What Does it Mean to be Indian?

Why are we born? What is the purpose of our existence? What happens to us after we are dead? These questions have been addressed differently in various cultures and civilizations. And the answers of each culture and civilization have become the basis of how the people live their respective lives. We are the repositories of our cultural and civilizational inheritance and legacies – the better we understand our legacies the better we can transfer them to our successive generations.

The difference between living and non-living is life.

The defining features of differentiating living organisms from non-living matter are the capacity to grow and the capacity to reproduce. This has been the basis for understanding the purpose of our existence.

Till recently, modern science believed that all life comes from pre-existing life. Except for the first forms of life which came from non-life – i.e. the various theories of creation which try to explain how living organisms came into existence – all subsequent life forms have evolved from pre-existing life. But now science is trying to create life from non-life.

Religion has its own theories of creation and the purpose of our existence. This is also internalized by the followers of different religions.

At times the respective understanding about the theories of creation propounded by religion and science are converging and at times they are diverging.

The earth we live on, the solar system where the earth belongs, the galaxy where our solar system and other solar systems belong, the universe where our galaxy and other galaxies belong are the arenas where religion and science focus their attention to understand what is life and the purpose of our existence. The relationship between life and non-life is critical. Religion and science provide different perspectives on this relationship and shape our lives accordingly.

The inter-connectedness of all life forms, the hierarchy of different categories and groups of life forms, the process of evolution of different life forms, and the significance attached to the human life form are also integrated with the purpose of our existence.

Here too, religion and science have interpretations which are converging at times and diverging at times.

The past, present, and future are a continuous flow – this may be circular or linear.

The concept of rebirth is a uniquely Indian insight which links our past with our present and our future.

The uncertainty of not knowing whether the reality we face in our present is due to good or bad karma of our past or an input into good or bad karma of our future is a way of dealing with various life situations in our present with equanimity. It is a way of reconciling with circumstances of our lives in the present. It is a way of accepting the existence of some force, power, energy, spirit beyond human control which guides our thoughts and deeds in the present.

How do we weave uncertainty in our lives? Nature is uncertain – the best of science cannot predict with certainty what turn nature will take next. Integrating our lives with nature is a way of weaving uncertainty in our lives.

The recorded evolution of human life from cave dwellers to hunter gatherers to agriculturists to industrialists to post-industrialists is also a conscious shift away from integrating our lives with nature.

This evolution is a way of reducing the uncertainty which is inevitable when our life is integrated with nature. Our relationship with nature can be of understanding it to live in harmony with it or to live by controlling it. The shift towards reducing uncertainty is also co-terminus with the shift towards controlling nature.

All living organisms are interconnected in a web of life – the ecosystem – which strives for equilibrium within and between living and non-living systems. The term ‘Anthropcene Age’ has been coined to show the growing domination of human beings in nature – the continuous attempts to control nature.

The natural degree of predation between various life forms – the food web – follows its own rhythms and cycles to maintain equilibrium in nature.
Human beings try to understand these rhythms and cycles and then either try to fit into them or try to control them.

Fitting into them integrates uncertainty into our lives. Controlling them is an attempt to integrate certainty in our lives with or without success and with or without knowing the consequences of our attempts to control nature. The extent of predation introduced by human beings – the Anthropocene Age – in the equilibrium of nature is reflected in our understanding of life. Predatory orientation, control over nature, integrating certainty in our lives can be viewed as the core of understanding what is life.

What does ‘ananta’ mean?

How does circularity manifest itself in day-to-day life?

What is the relationship between a circle and a straight line?

Can linear scales measure circularity?

How do we develop circular scales?

Do we use circular scales in day-to-day life?

How is time measured?

What is the ‘kala chakra’ of time?

What is the significance of the prime numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 in Indian tradition to understand ‘what is life’?

Does the male and female principle of Indic tradition have any relationship with the concept of linear and circular?

Is there any similarity in the Indian understanding of the origins of life and the quantum physics understanding of matter being wave and particle at the same time?

That which blossoms must also decay

We can’t change the direction of the winds but we can adjust the sails

The eyes do not see what the mind does not want

If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster

One and one sometimes make eleven

Large desire is endless poverty

Without the breeze blowing, can the leaves tremble?

Eat fire and your mouth will burn; live on credit and your pride will burn

To lend is to buy a quarrel

If you are upto your knees in pleasure, then you are upto your waist in grief

The ambitious one makes friends with the elephant, then tramples upon the ant

• The microcosm and the macrocosm are inter-linked and integrated with each other – they are a reflection of each other. The Atman-Brahman terminology captures this very succinctly.
• Multiplicity is internalized – the emphasis and focus on multiple realities is underlined and accepted in as many contexts as possible – diversity, plurality, multiplicity are all referring to the same phenomena – and ‘Unity in Diversity’ captures this very succinctly.
• The inner and outer worlds are interlinked and integrated with each other – understanding the inner world of the self leading to innermost state of consciousness and understanding the outer world of the universe leading to cosmology.
• Balance between forces acting on everyone and everything is critical for the well-being of all – the balance between creation, sustenance, and destruction; the balance between dharma, artha, and kama; the balance between the trivarga of satya, tamas, and rajas; the balance between kapha, pitta, and vatta illustrate this.
• Interlinked and integrated reality – that everyone and everything is connected to each other and thus impacts each other and is impacted by each other.

Being Indian means understanding these fine nuances, internalizing them, and applying them in our own lives.

Over the ages, the concept of rebirth has become a core differentiator in the understanding of life in the East and the West.

The extent of internalization of this core value can help to explain the cultural differences between the East and the West, the philosophical orientations, the religious and spiritual underpinnings, as well as the relationship with nature.

Understanding the circularity inherent in the concept of rebirth has implications on the relationship of humans with one another, with nature, and with the universe. The answers to what is life thus lead to different directions depending on the extent of internalizing the concept of rebirth.

Modern science, which is seen as the progress made by the West, is now beginning to unravel the mysteries of the Universe and finding many parallels with the mystical insights of ancient Indian thoughts on the origins of the Universe and the meaning of life.

• Are we moving away from:
  • internalizing multiplicity to uniformity?
  • internalizing circularity to linearity?
  • internalizing heterogeneity to homogeneity?
  • internalizing pluralism to singularism?
• Are we losing our civilizational memory that all living organisms and non-living matter are interconnected?
• Will science succeed in creating life from non-life?
• Are we ready to promote our civilizational understanding of ‘unity in diversity’?
• Is there any relationship between the environmental concerns of the present times with loss of circularity, heterogeneity, multiplicity, pluralism?
• Do modern lifestyles allow us to pursue our understanding of the concept of balance?
• Are we able to connect the microcosm with the macrocosm in our present day lives?
• Today, is the inner reality of consciousness as important as the outer reality of the cosmos?

How can we promote these essentially Indian insights to develop alternatives for life and living which can integrate some or all of them?

India as a civilization has been able to withstand the visscitudes of time and sustain these insights over the ages from the ancient to the present – we still believe in and practice these insights. It is up to us to continue to integrate them in our lives and preserve our civilizational foundations or allow them to wither away and become extinct. They can become a beacon of light for all of humanity if we choose to preserve them.