Aavarana: The Veil

by S.L. Bhyrappa

The act of concealing truth is known as ‘aavarana’, and that of projecting untruth is called ‘vikshepa’. When these occur at the level of an individual, it is known as ‘avidya’ and when they occur at the level of a group or the world, it is known as ‘maya’. These concepts, propounded by the Vedantins, have found agreement even with Buddhist philosophers.

Myths are hard to create but far harder to destroy.

History is not tied to slogans and ideals and reform movements. It is to rid ourselves of notions of doctrines and movements and look at the incidents of the past as they actually happened.

And this can’t happen unless we allow our minds to be cleared of the illusions created by the present.

I cannot prostitute the truth.

Now you tell me, what’s the level of spiritual evolution of someone who says that the god he has created is a jealous god who commands you to destroy the gods of other people?’

‘Every man—saint, sadhu, prophet…whatever the garb—who speaks about his actions being directed by the voice of God is simply evading responsibility for his actions.

Have you heard of poet Kalidasa’s epic poem, “Raghuvamsham”?’

‘The poet describes the king Raghu as being a Dharmavijayi. Hundreds of years ago, a Kashmir scholar named Vallabhadeva classified kings into three categories. The first was Dharmavijayi, a king who, after defeating his enemy, allowed him to rule the territory as before but exerted administrative control over him. The second was Lobhavijayi, a king who, after defeating his enemy, snatched both his territory and treasury but spared the defeated king’s life. A king who after defeating his enemy not only snatched his territory and wealth but put him to death was called an Asuravijayi king…have

how a victorious king must conduct himself: he must respect, preserve and himself cultivate the traditions, dress, manners and food habits of the defeated people. He must encourage high culture, learning and scholarship, and give generous land grants to people who have already achieved excellence in various fields. I can go on but the essence is that a triumphant king should respect and preserve the culture and traditions of the lands he has conquered. Our faith has prescribed this as a duty to kings.’

We believe that just as our soul is but a spark of the Universal Soul, so is that of the

enemies.

Bharat, what you call Hindustan, witnessed several wars centuries before these people came, but not one king forcibly imposed...

I’ll let the facts speak for themselves…so what did the Prophet do in Arabia?’ she paused, looked at the lady intently and then, ‘His first wife, Khadija, was a smart and prosperous businesswoman. She lived in a society that allowed her both the social and economic freedom to run an extensive caravan business. She chose her third husband on her own, a man fifteen years younger than her. He remained faithful to her as long as she was alive. After her death—he was over fifty-two then—he married eleven women.’ She turned and looked at all the faces around the round table before finally resting her gaze on Amir. It appeared as if she had placed the burden of answer solely on his shoulders. ‘After this, which woman in the entire history of Islam had that kind of economic independence? Pre-Islamic Arabia worshipped several female deities but Islam has no female God. Who has the guts to question why Allah should only

Why don’t the aggressive champions of female equality here in this country ask this question? Why doesn’t anybody talk about the ill-effects that Islamic aggression had on Indian women? Why is everybody silent about the Muslim invaders who carted off hundreds of thousands of Indian women and sold them in the lucrative slave markets in Kabul, Iran and Turan, and why don’t our feminists reveal the fact that the direct consequence of such sex slavery was responsible for a sudden and widespread increase in the sati practice, which later developed into a full-fledged tradition in Rajasthan, Punjab and most of north India? Why doesn’t anybody ask why marriages in north India are still conducted during the night? Our intellectuals, like frogs that croak only in the rainy season, relish in blaming all the ills of India on the door of Hinduism and its Dharmashastras. Do they know history?

Nalanda, Takshashila and Odantapuri.

The British invented the theory that the Aryans were alien invaders so that they could justify their own empire in India.

Hindu society has genuinely admitted Manu’s mistakes, has apologized

for those mistakes and has for the past hundred years been correcting them. This country has made it illegal for anybody to discriminate against Dalits and backward sections of the Hindu society. They’re given legal and police protection. Discrimination is punished pretty severely. They’ve been allowed to become priests at temples. Why aren’t we allowing the same opportunity for the Muslim society to reform itself? Reform begins with education, with understanding the mistakes that have been committed. And this understanding comes from a factual reading of history as it happened.’

Japanese openly, honestly expressed their regret over what they had done to Korea. What does that tell us? And then we have the example of Germany, which not only apologized but has sworn never to commit the horrible crime that the Nazis had perpetrated—you know what message that sends? It says: we do not subscribe to the crimes of our ancestors, we’re different, we’re human and we’re decent. And you good people here, you aren’t letting the Muslims of this country develop this sort of moral courage. Realization—that’s what accepting bitter truths brings us. Realization comes when we honestly accept the mistakes of the past and that automatically builds the responsibility that will prevent us from repeating those same mistakes.

the British cabal of divide and rule created a deep mistrust between Hindus and Muslims who had lived in a perfect spirit of brotherhood for centuries. The cabal was hugely successful because there were some historians who still parroted the same lies.