Aryan Humanism
Af Christian Lindtner Ph.D.
To understand Aryan wisdom, in practice, means that one has to
make oneself familiar with the ancient classical writings of the
Indians , the Greeks and the Romans. Ideally, one would have to
take up the study of Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. However, the
fundamental sources in question are also available in modern
scholarly and annotated translations. They are easily available
from any library, and most texts are available in print from
various academic publishers (Oxford, Cambridge, Penguin,etc.; for
India, contact Motilal Banarsidass, Bungalow Road, New Delhi,
India.)
Apollo, Greek
God of Truth and Light
First of all, one must carefully study the writings of Plato and
Aristotle. These are the most important Greek philosophers. Among
the Roman authors one should study the philosophical writings of
Cicero and Seneca.
The Roman historian Tacitus is also indispensable. He wrote:
"This I hold to be the chief office of history, to rescue
virtuous actions from oblivion to which a want of records would
consign them, and that men should feel a dread of being considered
infamous in the opinions of posterity, from their depraved
expressions and base actions."
The fundamental notion of Greek and Roman philosophy is virtue
(aretê in Greek, virtus in Latin). Virtue is only to be found in a
man of virtue, that is in true human activity.
It has four aspects, science (that has to do with truth),
justice (that has to do with our relationship to society), courage
(necessary for upholding truth and justice), and temperance
(necessary because it takes time to bring virtue to perfection).
True happiness is only to be found in a man of virtue. The practice
of virtue is the ultimate aim of man, and of society.
In ancient India, as found in all Sanskrit scriptures, the basic
ideal of man and society is expressed in the term dharma. It means
virtue, decency, law and order. It covers much the same ground as
art' of the Greeks, and virtues of the Romans. Dharma only exists
to the extent that it is practised. Virtue consists in action.
All Sanskrit philosophers agree, unanimously, that dharma has
two aspects, a practical and a theoretical. One has to behave
decently, and to understand correctly. Scientific knowledge has,
exactly as in Plato and Aristotle, to do with a knowledge of the
true and natural causes of things in time and space.
Man is a microcosm, a small part of the larger macrocosm. Under
normal circumstances, however, man fails to recognize himself as
such.
This is because he has failed to develop his dormant
intellectual powers. The Aryan ideal is to realize the identity of
microcosm and macrocosm. The duality can only be overcome through
the exertion of reason. In Sanskrit: buddhi, mati, dhî, prajnâ; in
Greek vous, logos; in Latin ratio, intellectus, etc.). The ideal,
in other words, is to purify one's mind. To purify one's mind one
must purify one's daily habits. This is to live a life of
virtue.
There are many erroneous notions about yoga. Basically yoga
means spiritual exertion. Yoga is often defined as the practice of
the double dharma. Properly understood, then, yoga is simply the
practice of the four aspects of aret', or virtus. By means of
reason, i.e. by means of buddhi, ratio, etc., we understand the
true and natural causes of things in nature. This, finally, brings
about a happy and peaceful state of mind.
This, then is the ancient Aryan ideal of Wisdom. (The main
Indian sources are The Laws of Manu, and the
Bhagavad-Gita, easily available in modern translations.
Important are also the Buddhist and Jana scriptures, all of which
have to do with Dharma.)
A scientific understanding of the laws of nature, i.e. of the
macrocosm, can, as said, only be found , through the exertion of
reason, in the microcosm. The Aryan ideal is a thoroughly humane
ideal. It has nothing to do with religious superstition. Experience
shows that human individuals in full possession of the moral and
intellectual are rare. Hero worship, therefore, is an integral part
of the Aryan life.
The Aryan ideal was recognized by the great heroes of European
civilization. When Thomas Jefferson introduced the democratic
experiment, this did not mean that he sacrificed the ideal of "an
aristocracy of virtue and talent". (The phrase he borrowed from
Cicero: virtus et ingenium.)
Pandit Nehru was right when, in his Discovery of India,
he claimed that India's greatest legacy to world's civilisation
consisted in the Sanskrit language. If we ask what is so precious
about Sanskrit, one answer is that the Sanskrit texts have
transmitted the Aryan ideal of dharma and yoga in its pristine
purity.
In our century the Aryan ideal has come under vicious and
deceitful attacks from various quarters, including Marxism and
corrupt "democracy".
An enormous threat to the progress of Aryan, or European,
civilisation is also posed by the three religions of Abraham
(Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The Aryan ideal, as indicated,
sees no contradiction between religious and scientific ideals. It
is opposed to, on the one hand, the atheism of Marxism etc., and ,
on the other, the superstitions of the three aberrations of the
Abrahamic religions. It is not denied that there are valuable
elements in these three religions, but historians of religion
recognize that almost everything of value in the three Abrahamic
religions has been borrowed from the Indians, Greeks and
Romans.
It is often claimed that Judaism and Christianity have
"enriched" Western civilisation. From a historical point of view it
must be maintained that it is rather the other way around:
European, or Aryan civilisation has enriched Judaism, Christianity,
and even Islam.
The great Indologist, Christian Lassen, in his Indische
Altertumskunde (Bonn 1847) wrote:
"The Aryans are the most highly organized, the most enterprising
and the most creative among the peoples; they are also the
youngest, because the earth only produced the most perfect species
of plants and animals at a late date. This relationship will
ultimately reveal itself in a similar way in the political
field..".
In this century certain authors have argued that "The Aryan
Myth", i.e. the emphasis on biology, the deserved triumph of the
strongest, the pre-eminence of youth, the superiority of the White
Race, has justified what is claimed to be " the most terrible and
destructive mass movement history has ever recorded" (quoted from
Lon Poliakov; The Aryan Myth, New York 1996).
Now, this accusation, that "the Aryans" are somehow responsible
for the so-called Holocaust of the Jews, is a very serious one
indeed. If "the Aryans", or at least those in Germany, were really
responsible for the abominable murder of six million Jews, who,
then, must not detest the Aryan ideal of virtue? But what if the
allegation is not true? In that case we must be dealing with what
is surely one of the most obnoxious cases of calumny in
history.
In order to defend themselves, or rather: in order to defend
their ideals of truth and decency, it is, therefore, the obvious
duty of all Aryans to study the alleged Holocaust in a scientific
manner. Jews have often claimed that Romans, or Europeans, have
murdered millions of Jews. A passage in the Talmud, for instance,
claims that the emperor Vespasian "killed in the city of Bethar
four hundred thousand myriads (= 400,000 X 10,000 = four billion)"
innocent Jews.
According to another passage in the Talmud,
Gittin 58a, p. 269:
"Sixteen million Israelite school children were wrapped in
scrolls and burned alive by the Romans at Bethar."
In October 1919, The American Hebrew spoke of a
holocaust, in Europe, of six million Jews. Today, the mass media
every day repeat that six million Jews were murdered by Hitler.
What is history? What is myth? - Only science can decide.
The Aryans have been accused of murderiung Jews in several
holocausts, ancient and mordern. But are the allegations true and
just? It is our duty to defend our ideals and to deal with
this accusation scientifically without fear.
The Aryan ideal is an ideal of truth. It is an ideal open to
all, also,of course, Jews. As a text ascribed to the Buddha
(Dhammapada 393) says:
"Not by matted hair, not by lineage, not by caste does one
become a Brahmin. He is a Brahmin in whom there are truth and
justice. And he is blessed." - True Aryans, true Brahmins, are
defined in terms of the Aryan virtues.