Varnashrama: Between Method & Madness

Ideological & political approaches should balance and combine emotion and intellect. Politics based purely on the philosophy of "Its the economy, stupid" is less reliable than fiat currency. Politics based purely on primitive emotion is a compelling example for human devolution.

Discussing Judaism, Christianity and Islam in contrast with Indic religions, a friend suggested: "Founding roots of Abrahamic [religion] is the ill-digested follow-on from Krishna's battlefield Bhagavat stressing the personal-relationship with humanoid 'God' but minus the understanding of karma and re/incarnation." Regardless of whether the distinction holds in general, here are some preliminary considerations on the difference between Vedic and non-Vedic ideological approaches to civilization:

Aitareya Aranyaka, 3.2.3 says: "एष पन्था एष कर्मैतत् सत्यम् एतं वायौ ।" - "He is the Path(s), the Way/Method, the Truth, (in) the Life (life force)."

This is almost verbatim to Jesus' famous words, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life...".

Similarly, in the Isha Upanishad, and in various variations in many other Hindu texts we find the phrases like "सो sह्म्" - "I am He/That". And "यो sसावसौ पूरुषः सो sहमस्मि ।" - "The He that is that Person, He is I". Again, apparently from the same loom as Jesus' words "I am that 'I am'".

Jesus is supposed to be the firstborn son of God, born from the very body of God, and non-different from Him. Similarly, in Hinduism, Brahma, the Creator, is born from the body of Garbhodakashayi Vishnu, and is the very first emanation born directly from Him.

If you look for any of Jesus' cryptic words and instructions in the Vedas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas, Upanishads, and Puranas, you will find all of them directly in them. Typically fleshed out copiously and in a far richer context in all cases.

Those words and descriptions and their contexts have been there in the Vedas and its literature before Christianity, before the recorded history of Judaism.

Those words were also understood very differently by the Hindus and other Vedic peoples for tens of thousands of years.

There is no dearth of exclusive devotion to God in a henotheistic or monotheistic way in Hinduism.

But it is still very different from the alleged monotheism of Christianity or Islam.

I trust it will be as fascinating to you to explore this crucial difference, as it has been for me.

Vedic and non-Vedic religion: A matter of epistemology

1. The map is not the territory.

• When parts of a map are described, it does not actually describe the real territory. 
• The material sense perceptions are like a lower-order map of a higher order reality. 
• Moreover, in a holonymic semantic model of the universe (or multiverse), the actual territory also contains a map of itself in some part of itself. So the whole is made up of its parts (easy to understand), but each part also contains the whole within it, recursively. 
• Optimal perception and observation of reality requires "objective silence" and cannot be achieved by mere intensional or extensional paradigms of analysis.
• Faith with understanding and works determine Karma. "Surrender with intelligence", not "surrender your intelligence".

Mobius' transformations nicely depicts it mathematically:

A non-Vedic philosophy or religion does not distinguish between the synecdoche and metaphor of scriptural word-maps, and the reality of the process. It does not distinguish between the addictive effects of psycho-physical 'feelings' and 'emotions' and the reality of psycho-spiritual mellows. It does not have a holonymic semantic, but rather is limited to a purely associative semantic logic. It is entangled in intensional or extensional ideologies, far removed from objective silence. It eventually devolves to faith at the cost of either understanding or works.

2. Time has a linear as well as cyclic component.

• A psycho-spiritual model must account for regressive as well as progressive movement along the psychological time-track as viewed by the individual. 
• 'Sacred' and 'classical' values must be balanced in combination.
• The individual spiritually involves and evolves cyclically only via numerous 'births' and 'deaths' - psychological and physical.
• There is no scarcity of physical bodies - yet Life is precious.
• See also: Priestcraft: Managed Solutions versus Unmanaged Customizations

A non-Vedic philosophy or religion is based on a predominantly linear concept of time. Moreover, it is riddled with obligatory introjections that cause the adherent to, well, adhere fixedly to some particular point on the time-track - such as an obsession with one particular prophet, book, god, etc. as a singular or final pinnacle in a hierarchy limited by space-time. The ideology misuses the 'sacred' as a carrier for political ambition, and it cuckolds the 'classical' to lend itself respectability. The time-horizon is limited to a single lifetime of the current physical body, to the extent of projecting it into an afterlife in heaven or hell (as the case may be). It socially engineers managed solutions and elitist priestcraft at the cost of a spiritual culture of individual, unmanaged customization.

[A word here on the Vedic perspective of Karma and rebirth: Some Western "Indologist" types with their 'Aryan' race-based theories have been trying to suggest that the concept of Karma and rebirth is not present in the 'Aryan' Vedas, and was a later development within 'Upanishadic' Hinduism. Bollocks, of course.]

From a RigVeda verse on cremation, 10.16.3 -

सूर्यं चक्षुर्गच्छतु वातमात्मा द्यां च गच्छ पृथिवीं च धर्मणा ।
अपो वा गच्छ यदि तत्र ते हितमोषधीषु प्रति तिष्ठा शरीरैः ॥ 

"To the Sun let your Eyes go,
To the Wind your Life-breath.
By the good Deeds you have done,
Go to the Heaven and then come back again
To live on the Earth or take to the Waters
If you are comfortable with it.
Remain in the Herbs with the bodies you intend to take."

And another one. RigVeda 10.16.2 -

श्रुतं यदा करसि जातवेदो ' थेमेनम् परिदत्तात् पितृभ्यः ।
यद् गच्छात्यसूनीतिमेतामथा देवानां वाशनीर्भवाती ॥ 

"When the Supreme Lord gives the soul rebirth and facilitates another mother-father duo based on the fruits of Karma, then the soul inherits that particular type of life-force dynamics, and becomes engaged with the sensory apparatus."

Between Method & Madness

Caught between the intoxication of devotion and the method of the intellect, what is the way? Seen from the perspective of Vaishnava bhakti texts like the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.2.101 -

श्रुति-स्मृति-पुराणादि
पञ्चरात्र-विधिं विना ।
ऐकान्तिकी हरेर्भक्तिर्
उत्पातायैव कल्पते ॥

"Devotion to the Lord that ignores the method and concepts of Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas and Nārada-pañcarātra is merely an unnecessary upheaval in society." (History stands witness!)

That perspective is intimately related to progress over multiple "births-and-deaths" - Bhagavad Gita 7.19 -

बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते
ज्ञानवान् मां प्रपद्यते ।
वासुदेवः सर्वमिति
स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः ॥

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare."

That said, all such arrangements without true devotion is useless labour - Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.2.8 -

धर्मः स्वनुष्ठितः पुंसाम्
विश्वक्सेन-कथासु यः ।
नोत्पादयेद् यदि रतिम्
श्रम एव हि केवलम् ॥

"The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead."

See also: Blasphemy and Multicultural Democracy for a comparison of the basic principles of a Vedic devotional religion and a non-Vedic one.

Varnashrama Dharma: Completing a Cycle of Action & Cycle of Thought

The four psycho-physical modes and the four psycho-spiritual modes are the matrix in which the method and madness can operate.

The 4 varnas (psycho-physical modes) are phases of a cycle of Action. It is a psycho-physical process within the individual as well as the body politic.

The 4 ashramas (psycho-spiritual modes) are phases of a Cycle of Thought. It is meant to discharge life-force so as to best channel the progress of civilization.

Quoting Shrimad Bhagavatam 5.19.19:

अस्मिन्नेव वर्षे पुरुषैर् लब्ध-जन्मभिः शुक्ल-लोहित-कृष्ण-वर्णेन स्वारब्धेन कर्मणा दिव्य-मानुष-नारक-गतयो बह्व्य आत्मन आनुपूर्व्येन सर्वा ह्येव सर्वेषां विधीयन्ते यथा-वर्ण-विधानं अपवर्गश्चापि भवति ।

"The people who take birth in this land are divided according to the modes of material nature — the modes of goodness [sattva-guṇa], passion [rajo-guṇa], and ignorance [tamo-guṇa]. Some of them are born as exalted personalities, some are ordinary human beings, and some are extremely abominable, for in Bhārata-varṣa one takes birth exactly according to one's past Karma. If one's situation is ascertained by a bona fide method according to the four social modes [brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra] and the four spiritual modes [brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa], one's life discharges itself to perfection."

Quoting from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (389), Parāśara Muni says:

वर्णाश्रमाचारवता
पुरुषेण परः पुमान् ।
विष्णुर् आराध्यते पन्था
नान्यत् तत् तोष-कारणम् ॥

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varṇa and āśrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Lord."

Needless to say, the theoretical framework of Varnashrama itself can be treated in an erroneous epistemological non-Vedic way. In which case it is asuri varṇāśrama, not daivi varṇāśrama. Varnashrama is based on the classifications of "guna-karma" (quality and cultivation), as the Bhagavad Gita explains clearly. As the Bhagavatam's story goes, the asuras (demons) developed a perfect varṇāśrama society, but it did not please Vishnu, whereas even the imperfect varṇāśrama of the society of devas (gods) apparently pleased Him no end.

Brahma's Lotus Arse: A Hindutva view of LGBT issues

Recently the bizarre stance taken by the Supreme Court of India in criminalizing homosexuality has been in the news. Taken in an isolated sense, it is a matter of concern to most right-thinking people, whatever be their political orientation. It is also surprising that supposedly 'Hindutva' forces have chimed in with an asinine note in this debate on LGBT issues. India is a society in unprecedented flux, which over the past 60 years has seen an unprecedented re-alignment of social forces (for better justice and empowerment) in modern history - all through the ballot rather than the bullet. Just like there can be good things from this flux, there is apparently the possibility of ignorance that emerges from this churning, too.

Political Identity
Political orientation - exactly like sexual and gender identity - is not a bipolar case of 'left' and 'right', 'male' or 'female'. Therefore it should be apparent to the discerning that the BJP is a political bandwagon that is not equivalent to 'Hindutva' as a political philosophy. The BJP as a political vehicle has its own share of Dilli billis who are politician passengers rather than statesmen drivers with an ideological vision. One can read up on the "D4" within the BJP to get an idea of the wheels-within-wheels of the political forces that run this country - on both sides of the political spectrum and across party lines. There is conflict between them and, say, Modi.

There is nothing special in the fact that there are "communal" forces of all stripes in India (or any other society), most of them as Congress affiliates and some of them in the opposition. There is also nothing special that there are "liberal" forces on all sides, and so it should not be surprising that there are truly liberal forces that form an intrinsic part of 'Hindutva'. This essay here tries to put forward a 'Hindutva' liberal view on LGBT issues. Its also worth noting apologetically that every country has its pseudo-liberal jackasses. Their fashionable cerebral musings are blissfully disconnected from other parts of their own brains. Unfortunate societies must wait for Time to show fully the actual fruits of a generation's reckless experiments with truth. A more holistic perspective serves the purpose better.

Sexuality and Psychophysical Identities
Sexuality and even gender identity is a continuum, not merely a polarity of male-female. This is true even biologically within one individual's composite body of all types of cells, irrespective of the body's aggregate gender. The fact that sexuality is a continuum with many 'overlapping' areas even in 'mainstream' society can be seen with classifications of sexual preferences such as "gynandrophilia" (attraction for transsexuals), etc. Statistically, it has been noted to emerge as an increasingly preferred customer choice in escort services, pornography, etc. Among Hinduism one sees deity forms of various intersections of categories of species and gender identity, such as the iconic ardha-nareeshwara form (check out the 'lotus' diagram below).

Gender differences range from 'absolute' to merely a matter of degree. 'Absolute' differences are sex-dichotomous differences, such as the presence or absence of gender-specific genital organs. On the other hand, a greater number of gender differences are sex-dimorphic and therefore only a mater of statistical degree, such as stature, behaviors and psychological and other abilities (typically complementary). These categories of psycho-physical differentiation are a product of, both, nature and nurture.

However, even the 'absolute' differences are developmentally a matter of degree of elimination, sharing the same 'substrate' (in an ontological, or better called 'morphogenetic', sense). For instance, in order to become 'male', the foetus goes through a de-feminization (and thereby masculinization) process. The 'female' is the default path for the psycho-physical development of the human being, in the sense that gene actions that result in the formation of 'absolute' female-specific systems are merely eliminated. This idea is supported by the fact that there are no female-specific genes or hormones that correspond to the hormones active in males only. Therefore, the Vedas switch to female deities at particular points in the spiritual journey. [Agniveer: 1. Vedas on Woman – "Sunrise of enlightenment"; 2. Vedas on Woman – "Foundation of knowledge"]

Thus, in a psycho-spiritual and psycho-physical process of self-discovery, there is a good possibility of having to discover and pass through a beingness that strides and encompasses gender identities. In the end, atman is said to be asexual - or rather pan-sexual. Along the way, as part of a process of self-discovery, there appears to be a phase of homo-eroticism, i.e., developing a sort of intimate comfort - or even admiration - for the morphological body of the same gender as one's current mortal coil. In some Dharmic systems, this phase, like many other phases, seem to be projected on the ishta devata. E.g., there are detailed descriptions of the spiritual body, including all private parts, of chosen deities, both male and female. Clearly, these were not meant for the meditations of devotees of the opposite sex, and of course these are not lustful flights either. But they do indicate a 'transmutation' of eros and its perspective.

It follows that tendencies like homophobia would become a deep-seated developmental block in spiritual life. It may or may not be the case that there are healthier paths for the common man to self-discovery than those manifested by LGBT, but the fact is that LGBT is relatively uncommon by nature as much as by nurture. Therefore, it should be treated with the humility, respect and wonder that is due to all such relative phenomena of nature that are the products of crises or blurs of identity. If destiny is born out of crisis, and if the spiritual task is to derive new order out of chaos, then the revulsion to outliers and counter-examples to common set identities is counter-productive across all purushaarthas and for socio-political varnashrama.

Justice, Ethics & Experience
Law (prescription and proscription) should ideally set the contours for spiritual life within a particular society. Criminalization of homosexuality does the opposite at this point in our society. Unbelievably, in India homosexuality is being legally conflated with pedophilia and bestiality, perhaps because a lot of homosexual conditioning happens in such contexts as the systematic buggery of street children as a form of abuse and gang dynamics, turning into a cycle of the abused becoming the abuser. Promiscuity also may be a problem within consensual homosexual social circles, but that is partly related to their lack of space and status in society. It is not inherent in LGBT orientations, but is a combination of legitimate LGBT tendencies with other illegitimate tendencies common to all sexual orientations - such as lust, abusiveness, irresponsibility and other forms of perversity.

So the legal position is tantamount to aiding in the nurture of perversity by compartmentalizing a particular psycho-physical tendency and pushing it down into a vicious spiral instead of containing (regulating) and edifying it into virtue. The law should promote fidelity and discourage promiscuity and abuse. Criminalizing homosexuality serves no purpose whatsoever. However, in my humble opinion, a useful debate could be had on whether same-sex couples can be "married" in the same cultural form as regular couples, or whether it should be differentiated for cultural purposes (if not legal). Perhaps it calls for containment but not ostracism, definitely for unbiased edification and not visceral condemnation in the garb of religion or culture.

In some ancient societies they actually took the opposite stance of elevating the status of people with mixed gender identities, etc. For example, in Oaxaca (Mexico), even today the old tradition persists, that if one offspring happens to be 'transsexual', he/she wears distinguishing jewelry and inherits the entire family property - and then may choose to re-distribute it one way or another. Et cetera. I guess the purpose behind such traditions must have been to uphold such a minority cases of "freaks" of nature so that the aam abdul can wonder about the fixed conceptions around identities that are common in society, and also to induce a sense of spiritual responsibility as an antidote to a vicious spiral of promiscuity or persecution that often stems from identity crises.

देवोsदेवान् जघनतः
सृजति स्मातिलोलुपान् ।
त एनं लोलुपतया
मैथुनायाभिपेदिरे ॥

"The God Brahma then created the Demons from his buttocks, overly concupiscent. Due to excessive sexual lust, they approached Him for copulation." - The Bhagavatam, 3:20:23

In its morphology, the Bhagavatam or any Vedic text is interesting. One could think of the homunculus. Even by its own devotional logic, Brahma (with the four-lobed head) is the Supreme Being's first-born son, and Brahma's blessed arse rests on the Lotus emanating from Vishnu's own navel, the source of everything. 

One Being, Many Vectors: Sanity in Politics & Religion

Veda could be characterized as an unlimited collection of sane points of view, and a rejection of not-so-sane 'packaged' half-truths that come bundled with beliefs, affiliations, etc. एकं सत् विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति । "Truth is One, the learned call it by many Names." - RigVeda 1.164.146

'Sanity' is measurable in terms of a genuine relationship with all branches of knowledge, and holistic processes to recognize that knowledge. A point of view that answers more questions than it causes to be raised, and which offers a pragmatic process of further cognition and more mature questions, is worthy of being adopted. A point of view that does not square with reasonably related branches of knowledge, or that has no pragmatic method to it, is worthy of rejection. [Check out Agniveer: 'What is Vedic Religion?']

The fact that there are unlimited points of view is emphasized in Hindu philosophy itself -

तर्कोsप्रतिष्टः श्रुतयो विभिन्ना
नासावृषिर्यस्य मतं न भिन्नम् ।
धर्मस्य तत्तवं निहितं गुहायाम्
महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः ॥

- Yudhishthira in The Mahabharata, Vana-parva, 313.117

"Dry arguments are inconclusive. A philosopher/teacher/prophet (muni) whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a purified intellect. Simply by studying the shrutis (books that were "heard" by the teachers), which are multifarious, one cannot come to the right path by which Dharma is understood. The solid truth of Dharma is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person. Consequently, as the shaastras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the great ones advocate."

Enlightened seers all have a unique and different point of view! This is an astonishing assertion of Hinduism. Yet Dharma is one and unified, as is the multifarious tree of knowledge - i.e. there is a consilience of knowledge.

It also says that dry argument without reference to being-ness (asmita) is always inconclusive. Cultural or civilizational identity is clearly a component to understanding. A particular culture will have a greater bandwidth for truth if it can accommodate a greater diversity of the civilizational spectrum, including the deracinated sections of society.

Therefore, "Hinduism" cannot be defined by some kind of doctrinal manifesto like most typical "religions". Rather, it appears to be a broad culture of a never-ending curiosity about truth. Finito.

The Politics of Hindutva

Then there is the consideration of the political philosophies derived from a Vedic mindset. On his bed of arrows on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, the grandsire Bhishma equated Politics with the practice of sannyasa.

The set of political philosophies claiming affiliation with the Veda has come to be called Hindutva in the current day and age. [Insert: Some people differentiate Hinduva from Raj Dharma (BRF).]

Like a true philosophy, it ought to have a consideration from different vectors. It would be wonderful for India's social and political discourse at large if educated sections of its people could break out of their old, encrusted categories and recognize the fundamentals of Hindutva, as outlined above in this blogpost -- and then participate in it and enrich it, for there is plenty of space for many viewpoints, and plenty of need for different methods to tackle India's (and the world's) varied problems in its various regions.

But many currently think of the political philosophy of Hindutva as a monolithic, opportunist juggernaut that can be pigeonholed into some Western category (like "right-wing" ideology), and whose internal differences of opinion are only ramifications within that category. But the fact is that it doesn't really fit any Western category. Even using a Western lens, an honest survey shows that there are as many clearly leftist people within Hindutva as there are right-wingers. Hindutva can easily occupy both sides of the aisle, even in its current nascent form.

It is actually a different dynamic of governance, i.e., one based on a different form of social and cultural capital -- created on an evolving civilizational resource rooted in native experience rather than one imported and "thrust fully formed" on the civilization. Yet, some tendentious opinion-makers have tried to bury its distinct diversity and subtle nuances under some rather unsettling labels imported from other civilizations with a very different historical experience. Once that is done, it becomes a matter of forcing an identification based on the merest similarity. This semantic confusion is sheer insanity. Such an intellectual priesthood and its sepoys have become active carriers of this contagion, with little regard for real facts and honest analysis.

Old order must pass

In the Vedas, there is an eternal Truth (satyam), and a continuously changing modality of Truth (Rtam). Cultural nationalism means to create a system for the recognition of the modal nature of old and new truths through time, where dynamic Rtam can be fostered, and where static half-truths that try to monopolize, limit, or distort it can be weeded out as time flows by. For sure, there will be ideological casualties - not to be construed as 'victims'. From the post 'Bruce Lee and Bhakti - 2' -

"Politically, it follows that all bona fide sectarian cultures must point to the unified Tree of supra-subjective knowledge. The ideological sources of any religious or ideological sect can be objectively evaluated for this complete structure and continuity with Knowledge. If it fails in this due to a fixation on one point in history, one personality, or one obsession with an ideal, then its destruction is written in the stars and the politics of Dharma must aid this process. Any political party that seeks to prevent their destruction is doing so at the cost of the general sanity of the environment."

But if pseudo-"secular" mavens of spin and their gullible 'educated' consumers in India cannot bring themselves to understand this cultural nationalism and break out of their ignorant prejudices, then to quote Bob Dylan's lyric:

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
- (link to song)

Good Critic, Bad Critic

My pathbreaking research has revealed that the Bollywood blockbuster "Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge" ("The possessor of a heart carries away the bride") was named after a mantra from the RigVeda. I know you think I'm a bullshitter, but at least everyone agrees that Bollywood's dons of doggerel are plagiarists. If you don't believe me, I can show you. Its from the RigVeda's Saraswati Suktam:

उत त्वः पश्यन् न ददर्श वाचं , उत त्वः श्रृण्वन् न श्रृणोत्येनम् ।
उतो त्वस्मै तन्वं विसस्रे जायेव पत्य उषति सुवासाः ॥ ऋग्वेदः १०.७१.४ 

"One man looks at the Word, yet he does not see Her; One listens but does not hear Her.
But to another has She shown Her beauty, like a fond well-dressed bride does to her husband."
- RigVeda 10.71.4

The enlightened person, whose ignorant heart has been set alight by knowledge, who becomes an intoxicated bard in pursuance of the Veda, is often called kavi in Sanskrit - a poet. I'm told that this is not your cheap Urdu poetaster, churning out cliched or mawkish rhyme for a bit of notoriety or wallow, but rather someone whose transactions are of a different type, whose fame is of a different frequency.

But the mantra is not about the Poet, it is about the hearer, about ways of listening or reading. Shravanam.

This word "dilwala" is Persian pidgin in north-India. The Sanskrit word is "sahridaya" - "companion or possessor of a heart". I came across this thoughtful editorial in the Sanskrit language Sudharma newspaper of September 11, 2013 - A translation:

कविसहृदयाख्यं तत्त्वम् । The reality of what is called 'Poet' and of the 'Possessor of a sincere, learned heart' 

"The reality of Saraswati (Goddess of Speech, Knowledge) is won by the Poet, and by the Possessor of a heart", said Abhinavagupta. "Those who, by constant practice and devotion to the poetry acquire the ability to identify and become part of (something) in the clear, illustrative imagination of the heart's mirror, they become participants in the relationships of the heart and are possessors of the heart," said he. In the hands lies creativity, so also in the possession of a heart lies the ability for bliss. But its not as if all who read poetry or all who watch theater are knowers of the poet's heart. Only some have that ability. Thus it is heard: 

"One man looks at the Word, yet he does not see Her;
One listens but does not hear Her." 

In the world, as poets are rare, so also are possessors of hearts. Just like poetic talent, the ability for critique and reflection is also obtained only by the Grace of God. By the ability for critique and reflection, the possessor of a heart knows the inner state of the poet, and discovers new meanings, too. What the sun doesn't see, that the poet sees; and what even the poet doesn't see, that the reflective critic sees. But some critics turn into academic commentators. They only seek the faults in the poet. Where the meaning is complex, there they say it is obvious and literal and cast it away. Where the meaning is clear they re-describe it in complex ways. They increase the readers' perplexity. In this way, many an interpreter has perverted reality. They aren't possessors of hearts. Only he is a possessor of a heart who sets aside envy and emulation and reads poetry for the joy of poetry. The reality of Saraswati is in, both, the poet and the possessor of a heart. If there were no possessors of hearts, then the poet's work is wasted. If there was no poet, then the possessors of hearts would have no bliss. May both increase!

So the devoted practice and duplication is not blind admiration, says the editor; it is a sympathetic, reflective critique.

Secondly, this line was intriguing: "What the sun doesn't see, that the poet sees; and what even the poet doesn't see, that the reflective critic sees." It reminded me of a verse famous in the Mahabharata:

अष्टौ श्लोकसहस्राणि अष्टौ श्लोकशतानि च
अहं वेद्मि शुको वेत्ति सञ्जयो वेत्ति वा न वा 

"Eight thousand and eight hundred verses there are,
That I know and Shuka knows but Sanjaya (the author) may or may not know." 

      -Mahabharata, Adi Parva 1.81

Around this verse is built the theory of the "Hidden Bharata", one that isn't available in the popular epic's text. Now if I were an Idiot, or a clever Nazi or colonial Western Indologist, or a traditionalist upper caste Hindu clansman, I might go digging for the relics of this 8800 verse Holy Grail in Tibet or Turkey, or deep in the family archives of a particular caste-collective. Nothing wrong with that, of course - after all, "What one has not yet learned to use, one must first learn to waste", be it time, money, energy or intelligence. But this Hidden Bharata seems to have been pursued more as an idea by those Hindu spiritual leaders who worked with the fundamentals. For example, one finds an echo of it in the texts of Bengal Vaishnavism, where Lord Shiva says:

अहं वेद्मि शुको वेत्ति
व्यासो वेत्ति न वेत्ति वा ।
भक्त्या भागवतं ग्राह्यं
न बुद्ध्या न च टीकया ॥ 

"[Lord Śiva said:] 'I may know; Śuka may know; and Vyāsa may or may not know the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For the spotless Purāṇa can be grasped only through devotional service, not by material intelligence, mental speculation or philological commentaries.'"       

                   - Chaitanya Charitamrta, Madhya, 24.313 

If "dilwala" is pidgin, the above tried to address the Indian side, the sahridaya. The Persian equivalent would be saheb e delaan. Its a phrase that is found in Persian mysticism going back to Zoroastrian and Mithraic times, they say. And so is the word khudaa, which means Self-evident (khud aashkaar) according to the mystics. Some of its best expression is in the poetry of Hafez:

دل می‌ رود ز دستم صاحب دلان خدا را

دردا که راز پنهان خواهد شد آشکارا 

"My heart is slipping out of my hands, O possessors of hearts, for Self-evidence's sake!

Alas, the hidden secret will become manifest!"

As the editor said, "In the hands lies creativity, so also in the possession of a heart lies the ability for bliss." Here, our man is moving beyond creativity and 'doing' (service), towards an encounter that the possessor of a heart is entitled to. (Conversely, in a condition of confusion and disorientation, "dil pey mat ley, haath mein ley!").

Control + Duplication = Communication;
Control + Communication = Having [ref. Be Do Have: Creativity, Faith, Works and Witnessing]

Its probably better to draw close to the original Veda before one spends time on academic interpretations and the theories of linguists, archaeologists and other "researchers" who have little identification with the Veda, or instead have an attitude of envy, usurpation or malice towards Vedic civilization or India. In other words, if they haven't paid their dues at the altar of the Veda and Vedanga, duplicating its practice as per its own clear native specifications, then their theories and critiques are worth nothing - or more harmful than useful.

Be Do Have: Creativity, Faith, Works and Witnessing

The Biblical Jesus Christ reportedly said that the Kingdom of Heaven is already within those he speaks to. But he also said that the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be seen until one is born again. He also confirmed the ancient notion of the mission to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. 

Being, Doing and Having (a thing) probably have little in common with one another, except the thing in itself. They are distinct mediums in which that thing is realized, knowledge of that thing is gained, and bliss of that thing is experienced - mediums of Time and Eternality, of Motion and Survival. Probably like the difference between the mediums in which creatures of the Earth, the Atmosphere and the Heavens operate. According to the Veda, they are three containers in which the cosmic fire (Agni) burns.

If Being, Doing and Having are not treated as distinct, then the proverbial dog apparently keeps chasing its own tail, knowledge becomes Mechanical, and bliss becomes  mere Entertainment to kill Time. A rather hellish wheel of action and Reaction.

The 3 may also have a logical order at the level of Individual agreement - Being precedes Doing, and Having follows.

That could appear counter-intuitive. Some may think that in order to truly Be something, one has to first Do something in order to Have some qualification, at which point there is social agreement that one is that thing. That's also true - at the level of social or Political agreement. As stated in another blogpost [The Forest and the Village] - "The Political level keeps the Individual level honest, and vice versa."

The Earth and the Atmosphere: Being and Doing

The Sacrifice, Yajna, is to be conceived first in Heaven, then wrought on Earth: 

देव-विशः कल्पयितव्या इत्याहुस् ;
ताः कल्पमाना अनु मनुष्यविशः कल्पन्त इति । 

सर्व विशः कल्पते यज्ञो sपि ।
तस्यै जनतायै कल्पते यत्रैवं विद्वान् होता भवति । 

"'The subjects of the Gods should be brought into order', they say;
'As they are brought into order, the subjects of Mankind come into order.'" 

"All the subjects come into order, the sacrifice comes into order also.
All is in order for that people where there is a Wizard knowing thus."

                                                                  - from Aitareya Brahmana 1.9

So then, the first phase of Yajna is postulated by someone who has already seen the Heavens, and then heard by and refined within the Individual researchers (encompassing their most confidential relationships as well as circumstance). The work then is to remove all obstacles so as to refine one's intention to the point of Being without reservation. Then each one takes ownership of Work. This is Consecration (diksha). 

The adjacent phase of Yajna is in working to create that Heavenly postulate on Earth. It is the translation of the Individual idea to the social or Political. It is an effort in building civilization, or supporting it in balance, or destroying its hypertrophic (ugra-karmic) excesses.

Of course, there is a feedback loop between the two phases, between conception, working, reformation and re-working. 

The progression of one's sense of reality and objective relationships could be described somewhat as follows (in ascending order):

Modes of Doing
Waiting  परिचर्या	-          Passive hope based on waiting for future advent of an avatara or savior, rather than observation -          Simple patience and happiness devoid of ambition
Hiding  अप्यय	-          Occultation of the cynosure from Earthly observation -          Personal renunciation, etc.
Protecting  गोप्तृत्व	-          Confidential preservation and transmission -          Covert affiliation while pretending to be a very dutiful part of inimical mainstream [Like a wife secretly having an extra-marital affair and being extra-diligent in her duties to her husband to avoid suspicion or address her conscience]
Defending  जय	-          Open expression of one's affiliations by violently or peacefully confronting contra-postulates -          The struggle to create social and political space for activity
Owning  स्वतन्त्रता	-          Identification and belonging to a reality and its cultural symbiotes -          Sense of belonging not requiring justifications or reasons
Taking Responsibility दास्य	-          Cognition of one's Basic Purpose as formed in first 2.5 years of life -          Service involvement
Achieving Control संयम	Responsibility, Knowledge and Control increase and decrease with one another in a virtuous or vicious spiral. [If one takes Responsibility for something, it increases one’s Knowledge of it and results in increased Control of that field of activity, which generates an expanded scope of responsibility, and so on.]
Physical Death द्विजत्व	-          Experiencing physical death and being born again. -          Death (यम) as Teacher [I am not sure if physical death can be experienced by yogic method. According to Acharya Madhva, in the Katha Upanishad, Nachiketa experiences actual death by Vajashrava’s words, and is not drawing near to Yama simply in meditative trance.]

... and so on, leading to higher, aesthetic, and ecstatic (disembodied) modes of Doing.

The exercise of mature free will and self-determinism is fundamental. Compulsion or hustle and haste in Political identification, or invalidation of an Individual's sense of ownership would immediately lower Individual responsibility and push the Individual down that scale -- to a reality of Hiding, or Waiting, or a sense of the reality being in Occultation, etc. All types of cult and sectarian doctrines and mythologies could be mapped along this spectrum.

Diksha brings one to the point of active ethics and Taking Responsibility. Any mode inferior to that does nothing active to bring the Kingdom of Heaven closer. Yet, the superior modes of activity must be grounded in the inferior modes, which provide orientation. Otherwise they become mere fruitive activities. Infinite patience, treating the world in good faith and affinity (bhakti) are the foundation of true Vedic Karma Kanda.

But then, in order to actually see the realm of Heaven the Individual apparently has to be born again (dwija). For only in a newborn can the seed of an idea be planted and its own native fruit be observed in present time. An idea transmitted between older 'grown-ups' is merely grafted onto an existing creeper. The newborn is a clean slate, in a limited sense. Whence the logic of renewal, renascence into fresh youth, as in the Zoroastrian frasho-kereti (Sanskrit praso-kriti).

The Heavens: Thanking and Having

So the Being and Doing are not complete without Having as its fruit. And Having is probably not possible until after being born again, not just psychologically but by experiencing physical death, and witnessing Heaven Itself, the fruit of the Yajna. For to see is to believe:

ऋतं वाव दीक्षा सत्यं दीक्षा, तस्माद् दीक्षितेन सत्यं एव वदितव्यम् । 

"The consecration is holistic arrangement, the consecration is truth; therefore, by one who is consecrated should truth alone be spoken." 

अथो खल्वाहुः -
"को sर्हति मनुष्यः सर्वं सत्यं वदितुम् ।
सत्य-संहिता वै देवा, अनृत-संहिता मनुष्या" इति ॥ 

Rather they say -
"What man is capable of speaking all truth? ;
The Gods are of truth composed, but Men of a false-disorder composed!" 

विचक्षणवतीं वाचं वदेच् ;
"चक्षुर्वै विचक्षणं, वि ह्येनेन पश्यति" इति ।  

He should speak using (the word) 'discerning' (विचक्षण - faultless vision, a product of a wise heart);  

"The discerning is the eye itself, for by it he sees distinctly", they say. (i.e., seeing is believing, as compared to hearing/reading about it, inferring it, or imagining it, etc.) 

एतद् ध वै मनुष्येषु सत्यं निहितं यच्चक्षुस् तस्माद् आचक्षाणं आहुः - "अद्राग्" इति ।  

Now the eye/witnessing is truth deposited among men; therefore, to him that narrates they say - "Hast thou seen?" 

स यद्यदर्शम् इत्याहाथास्य श्रद्दधाति । 

If he replies, "I have seen", then him they believe.  

यद्यु वै स्वयं पश्यति, न बहूनांचनान्येषां श्रद्दधाति ।  

But if a man himself sees, he believes not even many others (who may all agree on a different version). 

तस्माद् विचक्षणवतीम् एव वाचं वदेत् , सत्योत्तरा हैवास्य वाग् उदिता भवति भवति । 

Therefore should he speak using (the word) 'discerning' (विचक्षण); his uttered speech then is essentially true. 

                                                                       - from Aitareya Brahmana 1.6

A person who has completed the Yajna in all 3 phases utters postulates. Such an Individual's postulates are food for another Individual seeker's research, and the basis of sound nation-building.

Browsing around, I heard a teacher, Shriman Arya Naresh, practically define Yajna (Devotional Offering) concisely as:

OM ka dhyaan (ऊँ का ध्यान) - Meditation on the Word.

  

Ved ka gyaan (वेद का ज्ञान) - Knowledge of Vedas, i.e. knowledge about knowingness itself. 

Yajna ka anushthaan (यज्ञ का अनुष्ठान) - The execution of Yajna, in ritual and in society. 

Sanskaari santaan (संस्कारी सन्तान) - Raising children through good mental cultivation that protects and instructs the life force and facilitates creative imagination. 

Raashtra hit balidaan (राष्ट्र हित बलिदान) - Sacrifice for the benefit of the nation and civilization.

It spans the Individual and the Political. Indian youth seem to be getting involved at different levels - spiritual, ideological or social - in the political reformation of the nation and its ecology. It may still lack focus, direction, or sophistication, and one hopes it is not too late. Also, all talk of cultural nationalism will turn out to be no different from petty identity politics without genuine guidance and understanding.

The Forest and the Village: A case for Cultural Nationalism

Be, do, have. Creativity is ultimately about 'doing', but is preceded by reflective 'being', and completed by the satisfaction of a non-material 'having'. Doing obviously involves pragmatism, and is social and Political in scope. But being and having are Individual in scope, and if not recognized as such will go out of control.

Individuation is to see any thing, not pigeon-holed as a member of a particular category of existence, but as an intersection of various categories. E.g., a human being is not material or animal or mental or intellectual or spiritual, but some intersection of them all. Dharma, artha, kama and moksha are not in conflict with one another (except in the holiest of holies!), but interconnected by self-determinism. Etc.

Politicization is the division of society into categories and vested interests for the purpose of governance. Governance means Control of parts, effective Communication between parts and as an organism, and an ability to deliver (Have) something of value to society at large. Of course, it all depends on that civilization's definition of value. E.g., the U.S. is an example of a body politic designed to deliver an American dream to its constituents, who are all in pursuit of happiness, and to cure other civilizations of their nightmarish ideals. Any nation-state from the Islamic Ummah is an example of a body politic designed to deliver the peace and tranquility of Islam to all humble members, and to inflict the peace of the graveyard on those not so humble. India is an example of a body politic that currently doesn't know its elbow from its arse. Etc.

The Political level keeps the Individual level honest, and vice versa. Sort of like how wives keeps their husbands honest and vice versa. Perhaps when Individuation is not balanced by contact with Political socialization, then it leads to ideological corruption - moral distortions. When Politicization is not balanced by relinquishment with a focus on Individuation, then it leads to material corruption - cultural and psycho-somatic malaise.

Cultural nationalism, not merely a civic nationalism, can help bridge this gap and restore balance. In cultural nationalism, the entire body politic can itself personify and individuate - around a form of the spiritual cynosure of its civilization. Thus, it can restore Control, Communication and a sense of Having and belonging. A useful experiment in cultural nationalism needs good-natured, wise, strong and skillful wizardry - the kind that Murli Manohar Joshi doesn't have.

In India, politicization for 60 years operated on a ramifying societal division of vested interests, done at the cost of some older categories of socialization. For a period, this was good for the nation and for democratic empowerment. The founding fathers of the US also agree in the Publius Papers that the greater the division and diversity of interest groups, the more stable a republican democracy. But the dereliction of higher-level civilizational awareness and values, education in the native humanities, and ethics at the individual level has caused a cancer in the political process within India. Rather than playing within the limits of a soft diversity, it has played into the hands of hard lobbies beholden to external forces. Because of the loss of this moral compass, the political process has been hijacked by forces with a fundamental hatred of the civilization's native substrate. Thus, at this delicate juncture, many Indians find themselves debating the 'Idea of India' parallel to the groundswell of anxiety about pervasive corruption. Not a bad start, though hopefully not too late.

The continuous movement back and forth from Individuation to Political socialization, from spiritual reality to transactional pragmatism, from the paramarthika to the vyavaharika, is a theme in Veda. It is intrinsic to the idea of the cycle of 'Work' or 'Doing' (karma). Following is a passage from the Aitareya Brahmana, which provides an ancient understanding of the following:

1. Meanings of the "4 yugas" (phases of Time and Movement) - satya, treta, dwapara, kali

2. Thought vs. Action - i.e., culture - and both their relation to "karma"

3. Relation of body and soul - role of a thriving body (physical or political), free of psycho-somatic or cultural illness. 

4. Destiny (bhaagya) - and how it can be modified based on Individual modes of consciousness.

5. Non-clutching to any truths of Political socialization ("the Village"), but to keep moving to and from the "Forest" of creative individuation. (This is a famous verse supposedly also quoted often by The Buddha to his disciples).

अथ हैक्ष्वाकं वरुणो जग्राह, तस्य होदरं जज्ञे ।

तद् उ ह रोहितः शुश्राव, सो sरण्याद् ग्रामं एयाय ।

तं इन्द्रः पुरुषरूपेण पर्येत्योवाच -

नाना श्रान्ताय श्रीरस्तीति रोहित शुश्रुम ।

पापो नृषद्वरो जन इन्द्र इच्चरतः सखा ॥

"Then Varuna seized Aikshvaaka; his belly swelled up. 

This Rohita heard; he went from the forest to the village.

To him Indra came in human form and said -

'Manifold is the prosperity of him who is weary (after great effort), so we have heard O Rohita;

Evil is he who stays put among men, Indra is the comrade of the wanderer.'"

चरैवेति चरैवेति वै मा ब्राह्मणो sवोचद्,

इति ह द्वितीयं संवत्सरं अरण्ये चचार ।

सो sरण्याद् ग्रामं एयाय, तं इन्द्रः पुरुषरूपेण पर्येत्योवाच -

पुष्पिण्यौ चरतो जङ्घे भूष्णुरात्मा फलग्रहिः ।

शेते sस्य सर्वे पाप्मानः श्रमेण प्रपथे हताश् ॥

"'Keep moving.' (Thinking) this Brahman has bidden me 'wander', 

He wandered for a second year in the wild. 

He came from the forest to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said - 

'Flower-like the thighs (or shanks/heels) of the wanderer, his body grows and is fruitful;

All his sins go into remission, slain by the toil of his journeying.'"

चरैवेति चरैवेति वै मा ब्राह्मणो sवोचद्,

इति ह तृतीयं संवत्सरं अरण्ये चचार ।

सो sरण्याद् ग्रामं एयाय, तं इन्द्रः पुरुषरूपेण पर्येत्योवाच -

आस्ते भग आसीनस्योर्ध्वस् तिष्ठति तिष्ठतः ।

शेते निपद्यमानस्य चराति चरतो भगश् ॥

"'Keep moving.' (Thinking) this Brahman has bidden me 'wander',

He wandered for a third year in the wild. 

He came from the forest to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said - 

'The fortune of him who sits also sits, that of him who stands also stands erect;

That of him who reclines lies prone, the fortune of him that moves shall move indeed.'"

चरैवेति चरैवेति वै मा ब्राह्मणो sवोचद्,

इति ह चतुर्थं संवत्सरं अरण्ये चचार ।

सो sरण्याद् ग्रामं एयाय, तं इन्द्रः पुरुषरूपेण पर्येत्योवाच -

कलिः शयानो भवति संजिहानस् तु द्वापरः ।

उत्तिष्ठंस् त्रेता भवति कृतं संपद्यते चरंश् ॥

"'Keep moving.' (Thinking) this Brahman has bidden me 'wander', 

He wandered for a fourth year in the wild. 

He came from the forest to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said - 

'Kali he becomes who lies down to sleep, Dwapara when he rises awake;

Treta when he stands erect, and Krta (Satya) when he gets moving.'"

चरैवेति चरैवेति वै मा ब्राह्मणो sवोचद्,

इति ह पञ्चमं संवत्सरं अरण्ये चचार ।

सो sरण्याद् ग्रामं एयाय, तं इन्द्रः पुरुषरूपेण पर्येत्योवाच -

चरन् वै मधु विन्दति चरन् स्वादुं उदुम्बरम् ।

सूर्यस्य पश्य श्रेमाणं यो न तन्द्रयते चरंश् ॥

"'Keep moving.' (Thinking) this Brahman has bidden me 'wander', 

He wandered for a fifth year in the wild. 

He came from the forest to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said - 

'Journeying, one finds honey, journeying, the sweet Udumbara fruit;

Consider the pre-eminence of the sun, who wearies never of wandering.'"

- Aitareya Brahmana 7.15 (verses 1-5)

References:

1. Agniveer: Understanding the Self in Hinduism

2. Sanskrit text of the Aitareya Brahmana

3. An English translation attempt of the Aitareya Brahmana

Violence and Kshātra: War, Religion & Philosophy

The recent roadside butchery of a serviceman in Londonistan is a high-visibility, low-impact advertisement for jihad. It happens all the time in India. It can be thought-provoking, amusing and also chilling to observe the reactions within the Muslim community in the wake of every such incident.

It is familiar to hear the taqiyyah on TV of some Muslim representatives telling non-Muslims that 'jihad' is primarily an act of self-improvement or a struggle against social injustice, rather than an act of war or violence. But there are several other Muslim sheikhs, intellectuals and bloggers now emerging who are more frank and philosophically succinct in that jihad was indeed primarily defined as an act of battle. However, they still do draw a line between legitimate jihad and anarchist terrorism. E.g.:

Blog - The Humble "I": Terrorism is to Jihad as Adultery is to Marriage

In their everyday lives and drawing room discussions, the initial reaction is embarrassment, irritation or self-pity at the real or imagined stares and uncomfortable silences of colleagues at the workplace or fellow travelers on the metro or bus. There is some condemnation of the perps not being good Muslims. But when that starts happening, there is always the wise voice that reminds the gathering that according to the widespread interpretation of Islam even major sins do not constitute a breach of Iman (faith in the eyes of Allah), so one should not judge the perps on that count. Besides, the political cause brandished by the perps cannot be brushed away, one is reminded - the US has invaded Muslim countries.

In discussions that follow, many of those that initially condemn the perps then jump to the defence of the Saudis, who are not to be unfairly considered the prime petrodollar proliferators of these takfiri ideologies, but rather as those who support the schooling of the most hardened fighters in legitimate jihads such as the ongoing one in Syria, while dealing equally swiftly and mercilessly with anarchic criminals and terrorists. The discussion then veers around to how such criminals who bring Islam a bad name are affected by psychiatric illnesses.

My feeling is that while clinical or sub-clinical psychological problems may play a big part in such behaviors, the fact that such criminals seem to most easily find support for their paranoid schizophrenic tendencies in particular types of ideology is not being considered. For doctrinal adherents, the same ideology that famously breeds the most admirably hardened jihadis in West Asia, Af-Pak and Africa is not to be blamed if these lunatics misuse it. I've heard the analogy used: a good car cannot be blamed in an accident involving a crazy driver.

In their worldview, there are obvious injustices in the world, such as the West invading Muslim countries to exploit their resources. Therefore, a "complete system" covering all aspects of life must involve the use of violence and the priming of the mind to clinically execute acts of violence against an oppressor or anyone who displeases Allah. That the violent component of the philosophy is in the mould of a religion seems to be the hardiest, most viable, sleekest and most powerful solution to them, an unbeatable gift, and they frankly or secretly admire it and are proud of it. In fact, Napoleon and Hitler and many a military leader have recorded their secret admiration of Islam and its rugged utility, and wished they had such a system at their disposal in their nations. It does not strike its adherents as having any inherent problems whatsoever. The spartan warrior's religion, the prophet-king or his viceregent, these are romanticized. 

In this vein, a certain predominant cultural meme comes to the surface in Islamic society. It is a meme that is in every society including our own - but Islamic society is the only one to invest it with the crown of spiritual potential in a particular way... One therefore often sees Muslim youth, even in the West, become part of the subculture of War and Death that is anyway always there in the West. A sample:

Chris Hedges' "War is a force that gives us meaning"

 "Sarajevo in the summer of 1995 came close to Dante’s inner circle of hell. The city, surrounded by Serb gunners on the heights above, was subjected to hundreds of shells a day, all crashing into an area twice the size of Central Park. Ninety-millimeter tank rounds and blasts fired from huge 155-millimeter howitzers set up a deadly rhythm of detonations. 

Multiple Katyusha rockets – whooshing overhead – burst in rapid succession; they could take down a four- or five-story apartment building in seconds, killing or wounding everyone inside. There was no running water or electricity and little to eat; most people were subsisting on a bowl of soup a day. It was possible to enter the besieged city only by driving down a dirt track on Mount Igman, one stretch directly in the line of Serb fire. The vehicles that had failed to make it lay twisted and upended in the ravine below, at times with the charred remains of their human cargo inside.

Families lived huddled in basements, and mothers, who had to make a mad dash to the common water taps set up by the United Nations, faced an excruciating choice – whether to run through the streets with their children or leave them in a building that might be rubble when they returned.

The hurling bits of iron fragmentation from exploding shells left bodies mangled, dismembered, decapitated. The other reporters and I slipped and slid in the blood and entrails thrown out by the shell blasts, heard the groans of anguish, and were, for our pains, in the sights of Serb snipers, often just a few hundred yards away. The latest victims lay with gaping wounds untended in the corridors of the hospitals that lacked antibiotics and painkillers. 

When the cease-fires broke down, there would be four to five dead a day, and a dozen wounded. It was a roulette wheel of death, a wheel of fire that knew no distinctions of rank or nationality.  

By that summer, after nearly four years of fighting, forty-five foreign reporters had been killed, scores wounded. I lived – sheltered in a side room in the Holiday Inn, its front smashed and battered by shellfire – in a world bent on self-destruction,a world where lives were snuffed out at random.
...
I learned early on that war forms its own culture. The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug, one I ingested for many years. It is peddled by mythmakers, historians, war correspondents, filmmakers, novelists, and the state – all of whom endow it with qualities it often does possess: excitement, exoticism, power, chances to rise above our small stations in life, and a bizarre and fantastic universe that has a grotesque and dark beauty. It dominates culture, distorts memory, corrupts language, and infects everything around it, even humor, which becomes preoccupied with the grim perversities of smut and death.  

Fundamental questions about the meaning, or meaninglessness, of our place on the planet are laid bare when we watch those around us sink to the lowest depths.  

War exposes the capacity for evil that lurks not far below the surface within all of us. And this is why for many war is so hard to discuss once it is over. 

The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Only when
we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. Trivia dominates our conversations and increasingly our airwaves.  

And war is an enticing elixir. It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meaning in their lives, the impoverished refugees in Gaza, the disenfranchised North African immigrants in France, even the legions of young who live in the splendid indolence and safety of the industrialized world, are susceptible to war’s appeal.

That subculture of Death, whether it expresses itself as a fascination with arms, or a Goth fad, is present in all human societies, more in some than in others. But rarely does it find itself as the crowning jewel of religious faith. This is even stronger than other ideologies such as Communism that have also traditionally glorified bloody guerrilla tactics and terror.

In my humble opinion, if the philosophical consideration of violence were truly defensive in spirit, or as a creative destruction and a means to an end, it would never be cast in the mould of religion itself - such as the jihadi meme. Rather, the comprehensive philosophical justification of violence would probably be cast in the mould of a fight against precisely such a cult of glorified and religiously directed violence or domination. To quote the famous mantra:

॥ इन्द्रं वर्धन्तो अप्तुरः कृण्वन्तो विश्वं आर्यं अपघ्नन्तो अराव्णः ॥ 

"Augmented by Indra's (Soma's) strength, civilize the world by destroying the non-liberal and jealous ones." ~ Rigveda 9.63.5

It appears that the fundamentalism of each viewpoint on violence could be rooted in different spheres. Violence (and sex) are forces that contain information that most humans cannot consciously process. To overlay that with the significance of religious commandment is dicey, so the fundamentals are key. Recently a friend pointed out (BRF):

Modern brain research shows there are three layers of the brain: reptilian, middle and neocortex and reflect evolution. The reptilian brain is the one that provides the auto responses and the neocortex all the pleasant high thinking that allows human society to develop and prosper. A religious "philosophy" that is plugged into the wellsprings of violence is fashioned for the reptilian brain and reinforces the auto responses of hostility.

The world renowned neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran, who also shares an interest in different classes of religious experience, wrote a book "The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's quest for what makes us human" (PDF here), which is also a good read in this regard.

There are strong indications of this link between jihadism and brain function. Sometimes this 'reptilian' limbic brain is channeled for purposes of law and order-and-consolidation, and at other times it is channeled for purposes of aggression-without-reservation. It manifests itself in the bedroom as on the battlefield. Consider this revelation in the Qur'an about how a man should respond to his wife if they get into a disagreement -

Qur'an 4:34 (link) - "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great."

The part in italics is what happens between dysfunctional couples from a particular strata of society anyway (more widespread in certain cultures). If they get into a disagreement, the husband first "admonishes" her. If she remains stubborn, they probably withdraw sexually and become silently hostile for a while. If it gets nasty, then it comes down to physical abuse ('fighting and fucking' syndrome). Numerous such cases are found in any society. This, then, is Allah's revelation in the Qur'an. One could say that it is a civilizing guideline - not to beat her right away, but to first admonish, then stop sleeping with her, and use physical intimidation as a last resort, and to forgive and reconcile if she surrenders, rather than seek divorce prematurely. But still this civilizing force doesn't rise above the basic idea of male possession and authority over the female, or the right to use physical intimidation. This equation is only one cultural mode of male-female relationships, a caveman ethic which has its legitimate place and attraction in the larger scheme of things. It is an integral part of the relationship, but one doesn't find the other, liberal modes of this relationship discussed adequately in the Qur'an. It is true that Islamic law and subsidiary literature is full of exhortations to kindness towards ones spouse, the joys of marriage, etc., but they all have as the background this basic tone. Therefore, it is possible to say that the Qur'an dwells mostly on one brain mode of thought, relationship and action. That mode has its own validity, but when it is not balanced out by comprehensive discussion on other modes, then it is very problematic.

To extend the brain analogy: When something is cast in the mould of the reptilian brain, the person identifies with it possessively. It becomes the end, not the means. It produces irrational not rational thought. It is no longer "philosophical" even if specious arguments are used to show how there is obvious justification for its form and action. Even when those motivator justifications are no longer there in the environment, they will be manufactured. Thus, there is an undercurrent of either provocation or reaction.

In the above Vedic mantra on dharma-yuddha to make the universe Arya (noble), it is the mobilized mass of "non-liberal" elves-turned-orcs that is sought to be fought and civilized. Here also there is reaction involved, no doubt, but it is not provocative in the same way as a cult of violence. It is a war meme, no doubt, but the difference is subtle. It is the difference between the Sikh Khalsa and Aurangzeb's forces. A post from another blog on this mantra:

Blog: Kal Chiron: "कृण्वन्तो विश्वं आर्यं " - Civilize the world - In what context?

The Vedic idea of war is truly philosophical, rather than religious and pseudo-philosophical. Because the Veda has a prominent line of thought against the Dasyu-Dāsa combine that generates illiberal tendencies in society as a means of control and expansion of political power. This has been blogged here earlier [The Dasyu-Dāsa dynamic vs. "class struggle" theory]. A friend pointed out (BRF):

Even if one observes these traits to be common in Islamic society, one should still give credit to Islam that it has mastered the reptilian brain behavior and made a science out of it, and learned how to both bolster it as well as how to channelize it. The elites in Islamic societies often use it to their political ends. 

This mastery however shows a neo-cortical behavior. 

So even if an individual or most individuals in Islamic societies may display reptilian brain behavior, at the forest level, there are cold calculations.

It must be recognized that the religious commandment-philosophy of jihad is a very refined tool, indeed. It is not merely a childish, "irrational" eccentricity. Communist anarchists have a secret admiration for the ability of Islamist elites to mobilize "Koran rage" demonstrations across the planet. As the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said, "If one can ride the Ego like a well-trained and blinkered horse, one will reach the goal very swiftly."

And that is true. But it is the other ingredients of training and of being human that make the difference between whether one is riding a horse or a tiger. Separating the means and the end is a big part of sanity. If Service is the end, then Conflict is only a means. In terms of varna, the kshatriya must always be trained to be strictly subordinate to the brāhmana limb of consciousness or society; never the other way around.

As per Swami Dayananda Saraswati's commentary (Arya Samaj), the Vedas say that a Complete Man (Arya) is one who has the following abilities:
1. Domesticate animals (and the animal within) to perform constructive works for nation-building,
2. Cook a delicious meal from a balanced assortment of natural ingredients for a mainly lacto-vegetarian diet,
3. Use weapons expertly in battle - not in rage, but channeled with the clinical intention of killing or repulsing the enemy who hates him,
4. Know the science and art of music, especially for Vedic chants.

Personally, I'm almost there - I've been domesticated by women, I love honoring a well-cooked meal, I get an adrenaline rush just by watching martial arts on TV, and I prefer music to white noise any day.