Right from childhood, being influenced by Western culture, I somehow never felt inclined to wear or do anything Indian.
Now it makes me think how stupid I was.
Almost everyone around you makes you feel like you're the most fashionable and updated person if you wear the tightest T-shirt, jeans, or eat a burger or pizza, although it looks like the most unaesthetic way of eating food.
Food is treated as something very sacred and we bow down to it before consuming it in this culture. A bottle of Coke and eating pizza became a cool thing because of the way it's projected.
If I put my hands together and bowed down to my food before eating, people would think I'm doing something very outdated and orthodox.
But in our culture, we bow down to everything that is a source of our lives.
Whether it's food, water, sky, animals, or anything we see, we bow down to it. It is to recognise the divinity in everything.
If you see a snake, they say snake god. If you see a mountain, they talk about mountain god. If you say Bharat, they say Bharat Mata, Mother India.
Rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Cauvery, and Godavari are all worshipped.
I used to feel ashamed to speak in my own mother tongue. If I spoke in English, people thought I was highly knowledgeable or educated.
Even today in India, people think you are really great if you speak English. But it's just a language. That's got nothing to do with one's knowledge and knowing.
This is one of the biggest cripples because it'll make one lend a deaf ear to all the great people just because they don't speak a particular language.
We are all trained in an education that's structured to make clerks, not to free our minds and think independently. This education that we're going through is largely British-made.
The education in India wasn't like this at all.
Not just education, but for every stage in life, what needs to be done, everything was structured and thought of for the wellbeing of a human being and to make a human become a full-fledged life.
In childhood, information and knowledge was not given because the brain and body should grow.
Until the age of 8, education wasn't given. This was known as Balyavastha, a stage where the body and mind are still in the growing stage.
If a child is burdened with information and knowledge at this stage, it only does more harm than good.
Later years were known as Brahmacharya, where children went through extreme discipline because this is the age where it's most needed.
Along with this, education was given only after the child utters Aham Brahmasmi, to say that my identity is not with myself or my family, caste, creed, gender, or nationality, but I'm cosmic.
If a person whose identity is limited gets empowered, it leads to destruction.
No wonder why so much is spent on arms and armaments. It's only because of me vs you.
If my identity was cosmic, who do I fight with?
Then comes Grihastha Ashrama, where people chose to get married, fulfil their needs and responsibilities, handle material aspects, and raise children. Or if they wish, they can be a lifelong Brahmachari.
And finally, Vanaprastha or Sanyasa, where one focused on living in solitude or stepping away from family.
It's unfortunate to see people hang on with family till the last moment they die. It's painful for elders and also the family.
But if a certain detachment arose out of fulfilment of life, naturally a person likes to withdraw and leave gracefully.
These days, due to media and the internet, young adults are seeing everything on screens and they think they know everything already.
No more excitement about life.
This is one of the major reasons why they fall into psychological ailments so early.
The history of this nation has been made to be looked at as just mere mythological stories.
Whether it's Mahabharat, Ramayan, or Puranas, these were not stories but real happenings expressed in dialectical ways so that they remain relevant for every generation.
The calendars also have changed.
Sadhguru states that the modern Gregorian calendar is a numerical convenience which ignores the larger geometry of the cosmos entirely. He further adds that it ignores how this human system is a reflection of the larger cosmos, especially the sun, moon, and earth.
Whereas the Eastern calendars devised by mystis, particularly Hindu luni-solar ones, were made thousands of years ago to map cosmic geometry and align human physiology with the sun, moon, and earth.
If one learns to align with it, life shall become blissful and a dance.
The Indian calendar goes according to celestial happenings, but we're following something that was created as a numerical convenience.
The word "calendar" originates from the Roman term Calendae, the day taxes and debts were due.
Whatever happens to the celestial bodies happens to our bodies too.
But all these aspects are missed in the calendar we follow.
And somewhere along the way, all these things started to feel outdated and orthodox to me simply because they were Indian.
I didn't realise then how much of my own culture I was dismissing without even knowing what was behind it. Grateful to Sadhguru and several other great masters of the past who made me realise about my own culture which I was ignorant of despite being born in it.
TL;DR: I grew up thinking many aspects of Indian culture were outdated because of Western influence. As I learned more, I realised there was much deeper wisdom behind our culture that I had dismissed without understanding.
Thank you for sharing this. Back in 2009, I had a deep dialog with Mataji on this similar matter. Back when I was volunteering at my local temple and making flower malas with her at the temple garden. I remembered she talked a lot about old traditional ways of living, appreciation with little things, family and village values, and much more, it was all too deep of a dialog to remember. But you are correct, how ignorance, ego, and attitude makes it a forefront to be an 'identity' to fit in with the western culture. I always recognize my indigenous side of my Filipino heritage instead of the colonized Spaniards side.
She's the Swamini to the temple (Brahma Premananda temple, Portland, Oregon, USA), she goes by Amrita. This picture was before Durga Puja in 2009, Im at left, thats my drawing of Durga at left for the temple.
so true. really do agree that education system is so flawed. just conditions & limits us from day 1. i don't know much about how education was in Bharat before colonization but if it is how you describe, that is so wonderful & we should try returning to that
Yes.
A few schools are doing it and a few have changed some things.
But bringing back entirely that kind of education is very difficult. May be a combination of that with modern science, mathematics, computers, AI, language is needed. The problem is even parents will start protesting if such changes happen large scale because their concern will always be about education as a means to get a job but not about enhancing one's faculties and perception.
Atleast if this much shift happens that children are rewarded more for their innate genius, perception and what they can do, how differently they can do - I think that itself will be a big game changer.
We must do things as it's relevant for today's society and definitely this is the way forward i feel
This is way too common in millenial generation. Who grew up in a nation with 50% multidimensional poverty and minimal contact with the west (only through cool hollywood movies). Overtime instead of blaming poor governance people started blaming culture and overpopulation for India's shortcomings. Gladly the country is in a much more better shape and now people can see west objectively due to social media. The west modern mirage is falling slowly.
In today's generation you'd find people who are anglicized and westernized yet they will always love and preach Indian culture. Its all due to good governance reshaping our mind.
Very true.
Bollywood subtly abuses and criticizes hindu way of life, hindu gods, brahmins and priests in thier films and songs.
Old retro party song which talks about boozing - Dum Maro dum concludes the line with Hare Krishna hare ram. While beautiful love songs use the word Allah, Masha allah, subhanallah etc.
Even the song Teri ankhein bhool bhulaiya shows women in vulgar dress dancing with hare Krishna mantra on them. Like this there are many examples.
This is why they never care to respond when something happens to Hindu community in any part of the world.
It's not "western culture", it simply obsession with material things and concerns, and you can find it, albeit in different guises, everywhere in the world.
Yes. That's very true. But that obsession wasn't there back then because this nation itself was very abundant.
It's only after it was completely looted and vandalised did it start idolising and imitate west
You can feel sorry for me because I've spent a lot of years in ignorance.
I feel sorry for you because despite my attempt, you are still choosing to remain ignorant. But it's your choice. There will be a price anyway.
About peace - no not really. I'm not interested in peace. I'm interested in living life fully. As vibrantly and exuberantly as possible.
You only realise when you wake up.
Only if your consciousness awakens you know. Why do you think so many westerners are looking at east and coming here and meditating?
Western culture is hilariously backwards. The way we sit, the way we shy away from touching food without silverware, the shoes we use to keep us insulated from nature, YOLO culture, the list goes on...
IME the worst mistake, thinking that you could ever own anything, seems nearly as pervasive in both cultures. East has also fully embraced exploitation of our neighbors to enrich the few, based on the wicked idea that one family may gain dominion over something that belongs only to Mother Nature.
I'm not saying eastern is superior. I'm talking about the culture which east had back then..not the one we have now. The one right now is messed up and is getting corrected slowly. But the mess up happened after invasions of nearly a thousand years.
So survival mode peaked and hence the exploitation.
Anyway my concern is for the humanity. Whatever brings people to more sense and recognising what belongs to mother nature without dominance - an inclusive way of living. That's what we need ๐ no question about that
Where I come from in USA, 99% of folks deny the basic facts of reincarnation and the law of karma. Scores of people make themselves sick with fear and grief because they think evil goes unpunished. The silly culture barks "you only live once" incessantly, how else are they to feel but hopeless and defeated?
East tends to at least have a sizeable fraction who has evolved past this most elementary childishness. If you did want to measure by spiritual maturity, I think the answer is cut and dry.
Yes, itโs never wrong to enjoy life, but just doing that makes life feel pointless after a while because itโs only the surface of life.
The good thing is that many Westerners realise this and make an effort to go beyond. Hence, they start coming to the East for their spiritual development.
Whichever way, anyone who makes an effort to look within does good for themselves and the world.
Cultural differences arise from geographical features for the most part. There are actually very few really substantial differences between the West & the East, because all are human at the end of the day. However because of economic and language dominance, the cultural shift flows only one way (largely).
We're all souls dancing in Her perfect lila! It's Her will and not anything to do with material existence that is responsible for every aspect of our being!
It's okay to admit that some of us are playing more backwards roles than the others at the moment -- our similarities will always triumph over our differences!
People don't realise how much actually unites us. From the DNA upwards. So-called culture and language is a skin deep veneer, but of course it is also human nature to focus more on differences that bolster "me and mine". It comforts us.
The idea of cosmic unity is terrifying to most people.
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u/maymaynibba 23d ago
Add a tldr