The Egalitarian and Peace Seeking Trait of The Indian Mind

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Let all the people be happy and let peace reign. Suprem everywhere is the ardent desire of every Indian. There are practical suggestions through out the Sanskrit literature beginning with the Vedas, to achieve this goal. Almost- all the works contain passages which exhort every individual to follow the path of Dharma and develop egalitarian outlook and strive for' the common weal through his own efforts and by seeking the grace of the gods. Even a cursory look at the ter.ets of Sanatanadharma would convince us how this Dharma is based on egalitarian principles which are injected into the Indian blood. Coming to the philosophy, we find that deliverance of every human being, nay, every creature, from miseries is set as its main goal by every system of Indian philosophy. Peace is the most saught after thing by every person in the world and it is the same that has always been eluding him. Indians have their own way of seeking peace through their personal efforts and by following the Dharmic way of life and by praying to different gods who are capable of giving peace and prosperity.

An attempt is made in the present work to show all these noble ideas have the full support of the Indian scriptures and are implanted in the mind of every Indian.

Born in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, on 24.10.1927, Dr. Pullela Sri Ramachandrudu studied Vyakarana with his father Sri Satyanarayana Sastry and with Sri Komella Subbaraya Sastry. He was awarded Vedanta Siromani from the Madras University, and received gold medal. He took three M.A. degrees with Sanskrit, English and Hindi from the B .H. U. and was awarded the degree of Ph.D. by the Osmania University. He retired as Professor of Sanskrit from the O.U. He was a member of the Central Sanskrit Board. He was Honorary Professor in the University of Hyderabad.

Conversant with Vyakarana, Vedanta and Sahitya Sastras and an author of about 70 books including a commentary in Telugu, on Ramayana which was published in 10 volumes and writer of many articles on varius subjects in Sanskrit, Telugu and English. Prof. Sri Ramachandrudu received the President's Certificate of Honour in 1997, the Visvabharati Puraskar of U.P. Sanskrita Sansthan in 1993, and the Gupta Foundation Award in 1997.

I have great pleasure to present this volume of Golden Jubilee of India's Independence Series of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan to our esteemed readers. The Volume varily represents the goodwill and co-operation, the Sansthan has all along been receiving from the distinguished scholars all over the country.

The Sansthan was established in October, 1970 as an autonomous apex body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India with a view to promoting, preserving and propagating Sanskrit learning in all its aspects, with special reference to the in-depth shastraic learning. Apart from conducting the regular courses of studies at the various constituent Vidyapeethas, it has been bringing out invaluable publications representing dissemination of knowledge contained in the Shastras.

Thanks to the continued help, encouragement and support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India that the Sansthan has Grown by leaps and bounds and has been able to render its services to promotion of Sanskrit learning at national and international levels. The Sans than has decided to bring out 50 scholarly monographs by eminent Sanskrit Scholars of different fields as part of the academic programmes organised to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of India's Independence.

The present book The Egalitarian and Peace Seeking Trait of the Indian Mind brings out the glimpses of Sandtanadharma and egalitarian thinking of the Indian Mind for achieving the goals, let all the people be happy, let peace reign supreme everywhere from time immemorial citing relevant passages from ancient scriptures like the Vedas, Upanisads and Smrtis etc. to substantiate the ideas.

We are highly grateful to Professor P. Sri Ramachandrudu, former Professor & Head, Department of Sanskrit, Osmania University, Hyderabad and the recepient of Presidential Certificate of Honour for contributing this volume for the Golden Jublee of India's Independence Series of Sansthan.

I shall be failing in my duties, if I do not mention the services rendered by my colleagues at the various levels specially Dr. Savita Pathak and Dr. Viroopaksha V. Jaddipal who have worked day and night for planning and organising the various programmes connected with the Golden Jubilee Celebrations, particularly the publications of the Golden Jubilee series. M/s Nag Publishers deserve our thanks for bringing out this monograph on time.

The word Egalitarian is used here not only in the dictionary meaning of (person) holding• the principle of equal right for all persons but in an extended sense of (person) who loves and respects all the creatures, holding the principle of equal right for all creatures. The principle of Ahimsa (non-injury) which is given highest importance in the Sanatana-dharma and in all the Indian Philosophical systems is all comprehensive and takes under its fold all the concepts like egalitarianism, humanism, humanitarianism, the right to live, the right to work and etc. An attempt is made in the following pages to show how egalitarianism is there in the blood of every Indian from times immemorial.

One can get, in this work, a glimpse of Sanatana- dharma which has its unshakable roots in the Vedas but which has been ever growing and appearing in various shades according to the changing needs of the society without' losing, at the same time, its moorings.

Whether it is created by God or has come into existence by other causes, the world is there with millions of varieties of the living beings and several kinds of inanimate objects. The main concern of Sanatanadharma is to identify that Eternal order which sustains the world and to see that it is well-maintained. The very name Dharma implies that which sustains the world (Dharanaddharma ityahuh) and its purpose is to maintain harmory among the Great elements (Mahabhutas) and to see that there is peace and prosperity everywhere. All the systems of Indian philosophy begin with a search for the means (Sadhanas) by which the miseries in the world can be mitigated and peace is established. Egalitarianism is one of the means to achieve peace and it can be cultivated by human efforts. The peace-seeking nature of the Indians also is discussed citing copiously, passages from different works like the Vedas and Smrtis.

I have a strong feeling, in spite of what the pundits of research methodology say that every passage referred to in a work on any subject like literature and culture should be quoted completely for the convenience of the reader who is not expected to read our books sitting in the reference section of a library. Had our great writers like Sri Sankaracarya and the famous commentators like Mallinatha given only the references like Brhadaranyaka Upa.4.3.5.; Panin i, 6.3.9.; and Amara 3.3.12 etc., our familiarity with the passages in the texts referred to would have been almost nil to our greatest disadvantage. Therefore I have given every passage that I have referred or translated so that the reader could find out by himself whether a passage is interpreted correctly.

His Excellency Honourable Shri Krishnakant Ji is one of the very few statesmen who strongly advocate that the infusion of spirituality in the political activity is the only remedy for all the evils that have been afflicting the world in general and this great country in particular. I am extremely grateful to him for having graciously conceded to my request to accept the dedication of this work to his Honourable self.

The brillient idea of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, of bringing out 50 books on Sanskrit / Indian culture under the Golden Jublilee of India's Independence Series is highly appreciable. I am thankful to the Sansthan for having given me an opportunity to write this book to be included in that series.