08.03.09

Preface to Sinha’s Gita As It Was

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:37 pm by nemo

This was good link from James: you can get the whole document online.
I thought it appropriate to repost the preface here:

PREFACE

My search for the original Gita was inspired by my personal experiences of living in India and elsewhere. The idea for the project did not come suddenly but crystallized over a period of 15 years. Since the story of my rediscovery of the Gita is very closely related to other events in my life, it may be informative to review some of my background. After receiving a Ph.D in political science from The American University, Washington, D.C., I returned to India in 1968 with the ambition to work for the betterment of the nation. Though I had been active in Indian politics from 1946 to 1957 and knew most of the prominent socialist leaders, I did not join any political party upon my return. The decision to remain outside active politics took shape during work on my dissertation, ‘The Praja Socialist Party of India’. During my research for the thesis, I concluded that the building of a better India cannot be accomplished by the politicians of any party. I expressed this belief at the first opportunity upon returning to India. About a hundred people came to the Patna Airport to greet me. Among them were several political leaders of Bihar and other prominent men of Patna. I told this group: “I will not join any political party. I have come back to work for the uplifting of the country, but I will work as a nonpolitical person.” Another occasion for expressing my views came on the way to my village in northern Bihar. About a half-mile from the village, at a market place known as Parihar, about ten thousand people had assembled to welcome me. It was the most touching scene of my life. I was wondering what these people expected from me that they had waited for hours to see and hear me. They had arranged a public meeting for me in the compound of a local high school. The warmth of their reception made me cry. The school-children sang, and a young man delivered an oration about what I had accomplished, how I had transformed myself, and what I could do for the people. The moment came for me to say a few words, and I said, “Brothers, sisters, friends and children! I am very deeply touched by your affection and warmth. I have returned to serve you and will work to make a better India. But I will work without joining any political party.” This declaration disappointed many of my long-time political associates, who had expected me to work with them upon my return. I had strong feelings about working for the betterment of India, but I was very wary about the fragmented political leadership of that time. I was convinced that making a better India could not be achieved by the political parties, the government, the social activists, or any foreign assistance. The country could only be made better by the people themselves. What I had found during the research for my thesis and what I felt upon returning to India convinced me that the political parties spent much of their time in rivalry, manipulation and gaining political power and that they had very little interest in reconstructing the nation. Faced with these feelings, I planned to organize programs of voluntary service in which villagers would carry out projects involving simple manual labor. I held some meetings with the local village leaders and political and social activists and presented my ideas to vi

them. My plan was well received. An organization was formed under the name Bharat Sundar Banao ( Make India Beautiful). I wrote a booklet explaining the aims of this organization; selected five villages of the neighboring area as demonstration projects; organized volunteers in each village; and set up village committees and a central committee to guide and co-ordinate the work in all the model villages. For a few months the work went very well in all the villages. But I was soon disappointed. Political party workers became uncooperative, criticizing and creating conflict among the volunteers, organizers, and village leaders. This disheartening experience with the villages strengthened my conviction that there is something basically wrong with the thinking and action of the Indian people. But I could not identify the source of the problem. I pondered some of the basic facts and problems related to India. Its people are no less intelligent, strong, and healthy than those of other nations. Its climate and natural resources are ideal for national growth and prosperity. The country has the basic technological knowledge for industrial and agricultural excellence. But having all these, why does India remain an impoverished country in which millions cannot eat well, cannot afford shelter, and cannot get adequate education and health services? In a country where millions can survive only by begging and where millions live an inhuman life in the midst of abundant resources and vast manpower, there must be a deep-rooted cause acting as a binding or limiting force. But up to that point, I did not have any clear understanding of the reason for this national incapacity. Finding myself unsuccessful in my effort to work in the villages by organizing voluntary manpower, I looked for other means of service to the people. I decided to teach Yoga because of my experience in the U.S.A. from 1964 to 1968. I had founded the Yoga Institute of Washington in 1965 in Washington, D.C., and had taught there until 1968. During the period of my teaching in America I had found it difficult to interpret certain philosophical concepts of the ancient thinkers. This difficulty arose primarily because, prior to the 1960s, Yoga was mostly taught as an offshoot of Hinduism and not as a system of secular thought. Since in my teaching I had tried to present it as a rational system, there were various points where I clashed with the traditional presentation and interpretation. To my surprise, even those few books which described Yoga as a rational system did not maintain a spirit of objectivity. With rare exceptions, Yoga continued to be presented as a mixture of religious, mystical, and cultic beliefs and practices. I tried to find out if Yoga was truly a rational system in all its assertions –practical and theoretical. Since almost all the secondary source materials on Yoga presented it mixed with religious-spiritual values, I had to go to the original writings of Kapila, Patanjali and Vyasa. During the period 1965-1968 while teaching Yoga in Washington, I conducted research at the Library of Congress and built up a personal collection of books. From my studies, it became very clear to me that Yoga had been well-developed as a rational system of practice and philosophy in India and that it had reached maturity in the writings of Vyasa. After my return to Patna I began making a thorough study of all the available primary source materials to determine (i) what this rational system was and its relevance for mankind today; (ii) whether we can critically examine all the assertions of Yoga from an objective standpoint; and (iii) what caused the degeneration of Yoga into mysticism and superstition. By studying primary and secondary source materials on the Vedas, ancient Indian history, the explorations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro and other recently excavated historic sites in India, and by going through the works of Kapila, Buddha,

vii

Mahavira, Patanjali, Vyasa, and other prominent thinkers and writers, such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Swami Vivekananda, I came to the following conclusions: i. The basis of Yoga as a discipline and as a system is known as Samkhya Darshan (Samkhya philosophy). This philosophy was established by Kapila, who lived about 700 B.C. surprisingly, he anticipated by 200 years certain ideas of the most renowned thinkers of the ancient world, such as Plato, Confucius, Buddha, and Mahavira. ii. Though Yoga was practiced during the period of the Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilization (generally dated around 3000 B.C.), we do not have any deciphered writing on Yoga from that period. The first known and comprehensively discussed book on Yoga is Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, dated about 400 B.C. In Yoga Sutra, Patanjali accepted everything taught by Kapila in his Samkhya Philosophy, and added more to make a comprehensive system for achieving a healthy, happy, and creative life. iii. Yoga reached its highest and most glorious stage in the work of Vyasa in about 400 B.C. Vyasa wrote the Gita by incorporating all the basic theories and concepts of Kapila and of Patanjali and by adding much original thought of his own. Thus, by 400 B.C. India as a civilization had produced a matchless philosophical work presented in the simple form of song, telling how dukha (sorrow) can be eliminated and how sukha (happiness) in life can be achieved. This philosophical work was the Gita. iv. In the post-Vedic period, up to about 800 A.D., the thinkers and writers of India were men of rational outlook. They did not accept the idea of a single, almighty deity. A close study of all available records indicates that theistic concepts were non-existent in India prior to about 800 A.D. v. In a surprising way, the thought pattern of India changed after 800 A.D. Monotheism made sudden inroads into India. Considering the whole history of India from the most ancient to the contemporary period, I found a distinct dividing line in the literary and philosophical heritage of the country, making it appear as if there were two Indias–one which existed from ancient times to 800 A.D., and another which came after 800 A.D. Let me point out some of the salient features of these two Indias. India prior to 800 A.D. produced philosophers and writers who accepted Man as the Supreme Being. They talked about two main entities: Purusha (Man) and Prakriti (Nature). Change in these two entities occurs due to the ever-present and everlasting work of three Gunas–Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva. 1 Ignorance, lack of proper knowledge and improper action cause dukha (sorrow or unhappiness). Man can liberate himself from dukha and can attain sukha (happiness) by acquiring proper knowledge, mastering certain teachings, following certain practices, and by working according to the Samkhya-yoga theory of action.

____________________
1

For details on Gunas, see Chapter one on Samkhya Philosophy.

viii

India after 800 A.D. adopted quite a different outlook. The ideas proposed by writers and commentators were now mostly matters of belief and faith, colored by religion, mysticism, and caste. Not Man but God was held to be supreme. Man could do only what was predestined by God. There was Heaven and Hell. Man possessed a soul which did not die but was reincarnated according to past and present deeds. The Brahmans were superior to all castes and the word Brahman was synonymous with Brahma (one of the post-Vedic gods) and all the divinities. Indian thought in this period bore certain resemblances to the teachings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I became determined to find out why these seemingly alien concepts came to India and to discover who brought them. What added to my curiosity was the fact that, though I had found similarities between Hindu belief and the doctrines of Jews, Christians, and Moslems, there was quite a difference in the mode of worship. Let me elaborate on this difference. We know that whoever believed in a monotheistic god (the Almighty, the Supreme Being) built a place of worship in His name, without having any image or idol. Accordingly, we see that the synagogues of the Jews, the churches of the Christians, and the mosques of the Moslems do not have any idols in them. This is not the case with the Hindu religion. The Hindu religion, which believes in the concept of God as presented in the Bhagavadagita, did not build a place of worship for Him but for purusha such as Rama, Krishna, and Shiva. This observation suggested that the concept of God as almighty and supreme is of foreign, not Indian, origin. It seems likely that the concept of God was introduced into a culture where polytheism had been long established. Since the temples for deities were built long before the invasion of the God concept, they were left untouched. But changes did occur on philosophical and literary levels. It was easy to revise the few handwritten books of that time. Since the Gita was the most outstanding book of philosophy, it was changed to appear as an authentic scripture. It will be explained later who brought this change, when and why, and what has been the impact of this change on Indian society and culture. Here I wish to raise another pertinent question which also motivated me to go into the details of this change. For a long time I had been trying to find out why certain nations are rich, prosperous, well-developed, and better-governed than others. To put it differently, why have certain nations achieved prosperity even when their circumstances were unfavorable and resources meagre, whereas others have been unable to prosper even in the most favorable circumstances and with rich resources at their disposal? I compared several major nations of the world, looking for the common factor which enabled some to achieve prosperity, while progress in others was blocked. I offer the following tentative explanation: As is the level of thought in a nation, so is the level of its progress. The rate of progress is the same as is prevalence of thought. This holds true for a nation, a society, a community, a group, or a single individual. Where the level of thought does not raise, the society, the nation or the entity does not prosper. This idea can be tested by taking any nation as an example. Ask who were or are the philosophers, the writers, the thinkers, the inventors, and the scientists whose work has been known to people of that country and what had or has been the level of their work. The nature and quality of their thought will be reflected in the nature and quality of the

ix

accomplishments of that society. The level of performance will be equal to the level of thought. Keeping this hypothesis in mind, I began looking for the dominant thought-pattern of present-day India. I tried to determine what were the thoughts commonly shared by the people in general, be they rural or urban. My effort was to isolate the thought-pattern that could be called the national thought-pattern of India today. This national thought pattern can be summarized in the following words: • • • • • • • • Work without caring for the results. Act, but do not look for the fruits of action. Desires cause dukha (sorrow); therefore, do not have them. You get only what fate dictates. Material wealth is inferior; spiritual life is superior. You should strive to achieve unity with God for a happy life, to go to heaven, and to be reincarnated. Man is predestined and cannot do anything unless it is willed by God. Sorrow, pain, and misery can be removed only by God, not by human effort.

This thought-pattern of India appeared to me quite contrary to that which characterized the Vedic and post-Vedic ages. From what source did the Indian people derive this thought-pattern? The source is what we know as the Bhagavada Gita. Since this Gita is the most revered book of the Hindus today, its teachings are accepted with obedience and sincerity by the Hindu people. It can safely be stated that the national thought pattern of India is represented by the Bhagavada Gita. After identifying the present Gita as the source of the changed thought pattern in India, I began questioning: Is this Bhagavada Gita the same as that written by Vyasa in 400 B.C.? Or is it an altered document composed at a later date by someone acting alone, in a cabal, or in consort with some alien agents? If the present Gita is an interpolated version, where is the original Gita? I had become convinced from my study that the original Gita was different and that the present Gita is the work of a later period. Prior to 800 A.D., the Indian thought-pattern was conditioned and shaped by Vedic and post-Vedic traditions, norms, practices, teachings, and philosophy. The motivational traits during this era, whether expressed through rituals or in philosophy, evolved around the theme of: (i) fulfillment of desire; (ii) proper knowledge; and (iii) right action. In the Vedic period, these traits were expressed in rituals, sacrifices, prayers and oblations to deities. All of these necessitated knowing which deity to invoke and what forms of rituals or prayers to offer for obtaining the desired result. In this way, knowledge, desire, and action remained an integral part of human expression. In the post-Vedic period the mode of expression changed. Ritualistic ways were devalued and a philosophical and intellectual outlook towards problems of life was highlighted. This is evident from the original teachings of all the reformers, thinkers, and philosophers of the post-Vedic period. Beginning with Kapila, we find the basic themes of desire, knowledge, and action comprehensively taught and discussed by all the subsequent

x

thinkers, such as Buddha, Mahavira, Gautama (Nyaya Darshan), Kanada (Vaisesika Darshan), Patanjali ( Yoga Sutra) and Vyasa (original Gita). Because of the prevalence of this rational teaching which culminated in the composition of the original Gita, India achieved progress and prosperity in many fields of human endeavor. But when this original Gita was reworked, and rationalistic thought was distorted by changing all the ancient books of philosophy, India as a nation developed a pattern of thought which had its roots not in Indian soil but in another culture. India fell into a Dark Age whose prolongation for over a millennium strangled the sources of motivation, knowledge, and action. It was in this period of darkness that the original Gita and all other prominent philosophic and Yoga texts were altered and suppressed. With the rediscovery of the original Gita, I hope that the people of India will once again come to know their actual treasure and will be inspired to adopt it. When India realizes the value of desire (bhava), rational thought, proper knowledge, and right action, as highlighted in the original Gita, India will find ways, on its own, towards progress and prosperity. Phulgenda Sinha October, 1986

xi

Permalink