Where Do I Come From, Daddy?

Dear Reader,

Daddy's answer to the child's question about his origins might lie in the proverbial gooseberry bush, of course, or Daddy could be more forthright and tell the child more fully about the birds and the bees.

But there's another, possibly more profound, meaning in the question. It could be interpreted as a question about who we are as a culture; what is our culture? 

I suppose we all know that we British are more of an amalgam created from Latin and Germanic sources than anything else, but where lies the root of the Latin and Germanic peoples? This is a question that you might say is only relevant to the academic; that in this day and age we are merely concerned about survival and "progress". Er, except that the definition of "progress" is now very questionable given the nature of environmental and climate change issues, apart from social problems - not just in our little part of the world but increasingly around the world where 'the West' has a deep influence.

In short, Western philosophy and ideals have come to be questioned very deeply, though 'big business' carries on as before. Or tries to. 

Years ago, people in the States (in particular, but also elsewhere in the West) were increasingly going to see 'the shrink' about personal issues, yet no-one really bothered to question why that should be the case. However, no-one really listens to what Freud had to say anymore; psychiatry is being quietly frowned upon. The human spirit - promoted by people like Jung and Maslow - has increasingly made its mark as time has gone on. The 1960s, when the Beatles and 'flower power' began a short-lasting statement, was all too soon repressed by the money-making corporations as the only statement of reality - much to our detriment and leading us, only now, to ask questions once more.

Are we reverting to a more spiritual attitude, the kind that has existed in India for countless thousands of years? If we knew more about the truth of India then we might strive harder.

The remarkable thing about India is that despite the huge influx of colonialists over the past 600 years, starting with the Mogul Empire, the country and its people have absorbed what the outsiders have flung at them and yet they have managed to retain their own original identity, which is only now beginning to be restored to the forefront thanks to the work of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and then (as well as) the Modi government, particularly over the last 30 years. 

But it's a slow process. The effect of the negative aspects of western influence takes time to heal, particularly after India's foreign rulers drained India's riches over the 600 years mentioned before. Also the indoctrination of western ideas into the Indian students' minds when British teaching establishments were created in India in the 19th c. and replaced India's ancient system, a system that worked well for the Indian people. The ancient system is gradually being restored but it has a way to go.

But to come back to the question of our culture and about how it was derived, the issue is totally relevant to India, for our language and sciences - including medicine - are so heavily based on the knowledge that formed in India over many thousands of years. When we come to know that a major basis of digital systems design (computers etc), and which we credit to George Boole as Boolean Logic, was actually derived from India's knowledge of eons before, that India utilised forms of surgery - even on the brain - thousands of years ago, do we begin to realise that India is no backward and poor culture? In fact, it was perhaps the major cradle of civilisation for 40,000 years or more.

Even our root languages of ancient Latin and Greek were based on Sanskrit, the even more ancient Indian language. The English language even now contains evidence of that - the word 'man', as one example, can be linked to a recognisable Sanskrit word.

Probably everyone knows the swastika symbol used by Hitler's Nazi regime and therefore look upon it with horror.  But it actually is a significant and positive symbol in Indian philosophy and traces of that symbol have been found in many places in Europe from ancient times. The Etruscans used it, for example. There is evidence that the Indian culture flourished in Europe and even in Lithuania the rituals of their ancient religion show a relationship to India's culture.

What is not very welcome news for conventional Christians is that during the time of the lost years of Jesus (age 12 to 29), Jesus spent some time in countries like India, Tibet and Persia as part of his spiritual learning. What Jesus taught is embedded also in the teachings of those ancient countries. That is not to say that Jesus did not have a special mission - he did, but not out of context with existing teachings in his time. All spiritual teachings - in their essence - are the same.

Sadly, it was the Bible and the dogmatic construction derived from it by 19th c. academics - for example that God created the Earth in 4004BC - that caused the development of an attitude that Indian history had to be fitted within that time-frame, even though Indian recordings stated otherwise. The West introduced and perpetuated the 'Aryan Invasion' (into India) theory but got it all wrong, and only now is the truth gradually emerging.

And it is man's connection to the universal God-Creator that was the secret behind Indian's vast ancient knowledge. Their 'scientists' (for want of a better description in English) were imbued with the idea that God is all-knowing. Through meditation and via purity of thought and mental application, the many great Indian people of old developed their culture, inclusive of what we now call the sciences.  They even had universities.

The methods of teaching were also well thought out. The essence of that system - to draw out wisdom from within the student - was applied by Pythagoras, and later by Socrates. Pythagoras went to India, and that is where he learnt what came to be called Pythagoras's Theorem - that knowledge already existed in India. Pythagoras brought back with him a theory of numbers and sacred geometry, as well as musical principles and harmonic scales.

Spirituality, then, embodied science and topics such as sacred geometry (used in the building of the Giza pyramids, great cathedrals and even some modern buildings) and a much more accurate form of astrology. They were both seen and pursued as all part of God's unity. The sciences also were not seen as separate as they are today in the West and which - without the right moral compass - has perpetrated so many problems to the Earth and its inhabitants in the last few centuries, all in the cause of a disputable 'progress'.

Let us take a look at the transfer of knowledge from India to the rest of the world.

How India Has Influenced The World Over Millennia (click on it to enlarge)

A study of this chart should reveal that, over many thousands of years, India has been at the centre of thought in every category of knowledge, but that (after India's spiritual teachings had been replaced in Europe) the knowledge only gradually reappeared in Europe. It was the Arabs (Muslims) that initiated Europe's change of numerical system in the 16th c. (from the old Roman system to the current 0-9 system), but only after the Arabs had uncovered the Indian system and applied it themselves.

Mother India (or Bharat), therefore, is the country that we have so much to thank for, both intellectually and spiritually, yet India has been intellectually looked down upon for so long. This, despite the efforts of some westerners that started to realise the truth in the 18th c. onwards after some time living in that country.

The important thing to realise is that the essence of India's spiritual philosophy (called Sanathana Dharma) lay as the basis of the development of their great 'scientific' knowledge, but that - further - Sanathana Dharma is still taught and therefore is still available. It contains, in fact, the potential to solve the problems that we find in the world today. It depends on us to open our eyes and change our educational systems to be in accordance with the truth.

However, what I have written here is only glossing the surface. This presentation only offers a morsel of the truth. For a bigger outline about India's knowledge, please view Dr. Raj Vedam's video presentations and this presentation by Nilesh Oak. But these are academically inclined, though worth viewing. For the spiritual aspects (Sanatana Dharma), however, one has to look elsewhere.

Thank you for reading this.


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