suo servizio a Visnu. Egli è fatto per creare. Questo lo sa, ma non è sicuro su come affrontare il suo compito. Allora, meditando profondamente sull'opera che lo aspetta, prega di avere qualche indicazione su come procedere. Deluso, con poco più di un vago senso di quello che deve fare, si gira e comincia il suo lungo viaggio di ritorno lungo lo stelo del loto. Improvvisamente, in risposta alla sua preghiera, sente due syllables: ta-pa . Listening intently, I hear them again - ta-pa - and its path becomes a little 'clearer. The word means "austerity." From this then realizes that the Lord is sending a message: to serve the Lord in this function is so basic to collaborate in the creation, he is required to qualify as a deep meditation and to develop a deep sense of austerity. Now completely safe in his cradle of the lotus flower, sits with her legs drawn in yogic position, with your back straight, meditating on the task that awaits him. After a thousand years of heaven, Brahma's meditation is interrupted. Now he knows what to do and how. His intense concentration gave him a vision of the spiritual world, where lies her beloved Vishnu. Brahma for the boundaries between material and spiritual world fade away and he sees reality in all its beauty. Overwhelmed by the shape of the Lord, His nature and His glory, by your wonderful associates and his surroundings, Brahma composed hundreds of verses, which are then collected in a book known as Brahma-samhita . Then, regaining his composure, turns its attention to the task at hand. Offspring born from his mind that it has an impressive array of species to populate the planets, the waters and the skies. Of all the first sons of Brahma, Narada is the most expensive and perhaps most important in our current context. Brahma tells him the truth of the spiritual world and asks him to share with the multitudes who now populate the world. spend eons of Narada and the mission gets her greatest success when he delivered the message to Vyasa that puts in writing the Vedic truth, collecting that knowledge was transmitted orally for centuries. Vyasa Veda takes the only original and divides it into four parts for easier understanding. Then, to give the essence of Vedic truth that it was not clear in previous works, fill out the Mahabharata and the Puranas . I commend each of these works to scholars of perfect training and they in turn teach the texts to their disciples and the disciples of the disciples. This will merge their schools of Vedic thought. These, of course, eventually give rise to Hinduism as we know it today. Succession disciplic esoteric continue to transmit the essential core of Vedic truth. disciplic One of these sequences is from Brahma to Narada to Vyasa and down to the generation of Srila Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krishna movement. Shiva, the devas whose task is the destruction of the universe, is the founder of a succession disciplic known as Rudra- sampradaya . Laksmi, the goddess of fortune and wife of Vishnu, he founded yet another. And the four Kumara, sons of Brahma who practice celibacy, yet another. disciplic These four sequences are organized respectively by Madhvacarya, Visnusvami, Ramanuja and Nimbarka, the highest among the great teacher-saints of medieval India. Today in India - and by the grace of Srila Prabhupada in tutto il mondo — coloro che conoscono bene le antiche tradizioni non apprendono la conoscenza vedica dai libri di scuola o dai racconti trasmessi dalle loro nonne. Invece, se una persona è seriamente impegnata a livello spirituale, avvicina un maestro della successione disciplica e studia con serietà sotto la sua guida. E non è soltanto con lo studio, ma vivendo la propria vita in questo modo che la verità si apre, proprio come il fiore di loto di Brahma all'inizio della creazione.
DALLA SINCERITÀ DEL CUORE LA CONOSCENZA
At this point, students feel that they are not exactly in line with their teachers of the university, there's something else at stake. "Yes," I say, "religious truth can not be understood with the intellect or simple word games brain. You can not understand it becoming experts in Sanskrit or by obtaining a degree in philosophy. These things are commendable and in some way may also be useful on the road. What matters, however, is a sincere heart, willing to submit to a spiritual teacher with reverence and attitude service, to learn from someone who knows - no one who has simply learned from books, but one who knows. To enter the truth of transcendence, one must be willing, like Brahma, to see beyond the darkness of submitting to the Lord. We can not meditate for a thousand years Brahma heaven as he did, but if we even once to call upon God with all sincerity, we get what we got Brahma: the knowledge of who we are and what we are made. This is the reason why the Hare Krishna movement emphasize the singing of maha-mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. We beg the Lord to allow us kindly to serve Him: "O Lord, O energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your holy service." In the beginning was the Word , I tell them, and also to end our stay in the material world the Word plays a role. Summarize by explaining that there is much to learn from the story of Brahma. In addition to information about creating the cosmos, his story is a metaphor for man's spiritual journey. We are born in ignorance, which is like the darkness of the worlds not yet created by Brahma. Like him we must ask with determination our identity and our purpose. And when we hear the call of the Lord, we must be willing to meditate and perform austerity, to do whatever it takes to reach our goal. If we do so, we are part of the line of teachers that is born from Brahma. Finally, I tell them that even if this story of creation with mythological Vishnu and Brahma may seem, it gives us a sense of primal origins, the existence of another reality beyond the material sphere - the ultimate reality. In other words, it tells us of a more fundamental reality of the so-called real world and thus stands out very clearly from everything to do with mythology. And if we take into account not deciphered the writing of the Indus Valley and the many questions about the Aryan invasion theory, it becomes clear that there are absolutely no theories in contrast. There is only the truth, as revealed by scripture and by God himself.
Satyaraja Dasa, disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who has worked regularly at BTG has written over twenty books. He lives with his wife and daughter near New York City
* Theory Aryan invasion, which holds that the Vedas were brought to India from the outer regions of some nomads, perhaps Central Asia or the Arctic or the south-eastern Europe - none knows for sure - has been systematically dismantled in some recent studies scholars. See especially Edwin F. Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migwlion Debaie. (New York : Oxford University Press 2001) and Klaus Klostermayer, A Survey of Hinduism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994 reprint).
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