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        'It is my belief that the philosophy and knowledge of the Upanishads would become the cherished faith of the people in the West.'

        The UPA government through its Sonia-controlled HRD Minister Arjun Singh is attempting to destroy Hindu Dharma, Hindu Religion, Hindu Culture and Hindu Civilisation through its two-pronged policies of Hindu Religion Destruction (HRD I) and Hindu Resources Destruction (HRD II). Minority votes at any cost. Muslim votes in spite of all terror. Christian votes in spite of all forced conversions in different parts of India and more particularly the remote tribal areas in the land. Watching this lurid drama is our ever-serene, ever-silent, ever-neutral and ever-impotent de jure Prime Minister committed only to the supremely private cause of saving his coveted job from the deathly jaws of other known sharks in the degenerate Congress party, ever in combat readiness to replace him through the Catholic benediction and secular machinations of Sonia Gandhi.

        Amidst this enlarging and encircling gloom, and confirming my forebodings, I came across the text of a speech given by Lord Macaulay in the House of Commons on February 2, 1835: 'I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.' The track record of Lord Macaulay is being put to shame, by the trio of Sonia Gandhi-Dr Manmohan Singh-Arjun Singh today!

        The UPA government today is trying to complete the work of destruction of Hindu India announced by Lord Macaulay in the British Parliament in 1835. Even while Lord Macaulay was blowing hot and cold against Hindu India in the 1830s, a very great German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) in his native country happened to read the Latin translation of the Upanishads done by a French Indologist Anquetil du Perron (1731-1805). Perron's translation was based on the Persian translation of 50 Upanishads done by DARA SHIKOH (1615-1659), son of Mughal Emperor Shahjahan. DARA SHIKOH was of the view that there are as many roads to God as there are seekers of him. He found in the Upanishads, the essence of the doctrine of the unity of God and believed that the reference in the QURAN to the 'Hidden Book' Unmul Kitab was to the Upanishads, because 'they contain the essence of unity and they are secrets which have to be kept hidden.' Dara Shikoh also wrote a book on the mingling of the two oceans Majinaul-Baharain, the two oceans being Hinduism and Islam.

        Arthur Schopenhauer was completely overwhelmed by the majesty of thought and beauty and loftiness of expression in the Upanishads. He was so impressed by their philosophy that he declared with passion, 'The Upanishads are the production of the highest human wisdom and I consider them almost superhuman in conception. The study of the Upanishads has been a source of great inspiration and means of comfort to my soul. From every sentence of the Upanishads deep, original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. The Upanishads have been the solace of my life and will be the solace of my death.' Schopenhauer always kept a copy of the book Oupnekhat (Upanishad) open on his table and he invariably studied it before retiring to rest every day. He hailed and welcomed the glorious era of the opening up of Sanskrit literature in Germany beginning from 1800 'as the greatest gift of our century.' The first Chair in Sanskrit in Europe was created in the University of Bonn in 1818 when August Wilhelm von Schlegal (1767- 1845) was appointed as first professor. His younger brother Friedrich von Schlegal (1772-1829) wrote a work called Upon the Languages and Wisdom of the Hindus. Another great German Sanskritist was Hern Wilhelm Von Humbolt (1767-1835) who translated the Bhagavad Gita into German. Schopenhauer was so greatly influenced by the writings of these great German Indologists and Sanskritists that he came out with a prophetic declaration: 'The philosophy and knowledge of the Upanishads would become the cherished faith of the people in the West.'

        What could have influenced a great German philosopher like Schopenhauer to wholeheartedly accept and adopt the letter and spirit of the Upanishads in the 19th century? The world today is full of racial, cultural and religious misunderstandings. We are groping in a tenuous, timid and tentative way for some device which would save us from our global suicidal conflicts. Perhaps the Hindu way of approach to the problem of religious conflicts may not be without its lessons for us. The Hindu attitude to religion is free, tolerant, accommodating and interesting. The rigidly fixed beliefs of one monotheistic religion go against the equally rigid beliefs of another monotheistic faith. This has been the sad story of conflict between Christianity and Islam during the last thousand years. Hinduism sets itself no such limits. In Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma, intellect is subordinated to intuition, dogma to experience, outer expression to inward realisation. Religion is not the acceptance of academic abstractions or the celebration of ceremonies, but a kind of life or experience. It is an insight into the nature of reality (Darshana) or experience of reality (Anubhava). This experience is not an emotional thrill of subjective fancy, but is the response of the whole personality, the integrated self to the central reality. Religion is the specific attitude of the self, itself and no other, though it is mixed up generally with the intellectual views, aesthetic forms and moral valuation. Religious experience is of a self-certifying character. It is Svatassiddha. It carries its own credentials. Religion rests on faith in this sense of the term. The known and monotheistic mechanical faiths, which depend upon authority and wish to enjoy the consolations of religion without the labour of being religious, is quiet different from the Hindu religious faith which has its roots in experience.

        In the depths of his nature, every man craves for an awakening to the fuller consciousness of Reality in which he lives and moves. As Dr Radhakrishnan brilliantly puts it: 'Above the sorrows, perplexities and frustrations, besetting man in the world shines the spiritual power, which, as in all things created, dwells in the soul of man. This presence lights his way to the true life. The object of all faiths is to awaken the individual to the awareness of the Kingdom of Light within him. To see the Light, to be born again in the spirit, is the high calling to which we are all called. When religion is understood as inward change, self-purification, its triumphs will be distinctive. It will shine with a new radiance and become charged with a new power. If we mean by religion personal encounter with the Supreme, we will be humbled about describing the nature of the Real.' 'The sages and the seers of the Upanishads extended hospitality to all faiths and proclaimed that 'He alone sees who sees all beings in himself.' The different faiths are like the different fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme extended to all, offering completeness of being to all.'

        The dominating characteristic of the Upanishads is the dependence on truth. In every Upanishad we get this message: 'Truth wins over, not falsehood. With truth is paved the road to the Divine.' What gives to the Upanishads their unique quality and unfailing human appeal is an earnest sincerity of tone, as of friends conferring upon matters of deep concern.

        One of the most dramatic of the Upanishads, the Katha Upanishad, tells the story of Nachiketa, a daring teenager who goes to Yama, the King of Death, to learn the secret of immortality. In 'Perennial Joy' (part I, Canto 2) Yama begins his teaching with the secret of what endures and what is merely fleeting. In 'The Tree of Eternity', the conclusion of this Upanishad, Yama completes the teaching and Nachiketa fulfills his quest, attaining immortality. I have spent some of my happiest hours in reading this Upanishad. This great Upanishad to me is like the light of the morning, like the pure air of the mountains — so simple, so true, if once understood. In the 'Aitereya Brahmana' there is a hymn about the long endless journey towards self-realisation which each one of us must undertake, and every verse ends with the refrain: 'Charaiveti, Charaiveti'. Hence, oh traveller, march along, march along!'