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What Is Indic?

Indic as an adjective means "of or relating to India or its peoples or cultures". Hence Indic Traditions, Indic Scriptures and Indic Technologies.

According to Lomperis (1984), " Plato, through the Pythagoreans and also the Orphics, was subjected to the influence of Hindu thought, but that he may not have been aware of it as coming from India."

Irrespective of the source of the ideas, there have been parallels between India and Greece. There is similarity between the Indian and the Greek religions as also in the society sketched in the Mahabharata and Homeric poems.

" India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition."

- Mark Twain

Modern scientists are now discovering what the Vedic Rishis and Seers of the east have long known. The basic oneness of the universe, what the Vedas refer to as 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam', is now being acknowledged by Scientists. In the early days, science viewed the universe as a mechanical system comprising separate objects. Deeper studies of the composition of matter revealed a web of relations between various parts of a unified whole that is more interconnected. This shift from object to relationships has far-reaching implications for both science and society as a whole. A thing has to be defined not by what it is in itself but by its relations to other things. Vedas always defined the relationships amongst objects from the standpoint of 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam'. Consciousness is the observer that makes the pertinent and realistic relationships amongst the objects cognizable.

"The most important characteristic of the Eastern world view - one could almost say the essence of it - is the awareness of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality"

- Fritj of Capra, The Tao of Physics

Vedas are believed to be the source of all scriptures across the globe. Hence all the scriptures are Indic scriptures. The Indic scriptures talk of reaching truth through negation - the classic ' neti, neti ' approach ('not this, not this'). The premise is that the truth, being undefinable and without form, can never be identified or reached directly. It is only that which remains when untruths are cast away, saying " this is not the truth'.

"By the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world"

- Swami Vivekananda

The Vedic Riks are vibrations reaching the mind of the practitioner from the cosmos. Any effort at capturing these vibrations in a script form or documentation can at best be an approximation.

The Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Riks, the Mantras of the Veda, as existing "in a supreme ether, imperishable and immutable in which all the gods are seated", and he adds "one who knows not That what shall he do with the Rik?"

"Religion as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have."

- Swami Vivekananda

The word Veda is often derived from the following five roots:

  • Vid jnaane: To know
  • Vid sattaayaam: To be, to endure
  • Vid labhe: To obtain
  • Vid vichaarane: To consider
  • Vid chetanaakhyaananiveseshu: To feel, to tell, to dwell

Vedas are not confined to any cult, religion, or school of philosophy. They are neither, for that matter, doctrines or principles preached in a specific period of history. They represent eternal knowledge, which is relevant, pertinent and true in all phases of life and in all spans of time. They are the nectar source of ultimate knowledge and spiritual light for the seekers and provide universal guidelines for global well-being and for living a duty-bound, righteous, fulfilling, happy and progressive life.

The Vedic Riks are packed with subtle truths that are 'perceivable' only to the subtle intellect. It is the rigor and discipline that really paves way for acquiring the subtle intellect.

Jin khojiya, tin paiya - gehrey paani paith,
mai bauri khojan chali, gayi kinaarey baith.

"They who sought, found - by venturing into the deep waters. But I, in my ignorance, tried to seek, but was content sitting at the edge of the waters."

- Kabir Das

CARIT welcomes researches from all over the world to explore the relationships amongst the objects based on the Indic scriptures and cull out the core ideas and principles of various technologies enshrined in them.

References:

  1. Avinash K Sahay, Subconscious: Infinite Power of The Subconscious
    http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Subconscious/id/22148


  2. Lomperis, T. 1984. Hindu Influence on Greek Philosophy. Calcutta .

  3. Subhash Kak, Indic Ideas in the Graeco-Roman World, Indian Historical Review, 1999.

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