When PY meets PY: Political Yogi meets Paramahansa Yogananda

On 27^th September 2014 when Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he espoused the idea of celebrating International Yoga Day, besides focusing on many other critical issues relevant for all in today’s interconnected world. Now, mention of Yoga at a global geopolitical event could have sounded a bit out of sync to some cynics but for Indians who pride themselves on their Indian-ness, it was music to their ears. What better message could the prime minister of India give to the world than talking about Yoga, India’s biggest gift to the humanity!

And the setting was perfect! The concept was of Yoga. The countries involved were India and America – world’s largest and oldest democracy respectively. As the history chronicles, there has always been a divine connection between these two powerful and functional democracies of the world, set and strengthened around Yoga. The person propagating the message of Yoga was himself a yogi – a political one albeit. 

  

Whenever mention of Yoga is made anywhere in the world, one remembers two most revered spiritual Gurus from India - Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. PM Modi mentions his namesake’s – Narendra Nath Datta alias Vivekananda – contribution in spread of Yoga worldwide but so far he hasn’t talked about the Yogi from whom the world learnt to practice Yoga and meditation i.e. Yoganandaji. Not his fault entirely because still many Indians aren’t fully aware of this most famous Indian abroad, besides Mahatma Gandhi, and his monumental works in the field of Spirituality and Yoga. For the world population, Paramahansa Yogananda is synonymous with Yoga.

I am sure that when our respected prime minister initiates his International Yoga Day celebrations, he will revolve his concept around the teachings of Yoganandaji as well and involve the disciples from his spiritual headquarters in America – SRF-YSS in Los Angeles, California – and spearhead the mission worldwide.    

It’s been 120 years since Swami Vivekananda swept America off its feet! The date was 9/11 – 11^th September, 1893. The city was Chicago. The venue was the Arts Institute of Chicago. The event was the opening day of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. And sitting on the dais was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy handsomeness defied his deep spiritual stature. India, a predominantly Hindu nation, was still under the British rule.

The world had a strong sense of India as a wealthy nation and thus the desire for every explorer-voyager to discover it for its treasures and thus had inspired Christopher Columbus earlier and then Vasco da Gama to set sail for Indian shores from Spain and Portugal respectively in different points in time. As we know, Columbus instead ended up discovering the US; da Gama was fortunate to set his foot on the beaches of Calicut in southern India. India’s invasions were continued by Muslims and Mughals and then came the Britishers. Britain decided to deceive India into becoming its richest colony because of its ‘Golden Bird’ image. When we look into the history book pages, we realize that all these plunderers remained poor in spite of looting Indian wealth. The fact that they could not learn from the vast spiritual heritage of India is testimony to their almost blind-like vision and mindset. And therefore we see that when Vivekananda was chosen to represent India at Chicago World Congress, the world had very little idea about the most ancient and the complete religion of the humans i.e. Hinduism.

Swami Vivekananda got up from his chair and overcame his nervousness by inwardly bowing to Goddess Saraswati and began his talk: “Brothers and Sisters of America!” The entire arena burst into loud applause! Never before had any preacher got this kind of reception in the world convention on religions. After two minutes of rapturous and heart-warming response, Vivekananda resumed speaking. And as they say, the world got its first and full glimpse into the Hinduism. The audience was mesmerised by the divine knowledge of spirituality flowing from the spell-binding oratory of the Hindu Monk! After familiarizing the rapt spectators with the cornerstones of Hinduism and Vedic Philosophy, he talked about Yoga, and for the first time in their life the West became aware about this concept – the focal point of Spirituality – and about which they were to learn more from another Hindu Monk twenty seven years from then – in 1920 – who was to devote his life in the Divine Duty of teaching and spreading Yoga to the Western Populace, from his base in America. This seer was Paramahansa Yogananda.

In fact, on the 11^th September of 1893 when Swami Vivekananda was speaking at the Parliament of World’s Religions at the Arts Institute of Chicago, back home in India in Gorakhpur, an 8 month old infant by name of Mukunda Lal Ghosh had already been predicted by his parents’ Guru Lahiri Mahasaya as the Divinely destined Yogi to undertake the Divine Mission of teaching and spreading Kriya Yoga beyond the shores of the country. This Divine Design had been told to Lahiri Mahasaya by his Guru, the deathless Babaji, who had been living in the Himalayas for almost 2000 years and had chosen the advanced soul of Mukunda based on the request of Jesus Christ. Unbelievable? Yes, it could be so for the ignorants but not for the spiritually conscious souls.

Therefore, as predicted by Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya in 1893, twenty seven years later on 3^rd August in 1920, another Hindu Monk left the shores of India from the city of Calcutta via Bombay on the ship City of Sparta as an Indian delegate at the International Congress of Religious Liberals being held in the city of Boston.

The scene of 1893 was repeating itself. The date was 10/6 – 6^th October, 1920. The city was Boston. The venue was the Unity House in Boston. The event was the opening day of the International Congress of Religious Liberals. And sitting on the dais was a young turbaned Hindu Monk whose holy handsomeness defied his deep spiritual stature. India, a predominantly Hindu nation, was still under the British rule.

Swami Yogananda got up from his chair and got over his nervousness by inwardly sending prayers to his Guru and Mother Divine to help him sail through his maiden speech in America in English. The reception to his talk on ‘The Science of Religion’ can be gauged by the comments of the secretary of the American Unitarian Association: ‘Swami Yogananda, delegate from the Brahmacharya Ashram of Ranchi, …In fluent English and with a forceful delivery he gave an address of a philosophical character … which has been printed in pamphlet form for a wider distribution. …’ Soon after, his talk was published in a book under the same title.

And as was destined and divinely designed for him, Paramahansa Yogananda remained in America for the rest of his years and dedicated his life in dissemination of timeless teachings of ancient Hindu Philosophy and God Realization through the practice of scientific method of Kriya Yoga.

His Boston lecture was so enthusiastically received that soon he became the most sought after speaker in the country! He gave public lectures, conducted Kriya Yoga classes and wrote a book of poems ‘Songs of the Soul’. As was said by Sri Yukteswar, Yoganandaji’s Guru, his words on yoga were being heard in the West by thousands of thronging seekers! Babaji’s prophecy was coming true: ‘Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God Realization, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the nations through man’s personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.’

Under the divine guidance, Paramahansa Yogananda made America his base and established SRF-YSS – Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsang Society – headquartered in Los Angeles, California. There residing in one of his SRF-YSS centers at Encinitas in 1946 he penned down his Autobiography of a Yogi, the book which is credited as ‘the book which changed the lives of millions’ and became the best-selling book on spirituality and autobiography globally and has remained so since then. Paramahansa Yogananda’s spiritual brilliance earned him many celebrity followers, a few noted ones being the Beatles, Mark Twain’s daughter Clara Clemens, nobel botanist Luther Burbank, soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, tenor Vladimir Rosing, and the sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar. Mahatma Gandhi took initiation in the liberating techniques of Kriya Yoga from Yoganandaji when he visited him at his Wardha Ashram in August of 1935. Yoganandaji took Mahasamadhi on 7^th March, 1952. His spiritual legacy has since been shining all over the world and has transformed the lives of millions of humans and continues to do so.

The modern age celebrity follower of Paramahansa Yogananda was the legendary Steve Jobs whose entire spiritual mooring was centered on the Autobiography of a Yogi, the only download he had on his iPad and the book which had inspired him in his early quest for spirituality and the book which continued to guide him even later – in his super successful days as the CEO of the iconic Apple; he used to read the Autobiography once every year.

Therefore, if India of today has to stake its claim to its rich heritage of Spirituality and Yoga for the world population, it has to do so through Paramahansa Yogananda’s teachings because then only the world will be able to connect with this noble initiative wholeheartedly.

  

Mr. Prime Minister, may God and Gurus bless you and guide you in your International Yoga Day mission … 

Resurrecting Spiritual India, the NaMo way !

At the outset I join billion plus Indians and congratulate Mr. Narendra Modi for a spectacular victory! The credit is his entirely! After all ‘abki baar Modi Sarkar’! I am proud of the ‘thinking’ Indian voters who voted decisively and prevented the parliament from once again falling into the chaos of coalition politics and its inevitable adverse effects! Great job, India!

Soon the celebrations will cool down and so will the heat of having ‘arrived’ for Mr. Modi. He is at 7 Race Course Road, trying to settle down as the 15^th prime minister of India. Sitting alone, provided he gets to spend some time with himself in the midst of the conundrum of hectic national politics and governance, I am sure he is going to look back at his life and feel proud of his life’s journey from being absolutely ordinary to becoming extraordinary. His transformation from an individual with a humble family background to becoming an idealist RSS pracharak to being regarded as a crucial cog in the BJP’s national politics to garnering his mentors’ – LK Advani and AB Vajpayee – confidence and completing successive successful terms as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and along the way getting national and global recognition for his Modinomics and Gujarat Model of Development despite the stubborn stains of post Godhra riots of 2002 and finally arriving in a grand style in Delhi to fulfil his national top-job responsibilities – is almost complete. Now the country and the world are waiting with their fingers crossed to see if this new butterfly will retain its beautiful colours and wings and for how long …

The world knows about the factors which led to the unstoppable rise of Narendra Modi in the Indian national landscape otherwise littered with political mediocrity all around, with a few bright spots nevertheless; and how he emerged as the most credible alternative for the prime ministerial post in a period when India was suffering a perpetually silent and subservient prime minister to an arrogant grand old party stalwarts, rampant corruption and unprecedented scales of scams being unearthed almost on a daily-basis and reeling with policy paralysis being served unapologetically under the garb of coalition compulsions. Therefore, in the 2014 General Elections the common agenda the voters of India followed was to get rid of the Indian National Congress and its equally inefficient allies. And whole-heartedly gave a thumping majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Namo: ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ and ‘Achhe din Ayenge’ slogans caught the national imagination. So we have the Modi Sarkar; now the wait is on for the assured achhe din …

We Indians expect Mr. Modi to steer India to a magnificent future which he has promised to do so. How successful he will be the time will tell. So far, he has shown a grand start with an unprecedented show at his swearing-in ceremony with all SAARC nations heads’ presence, pulling a diplomatic coup smoothly. From Day1 he has made his presence felt strongly all across the world. He has articulated his intentions clear and loud both within the country and abroad, especially in the neighbourhood. He is being received with open arms by the global leaders. All of a sudden India has become a favourite destination for the powerful presidents and prime ministers. So, everything seems to be in place and progressing as per the plans and expectations. And knowing about Mr. Modi’s personality and characteristics as a political leader, I am sure that he will succeed and soon. His determination and aspirations will continue to drive him – and India – on the right path.

However, today I want to touch upon another less talked about aspect of his being elected which caught my attention in his Varanasi Victory acceptance speech. It was his pledge to take India back to its glorious era of spiritual splendour, besides economic dominance. And as a first step he prodded the people of the spiritual capital of India – now his constituency – to keep the country’s oldest city clean. He assured the Benarasi-babus and all fellow Indians that he will undertake Ganga-cleansing as one of his first few priorities as the prime minister of India. On that evening his short speech threw a never before seen spiritual side of his personality which if he is able to take forward he will re-catapult our country into the sphere of spiritual dominance alongside a strong economic place on the global high table.

I really don’t know how the majority of the Indians would have reacted to his promises of spiritual endeavours but I for sure was elated because as a proud Indian I want to see my great country once again shine in the world as the once-upon-a-time ancient Bharat i.e. Sone-ki-Chidiya with a spiritual core!

India’s unmatched spiritual legacy and treasures are known to the world but I feel those have got lost with majority of Indians, the blessed heirs of the heritage. As the land which gave humans their first life’s philosophy i.e. Vedic Philosophy which went on to evolve as a religion as Hinduism, and based on its spiritual teachings all the other religions of the world came into existence, it was not so long ago that India had retained its place under the Sun before its spiritual core started to get eroded with faulty religious interpretations and social ill-practices.

Coupled with it came the cloak of secularism in a Hindu-dominated divided India, a large chunk of which was annexed by the departing Britishers leaving behind a bloody trail of mangled and lost lives among both Hindus & Muslims. To compound the situation further, as the politics became competitive over a few decades after Independence, political parties of all hues started to exploit secularism and democracy for their narrow gains and an unfortunate pattern of minority appeasement started which was nothing but fooling them into believing about their betterment. The result was further alienation of the people belonging to the smaller religious communities, Muslims relatively being in a worse state of existence due to their cocooned mentality and unwillingness to mingle with the rest of the country-folks. Their orthodox and closed religious approach and lack of proper education made them survive on the fringes of the society. The Hindu-Muslim mental divide was not easy to patch as the latter were strongly regarded as the ones being responsible for severe anti-Hindu activities by the Muslim invaders.     

Secularism also perpetrated a strange public behaviour among the so-called literate strata of the society which primarily comprised of England-educated politicians, bureaucracy, academics and the media; they tried to keep themselves away – in public - from anything having Indian-ness lest they got branded as ‘anti-secular’ because almost all things ‘Indian’ had strong essence of Hinduism. And why not because India has been a Hindu nation since its origin; the other religions as and when they came into existence also came to India and flourished due to the tolerant religious environment of the country, a scenario not seen anywhere else in the world then, and even now. Strangely, the same set of highly placed, educated class was deeply Indian in their private lives. The Great Indian Hypocrisy? 

Therefore, the biggest casualty of this post-Independence acquired characteristic of India was its age-old treasure of Spirituality. As Spirituality was the foundation of Hinduism and in a newly legally secular India, it became a sin to be seen or display one’s religion, primarily among its influential people – the elites and the powerful. Bizarre as it may sound but the truth is bitter. The ancient Holy Scriptures of India viz. Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads which were the foundational stones of the Hinduism were forgotten completely and with them we lost the immeasurable treasure of ancient wisdom and knowledge. The seemingly more popular and easier to read ones viz. Ramayana, Mahabharata and the greatest of them all The Gita were relegated into prayer rooms of homes, worshipped in private but seldom read or discussed in public. The Gita found another purpose in an Independent India; not yet convicted criminals were made to take oath of truth by putting their hand on the holy book of Gita: ‘Main Gita pe hath rakh ke kasam khata hoon ki main sach kahunga aur sach ke siva kuch nahin kahunga!’ … Ved-Vyasa would have never ever imagined even in his wildest dreams that his divine composition of the never-revealed-before universal wisdom by Lord Krishna to his blessed disciple Arjuna would be treated in this fashion in his own country!

In all countries of the world it is normal to teach and learn about their official state religion in their schools but not in India! However, in the same India, exceptions are the minority religion-based missionaries-run schools which unapologetically teach their about their religion to students. But just talk about including Indian Spirituality in the school curriculum and the entire country will come down tumbling with the fear of having seen to be so-called hurting the so-called sentiments of the so-called minorities! Why should any person feel hurt by having to learn about Indian spirituality when every Indian belonging to whichever religion is originally an Indian? Why should there be different standards of judgement in India for various groups of Indians, just because they practice different religions?

Mr. Modi has made the start to his spiritual mission by creating a new ministry dedicated to the mammoth and urgent task of cleaning the Ganga. But this is just one of the many initiatives he needs to undertake to resurrect the spiritual India.

Whenever anybody talks about India in a positive tone, he mentions about our country’s gift of spirituality; and the foreigners talk also about Yoga which is a spiritual method of attaining The Spirit. And besides the desire to see the beautiful Taj Mahal, majority of the tourists visiting India are here to experience its spirituality and learn yoga. Their favourite place is of course Varanasi, now the Prime Minister’s constituency.

Therefore, Varanasi was the natural choice of place for Mr. Modi to start his spiritual resurrection of India. Varanasi, or Benares as is its local name, is the oldest city of India, and the most evolved one. Mark Twain had once remarked reverentially that Benares is more ancient than anything ancient and yet more modern than any place on the earth! The city has been the center of spiritual evolution of India and has shaped the contours of Hinduism and Bharat - India. All the stalwart saints and philosophers of India, whether from south or east or west or north, have gained spiritual knowledge at Benares. Many of them made Benares their permanent abode as Gurus and many others spread across the country and taught and took the Vedic Philosophy to the core of every countryman. Still many seers chose the path of complete renunciation and headed towards the Himalayas to spend their life in search for the God through the path of meditation.

Benares is the holy city which saw emergence of the spiritual greats of our country: Babaji – Guru Nagaraj, Shankaracharya, Patanjali, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar Giri, Paramahansa Nikhileshwar Giri, … There are hundreds of exalted spiritual gurus whose names I do not know or remember now, for which I offer my sincere apologies.

So, as we know, Benares is the spiritual headquarters of India. Every part and path and corner and monument and Ganga ghat and temple and ashram reflects spirituality. But Benares is not religious; it is hard core spiritual. And this is the prime reason that we see the city retain its spiritual structure in spite of repeated attempts by Muslim invaders to destroy it. In fact, the influence of Benares was so strong that the Islam also got integrated into the city’s spiritual way of life. The foundation of a Secular India was laid at Benares by its spiritual gurus and the legacy carried forwarded by their followers.

So, simultaneously to cleaning the Ganga and restoring the city of Varanasi to its ancient glory, Mr. Modi has to take Benares – Varanasi – to the world, and to the rest of India. I suggest he creates a special ministry for this noble mission – Ministry of Spirituality under his direct supervision. He should set up spiritual centers all across the globe. He should also integrate the already established spiritual centers in India and abroad. He could make the start by taking the help of the immensely popular Yogoda Satsang Society founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, with its headquarters in Ranchi in India and in California, US. The association of Mr. Modi’s spiritual mission with Yoganandaji’s YSS-SRF would give it the best start and acceptance globally.

Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the two Indians revered and followed by the world population; the second figure, of course, is Mahatma Gandhi. Yoganandaji took the ancient form of scientific meditation, Kriya Yoga, taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna but got lost over centuries, to the West under the spiritual guidance and blessings of the greatest of all Indian Gurus – Babaji and his line of disciples Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar Giri. Babaji was born a couple of centuries in BC and has retained his human form and lives in the Himalayas.

Mr. Modi has to boost spiritual tourism back home.

• He has to ensure that all spiritually aligned cities are neat and clean with good infrastructure and connectivity, coupled with the assurance of security and safety of visitors.
• Dedicated websites with complete information about the Vedic Philosophy in various global languages have to be created.
• The Holy Scriptures – Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata - and thus the vast wealth of spiritual knowledge need to be translated and made accessible to the global seekers, both as static information and through regular distant learning courses.
• The social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs - have to be utilized to their full potential.
• Spiritual international bestsellers like Autobiography of a Yogi and The Gita should be used as a tool to initiate the beginners. Movies, television programs, newspaper columns, advertisements, plays, music and books should be used as mediums to spread Indian spirituality.
• Yoga and meditation being integral parts of spirituality, these should be taught at all spiritual centers.
• Credible ‘living’ gurus should be made spiritual ambassadors and spiritual speakers for lecture tours and road shows abroad.
• Spiritual literary festivals should be organized globally.
• In fact, every Indian embassy and high commission should have a spiritual consulate in-charge of the spiritual mission.
• International Spiritual Congregations and Conferences should be held and participated in, with celebrations of special spiritual occasions.
• Spiritual theme parks, spiritual museums with wax statues of ancient founding spiritual gurus, spiritual theme cafes should be set up all across the world.
• Spiritual souvenirs – mugs, fridge magnets, albums, post cards, t-shirts, bags, pens, paintings, photographs, figurines, handbooks, calendars, diaries, DVDs, CDs, wrist bands, pendants, shawls, wall hangings, ties, notebooks, writing pads, mobile phone covers, umbrellas, stickers, tattoos, etc. – should be merchandised in these centers and also online.
• Simultaneously, all these spiritual efforts should be replicated back home. Because, if anyone needs a strong dose of spirituality to infuse ‘life’ in living, it is an average Indian, who is today bereft of the benefits of his ancient heritage!

Well, if the prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi ever gets to read my spiritual suggestions, I am sure he would find something good and implementable from the list of probable initiatives and adopt them to resurrect the spiritual India … I wish you, Mr. Modi, all the Divine Blessings in your – our, every Indian’s – spiritual mission … Aum … :)    

India: Boosting Secularism through Spirituality

• The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Secularism as ‘the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.
• The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Religion as ‘the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.’
•  The Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Spirituality as ‘the quality of being concerned with religion or the human spirit.’

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When India got its Independence from the British Rule our founding fathers decided to go secular and secularism became one of the cornerstones of our country’s characteristics. Secularism and the ‘Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship’ were not the newly added affirmations in the Indian Constitution’s Preamble, but they were purely reemphasizing India’s secular credentials.

Imagine: India of 1947-48, just free from the 6 centuries of colonial rules of Muslims, Mughals and Britishers in succession, with over 80 percentage of its population practicing Hinduism, had recently suffered a bloody religion-inspired partition into Pakistan (and Bangladesh), was still reeling under the shocks of brutal assassination of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, and simultaneously had all world religions thriving with freedom and dignity.

In the post Independence India the prevailing political and social scenario must have posed two choices in front of the founding members: whether to retain India’s ancient identity as a Hindu nation or to declare it as a secular country. The newly born India proudly chose to be the latter – a Secular Democratic Republic. 

Now, take a look at India of 2014: a securely sovereign nation with its national characteristics intact in terms of secularism and democracy. The demographics have largely remained the same in religious practices with over 80% of its population following Hinduism, and all world religions flourishing with freedom and dignity – giving India its distinction of being the only country in the world to have this respectful environment - strengthened by laws - towards all religions. India is home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, larger than even Pakistan. Well, a few blemishes are there but not serious enough to sully its image.

Success of secularism has been possible because of the inherent qualities of tolerance and respect in Hindu Philosophy towards all religions. Hinduism’s - the oldest and the most evolved religion of the world with an extremely rich and unmatched treasure of sacred scriptures - fundamentals are centred on that one God around which is centred the entire existence and life in the universe; all religions are the various paths propagated by respective messengers - Sons of God - to reach the same one God. Hinduism in its primary form is a philosophy and not a religion; an individual’s personal experience of the Spirit and in essence is Spirituality - the communion of the soul with the Supreme Soul, the Spirit, the God. And, that every soul has emanated from that same Soul and thus each soul is same as all other souls.  The purpose of human lives of a soul is to work out its Karma and attain its natural state of existence i.e., bliss, before merging with its Source. Religion in actuality is a moral ‘way-of-life’ so as to guide a soul on its path to Moksha – Nirvana – liberation from the cycles of births & deaths.     

Though modern Hinduism has acquired a strong religious hue over centuries of practice, it has retained its spiritual core, nevertheless. As the Hinduism have its Chief Gods – The Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh/Shiv for creating, sustaining and destroying/completing the life cycle respectively, and the combined powers of the Trinity in form of Shakti (Power) as Goddess Durga, and their incarnations, a large pantheon of Gods - 330 million! - with varied faces and names could be a reality in the Indian society due to freedom of choice granted under the Hindu Philosophy of worshiping the God either as a formless Being or as a Being with a form. Since its beginning the heart of the Hinduism has kept throbbing around its foundational elements of Vedic Philosophy and has never let the religion become the centre stage of governance per se. Therefore, the success of India as a secular democratic republic could become a possibility.

So we applaud ourselves for keeping the flag of secularism high and flying! But let us also look at the other side of this success.

Indians, like people in rest of the world, are deeply religious. But because the country has vowed to observe secularism, India has forsaken all valuable teachings and learnings which our rich cultural heritage had to offer. Because the definition of secularism is ‘the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.’, we have literally followed it to the t, without reflecting about the implications it could have on our society’s evolution on the humanity index. Almost all countries in the world officially recognize the God’s existence and pray to It for blessings - God Bless America!, the most commonly heard political statement – but we in India refrain from even uttering the word God in public, lest we get branded as a non-secular! And in businesses, just speaking of and about God gets a person termed as an unprofessional!

And, India is a country with 330 million Gods! What an irony!

It is ironical because in our daily life we depend so much on ‘our’ Gods! Everything, every occasion, practically every element of existence is dedicated to the Gods, but anything related to public has to be God-free in India!

The God-free philosophy would have continued to be welcome in a secular nation like ours had it worked well, but a look at the Indian society does not project a pleasant picture. India of today is in a downward spiral with fast erosion of moral and ethical values, mad spread of materialism, proliferation of religious bigotry and intolerance towards other religions coupled with fanaticism and fundamentalism, besides other prevalent serious social, economical and political problems. Quality of life of an average Indian, belonging to all the so-called classes and creed and castes, is severely clouded due to these deepening disturbances in internal culture of the country.

All things can be corrected but only through proper - real - education.

In modern India, definition of education is to acquire bookish knowledge so as to qualify to get an appropriate job. Overall literacy rate is improving and currently it stands at around 75%. There are good schools and institutions for higher education, both in non-technical and technical streams. Some of the indigenously educated professionals are doing well in various fields all across the globe. Back home, millions of people with access to good education have become the ever-thriving workforce in the country, earning and adding to the growing economy of the nation. However, in spite of all these happenings India doesn’t qualify to be a Happy Nation! All global surveys pointers indicate towards the fact that the value of a human life as well as quality of life in India are among the bottom of the comparator table.

To reiterate, the problems persist and pervade every sphere of the society because of lack of real education. India, the land of rich cultural, religious and spiritual heritage, is today left wanting in all aspects of learning and life.

First and foremost thing to be undertaken is to correct our education system. Besides making education accessible to all Indian citizens, structure and pattern of teaching has to be completely overhauled. We should not be producing only workers – both blue & white collar – but nurturing good human beings, people who are happily living their lives.

However, in order to live life one has to first understand the meaning of life! And where else to look for the guidelines but in our precious historical legacy! India’s Spirituality is not only for the practice of saints but equally relevant for commoners as well, irrespective of the religion they may follow. Teachings of Spirituality have to be a part of regular school curriculum in all schools, irrespective of the funding partners’/management members’/students’ practiced faith. Because, Indian Spirituality is not a religion but a way of life – the Art of Living!

Spirituality subjects and chapters have to be designed in such a fashion so as to keep all religious references out of it, to whichever religion those ‘good things’ may belong to. The concept, of course, is inspired from the ‘Moral Science’ subject being taught compulsorily in Christian missionary schools since decades. We simply need to make it comprehensive and ‘religion-free’. Clubbed with it Yoga and Meditation should be made mandatory in schools in order to develop students with a healthy mind and a healthy body.

I know very well that if any such ‘Spiritual’ attempt is initiated in a secular India, all the self-appointed custodians of various faiths will spring into action in vehemently opposing this noble and much needed move, citing numerous self-created so-called religious reasons to prove their protests. Of course, no hasty measures should be undertaken. As is the so-called norm in our democratic country, extensive public debates should be carried on involving influential personalities from all possible walks of life so as to arrive at the consensus, converging core: Spirituality will further boost Secularism in India.

This revolutionary change can be possible with a wise and a courageous political leader at the helm. That is, prime minister of India has to take such initiatives along with his able teams and colleagues and administration in order to correct the Indian education system and make it comprehensive and meaningful – so as to complement the quality of life of all Indians per se. With real education we will witness dramatic positive changes in our society with vanishing double standards and misconceptions and chaos and confusions and inequality and crimes and corruption and insecurities and fears and frustrations and daily-living stress; in effect, ensuring a life worth living for all! The desired changes may take shape fully in a couple of generations to come; never mind, happen they will! We simply need to make the start ...

India, the land of earliest human civilization and the erstwhile wealthiest nation in terms of knowledge & wisdom and material prosperity, cannot be left to wilt; it is high time adequate steps through proper – real – education were undertaken so as to facilitate that India blossoms again!     

Then only the Preamble of the Indian Constitution will become a reality: 

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a                SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; ...

God Bless India and the world :)