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Arise ARJUNA - Hinduism and the Modern Worldby David FrawleyPrefaceOver the last few years, I have written a number of articles and essays on current issues in Hinduism.These reflect the social, intellectual and historical issues that are important in Hinduism today. Basedupon the suggestions of Hindu friends, I decided to include a number of these articles in one volume sothat they can reach a larger audience.The topics chosen are among the most difficult and controversial, which therefore many people may notwant to examine so as not to offend anyone. However, unless we examine these topics I don't think wecan arrive at Truth, particularly in this time of world crisis which requires that we examine everything.This book is intended mainly for an Indian audience, which naturally is going to be more familiar withthese issues. Unfortunately there are very few people in the West who understand India or Hinduismenough to understand this book or appreciate its seriousness (I might add a number of Hindus fall in thesame category).Westerners have taken up certain spiritual aspects of Indian civilization, like its yogic practices, whichthey use mainly for their own personal benefit, and seldom concern themselves about the state of theculture and how it has suffered under Western religions, political and materialistic influences.I have written a number of books on the spiritual side of the Hindu tradition including the Vedas, Vedantaand Tantra, as well as works on Ayurveda and Vedic astrology. I have examined Hinduism as a whole in mybook Sanatana Dharma, The Eternal Tradition of Hinduism, which is the work most relevant to this currentstudy.From the river of Heaven, Hindu and Vedic Knowledge for the Modern Age is also relevant to the presentstudy and outlines the different aspects of Hinduism. One might wonder therefore why I would concernmyself with the cultural or apparently mundane side of Hinduism. Those immersed in Hindu spiritualpractices may see no necessity for concerning themselves with these outward issues.The ancient sages of India did not confine themselves to the inner teachings only. They made theircomments about society and about other religions. They produced various Dharam Sutras or teachingsregarding one's conduct in the world. Modern teachers who wrote on social issues include Sri Aurobindo,Swami Vivekananda, Swami Rama Tirtha and Ganapati Muni who provided the inspiration for what I haveattempted.While I certainly don't wish to compare myself to such great personages, the point is that such a traditionis also important and sadly neglected today. Knowing Sanskrit, traveling widely in India and meetingpeople of all backgrounds, I have seen the tremendous ignorance and misconceptions (many intentional)that have been created about the role of Hinduism and various Hindu groups even in India.People today rely on second hand information, mainly through the news media or from academic sources,which are generally unsympathetic and inaccurate, and so the picture they get is highly distorted andrequires an alternative. Seeing this I have been compelled to speak out.This book is divided into four areas.1) Social Issues: Primarily the misrepresentation of Hinduism both in India and the West also the need fora Hindu awakening.2) Religious Issues: The Hindu view of religion, the unity of all regions, Islam and Christianity from aHindu perspective. I have devoted more space to Islam as this religion is more inimical to Hinduism andfew people appear willing to really examine it.3) Historical Issues: Particularly the Aryan Invasion theory and the division of India along north-south lines(the Aryan-Dravidian divide).4) Cultural Issues: Hinduism relative to the world as a whole, and the value of Hindu culture. The bookhas a wide scope of subjects but all are important for understanding India today and show the need for arevival of Hinduism in its true spirit.I have already examined the ancient history issue in my other books Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secretsof Ancient Civilization and in The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India. For this reason I didn't go much intothis topic in the present volume it is relevant.For Hindus, they may wonder why a Westerner would take interest in these issues. Yet do not Hindus takeinterest in the affairs of Western culture? Why should it be surprising if those born in the West takeinterest in Hindu culture, which is one of the oldest and richest in the world?Page 5 of 83

Arise ARJUNA - Hinduism and the Modern Worldby David FrawleyFor this book I would like to thank Dr.B.L.Vashta, who first encouraged me to write along these lines, andto the many other individuals and groups both in India and the United States who have encouraged me tocontinue, particularly the various publications that have printed my articles, which gave me theconfidence to present them to a broader audience.Most of the essays in this book have appeared in article form either in India or in the United States, thougha number of them have been greatly revised for the book. These publications include, in the UnitedStates, Voice of Asia, New-India Times, India Times, and Fortunes India, and in India, the Organizer, theObserver and Hindu Vishwa.India today unfortunately is still asleep to its real heritage, caught in a deep inertia (tamas), and not yetfunctioning according to its soul. Yet even in this state of sleep it has produced perhaps the greatestspiritual figures of the twentieth century. For the world to really develop spiritually, which is criticaltoday, India must awaken.This book is dedicated to the awakening of India, not for the sake of India but for the sake of allhumanity in this era of global crisis.DAVID FRAWLEYSanta FeNew MexicoU.S.A.December 1994Page 6 of 83

Arise ARJUNA - Hinduism and the Modern WorldArise Arjunaby David Frawley1The world, perhaps as usual, is in a state of crisis. Yet unlike previous crises, which were local in nature,the fate of the globe itself is now at stake, not only humanity but all life on Earth is threatened. And inthis extremity no nation has yet arisen as a defender of the Truth or spokesperson for the spiritual valuesof humanity.The communist nations, after decades of floundering in confusion and corruption, have recently fadedwith the collapse of their economic structures thru perpetual mismanagement. Only the ghost or shadowof communism lingers, while whatever idealism it might have had has been traded in for personal gain.The capitalistic nations strive to maintain their wealth and affluence by exploiting the planet, selfishlyconsuming the future resources of humanity for their present transient enjoyment. Between newtechnological wonders and a growing disillusionment with material gains, they move at an uneasy pace.The underdeveloped or third world falters under exploitation both within and without. Some poor nationsslide backwards and carve up their forests to cover short term economic debts to the wealthier countries.Others strain to recover from civil wars fed by arms suppliers from wealthy nations abroad. Yet others areheld back by ever growing populations.Famine and disease lurk behind them and prey on them periodically, threatening an all out attack on themin the coming years. The environment of the planet is reeling under all forms of chemical and industrialpollution and toxic wastes. The Earth is groaning under the weight of human greed and a sense of greatplanetary changes, climatic and atmospheric appears imminent.Will we be able to continue as we have without something major going wrong in the natural world that wehave spoiled? Even if we avoid nuclear war our wastes may prove as lethal as our bombs. Our verymedicine itself, which attacks nature, may create the new diseases that will bring down our excessivenumbers.Most of the religions of the world, remnants of worn medieval mind, struggle between a new secularmodernism and an old retarded fundamentalism. Some are still trying to impose their selfish will upon theworld and convert the planet to their narrow beliefs - that theirs is the only true God, prophet or holybook - as if the acceptance of their religious dogma would somehow solve our human problems.Other religions have comprised and are willing to take a corner in the new material age, bowing down toscience as long as they are given a place to continue ruling over their diminished flocks. The greatspiritual traditions of the East, Hinduism and Buddhism, do battle with the economic and ideologicalforces of the West, and the continued shadow of proselytizing Western religions which would still destroythem if they could.In this struggle we must ask: Where is India? and what role does she have to play? India too struggles withethnic and religious divisions, with a rapid and often ugly industrialism, with a plundered land and apopulation out of control. She has here leftists and communists who have twisted her economy and triedto turn the souls of her people against her spiritual heritage.She has her new capitalists ready to make quick money or to ally themselves with the multinationalcorporations who see India as a great new land to exploit. Where is the soul of India today? Where is herwill? She tries to stand for the underdeveloped world, for peace, tolerance, the unity of humanity andrespect for all religions. But her direction is not clear. It appears that she can't even discipline herself.Western secularism, a popular culture caught up in superficial sensation, marks one line of attack againsther. Western religions, their exclusive belief systems and their vast resources spent on conversion, attachon the other side. India would like to please everyone. And each group, religious, ethnic or political wantstheir portion of the country.Separatism reigns, with each group placing its own interests before that of the country as a whole.Everyone wants to take and no one appears willing to give. No one is standing firm to halt this tide ofgrowing sectarianism, selfishness and materialism.In this battle the modern Hindu does not want to fight, or even to speak out. He accepts the growingsecularism and sensationalism coming to his culture from the West, as perhaps necessary for economicgrowth, or may even see it as progressive, modern and humanitarian.He tolerates in silence the continuing assaults on his culture and its spiritual values from Islamic andChristian forces within his own land. He doesn't like to criticize anyone's religion even if they mock his. Heseems weak, in disarray, without confidence or self-esteem. He appears to think that if he ignores thesethings they will go away in time, but like an infection they continue to spread and poison the country.Page 7 of 83

Arise ARJUNA - Hinduism and the Modern Worldby David FrawleyThe image of the passive Hindu has arisen:"They do not resist. They do not stand firm. You can take anything you want from them and they won't sayanything. They retire in fear, though they hold on to their superstitions. First, they let the Muslimsconquer them, then the British. They seldom fought back.They often joined hands with their conquerors and took sides against their own people. Now that they arefree they don't know who they are or what to do. They don't know how to rule themselves. They are usedto being ruled. They are lucky their country doesn't fall apart. They are looking for a new conqueror,perhaps the economic forces of the West."Such are the ideas about India that one hears today.But classical India was never passive and resigned, never gave up without resistance, never gave inwithout defending Truth in all possib

Dr. David Frawley is one of the most important scholars of Ayurveda and Vedic Science today. I have great respect and admiration for his knowledge and the way he has expounded the ancient wisdom of the Vedas. Deepak Chopra Frawley is an Indian in an American body. The ease with which he enters into the spiritual of the Indian tradition and