Bali Millis Preview and Information: [bali-bali] Re: Sindhu, Shintu, Hindu, Indies, Hindia & Yoga

Sabtu, 13 Desember 2008

[bali-bali] Re: Sindhu, Shintu, Hindu, Indies, Hindia & Yoga

thank you for sharing Bli PK,

Well said Pak Anand Krisna ....

shanti is angguk angguk.

--- In bali-bali@yahoogroups.com, Putu Kesuma <putukesuma@...> wrote:
>
> Sindhu, Shintu, Hindu, Indies, Hindia & Yoga
> Â
>
> Anand Krishna, Jakarta
> Â
> http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?
fileid=20081212.F04&irec=3
> Â
> "Remember history, or you shall be forgotten by history" -- we
have heard phrases like this a thousand times, yet we keep
forgetting. So, we are condemned to repeat the same lessons over and
over.
> The Malaysians -- the politicians as well as the clergy -- have
forgotten their own history, and therefore the nation is at the
brink of disintegration. We must learn from them so as not to make
the same mistakes.
> Decades ago, Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul warned us of what could
happen in countries like ours, where a foreign culture is forcibly
imposed upon an indigenous one. In particular, he mentioned five
countries: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Interestingly, all these five countries belong to the great
civilization of Sindhu Valley.
> It was the great Arab Historian of the 10th century BC, Al Beruni,
who mispronounced Sindhu as Hindu. The historian collectively called
all the lands and the islands beyond the Sindh valley "Hind".
> He was not the first to mispronounce the word. Much earlier, the
Chinese had called it Shintu. There are indications that the early
Arabs knew about its civilization from the Chinese merchants and
some of the tribes abbreviated it to Shin.
> A thousand years later, Al Beruni's magnum opus on India is still
in print and remains an interesting read. The great historian wrote
about the civilization with an unparalleled passion, translated
various spiritual and other texts into Arabic and glorified the
people as worshipers of "One" God.
> This was of course not acceptable to Sultan Mahmud, the ruler of
Ghazna, who wanted religious justification for the looting of India.
The book, therefore, was published after Mahmud's death.
> Much later, when the Moguls came to India and settled there, they
called their kingdom Hindustan. "Hindu" was never used to identify a
certain religion, but rather a civilization as well as the
geographical location. The Portuguese did the same when they
distorted the word further into "Indies". Later, the British
pronounced it India.
> We -- Nusantarans of old and modern Indonesians -- shared this
very same civilization with the Iranians, the Afghans and the
peoples of Bharat (present day Indian subcontinent). As pointed out
by Coedes, the French historian, the rulers of the subcontinent
never colonized us. They did not impose upon us their religious and
other beliefs. We shared with them those beliefs.
> The westerners called us lesser India -- a misnomer though it
recognized the fact that we belonged to the same civilization. We
were not "lesser" in any way. Indeed, our archipelago was recognized
as SvarnaDvipa, the gold-yielding islands. The seas only separated
us. Such geographical separation though did not separate us
culturally. We still shared the same cultural roots.
> Yoga as a science developed from such roots. So, we find yoga in
its various forms all over the subcontinent, and even on our
islands. Yoga has nothing to do with "Hinduism" as religion, but
with "Hindu" as a civilization.
> "Hinduism" as religion is a fact that must be recognized today.
The religion of modern Hindus is as much a part of the Great Sindhu,
Shintu or Hindu civilization as yoga is. But that does not reduce
yoga into a religious belief or system.
> Indeed, the word yoga was already in use thousands of years before
the word "Hindu" came into common usage. If we are to use Al
Beruni's terms, then we all are Hindus. The Indian pilgrims
performing haj in Arabia were called Hindi.
> Our common ancestors, the Hindus of old, developed yoga as a
system for general well-being, but mind you, the "Hindu" here is not
the same as the follower of Hinduism as a religion. The Hindu here
is Al Beruni's Hindu, a person belonging to the Sindh valley
civilization.
> Interestingly, the most clear traces and remnants of this
civilization are found in the modern Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
> To say yoga is Hindu is to say that the law of gravity is
Christian because Newton who discovered it was Christian. Or, the
theory of relativity is Jewish because Albert Einstein had Jewish
blood running through his veins. What about the numeral "O" then?
The Arabs first learnt it from the peoples of Sindh and later
brought it to the west. Is it safe to use the same?
> I am convinced without any doubt that the current developments in
our country are orchestrated by a group of people who want to uproot
us from our cultural heritage. Their motive is all too clear. They
are trying to colonize us not only economically, but also
culturally. Malaysia has fallen into their prey. The Malaysians can
boast of their material development, but without self-identity as
Melayu, they are on an irreversible journey toward disintegration.
> We are living through very decisive moments in time and history.
The options are too clear. The writing on the wall speaks loud. The
options are limited, either we become a backyard of some country out
there, or stand up and say "no" to any and all attempts
to "uncivilize" us, to uproot us culturally.
> Â
> The writer is Spiritual Activist, author of more than 110 books,
founder of several organizations (www.anandkrishna.org,
www.aumkar.org, www.californiabali.org, www.brazilindonesia.org)
>
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