Hinduism: What Really Happenned in India (PDF) - Oration

Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan
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hence appears and reappear in history. Other forms of Hindu Philosophy
survived not because of their intrinsic merit but because of the rigorous
method of parampara and insistence on this as a dharma.
The most famous of these teachers who rejected the Vedic orthodoxy
were of course the Buddha and Mahavira. There were other thinkers in
this period, who are documented in the Buddhist and Jain literature.
Makkhali Gosala and the Ajivikas, and Ajita Kesakambala
Once started the materialism took different turns. They produced the
development of Art and Science including Ayrveda (Medical Science).
They took the materialism to the extremes of hedonism - kama sastra,
which mixed with other systems developed Kundalini Yoga and the Sex
Arts.
The rationalistic anti-vedic thrust found better expression through
Jainism and Budhism. But these again were defeated by infiltration in
many fronts. They survived with inclusion of theistic elements. Over and
above these communal elements, the onslaught of Islam destoryed any
surviving documents.
Liberation Now
It is best to remember that the Lokayata philosophy was two pronged.
First, it was a socialogical struggle of the exploited against the
Brahminic-Kshatriya exploiters. The second was the generation of an
alternate philosophical system to counter the brahminic attempt of
subjugation by emphasizing Karma and Dharma.
The similarity between Marxism and social struggle is obvious.
In contrast, within the Judeo-Christian religion the struggle was initiated
by God himself. Judaism was essentially the product of the slave
liberation struggle. Yahvh God heard the cries of the slaves in Egypt and
led them out into liberation and gave them freedom and a land to
possesses. He also gave them more humane regulations to live by. They
later rejected God and went after the ways of the world and made for