"What is truth? said Jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer." (Francis Bacon). Something similar to this may be said when we are asked, or ask ourselves, 'what is culture?" We seldom take the trouble of finding out the precise meaning of 'culture. We generally mean by it good manners in an individual, and the fine arts. The plethora of definitions, with their content as diverse as the colours of the rainbow, makes it clear that culture is more complex than what our simple notions imply.
We have also numerous works on our 'cultural heritage'. These cover the wide spectrum of ancient thought embodied in vedic, epic and puranic literature as well as music, dance, sculpture, architecture and painting. The pioneer six-volume publication of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (1958-1986), for instance, deals with pre-historic India, the ideals and concepts of Vedic religion, Jainism and Buddhism; the epics, the puranas and the Dharma Sastras; the philosophical systems; the religions mainly religious 'sects and cults' the saints, rituals and festivals, non-Hindu religions (religions beyond the borders), modern reform movements and 'Sri Ramakrishna and Spiritual Renaissance'; languages and literatures; and science and technology. The coverage is wide but not comprehensive the fine arts are left out. The contributions are scholarly and provide a wealth of knowledge. But it needs to be confessed that one misses the wood for the trees. What is the influence of this heritage on the shaping of the individual citizen of this land? To what extent does he embody the values that form the foundation of our culture? What is the cultural identity of our country? One does not get answers to these questions. Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, in his fine 'Introduction to the first volume of the series, contents himself with saying: "The different systems described in this volume possess a unity of character and attitude which makes the manifold a single whole, which we might describe as the Hindu spirit." It may be said that, while the volumes tell us what the Indian culture is all about, its bearing on the individual citizen is not brought into sharp focus. More or less the same may be said of the prestigious UNESCO publication on Indian culture edited by the late Dr. V. Raghavan; it is an anthology of extracts from Indian scriptural and classical literature and as such lacks a sense of completeness.
'Indian Culture as the Song of the Spirit' represents an attempt at breaking new ground. In dealing with Indian culture, my friend, Shri V.Sivaramakrishnan, has a method and a point of view. His method is to interpret Indian culture in terms of the definition of culture given by the British anthropologist, Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917); his point of view is that, it derives its strength and vitality, which account for its continuity compared to other cultures, from being a thing of the spirit. In holding this view, he relies for support on Sri Aurobindo and Dr.S.Radhakrishnan. Not only in his basic standpoints but in the exposition of his subject, of which he has a firm grasp, he goes to the basic texts and the well of scholarship at which generations have drunk deep.
'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread', said the choleric Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the English poet. Poets do not generally go wrong and, when genuinely inspired, utter only universal truths. When I started this work, I could feel the ghost of Pope brooding over me. But this uneasiness did not last long, and as I proceeded with my writing, heard the angel whispering into my ear, "Make haste, let the pen go. Do not prance or leap in the air. Be steady like the tortoise in the story." This work is the result of labour of almost a year, the angel staying close to me and occasionally, when the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak, prodding me at the elbow.
It was not without some reason that I chose to write on Indian culture, which is a daunting subject because of its sheer complexity. Early in 1991, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, included 'Cultural Heritage of India'as a compulsory subject in its curriculum of studies prescribed for the students attending the various diploma courses Management, Marketing, Journalism etc. conducted by the (Bhavan's) Rajendra Prasad Institute of Communication and Management. The students had no specific textbook to go by except a collection of essays on the subject by eminent Indian leaders; the compilation was made by one Shri D.Raghavan. When the students were required to get a minimum number of marks in this subject to obtain a diploma, there was an urgent need to draw up a syllabus and provide for the students the required study material. As I was then the Associate Editor of Bhavan's Journal (1983-2000), I offered to take up the task. I took up the English anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor's widely accepted definition of culture as the starting point and analysed the subject in terms of that definition. Owing to lack of time, I prepared the 'course material with extracts from the works of scholars, who had been acknowledged as authorities on different aspects of culture such as religion, philosophy and art. The material so compiled, along with model questions and bibliography, ran into 200 printed pages.
I was far from satisfied with what I had done though it served an immediate purpose. I was hoping to write an elaborate book on the subject once I was released from the regular office routine. I left Mumbai in 2001 for Delhi to work on the 'Encyclopedia of Hinduism sponsored by the Parmarth Niketan (headed by Swami Chidananda Sarasvati 'Muniji') of Rishikesh. This work widened the horizon of my knowledge of Hinduism and gave me an insight into the impact of religion on Indian culture. When the 'project encyclopedia' was wound up by the end of 2004 in Chennai, I felt free to devote all my time to the much longed for task of elaborating my 'material' on Indian culture. As if by God's will, I had an unexpected offer at this time from Sri Mathoor Krishnamurti, Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Banglore, to publish the book. There could have been no greater incentive to me to get along with my work than Mathoorji's offer, and his words of encouragement and cheer.
While I have retained Tylor's definition of culture for analytical purpose, I have interpreted it in terms of 'spirit', following Dr.S.Radhakrishnan and Śrī Aurobindo. The term 'spirit' has certain vagueness about it, as it connotes nothing tangible that we can recognise.
Vedas (1211)
Upanishads (506)
Puranas (633)
Ramayana (759)
Mahabharata (371)
Dharmasastras (167)
Goddess (516)
Bhakti (251)
Saints (1547)
Gods (1308)
Shiva (391)
Journal (181)
Fiction (62)
Vedanta (378)
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