The Vaisnava Vedic Perspective of Sociology – Its Application in the Twenty-First Century is an honest attempt to highlight the serious dichotomy between the worldview of eastern philosophy and western philosophy on one side and the need and merit of resolving their major differences. Only with an in-depth understanding of both constructs will that be possible. There is something unique to be said about eastern philosophy and the acknowledgment of traditional concepts such as sanatana dharma. This has been pointed out by a number of sociologists and scholars such as R. N. Saxena: ….
An Indological or culturological approach has been the hallmark of several sociologists. They have hammered against the acceptance of theoretical and methodological orientations of the western countries. These scholars emphasize the role of traditions, group rather than individual as the basis of social relations, and religion, ethics and philosophy as the basis of social organizations. R.N. Saxena (1965), for example, stresses on the role of the concepts of Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha….
(2) In his book Social Philosophy of the Mahabharata and the Manu Smrti, two well-known classics of India literature, Professor Verma explains the intimate connection between the material and spiritual dimensions of life: The sages of ancient India visualized human life as a connected whole of both material and spiritual aspects. Social, economic and political aspects of life were not considered separate from its spiritual aspect in ancient India. Both the Mahabharata and the Manu Smrti have emphasized the intimate connection between the material basis of human life and its spiritual flowering and have, for that reason, given us a value-based social philosophy, the prime-facie object of which was to make morality the keynote of the empirical life in all its manifestations. Indeed, it is only a fearless, confident and positive pursuit of socio-moral values of life that can generate human beings in a socially useful manner and can also create an atmosphere fit for scattering the glow of peace and love, life and happiness.
(3) If there is any culture or civilization that has pondered over perennial questions and written so profusely on the subject matter, if there is any culture that has provided humanity with such profound insights and shared such deep realizations into both the physical and metaphysical, it is, according to Max Muller, the land of India, known as the land of dharma. 4 If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which will deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant - I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we, here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life, not for this life only but a trans- figured and eternal life - again I should point to India.
(4) Over the centuries, many renowned philosophers, scientists, scholars and intellectuals have praised the land of India for its contribution to mankind especially in the field of religion and philosophy. As advocated by Varma, there is much to discover in the philosophy of the ancient Vedas that is intimately connected with and cannot be separated from both education and religion: In considering the Indian point of view therefore we must consider the nature of religion as such and its relation to its philosophical and ethical counterpart in a rational construct as a theory of the universe and of man. From these views it would appear that contrary to western practice philosophy and religion have been close allies with us and we shall be safe in treating religion in India as the application of philosophy to personal life.
(5) Both from the ontological and epistemological points of view the nature and mind of man are of interest to the philosopher. Indian philosophy has contributed a profound analysis of the human personality which is of great interest to education and modern psychology. The Sankhya system, Patanjali and the Bhagavad-Gita offer parallel and largely similar accounts of the human personality and its place in the scheme of things.
(6) Vedic knowledge, being the most ancient knowledge written in Sanskrit, the mother of all languages, forms the essence of the Vaisnava Vedic philosophy having as its primary seminal texts the Bhagavad-gita and the Bhagavat Purana referred to as the Srimad-Bhagavatam. However, we should not conclude that such knowledge is for Indians only. Many great personalities outside of India have read and revered the Bhagavad-gita as one of the most important books of wisdom for all of mankind. As eloquently spoken by the famous Naturalist Philosopher, Henry David Thoreau: 5 In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions.
(6) The ancient knowledge of the Vedas remained intact for many centuries. Unfortunately, for the last 2,000 years, the Indian culture suffered greatly due to having been maligned by foreign rulers especially under the British rule as documented by Tharoor
(7). Many of the seminal teachings were either distorted or lost. Even before the advent of invaders, however, a rift had occurred among the followers of the Vedic knowledge that led to a disintegration of the original seminal Vedic teachings as can be seen today in the frowned upon caste system of varnasrama. One of the foremost Vaisnava Acaryas, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, remarks in this connection: “The principles of varnasrama had been purely followed in India for a long time. Thereafter in due course of time, when sage Jamadagni who was a ksatriya, and his son Parasurama, were illegally converted into Brahmins, they then, according to the characteristics opposed to their own nature and selfishness broke peace among the Brahmins and Ksatriyas. The seed of quarrel that was planted among the Brahmins and Ksatriyas as a result of this resulted in ascertaining one’s varna according to one’s own birth. In due course of time when this unnatural rule was included in the literatures of the Manu etc, the Ksatriyas, being hopeless of attaining higher varna, began to create means to ruin the Brahmin by inventing the system of religion known as Buddhism. It is a fact that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That is why determination of varna according to one’s birth became prominent.”
(8) Essentially, two basic concepts of life have always co-existed side by side, and, although they are often at opposite ends philosophically, there have been constant attempts to accommodate them during the unfolding hard struggle of human existence. I refer here to the duality between spirit and matter, the sacred and the mundane, the divine and the human; and for the purposes of this essay, Idealism (spiritual sva-dharma) and Humanism (material sva-dharma). As history has amply demonstrated, similar to the proverbial pendulum swing, at times, one or the other has pulled towards one extreme, thus triggering reaction that generally led in the opposite extreme. 6 We are experiencing the same dilemma in our present day Twenty First Century world situation of a highly sophisticated, industrialized, technology-based and consumer-oriented materialistic society. As observed by Brown: Throughout the ages, philosophers and religious leaders have denounced materialism as a viable path to human fulfillment. Yet societies across the ideological spectrum have persisted in equating quality of life with increased consumption… Because of the strain on resources it creates, materialism simply cannot survive the transition to a sustainable world.
(9) The effects of pluralism, secularism and consumerism, prompted by modernization and globalization, have brought unprecedented changes in the lives of countless individuals and societies, putting into questions long established norms, values, cultures, beliefs and traditions. In his address at Harvard, entitled “A World Split Apart”, writer and Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn, supporting Varma’s earlier statement guarding against our over fixation on materialism, questions his young audience: As humanism in its development became more and more materialistic, it made itself increasingly accessible to speculation and manipulation… Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity?
(10) Reports from UNESCO
(11) identified the two major problems confronting humanity at the turn of this new century as globalization and sustainability. According to these reports, education will be the main key factor to help resolve the dilemmas brought about by these two areas of concern. However, one must ask: what kind of education? Again more education devoid of in-depth analysis of who we are and what are our essential and long-lasting needs; again increased and more advanced technology to help reduce the level of illiteracy around the world? 7 As British historian Trevelyan aptly points out: "Education… has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading."
(12) Do we want simply more of the same? It is obvious that the notion of wisdom must be added to the equation for we seem to be sadly lacking this important component. Although modern society prides itself with scientific advancement in numerous fields, including higher levels of education and global plans to provide education for all, the fact remains that our present modern civilization is on the brinks of destruction due to lack of proper insight and knowledge. In The Ecological Monster Will Not Stay in Shadows, ecologist advocate Sara Parkin remarks: Our numbness, our silence, our lack of outrage, could mean we end up the only species to have minutely monitored our own extinction. What a measly epitaph …: 'they saw it coming but hadn't the wit to stop it happening.
(13) Most of us live in unsustainable environments (cities), which could crumble at any moment [see Kunstler’s “The End of Suburbia”, 2004
(14), Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”, May 2006
(15) and Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Before the Flood”, October 2016
(16)]. Today’s modern cities and suburbs cannot function without highly complex network systems, sophisticated bureaucracies, and a total dependence on the power grid and petroleum industries. Even with the support of such technologies, our cities remain dangerously polluted and a cause of mental stress and anxiety for all its residents. Within seconds, and at any given time, with the unexpected collapse of any one of these vulnerable systems, or lack of such natural resources such as crude oil, the lives of thousands immediately become endangered. Modern society, allured by immediate gains and profits, is thus dangerously and irresponsibly gambling away the lives of its millions of citizens. 8 The Vedic culture, on the other hand, is based on principles of thoughtful and long range planning, giving emphasis to simple living, cultivation of knowledge, self-sufficiency, sustainability, mental peace, morality, character formation, respect of all life and social harmony. Such a pure and simple mode of living is most ideal and congenial within a village environment, where one’s livelihood comes primarily from cow-based natural agriculture, without practically having to step out of the village. The village remains an entity of its own, harmonious and complete in itself. As stated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister: This system of village self-government was the foundation of the Aryan polity. And it was this that gave it strength. So jealous were the village assemblies of their liberties that is was laid down that no soldier was to enter a village except with a royal permit.
(17) Local governance and local economy form the first principles of self-sufficiency. They foster yet another principle, sustainability. As late as 1890, a British Governor in India, Sir Charles Metcalfe, describes the village communities in India as follows: The village communities are little republics having everything they want within themselves and almost independent of foreign relations. They seem to last where nothing else lasts.
(18) Gandhi himself further underlines this point: The experience of mankind testifies to the fact that collective life is more congenial, varied and fruitful when it is concentrated in small units and simpler organizations. It is only small units which have had the most intense life.
(19) We can thus observe a major contrast with today’s ever expanding, and increasingly complex mega metropolis. How could such so-called modern advancement in knowledge and education bring about this type of disquieting result one may ask? The answer lies partially in the words of Lawrence Kubie: Without self-knowledge in depth, we can have dreams, but no art. We can have the neurotic raw materials of literature but not mature literature. We can have no adults, but only aging children who are armed with words 9 and paint and clay and atomic weapons, none of which they understand. And the greater the role in the educational process which is played by unconscious components of symbolic thinking, the wider must be this ancient and dishonorable gap between erudition and wisdom.
(20) Wisdom, or lack of it, forms an important theme in ancient Vedic culture and social organization. As the reader will rightly conjecture by now, the subject matter of this research will be intimately connected with India’s ancient teachings that are based on the Vedas, a treasure house of eternal knowledge. The philosophy behind Vedic social organization cannot be properly analyzed, or understood, without probing into the often unknown or forgotten dimensions of our planet’s most ancient civilization, the Vedic society, where philosophy, tradition, culture, customs and religion have played crucial roles in the lives of all its citizens. I am not referring here to what is generally termed as “Hinduism”, which is today understood as India’s main religion. The Vedas advocate a culture and a civilization far beyond sectarian religious beliefs and deals with these concepts with exactitude and science, and this in their broadest and most universal dimensions. This seminal culture originating from the vast treasure house of the Vedas, which is often misunderstood, is known as the culture of varnasrama dharma or sanatana dharma. Bhaktivedanta Swami, one of the most prominent advocates of the Vedic teachings in the 20th century, explains as follows: The real Vedic dharma is sanatana-dharma, or varnasrama-dharma. First of all, one has to understand this. Now that sanatana-dharma, or Vedic dharma, is being disobeyed, distorted, and misrepresented, it has come to be misunderstood as "Hinduism." That is a false understanding. That is not the real understanding. We have to study sanatana-dharma, or varnasrama-dharma. Then we'll understand what the Vedic religion is.
(21) Today, in this second decade of the 21st Century, we find ourselves confronted with seemingly insurmountable global problems such as climate change and desertification that threaten the very lives of not only of humans but indeed all species of life as well as the very survival of mother earth due to unprecedented and increasing ecological exploitation. Biologist 10 and scientist Allen Savory believes that Holistic Management of the soil and animals through Holistic Planned Grazing is the only solution to our present world crisis. In addressing his audience at his well-received TED Talk in the year 2013 he argued: What we had failed to understand was that the seasonal humidity environments of the world, the soil and the vegetation developed with very large number of grazing animals. And these grazing animals developed with ferocious pack-hunting predators. The main defense against pack-hunting predators is the get into herds and the larger the herd, the safer the individuals. Now large herds dung and urinate all over their own food and they have to keep moving. And it was that movement that prevented the over grazing of plants while the periodical trampling ensured the good covering of the soil… There is only one solution. I repeat to you, only one solution left to climatologists and scientists. And that is do the unthinkable, and to use livestock, bunched and moving, as a proxy for former herds and predators and mimic nature. There is no other alternative left to mankind.
(22) Unknown to him, Allen Savory was actually touching on a core principle of the Vedic culture, that of a scientific cyclic soil replenishment through natural grazing of large animal herds, especially the cattle. Scientists have confirmed that cow dung and cow urine provide the best natural fertilizers for the soil by the simple method of “animal impact” whereby the movement of their hooves help the soil generate natural nutrients.
In his paper, “Dung is a Gold Mine”, Late Shri Venishankar M. Vasu “boldly” wrote: THE ONLY SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS OF SHORTAGE OF FOOD GRAINS, WATER, FUEL, SHELTER, GOOD HEALTH, NUTRITION, ERADICATION OF POVERTY, AND UNEMPLOYMENT - DUNG, DUNG AND ONLY DUNG ! !
(23) The constitution of India provided designated areas for grazing of cows called gochara. However, with the advent of industry and urban development, the natural way of rearing and maintaining cows was disrupted to such an extent that today one can hardly find suitable grazing land for cows. It is for this reason that the Vedic culture favored an agrarian lifestyle for the vast 11 majority of its people to more easily meet the needs of food, clothing, shelter and medicines, through “dung economy”, all naturally coming from the land. “sarva-kama-dugha-mahi”.