Relativity and opportunism

in the nature of Indian philosophy1

Introduction

Especially the "insignificantness" of this book, its niche

position in the large opera of Indian cults and religions, its
potential sectarian character appears valuable for becoming
acquainted with Hinduism, to a 'Hindu ethics'. Krishnamurthy’s
book "Ten Commandments of Hinduism" deals with examining the
entwinement of the individual parts, which only together
constitute an "Indian religion". A thesis reads that these
individual parts (doctrines) would behave completely
differently in a Christian-European context, either becoming
annihilated or suppressed. Through these Ten Commandments of
Hinduism, which have been formulated by Krishnamurthy - in
comparison to the Christian commandments and their deep
effects on our collective subconsciousness - additional
knowledge may be gained about Hinduism and new approximations
to the phenomena of Indian culture. These thoughts continue to
lead into ideas about an Indian-religious relativism, as well
as the particular difference of holistic philosophies of South
East Asia to those of the western hemisphere.

We call ‘philosophy’ what some would declare “religion”.2

Because of the fundamental difference from western spiritual

1
Seminar work for Professor Dr. Franz Martin Wimmer's "Intercultural Philosophy" (2002)
2
In the West, e.g. Nagarjuna is rather put into the philosophical subcategory, while Shankara has been linked
with "religion".
 2

traditions the first seems more appropriate, though Hinduism

never exactly fits our terms. But compared to Christianity,
Judaism and Islam – the main “religious” influences in the
western civilisation – Hinduism seems more open to
philosophical systems and constructions than being based on
“belief” only. It lacks both founder(s) and centralised
theological systems.

With "western world" or "western hemisphere" is meant in the

following our ‘civilisation’ with Greek and Christian
foundations, similar to common definitions like that of Samuel
Huntington3. Europe and North America being the geographical
confinement. In mental regards this civilisation is
represented by all devices (e.g. western science, economy,
etc.) which are aligned along this tradition, subordinate
under it and are substantially penetrated by it.

Krishnamurthy - Hinduism

Krishnamurthy held a professorship for mathematics at the

Birla Institutes of Technology and Science in Rajasthan,
India. He was brought up in a traditional background and
taught the classical Hindu scriptures from early childhood.
Within Hinduism he confessed himself to be heavily influenced
by Shankara’s school of Advaita Vedanta. From a western point
of view one would probably say that he is in the first
instance Hindu and only in the second scientist – and will at
least represent ‘hinduistic science’, which in the Vedantic
form claims anyhow to be older than the European one. Hindu
science has its foundations in the Veda, the holy writings,
whatever in detail one may count under this term. It not only
refers substantial inspiration from these classical writings,

3
In Clash of Civilisations.
 3

but the Veda is also consulted again and again for the support
of proofs. Operating with this kind of science resembles the
Islamic procedure, where the Koran always provides an
authoritative backing and is consulted for advice. But the
comparison with Islam or, for example, with the Christian
Scholastic system partly limps, since the extent, also in
regard to topics, is a tremendously larger one in Indian
classical writings, compared to Islam and Christianity. Thus
it is not wise to call for secularisation of Indian science
after the western paradigms without learning the special kind
of connection of religion, bibliography and science in India.
The traditional ‘Hindu sciences’ not only cover theology,
ethics, philosophy, but also generated schools of mathematics,
logic, astronomy, astrology and medicine.
The culture-philosopher Julius Evola distinguished between
ancient holistic civilisations, which include all sciences
within a theocratic system, calling them “traditional” – and,
on the other hand, more recent societies like Christianity,
Islam, which tend to distinguish between Theology and
(worldly) science or magic. In this point he follows
Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity as an underclass religion
in search of a lofty paradise in heaven while in constant
conflict with any ‘earthly’ origins. A similar borderline
between traditional – like the Indian – and ‘new’
civilisations can be drawn according to Karl Jasper’
“Achsenzeit”4, if we assume that Hindu society has already
found its essential shape in antiquity and so represents the
last remaining from those times; though this might be a myth
too much supported (and created) by nationalistic interests of
the Hindu movements itself.5

4
... meaning the period around 500 BC being a certain 'limes' between mythological time and historical time.
5
Like e.g. the extensive worshipping of cows as nationbuilding symbol. (Six, Clemens: "Symbolische Politik
und ihre Inszenierung – Ausdrucksformen des Hindu-Nationalismus im gegenwaertigen Indien" in: Preisendanz,
Karin / Rothermund, Dietmar. Südasien in der Neuzeit. Promedia Verlag, Wien 2003.)
 4

Even today we can find representatives of Vedic science in

India, sometimes with an additional background in western
education, as is the case with Krishnamurthy.

These classical writings, which for us form the materially

most understandable backbone of Hinduism start with the four
Vedas Rk, Yajur, Atharva and Sama, from which approximately
120 Upanischads are attached like branches; from the latter,
11 appear to be particularly important. In addition, enormous
epics have to be added to the canon such as Ramayana and
Mahabharata. The Bagavad Gita is a part of the latter standing
for itself. The later, at least already ‘temporally limitable’
Vedantic literature in the form of sutras is usually also
counted among classical writings, since it is likewise deemed
to be inspired and the outpouring of holy beings.
These writings only partially refer their still continuing
authority from claiming to be ‘inspired’, i.e. in any form of
divine origin. Usually the Veda is even conceived as a
manifestation of God and its origin not somewhere in time but
in eternity. Parts of it are said to have been visualised by
Rishis6 and handed down verbally until later generations gave
them a written body.
There are quite some parallels to the view on the Thora among
the Jewish society, but with less a cleft between writing and
legibility, since the tradition to read and interpret the Veda
on several levels of understanding and impact seems to be
still more alive.

The book The Ten Commandments of Hinduism is an attempt to map

out metaphysical territories of the phenomenon ‘Hinduism’ by
ten “commandments” or requirements. These commandments are not
comparable to the meaning in the tradition of the Jewish-
Christian dekalog. It is rather ten columns on which the

6
A common term for ancient seers.
 5

author tries to balance the complex and disputed system of

Hinduism. A problem, because at least the word “Hinduism” was
introduced from the outside, exactly the same as the word
“India”. Formally regarded Hinduism was initially a creation
of the British, who tried to establish religious patterns and
ethnical categories in order to better rule these enormous
colonies; with that they attempted to superimpose a new legal
and administrative system which should also have support among
the people. Later the Indian independence movement discovered
this idea for itself and made “Hinduism” the tool on which to
forge national unity. From an immense number of kingdoms,
principalities and above all an immense number of languages
and religious and cultural shades India developed a state,
maybe the world’s most multicoloured patchwork-country beside
the USA, with which it has a lot in common, not only the
magnificent Bollywood-machinery mirroring the image of
Hollywood. This nationbuilding-process is still under way and
also constantly endangered, – maintained mainly by this idea
of Hinduism. There exist strange tensions between the age and
the existing aliveness of religious culture in India and its
emergence to define itself. Much of this unity, nearly
everything, is attributable to religion.
Hinduism has a reputation for assimilating penetrating
religions. Most Brahmins and Pundits claim for it to be the
oldest and original “religion” of mankind, actually not at all
substantively, as religion, rather meaning a ‘religious
attitude’. This, among other things, makes it supple and up to
a certain measure indisputable. When, for example, after the
occurrence of the Shakyamuni Buddha, who also came from a
“hinduistic” caste and tradition, a new ‘religion’ began to
split itself off, the Brahmins met the schism by avowing
Shakyamuni into the Vishnu-avatars - with at least partial
success. Something similar happened when the Jaganath cult
became popular in Orissa. This cult existed independently at
the beginning, and was likewise integrated into Vaishnaism.
 6

The creation of cultural unity concerned both the British and

the liberation movement of Gandhi. In some ways we may call
India ‘the other America’, not only because it was able to
reflect Hollywood in Bollywood, but particularly because of
that variety of summarised cultures, peoples, languages and
religions. The summary of these varieties represents a
singular phenomenon. Hinduism is seen as a representative of
these varieties, though constantly re-created. A substantial
aspect is the creation of Hinduism as political construct of
recent history. In this point it differs from the large
revealing religions Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, however
not so much in its substantial contents. To this the
phenomenon of Judaism may serve as the most comparable to the
western hemisphere, which as a main parameter of Christianity
can provide a key for understanding and approximating
Hinduism. Judaism can be called a religion of commandments and
the dekalog as substantial pillar of the Thora. Hinduism does
not match this at first sight, but parallels are ascertainable
to the situation of the Jewish people under Moses, in regard
to creation of social structure and identity, the
manifestation of a new political effectiveness. The
propounding of commandments, in whatever form, is inherited by
a formative momentum. Be it a state, a people- or religious
community founding on this, it is a matter of validity for
everybody and so a levelling takes place in favour of a larger
body. Humans are seen and treated not as an individual, but as
part of the transmission. This is in contrast to the original
concept of the release religions such as Buddhism and
Christianity. Here the main concern is release from forms, not
creation of social structure, - they are reacting, whose
founders lifted out the ‘individual’. Even in regard to their
historical origination and development one can confront
Judaism with Christianity similarly like Hinduism with
Buddhism.
 7

At the beginning of the book The Ten Commandments of Hinduism

it is already noticed that the theories of Hinduism address
themselves to human beings with different mental disposition
and development. This starting point of inequality of humans -
a hierarchically arranged inequality - forms the basis of the
caste system. The concept of a spiritual hierarchy is more
pronounced and stronger than it has been and still is in the
western world, thus leading inevitably to points of friction
with Christianity and the western democratic tradition, since
they presuppose a substantial equality of humans up to a
certain degree, however at least demand it and put it on their
agenda. A reason for the strength of Hinduism and main pillar
is the doctrine of reincarnation, which is deeply embodied in
the consciousness of the masses, even if it is not always
mentioned directly. The rebirth teachings are able to create
much deeper relationships to the past, a much deeper
conception of long periods of time, at least in imaginations
of the mind. The hierarchy attributed to mental arrangements
or consciousness degrees develops only by this chain of
reincarnations and is thus temporally more deeply embodied
than in the west, but on the other hand more otherworldly and
thus with less materialistic orientation.

The “Ten Commandments”

The ten commandments of Hinduism set up by Krishnamurthy are

divided into three head and seven describing commandments.
These are:

• OMNIPRESENCE OF REALITY (impersonal and personal)

• PURIFICATION OF MIND
• DHARMA

→ KARMA YOGA
 8

→ ONE GOD WITH MANY NAMES AND FORMS

→ AVATARA
→ NAMA SMARANA
→ SURRENDER
→ SELF REVELATION
→ RIGHT ATTITUDES

The seven describing commandments emanate out of the original

three. The author claims these commandments, or indicating
principles, to represent the mainstream of Hinduism. The idea
of serving mankind in whatever form is thereby always
presupposed as common principle of all religious behaviour.
“Divinity is everywhere”, is the all recapitulatory concept,
which is contained in the first commandment serving as
foundation for all the following. Whatever one sees, hears,
smells, feels, touches, thinks is a spark of divinity,
although covered by ignorance. To experience this omnipresent
divinity, and to realise it, is regarded as a principal
purpose.

Therein in a certain way the conception is implied of never

dying souls, which sued their material body with each physical
death, taking past habits and characteristics in the form of
“vasanas” with them into the next life. The word vasana means
smell and determines the tendencies of a soul when born in a
new body. The vasanas form a kind of first body of subtle
matter around the soul, which is then the building master of
the gross-material body. The concept of vasanas consequently
forms the starting point for the commandment “Purification of
the Mind”.
Because it is the vasanas which, through their existence
collude the view of the indwelling divinity. Purification is
therefore a first condition of liberation from the wheel of
reincarnation, from cause and effect. Special attention is not
 9

directed however to a ‘suicide of the soul’, in the way it has

been interpreted in the beginnings of South Asian Studies in
the West and, for example, could support Schopenhauer’s
‘pessimism’ - but to an inner release of adhering to the
world, arriving at internal detachment.

“Omnipresence of Divinity” creates Dharma. Fulfilment of

Dharma implies purification. Dharma can be translated into
“law”. It is the task assigned to an individual unit of
consciousness and differs from Karma, which results from
actions in preceding lives. Karma is thus within one’s own
responsibility and subjected to laws and commandments; while
Dharma is designated something which has not been created by
humans, but was assigned. Additionally to the logical
understandable hierarchy formed by Karma - as merits and
misdemeanours of the soul (consciousness unit) leading it
across innumerable lives away from the lowest up to the
highest caste - a hierarchy of Dharma is implicit in Hinduism.
This hierarchy of Dharma is thought not to be accessible for
human rational understanding, even not for most of the Gods.
To act according to Dharma means in agreement with the whole
Universe and for the whole Universe. Only from that categories
like good and evil, heaven and hell may be derived.

Everything in Hinduism is based on these three principles:

Omnipresence and omniscience of the divinity (God); the
cultivated tendencies and characteristics from birth to birth
(Karma); and Svadharma, the Dharma assigned to a soul (unit of
consciousness), since the single soul is not thrown into the
world bare of purpose and meaning, but instead is subject to a
plan of evolution towards perfection and reflection of the
divine.

The fourth requirement, “Karma Yoga”, (since it is based on

Dharma) therefore reads: Act in the living presence of the
 10

divinity, completely detached and devoted, avoiding selfish

desires and fears!

The fifth commandment, which is rather a confession that there

exists one God in many names and forms, leaves room for
tolerance and openness to admire a personally preferred aspect
of the divinity. It forms the basis of the Hindu Conviction
that all religions are only different ways to arrive at the
goal of divine perfection and that is why Krishnamurthy gave
it the centre-place in his two-dimensional structured
arrangement of the commandments. Simultaneously this
commandment contains the pretension of Hinduism being a meta-
religion, and thus serves as welcomed constitution for a pan-
Indian state building. Further the admiration of an individual
God or aspect of divinity is source of the ‘principle of
grace’.7

The concept of Avatara is a further factor, which

differentiates Hinduism from other religions. It presupposes
that the divine manifests itself at certain times,
deliberately and planned, in humans beings. Such a descent of
the divine by accepting a non-perfect and limited form with
the purpose to teach humans and evolve mankind is called
Avatara. Rama and Krishna may be taken as example, though
outside of India, Jesus Christ would also have met the
requirements. The difference compared to Judaism's and Islam's
prophets is, that an Avatara is conscious of his divinity from
birth onwards and does not need any higher call during his
lifetime nor any inspiration, as is also the case with
Christian saints. He/she comes to earth fully evolved – not
even ‘evolved’ but as a pure divine being without past, as a
saint or prophet would have, being subject to the law of time.

7
Since grace implies a 'personal' connection with the divine.
 11

Nama smarana means the recitation of divine names, of

“mantras” - admiration by ritual repetition. Apart from an
inwardly directed aspect, which may support a meditative
attitude, an outside effect is also attributed to the repeated
formula, usually of purifying and protecting character.

Devotion (eighth commandment) is essentially already contained

in the first and fourth. A certain element of liberty is
entitled to the human will. Nevertheless, (modern) Hinduism
does not put that much weight on ‘freedom of human will’,
balancing it with the role of fate. The tension between Karma,
Dharma and the ‘free will’ forms consciousness and enables
evolution of the inheriting spirit, the monad. Devotion in
Hinduism means to shift the free will gradually from outside
towards the inside, uniting it with the will of the internal
God who at the same time represents the will of the universal
God. The result is a liberation of the soul; the outwardly-
directed free will, which does not coincide with the
inheriting self, is united with this internal monad-like
divinity, brought into agreement with the universal God.

The ninth requirement, forming an antipole to the first,

resulted from the development of the preceding commandments.
So humans are to become a mirror of the divine, discover it in
themselves and bring it to an appearance. To explain this
process of self-realisation, Krishnamurthy consults Shankara,
the founder of Advaita Vedanta. He describes different
analogies to make clear the special relationship between the
universe on the one hand and Brahman on the other. These
analogies are gradated stepwise. A rope appears as a snake:
The snake stands for the visible universe. - What seems to be
the universe is not the real universe.
The second analogy concerns the illusion of water over hot
sand (as a fata morgana). In the third analogy the universe is
 12

perceived as a dream. It is totally subjective and disappears

with the waking person.
In Advaita Vedanta the concept of reality is always a
comparative one. Self-realisation takes place in stages8. In
the universe, reality is a layered construction like a
Babushka. The word self-revelation used by Krishnamurthy
refers to this development of the self, which gets rid of its
shells, the internal heart being the atman.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna differentiates between two

purushas9. Sometimes the word purusha can be translated with
"ego", sometimes with "self". He is the inhabitant of the
city, the body. If he identifies himself with this body and
the senses, he is called the experiencing purusha; he enjoys
and suffers being transient (kshara). The other purusha is the
constant, non-participating witness, the sakshi.

The tenth requirement refers to correct attitude. Mental

attitude is to stand before rituals, before physical
expression and the philosophy, to which one adheres. I tis
this attitude which also determines the evolutionary stage,
the caste (varna). It is further stated, that each religion
should be understood and practised only within its own context
to avoid rivalry and jealousy10. Ramanuja (1017 - 1137),
another important philosopher after Shankara, stated that
jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion, serving) are not
essentially different and coincide, insofar as devotion
(bhakti) goes hand in hand with knowledge (Jnana). The correct
attitude of the individual is thus bound to its position in

8
On the contrary to the Chinese-Buddhistic tradition of cha´n - which later became Zen in Japan - where a
sudden enlightenment (and thus liberation) has been thought, in Hinduism enlightenment comes in stages, the
evolution of the soul from its bondage of matter happens stepwise.
9
Bhagavad Gita 15.16
10
Though Krishnamurthy is not very clear about whether he counts Hinduism among "religions" or in which
other relationship Hinduism stands to them; He is further not dealing with syncretisms between religions.
 13

society (caste); this position again depends on knowledge

(jnana) and on past acts (karma).

Substantial about Krishnamurthy's Ten Commandments is the

arrangement of groups or casts around them. By no means all
commandments apply to everyone, rather certain requirements
for certain humans under certain boundary conditions. In
Hinduism a particular person can nearly never be fastened to
all commandments and also should not. Although many
prohibitions and restrictions emerge in daily life, at the
same time almost complete religious liberty exists, making
this system a part of the timeless flexibility of Hinduism. To
rectify that concept the author indicates certain types as
examples, like the "secular philosopher", the "orthodox
theologian", the "rationalist", the "scientist and vedantin"
or the "doubting layman"; in this way he reaches a - rather
fictitious - sum of 1023 combinations.
Therefore Hinduism does exist but not a single complete Hindu.
Naturally this is also the case in other religions; the
difference to Hinduism comes in the fact that there is no
general form to fulfil standing in the foreground - rather a
goal. Hinduism is not to be understood as a demand for an
ideal. Rather it is the house being built by individual
craftsmen. It is neither necessary nor worthwhile therefore
that the bricklayer also frames the roof nor even knows how to
do so.
Therefore, if one wants to understand Hinduism properly, he
should begin with the hypothesis that all commandments are
valid. To understand individual groups in the hinduistic
context or individual persons, one should not assume that.
Relativity in Hinduism therefore means not so much
distinction, separation into sects and confessions, but has to
be seen as gradation, or as aspects of the always central
wholeness of the divinity. The opportunism of Hindu 'religion'
and philosophy is formulated in a positive and integral way;
 14

similar to Paul Feyerabend's main and only principle,

justifiable under all circumstances and in all stadiums of
human development - "anything goes".11

The commandments of Hinduism, which might be seen as aspects

of Hinduism, are not arbitrarily arranged in the certain
diagram provided by Krishnamurthy. The allocation reminds one
of something like a yantra, a geometrical-magic symbol, which
is quite common in Hinduism (as well as in occultism and magic
generally). A yantra may serve as root-symbol for meditation
upon a certain topic and can thus reveal qualities of the
observed subject which can not be expressed in ordinary
writing. Thus the three first fundamental commandments
together remind of a bowl, which carries other commandments
like a roof or including them. This results on the one hand in
a circle, which proceeds from the "omnipresence of reality"
(1) to "dharma" (3); on the other hand the single God with
many names and forms (5) manifests as the hub, the centre of
the 'wheel of commandments'.

A similar structure is given by the two stone plates, the

tablets of the covenant, which Moses carried from Mount
12
Sinai . The Sefer Yezirah it is written analogously:

„Ten Sefirot of Nothingness

in the number of ten fingers
five opposite five
with a singular covenant
precisely in the middle ...“13

11
Against Method.
12
Exodus 19-21
13
Kaplan, Aryeh: : Sefer Yetzirah – The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice. Samuel Weiser Inc., York
Beach/Maine 1997; p. 32 ff - Aryeh Kaplan (and the Sefer Yetzirah, a text of Jewish Kabbalah) is a similar
outsider regarding Judaism or Christianity, like Krishnamurthy may be for Hinduism. - Nevertheless..., (→
introduction).
 15

Deuteronomy 9.9 talks about tablets of the covenant and here

the Sefirot also serve as symbols for the Ten Commandments
giving the picture of interlocked fingers. The tablets with
writings stand for the palms where the (work-)plan is engraved
as a law. Kaplan denominates the place in the middle as "focus
of spiritual tension"14 and thus marks this device of
interlocked fingers as the place where the free will of
individuals is able to manifest within the magnetic field of
contrasting poles.

Bibliography

→ Cruesemann, Frank: Bewahrung der Freiheit – Das Thema des

Dekalogs in sozialgeschichtlicher Perspektive. Chr. Kaiser /
Guetersloher Verlagshaus, Guetersloh 1993

→ Feyerabend, Paul:
Science in a Free Society. New Left Books, London
1978
Against Method. (London 1975); revised Edition:
Verso, London 1988).

→ Frauwallner, Erich: Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. 2

Bde. Otto Mueller Verlag, Salzburg 1953 (Bd 1) und 1956 (Bd
2)

→ Huntington, Samuel: The Clash of Civilisations. Simon &

Schuster, New York 1996

→ Jaspers, Karl: Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte. R.

Piper & Co. Verlag, Muenchen 1949

→ Kaplan, Aryeh: Sefer Yetzirah – The Book of Creation in

Theory and Practice. Samuel Weiser Inc., York Beach/Maine
1997

→ Kirchenrat des Kantons Zuerich (Hrsg.): Die Heilige Schrift

des Alten und des Neuen Testaments. Verlag der Zuercher
Bibel, Zuerich 1971

14
Sefer Yetzirah p. 35
 16

→ Krishnamurthy, V.: The Ten Commandments of Hinduism. Wiley

Eastern Limited, New Delhi 1994

→ Radhakrishnan, S.: Die Bhagavadgita. Holle Verlag, Baden-

Baden 1958

9
Self-Revelation

4 8 10
Karma Surrender Right
Yoga Atti-
5 tudes
One God
with
many Names
2 and 3
Purif- 6 forms 7 Dhar-
cation Avatara Nama ma
of Smarana
Mind
1
Omnipresence of Reality
(Impersonal or Personal)
 17

9
4 8

2 6 7 3

1 1
Secular-Philosopher Orthodoxe Theologist

4 10
? ?

2
Rationalist

Scientist - Vedantin Doubting Devotee

9

4 10 4 8? 10

5 5

2 3 2 6 7