The Atma Jyoti Blog

The real meaning of a much misunderstood term

Because the monsters who marched under the Nazi banner (which bore a sacred symbol which was thereby dishonored and made to bear an odious connotation in the West) plagiarized the Sanskrit word arya, it has become usual for us outside India to use the expressions “Vedic religion” or “Sanatana [Eternal] Dharma” in reference to the spiritual tradition of primeval India. These are accurate and bona fide expressions, of course, but “Arya Dharma” is the oldest expression and has a unique value. So important was arya in the vocabulary of the ancient Indian sages that India itself was known as Aryavarta, the Land of the Aryas, for the people living there were commonly known as Aryas. Buddha used the term a great deal. Although his teachings are referred to as “The Noble Eightfold Path” or “The Four Noble Truths,” what he really said was “The Aryan Eightfold Path” and “The Four Aryan Truths.” This is not without real significance.

At the beginning of this second chapter of the Gita, Krishna chides Arjuna, saying: “Whence has this un-Aryan faint-heartedness of yours arisen?” So we cannot avoid looking at the word, no matter how distasteful its use in twentieth-century racial bigotry and genocide has made it for contemporary sensitivities. Hitler liked to toss around “holy” and “God” in his rants–as well as “justice” and “freedom”–but that in no way invalidates them. Evil as he was, he did not have the power to corrupt or degrade such an ancient term of honor–only to condition our response to it. And we should not let his madness prevail in our reactions.

Arya comes from the root word ri, which means “to rise upward.” A legitimate translation is: “one who strives upward.” This gives us the whole idea about wherever it is used.

An arya is one who puts forth real effort to rise in any area of life. Someone who goes to night school or a researcher who labors to improve a device is an arya. Naturally arya was most fittingly applied by the philosophers of India to spiritual and personal life. The word “noble” is too inactive, besides it can be interpreted passively, such as in thinking that a person is born noble or made noble by the declaration of another. An arya is one who labors to rise, exemplifying the humorous but wise saying that a diamond is a piece of coal that never gave up. Truly a saint is a sinner that never gave up. In other words, an arya.

In very ancient Indian texts humanity is divided into two classes: the aryas and the vritras, or dasyus. Vritra means “one who covers up” in the sense of burrowing into the darkness of the earth, of material consciousness and involvement. Dasyus are slaves–slaves of materiality living in willing servitude to lower life and consciousness.

Arya Dharma is the course of action an arya follows to become a perfected being. Specifically, it is the mode of life and thought outlined in the upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. An arya is one who responds to the inner and upward call without hesitation. For there is nothing nobler than the struggle for higher degrees of life and awareness.

Next: The Great Secret of Spiritual Warfare