Contributions of India to Global Cultural Civilization - Review of the Past, Directions for the Future

About the Book Pandit Acharya Shriram Sharma (1911-1990) was said to be the simplest of men. Throughout his life he owned only two sets of clothes. He began every day with a pad of paper and a ball point pen. And his spiritual practice, throughout his life, was the recitation of a single mantra.

And yet, wherever he went, he sowed seeds that would grow into a mighty movement. Upon the basis of his simplicity was established the integrity of a movement that would renounce the addictions of modern life. With his pen and paper, he wrote discourses on every aspect of human culture and well being that would be translated into 13 languages. And by means of his mantra recitation, he laid the energetic foundation for a new human culture based on the practices and wisdom of ancestral India.

In his own time, he was revered as a visionary, a prophet and a world reforming saint.

We are living in the interlude between two epochs. The 20" century has passed into the at", the last phase of the grand transition of an era is going to be a very bulent period of human history. During this transition into the New Age, scientific spirituality will play key role in transformation of peoples' thoughts and deeds and hence, in creating supportive environment for a better future.

The three aspects of spiritual science as explained by Acharya Shriram Sharma incorporate - viewing consciousness to be law- governed, thinking within a paradigm that includes spiritual dimensions, and applying scientific method to the study of consciousness, provide the grounds for a universal spirituality that includes all traditions by transcending the boundaries of each.

Preface Culture is the life-force that flows through the veins of a nation and culture alone can keep a nation alive and awake. It provides the nation with vitality and energy. A nation with a rich and vibrant culture briskly moves on the path of development adopting novel plans with a value-system. Historians believe that a rich cultural heritage is the most distinctive feature of Indian history. This is the element that had made India the crown jewel of the world in the times of yore. Indian spirit has remained unconquered from ancient times due to this rich cultural heritage.

Erudite researchers of world-history, cultural civilization, intellectual evolution, and oriental studies have elucidated different aspects of ancient India from time to time. Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya had thoroughly reviewed the foundation and dissemination of the cultural values and civilization support of ancient India across the globe. His reviews were documented in book-form in 1972-73. Two parts of this book and his other articles on these aspects were compiled in the volume" Samasta Visa Ko Bharata Ke Ajasra Anudana" [published by Akhand Jyoti Sansthan, Mathura]. This volume is like a concise encyclopedia of the history of cultural civilization of the world. It cites evidential information and published references on global spread of the ancient Indian Culture and historical traces of its impact on cultural development and civilization of the rest of the world.

Be that religion, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, archeology, sociology, art, architecture, mathematics, science, technology or any other facet of civilization and culture, the rishis (Indian sages of Vedic times) had generously bestowed their knowledge, guidance and constructive help to the world.

Notwithstanding the obstacles and hardships, many of them had even traveled to remote corners of the earth to plant the seeds of human-culture and uplift the status of people's life there. In this effort, several of them had resided on foreign lands for lifetime.

Introduction Scholars of Cultural History, Archeology and Spiritual Philosophy recognize India as a country of rich heritage and glorious past. All branches of knowledge and civilization are said to have emanated from the Indian Philosophy and Culture of the Vedic Agel, which were spread across the globe through the dedicated altruist endeavors of the -u«. India continued to be the preeminent guide of the entire world in the post Vedic times as well. The scientific and socio-economic development here was so advanced those days that India was often referred as a "Golden Bird" - a symbol of immense prosperity. The seeds of Indian Culture were spread across the globe several thousands years B.C. [Re (as. 4-6, 17, 22, 36,42].

But change is the law of Nature. It constantly generates tumultuous tidal waves of events to carve ever-new course of history.

The gigantic Mahabharata War was the sad beginning of the end of Vedic Cultural prominence. Apart from gigantic devastation of the developed civilization it caused loss of many great personalities and guardians of the society who were the linkage between the masses and the Vedic sages in the Himalayas. As a result, high ideals and values of Indian Culture began to dilute in several sections of the society. Although the global existence of Indian Culture continued to exist for thousands of years, the originality waned gradually. The negative trend captured the political, social, cultural and religious fronts in India too. Eventually, Hindu religion largely became a ceremonial system and many diversified and superficial rituals and mindless customs - spread by some hypocrites for their vested interests - began to dominate it in many forms by Medieval Age.

nevertheless, the divine rule cannot let His creation deteriorate and vanish without any control. It has embedded an in-built auto correcting, self- organizing system in nature to save the true spirit of religion and hence protect humanity from pathetic extinction. Divine enlightenment of Buddha and Mohair and consequent rise of Buddhism and Jainism around this period marked a wave of refinement of Hindu religion. The original principles of altruism, non-violence, self-discipline, etc of the Vedic times were revived in a contemporary form through their saintly teachings.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages