PAVAMĀNA: Enduring Indic Wisdom

Many of us believe that present system of education (which is highly influenced by the British from the colonial past of India) is the only relevant education for modern times.  However, it is important to remember that in the past India had its own system of education which created a prosperous society.  There were many centers of learning, including some famous universities where scholars came to learn from far-off places.  The knowledge that had been developed in India covered various aspects of the arts, material sciences, health sciences and spiritual sciences.  Many good ideas discovered by the scholars were introduced to the general population by creating traditions that could be followed easily, e.g., Indians have been using turmeric as part of the Indian diet for thousands of years, but the value of turmeric was understood by “modern” science only recently.

As time marched along, India was overcome by external invasions and many great centers of learning were destroyed.  However, the people continued to follow the tradition sometimes without the ability to provide the “scientific proof”.  Today, as we look for the proof, we have a choice to make: (1) we can discard the old ideas since we don’t know how to explain them, or (2) continue to follow the old ideas for now but do the necessary enquiry to understand the justification.  The latter approach seems more meaningful and respectful – it assumes that our ancestors were smart people who would not adopt these practices without a good rationale.  When exploring these questions, one must remember that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”.

The rishis who were the thinkers and visionaries of ancient India, had explored various aspects of nature and human beings that went beyond the physical realm.  They were masters of observation and analysis and have introduced many ways to explain the interactions between the external world and the human beings.  Their approach was not a dogmatic prescription but one that allowed several alternate ideas to thrive.  Over time (counted in millennia) some of the main ideas survived and flourished based on the scrutiny, analysis and validation of numerous scholars.  Learning about these ideas is essential for us to understand and interpret what the masters were trying to communicate.  This section will try to capture such essential ideas.

Some of us may be more fascinated with this section believing that we are brilliant people who should jump straight to the contents of this section; some may even see the traditions, rituals and foundations as being too simple.  Swami Chinmayananda refers to this line of thinking as “intellectual arrogance” and cautions us against that.  When doing physical exercise, the trainers tell us that we should complete a warm-up routine before starting our jogging or other physically demanding exercise.  The activities falling under “Accept & Follow” and “The Foundations” are like the warm-up part of the physical exercise.  A systematic study of the earlier topics will prepare us to get the full benefit from the intellectual activity.

Our scriptures were originally created a very long time ago.  The mantras and shlokas were transmitted orally since written manuscripts were rare.  This process has resulted in introducing some variations over time.  More recently, there are a few enthusiastic people who have created websites containing some shlokas and mantras, but apparently without checking into the correct wording and meanings.  For a novice, these errors may not be easy to detect.

Any mantras, etc. listed in this website have been cross-checked with authentic sources.  When multiple versions are available, the most meaningful version has been adopted (again via appropriate authentication).  In some cases, the use of alternate versions is also noted.

This is a common concern raised by people who are leading busy lives focused on their careers, children’s school schedules, etc.  This happens largely because people mistakenly think that the job or school is more important than our well-being in some other dimensions.

The benefit of these practices accrues over a long period of time, and it may appear that there is no benefit in the near term.  Many years ago, in San Francisco, I heard an interesting explanation from a Swami from the Saiva Siddhanta tradition.  He said, “Our prayers and other traditional practices are like putting a small amount of (spiritual) currency in a bank account.  The amount may be small in the beginning, but over time it builds up to become significant, and when we need help, we could draw upon this accumulated spiritual wealth.  But this works only if we had saved up from our earlier contributions.”  The situation is similar with our health as well; the exercise we do regularly will gradually improve our health and maintain it trouble-free for many years in future, provided we are regular with our effort and contribution.

We encourage you to carve out a small amount of time (15-30 min per day to begin with) in order to build up this spiritual wealth.  Find a way to do it as part of your daily routine, and especially get the youngsters in your family to participate.  We will see in upcoming articles how these practices are beneficial on the physical and emotional front as well.

This is not an official site of Chinmaya Mission.  However, it is inspired by my association with Swami Chinmayananda; the purpose of this site is to share some essential information based on the teachings from our scriptures.  The spiritual content is strongly influenced by interpretations from Swami Chinmayananda and his disciples, which are based on the teachings of Adi Shankaracharya. We also plan to use related information and examples from other sources to reinforce the main messages.  In addition, we will include material from other related aspects of our culture (e.g., history, architecture, etc.), and will try to connect with evidence that is available from modern concepts of science and management whenever possible.

You are welcome to explore this site even if you are following a specific teacher or school of thought.  We do hope you will find information here that is useful and that helps you to grow.