ESSENTIALS OF INDIAN CULTURE

Connected with the question of culture is the value and importance of Indian contribution in this sphere. in the words of Sri Aerobe indo, India’s constant effort has been to find a basis of living in the higher spiritual truth and to live from the sprit onwards”. An integral conception of spirituality stands for a synthesis of the best in western materialism and the best in Eastern Philosophy, life and spirituality. its vitality springs, not from any particular man of genius. but from the uninterrupted flow of generations of men across the centuries. Culture, which is an ethereal message of the spirit, floats above the most violent upheavals, or remains hidden in the shadown for generations, patiently awaiting the opportunity of claiming its right to live.

The Indian culture, therefore, seeks a wider harmony, reconciling spirit with the matter, preserving the truths of material science and its real utility but at the same time keeping intact the spirit as the key – stone of the arch of our culture.

Our culture is distinguished by its possession of a number of important characteristics or qualities. In the first place, our culture is characterized by tolerance. All sorts of races and creeds have found their habitation in India but they have not been persecuted as in the case of the medieval Europe. Together with toleration, we have balance or equipoise also as a marked characteristic of our culture. Again our culture is characterized by harmony or cosmic order, what the Vedas called the “Rta’. Things happened not fortuitously or accidentally, but according to certain order and in a certain continuity.

Some of the main features of Indian culture are:

I. Continuity and change

The Indian culture which has developed during the course of several centuries is the only surviving culture of the world, which has not fundamentally changed for many thousand years. India and china have, in fact, the oldest continuous cultural traditions in the world. But with the success of the Chinese revolution, the cultural continuity in china has, to a great extent, been disturbed, while Indian culture still survives with vigor and vitality and is receptive to modern thoughts. The liberal and receptive character of Indian culture. On the one hand, saved it from any cultural clash and, on the other, rendered it ever-lasting. Indian culture is free from ideological conflicts and complexities of religion, which has helped it grew as an eternal culture. The whole culture has been growing, changing and developing in accordance with the needs of time and circumstances, without losing it essential and imperishable spirit.

II) Human culture with universal appeal

From time immemorial Indians have called their culture by the name of human culture. It has tried to be so comprehensive as to suit the needs of every human being, irrespective of age, sex, colure or race. Without any state support or patronage, it has flourished and endured. The human element has been dominant in almost every facet of Indian culture and in almost every facet of Indian culture and in almost every aspect of its thought “man” is the ultimate of this culture.

III. Tolerance

The tolerance of differences of opinion and creed within its own fold and even outside itself, its an essential characteristic of Indian culture. This tolerance was manifested in the philosophical doctrines known as Anekantvad the concept of one in many. Since the Indian culture is not averse to foreign elements, it has gained in vigor in every age by absorbing all that is best in the cultures with which it came in contact. The tolerance of Indian culture not only saved it from conflict, but also greatly enriched its content.

Iv.positivist thought

The element of positivist thought has greatly influenced Indian culture through the ages. It is sometimes assumed that Indian culture I more concerned with the other world than with the Interests of this world and its material life. But this is a misconception. In act, a student of Indian culture investigating its principles, contents, and characteristics will find that a good deal of what now passes as socialism or communism is contained in essence is some of the traditions and institutions’ in which the Indian culture has manifested itself. Some of the deities worshipped are symbolic of the welfare state and represent re igion as social service. Service of man has been adopted as a mode of worshipping good conceived of as Nar – Narayan, God – in Man. The Vedic ideal of worshipping god by serving man was later embodied in a regular religious system which presents Hinduism as consisting of stages in the progressive evolution of the individual into a universal being, which constitutes the ultimate meaning of religion. This positivist outlook has molded India’s cultural history through the ages.

v. catholicity

One of the most attractive things about Indian culture is its catholicity. It not only believes in universal toleration but also accepts all religious as true. Indian culture has room for all. It is “totalitarian” in accepting g everything through a deep understanding of the fundamentals and of the ultimate reality. In fact, the enrichment of Indian culture has been achieved tho\rough its catholicity.

vi. Universality

 The essential characteristics of Indian culture have a universal appeal. In its hay days. It was carried across the frontiers of Indian and was adopted in different parts of the world. It memory has become a part of the Asiatic consciousness, tingling it outlook on life. Today, it is a vital element in the world thought and offers the necessary corrective to the predominantly rationalistic pragmatism of the west. it has, therefore, universal appeal. The vision of India is Indian only in the sense that it ws formulated by minds belonging to the Indian soil. The value of that vision does not reside in any tribal or provincial characteristics, but in those elements of Universality which appeal to the whole world.