Arthur Osborne (1906-1970) was a British disciple of Ramana Maharishi, a towering example of an ascetic living a family life. A graduate of Oxford and a lover of learning, he had prepared for what would have been a brilliant career in teaching.
Yet he was compelled to follow his inner longing to experience the Supreme Reality. This ultimately brought him halfway around the world to the sacred hill of Arunachala, abode of sage Ramana Maharishi, in Tiruvannamalai, South India.
He wrote a number of articles and books in English that have spread the teaching of the Maharishi throughout the world. In 1964, 14 years after the Maharishi's death, he founded the now well-known journal 'The Mountain Path'.
To this day, Osborne's writings continue to give a positive direction to the spiritual aspirations of seekers of all religions and backgrounds. Arthur Osborne once gave a series of lectures to university professors in Madras on the fallacies of the concept of progress. In one of these lectures he provided a new insight into the intriguing question of why Buddhism could not survive in India.
He said, in part, in this lecture, "Some two or three thousand years ago the peoples north, south and east of India were in need of a new injection of spiritual vitality, that is to say a new source of spiritual life with its new outer crust of civilization.
"And it seems to me Buddhism came to fill this need. It is true that Hindu colonies had already begun to be formed in Java, Cambodia and other places before the rise of Buddhism, but Hinduism is a complete dharma covering all aspects of life, social as well as spiritual, and is therefore not easily exportable.
"Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion. It is by no means easy for any one not born a Hindu to become one, since it is not only a religion but a social structure into which a newcomer could not easily fit. "Buddhism is much more formless and therefore more adaptable to countries with different social conditions. Therefore it served this purpose of spiritual rejuvenation better. In fact I should call it the export variety of Hinduism.
"This explains why Buddhism took root in neighboring countries but not in India. It also explains much in the relations between the two religions. Many Buddhists are reluctant to admit the validity of Hinduism, the obvious difficulty in the way of their doing so being the question: if Hinduism is valid why was Buddhism necessary?
"Of course", he said, "Hinduism is valid. Even apart from its doctrine which, rightly interpreted, is true and complete, this is evidenced by its long succession of saints and sages. Primarily a religion is a path to Liberation and a path which leads to this goal cannot be wrong. "A wrong path cannot lead to the right goal. But if it is realized that Buddhism is the export variety of the dharma for peoples who have not got the Sanatan Dharma, this difficulty disappears.
Those who follow it need not force themselves to deny that Sanatan Dharma in the face of evidence. "This also explains the attitude of Hindus to the Buddha Dharma. When it threatened to submerge India, saints like the Shankara himself attacked it and drove it out. Its function was not to replace the Sanatan Dharma but to meet the needs of those whose own religions had become effete through lapse of time and who needed this spiritual rejuvenation.
"So long as it does that, Hindus can approve of it. Indeed, Buddha may well be regarded as the 9th or 'Foreign' Avtar in the Puranic list. It is true that his Dhamma was not of foreign origin, but it was for foreign consumption, which would justify the name. Osborne asserts his conviction that "the 9th Avtar, coming under the dual sign of Pisces, is the two-fold appearance of Buddha for the east and Christ for the West.
Just as the Sanatan Dharma was the great metropolitan current of law and tradition in the East, so Judaism for the West. Just as the peoples to the east of India needed a spiritual renewal, so did those to the west of Judea.
Just as Buddhism carried the spirit abroad to the east without the intricacies of law and ritual, so did Christianity to the West. Just as Buddhism proved unnecessary in the land of its origin, so did Christianity. In fact both were export varieties.
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