Thus Spake the Divine - The Heart Of Culture

Thus Spake the Divine

Part VII – Culture

The Heart Of Culture

What is the benchmark for measuring the magnitude of a country’s culture? Listen to what Poojyasri Maha Periyava says in this regard.

The term Art flows from “Kala” in Sanskrit, “Kalvi” (education) in Tamil, “Culture” in English and “Cole” in French. Kala in Sanskrit means “Art” in all its forms. Kala also means “ever growing”. Like the way a waning moon starts waxing after the new moon, art forms promote the growth of mind and intellect. Unlike waning after waxing of moon, growth of art is endless. There is a saying in Tamil by the great poet Avvaiyar, “What you have learnt is a mere handful; what you haven’t learnt is the size of the world.” The poet says even Saraswati, Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge, continues to acquire knowledge. Likewise, the term Kala in Sanskrit forms the base for the ever-expanding Indian culture.

Art is the manifestation of virtuous thoughts in different forms, such as architecture, drawing and painting, dance, music, drama, sacrifice and service for others etc. These virtuous thoughts keep expanding before transforming themselves into a form of global love and love towards all living beings in the world. Our great culture emerges from the virtuous thought that the entire world should be unified into one under the umbrella of love. This is the greatest form of art for us.

What is the benchmark for measuring the magnitude of culture of a country? Whichever the country, all its population may not be most ethical and virtuous; there will also be rogues, liars, thieves and so on. Thus, how can one measure the culture of a country despite different types of people forming a part of that country’s population that includes good and the bad? If you take a patient who is critically ill, the doctor first examines his heart and says, “The heart is working fine; let’s not worry”. Similarly, despite various culpability and deficiencies in a country in terms of virtue, the country can still possess a heart, which can be diagnosed. The existence of culture in that country can be authenticated based on how its heart works.

Is there a barometer with which we can measure the culture of a country? The touchstone to test culture, attitude and virtues of a country is the imprint of testaments of the country’s great literary authors and poets, who have lived or continue living in that country.

Even among literary scholars, there would be virtuous and unethical. Words of only those literary authors and poets, who have lived an impeccable life, will remain eternal without being washed away by passage of time. There are innumerable such testimonials that provide evidence for the veracity of our Indian culture.

There is an overall perception that testimonials of Founders of religions are quite authentic. And, that they can be used as the benchmark of a country’s culture. But the Founder of a particular religion may be forced to establish the philosophy of that religion with several compromises to build strong convictions within his religion, as against contemporary religions. However, an unbiased literary scholar does not engage in such actions of bias. He just records whatever he sees or whatever he feels. He is quite objective and impartial and speaks his mind with absolute freedom, without any attachment or compromises. He is totally carefree, irrespective of whether readers or users of his literary work accept or reject his points of view.

If the literary scholar is one who is pure at heart, whatever that occurs in his mind becomes a great virtue. He never speaks out that which does not appear ethical to him even under pressure or compulsion. Therefore, if one has to confirm whether a particular issue suits the culture of that country, he has to refer to the words of great scholars. Even Founders, such as Kumarilabattar and Vedanta Desikan, illustrate their convictions through the works of Kalidasa, the great poet. This is ample evidence of the authority of Kalidasa’ outlook on various issues.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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