Everyone finds India to be enigmatic. The
country has hoary history, rich culture, vibrant energy and penchant for
progress. Yet, the country has huge contradictions such as sparks of plenty
amidst swathes of poverty, genuine order in chaotic disorder, and quest for
growth amidst bouts of stagnation, to name a few. India is today as industrial
as agricultural. India is as materialistic as spiritual. India is as
reverential as iconoclastic. India is as independent as conformist. India loves
huge cars but puts up with narrow roads. India is full of resources, human and other
factor, but lacks the will to utilize them productively. India as unified as
diverse. Indians are global but for one Nadella in Microsoft, possibly there
are scores in TCS or Infosys. India is awe inspiring for its religious,
spiritual and yogic gurus. India is surprising also for its craving for all
things that are Western and materialistic. India has a singular desire for
progress but loses focus ever so often. Are these contradictions real or imaginary?
Indian literature and culture have a Sanskrit
word called ‘maya’, meaning illusion. The Vedas have several references to the
word maya, one of which refers to power.
The question, not unnaturally, is whether the Indian hypothesis of economic
growth and global dominance is an enigmatic maya,
an illusion, or a powerful reality, another shade of maya? As certain Indian products and processes get the flack in
certain markets, the question arises as to whether the global product conquests
of Indian firms constitute illusory transience or sustainable reality. As rapid-growth Indian startups as well as
highflying corporate firms suddenly stutter and stop, the question arises as to
whether the great Indian entrepreneurship is illusorily strong or conspiratorially
buffeted by adverse winds. As with the
essence of maya as a concept, there
is no realistic description or quantification of maya. The debate of contradictions can continue endless but this
blog post has a different take on maya
as the core of a uniquely Indian enigma, MAYA.
MAYA, the four dimensional concept
There are four parts of the Indian tradition
that have not been evident in any other civilization, from so many centuries
ago and in a deeply scientific manner. These are Mythology, Ayurveda, Yoga and
Astrology, making for an acronym MAYA. What connects these four heritage
domains of India is a great and powerful thread of logical emotion, respect for
the Divine, holistic understanding of human body and mind, and discovery and application
of science in an age in which people had nothing to help in analysis and computation
except the mind and fingers. As more and more scientific concepts get validated,
reflecting the knowledge embedded in MAYA, it is clear that the Indian
forefathers imagined and analyzed several centuries ago what modern science is
now focusing on. Probably, a bit of this is true of other oriental
civilizations but the Asian civilization does have a strong shade of the exquisite
Indian MAYA.
MAYA for the modern Indian is a tradition,
deeply ingrained in the psyche despite all his or her external trappings. MAYA,
as a framework, ought to govern the emotional and physical health of an Indian
as an integrated paradigm. What is equally important, however, is the logical
and scientific fervor, and also possibly years of research, that has gone into
establishing these four domains of knowledge. Envisioning, strategizing, perfection,
accuracy, attention and discipline, and several other virtuous aspects that are
required to be a part of modern day thinking, and critically viewed as missing
in the current Indian way to an extent, had all been integral parts of the MAYA
framework. Even more importantly, these have been carried through generations
and across centuries without any modern means of communication such as printed
paper! Clearly, there was far more competence in the Indian ethos than is
apparent today. A deeper look at each of the MAYA components reveals that.
Mythology
Every religion and nation has its mythology. But
no nation or religion has the mythological diversity as the Hindu religious mythology
has. Mahabharatam (scripted by Maharshi Veda Vyasa, in and around 1600 BC, in
fact believed to be dictated to Lord Ganesh), Ramayanam (written by Maharshi
Valmiki, in and around 200 BC) and Bhagavatham (also by Maharshi Veda Vyasa)
are three of the great epics (oe Puranams), and so are several other mini-epics
of diverse Indian cultures. They are more than epic stories of divinity, statecraft
or governance; they are principles of human and family dynamics in all
dimensions, including the emergence of evil, nurturing of good, and the triumph
of the good over evil. Purely from a scientific viewpoint, one must also admire the great imagination
that brought in, several centuries ago, the concepts of darting arrows (villu
and ambu), flying chariots (pushpaka vimanam), and virtual reality (maya
sabha), which are the scientific discoveries of the very recent generations. As
we go contemporaneous, the society must start abhorring the evil and accepting
the good so that the modern society can be built and developed more on
togetherness and collaboration rather than on craftiness and jealousies. Every
Indian must wonder if the ancient society could visualize such dramatic
scientific apparatus, with nothing except the power of mind, why the modern
Indian cannot visualize new products with all the knowledge and tools now
available!
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of
natural healing. It understands the body through its natural phases and cures
it through the natural plants and herbs. Several compounds developed or now
understood by modern medicine have been of integral use as the traditional
Indian herbs and spices. While a few like turmeric and cinnamon may have captured
greater fancy, every herb and spice used in the Indian cooking has had a
curative or wellness property. More importantly, the combination of such
natural food ingredients with an ayurvedic way of dealing with the body toxins
makes ayurveda a holistic science. Equally relevant are the various Indian food
styles which have certain certain scientific rationale, in terms of the recipes
and sequences. Unfortunately, while so much research goes into the Greek mediterranean
diet or the Japanese Okinawa diet,
practically no research gets done on the various types of Indian diet and their
impact on human health. In fact, without understanding the subtle nuances of
the Indian dietary systems, there is a tendency to blame them uni-dimensionally.
It is time that Indian institutes and laboratories start understanding the
Indian dietary systems and ingredients. Just as another example, something as
traditional as Ugadi Pachadi (a special offering prepared on the occasion of
the Telugu New Year) has significant scientific logic! Charaka (in and around
300 BC) wrote the ayurvedic medical treatise Charaka Samhita while Sushruta (in
and around 600 BC) wrote the ayurvedic surgical treatise and Vagbhata (in and
around 600 BC) wrote Ashtanga Hridayam and Ashtanga Sangraha.
Yoga
Yoga probably is the most universally popular
components of the Indian tradition. It has two important dimensions. Yoga as
the Hindu philosophy teaches one how to control one’s body and mind in the
belief that one can become united with the spirit of the universe through that.
It also represents a system of scientific exercises for one’s body and for
controlling one’s breathing, to become more relaxed and fitter,
synergistically. While it is so well appreciated and accepted, its adoption by
the educated class, let alone the common man, in India has been extremely
wanting. People seeking fitness are open to running on tread mills for hours
but are unwilling to spend a few minutes on the all-curative yoga. Integration
of yoga in the curriculum of students from the primary school stage, integrating
yoga in physical therapy courses, offering specialized yoga courses leading to
diplomas, making yoga studios part of all fitness centres, and developing
community yoga centres could be a holistic strategy to make yoga an integral
part of everyone’s daily life. Maharshi Patanjali (in and around 400 BC)
probably wrote the greatest of the Yogic texts.
Astrology
Nothing demonstrates the ancient Hindu
knowledge and competencies in mathematics, physics and natural phenomena more than
the Hindu astrology. Astrology plays an integral part of every devout Hindu’s
life, from birth to death, and for individual activities or family matters. It
is based on the premise that the positioning and movement of heavenly bodies,
including the grahas (or planets) have significant impact on the lives and
living. While a part of the scientific community fails to accept astrology,
especially the predictive astrology, the population as a whole has total or subtle
beliefs in the Hindu astrology. More than the outcomes, and the rituals, the
exact science used by the Hindu sages (Sages Agastya and Bhrigu, in and around
2500 BC) and the Hindu mathematicians and astronomers (Arya Bhatta and Varaha
Mihira, in and around 500 and 550 AD, respectively) in developing the Hindu
astrology without any scientific and technical aids whatsoever is truly
amazing. While being respectful and reverential to astrology as a spiritual science
and religious branch, it is equally important to recognize the power of the
human mind to undertake complex calculations and develop sophisticated theorems
all by itself. The spirit and science of astrology would continue to strengthen
the scientific way.
MAYA: less of illusion, more of power
We started off with the semantics of maya as being reflective of two most
important concepts of several concepts relating to the word in the Hindu
tradition. The review of the four components of Mythology, Ayurveda, Yoga and
Astrology, as above, suggests these four together as MAYA represent a deeply embedded
nature-driven and scientifically sharp holistic approach to human living. Even
as Indians must learn modern curricula and contemporary skill-sets to be
relevant in a global scenario, the traditional knowledge base and application
practice of MAYA must continue to be promoted and revived with greater
understanding from the Indian society and the Indian governments. This blog
post could touch upon only a few of the ancient Indian works, several scores
remain to be mentioned in various Indian languages. Institutes dedicated to
traditional Indian studies could revive this process. Eventually, India will
need more than one Nalanda University to support the process. Each State would
need an Institute for bringing the best of the embedded traditional Indian
knowledge into the bodies and minds of the Indian society, for greater good and
sharper focus towards growth and equity.
Posted by Dr CB Rao on March 30, 2014
(Note: Any mistakes or approximations in the
mentions, in this blog post, of the periods of the great Indian sages, writers
and experts of the previous centuries may kindly be excused)