The Hindu Way: A Search for the Eternal

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About the Book For some this book may be a revelation, for others a re-dawning of understanding, but for everyone interested in understanding basic Hindu tradition and precepts that need a restatement as to their modern relevance, it will be a rewarding experience indeed. Religion and culture will be reinterpreted always with a view to contemporary understanding, but this book underlines the very parameters on which such interpretations will be based for the Hindu people in future.

About the Authors Vidyaniwas Misra: "The light of the Sun outside is the same as the light of Intelligence within; the darkness outside is verily the fear within; the upward growth of the grass, the trees and plants, is a corollary of the aspirations within the human heart. Thus there is no confrontation between the gods and men; instead, there is a sense of cooperative affinity"... "For Humankind, the Deities are the center, for the Deities, Humankind is the center. Victory over the forces of Nature is not a consideration therein; a coeval beneficence with nature and a complete harmony with all Existence is the ultimate goal of Human Life. The Late Dr. Vidya Nivas Miśra was a renowned multi-disciplinary savant, writing. and speaking in many languages, spanning with ease different fields of traditional, folk, ancient and contemporary knowledge. He was born on January 14th, 1926 in Gorakhpur and was famous for his style of essays in the genre known as the lalit nibandh. His creativity continued unabated even while he was Director of K.M. Hindi Institute, Agra (1977-1986), Vice Chancellor of Kashi Vidyapeeth and Sampoornanand Sanskrit Vishva Vidyalaya and Chief Editor of Nava Bharat Times.

He taught Sanskrit and Linguistics at Universities in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Berkely, and Seattle. Equally facile in Sanskrit and Hindi and its dialects, Dr. Miśra wrote with a deep knowledge of the Culture and Customs of India and of the folk wisdom of India. His critical as well as emotionally charged evaluations of the Rāmāyana and the Mahabharata were essays in recognition of the true Values of India and its deeply symbolic Mythology.

He has been honored with several awards and distinctions including Padma Bhushan, Padma Shree, Moorti Devi Award of Bharatiya Jnänpith, Shankar Puraskar of K.K. Birla Foundation, Bharat Bharati Samman, Visva Bharati Sammän by Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Akademy, Maharashtra Bharati Sammãn, and the highest honor of the Sahitya Akademi, to name a few.

Dr. Misra has published more than eighty books in the fields of literary criticism, language and linguistics, literary and critical essays and poetry including The Descriptive Technique of Panini (Mouton), Follow the Note of Flute (Sahitya Akademi), Environment and Creativity (Sahitya Akademi), Modern Indian Thought, The Great Indian Mind, etc. He was nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha in 2003.

In spite of this distinguished career he always lived simply and practiced the traditional values he wrote so eloquently about. He made himself available to everybody in need with a generous spirit of help and understanding, and as a Father figure to his students, was often known as Guruji or Babuji.

Ratna Lahiri studied for her Ph.D on Human Values in Modern Hindi Literature under the guidance of Professor Vidyaniwäs Misra and went on to teach at the University Of Delhi. Her deep interest in Ancient Indian Cultural values is reflected in her contributions to the Encyclopedias of Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Encyclopedia of Hinduism and to the translated summaries of source materials in the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy (MLBD). Dr. Lahiri taught Indian Studies at the Asian Center at the University of Philippines in Manila and subsequently worked at the University of South Carolina and briefly at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her forthcoming publications include a critical translation and analysis of the two existing Filipino versions of the Rama story, which she wrote as a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced.Study in Shimla, and a Biography of Amala Shankar.

Preface The Hindu way of life is a religion that emphasizes the Present. It is the marriage of Truth with the perennial laws of Nature. It is in the very nature of human beings that they cannot but live simultaneously in the Past, the Present and the Future. In other cultures, the idea of dwelling in the past may be associated with a kind of escapism, but in India, asociating with or reaffirming the Past means a certain increase in the possibilities of the Present, not a running away from it. Similarly, in certain religions or philosophies of life, an utopian imagination of the Future may inspire the Present, but the Hindu world view does not forget the Present reality in its contemplation of an imaginary vision of future pleasures; in fact, it recognizes the unforeseen future as a product and extension of the Present itself. The Present then, is merely a means of passing on the eternal values of the Past as a handy travel-kit for the Future. However, the Present being the only means of such communication, for the Hindu it is more important than either of the other two.