The whole world is but one family - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Buddhism adopts some Taoist principles. ‘Chan’
is Dhyana in Sanskrit and the word zen is derived
from it. Zen and dhyana are contemplation, as an
observer. Zen is the Japanese word for chan.
During the 6th century BC, the time of Buddha,
the contemporary of Lao Tsu and Confucius,
their respective thoughts became popular and
these were but readaptations of traditional Vedic
thinking. Taoism has not made any innovation in
the esoteric and initiatic domains nor Confucianism
made any in the esoteric and social domains. It
appears that 5000 years ago, the ancient Vedic
religion (if we may call it so) existed the world
over and this is the traditional basis for Taoist,
Confucian or Zen philosophies. The Hindu influence
is very strong in Taoism and Confucianism and
Buddhist influence came about much later.
Rene Guenon mentions in his book (The Great
Triad) that the Tien-Ti-fen (Heaven, earth and man)
is not the same as the Hindu Trinity, creation,
preservation and destruction represented by
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. One cannot agree
with this thinking since it is the Vedic religion
which existed 5,000 years ago, that has been the
inspiration for Far Eastern and Western Religions.
In fact it is the emergence of these religions that
necessitated naming of the Vedic religion as Hindu
religion by Swami Vivekananda. The word Hindu
appeared as the derivative of Sindhu river in the
north through which the Moghuls and Alexander
came to India. Earth can be considered as creation,
man can be considered as preservation and heaven
can be considered as destruction (regeneration).
Actually there is no destruction, one is supposed to
attain heaven on death. In fact, there is no birth or
death. These are only organic manifestations of the
universal Shakti through the atman. Without the
atman or soul, no life is possible. In Isa Upanishad :
it says :
“lsa vasyam idam sarvam yat kinchit jagatyam iagat”
Anything that moves in this Earth, know that Isa
resides, i.e., Isa as Atman is a manifestation of the
infinite. In fact, in dhyana or chan or zen one can
identity oneself with the infinite and the feeling of
identity with the body will disappear.
Christian equivalents to the Vedic triads:
Holy spirit - purusha - Heaven
The virgin - prakriti - Earth
Sat - Chit - Ananda
It is clear that the Vedic Religion influenced
Christianity.
The Egyptian triad falls in the category of the
Christian Father, Mother and Son. (Osiris, Isis
and Horus). Heaven (Tien) and Earth (Ti) are
indissolubly united in the “Great Extreme”
(Tai chi). In it both are united in a state of non-
38 | Bhavan Australia | February 2012
separation or non-duality. It is “Pure Being” and
is identical to the “Great Unity” (Tai I). Tai chi as
Unity (being) presupposes (Wu chi), non-being.
This corresponds to Ishwara and Parabrahma or
Apara Brahma and Para Brahma.
There is no dualism in the Far Eastern Religions
as they are but derived from the Vedic Religion.
In the Vedic Religion there is no duality. Advaita
is non-dual. But in the Vedic tradition and
legends, the starting point is the dualist ishwara
and Brahma. This is because advaita cannot but
be restricted to a small group of elite students,
the true sanyasins of the Ramakrishna and
other Ashramas. The common man and even
the educated man would find it very difficult to
understand Advaita. It is only in the process of
evolution a small group of people reach a mental
state where the principles of Advaita or nondualism
is understood. It is precisely for this
reason that saints like Ramanuja propounded
Visishtavaita and its derivatives. The common man
will understand if he is told that God is separate
from him. In Advaita the Godhead is identified with
the individual, and all living beings are part of the
one Brahman and not different from it.
In Bhagawad Gita, Sri Krishna solves the problem
of the indecisive Arjuna and thereby evolves a
great way of life for all peoples of the world. For
the common man the Bhakti yoga, for the educated
man, Karma yoga and for the evolved ones, Jnana
yoga. All these paths lead to the merger into the
infinite Brahman.
Let us take microcosm and macrocosm. Microcosm
can be taken as the individual: Atman and
Macrocosm as the universal ‘Soul’ or Atman.
The one is the manifestation of the other and are
naturally non-exclusive. Similarly the individual
has all the manifestations of the whole as he is the
building block for the family, society, nation and
the world at large. Without the macrocosm or the
paramatman, there is no microcosm, (Jivatman)
a manifestation of the paramatman. The infinite
encompasses Unity as a manifestation. Just as man
is the intermediate connection between Heaven
and Earth or Purusha and Prakriti, so is his intellect
and mental faculty (manas), the connection
between the macrocosm and microcosm,
mentioned earlier.
Let us look at the Yang and Yin of the Far Eastern
Tradition. Everything active, positive and
masculine is yang. Everything passive, negative
and feminine is yin. It is almost certain that the
word yang is derived from Linga and word yin
from the word yoni, of the Vedic religion. In
both cases the connotation is the same. They
are both complementary and exist only in their
manifestation. We may call these pairs of opposites
as dwandwas, similar to light and shade, heaven
and earth, prakrithi and purusha and so on. The
feminine aspects of these pairs of opposites