5,047 views Mar 24, 2020 Religions of Man
This is the first of three episodes on Hinduism, one of the major living religions of the world. Its adherents claim it to be the oldest, as well, with historical roots dating back to 2500 BC. There are over 200,000,000 Hindus today, almost all of whom live in India. The first episode takes up the what, why and how of Hinduism. With the recent rebirth of interest in spirituality and religion, and its effect on the life people live, the 1955 NET Series, Religions of Man is a timely and informative example of early educational television. The programs give a clear insight into the great living religious of our world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Dr. Huston Smith discusses their origin, founders and what each teaches as to life’s meaning and the way to its fulfillment. The first college accredited course given on TV in St. Louis, this series features Dr. Huston Smith, at the time, the associate professor of philosophy at Washington University. Born in China of missionary parents, Dr. Huston Smith has had first-hand acquaintance with the religions of both East and West. Dr. Smiths graduate studies were completed at the University of California and the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1945. He was president of the Missouri Philosophy Association and is the author of The Purpose of Higher Education, published in 1955 by Harper and Brothers. Dr. Smith taught at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado before joining the Washington University faculty. His course on The Religions of Man grew from 13 to 140 students in the first seven years he taught it. The 17 episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on kinescope, and was broadcast nationally to millions of viewers. For other films of Huston Smith, Please visit www.HustonSmith.org
Key moments
View all
India
9:57
Why India
10:02
Worldly Desire
13:50
The Four Castes
16:52
Artisans
17:45![]()
Laborers
17:56
===
0:02this is no educational television a
0:06program distributed by the educational
0:08television and radio Center the
0:21religions of man with dr. Houston Smith
0:43[Music]
0:57in our study of the religions of man we
1:00begin with the east why because that's
1:05where the religions begin it's a very
1:08curious thing but all the great living
1:12religions of the world today even those
1:15which by now have migrated over to the
1:18West all of them had their origin in the
1:21Orient how ism and Confucianism began in
1:26China Buddhism and Hinduism of course
1:29began in India Islam began in Arabia and
1:33even our own religions Judaism and
1:36Christianity began in Palestine in your
1:41East so that's why in this course we
1:44begin with the East the East is a long
1:49way off I know of course that we can get
1:52there very easily now we can get there
1:55very quickly but it's still a long way
1:59it really is a different world i i've
2:04lived there half my life and i've seen
2:09some very strange thing some things
2:13which still continue to haunt me when i
2:16wake up in the middle of the night some
2:19things which i still haven't been able
2:22to figure out quite how they add
2:24together or how people would see these
2:28things in order to make sense on top of
2:32all that we've got some strange ideas
2:35ourselves about the east and that
2:38doesn't help either on the one hand
2:40there are some people who still regard
2:44the east with a kind of contempt they
2:48are the backward people of the world
2:51they are almost barbarian still at least
2:56only semi civilized in Kipling's phrase
3:00clothed in a twisted rag in front and
3:04half of that behind yes there are plenty
3:07of people in the West who still regard
3:10the
3:11we're the kind of contempt and then at
3:14the opposite extreme there are
3:16Westerners who regard the East with a
3:19kind of stony gaze of fascination and
3:26all these are the people who always see
3:30the East as somehow mysterious and
3:33strange in account fantastic even
3:37fabulous they're the ones that assume
3:40that in insects in the East the insects
3:44must be larger than they are here
3:46the rivers must be wider and when it
3:49rains in the East it must really rain
3:52that kind of person who can't look to
3:55the east without assuming some sort of
3:58exotic or fabulous quality well we have
4:04a difficult job this evening trying to
4:08pierce through some of these
4:10misconceptions and trying to understand
4:14that which it's true does have a kind of
4:17intrinsic difference from our own
4:19perspective we're going to have to work
4:22a little in order to take this journey
4:25into the minds and spirit of a people
4:30who have been separated from us through
4:33the centuries by the distances of space
4:39let me give you just one example of the
4:42problem that the West has any in
4:46understanding the East this is a kind of
4:50trivial example and yet I think it may
4:52point to something that we have to face
4:56the British when they went into India
4:59for example when they went into India
5:03they noticed that some of the things
5:06about the religious art of the
5:10architecture the sculpture and the
5:14literature itself seem to them from
5:17their point of view as quite indecent
5:19really obscene from there
5:22Victorian perspective and so what did
5:25they do well they slapped on in their
5:28colonial code postal code the provision
5:32which they had in their own country
5:34namely read no obscene literature may be
5:40sent to the mayor and yet somehow things
5:45didn't go right it didn't seem quite
5:47right in time they realized that the
5:50categories of decent and indecent which
5:53were meaningful in their own country
5:56somehow weren't applying here these
5:58people looked on this material and
6:00really a very different sense it really
6:02wasn't pretty
6:03indecent at all their attitude was pre
6:06decent the categories which held so fast
6:10in England Victorian England somehow
6:13didn't fit at all in this different
6:16climate and eventually they came to see
6:19this to the point that they well they
6:21didn't rescind but they modified their
6:24provision and as I understand it the
6:27British colonial postal code still reads
6:30today no obscene literature may be sent
6:34through the mail parenthesis unless it
6:37be religious parenthesis close well this
6:42perhaps may indicate to you something of
6:46the kind of problem which one people may
6:51have in understanding another well let's
6:56not have the impression that everything
7:00we find in the East is going to be
7:03different you're going to find some old
7:05friends too in these ideas you're going
7:09to find some things that ring true and
7:12echo
7:13they sound like they'll sell my things
7:15you've heard before
7:16echoes perhaps of the song echoes of the
7:20New Testament you will find for example
7:23Confucius saying do not do unto other
7:26people what you don't want them to do to
7:29you which of course is just another way
7:31of saying our own gold and
7:34you'll find for example a parallel when
7:37Christ said love your enemies we will
7:41find in the Dhammapada of the Buddhist
7:44literature a comparable phrase where it
7:47says he robbed me
7:49he beat me he abused me and the minds of
7:53those who think like this hatred will
7:56never cease as long to is to be given
8:01even to those who pour abuse upon and
8:05again a New Testament phrase as a man
8:09thinketh in his heart so is he
8:11will find its exact echo in the Buddhist
8:15literature everything you are is the
8:20result of what you have bought well
8:24we'll find some difference some
8:28strangeness but also similarity just one
8:31last word by way of introduction and
8:34approach we're not going to try in these
8:37lectures to give you a rounded view of
8:39these religions some of the things in
8:42them will seem to us as crude as gross
8:46as vulgar and they are I'm sure there
8:49are some things religion is so inclusive
8:52covers so much of life that every
8:54religion includes some bad elements as
8:57well as some good those who were under
8:59who were studying Christianity if they
9:02were coming from abroad could find
9:04Christianity down in the Ozarks
9:06associated with snake worship with
9:09poisonous snakes wrapped around the
9:12necks of the devotees they could bring
9:14that in as a part of Christianity if
9:17they wanted to know just as a music
9:20teacher giving a history of music
9:23doesn't bother to go into all the bad
9:26music which has been written down
9:28through the ages similarly I don't see
9:31that it's our job to bring out the all
9:35the bad and they'll oh no our time is
9:39limited and I want to center with you on
9:42that which is best
9:44just as an art teacher reviewing the
9:47ages will also lift doubt for
9:50consideration that we came back now
9:54let's go to our first religion let's go
9:58to India I've spoken of why we should go
10:01to the east but why India well you have
10:06to start somewhere that's one reason
10:08button that's another reason for
10:10beginning with India it's probably the
10:15oldest of the great historical religions
10:18some of the things which are meaningful
10:22in the lives of millions of Hindus today
10:25go back what well between four and five
10:29thousand years they've been dug up in
10:32excavations and dated that far back
10:34that's a that's a terribly long time as
10:37far as human history books this is the
10:40time of the accommo to the time of the
10:43Egyptians and the Babylonians
10:46Mesopotamia religions
10:48those two were mighty religions in their
10:51own day but they've gone leaving us
10:53nothing but the pyramids and a few other
10:56artifacts but this religion which in
11:00part was contemporary with those this
11:03religion has endured and animates and
11:07motivates the lives of countless
11:09millions in our world today now to begin
11:16what does Hinduism what does Hinduism
11:21say you may well if I had to take the
11:26vast literature of Hinduism all the
11:32rituals the write and boil it down to
11:37what strikes me as its central
11:41affirmation I think I would put it this
11:43way Hinduism says to man you can have
11:48what you want you can have what you want
11:53well that sounds very good but it
11:56immediately suggests xanex question what
11:59do you want now this one's not quite so
12:03easy it's very easy to give a simple
12:05answer turns out to be very difficult to
12:09give a good answer and the reason of
12:12course is that people want different
12:15things what do they well I suppose most
12:21people want four things they want
12:26pleasure agreeable sensations aesthetic
12:36good food the happiness of the physical
12:42senses then again they want well I have
12:50heard someone say the other day that
12:53happiness isn't everything
12:55after all it can't buy money can it well
12:59this indicates a very telling way how
13:02important many people think wealth is
13:05but there's something else
13:07thing if only I were to be exalted above
13:15my fellow man if only people were to
13:18admire me to speak in hushed voices when
13:21I enter their circle with AD ulation
13:24then the joys of life would come too
13:29finally there's a fourth thing which
13:32dawns perhaps later than these other two
13:35there are many men who want power these
13:45four things the Hindu speak of as the
13:50worldly desire because these are the
13:53desires most people in the world as far
13:56as one observes their actions now what
14:00is the attitude of Hinduism towards
14:02these desire and here's an important
14:06point because in the West we have
14:08frequently well we've really come to the
14:11conclusion that India is very other
14:15world and is therefore take the negative
14:19stand on these desires it's against them
14:22it's opposed to much scholarship
14:25actually came to that conclusion in the
14:2719th century but we're coming to
14:30discover that we misunderstood India on
14:33this point she is not ascetic in the
14:38sense of being antagonistic to these
14:40things no these are perfectly legitimate
14:43desire you have a perfect right if this
14:48is what you want in do ISM would say go
14:51to it only you might be intelligent it
14:57will pay you to be intelligent as you go
15:00about seeking these things because some
15:03ways will lead you to them some ways
15:06will not now
15:08how do you be intelligent what do you
15:13observe what advice should you follow
15:16when seeking these things and hinduism
15:20says three things at this score first of
15:24all it says don't hurt other people as
15:28you go after these things don't trample
15:32them under foot because if you do then
15:36this will unleash other patient's
15:38against you and in the end it won't pay
15:40off we don't have time to say anything
15:42more about this here but simply to say
15:45observe the basic principles of human
15:49decency and fair play
15:51in other words observe basic morality as
15:55you go about these things but second
16:00there's something else to watch and that
16:03is that in seeking these things you
16:06should find your proper place in life
16:10what is your appropriate niche because
16:14you see people have different
16:17capacities different endowments and if
16:21you try to fit yourself in a vocation in
16:24a way of life which is counter to your
16:26basic nature then no success will ensue
16:33now this division of people according to
16:37their natures is the basic basis of the
16:41caste system and I want to take a moment
16:43for they say them that there are four
16:48really four kinds of people they call
16:52them the four castes first of all there
16:59are what we might call the intellectual
17:02leaders and spiritual these are the
17:09priests but as religion and an thought
17:15were really bound together in India this
17:18would include the teachers - the
17:21teachers who would always have a
17:23spiritual emphasis then next would come
17:26the they call them warriors in the next
17:30class because this was a time of trouble
17:32but really the the temporal leaders I
17:36think perhaps the administrators and
17:43then there were the artisans are the
17:51merchants those who are economically
17:53very productive and finally there were
17:57the laborers these are the people who
18:03think for whom thought is tremendously
18:07important these are ones who are the
18:10builders the organizers who make society
18:13run in its administrative side these are
18:17the economically productive and these
18:20are those whose time span is short who
18:23really had better work do better working
18:27for other people we with our democracy
18:30don't like to it
18:31knowledge that there is a class of such
18:34persons but they said well maybe we
18:36would like it to be different but
18:38actually there are some people who left
18:40to their own initiative their own
18:42enterprise would not get as far would
18:45not be as happy as but they can be very
18:48good in terms of working for other
18:51people what should we do to get these
18:54first observe the basic principles of
18:58morality second find our appropriate
19:02place station in life and third they
19:06said evolve evolve because life develops
19:13and they said life develops through four
19:16stages the stage of the student in the
19:20early years when your main
19:22responsibility is to learn everything
19:25you can second there is the stage of the
19:29householder when you should marry have a
19:32family take part in the civic life of
19:35the community and then however when you
19:39get to be about 50 after you've given
19:42yourself to society and the bigger an
19:46imagination of your social life there
19:49will come a time as the strength begins
19:51to M the physical spring when you really
19:56ought to pull out of this and let the
19:58junior executives take your place of
20:01responsibility in society while you go
20:04into retirement the third stage and
20:07begin your adult education all these
20:10years you haven't had time to read to
20:12think but before you die you ought to
20:14have that opportunity so the third and
20:16fourth period becomes more and templated
20:19more turned in let me just review these
20:27ones are the wants of the world they're
20:32good rather than bad basically and if
20:36this is what you want go after it only
20:40remember three points observe the prince
20:44the basic morality find your station in
20:48life and don't be truncated in your
20:53development passed through a rounded
20:56stage of the life of the student the
20:58life of the householder and then in the
21:00last two periods the life of
21:02contemplation reflection so that before
21:05you die you can come to some
21:07understanding of what this was all about
21:10through the years in it now these are
21:16good things
21:17but now we come to the really
21:21interesting question are they all that
21:26life has to offer well we can see some
21:29reasons they would say for think for
21:33hoping at least that this is not all
21:36that life can attain there are four
21:40limitations which in here in these
21:44things let's know what they are first of
21:46all sometimes they are unattainable
21:49maybe we want to make a minyan maybe
21:52we're caught in adverse circumstances
21:55and we can't get what we want
21:58sometimes they're unattainable there's
22:00another defect though limitation and
22:03that is often when we find them we get
22:06them when we get them we find that they
22:09don't bring the true satisfaction which
22:11we were expecting from this in a way
22:15seems to me almost the story of
22:18contemporary America people giving their
22:23lives and getting things which when they
22:27get them
22:28don't bring the satisfaction which did
22:30Oh Ross Lockridge writes a book through
22:34years of poverty and then when it is
22:38accepted and it becomes a best-seller
22:40Raintree County as he goes to receive
22:43the great award he after he has received
22:47it then he commits suicide he got what
22:50he wanted but it didn't bring him
22:52and he hoped then there is a third there
22:56is a third limitation in these and that
22:59is that if you they would say make these
23:04the main ambition of your life
23:07then they become insatiable are they
23:10insatiable in their own right no no in
23:15their proper place they're not it's not
23:17true to say a man can never be satisfied
23:19with the wealth he has or the fame he
23:22has or the power yet but they would
23:23still say that if this is the central
23:27concern of his life then it will tend to
23:29be insatiable why because and here I'm
23:33anticipating this is not what man really
23:37wants and men can never get enough of
23:41what they do not really want and so they
23:47would say ultimately if you build your
23:50life around these things they will never
23:53you'll never get enough of them as they
23:55put it it's like trying to quench a fire
23:59by pouring butter fat on it to try to
24:02quench our desire or the these things in
24:06just going after them now there is a
24:11final final reason why these things
24:14you're not satisfied ultimately and that
24:18is because they're fleeting they must
24:20come to an end and this we know very
24:23well because you can't take this these
24:27things with you that's our way of
24:31putting it but it is true we all know
24:34sooner or later these come to me all
24:37right now the question is we see that
24:41these have their limitations
24:43is there anything wrong and this I
24:46suppose is the big question behind all
24:49religions and people line up on both
24:53sides of this question some of them will
24:57say no I wish it were true Hemingway
24:59would say I wish you were true but it's
25:01not tall story I would say yes it is but
25:04in any event the Hindus
25:06say there will come a time when these
25:10things will lose their charm they're
25:13like toys which satisfy people in
25:15certain stages of their development but
25:18there comes a time when they will not
25:21satisfy the longings of the human heart
25:25now when that time comes one will say as
25:29they told as a Huxley said on one
25:32occasion there comes a time when one
25:34asks even of Shakespeare even a battle
25:38is this all now in our closing moment
25:45turn with me to this symbol this is a
25:50symbol for home it's what it's called
25:55we're going to be saying more about this
25:58symbol as time goes on
26:02behind in the background is a solid
26:10color it looks like black but it's not
26:13really in the original it's dark green
26:15black symbolizes nothingness
26:17this however dark green symbolizes utter
26:22being complete being the Rays that go
26:26out here symbolize utter consciousness
26:31not thinking about one or two things but
26:34pure consciousness undivided by objects
26:40and this part in here with its exuberant
26:45quality indicate what is sometimes
26:50translated bliss but better translated
26:53the absence of all frustration all sense
26:57of futility what is this this is the
27:05Hindu view of God God is that which is
27:11independent and nothing less
27:15will satisfy the spirit of man he is
27:20infinite and you can't really divide in
27:24the Infinity but we can put it this way
27:27he is infinite in existence pure being
27:33not partial limited being but utterly he
27:39is utter awareness and he is utter joy
27:44beyond all sense of limitations all
27:48frustrations and all possible for this
27:53thing is God which is the true role of
27:58human life now one last point we've had
28:03to cover it very quickly and next time
28:07we're going to have time to go into how
28:10this is achieved but the last point is
28:13that that which is miss out as God is
28:20also within as God in other words the
28:26utmost essence of the human spirit is
28:30devar and so it is that the Upanishads
28:35put this point in their writings that
28:40supreme self is not this not this
28:44nothing material that you can point to
28:47it is unseasonable or it cannot be
28:50seized it is indestructible or it cannot
28:54be destroyed
28:55it is unattached for it does not attach
28:57itself to anything it is unbound it does
29:02not tremble it is not in Egypt the whole
29:05world has that as its so that thou ow'st
29:21[Music]
29:30[Music]
29:42the preceding program was distributed by
29:44the educational television radio Center
29:46this is national Educational Television
29:55you
===
===
Key moments
View all
India
9:57
Why India
10:02
Worldly Desire
13:50
The Four Castes
16:52
Artisans
17:45
Laborers
17:56
===
0:02this is no educational television a
0:06program distributed by the educational
0:08television and radio Center the
0:21religions of man with dr. Houston Smith
0:43[Music]
0:57in our study of the religions of man we
1:00begin with the east why because that's
1:05where the religions begin it's a very
1:08curious thing but all the great living
1:12religions of the world today even those
1:15which by now have migrated over to the
1:18West all of them had their origin in the
1:21Orient how ism and Confucianism began in
1:26China Buddhism and Hinduism of course
1:29began in India Islam began in Arabia and
1:33even our own religions Judaism and
1:36Christianity began in Palestine in your
1:41East so that's why in this course we
1:44begin with the East the East is a long
1:49way off I know of course that we can get
1:52there very easily now we can get there
1:55very quickly but it's still a long way
1:59it really is a different world i i've
2:04lived there half my life and i've seen
2:09some very strange thing some things
2:13which still continue to haunt me when i
2:16wake up in the middle of the night some
2:19things which i still haven't been able
2:22to figure out quite how they add
2:24together or how people would see these
2:28things in order to make sense on top of
2:32all that we've got some strange ideas
2:35ourselves about the east and that
2:38doesn't help either on the one hand
2:40there are some people who still regard
2:44the east with a kind of contempt they
2:48are the backward people of the world
2:51they are almost barbarian still at least
2:56only semi civilized in Kipling's phrase
3:00clothed in a twisted rag in front and
3:04half of that behind yes there are plenty
3:07of people in the West who still regard
3:10the
3:11we're the kind of contempt and then at
3:14the opposite extreme there are
3:16Westerners who regard the East with a
3:19kind of stony gaze of fascination and
3:26all these are the people who always see
3:30the East as somehow mysterious and
3:33strange in account fantastic even
3:37fabulous they're the ones that assume
3:40that in insects in the East the insects
3:44must be larger than they are here
3:46the rivers must be wider and when it
3:49rains in the East it must really rain
3:52that kind of person who can't look to
3:55the east without assuming some sort of
3:58exotic or fabulous quality well we have
4:04a difficult job this evening trying to
4:08pierce through some of these
4:10misconceptions and trying to understand
4:14that which it's true does have a kind of
4:17intrinsic difference from our own
4:19perspective we're going to have to work
4:22a little in order to take this journey
4:25into the minds and spirit of a people
4:30who have been separated from us through
4:33the centuries by the distances of space
4:39let me give you just one example of the
4:42problem that the West has any in
4:46understanding the East this is a kind of
4:50trivial example and yet I think it may
4:52point to something that we have to face
4:56the British when they went into India
4:59for example when they went into India
5:03they noticed that some of the things
5:06about the religious art of the
5:10architecture the sculpture and the
5:14literature itself seem to them from
5:17their point of view as quite indecent
5:19really obscene from there
5:22Victorian perspective and so what did
5:25they do well they slapped on in their
5:28colonial code postal code the provision
5:32which they had in their own country
5:34namely read no obscene literature may be
5:40sent to the mayor and yet somehow things
5:45didn't go right it didn't seem quite
5:47right in time they realized that the
5:50categories of decent and indecent which
5:53were meaningful in their own country
5:56somehow weren't applying here these
5:58people looked on this material and
6:00really a very different sense it really
6:02wasn't pretty
6:03indecent at all their attitude was pre
6:06decent the categories which held so fast
6:10in England Victorian England somehow
6:13didn't fit at all in this different
6:16climate and eventually they came to see
6:19this to the point that they well they
6:21didn't rescind but they modified their
6:24provision and as I understand it the
6:27British colonial postal code still reads
6:30today no obscene literature may be sent
6:34through the mail parenthesis unless it
6:37be religious parenthesis close well this
6:42perhaps may indicate to you something of
6:46the kind of problem which one people may
6:51have in understanding another well let's
6:56not have the impression that everything
7:00we find in the East is going to be
7:03different you're going to find some old
7:05friends too in these ideas you're going
7:09to find some things that ring true and
7:12echo
7:13they sound like they'll sell my things
7:15you've heard before
7:16echoes perhaps of the song echoes of the
7:20New Testament you will find for example
7:23Confucius saying do not do unto other
7:26people what you don't want them to do to
7:29you which of course is just another way
7:31of saying our own gold and
7:34you'll find for example a parallel when
7:37Christ said love your enemies we will
7:41find in the Dhammapada of the Buddhist
7:44literature a comparable phrase where it
7:47says he robbed me
7:49he beat me he abused me and the minds of
7:53those who think like this hatred will
7:56never cease as long to is to be given
8:01even to those who pour abuse upon and
8:05again a New Testament phrase as a man
8:09thinketh in his heart so is he
8:11will find its exact echo in the Buddhist
8:15literature everything you are is the
8:20result of what you have bought well
8:24we'll find some difference some
8:28strangeness but also similarity just one
8:31last word by way of introduction and
8:34approach we're not going to try in these
8:37lectures to give you a rounded view of
8:39these religions some of the things in
8:42them will seem to us as crude as gross
8:46as vulgar and they are I'm sure there
8:49are some things religion is so inclusive
8:52covers so much of life that every
8:54religion includes some bad elements as
8:57well as some good those who were under
8:59who were studying Christianity if they
9:02were coming from abroad could find
9:04Christianity down in the Ozarks
9:06associated with snake worship with
9:09poisonous snakes wrapped around the
9:12necks of the devotees they could bring
9:14that in as a part of Christianity if
9:17they wanted to know just as a music
9:20teacher giving a history of music
9:23doesn't bother to go into all the bad
9:26music which has been written down
9:28through the ages similarly I don't see
9:31that it's our job to bring out the all
9:35the bad and they'll oh no our time is
9:39limited and I want to center with you on
9:42that which is best
9:44just as an art teacher reviewing the
9:47ages will also lift doubt for
9:50consideration that we came back now
9:54let's go to our first religion let's go
9:58to India I've spoken of why we should go
10:01to the east but why India well you have
10:06to start somewhere that's one reason
10:08button that's another reason for
10:10beginning with India it's probably the
10:15oldest of the great historical religions
10:18some of the things which are meaningful
10:22in the lives of millions of Hindus today
10:25go back what well between four and five
10:29thousand years they've been dug up in
10:32excavations and dated that far back
10:34that's a that's a terribly long time as
10:37far as human history books this is the
10:40time of the accommo to the time of the
10:43Egyptians and the Babylonians
10:46Mesopotamia religions
10:48those two were mighty religions in their
10:51own day but they've gone leaving us
10:53nothing but the pyramids and a few other
10:56artifacts but this religion which in
11:00part was contemporary with those this
11:03religion has endured and animates and
11:07motivates the lives of countless
11:09millions in our world today now to begin
11:16what does Hinduism what does Hinduism
11:21say you may well if I had to take the
11:26vast literature of Hinduism all the
11:32rituals the write and boil it down to
11:37what strikes me as its central
11:41affirmation I think I would put it this
11:43way Hinduism says to man you can have
11:48what you want you can have what you want
11:53well that sounds very good but it
11:56immediately suggests xanex question what
11:59do you want now this one's not quite so
12:03easy it's very easy to give a simple
12:05answer turns out to be very difficult to
12:09give a good answer and the reason of
12:12course is that people want different
12:15things what do they well I suppose most
12:21people want four things they want
12:26pleasure agreeable sensations aesthetic
12:36good food the happiness of the physical
12:42senses then again they want well I have
12:50heard someone say the other day that
12:53happiness isn't everything
12:55after all it can't buy money can it well
12:59this indicates a very telling way how
13:02important many people think wealth is
13:05but there's something else
13:07thing if only I were to be exalted above
13:15my fellow man if only people were to
13:18admire me to speak in hushed voices when
13:21I enter their circle with AD ulation
13:24then the joys of life would come too
13:29finally there's a fourth thing which
13:32dawns perhaps later than these other two
13:35there are many men who want power these
13:45four things the Hindu speak of as the
13:50worldly desire because these are the
13:53desires most people in the world as far
13:56as one observes their actions now what
14:00is the attitude of Hinduism towards
14:02these desire and here's an important
14:06point because in the West we have
14:08frequently well we've really come to the
14:11conclusion that India is very other
14:15world and is therefore take the negative
14:19stand on these desires it's against them
14:22it's opposed to much scholarship
14:25actually came to that conclusion in the
14:2719th century but we're coming to
14:30discover that we misunderstood India on
14:33this point she is not ascetic in the
14:38sense of being antagonistic to these
14:40things no these are perfectly legitimate
14:43desire you have a perfect right if this
14:48is what you want in do ISM would say go
14:51to it only you might be intelligent it
14:57will pay you to be intelligent as you go
15:00about seeking these things because some
15:03ways will lead you to them some ways
15:06will not now
15:08how do you be intelligent what do you
15:13observe what advice should you follow
15:16when seeking these things and hinduism
15:20says three things at this score first of
15:24all it says don't hurt other people as
15:28you go after these things don't trample
15:32them under foot because if you do then
15:36this will unleash other patient's
15:38against you and in the end it won't pay
15:40off we don't have time to say anything
15:42more about this here but simply to say
15:45observe the basic principles of human
15:49decency and fair play
15:51in other words observe basic morality as
15:55you go about these things but second
16:00there's something else to watch and that
16:03is that in seeking these things you
16:06should find your proper place in life
16:10what is your appropriate niche because
16:14you see people have different
16:17capacities different endowments and if
16:21you try to fit yourself in a vocation in
16:24a way of life which is counter to your
16:26basic nature then no success will ensue
16:33now this division of people according to
16:37their natures is the basic basis of the
16:41caste system and I want to take a moment
16:43for they say them that there are four
16:48really four kinds of people they call
16:52them the four castes first of all there
16:59are what we might call the intellectual
17:02leaders and spiritual these are the
17:09priests but as religion and an thought
17:15were really bound together in India this
17:18would include the teachers - the
17:21teachers who would always have a
17:23spiritual emphasis then next would come
17:26the they call them warriors in the next
17:30class because this was a time of trouble
17:32but really the the temporal leaders I
17:36think perhaps the administrators and
17:43then there were the artisans are the
17:51merchants those who are economically
17:53very productive and finally there were
17:57the laborers these are the people who
18:03think for whom thought is tremendously
18:07important these are ones who are the
18:10builders the organizers who make society
18:13run in its administrative side these are
18:17the economically productive and these
18:20are those whose time span is short who
18:23really had better work do better working
18:27for other people we with our democracy
18:30don't like to it
18:31knowledge that there is a class of such
18:34persons but they said well maybe we
18:36would like it to be different but
18:38actually there are some people who left
18:40to their own initiative their own
18:42enterprise would not get as far would
18:45not be as happy as but they can be very
18:48good in terms of working for other
18:51people what should we do to get these
18:54first observe the basic principles of
18:58morality second find our appropriate
19:02place station in life and third they
19:06said evolve evolve because life develops
19:13and they said life develops through four
19:16stages the stage of the student in the
19:20early years when your main
19:22responsibility is to learn everything
19:25you can second there is the stage of the
19:29householder when you should marry have a
19:32family take part in the civic life of
19:35the community and then however when you
19:39get to be about 50 after you've given
19:42yourself to society and the bigger an
19:46imagination of your social life there
19:49will come a time as the strength begins
19:51to M the physical spring when you really
19:56ought to pull out of this and let the
19:58junior executives take your place of
20:01responsibility in society while you go
20:04into retirement the third stage and
20:07begin your adult education all these
20:10years you haven't had time to read to
20:12think but before you die you ought to
20:14have that opportunity so the third and
20:16fourth period becomes more and templated
20:19more turned in let me just review these
20:27ones are the wants of the world they're
20:32good rather than bad basically and if
20:36this is what you want go after it only
20:40remember three points observe the prince
20:44the basic morality find your station in
20:48life and don't be truncated in your
20:53development passed through a rounded
20:56stage of the life of the student the
20:58life of the householder and then in the
21:00last two periods the life of
21:02contemplation reflection so that before
21:05you die you can come to some
21:07understanding of what this was all about
21:10through the years in it now these are
21:16good things
21:17but now we come to the really
21:21interesting question are they all that
21:26life has to offer well we can see some
21:29reasons they would say for think for
21:33hoping at least that this is not all
21:36that life can attain there are four
21:40limitations which in here in these
21:44things let's know what they are first of
21:46all sometimes they are unattainable
21:49maybe we want to make a minyan maybe
21:52we're caught in adverse circumstances
21:55and we can't get what we want
21:58sometimes they're unattainable there's
22:00another defect though limitation and
22:03that is often when we find them we get
22:06them when we get them we find that they
22:09don't bring the true satisfaction which
22:11we were expecting from this in a way
22:15seems to me almost the story of
22:18contemporary America people giving their
22:23lives and getting things which when they
22:27get them
22:28don't bring the satisfaction which did
22:30Oh Ross Lockridge writes a book through
22:34years of poverty and then when it is
22:38accepted and it becomes a best-seller
22:40Raintree County as he goes to receive
22:43the great award he after he has received
22:47it then he commits suicide he got what
22:50he wanted but it didn't bring him
22:52and he hoped then there is a third there
22:56is a third limitation in these and that
22:59is that if you they would say make these
23:04the main ambition of your life
23:07then they become insatiable are they
23:10insatiable in their own right no no in
23:15their proper place they're not it's not
23:17true to say a man can never be satisfied
23:19with the wealth he has or the fame he
23:22has or the power yet but they would
23:23still say that if this is the central
23:27concern of his life then it will tend to
23:29be insatiable why because and here I'm
23:33anticipating this is not what man really
23:37wants and men can never get enough of
23:41what they do not really want and so they
23:47would say ultimately if you build your
23:50life around these things they will never
23:53you'll never get enough of them as they
23:55put it it's like trying to quench a fire
23:59by pouring butter fat on it to try to
24:02quench our desire or the these things in
24:06just going after them now there is a
24:11final final reason why these things
24:14you're not satisfied ultimately and that
24:18is because they're fleeting they must
24:20come to an end and this we know very
24:23well because you can't take this these
24:27things with you that's our way of
24:31putting it but it is true we all know
24:34sooner or later these come to me all
24:37right now the question is we see that
24:41these have their limitations
24:43is there anything wrong and this I
24:46suppose is the big question behind all
24:49religions and people line up on both
24:53sides of this question some of them will
24:57say no I wish it were true Hemingway
24:59would say I wish you were true but it's
25:01not tall story I would say yes it is but
25:04in any event the Hindus
25:06say there will come a time when these
25:10things will lose their charm they're
25:13like toys which satisfy people in
25:15certain stages of their development but
25:18there comes a time when they will not
25:21satisfy the longings of the human heart
25:25now when that time comes one will say as
25:29they told as a Huxley said on one
25:32occasion there comes a time when one
25:34asks even of Shakespeare even a battle
25:38is this all now in our closing moment
25:45turn with me to this symbol this is a
25:50symbol for home it's what it's called
25:55we're going to be saying more about this
25:58symbol as time goes on
26:02behind in the background is a solid
26:10color it looks like black but it's not
26:13really in the original it's dark green
26:15black symbolizes nothingness
26:17this however dark green symbolizes utter
26:22being complete being the Rays that go
26:26out here symbolize utter consciousness
26:31not thinking about one or two things but
26:34pure consciousness undivided by objects
26:40and this part in here with its exuberant
26:45quality indicate what is sometimes
26:50translated bliss but better translated
26:53the absence of all frustration all sense
26:57of futility what is this this is the
27:05Hindu view of God God is that which is
27:11independent and nothing less
27:15will satisfy the spirit of man he is
27:20infinite and you can't really divide in
27:24the Infinity but we can put it this way
27:27he is infinite in existence pure being
27:33not partial limited being but utterly he
27:39is utter awareness and he is utter joy
27:44beyond all sense of limitations all
27:48frustrations and all possible for this
27:53thing is God which is the true role of
27:58human life now one last point we've had
28:03to cover it very quickly and next time
28:07we're going to have time to go into how
28:10this is achieved but the last point is
28:13that that which is miss out as God is
28:20also within as God in other words the
28:26utmost essence of the human spirit is
28:30devar and so it is that the Upanishads
28:35put this point in their writings that
28:40supreme self is not this not this
28:44nothing material that you can point to
28:47it is unseasonable or it cannot be
28:50seized it is indestructible or it cannot
28:54be destroyed
28:55it is unattached for it does not attach
28:57itself to anything it is unbound it does
29:02not tremble it is not in Egypt the whole
29:05world has that as its so that thou ow'st
29:21[Music]
29:30[Music]
29:42the preceding program was distributed by
29:44the educational television radio Center
29:46this is national Educational Television
29:55you
===
0:02
this is no educational television a
0:06
program distributed by the educational
0:08
television and radio Center the
0:21
religions of man with dr. Houston Smith
0:43
[Music]
0:57
in our study of the religions of man we
1:00
begin with the east why because that's
1:05
where the religions begin it's a very
1:08
curious thing but all the great living
1:12
religions of the world today even those
1:15
which by now have migrated over to the
1:18
West all of them had their origin in the
1:21
Orient how ism and Confucianism began in
1:26
China Buddhism and Hinduism of course
1:29
began in India Islam began in Arabia and
1:33
even our own religions Judaism and
1:36
Christianity began in Palestine in your
1:41
East so that's why in this course we
1:44
begin with the East the East is a long
1:49
way off I know of course that we can get
1:52
there very easily now we can get there
1:55
very quickly but it's still a long way
1:59
it really is a different world i i've
2:04
lived there half my life and i've seen
2:09
some very strange thing some things
2:13
which still continue to haunt me when i
2:16
wake up in the middle of the night some
2:19
things which i still haven't been able
2:22
to figure out quite how they add
2:24
together or how people would see these
2:28
things in order to make sense on top of
2:32
all that we've got some strange ideas
2:35
ourselves about the east and that
2:38
doesn't help either on the one hand
2:40
there are some people who still regard
2:44
the east with a kind of contempt they
2:48
are the backward people of the world
2:51
they are almost barbarian still at least
2:56
only semi civilized in Kipling's phrase
3:00
clothed in a twisted rag in front and
3:04
half of that behind yes there are plenty
3:07
of people in the West who still regard
3:10
the
3:11
we're the kind of contempt and then at
3:14
the opposite extreme there are
3:16
Westerners who regard the East with a
3:19
kind of stony gaze of fascination and
3:26
all these are the people who always see
3:30
the East as somehow mysterious and
3:33
strange in account fantastic even
3:37
fabulous they're the ones that assume
3:40
that in insects in the East the insects
3:44
must be larger than they are here
3:46
the rivers must be wider and when it
3:49
rains in the East it must really rain
3:52
that kind of person who can't look to
3:55
the east without assuming some sort of
3:58
exotic or fabulous quality well we have
4:04
a difficult job this evening trying to
4:08
pierce through some of these
4:10
misconceptions and trying to understand
4:14
that which it's true does have a kind of
4:17
intrinsic difference from our own
4:19
perspective we're going to have to work
4:22
a little in order to take this journey
4:25
into the minds and spirit of a people
4:30
who have been separated from us through
4:33
the centuries by the distances of space
4:39
let me give you just one example of the
4:42
problem that the West has any in
4:46
understanding the East this is a kind of
4:50
trivial example and yet I think it may
4:52
point to something that we have to face
4:56
the British when they went into India
4:59
for example when they went into India
5:03
they noticed that some of the things
5:06
about the religious art of the
5:10
architecture the sculpture and the
5:14
literature itself seem to them from
5:17
their point of view as quite indecent
5:19
really obscene from there
5:22
Victorian perspective and so what did
5:25
they do well they slapped on in their
5:28
colonial code postal code the provision
5:32
which they had in their own country
5:34
namely read no obscene literature may be
5:40
sent to the mayor and yet somehow things
5:45
didn't go right it didn't seem quite
5:47
right in time they realized that the
5:50
categories of decent and indecent which
5:53
were meaningful in their own country
5:56
somehow weren't applying here these
5:58
people looked on this material and
6:00
really a very different sense it really
6:02
wasn't pretty
6:03
indecent at all their attitude was pre
6:06
decent the categories which held so fast
6:10
in England Victorian England somehow
6:13
didn't fit at all in this different
6:16
climate and eventually they came to see
6:19
this to the point that they well they
6:21
didn't rescind but they modified their
6:24
provision and as I understand it the
6:27
British colonial postal code still reads
6:30
today no obscene literature may be sent
6:34
through the mail parenthesis unless it
6:37
be religious parenthesis close well this
6:42
perhaps may indicate to you something of
6:46
the kind of problem which one people may
6:51
have in understanding another well let's
6:56
not have the impression that everything
7:00
we find in the East is going to be
7:03
different you're going to find some old
7:05
friends too in these ideas you're going
7:09
to find some things that ring true and
7:12
echo
7:13
they sound like they'll sell my things
7:15
you've heard before
7:16
echoes perhaps of the song echoes of the
7:20
New Testament you will find for example
7:23
Confucius saying do not do unto other
7:26
people what you don't want them to do to
7:29
you which of course is just another way
7:31
of saying our own gold and
7:34
you'll find for example a parallel when
7:37
Christ said love your enemies we will
7:41
find in the Dhammapada of the Buddhist
7:44
literature a comparable phrase where it
7:47
says he robbed me
7:49
he beat me he abused me and the minds of
7:53
those who think like this hatred will
7:56
never cease as long to is to be given
8:01
even to those who pour abuse upon and
8:05
again a New Testament phrase as a man
8:09
thinketh in his heart so is he
8:11
will find its exact echo in the Buddhist
8:15
literature everything you are is the
8:20
result of what you have bought well
8:24
we'll find some difference some
8:28
strangeness but also similarity just one
8:31
last word by way of introduction and
8:34
approach we're not going to try in these
8:37
lectures to give you a rounded view of
8:39
these religions some of the things in
8:42
them will seem to us as crude as gross
8:46
as vulgar and they are I'm sure there
8:49
are some things religion is so inclusive
8:52
covers so much of life that every
8:54
religion includes some bad elements as
8:57
well as some good those who were under
8:59
who were studying Christianity if they
9:02
were coming from abroad could find
9:04
Christianity down in the Ozarks
9:06
associated with snake worship with
9:09
poisonous snakes wrapped around the
9:12
necks of the devotees they could bring
9:14
that in as a part of Christianity if
9:17
they wanted to know just as a music
9:20
teacher giving a history of music
9:23
doesn't bother to go into all the bad
9:26
music which has been written down
9:28
through the ages similarly I don't see
9:31
that it's our job to bring out the all
9:35
the bad and they'll oh no our time is
9:39
limited and I want to center with you on
9:42
that which is best
9:44
just as an art teacher reviewing the
9:47
ages will also lift doubt for
9:50
consideration that we came back now
9:54
let's go to our first religion let's go
9:58
to India I've spoken of why we should go
10:01
to the east but why India well you have
10:06
to start somewhere that's one reason
10:08
button that's another reason for
10:10
beginning with India it's probably the
10:15
oldest of the great historical religions
10:18
some of the things which are meaningful
10:22
in the lives of millions of Hindus today
10:25
go back what well between four and five
10:29
thousand years they've been dug up in
10:32
excavations and dated that far back
10:34
that's a that's a terribly long time as
10:37
far as human history books this is the
10:40
time of the accommo to the time of the
10:43
Egyptians and the Babylonians
10:46
Mesopotamia religions
10:48
those two were mighty religions in their
10:51
own day but they've gone leaving us
10:53
nothing but the pyramids and a few other
10:56
artifacts but this religion which in
11:00
part was contemporary with those this
11:03
religion has endured and animates and
11:07
motivates the lives of countless
11:09
millions in our world today now to begin
11:16
what does Hinduism what does Hinduism
11:21
say you may well if I had to take the
11:26
vast literature of Hinduism all the
11:32
rituals the write and boil it down to
11:37
what strikes me as its central
11:41
affirmation I think I would put it this
11:43
way Hinduism says to man you can have
11:48
what you want you can have what you want
11:53
well that sounds very good but it
11:56
immediately suggests xanex question what
11:59
do you want now this one's not quite so
12:03
easy it's very easy to give a simple
12:05
answer turns out to be very difficult to
12:09
give a good answer and the reason of
12:12
course is that people want different
12:15
things what do they well I suppose most
12:21
people want four things they want
12:26
pleasure agreeable sensations aesthetic
12:36
good food the happiness of the physical
12:42
senses then again they want well I have
12:50
heard someone say the other day that
12:53
happiness isn't everything
12:55
after all it can't buy money can it well
12:59
this indicates a very telling way how
13:02
important many people think wealth is
13:05
but there's something else
13:07
thing if only I were to be exalted above
13:15
my fellow man if only people were to
13:18
admire me to speak in hushed voices when
13:21
I enter their circle with AD ulation
13:24
then the joys of life would come too
13:29
finally there's a fourth thing which
13:32
dawns perhaps later than these other two
13:35
there are many men who want power these
13:45
four things the Hindu speak of as the
13:50
worldly desire because these are the
13:53
desires most people in the world as far
13:56
as one observes their actions now what
14:00
is the attitude of Hinduism towards
14:02
these desire and here's an important
14:06
point because in the West we have
14:08
frequently well we've really come to the
14:11
conclusion that India is very other
14:15
world and is therefore take the negative
14:19
stand on these desires it's against them
14:22
it's opposed to much scholarship
14:25
actually came to that conclusion in the
14:27
19th century but we're coming to
14:30
discover that we misunderstood India on
14:33
this point she is not ascetic in the
14:38
sense of being antagonistic to these
14:40
things no these are perfectly legitimate
14:43
desire you have a perfect right if this
14:48
is what you want in do ISM would say go
14:51
to it only you might be intelligent it
14:57
will pay you to be intelligent as you go
15:00
about seeking these things because some
15:03
ways will lead you to them some ways
15:06
will not now
15:08
how do you be intelligent what do you
15:13
observe what advice should you follow
15:16
when seeking these things and hinduism
15:20
says three things at this score first of
15:24
all it says don't hurt other people as
15:28
you go after these things don't trample
15:32
them under foot because if you do then
15:36
this will unleash other patient's
15:38
against you and in the end it won't pay
15:40
off we don't have time to say anything
15:42
more about this here but simply to say
15:45
observe the basic principles of human
15:49
decency and fair play
15:51
in other words observe basic morality as
15:55
you go about these things but second
16:00
there's something else to watch and that
16:03
is that in seeking these things you
16:06
should find your proper place in life
16:10
what is your appropriate niche because
16:14
you see people have different
16:17
capacities different endowments and if
16:21
you try to fit yourself in a vocation in
16:24
a way of life which is counter to your
16:26
basic nature then no success will ensue
16:33
now this division of people according to
16:37
their natures is the basic basis of the
16:41
caste system and I want to take a moment
16:43
for they say them that there are four
16:48
really four kinds of people they call
16:52
them the four castes first of all there
16:59
are what we might call the intellectual
17:02
leaders and spiritual these are the
17:09
priests but as religion and an thought
17:15
were really bound together in India this
17:18
would include the teachers - the
17:21
teachers who would always have a
17:23
spiritual emphasis then next would come
17:26
the they call them warriors in the next
17:30
class because this was a time of trouble
17:32
but really the the temporal leaders I
17:36
think perhaps the administrators and
17:43
then there were the artisans are the
17:51
merchants those who are economically
17:53
very productive and finally there were
17:57
the laborers these are the people who
18:03
think for whom thought is tremendously
18:07
important these are ones who are the
18:10
builders the organizers who make society
18:13
run in its administrative side these are
18:17
the economically productive and these
18:20
are those whose time span is short who
18:23
really had better work do better working
18:27
for other people we with our democracy
18:30
don't like to it
18:31
knowledge that there is a class of such
18:34
persons but they said well maybe we
18:36
would like it to be different but
18:38
actually there are some people who left
18:40
to their own initiative their own
18:42
enterprise would not get as far would
18:45
not be as happy as but they can be very
18:48
good in terms of working for other
18:51
people what should we do to get these
18:54
first observe the basic principles of
18:58
morality second find our appropriate
19:02
place station in life and third they
19:06
said evolve evolve because life develops
19:13
and they said life develops through four
19:16
stages the stage of the student in the
19:20
early years when your main
19:22
responsibility is to learn everything
19:25
you can second there is the stage of the
19:29
householder when you should marry have a
19:32
family take part in the civic life of
19:35
the community and then however when you
19:39
get to be about 50 after you've given
19:42
yourself to society and the bigger an
19:46
imagination of your social life there
19:49
will come a time as the strength begins
19:51
to M the physical spring when you really
19:56
ought to pull out of this and let the
19:58
junior executives take your place of
20:01
responsibility in society while you go
20:04
into retirement the third stage and
20:07
begin your adult education all these
20:10
years you haven't had time to read to
20:12
think but before you die you ought to
20:14
have that opportunity so the third and
20:16
fourth period becomes more and templated
20:19
more turned in let me just review these
20:27
ones are the wants of the world they're
20:32
good rather than bad basically and if
20:36
this is what you want go after it only
20:40
remember three points observe the prince
20:44
the basic morality find your station in
20:48
life and don't be truncated in your
20:53
development passed through a rounded
20:56
stage of the life of the student the
20:58
life of the householder and then in the
21:00
last two periods the life of
21:02
contemplation reflection so that before
21:05
you die you can come to some
21:07
understanding of what this was all about
21:10
through the years in it now these are
21:16
good things
21:17
but now we come to the really
21:21
interesting question are they all that
21:26
life has to offer well we can see some
21:29
reasons they would say for think for
21:33
hoping at least that this is not all
21:36
that life can attain there are four
21:40
limitations which in here in these
21:44
things let's know what they are first of
21:46
all sometimes they are unattainable
21:49
maybe we want to make a minyan maybe
21:52
we're caught in adverse circumstances
21:55
and we can't get what we want
21:58
sometimes they're unattainable there's
22:00
another defect though limitation and
22:03
that is often when we find them we get
22:06
them when we get them we find that they
22:09
don't bring the true satisfaction which
22:11
we were expecting from this in a way
22:15
seems to me almost the story of
22:18
contemporary America people giving their
22:23
lives and getting things which when they
22:27
get them
22:28
don't bring the satisfaction which did
22:30
Oh Ross Lockridge writes a book through
22:34
years of poverty and then when it is
22:38
accepted and it becomes a best-seller
22:40
Raintree County as he goes to receive
22:43
the great award he after he has received
22:47
it then he commits suicide he got what
22:50
he wanted but it didn't bring him
22:52
and he hoped then there is a third there
22:56
is a third limitation in these and that
22:59
is that if you they would say make these
23:04
the main ambition of your life
23:07
then they become insatiable are they
23:10
insatiable in their own right no no in
23:15
their proper place they're not it's not
23:17
true to say a man can never be satisfied
23:19
with the wealth he has or the fame he
23:22
has or the power yet but they would
23:23
still say that if this is the central
23:27
concern of his life then it will tend to
23:29
be insatiable why because and here I'm
23:33
anticipating this is not what man really
23:37
wants and men can never get enough of
23:41
what they do not really want and so they
23:47
would say ultimately if you build your
23:50
life around these things they will never
23:53
you'll never get enough of them as they
23:55
put it it's like trying to quench a fire
23:59
by pouring butter fat on it to try to
24:02
quench our desire or the these things in
24:06
just going after them now there is a
24:11
final final reason why these things
24:14
you're not satisfied ultimately and that
24:18
is because they're fleeting they must
24:20
come to an end and this we know very
24:23
well because you can't take this these
24:27
things with you that's our way of
24:31
putting it but it is true we all know
24:34
sooner or later these come to me all
24:37
right now the question is we see that
24:41
these have their limitations
24:43
is there anything wrong and this I
24:46
suppose is the big question behind all
24:49
religions and people line up on both
24:53
sides of this question some of them will
24:57
say no I wish it were true Hemingway
24:59
would say I wish you were true but it's
25:01
not tall story I would say yes it is but
25:04
in any event the Hindus
25:06
say there will come a time when these
25:10
things will lose their charm they're
25:13
like toys which satisfy people in
25:15
certain stages of their development but
25:18
there comes a time when they will not
25:21
satisfy the longings of the human heart
25:25
now when that time comes one will say as
25:29
they told as a Huxley said on one
25:32
occasion there comes a time when one
25:34
asks even of Shakespeare even a battle
25:38
is this all now in our closing moment
25:45
turn with me to this symbol this is a
25:50
symbol for home it's what it's called
25:55
we're going to be saying more about this
25:58
symbol as time goes on
26:02
behind in the background is a solid
26:10
color it looks like black but it's not
26:13
really in the original it's dark green
26:15
black symbolizes nothingness
26:17
this however dark green symbolizes utter
26:22
being complete being the Rays that go
26:26
out here symbolize utter consciousness
26:31
not thinking about one or two things but
26:34
pure consciousness undivided by objects
26:40
and this part in here with its exuberant
26:45
quality indicate what is sometimes
26:50
translated bliss but better translated
26:53
the absence of all frustration all sense
26:57
of futility what is this this is the
27:05
Hindu view of God God is that which is
27:11
independent and nothing less
27:15
will satisfy the spirit of man he is
27:20
infinite and you can't really divide in
27:24
the Infinity but we can put it this way
27:27
he is infinite in existence pure being
27:33
not partial limited being but utterly he
27:39
is utter awareness and he is utter joy
27:44
beyond all sense of limitations all
27:48
frustrations and all possible for this
27:53
thing is God which is the true role of
27:58
human life now one last point we've had
28:03
to cover it very quickly and next time
28:07
we're going to have time to go into how
28:10
this is achieved but the last point is
28:13
that that which is miss out as God is
28:20
also within as God in other words the
28:26
utmost essence of the human spirit is
28:30
devar and so it is that the Upanishads
28:35
put this point in their writings that
28:40
supreme self is not this not this
28:44
nothing material that you can point to
28:47
it is unseasonable or it cannot be
28:50
seized it is indestructible or it cannot
28:54
be destroyed
28:55
it is unattached for it does not attach
28:57
itself to anything it is unbound it does
29:02
not tremble it is not in Egypt the whole
29:05
world has that as its so that thou ow'st
29:21
[Music]
29:30
[Music]
29:42
the preceding program was distributed by
29:44
the educational television radio Center
29:46
this is national Educational Television
29:55
you
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