NEW DELHI: “Ancient Indian civilisation did not merely create knowledge. It developed ways to retain that knowledge within society, translating scientific understanding into culture, oral traditions and institutions”, remarked Swaminanthan Gurumurthy, chairman of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) and noted journalist-cum-author on Friday. He was speaking on ‘Ancient Indian Wisdom as a Guide for Viksit Bharat’ at a Mantrana by Bharat Ki Soch, a think tank rooted in India’s civilisational ethos.
Gurumurthy said India’s ancient wisdom was a guide for the world’s future and India was emerging globally with its civilisational wisdom. He said ideas articulated in India thousands of years were finding resonance in science and social security worldwide. Citing the Vedas, he said ancient traditions preserved and transmitted knowledge, with ‘rishis’ carrying it to rishis’ and practices becoming traditions.
Referring to Prime Minister Modi, he said Modi had emphasised living in communion with Nature and tradition amid material measures of development. “India’s culture is deeply rooted in the sciences that underpin the modern world”, he remarked.
On living together in society, he said sharing was central to Indian culture. “And, that is Dharma”, pointed out.
On social security, he said the US faced a difficult situation. “By 2032, there will be a deficit of 29 trillion dollars in the social security account, which will end with 75 years. But if you take the overall social security system, it will be 73 trillion dollar deficit in today’s value. This is a time bomb ticking under America”. He added that 84% of parents were being taken care of by children in India, reflecting ancient sharing and living together.
He spoke about the universe, referring to the Big Bang theory and what he said NASA had revealed, which, he said, India’s scriptures had already revealed. “Vedas say universe originated in Shabda Brahman, musical divinity”. He said Om was the universe’s origin.
He described Vedic recitation as applied mathematics and acoustic science. “The Rishis knew that memory fades and languages mutate over millennia. To ensure that the Vedas itself is 100 percent phonetic accuracy, which is happening in our place. It’s not there in most part of India. In southern India, it has been preserved. 100 percent phonetic accuracy without being written down. They treated the text as not literature, but as a mathematical code mapped to precise”, he said.
He said ancient Indian wisdom could be the future of the world: “I have absolutely no doubt, I may or may not live to see the day when the world will see it is not an ancient wisdom, it is the future wisdom. We will be building the future of the world if we know ourselves and if we can tell the world that this is the way of life that in a small place of land, so many people live and we share and we are still developing the way you are developing. We know how to develop and we will tell you how to develop”.
Earlier, welcoming Gurumurthy and guests, Anil Rajput, chairman of Bharat Ki Soch, said development was a collective effort. “Development is not delivered by government alone. It is co-created by citizens-in homes, schools, workplaces and public life”, he asserted.