Papers by Kalyanbrata Chakraborty
1. The repulsive erotic sculptures on the outer walls of temples remained a puzzle of Indian cult... more 1. The repulsive erotic sculptures on the outer walls of temples remained a puzzle of Indian culture for centuries. The attempts of all previous scholars failed for two reasons. First, they made mistake in problem formulation. They did not make the necessary difference between the light erotic figures which are considered as lovable art motifs throughout the world and the loathing scenes of sexual union and sex-exhibition which are despised by every civilized people. Had this difference been made it would appear that objectionable erotic figures appear only on free-standing Hindu temples and nowhere else. Second, the previous scholars tried to understand the significance of the erotic figures without understanding the temple itself. A Hindu temple has a metaphysical meaning which needs to be understood for understanding the other features of it. 2. To search the metaphysical meaning of a temple the present scholar realized that when temple construction was ordained, i.e. around 5 th century B. C., Indian religion was in a melting pot. Vedic sacrifice was being relegated giving way to puja or image-worship. This is the most significant event in the religious history of India which remained un-explored so long. In an attempt to construct that history the unknown ontology of Śãlagrãma worship has been revealed and it has been discovered that at the core of Hindu theology there is manhood and no extra-cosmic power to be paraphrased as god. 3. Since the ultimate creative power, the Absolute power inherent in Nature, called Purusa or Visnu or Brahman by the Rishis of India, resides overwhelmingly in the heart of man according to their conception, that heart was regarded as the highest divinity and to give a deity-form to it a replica of the human heart found in Śãlagrãma , fossil of Ammonite, a sea-animal, was accepted as an image of human heart as well as Visnu. When this Visnu or god was needed to be enshrined in a temple, that temple has to have the form of a man. A temple has been built as an image of a man. That is the metaphysical meaning of a temple. Scriptural evidences cited in support of this. 4. A temple was constructed not only in physical simulation of a man. The Vedic priests conceived it as a living organism. As such all the inner realities of a man had to be portrayed in it. The inner realities comprise of the three basic gunas , sattva, raja and tama of human nature. In the different parts of the
Man is thoughtful. He is disturbed by many mundane and extra mundane thoughts. After spending lif... more Man is thoughtful. He is disturbed by many mundane and extra mundane thoughts. After spending life in enjoyment and good humour what will happen in the life hereafter is a question that kept man thinking in all ages and in all times. Does life exist after death? Is there existence of soul? It cannot be affirmed that conclusive reply to these questions could be found out. Keeping the question wide open we like to try to understand the views offered by Hinduism and Buddhism on the subject. The source of information is intuition, reflection of past life in the matters of the present life, attempt of communication with departed souls taking help of media in planchette and reasonable imagination. In Brahmanism which we treat also as Hinduism, the root of all creation has been called Brahman or Paramatma. Sarvam khallidam Brahman tajjalaniti; everything is Brahman, everything is born out of Brahman, lives in Brahman and gets dissolved in Brahman. In animate world Brahman exists as the soul of all living beings. An individual soul is a part of the Supreme Soul or Paramatma. The best manifestation of Paramatma is in man as jivatma. By the word jivatma we mean a living unit with atma or soul. A living unit is that which lives by breath and atma regulates all the activities and thoughts of the living unit. A man also has work-organs and sense-organs along with mind and intellect. Taking everything together it is a mechanism comparable to a ratha or chariot the lord of which is the soul. To narrate working of a man we may quote the following mantra of Upanisad; Atmanam rathinam biddhi, shariram rathameva tu Buddhim tu sarathim viddhi, manah pragraham eva cha. (Know the soul as the lord of the chariot, the chariot is the body of the man. Intellect is the driver of the chariot and mind is its rein.). It has been clearly stated that soul is the ultimate self of a man. With death the body perishes but the soul is immortal. After death the soul transmigrates into a new body. Gita has said Jatasya hi dhrubarmrityuh dhrubajanma mritasyacha. (One who has taken birth will invariably die, and one who has died will surely be born again.) Now, this is the point that needs investigation. How a man who died may be born again? It is a blatant fact that after death the body is put to fire or destroyed by some other means. How then it comes back to a new life? What is the explanation of this miracle according to Hindu faith? Buddhism, though does not believe in existence of soul, believes in rebirth. How is that possible? Rebirth of what and by what means? These are the questions that had been disturbing the minds of the thoughtful people through ages. Let us first investigate what idea is offered by Hinduism on this matter. To get idea about recreation it is necessary to have idea about creation because both are interlinked. How everything has been created? We shall try to understand that taking into account the explanations offered by Vedanta on one side and Samkhya on the other side. Vedanta believes in Purusa and later in Brahman as creator. But Vedanta's explanation of how creation is made is not clear. It has been maintained that Brahman as a light or as a source of consciousness is the efficient cause of creation
What was the idea of Rabindranth Tagore about God? Did he believe in the existence of God as an a... more What was the idea of Rabindranth Tagore about God? Did he believe in the existence of God as an almighty person or not? In other words was he a monist or a dualist?
Karl Marx has said " Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless wor... more Karl Marx has said " Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people ". 1 Does it mean that the proud and opulent people do not require religion? They have no spirit or sting of spirit? We beg to disagree. Our feeling is that, all men of the world, rich or poor, literate or illiterate, living in posh society or poor village have an urge for religion in his conscious or subconscious mind. May be the sense of religion and its demand differs from man to man but everybody has a craving to comprehend a higher inner self breaking the limit of his small self. With a feeling of insignificance of his own power he likes to surrender to some higher power. Why is this tendency? Why is this lack of self confidence? Social scientists would tell that from the dawn of human history inadequate knowledge about the power of nature and a fear relating to that is the reason of this innate helplessness of man. Man's life is exposed to the power of nature and indeed compared to that enormous power man's power is infinitesimally small. Nature's power has two distinct sides, the benevolent side and the side of cruelty. At the end of the dark night rising of the sun abounding the earth with bright light, glorious sunset , appearance of the moon in the sky with fall of darkness creating an infatuating illusion of light, the change of season, accumulation of cloud in the sky and rainfall after the burning heat of the high summer, the soothing breeze, are all gifts of whom? These make the earth green with corn to nurture the lives of man. These were considered to be gifts of some unknown power which was conceived of by the primitive people as spirits or gods. On the other hand, there is the cruel aspect of that great power. Look at the draught, flood, cyclone, earth quake and other elements to cause devastation on the life of man. Why all these dangers? Must be owing to the anger of the god. What for is the anger? Must be due to ill-conduct of man. Therefore, do what is needed to propitiate the god and refrain from doing what creates displeasure in his mind. These dos and donts were dictated by the soothsaying persons, i.e. the all-knowing persons with occult knowledge (Jan-gurus). This is the anthropological explanation of creation of god. This is based on the psychology of the food-collecting prehistoric people. Observing the many-fold nature of working of the unknown power they created diversified gods and elves taking help of their imagination. The clan-leaders and the soothsaying persons took initiative in this matter and detected different trees and stones as the shelter of these gods or spirits. They introduced the practice of offering blood or other oblations to those trees and stones in order to please the in-dwelling spirits. This is the beginning of aniconism. Modern civilized people have removed trees and stones and introduced worship of images of gods and goddesses, i.e. aniconism has given way to iconism. Side by side god has been conceived of as a formless power and ovation is being paid to that power through prayer. But can we say that there has been a basic change in the concept of god? The prehistoric people being driven by the fear of the destructive power of nature had created an idea of religion which mostly remains unaltered in this age of advancement of human civilization. Development of science and maturity of human knowledge could not bring a radical change in the steadfastness of that old belief, at least in the minds of majority of people. Most people of India believe in many gods. In one sense belief in many gods relates to pantheism. There it has a special philosophic connotation. But by many gods normally plurality of the sectarian gods is meant. Not to speak of the religions with image-worship as its ritual, we can say that the idea of god is
In the religion the place of god may be assigned to man with a belief in the divinity of all men ... more In the religion the place of god may be assigned to man with a belief in the divinity of all men of the world which is the core truth of Vedanta.
The subject of this article, i.e. the mystery of soul, is not at all a matter of concern to thos... more The subject of this article, i.e. the mystery of soul, is not at all a matter of concern to those who do not believe in soul. But many people of the world believe in soul although they do not have clear idea regarding the mystery of soul. Soul is connected with body. Modern medical science has made miraculous progress to know the process of intricate functioning of the different organs of man but could not tell anything regarding the dilemma of existence or non existence of soul. That is the reason among scientific minded people there is a tendency to deny the existence of soul. It is true that the existence of soul cannot be proved by the sheer method of science. Still, being inquisitive to know if anything remains after death people of different countries of the world have been making experiments on the subject over centuries. Almost everywhere the method of this experiment is planchette. In America in the year 1885 a society on the name Society for the Psychical Research was formed to investigate in a rational way what happens after death. All their experiments affirmed existence of soul after death. Many books have been written on the subject. Dr. Thomas j. Hudson, writer of the book Law of Physic Phenomenon, has said, ‘if in the present times someone does not believe in the existence of soul he is not even fit to be called a non-believer, he may simply be called ignorant’. To get support of existence of soul mention may be made of those people who remember the incidents of their past lives or many other rare incidents of human life which cannot be explained without projection into previous birth. In this article our motto is not to search proof of existence of soul. Taking for granted that soul exists after death we like to throw light on some intricate problems related to soul.
The following issues have been dealt with in the present article:
a) Origin of Soul and its Continuation through a Chain of Births:
b) Whether Soul is Doer or Non-Doer of Action:
c) The Final Devolution of Soul
d) The Consequence of Soul according to Hindu faith:
e) What Happens to Soul after Death?
f) Why Memory does not sustain?
g) Some reflections of the author’s mystic experiences
All the major religions of the world have something to say about creation, creation of the world,... more All the major religions of the world have something to say about creation, creation of the world, creation of the universe, as also creation of matter and life. The method of obtaining knowledge on these is more speculative than observational. Almost all religions have conceived of some Almighty personal God as the ultimate creator. In this article investigation has been made to know the position of the Vedic or Brahmanic religion on this matter and to understand how far the sages or Rishis of ancient India followed the scientific path to comprehend the ultimate truth and in the huge discourses in the Vedas and Upanisads what view they had constructed on the question of creation. Did they believe in any personal god or their view was otherwise.
The English synonym of the Sanskrit word yajna is sacrifice which means a rite in the course of w... more The English synonym of the Sanskrit word yajna is sacrifice which means a rite in the course of which something is offered to some unknown power. The early religion of all nations was physiolatry. Different physical forces of nature were held in awe and reverence and all nations instinctively bowed down to them. Sacrifice originated as a propitiatory instrument to those forces. From almost an identical beginning different religions have shown different types of inventiveness in the sphere of its mythic, ritualistic and doctrinal motifs. After having a short discussion of that in other countries such as Celtic countries, Greece, Iran, Japan etc. we shall try to reveal its development in Vedic religion.
The most significant development of yajna in Vedic religion is that in the course of its gradual development yajna did not remain as a means of achieving an end but became an end itself. Sacrifice has been seen as a Cosmic Action by which everything has been created. Purusa, the Cosmic Man, the progenitor of the Macrocosm, has entered into creation by dismemberment of his own body i.e. by offering himself in yajna. The same idea applies to Prajapati when he had been assigned the role of a creator-god. Appropriate myth has been created to convey the idea. In connection of Prajapati another thought, though dogmatic, developed while ordaining creation of the fire-alter. A fire-alter has been conceived of as the permanent body of Prajapati as well as the sacrificer. This has an important bearing on creation of a temple in later times. Despite all unrealistic and dogmatic speculations connected with yajna it can be seen that in the ultimate analysis yajna bears out a philosophy which points to the perishability of all earthy things excepting the soul. Rishi Aurobindo has aptly laid bare this truth calling sacrifice the ‘World-rite’ and explaining how it works in the Great World Theater. The conclusion is that yajna, the ritual of Vedic religion, goes hand in hand with the philosophy of the religion in a subtle way.
There are three things in the subject under our discussion. First, Hindu theology, second, human ... more There are three things in the subject under our discussion. First, Hindu theology, second, human -centricity of that theology and third, throwing a new light on that theology. Why a new light is needed to be thrown on that is also an equally relevant point.
Drafts by Kalyanbrata Chakraborty
Indology, as is known to everybody, covers all the aspects of India's past history and culture. A... more Indology, as is known to everybody, covers all the aspects of India's past history and culture. Archeology and anthropology are important disciplines that can throw light on the history including prehistory and proto-history of a race of ancient people. In case of India literary source is also telling as the earliest literature of India, Rigveda, is supposed to be the oldest literature of the world and dates back considerably ahead of the first millennium B.C. Though R.V. expounds all aspects of life of the Vedic people i.e. of the Aryans and to some extent of the pre-Aryan people of India its main emphasis is on religious thoughts. Interestingly the religious thoughts did not rest on any dogma or blind faith, rather it expressed curiosity regarding creation and finding out the way of peaceful and prosperous living. We all have some idea about Vedic religion. Vedic religion passed through different phases of thoughts. First, it was physiolatry or worship of different powers of nature. Whatever appeared to be beneficial for human life was looked to as a god. These gods were of three types-terrestrial, atmospheric and heavenly. Even the malevolent powers were propitiated so that they do not throw their curse on human life. With passage of time the Vedic Rishis conceived that there is a consonance or harmony in the operation of all the powers of nature and this harmony may be the desire of some Super god. For the position of that Super god three contesting gods were conceived of. These were Agni, Indra and Varuna. This was a step towards monotheism. Excelling this thought the notion of monism, or one power, prevailed in the minds of the Rishis. It was said " Ekam sadvipra vahudha vadanti " (power is one, the intelligent people explain it from different angles)(1,164,46). This idea was developed more meaningfully in later times. The 10 th and the last Mandala of Rig Veda is supposed to be a composition of many years later than the time of composition of the earlier parts. The 90 th Chapter of the 10 th Mandala is called Purusa Sukta. That chapter contains a Rik or Mantra which runs as: Sahasra sirsa Purusah sahasrakshah sahasra pat, sabhumim viswato vritta attatisthad dasangulim.(Purusa, the Supernal Man, has a thousand (innumerable) heads, thousand eyes, thousand feet. Covering the entire earth he stays overwhelmingly in a space ten fingers wide i.e. in the human heart.) The truth that has been asserted is that the one power that is responsible for emanation of everything on earth (obviously a natural power which has been called Purusa) is best expressed in human heart. The interesting observation is that the all-pervasive natural power, though active in all natural objects, has been recognized in its evolutionary process to be most active in human heart. All objects of nature have spirits, either in effulgent form or in debilitated form. This spirit or creative energy is the omniscient and omniexistent active power of Nature, called Purusa by our ancestor Rishis. This power works automatically without anybody's desire or command. This is the process of evolution as was recognized by scientists in later times. There cannot be any better explanation of creation than this. This observation does not have any quarrel with science and expresses the highest knowledge mankind could conceive so far. Nature, i.e. the eternally existent power and its manifested forms in matter and mind gradually unfolds itself in an evolutionary way towards consummation which is never reachable. If the paraphrase " god " appears essential to be applied to get a reflection of that ultimate power then man may be called " god " as man is nearest to consummation of that power. The freedom of man, in other words the free thinking and free acts of man, is infinite. Likewise the total evolution of the Absolute is also infinite. This observation is the core of Brahmanic religion and later on of Hinduism, which may be called an offshoot of Brahmanism. When, in later times, all other Religions of the world harped on doltish speculations on one personal Creator God, Brahmanism concentrated on Nature-study, both by observation and intuition, to understand the mystery of creation. This is an observation, the most important observation, which we take note of to expand our understanding of Vedic religion. The essence of Vedic religion, according to our understanding, was unfortunately lost for a long time exceeding millennia. According to our observation the lofty and immutable philosophy of Purusa of the Purusa Sukta was entwined with Vedic theology to create a harmonious ramification with Hinduism having image-worship as its ritual. There is sufficient literary evidence to show that around 6 th century B.C. a radical transformation of Vedic religion had taken place when the much exalted yajña of the Aryans had given way to the hitherto hated puja of the pre-Aryan people of India. Where is the history of this transformation? It is a sheer misfortune of the Indians that the concerned history was neglected and allowed to be buried deep under the ground. We believe that in the
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Papers by Kalyanbrata Chakraborty
The following issues have been dealt with in the present article:
a) Origin of Soul and its Continuation through a Chain of Births:
b) Whether Soul is Doer or Non-Doer of Action:
c) The Final Devolution of Soul
d) The Consequence of Soul according to Hindu faith:
e) What Happens to Soul after Death?
f) Why Memory does not sustain?
g) Some reflections of the author’s mystic experiences
The most significant development of yajna in Vedic religion is that in the course of its gradual development yajna did not remain as a means of achieving an end but became an end itself. Sacrifice has been seen as a Cosmic Action by which everything has been created. Purusa, the Cosmic Man, the progenitor of the Macrocosm, has entered into creation by dismemberment of his own body i.e. by offering himself in yajna. The same idea applies to Prajapati when he had been assigned the role of a creator-god. Appropriate myth has been created to convey the idea. In connection of Prajapati another thought, though dogmatic, developed while ordaining creation of the fire-alter. A fire-alter has been conceived of as the permanent body of Prajapati as well as the sacrificer. This has an important bearing on creation of a temple in later times. Despite all unrealistic and dogmatic speculations connected with yajna it can be seen that in the ultimate analysis yajna bears out a philosophy which points to the perishability of all earthy things excepting the soul. Rishi Aurobindo has aptly laid bare this truth calling sacrifice the ‘World-rite’ and explaining how it works in the Great World Theater. The conclusion is that yajna, the ritual of Vedic religion, goes hand in hand with the philosophy of the religion in a subtle way.
Drafts by Kalyanbrata Chakraborty
The following issues have been dealt with in the present article:
a) Origin of Soul and its Continuation through a Chain of Births:
b) Whether Soul is Doer or Non-Doer of Action:
c) The Final Devolution of Soul
d) The Consequence of Soul according to Hindu faith:
e) What Happens to Soul after Death?
f) Why Memory does not sustain?
g) Some reflections of the author’s mystic experiences
The most significant development of yajna in Vedic religion is that in the course of its gradual development yajna did not remain as a means of achieving an end but became an end itself. Sacrifice has been seen as a Cosmic Action by which everything has been created. Purusa, the Cosmic Man, the progenitor of the Macrocosm, has entered into creation by dismemberment of his own body i.e. by offering himself in yajna. The same idea applies to Prajapati when he had been assigned the role of a creator-god. Appropriate myth has been created to convey the idea. In connection of Prajapati another thought, though dogmatic, developed while ordaining creation of the fire-alter. A fire-alter has been conceived of as the permanent body of Prajapati as well as the sacrificer. This has an important bearing on creation of a temple in later times. Despite all unrealistic and dogmatic speculations connected with yajna it can be seen that in the ultimate analysis yajna bears out a philosophy which points to the perishability of all earthy things excepting the soul. Rishi Aurobindo has aptly laid bare this truth calling sacrifice the ‘World-rite’ and explaining how it works in the Great World Theater. The conclusion is that yajna, the ritual of Vedic religion, goes hand in hand with the philosophy of the religion in a subtle way.