Ok

En poursuivant votre navigation sur ce site, vous acceptez l'utilisation de cookies. Ces derniers assurent le bon fonctionnement de nos services. En savoir plus.

mercredi, 07 septembre 2022

Alain Daniélou et le point de vue hindou sur le Kali-Yuga européen

alain-danielou-60ae679d-b373-4241-8aad-4aabf5b6a97-resize-750.jpeg

Alain Daniélou et le point de vue hindou sur le Kali-Yuga européen

Nicolas Bonnal

Alain Daniélou, frère du cardinal, est païen et a vécu quinze ans en Inde au beau milieu du vingtième siècle. Là, il parfait sa connaissance de l’hindouisme, des textes sacrés, de la musique traditionnelle et de la danse initiatique. Puis il revient en Europe et assiste bien placé par ses relations mondaines au déploiement de cette Europe décadente dont a parlé Raymond Aron. Au début des années 80 il publie ses mémoires, Le Chemin du labyrinthe.

livre-le-chemin-du-labyrinthe.jpg

Le livre est fabuleux, à couper le souffle, totalement passionnant. Et il va appliquer sa connaissance de la Tradition, jointe à un remarquable esprit libertarien, cet esprit libre n’ayant jamais supporté la discipline occidentale, pour analyser ce qui se passe en Europe, qui, dès les années 60 et 70, court au Reset et à la dystopie.

« C’est armé de ce bagage que j’ai commencé à reprendre contact avec l’Europe qui m’est apparue comme une région malade, atteinte d’une sorte de cancer qui fait que certaines cellules se développent de façon incontrôlée et contaminent peu à peu les autres. Ce développement à forcement une limite. L’espace vital est de plus en plus réduit pour chacun dans ces énormes termitières qui recouvrent peu à peu les campagnes et les forêts. »

Le cancer de la civilisation et la fin de l’espace vital, nous y sommes. A l’époque on en parlait, aujourd’hui on applique. Daniélou évoque son toupet habituel les origines « aryennes » (violence et pillage) de ces occidentaux toujours en guerre et colonialistes :

« La recherche de la prospérité étouffe celle de la sagesse et du bonheur de vivre. Je me suis interrogé sur les raisons qui rendaient les Occidentaux modernes si agités et en somme assez rarement heureux. Les Aryens dont sont issus la plupart des peuples qui ont dominé l’Europe, les Achéens, les Doriens, les Celtes, les Romains, les Germains, les Russes, sont des peuples prédateurs. Ayant récemment envahi une grande partie de la planète, peuplé les Amériques et l’Australie, imposé leurs langues à l’Afrique et parfois même à l’Asie, ils ont atteint une limite et leur force d’expansion se retourne contre eux-mêmes. Il semble peu probable qu’ils arrivent à se contrôler. »

61Y5e5yN5uL.jpg

Oui, la force se retourne contre soi, et avec quelle alacrité !

Daniélou attaque l’occident là où il se croit fort, sur le plan des idées et de l’intellect ; il est aussi percutant que René Guénon :

« J’ai été surpris par l’incohérence des concepts, la naïveté des croyances, le manque de rigueur des raisonnements. De soi-disant « intellectuels » s’acharnent, sur des bases plus qu’incertaines, à changer le monde sans en étudier la logique ni en rechercher la raison d’être ; et prétendent « reformer » la société en partant de postulats irréalistes qui en tiennent aucun compte de la nature et du rôle de l’animal humain dans l’ensemble de la  Création. »

9782213017624-T.jpg

Daniélou comprend comme Schopenhauer (voyez mon texte) que l’on ne peut convaincre en Occident. Alors il faut exterminer – surtout si on est le plus fort :

« Cette sorte de jeu artificiel ne peut aboutir qu’à de fausses valeurs imposées par des formes de tyrannie car, quand on arrive au bout du mensonge, on n’a plus d’autre issue que la destruction des preuves des opposants et l’annihilation physique de ceux qui les soutiennent ainsi que l’Histoire l’a trop souvent démontré. »

Il balaie la France fonctionnaire, républicaine et liquéfiée en une phrase :

« Les Français notamment apparus comme des gens particulièrement légers et irresponsables. »

La clé c’est la catastrophe bourgeoise. Taine en a très bien parlé dans son La Fontaine et les fables (voyez mon texte) ; Daniélou ajoute que le bourgeois est dangereux, surtout sur le plan culturel, car il est un snob. Cela donne les Femmes savantes, le bourgeois gentilhomme, la quête du mamamouchi et pas du Graal, ou le festival de Cannes et la sous-culture moderne qui repose sur la bêtise conformiste et le terrorisme critique :

«Le monde occidental, qu’il se prétende capitaliste ou socialiste, est entièrement dominé par la mentalité bourgeoise, c’est-à-dire par l’esprit qui caractérise la troisième caste, celle des marchands, non point tellement par suite de la puissance que donne l’argent que par l’importance attachée aux questions matérielles et surtout par le snobisme, un mot qui, selon certains, viendrait de l’italien snobile, « sans noblesse »

alain-danielou-71550219-8521-42a9-b64b-1b50ff6af62-resize-750.jpg

L’esprit libre et indépendant devient une rareté dans cet occident alors :

« Les esprits indépendants qui cherchent leur propre vérité, veulent vivre selon leurs goûts, sont suspects dans ce monde artificiel et prétentieux. Les snobes prônent les modes artistiques comme s’il s’agissait de valeurs incontestables. »

Daniélou insiste sur ce snobisme qui crée un déclin actif de l’art (visible par tous dès le dix-neuvième siècle, voyez Tolstoï ou Max Nordau) :

« Il semble qu’il n’existe plus de lien entre la cosmologie et la science, entre l’art et le sacré. Il y a des maladies et des idéologies à la mode alors qu’il s’agit de questions d’importance vitale. Le communisme de salon va de pair avec la musique aléatoire ou l’enthousiasme feint pour des toiles dépourvues d’intérêt esthétique, de talent ou même de technique. »

Et de conclure sur cette question :

« Les snobs sont des naïfs vaniteux aisément manipulés par les intérêts des puissances d’argent et des impérialismes. Les prétendus intellectuels font bien souvent partie de ce troupeau. »

41DQGVP2TPL._SX195_.jpgLe déclin de la science est évident aujourd’hui, sur fond d’épidémie, de la fin de l’énergie et d’arnaque spatiale (coucou Apollo ? Coucou Ariane ?) ; Daniélou ajoute :

« Rares sont les savants qui au bout de leur carrière osent jeter, comme le faisait Oppenheimer, un regard effrayé sur le monde qu’ils ont contribué à construire tout en sachant qu’ils sont irresponsables, que la science collective poursuit son développement aveugle vers un destin inconnu que chacun pressent, qu’en théorie nul ne désire, et qui nous terrifie tous. »

L’abrutissement téléradio en une phrase :

« Un silence inquiétant est tombé sur les hommes saturés du bruit des radios et des images publicitaires de la télévision. »

Daniélou pressent la liquidation au nom de la lutte contre le racisme de la diversité sur terre :

« Au lieu de permettre aux différentes races de coexister, on encourage un abâtardissement général comme une solution qui contredit en fait la notion d’égalité de base. Là encore, au lieu de contempler, d’admirer, d’essayer de comprendre d’œuvre divine dans sa multiplicité, on cherche à l’abolir. »

Enfin après ce bilan la solution ? Il n’y en a pas de solution :

« On m’a souvent demandé si je ne pourrais pas définir des lignes de conduite, une méthode, une « religion » qui pourrait sortir l’Occident de l’impasse ou du moins aider quelques-uns à se réaliser. Mais je ne suis ni un maître ni un prophète. Dans un monde qui court à sa perte, selon la théorie des cycles, il n’existe de salut qu’individuel. Nous approchons, selon la conception hindoue, de la fin de kali yuga, l’âge des conflits, qui doit finir par un cataclysme. »

Macron réélu impose à son lâche et débile "peuple nouveau" (son peuple prolétaire, dirait le grand roumain Vlaicu Ionescu) un totalitarisme énergétique sur fond d’effondrement intellectuel et moral. "L’homme libre au milieu des ruines" (Julius Evola) ne peut qu’espérer passer au milieu des gouttes notamment s’il développe, dirait Laborit, sa capacité de fuite et ses dons manuels. Daniélou surdoué prétendait pouvoir exercer 32 métiers dont celui d’horloger, de jardinier ou de mécanicien.

J’oubliais : sur les USA, il explique, qu’avant Roosevelt et la guerre, ce pays était un paradis avec des gens libres et de bonne humeur – noirs compris (ils constituaient une caste). Puis est venu l’empire et sa bureaucratie… On croirait lire du Rothbard. Comme je l’ai expliqué dans mon opus sur la comédie musicale cette nostalgie a créé un genre spécial : l’americana

Sources :

Alain Daniélou – Le Chemin du labyrinthe, Robert Laffont, pp.321 -341 et 75.

Nicolas Bonnal – Chroniques sur la Fin de l’Histoire

https://www.dedefensa.org/article/max-nordau-et-lart-dege...

https://www.dedefensa.org/article/taine-et-le-cretinisme-...

https://www.dedefensa.org/article/leon-tolstoi-et-les-joy...

 

 

mercredi, 17 août 2022

Inde contemporaine : identité postcoloniale

iStock-458091953.jpg

Inde contemporaine: identité postcoloniale

par l'équipe de Katehon.com

Source: https://www.geopolitika.ru/article/sovremennaya-indiya-postkolonialnaya-identichnost

La formation de l'Inde et du Pakistan

La phase post-coloniale de l'histoire de l'Inde commence le 15 août 1947, lorsque l'Inde a obtenu sa pleine indépendance de la domination britannique. Depuis lors, l'Inde est présente dans le monde en tant qu'État indépendant d'une manière qui, historiquement, n'avait jamais existé auparavant, ni en termes de forme politique, ni en termes de frontières, ni en termes de critère d'identité fondamentale. C'était une Inde entièrement nouvelle, qui clôturait l'ère de la modernisation coloniale et commençait celle de la modernisation nationale.

Les possessions britanniques en Inde et les territoires sous domination britannique jusqu'à la déclaration d'indépendance se sont retrouvés démembrés par l'administration britannique sortante en deux entités, l'Inde et le Pakistan, selon des critères religieux. Cependant, les indépendantistes nationaux eux-mêmes n'avaient pas, au départ, une position unifiée sur la partition ou l'unité - cela a fait l'objet de vifs débats, qui ont conduit à des affrontements sanglants entre hindous et musulmans lorsque la partition a commencé. Cela est principalement dû au fait que dans les deux États, l'Inde et le Pakistan, le modèle idéologique final est resté longtemps indéfini, et que tout dépendait de la situation spécifique dans laquelle les hindous et les musulmans pouvaient ou non trouver une solution commune. L'administration coloniale britannique était également complice de ce processus, cherchant à établir dans ses anciennes colonies un système sociopolitique qui lui permettrait de continuer à exercer une influence importante sur ces pays - en matière d'idéologie, de politique, d'économie, etc.

Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg.png

Ainsi, les États post-coloniaux suivants émergent dans le sous-continent indien - et plus largement, dans la zone, de la civilisation hindoue :

- L'Inde elle-même (avec la dominance religieuse de l'hindouisme, mais une importante minorité islamique - particulièrement massive et politiquement active dans l'État du Cachemire) ;

- Les États islamiques du Pakistan (avec des politiques strictement anti-indiennes) au nord et du Bangladesh (avec des politiques pro-indiennes) à l'est (qui était à l'origine une seule entité politique, le Pakistan occidental et oriental) ;

- Népal (où le bouddhisme domine) ;

- Sri Lanka.

La division en un État islamique et un État hindou, c'est-à-dire le Pakistan et l'Inde, s'est accompagnée de flambées de violence des deux côtés. Le Pakistan oriental, appelé plus tard Bangladesh, faisait partie du Bengale, artificiellement coupé de l'État indien ; les territoires du Jammu-et-Cachemire ainsi que du Pendjab avaient une population mixte, ce qui a conduit à des conflits territoriaux prolongés et à des actes de terreur récurrents. La division des territoires administratifs en territoires islamiques et hindous n'était pas stricte à l'époque de l'influence islamique maximale en Inde, ni pendant la période de colonisation britannique. Malgré toute la différence de religions, il s'agissait d'une population unique d'une civilisation commune, bien qu'avec des strates différentes. La division post-coloniale de l'Inde a représenté entorse à l'horizon indien, qui a été artificiellement et violemment démembré en plusieurs composantes. L'espace même de l'Inde pré-indépendance était polycentrique et multiethnique. Il y avait des zones dominées par l'une ou l'autre religion, des formes mixtes et intermédiaires ainsi que des enclaves de communautés archaïques ou d'entités mystico-religieuses originales. Cette polycentricité ainsi que les varnas et les jatas ont fait de l'Inde une mosaïque civilisationnelle, bien que la structure de cette mosaïque soit soumise à une logique civilisationnelle interne, largement manifestée par l'Historial indien.

Au moment de l'indépendance, ce processus subtil et naturel de dynamique civilisationnelle a été artificiellement interrompu et remplacé par le tracé rigide de plusieurs lignes de partage administratives, tracées très grossièrement et sans tenir compte de la structure indienne elle-même. Non seulement le Pakistan est devenu une création post-coloniale artificielle, mais l'Inde elle-même s'est conformée aux frontières conventionnelles sans continuité univoque avec les empires indiens du nord, les puissances islamiques ou les États du sud. Les dirigeants de l'Inde et du Pakistan ont été contraints de créer leurs nations dans des conditions totalement artificielles, en déplaçant de force d'énormes masses de population (étant donné la forte démographie de la société indienne), en procédant à des nettoyages ethniques, souvent accompagnés de violences et de bains de sang.

fullnehru.jpg

Indépendance et démocratie : Jawaharlal Nehru

Après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale en 1946, des mutineries armées ont éclaté dans l'armée indienne et un mouvement de masse visant à expulser le contingent britannique et l'administration coloniale du pays a débuté. Simultanément, les frontières ethno-religieuses entre hindous et musulmans se polarisent, s'accompagnant d'un nettoyage ethnique et de pogroms dans de nombreuses villes et zones à la population traditionnellement mixte.

Lors des élections, le Congrès national indien remporte la majorité dans huit provinces, qui deviendront plus tard la base du nouvel État indien. Jawaharlal Nehru [1] (1889-1964) devient le premier Premier ministre de l'Inde. Il est le président du Congrès national indien et un proche associé et adepte de la cause de Gandhi. Nehru, contrairement à Gandhi, est né dans la Brahman varna, c'est-à-dire qu'il représentait la caste la plus élevée. Le père de Jawaharlal Nehru, Motilal Nehru (1861-1931), était également un participant actif de la lutte de libération nationale et le leader du Congrès national indien. Comme de nombreux leaders de la résistance indienne, Nehru a reçu son éducation en Angleterre. Dès sa jeunesse, il a accepté que Jawaharlal Nehru combatte les Britanniques, se retrouvant à plusieurs reprises en prison, où il a passé au total plus de dix ans.

gandhi-nehru-fb_013116074329.jpg

Au début de l'année 1947, l'Angleterre décide de se retirer définitivement du territoire de l'ancienne colonie, mais avant d'accorder l'indépendance aux Indiens, les Britanniques favorisent la partition du territoire entre les musulmans, représentés par Jinnah, qui s'unissent dans le dominion du Pakistan, qui comprend l'actuel Pakistan à l'ouest et le Bangladesh à l'est, et les hindous et les sikhs, qui forment la base de l'Inde moderne. Le 14 août 1947, l'État du Pakistan est proclamé et le 15 août 1947, l'État de l'Inde est déclaré.

Trois ans après sa création, l'Inde devient une république parlementaire totalement indépendante le 26 janvier 1950.

Jawaharlal Nehru a dirigé le pays dans la première phase et est resté à la tête du pays jusqu'en 1964.

Nehru adhère à des idées de gauche, en partie en sympathie avec le communisme et l'expérience soviétique (il se qualifie ouvertement et à plusieurs reprises de "socialiste") et en partie avec le système capitaliste de l'Ouest. C'est ainsi qu'il s'est retrouvé dans une position typique des pays qui ont créé le mouvement des non-alignés, dans lequel l'Inde a joué le rôle principal, avec la Yougoslavie de Josip Broz Tito (1892 -- 1980) et le mouvement panarabe sous la houlette de l'Egyptien Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 - 1970).

En devenant indépendante, l'Inde a dû faire face à plusieurs défis géopolitiques :

- Problèmes avec le Pakistan au sujet du territoire contesté dans l'État du Jammu-et-Cachemire, qui compte une importante population islamique ;

- des différends territoriaux avec la Chine sur certaines parties du Tibet, que les deux pays revendiquent comme leur propriété ;

- plus tard, après la mort de Nehru, les relations avec les Sikhs, qui se sentent lésés par l'idéologie dominante de l'hindouisme et entreprennent de créer un État sikh séparé, le Khalistan, deviennent tendues ;

- parallèlement, le nationalisme et le séparatisme dravidien prenaient forme dans le sud de l'Inde, en particulier dans l'État du Mail Nadu.

gettyimages-515516530.jpg

Indira Gandhi

Bien que la première guerre indo-pakistanaise ait éclaté sous Nehru entre 1947 et 1948, les guerres se sont poursuivies même après que la fille de Nehru, Indira Gandhi (1917 -1984), ait succédé à son père comme premier ministre de l'Inde. Puisque la mère d'Indira Ghani ainsi que son père appartenaient aux varnas brahmaniques, elle était à juste titre rattachée à ces varnas en termes d'hindouisme. Mais Indira Gandhi elle-même a épousé un politicien et écrivain zoroastrien (parsa), Feroz Gandhi (1912-1960) et a commis une erreur contre les coutumes de l'hindouisme. Ainsi, la progéniture d'Indira Gandhi et de Feroz Gandhi (les fils Rajiv et Sanjay) appartenait à la catégorie hors-caste des tchandalas, dalits, intouchables par la loi hindoue.

Indira Gandhi a été élue Premier ministre en 1966 après le décès de Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904 -1966), qui n'avait occupé ce poste que pendant deux ans. Sous Shastri, la deuxième guerre indo-pakistanaise a éclaté en 1965, avec des hostilités majeures au Cachemire et au Pendjab.

Indira Gandhi, comme Lala Bahadur Shastri qui a dirigé l'Inde avant elle, et même avant son père Jawaharlal Nehru, avait des opinions de gauche et poursuivait la ligne politique du Mouvement des non-alignés [2].

1547577603_6.jpg

En 1971, une autre guerre indo-pakistanaise éclate sous Indira Gandhi, qui décide du sort du Pakistan oriental. La population du Pakistan oriental, qui n'avait pas de lien territorial direct avec le Pakistan occidental, se considérait comme un peuple distinct (principalement des Bengalis), qui éprouvait du ressentiment face à Islamabad (au Pakistan occidental) pour déni de droits et politiques visant à supprimer l'identité bengalie. Dans ce cas, le facteur islamique ne constituait pas une base assez solide pour maintenir un État unifié et, à bien des égards, une Inde hindoue mais généralement laïque semblait plus proche des habitants du Pakistan oriental. Le rejet par Islamabad de l'indépendance du Pakistan oriental a conduit à une guerre dans laquelle l'Inde, sous la direction d'Indira Gandhi, a pris le parti du Pakistan oriental.

L'armée pakistanaise a été la première à lancer une attaque de missiles sur l'Inde, visant la ville d'Agra. L'Inde a répondu par des frappes symétriques et a lancé une invasion du Pakistan oriental, défendant simultanément ses territoires à la frontière avec le Pakistan occidental.

En conséquence, les Indiens ont été victorieux, ce qui a entraîné la sécession du Pakistan oriental et son indépendance en tant que nouvel État indépendant, le Bangladesh. La guerre n'a duré que 13 jours. L'URSS a soutenu Indira Gandhi et la création de l'État indépendant du Bangladesh, avec Dhaka comme capitale. Dans le même temps, Moscou a garanti le soutien de l'Inde si la Chine et les États-Unis, qui s'étaient rangés du côté du Pakistan occidental, intervenaient dans la guerre. La victoire d'Indira Gandhi dans cette guerre a considérablement renforcé la position géopolitique de l'Inde, qui est devenue l'hégémon incontesté dans tout le sous-continent indien. Pour le Pakistan, il s'agit d'une défaite sévère, puisque le pays a perdu la moitié de sa marine, un quart de sa force aérienne et un tiers de son armée.

Néanmoins, un peu plus tard dans les années 1970, l'Inde est entrée dans une période de crise politique et Indira Gandhi s'est révélée être une dirigeante coriace en imposant une urgence nationale et en assumant des pouvoirs d'urgence (essentiellement dictatoriaux) face à des menaces croissantes. Au cours de cette période, elle a promulgué une loi de stérilisation forcée pour les hindous en raison du problème de la croissance démographique catastrophique et d'autres lois qui ont été rejetées par le public.

12960753-1620315727426-72a0dce1fd787.jpg

Par la suite, Indira Gandhi perd les élections, mais en 1980, elle redevient Premier ministre. Au cours de son deuxième mandat au pouvoir, il y a un conflit avec les Sikhs. Jarnail Singh Bindrawal (1947 - 1984) (photo), chef des Sikhs du mouvement politico-religieux Damdami Taksal, et du principal parti sikh, l'Akali Dal, a affronté les forces indiennes, s'emparant du sanctuaire le plus sacré des Sikhs, le Temple d'or (Darbar Sahid) à Armsar, au Pendjab, et y a établi un centre de défense militaire. Indira Gandhi a ordonné la prise d'assaut du sanctuaire, qui a fait un nombre important de victimes des deux côtés. Cela a tendu les relations entre les hindous et les sikhs et suscité le séparatisme sikh au Pendjab (avec un projet de création d'un État sikh séparé, le Khalistan): un problème aigu en Inde. L'opération menée par l'armée indienne pour écraser le soulèvement sikh a été appelée Opération Blue Star. Les Sikhs, vaincus dans la confrontation directe avec les troupes indiennes, ont répondu par une vague d'attaques terroristes et d'assassinats politiques. L'une des victimes était Indira Gandhi elle-même, tuée par des gardes du corps sikhs qui se vengeaient de l'assaut et de la profanation de leur sanctuaire, le Temple d'or.

main-qimg-58aaf378b621f4dd9c2e9143a3e0e0af-c.jpg

Dans les années 70, un autre mouvement séparatiste, les Tigres de libération de l'Eelam tamoul, fondé par le nationaliste tamoul Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954-2009), s'est formé dans le sud de l'Inde, tout d'abord sur l'île de Sri Lanka. La mission des Tigres de libération de l'Eelam tamoul était de construire un État dravidien indépendant de l'Eelam au Sri Lanka et, plus largement, en Inde du Sud. Ce mouvement a entamé une lutte de guérilla s'appuyant sur des méthodes terroristes. Ainsi, l'Inde a été confrontée à trois types de terrorisme : par les musulmans, les sikhs et les dravidiens.

rajiv-gandhi.jpg

Après l'assassinat d'Indira Gandhi, son fils Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991) (photo) a occupé le poste de premier ministre pendant quatre ans, entre 1984 et 1989. Son règne inclut le soulèvement sikh à Delhi et l'invasion des Maldives par l'armée indienne en réponse à un coup d'État dans lequel les séparatistes dravidiens des Tigres de libération de l'Eelam tamoul ont joué un rôle majeur. Rajiv Gandhi décide d'envoyer des troupes aux Maldives, ce qui fait échouer le coup d'État. Des mesures punitives contre les milices terroristes tamoules suivent.

En 1991, Rajiv Gandhi est assassiné par un terroriste tamoul pendant sa campagne pour le parlement. Après sa mort, la cause de la dynastie politique Nehru/Gandhi a été poursuivie par la veuve de Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, qui était d'origine italienne. À partir de la fin des années 1990, Sonia Gandhi devient le leader du Congrès national indien, alors confronté à la montée de l'opposition nationaliste de droite au Parti du peuple indien (Bhairati Janati Party).

La nouvelle génération de nationalistes en Inde

Le Parti du peuple indien (Bhairati Janati Party) a été fondé en 1980 par les politiciens conservateurs Atal Bihari Vajpayee et Lal Krishna Advani. Le nouveau parti était basé sur une alliance de nombreux groupes hindous nationalistes, collectivement appelés Sangh Parivar, dont le principal est le Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [3]. De manière révélatrice, l'un des assassins du "Mahatma" Gandhi était membre de cette organisation, prônant à l'origine une Grande Inde ou un Empire indien, ce qui, selon ce courant, manquait à Gandhi. Ce mouvement était populaire parmi les Marathas les plus militants. L'un de ses représentants les plus éminents était le théoricien du nationalisme indien Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar [4] (1906 -1973) (photo, ci-dessous).

BL07GOLWALKAR.jpg

L'Hindutva a joué un rôle central dans ce courant, mais parallèlement à son interprétation dans l'esprit du nationalisme européen, on pouvait également trouver des références au traditionalisme hindou intégral dans l'esprit de l'Advaito Vedanta et de la ligne Tilak.

Alors que le Congrès national indien gravitait traditionnellement vers le socialisme et le libéralisme, le Bhairati Janati Party nouvellement formé se concentrait principalement sur le nationalisme indien. Ses slogans reposaient sur l'idée de l'Hindutva - l'identité indienne - ainsi que sur le patriotisme, la souveraineté et la protection de l'État indien, qui étaient devenus particulièrement pertinents en raison de la montée des sentiments séparatistes. Étant donné que le mariage d'Indira Gandhi avec un Parsi la plaçait en dehors du système des varnas et que, par conséquent, son fils Rajiv et le reste de la dynastie politique étaient considérés comme des tchandalas (Dalits, intouchables), les nationalistes du parti Bhairati Janati ont transféré ces propriétés à l'ensemble du parti du Congrès national indien, l'accusant d'éroder et de perdre les fondements de la culture, de la civilisation et des traditions indiennes. La popularité croissante du Bhairati Janati Party a été alimentée par les scandales de corruption du parti du Congrès, longtemps au pouvoir en Inde, et par les tensions croissantes avec la population islamique, qui sont devenues particulièrement visibles à mesure que les idées salafistes et wahhabites propagées par l'Arabie saoudite et d'autres États arabes sunnites se sont répandues parmi les musulmans indiens.

150419164401-fast-facts-atal-behari-vajpayee.jpg

Le parti Bhairati Janati insistait précisément sur l'hindouisme religieux comme base de l'identité indienne, ce qui s'est parfois traduit par un harcèlement de la population musulmane. Néanmoins, le parti a remporté une majorité de sièges au parlement en 1996 et son fondateur Atala Bihari Vajpayee (photo) est devenu Premier ministre. Cependant, le parti n'occupe pas le poste, mais devient dès lors une force importante dans la politique indienne, participant à diverses coalitions et obtenant d'importants postes gouvernementaux.

Dans les années 1990, le Bhairati Janati Party avait un nouveau leader, Narendra Modi, qui est rapidement devenu chef de l'administration de l'État du Gujarat. Modi est issu du mouvement Rashtriya swayamsevak sangh et s'appuie sur le traditionalisme hindou. Progressivement, son rôle au sein du parti s'est accru et après que le parti ait remporté les élections parlementaires en 2014, il est devenu le premier ministre de l'Inde.

81+n7IG7ZQL._SL1500_.jpg

shiv-sena-symbol.jpg

En alliance avec le Bhairati Janati Party se trouve l'organisation hindoue encore plus radicale Shiv Sena, [5] fondée par les marathas du scribe Kayastha Bal Keshav Thackeray (1926 - 2012) (photo, ci-dessus) en 1966. Les théoriciens du Shiv Sena combinent une identité indienne commune (Hindutva) dans sa version traditionaliste (avec un recours à l'Advaito Vedanta, aux varnas et au shivaïsme) avec un accent sur l'identité distincte des Marathas, d'où la grande influence dont jouit ce mouvement à Mumbai et dans l'État du Maharashtra en général.

193-1933382_shiv-sena-flags.jpg

Les militants du Shiv Sena soulignent que ce sont les Marathas qui ont été les premiers à lancer des luttes armées contre les musulmans et pour la restauration de l'ordre hindou, et qui ont résisté farouchement à l'occupation britannique. Parfois, dans les textes du Shiv Sena, on peut trouver des appels à un État Maratha séparé. Après la mort du fondateur du Shiv Sena, Bala Keshav Thackeray, il a été dirigé par son fils Uddhav Thackeray.

De manière révélatrice, il existe également des partis nationalistes indiens dans des pays qui étaient autrefois sous l'influence de la Grande Inde. Parmi eux:

- Parti de l'éveil du Dharma indonésien (Partai Kebangkitan Dharma Indonesia) en Indonésie ;

- Les partis hindous de Banga Sena et Bangabhumi au Bangladesh ;

- Rashtriya Prajatantra Parti (Parti démocratique national) et Nepal Shiv Sena au Népal ;

- Parti de la réforme progressiste (Vooruitstrevende Hervormingspartij) au Suriname.

L'Islam radical en Inde

Examinons maintenant brièvement les tendances séparatistes en Inde que nous avons déjà mentionnées à plusieurs reprises. Eux aussi sont des versions du nationalisme, mais non pas intégrateur, comme dans le cas des différents courants de l'Hindutva, mais visant à diviser l'Inde en plusieurs États-nations.

Les musulmans représentent environ 14 % de la population indienne, et au Jammu-et-Cachemire, ils constituent la majorité de la population. La majorité des musulmans sont des sunnites du madhhab Hanafi, bien que les chiites, y compris les ismaéliens (les séminaristes chiites connus sous le nom de courants Bohra et Nizarite Khoja) constituent environ 30 % de la population islamique totale. Parmi les chiites, un courant extrême particulier, l'Ahmadiyya, a émergé au cours du XIXe siècle, dont le fondateur, Mirza Guam Ahmad (1835-1908) (photo, ci-dessous), né à Qadian, dans l'État du Pendjab, s'est déclaré le Mahdi. Bien que la plupart des chiites aient rejeté cette revendication, Ahmad a gagné de nombreux partisans, qui ont formé la base d'un nouveau mouvement religieux reconnu comme une dénomination indépendante dans l'Inde moderne.

Mirza_Ghulam_Ahmad_(c._1897).jpg

Les chiites sont beaucoup plus profondément et organiquement intégrés dans la société indienne. Parmi les sunnites, le soufisme (principalement la tarikat Chishtiyya) est très répandu et sert également de pont intellectuel et spirituel entre les deux traditions. Le chiisme et le soufisme constituent un bouclier important contre la pénétration du salafisme et du wahhabisme parmi les musulmans indiens, car les structures de l'islam zahirite sont l'exact opposé de celles de l'islam bati [6]. C'est l'islam bati qui prévaut en Inde, qui découle de l'histoire de la propagation de l'islam en Inde, où l'environnement culturel iranien de la Perse et de l'Asie centrale a été un élément médiateur.

Les sunnites en Inde appartiennent à deux branches - les Barelvi, dominés par l'interprétation traditionnelle du madhhab Hanafi et acceptant pleinement le soufisme, et les Deobandi, qui ont émergé au 19ème siècle avec le soutien du zahirisme et ont été fortement influencés par le wahhabisme. Le courant Barelvi est prédominant, bien que ces dernières années, sous l'influence de la propagande arabe, le courant Deobandi ait également gagné en influence.

Dans l'ensemble, les musulmans indiens se sont facilement intégrés à l'Inde moderne et après leur séparation du Pakistan, tandis que ceux qui préféraient une identité religieuse sont partis au Pakistan, des mouvements et des partis séparatistes islamiques sont apparus dans certaines régions et certains milieux sociaux, dans le but de faire sécession de l'Inde.

Les séparatistes islamiques en Inde peuvent être divisés en deux composantes :

- Les partisans d'une union avec le Pakistan (il s'agit principalement des partis islamiques de la population musulmane de l'État du Jammu-et-Cachemire, à majorité islamique, mais dont le principal territoire est contrôlé par l'Inde),

- Les partisans de la construction d'un État islamique (califat mondial) sur la base de l'idéologie salafiste, qui s'est activement répandue au cours des dernières décennies à partir de l'Arabie saoudite et a pris racine en Afghanistan et au Pakistan.

Les deux versions ont souvent recours à la pratique du terrorisme armé, qui constitue une menace sérieuse pour la sécurité de l'Inde.

5d4c231b6125505c518b4583.jpg

L'histoire du Jammu et du Cachemire est un cas à part. Dès l'époque de la domination britannique de l'Inde, le territoire du Cachemire a été envahi par des militants sikhs dirigés par Ranjit Singh (1780 -1839), le fondateur du premier État sikh au Pendjab. Plus tard, au cours de la première guerre anglo-sikh, l'État sikh a été divisé en deux parties - la partie occidentale (Lahore) est allée aux Britanniques, et la partie orientale est devenue une principauté du Jammu-et-Cachemire. Alors que la principauté était dirigée par des sikhs, la population principale était musulmane.

Hari_Singh_1931.jpg

Au moment de la partition de l'Inde, le dernier souverain sikh du Jammu-et-Cachemire, Hari Singh (1895 - 1961) (photo, ci-dessus), a initialement déclaré l'indépendance à la fois face au Pakistan et face à l'Inde, mais par crainte d'être occupé par le Pakistan, qui bénéficiait d'un large soutien au sein de la population islamique de la principauté sikh, il a approché le gouvernement indien pour lui demander de rejoindre ce grand État. L'Inde introduit des troupes, ce qui provoque la première des trois guerres indo-pakistanaises. Les deux autres guerres, ainsi que la guerre de Kargil de 1999, ont également eu lieu pour la possession de ces terres.

Depuis lors, les sikhs, qui régnaient auparavant sur la région, n'ont pas joué un rôle décisif dans la politique, représentant l'une des minorités ethno-religieuses avec les bouddhistes, les chrétiens et les jaïns.

Les parties nord et ouest du Jammu-et-Cachemire sont tombées aux mains du Pakistan (Gilgit Baltistan), tandis que les régions du nord-est (Aksai Chin et la vallée de Shaksgam) sont passées sous la coupe de la Chine, qui les a occupées entre 1957 et 1963.

En 1987, des hostilités ont éclaté entre des séparatistes islamiques, mécontents des résultats des élections, et l'armée indienne dans la vallée du Cachemire, où la population musulmane est très majoritaire. Certains des rebelles ont appelé à l'unification avec le Pakistan, d'autres à l'indépendance et un troisième, déjà influencé par le salafisme réformiste, à l'établissement d'un État islamique. Les forces gouvernementales ont réussi à étouffer le soulèvement cette fois-ci.

Au début des années 1990, des affrontements entre musulmans et hindous ont également commencé à se produire dans l'État de Maharshartra, à Mumbai et en Uttar Pradesh. Par exemple, des hindous radicaux ont détruit la mosquée Babri à Ayodhya, le centre sacré de l'hindouisme, en 1993. En réponse, les extrémistes islamiques ont perpétré une série d'attentats à la bombe à Mumbai, la plus grande attaque terroriste avant l'attentat wahhabite contre le bâtiment du World Trade Centre à New York le 11 novembre 2001. Les enquêtes sur les attentats ont révélé que le syndicat du crime D-company, dirigé par Dawood Ibrahim, qui recevait à son tour des instructions au Pakistan et était lié aux organisations terroristes islamiques Al-Qaeda et Lashkar-e-Taiba d'Oussama ben Laden, a joué un rôle majeur dans leur organisation. Lashkari-Taiba, qui a son siège au Pakistan, proclame ouvertement la création d'un État islamique en Asie du Sud, la libération du Jammu-et-Cachemire de l'hindouisme et appelle à des actes terroristes. Lorsque la situation s'est aggravée au Jammu-et-Cachemire dans les années 1990, une grande partie des musulmans est passée sous l'influence de l'islamisme radical, ce qui a conduit à un nettoyage ethnique des hindous dans la vallée du Cachemire et à de nombreux actes de violence.

En 2001, des extrémistes islamiques ont attaqué le Parlement indien, et en 2008, de nouvelles attaques terroristes ont eu lieu à Mumbai. Le gouvernement indien a cité des preuves qu'à cette occasion également, le Lashkar-e-Taiba était l'organisateur de ces crimes, pointant directement du doigt le rôle du Pakistan.

1920xsikh1080.jpg

Khalistan : le projet politique des Sikhs

Les Sikhs, comme nous l'avons vu, sont une religion syncrétique avec des éléments de l'islam et de l'hindouisme. Les adeptes les plus répandus du sikhisme se trouvent au Pendjab (la province du Pendjab au Pakistan et l'État du Pendjab en Inde) où un État sikh avec des centres à Armsitsar et Lahore existe depuis le début du 18ème siècle, qui a également régné sur les territoires du Jammu. En termes d'échelle, il pourrait bien être considéré comme un empire, car il englobait de vastes zones du Pakistan et de l'Inde actuels.

L'État sikh a été détruit par les Britanniques lors de la deuxième guerre anglo-sikh en 1849.

Sikh.man.at.the.Golden.Temple.jpg

Le nombre total de sikhs dans le monde est de plus de 22.000.000. En Inde, ils vivent principalement dans les États du Punjab et d'Haraniya.

La communauté sikhe était à l'origine centrée sur dix grands gourous, à commencer par Nanak. Après la mort du dixième gourou Gobind Singh, le pouvoir est passé à la communauté, la Khalsa, qui devait être guidée par le "onzième gourou" -- selon les textes sacrés du sikhisme. Lors de l'établissement de l'Empire sikh, le pouvoir a été transféré du Khalsa et de ses assemblées régulières aux Serdars, qui étaient une classe d'aristocratie militaire.

WhatsApp-Image-2021-11-13-at-1.22.51-PM.jpeg

Pendant le règne de Ranjit Singh (tableau, ci-dessus), son statut parmi les autres chefs militaires des Serdars était similaire à celui de l'empereur, le roi. Mais après la chute de l'État aux mains des Britanniques, le centre du pouvoir était constitué par les Serdars individuels qui dirigeaient les possessions restantes après l'effondrement de l'Empire.

Les Sikhs ont cédé volontairement le pouvoir à l'Inde au Jammu et au Cachemire, et l'État du Pendjab, où ils constituaient un grand pourcentage de la population, fait également partie de l'Inde. Depuis les années 1970, cependant, la communauté sikh fait de plus en plus entendre ses intérêts politiques. Dans ce milieu, la théorie du séparatisme sikh devient populaire, culminant dans l'idée d'établir un État sikh indépendant, le Khalistān, centré au Pendjab, au siège historique de l'Empire sikh. L'idée a été évoquée pour la première fois par les Sikhs pendant la période de la domination coloniale britannique en 1920 avec la formation du parti politique Akali Dal, mais elle a été mise en avant pour la première fois en 1944 pour demander la création d'un État sikh. La thèse du Khalistan, littéralement "pays des purs", a été formulée par Jagjit Singh Chauhan (1929 - 2007), qui a proclamé un gouvernement du Khalistan en exil à Londres.

1340503-amritsars-golden-temple.jpg

Amritsar, ou Amrita Saras, littéralement "océan d'amrita" ou d'immortalité, et fondée par le quatrième gourou sikh, Ram Das (1534-1581), en 1577, est considérée comme la capitale de cet état. Chauhan est ensuite retourné au Pendjab en Inde et a fondé le parti Khalsa Raj, appelant à la construction du Khalistan par des moyens pacifiques.

En 1984, des combattants indépendantistes sikhs, sous la direction de Bindrawal Singh, se sont emparés du principal temple sikh, le Temple d'or, Harmandir Sahib, et ont commencé à y préparer un soulèvement armé. Indira Gandhi décide alors de lancer l'opération Blue Star, au cours de laquelle le bastion sikh est pris d'assaut avec de l'artillerie et des chars. Cela a entraîné une forte hausse des sentiments séparatistes parmi les Sikhs ainsi que l'assassinat d'Indira Gandhi.

Petit à petit, cependant, le gouvernement indien est parvenu à atténuer cette opposition. Ainsi, pendant dix ans, le Premier ministre de l'Inde issu du Parti du Congrès national indien était un Sikh, Manmohan Singh.

indexdravn.jpg

Dravida Nadu et l'Etat du Dev

Une autre forme de nationalisme séparatiste en Inde est basée sur l'identité dravidienne. Le fondateur du courant politique dravidien qui insistait sur leur identité était Erode Venkata Ramasamy (1879 - 1973) (portrait, ci-dessous), également connu sous le nom honorable de Periyar. Il était issu d'une caste spéciale de Balijas, considérée comme une branche des kshatriyas, qui se concentrait sur les activités commerciales (un analogue direct de la "thymocratie" de Platon).

Periyar_E._V._Ramasamy_20170919110931.jpeg

Au cours de la première phase de la lutte pour l'indépendance de l'Inde, Ramasamy a vivement critiqué le Congrès national indien en tant que "parti brahmane", qui, selon lui, ne cherchait l'indépendance que pour renforcer le pouvoir des "Aryens", c'est-à-dire des varnas supérieurs représentant les intérêts de l'"Aryvavarta", c'est-à-dire de l'Inde indo-européenne. Ramasamy a exigé une égalité totale pour les Dravidiens et les castes inférieures. À cette fin, il a créé le Parti de la justice, rebaptisé plus tard mouvement Dravidar Kazhagam. Les plans de Periyar Ramasamy comprenaient la création d'un état dravidien séparé - Dravidastan ou Dravida Nadu.

Periyar et son parti étaient actifs pendant l'occupation britannique, où ils formaient la majorité dans la présidence de Madras, et menaient la cause pour obtenir l'indépendance vis-à-vis d'eux après le retrait des Britanniques - comme au Pakistan musulman. 

Periyar était un athée, considérant toutes les religions comme des constructions artificielles. Cependant, il partageait l'opinion selon laquelle les premiers porteurs de la culture védique et donc du système de varnas étaient des Indo-Européens venus du nord, mais considérait la situation depuis la position du sud de l'Inde, qu'il identifiait à l'ancienne culture dravidienne. Periyar a interprété l'épopée indienne Ramayana comme une preuve historique que les territoires de l'Inde du Sud étaient autrefois gouvernés par les Dravidiens eux-mêmes sous leur propre roi, déformé dans le Ramayana en tant qu'Asur Ravana, le principal adversaire de Rama.

Il est significatif que Periyar, ainsi que son prédécesseur, le politicien tamoul Iyoti Thass (1845 - 1914), le géniteur du mouvement tamoul, ait prôné l'égalité des droits pour les intouchables de la caste inférieure, que les Tamouls appelaient "pariyar". Iyoti Thas lui-même était un pariyar de naissance. Dans la théorie de Ramasamy et Thass, les Pariyars étaient la population originelle de l'Inde, subjuguée par les Aryas védiques et placée à un niveau inférieur. Ils ont donc appelé les Pariyas "adi dravida", c'est-à-dire "les premiers Dravidiens", "les Dravidiens originels". Les paryas tamouls étaient probablement à l'origine des joueurs de tambour (les instruments de percussion sont constamment associés dans la mythologie de différents peuples aux cultes de la Grande Mère); d'où l'affinité de leur nom avec le mot signifiant en tamoul "tambour" - paṟaiyar. Les pariyas vivaient en dehors des villages dans des établissements spéciaux éloignés. Ils étaient considérés comme de dangereux magiciens, mais dans les cours tamoules, ils étaient des musiciens et des magiciens qui transmettaient leur pouvoir aux monarques tamouls.

69205052021112738iyothee.jpg

Selon Iyoti Thass (photo, ci-dessus), la religion originelle des parias tamouls était le bouddhisme. Nous avons vu qu'Ambedkar, le leader politique des Dalits, les intouchables, favorisait également cette religion particulière. Ces considérations nous renvoient à ce que nous avons dit sur l'opposition entre la tradition brahmanique et la tradition shramana, et le lien du bouddhisme originel spécifiquement avec le shramana.

Les idées de Periyar étaient partagées par son disciple, qui s'est ensuite éloigné de son professeur, le politicien dravidien Konjiwaram Natarajan Annadurai (1909 -1969), créateur du parti politique Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Il était le chef administratif de l'État du Tamil Nadu. Cependant, contrairement à Periyar, il était très strict sur l'idée d'une indépendance totale pour les Dravidiens, se limitant à respecter leurs droits et à développer la langue tamoule et la culture tamoule. Annadurai se considérait comme un "communiste" et ses opinions étaient proches de la faction de gauche du Congrès national indien, mais avec un accent particulier sur l'anti-brahmanisme et l'anti-aryanisme et le nationalisme tamoul par opposition au nationalisme de toute l'Inde.

À l'origine, le concept de Dravida Nadu ne comprenait que le territoire du Tamil Nadu et les zones où la population principale parlait la langue tamoule. Peu à peu, cette zone s'est étendue et les partisans du nationalisme dravidien ont inclus dans le territoire de l'État idéal (futur ?) des régions à population majoritairement dravidienne - les territoires de l'Andhra Pradesh, du Kerala et du Karnataka, ainsi que le Sri Lanka, certaines parties de l'Orissa et du Maharashtra.

Les théoriciens de cette école ont vu les origines de la doctrine du Dravida Nadu dans les légendes du pays de Kumari Kandam qui était situé sur un continent submergé dans l'océan Indien et dont le Sri Lanka (Ceylan) est la dernière partie survivante. Les nationalistes dravidiens attribuent également leurs projets politiques aux personnes et aux rois de Kumari Kandam.

Lost-Continent-of-Kumari-Kandam.jpg

L'étymologie de la combinaison Kumari Kandam n'est pas claire, mais les Tamouls eux-mêmes l'interprètent comme une référence au mot kumārī, qui signifie jeune fille, fille, vierge. Dans ce cas, l'État de Kumārī Kandam ou Kumārī Nadu peut être interprété comme l'"État des vierges". La version hindoue indique également que lorsque le maître de l'univers a réparti les territoires des mondes entre ses enfants, les huit fils ont obtenu d'autres domaines d'existence et la fille unique a obtenu la terre. Par conséquent, Kumari Kandam, c'est-à-dire la Terre de la Vierge, est la maison ancestrale de l'humanité, et les Dravidiens eux-mêmes sont le peuple élu le plus proche du berceau de la race humaine.

L'historien et homme politique tamoul Amala Arunachalam (1944 - 2004) a affirmé que dans les temps anciens, l'état de Kumari Kandam était gouverné par des reines féminines, les devas. D'après les historiens tamouls, la coutume dravidienne selon laquelle les femmes choisissaient leur futur époux existait depuis longtemps, ce qui contrastait fortement avec la tradition patriarcale hindoue. Tous ces détails soulignent la nature matriarcale de l'ancienne culture dravidienne, qui se reflète dans la nature matérialiste et souvent communiste du mouvement national dravidien.

L'organisation terroriste, les Tigres de libération de l'Eelam tamoul, qui mène la lutte armée pour un État-nation dravidien indépendant à Ceylan, adhère généralement à cette idéologie pan-dravidienne, tout comme son fondateur Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Controverse sur l'identité

L'Inde moderne, d'un point de vue civilisationnel, est une entité contradictoire : D'une part, elle continue à entretenir des liens assez étroits avec l'ancienne métropole (elle reste dans le British Commonwealth of Nations, le Commonwealth qui réunit les anciennes colonies) et, par conséquent, avec l'Europe, reconnaît l'économie de marché et le système libéral-démocratique, mais insiste d'autre part sur une distance par rapport à l'Occident capitaliste (comme en témoigne le maintien de liens étroits avec l'URSS pendant plusieurs décennies et sa participation au Mouvement des non-alignés).

Après avoir obtenu son indépendance, l'Inde a dû faire face à de nombreux problèmes techniques et sociaux, ce qui a exigé du pragmatisme de la part de ses dirigeants. Par conséquent, de nombreuses questions, y compris dans le domaine de l'idéologie, ont été traitées selon les circonstances. Cela a contribué à l'émergence d'une nouvelle forme d'archéo-modernisme indien qui était déjà appropriée aux conditions de l'indépendance, mais qui, en général, poursuivait les tendances et les trajectoires apparues à l'époque de la colonisation européenne.

Comme dans tout cas d'archéomodernité, ce phénomène complexe ne peut être résolu ou surmonté rapidement et sans ambiguïté. Une grande variété de couches de politique, de philosophie, de religion, de culture, d'art, de science et d'éducation sont contaminées par l'Archéomoderne. Par conséquent, il ne peut tout simplement pas y avoir de consensus pan-indien sur ce qui est la lignée sémantique de base de l'historique indien et sur ce qui constitue la base de l'identité indienne.

En Inde, il y a des débats sur la structure et le contenu de cette identité ainsi que sur la compréhension de la position dans le monde moderne et le choix de la voie future. Les tendances suivantes peuvent être discernées ici :

- Le nationalisme libéral modéré, représenté par le parti du Congrès national indien, orienté vers une réforme graduelle et détendue de la société indienne dans une veine libérale-démocratique et occidentale, mais tout en conservant certaines particularités historiques et culturelles (une grande partie de la société appartient à cette tendance, et c'était l'idéologie dominante de l'Inde moderne jusqu'à la fin du 20ème siècle) ;

- Les traditionalistes et les conservateurs, partisans d'une identité hindoue (Hindutva) qui insistent pour préserver et faire revivre les traditions hindoues (souvent assez durs envers les musulmans et ouvertement hostiles au Pakistan) - ils sont représentés par le plus grand parti politique de l'Inde, le Bhairati Janata Party, et dans une forme extrême par des mouvements nationalistes radicaux comme le Shiv Sena.

- l'occidentalisme indien, représenté par les modernistes et les partisans d'un développement accéléré sur le modèle occidental - libéralisme, démocratisation, démantèlement complet des structures de la société traditionnelle (formes inertielles des varnas, traditions religieuses et ethniques, etc.) - en géopolitique, cette aile préconise une orientation vers les États-Unis et l'OTAN et une alliance stratégique plus profonde avec les pays occidentaux et Israël

- Les organisations politiques dalits (intouchables) qui s'opposent durement à l'hindouisme et exigent une société aux conditions radicalement nouvelles, des réformes radicales et immédiates - jusqu'au démantèlement de l'État indien lui-même ;

- Mouvements nationalistes séparatistes - principalement des mouvements tamouls insistant sur l'autonomie d'un certain nombre de groupes ethniques indiens et, dans certains cas, sur un séparatisme pur et simple.

Naturellement, chacun des mouvements a son propre modèle de l'histoire indienne, sa propre version de la compréhension de l'identité indienne, son propre programme géopolitique et ses propres projets pour l'avenir.

Narendra_Modi_2021.jpg

L'Inde de Modi

Le dirigeant moderne de l'Inde, Narendra Modi, le leader du Bharatiya Janata Party (Parti du peuple indien) est un dirigeant conservateur qui suit la tradition du nationalisme indien moderne. Il est un adversaire idéologique du parti libéral Indian National Congress, historiquement lié à la famille Gandhi.

Sur le plan géopolitique, Modi s'oppose au Pakistan et à la Chine, en s'appuyant sur les États-Unis et les pays occidentaux pour le faire. Mais en même temps, il ne romptpas les relations avec la Russie et saisit toutes les occasions de renforcer la souveraineté de l'Inde.

Avec le début de l'opération militaire spéciale de la Russie en Ukraine, Modi a condamné Moscou mais n'a pas soutenu les sanctions anti-russes, reconnaissant clairement dans la stratégie de la Russie une orientation de multipolarité, dont, selon Modi, l'Inde deviendrait logiquement un bénéficiaire. Depuis février 2022, la presse indienne utilise de plus en plus le terme "État-Civilisation" en référence à l'Inde elle-même, ainsi qu'en référence à un ordre multipolaire dans lequel l'Inde est destinée à devenir un pôle.

Ce faisant, le nationalisme de Modi et de son parti se concentre sur le principe de l'Hindutva, une identité associée à l'hindouisme en tant que religion, mais propose un vaste plan visant à intégrer toutes les castes et tous les courants religieux dans la société hindoue - avec reconnaissance de la domination hindoue.

Notes:


[1] Неру Дж. Открытие Индии. В 2 т. М.: Политиздат, 1989.

[2] Ганди И. Мир, сотрудничество, неприсоединение. М.: Прогресс, 1985

[3] Goyal Des R. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Delhi: Radha Krishna Prakashan, 1979.

[4] Sharma Mahesh. Shri Guruji Golwalkar. New Delhi: Diamond Pocket Books, 2006.

[5] Vaibhav P. The Sena Story. Op. cit.

[6] Дугин А.Г. Ноомахия. Иранский Логос. Световая война и культура ожидания. Указ. соч.

 

dimanche, 22 août 2021

Nations et nationalisme hors d'Europe

drapeaux-pays-arabes.jpg

Nations et nationalisme hors d'Europe

Leonid Savin

Ex: https://www.geopolitica.ru/article/nacii-i-nacionalizm-za-predelami-evropy

Le non-Occident, tout comme l'Occident, a également développé ses propres concepts de nation et ses idéologies nationalistes. Bien que l'influence de la modernité occidentale soit apparente, il n'était pas rare que les philosophes et les théologiens se réfèrent à leurs prédécesseurs lorsqu'ils tentaient de développer une idéologie authentique. Considérons d'abord quelques concepts dans le monde arabe et parmi les musulmans.

Dans le monde arabo-musulman

small_abdurrahman-al-kawakibi-zindagi-aur-afkar-ebooks.jpgLe philosophe arabe Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (ci-contre) a défini le concept de "nation" non pas comme "un groupe de créatures endormies, un ensemble d'esclaves d'un propriétaire usurpateur", mais comme "une communauté de personnes liées par une communauté de race, de langue, de patrie et de droits "(1).

Abd al-Aziz Durie note que le concept de nation arabe présente quatre identités interdépendantes. La première concernait la compréhension réelle, qui reposait à la fois sur des principes ethniques, notamment la structure tribale, et sur le rôle de l'émergence de l'Islam dans l'espace géographique arabe. Les trois autres sont la pensée philosophique, l'œuvre littéraire des écrivains arabes et la conscience populaire.

Duri souligne que l'idée d'une nation arabe distincte est apparue à la fin de la période omeyyade, lorsque l'empire commençait à faire face à des menaces extérieures (2). Comme source de référence, Abd al-Hamid, le secrétaire de Marwan ibn Muhammad, qui dans son essai Ila l-kuttab établit une analogie entre les Omeyyades et l'empire arabe, en disant: "Ne permettez pas qu'un seul brin de l'empire arabe tombe entre les mains d'une clique non arabe" (3).

Al-Tawhidi (m. 1024) a affirmé que les Arabes constituent une nation qui possède des qualités et des vertus particulières (4).

Une compréhension plus détaillée et structurée de la nation a été proposée par Ibn Khaldoun. Selon lui, il doit y avoir plus d'une condition (qu'il s'agisse de la religion ou de l'ethnie) à la base d'une nation. Les facteurs environnementaux ont un impact sur les modes de vie, la couleur de la peau et d'autres caractéristiques physiques sont prises en compte, ainsi que la formation du caractère et diverses habitudes. Ibn Khaldoun montre à travers les exemples de différents peuples de la période préislamique que la disparition d'un Etat ne signifie pas toujours la disparition d'une nation, elle dépend de l'esprit de solidarité (asabiyya) d'une nation (5).

Ibn_Khaldun_Statue.jpg

Mais la langue est également importante. Selon Ibn Khaldoun (statue, ci-dessus), on peut ne pas être arabe de souche, mais si on utilise l'arabe, l'appartenance à une nation arabe ne fait aucun doute. Ainsi, il divise les Arabes eux-mêmes en trois groupes: les tribus "perdues" (ba'ida), les Arabes "purs" (ariba) et les Arabes "assimilés" (musta'riba), et note les "adeptes" des Arabes (tabi'a) - qui peuvent tous être appelés Arabes parce qu'ils parlent l'arabe (6).

Le mufti suprême de Russie Ravil Gaynutdin (photo, ci-dessous) écrit que le concept de "nation" pour les musulmans est lié à des termes tels que : 1) shaab, un peuple uni par un territoire, une culture et une langue communs; 2) kabila, une tribu unie par des liens de parenté étroits; et 3) umma, une communauté, un grand groupe de personnes unies par des liens de parenté spirituelle et une doctrine religieuse (7).

ravil_gaynutdin.jpg

Le terme "oumma" est le plus utilisé dans de nombreux pays pour souligner l'unité des musulmans. Toutefois, cette interprétation n'est apparue qu'au XXe siècle. Al-Farabi (m. 950) fait une distinction entre l'umma, qu'il appelle une nation au sens ethnique, et la milla, qui désigne les adeptes d'une religion particulière. Al-Masudi (m. 956) a fait la même distinction (8). C'est ce qu'indique indirectement le terme "nationalité" en turc - milliyet, car il s'agit d'un travestissement de la langue arabe, réalisé à l'époque de l'Empire ottoman, où les sujets n'étaient pas seulement des Turcs, mais aussi des Arabes, des Berbères, des Kurdes, des Slaves et d'autres peuples.

Selon Grigori Kosacz, la culture arabo-musulmane, une identité commune et la psychologie d'un groupe stable peuvent être identifiées comme une nation arabe (al-umma al-arabiyya). Elle se qualifie de communauté éternelle et unie, possédant un espace naturel - la patrie arabe (al-watan al-arabiyya) (9). Cet espace était autrefois uni (ce qui permet de parler de la possibilité de sa re-création) et s'étend de l'océan Atlantique au Golfe.

La patrie arabe n'était pas et n'est pas devenue un seul État, mais les peuples vivant dans les pays de cet espace (il faut distinguer les deux termes "pays" en arabe - bilad - une réalité politique et socioculturelle et al-Qur - une réalité temporaire qui peut être abolie ou éliminée) - sont les peuples de la "nation arabe".

Ainsi, recréer l'unité (al-wahd) des Arabes est la tâche du mouvement national arabe.

À l'époque moderne, l'un des principaux apologistes du nationalisme arabe, considéré comme tel, est un chrétien syrien, Naguib Azouri, qui, en 1905, a publié à Paris un pamphlet, Réveil de la Nation Arabe dans l'Asie Turque, dans lequel il proclamait l'autodétermination du mouvement national arabe et demandait l'indépendance vis-à-vis de l'Empire ottoman. Ces idées ont commencé à se développer dans le contexte du mouvement de libération et ont pris leurs propres caractéristiques dans différentes régions. Dans le contexte du sécularisme du vingtième siècle, l'accent a été mis sur l'identité arabe plutôt que musulmane.

Saty al-Husri, dans son ouvrage de 1950 intitulé L'arabisme avant tout, note: "Arabisme - appartenance à un espace géographique - la "patrie arabe" et référence à la langue arabe comme langue de communication et de compréhension. L'arabisme est au-dessus des restrictions religieuses" (10).

Vision iranienne de la nation

La vision iranienne de la nation a également ses particularités. Avant la révolution islamique, sous le règne du Shah, l'Iran était fortement influencé par les théories scientifiques occidentales, qui représentaient l'école dominante. "Dans la dialectique de confrontation entre l'idéologie intrinsèquement occidentale du nationalisme et le traditionalisme islamique, une nouvelle approche a pris forme, qui s'est exprimée dans les idées de Mortaza Motahhari.... Motahhari voyait la nation comme une communauté en constante évolution. Il nie donc l'existence de tout fondement permanent et immuable, immanent à la nation et formant son "esprit" (11).

Morteza_Motahhari_(9279).jpg

L'ayatollah Motahhari (photo, ci-dessus) a construit sa théorie sur l'idée que les Iraniens étaient historiquement inhérents à la "moralité naturelle", mais que la religion zoroastrienne avait échoué, alors l'Islam l'a conquise. Lorsque les Iraniens sont devenus musulmans, cela a contribué au développement des "talents naturels", à l'instauration de la justice sociale et à l'unité spirituelle et sociale du peuple iranien. L'Islam n'a pas supplanté la subjectivité historique et civilisationnelle de la nation iranienne, mais a agi comme l'élément central de cette subjectivité. Si l'on considère la floraison de toutes sortes d'écoles religieuses et philosophiques en Iran après la propagation de l'Islam, y compris les traditions soufies, ainsi que le développement de diverses formes d'art visuel, cette explication est tout à fait logique et rationnelle.

Motahhari a reconnu l'existence de la nation iranienne et a même justifié son exclusivité, mais a donné au concept de nation un contenu qui ne se limitait pas au cadre national, mais qui allait jusqu'au niveau de l'unité de tout l'Islam et même de la solidarité des forces anti-impérialistes dans le monde (12).

Le concept de "retour à soi", selon Motahhari, était une allégorie parfaite de l'éveil national et de la renaissance du peuple iranien lorsqu'il a réalisé qu'il "avait sa propre doctrine et sa propre pensée indépendante et qu'il était capable de se tenir debout et de compter sur sa propre force" (13).

En discutant du "retour à soi", Motahhari utilise des allégories supplémentaires pour définir la situation dans la société iranienne, à savoir la "confusion" ou "l'auto-exclusion" (khodbakhtegi) et la "stupeur" (estesba), qui sont les attitudes psychologiques centrales des Iraniens de la période pré-moderne, apparues sous l'influence du colonialisme occidental. Motahhari note que la pire forme de colonialisme est culturelle (este'mar-e farhangi), où, afin d'obtenir un avantage sur quelqu'un, on lui enlève son individualité ainsi que tout ce qu'il considère comme sien, puis on le force à s'enchanter de ce qui est offert par les colonisateurs" (14).

Outre l'ayatollah Mortaza Motahhari (ci-dessous), les principaux théoriciens de l'identité religieuse et nationale iranienne sont Ali Shariati et Mehdi Bazargan.

00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.jpeg

Alors que pour Motahhari, un nationalisme modéré et pacifique conduisant à la coopération et aux liens sociaux entre les peuples est compatible avec l'identité nationale irano-islamique (15), Ali Shariati définit la nation et la nationalité par rapport à la culture et voit donc une relation étroite entre ces termes et la religion. Selon cette ligne, au cours des quatorze derniers siècles, les deux histoires de l'Islam et de l'Iran se sont tellement mélangées qu'il est impossible de chercher une identité iranienne sans Islam ou une identité islamique sans une forte présence iranienne en son sein. Selon Shariati, ces deux éléments, Irān-e Eslāmi, constituent l'identité iranienne. Il pense que l'aliénation culturelle et nationale ne peut être surmontée qu'en faisant confiance à la nation iranienne en soutenant sa culture chiite (16).

Au moment critique de la transition entre la chute du Shah et l'établissement de la République islamique, Bazargan a fait remarquer que "confronter l'Islam au nationalisme iranien revient à nous détruire". Nier l'identité iranienne et considérer le nationalisme comme irréligieux fait partie intégrante du mouvement anti-iranien et du travail des anti-révolutionnaires (17).

40590.jpg

Arshin Adib-Maghaddam (photo, ci-dessus), professeur d'origine iranienne enseignant à l'université de Londres, utilise le terme "psycho-nationalisme" pour décrire le phénomène de la nation iranienne. En tant que membre de la diaspora ayant grandi en Occident et défendant des idées libérales, il estime que la société a évolué différemment en Iran et en Europe. "En Europe, la nation comme idée à mourir a été inventée dans les laboratoires des Lumières. En Perse, l'idée d'une nation holistique a été institutionnalisée au XVIe siècle par la dynastie des Safavides. Comme dans tout autre pays... La naissance de la soi-disant nation a été tout à fait arbitraire, brutale et pleine de mythes sur les origines et les racines naturelles" (18).

La révolution iranienne était un phénomène hybride. Les révolutionnaires n'étaient pas des nationalistes au sens traditionnel du terme. En fait, le leader de la révolution iranienne, l'ayatollah Khomeini, était contre le nationalisme perse promu par le régime précédent. Pourtant, l'État iranien, tel qu'il a été institutionnalisé après la révolution, n'a pas pu échapper entièrement à l'héritage du psycho-nationalisme dans le pays. La formule politique du pouvoir est restée la même. Il existait une frontière claire entre l'idéologie sanctionnée par l'État et les personnes extérieures à celui-ci. L'État a adopté une position hégémonique sacro-sainte qui exigeait le sacrifice du peuple pour la nation, plus précisément codifié en termes d'"opprimés", d'umma ou d'Iraniens. Les tropes et les métaphores sont passés du nationalisme perse traditionnel du Shah à une coloration plus religieuse, théocratique et explicitement transcendante après la révolution. Mais l'accent mis sur la nation en tant que projet sacré s'est poursuivi, et l'État est resté un idéal sanctionné auquel tous devraient être cognitivement les obligés. C'est du psychonationalisme à tout crin. Mais en même temps, il y a une nuance et une différence par rapport aux situations en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. En Iran, le psycho-nationalisme n'est pas imprégné d'une grammaire systématique du racisme. Cet accent généalogique et biologique sur la différence, qui a été développé dans les laboratoires des Lumières européennes, ne s'est jamais transformé en un mouvement systématique en Perse, notamment parce que la pensée politique et la philosophie musulmanes - à son épicentre idéologique - sont non racistes (19).

Mais le psycho-nationalisme n'est pas une invention exclusivement persane. Selon Adib-Magaddam, contrairement aux études traditionnelles sur le nationalisme, le psycho-nationalisme se concentre sur l'impact cognitif de cette forme de violence mentale et représente la psychologie de la manière dont l'idée de nation est constamment inventée et introjectée dans notre pensée comme quelque chose qui vaut la peine et permet de tuer et de mourir pour elle. C'est par le psycho-nationalisme et le subconscient des sociétés qui y sont sensibles que l'on assiste à une résurgence des mouvements de droite en Europe.

Nationalistes indiens à partir du 19ième siècle

Dans l'Inde du XIXe siècle, les débats sur l'identité et la place de chacun dans le monde étaient nombreux. "Les nationalistes indiens" imaginaient "en effet " la nation, avant tout parce qu'ils voulaient une Inde en tant que pays uni, même dans les limites d'une république moderne.... de telles idées n'avaient jamais existé auparavant" (20).

L'idéologie et la pratique du nationalisme indien ont commencé par l'étude de l'histoire, de la culture et des langues par des militants occidentalisés. Cette étape initiale comprend la création de la Basic Knowledge Acquisition Society à Calcutta par des réformateurs bengalis en 1838. Une figure marquante du mouvement réformiste était Krishna Mohdi Banerjee (illusttration, ci-dessous), un brahmane bengali qui s'est converti au christianisme en signe de protestation. Il a écrit un traité intitulé De la nature et de la signification de la connaissance historique, dans lequel il appelle à la rationalisation de la connaissance historique et à la recherche de moyens pour élever le pays et le peuple.

Krishnamohan_Banerjee.jpg

Maitkhilisharan Gupta (illustration, ci-dessous), dans The Voice of India, publié en 1902, utilise le terme Hindu jati (21). Son texte adopte l'approche traditionnelle des récits épiques avec l'idéalisation du passé, suivie du début du déclin décrit dans le Mahabharata, de la propagation du bouddhisme et du jaïnisme, de l'invasion des "non-aryens" et de l'arrivée des musulmans, après quoi la patrie hindoue a été plongée dans l'obscurité. Le concept de "Jati" a été proposé pour signifier "nation".

Maithilisharan-Gupt.jpg

L'erreur a été soulignée en 1913 par Bipin Chandra Pal, qui a déclaré que le concept de "nation" n'existait pas dans l'Inde précoloniale (22). En termes d'étymologie, il avait raison, puisque le terme "jati" est une version anglaise déformée de Jaatihi (sanskrit : जातिः), qui signifie descendance, caste ou classe.

Mais en 1909, le Mahatma Gandhi a affirmé que "nous étions une seule nation avant qu'ils (les Britanniques) ne viennent en Inde. Nos ancêtres visionnaires voyaient l'Inde comme un pays indivisible. Ils ont insisté sur le fait que nous devions être une seule nation et, à cette fin, ils ont créé des lieux saints dans différentes parties de l'Inde et ont allumé dans le peuple une idée nationale avec une force sans précédent dans d'autres parties du monde" (23).

Gandhi a utilisé le terme "swaraj". La compréhension du nationalisme indien est donc directement liée au concept de "swaraj", qui peut être traduit par "autonomie". Le swaraj représente "le principe métabolique ainsi que le principe de l'action politique" (24).

Le philosophe indien et l'un des fondateurs du mouvement de libération nationale, Aurobindo Ghosh (photo, ci-dessous), a affirmé que "le nationalisme est apparu au peuple comme une religion...". Le nationalisme vit de la puissance divine qu'il contient... Le nationalisme est immortel car il ne naît pas de l'homme, c'est Dieu qui se manifeste" (25).

sa_32.jpg

Un autre élément important du nationalisme indien est l'Hindutva. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (illustration, ci-dessous), un idéologue du communalisme hindou, a écrit le livre du même nom alors qu'il était emprisonné en 1923.

Savarkar considérait le concept d'Hindutva comme un ensemble de caractéristiques génériques principales de la "nation" hindoue qu'il construisait, dont l'identité était définie par le territoire, le sang (descendant des Aryens), la culture (sanskrit classique) et la religion (hindouisme) (26). Le sous-continent tout entier, selon Savarkar, est le foyer de la "nation unique" des Aryens védiques.

Savarkar_571_855.jpg

Madhav Sadavshiv Golwalkar accordait à la religion un rôle encore moins important (malgré l'émergence d'autres religions, il considérait les hindous comme le peuple le plus noble) que Savarkar, mais croyait que les Aryens n'étaient pas venus en Inde, mais étaient une population indigène.

Savarkar et Golwalkar ont tous deux repris les idées de la race aryenne telles qu'elles ont été développées par les orientalistes, les écrivains et les théoriciens européens.

Mais en Inde, les concepts d'une nation hindoue et d'une nation musulmane ont été développés en parallèle (le concept de cette dernière a été activement utilisé dans la création de l'État indépendant du Pakistan). En outre, certains ont insisté sur la priorité de la culture bengalie (comme l'a dit Bonkimchondro Chottopadhyay (photo, ci-dessous), "le génie bengali a brillé de mille feux") (27), jetant ainsi les bases de la création d'un État indépendant, le Bangladesh, et du séparatisme politique dans le Bas-Gange de l'Inde moderne.

bankim-chandra-chattopadhyay.jpg

En conclusion, il convient de faire une observation importante : pour la plupart des nations du monde, le terme "nation" a une origine étrangère. L'Europe occidentale, où se sont finalement formés la "nation" et le "nationalisme", issus de la philosophie hellénistique et du droit romain, n'est géographiquement qu'une petite péninsule d'Eurasie, mais depuis plusieurs siècles, le monde entier est en possession de ce récit.

Notes:

1 Алиев А. А. «Национальное» и «религиозное» в системе межгосударственных отношений Ирана и Ирака в XX веке. М., 2006, с.79.

2 Duri A. A. The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation. A Study in Identity and Consciousness. Volume I. Beckenham: Centre for Arabic Unity Studies, Croom Helm, 1987, р. 97.

3 'Abd al-Hamid al-Katib, Ila l-Kuttab, ed. Muhammad Kurd 'Ali in his Rasa'il al-bulagha', 2nd ed. Dar al-kutub al-misriya, Cairo, 1913, p. 221.

4 Duri A. A. The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation. A Study in Identity and Consciousness. Volume I. Beckenham: Centre for Arabic Unity Studies, Croom Helm, 1987, р. 106.

5 Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, Vol. I. Bulaq, Cairo, AH 1247, p. 123.

6 Duri A. A. The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation. A Study in Identity and Consciousness.

Volume I. Beckenham: Centre for Arabic Unity Studies, Croom Helm, 1987, p. 112.

7 Гайнутдин Р. Ислам и нация // Вера. Этнос. Нация. Религиозный компонент этнического сознания. М.: Культурная революция, 2009, с. 219.

8 Duri A. A. The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation. A Study in Identity and Consciousness.

Volume I. Beckenham: Centre for Arabic Unity Studies, Croom Helm, 1987, p. 110.

9 Косач Г. Г. Арабский национализм или арабские национализмы: доктрина, этноним, варианты дискурса // Национализм в мировой истории. М.: Наука, 2007, с. 259.

10 Там же, с. 319.

11 Гибадуллин И. Р. Диалектика взаимодействия исламской идеологии и иранского национализма на примере идей аятоллы Мортазы Мотаххари. Нации и национализм в мусульманском мире (на примере Турции, Ирана, Афганистана, Пакистана, этнического Курдистана, соседних стран и регионов). ИВ РАН, Центр изучения стран Ближнего и Среднего Востока, Москва, 2014, с. 16.

12 Там же, с. 17.

13 Motahhari M. On the Islamic Revolution (Peyramoon-e Enghelab-e Eslami), Tehran, Sadra Publications 1993, p. 45.

14 Ibid. pp. 160–161

15 Moṭahhari, Mortażā. Ḵadamāt-e moteqābel-e Eslām wa Irān, 8th ed., Qom, 1978. pp. 62–67.

16 Šariʿati, Ali. Bāzšenāsi-e howiyat-e irāni-eslāmi, Tehran, 1982. рр. 72–73.

17 Bāzargān, Mehdi. “Nahżat-e żedd-e irāni”, in Keyhān, 23 Šahrivar 1359/14 September 1980, cited in Dr. Maḥmud Afšār, “Waḥdat-e melli wa tamā-miyat-e arżi”, Ayanda 6/9-12, 1980, р. 655.

18 Adib-Moghaddam, Arshin. Interview // E-IR, July 26, 2018.

http://www.e-ir.info/2018/07/26/interview-arshin-adib-mog...

19 Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Psycho-nationalism. Global Thought, Iranian Imaginations. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

20 Ванина Е. Ю. Прошлое во имя будущего. Индийский национализм и история (сер. ХIХ – сер. ХХ века) // Национализм в мировой истории. М.: Наука, 2007, с. 491.

21 Gupta M. Bharat bharati. Chirganv, 1954.

22 Pal B. C. Nationalism and Politics // Life and Works of Lal, Bal and Pal, p. 295.

23 Gandhi M. K. Hind Swaraj // The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi / Ed. R. Iyer. Oxford, 1986. Vol. I, p. 221.

24 Alter, Joseph S. Gandhis Body. Sex, Diet, and the Politics of Nationalism. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000, p. XI.

25 Ерасов Б. С. Социально-культурные традиции и общественное сознание в развивающихся странах Азии и Африки. М.: Наука, 1982, с. 142.

26 Ванина Е. Ю. Прошлое во имя будущего. Индийский национализм и история (сер. ХIХ – сер. ХХ века) // Национализм в мировой истории. М.: Наука, 2007, с. 512–513.

27 Там же, с. 507.

 

 

jeudi, 08 octobre 2020

Denazifying Savitri Devi

photo-savitri10.jpg

Denazifying Savitri Devi

The very idea sounds absurd. Militant supporter of National Socialism, foundational figure of Esoteric Hilterism, the iron maiden known to academia — insofar as she is known at all — as “Hitler’s Priestess [1]”: dissociating Savitri Devi from her fanatical loyalty to Hitler’s Germany seems as futile as denazifying The Führer himself.

Beyond its futility, what purpose would it serve? There is no hope of rehabilitating Savitri Devi for general academic use. Any scholar who quotes her approvingly and without the perfunctory “danger warning” will certainly be ostracized by respectable peers. Even among the hard Right who take no offense at her National Socialism, pan-Aryanism, anti-Semitism, valorization of the S.S., and other taboo subjects, Savitri Devi is often regarded as a mystical fanatic. She is seen as something of a crank, whose bizarre depiction of Hitler as an avatar of Vishnu is typically amalgamated with Miguel Serrano’s [2] (far more mystifying) theories concerning Hitler’s survival, Ultima Thule, Nazi UFOs in Antarctica, and other occult arcana. Savitri Devi’s writings and activism are seemingly inseparable from the strange milieu of Esoteric Hitlerism, putting her beyond the pale not merely of respectable political discourse but even that of the most open-minded elements of the Right.

However, I believe it is possible and worthwhile to distinguish the timeless content of Savitri Devi’s thought from her particular devotion to National Socialism. My motivation for this endeavor is twofold. For one, on a selfish note, Savitri Devi had a profound effect upon my own thinking. Though I am not particularly attached to National Socialism or Esoteric Hitlerism, it is my belief that one can appreciate her ideas — without compromising them in some milquetoast liberal fashion — and still acknowledge the flaws in that particular political movement. Moreover, Savitri Devi was a lucid and powerful writer whose writings contain unique insights that remain significant to the application of True Right principles to the problems of the present.

savitrichild-233x300.pngSavitri Devi is particularly insightful in understanding the relationship between man and nature, which she views through the lens of her aristocratic ideal. It is this essential notion of biological and spiritual aristocracy that determines her views on the natural world, human types, and politics. While in her metaphysics she counted herself alongside Julius Evola and Rene Guénon as a proponent of “the Tradition,” she was unique in her concrete political preoccupations and attempts to actualize this ideal in a contemporary political state. This led to her vigorous and unflagging support for National Socialism, which she regarded as the only regime that could serve as a bulwark (even temporarily) against universal decay and preserve the spiritual and biological aristocrats of the earth.

I have some points of disagreement with Savitri Devi’s thought: her uncritical attachment to Adolf Hitler and National Socialism and her rejection of certain religious traditions, for instance. However, while these will be briefly addressed at the end of this essay, such quibbles are not the point. My aim is to distill from Savitri Devi’s oeuvre the essence of her thought, in order to demonstrate its lucidity, its highly original application of traditional principles to the present, and the fundamental truth it contains. While it is too much to expect the contemporary academy to treat such controversial figures fairly, it does behoove those on the Right — who are not burdened by such prejudices — to confront their thought and take it seriously.

The Religion of the Strong

Savitri Devi’s thought is fundamentally religious. Born Maximiani Julia Portas in 1905, from an early age she felt an affinity for nature, for Greek culture, and for the traditional folk religions of Europe. While she came to reject most exoteric religious traditions — particularly Christianity — for their apparent otherworldliness, veneration of weakness, and adulation of a nebulous “mankind,” she made it clear that a feeling of “true piety” was the essential ground to her thought. This she defined as “feeling and adoring ‘God’ — the Principle of all being or non-being, the Essence and the light as well as the Shadow — through the splendor of the visible and tangible world; through the Order and the Rhythm, and the immutable Law that is its expression; the Law that melts the opposites into the same unity, reflection of the unity in oneself.” [1] [3] Rather than maintaining a division between mankind and the rest of the world, or between the sacred and the profane, this religiosity is one in which “the sacred penetrate[s] life, all of life, as in traditional societies.”

Lest we perceive this as just another twentieth-century “spiritual but not religious” nature mysticism, Savitri Devi takes pains to associate it with authentic traditional thought. She portrays this outlook — variously called the “philosophy of the Swastika,” the “religion of the strong,” and the “religion of life and light” — as a return to the primordial Tradition, purified and shorn of its humanistic and foreign accretions. She approvingly quotes one scholar who describes Guénon’s thought as “Hitlerism minus the armored divisions” [2 [4]] [5] and describes the primordial tradition itself as follows: “This is not the philosophy of any man. It is, in the clear consciousness of the really great Ones who are capable of feeling it — from the oldest Aryan lawgivers of Vedic and post-Vedic India, down to Adolf Hitler today — the wisdom of the Cosmos, the philosophy of the Sun, Father-and-Mother of the earth.” [3] [6] Of the historical societies and religions that most perfectly embodied this creed, she included the European folk religions, Pythagoreanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and her particular object of fascination, the solar cult of Akhnaton [7].

450155.jpgAnd what are the specific qualities of this religiosity, which she believed undergirds not only the authentic noble traditions of the ancient Indo-Aryan world but also the ideology of National Socialism? It is founded upon the belief in an everlasting cosmic law that binds all living beings. Cosmic energy is the fount of life and is particularly worthy of veneration, being symbolized for terrestrial mankind by the Sun. Man, being a “solar product,” cannot disregard these laws, particularly the laws that “regulate the art of breeding and the evolution of races,” as this will lead to physical and moral degeneracy — the ultimate “sin against the will of the Creator.” [4] [8] Indeed, the moralism and obsession with “original sin” she attributes to Christianity have no place here, “the only ‘sin’ being (along with all forms of cowardice and faithlessness) the sin of shameful breeding — the deadly sin against the race.” [5] [9] Thus, rather than the otherworldly emphasis of more dualistic religions, this religion of the strong stresses the physical aspect of life, the duty of mankind to preserve the health and vigor of both the individual and the race, as well as that of the earth as a whole. This is a religious and aesthetic duty.

While the cosmic law is universal in scope, it will express itself differently in different folk groups. Therefore, in opposition to the universalism she associated with Christianity, Islam, and modern liberalism, Savitri Devi upheld the importance of the folk-soul, folk religion, and ancestor worship.

The religion of the reborn Aryans must naturally have much in common with that of the pre-Christian European North, and with that, of similar origin and spirit, kept alive to this day, in India, in the tradition of the Vedas. It must be, before all, the religion of a healthy, proud, and self-reliant people, accustomed to fight, ready to die, but, in the meantime, happy to live, and sure to live forever, in their undying race; a religion centered around the worship of Life and Light — around the cult of heroes, the cult of ancestors, and the cult of the Sun, source of all joy and power on earth. Indeed, it must be a religion of joy and of power — and of love also; not of that morbid love for sickly and sinful “mankind” at the expense of far more admirable Nature, but of love for all living beauty: for the woods and for the beasts; for healthy children; for one’s faithful comrades in every field of activity; for one’s leaders and one’s gods; above all, for the supreme God, the Life force personified in the Sun. . . . [6] [10]

Though she would probably dislike the comparison, Savitri Devi’s metaphysical and religious outlook, her “religion of the strong” and “religion of life and light,” might be understood as a kind of idiosyncratic Neoplatonism. While some will doubtless accuse me of understanding neither Savitri Devi nor Neoplatonism, the parallels are clear: life is the unfolding of a divine order throughout the cosmos; creatures approach perfection in life the more they embody and understand the divine will in themselves; one’s place in the hierarchy of being is dependent upon one’s alignment with the divine order. While Savitri Devi’s understanding departs from classical Neoplatonism in explicitly stating the nonhuman participation in the divine order, this was always implicit (if underemphasized) in the classical formulation anyways. Neoplatonism has often been associated with a life-denying and ascetic outlook. However, while reserving their highest praise for the One from whom all things emanate, Neoplatonism nevertheless regards existence as an outflowing of the divine and venerates it as such. The philosopher Plotinus wrote an invective against the life-denying Gnostics [11] on just that subject.

Neoplatonism, as I’ve argued in a previous article [12], is a Western expression of monistic panentheism, which is the basic metaphysical outlook of the primordial tradition. Thus it is no surprise that Savitri Devi espoused a version of it, as she stated her alignment with “the Tradition” and sought to demonstrate how National Socialist ideology — as she understood it — was a weaponized expression of that tradition. This distinguishes her from the more purely biological and Darwinian elements among the Right (though her thinking is not without its flaws, as I discuss in the conclusion). It is to her understanding of the relationship between man and nature that we now turn.

Man and Nature

gold-cover-199x300.jpg

You can buy Savitri Devi’s Gold in the Furnace here. [13]

Savitri Devi’s love for the natural world is one of the most noteworthy features of her writing. She seemed to hold particular admiration for big cats and ancient trees, the “aristocrats” of the natural world, but had a great compassion for animals and living beings of all types. She scorned humans who would destroy such beauty and innocence in the name of comfort, longevity, or fruitless curiosity. It is therefore unsurprising that, aside from her rather outré ideas concerning Adolf Hitler and the end of the world, Savitri Devi is most well known as a forerunner of “deep ecology” and a major Rightist proponent of animal welfare. However, it is necessary to dissociate her ideas on this subject from the more contemporary (and invariably Leftist) expressions of these positions. For it is in Savitri Devi’s articulation of a Rightist theory of nature and man — one that takes into account contemporary scientific knowledge while rejecting both egalitarianism and narrow humanism — that her greatest strength as a thinker lies.

The academic philosophy of deep ecology [14], as it has been developed by its major theorists such as Arne Naess, George Sessions, and Bill Devall, is premised upon the idea of “biospheric egalitarianism,” that there is no fundamental ontological divide between humans and nature. It also maintains that the wellbeing and flourishing of both human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves, variously described as “intrinsic value” or “inherent worth,” and that humans consequently have no right to reduce the richness and diversity of life except to satisfy vital needs. Animal rights theories also typically begin with a notion of fundamental equality, and decry “speciesism” as an injustice in the same way they would condemn “racism” or “sexism” or the other sins of the modern age.

612710.jpgSavitri Devi, as a Rightist and proponent of Tradition, disdains such insipid and indiscriminate egalitarianism. Her nature is a world of order and hierarchy, blood and death, struggle and harsh beauty. She is outside the main current of Western thought in her refusal to place a nebulous “humanity” at the pinnacle of the Chain of Being. In her metaphysics (which is, again, akin to a version of militant Neoplatonism) there is a natural law of strength and beauty, and beings approach perfection insofar as they adhere more closely to that divine idea. Any being which expresses its nature most perfectly — be it a tiger or an oak tree, a butterfly or a man — approaches the pinnacle of the hierarchy for its particular species. Clear hierarchies exist, but rather than a single pyramid with the entire human race at the top (including the most diseased and depraved), we have several pyramids, of which humanity only constitutes one. Indeed, “in the eyes of the believers in quality. . . any Bengal tiger, nay, any healthy cat — any healthy tree; any perfect sample of manifested Life — is worth far more than an ugly,  degenerate human bastard. Alone man in his perfection — superior man ‘like unto the Gods,’ not the patched-up weakling that this conceited Age exalts — is to be looked upon as ‘the highest creature,’ ‘God’s image,’ etc. . .” [7] [15]

There is a sense, then, in which mankind’s pyramid does rise above the others, and might justify our species’ claim to be the pinnacle of creation. It is only the human ability to transcend its animal nature, concerned solely with self-preservation, that gives man any claim to a superior station in the Chain of Being: “The actual master races surely cannot allow themselves to think and feel as it would seem natural to man of a mean type. And the real master species, if any, is the one that puts its consistent nobility above any advantage.” [8] [16] Of what does this nobility consist? Something far more than the pursuit of happiness, or even universal human welfare:

But those who have the Word, father of thought, and among them the Strong especially, have something better to do than pursue “happiness.” Their supreme task consists in finding this harmony, this accord with the eternal, of which the Word seems initially to have deprived them; to hold their place in the universal dance of life with all the enrichment, all the knowledge, that the Word can bring to them or help them to acquire; to live, like those who do not speak, according to the holy laws that govern the existence of the races, but, this time, knowing it and wanting it. The pleasure or the displeasure, the happiness or the discontent of the individual does not count. Well-being — beyond the minimum that is necessary for each to fulfill his task — does not count. Only the task counts: the quest for the essential, the eternal, through life and through thought. [9] [17]

It is humanity’s misuse of its remarkable gifts — its consciousness and reason, its super-natural desires and unnaturally efficient means of attaining them — that poses such a threat the rest of life on earth. To have these gifts, and to use them for such low ends as obtaining mere comfort for the greatest number, strikes Savitri Devi as profoundly ignoble.

He who has the Word, father of thought, and who, far from putting it in service of the essential, wastes it in the search for personal satisfactions; he who has technology, fruit of thought, and who makes use of it especially to increase his well-being and that of other men, taking that for the main task, is unworthy of his privileges. He is not worthy of the beings of beauty and silence, the animal, the tree — he who himself follows their path. He who uses the powers that the Word and thought give him to inflict death and especially suffering on the beautiful beings that do not speak, in view of his own well-being or that of other men, he who uses the privileges of man against living nature sins against the universal Mother — against Life — and the Order that desires noblesse oblige. He is not Strong; he is not an aristocrat in the deep sense of the word, but petty, an egoist and a coward, an object of disgust in the eyes of the natural élite. [10] [18]

photo-drawings3.jpgSavitri Devi points to overpopulation as one particularly egregious example of the base triumphing over the noble. Her concern is not only with the ecological effects of overpopulation, nor with its effects on human survival. She observed that the growth in human population was enabled by industrialism and the development of medical technology, both of which permitted the survival of “more and more people who might as well never have been born.” [11] [19] This worked against natural selection and would lead to the crowding out of noble humans and animals “by human types that are qualitatively inferior to them but dangerously prolific and whose demographics escapes any control.”

Indeed, is not the prospect of a world destroyed by human overpopulation that truly disturbs Savitri Devi. Indeed, she appears to welcome the apocalypse. [12] [20] It is, rather, the triumph of a technological and communistic society, in which humanity has wholly mechanized the earth and driven the noble men and animals to extinction: “It would mean the intensified, and more and more systematic exploitation of living nature by man, on an ever-broadening scale. . . . [Man] would make the world a safe place for his own species, never mind at the cost of what ruthless exploitation of the rest of the living, both animals and plants . . . There would be one king of the earth: mankind; one slave: subdued living nature. Most hateful prospects!” [13] [21] Relatedly, her loathing of vivisection is based on indignation that innocent and noble animals should have to suffer in order to develop medical treatments that “alleviate the suffering of diseased humanity” or to satisfy the “criminal curiosity” of scientific researchers. [14] [22] However, Savitri Devi should not be classified among the anti-natalists and primitivists, insofar as she promotes higher birthrates for superior racial stocks, and a technology that genuinely enriches human life (more on this below).

It is important to note that Savitri Devi does not advocate “animal rights.” She does not believe in metaphysical rights of any kind, which are a liberal construct. Rather she teaches, for one, that respect is due to nonhuman creatures because we are all emanations of the same divine energy — but that it is our foremost duty to preserve the noblest specimens of mankind and nature. She also teaches that the higher man is characterized by the noble virtue of compassion: “Not merely to be ‘harmless’; not merely not to exploit, for human ends, any beast, and even the vegetable world as far as possible, but to extend our active love to all that lives; to do our utmost, even at our own cost, so that every individual creature, bird or beast, might continue to enjoy the sight of the sun, in health and beauty — these are our ethics.” [15] [23] We shall now examine how Savitri Devi envisioned the noble human type, and the kind of society that is most suited to encouraging its development.

The Higher Man

DefianceCover1small-199x300.jpg

You can buy Savitri Devi’s Defiance here. [24]

Since there are vast differences between individuals in terms of their adherence to the cosmic law, there is a natural inequality of persons as well as races: “Man’s value — as every creature’s value, ultimately — lies not in the mere intellect but in the spirit: in the capacity to reflect that which, for lack of a more precise word, we choose to call ‘the divine,’ i.e. that which is true and beautiful beyond all manifestation, that which remains timeless (and therefore unchangeable) within all changes.” [16] [25] For Savitri Devi, the Aryan race (which, adhering to the classical definition, includes the Aryans of ancient India and Iran as well as certain European groups) is the highest manifestation of mankind, the one most attuned to the cosmic soul. As she writes of its Nordic branch, which she believed to be the purest Aryan remnant in the modern world:

That this Nordic race is a natural aristocracy, there is no doubt. First a physical aristocracy. To make sure of that, one need only look at its representatives, especially the purest Germanic types among the Germans and the Swedes, outwardly, perhaps, the finest men on earth. An aristocracy of character also, as a whole. One only has to live with Scandinavians, Germans, or real English people, after spending years amidst less pure Aryans, or totally different races, in order to find that out. An aristocracy of kindness, too — its most attractive sign of superiority. And this is a fact. The best proof of it is to be seen in the spontaneous sympathy which most pure-blooded Nordic children show towards animals, even before being taught to do so.” [17] [26]

Savitri Devi believed that National Socialism was a contemporary adaptation of the primordial tradition — the religion of the strong — uniquely suited for the Northern Aryan soul: “Hitlerism considered in its essence . . . is the religion of the Strong of the Aryan race, as opposed to a world in decline; a world of ethnic chaos, contempt of living Nature, the silly exaltation of ‘man’ in all that is weak, morbid, eccentrically ‘individual,’ different from other beings; a world of human selfishness (individual and collective), of ugliness and cowardice. It is the reaction of the Strong of this race, originally noble, to such a world.” [18] [27] Only among Aryan mankind, she believed, would the National Socialist ideology find any support. This is because it appeals to the finest elements of their character: selflessness, courage, fortitude, intelligence, the hunger for sacrifice, and the love of truth and beauty.

While she acknowledges that the majority of Germans would join the NSDAP for more mundane reasons, Savitri Devi was confident that the inner circles — particularly the notorious SS — would have constituted the core of a new Aryan-European nobility:

But these soldiers of the first hour would, little by little — along with the youths rigorously selected and hardened, in the “Burgs” of the Order of the SS, in the asceticism of the body, the will, and knowledge — form an aristocracy, hereditary from hence forth, strongly rooted — owners of vast family domains in conquered spaces — and itself hierarchized. They would, these members of the élite corps par excellence, among whom stood side by side the most handsome, the most valorous sons of the peasantry, the most brilliant academics of good race, and many youths representing the ancient and enduring German nobility, gradually meld themselves into a true caste, an inexhaustible reservoir of candidates for super-humanity.” [19] [28]

b7e719157ed6700c875135ef67c50214.jpgAll of this talk of Aryans, Hitler, and the S.S. is obviously inextricable from Savitri Devi’s passionate support for National Socialism. However, it is important to note that the recognition of an Indo-Aryan race, while frowned upon nowadays, has a long pedigree and is not invariably associated with Nazism. Moreover, while Savitri Devi did uphold the Aryan race as the highest human group, she was emphatic that other races (and indeed other species) possess the capacity for a perfect expression of their God-given folk-soul: thus it is necessary to “respect the man of noble races other than your own, who carries out, in a different place, a combat parallel to yours — to ours. He is your ally. He is our ally, be he at the other end of the world.” [20] [29] She envisions an alliance among the noblest individuals of each noble race in order to oppose to the deracinated and ignoble men who strive to destroy all that is holy and beautiful.

In short, Savitri Devi’s aristocratic ideal, while strongly associated with Aryan blood descent, entails many of the essential virtues of the traditional world: courage, truthfulness, noblesse oblige, and detached violence against the forces of evil. This ethos has parallels, of course, to the karma yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, by which Savitri Devi was clearly influenced; one also finds it in the Taoist wu-wei, or injunction to “act without acting,” and Meister Eckhart’s conception of detachment or Abgeschiedenheit. This ideal of noble behavior has ancient roots. And like the ancients, Savitri Devi taught that the cultivation of a higher human type can only occur within a favorable sociopolitical framework, an organic state wholly unlike the liberal societies of today.

On the State 

While liberal political theory maintains that the state’s role is solely to provide for the defense of life, liberty, and property, the classical conception of politics is far more expansive. The state is an expression of a folk-soul, and its purpose is to cultivate virtue, excellence, and a particular way of life. It is, moreover, an earthly mirror of the celestial hierarchy, and should therefore be organized in such a way that the higher values of spirit and honor reign over and direct more material concerns. Savitri Devi believed that this model of the state had been revived by National Socialism, whose leaders and soldiers had constructed a fortress of order and human excellence amidst the barren wastes of modernity. Though she believed the principles of National Socialism are those of the primordial tradition and therefore eternal, the movement itself is unique in being “the sole systematic attempt to build a state — nay, to organize a continent — upon the frank acknowledgment of the everlasting laws that rule the growth of races and the creation of culture; the one rational effort to put a stop to the decay of a superior race and to the subsequent confusion. It is the movement ‘against Time’ par excellence.[21] [30] While its ethos and goals are those of the ancient world, National Socialism adapted the struggle to the modern setting.

Though spiritual proponents of nature preservation are commonly denigrated as primitivists and Luddites, Savitri Devi strongly supports technology that is tailored to have a positive effect on the human spirit and minimal impact upon that natural world: “The society we call ‘ideal’ would be a very highly mechanized one, and electrified one, in which man himself would have to work only as little as possible.” [22] [31] A high level of technology was in fact essential in order to liberate a regenerate Aryan mankind from drudgery and provide a high quality of civilization; to defend the state against conquest by less scrupulous powers; to provide for the well-being of the Volk; and to enable mankind to gain greater knowledge of the natural world. This should, to her mind, be the true purpose of science, technology, and scholarship, not merely to prolong the existence of the unfit.

And we are far, far more grateful to the scholars whose discoveries in astronomy and higher physics, in philology and archaeology, etc., have enabled a few of the better men to live more richly, more intensely, more harmoniously, by opening to them new and more astounding sources of inspiration, than we ever will be to those so-called “benefactors of mankind” whose main work has resulted merely in keeping alive thousands of human beings neither good or bad, nor even physically beautiful, who could as well have died and made place for others at the best of times, as the rest of the living do.” [23] [32]

51YYO8aN2UL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpgHer enthusiasm for certain forms of high technology coupled with a decisive rejection of liberal modernity places Savitri Devi within the current of “reactionary modernism [33],” alongside other thinkers associated with Fascism, National Socialism, and the German Conservative Revolutionaries. Unlike nowadays — where runaway technological growth has led to the diminishment of man and the tyranny of petty bureaucrats and corporate overlords — in Savitri Devi’s National Socialist state, technology would be in the service of higher values. In this respect, her thinking can be described as a kind of archeofuturism [34], in the manner of Guillaume Faye, in which the “foundational values” of hierarchy, justice, duty, spirituality, and folk traditions are revived in a highly technological society.

Aside from providing for the material welfare of the Volk and defending it against its enemies, the chief purpose of the classical state — as well as the state envisioned by Savitri Devi and the National Socialists — is to cultivate excellence, nobility, the full flowering of the race. It does this, in part, by promoting eugenics. Again, such a form of selective breeding was practiced in many societies of the ancient world, namely Sparta. But in the contemporary world, it is not sufficient simply to encourage more births for exceptional individuals. Due to the destructive effects of overpopulation on other animals as well as noble humans, births must be controlled.

The immediate step to take, therefore, all over the world, in order to raise the standard of human life everywhere . . . would be, logically, to stop the indiscriminate production of babies — to cease bribing people to have young ones, in the countries of moderate birthrate, unless, of course, these be of exceptionally fine racial stock, to encourage them to have none, or extremely few, in countries already burdened by overpopulation, especially if these be also of inferior racial stock. Less people would mean “more living space” for all men. And racial selection would mean a more beautiful and nobler mankind.” [24] [35]

This naturally entails a great degree of government intrusion into the reproductive lives of its subjects, particularly those deemed to be of inferior quality: “Indeed if the number of men is not to increase indefinitely, very strict regulations are to keep down the numbers of the inferior races lest the Aryan — the ruling race — be forced to have larger and larger families, merely in order to survive.” [25] [36] The negative side of this eugenics program, in advocating for which Savitri Devi is probably even more ruthlessly consistent than historical most Nazi ideologues, would include a broad campaign of sterilization and euthanasia to minimize these undesirable births.

On a more positive note, the state would take a strong interest in the education of the young, in order to cultivate nobility and excellence. Under National Socialism, this was the role of the Hitler Youth, which Savitri Devi wholeheartedly endorsed. The Hitler Youth provided the physical training and intellectual and moral formation to cultivate a new generation of dedicated elites:

All great movements put stress upon the training of youth. “Catch them young,” say the Jesuits. National Socialism has not merely “caught them young,” but has striven to create them; to prepare them, not only from childhood, or from birth, but from the very moment of conception, to be the embodiment of the highest idea of all-round manly perfection — of physical health and beauty; of moral health and beauty; of character; of sound and clear intelligence, firmly linked up with the whole of life; the human élite, from every point of view. [26] [37]

TipusTomb2.jpgTaken together, Savitri Devi describes her ideal state — her dream of National Socialism — as follows:

Modern civilization at its best, modern industry in all its efficiency, in all its power, in all its grandeur; modern life with all its comforts and, along with that, the eternal Heathendom of the Aryans; the religion of living — physical and supra-physical — perfection, of “God residing in pure blood” to repeat the words of Himmler; the religion of the Swastika which is the religion of the Sun; efficiency and inspiration; iron discipline coupled with enthusiasm; work, a parade; life, a manly hymn; military schools and up-to-date dwellings in the midst of trees; blast furnaces and Sun temples. That is the super-civilization according to my heart. That is, that always was my conception of true National Socialism applied in practice.” [27] [38]

This archeofuturist vision weds the modernist emphasis on high technology to an archaic state based on hierarchy, communal religion, and good breeding. While the National Socialist state was one of the more successful attempts to create such a society in the 20th century, thus earning Savitri Devi’s veneration, this cultivation of nobility and concern with eugenics is not confined to the Nazis. It is a feature of classical politics, notably in the Greek world, where it found expression in the ancient Spartan regime and the political theory of Plato. Among the ancients, it was likewise understood that confusion in breeding — the “regression of castes” — led to myriad social ills, ultimately resulting in the downfall of the state. Like the ancients, Savitri Devi was under no illusions about the permanency of any political solutions, at least not in the world as we know it. All things are swept away by the current of time, in order that others might be born.

The Kali Yuga and the Men Against Time

Savitri-Lightning-Mock2-200x300.jpg

You can buy Savitri Devi’s The Lightning and the Sun here [39].

One of Savitri Devi’s more unique contributions is how she situated the National Socialist enterprise in universal history. She subscribed to the cyclical theory of existence, and accepted that mankind presently found itself at the nadir of the cycle, known to the Hindus as the Kali Yuga.

In her opus The Lightning and the Sun [40], she posited the existence of three types of world-historical figures: “Men In Time,” who are unwitting agents of divine destruction to bring about the end of a cycle (Genghis Kahn, for instance); “Men Above Time,” whose advanced spiritual state places them outside the cosmic cycle altogether (Akhnaton, Buddha, Christ); and “Men Against Time,” who combine the transcendence of the Men Above Time with the ferocity of the Men In Time, and battle with detached violence to resist the decline. She placed Adolf Hitler in this last category. Following Germany’s defeat in the war, Savitri Devi rationalized that this defeat was inevitable as the forces of decline had become too great. It was a “heroic but practically vain attempt at ‘rectification’ . . . Despite all the power and all the prestige at his disposal, Adolf Hitler could not create — recreate — the conditions that were and remain essential to the blossoming of a Golden Age.” [28] [41] National Socialism’s defeat was simply the final push for a world already in ruins, eagerly awaiting its destroyer and liberator. Hence, Savitri Devi would (infamously) describe Hitler as an avatar of Vishnu, but not the ultimate avatar. This task is reserved to Kalki, who would come to bring an end to this dying world so that another might arise from its ruins.

It is difficult to say whether this is intended symbolically or if Savitri Devi actually worshipped Hitler as a demigod. Needless to say, her apparent deification of Hitler creates some obvious difficulties for anyone seeking to detach her philosophy from National Socialism. Moreover, her acceptance that we are at the end of a cosmic cycle, and that nothing can be done save to pray for the coming of Kalki the Destroyer, seemingly lends itself to nihilism and despair. It is at any rate not conducive to the great efforts now needed in the political and cultural spheres.

Regarding the potential for nihilism, it is important to remember that most traditional religious doctrines, and indeed even modern science, posit an inevitable end to life as we know it. How one reacts to this knowledge is dependent upon one’s personal equation. For some, it may lead to hedonism, selfishness, or destructive despair. For the noble, for the true Man Against Time, the likelihood or certainty of defeat on the temporal plane does not lessen his resolve. His action flows from the essence of being, the cosmic role he is meant to play, rather than any certainty of success. He therefore fights dispassionately against the forces of disintegration and chaos.

9780692371947_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpgAnd what are these forces? Savitri Devi names several malefactors throughout her writings: democratic demagogues, Marxist revolutionaries, vivisectionists, “the so-called ‘benefactors of mankind,’” modern artists, Christians, and the “Jewish world-community.” Savitri Devi viewed these corrupting figures as more-or-less unwitting servants of the darkness, and describes their mission thus:

It is an unholy purpose, the fulfillment of which would imply the dissolution of all races and of all genuine nationalities; of all natural communities, i.e., of all those that have a solid racial background . . . and the ever-tightening grip of a soulless money power — the power of the raceless, gifted with destructive intelligence — over increasingly bastardized and numberless masses of Menschenmaterial, possessing neither thought nor will of their own, nor the innocence and nobility of real animals. It is the purpose of the Forces of darkness, whose influence grows, whose free play becomes more and more free and shameless, and whose rule asserts itself as a more and more obvious reality, as history run; its fated downward course. It is the purpose of Time itself, as Destroyer of all creation; as Leveller and Denier.” [29] [42]

This battle is thus understood as a contest between higher powers, using humans as their material and pawns, a kind of “occult war [43].” Despite the high stakes, this perspective has the odd effect of depersonalizing the struggle. Savitri Devi, following the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, states of the enemy that “it is not necessary to hate him. He follows his nature and achieves his destiny while being opposed to the eternal values. . . .  But — and precisely for this reason — [fight him] with detachment and all your power: the strong preserve a serene balance even in the most exultant fanaticism.” [30] [44] Given the heavily decayed state of the world, Savitri Devi insisted that great violence and brutality would be necessary to fight back the forces of darkness, and that any violence done for that purpose would therefore be sacred and justified.

Savitri Devi strongly admired the SS in part because she perceived it as the agent of divine retribution upon these forces of decadence. The men who comprised the SS were “the physical and moral elite of awakening Aryandom, the living, conscious kernel out of which and round which the yet unborn race of gods on earth — regenerate Aryandom — was to take shape and soul.” [31] [45] Their standards of racial purity, physical beauty, vigor, cleanliness, martial valor, and high character alone were sufficient to justify this high praise; the fact that their ideological underpinnings were those of a monastic warrior brotherhood fighting dispassionately against decadence was even more so. In fact, in Savitri Devi’s eyes, the S.S. takes on the form of a kind of weaponized Tradition, akin to the League of Shadows [46].

Savitri Devi summarizes her attitude towards the Kali Yuga and detached warfare, and their relationship to the primordial tradition expressed in National Socialism, as follows:

It is, I repeat, a Golden Age philosophy in the midst of our age of gloom; the philosophy of those who stand heroically against the downward current of history — against Time — knowing that history, that moves in circles, will one day forward their lofty dreams; the philosophy of those few who . . . prefer to fight an impossible battle and to fall, if necessary, but to feel, when the new dawn comes, that they have called it, in a way, through the magic virtue of action for the beauty of action; who, if the dawn is not to shine in their lifetime, will still act against the growing tide of mediocrity and vulgarity, for the sole joy of fulfilling the inner law of an heroic nature.” [32] [47]

Despite her praise for the warrior, Savitri Devi’s pessimism concerning the post-WWII world gives her little hope of successfully resisting the decay. She writes that there are few activities in modern life which are not wholly futile, beyond growing food, [33] [48] working to preserve the “elite minorities” of all races and species from extinction, showing kindness towards the innocent among the animal and human world, and “curs[ing] in one’s heart, day and night, today’s humanity (apart from very rare exceptions), and to work with all one’s efforts for its destruction.” [34] [49] One cannot help but notice that this overwhelming pessimism grows far more prominent in Savitri Devi’s postwar writings, after witnessing the destruction and humiliation of the last bastion of Aryandom on earth.

The Education of Maximiani Portas

ATROEbookcvr-224x300.jpg

You can buy And Time Rolls On: The Savitri Devi Interviews here. [50]

With respect to the purpose of this essay, I am forced to admit that it is impossible to imagine a Savitri Devi who is not a Nazi. The circumstances of her life, particularly her love for ancient Indo-Aryan culture, its perceived embodiment in Hitler’s state, and that state’s crushing defeat and humiliation, solidified her fanatical devotion as well as her hatred for the post-war order. But perhaps we can imagine how Savitri Devi’s outlook might have differed if this enthusiasm for National Socialism had not fully taken hold of her mind; if she had remained Maximiani Portas and not become Savitri Devi, the iron maiden, the eulogist and apologist of Nazi Germany, “Hitler’s Priestess.”

If we set aside the veneration of Nazism, I believe we could still preserve everything that makes Savitri Devi particularly valuable as a thinker, even to those who disagree with her devotion to Hitler:

  1. Her understanding of the primordial Indo-Aryan religion;
  2. Her conception of aristocracy within and among species, and insistence that humans have no claim to superiority unless they rise above their merely natural selves;
  3. Her injunction to preserve the noble elite of all species, and to treat the Earth and its myriad creatures with the kindness befitting the noble man;
  4. The need for a state based on classical principles that cultivates true physical and spiritual aristocracy, while utilizing modern technology to advance the goals and improve the lot of its people; and
  5. The recognition of universal forces of decay and the need to combat them with the detached violence of the Aryan warrior.

These are the ways in which Savitri Devi’s thought embodies the themes of an authentic traditional society and adapts them to the present. These are important and original observations that should be taken seriously by any Rightist.

And what of the rest? While I do not intend to offer a critique of National Socialism or Esoteric Hitlerism here, and while I have no particular quarrel with those who embrace these ideologies, I would argue that these are the weaker points in Savitri Devi’s thought. Her idealization of Hitler and the “actually existing” National Socialist state, while a bracing corrective to the propaganda barrage of the post-WWII era, have an element of the outrageous to them. I will not dwell on this point, as the critique of National Socialism from the Right [51] has been done by far greater minds than my own. I will simply say that upholding Hitler’s Germany as the purest expression of the primordial religion since the dawn of the age is hyperbolic, and ignores the many ways in which the regime compromised with modernity. This is not to deny it a certain grandeur, or indeed to deny that life under this regime would almost certainly be preferable to our current situation. Whether it deserves religious veneration is another matter.

JF_cover.jpgOn the subject of religion, Savitri Devi’s loathing of most traditional religions, particularly Christianity, appears to have been partly instinctive and partly informed by Nietzsche and later Nazi pronouncements on the subject. However, though she counted herself among the proponents of the Integral Tradition along with Evola and Guénon, her disdain for these world religions — the very vessels of the primordial religion — separates her from that milieu. Her countless criticisms of Christianity, in particular, are a somewhat tedious and clichéd amalgam of Nietzscheanism, biological racism, and neo-pagan hubris: Christianity “alienates its faithful from nature,” “teaches them the contempt of the body,” and betrays the “stench of the miserable and servile common man.” [35] [52] Moreover, she agreed with Hitler in regarding Christianity as “nothing but a foreign religion imposed on the Germanic peoples and fundamentally opposed to their genius.” Savitri Devi therefore longs for a return to pre-Christian Indo-Aryan paganism.

I’ve sought to address these misconceptions of Western Christianity elsewhere [53], arguing that it is neither foreign to the European soul nor simply a precursor of modern democratic liberalism. I have also argued [12], with Guénon and even Evola, that Western Christianity was a legitimate vehicle of the Traditional idea. Specifically addressing its supposed anti-natural bent, Savitri Devi (and many modern environmentalists [54]) accuse Christianity of human-centeredness and domineering attitudes towards the natural world. However, Christianity is theocentric, not anthropocentric. Its true focus is not on maximizing human numbers or comfort, but in living in accordance with the will of God. Indeed, as men have rejected the divine and natural order and cannot even master themselves, they hardly deserve to be masters of the world. A consequence of their fall from the primordial state is their profound lack of mastery, their physical and intellectual weakness, their susceptibility to natural disaster, sickness, death, and time. Ecological degradation is not an outcome of belief in Christ, but rather a consequence of the timeless and universal attitude of dull pragmatism, the plebeian outlook of the man whose chief concern is wealth and comfort at the expense of the sacred. It is not a feature of any genuine religion.

Ironically, by jettisoning most traditional religions in the name of returning to a primordial “religion of life and light,” Savitri Devi removes some of these traditional restraints on human behavior. Though the metaphysics are vaguely Neoplatonic due to her apparent opposition to transcendent divinity, her religion devolves into a kind of purely immanentistic pantheism, in which gods are simply the spirits of one’s ancestors and one’s folk-soul, and God and nature are synonymous. This mystical Darwinism and reverence for the strong, however, need not lend itself to a reverence for the noble Aryan and lion. It could just as easily involve the worship of the migrant waves in Europe, or the cancerous growth of the modern city, or indeed swarms of locusts, as they are also a part of “nature” and have proven their strength over the old ways and old masters of that land. There is not an objective standard from which to judge human behavior, since (as we know from history) people can judge purely “natural law” to mean all kinds of different things. In short, while Savitri Devi expresses many essentially correct metaphysical ideas, she errs in rejecting the transcendent traditional faiths in favor of what is basically 19th-century racialist pantheism.

page_1sdky.jpgFinally, there is a shocking inhumanity in Savitri Devi’s thought. In some ways, this can be quite refreshing to a modern reader indoctrinated in maudlin liberal humanitarian platitudes. She questions the value of modern medicine, which keeps countless people alive who are too sick and weak to contribute to their race or live purposeful lives. She straightforwardly endorses eugenics programs to maximize the wellbeing and numbers of healthy Aryans, and reduce those of more prolific but less noble bloodlines. The human and material costs of warfare in defense and expansion of Hitler’s Germany are fully justified due to its role as the vehicle of Aryan regeneration. Traitors should be executed without mercy. Though Savitri Devi sometimes questions the Holocaust numbers and narratives, more often than not she simply defends the execution of countless political enemies — among which she includes Jews — as not only necessary but laudable.

Savitri Devi prided herself on her ruthless consistency, her “appalling logic,” and there is no reason to doubt her sincerity. [36] [55] Admittedly, it does seem strange for a woman who spoke so warmly of nonhuman animals — who urged readers to “give an armful of grass to the horse or the weary donkey, a bucket of water to the buffalo dying of thirst. . . a friendly caress to the beast of burden” — to so utterly set such compassion aside when dealing with human beings. [37] [56] And it is not merely towards the enemy that her ruthlessness is directed. She seems to have believed that the sick and weak of her own people must be sacrificed in order to secure the dream of deified Aryandom.

This may be the price one has to pay. But it also entails an abrogation of the traditionally noble ideals, of European chivalry, which demands protection of the weak and defenseless, widows and orphans, children and the innocent. It ignores that members of a community have a responsibility to care for their own people, even the sick, old, fallen, and imperfect. Perhaps not to the insane lengths people go to today, but the obligation still remains. These are the spiritual values, the kindness and compassion of the Aryan race which Savitri Devi prizes so highly, without which its bloodline will cease to be associated with genuine nobility.

In her fury at the destruction and humiliation of Hitler’s Germany, in the fanaticism with which she took up its banner, in the sheer horror of the postwar years, Savitri Devi appears to have lost that element of humanity. She seems to have taken some pride in this fact. Nevertheless, she would also write that “the real superman, if any, is the man in whom boundless kindness to all creatures goes side by side with the utmost intelligence and power.” [38] [57] Perhaps if she had remained Maximiani Portas — the young European girl who loved ancient Greece, who loved the beasts of the forests and fields, who longed to see a rebirth of ancient Indo-Aryan civilization in all of its ancient glory — she might not have forgotten this sentiment.

If you want to support Counter-Currents, please send us a donation by going to our Entropy page [58] and selecting “send paid chat.” Entropy allows you to donate any amount from $3 and up. All comments will be read and discussed in the next episode of Counter-Currents Radio, which airs every Friday.

Don’t forget to sign up [59] for the twice-monthly email Counter-Currents Newsletter for exclusive content, offers, and news.

Notes

[1] [60] Savitri Devi, Memories and Reflections of an Aryan Woman. New Delhi: Savitri Devi Mukherji, 1976, ch. 8 [61].

[2] [62] Reflections, ch. 10 [63].

[3] [64] Savitri Devi, Gold in the Furnace: Experiences in Post-War Germany [65], ed. R. G. Fowler. Atlanta: Savitri Devi Archive, 2006, ch. 1.

[4] [66] Ibid.

[5] [67] Ibid.

[6] [68] Ibid.

[7] [69] Savitri Devi, The Lightning and the Sun [40]. Buffalo, New York: Samisdat Publishers, Ltd., 1979, p. 265.

[8] [70] Savitri Devi, Impeachment of Man [71]. Costa Mesa, California: The Noontide Press, 1991, p. 82.

[9] [72] Reflections, ch. 1 [73].

[10] [74] Ibid.

[11] [75] Impeachment, p. 113.

[12] [76] Reflections, ch. 12 [77], passim.

[13] [78] Impeachment, p. 147.

[14] [79] Lightning, p. 395.

[15] [80] Impeachment, p. 134.

[16] [81] Lightning, p. 5

[17] [82] Gold, ch. 1.

[18] [83] Reflections, ch. 1.

[19] [84] Reflections, ch. 9 [85].

[20] [86] Reflections, ch. 1.

[21] [87] Gold, ch. 1.

[22] [88] Impeachment, 150.

[23] [89] Ibid., 105.

[24] [90] Ibid., 145.

[25] [91] Ibid., 150.

[26] [92] Gold, ch. 9.

[27] [93] Gold, ch. 12.

[28] [94] Reflections, ch. 11 [95].

[29] [96] Lightning, 248.

[30] [97] Reflections, ch. 1.

[31] [98] Lightning, 374.

[32] [99] Gold, ch. 14.

[33] [100] Lightning, p. 4.

[34] [101] Reflections, ch. 11.

[35] [102] Reflections, ch. 8.

[36] [103] Savitri Devi, Defiance: The Prison Memoirs of Savitri Devi [104], ed. R. G. Fowler. Atlanta: The Savitri Devi Archive, 2008, 77.

[37] [105] Reflections, ch. 1.

[38] [106] Impeachment, 104.

Article printed from Counter-Currents: https://counter-currents.com

URL to article: https://counter-currents.com/2020/09/denazifying-savitri-devi/

URLs in this post:

[1] Hitler’s Priestess: https://nyupress.org/9780814731116/hitlers-priestess/

[2] Miguel Serrano’s: https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Miguel_Serrano

[3] [1]: #_ftnref1

[4] [2: #_ftnref2

[5] ]: http://k

[6] [3]: #_ftnref3

[7] Akhnaton: https://www.savitridevi.org/son-contents.html

[8] [4]: #_ftnref4

[9] [5]: #_ftnref5

[10] [6]: #_ftnref6

[11] life-denying Gnostics: https://plotinusarchive.wordpress.com/2-9-against-the-gnostics/

[12] a previous article: https://counter-currents.com/2020/09/integral-ecology/

[13] here.: https://counter-currents.com/2019/11/gold-in-the-furnaceexperiences-in-post-war-germany/

[14] deep ecology: https://openairphilosophy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/OAP_Naess_Deep_Ecology_Movement.pdf

[15] [7]: #_ftnref7

[16] [8]: #_ftnref8

[17] [9]: #_ftnref9

[18] [10]: #_ftnref10

[19] [11]: #_ftnref11

[20] [12]: #_ftnref12

[21] [13]: #_ftnref13

[22] [14]: #_ftnref14

[23] [15]: #_ftnref15

[24] here.: https://counter-currents.com/2019/11/defiance-the-prison-memoirs-of-savitri-devi/

[25] [16]: #_ftnref16

[26] [17]: #_ftnref17

[27] [18]: #_ftnref18

[28] [19]: #_ftnref19

[29] [20]: #_ftnref20

[30] [21]: #_ftnref21

[31] [22]: #_ftnref22

[32] [23]: #_ftnref23

[33] reactionary modernism: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-european-history/reactionary-modernism-technology-culture-and-politics-weimar-and-third-reich?format=PB&isbn=9780521338332

[34] archeofuturism: https://arktos.com/product/archeofuturism/

[35] [24]: #_ftnref24

[36] [25]: #_ftnref25

[37] [26]: #_ftnref26

[38] [27]: #_ftnref27

[39] here: https://counter-currents.com/the-lightning-and-the-sun-order/

[40] The Lightning and the Sun: http://www.savitridevi.org/PDF/lightning.pdf

[41] [28]: #_ftnref28

[42] [29]: #_ftnref29

[43] occult war: https://www.gornahoor.net/?p=3675

[44] [30]: #_ftnref30

[45] [31]: #_ftnref31

[46] League of Shadows: https://counter-currents.com/2012/07/christopher-nolans-batman-movies-weaponizing-traditionalism-transvaluing-values/

[47] [32]: #_ftnref32

[48] [33]: #_ftnref33

[49] [34]: #_ftnref34

[50] here.: https://counter-currents.com/and-time-rolls-on-order/

[51] from the Right: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a697/746226cff370819e943d6708faa2b66beb2d.pdf

[52] [35]: #_ftnref35

[53] elsewhere: https://counter-currents.com/2020/09/michaelmas/

[54] environmentalists: http://www.cmu.ca/faculty/gmatties/lynnwhiterootsofcrisis.pdf

[55] [36]: #_ftnref36

[56] [37]: #_ftnref37

[57] [38]: #_ftnref38

[58] our Entropy page: https://entropystream.live/countercurrents

[59] sign up: https://counter-currents.com/2020/05/sign-up-for-our-new-newsletter/

[60] [1]: #_ftn1

[61] ch. 8: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_8.html

[62] [2]: #_ftn2

[63] ch. 10: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_10.html

[64] [3]: #_ftn3

[65] Gold in the Furnace: Experiences in Post-War Germany: https://pvsheridan.com/Gold-in-the-Furnace.pdf

[66] [4]: #_ftn4

[67] [5]: #_ftn5

[68] [6]: #_ftn6

[69] [7]: #_ftn7

[70] [8]: #_ftn8

[71] Impeachment of Man: http://www.savitridevi.org/PDF/impeachment.pdf

[72] [9]: #_ftn9

[73] ch. 1: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_1.html

[74] [10]: #_ftn10

[75] [11]: #_ftn11

[76] [12]: #_ftn12

[77] ch. 12: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_12.html

[78] [13]: #_ftn13

[79] [14]: #_ftn14

[80] [15]: #_ftn15

[81] [16]: #_ftn16

[82] [17]: #_ftn17

[83] [18]: #_ftn18

[84] [19]: #_ftn19

[85] ch. 9: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_9.html

[86] [20]: #_ftn20

[87] [21]: #_ftn21

[88] [22]: #_ftn22

[89] [23]: #_ftn23

[90] [24]: #_ftn24

[91] [25]: #_ftn25

[92] [26]: #_ftn26

[93] [27]: #_ftn27

[94] [28]: #_ftn28

[95] ch. 11: https://www.savitridevi.org/M&R_chapter_11.html

[96] [29]: #_ftn29

[97] [30]: #_ftn30

[98] [31]: #_ftn31

[99] [32]: #_ftn32

[100] [33]: #_ftn33

[101] [34]: #_ftn34

[102] [35]: #_ftn35

[103] [36]: #_ftn36

[104] Defiance: The Prison Memoirs of Savitri Devi: https://www.savitridevi.org/PDF/defiance.pdf

[105] [37]: #_ftn37

[106] [38]: #_ftn38

 

jeudi, 27 août 2020

Hinduism and the Culture Wars

1280-678325316-lord-shiva.jpg

Hinduism and the Culture Wars

Koenraad Elst

#IndicTalks

 
 
In this introduction of his brilliant new book, Koenraad Elst talks about 'Hinduism and the Culture Wars'. Culture Wars are a common phenomenon in the West, where tradition represented often by the religious orthodoxy and the old establishment resists every new change that is being brought about in the society, even the necessary changes. The Old Guard, guided by religion, in this context, acts as the automatic resistance to anything new. That is the reason that Evolution and Abortion are still raging debates in the West, even in countries like the United States of America. This is because, the Prophetic Monotheism prevalent in the West and most of the world except India and China, resists change and ossifies time.
 
On the other hand is a pagan and polytheistic culture like Hinduism, where culture wars are hardly seen. Hindu society accepts necessary change because its guiding dharmic system of Sanatana Dharma has inbuilt mechanisms of social change. It keeps incorporating progressive ideas and necessary changes along with conserving the core civilizational beliefs. Listen to this brilliant Talk to know how unique India's dharmic way of life is and how it takes the middle path between tradition and change.
 
 
For related Indic Talks and Indic Courses, visit :

Ram Swarup And Sita Ram Goel: Their Importance For Hindu Thought

hqdefaultRSGoel.jpg

Ram Swarup And Sita Ram Goel: Their Importance For Hindu Thought

Koenraad Elst 

Voice Of India

 
Shri Ram Swarup and Shri Sita Ram Goel always emphasized that the religion is the problem, not its followers. To talk about Muslims without implying Islam, is irrelevant. The essence of Islam is simply what is laid out in the Qur’an and the Hadith, i.e. Mohammed’s beliefs and conduct. Shri Ram Swarup and Shri Sita Ram Goel will be remembered by Hindus in India and around the world for a long time. For most of the last half of the twentieth century, they produced hundreds of books, articles and pamphlets praising the glories of Hinduism while warning of its most malicious foes.
 
 
About Speaker:
- Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking Belgian) Catholic family. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. During a stay at the Benares Hindu University, he discovered India's communal problem and wrote his first book about the budding Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate.
 

Koenraad_Elst_at_Varanasi.jpg

 
Subscribe to our YouTube channels:
Follow Sangam Talks on Social Media :
 
 
 

41iFjdl4JxL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

lundi, 03 février 2020

Coomaraswamy et l’éternel péril occidental

coomaraswamy.jpg

Coomaraswamy et l’éternel péril occidental

Les Carnets de Nicolas Bonnal

Créature instable et périlleuse, l’occident menace le monde en se menaçant lui-même. Il a tout détruit avec le capital et les bons sentiments qui vont avec. L’impérialisme américain en phase terminale mais hystérique veut exterminer russes, chinois, iraniens et sanctionner ce qui lui résiste. Les européens (petit cap de l’Asie ou de l’Amérique ?) suivent extatiques ou éteints.  En même temps l’occident s’autodétruit rageusement à coups d’oligarchie, d’écologie, de féminisme, d’antiracisme et d’humanitarisme ; il contaminera le reste du monde comme toujours.

Golem dérangé ou marionnette folle, on ne l’arrêtera pas comme cela, cet occident. Sa matrice garde son pouvoir d’attraction étrange en plein Kali-Yuga : rappelons Spengler pour qui le triomphe de l’empire romain était déjà celui du pas grand-chose sur le vide. Ceux qui applaudissent le crépuscule américain oublient que l’on navigue dans la matrice américaine – dans un marécage de signes qui aura tout noyé, traditions, culture, spiritualités.

61TKv-9h3iL.jpgOn sait ce que Guénon pensait de l’occident et de sa mission civilisatrice. On va rappeler le grand hindouiste de Ceylan Coomaraswamy (s’il voyait ce qu’on a fait de son île…) qui écrivait vers 1945 :

« Parmi les forces qui font obstacle à une synthèse culturelle ou, pour mieux dire, à une entente commune indispensable en vue d’une coopération, les plus grandes sont celles de l’ignorance et du parti pris. L’ignorance et le parti pris sont à la base de la naïve présomption d’une «mission civilisatrice». Celle-ci apparaît, aux yeux des peuples «arriérés», contre qui elle est dirigée et dont elle se propose de détruire les cultures, comme une simple impertinence et une preuve du provincialisme de l’Occident moderne. »

Mais il ne faut pas mépriser le provincialisme américain ou occidental. Car il est résilient, insatiable, protéiforme, infatigable, et il a depuis tout corrompu avec son confort et sa propagande. Coomaraswamy écrivait il y a presque un siècle… que de progrès accomplis depuis !

Et Coomaraswamy ajoute sur l’arrogance du blanc :

« A vrai dire, si l’on veut qu’il y ait sur terre un peu plus de bonne volonté, l’homme blanc devra réaliser qu’il doit vivre dans un monde peuplé en grande partie de gens de couleur (et «de couleur» signifie habituellement, pour lui, «arriéré», c’est-à-dire différent de lui-même). Et le chrétien devra réaliser qu’il vit dans un monde à majorité non chrétienne. Il faudra que chacun prenne conscience de ces faits et les accepte, sans indignation ni regret. »

Comme on sait, l’occident est aujourd’hui suffisamment civilisateur pour vouloir effacer et le reste de blancs et le reste de christianisme (le fils de Coomaraswamy lamenta le concile antichrétien de Vatican II). Coomaraswamy rappelle ce complexe de maître d’école (Chesterton parlait de crèche féministe) :

« Avant même de pouvoir songer à un gouvernement mondial, il nous faut des citoyens du monde, qui puissent rencontrer leurs concitoyens sans se sentir gênés, comme entre gentlemen, et non en soi-disant maîtres d’école rencontrant des élèves que l’on instruit «obligatoirement» même si c’est aussi «librement». Il n’y a plus place dans le monde pour la grenouille dans le puits; elle ne prétend juger les autres que par sa propre expérience et ses propres habitudes. »

Et de se montrer polémique sur les réactions à cet occident, à une époque où l’on compte sur l’islam :

« Nous avons ainsi fini par réaliser que, comme l’a dit, il y a peu, El Glaoui, le pacha de Marrakech, «le monde musulman ne veut pas de l’inimaginable monde américain ou de son incroyable style de vie. Nous (les musulmans) voulons le monde du Qoran», et il en est de même, mutatis mutandis, pour la majorité des Orientaux. Cette majorité comprend non seulement tous ceux qui sont encore «cultivés et illettrés», mais aussi une fraction, bien plus importante qu’on ne le croit, de ceux qui ont passé des années à vivre et à étudier en Occident, car c’est parmi ceux-ci qu’il est possible de trouver bon nombre des «réactionnaires» les plus convaincus. Parfois, « plus nous voyons ce qu’est la démocratie et plus nous estimons la monarchie»; plus nous voyons ce qu’est l’« égalité », et moins nous admirons «ce monstre de la croissance moderne, l’État commercialo-financier» dans lequel la majorité vit de ses « jobs», où la dignité d’une vocation ou d’une profession est réservée au très petit nombre et où, comme l’écrit Éric Gill, «d’un côté, il y a l’artiste voué uniquement à s’exprimer, de l’autre l’ouvrier privé de tout “soi” à exprimer». »

Disons-le nûment, l’idéal occidental c’est du point de vue traditionnel le degré zéro de l’humain.

Coomaraswamy ajoute qu’il est bon de résister au commerce :

6700_1425892170.jpg« M. Brailsford objecte que «les seuls obstacles à l’accroissement du commerce intérieur sur une échelle gigantesque sont la pauvreté des villages et l’autarcie qui est propre à leurs plus anciennes traditions... Il existe encore maint village, où les artisans héréditaires, qui servent pour une ration de grains ou quelques arpents de terre franche, tisseront les étoffes dont il aura besoin, forgeront ses houes et tourneront ses pots». Malheureusement, «l’accroissement du commerce intérieur sur une échelle gigantesque » n’est aucunement l’une de nos ambitions principales. Nous tenons encore (avec Philon, De Decalogo, 69) pour vérité patente que l’artisan est de valeur supérieure au produit de son métier, et nous avons conscience que c’est avant tout dans les sociétés industrielles que cette vérité est ignorée. »

Le monde traditionnel est plus « démocratique » (Bernanos et Chesterton l’ont aussi compris, à propos de notre moyen âge des communes et des cités) :

« …le gouvernement traditionnel de l'Inde est bien moins centralisé et bien moins bureaucratique que n’importe quelle forme de gouvernement connue des démocraties modernes. On pourrait même dire que les castes sont la citadelle d’un gouvernement autonome bien plus réel que ce qu’on pourrait réaliser par le décompte de millions de voix prolétaires. Dans une très large mesure, les diverses castes coïncident avec les corps de métier. »

Et de défendre le modèle corporatif (la révolution libératrice supprima comme on sait cent jours fériés et chômés en France) :

« On pourrait dire que si l’Inde ne fut pas, au sens chinois ou islamique, un pays démocratique, elle fut néanmoins la terre aux multiples démocraties, c’est-à-dire aux groupes autonomes maîtrisant pleinement toutes les questions qui sont réellement dans leur compétence, et que peut-être aucun autre pays au monde n’a été mieux formé pour l’autonomie. Mais, comme l’a dit sir George Birdwood, «sous la domination britannique en Inde, l’autorité des corporations s’est nécessairement relâchée»; la nature d’une telle «nécessité» ne supportera guère l’analyse. »

Puis Coomaraswamy décrit l’horreur économique et militariste (et humanitaire, car tout vient avec dans le paquet-cadeau occidental,le bandage avec les bombes, comme dit le capitaine Villard dans le film Apocalypse now) :

« La simple existence de ces grands agrégats prolétariens dont les membres, qui s’exploitent les uns les autres, prolifèrent dans des «capitales» - lesquelles n’ont plus aucun rapport organique avec les corps sociaux sur lesquels elles croissent, mais dépendent des  débouchés mondiaux qui doivent être créés par des «guerres de pacification» et sans cesse stimulés par la «création de nouveaux besoins» au moyen d’une publicité suggestive - est fatale aux sociétés traditionnelles les plus fortement différenciées, dans lesquelles l’individu possède un statut déterminé par sa fonction et, en aucune manière, uniquement par la richesse ou la pauvreté; leur existence ruine automatiquement l’individu dont l’« efficacité » le ravale au niveau de producteur de matières premières, destinées à être transformées dans les usines du vainqueur; et on s’en débarrasse en les vendant à bas prix aux mêmes peuples «arriérés» qui doivent accepter leur quantité annuelle de gadgets, si l’on veut que les affaires prospèrent. »

Guénon aussi perçoit à cette époque que l’orient va craquer bien aidé par les guerres dites mondiales puis par la décolonisation (voyez notre texte sur Burckhardt). 

Puis Coomaraswamy cite le fameux et si peu lu Dr Schweitzer :

« Albert Schweitzer caractérise les conséquences économiques de l’exploitation commerciale (le «commerce mondial»): «Chaque fois que le commerce du bois marche bien, une famine permanente règne dans la région de l’Ogooué.» Lorsque ainsi «le commerce élit domicile dans chaque arbre», les conséquences spirituelles sont encore plus dévastatrices; la «civilisation» peut détruire les âmes aussi bien que les corps de ceux quelle contamine. »

Malheureusement il y a les premiers convertis à la matrice (la jeunesse orientale nage et navigue dedans) :

« Bien entendu, je n’ignore pas qu’il existe une foule d’Orientaux occidentalisés qui sont tout à fait disposés et même impatients de recevoir les dona ferentes de l’industrie sans s’attarder à examiner un seul instant ces «chevaux» donnés… »

A l’époque on résiste dans le cadre de la décolonisation (dont les effets furent pervers) :

wisdom.jpg« Qu’avez-vous exactement à nous offrir, vous qui êtes si pénétrés de votre «mission civilisatrice»? N’êtes-vous point étonnés «qu’il n’y ait plus de peuple dans toute l’Asie qui ne regarde l’Europe avec crainte et soupçon», comme l’a dit Rabindranath Tagore, ou que nous redoutions la perspective d’une alliance des puissances impérialistes dont la «Charte de l’Atlantique» ne devait pas s’appliquer à l’Inde et ne s’appliquera pas à la Chine si on peut l’éviter? »

Depuis on a progressé et tout a été balayé ou presque, même quand on prétend résister au nom du monde soi-disant multipolaire. Ni la Russie ni aucun pays oriental (pauvre Corée du Nord…) ne proposent de modèle alternatif. La Chine est bien compliquée – et combien peu attirante. Quant à Cuba ou au Venezuela…

Un peu de Debord pour compléter le maître, car le monde des années 2020 (ou 1980) est certainement plus effarant que celui des années quarante, hors-zone de guerre occidentale :

« Hormis un héritage encore important, mais destiné à se réduire toujours, de livres et de bâtiments anciens, qui du reste sont de plus en plus souvent sélectionnés et mis en perspective selon les convenances du spectacle, il n’existe plus rien, dans la culture et dans la nature, qui n’ait été transformé, et pollué, selon les moyens et les intérêts de l’industrie moderne. »

Et Debord de dénoncer justement les « inconséquents » qui croient que quelque chose du monde ancien a (ou aurait pu) subsisté :

« Non seulement on fait croire aux assujettis qu’ils sont encore, pour l’essentiel, dans un monde que l’on a fait disparaître, mais les gouvernants eux-mêmes souffrent parfois de l’inconséquence de s’y croire encore par quelques côtés. »

Lucien Cerise conclura logiquement :

« Pour Baudrillard, la véritable apocalypse n’était pas la fin réelle du monde, sa fin physique, matérielle, assumée, mais son unification dans ce qu’il appelait le « mondial », ce que l’on appelle aujourd’hui le mondialisme, et qui signait la vraie fin, le simulacre ultime, le « crime parfait », c’est-à-dire la fin niant qu’elle est la fin, la fin non assumée, donnant l’illusion que ça continue. La Matrice, comme dans le film, si vous voulez. »

Sources 

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Les illusions de la démocratie, in suis-je le gardien de mon frère (the bugbear of literacy), Pardes.

Lucien Cerise, gouverner par le chaos

Debord – Commentaires

Jean Baudrillard – La guerre du golfe n’a pas eu lieu (Galilée)

mardi, 25 juin 2019

Le système des castes

Castes.jpg

Le système des castes

Koenraad Elst

Dans un débat inter-religions, la plupart des hindous peuvent facilement être mis sur la défensive avec un simple mot : caste. On peut s’attendre à ce que tout polémiste anti-hindou déclare que « le système des castes typiquement hindou est l’apartheid le plus cruel, imposé par les barbares envahisseurs Aryens blancs aux gentils indigènes à la peau sombre ». Voici une présentation plus équilibrée et plus historique de cette institution controversée.

castesindeelst.jpgMérites du système des castes

Le système des castes est souvent dépeint comme l’horreur absolue. L’inégalité innée est en effet inacceptable pour nous les modernes, mais cela n’empêche pas que ce système a aussi eu ses mérites. La caste est perçue comme une « forme d’exclusion », mais elle est avant tout une forme d’« appartenance », une structure naturelle de solidarité. Pour cette raison, les missionnaires chrétiens et musulmans trouvèrent très difficile d’attirer les hindous hors de leurs communautés. Parfois les castes furent collectivement converties à l’islam, et le pape Grégoire XV (1621-1623) décréta que les missionnaires pouvaient tolérer les distinctions de castes parmi les convertis au christianisme ; mais en gros, les castes restèrent un obstacle efficace à la destruction de l’hindouisme au moyen de la conversion. C’est pourquoi les missionnaires commencèrent à attaquer l’institution des castes et en particulier la caste des brahmanes. Cette propagande s’est épanouie en un anti-brahmanisme à part entière, l’équivalent indien de l’antisémitisme.

Chaque caste avait un grand espace d’autonomie, avec ses propres lois, droits et privilèges, et souvent ses propres temples. Les affaires inter-castes étaient résolues au conseil de village par consensus ; même la caste la plus basse avait un droit de veto. Cette autonomie des niveaux intermédiaires de la société est l’antithèse de la société totalitaire dans laquelle l’individu se trouve sans défense devant l’Etat tout-puissant. Cette structure décentralisée de la société civile et de la communauté religieuse hindoue a été cruciale pour la survie de l’hindouisme sous la domination musulmane. Alors que le bouddhisme fut balayé dès que ses monastères furent détruits, l’hindouisme se retira dans sa structure de castes et laissa passer la tempête.

Les castes fournirent aussi un cadre pour intégrer les communautés d’immigrants : juifs, zoroastriens et chrétiens syriaques. Ils ne furent pas seulement tolérés, mais assistés dans leurs efforts pour préserver leurs traditions distinctives.

Typiquement hindou ?

On prétend habituellement que la caste est une institution uniquement hindoue. Pourtant, les contre-exemples ne sont pas difficiles à trouver. En Europe et ailleurs, il y avait (ou il y a encore) une distinction hiérarchique entre nobles et roturiers, les nobles se mariant seulement entre eux. Beaucoup de sociétés tribales punissaient de mort le viol des règles d’endogamie.

Concernant les tribus indiennes, nous voyons les missionnaires chrétiens affirmer que les « membres des tribus ne sont pas des hindous parce qu’ils n’observent pas les castes ». En réalité, la littérature missionnaire elle-même est pleine de témoignages de pratiques de castes parmi les tribus. Un exemple spectaculaire est ce que les missions appellent « l’Erreur » : la tentative, en 1891, de faire manger ensemble des convertis des tribus de Chhotanagpur et des convertis d’autres tribus. Ce fut un désastre pour la mission. La plupart des indigènes renoncèrent au christianisme parce qu’ils choisirent de préserver le tabou des repas entre même tribu. Aussi énergiquement que le brahmane le plus hautain, ils refusaient de mélanger ce que Dieu avait séparé.

L’endogamie et l’exogamie sont observées par les sociétés tribales du monde entier. La question n’est donc pas de savoir pourquoi la société hindoue inventa ce système, mais comment elle put préserver ces identités tribales même après avoir dépassé le stade tribal de la civilisation. La réponse se trouve largement dans l’esprit intrinsèquement respectueux et conservateur de la culture védique en expansion, qui s’assura que chaque tribu pourrait préserver ses coutumes et traditions, y compris sa propre coutume d’endogamie tribale.

Triangle-des-castes.jpg

Description et histoire

Les colonisateurs portugais appliquèrent le terme caste, « lignage, espèce », à deux institutions hindoues différentes : le jati et le varna. L’unité effective du système des castes est le jati, l’unité de naissance, un groupe endogamique dans lequel vous êtes né, et à l’intérieur duquel vous vous marriez. En principe, vous pouvez manger seulement avec des membres du même groupe, mais les pressions de la vie moderne ont érodé cette règle. Les milliers de jatis sont subdivisés en clans exogames, les gotras. Cette double division remonte à la société tribale.

Par contre, le varna est la division fonctionnelle typique d’une société avancée : la civilisation de l’Indus/Saraswati, au troisième millénaire avant JC. La partie la plus récente du Rig-Veda décrit quatre classes : les brahmanes érudits nés de la bouche de Brahma, les kshatriyas guerriers nés de ses bras ; les entrepreneurs vaishyas nés de ses hanches et les travailleurs shudras nés de ses pieds. Tout le monde est un shudra par la naissance. Les garçons deviennent dwija, deux-fois nés, ou membres de l’un des trois varnas supérieurs en recevant le cordon sacré dans la cérémonie de l’upanayama.

Le système du varna se diffusa à partir de la région de Saraswati-Yamuna et s’établit fermement dans l’ensemble de l’Aryavarta (du Cachemire au Vidarbha, du Sind au Bihar). Il était le signe d’une culture supérieure plaçant le pays central aryen civilisé à l’écart des pays mleccha barbares environnants. Au Bengale et dans le Sud, le système était réduit à une distinction entre brahmanes et shudras. Le varna est une catégorie rituelle et ne correspond pas pleinement à un statut social ou économique effectif. Ainsi, la moitié des souverains princiers en Inde Britannique étaient des shudras et quelques-uns étaient des brahmanes, bien que ce fût une fonction kshatriya par excellence. Beaucoup de shudras sont riches, beaucoup de brahmanes sont pauvres.

Le Mahabharata définit ainsi les qualités du varna : « Celui en qui vous trouvez véracité, générosité, absence de haine, modestie, bonté et retenue, est un brahmane. Celui qui accomplit les devoirs d’un chevalier, étudie les écritures, se concentre sur l’acquisition et la distribution de richesses, est un kshatriya. Celui qui aime l’élevage, l’agriculture et l’argent, qui est honnête et bien versé dans les écritures, est un vaishya. Celui qui mange n’importe quoi, pratique n’importe quel métier, ignore les règles de pureté, et ne prend aucun intérêt aux écritures et aux règles de vie, est un shudra ». Plus le varna est élevé, plus les règles d’autodiscipline doivent être observées. C’est pourquoi un jati pouvait collectivement améliorer son statut en adoptant davantage de règles de conduite, par ex. le végétarisme.

castesvaleurs.png

Le second nom d’une personne indique habituellement son jati ou gotra. De plus, on peut utiliser les titres suivants de varna : Sharma (refuge, ou joie) indique un brahmane, Varma (armure) un kshatriya, Gupta (protégé) un vaishya et Das (serviteur) un shudra. Dans une seule famille, une personne peut s’appeler Gupta (varna), une autre Agrawal (jati), et encore une autre Garg (gotra). Un moine, en renonçant au monde, abandonne son nom en même temps que son identité de caste.

Intouchabilité

Au-dessous de la hiérarchie des castes se trouvent les Intouchables, ou harijan (littéralement « les enfants de Dieu »), ou dalits (« opprimés »), ou paraiah (formant une caste en Inde du Sud), ou Scheduled Castes [« castes répertoriées »]. Elles forment environ 16% de la population indienne, autant que les castes supérieures combinées.

L’intouchabilité a son origine dans la croyance que les esprits mauvais entourent la mort et les substances en décomposition. Les gens qui travaillaient avec les cadavres, les excréments ou les peaux d’animaux avaient une aura de danger et d’impureté, ils étaient donc maintenus à l’écart de la société normale et des enseignements et rituels sacrés. Cela prenait souvent des formes grotesques : ainsi, un intouchable devait annoncer sa proximité polluante avec une sonnette, comme un lépreux.

castes-inegalites-indes-03.jpeg

L’intouchabilité est inconnue dans les Védas, et donc répudiée par les réformateurs néo-védiques comme Dayanand Saraswati, Narayan Guru, Gandhiji [Gandhi] et Savarkar. En 1967, le Dr. Ambedkar, un dalit par la naissance et un critique acharné de l’injustice sociale dans l’hindouisme et dans l’islam, réalisa une conversion de masse au bouddhisme, en partie à cause de la supposition (non fondée historiquement) suivant laquelle le bouddhisme aurait été un mouvement anti-caste. La constitution de 1950 supprima l’intouchabilité et approuva des programmes de discrimination positive pour les Scheduled Castes et les Tribus. Dernièrement, le Vishva Hindu Parishad a réussi à faire entrer même les leaders religieux les plus traditionalistes dans la plate-forme anti-intouchabilité, pour qu’ils invitent des harijans dans des écoles védiques et qu’ils les forment à la prêtrise. Dans les villages, cependant, le harcèlement des dalits est encore un phénomène commun, occasionné moins par des questions de pureté rituelle que par des disputes pour la terre et le travail. Néanmoins, l’influence politique croissante des dalits accélère l’élimination de l’intouchabilité.

Conversions inter-castes

Dans le Mahabharata, Yuddhishthira affirme que le varna est défini par les qualités de la tête et du cœur, pas par la naissance. Krishna enseigne que le varna est défini par l’activité (le karma) et la qualité (le guna). Encore aujourd’hui, le débat n’est pas clos pour savoir dans quelle mesure la « qualité » de quelqu’un est déterminée par l’hérédité ou par l’influence environnementale. Et ainsi, alors que la vision héréditaire a été prédominante pendant longtemps, la conception non-héréditaire du varna a toujours été présente aussi, comme cela apparaît d’après la pratique de conversion inter-varnas. Le plus célèbre exemple est le combattant de la liberté au XVIIe siècle, Shivaji, un shudra à qui fut accordé un statut de kshatriya pour cadrer avec ses exploits guerriers. L’expansion géographique de la tradition védique fut réalisée par l’initiation à grande échelle des élites locales dans l’ordre des varnas. A partir de 1875, l’Arya Samaj a systématiquement administré le « rituel de purification » (shuddhi) aux convertis musulmans et chrétiens et aux hindous de basse caste, accomplissant leur dwija. Inversement, l’actuelle politique de discrimination positive a poussé les gens des castes supérieures à se faire accepter dans les Scheduled Castes favorisées.

veer-savarkar-original-imae5skvte8frwzn.jpegVeer Savarkar, l’idéologue du nationalisme hindou, prônait les mariages inter-castes pour unifier la nation hindoue même au niveau biologique. La plupart des hindous contemporains, bien qu’à présent généralement opposés à l’inégalité de caste, continuent à se marier dans leurs jatis respectives parce qu’ils ne voient pas de raison de les supprimer.

Théorie raciale des castes

Au XIXe siècle, les Occidentaux projetèrent la situation coloniale et les théories raciales les plus récentes [de l’époque] sur le système des castes : les castes supérieures étaient les envahisseurs blancs dominant les indigènes à la peau sombre. Cette vision périmée est toujours répétée ad nauseam par les auteurs anti-hindous : maintenant que « idolâtrie » a perdu de sa force comme terme injurieux, « racisme » est une innovation bienvenue pour diaboliser l’hindouisme. En réalité, l’Inde est la région où tous les types de couleur de peau se sont rencontrés et mélangés, et vous trouverez de nombreux brahmanes aussi noirs que Nelson Mandela. D’anciens héros « aryens » comme Rama, Krishna, Draupadi, Ravana (un brahmane) et un grand nombre de voyants védiques furent explicitement décrits comme ayant la peau sombre.

Mais varna ne signifie-t-il pas « couleur de peau » ? Le véritable sens de varna est « splendeur, couleur », d’où « qualité distinctive » ou « un segment d’un spectre ». Les quatre classes fonctionnelles constituent les « couleurs » dans le spectre de la société. Les couleurs symboliques sont attribuées aux varnas sur la base du schéma cosmologique des « trois qualités » (triguna) : le blanc est sattva (véridique), la qualité typique du brahmane ; le rouge est rajas (énergétique), pour le kshatriya ; le noir est tamas (inerte, solide), pour le shudra ; le jaune est attribué au vaishya, qui est défini par un mélange de qualités.

Finalement, la société des castes a été la société la plus stable dans l’histoire. Les communistes indiens avaient l’habitude de dire en ricanant que « l’Inde n’a jamais connu de révolution ». En effet, ce n’est pas une mince affaire.

Traduction du texte anglais publié sur : http://www.geocities.com/integral_tradition/

 

 

11:36 Publié dans Traditions | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Tags : castes, traditions, hindouisme, inde, koenraad elst, koen elst | |  del.icio.us | | Digg! Digg |  Facebook

mercredi, 03 mai 2017

Réactivation du nationalisme hindou en Inde

adityanath.jpg

Georg Immanuel Nagel :

Réactivation du nationalisme hindou en Inde

La politique d’apaisement face aux musulmans prend fin : les nationalistes hindous font face aux islamistes

Le prêtre hindou Yogi Adityanath, 44 ans, est considéré comme le chef spirituel d’un mouvement politique dénommé « Hindutva », que l’on traduit généralement en Occident comme le « nationalisme hindou ». Sur le plan culturel, ce mouvement entend revenir aux racines de la religion hindoue et lutte contre toutes les influences étrangères. Il vise principalement l’islam mais n’épargne pas le christianisme importé par les missionnaires occidentaux.

L’ « Hindutva » téléguide un parti, le « Bharatiya Janata Party » (BJP). En 2014, lors des élections, il a enregistré un franc succès et a pu s’affirmer contre le parti du « Congrès national indien », d’obédience séculière et social-libérale. Depuis cette victoire électorale, le BJP a pu nommer l’un des siens premier ministre, Narendra Modi, chef du gouvernement. Peu avant le déroulement des élections, Adityanath avait annoncé la couleur : le résultat de ces élections allait, de toutes les façons, sonner le glas de la politique d’apaisement face aux musulmans. Ces fortes paroles furent immédiatement suivies d’actes : on fit ferme plusieurs abattoirs musulmans. Pour les Hindous, en effet, les vaches sont des animaux sacrés et les Hindous sont plutôt végétariens : ils n’admettent pas, de ce fait, l’existence d’abattoirs « halal ».

Adityanath est devenu le ministre-président de l’Etat d’Uttar Pradesh, après avoir provoqué un véritable séisme électoral. Cet Etat de l’Union indienne compte 200 millions d’habitants. Il est le plus peuplé d’Inde. Cette position est considérée comme l’une des plus importantes du pays. Quelque 80% des habitants de l’Uttar Pradesh sont hindous, le reste est principalement musulman. Les adhérents à la religion de Mohammed sont donc en minorité, ce qui ne les empêche pas de se méconduire de plus en plus fréquemment. Là-bas aussi, l’islamisme fondamentaliste, prompt à déchaîner la violence, a le vent en poupe.

En acquérant le titre de ministre-président de l’Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath est sorti de l’ombre pour marcher sous les feux de la rampe. Il a toutefois été longtemps membre du parlement et n’était nullement un inconnu. Ce qui a changé, c’est que le mouvement religieux parapolitique qu’il a présidé ne peut plus être considéré comme une marge sans importance de la vie politique indienne. Le nationalisme hindou connaît diverses tendances. La plus forte de celles-ci était représentée par les libéraux (à degrés divers), parmi lesquels il faut compter le premier ministre Modi. Avec l’accession d’Adityanath au pouvoir dans l’Uttar Pradesh, qui a néanmoins reçu l’appui de Modi, les durs du mouvement donneront davantage le ton dans les années à venir.

Adityanath incarne un type nouveau d’homme politique : celui qui a d’abord été un chef religieux avant d’être un chef politique. Avant qu’il n’ait atteint l’âge de trente ans, il était déjà l’hiérarque supérieur d’un temple de Gorakhpur. Il parvenait à attirer de nombreux sympathisants de sa cause. Leur nombre n’a cessé de croître. Sur le plan religieux, sa principale promesse électorale a été de faire bâtir un temple hindou dédié au dieu Rama, là où, précisément, se trouvait jadis une énorme mosquée que la foule des Hindous avait brûlé de fond en comble en 1992. Mais la politique préconisée par Yogi Adityanath ne se borne pas au symbolisme religieux.

En effet, les médias dominants en Occident aiment à répandre l’idée d’une Inde qui se rapproche des valeurs occidentales, qui glisse lentement mais sûrement vers le libéralisme et la modernité. Ce ne sera plus le cas avec une personnalité comme Adityanath. Il passe pour un religieux radical, pour le représentant des intérêts des Hindous, refusant tout compromis, parce que ces derniers représentent finalement l’immense majorité de la population. Il avait acquis la notoriété dans le pays après avoir organisé des manifestations de masse. Lors de l’une d’elles, il avait eu ces paroles : « S’ils tuent un seul d’entre les nôtres, nous tuerons cent des leurs ».

hindu-rally-vahin-vigilante-members-unnao-part_eb03bd68-2fe6-11e7-9a1e-ae80039293d8.jpg

En 2002, Adityanath avait créé un mouvement de jeunesse, l’ « Hindu Yuva Vahini », que les critiques libéraux qualifient d’ « extrémiste » et de « militant ». Les nationalistes hindous considèrent toutefois qu’une solide attitude d’auto-défense est nécessaire pour protéger la majorité de la population contre les menées agressives des islamistes, toujours plus nombreuses au fil du temps. En effet, force est de constater que, surtout dans les provinces du Nord, les musulmans s’attaquent de plus en plus souvent aux Hindous, commettent des actes terroristes et des assassinats. On reproche, il est vrai, à des groupes comme l’ « Hindou Yuva Vahini » ou à des organisations similaires de faire usage de la violence. Pour venger des assassinats commis au nom de l’islamisme, des nationalistes hindous n’ont pas hésité à incendier des mosquées et à commettre d’autres actes de représailles. Il n’est pas rare non plus que des batailles rangées se déroulent dans les rues entre les différentes factions.

Adityanath apprécie le président Donald Trump. Il avait notamment apprécié la déclaration du futur président des Etats-Unis qui entendait bannir les musulmans du territoire américain (promesse électorale qui n’a pas été tenue…). Egalement, la volonté de juguler l’immigration en provenance de pays musulmans afin de barrer la route au terrorisme. Toutes ces mesures annoncées plaisaient forcément au leader hindou…

Pour le moment, une seule chose semble certaine : l’évolution politique de l’Inde va dans le sens du traditionalisme hindou et de l’auto-défense de la majorité hindoue.

Georg Immanuel Nagel.

(article paru dans « zur Zeit », Vienne, n°17/2017, http://www.zurzeit.at ).

jeudi, 22 septembre 2016

The Indo-European Concept of Cyclical History and the Quest to Acquire Lost Wisdom

Konark_Sun_Temple_Wheel_and_Sculpture_By_Piyal_Kundu.jpg

The Indo-European Concept of Cyclical History and the Quest to Acquire Lost Wisdom

Ex: http://www.geopolitica.ru

Despite all of the bad things one could say of Hitler’s Germany during the Second World War (and there are plenty of “bad things” to be said!), it is a fact of history that prior to the war (from 1933 to 1939) the German government pursued a scientific-cultural quest for lost knowledge which was unprecedented in the annals of recorded history. Specificallythe German Reich sought to acquire as much of the lost knowledge orwisdom of the ancient Indo-European peoples as possible. It was the special task of the Ahnenerbe (the cultural and scientific division of the SS) to research and investigate all aspects of the Indo-European or, as they put it, the“Aryan” past.

Needless to say, this massive scientific undertaking was by no means confined to the European continent, but spanned an area encompassing the entire globe. From Germany to Tibet to South America and beyond – wherever a great civilization was said to have arisen and mysteriously vanish – the Ahnenerbewas there “on the scene,” as it were, conducting extensive archeological fieldwork and employing other integrated methods of scientific research.

This admirable if not entirely praiseworthy endeavor, regardless of the variousideologically-based shortcomings of the National Socialist regime itself, is what prompted Eurasianist leader Alexander Dugin to say in his 1997 article “Fascism – Borderless and Red” that the Ahnenerbe was “an intellectual oasis in the framework of the National Socialist regime.”In fact, this statement is entirely accurate. In great contradistinction to the undeniablyethno-chauvinist and hyper-militarist aspects of the National Socialist regime – and the overtly boorish culture of bureaucracy which therefore emerged and was typified by the likes of Martin Bormann – the Ahnenerbe was indeed a great “intellectual oasis”which accumulated a vast wealth of scholarly information that the Western allies either ignored or openly refuted. The result is that, to this day, the majority of people in the West remain totally ignorant of many of the proven historical findings which were “common knowledge” to the cutting-edge scholars of the Third Reich (most of whom are now deceased).

revmodwelt.jpgOne thing which became clear to the Ahnenerbe, early on, was that all pre-Christian Indo-European cultures seemed to conceive of history as being cyclical rather than linear. In other words, all ancient “pagan” Indo-European cultures believed in an organic rhythmical order to both Time and Space. This conception of cyclical history – first expounded upon in modern times by Nikolai Danilevsky (1822-1885) and then Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) – stands in stark contrast to the Semitic-derived, “Abrahamic” belief in a purely linear or teleological conception of Time.

Perhaps the most convincing evidence supporting the cyclical conception of Time is the recurring “Four Ages of Man” theme which appears in many of the world’s ancient Indo-Europeancultures. The great Italian mystic and self-designated “Radical Traditionalist”Julius Evola is to be credited for his scholarly study of the Four Ages, most notably in his Revolt Against the Modern World (first published in 1934).

As Evola points out in his work, the Greco-Roman description of the Four Ages comes down to us from the ancient Greek and Roman authors Hesiod and Ovid, who associated each period with a particular metal. They outlined the Four Ages thus: (1) the Gold Age, (2) the Silver Age, (3) the Bronze Age, and (4) the Iron Age. The reader should note that these last two epochs bear no relation whatsoever to the mainstream historical Bronze and Iron ages. Rather they correspond to the cyclical periods of Indo-Aryan (Hindu) cosmology known as Yugas, which are (in order): (1) Satya or “Krita” Yuga, (2) Treta Yuga, (3) Dvapara Yuga, and (4) Kali Yuga or the “Dark Age.” In Hesiod’s model, a fifth “Age of Heroes” was inserted between the Bronze and Iron Ages. Evidently the Age of Heroes was a partial yet short-lived restoration of the high primordial state (the Gold Age) as recounted in the numerous heroic tales of mythology, which all point to a deeper esoteric meaning. Our own present epoch, which includes both modernity and postmodernity, is that of the Kali Yuga or Dark Age – the era of unbridled human degeneracy.

The Doctrine of the Four Ages fundamentally supports the concept of humanity’s devolution or “fall” from a primeval state of higher consciousness. In fact both devolution and evolution (in the non-Darwinian sense) are in complete harmony with the beliefs of most traditional cultures worldwide. Indeed both evolution (i.e. the quest for higher spiritual awareness) and devolution (submission to materialist degeneracy) are viewed organically, as continually interacting positive and negative charges to Nature’s cosmic balance or “dance.”Thus, the concept of devolution maintains that as spiritual decadence set in among the original Hyperborean and Atlantean races, their respective cultural declines also ensued. Such devolution can be found in many other civilizations known to the historical record, perhaps most famously in the Egyptian civilization which, many Egyptologists insist, mysteriously began at its apex.

Devolution is essentially the concept behind the biblical story of the fall of man. This “fall,” famously described in the Book of Genesis, is a metaphorical reference to the literal separation of man from the Spiritual realm. In other words, the fall of man symbolized the separation of original mankind, created in God’s image, from its spiritual Source. As man deviated further and further from hisoriginal godly or “Hyperborean” source (during the Golden Age), man became more hybridized and animalistic, both spiritually and physically. Man became more human.

The many similar stories of conflict between the primordial race of men descended from the gods and the rest of animalistic humanity, as described in the Indo-European epics, confirm the quintessential truths of devolution, though in a highly mythologized form. For example, the Norse tradition tells of a great battle between the divine Aesir and the nefarious Giants. The Hellenic tradition depicts the Olympians and Heroes fighting the various Titans and monsters. In the East, the Aryan devas battle against the materialistic asuras. In Celtic lore the noble TuathaDéDanann triumphed over the Fomorians. All of these legends are still greatly relevant to people of Indo-European stock, as they speak to the absolute essence of what it means “to be” – i.e. to be created in the image of the Divine Source or Deity.

Below is a concise description of the Four Ages as they relate to the various Indo-European peoples and the lands associated with them:

I. The Gold Age

The Gold Age or “Golden Age” represents the primordialcivilization which was in total harmony with the traditional spirit. It was an era of Being, not becoming. In the words of Evola, “Purity of heart, justice, wisdom, and adherence to sacred institutions are qualities that characterized every caste during the first age.”[1]The Hindu name for the Golden Age is Satya Yuga (or Krita Yuga). Satya means “being” and “truth”; the Roman Saturn, Father of the gods and King of the Golden Age, is derived from the older Sanskrit root. This was an Age of Ur, which is to say of Or-igin, not derivation. Hence the oldest of the gods have their roots in the Golden Age, and consequently their names reflect a common Indo-European origin – e.g. Ur-anus, Sat-urn, Buri, Pur-usha, etc. In the terminology of the late Russian esotericist Nicolai Levashov (1961-2012), this was an Age of “Urs” and “Ruses.”

yuga_cicle1.png

The Gold Age is a time in which both men and gods shared one immortal life – when Kings or Leaders embodied the gods and had no need to communicate their divine authority via a caste of high priests. It was an Age of polar unity, and not “polarization.” Attached to the primordial polar epoch are the supreme gods of the Indo-European pantheon which include: Dyeus (Proto-Indo-European), Dyaus Pita (Indo-Aryan), Zeus (Hellenic), Deus or Dis Pater or Jupiter (Roman), TiwazorTyr (Norse) – again, these are all etymologically related names for the same supreme “sky deity” or force which is scheduled to return at the start of the new Golden Age.

The primordial Northern Land, Hyperborea, is associated with the Golden Age. Fundamentally, the legend of Hyperborea is characterized by a polar, arctic, celestial, “Uranian” spirituality – a primordial spirituality of the greatest purity, above the solar and degenerated lunar/Demetrian tradition of the Silver Age.

All of the ancient divine centers of the gods – Mount Meru, Olympus, Asgard, Agartha, AiryanaVaejo, Ultima Thule, etc. – are referring to the same primeval Hyperborean Land, the same polar center inhabited by the otherworldly ancestors of the Indo-Europeans or Aryans:the Aesir/Olympians. In fact, the word “polar” (consisting of the two syllables “pol” and “ar”) literally means “pole of the Aryans.” The current lands bordering the “Ar-ctic” Ocean are said to be the geographic remnants of the ancient polar continent of Hyperborea. This includes Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, northern Canada, and northern Eurasia.

As for the primordial Hyperborean “race” or people: they were at the same time kingly and priestly, regal and ascetic, warrior-like and spiritual. The Hyperboreans (aka “Boreads”) were of a tall stature and Nordic in appearance. Some traditions state that they were androgynous, possessing a semi-etheric/semi-physical body type and had many superhuman qualities. The Arcane Tradition connects the Hyperborean stock to the transcendental “Great White Brotherhood.”

In any caseit is clear that the Hyperboreans (original mankind), at some point, devolved from their original godlysource and did not evolve from apes as suggested by the thoroughly materialist adherents of Darwinism. As the Hyperborean species strayed spiritually and physically from its original Arctic/polarorigin and as it was drawn more and more toward the demonic energy of the South (toward Materialism), it began its downward descent toward the ape, which is to say toward humanity. This highlights the great geographic/geomantic divide which exists on this planet (to this day) between North and South (Spirit and Material).

II. The Silver Age

The Silver Age is associated with Atlantis and the “mystery of the West,” as opposed to the Golden North. The Atlantean Civilization epitomized the Silver Age, with its solar symbolism in contradistinction to the Hyperborean symbolism of the immobile Pole. Whereas Hyperborea represented a superior state of Being, Atlantis symbolized the inferior state of becoming. Atlantis is also characterized by an eventual descent from (and abandonment of) the solar tradition, as the Silver Age is symbolic of a reflective/feminine lunar light. As the Masculine Force gives life, the Feminine Force receives life.

And so, prior to the total collapse of Atlantis, a degenerate lunar tradition took root: the Cult of the Mother Goddess or “Demetrism” as Julius Evola described the phenomenon. Geographically, it is difficult to say with certainty where Atlantis was located. Perhaps in the Atlantic or Mediterranean, or perhaps it was more immediately connected to Hyperborea as a distorted continuation of that original Northern Civilization.It is difficult to determine. What is certain, however, is that the Atlanteans inhabited Atlantis (wherever it might have been located), and they had degenerated considerably from the original Hyperborean stock.

Here it is important to mention that the Atlanteans were neither “Mongolian” in appearance nor the progenitors of the Mongoloid race, as traditional Theosophists have consistently claimed. Rather the Atlanteans developed, as a result of a spiritual/biological metamorphosis, out of the least tainted or diluted segment of the old Hyperborean race. For example, the Atlanteans preserved the golden hair, light eyes and fairappearance of the Hyperboreans. They also retained much of the mental capabilities and thus the inherited wisdom of the Hyperboreans. Nevertheless they were not completely free of baser elements or what could rightly be called “Lemurian” characteristics.

Treta-Yuga.jpg

By all accounts, the Atlantean Civilization (as a more physical/materialist offshoot of the Hyperborean) was truly remarkable. Many technological marvels were achieved that have not been replicated since. Through the efforts of their divinely inspired scientists who had tapped into the universal Akashic Records, the Atlanteans acquired the secrets of universal energy. The universal knowledge of the five elements – earth, water, fire, air, and cosmic ether – formed the basis of a global sustenance. Mirroring the universal five elements are the five dimensions of all existence. Here, the Atlanteans understood and harnessed the power of pyramidal structures.

Pyramids were constructed on geomantic gates of energy in order to mark the power-centers of the earth. The High Priests of Atlantis used pyramids as natural portals or gateways. Symbolically, pyramids reflect the divine mission of mankind to progress upward through four dimensions, and finally into the fifth dimension which is the dimension of Cosmic Completion. This fifth dimension is perfectly symbolized by the center of the Swastika – the fifth point from which the four arms (twelve points and eight directions) of the Cosmos derive their collective energy.

Human beings have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, and also four limbs projecting from a central body simply because we descend from – and were created for – the fifth dimension. As bearers of the hidden Akashic knowledge, the Atlanteans understood that they were an extension of the Supreme God Force on earth, and that absolutely nothing exists separately from this Almighty Force.

III. The Bronze Age

Sometime during the latter part of the Silver Age there was a polarizing shift in the moral outlook of the Atlantean Civilization and society. It was at this time that the malevolent effects of the Bronze Age began to appear. The Bronze Age was defined by “violence and injustice, [a] yearning for power, and covetousness.”[2]It was an era of lawlessness and pride, exhibiting all the degenerative features described by Plato in his Critias.The majority of the Atlantean population became selfish and materialistic, using their technology for evil endeavors rather than for the common good.

And so, the Atlanteansdescended into pitiful, abject materialism. Eventually a cataclysmic set of disasters (earthquakes and floods) wiped out Atlantis and its civilization. Again, the biblical account is not to be dismissed, as the story of Noah corresponds to the submergence of Atlantis beneath the sea – even though the biblical account is obviously flawed in its claim that only a handful of people were said to have survived and also in the suggested time period of the cataclysm.

In any event, the forces of Light represented the last hope of the Atlantean Civilization in all things good and spiritual, while the forces of Darkness were agents of immorality and materialism. Theforces of Light would later be remembered as the Aesir, Olympians and Heroes of the various Indo-European traditions, and the forces of Darkness would be associated with the ever-subversive Giants or Titans. The Aesir/Olympians/Heroes represented the Golden cycle and the Giants represented the sinister usurpers. The Aesir embodied the spiritual-kingly element, and the Giants embodied the temporal-priestly. It was during the Bronze Age, this time of epic schism, that the priestly caste (the Giants) rebelled against the superior regal-warrior caste (the Aesir) and for the first time endeavored to usurp the latter’s powers.

kalki-avatar1.jpg

This marked the beginning of a power-struggle that has erupted time and again between Pharaoh and Priest, Emperor and Pope, legitimate ruler of a masculine-solar essence and illegitimate pretender of a feminine-lunar essence – between those who stand for Authority, Hierarchy, Tradition and Order versus those who stand for mass-leveling, chaos and decadence. In esoteric circles the Bronze Age is known as the Age of the Giants – the Age in which materialism and usurpation ultimately triumphed over the Atlanteanand higher traditions. Overall, the Age was characterized by a population that no longer valued the spiritual principle as it related to a masculine warrior caste. And so, the decadence of the Giants effectively brought the polar and solar traditions to an end.

From Atlantis the “Atlanto-Aryan” race spread all over the world, as did the rival factions of Light and Darkness. The war between these two diametrically opposed sides continues to this day. It has been waged covertly by competing secret societies who, through their “moves” on the Great Geopolitical Chess Board, have manipulated the course of world history, and for thousands of years.On one side is the Darkness, manifesting itself in International Banking and Freemasonry – two offshoots of the same brazen international scheme of the medieval Knights Templar, now championed by the Atlanticist powers (the United States and Britain).And on the other side is the remnant of the True Light of Hyperborea (i.e. Eurasia), comprised of all those forces which stand for continental values such as Truth, Order and Tradition – those fighting to restore the warrior-principle as it existed in its purest state during the Golden Age.

IV. The Iron Age

After the chaos of the Bronze Age, which stretched into the postdiluvian world, the Iron Age or Dark Age began – this still remains the current epoch of our planet’s history. The Iron Age is characterized by a total lack of any earthly connection to the divine element. The wolf of Norse tradition swallowed the Sun and caught the Moon – meaning that both the solar and lunar spiritual cycles of the Silver and Bronze Ages were finished. And so, lacking any higher guidance, the earth was abandoned to its own internal anarchy. The Iron Age is equivalent to the Hindu tradition’s Age of Kali Yuga. The defining feature of the Age has been mankind’scollective Struggle against the forces of darkness in order to push back the murky tide of decadence.The Crusades represent one such period of “push back” in the history of the Dark Age. They were initiated, on the esoteric level, as a great rebellion against the Darkness or rather Ignorance of the time. Sadly, this rebellion was doomed to fail due to the overwhelming greed and vanity of all the parties involved.

During the Crusades, the various knightly brotherhoods and orders were primarily on a quest for spiritual and scientific truth – or rather, a quest for the lost “Science of the Spirit” which thegreatest philosophers have sought to recapture since time immemorial. The exoteric mainstream belief that the knights were formed simply to “fight the Muslim Infidel” is wrong. The various knightly orders were instead searching for truth, as they disagreed with the unruly and degenerate head of the Roman Catholic Church: the Pope. This is especially true of the Teutonic Knights who upon reaching Syria met an old esoteric master called the “Elder of the Days.” He revealed to them the lost wisdom, history and traditions of Atlantis and Hyperborea.

The new revelations greatly impacted Europe, ultimately leading to massive building programs, a great technological boom, an increase in exploration, and the establishment of the modern banking system. Since it was the knightly brotherhoods that were in sole possession of this vast amount of wisdom, they came to be viewed as dangerous by the Pope and were subsequently persecuted and disbanded. Thus, the knights had no choice but to go underground, forming secret orders with various new names. Of course the most famous Order to go into hiding was the Knights Templar which eventually allied itself to the forces of World Zionism and, through proxy organizations (like the so-called “Order of Christ” in Portugal),went on to found various other black magician orders such as the Rosicrucians, Jesuits, Freemasons, Ordo TempliOrientis, Church of Satan and other derivative Satanic groups which happen to wield a great amount of power in the nations of the West and especially in the United States – a country which, it could accurately be said, was founded on the intertwined “Templar”principles of commerce, militarism and occultism.

Of the Templars it could be saidthat they originally set out on their great journey as legitimate Christian warrior-ascetics, however they returned to Europe as little more than money-lending vampires. Somewhere along the way the Templars became totally corrupt, adopting the wicked, usurious ways of the money-lending Levantines with whom they came into contact in the Holy Land. The Teutonic Knights, on the other hand, remainedtrue to their ancient “white magician” (i.e. Christian) roots.A Teutonic capital that survived well into modern times was Vienna. At Heiligenkreuz, the Teutonic Knights established several monasteries and castles on sacred geomantic energy sites. There they kept part of their newly acquired knowledge and scriptures upon returning from the Levant. For centuries, much of the wisdom acquired by the Teutonic Order was hidden in and around Vienna.

Theozoologie - Electron of the Gods - Deutschland und Ostmark - Peter Crawford - copy.pngAt the turn of the twentieth century there was a Catholic monk in Vienna who was a member of the old Teutonic Order. Disillusioned and disgusted with mainstream Christian dogma, he eventually left the monastery and assumed the name of “Lanz von Liebenfels.” He is most famous for writing Theozoology – a philosophical work that centers on the perennial earthly Struggle between Man(created in the image of God) and the hominid/apeling masses of the soulless, material world. It is said that von Liebenfels had an epiphany in his native Austria upon seeing a statue of a knight standing victoriously on top of a primate. Of course the knight symbolized a Noble, a true Man, a Man of the divine – and the primate symbolized the great bulk of animalistic humanity.

Von Liebenfels realized the great fact of Nature that the biological aristocrat (the God-man) is designed and destined to stand in unabashed superiority over the degenerate materialistic masses, as symbolized by the primate. It should be noted that, through the ages, human degenerates or animalistic “sub-humans” have also been depicted as serpents, dragons, demons, and other such reptilian creatures. In any event, it is the God-man’s responsibility to crush all those that seek to drag the God-man downward and ultimately destroy him through wanton immorality. Hence the reality of a spiritually-oriented God-like race existing in perennial opposition to a thoroughly materialistic, degenerateand animal-like human race. Although perhaps radical by nineteenth century standards, Lanz von Liebenfels’ philosophy was merely a reiteration of a much older spiritual philosophy. This philosophy, also prevalent in the fin desiècle works of Nietzsche, is part of a much broader tradition stretching all the way back to the epics of Aryan India.

Aware of the older traditions, von Liebenfels mingled his preexisting Teutonic knowledge with the spiritual/historical truths of the Bhagavad Gita, which describes the great battle of Atlantis. He thus came to the conclusion that the “Aryan Race” was in fact descended from the original God Race, and that the Chandalans were degenerate animal-men. Both sides were involved in endless battles throughout history, as confirmed in Hindu mysticism. The ancient Zoroastrian tradition also makes use of a similar theme describing the relationship between the Ashavan and the Anashvan. The Ashavan represent the pure, faithful and blessed on earth and in heaven – those who boost the power of the principle of light – and the Anashvan represent the impure ones opposed to the principle of light.

Von Liebenfels further taught that the Aryansare the descendants of the original Hyperborean-Atlantean god-men, and their noble origin can be discerned from their physical characteristics – i.e. their blond hair, blue eyes, fine features and fair skin. And so here we are, at the end of the Iron Age or Dark Age (i.e. Kali Yuga) – here we are, fighting as ever against the advances of the infernal Materialist Enemy.

To the fatalistic adherents of priestly/monastic prayer, these are the famous “End Times” of Revelation. To those who hold true to the primordialWarrior Wisdom, this is the era of Kali Yuga – an era that will soon give way to the new Golden Age or Krita Yuga. Regardless of one’s spiritual/religious inclination, this much is clear: the many disasters which currently threaten humanity – the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mysterious animal deaths, famines, diseases, miscegenation, immorality, unbridled avarice, widespread violence, wars – all these things have been predicted by countless seers and spiritual men through the centuries.They accurately foresaw the tumultuous events unfolding in our own time. So take heed and take solace! These things must come – the darkness must come into the world (and as black as night!) before the New Dawn can commence.

According to the ancient Vedic tradition, the end of the Dark Age does not translate to mean the destruction or “end of the world,” but rather the end of a long, dark epoch in world history and the correspondingly dark world order. More so than the Christian Bible, the Mahabharata outlines the dark period of Kali Yuga (our current age) quite vividly. It is a period defined by quantity, not quality – a time in which the majority of the earth’s inhabitants are Sudras, or materialistic slave-like people. They are wicked, deceitful, quarrelsome, vulgar, parasitical and beggar-like. They value the degraded and live in cities full of thieves. The men are dominated by their womenfolk who are shallow, garrulous, lascivious, and who bear too many inferior children. During this time, there are many famines and wars. Great migrations occur during this period as well; it is a time of uprooting and unfamiliarity, as opposed to kinship, localism and permanence. Rulers levy taxes unfairly, and abandon any interest in the spiritual or religious life of their people. Greed, lust, drug-addiction, anti-natural behavior, criminality – all these are just some of the evil pursuits indulged in by man. Does any of this sound familiar? It should. For this is the current age in which we live: the Kali Yuga. And the Mahabharata predicted it all.

Kalki-the-Destroyer.jpg

In the Indo-Aryan tradition the end of our current era shall witness the return of God to earth. A new glorious Golden Age shall then be upon us. His coming will initiate a Great War, and then he will set up his millennial kingdom on earth. This is the Age of Krita Yuga described in the ancient Hindu texts – an age of justice, duty, virtue and happiness; a time when the “Great White God” of the heavens reigns supreme on earth. In the Hindu religion it will be the tenth and final avatar of Lord Vishnu who returns: Kalki the Destroyer.


[1]Evola, Julius. Revolt Against the Modern World. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1995, p. 184 (see footnote 1).

[2]Ibid., p. 219.

 

mardi, 20 septembre 2016

Rightist Critique of Racial Materialism

racmat.jpg

Rightist Critique of Racial Materialism

 
Ex: http://www.katehon.com

While France and England gave materialistic, anti-traditional expressions to the concept of “the people” that was taking shape since the French Revolution, German Idealism was a return to a spiritual, metaphysical direction. The German Revolution moved in a volkish direction, where the volk was seen as the basis of the state, and the notion of a volk-soul that guided the formation and development of nations became a predominant theme that came into conflict with the French bourgeois liberal-democratic ideals derived from Jacobinism. Fichte had laid the foundations of a German nationalism in 1807-1808 with his Addresses to the German Nation. Although like possibly all revolutionaries or radicals of the time, beginning under the impress of the French Revolution, by the time he had delivered his addresses to the German nation, he had already rejected Jacobinism. Johann Heder had previously sought to establish the concept of the volk-soul, and of each nation being guided by a spirit. This was a metaphysical conception of race, or more accurately volk, that preceded the biological arguments of the Frenchman Count Arthur de Gobineau. Herder stated that the volk is the only class, and includes both King and peasant, and that “the people” are not the same as the rabble that are championed by Jacobinism and later Marxism. 

Houston Stewart Chamberlain - Occult History Third Reich - Peter Crawford.jpgFrench and English racism was introduced to Germany by the Englishman Houston Stewart Chamberlain who had a seminal influence on Hitlerism. English Darwinism, a manifestation of the materialistic Zeitgeist that dominated England, was brought to Germany by Ernst Haeckel; although Blumenbach had already begun to classify race according to cranial measurements during the 18th century. Nonetheless, biological racism reflects the English Zeitgeist of materialism. It provided primary materialistic doctrines to dethrone Tradition. Its application to economics also provided a scientific justification for the “class struggle” of both the capitalistic and socialistic varieties. Hitlerism was an attempt to synthesis the English eugenics of Galton and the evolution of Darwin with the metaphysis of German Idealism. Italian Traditionalist Julius Evola attempted to counter the later influence of Hitlerian racism on Italian Fascism by developing a “metaphysical racism,” and the concept of the “race of the spirit,” which has its parallels in Spengler, whose approach to race is in the Traditionalist mode of the German Idealists.

Because the Right, the custodian of Tradition within the epoch of decay, has been infected by the spirit of materialism, there is often a focus on secondary symptoms of culture disease, such as in particular immigration, rather than primary symptoms such as usury and plutocracy. “Race” becomes a matter of skull measuring, rather than spirit, élan and character. Hence the character of a civilisation and of a people is discerned via the types of bone and skull found amidst the ruins. History then becomes a matter of counting and measuring and statistics. How feeble such attempts remain is demonstrated by the years of controversy surrounding the racial identity of Kennewick Man in North America, having first thought to have been a Caucasian, and now concluded to have been of Ainu/Polynesian descent. The Traditionalist does not discount “race”. Rather it plays a central role. How “race” is defined is another matter. 

Trotsky called “racism” “Zoological materialism”. As an “economic materialist”, that is, a Marxist, he did not explain why his own version of materialism is a superior mode of thinking and acting than the other. They arose, along with Free Trade capitalism, out of the same Zeitgeist that dominated England at the time, and all three refer to a naturalistic life as struggle. The Traditionalist rejects all forms of materialism. The Traditionalist does not see history as unfolding according to material, economic forces, or racial-biological determinants. The Traditionalist sees history as the unfolding of metaphysical forces manifesting within the terrestrial. Spengler, although not a Perennial Traditionalist, intuited history over a broad expanse as a metaphysical unfolding. Although a man of the “Right”, he rejected the biological interpretation of history as much as the economic. So did Evola.

The best known exponents of racial determinism were of course German National Socialists, the reductionist doctrine being expressed by Hitler: 

“…This is how civilisations and empires break up and make room for new creations. Blood mixture, and the lowering of the racial level which accompanies it, are the one and only cause why old civilisations disappear…” 

The USA provided a large share of racial theorists of the early 20th century, whose conception of the rise and fall of civilisation was based on racial zoology, and in particular on the superiority of the Nordic not only above non-white races, but above all sub-races of the white, such as the Dinaric, Mediterranean and Alpine. Senator Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi wrote a book championing the cause of segregation, and more so, the “back-to-Africa” movement, stating that miscegenation with the Negro will result in the fall of white civilisation. He briefly examined some major civilisations. Bilbo wrote that Egyptian civilisation was mongrelised over centuries, “until a mulatto inherited the throne of the Pharaohs in the Twenty-fifth dynasty. This mongrel prince, Taharka, ruled over a Negroid people whose religion had fallen from an ethical test for the life after death to a form of animal worship”. This should be “sufficient warning to white America!” Because Sen. Bilbo had started from an assumption, his history was flawed. As will be shown below, it was Taharka and the Nubian dynasty that renewed Egypt’s decaying culture, which had degenerated under the white Libyan dynasties.  Sen. Bilbo proceeds with similar brief examinations of Carthage, Greece, and Rome. 

julius%20evola%20sintesi%20e%20dottrina%20della%20razza%20heopli.jpegJulius Evola, while repudiating the zoological primacy of “racism” as another form of materialism and therefore anti-Traditional, suggested that a “spiritual racism” is necessary to oppose the forces seeking to turn man into an amorphous mass; as interchangeable economic units without roots; what is now called “globalisation”. 

Evola gives the Traditionalist viewpoint when stating that there “have been many cases in which a culture has collapsed even when its race has remained pure, as is especially clear in certain groups that have suffered slow, inexorable extinction despite remaining as racially isolated as if they were islands”. He gives Sweden and The Netherlands as recent examples, pointing out that although the race has remained unchanged, there is little of the “heroic disposition” those cultures possessed just several centuries previously. He refers to other great cultures as having remained in a state as if like mummies, inwardly dead, awaiting a push “to knock them down”. These are what Spengler called Fellaheen, spiritually exhausted and historically passé. Evola gives Peru as an example of how readily a static culture succumbed to Spain. Hence, such examples, even as vigorous cultures such as that of the Dutch and Scandinavian, once wide-roaming and dynamic, have declined to nonentities despite the maintenance of racial homogeneity. 

The following considers examples that are often cited as civilisations that decayed and died as the result of miscegenation.

Greek

A case study for testing the miscegenation theory of cultural decay is that of the Hellenic. The ancient Hellenic civilisation is typically ascribed by racial theorists as being the creation of a Nordic culture-bearing stratum. The same has been said of the Latin, Egyptian, and others. Typically, this theory is illustrated by depicting sculptures of ancient Hellenes of “Nordic” appearance. Such depictions upon which to form a theory are unreliable: the ancient Hellenes were predominantly a mixture of Dinaric-Alpine-Mediterranean. The skeletal remains of Greeks show that from earliest times to the present there has been remarkable uniformity, according to studies by Sergi, Ripley, and Buxton, who regarded the Greeks as an Alpine-Mediterranean mix from a “comparatively early date.” American physical anthropologist Carlton S. Coon stated that the Greeks remain an Alpine/Mediterranean mix, with a weak Nordic element, being “remarkably similar” to their ancient ancestors.

American anthropologist J. Lawrence Angel, in the most complete study of Greek skeletal remains starting from the Neolithic era to the present, found that Greeks have always bene marked by a sustained racial continuity. Angel cited American anthropologist Buxton who had studied Greek skeletal material and measured modern Greeks, especially in Cyprus, concluding that the modern Greeks “possess physical characteristics not differing essentially from those of the former [ancient Greeks]”. The most extensive study of modern Greeks was conducted by anthropologist Aris N. Poulianos, concluding that Greeks are and have always been Mediterranean-Dinaric, with a strong Alpine presence. Angel states that “Poulianos is correct in pointing out ... that there is complete continuity genetically from ancient to modern times”. Nikolaos Xirotiris did not find any significant alteration of the Greek race from prehistory, through classical and medieval, to modern times. Anthropologist Roland Dixon studied the funeral masks of Spartans and identified them as of the Alpine sub-race. Although race theorists often stated that Hellenic civilisation was founded and maintained by invading Dorian “Nordics”, Angel states that the northern invasions were always of “Dinaroid-Alpine” type. A recent statistical comparison of ancient and modern Greek skulls found “a remarkable similarity in craniofacial morphology between modern and ancient Greeks.”

If miscegenation and the elimination of an assumed Nordic (Dorian) culture-bearing stratum cannot account for the decay of Hellenic civilisation, what can? Contemporary historians point out the origins. The Roman historian Livy observed: 

“The Macedonians who settled in Alexandria in Egypt, or in Seleucia, or in Babylonia, or in any of their other colonies scattered over the world, have degenerated into Syrians, Parthians, or Egyptians. Whatever is planted in a foreign land, by a gradual change in its nature, degenerates into that by which it is nurtured”.

tarn-2.jpgHere Livy is observing that occupiers among foreign peoples “go native”, as one might say. The occupiers are pulled downward, rather than elevating their subjects upward, not through genetic contact but through moral and cultural corruption. The Syrians, Parthians and Egyptians, had already become historically and culturally passé, or Fellaheen, as Spengler puts it. The Macedonian Greeks in those colonies succumbed to the force of etiolation. Alexander even encouraged this in an effort to meld all subjects into one Greek mass, which resulted not from a Hellenic civilisation passed along by multitudinous peoples, but in a chaotic mass from which Greece did not recover, despite the Greeks staying racially intact. Unlike the Jews in particular, the Greeks, Romans and other conquerors did not have the strength of Tradition to maintain themselves among alien cultures. Dr. W. W. Tarn stated of this process:

“Greece was ready to adopt the gods of the foreigner, but the foreigner rarely reciprocated; Greek Doura (the Greek temple in Mesopotamia) freely admitted the gods of Babylon, but no Greek god entered Babylonian Uruk. Foreign gods might take Greek names; they took little else. They (the Babylonian gods) were the stronger, and the conquest of Asia (by the Greeks) was bound to fail as soon as the East had gauged its own strength and Greek weakness.”

Spengler pointed out to Western Civilisation and the current epoch that one of the primary symptoms of culture decay is that of depopulation. It is a sign literally that a Civilisation has become too lazy to look beyond the immediate. There is no longer any sense of duty to the past or the future, but only to a hedonistic present. Polybius (b. ca. 200 B.C.) observed this phenomenon of Hellenic Civilisation like Spengler did of ours, writing: 

tarn-1.jpg“In our time all Greece was visited by a dearth of children and generally a decay of population, owing to which the cities were denuded of inhabitants, and a failure of productiveness resulted, though there were no long-continued wars or serious pestilences among us. If, then, any one had advised our sending to ask the gods in regard to this, what we were to do or say in order to become more numerous and better fill our cities,—would he not have seemed a futile person, when the cause was manifest and the cure in our own hands? For this evil grew upon us rapidly, and without attracting attention, by our men becoming perverted to a passion for show and money and the pleasures of an idle life, and accordingly either not marrying at all, or, if they did marry, refusing to rear the children that were born, or at most one or two out of a great number, for the sake of leaving them well off or bringing them up in extravagant luxury. For when there are only one or two sons, it is evident that, if war or pestilence carries off one, the houses must be left heirless: and, like swarms of bees, little by little the cities become sparsely inhabited and weak. On this subject there is no need to ask the gods how we are to be relieved from such a curse: for any one in the world will tell you that it is by the men themselves if possible changing their objects of ambition; or, if that cannot be done, by passing laws for the preservation of infants”.

Do Polybius’ thoughts sound like some unheeded doom-sayer speaking to us now about our modern world? If the reader can see the analogous features between Western Civilisation, and that of Greece and Rome then the organic course of Civilisations is being understood, and by looking at Greece and Rome we might see where we are heading.

Roman

Another often cited example of the fall of civilisation through miscegenation is that of Rome. However, despite the presence of slaves and traders of sundry races, like the Greeks, today’s Italians are substantially the same as they were in Roman times. Arab influence did not occur until Medieval times, centuries after the “fall of Rome”, with Arab rule extending over Sicily only during 1212-1226 A.D. The genetic male influence on Sicilians is estimated at only 6%. The predominant genetic influence is ancient Greek. The African have a less than  1% frequency  throughout Italy other than in , , and where there are frequencies of 2% to  3% . Sub-Saharan, that is, Negroid, mtDNA have been found at very low frequencies in Italy, albeit marginally higher than elsewhere in Europe, but date from 10,000 years ago. This study states: “….mitochondrial DNA studies show that Italy does not differ too much from other European populations”. Although there are small regional variations, “The mtDNA haplogroup make-up of Italy as observed in our samples fits well with expectations in a typical European population”. 

Hence, an infusion of Negroid or Asian genes during the epoch of Rome’s decline and fall is lacking, and the reasons for that fall cannot be assigned to miscegenation. What slight frequency there is of non-Caucasian genetic markers entered Rome long before or long after the fall of Roman Civilisation. There was no “contamination of Roman blood”, but of Roman spirit and élan.  

declinerome.jpgAlien immigration introduces cultural elements that dislocate the social and ethical basis of a Civilisation and aggravate an existing pathological condition. The English scholar Professor C. Northcote Parkinson, writing on the fall of Rome, commented that the Roman conquerors were subjected “to cultural inundation and grassroots influence”. Because Rome extended throughout the world, like the present Late Western, the economic opportunities accorded by Rome drew in all the elements of the subject peoples, “groups of mixed origin and alien ways of life”. “Even more significant was what the Romans learnt while on duty overseas, for men so influenced were of the highest rank”. Parkinson quotes Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, referring to the Roman colony of Antioch: 

“…Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured, the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule, and the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the capitals of the East…” 

Roman historian Livy wrote of the opulence of Asia being brought back to Rome by the soldiery:

“…it was through the army serving in Asia that the beginnings of foreign luxury were introduced into the City. These men brought into Rome for the first time, bronze couches, costly coverlets, tapestry, and other fabrics, and - what was at that time considered gorgeous furniture - pedestal tables and silver salvers. Banquets were made more attractive by the presence of girls who played on the harp and sang and danced, and by other forms of amusement, and the banquets themselves began to be prepared with greater care and expense. The cook whom the ancients regarded and treated as the lowest menial was rising in value, and what had been a servile office came to be looked upon as a fine art. Still what met the eye in those days was hardly the germ of the luxury that was coming”.

The moral decay of Rome resulted in the displacement of Roman stock, not by miscegenation, but by the falling birth-rate of the Romans. Such population decline is itself a major symptom of culture decay. The problem that it signifies is that a people has so little consciousness left as to its own purpose as a culture that its individuals do not have any responsibility beyond their own egos. Professor Tenney Frank, foremost scholar on the economic history of Rome, also considered the results of population decline, from the top of the social hierarchy downward: 

“The race went under. The legislation of Augustus and his successors, while aiming at preserving the native stock, was of the myopic kind so usual in social lawmaking, and failing to reckon with the real nature of the problem involved. It utterly missed the mark. By combining epigraphical and literary references, a fairly full history of the noble families can be procured, and this reveals a startling inability of such families to perpetuate themselves. We know, for instance, in Caesar’s day of forty-five patricians, only one of whom is represented by posterity when Hadrian came to power. The Aemilsi, Fabii, Claudii. Manlii, Valerii, and all the rest, with the exception of Comelii, have disappeared. Augustus and Claudius raised twenty-five families to the patricate, and all but six disappear before Nerva’s reign. Of the families of nearly four hundred senators recorded in 65 A. D. under Nero, all trace of a half is lost by Nerva’s day, a generation later. And the records are so full that these statistics may be assumed to represent with a fair degree of accuracy the disappearance of the male stock of the families in question. Of course members of the aristocracy were the chief sufferers from the tyranny of the first century, but this havoc was not all wrought by delatores and assassins. The voluntary choice of childlessness accounts largely for the unparalleled condition. This is as far as the records help in this problem, which, despite the silences is probably the most important phase of the whole question of the change of race. Be the causes what they may, the rapid decrease of the old aristocracy and the native stock was clearly concomitant with a twofold increase from below; by a more normal birth-rate of the poor, and the constant manumission of slaves 

While allusions to “race” by Professor Frank are enough for “zoological materialists” to spin a whole theory about Rome’s decline and fall around miscegenation of the “white race” with blacks and Orientals, we now know from the genetics that despite the invasions over centuries, the Italians, like the Greeks, have retained their original racial composition to the present. What Frank is describing, by an examination of the records that show a disappearance of the leading patrician families, is that Rome was in a spiritual crisis, as all civilisations are when they regard child-bearing as a burden. Traditionalists such as Evola pointed out that the “secret of degeneration” of a civilisation is that it rots from the top downward, and as Spengler pointed out, one of the primary signs of that rot is childlessness. That there were Roman statesmen with the wisdom to understand what was happening is indicated by Augustus’ efforts to raise the birth-rate, but to no avail. Of this symptom of moral decay, Professor Frank wrote: 

“In the first place there was a marked decline in the birthrate among the aristocratic families. … As society grew more pleasure-loving, as convention raised artificially the standard of living, the voluntary choice of celibacy and childlessness became a common feature among the upper classes. …”

RomanEmpire_117.svg.png

Urbanisation, the magnetic pull of the megalopolis, the depopulation of the land and the proletarianism of the former peasant stock as in the case of the West’s Industrial Revolution, impacted in major ways on the fall of Rome. A. M. Duff wrote of the impact of rural depopulation and urbanisation:

“But what of the lower-class Romans of the old stock? They were practically untouched by revolution and tyranny, and the growth of luxury cannot have affected them to the same extent as it did the nobility. Yet even here the native stock declined. The decay of agriculture. … drove numbers of farmers into the towns, where, unwilling to engage in trade, they sank into unemployment and poverty, and where, in their endeavours to maintain a high standard of living, they were not able to support the cost of rearing children. Many of these free-born Latins were so poor that they often complained that the foreign slaves were much better off than they, and so they were. At the same time many were tempted to emigrate to the colonies across the sea which Julius Caesar and Augustus founded. Many went away to Romanize the provinces, while society was becoming Orientalized at home. Because slave labour had taken over almost all jobs, the free born could not compete with them. They had to sell their small farms or businesses and move to the cities. Here they were placed on the doles because of unemployment. They were, at first, encouraged to emigrate to the more prosperous areas of the empire to Gaul, North Africa and Spain. Hundreds of thousands left Italy and settled in the newly-acquired lands. Such a vast number left Italy leaving it to the Orientals that finally restrictions had to be passed to prevent the complete depopulation of the Latin stock, but as we have seen, the laws were never effectively put into force. The migrations increased and Italy was being left to another race. The free-born Italian, anxious for land to till and live upon, displayed the keenest colonization activity.” 

The foreign cultures and religions that had come to Rome from across the empire changed the temperament of the Romans masses who were uprooted and migrating to the cities; where as in the nature of the cites, as Spengler showed,  they became a cosmopolitan mass. Frank writes of this: 

“This Orientalization of Rome’s populace has a more important bearing than is usually accorded it upon the larger question of why the spirit and acts of imperial Rome are totally different from those of the republic. There was a complete change in the temperament! There is today a healthy activity in the study of the economic factors that contributed to Rome’s decline. But what lay behind and constantly reacted upon all such causes of Rome’s disintegration was, after all, to a considerable extent, the fact that the people who had built Rome had given way to a different race. The lack of energy and enterprise, the failure of foresight and common sense, the weakening of moral and political stamina, all were concomitant with the gradual diminution of the stock which, during the earlier days, had displayed these qualities. It would be wholly unfair to pass judgment upon the native qualities of the Orientals without a further study, or to accept the self-complacent slurs of the Romans, who, ignoring certain imaginative and artistic qualities, chose only to see in them unprincipled and servile egoists. We may even admit that had these new races had time to amalgamate and attain a political consciousness a more brilliant and versatile civilization might have come to birth.” 

Fall-of-the-Roman-Empire.jpgWhat is notable is not that the Romans miscegenated with Orientals, but that the uprooted, amorphous masses of the cities no longer adhered to the Traditions on which Roman civilisation was founded. The same process can be seen today at work in New York, London and Paris. Duff wrote of this, and we might consider the parallels with our own time: 

“Instead of the hardy and patriotic Roman with his proud indifference to pecuniary gain, we find too often under the Empire an idle pleasure-loving cosmopolitan whose patriotism goes no further than applying for the dole and swelling the crowds in the amphitheatre”. 

The Roman Traditional ethos of severity, austerity and disdain for softness that Emperor Julian attempted to reassert was greeted by “fashionable society” with “disgust”. Parkinson remarks that “there is just such a tendency in the London of today, as there was still earlier in Boston and New York”. These “world cities” no longer reflect a cultural nexus but an economic nexus, and hence one’s position is not based on how one or one’s family unfolds the Traditional ethos, but on whether or how one accumulates wealth. 

Indian

social_pyramid_f02.jpgIndia is the most commonly cited example of a civilisation that decayed through miscegenation, the invading Aryans imparting a High Culture on India and then forever falling into decay because of miscegenation with the low caste “blacks”, or Dravidians. However, Genetic research indicates that the higher castes have retained to the present a predominately Caucasian genetic inheritance.

“As one moves from lower to upper castes, the distance from Asians becomes progressively larger. The distance between Europeans and lower castes is larger than the distance between Europeans and upper castes, but the distance between Europeans and middle castes is smaller than the upper caste-European distance. … Among the upper castes the genetic distance between Brahmins and Europeans (0.10) is smaller than that between either the Kshatriya and Europeans (0.12) or the Vysya and Europeans (0.16). Assuming that contemporary Europeans reflect West Eurasian affinities, these data indicate that the amount of West Eurasian admixture with Indian populations may have been proportionate to caste rank.

“…As expected if the lower castes are more similar to Asians than to Europeans, and the upper castes are more similar to Europeans than to Asians, the frequencies of M and M3 haplotypes are inversely proportional to caste rank.

“…In contrast to the mtDNA distances, the Y-chromosome STR data do not demonstrate a closer affinity to Asians for each caste group. Upper castes are more similar to Europeans than to Asians, middle castes are equidistant from the two groups, and lower castes are most similar to Asians. The genetic distance between caste populations and Africans is progressively larger moving from lower to middle to upper caste groups. 

“…Results suggest that Indian Y chromosomes, particularly upper caste Y chromosomes, are more similar to European than to Asian Y chromosomes.

“…Nevertheless, each separate upper caste is more similar to Europeans than to Asians.”

Citing further studies, “…admixture with African or proto-Australoid populations” is “occasional”. 

The chaos that afflicted India seems to have been of religio-cultural type rather than racial. Despite the superficiality of dusky hues, the Indian ruling castes have retained their Caucasian identity to the present. The genetic contribution of Australoids and Africans was minor. 

Egyptian

Like India, Egypt is often cited as an example of a civilisation that was destroyed primarily by miscegenation, with Negroids. However, despite the myriad of invasions and population shifts, today’s Egyptians are still more closely related genetically to Eurasia than Africa. Migrations between Egypt, Nubia and Sudan have not been extensive enough to “homogenise the mtDNA gene pools of the Nile River Valley populations”, although Egyptians and Nubians are more closely related than Egyptians and southern Sudanese. However, significant differences remain. Even now, today’s Egyptians have primary genetic affinities with Asia, and North and Northeast Africa. The least affinity is to the populations of Sub-Sahara.  The Haplotype  M1, with a high frequency among Egyptians,  hitherto thought to be of Sub-Saharan origin,  is of Eurasian origin.  

Miscegenation with Nubian “slaves” and mercenaries seems unlikely to have caused Egypt’s decay. While a Nubian or “black” pharaoh is alluded to by racial-zoologists as a sign of Egyptian decay, the Nubian civilisation had an intimate connection with the Egyptian and was itself impressive and of early origins. 

Nubian civilisation, with palaces, temples and pyramids, flourished as far back as 7000 B.C. 223 pyramids, twice the number of Egypt, have been found along the Nile of the Nubian culture-region. The Nubian civilisation was of notably long duration surviving until the Muslim conquest of 1500 A.D. The Egyptians have viewed the Nubians either as a “conquered race or a superior enemy”. Hence, Egyptian depictions of shackled black slaves, give a widely inaccurate impression of the Nubian.  Nubians became the pharaohs of Egypt’s 25th dynasty, providing stability where previously there had been ruin caused by civil wars between warlords, ca. 700 B.C. The Nubians were the custodians of Egyptian faith and culture at a time when Egypt was decaying. They regarded the restoration of the faith of Amun as their duty. It was the Nubian dynasties (760-656 B.C.), especially the rulership of Taharqa, which revived and purified Egyptian culture and religion. It was under the “white” rule of the Libyan pharaohs of the 21st dynasty (1069-1043 B. c.) that Egypt began a sharp decline. Ptolemaic (Greek) rule (332-30 B.C.) under Ptolemy IV (222 to 205 B.C.) brought to the rich and sumptuous pharaohs’ court “lax morals and vicious lifestyle” ending in “decadence and anarchy”. Byzantine rule (395 to 640 A.D.) through Christianisation wrought destruction on the Egyptian heritage, which was succeeded by Islamic rule. Of the long vicissitudes of Egypt’s rise and fall, it was the Nubian dynasty that had restored Egyptian cultural integrity. References to Nubians on the throne of the pharaohs tell no more of the causes of Egypt’s decay than if historians several millennia hence sought to ascribe the causes of the USA’s  culture retardation to Obama’s presidency as a “black”. 

kushiteempire1.jpg

We see in Egypt as in Rome, the Moorish civilisation, India and others, the causes of culture decay and fall as being something other than miscegenation. The contemporary Westerner should look for answers beyond this if only because he can see for himself that the West’s decay has no relationship to miscegenation. The number of Americans describing themselves as “mixed race” was just under 9 million in 2010. Of the 3,988,076 live births in the USA in 2014  368,213 were non-white.  The USA did not become the global centre of culture-pestilence because of its mixed race population. What is more significant than the percentages of miscegenation, are the percentages of population decline caused by such factors as the limitation of children, and the rates of abortion. Twenty-one percent of all pregnancies in the USA are aborted. Such depopulation statics are an indication of culture pathology. 

gallery-1431027249-122315523.jpgOf Egypt’s chaos contemporary sages observed, as they did of Rome and India, a disintegration of authority, traditional religion, and the founding ethos and mythos around which a healthy culture revolves. Egypt was often subjected to invasions and to natural disasters. These served as catalysts for culture degeneration. The papyrus called The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage, state that after invasions and what seems to have been a class war, Egypt fell apart, there was family strife, the noble families were dispossessed by the lowest castes, authority was disrespected and overthrown, lawlessness and plunder were the norm, and the nobility was attacked: “A man looks upon his son as an enemy. A man smites his brother (the son of his mother)”. Craftsmanship has become degraded: “No craftsmen work, the enemies of the land have spoilt its crafts”. There is rebellion against the Uraeus or Re. “A few lawless men have ventured to despoil the land of the kingship”. It appears that the foundations of Traditional society, god, monarch, family and land, have been caste asunder. Further, “Asiatics” have seized the land from the ancestral occupiers, and have so insinuated themselves into the Egyptian culture that one can no longer tell who is Egyptian and who is alien: “There are no Egyptians anywhere”. “Women are lacking and no children are conceived”. Evidently there is a population crisis; that perennial symptom of decay. The political and administrative structure has collapsed, with “no officers in their place”. The laws are trampled on and cast aside. “Serfs become lords of serfs”.  The writings of the scribes are destroyed. 

What is being described is not a sudden upheaval, although the allusion to natural disasters and Asiatic invasion would imply this. The breakdown of regal authority, civil authority, depopulation, laws, family bonds, religious faith, agriculture and the social structure, imply an epoch of decline into chaos. The social structure has been inversed, as though a communistic revolution had occurred. “He who possessed no property is now a man of wealth. The prince praises him. The poor of the land have become rich, and the possessor of the land has become one who has nothing. Female slaves speak as they like to their mistresses. Orders become irksome. Those who could not build a boat now possesses ships. “The possessors of robes are now in rags”. “The children of princes are cast out in the street”. 

With this inversion of hierarchy has come irreligion and the degradation of religion. The ignorant now perform their own rites to the Gods. Wrong offerings are made to the Gods.  “Right is cast aside. Wrong is inside the council-chamber. The plans of the gods are violated, their ordinances are neglected… Reverence, an end is put to it”.

Ipuwer’s admonition was not only to rid Egypt of its enemies but to return to the Traditional ethos. This meant the reinstitution of proper religious rites, and the purification of the temples. “A fighter comes forth,” Ipuwer prophesises, to “destroy the wrongs”. “Is he sleeping? Behold, his might is not seen”. The Egyptians await an avatar, the personification of the Sun God Re (which Tradition states was the first of the Pharaohs) an Arthur who sleeps but will awaken, a redeemer that is a universal symbol from the Hindu Kalki, to Jesus in the vision of John of Patmos, the Katehon of Orthodox Russia, and many others across time and place. 

Nefertiti2-Re_158267t.jpgIpuwer avers to Egypt having gone through such epochs, alluding to his saying nothing other than what others have said before his time.

The Pharaoh is castigated for allowing Egypt to fall into chaos, with his authority being undermined, and without taking corrective actions. The Pharaoh as God-king, in terms of Tradition, had not maintained his authority as the nexus between the earthly kingdom and the Divine. The Pharaoh had caused “confusion throughout the land”. Certainty of the social hierarchy, crowned by the God-king, is the basis of Traditional societies. It seems that Egypt had entered into an epoch of what a Westerner could today identify in our time as that of scepticism and secularism. Chaos follows with the undermining of Cosmos.

Nefer-rohu warned Pharaoh of similar chaos. Likewise there would be “Asiatic” invasions, natural disasters, Re withdrawing his light, and again the inversion of hierarchy: 

“The weak of arm is now the possessor of an arm. Men salute respectfully him whom formerly saluted. I show thee the undermost on top, turned about in proportion to the turning about of my belly. It is the paupers who eat the offering bread, while the servants jubilate. The Heliopolitan Nome, the birthplace of every god, will no longer be on earth”.

It is notable, again, that Nefer-rohu identifies the chaos with the breaking of the nexus with the divine, and the social order that has become “the undermost on top”. Also of interest is that Nefer-rohu refers to a redeemer, who has a Nubian mother, uniting Egypt and driving out the Asiatics, and the Libyans (the whitest of races of the region) and defeating the rebellious.  Chaos resulted not from bio-genetic-race-factors but from a falling away of the regal and religious authority. If there is a race-factor it is in regard to Nubians being the custodians of Egyptian culture in periods of Egyptian decay, analogous to the revitalising “barbarians” who wept over the decaying Roman Empire.

Islamic 

Islam had its Golden Age and rich civilisation, centred in Morocco, and extending into Spain.  It is in ruins like civilisations centuries prior.  The cultures that flourished in Morocco, both Islamic and pre-Islamic, were Berber. The Islamic civilisation they established with the founding of the Idrisid dynasty in 788 A. D. was ended by the invasion of the Fatimids from Tunisia ca. 900 A.D. Chaos ensued. Although there was a revival of High Culture during the 11th and 14th centuries, dynasties fell in the face of tribalism.  The 16th century saw a revival initiated by al-Ghalin, several decades of wars of succession after his death in 1603, and continuing decline under Saadi dynastic rule during 1627 to 1659. 

stanlane.jpgCaucasoid mtDNA sequences are at frequencies of 96% in Moroccan Berbers, 82% in Algerian Berbers and 78% in non-Berber Moroccans. The study of Esteban et al found that Moroccan Northern and Southern Berbers have only 3% to 1% Sub-Saharan mtDNA. Although difficult to define, since “Berber” is a Roman, not an indigenous term, the estimate for present day Morocco is 35% to 45% Berber, with the rest being Berber-Arab mixture. The primary point is that the Moroccan civilisation had ruling classes, whether pre-Islamic or Islamic, that remained predominantly Berber-Caucasian for most of its history, whether during its epochs of glory or of decline. Miscegenation does not account for the fall of the Moorish Civilisation. 

The High Culture of Moorish Spain (Andalusia) was brought to ruin and decay not by miscegenation between “superior” Spaniards” and “inferior” Moors but by the overthrow of the Moorish ruling caste. Friedrich Nietzsche had observed this culture denegation with the fall of Moorish Spain (Andalusia). Stanley Lane-Poole wrote of the history of decay:

“The land, deprived of the skilful irrigation of the Moors, grew impoverished and neglected; the richest and most fertile valleys languished and were deserted; most of the populous cities which had filled every district of Andalusia fell into ruinous decay; and beggars, friars, and bandits took the place of scholars, merchants, and knights. So low fell Spain when she had driven away the Moors. Such is the melancholy contrast offered by her history”.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), a well-travelled sage, grappled with the same problems confronting Islamic Civilisation as those Spengler confronted in regard to The West. A celebrated scholar, political adviser, and jurist, Ibn Khaldun’s domain of influence extended over the whole Islamic world. His major theoretical work is Muqaddimah (1377), intended as a preface to his universal history, Kitabal-Ibar, where he sought to establish basic principles of history by which historians could understand events.  His theory is cyclic and morphological, based on “conditions within nations and races [which] change with the change of periods and the passage of time”. Like Evolahe was pessimistic as to what can be achieved by political action in the cycle of decline, writing that the “past resembles the future more than one drop of water another”.

Ibn Khaldun stated that history can be understood as a recurrence of similar patterns motivated by the drives of acquisition, group co-operation, and regal authority in the creation of a civilisation, followed by a cycle of decay. These primary drives become distorted and lead to the corrupting factors of luxury and domination, irresponsibility of authority and decline.

Like Spengler, in regard to the peasantry, Ibn Khaldun traces the beginning of culture to group or familial loyalty starting with the simple life of the rural - and desert – environments. The isolation and familial bonds lead to self-reliance, loyalty and leadership on the basis of mutual respect. Life is struggle, not luxury. According to Ibn Khaldun, when rulership becomes centralised and divorced from such kinship, free reign is given to luxury and ease.  Political alliances are bought and intrigued rather than being based on the initial bonds and loyalties. Corruption pervades as the requirements of luxury increase. The decadence starts from the top, among the ruling class, and extends downward until the founding ethos of the culture is discarded, or exists in name only.

timbre-citation-ibn-khaldoun_les-arabes.pngIbn Khaldun begins from the organic character of the noble family in describing the analogous nature of cultural rise and fall, caused by a falling away of the original creative ethos with each successive generation:

“The builder of the family’s glory knows what it cost him to do the work, and he keeps the qualities that created his glory and made it last. The son who comes after him had personal contact with his father and thus learned those things from him. However, he is inferior to him in this respect, inasmuch as a person who learns things through study is inferior to a person who knows them from practical application. The third generation must be content with imitation and, in particular, with reliance upon tradition. This member is inferior to him of the second generation, inasmuch as a person who relies upon tradition is inferior to a person who exercises judgment.

“The fourth generation, then, is inferior to the preceding ones in every respect. Its member has lost the qualities that preserved the edifice of its glory. He despises those qualities. He imagines that the edifice was not built through application and effort. He thinks that it was something due to his people from the very beginning by virtue of the mere fact of their descent, and not something that resulted from group effort and individual qualities. For he sees the great respect in which he is held by the people, but he does not know how that respect originated and what the reason for it was. He imagines it is due to his descent and nothing else. He keeps away from those in whose group feeling he shares, thinking that he is better than they”.

For Ibn Khaldun’s “generation” we might say with Spengler “cultural epoch”. Ibn Khaldun addresses the causes of this cultural etiolation, leading to the corrupting impact of materialism. Again, his analysis is remarkably similar to that of Spengler and the decay of the Classical civilisations:  

“When a tribe has achieved a certain measure of superiority with the help of its group feeling, it gains control over a corresponding amount of wealth and comes to share prosperity and abundance with those who have been in possession of these things. It shares in them to the degree of its power and usefulness to the ruling dynasty. If the ruling dynasty is so strong that no-one thinks of depriving it of its power or of sharing with it, the tribe in question submits to its rule and is satisfied with whatever share in the dynasty’s wealth and tax revenue it is permitted to enjoy. ... Members of the tribe are merely concerned with prosperity, gain and a life of abundance. (They are satisfied) to lead an easy, restful life in the shadow of the ruling dynasty, and to adopt royal habits in building and dress, a matter they stress and in which they take more and more pride, the more luxuries and plenty they acquire, as well as all the other things that go with luxury and plenty.

“As a result the toughness of desert life is lost. Group feeling and courage weaken. Members of the tribe revel in the well-being that God has given them. Their children and offspring grow up too proud to look after themselves or to attend to their own needs. They have disdain also for all the other things that are necessary in connection with group feeling.... Their group feeling and courage decrease in the next generations. Eventually group feeling is altogether destroyed. ... It will be swallowed up by other nations.

Ibn Khaldun refers to the “tribe” and “group feeling” where Spengler refers to nations, peoples, and races. The dominant culture becomes corrupted through its own success and its culture become static; its inward strength diminishes in proportion to its outward glamour. Hence, the Golden Age of Islam is over, as are those of Rome and Athens. New York, Paris, and London are in the analogous cultural epochs to those of Fez, Rome and Athens. The “world city” becomes the focus of a world civilisation that ends as cosmopolitan and far removed from its founding roots. Our present “world-cities’” – in particular, New York and The City of London - are the control centres of world politics, economics, and mass-culture by the fact of their also being the centres of banking. These world-cities are the prototypes for a world civilisation that continues to be called “Western”, under the leadership of the USA, a rotting centre like Fez and Rome.

The Muslim determination of what is “progress” and what is “decline” has a spiritual foundation:

“The progressiveness or backwardness of society at any given point of time is determinable in relative terms. It can be compared to other contemporary societies [like the Spenglerian method] or to its own state in the past. … for Muslim society although economic progress is not frowned upon, it is placed lower on the order of priorities as compared to other factors; e.g. the acquisition of knowledge or the provision of justice. There is also a tradition (Hadis) of the Holy Prophet that lists the symptoms of society that is in a pathological state of decline. These outward symptoms point to an underlying malaise in the society but can also provide a useful starting point for corrective actions for stopping or reversing the onset of decline”.  The high and low points of Muslim civilisation can be identified as those of a “Golden Age” or of an “Abyss”.

Comparable to the warnings of other sages, in an epoch of decline again there is an inversion of hierarchy, or more specifically here, of character, the Hadith stating that those in such a society would be corrupted, while others might resist within themselves:

“There will be soon a period of turmoil in which the one who sits will be better than one who stands and the one who stands will be better than one who walks and the one who walks will be better than one who runs. He who would watch them will be drawn by them. So he who finds a refuge or shelter against it should make it as his resort”.

Hebrew “Race”

A Traditionalist “race”, conscious of its nexus with the Divine as the basis of culture, endures regardless of contact with foreigners because of its inward strength. This allows it to accept foreigners not only without weakening the cultural organism but even strengthening it; because it accepts foreign input on its own terms. A Traditionalist “race” surviving over the course of millennia without succumbing to the cyclical laws of decay is the Jewish. They are the Traditionalist “race” par excellence. No better example can be had than this People that has maintained its nexus with its Divinity as the basis of cultural survival, whose religion is a race-founding and race-sustaining mythos. 

Phineas.jpgContrary to the beliefs of certain racial ideologues, including extreme Zionists and ultra-Orthodox Jews, this survival is not the result of bans on miscegenation. The Jewish law as embodied in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, is based not on zoological race but on a race mythos. The Mosaic Law demands “race purity” in the Traditionalist sense; that of a community of belief in a heritage and a destiny. 

Bizarrely, some white racists have adopted the Torah commandments as being based on genetic purity, in their belief that whites are the true Israelites. For example the priest Phineas, at the time of Moses is held in esteem by such white supremacists because he speared an Israelite and a Midianite in the act of copulation. At this time apparently the Midianites were seducing Israel away from its God, towards Baal. A purge of Israel took place. However the chapter in its entirety makes plain this was a matter of religion, not miscegenation. The nexus between Israel and the Divine was being broken by the influence of “the daughters of Moab.” Israel’s Divinity is recorded as having threatened wrath because of “my insistence on exclusive devotion.” The Divine nexus was established for eternity with the line of Phineas because he had “not tolerated any rivalry towards his god”.  Moses himself had married the daughter of a Midianite priest, so the issue with the Midianites was clearly religious, and specifically that such foreign influences would break Israel’s nexus with the Divine that renders them a “special people”. Where marriages with Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, et al are prohibited it is because this nexus would be subverted. However, in the same book Deuteronomy, where the Israelite war code is being established, when a city has been defeated the adult males are to be eliminated, and the women and children are to be taken to be grafted on to Israel. The commandments for this type of “scorched earth policy” were based on preventing foreigners from teaching Israel their religions. There are precise laws as to marrying a non-Israelitish captive woman, who after a month of mourning for the deaths of her family, will have the marriage consummated and thereby become part of Israel. 

Jeremiah (ca. 600 B.C.), son of the high priest Hilkiah, was one of the most significant voices against culture-decay, analogous to Ipuwer the Egyptian sage,  Titus Livius, and Cato the Censor, in Rome, and our own Spengler and Evola. He warned that Israel would prosper while the nexus with Tradition and ipso facto with the Divine was maintained; Israel would fall physically if it fell away morally from that Tradition. Jeremiah saw the destruction of the Temple of Solomon and the carrying into Babylonian captivity of Judah. As with the other Civilisations that have fallen, the first symptom had been a subversion of its founding religion. Interestingly, religious decay would be quickly proceeded by an invasion of foreigners, reminiscent of Ipuwer’s warning of Egypt’s invasion by “Asiatics”. Hence, Jeremiah warns that invasion is imminent as a punishment for Israel’s departure from the Traditional faith: “I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made”. From their self-styled role as a Holy People, they had fallen from the oath of their forefathers, Jeremiah/YHWH admonishing: “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. ‘Therefore I bring charges against you again,’ declares the LORD. ‘And I will bring charges against your children’s children’”. Jeremiah states that the priesthood has become corrupted, from whence the rot proceeds downward. “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Specifically, all of Israel had become motivated by greed. The admonition was to stand at the “crossroads” as to what paths to follow, and choose “the ancient paths”. 

“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD. This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it’”.

Greed, or what we now call materialism, has been the common factor of the fall of Civilisations, referred to by sages and philosophers up to our own Spengler, Brooks Adams, and Evola. The other common factor, as we have seen, has been the corruption of religion and the priestly caste, the priests and the prophets being condemned by Jeremiah.

The perennial survival of the Israelites is based on their adherence to Tradition. Prophets such as Jeremiah are the Jews’ constant warning to stay true to their “ancient paths” or destruction will result. The Jews worldwide have had, when not a King over Israel, the focus of a coming King-Messiah, Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Temple of Solomon (including the plans to rebuild the Temple as another focus for the future) as their world axial points, and the Mosaic Law as a universal code of living across time and place.These axial points have formed and maintained the Jews as a metaphysical race. Whatever others might think of some of their laws and beliefs their maintenance of a Traditional nexus has allowed them to supersede the cyclic laws of decay perhaps like no other people, to overcome decline and be restored, while paradoxically being the carriers of cultural pathogens among other civilisations (Marxism, Freudianism). 

What the genetics of races shows, past and present, is that miscegenation has not been a cause for the collapse of civilisations. Perhaps dysgenics might cause such a collapse, but hitherto there seems scant evidence for it. By focusing to the point of ideological obsession and dogma on the assume causes of culture-death being that of miscegenation, the actual causes are overlooked. Perhaps civilisation, theoretically, might die through dysgenics, whether racial or otherwise, but it seems that before such a dysgenic process has ever taken place the morphological laws of organic life and death have intervened as witnessed by those such as Livy, Cato, Ibn Khaldun, and in our time Spengler, Evola and Brooks Adams.

jeudi, 28 janvier 2016

¿Combatir o no combatir?

ragamala-2.jpg

¿Combatir o no combatir?

Beatriz Calvo Villoria

Ex: http://blog.ecocentro.es

En estos días se debate en los foros, en los muros de las redes sociales, en la prensa, en el alma de muchos sobre las distintas actitudes ante la guerra, ¿combatir o no combatir?, ¿la violencia se aplaca con violencia? ¿El amor es la respuesta, la compasión de liberar de la ignorancia? Este es un tema realmente complejo, donde se entremezclan muchos niveles, que pueden fácilmente confundirse y no sé ni como me atrevo a abordarlo, sabiendo que mi ignorancia dejará fuera miles de matices, que muchos lectores añadirán internamente a su lectura, para completar si pudiéramos escribir un texto a varias voces esta aproximación sobre la guerra nuestra de cada día.

Como siempre busco refugio intelectual en las Doctrinas Tradicionales donde uno encuentra posiciones para todos los carismas humanos que pueblan este planeta, como si la luz de la Verdad, pura e incolora por su inafección se convirtiera en un arcoiris al tocar la joya de la madre tierra  -que pende como símbolo cósmico privilegiado de la manifestación- y los colores más diversos que surgen de la refracción se hubieran adaptado a distintas geografías, épocas y tipologías de hombres, reflectando la misma luz, pero adaptada, por esa misericordia que tiene la luz de iluminar a todos los seres adecuándose a su forma.

Doctrinas tradicionales cercanas como la del Judaísmo, el Cristianismo y el Islam han contemplado la posibilidad de la guerra en aras de restituir la justicia perdida, la balanza del justo equilibrio, guerras que se regían por reglas estrictas de caballerosidad espiritual, y donde el enemigo era respetado y se luchaba cuerpo a cuerpo, buscando ser honorable y valeroso en la batalla.

La guerra exterior como un simulacro de la guerra interior que todo héroe ha de librar en su corazón por la constante tensión entre lo que aparentamos ser y lo que realmente somos, por la necesidad de superarnos a nosotros mismos venciendo los miedos, los fantasmas, las heridas que nos impiden avanzar y tomar mejor posición ante la vida con el fin de “llegar a ser lo que somos”. 

Pronto esa posibilidad degeneró e inundó el mundo de sangre usando el Nombre de Dios en vano, cuando era en nombre de sus intereses mundanos por lo que forzaban la interpretación de Su mensaje. Las doctrinas Abrahámicas son ya propias de un final de un tiempo, de un ciclo en el que el hombre transita desde hace miles de años, tan alejado de las verdades espirituales que vive en una falta total de equilibrio y de paz.

arjuna_Krishna_chariot.jpg

Pero si estas doctrinas son propias de una edad de hierro en que el desequilibrio acentúa la ciclidad vertiginosa entre la paz y la guerra rastreemos en las doctrinas más cercanas a edades más doradas del hombre, donde éste todavía recordaba su filiación con el Origen de todo lo creado -el que da la medida exacta de lo que un ser humano es-, cómo se trataba el tema de la guerra.

Según el Mahābhārata la era de Kali (la era de la riña y la hipocresía) comenzó en la medianoche del duodécimo día de la guerra de Kurukshetra, la noche en que los dos ejércitos se negaron a detenerse al atardecer para orar y siguieron matándose en la oscuridad, hasta el amanecer.

En el Baghavadd Guîtâ, se relata con belleza descomunal el dilema del guerrero Arjuna cuando en el campo de batalla ve al ejercito enemigo formado por sus seres más queridos, muchos de los cuales se han alejado del equilibrio que da el desapego, la renuncia a los infinitos deseos; la templanza; el contento con la sencillez, hija de la Unidad; la generosidad con Dios y por lo tanto con el prójimo, que ha sido creado para gestar comunidad y amor; el discernimiento, y todas las virtudes que permiten vivir la danza de los opuestos sin quemarse, pues el fuego tiene su correspondiente agua para danzar sin incendiar el mundo.

Esos seres alejados de los principios conmueven a Arjuna y en medio del campo de batalla le entra la flaqueza, pues no quiere matar a quienes ama y clama: “¡Oh, Krishna! viendo a mis familiares preparados para la batalla, mis párpados desfallecen y se cierran; y mi boca se seca y queda amarga, temblores recorren mi cuerpo y mi cabello se eriza con horror. La desgracia recaería sobre nosotros, si matamos a estos hombres; aunque sean malos. ¿Qué gozo encontraríamos en su muerte, oh Krishna, liberador de las almas?Como tu discípulo, vengo a Ti en súplica, en Ti busco refugio; por favor, sé la luz que aparte la oscuridad de mi confusión.”

El Señor Krishna, que en este texto inspirado, además de una encarnación divina es también Brahman, la Realidad última, le instruye sobre la guerra, nos instruye sobre la realidad y la ilusión en la que vivimos los hombres dormidos:

“Tanto el que piensa que el alma mata, como el que cree que puede ser muerta, ambos son ignorantes. Ni puede matar ni puede ser muerta.El Espíritu nunca nace y nunca muere: es eterno. Nunca ha nacido, está más allá del tiempo; del que ha pasado y el que ha de venir. No muere cuando el cuerpo muere.

El Espíritu inmortal mora en todos los seres y la muerte no puede afectarlo. Reponte, pues, de tu tristeza.  Por esto, piensa en tu deber y no dudes. No hay mayor honor para un guerrero que participar en una lucha por el restablecimiento de la virtud. Y no luchar por la justicia es traicionar tu deber y tu honor; es despreciar la virtud.”

Quizá es esta una de las claves principales para abordar esa pregunta que anda en el corazón de muchos ¿debemos de combatir a esas bestias asesinas que surgen de la ignorancia de lo que somos, pontífices entre la Tierra y el Cielo?, ¿combatir ese terrorismo tanto de estado como de facciones de personas profundamente desequilibradas que vehiculan el mal con mayúsculas?

Krishna dice que no luchar por la justicia es traicionar nuestro deber, y quizá ese idealismo de que el conflicto en ciernes que occidente ha ayudado a cocinar en los fogones de este tramo de historia, se resolverá con oraciones, cuando además sólo una parte muy reducida de la población está capacitada para orar ofreciendo al mismo tiempo el sacrificio del ego que la oración demanda, para irrumpir ésta con su sobrenaturaleza en la naturaleza tiene que dejar paso a una posición más ponderada, la de nuestra realidad de almas tibias y adocenadas por la confortabilidad incapaces de convocar el milagro que necesitamos.

Y quizá esto nos obligue a reconocer que no somos Brahmanes, sacerdotes con capacidad de intermediar entre el cielo y la tierra y que quizá, si algo queda, es nuestra capacidad de acción y, quizá, de lucha recordando las enseñanzas del Señor Krishna de que ni quien mata ni es matado son reales, sino una representación relativamente real de un drama cósmico que se nos escapa y que no puede no acontecer. Y que ya está aconteciendo.

arj33783582.jakarat494.JPGPues el hombre separado, sin unidad activa la dualidad, el árbol del bien y el mal y la alternancia entre la paz y la guerra se convierte en el reflejo extremo de la danza en la que el universo manifestado reescribe en cada instante su equilibrio.

La economía de lo divino se nos escapa, una no deja de sorprenderse cuando lee las visiones insólitas de Sor Consolata en la que Jesús le dice que la Segunda Guerra Mundial no la han creado los gobiernos sino que es una posibilidad divina que permite la salvación por la heroicidad que inspira la guerra ante la constatación de que la muerte puede acontecer en el siguiente segundo; y que esa guerra salvó para el “Tiempo Real”, que es el de la eternidad, a millones de jóvenes que inoculados del veneno de la tibieza por la decadencia de sus sociedades, culturas y religiones despreciaban la preciosa y frágil vida, acumulando en un gesto de heroísmo y de grandeza todos los méritos necesarios para salirse incluso del samsara, al dar la vida por los amigos, que es el máximo acto de amor que un ser humano puede hacer sobre la tierra.

La paz es inconcebible sin la guerra, y lo contrario también es cierto. La guerra siempre seguirá siendo una posibilidad, porque nunca se podrá eliminar aquello que la provoca, a saber, la diversidad virtualmente antagonista de las aspiraciones y valores, intereses y proyectos de hombres no realizados en la Unidad, en la hermandad, por tanto, con todos los humanos y por ende con todos los seres que habitan la tierra, todos los reinos a los que también estamos diezmando por esa ignorancia.

Es como si la textura del propio universo se tejiese a golpe de ying y yan y a medida que avanza el tiempo los ciclos traen, como en nuestra propia vida, procesos de nacimiento, madurez, enfermedades, que nos obligan a combatir el mal, el envejecer y finalmente el morir. Este ciclo viejo está llegando a su muerte, de nosotros depende como combatimos su achaques, sus dolencias, sus enfermedades y sus pestilencias.

Ojalá que el amor incendiase los corazones de la gente de esta época y diésemos a parir un nuevo ciclo de posibilidad, de renacimiento, de la mano de menos sufrimiento; que pudiésemos anular nuestros egos fusionándonos en la Unidad Principial en vez de esta inversión en la que la disolución está siendo en el Caos.

Pero no podemos dejar de observar que el horror que estamos viendo ha salido de las cloacas de almas, que como diría de nuevo Krishna pertenecen al hombre de naturaleza demoníaca, “que careciendo de principios, ignora qué es lo que se debe hacer y qué es lo que no se debe hacer; su corazón está empocilgado con todo tipo de impurezas, su conducta es irreverente y miente sin reparo./ Acuciados por cientos de deseos y vanas esperanzas, se esfuerzan denodadamente por acumular riquezas y bienes.

Viven con el único propósito de satisfacer sus deseos egoístas, siendo el odio y la lujuria su único refugio./ Violentos, iracundos, lascivos y sumidos ya en la más insolente arrogancia, estos hombres malvados llegan a odiarme: Me odian en ellos mismos y en otros igualmente. / Estos seres malvados, crueles y llenos de odio, son los hombres en el estado más bajo. En el inacabable ciclo de las reencarnaciones, inexorablemente Yo condeno a estos hombres a la destrucción./

El problema principal que esta naturaleza demoníaca no solo lo representan los grupos terroristas que occidente pretende combatir, sino que son las oligarquías financieras que manejan los gobiernos de occidente las que son demoníacas en sí mismas, por lo que el el campo de batalla no está alienado como en las guerras del Baghavadd Guîtâ. El Bien en un lado, el mal en el otro. El mal está en todos los frentes.

Todo es demasiado confuso, pero si a alguno nos tocase finalmente combatir en un escenario de guerra externa, en la interna es contínuo el combate, quizá todo esto debería de matizarse con un recuerdo sobre cuál es la actitud de un guerrero del espíritu en un campo de batalla, sea interior, sea exterior: “Permanece en paz, tanto en el placer como en el dolor; en la victoria, tanto como en la derrota; tanto si ganas como si pierdes. Prepárate para la guerra con tu alma tranquila; si estás en paz, no hay pecado. Más allá del poder del fuego, de la espada, del agua y del viento, el Espíritu es eterno, inmutable, omnipresente, inamovible, y siempre uno.” Krishna.

Y quizá un último abordaje de ese recuerdo de como se lucha en las batallas de la vida podríamos hacerlo desde el concepto coránico de yihad tan mal entendido. El yihad vehicula principalmente la idea de esfuerzo y expansión en el camino de Dios.

Según los sufíes, que expresan la dimensión más espiritual del Islam, se traduce como aquel esfuerzo que se realiza en el alma de cada hombre contra la ilusión de un yo separado de lo único real, que en su individuación, en su vestirse este cuerpo nuestro de cada día va construyendo a medida que surge la idea de un yo, sistemas defensivos y/o agresivos por la indefensión que siente ante la rotundidad de la existencia, que juega con miles de escenas y escenarios cambiantes que se suceden en un aparente falta de coherencia interna, falta de sentido abrumador.

Toda esa maya, ese galimatías experiencial fortalece la idea de un yo separado y abrumado que va encerrando en la caverna del olvido al único órgano que puede iluminarle su ceguera: el corazón, primer escalón de la escalera de Jacob que sube hasta el cielo de la Pureza, de la Verdad del Padre, del Amor de la Madre, si se me permite expresarlo así.

En ese olvido que le atemoriza el hombre intenta llenar su vacío con el cumplimiento de una infinidad de deseos que le llevaran a entrar en guerra con el otro yo que también desea, a veces lo mismo, la misma esposa, el mismo reino…. Y se pierde finalmente en el laberinto de la multiciplicad sin centro, careciendo de la firme determinación necesaria para hacerse uno con el Uno.

kshadb56b069.jpgLa polisemia de la palabra yihad, comprende otros dos tipos de esfuerzo menores, además del interno que es el Esfuerzo Mayor -el único que es santo- (el esfuerzo por mejorar la calidad de vida en la sociedad, esfuerzo en el campo de batalla en defensa propia, o luchar en contra de la tiranía y la opresión). El Islam fundamentalista, que por lo tanto no es Islam, pues no es equilibrado, ha ido desposeyendo y distorsionando este sentido interior y se ha quedado con una interpretación sesgada del esfuerzo menor para justificar religiosamente sus afanes políticos y dinerarios, de nuevo el pecado (error de tiro) de usar en Nombre de Dios en vano.

Esa guerra Santa es el arquetipo, el molde del que toda guerra menor debiera de beber, de emerger cuando en la historia las circunstancia de injusticia y violencia son tan atroces que se justifica este esfuerzo menor, pero siempre con las mismas virtudes que en la Gran Guerra Santa atemporal. Y con la comprensión que nadie mata, nada muere, solo Dios es Real y Él sabe más.

Así que humildemente comparto ese alto y dificultoso ideal a cumplir en el tiempo y espacio de una guerra en el mundo, en el mundo del alma, en el mundo del mundo: no es el ego  el que debe luchar sino la conciencia continua de una justicia que desde el Cielo de los principios nos induce a actuar.

Como el ejemplo de uno de lo compañeros del Profeta del Islam, que cuando a punto de asestarle un golpe fatal al enemigo que yacía en el suelo, éste le escupió a la cara, el semblante del compañero mudó y entonces dejó la espada y liberó de su golpe al enemigo, esté preguntó conmovido porque le perdonaba la vida y él le contestó porque la santa cólera había sido sustituida por la cólera de su ego ofendido, y no había de ser ése quien ejecutase la justicia sino el Único hacedor, para lo cual el ego no puede estar en medio reaccionando a sus propios intereses.

Si seguimos viajando por las Doctrinas que alumbran el camino como mapas que debemos reactualizar a cada instante nos encontramos a un Maestro del Amor como Jesús hablando también de la guerra: «No penséis que he venido a traer paz a la tierra. No he venido a traer paz, sino espada». (San Mateo 10, 34).

Y como dice Ángel Pascual Rodrigo: “De nuevo encontramos la misma paradoja expresada en los evangelios donde “el sufrimientos por las guerras y penalidades son como “upaya” para lograr la catarsis y la paz; para lograr la victoria en las batallas espirituales: la paz del espíritu. En tiempos de paz, el orgullo y la avidez, las afrentas mutuas y las pasiones desbordadas fraguan la guerra. En tiempos de guerra, la catarsis y la lucha por el ansiado bien fraguan la paz.”

Mientras estemos en la dualidad del bien y del mal la paz seguirá a la guerra y ésta a la paz, el ying contendrá un punto blanco del yan y el yan un punto negro del ying y rodarán entretejidos creando los mil universos, sólo quien trasciende los pares de opuestos bueno-malo, positivo-negativo, placer-dolor se libera.

«Las lámparas son diferentes pero la Luz es la misma; viene del Más Allá. Si te quedas mirando a la lámpara estás perdido, pues entonces surge la diversidad y la dualidad. Fija tu vista en la Luz y te sacará de la dualidad.» Jalal al-Din Rumi.

Si no queremos combatir en la siguiente guerra, quizá la más loca de todas por las que ha transitado la humanidad sólo nos queda redoblar el yihad interior, el hombre espiritual muere a esta vida para dejar de soñar y despertar a esa Realidad que es el origen de todas las realidades, para contemplar esa Belleza de la cual toda la belleza terrenal es sólo un pálido reflejo, para lograr esa Paz que todos los hombres buscan más allá de la inevitable guerra entre los pares de opuestos…. Esa pura ilusión que se desvanece ante el rostro del Amado, el único lugar donde no hay guerra.

Beatriz Calvo Villoria

jeudi, 12 novembre 2015

LOUIS DUMONT, O QUANDO L’INDUISMO INCONTRA L’OCCIDENTE (E VINCE)

warrior-queen-of-jhansi.jpg

LOUIS DUMONT, O QUANDO L’INDUISMO INCONTRA L’OCCIDENTE (E VINCE)

Quando un indù aggredisce un unno, non vale perché è indù contro unno

Nel pantheon degli autori di riferimento del panorama comunitarista, spicca certamente il sociologo ed antropologo Louis Dumont (1911-1998): studioso al confine tra l’interesse per le scienze sociali e gli studi legati alla Tradizione, in particolare nel contesto induista ed in parte buddhista.

Perché Il Talebano ha deciso di interessarsi a questo intellettuale? Anzitutto perché il pensiero di Dumont mette in discussione l’intero impianto culturale della postmodernità, attaccando in particolare la visione progressista che vorrebbe interpretare la storia come un lungo cammino di affinamento delle possibilità umane: al contrario, la contemporaneità viene vista come solo una fra le diverse possibilità della società e, anzi, per molti versi rappresenta un’eccezione assoluta rispetto alle civiltà tradizionali. In secondo luogo la conoscenza approfondita dello spirito indiano da parte di Dumont ci consente di dare uno sguardo lontano dagli stereotipi occidentali sulla società indù, una realtà ricca di contraddizioni che però rappresenta ancora oggi uno dei pochi esempi rimasti di civiltà in cui ancora vivono le vestigia della tradizione indoeuropea.

Louis-Dumont_7567.jpegDumont, nato a Salonicco nel 1911, si trasfersce successivamente in Francia, dove negli anni giovanili militerà nel Partito Comunista Francese, occupandosi delle varie sollecitazioni innovatrici della vivace realtà politica parigina. Presto si interessa di etnologia al punto di frequentare i corsi di Marcel Mauss al College de France, contro la volontà dei suoi genitori che lo avrebbero voluto ingegnere. Arruolato nell’esercito francese durante il secondo conflitto mondiale e finito prigioniero in un campo di detenzione tedesco, Dumont nel dopoguerra continua ad approfondire i suoi studi. Nel 1949 fa il suo primo viaggio in India, dove tornerà periodicamente per tutto il corso della sua vita. A partire dal confronto con l’India, comincia a sviluppare la dicotomia fondamentale tra l’Homo Aequalis, tipico dell’Occidente moderno, e l’Homo Hierarchicus. Proprio attorno a questa tematica, Dumont struttura alcuni dei suoi saggi più importanti e riconosciuti (si segnalano in particolare “La civiltà indiana e noi” del 1964 e “Homo Hierarchicus, saggio sul sistema delle caste” del 1966). Svincolando la sua analisi dal pregiudizio secondo il quale la società individualistica rappresenterebbe l’apice di un progresso (da leggere in contrapposizione alla barbarie di un sistema arcaico come quello delle caste), Dumont concentra la sua attenzione su uno dei testi più importanti della tradizione induista: il Sanathana Dharma.

Sarebbe veramente impossibile descrivere in un articolo la potenza del concetto di Dharma, ma approssimando in poche righe per darne un’idea al profano, qui basti sapere che con Dharma si intende l’equilibrio cosmico ispirato alle verità contenute nei Veda, un ordine trascendente che, se rispettato, è garante del Bene. La civiltà indiana ha alimentato per secoli la sua spiritualità di questa sacra legge universale, stratificando attorno ad essa una comunità organica fatta di ruoli e responsabilità, dal cui rispetto è sempre dipeso l’equilibrio della società. In questa totalità ognuno trova un posto correlato alla sua natura: il vertice della gerarchia è rappresentato dai Brahamini, una tipologia umana che vuole dedicare la sua esistenza alla ricerca del vero e del divino, viene poi la casta dei guerrieri (a cui apparteneva lo stesso Gautama Buddha) ovvero i guardiani della comunità, infine troviamo i commercianti. All’interno di questa piramide sociale che a noi occidentali ricorda così da vicino – non casualmente – la Repubblica platonica, è importante sottolineare come ad ogni ruolo corrisponda un determinato carico di responsabilità/doveri: se è vero che il brahamino riveste una posizione di grande prestigio e rispetto da parte delle altre caste, è anche vero che egli sottopone la sua intera esistenza al rispetto di una disciplina rigidissima che governa con codici di comportamento ogni aspetto della sua vita. Al contrario alla base della piramide incontriamo ruoli sicuramente più umili, ma – al di là del rispetto dello spirito comunitario – maggiore libertà di azione individuale.

A questo Homo Hierarchicus Dumont contrappone l’Homo Aequalis, punto di arrivo di un percorso le cui radici affondano forse nella rottura del cristianesimo col mondo antico; uno strappo che si rinsaldò almeno parzialmente col medioevo, ma da cui successivamente si sviluppò l’eresia protestante e tutto ciò che ne è derivato. Facendo riferimento agli studi di Karl Polany, Dumont analizza il percorso di progressivo svincolamento della sfera economica da quella comunitaria, fino alla trasformazione in realtà autoreferenziale ed autonoma tipica della modernità. In questo senso il pensiero espresso da Adam Smith nel suo saggio sulla “Ricerca sulla natura e cause della ricchezza delle nazioni” è forse l’esempio più sintetico della visione propria alla nascente scienza economica: questa nuova scienza si traduce nell’esaltazione del comportamento egoistico dell’individuo, un agire cieco nei riguardi del prossimo e senza riguardi per le ripercussioni sociali, ma che – nel sistema di Smith – è garante di un equilibrio provvidenziale in cui i vizi privati diventano sostanzialmente benefici pubblici.

homo70286492FS.gifSi comprende bene come un tale individualismo si ponga agli antipodi con la concezione olistica/tradizionale: questo non vuol banalmente significare che in passato la totalità delle persone fosse altruista, ma che la comunità viveva coesa attorno a dei valori universalmente riconosciuti. Nell’induismo, per esempio, non esiste l’idea che per essere felici bisogna gratificare il proprio ego, ma vige, piuttosto, il pensiero per cui ognuno debba scoprire il ruolo assegnatogli dal destino e vivere in armonia con esso e ciò che si ha intorno: ciò che gratifica veramente l’esistenza della persona è insomma trovare il proprio posto all’interno della comunità, non emanciparsi da essa. L’individuo induista si concepisce infatti come parte del cosmo e non come un atomo portatore di valori naturali, privo di interdipendenza. Lo stesso asceta che si allontana dalla società non lo fa in nome di un ripiegamento individualista: si tratta piuttosto dell’aspirazione ad una realizzazione metafisico-cosmica superiore a quella basata su una vita comunitaria, ma in cui trionfa sempre lo stesso spirito olistico (non si mette in discussione il valore della comunità in quanto tale), distinto sia dall’individualismo extramondano sia da quello mondano.

Louis Dumont è stato un grande studioso, capace di mostrare come l’Occidente contemporaneo non sia il culmine dell’evoluzione umana, quanto, invece, un’anomalia rispetto alle altre società. Per quanto esso voglia porsi come civiltà universale, in realtà, il suo sapere è “provinciale” ed incapace di comprendere altri orizzonti. Nel rapporto con l’India vediamo, per esempio, due tipi di reazione: da un lato c’è chi è vittima di un complesso di superiorità e non perde occasione di far notare quanta strada la barbara società indiana debba ancora fare sulla grande scala del progresso, di cui noi naturalmente rappresentiamo l’apice; dall’altro osserviamo improbabili fascinazioni new age in cui la grande sapienza indiana si svilisce in una serie di letture maldigerite e pallide imitazioni rituali. La tradizione indù invece, seppur sbiadita, rappresenta di fatto ancora oggi un sistema alternativo in cui si possono udire gli echi di un passato che infondo appartiene a tutte le civiltà indoeuropee, compresa la nostra.

Daniele Frisio

jeudi, 22 octobre 2015

Las raíces religiosas del pacifismo

gandhi_0.jpg

Las raíces religiosas del pacifismo

por Manuel Fernández Espinosa

Ex: http://culturatransversal.wordpress.com

La insustancialidad del pacifismo rebañego

El pacifismo viene definido por el diccionario de la RAE como: “Conjunto de doctrinas encaminadas a mantener la paz entre las naciones”. Pero esas doctrinas de las que se nutre el pacifismo son muy variadas y es por ello que me propongo hacer una inspección sobre este asunto.

Aunque se pueden traer a colación muchos antecedentes del pacifismo diremos que el pacifismo tiene una médula religiosa, como vamos a tener ocasión de ver abajo. Sin embargo, en un occidente desacralizado, el pacifismo que se estila prescinde de esta dimensión religiosa, ofreciéndose una versión apta para todos los públicos, sin que comporte mayor compromiso que la escenificación más o menos patética de un deseo de paz evanescente.

A falta de un compromiso real que sí puede encontrarse de forma plena en lo religioso hasta el “heroísmo pacifista” (sea la religión que sea), el “pacifismo” occidentalista no deja de ser una ideología que sirve como instrumento de dominio de masas. Su funcionalidad está desnaturalizada y no deja de ser un recurso que el poder económico y político emplea a su conveniencia. Y el mecanismo que este “pacifismo rebañego” sigue es tan simple como lo podemos ver en no pocas de sus manifestaciones de la historia más reciente.

Image: Gandhi en Italie dans les années 20, conversant avec des jeunes garçons du mouvement "Balilla"

BalillaGandhi1931-30b19.jpgUn suceso trágico de índole bélica impacta en la opinión pública, mediante los medios de intoxicación de masas (llamarle “medios de comunicación” sería convertirse en cómplices de las conspiraciones del poder), inmediatamente se desencadena un efecto sobre las masas, recogiéndose lo que se había calculado recoger: lo mismo la adhesión masiva a una intervención militar que la recepción de “refugiados”. El pacifismo fue empleado magistralmente por el comunismo soviético que, durante la Guerra Fría, lo exportó a sus sucursales en todos los países que permanecían bajo la férula estadounidense: se minaba así la combatividad de la opinión pública de los países capitalistas y se neutralizaba cualquier esfuerzo bélico procedente de los gobiernos. Dábase el caso paradójico de que, mientras en occidente los comunistas reclamaban la “paz”, los países comunistas seguían rearmándose. La lección ha sido aprendida por las demás potencias, independientemente de su signo político.

El pacifismo de las religiones de extremo oriente

Prevalece una enorme ignorancia en cuanto a las religiones y no parece que nadie quiera remediarla. Es por ello que se tiende a generalizaciones totalmente equivocadas. Se ha llegado a admitir una clasificación de las religiones en:

Religiones violentas.

Religiones pacifistas.

Entre las religiones violentas, el Islam y el Cristianismo cargan con la peor de las famas: el Islam por su “yihad” y el Cristianismo por sus “Cruzadas” de antaño. Y esto se hace con el máximo desdén intelectual hacia la complejidad que podemos hallar tanto en el Islam (sunnitas y chiítas) como en el cristianismo (protestantes, ortodoxos y católicos). Por ser enormente problemático, este tema lo dejamos a un lado, para centrarnos en el “pacifismo religioso” que es el que nutre al “pacifismo rebañego”. Éste, el rebañego, tiene una imagen parcial de la realidad de las religiones consideradas como “pacifistas”, las de Extremo Oriente y, como es de esperar, no actúa en consecuencia como sí que actuaron los grandes ejemplos del “pacifismo religioso”, el mismo ejemplo que -sin “religión” y degradado a icono o eslogan publicitario- reclama para sí.

Las religiones del Extremo Oriente son conceptuadas como “pacifistas”, lo que muestra el abrumador desconocimiento que el occidental tiene de las mismas.

He dicho más arriba que el pacifismo, en efecto, es de índole religiosa. Puede verse en sus dos figuras mundialmente más representativas: Lev Tolstoi y Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ha sido convertido en un icono del pacifismo rebañego, prescindiéndose de sus motivaciones y, por supuesto, sin animar a nadie a reproducir el ejemplo de su determinación.

Mahatma-Gandhi-Gandhiji.jpg

Gandhi y la “Ahimsa”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) empleó el pacifismo por razones estrictamente religiosas, sin dejar por ello de perseguir una finalidad política: luchar incruentamente por expulsar a Gran Bretaña de la India y alcanzar la independencia de su nación. Y este pacifismo gandhiano nunca fue obstáculo para que Gandhi admirara a Benito Mussolini y al fascismo italiano (algo que ignora la mayoría de pacifistas de rebaño). Es cierto que Tolstoi ejerció una formidable influencia sobre el pensamiento de Gandhi, pero la inspiración de Gandhi no hay que encontrarla en el “El Reino de Dios está en Vosotros” de Tolstoi, sino en el concepto religioso y filosófico de la tradición india: la “Ahimsa”. Y aquí debemos aclarar un poco la procedencia de este término sánscrito.

La “Ahimsa” suele traducirse como “no-violencia”, pero sería más apropiado traducirlo como “no hacer daño”. Puede encontrarse en los textos de la “Upanishads”, pero la “Ahimsa” fue asimilada por algunas modalidades del hinduísmo, del budismo y del jainismo. Sin embargo, es tal el desconocimiento de las diversas tradiciones de Extremo Oriente que se considera que todo el hinduísmo, todo el budismo y todo el jainismo la acepta con el mismo rigor. Eso ha dado una imagen de “benevolencia” (muy buen rollo) a estas religiones que está muy lejos de hacerles justicia.

Ahimsa en el hinduísmo

Estas tres religiones son tan antiguas como para haberse ido complicando en su despliegue y su complejidad es más de la que puede sospechar el necio occidental, ese que se apresura a identificar hinduísmo y budismo con la “no-violencia”.

El hinduísmo fue el suelo sobre el que surgieron tanto el budismo como el jainismo. Pero en el hinduísmo la “Ahimsa” no puede entenderse como un concepto permanente en el tiempo ni tampoco generalizado socialmente, dado que la doctrina de las “varnas” (las castas) establece con claridad meridiana que la sociedad hindú se halla estratificada en cuatro órdenes sociales con obligaciones y derechos muy distintos: los brahmanes, los ksatryas (guerreros), los vaisyas (mercaderes) y los siervos (sudras). Atendiendo a la segunda de las castas hindúes vemos que esta religión antiquísima admite la función militar como algo necesario para la defensa de la sociedad. A lo largo de su historia, el hinduísmo ha manifestado que, si bien es cierto que existe una tendencia por el “no hacer daño”, la violencia es algo necesario. Lo vemos clamorosamente en el “Bhagavad Gita” (perteneciente al Mahabharata, aproximadamente siglo III a. C.) En el “Bhagavad Gita”, Krisna (avatar de Visnú) le dice a Arjuna (que duda si combatir a sus parientes):

“¿De dónde este decaimiento
te ha invadido en el riesgo,
impropio de un noble, que aleja del cielo,
que no trae gloria, oh Arjuna?

No vayas a caer en cobardía, hijo de Prtha.
Es algo que no es propio de ti.
La vil debilidad del corazón
arrojando lejos, yérguete, Destructor de enemigos”.

Krisna termina convenciendo a Arjuna de la necesidad de entrar en batalla y aniquilar físicamente a sus adversarios mediante la guerra, en la persuasión de que los muertos que siembre sobre el campo de batalla, bien mirado por encima del mundo de las apariencias, no mueren, puesto que se reencarnarán.

Según el cómputo de las edades que rigen para el hinduísmo, estamos (en nuestros presentes días) en el llamado “Kali Yuga” (la edad oscura) en que abunda la contienda, la ignorancia, la irreligión y el vicio y se vaticina en el hinduísmo que para dar fin al colmo de este exceso del mal vendrá otro avatar de Visnú, Kalki, que destruirá a los demonios para abrir la siguiente edad llamada “Satya Yuga”. Es interesante reparar en el asombroso parecido que muestra la iconografía del Kalki hindú con nuestro Santiago Matamoros.

buddha___iii_by_loki2002.jpg

 

Ahimsa en el budismo

El budismo que goza en occidente de tantas simpatías y una proyección considerable no puede tampoco decirse que sea pacifista en bloque. Si bien es cierto que la “Ahimsa” es el primero de los diez preceptos y el primer elemento de la disciplina moral, sería imposible comprender el fenómeno de los samuráis japoneses (budistas) si la “Ahimsa” fuese un precepto practicado en toda su radicalidad. Esto se debe al mismo despliegue del budismo que tan diversos frutos ha dado dependiendo del terreno sobre el que ha florecido, hasta tal punto que no puede decirse que el budismo zen o el budismo tibetano sean lo mismo, por mucho que participen de una base común. La tendencia occidental de considerar el budismo como algo “puro” es un error de enfoque. El budismo tuvo sus propios sincretismos allí donde aterrizó, como ocurrió con el Bön (chamanismo prebudista) tibetano y el shintoísmo japonés.

Ahimsa en el jainismo

Si hinduísmo y budismo son bastante desconocidos en occidente (ver una fotografía del Dalai Lama no es comprender el budismo tibetano, p. ej.), mucho más se ignora el jainismo, cuyo fundador Mahavira (llamado Jina, el Conquistador) fue contemporáneo de Buda. Los jainas están divididos desde el año 79 d. C. en “svetambaras” (tradición más relajada) y los “dighambaras” ´(los más estrictos) que practican el nudismo. Los jainas tienen, a modo de mandamientos, los Grandes Votos (mahavratas) para los religiosos y los Pequeños Votos (anuvratas) para los laicos y aquí la “Ahimsa” se estipula para ambos.

Gandhi encontró en su propia tradición la inspiración para su “Ahimsa”, elemento fundamental del “pacifismo” religioso de Extremo Oriente, pero -como podemos ver- se trata de una de las muchas vías que se proponen en el abigarrado y complejo mundo donde tienen arraigo aquellas religiones. Y, lejos de ser una actitud ampliamente generalizada, el pacifismo religioso es una vía muy particular, abrazada por algunos singulares personajes, no por la sociedad en su conjunto; lo que nunca se les ha ocurrido a los hindúes y budistas es practicar a rajatabla el “pacifisimo religioso”, pues ello, ante la amenaza de un enemigo violento, significaría el exterminio de sus feligresías.

Conclusión

El pacifismo puede dividirse, a nuestro juicio, en dos grandes clases:

-El Pacifismo religioso que nos merece todo el respeto en sus grandes figuras, algunas veces heroicas, pero que es un fenómeno bastante extraño incluso en las religiones que son consideradas como sustancialmente “pacifistas”.

-El Pacifismo rebañego que no es más que la occidentalización del pacifismo religioso, desustanciado y convertido en ideología que sirve a intereses políticos, sobre todo para dominar y debilitar a las masas. Y que no nos merece ningún respeto, como no nos lo merece cualquier cosa que ha dado esa perversión de la Cristiandad que se llama “occidente”.

Fuente: Raigambre

mercredi, 17 juin 2015

René Guénon et Alain Daniélou

danielou.jpg

René Guénon et Alain Daniélou

par Jean-Louis Gabin

Ex: http://bouddhanar.blogspot.be

« Dans le monde moderne où les voies de la transmission normale de la connaissance ésotérique sont fermées pour la plupart, les livres jouent un rôle très différent de celui qu'ils jouaient dans des circonstances normales, de sorte que certains enseignements jusque là préservés sous forme orale se mirent à circuler sous forme écrite, constituant ainsi véhicules d'enseignement et de guidance pour ceux qui se trouvent privés de tous les autres moyens. Cette manifestation compense la disparition des voies traditionnelles de transmission de la connaissance, au moins dans son aspect théorique, sans que cela implique que cette situation elle-même puisse entraîner la manifestation de l'intégralité de la connaissance traditionnelle dans les livres sous une forme facilement accessible à tous. » 
Seyyed Hossein Nasr

 

Daniélou a témoigné plusieurs fois de l'importance qu'avait représentée pour lui la lecture de l'Introduction générale aux doctrines hindoues de Guénon. Il en traduisit des passages en hindi dans les années 40, car les milieux traditionnels dans lesquels il avait été accueilli à Bénarès étaient intéressés par la façon dont Guénon présentait le Sanâtana Dharma et la « crise du monde moderne ».

Dans le Dossier H consacré à Guénon, Daniélou aborde la question de l'accès à l'intégralité du Sanâtana Dharma, à propos du Védisme. Le Védisme, précise Daniélou, est « censé représenter la tradition primordiale d'un point de vue, disons, officiel. Mais, du point de vue ésotérique, il apparaît comme une religion qui en est devenue, à un certain moment, le véhicule ». Daniélou s'étonne que Guénon n'ait pas eu accès au Shivaïsme, car les plus hauts degrés de l'initiation ésotérique, transmis « presque exclusivement par les Sannyasis, sont shivaïtes. Ils sont en dehors du Brahmanisme, comme d'ailleurs de toute religion, et représentent en fait ce que Guénon appelle la Tradition primordiale ». Mais Daniélou considère que l'Introduction aux doctrines hindoues est le premier ouvrage à avoir tracé un tableau authentique du Sanâtana Dharma, « cette conception d'une révélation première transmise à travers les âges par des initiés, telle qu'elle apparaît dans l'hindouisme mais dont les traces doivent inévitablement se retrouver, sous une forme plus ou moins cachée, dans toutes les civilisations puisqu'elles sont la raison d'être de l'homme ». Comme souvent avec Daniélou, tout est dit en très peu de lignes ; notamment le fait que cette révélation première affleure dans toute société humaine, mais que sa signification intégrale n'est transmise que par des voies initiatiques, lesquelles ne sont pas faciles d'accès, ne sont pas destinées à tout le monde et, pour commencer, ne sont pas présentes partout. Afin d'éviter autant que se peut toute méprise, Daniélou reprend, dans le même texte, la question de l'origine transcendante, supra-humaine dirait Guénon, du Sanâtana Dharma :
« La première révélation de ce que l'homme doit connaître des lois qui régissent l'Univers et des destinées des êtres vivants a été donnée à des Rishis (Voyants), des sages des premiers âges. Leur enseignement a été ensuite transmis par des initiés, des hommes jugés dignes d'assurer la continuité de cette fonction essentielle, à travers toutes les mutations, les alternances de décadence et de progrès, les changements de religion, de langue, de société. Ceci n'exclut pas que des révélations ultérieures viennent parfois rafraîchir la mémoire des représentants de la Tradition ».
danielou-200po.jpgSur ces questions, alors que, sur d'autres points, Daniélou émet des réserves sur telle ou telle attitude, ou sur tel écrit de Guénon, l'accord entre les 2 auteurs est total, comme en témoigne cet extrait d'une lettre de R. Guénon à A. Daniélou, en date du 27 août 1947 :
« Je ne puis laisser dire que je suis “converti à l'Islam” car cette façon de présenter les choses est complètement fausse ; quiconque a conscience de l'unité essentielle des traditions est par là même inconvertissable à quoi que ce soit, et il est même le seul qui le soit ; mais on peut “s'installer”, s'il est permis de s’exprimer ainsi, dans telle ou telle tradition suivant les circonstances, et surtout pour des raisons d'ordre initiatique. J'ajoute à ce propos que mes liens avec les organisations ésotériques islamiques ne sont pas quelque chose de plus ou moins récent comme certains semblent le croire ; en fait ils datent de bien près de 40 ans... ».
Accord total, aussi, sur ce que Guénon nomme, dans Le Règne de la Quantité, la pseudo-initiation et la contre-initiation. Daniélou écrit, toujours dans ce témoignage du Dossier H : « Guénon, qui avait pris contact avec les diverses organisations initiatiques, les Rose-Croix, les Francs-maçons, les Théosophes, etc., en avait aussitôt avec justesse décelé les artifices. Certains de ces ouvrages, tels que Le Théosophisme, histoire d'une pseudo-religion, et L'Erreur spirite en sont une condamnation très bien documentée ». Daniélou ne cite pas Le Règne de la Quantité qui me semble, personnellement, un ouvrage de tout premier plan pour la quête du Sanâtana Dharma, du moins pour nous aujourd'hui, en Europe, qui cherchons à travers les livres et n'avons pas bénéficié d'un enseignement régulier dans une instance traditionnelle, comme ce fut le cas pour les 2 auteurs dont nous parlons. Le Règne de la Quantité consacre plusieurs chapitres aux organisations syncrétiques et aux sectes, permettant de mieux identifier les culs-de-sac et les pièges de l'entreprise anti-traditionnelle multiforme qui marque la dernière période du Kali Yuga.
Un vrai trousseau de clefs pour aujourd'hui que Le Règne de la Quantité et les Signesdes Temps, d'autant plus stupéfiant qu'il fut publié pur la première fois en 1946. Je me contenterai d'une brève citation, en rapport avec ce que disait Coomaraswamy tout à l'heure des chemins où se sont perdus tant d'artistes et de “poètes maudits”, ces martyrs météoriques de la modernité :
« Certains recherchent avant tout de prétendus “pouvoirs”, c'est à dire, en somme, sous une forme ou une autre, la production de phénomènes plus ou moins extraordinaires (..). Bien entendu, il ne s'agit aucunement ici de nier la réalité des “phénomènes” (..) ils ne sont même que trop réels, pourrions-nous dire, et ils n'en sont que plus dangereux (..). En général, l’être qui s'attache à ces choses devient ensuite incapable de s'en affranchir et d'aller au-delà, et il est irrémédiablement dévié (...). Il peut y avoir là une sorte de développement “à rebours” qui (...) éloigne toujours davantage de la réalisation spirituelle jusqu'à ce que l'être soit définitivement égaré dans ces prolongements inférieurs (…) par lesquels il ne peut qu'entrer en contact avec “l'infra-humain” ».
Il y a ainsi dans Le Règne de la Quantité des mises en garde nombreuses et détaillées contre l'action des organisations pseudo-traditionnelles, qui d'ailleurs se haïssent entre elles avec une virulence que Guénon compare aux haines qu'on observe entre des chapelles politiques rivales. J'emploie d'ailleurs à dessein l'expression “chapelle politique”, parce qu'à mes yeux, j'y reviendrai dans un instant, la politique et “l'actualité”, si importantes dans la vie de nos contemporains, me semblent fonctionner comme de véritables substituts du religieux. Daniélou, lui aussi, met en garde expressément contre toutes les formes d'enrôlement, particulièrement contre les pièges dans lesquels tombent en Inde les Occidentaux trop crédules, « parfois attirés par des sectes prétendues initiatiques ou enrôlés par des aventuriers pseudo-mystiques, en particulier certains Indiens qui diffusent un Védanta très simplifié et exploitent leur crédulité ». Il faut remarquer qu'A. Daniélou a cru nécessaire de revenir sur ces questions à la fin de sa vie, lors de la réédition du Chemin du labyrinthe, comme si les illustrations terrifiantes contenues dans « Le Maître des Loups » et « Le bétail des dieux » ne suffisaient pas à dessiller nos yeux occidentaux, imbus de positivisme et du sentiment de supériorité que décerne si prodigalement l'enseignement massifié de nos Universités. On pourra se reporter en particulier à ce que Daniélou écrit à propos de « Wolfgang », qui « confondit, comme beaucoup, la fumée du haschich et la spiritualité indienne » et se laissa entraîner par un de ces « ascètes hirsutes qui, par des pratiques liées au yoga, acquièrent d'étranges pouvoirs qui vont de la lévitation à l'hypnotisme, en passant par la vision à distance, l'insensibilité à la chaleur et au froid, l'envoûtement, l'asservissement de leurs victimes, etc. J'ai toujours eu très peur de ces êtres étranges dont le regard fulgurant fait aussitôt vaciller votre raison et votre volonté, et dont il vaut mieux s'éloigner sans délai ». On peut aussi faire son profit, dans ces ultimes pages d'A. Daniélou, des précisions qu'il apporte au sujet de prétendues activités politiques qu'il aurait eues en Inde, ou de sympathies politiques qui auraient été les siennes en Occident. On ne voit pas très bien pour quelle raison A. Daniélou, qui n'a jamais été effrayé d'assumer son anticonformisme, aurait dissimulé au soir de sa vie des appartenances ou des sympathies, dans une biographie qui est à mille lieues du nombrilisme mais dont la sincérité ne fait aucun doute. Contrairement à Julius Evola, mais proche encore sur ce terrain de Guénon, Daniélou s'est toujours tenu volontairement à l'écart de la politique. Le dernier texte du Chemin du labyrinthes'intitule symboliquement « le choix du libre arbitre » :
« Dans la société orthodoxe où je vivais (pendant la seconde guerre mondiale, à Bénarès) s'affrontaient subtilement et se mêlaient une orthodoxie védique sympathisant avec les théories aryennes du nazisme et une tradition shivaï'te profondément opposée aux aryens. Swamy Karpâtrî, dont je suivais fidèlement les enseignements, avait créé un mouvement culturel, le Dharma Sangh (association pour la défense des valeurs morales et religieuses) afin d'opérer un retour aux valeurs de la culture et de la société traditionnelle. Il critiquait les idées socialistes représentées par le Congrès national de Gandhi et Nehru mais aussi les réformateurs pseudo-traditionnels comme Aurobindo ou Tagore, qui prétendaient revenir à une tradition idéalisée, mais étaient très imbus d'idées occidentales. Par ailleurs, Karpâtrî était très hostile aux idées du Rashtrya Svayam Sevak Sangh (association pour la défense des valeurs nationales) qui préconisait des méthodes inspirées du fascisme dans la lutte contre le Congrès et les idées modernistes (...). De par mon opposition à la domination anglaise et mon attachement à l'Inde, j'avais des rapports très proches avec les dirigeants du mouvement indépendantiste, avec Nehru et sa famille et aussi avec la célèbre poétesse Sarojini Naïdu, tous membres influents du Congrès (…). À aucun moment et en aucune façon je n'ai voulu me mêler des mouvements politiques, ni d'un côté ni de l'autre ».

rene-guenon-ages-foule-543po.jpg

On ne saurait être plus net, surtout en 1992, à l'ultime page de son autobiographie. Et je voudrais à présent citer presque intégralement la fin de ce « choix du libre arbitre », non par une sorte de culte, que Daniélou eût été le premier à tourner vertement en ridicule, mais parce qu'il serait vain de vouloir rivaliser avec lui dans la concision, la précision du détail, et l'adéquation avec ce thème de la recherche du Sanâtana Dharma que j'ai essayé d'aborder aujourd'hui :
« Je n'ai jamais voulu m'affilier à aucune secte religieuse ou croyance, jamais voulu perdre mon libre arbitre. Mais, frondeur de nature, j'ai toujours tendance à m'opposer à l'idéologie dominante, à contrecarrer ce que les gens prennent pour des vérités établies, à toujours remarquer que l'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions, à penser que la remise en question de toute affirmation est le seul moyen de faire évoluer la connaissance. La discussion est un élément de recherche et non point d'assertion ».
C'est bien dans le domaine des prétendus “débats” politiques que la discussion est vraiment stérile, la règle du jeu consistant à ne pas écouter l'adversaire, à l'empêcher de parler, les moyens les plus malhonnêtes n’étant pas les moins indiqués. Dans notre société, où il semble que la parole soit avant tout un pouvoir qui se nourrit de lui-même, les marionnettes-héros de la télévision rivalisent avec celles de la politique dans une sorte de clôture narcissique sur le vide. Penser la discussion comme un élément de recherche légitime à l'époque où le dogme du politiquement correct la considère comme un indice d'éducation inconvenante, ne peut qu'attirer des représailles de la part des tenants de la langue de bois. Cela n'a pas manqué pour A. Daniélou, à propos de qui on affirme dur comme fer dans les officines indianistes et les parkings de méditation des ashrams qu'il fut au minimum, sinon le fondateur, du moins l'idéologue du RSS qu'il citait tout à l'heure. Mais continuons à lui laisser la parole :
« Le paradoxe, la remise en question des évidences qui semblent les mieux établies est un exercice salutaire, le seul capable défaire avancer les choses et de ne point rester figé sur des dogmes. Ce qui m'a fait souvent attribuer une appartenance à des théories auxquelles je ne souscris en aucune façon. La liberté d'esprit a difficilement sa place dans une société infectée par des conflits et des appartenances idéologiques également arbitraires ».
Il me semble que le propos ne peut pas être plus clair au sujet des prétendus engagements politiques d'A. Daniélou. À propos du rôle de gourou qu'il s'est toujours refusé à tenir, il n'est pas indifférent que plus de la moitié du dernier paragraphe du Chemin du labyrinthe, dans un passage qui suit immédiatement celui que nous venons de lire, lui soit consacré : 
« Je ne suis pas prophète, d'ailleurs ma barbe se refuse à pousser. Mon âge fait que les gens attendent de moi des directives ou des oracles, ce à quoi je me refuse ; je ne suis pas un guru. Je continue toujours à chercher à comprendre le mystère du monde et, pour cela, je suis prêt, chaque jour, à tout recommencer, à réexaminer mes convictions, à rejeter toute croyance, à m'avancer seulement dans la direction du savoir qui est le contraire de la foi. Ma méfiance reste entière vis-à-vis de tout rite ou cérémonie qui m'apparaît comme du théâtre dès qu'il y a des témoins. Je me refuse à faire une puja pour des dévots toujours fanatiques (nous dirions aujourd'hui des “fans”) ».
On a trop peu souvent l'occasion de saluer la probité intellectuelle pour ne pas être heureux que, dans des temps comme les nôtres, il reste de ces esprits présentant ce curieux mélange de goût du paradoxe, de liberté, de souveraineté, en même temps que d'une forme d'humilité devant la connaissance, et de distance un peu moqueuse vis-à-vis de ce qui occupe tant d'occidentaux depuis Descartes : leur propre ego. Mais il ne faut pas croire que cette légèreté de bonne compagnie ait été synonyme de superficialité ou de scepticisme. Daniélou nous le rappelle dans la péroraison de son texte que je vais à présent citer jusqu'à la fin, lui laissant d'une certaine façon le dernier mot avant de conclure :
« La seule valeur que je ne remets jamais en question est celle des enseignements que j’ai reçus de l'hindouisme shivaïte qui refuse tout dogmatisme, car je n'ai trouvé aucune forme de pensée qui soit allée aussi loin, aussi clairement, avec une telle profondeur et une telle intelligence, dans la compréhension du divin et des structures du monde. Aucune forme de pensée n'approche de près ou de loin cette merveilleuse recherche qui nous vient du fond des âges. Aucune des idéologies, aucune des théories qui divisent le monde moderne ne me semble mériter que je m'y associe, que j'en prenne la défense. Elles me paraissent puériles, quand elles ne sont pas simplement aberrantes ».
Conclusion
Le chemin pour retrouver une sagesse oubliée n'est pas toujours facile à suivre, mais il est à présent bien tracé.
« Dans le monde moderne où les voies de la transmission normale de la connaissance ésotérique sont fermées pour la plupart, les livres jouent un rôle très différent de celui qu'ils jouaient dans des circonstances normales, de sorte que certains enseignements jusque là préservés sous forme orale se mirent à circuler sous forme écrite, constituant ainsi véhicules d'enseignement et de guidance pour ceux qui se trouvent privés de tous les autres moyens. Cette manifestation compense la disparition des voies traditionnelles de transmission de la connaissance, au moins dans son aspect théorique, sans que cela implique que cette situation elle-même puisse entraîner la manifestation de l'intégralité de la connaissance traditionnelle dans les livres sous une forme facilement accessible à tous ».
Pour l'approche intellectuelle de cette sagesse, les langues occidentales, requalifiées métaphysiquement, en quelque sorte, par tous ces auteurs extrêmement attentifs à la précision du vocabulaire, disposent à présent d'un grand nombre de textes fondamentaux, aisément accessibles. S'agissant du désir de “pratiques”, en revanche, on peut noter les mises en garde répétées de tous ces auteurs. On a oublié dans notre monde profane combien toutes les sociétés traditionnelles étaient attentives aux questions de purification, de qualification, aux instants favorables et défavorables, aux précautions pour neutraliser les forces dangereuses, grâce à des “techniques de pointe”, si l'on ose dire, dont l'origine et l'inspiration, analysées comme “primitives” par les ethnologues positivistes, sont toujours présentées comme “non-humaines”.
La recherche du savoir est toujours légitime, mais l'utilisation de ce savoir pour jouir d'un pouvoir est un obstacle, une disqualification dans cette sorte de jeu de l'oie qui consiste à retrouver patiemment le chemin du divin. Et quant à l'incorporation effective dans une tradition régulière, ce qui peut être également une aspiration légitime, les auteurs traditionnels sont encore unanimes : la première règle consiste à accepter de devenir ce que l'on est, accepter sa naissance hic et nunc, car si l'esprit souffle où il veut, on sait qu'invariablement, du point de vue initiatique, « c'est en réalité la voie qui choisit l'homme et non l'homme qui choisit la voie ».
Il semble qu'au fur et à mesure que le monde moderne descend plus bas dans l'inharmonie et l'empoisonnement de la planète, des lumières apparaissent, différentes comme sont différentes les voies. Les auteurs traditionnels du XXe siècle ont en commun des connaissances immenses et des clés pour l'interprétation des grands symboles qui soudain se répondent et correspondent dans une unité éclatante — et non plus ténébreuse comme chez Baudelaire. Ils ont en même temps des styles très différents et même des formulations qui pourraient sembler contradictoires : Nasr se réfère au Dieu de l'Islam et du Christianisme, alors que le mot “Dieu” est beaucoup moins prononcé dans l'œuvre de Guénon ; Coomaraswamy traduit “Deva” par “Anges”, alors que Daniélou, qui a consacré un ouvrage entier à la réhabilitation intellectuelle du polythéisme, parle évidemment de Vishnou et de Shiva comme d'autant de Dieux ou d'aspects du divin.
Nous avons donc de quoi lire, relire, débrouiller l'écheveau. La floraison d'ouvrages traditionnels, dont l'authenticité ne fait aucun doute et qui s'épanouissent depuis le début du XXe siècle en Occident, compense jusqu'à un certain point l'absence à peu près certaine de voie initiatique dans le Catholicisme, l'absence de cultes maintenus vivants autour des Déesses et des Dieux gréco-romains. Rien ne nous empêche de vénérer les Principes organisateurs de l'harmonie du monde, de bâtir des enclaves d'harmonie, modestes mais incommensurables, d'attendre la lumière au fond de notre cœur.
Jean-Louis Gabin, Pondichéry, Shivaratri 2001. 
Source : Antaios, revue d'études polythéistes fondée en 1959 par Mircea Eliade et Ernst Jünger.

vendredi, 22 mai 2015

A Vedic Examination of Abrahamism

garuda-with-vishnu.jpg

A Vedic Examination of Abrahamism

The following article is from chapter 3 of the groundbreaking new work The Dharma Manifesto“, by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya.

By Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya

The Abrahamic worldview is today represented by five closely aligned ideological tendencies: 1) Judaism, 2) Pauline Christianity, 3) Islam, 4) Marxism, and to a less significant extent 5) the Baha’i movement. Of these Abrahamic tendencies, Marxism is the only self-stated atheistic one, the others being religious in nature. The greatest real-world challenge and exact philosophical juxtaposition to the entire Dharmic worldview has historically been, and continues to this day to be, the Abrahamic mentality and worldview.

While some very important theological and ritual distinctions can be seen between them all, nonetheless the specifically religious-oriented aspects of Abrahamism – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – share a common worldview, psychological make-up, and guiding ethos. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are historically referred to as the “Abrahamic” religions because all three religions trace their origins to the prophet Abraham, and can thus be seen to be quite similar in many aspects of their respective outlooks. The following are only a few of the similarities that they all share.

1. All three religions have a shared acceptance of the teachings of the Old Testament prophets (Christianity, in addition to the accepting the Old Testament prophets, also accepts Jesus. Islam, in addition to the Old Testament prophets and Jesus, also accepts Muhammad).

2. Anthropomorphic monotheism. The supreme god of Abrahamism is seen in very human terms, including in his exhibition of such very human emotions as anger, jealousy, prejudice and vengeance.

3. A profound sense of religious exclusivity, creating two strictly delineated camps of “believers” in opposition to everyone else.

4. The belief that there is only the sole true faith, and that any other form of religious expression external to the “one true faith” is necessarily wrong.

5. The acceptance of terrorism, violence, mob action, looting and aggressive missionary tactics to spread their religion.

6. A common sense of being at a war to the death with the Dharmic (“Pagan”) world that preceded Abrahamic ascendency.

7. The centrality of unidirectional prayer to commune with their god, with systematic meditation practice playing either little or no part in the practice of their respective religions.

8. A belief in the existence of angels, the devil, demonic spirits, etc.

9. All three teach the bodily resurrection, the Final Judgment, the creation of the soul at the time of conception or birth (as opposed to the soul’s pre-existence, which all Dharmic spiritual traditions teach), the binding effects of sin, etc.

10. The importance of a specific holy day of the week set aside for prayer and rest: For Jews – Saturday. For most Christians – Sunday. For Muslims – Friday.

These are only a few of the elements of the Abrahamic worldview, of which mainstream Christianity is an integral part.

Up until 2000 years ago, the Dharmic worldview was by far the predominant worldview for most of humanity – from Ireland in the West to the Philippines in the East. Though there were thousands of diverse individual cultures, languages, foods, customs and traditions among the ancient Indo-European peoples, most of these ethnically varied cultures were united in their deep respect for, and attempted adherence to, the Natural Way (Dharma).

This ancient uniformity in adherence to Dharma was the case for tens of thousands of years until the radically anti-human and anti-nature Abrahamic ideology suddenly burst upon the world scene 4000 years ago with an evangelical fury, religiously-inspired violence, and zealous civilization-destroying vengeance the likes of which the civilized world had never seen previously. Never before had the multiple ancient and noble pre-Christian cultures of the world ever experienced such massive destruction, death, persecution, forced conversion, and cultural annihilation performed in the name of an artificially expansive religion as it witnessed at the hands of the new Abrahamic ideology that had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere, onto the world stage. It was in the wake of this never before experienced juggernaut of Biblically inspired destruction that the light of Dharma began to swiftly wane, and that Reality as it was known up till then was turned literally on its head.

Religiously inspired imperialism began with the more localized expansion of the Israelites in the Levant region two thousand years before the birth of Christianity.[1] However, it was soon after the appropriation of the original teachings and spiritual movement of Jesus, and the massive expanse of this later, corrupt form of post-Constantine Christianity, that the expansion of the Abrahamic ideology began to take on truly global proportions. As the French thinker Alain de Benoist explains this catastrophe in the context of European history,

“. . . the conversion of Europe to Christianity and the more or less complete integration of the European mind into the Christian mentality, was one of the most catastrophic events in world history – a catastrophe in the proper sense of the word…”[2]

With the ascent of the Abrahamic onslaught came the counter-proportional descent of the Indo-European world’s traditional Dharmic civilizations.

vhpversion1.jpg

Christianity, in retrospect, was but one of several artificially constructed, new movements that all fall under the general term “Abrahamic”, named after the infamous founder of fanatical religious exclusivity, Abraham (1812 BC – 1637 BC).  These four anti-nature ideologies are 1) Judaism, 2) Christianity, 3) Islam, and 4) Marxism.  Whether we speak of Judeo-Christian “holy wars” and Inquisitions, or the bloody and unending Islamic jihads against “infidels”, or the genocide of over 100 million people in the name of Marxist revolution, all four of these Abrahamic movements have been responsible for more destruction, loss of life, and social mayhem than all other ideas, religions, and ideologies in world history combined.

The Abrahamic onslaught has been an unparalleled juggernaut of death. More, while all four ideologies have remained seemingly divided by dogmatic, sectarian concerns, all Abrahamic movements have been fanatically united in both their common origin, and in their shared aim of annihilating their perceived enemy of Dharma from the earth, and seeking sole domination of world power for themselves alone. While Judaism, Christianity and Islam have been at war with each other for millennia, they are all united in their insistence that Dharma is their principal hated enemy. The essential driving principle of Abrahamism is to bring about the immediate death of Dharma.

Dharma and Abrahamism are exact opposites in every way.  Dharma and Abrahamism stand for two radically opposed visions for humanity’s future. Dharma stands for nature, peace, diversity, and reason. Abrahamism stands for artificiality, war, uniformity, and fanaticism. They are the only two real ideological poles of any true significance in the last two-thousand years. There has been an ongoing Two-Thousand Year War between these two opposing worldviews that has shaped the course of much of human history since this conflict’s start. Every philosophical construct, religious denomination, political ideology and general worldview of the past two millennia falls squarely into one camp or the other. Every human being living today falls squarely into one camp or the other. Dharma and Abrahamism are the only two meaningful ideological choices for humanity today. And for all too much of the duration of this Two-Thousand Year War, Dharma has been on the losing end as Abrahamism has continuously succeeded in its unrivalled ascendancy.

The destructive ascendancy of Abrahamism is, however, about to come to an end. We are now about to witness a period of Dharmodaya – of Dharma ascending – in this very generation. As is explained in thorough detail in the two books “The Dharma Manifesto” and “Sanatana Dharma: The Eternal Natural Way”, we are about to experience the rebirth of Dharmic and Vedic civilization throughout the totality of our world.

The Dharma world-view represents a positive moral and philosophical alternative to the many ills and cultural distortions of Abrahamic modernity. Vedic culture is human culture, because Vedic culture is the model of spiritual civilization. Our world is not without meaning. Our future is not without hope. Though the darkness of the Kali Yuga (our current “Age of Conflict”) and a civilizational crisis has now descended upon us, the Sun of Dharma will soon be seen again. No cloud can obscure our vision of the Sun forever. We will live to see Dharma triumphant again, and to see a Golden Age of compassion, true culture, and the Natural Way be firmly established.



[1] One of the prime example of such Abrahamist expansion was the conquest of Canaan (circa 1400-1350 BC), described in the Book of Joshua and the first chapter of Judges.

[2] Alain de Benoist, On Being a Pagan, ed. Greg Johnson, trans. Jon Graham (Atlanta: Ultra, 2004), p. 5.

_______________________

This article is from chapter 3 of the groundbreaking new political work “The Dharma Manifesto“, by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya.

The Dharma Manifesto serves as the first ever systematic revolutionary blueprint for the nascent global Vedic movement that will, in the very near future, arise to change the course of world history for the betterment of all living beings. The Dharma Manifesto signals the beginning of a wholly new era in humanity’s eternal yearning for meaningful freedom and happiness.

About the Author

Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya has been acknowledged by many Hindu leaders throughout the world to be one of the most revolutionary and visionary Vedic spiritual masters on the Earth today.

With a forty year history of intensely practicing the spiritual disciplines of Yoga, and with a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Sri Acharyaji is one of the most eminently qualified authorities on Vedic philosophy, culture and spirituality. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Dharma and Civilization.

His most historically groundbreaking politico-philosophical work, “The Dharma Manifesto“, is now offered to the world at a time when its people are most desperately crying out for fundamental change.

samedi, 20 décembre 2014

La renaissance orientale

Rig Veda And Yoga(1).jpg

LA RENAISSANCE ORIENTALE
 
Son apport à la philosophie et la spiritualité occidentale

Rémy Valat
Ex: http://metamag.fr

schw9782228910569.jpgLes éditions Payot viennent de rééditer La Renaissance Orientale de Raymond Schwab, le livre de référence sur les débuts et l’impact des études indiennes et orientales sur les sociétés européennes aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Raymond  Schawb (1884-1956) était un authentique humaniste aux multiples facettes : il était traducteur (il pratiquait l'hébreu, le hongrois et l'anglais), romancier et poète. L’Orientalisme a été précédé par un mouvement précurseur, dit pré-indianiste, mouvement animé par des missionnaires ou des fonctionnaires portugais, italiens ou français (en particulier, Anquetil-Duperron, 1731-1805) puis par le pouvoir colonial britannique établi dans la péninsule indienne. Pour ce dernier, l’intérêt linguistique était considéré comme une arme politique pour asseoir sa domination sur le pays.

La société de Calcutta, créée par William Jones en 1784 rassemblait des hauts-fonctionnaires du pouvoir colonial, souvent des juristes, épris de culture indigènes. On leur doit les premières traductions des textes sacrés indiens, en particulier la Bhagavad-Gîtâ par Charles Wilkins (1784), mais aussi les premières parutions scientifiques sur la culture indienne et les premiers pas de l’archéologie, de la numismatique et de l’épigraphie dans le sous-continent. Guidés par des intérêts politiques, l’Angleterre se désintéresse rapidement des études orientales, l’Orientalisme sera essentiellement un mouvement français et allemand (en particulier le mouvement indo-germanique). 

En France, le Directoire fonde l’École des Langues Orientales Vivantes (actuel Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales – INALCO) en 1795 ; cette création précéde de peu l’expédition de Bonaparte en Égypte qui donnera une impulsion significative aux études orientales et en particulier l’égyptologie. L’Orientalisme est en quelque sorte un avatar des guerres napoléoniennes puisque Alexandre Hamilton (1762-1824), officier de la Royal Navy et ancien membre de la Société Asiatique de Calcutta, s’est trouvé assigné à résidence à Paris au moment de la rupture de la paix d’Amiens. Cet officier, qui étudiait des textes indiens conservés au département des manuscrits bénéficia de la bienveillance et de la solidarité scientifique d’érudits de la Bibliothèque Nationale. Reconnaissant, Hamilton leur enseigna la langue sanskrite.

Parmi ces passionnés et privilégiés se trouvait le philosophe et écrivain allemand Friedrisch Schlegel, qui sera l’un des animateurs du « Cercle d'Iéna » et du romantisme allemand. La première chaire de sanskrit sera créée quelques années plus tard au Collège de France en 1814 : Eugène Burnouf, qui a fondé la Société asiatique en 1822, y professera à partir de 1832. Eugène Burnouf a contribué au développement des études bouddhiques en Occident, il a notamment traduit l’un des plus beau texte du bouddhisme : le Sutra du Lotus (1852). Des bancs des universités, l’orientalisme se répand dans les mouvements littéraires et philosophiques, les plus grands auteurs français y ont été sensibles (Alphonse de Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Edmond Michelet, Saint-Simon, Gérard de Nerval, Gustave Flaubert, les Parnassiens, les symbolistes....).


La Renaissance Orientale : un ouvrage capital pour saisir les représentations et les interprétations des cultures asiatiques par les Européens et leur apport à la philosophie et la spiritualité occidentale.
La Renaissance Orientale , de Raymond Schwab, Editions Payot ( réedition) , 688 pages, 32€.

vendredi, 24 octobre 2014

Alain Daniélou’s Virtue, Success, Pleasure, & Liberation

Alain Daniélou’s Virtue, Success, Pleasure, & Liberation

By Collin Cleary 

Ex: http://www.counter-currents.com

Alain Daniélou
Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation: The Four Aims of Life in the Tradition of Ancient India [2]
Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1993.

danndex.jpgOne hears a great deal today about “multiculturalism,” and the multicultural society. We (i.e., we Americans) are told that ours is a multicultural society. But, curiously, multiculturalism is also spoken of as a goal. What this reveals is that multiculturalism is not simply the recognition and affirmation of the fact that the U.S.A. is made up of different people from different cultural backgrounds. Instead, multiculturalism is an ideology which is predicated on cultural relativism. Its proponents want to convince people that (a) all cultures are equally good, rich, interesting, and wholesome, and that (b) a multicultural society can exist in which no one culture is dominant. The first idea is absurd, the second is impossible.

The apostles of multiculturalism are moved less by a genuine desire to “celebrate diversity” than by a hatred for Northern European culture, which is the semi-official, dominant culture of America. Indeed, multiculturalists generally nurture the most naive and simplistic ideas of what a culture is. Their conception of “culture” is fixated at the perceptual level: culture is costume,music, dance, decoration, food. What is essential to culture, however, is a certain Weltanschauung: a view of the world, and of human nature. It is in their response to these world views that multiculturalists reveal their true colors, for they tolerate and permit only those elements of a culture’s world view that do not conflict with liberal ideology.

Out of one side of their mouths, the multiculturalists tell us that one cannot judge a culture, that morality is culturally relative, that cultures are not better or worse, just “different,” and that we must revel in these differences. Thus, the English do not drive on the “wrong” side of the road, merely the left side. But when it’s not a matter of traffic laws, but a matter of severed clitorises, then the other, louder side of the multiculturalists’ mouths open, and they tell us that this sort of thing isn’t just different, it’s evil. In addition to this, one also sees that multiculturalism involves a relentless trivialization of important cultural differences. Thus, college students are encouraged to see religion almost as a matter of “local color.” Isn’t it wonderful that the Indians cook such spicy food, and worship such colorful gods! Isn’t it all terribly charming? They are further encouraged to view religion as a thoroughly irrational affair. Rather than encouraging an appreciation for different faiths, what this produces is a condescending attitude, and resistance to taking the claims of religion seriously when they conflict with the “rational” agenda of modern liberalism.

Indeed, multiculturalism is so anti-cultural that one is tempted to see behind it an even deeper, more sinister agenda. Perhaps the whole idea is to deliberately gut the world’s cultures, reducing their differences to matters of dress and cuisine, and to replace those earthborn guts with a plastic, Naugahyde culture of secularism, scientism, and egalitarianism. Why? Because real, significant cultural differences make it very hard for our corporations to do business overseas and to sell their wares. Solution: homogenization masquerading as “celebration of diversity.” The multiculturalists are right when they declare that de facto, the United States is a multicultural society. But there has never been a multicultural society in the history of the world in which there was not one dominant culture which provided a framework allowing the others to co-exist. To the multiculturalist, the unacknowledged framework is modern liberalism. I will assume that I do not have to rehearse for my readers the many arguments for why modern liberalism is untenable as a long-term societal framework.Where should we look, then, for a framework for a multicultural society? Why not look to the Indian caste system? It was the caste system that allowed Aryan and non-Aryan to co-exist peacefully in India for centuries.

The liberals will immediately object that the caste system is oppressive and unjust. In Virtue, Success, Pleasure and Liberation, however, Alain Daniélou argues that the caste system is actually a supremely just and peaceful arrangement. It is just because it is built on a recognition of real human difference; a “celebration of diversity,” if you will. Aristotle held that justice is treating equals equally, and unequals unequally. If people are not the same, then it is a mistake to treat them as if they are. The caste system is built on the idea that some human beings are born to work, others to fight and lead, and others to pray. The caste system gives to each human being a place, a community, a code of ethics, and a sense of identity and pride. Daniélou points out that although the system involves hierarchy, each level of the hierarchy is regarded as intrinsically valuable and as essential. Each plays a role that is regarded as important and indispensable. Thus, it is the caste system which truly affirms that different groups are merely different, not better or worse.

Is Daniélou whitewashing the caste system? Consider the words he quotes from the Mahabharata: “There is no superior caste. The Universe is the work of the Immense Being. The beings created by him were only divided into castes according to their aptitude.” But what of individuals born to the wrong caste? For example, what of a child born to the merchant class who shows aptitude to be a priest or scholar? Such things happen. Daniélou tells us that exceptional individuals are allowed to live “outside” the caste system, and are accepted as valuable members of the society as a whole. Modern society is structured on the premise that everyone is exceptional and can make up his mind what he wants to do. Given that sort of freedom, most people get lost — as witness the modern phenomenon of the “slacker,” or the flotsam and jetsam going in and out of psychiatrists’ offices every day.

Despite what I have said, this book is not a treatise on the caste system, but on the four things that all human lives must possess or achieve in order to be complete. In discussing virtue, success, pleasure, and liberation, Daniélou quotes extensively from ancient Indian texts, offering us an abundance of excellent advice about how to understand life and to live well. Indeed, this is really a book about how to lead a truly human life. Daniélou places the four aims in a cosmic context, showing how the same fourfold division is present in all levels of reality. It is present, of course, in the four castes (worker/artisan, producer/merchant, warrior/aristocrat, priest/scholar), and in the four stages of biological development (childhood, youth, maturity, old age), the four seasons, the four elements, the four races of humanity (black, yellow, red, white), the cycle of ages (yugas), the four bodily functions (digestion, assimilation, circulation, excretion), and the four points of the compass (in this order, significantly: south, east, west, north).

This is an excellent companion volume to Daniélou’s The Myths and Gods of India [3].

Source: Tyr, vol.. 1 (Atlanta: Ultra, 2002).

 


Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing: http://www.counter-currents.com

URL to article: http://www.counter-currents.com/2014/10/virtue-success-pleasure-liberation/

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Virtue.jpg

[2] Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation: The Four Aims of Life in the Tradition of Ancient India: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IQ6AVY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005IQ6AVY&linkCode=as2&tag=countecurrenp-20&linkId=2SMLM6Q3BGWZDR7W

[3] The Myths and Gods of India: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005PQUZ3G/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005PQUZ3G&linkCode=as2&tag=countecurrenp-20&linkId=7R45BK5EQM4HKVC3

Alain Daniélou’s The Myths & Gods of India

dan1411091265.jpg

Alain Daniélou’s The Myths & Gods of India

By Collin Cleary

Ex: http://www.counter-currents.com

Alain Daniélou
The Myths and Gods of India [2]
Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1991.
(Originally published as Hindu Polytheism by Bollingen Foundation, New York, 1964.)

Typically, those who profess an interest in what might be called “Indo-European spirituality” gravitate toward either the Celtic or Germanic traditions. The Indian tradition tends to be ignored. In part, this is because present-day Indians seem so different from us. We think of their culture and philosophy as “Eastern,” as alien. Physically, the Indians look very different from those of European descent (though higher caste Indians tend to look very European, right down to lighter skin and hair, and sometimes blue eyes). But if we wish to rediscover the religion and traditions of our ancestors, what better place is there to begin than with India? The oldest Indo-European texts are the Vedas, after all. To be sure, it is hard to separate what comes from the ancient Aryans in Indian religion, myth, and mysticism, and what was contributed by the indigenous peoples conquered by the Aryans. But the same problem exists with respect to the Celtic and Germanic traditions. In addition, we know far more about the culture and religion of the ancient Aryans who invaded India, than we do about the culture and religion of the Celts and the Vikings. For one thing, more ancient texts survive in India. Therefore, anyone wishing to re-construct the “old ways” must become deeply immersed in all things Indian.

It is a cliche to state this in a review, but I write the following with total sincerity: if you read only one book on Hinduism, it must be Daniélou’s Myths and Gods of India. Indeed, it is hard to imagine why one would need to read any other. Danielou’s account of Hinduism is exhaustive, profound, and detailed. The book contains, first of all, cogent arguments on behalf of polytheism.

It details the Indian cosmogony and cosmology; the nature of Space, Time, and Thought; the nature of Brahman and Maya. Daniélou gives a complete description of every major Hindu divinity in terms of his or her function, myths, and symbolism. He details the minor gods and genii. He discusses the theory behind Mantras and Yantras. There is even extensive coverage of ritual, and the manner in which the gods must be worshiped. Alain Daniélou was born in 1907 in Paris. He was a true Renaissance man, trained in music, painting, and dance. He gave recitals and exhibited his paintings. Daniélou was also an avid sportsman: a canoeing champion, and an expert race-car driver.

He was also homosexual. Daniélou and his gay lover ventured to India, traveling around in a deluxe, Silverstream camper imported from southern California, photographing erotic sculpture. They later settled down in a Maharajah’s estate on the banks of the Ganges and devoted themselves to Sanskrit, Hinduism, music, and entertaining. Daniélou gradually “went native” and stayed in India many years. In time, he became known throughout the world as an authority on Indian music and culture. He published works dealing with Hindu religion, society, music, sculpture, architecture, and other topics. It was Daniélou, more than anyone else, who was responsible for popularizing Indian music in the West (among other things, he was the “discoverer” of Ravi Shankar). Daniélou died in 1994.

The Myths and Gods of India is a delight to read, but it can also be treated as a reference work for those needing a clear and accurate account of various gods or Hindu religious concepts. For the student of Inda-European culture, the book is a treasure trove. Indeed, those who are familiar with the Inda-European comparativist school of Georges Dumézil, Jaan Puhvel, and others, will get the most out of this book. I will offer a few brief examples here.

Daniélou writes on page 27 that “Human beings, according to their nature and stage of development, are inclined toward . . . different aspects of the Cosmic Being. Those in whom consciousness is predominant worship the gods (deva); those in whom action or existence predominates worship genii (yaksha) and antigods (asura); and those in whom enjoyment or sensation predominates worship ghosts and spirits (bhuta and preta).” This suggests, of course, the Inda-European tripartition identified by Dumézil. On page 66 we learn that Soma was “brought to earth by a large hawk,” just as Odin, in the form of an eagle, brought mead to the JEsir. On page 87 we are told that “The earth is also represented as a goddess, or as a cow that feeds everyone with her milk. She is the mother of life, the substance of all things.” What can this remind us of, except the Norse Audumla?

There also seem to be parallels between Agni (the god of fire) and Loki. Like Loki, Agni is an outcast among the gods. Daniélou tells us further that, “The fire of destruction, Agni’s most fearful form, was born of the primeval waters and remains hidden under the sea, ever ready to destroy the world” (p. 89). This is reminiscent of the Midgard Serpent, the progeny of Loki. Page 151:
“When Vishnu sleeps, the universe dissolves into its formless state, represented as the causal ocean. The remnants of manifestation are represented as the serpent Remainder (Sesa) coiled upon itself and floating upon the abysmal waters.”

Daniélou tells us (p. 92) that “the sun . . . is envisaged [by the Hindus] under two aspects. As one of the spheres, one of the Vasus, the physical sun is the celestial form of fire, of agni. As the source of light, of warmth, of life, of knowledge, the solar energy is the source of all life, represented in the twelve sons-of-the-Primordial-Vastness (Adityas), the twelve sovereign principles.” In Futhark (pp. 51-52), Edred Thorsson tells us that “The sun was known by two special names in the North . . . Sol represents the phenomenon, while sunna is the noumenon, the spiritual power residing in the concept.” Also, the “twelve sons-of-the-Primordial-Vastness” immanent within the solar energy must remind us of the twelve sig-runes that make up the Wewelsburg “sun-wheel” of Karl Maria Wiligut.

Page 99: “When the gods were receiving the ambrosia of immortality, the Moon [Soma; equivalent to Mead] detected the anti-god Rahu disguised as a god. Because of the Moon Rahu had to die, but although his head was severed from his body, he could not truly die, for he had tasted the ambrosia. His head remained alive.” Mimir?

Page 103: “Rudra, the lord of tears, is said to have sprung from the forehead of the Immense-Being (Brahma) and, at the command of that god, to have divided himself into a male form and a female form . . . “Athena?

Page 103: “The Maruts (immortals) are a restless, warlike troupe of flashy young men, transposition in space of the hordes of young warriors called the marya (mortals). . . . They are the embodiment of moral and heroic deeds and of the exuberance of youth.” Maruts = Einherjar; Marya = Indo-European Männerbünde. Page 104: “The Maruts are the friends of Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt . . .” Thor? Page 110: Indra’s thunderbolt is “shaped like a mace … ”

Page 111: “Indra had been the deity worshiped among the pastoral people of Vraja.” Again, just as Thor was.

Page 118: Varuna “is the ruler of the ‘other side,’ of the invisible world.” He is “said to be an antigod, a magician.” Odin? Page 119: “He catches the evildoers and binds them with his noose.” Criminals sacrificed to Odin were hung. Varuna also “knows the track of birds in the sky,” just as Odin knows the track of Huginn and Muninn.

Page 132: The god of death is named Yama, which means “Twin” (Ymir). “Yama’s brother is the lawgiver, Manu, who shares with him the title of progenitor of mankind.” Yama “owns two four-eyed dogs with wide nostrils . . . They watch the path of the dead.” What can this remind us of except the Greek hellhound, Cerberus?

Page 138: “In contrast to the gods, the antigods [asura] are the inclinations of the senses which, by their nature, belong to the obscuring tendency, and which delight in life, that is, in the activities of the life energies in all the fields of sensation.” This is an accurate description of the Norse Vanir. Asura is cognate with Aesir, so, oddly enough, the term shifts meaning either in the Norse or the Indian tradition.

Page 159: The four ages (yugas) are represented as white (the golden age), red, yellow, and black (the dark age). The stages of the alchemical process (as represented in the West) are black, white, yellow, and red.

Pages 243-45 detail the Upanishadic account of creation out of the primal man Purusha: “He desired a second. He became as large as a woman and man in close embrace. He divided himself into two. From him arose a husband and a wife. Hence it is that everyone is but half a being. The vacant space is filled by a wife.” This is extraordinarily similar to the account of the creation of
men and woman given by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium. The world is then created out of Purusha’s body-just as the world is created out of Ymir’s body in Norse myth. “The virile member was separated; from this virile member came forth semen and from semen the earthly waters.” This is identical to the account of the creation of the ocean in the Greek myth of the sacrifice of Ouranos by Kronos.

The account of the hero Kumara/Skana (pp. 297-300) is strikingly like the saga of Sigurd, and also similar in some respects to the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. The “essences” (apsaras; pp. 304-305) are “water nymphs, eternally young women who are the courtesans and dancers of heaven.” Rhine Maidens? “They are depicted as uncommonly beautiful, with lotus eyes, slender waists, and large hips. By their languid postures and sweet words they rob those who see them of their wisdom and their intellect.” Sirens? “One can master them by stealing their clothes while they bathe. They choose lovers among the dead fallen on the battlefield.” Valkyries?

The above merely scratches the surface of this immensely rich text, which demands careful study and multiple readings.

 


Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing: http://www.counter-currents.com

URL to article: http://www.counter-currents.com/2014/10/alain-danielous-the-myths-and-gods-of-india/

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MythsandGodsofIndia.jpg

[2] The Myths and Gods of India: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892813547/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0892813547&linkCode=as2&tag=countecurrenp-20&linkId=IH7O6QJKVC7I7LVQ

vendredi, 10 octobre 2014

Bhagavad-Gîtâ - Le Chant du Bienheureux

bhagavad-gita-le-chant-du-bienheureux.jpg

Bhagavad-Gîtâ: le Chant du Bienheureux

108 pages. Traduit du sanskrit par Emile Burnouf et présenté par le Pr. Jean Haudry.

Elément central du Mahâbhârata, connu pour être la plus grande épopée de la mythologie hindoue, la Bhagavad-Gîtâ (« Chant du Bienheureux ») est un des écrits fondamentaux de l’Hindouisme qui s’inscrit dans la tradition héroïque indo-européenne.

Il s’agit d’un dialogue dans lequel le Seigneur Krishna, 8e avatar de Vishnou, tend à dissiper le doute chez le kshatriya Arjuna au moment d’une bataille qui risque de faire nombre de morts parmi ceux que ce dernier aime.

Composé de 18 chapitres et vraisemblablement rédigé entre les Ve et IIe siècles av. J.-C., l’intérêt capital de ce texte sacré tient du fait qu’il invite à dépasser le brahmanisme sans le répudier pour autant.

Au-delà de toutes les sensibilités spirituelles, la Bhagavad-Gîtâ nous enseigne avant tout la dévotion et le détachement pour lesquels le verset II.38 semble parfaitement convenir : « Tiens pour égaux plaisir et peine, gain et perte, et sois tout entier à la bataille : ainsi tu éviteras le péché . »

Pour commander auprès des Editions du Lore: http://www.ladiffusiondulore.fr/antiquite/379-bhagavad-gita-le-chant-du-bienheureux.html

mardi, 09 septembre 2014

Inde : vers le grand conflit hindouistes/islamistes

partage_de_l'inde.png

Inde : vers le grand conflit hindouistes/islamistes

Al Qaïda et le califat du sous-continent indien

Jean Bonnevey
Ex: http://metamag.fr

Revendiquant depuis près de 20 ans son autorité sur les jihadistes du monde entier, Al Qaïda est en perte de vitesse. Fragilisé par l’émergence de l’EI en Syrie et en Irak, le réseau fondé par Oussama ben Laden  tente de revenir en ouvrant un nouveau front.

Cette nouvelle branche est nommée en anglais « Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent » (« Al-Qaïda en guerre sainte sur le sous-continent indien »). Elle est déjà active en Afghanistan et au Pakistan, sous l’autorité du Pakistanais Assim Oumar, un Pakistanais lui-même subordonné au mollah Omar, le chef des talibans afghans. La création d'«al-Qaida en guerre sainte sur le sous-continent indien» est le fruit de deux ans de travail, précise al-Zawahiri. Le chef du mouvement islamiste, déclare que la naissance d’Al-Qaïda en Inde est une bonne nouvelle pour les musulmans « de Birmanie, du Bangladesh, de l’Assam, du Gujarat, d’Ahmedabad et du Cachemire » afin de faire face à l’ «injustice » et à l’ »oppression ». Le chef de la nébuleuse islamiste entend mener le combat pour faire renaître un califat sur des terres considérées comme musulmanes par Ayman al-Zawahiri.

On sait peu de choses sur le chef de la nouvelle branche indienne d'al-Qaida. Assim Oumar lit assurément le pachto, la langue du peuple pachtoune, qui forme l'ossature du mouvement taliban. Mais il parle et écrit surtout en ourdou, langue nationale du Pakistan, qui se rapproche de l'hindi indien. Turban de charbon enroulé autour de la tête, barbe hirsute, Assim Oumar apparaît dans des vidéos de propagande diffusées notamment par al-Qaida. «Pourquoi les musulmans de l'Inde sont-ils totalement absents du jihad», s'interrogeait-il l'an dernier dans une vidéo en ourdou diffusée sur internet par Al-Qaida. Il appelait les jeunes musulmans indiens à faire preuve «d'honneur» et de «zèle» afin que l'Inde soit dirigée à nouveau par sa minorité musulmane et non sa majorité hindoue. «Ne forcez pas les infidèles à prononcer la profession de foi... C'est à eux de décider s'ils veulent devenir musulman ou continuer à pratiquer leur ancienne religion. Mais puisque cette planète est celle d'Allah, il est nécessaire d'y établir le système d'Allah», disait-il en ourdou. Ses allocutions sont truffées de références à l'empire moghol, musulman, qui a régné sur l'Inde du 16ème à la moitié du 19e siècle, et au califat ottoman. Il appelle ainsi à un «renouveau» islamique en Inde, au moment où les djihadistes prennent le contrôle des régions entières de l'Irak et de la Syrie.
 
Par cette déclaration, Al Qaïda remobilise ses forces, alors que l’Etat Islamique, qui a crée un califat avant elle, ne cesse de multiplier les actions et s’est sérieusement implanté en Irak, territoire de création d’Al Qaïda par Abou Moussab al Zarkaoui, tué par les forces américaines en 2006. Suite à la diffusion de la vidéo, les services de renseignement indiens ont demandé aux gouvernements provinciaux de plusieurs Etats de se placer en état d'alerte.

«Nous prenons le sujet très au sérieux. De telles menaces ne peuvent être ignorées», a déclaré à l’AFP une source des services de renseignement indiens. «Nous avons demandé aux Etats, en particulier au Gujarat, au Madhya Pradesh, à l’Uttar Pradesh et au Bihar, de se mettre en état d’alerte». Déjà actif en Afghanistan et au Pakistan, Al-Qaïda revendique depuis longtemps avoir autorité sur les jihadistes qui luttent pour rétablir un califat sur les terres considérées comme musulmanes.

«C’est un coup publicitaire qui montre un certain désespoir, car l’EI est désormais la vraie menace mondiale», estime Ajit Kumar Singh, du groupe de réflexion Institute of Conflict Management, dont le siège est à New Delhi. «C’est une bataille pour la suprématie entre Al-Qaïda et l’EI». Parmi les Etats cités dans la vidéo par Ayman al-Zawahiri, le Cachemire, seul Etat indien en majorité musulman, est depuis longtemps en proie à un mouvement séparatiste, mais les représentants de ce dernier soulignent que la nébuleuse jihadiste ne joue aucun rôle sur ce territoire.
 
 

mardi, 20 mai 2014

Modi et le nouvel empire des Indes

modi inde.jpg

Le tsunami hindouiste : un événement mondial majeur
 
Modi et le nouvel empire des Indes

Jean Bonnevey
Ex: http://metamag.fr

L’occident, fasciné par l’image de Gandhi et le mythe du libérateur anti-colonialiste non violent d’une Inde opprimée par les Anglais, a toujours cultivé le culte d’une dynastie démocratique et laïque, celle des Nehru Gandhi. Au delà des clichés de la récupération politique, des scandales et des échecs, la dernière élection marque objectivement la fin d’une mainmise d’un clan sur le deuxième pays le plus peuplé du monde. C’est la sanction d’années de ralentissement économique, d’effacement politique, de retard vis-à-vis de la Chine et d’humiliations face au Pakistan et au terrorisme musulman.


L’Inde signe une volonté de retour en force qui va changer l’équilibre du sous-continent indien, de l’Asie et du monde. La plus grande démocratie du monde est également le plus grand pays païen de la planète, la seule grande puissance nucléaire non monothéiste, comme on l’oublie trop souvent. « Le Congrès a réalisé une mauvaise performance, nous devons beaucoup réfléchir sur cette défaite cuisante. En tant que vice-président du parti, je me tiens responsable  », a dit Rahul Gandhi aux journalistes réunis dans la capitale indienne. Agé de 43 ans et héritier de la famille Nehru-Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi est le fils de l'ancien Premier ministre Rajiv Gandhi et de l'actuelle présidente du Congrès Sonia Gandhi. En tant que candidat du parti à la Primature, il a affronté Narendra Modi, candidat du principal parti d'opposition, le Parti Bharatiya Janata(BJP), aux élections générales. Félicitant le BJP pour sa victoire écrasante, Sonia Gandhi, idole déboulonnée, a dit que « gagner et perdre font partie de la démocratie, nous respectons le verdict » . Cependant, elle a ajouté que « nous espérons également que le nouveau gouvernement ne va pas compromettre l'unité du pays » .


Le nouveau pouvoir indien est démocratique, mais sous surveillance des Usa car nationaliste. Mais les indiens n’en ont que faire. L’immense victoire du parti nationaliste hindou de Narendra Modi lors des législatives en Inde s'est jouée, comme prévu, sur des questions de politique intérieure et notamment celle de la relance d'une économie en berne. Mais ce succès pourrait aussi aboutir à replacer le pays sur la scène internationale. Le Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) et le futur chef du gouvernement vont d'abord concentrer leurs efforts sur une nécessaire relance de la croissance. Les relations commerciales et économiques avec les Occidentaux auront à coup sûr une incidence sur la politique que va devoir mener Narendra Modi. Avec la Chine dont l'économie est désormais quatre fois plus importante, le déficit commercial indien s'établit à 40 milliards de dollars,  faute à la politique d'exportation menée par Pékin et un certain immobilisme indien.


Les données de l'équation diplomatique ont  changé récemment au détriment de l’Inde: la Chine affiche ses ambitions de grande puissance et les Etats-Unis lorgnent de plus en plus du côté de l'Asie quand ils évoquent leur avenir, tout en se retirant d'Afghanistan. L’Inde de Modi sera plus active. L’Inde va devoir affirmer plus clairement son statut de puissance régionale.


Le principal sujet de préoccupation concerne les relations avec le voisin pakistanais à propos du Cachemire, région à majorité musulmane dont Islamabad revendique la possession. Les services pakistanais du renseignement et de la sécurité considèrent  le président Modi comme un adversaire potentiel et le tenant d'une ligne dure dans les relations bilatérales. « Modi a toujours pris parti contre le Pakistan », rappelle un haut responsable de la défense. « La politique indienne va être beaucoup plus musclée avec lui . »


En politique, les nationalistes convergent sur une idée: la « hindutva », c'est-à-dire la «  hindouité » : le conservatisme social, le rejet de l'influence occidentale, le nationalisme économique par l'autosuffisance, l'affirmation aux frontières, et surtout et avant tout l'hostilité envers l'islam. Sans doute est-ce par sage précaution que Modi vient déjà d'être invité par Nawaz Sharif, Premier ministre du Pakistan ! Tout est là, pour la paix régionale. La relation New Delhi-Islamabad déterminera le niveau de tension dans cette Asie du Sud. Narendra Modi,  a été au pouvoir comme ministre en chef de l'État du Gujarat depuis 1998. En 2002, un pogrom anti-musulman eut lieu principalement dans la mégapole d'Ahmedabad, un millier de morts, surtout musulmans, face à l'indifférence de la police gujarataise. Mais il y eut, avant cela, des violences anti-hindoues de la part de fanatiques musulmans.

 

Dossier_Inde.jpg

Le terrorisme musulman est un défi majeur pour l’Inde avec de nombreux attentats très meurtriers depuis des années. Des groupes seraient liés à des organisations islamistes basées au Pakistan, le Lashkar-e-Taiba et le Jaish-e-Mohammed, luttant contre la présence indienne au Cachemire. Mais des diplomates indiens et étrangers pensent que le géant asiatique, devenu la 10ème puissance économique mondiale, est désormais la cible de groupes islamistes locaux et non plus seulement d'organisations venues du Pakistan ou du Bangladesh voisins. Pour le terrorisme islamiste comme pour le Pakistan ou la Chine la donne vient de changer radicalement dans le sous-continent indien.


Illustration en tête d'article : Narendra Modi saluant ses partisans après la victoire.

En savoir plus : lire nos articles consacrés aux élections en Inde :Les élections les plus longues du monde ont débutéUn cas particulier : le BiharLes musulmans courtisés et Maladresse de Rahul Gandhi ,premiers sondages sortis des urnes. 

 

dimanche, 05 mai 2013

Semitic Monotheism

lap860-03173888w.jpg

S. Gurumurthy:

 

S. Gurumurthy argues that the monotheistic Semitic religions of what he calls "the West" brought intolerance to India. Traditionally, Gurumurthy argues, Indian culture was characterized by a liberal pluralism stemming from the polytheism of Hindu beliefs.

 

In the history of human civilization there have been two distinct ways of life -- the eastern and the Semitic. If we look at the history of India and of its people on the one hand and at the history of Semitic societies on the other, we find a glaring difference. In India the society and individual form the center of gravity, the fulcrum around which the polity revolves, and the state is merely a residuary concept. On the other hand, in the Semitic tradition the state wields all the power and forms the soul and the backbone of the polity. In India, temporal power was located in the lowest units of society, which developed into a highly decentralized social network. This was the very reverse of the centralized power structures that evolved in the Semitic tradition of the West. We had decentralizing institutions, of castes, of localities, of sects belonging to different faiths; of groups of people gathering around a particular deity or around a particular individual. Society was a collection of multitudes of self-contained social molecules, spontaneously linked together by socio spiritual thoughts, symbols, centers of pilgrimage, and sages. In the West the most important, and often the only, link between different institutions of the society was the state.

 

THE RESIDUAL STATE

 

Of course, the state also existed in India in the past, but only as a residual institution. It had a very limited role to perform. Even the origin of the state is said to be in the perceived necessity of an institution to perform the residual supervisory functions that became necessary because a small number of people could not harmonize with the rest in the self- regulating, self-operating and self powered functioning of the society. The state was to look after the spill-over functions that escaped the self-regulating mechanisms of the society. The Mahabharata, in the Santiparva, defines the functions of the state precisely thus. The state was to ensure that the one who strays away from public ethics does not tread on others. There was perhaps no necessity for the state at one point in our social history. The evolution of society to a point where certain individuals came to be at cross purposes with the society because of the erosion of dharmic, or ethical values, introduced the need for a limited arbiter to deal with "outlaws" who would not agree to be bound by dharma. That task was entrusted to the state. This appears to be the origin of the state here. So the society or the group, at whatever level it functioned, was the dominant reality and the state was a residual authority. The society had an identity distinct from the state. Social relations as well as religious and cultural bonds transcended the bounds of the state.

 

DHARMA VS. SOCIAL CONTRACT

 

People in the Semitic society, on the other hand, seem to have burdened themselves with the state the moment they graduated from tribalism and nomadic life to a settled existence. Thus the Semitic society never knew how to live by self-regulation. People never knew how to exist together unless their lives were ordered through the coercive institution of the state. The concept of self-regulation, the concept of dharma, the personal and public norms of action and thought that we have inherited from time immemorial, did not have any chance to evolve. Instead what evolved, for example in the Christian West, was the "social contract" theory of the state. And this became the basis of the nation state that dominated during the era of Western hegemony. But even before that, a mighty state, a nation-less state, had already evolved in the West. It was a state that cut across all nations, all societies, all ethnicities, all faiths, all races. This was the kind of state developed by the Romans. The statecraft of the Romans purveyed power and power alone. Later, after the collapse of the nationless state, tribal nationalism began to be assertive. This nation state, whose power was legitimated according to socio-religious criteria, became the model for the Semitic society. Far from being an arbiter, the state became the initiator, the fulcrum of the society.

 

STATELY RELIGION

 

Western society thus became largely a state construct. Even geography and history began to follow state power. In the scheme of things, the king symbolized total power, the army became crucial to the polity, and the police indispensable. The throne of the king became more important than the Church, and his word more important than the Bible, forcing even the Church to acquire stately attributes and begin competing with the state. That is why the first Church was founded in Rome. Because of the social recognition of state power and the importance that it had acquired, religion had to go to the seat of the state. That is how Rome, and not Bethlehem, became the center of Christian thought. The Church developed as a state-like institution, as an alternative and a competing institution. The Church began to mimic the state, and the Archbishop competed with the King. And finally religion itself became a competitor of the state. Naturally there were conflicts between these two powerful institutions -- between the state and the Church, and between the King and the Archbishop. Both owed allegiance to the same faith, the same book, the same prophet -- and yet they could not agree on who should wield ultimate power. They fought in order to decide who amongst them would be the legitimate representative of the faith. And, in their ^ght, both invoked the same God. The result was a society that was at war with itself; a society in which the stately religion was at war with the religious state. The result also was centralism and exclusivism, not only in thought, but also in the institutional arrangements. Out of such war within itself -- including between Christianity and Islam -- Semitic society evolved its centralist and exclusivist institutions that are now peddled as the panacea for the ills of all societies. As the monotheistic civilization rapidly evolved a theocratic state, it ruled out all plurality in thought. There could not be any doubt, there could not be a second thought competing with the one approved and patronized by the state, and there could not even be a second institution representing the same faith. The possibility of different religions or different attitudes to life evolving in the same society was made minimal. No one could disagree with the established doctrine without inviting terrible retribution. Whenever any semblance of plurality surfaced anywhere, it was subjected to immediate annihilation. The entire social, political and religious power of the Semitic society gravitated toward and became slowly and finally manifest in the unitary state. Thus single-dimensional universality, far more than plurality, is the key feature of Western society. The West, in fact, spawned a power-oriented, power-driven, and power-inspired civilization which sought and enforced thoughts, books, and institutions.

 

GUARDIAN SAGES

 

This unity of the Semitic state and the Semitic society proved to be its strength as a conquering power. But this was also its weakness. The moment the state became weak or collapsed anywhere, the society there also followed the fate of the state. In India, society was supported by institutions other than the state. Not just one, but hundreds and even thousands of institutions flourished within the polity and none of them had or needed to use any coercive power. Indian civilization -- culture, arts, music, and the collective life of the people guardianship of the people and of the public mind was not entrusted to the state. In fact, it was the sages, and not the state, who were seen as the guardians of the public mind. When offending forces, whether Sakas or Huns or any others, came from abroad, this society -- which was not organized as a powerful state and was without a powerful army or arms and ammunition of a kind that could meet such vast brute forces coming from outside -- found its institutions of state severely damaged. But that did not lead to the collapse of the society. The society not only survived when the institutions of the state collapsed, but in the course of time it also assimilated the alien groups and digested them into inseparable parts of the social stream. Later invaders into India were not mere gangs of armed tribes, but highly motivated theocratic war-mongers. The Indian states, which were mere residues of the Indian society, caved in before them too. But the society survived even these crusaders. In contrast, the state-oriented and state-initiated civilizations, societies and cultures of the West invariably were annihilated with the collapse of the state. Whether the Romans, the Greeks or the Christians, or the later followers of Islam, or the modern Marxists -- none of them could survive as a viable civilization once the state they had constructed collapsed. When a Semitic king won and wiped out another, it was not just another state that was wiped out, but all social bearings and moorings of the society -- all its literature, art, music, culture and language. Everything relating to the society was extinguished. In the West of today, there are no remnants of what would have been the products of Western civilization 1500 years ago. The Semitic virtue rejected all new and fresh thought. Consequently, any fresh thought could prevail only by annihilating its predecessor. At one time only one thought could hold sway. There was no scope for a second.

 

EASTERN PLURALISM

 

In the East, more specifically in India, there prevailed a society and a social mind which thrived and happily grew within a multiplicity of thoughts. "Ano bhadrah kratavo yantu visatah" ("let noble thoughts come in from all directions of the universe") went the Rigvedic invocation. We, therefore, welcomed all, whether it was the Parsis who came fleeing from the slaughter of Islamic theocratic marauders and received protection here for their race and their religion, or the Jews who were slaughtered and maimed everywhere else in the world. They all found a secure refuge here along with their culture, civilization, religion and the book. Even the Shia Muslims, fearing annihilation by their coreligionists, sought shelter in Gujarat and constituted the first influx of Muslims into India. Refugee people, refugee religions, refugee cultures and civilizations came here, took root and established a workable, amicable relationship with their neighborhood. They did not -- even now they do not -- find this society alien or foreign. They could grow as constituent parts of an assimilative society and under an umbrella of thought that appreciated their different ways. When first Christianity, and later Islam, came to India as purely religious concerns, they too found the same assimilative openness. The early Christians and Muslims arriving on the west coast of India did not find anything hostile in the social atmosphere here. They found a welcoming and receptive atmosphere in which the Hindus happily offered them temple lands for building a church or a mosque. (Even today in the localities of Tamilnadu temple lands are offered for construction of mosques). It was only the later theocratic incursions by the Mughals and the British that introduced theological and cultural maladjustments, creating conflict between the assimilative and inclusive native ways of the East and the exclusive and annihilative instincts of Islam and even Christianity. Until this occurred, the native society assimilated the new thoughts and fresh inputs, and had no difficulty in keeping intact its social harmony within the plurality of thoughts and faiths. This openness to foreign thoughts, faiths and people did not happen because of legislation, or a secular constitution or the teachings of secular leaders and parties. We did not display this openness because of any civilizing inspiration and wisdom which we happened to have received from the West. Yet, we are somehow made to believe, and we do, that we have become a somewhat civilized people and have come to learn to live together in harmony with others only through the civilization, the language, the statecraft and the societal influence of the West! It is a myth that has become an inseparable component of the intellectual baggage that most of us carry.

 

SURVIVING THE SEMITIC ONSLAUGHT

 

Religious fanaticism, invaded us and extinguished our states and institutions, our society could still survive and preserve its multidimensional life largely intact. Our survival has been accompanied, however, with an extraordinary sense of guilt. In our own eyes, we remain a society yet to be fully civilized. This is because, as the state in India quickly became an instrument in the hands of the invaders and colonizers, we were saddled not just with an unresponsive state, but a state hostile to the nation itself. A state-less society in India would have fared better. Such a paradox has existed nowhere else in the history of the world. When we look at the history of any other country, we find that whenever an overpowering alien state came into being, it wiped out everything that it saw as a native thought or institution. And if the natives insisted on holding on to their thought and institutions, then they were wiped out. But the Indian society survived under an alien and hostile state for hundreds of years, albeit at the price of having today lost almost all initiative and self confidence as a civilization.

 

GIVE ME YOUR PERSECUTED

 

How did the assimilative Hindu cultural convictions fare in practice, not just in theory and in the archives? This is probably best seen by comparing the Iranians of today with the Parsis of India. A few thousand of them who came here and who now number 200,000 have lived in a congenial atmosphere. They have not been subjected to any hostility to convert, or to give up their cultural or even racial distinction. They have had every chance, as much as the natives had, to prosper and evolve. And they did. They have lived and prospered here for 1500 years, more or less the same way as they would have lived and prospered in their own lands, had those lands not been ravaged by Islam. Compare an average Parsi with an average Iranian. Does the Persian society today display any native attributes of the kind that the Parsis, living in the Indian society, have managed to preserve? One can ^nd no trace of those original native attributes in the Iranian society today. That is because not only the native institutions, native faiths and native literature, but also the native mind and all vestiges of native originality were wiped out by Islam. That society was converted and made into a uniform outfit in form, shape and mental condition. On that condition alone would Islam accept it. What Islam did to the natives in Egypt, Afghanistan and Persia, or what Christianity did to the Red Indians in America, or what Christianity and Islam did to each other in Europe, or the Catholics did to Protestants, or the Sunnis did to Shias and the Kurds and the Ahmedias, or what the Shias did to the Bahais, was identical. In every case the annihilation of the other was attempted -- annihilation of other thoughts, other thinkers and other followers. The essential thrust of the Semitic civilizational effort, including the latest effort of Marxist monotheism, has been to enforce uniformity, and failing that, to annihilate. How can the West claim that it taught us how to lead a pluralistic life? If you look at history, you find that they were the ones who could not, and never did, tolerate any kind of plurality, either in the religious or the secular domain. If it has dawned upon them today that they have to live with plurality, it must be because of the violence they have had to commit against themselves and each other. The mass slaughter which the Western society has been subjected to by the adherents of different religious thoughts and by different tyrants is unimaginable, and perhaps they are now sick of this slaughter and violence. But the view we get, and are asked to subscribe to, is that the "civilized" West was a peaceful society, and that we brutes down here never knew how to live at peace with ourselves and our neighbors until liberated by the literate. What a paradox!

 

TEMPORAL POWER

 

The foundation of the Semitic system is laid on temporal power. For acceptance and survival in this system even religion had to marry and stick to temporal authority at the cost of losing its spiritual moorings. It was with this power -- first the state power, which still later was converted into technological power -- that the Christian West was able to establish its dominance. This brute dominance was clothed in the garb of modernity and presented as the civilization of the world. The aggressively organized Western society, through its powerful arm of the state, was able to overcome and subordinate the expressions of the self- governing decentralized society of the East that did not care to have the protection of a centralized state. Our society, unorganized in the physical sense, although it was much more organized in a civilizational sense, had a more evolved mind. But it did not have the muscle; it did not have the fire power. Perhaps because of the Buddhist influence, our society acquired disproportionately high Brahmatejas, Brahminical piety and authority, which eroded the Kshatravirya, the temporal war-making power. So it caved in and ceded temporal authority to the more powerful state and the statecraft that came from outside. The society that caves in is, in terms of the current global rules, a defeated society. This society cannot produce or generate the kind of self-confidence which is required in the modern world.

 

DYNAMIC CHRISTIANS, STAGNANT MUSLIMS

 

The nation-state was so powerful, that other countries, like India, could not stand against it. And when the nation-state concept was powered by religious exclusivism it had no equal. When religion acquired the state, the church itself was the first victim of that acquisition. Christianity suffered from the Christian state. It had to struggle not only against Islamic states and Islamic society, but also against itself. As a consequence, it underwent a process of moderation. First, it experienced dissent, then renaissance through arts, music and culture. Thus Christianity was able to overcome the effect of theocratic statecraft by slowly evolving as a society not entirely identified with the state. First the state began to dominate over the Church on the principle of separation between the religious and temporal authorities. The result was the evolution of the secular state. Thus the King wrested the secular power from the Archbishop. Then through democratic movements following the French Revolution, the people wrested power from the King. Later commerce invaded public life as the prime thrust of the Christian West. The theocratic state abdicated in favor of a secular state, the secular state gave way to democracy and later democracy gave way to commerce. Then power shifted from commerce to technology. And now in the Christian West, the state and the society are largely powered by commerce and technology. The Christian West today is even prepared to give up the concept of the nation-state to promote commerce fueled by technological advance. Look at the consolidation that is taking place between Mexico, Canada and the United States of America around trade, and the kind of pyramidal politico economic consolidation that is taking place in Western Europe. All this is oriented towards only one thing West.

 

ISLAM REMAINED UNCHANGED

 

While the Christian West has evolved dynamically over the past few centuries, the story of Islam is one of 1500 years of unmitigated stagnation. There has never been a successful attempt from within Islam to start the flow, so to speak. Anyone who attempted to start even a variant of the mainstream flow -- anyone who merely attempted to reinterpret the same book and the same prophet -- was disposed of with such severity that it set an example and a warning to anyone who would dare to cross the line. Some, who merely said that it was not necessary for the Islamic Kingdom to be ruled by the Prophet's own descendants were wiped out. Some others said that the Prophet himself may come again -- not that somebody else might come, but the Prophet himself may be reborn. They were also wiped out. The Sunnis, the Shias, the Ahmedias, the Bahais -- all of whom trusted the same prophet, revered the same book and were loyal to the same revelation -- were all physically and spiritually maimed. From the earliest times, Islam has proved itself incapable of producing an internal evolution; internally legitimized change has not been possible since all change is instantly regarded as an act of apostasy. Every change was -- and is -- put down with bloodshed. In contrast, the Hindu ethos changed continuously. Though, it was always change with continuity: from ritualistic life, to agnostic Buddhism, to the Ahimsa of Mahavira, to the intellect of Sankara, to the devotion of Ramanuja, and finally to the modern movements of social reform. In India, all these changes have occurred without the shedding of a single drop of blood. Islam, on the other hand retains its changelessness, despite the spilling of so much blood all around. It is the changelessness of Islam -- its equal revulsion towards dissent within and towards non-Islamic thoughts without -- that has made it a problem for the whole world.

 

ISLAM IN INDIA

 

The encounter between the inclusive and assimilative heritage of India and exclusive Islam, which had nothing but theological dislike for the native faiths, was a tussle between two unequals. On the one side there was the inclusive, universal and spiritually powerful -- but temporally unorganized - native Hindu thought. And on the other side there was the temporally organized and powerful -- but spiritually exclusive and isolated -- Islam. Islam subordinated, for some time and in some areas, the Hindu temporal power, but it could not erode Hindu spiritual power. If anything, the Hindu spiritual power incubated the offending faith and delivered a milder form of Islam -- Sufism. However, the physical encounter was one of the bloodiest in human history. We survived this test by fire and sword. But the battle left behind an unassimilated Islamic society within India. The problem has existed since then, to this day.

 

ISLAM, INDIA AND THE CHRISTIAN WEST

 

The Hindu renaissance in India is the Indian contribution to an evolving global attitude that calls for a review of the conservative and extremist Islamic attitudes towards non-Islamic faiths and societies. The whole world is now concerned with the prospect of extremist Islam becoming a problem by sanctifying religious terrorism. So long as the red flag was flying atop the Kremlin, the Christian West tried to project communism as the greatest enemy of world peace. It originally promoted Islam and Islamic fundamentalism against the fanaticism of communism. The West knew it could match communism in the market-place, in technology, in commerce, and even in war, but it had no means of combating communism on the emotive plane. So they structured a green Islamic belt -- from Tunisia to Indonesia -- to serve as a bulwark against Marxist thought. But that has changed now. When communism collapsed, extremist Islam with its terrorist tendencies instantly emerged in the mind of the Christian West as the major threat to the world.

 

HINDUS SURVIVED MUSLIM INVASION

 

We must realize that we have a problem on hand in India, the problem of a stagnant and conservative Islamic society. The secular leaders and parties tell us that the problem on our hands is not Islamic fundamentalism, but the Hindutva ideology. This view is good only for gathering votes. The fact is that we have a fundamentalist Muslim problem, and our problem cannot be divorced from the international Islamic politics and the world's reaction to it. To understand the problem and to undertake the task of solving it successfully, we must know the nature of Hindu society and its encounter with Islam in India. As a nation, we are heckled by the secularist historians and commentators: "You are caste-oriented, you are a country with 900 languages, and most of them with no script," they say. "You can't even communicate in one language, you don't have a common religious book which all may follow. You are not a nation at all. In contrast, look at the unity of Islam and its brotherhood." But the apparently unorganized and diverse Hindu society is perhaps the only society in the world that faced, and then survived, the Islamic theocratic invasion. We, the Hindu nation, have survived because of the very differences that seem to divide us. It is in some ways a mind- boggling phenomenon: For 500 to 600 years we survived the invasion of Islam as no other society did. The whole of Arabia, which had a very evolved civilization, was run over in a matter of just 20 years. Persia collapsed within 50 years. Buddhist Afghans put up a brave resistance for 300 years but, in the end, they also collapsed. In all of these countries today there remains nothing pre- Islamic worth the name save for some broken down architectural monuments from their pre-Islamic past. How did our society survive the Islamic onslaught? We have survived not only physically, but intellectually too. We have preserved our culture. The kind of music that was heard 1500 years ago is heard even today. Much of the literature too remains available along with the original phonetic intonations. So the Indian society continued to function under a hostile occupation even without a protective state. Or rather, we survived because our soul did not reside in an organized state, but in an organized national consciousness, in shared feelings of what constitutes human life in this universe that happens to be such a wonderfully varied manifestation of the divine, of Brahman.

 

HINDUTVA AS INDIA'S ANCHOR

 

The assimilative Hindu cultural and civilizational ethos is the only basis for any durable personal and social interaction between the Muslims and the rest of our countrymen. This societal assimilative realization is the basis for Indian nationalism, and only an inclusive Hindutva can assimilate an exclusive Islam by making the Muslims conscious of their Hindu ancestry and heritage. A national effort is called for to break Islamic exclusivism and enshrine the assimilative Hindutva. This alone constitutes true nationalism and true national integration. This is the only way to protect the plurality of thoughts and institutions in this country. To the extent secularism advances Islamic isolation and exclusivism, it damages Hindu inclusiveness and its assimilative qualities. And in this sense secularism as practiced until now conflicts with Indin nationalism. Inclusive and assimilative Hindutva is the socio-cultural nationalism of India. So long as our national leaders ignore this eternal truth, national integration will keep eluding us.

 

Center for Policy Studies, Madras.
1993.

dimanche, 24 février 2013

ON THE EURASIAN ROOTS OF INDIAN SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS

 

ON THE EURASIAN ROOTS OF INDIAN SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS

Kashmir Shaivism and Slavic-Russian Mysticism

Acharya Peter Wilberg

Ex: http://granews.info/

1.       Historical Introduction and Background

This essay will seek to show that here is no more profound and powerful counterpart and complement to Indian wisdom traditions than Slavic-Russian Mysticism and its relation to Nordic-Arctic climate and culture. There is now both archaeological and linguistic evidence to show that  the Vedas and Upanishads and Tantras (including those of Kashmir Shaivism) all had their roots in a highly advanced pre- or proto Indo-European and Arctic civilisation covering the entire area known as Eurasia and with centres not only in the Indus Valley but in many other ancient civilisations such as Sumeria and also Russia and the Arctic.  This pre-historic or ‘primordial’  civilization was founded by ruler priests and teachers from other planets and/or planes of consciousness called ‘Urs’ in the Nordic-Arctic region (‘Ur’ being cognate with the German prefix ‘Ur-’ which means ‘primordial’ – and recalling also both  the Urals in Russia and the name of the Sumerian city called Ur, Uru or Urim. 

According to Levashov (The Untold History of Russia)

“Urs became tutors and guides to the rest of the people. They protected an initially rather small number of settlements of ‘ordinary’ people both from wild nature and ‘biped predators’. Urs trained people and helped them to master primary technologies, and gave them the knowledge necessary for them at that moment as well as knowledge that would be called for only in millennia.

Urs taught them and gave them into the charge of a special caste of keepers – volkhvs[1], who in due time were to convey conserved knowledge, having carried them through millennia and preserved as much of it as possible.

For this purpose those keepers-volkhvs received two runic alphabets, each of them was used by volkhvs of different levels of initiation. Those alphabets were da’Aryan and h’Aryan letters[2].

The memory of Urs, the teachers, has remained in language, for example, in the word ‘cult-ur-e’, which means a system of moral and spiritual concepts, which were transferred by Urs to their wards, the Ruses.

The two-caste system of the ancient Slavs reverberated in the names given them by their neighbours. For instance, the majority of Asian neighbours called an inhabitant of the Slavoniс-Aryan Empire as ‘ur-rus’, uniting the self-names of these two castes in a single word. Even now many Asian neighbours call Russians in the old fashioned manner, as ‘Urruses’.

There was a time when the names of the Slavonic tribes were formed by the addition of prefixes to the root ‘rus’, reflecting distinctive features of these tribes of Ruses, for example, Et-rus-can, P-rus-sian. The prefix ‘et’ before the self-name of Ruses means ‘elucidated Ruses’ – the carriers of highcult-ur-e. The proof of their existence has been found in the north of Italy in the form of inscriptions on stones and works of art. The name ‘Prussian’ meant ‘Ruses of Perun’[3], their other self-name was Venedas[4] (bellicose tribes of western Slavs), was kept in the self-name of the territory where they lived up to the 19th-20th centuries even after the German (gothic) tribes seized this land in 9th-10th  centuries A.D. The gothic tribes destroyed the majority of Prussian-Slavs, assimilated the rest amidst them and borrowed their name. After that one of the German tribes that lived on this territory began to call themselves ‘Prussians’; in the 19th century they played a key role in the merger of German tribes into a united state.

During the thousands of years of history of the Slavs, who initially had a united culture and language, the formation of self-names of the different Slavonic tribes was influenced by different factors. In the Urs’ time all Slavonic tribes have the second name ‘Ur-rus’. After the Urs’ disappearance their functions had to be distributed between their wards, Ruses.

This led to the formation of several castes: a caste of Volkhvs, carriers of knowledge and traditions; a caste of professional warriors, defenders from external enemies; a caste of handicraftsmen, grain-growers and cattlemen. At the top of all castes was a patrimonial aristocracy.

After the Urs’ disappearance, Ruses added to the common tribal name (Rus) one or another prefix reflecting their basic type of activity (Et-rus-can, P-rus-sian).”

The ancient pre- or proto-Aryan civilisation that Levashov describes, with a caste system clearly similar to that of Vedic civilisation, was essentially a Eurasian civilisation with multiple centres, not only in the Indian sub-continent, but also in Sumeria (whose language was neither Indo-European nor Semitic), Babylon and Assyria, the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, Minoan Crete, Troy and Mycenae – and as recent  discoveries show it also had centres in Russia and the Arctic. Evidence for this was found in 1987, when archaeological discoveries were uneathed in the Southern Urals (the so-calledARKAIM site) of an earlier ‘Arctic’ civilisation. This was referred to by Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer and Pindra as Hyperborea (‘beyond the North Wind’ or Boreas) and by Virgil as Thule. It corresponds also to Asgard – the land of the Norse gods or Aesir, one of the nine worlds unified by the world tree called Yggdrasill  and described in the Nordic Eddas as the abode of the  god Odin and his wife Frigg and the site of his fortress – Valhalla. What has since come to be known as the Slavic Vedasshare a similar script to Sanskrit, similar scriptures to the Vedas, and similar sagas to the Eddas – describing a migration south from the Arctic as climatic conditions changed from temperate to glacial.  The singular of aesir is ás related  to the  Sanskrit word asura – referring to the ‘anti-gods’ opposed to but inseparable from their half-brothers, the celestial sura – known in Sanskrit as devasor ‘shining ones’ (from the root *diw meaning “to shine”).

What united all the centres of this proto-Indo-European or Eurasian civilisation was both the ‘pillar’ connecting Sky (ARKA) and Earth (IM)  - also one important meaning of the Shivalingam – and theswastika/svastika symbol  found in so many ancient cultures. This is now understood not as a solar or sun symbol alone but as representing a spiralling or spinning galaxy. In this context it is interesting to note that the Slavic svastika symbol, called kolovrat means ‘spinning wheel’ – just as the Sanskrit chakra also means a ‘wheel’ which turns or spins.   

Neither svastika nor kolovrat essentially symbolise the sun however. For ancient Eurasian religious cultures worshipped the pole star rather than the sun – that star, close to the constellation of the bear (URSA) which lights up the darkness of the night sky and points us North i.e.  towards the planet Nibiru from which the Sumerian ruler-priests were thought to have come, toward the pole star – and toward the giant ‘black hole’ or ‘black sun’ at the very centre of our galaxy around which both the earth and the entire solar system turns or ‘spins’.  All the different geographical centres of the Eurasian civilisation however were seeded and guided long ago in the past by the advanced knowledge of their extra-terrestrial ruler priests or Urs. Conversely however, the rebirth in Russia of a future Eurasian culture and civilisation - one that will replace the currently dominant global capitalist culture of the U.S.A. - was anticipated by the German theosophist Rudolf Steiner. One of the chief current advocates of spiritual-political Eurasianism in Russia is Aleksandr Dugin – erstwhile organiser of the now-banned National Bolshevik Party and National Bolshevik Front in Russia, and founder of the Eurasia Party – now called Eurasia Movement and now leader of the International Eurasian Movement. 

“In principle, Eurasia and our space, the heartland Russia, remain the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution …The new Eurasian empire will be constructed on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us. This common civilizational impulse will be the basis of a political and strategic union.” Dugin —The Basics of Geopolitics (1997)  
 

2. The Metaphysics of Light and Darkness

As early as 1903, Lokamanya Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak (then proprietor of the Kesari and the Mahrattanewspapers, author of the Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas) wrote a book presenting evidence of clear reference to an ‘Arctic Homeland’ in the Sanskrit Vedas and Zoroastrian Avestas.  This in turn formed the basis of a work by J.G. Bennett (metaphysical interpreter of the ‘4th Way’ spiritual movement of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky) entitled ‘The Hyperborean Origin of Indo-European Culture’.  A key argument that Tilak offers are numerous temporal indications in the Vedas of a ‘year’ in which, as is the case above the Arctic circle, the sun rises only once – making it the equivalent of a ‘day’. Nordic-Arctic countries in general are influenced culturally and psychologically by long periods of sunless winter darkness, interspersed with only brief summers in which the sun shines through the night.

This brings us to the central metaphysical theme of this essay – namely that there is no more profound and powerful counterpart  and complement  to both the Vedas, Upanishads  and Kashmir Shaivism itself than Slavic-Russian Mysticism and its relation to Nordic-Arctic climate and culture.

For whereas Kashmir Shaivism places special emphasis on the ‘light’ of awareness, Russian mysticism and even the Russian Orthodox Church has always emphasised the ‘darkness’, ‘dark light’ or ‘luminous darkness’, as expressed in the blackness of the night sky and long winters, rather than the blue sky of summer. Inward depth and darkness of soul go together, just as outward expansiveness of soul goes together with light.

“The divine darkness is not the kind of blackness we experience stumbling into an underground room with no lights. This darkness is a positive reality that helps us to discover God, and hence is called “luminous.” Although it sounds like a contradiction in terms, a luminous darkness is one filled with God’s presence, and by faith, the soul can begin to perceive God in darkness. In fact, the closer that God comes to the soul, the more intense the darkness becomes; it is then that all other things of this world are cleared away. The soul looks up to the Lord and never ceases to desire him.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa

If, as in Kashmir Shaivism, we understand God (Shiva) as ultimately identical with awareness as such or ‘pure awareness’ – and awareness as the ultimate sole reality (what I call The Awareness Principle) then we must also recognise that awareness itself is first and foremost an awareness of the ‘dark’ realm of ‘non-being’ constituted by infinite potentials of awareness – infinite potential consciousnesses or ‘beings’.  It is the very awareness of these potentials that ultimate leads to their actualisation and birth – like the birth of stars in the darkness of the cosmos.

Similarly, The Awareness Principle understands the key Kashmiri Shaivist term Spanda as a primordial tension (German ‘Spannung’) that literally spans the dark realm of potentiality (symbolised by the blackness of Ma Kali) and the light of awareness by which alone all things actual – including the sun and stars – become visible.  Spanda can be compared to a stretched string or ‘monochord’ strung between the twin poles of dark potentiality and illuminated actuality. The chord not only has a fundamental tone – the OM sound or Omkara, but also countless harmonics – each a unique tonal quality or ‘colouration’ of awareness. The Awareness Principle also recognises the universe as amultiverse – a multitude of parallel space-time universes all of which open up like bubbles of space and light within the darkness of a wholly non-extensional ‘space’ of potentiality. For just as light and ordinary ‘extensional space’ are inseparable, so also are ‘intensional’ space and darkness. Within any space-time universe light is what rays out from a centre towards a cosmic circumference, like light raying out from stars in the night sky. Darkness or ‘dark light’ on the other hand, is ‘light’ raying in from that cosmic circumference we behold as the blackness of the night sky itself and its ‘luminous darkness’ – illuminated at all times by the pole star.

According to the colour theory of both Goethe and Steiner, redness is light beheld through darkness. Blueness, on the other hand is darkness behold through light. Hence the two colour poles of the spectrum of darkness and light are red and blue. As the blue-throated one, Shiva has come to be associated with blue.  Yet as we know, one of the principal Vedic gods associated with Shiva isRudra – which is cognate with words such as ruddy or reddish. Similarly the syllable ‘rus’ in Russia is a proto-Slavic word for both bear and ‘reddish-haired’, cognate with ursus or ursa – the constellation of the Bear whose name combines the words ‘ur’ and ‘rus’.  Furthermore, the Slavic ‘s’  in ‘rus’ corresponds to the ‘d’ in the name Rudra itself, which also means ‘to howl’ – like a bear or wolf. Indeed, the Sanskrit ‘Shiva’ may itself be a loan word from the Tamil-Dravidian civa – meaning ‘red’ or ‘angry’. Blue and red have become of course powerful colour symbols in politics. Communists or those on the political left are ‘reds’. Conservatives or those on the political right on the other hand, are signified by the colour blue. Interestingly, since the collapse of the Soviet Union the flag of the Russian Federation is no longer purely red but red, white (the colour of the anti-Bolshevik ‘White Russians’) and… blue.  But let us return to Levashov:

“At the end of the 20th century, people got access to the Slavoniс-Aryan Vedas, which contained a lot of very interesting information that was vainly ignored by modern science. These unique manuscripts translated into modern Russian reveal that last glacial age was a consequence of the war between the Great Russenia and Antlania[5] (Atlantis). This war happened more than 13,000 years ago. Then people moved large distances of planetary scale by means of Vaitmans  [Sanskrit Vimanas]. So, those mysterious rhombic platforms on the three-dimensional map of Western Siberia are nothing else but landing grounds for Vaitmars. The last Vaitmars [travelers in the Vaitmans] left our planet Midgard-Earth about 3500 years ago when the Night of Svarog[6] began.

There is another interesting document – the Book of Veles. The last records in it were made by volkvs of Novgorod at the end of the 10th century. This book covers more than 20,000 years of Slavic history.

To learn something useful is always welcome, but did it happen like this in reality? Let us remember, that in the middle of the 11th century (according to the Christian calendar) a daughter of Jaroslav Mudry, princess Anna became the French queen. Arriving from the «wild» Kievan Rus, the princess did not consider that arrival as entering into civilized Europe but considered Paris a big village. This has documentary acknowledgement in the form of her letters.  She brought with her to the remotest depth of the provinces, which France was then, a part of the library, some books from which returned to Russia only in the 19th century and were found in the library of Mr. Sulakadzaev. It was he who made the first translation into modern Russian of the Book of Veles, which was composed of wooden plates with runic letters on them. After Sulakadzaev’s death his widow sold the greater part of his library to the Romanovs, and after that nobody heard anything about these books. The most interesting fact is that after the appearance of these copies, all originals without exception have disappeared – they either were burned down in bonfires of the inquisition, having been declared as heretical books, or were lost in ‘accidental’ fires and epidemics ‘affecting’ all ancient libraries.The libraries of Alexandria, Athens, and Tzargrad (Constantinopol), along with the Etruscan library in Rome, were burned down almost simultaneously. The libraries of Yaroslav I the Wise (978-1054) and Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584) disappeared without a trace. All originals were burned or disappeared, while the copies made from them so «opportunely» have been kept and cherished. Old books were destroyed; new ones were written. They were adjusted so that in new ‘history’ there was no any mention about the Slavonic-Aryan Empire. The period of history before the 10th century in Europe was declared as dark, barbarous centuries, which were illuminated by the light of education brought with the culture of the Sacred Roman Empire.”

Note firstly that the 10th century marked both the apotheosis and the beginning of the decline of Kashmir Shaivism. Note also that the very term ‘dark ages’ places a negative connotation on darkness. Then again, the Bible itself  (Genesis 1) admits that ‘darkness was over the surface of the deep’ even before God said ‘Let there be light’ and supposedly created heaven and earth.  Still today, however, inner knowing or gnosis is associated almost exclusively with ‘illumination’ or ‘en-lightenment’. This is paradoxical given that modern scientific and atheistic ‘rationalism’ had its source origin in the European ‘Age of Enlightenment’.  Yet the modern scientific mode of ‘rationality’ it gave rise to however, is now confronted with an ‘occult’ mystery that threatens to undermine its entire theoretical framework – the mystery of what physicists and cosmologists term ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ – whose nature is completely unknown but which is nevertheless acknowledged to make up 90% of the mass and two thirds of the ‘mass-energy’ of the universe. Levashov:

“…the last record in the Book of Veles and christening of Kievan Rus falls on the same time – the end of the 10th century according to contemporary chronology … What are these Days and Nights of Svarog? These words are mentioned in the Slavonic-Aryan Vedas quite often. It is time to understand what these concepts mean. There are several types of star accumulations in our Universe, such as spiral and spherical galaxies, star nebulas, etc. Our Sun is located in one of four sleeves of our spiral galaxy, in the «backyards» of this sleeve. Every spiral galaxy rotates around its nucleus while traveling on the star roads of our Universe. Seven primary matters form our Universe. The so-called, physically solid matter, which everybody is used to see as galaxies, nebulas, stars, planets, etc., appeared as a result of the merging of these primary matters in the areas of space, where necessary terms for this merging were observed. As proved by ‘scientists’,’physically’ solid matter makes only 10% of the whole matter of the Universe, and the rest (90%) is so-called ‘dark matter’. However, they do not specify what this “dark matter,” which can not be registered by any known modern scientific tool, is; we will forgive them this ‘insignificant misunderstanding’ and will move on to business.”

The galactic ‘nucleus’ that Levashov refers to is recognised to be a huge ‘black hole’ – itself a portal linking our universe to other universes in the ‘honeycomb’ plurality of multiple universes or ‘multiverse’. The types of ‘primary matter’ that Levashov refers to are what is now ‘scientifically’ termed ‘dark matter’. He refers also to the ‘psi-generators’ used in early civilisations, and those which he himself employs as medium of both healing and natural growth and regeneration. These he sees as “made of dark matter” and therefore essentially neither detectable by or requiring any technical or physical instrumentation, except as outward symbols for the subjective manipulation of the dark matter in its different forms.

The Awareness Principle understand the forms of ‘dark matter’ that Levashov refers to as specific potentialities and qualities of awareness - and their dark power or ‘energy’ as the capacity or power (Shakti) for the actualisation of these potentials – itself released by interaction with the invisible lightof awareness (Paramashiva). On the physical plane, this interaction plays itself out as an interaction between solar and earthly magnetism – what we call ‘magnetism’  being itself a bipolar spatial flow pattern of the all-pervasive ‘aether’ of pure awareness known in Sanskrit as Akash.

In modern translations the tantric term Shakti is almost invariably translated as ‘energy’. A closer translation would be ‘power’ or ‘power of action’ (Shak). Indeed this translation of Shakti accords with the root meaning of the term ‘energy’ itself – not as some ‘thing in itself’ but as pure action – the actualisation of those powers or potentialities of action latent in space itself as the ‘aether’ of pure awareness. What I call ‘The Awareness Principle’ is the metaphysical understanding that awareness is ultimate reality – that ultimately ‘awareness is everything’ and ‘everything is awareness’. The Awareness Principle stands in direct contrast to ‘The Energy Principle’ shared by modern science and ‘New Age’ pseudo-science alike – namely the principle that ‘energy is everything’ and ‘everything is energy’. As a ‘Theory Of Everything’ (TOE) ‘The Energy Principle’ is a highly questionable one, resting as it does on an unquestioned notion of energy as some ‘thing in itself’, a notion that is at the same time a distortion of its root meaning as that ‘formative action’ (energein) through which all forms are actualised in awareness. Pure awareness then, like the seeming emptiness of space itself, is no mere formless void but a plenum of formative potentials.  ‘Energy’ in the root sense is the actualisation of these potentials – the emergence of form from the apparent formlessness of space.

The Sanskrit term akash is translated both as ‘space’ and ‘aether’, sometimes spelled ‘ether’. It is understood in Indian thought as pervaded by countless basic units or “animations of consciousness” (Seth) which constitute the very ‘air’ or ‘breath’ of awareness called Prana – and the quintessence of air as such. The Sanskrit term prana is etymologically cognate with the Latin-derived terms ‘spirit’ and ‘spiral’ (from spirare – ‘to breathe’). It is also cognate with the root meanings of the Greek words for ‘spirit’ and ‘soul’ – pneuma (meaning air or wind) and ‘psyche’ (‘vital breath’). To be ‘spiritual’ in the root sense of this word therefore, is to be capable, quite literally, of a wholly different type of re-spiration or breathing – a type of whole body ‘transpiration’ of the clear, luminous expansiveness of the space around us – not through our lungs alone but through every pore of our felt body surface. It is the long-lost experience of breathing the clear, luminous ‘air’ or ‘aether’ of awareness itself that lies concealed behind both the otherwise wholly vague Western notion of ‘spirit’, as well as different classical and modern-scientific notions of a cosmic ‘aether’. Its secret is that invisible breath or ‘air’ of awareness (Prana) that pervades the entirety of space (Akash), both the space around us and the space which pervades and makes up by far the largest proportion of each and every atom of ‘matter’. This space vibrates with spanda – the fundamental tensing spanning the realm of the potential and the actual, together with the vibration of the actual within the potential and of the potential within the actual. Spanda is also what resounds with the inner sound ‘OM’. Hence also the association in Indian thought of the Akash with the element of sound or vibration. The double meaning of the Sanskrit Akash as both ‘space’ and ‘aether’ goes together with the Greek meaning of the word aether itself – as that ‘upper’, less gaseous, purer and thus morespacious air of the sort we breathe at Himalayan mountain summits – or in Nothern polar regions such as the Arctic.  For aether was the ‘higher air’ breathed by the gods themselves in their uppermost abode – whether we call this Olympus, Hyperborea, Thule or Asgard.

Dark Forces?

“I’m not the Devil. I’m much, much older. I watched the beginning and I will see the end. I am the dark behind all the stars. I am the dark inside you all.”

…from the screenplay of the film ‘Event Horizon’

The Greek word Khaos refers to a gaping dark void or chasm. It is cognate with Sanskrit Kha andAkash – referring to space itself, understood as the womb of all things – including the gods. In contrast, the Sanskrit kala means ‘time’ As such it is connected with the name of the great black Indian mother goddess Kali (kal – black / kala – time). Metaphysically, she can be understood as both, the ultimate temporal circumference or ‘event horizon’ of this spatial womb (kala – time) and as an ultimate ‘black hole’ or ‘singularity’ at its heart. Put in other terms, the realm of pure potentiality symbolised by Kali is a realm of unbounded inwardness – an inwardness that cannot be perceived by looking out from some localised centre of consciousness in space, but only by looking inwards from an infinite periphery, circumference or ‘horizon’ of awareness.

If the actual physical universe is a realm of spatial and material extensionality, then the primordial realm of potentiality is a non-extensional realm – a realm of pure intensionality. As such, it is made up not of extensional material bodies in space-time but of pure intensities of awareness in an unbounded ‘time-space’. The massive density of intensities that constitute this realm of unbounded inwardness – deified as Kali – find manifestation only through gravitational densities of matter so great, that they have collapsed themselves into ‘black holes’ with a so-called ‘singularity’ at their core. In physical-scientific terms, a black hole is ‘black’ because at its ‘event horizon’ the gravitational pull of the ‘singularity’ is so great as to bend space itself around itself – allowing no light-information to escape  – only sound in the form of a fundamental tone (the primordial sound of silence known as the Omkara or ‘OM’ sound).

From a metaphysical perspective however, the apparent outer surface of every visible body in space is also an event horizon. For like the visible outer surface of the human body, every ‘physical’ body conceals an unbounded and invisible psychical interiority along with invisible psychical ‘events’. These can never be perceived from without, no matter to what degree the physical interiority of the body is opened up and physiologically examined. For, what we perceive as fleshly bodies, cells and organs too are but outer surface appearances or ‘event horizons’ concealing an invisible psychicalinteriority and invisible psychical events.

When the crew on board the fictional movie spaceship  called ‘Event Horizon’ start ‘hallucinating’ terrifying images of bodies invisible to others (and later perceive each other’s bodies in horrific form) is this because they have entered ‘hell’ in the Christian sense or because, under the influence of the ship’s black hole, they have also unconsciously penetrated the event horizon of their own and each other’s bodies – perceiving events and images within their otherwise invisible psychical interiority in outward bodily form? The root meaning of ‘hallucinate’ is ‘to wander’. The crew’s ‘hallucinations’ are an expression of their wandering into and within the realm of ultimate inwardness associated with the primordial “agony” of creation as described in ‘The SETH Material’ by Jane Roberts – in which what Seth calls ‘All That Is’ (in essence the ultimate and universal awareness) sought a way to release all the potential consciousnesses embraced but still contained in His nebulous, dreamlike awareness into that state of autonomous actuality or being into which they “clamoured to be released”.   

In reality then, every outwardly perceived body is an Event Horizon. And at the core of all material bodies is a ‘black hole’ or “Singularity of Awareness”. This singularity at the core of all material bodies is both a central point (Sanskrit Bindu) and a central tone linking that unit of extensional matter to all other bodies through that dark, intensional realm of unbounded inwardness and inexhaustible potentiality that “flows through and forms all matter”.

This flow is that of the higher air or aether of awareness itself in its twin but inseparable aspects of light and darkness. Darkness is the in-flow of an invisible and wholly translucent ‘light’ of awareness from the cosmic circumference towards a centre just as light is the outward radiance of that invisible light of awareness from a centre. If we learn to sense the entirety of ‘empty’ cosmic space above and surrounding the entire surface of our heads and upper bodies, we can come to to experience ourselves breathing in its innate aetheric vitality of that invisible light and feel its countless centres – each of which have the character of miniature, light-emitting ‘white holes’ – revitalising the inner spaces within every atom, cell and molecule of our body.

If, on the other hand, we sense our lower bodies and let awareness flow inwards from our abdominal surface towards the singularity of awareness at its centre – or a few inches below and behind our navel – we will experience that inner space of our abdomen or hara (Japanese) as filled with inner darkness or blackness. Each out-breath can then be experienced as both an inward and downward flow of a ‘dark light’ of awareness – one that not only rays inwards from the abdomen or toward itshara centre or tanden but also flows downwards from our lower body and abdominal centre to yet lower centres. This dark inward and downward flow of awareness ultimately reaches and roots down below the very ground beneath our feet and  towards the fiery core of the earth itself. Here we contact the ‘dark force’ known in occult literature as Vril or Kundalini – the fire of awareness that then rises from that molten and fiery core – whose spinning is known to be responsible for the earth’s magnetic field.

The felt surface of our bodies then, both unites and distinguishes two spaces or fields of awareness – one extending outward and upward to a heavenly cosmic circumference, the other downward and inward towards a bodily and earthly centre or ‘singularity’ of awareness. The relationship between these two different flows of awareness is essentially a relation between the invisible space or light of awareness in its dual character – as both light and darkness. It also finds expression as the relation between polar or axial magnetism on the one hand and ‘spherical’ magnetism or ‘magnetospheres’ on the other. Thus, like the earth itself, the body has both axial magnetic poles (North and South)  and a ‘magnetosphere’ – the outer surface or ‘event horizon’ surrounding the black hole at its gravitational centre and the fiery core into which it can lead – demonised as the ‘underworld’ or ‘hell’ in both religious mythology and science fiction. The word ‘hell’ however derives from the German Halle (hall) and the verb hallen – to echo or resound, as the  Omkara does from within the event horizon of a black hole.  Polar axial and vertical dimensions of light and darkness, space and gravity, electricity and magnetism are all expressions of axial and vertical flows of awareness – corresponding to the Shivalingam and the vertical axis of kundalini within our body of awareness.  On the other hand, spherical dimensions of light and darkness, space and gravity, electricity and magnetism – all express spherical boundaries, spaces and centres of awareness.

Beyond space, time and ‘space-time’

Time too has a spatial dimension – including a spherical one and not just a linear one. Like a sphere, time (Seth) has an outside and an inside. Behind and beyond ‘space’ ‘time’ and ‘space-time’ as physicists conceive it is a “spacious present” (Seth).  This is ‘space-time’ understood and experienced as a spherical time-space of awareness embracing and yet ‘outside’ all ‘space-time’ universes and embracing also all actual and potential pasts and futures – both of the cosmos and of human civilisation. The interweaving of the actual and potential in the realm of dreams and mythical possibilities – like the interweaving of dreams and mythologies that opens up new possibilities for humankind – are themselves nothing mythical but the ‘dreamtime’ and very loom or tantra of time-space. It finds expression today in the mythological history, credible actuality and futural possibility of the civilisation called ‘Eurasia’ – with both its multiple geographical centres and its single axial pole – pointing to the pole star and to the ‘black hole’ at the centre of our spinning galaxy or kolovrat.

Dream-Land

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule –
From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime,

Out of Space – out of Time.

Edgar Allen Poe 1844

3. Personal Postscript

I might not have come to write this piece were it not for the fact that, lying down on my mother’s sofa one afternoon in the late seventies or early eighties – and despite being wholly ignorant of what was then the still-undiscovered ARKAIM site -  I entered a hypnagogic state in which I experienced the strong but invisible presence of Rudolf and Marie Steiner beside me. Accompanying this, I had a most vivid and lucid dream of an isolated citadel of the future – from within which I found myself peering out at a vast steppe land, one which I knew from the Steiners to be somewhere in Russia – and the centre of a future civilization.

Links:

ARKAIM – ancient Russian city

Michael Kosok  The Singularity of Awareness

Peter Wilberg  THE AWARENESS PRINCIPLE

Peter Wilberg TANTRA REBORN – ON THE SENSUALITY AND SEXUALITY OF THE SOUL BODY

P.Wilberg  EVENT HORIZON – TERROR, TANTRA AND THE ULTIMATE METAPHYSICS OF AWARENESS

J. G. Bennett – THE HYPERBOREAN ORIGIN OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN CULTURE

Lokamanya Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak – THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS

Levashov – THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF RUSSIA

INTERNATIONAL EURASIAN MOVEMENT

THE NATIONAL PEOPLES PARTY U.K.

INTERVIEW WITH ALEKSANDR DUGIN SaveFrom.net

EVENT HORIZON – the film

THE BOOK OF VELES


[1]A Volkhv is a cleric, the Supreme priest, and a keeper of ancient sacred texts.

[2] Da’Aryan and h’Aryan characters (letters) are two of four kinds of writing of the Great Race: da’Aryan Trags, h’Aryan Runes, Sviatorussians Images (bukvitca, runica, cherty and rezy) and Russenian Molvitca.

[3] Perun was the god-patron of all soldiers, the defender of the land and the clan of SviatoRuses (Russians, Byelorussians, Asts, Lits, Lats,  Latgalls, Zemgalls, Polans, Serbs, etc.)

[4] Venedas were inhabitants of the Great Venea where Clans and tribes of Venedas migrated. It corresponds to the territory of modern Western Europe.

[5] Antlania was an island in the Atlantic Ocean where Slavonic clan of Ants was lodged. Then their land began to be called as Ant-lan, i. e., the Land of Ants. Ancient Greeks named it Atlantis and its inhabitants – atlantes (modern Ukrainians; U-krai-ne means in Russian outskirts («krai») of the Land of Holy Race).

[6] The Night of Svarog, according to Slavonic tradition, is the name of a dark difficult time when our solar system passes through spaces of the Dark Worlds; or Kali-Uga in Aryan or Indian tradition.

vendredi, 23 novembre 2012

Inner Revolutions and Kindred Souls

 

Inner Revolutions and Kindred Souls:
A Review of Indo-Europe Rising and Atoms of Kshatriyas

by Gwendolyn Taunton

Ex: http://shunyarevolution.wordpress.com/

“Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit.” — Nietzsche

Azsacra Zarathustra’s work always makes for an interesting read, and his latest books (Indo-Europe Rising and Atoms of Kshatriyas are no exception. Since these books are related in terms of content, I will review them both together in this article). In these texts Azsacra Zarathustra continues to expand on the themes developed in earlier works and a number of concepts presented in these titles are covered extensively and explained in earlier books. As such, I would to stress here that Zarathustra’s work can be intellectually challenging for beginners and people whom are not well versed in traditional metaphysics and philosophy. Therefore it is essential for readers to familiarise themselves with his earlier works in order to understand his writing in the full context. Azasacra Zarathustra: Creator of ShunyaRevoution and Absolute Revolutionis recommended as an introductory text for those who are unfamiliar with the concepts introduced by Zarathustra. For those who are already loyal readers, no such introduction is required and they will thoroughly enjoy immersing themselves in the pages of his latest writing.That being said, like Nietzsche whom I quoted above, I have no time for the idle readers — and it is the readers who appreciate different ideas and perspectives who will experience the greatest rewards from Zarathustra’s books. Here, at last we see some new ideas emerging in Traditionalism — rather than reciting Traditionalists, Zarathustra develops of some of their ideas — and challenges them when need be. In this regard, Zarathustra’s latest book Indo-Europe Uprising is unapologetically addressed to the Hindu and European Traditions (which are linked by linguistic and religious heritage).

It is from this perspective that they need to be understood — the revolution and uprising of which he writes is one rooted in tradition and spirituality, and is not politically motivated. It is a revolution that is rooted deep in the roots of the psyche of India and Europe, and like all good books it speaks not to the head but direct to the heart and to the blood. The Absolute Revolution is an interior one, not an exterior revolution — thus like Krishna’s instructions to Arjuna, it is a spiritual process. This instruction to the Ksatriya is echoed in Zarathustra’s works, who like Evola adopts the perspective that the Ksatriya caste has its own set of spiritual teachings which differs from that of the religious code of the Brahmins. This is readily supported by the Upanisads, to which Ksatriya authorship is attributed, and even to the Buddha who was born into the Ksatriya caste. It is to those people who identify with the Ksatriya role (for caste is not determined by birth in his works, but by temperament and natural inclination) that Zarathustra addresses his works and expounds the theory of the Shunya Revolution; an interior and psychological process weaving together thoughts from Hinduism, Buddhism and Nietzsche — all of which Zarathustra does not merely cite, but actively develops upon, adding new teachings to the old ones to develop a new level.

What is of special interest in Zarathustra’s latest book, is that it offers a new model of Tradition which places emphasis on the ties between Europe and India, in contrast to the older Traditionalist model which favours the Abrahamic Traditions of Christianity and Islam. In terms of the history of religion, this perspective is academically correct as Vedic India and the old gods of Europe come from the same religious family, the Indo-European genus of religion. Christianity, Islam (and also Judaism) originate instead from Abraham, and form a triad which scholars refer to as the Abrahamic Tradition. The remaining Traditions fall under the rubric of Taoic, Dharmic (Hindu), Pagan (European) and Shamanic. Recent developments in the studies of religion such as the reconstruction of the Proto Indo European language and consequential dialect shifts suggest that the Dharmic Traditions and the Pagan Traditions stem from a common heritage in the pre-Vedic era, thus indicating that they are in fact related, and therefore the association of India with Europe is a genuine one which is easily backed up by historical facts.  The bond between the Hindu Tradition and the European Tradition is therefore a natural one which is rooted deep in the past where it has existed since the dawn of history. The Indo-Europe Uprising of which Zarathustra writes is one which unites both Hinduism and the indigenous spiritual traditions of Europe at the core of this ancestry, and therefore it is a  shared kinship between two cultures. This is the new element of Traditionalism which speaks to the Hindu and Pagan audiences, who have previously been under represented in Traditionalism and have previously occupied only a secondary role to that of the Abrahamic Traditions. Also of interest here is that Zarathustra correctly identifies Tibet as having a religious connection with Hinduism and it is included as part of the theory — thus forming a religious triad of its own as part of the Indo-European Tradition: Hinduism, the European Traditions, and Buddhism.

Into this vision of a shared ancestral past is woven an intricate dialogue of Ksatriya mysticism, the metaphysical state of emptiness and the detachment from the karma-phalam advocated by Krishna. These Hindu and Buddhism thoughts are then coupled with the ideas of Europe’s greatest thinker and philosopher, Freidrich Nietzsche to create a perspective which is not only unique and original, but also profoundly Indo-European in this combination. Much of Nietzsche’s thought expresses an admiration for the Vedic past, and he too advocated the warrior temperament above that of the priest, for he saw it as a more vital mode of life and being, rather than the mode of renunciation which represents a withdrawal from life rather than engaging and conflicting with it head on. It is obvious that Zarathustra is highly influenced by Nietzsche, but he does not merely cite Nietzsche’s works — rather he develops on them by adding layers of mysticism and spiritual development drawn from the esoteric doctrines of India and Tibet, to develop a new teaching for those who identify themselves as Kstariya, in order to fight the great internal war and overcome the flawed human nature which separates them from the numinous essence of the divine which is the great spiritual uprising and the esoteric doctrine of the Absolute Revolution and the forms the Atoms of Ksatriyas.

Gwendolyn Taunton was the recipient of the Ashton Wylie Award for Literary Excellence in 2009 for her work with Primordial Traditions and is a well-known author on Hinduism and Heathen/Pagan Traditions:  Her most recent work is ‘Mimir — Journal of North European Traditions’:

http://numenbooks.com.au/books/spirituality_books/mimir_-_journal_of_north_european_traditions.aspx