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| The Hindu Phenomenon |
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A UNIQUE PHENOMENON |
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links with the past have, in many respects, degenerated into mere
rituals and superstitious practices in the absence of a living
tradition of knowledge and experimentation, which once informed the
rituals and other practices. Similarly, ancient texts have often
been distorted through literalist interpretations, resulting partly
from dramatic changes in language, as from Vedic Sanskrit to
classical Sanskrit, for instance, and partly from the same absence
of a living tradition of knowledge and experimentation. Both these
difficulties are now being overcome to an extent. The hold of
rituals has declined and the ancient texts have begun to be better
understood. But the process is far from being sufficiently advanced
to permit us to speak of a renewal of the Hindu civilization.
Texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads are not intellectual constructs like Western philosophy; they are statements of spiritual experience and guides to that experience. Since the key to them in the shape of yogic techniques survives, it can give master practitioners access to our past in a manner and on a scale which is unique to us. Indeed, such fragmentary texts as survive from other old civilizations are also best approached via the Hindu route. There is a universality about ancient civilizations which is no less remarkable than the globalization of today. So it is logical that we approach the unknown through the known.
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