Don’t argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!
There are lot of discussions going on about the time frame of Sri Rama‘s history, one group consisting mainly of orthodox scholars putting it firmly several millions of years back while a few modern intellectuals asserting that it cannot be earlier than seven millennia. This dichotomy is described as difference between ‘Faith’ and Logic’. Now, let us carefully delve deeper into those two words so that a distinct view emerges on the debate over Ramayana date from such a dissertation.
It will be quite surprising to note that in our Sanathana Dharma parlance, the word ‘Faith’ or its synonyms like ‘Belief’, ‘Trust’ etc. are all discordant expressions. In religious matters what we possess is only ‘Knowledge’, that is all. The ‘we’ in the previous sentence represents an ordinary ‘Bharatiya’ unsullied by the nonsensical western educational doctrines. Let us probe into that word ‘Knowledge’ further.
In Sanatana Dharma epistemology knowledge is obtained through several means, called, ‘Pramanas’. Pramana, is the means by which one obtains accurate and valid knowledge about the entire universe. The study of Pramana Shastra is vast but let us confine only to three of them at present – ‘Pratyaksha’, ‘Anumana’ and ‘Shabda’.
‘Pratyaksha’ is knowledge obtained through our senses. ‘Anumana’ is inference based on earlier ‘Pratyaksha’. ‘Shabda’ is our scriptures, mainly Vedas.
For instance, the knowledge that ‘I have ten fingers’ is obtained by the sense of sight. The significant phrase is that it is not, ‘I believe I have ten fingers’. It is ‘I know that I have ten fingers’. The reason is ‘Pratyaksha Pramanam’.
When we see smoke behind a mountain, we infer that there is fire although we do not directly see the fire. Since we had seen the connection between fire and smoke earlier, we infer that knowledge. It is ‘Anumana Pramanam’. But, both of those Pramanas can quite often be wrong also, since the scope of our senses are awfully minimal.
We see that the sun travels from east to west but it is the earth that is doing the travel round the sun! Therefore, when there is a divergence between that knowledge and what is declared in the scriptures, we take it [or rather, prudence demands that we have to take it] that ‘Shabda’ is the ultimate authority.
‘Shabda’ knowledge is bequeathed to us by our rishis through their occult powers. It is a wonderful blessing that in our ‘Bharatvarsh’ one need not study even an alphabet of those scriptures to obtain that knowledge.
It is absolutely automatic, effortless, ingrained in their blood, in their nerves in their tradition. An illiterate farmer in the remotest village of our nation looks at the sun in the morning, immediately perceives the knowledge of Sun god and raises his hands soliciting benediction whereas the so called contaminated ‘literacy’ has unfortunately reduced that divine depiction into a lifeless inorganic revolving mass of extreme heat. Who is telling that innocent villager that sun, moon, stars. trees. rivers animals etc. are all divine representations? That precious ‘knowledge’ is inherent in him from his embryonic stage. Here there is no room for those confusing terms like ‘Faith’ etc. Knowledge is permanent, perpetual, perdurable while faith is temporary, fickle, fluctuating.
Unfortunately, an inferiority complex gets indelibly imprinted in our psyche once we get afflicted with the vicious, venomous virus of Macaulay education as a result of which, for every statement of our Shastras we seek endorsement from the west and shamelessly exhibit their certificate as proof. As long as we continue with this loathsome tendency, we can never be a true Bharatiya. It is regrettable to note that all our ancient guidelines on all aspects of life, nature, medicine etc. are only now being discovered by them one by one. The earlier we realize the enormity of our inherent potency vis-a-vis the elementary nature in which the west are still pathetically groping in, the better for us.
Coming to the other term, ‘Logic’ which our modern rationalists proudly boast of, while we dissect the origin of that knowledge on which they depend on for establishing their premise, we can locate lot of loopholes. Visual evidences, stone carvings, historical locations, astrological/astronomical data are all subject to debates, different derivations and not infrequently diametrically opposite denouements. The western scholars have been altering their views quite often over a period of time as a consequence of which all the theories like Darvin’s, Dalton’s, Einstein’s, Aryan invasion etc. are all either completely invalidated or modified beyond recognition and the day is not far off when what is asserted now as authentic truths will be buried into dust at a later date. The reason is simple. All the ultra modern contrivances, computer devices, artificial intelligence resources and any future gizmos are all limited in their facilities and faculties inasmuch, as all the inputs fed into them are only through human brains which are limited to the extent and efficacy of knowledge obtained through the senses.
We in Bharatam are indeed blessed. We inherited an infinite ocean of knowledge from our rishis, were fabulously rich in knowledge from time immemorial and were leading an exemplary social life whereas our occidental counterparts were living a nomadic, barbaric life with practically zero knowledge or even negative one. They sweated, strived and struggled to gain rudiments of living much later and that too through stolen resources from the oriental regions.
Unfortunately when they entered our nation and started ruling, they discovered to their dismay and dudgeon that the natives are equipped with enviable wealth of knowledge passed down from their progenitors. They started their wicked game of belittling our ancient wisdom, erasing all such materials and instead planting their defective curriculum to which till date we have sadly succumbed.
It is a noteworthy attempt to juxtapose our historical epics to fit in the framework of Pratyaksha Pramanam and Anumana Pramanam. However, the inquisitive modern youth they are attempting to convince will not be satisfied with just a single question about the date but will pursue further inquiries, such as ‘How can a monkey lift a mountain and fly across a country?’ or ‘How can a human being single-handedly kill 14,000 enemies?’. The learned attempting to breach the minds of logical learners will then find themselves in a complex situation with no easy answers.
The present debate over Ramayana date is a result of such diametrically opposite stance of the two sides. But there is no need to deride one over the other. When ego enters the scene, proper sense of judgement and and seeking of true knowledge will inevitably become causalities.
‘Never the Twain Shall Meet’. – Rudyard Kipling.
Parasuram Sharma is a retired bank officer and an octogenarian whose interests include Sanathana Dharmam, Samskritam, history and politics.
Subscribe to our channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.