History: November 2006 Archives

The greatest proof that someone is a developed person is that person's refined taste and subtlety based on his or her intelligence and wisdom. A person comes to be a philosopher when that person studies his or her environment and thereby learns to see his or her inner self. This very Ráŕh presented human society the first philosopher, who was none other than Maharshi Kapil. He wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery of creation and bring the causal factors of the universe within a framework of a theory of numbers. We in today's world cannot imagine how much self-confidence and inner daring it took for a person to do this. Maharshi Kapil was born in a certain place near Jhalda in Ráŕh. He came to the highest philosophical realization at Gangasagar, on the Bay of Bengal, at the furthest extremity of Samatat in Ráŕh.

Yesterday I said something about history; I said that modern history usually deals with certain very common events such as when a certain king succeeded to the throne, or plundered a neighbouring country, or perpetrated atrocities on his subjects, or died, and so on. What benefit could common people possibly derive from studying such useless information? This is why they have no interest to study this sort of history at all. True history should be a faithful record of the entire human life.

The recognized definition of history is,

Iti hasati ityarthe itihásah.

That is, history is a resplendent reflection of collective life, whose study will be of immense inspiration for future generations. "Iti hasati" literally means, "the glowing example of glorious human dignity."

There was a great ocean, its surface agitated by rows of towering waves, an ocean which had neither name nor gotra [clan]. Who was there to name it, who was there to tell others about it? No one, because human beings had not yet come on earth. This was about 300 million years ago.(¹) [And as regards the land mass,] there was no name yet on earth for that arid, mountainous terrain, nor even yet a single grove of trees to which a name could be given.(²)