Tracing My Soul's Journey through the Three Worlds

The story was retold a little more than two hundred years ago and we modern day humans became familiar with the scientific concept of evolution of life on the earth through Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution; in a prequel many millennia – 10 approx. – earlier the illumined masters of India had unearthed the secrets of Creation. The difference between the two theories lied in the fact that while the former talked about creation sans creator, the latter gave sole credit for creation to the Creator.

Interestingly, in spite of tremendous advancements in the field of science, Charles Darwin and all other evolutionists have not been able to answer many fundamental questions so far, the most pertinent being: Why did the cycle of evolution stop after humans?

Intriguing as it may seem to an unaware mind, the answers lie in the Holy Scriptures accessible to all the willing and believing souls on the earth. There are billions who know the truth though most may not fully comprehend the truths.

As our God-realized saints have told us, God – the ever-present Creator – got the idea of creation and It initiated the Creation. In the initial moments everything was in form of idea – thoughts as vibrations. And came the first Cosmic Sound of Creation from the Creator as Aum (Om). Then the God decided to accord a solid characteristic to Its creations and came the universe into existence; billions of years later a few super intelligent species of humans explained it as ‘Big Bang’. God wanted to experiment further so It let souls emanate from Itself, again, initially in form of ideas only. The beauty of Its creation was that the Creator was a part of every single element created and simultaneously was beyond them as well: Omniscient!

However, when It carved out souls from Its own self It immediately realized that It had given away parts of Its own Being and thus wanted them to come back to It! That would have meant the end of the creation story but It decided to play a bit of drama so It gave three distinct characteristics to Its universe: the grossest plane was the physical / material part of the universe, earth included; the next higher plane consisted of everything made up of slightly condensed form of vibrations i.e. light; and the highest plane It kept closer to Itself – resembling the initial stage of creation i.e. in ideational state. God then structured the journey of a soul to pass through all the three planes of existence before it could come back and merge in It.

Thus started the journey of a soul; all souls. Initially the God gave primitive physical forms to the emanated souls; they had to live the life of respective creatures and get the higher form of life in subsequent births. The next form of living body depended upon the actions – Karmas – of the soul in its previous births. This is how the evolution process progressed karmically. Satisfied with the advancement of souls through multiple life forms, It decided to bestow Its own Image to Its best and the highest creation and thus was created the human. A human being is the Supreme Master’s Masterpiece!

Now, as the God created the human in Its image itself, It also blessed it with Its Intelligence! The Divine Intelligence was imparted to the human albeit God kept them latent in the human mind and the body. God did not want to interfere – as It had not done so far – in Its Cosmic Life Drama, so it gave Free Will to the human along with. The human was supposed to exercise the free will and awaken the latent powers and embark on the path towards reunion with the Source. Human was the microcosm of the Macrocosm - a miniature God!  

The human life’s journey would have been simple and unidirectional, and one birth only, had the God thought so. However, the Divine Design was altogether different! It created the Illusions – Maya! Illusions, the Cosmic Veil was thrown over the human mind by the opposing and the evil forces in the Nature, again created by the God itself, enslaving the human being – body, mind & soul - disguised as temptations and sense pleasures; the Satan/Devil trying to tempt the divine soul by giving it a limited false identity perception of being apart from the Supreme Soul and therefore establishing the human Ego - the pseudo soul - as a diversionary tactic to deflect the soul from its salvation course.        

Because the human body encases the soul divine in nature, its own characteristics at the core mirrors the God’s: Sat-Chit-Anand i.e. Absolute Being i.e. Truth, Consciousness and Bliss respectively. This is the prime reason why a person is really happy – blissful – when he manifests these divine qualities in his daily living. Nothing else can make a person truly joyful. Rest are all delusions and temporary. A person knows that he is in contact with the God dwelling within when he experiences boundless bliss all the time without any influence of external factors – of fellow humans or material things or so-called events and experiences. This blissful person’s soul is in communion with the God.

The state of Divine Communion is achieved by the advanced souls – yogis – with their consciousness expanded universally and rooted in the Spirit, with ever-new joy permeating every cell of their body. Simultaneously the person is beyond the limiting perception of Self as different from the Source; he is simply there – I am – as a witness to the Cosmic Drama being played out; he plays his role with utmost sincerity and morality but is absolutely non-attached to anything in his life; no sorrow or even happiness can disturb his inner peace and joy – equanimity of mind and body. This person is one with the God. By realizing one’s Self, he realizes the God. But the soul is not yet the God.

God realized souls through Self-realization are the Gurus and saints. At this stage of existence, the soul is prepared to enter the higher realm of creation i.e. the Astral World.

However, for a soul in human body to attain sainthood and be astral-ready may take several hundred human births. Only when a person works out all his Karmas – in multiple births - through moral and spiritual deeds guided by profound wisdom with absolutely no attachment to body, mind or matter or has no desire whatsoever when his soul gets liberated from the cycles of births and deaths on the grosser physical world i.e. earth. This free soul gains entry into the finer plane of astral world where everything exists in its sublime state, i.e. in form of higher vibrations - light.

Astral plane is also the abode of all souls after death, whether liberated or otherwise. A non-liberated soul is sent back to the earth into a human body – or any other form of creature - based on its past Karmas – to live the life of that person in a particular chosen family, place and environment - termed generally as that person’s destiny.  At the same time, the liberated souls in the astral world are assigned duties to guide other souls on path of liberation. So we see that the soul’s journey is always directed towards the God in whichever world it may inhabit!

The divine incarnations like Jesus Christ, Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, and Lord Buddha are those astral inhabitants who were sent on the earth to show the way of salvation to humans. These personalities are completely heavenly in their characters and powers.  They perform their prearranged divine duties and advance into the causal world which is the finest sphere of existence in the universe in which everything – including souls – is in ideational form; no embodiment, as abstracts, the ideas which the God had thought of in the initial moments of the creation. Here the soul is closest to its Source. Passing a pre-allotted period ironing out the last of creases, the soul finally attains the perfect state of being as a celestial essence, enters the Heaven and dissolves permanently into the Spirit. This is the Nirvana - Moksha, liberation - of the soul.

Now, whether this God-realized soul will be made to re-enter the cycle of creation as a primitive being and will be required to live the lives of millions of creatures before getting born as a human being to work out its hundreds of karmically linked births and deaths before becoming enlightened and God-realized through self-realization and enter the astral world and sent back again as a divine incarnation to guide the mortals and return back to the Omniscient through the causal existence and merge finally and fully into the God is something i have no idea absolutely! ... God save all souls from this cosmic curse!  

God Bless all souls and may every human being be guided by God-realized Gurus towards spiritual upliftment and realization of self and progress faster on its salvation journey and gets blessed with communion with the God. Aum :) 

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When i became aware of the profound - mind blowing - wisdom about a soul’s journey my initial reaction was purely transcendental! Gradually i internalized the eternal truth deep within and gained a new perspective on my life and the life per se. I could have also acted naive and remained ignorant and dismissed the entire knowledge as purely tangential for me the mere mortal, thinking them to be mainly for the exalted souls only, and would have continued to pass my ordinary earthly existence with my ‘destined’ share of happiness and sorrows in this birth, not bothering about what happens in my next births as i don’t remember anything from my previous births. Well, even if the present life’s few decades are almost insignificant in the millions of years of my soul’s journey, nevertheless, these few earthly years and my karmas are extremely consequential in determining my destiny in the future births. In addition, quality of my life in my current incarnation is strongly coupled with my consciousness about self which will put me on a faster path towards bliss and liberation: Sat-Chit-Anand.   

God Bless me and every soul :)

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 :) 

India's Divine Gifts: Spirituality & Gurus

Being an Indian I often get enquired about spirituality by foreigner friends. And it was in this context recently that i got to briefly put forth my basic understanding – acquired from Gurus’ teachings and preachings - in a discussion on the topic: India, Spirituality and Gurus.

Billions of years ago, the God - the ever-present being - got an “Idea”, wanted to experiment and thus decided to Create and created the Universe. Billions of years later, It’s latest and the best creation – Humans – realized the theory of ‘Big Bang’ and came a bit closer to the concept of Life.

Around five thousand years prior to the ‘discovery’ of the occurrence of the ‘Big-Bang’, on one of the millions of planets in the universe, a few advanced sages realized the real meaning of Life – body, mind & soul being the principle constituents. From the humans’ evolution-index chronology, the land mass was on the earth in the solar system and was called Bharat or later Hindustan - where germinated the thought of human civilization in the ancient era. India, as it is referred to in the modern times, is the place of the origin of the ‘idea of spirituality’ i.e., a soul’s communion with the Spirit, the God.

Human, though came last in the chain of earthly creations, had the most developed brain with an unprecedented power of thoughts and feelings. Inquisitiveness being its inherent nature, and not being satisfied easily with its external/outer discoveries, soon humans embarked on their inner journey to explore the realm of life beyond the mundane world of daily living – littered with sufferings - and occasional happiness. During their exploration the celestially blessed saints experienced the Creator Itself and passed on their understanding of creation to the rest of the human race. Few spiritually dedicated followers recorded the realized souls’ preachings and teachings in form of the Sacred Scriptures for the benefit of the humanity. As Bharat was the holy land of the oldest human civilization, The Vedas, The Puranas, The Upanishads, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and The Gita - the holy compilations of Divine Intelligence captured by the highly advanced human intellect - became the moral compass for living in the big, bad world.

Rest of the curve of human progression, spread of human civilizations and advent of various religions are well known facts to the world. In the same period India too witnessed those inevitable and gradual changes in its societies. From having a spiritual foundation to its life, the way-of-life went on to rest on the fulcrum of a new concept of connecting with the God called religion; Hinduism evolved from the Vedic - Spiritual – base. From an absolute-yet-abstract being, the God went on to get myriad faces and forms and names. As a natural progression, Hinduism influenced and embraced everything in its vicinity and within its reach including various non-Indian religions. However, Hinduism too became besotted with dogmas and unfounded beliefs and illogical practices; the erosion of its spiritual core was unavoidable. Spirituality – in all its glory and description – remained in hearts and souls of a blessed few whom the Indians and the world went on to revere as Gurus.           

India, the land of the origin of ‘the idea of spirituality’, is today as far removed from this concept of life as a goat would be from a guitar! For a few quasi enthusiasts, religion, in its modern form, has become the method of acquiring some iota of so-called spirituality. For the rest, religion, with its contemporary interpretations and current practices, is the sole way to connect with God – for praying for granting wishes and taking away pains; God-realization and Self-realization are terms ‘not-applicable’ to most. Simultaneously, in the name of spirituality, India has witnessed the flourishing of a new breed of beings called the modern gurus – God-men & God-women, who have severely damaged the spiritual fabric of India.

Many a times it feels to me as if the nation is carrying the baggage of anciently acquired spirituality, now considered archaic from its practical purposes.    

However, the issue is not of rejection of spirituality by the modern masses; the case is of mass ignorance. If made to understand or even exposed to the concept of spirituality in the right manner, many would be willing to get deeper into the subject.

For walking on the spiritual path one needs the guidance from a Guru, and in India of today there are well known gurus with millions of followers to boast of. However, how many of them will qualify to be revered as a real Guru is a million dollar question.

Nevertheless, the current situation does not paint so faded a picture of India’s fast-fading spiritual treasure. Real gurus are there; one needs to search for them - in cities like Banaras and in the foothills of Himalayas; a few saints are present in down south as well. Because they are not ‘mass-gurus’ – commercial gurus – general public is generally not aware about their existence; they too remain aloof and are not easily accessible. However, every person knows about all the revered Gurus of India who were the founding fathers of Spirituality and whose work were carried further by the contemporary yogis; their teachings and preachings are well recorded and preserved and accessible to all; the requisite is an individual’s desire for wisdom.

India’s widespread prevalence of spiritual ignorance has become chronic. Actually as we have progressed as a society over the millennia, our spiritual interior has worn out and diminished to the extent that today we suffer from spiritual-amnesia! We have lost the vast knowledge base we had built about Life: with its God, Its Universe, and Life in it; the purpose of life, a soul’s journey through many physical incarnations including human form, and inclination of a soul to remain in its natural state of being i.e. in Bliss, and its return to its origin – by merging into the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Spirit – the God.

Compounding the problem, general public has a perception that being a ‘family’ person one cannot practice spirituality. Ignorance, again! In fact, being a family person – a person of the world – an individual is subjected to various types of stress in daily life, leading to ever-present unhappiness, lack of peace, frustration and insecurity. The genesis of these miserable feelings is rooted in human relationships and in events & incidents of life. Not that everything and everyone in a person’s life are bad. But because a person does not understand the meaning of Life, therefore, he/she senses life’s ‘happenings’ in an altogether a different manner than the real occurrence. Reason: Ignorance.

So, as it becomes clearer, human ignorance is about Life per se. That Life is about the Soul and its journey into the Ether through a pre-destined time spent on the Earth, interacting and living with all other souls in various situations and relationships, is a simple theory not many can comprehend.

“But it is not souls we interact with! We live with humans! Soul is released from body after death of a person!” ...  So, for most of us mortal beings, a human is a body which turns into a soul - ghost ! - after death. 

The biggest ignorance of Mankind!

Therefore, what is the solution for a soul’s salvation?

A Guru.

A Guru, the enlightened, God-realised soul, sent to the earth to take people from the darkness (ignorance) to the light (knowledge and wisdom) and thus guide them on the path of God-realization through self-realization, for attaining soul’s salvation and union with the Supreme Soul – the God. 

A Guru, to talk to the mankind that there is One Soul, the Supreme Soul, from whom all souls have originated. And because the Supreme Soul is ever-present and cannot be destroyed or killed, thus all souls emerging from It cannot be destroyed or killed either. However, once a soul gets originated, it is given a life-form – the physical form of a lowly creature, to begin with. The soul has to live the life of that creature and then pass through many more – millions! – births & deaths before it gets the opportunity to inhabit a human body.

A Guru, to teach the humankind that they are fortunate to be born in the physical body of a human being, the highest creation of God, and they should utilize this opportunity to tune with the God and return to the Source, and be free from the burden of rebirths and life-associated miseries.

A Guru, to enlighten we humans that the blessings to live in a human body is given to a soul based on its past lives’ Karmas i.e., actions. The purpose of a human life of a soul is to utilize the birth to work out its Karmas and pave its way towards returning to its Origin – the God.

A Guru, to tell us that though the human life is the highest form of life, however, the Creator has made the return journey of a soul to its Origin fraught with challenges; nevertheless, It has given adequate intelligence to a soul to overcome the challenges and carve a path for its joyous reunion with It.

A Guru, to give us the wisdom that human intelligence is actually the God’s Intelligence, and, with the Intelligence It has given us Free Will – to choose between good and evil. It depends upon an individual to utilize his/her free will and the given intelligence to his/her benefit, by either getting caught into the illusions of life ‘Maya’ or get conned by the Satan – the evil and the opposing force in the Nature – and get sucked into the vortex of life or get carried to the God by employing the Divine features of the given intelligence and the free will in living the life.

A Guru, to inform we human beings that the God has bestowed us with Its Intelligence because It has made us in Its Image. And that is the reason why a human is Its best and the ultimate creation! It is no coincidence but by Divine design that the world hasn’t seen any higher form of life being created after humans. And, because we are created in the image of the Supreme Soul whose nature is absolute Bliss, a human being also becomes happy when at absolute peace. 

A Guru, to educate us that though we are made in the image of God but we are yet not God! All God-features are latent in us; all powers stored but hidden in our body and mind. The God wants us to learn and become conscious of our Divine nature and work towards God-realization through Self-realization – and return to It!

A Guru, to divulge to us that we can realize both Self & God only through good Karmas by following the path of Spirituality – the quickest and the surest method for a soul’s union with its Source!

A Guru, to reveal to us that the fastest and the highest spiritual technique for Self & God realization is through the scientific method of Kriya Yoga – Yoga with Action, centred around deep and intensive meditation. Kriya Yoga is a practical approach by which a person leads his/her normal day-to-day life and simultaneously is spiritually active and gradually evolves towards attaining the highest goal of his/her soul – union with the Supreme Soul.    

A Guru, to give sermons on the Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga, the ancient and the most complete form of yoga, was taught by Lord Krishna to his dearest disciple Arjuna while giving him the Divine Wisdom through his discourses of the Gita. The Guru of all Gurus, Babaji, revived the Kriya Yoga by teaching it to his most advanced disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, who in turn carried it forward through his followers – especially Sri Yukteswar Giri. Babaji, the still living Guru in the Himalayas for over three millennia now, further bestowed the Divine responsibility on Sri Yukteswar-ji to train his pre-destined and blessed disciple Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Kriya Yoga who, as Paramahansa Yogananda, took the ancient yogic teaching treasures to the West. Jesus Christ had requested Babaji to send a suitable soul to America to teach Kriya Yoga for liberation of deserving and willing souls there.

A Guru, to make us realize the real meaning of Life – human life in particular; that Life is not the few years a soul spends on the earth but its origin dates back to its emanation from the Soul itself and its existence is till eternity. That a soul’s human life is not one life but many human lives – till it has worked out all its karmas and has no desire left absolutely, a state when the soul is ready to travel to the next and the higher sphere of existence.

A Guru, to impart the knowledge on the intriguing intricacies of a soul’s human-life journey, which passes through many incarnations on the Earth to the Astral world to the Causal space before it dissolves in the Supreme Spirit. Earthly life form is the grossest physical form; a soul gets to go to the astral world – in its finer form made up of ‘light’ elements – once it is fully realized. An Astral being is either kept there for further evolution of other astral beings or sent back to the earth – as a Guru – to liberate suffering souls. Once an astral being has finished its assigned duties, it is brought closer to the God – by the God itself – as a Causal being. In the causal space every soul is in its finest and its initial state of existence - an abstract appearance, without any physical form - in form of an idea! The soul is now closest to the God in its character and power. After spending pre-assigned time in the causal world, the soul finally merges with its Originator. The entire journey of a soul takes millions of years. A causal being could be sent back to the earth if need is felt by the God. Jesus Christ, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are some of those souls!

A Guru, to highlight the fact that the Creator has ensured Its presence in every created particle – animate or inanimate – of the universe, which is in actuality a part of Its own body. It resides in the Heaven, a place beyond the universe and within the universe itself. There is absolutely nothing in this world without the manifestation of the Lord within it. And, at the fundamental level everything in the creation is made up of Its Idea - which is vibration and light in form. The entire cosmos and the life in it is Its’ show entirely; various creations have their allocated role to play and then exit into the next life, till the soul is able to overcome the births-deaths cycle and mingle with the Creator. Everything and everybody belongs to the God, and to nobody else.

A Guru, to put forth the essence of consciousness and its various stages: sub-consciousness, consciousness, super-consciousness and cosmic consciousness. Only a human being can comprehend the various stages of consciousness in one life – through the practice of Kriya Yoga. Sub-consciousness denotes the ‘sleeping’ stage; a human has consciousness when it is ‘aware’ and is ‘awake’ in the worldly sense; in super-consciousness a person is connected with the higher consciousness of the universe; and, a super advanced being - yogi - with a universally expanded consciousness can comprehend the cosmic consciousness - the God’s consciousness. Only a Guru qualifies to have the cosmic consciousness.    

A Guru, to explain to us that as all souls have come out of the same Supreme Being, thus, we all are one in every aspect. In numerous human births our individual souls have inhabited many places with various nationalities and races and religions and creeds and castes and colours, and have been in both genders and all possible relationships. Therefore, in effect, no single human life defines a human being. A human being is the sum total of all the human lives it has lived and will live.

A Guru, to reiterate that with the wisdom about Life per se, there is no need to obsess about anything in the world. A human being should do its worldly duties walking the path of morality and aspire towards its soul’s liberation. Rest all endeavours are foolish and cause only sufferings and miseries for all including the self, and make no sense at all. Universal unity, brotherhood, respect and love should be the fundamentals of our human existence. 

Finally, I pray to the Heavenly Father and the Divine Mother that It resends the Causal Souls as reincarnations - God’s Sons & Daughters & Gurus - to preach to each human being the practical paths of spirituality, following which every person will get uplifted into a higher being – transforming the Earth into the Heaven, with Love, Peace and Bliss pervading its every element and the ether!

Jai Gurudev :)    

P.S.: 'Hand of God' photograph courtesy NASA.

Indian Media and Bollywood

I start with a disclaimer: I am an admirer of certain sections of the Indian Media – both print and electronic – for the courageous work they do under the prevailing circumstances in our country by taking various administrative bodies and governmental systems head-on and holding them accountable.

Nevertheless, i have always been aware and amused by the close similarities displayed by the Indian Media with our esteemed Bollywood! ... Hold on for a few moments and you too will, perhaps, agree with me.

It was one of those evenings when i was generally chatting over coffee with a friend from the US and while talking we tread into the domain of democracy. Both of us expressed our individual pride that how fortunate we were to be born in the largest and the oldest democracy respectively. So in general terms we touched upon all the three arms of a functional democracy and then came to rest on the fourth – the Press, which in today’s parlance is popularly referred to as the Media.

‘You have so many news channels in different languages! While flipping channels yesterday evening i almost lost the count!’ my friend’s expressions were hilarious.

‘Yes, we are a big news country!’ i went along.

‘But tell me one thing. Do Indians argue a lot?’ i knew exactly where he was coming from.

‘I saw everybody debating loudly on almost all news channels; even the topic seemed to be the same!’ he had certainly not watched such television news programs before.

‘Well, have you watched any Bollywood movie? If no, then watch a few and you will understand the Indian television scenario,’ i offered my sincere advice.

‘Yeah, i have watched a couple of them. You have very beautiful actresses and even male leads look so much better than an average Indian. I love its colours! But honestly, they seem to be much Indianized,’ he was trying to be careful with his words.

‘Don’t sound diplomatic; you are echoing my sentiment.’

‘But i didn’t get the Bollywood connection in the Indian Media,’ he was genuinely perplexed.

‘Bollywood is just an analogy. If you watch carefully you will notice that the feel of both are very similar... Ok, let me explain,’ and we spent the next hour discussing the topic threadbare.

I beforehand explained to him that when i say Bollywood i do not necessarily mean Hindi movies exclusively but the Indian cinema per se. And when I say the Indian Media, it includes all and sundry in both print and television.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media industry is the largest in the world in terms of number of channels on air and the number of dailies published in various languages and their combined viewership and readership respectively.  However, the sheer numbers do not necessarily mean the top slot or the top standards, rather much below when compared with the established names globally. 

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is doing brisk business at home, in the local currency; however, when talked in terms of gross earnings, it seems not so significant in front of the global media giants’ revenues.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is hugely impactful within its national boundaries; however, its worldwide influence pales in front of the foreign press.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media has some immensely talented people with global appeal; however, because of the limited scope of their work, they have remained almost incognito in the international news circuit.

Life Bollywood, the Indian Media has done some path breaking journalism; however, a large percentage of its cumulative work has remained mediocre.

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media has a good number of honest and courageous professionals; however, it needs to take a serious look at allegations and accusations maligning its integrity and its susceptibility to succumb in face of manipulations. 

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is largely defined – and driven – by one segment which is the English news channels; however, its identity is highly fragmented with the Hindi and the regional news channels having their own larger loyal viewers’ base.  

Like Bollywood, the Indian Media is largely built upon larger-than-life elements drawn sometimes from imaginary ideas and its spectrum is wide enough to encompass lots of drama, tragedy, comedy, heroes and villains; however, its storyline sounds repetitive, howsoever hard they try to remain – or claim to be – contemporary, and its proximity to an average Indian’s life per se is primarily remote; one does not often witness real life imitating the ‘reel life’.

The perfect examples are the beautiful songs and dances being integral components of any Indian film whereas in reality no Indian has ever been sighted singing and dancing in public in their daily life – except in weddings or parties on movies’ music for enjoyment! In fact, a couple of my Chinese friends who were visiting India for the first time about seven years ago were really surprised to see their perception of an average ‘singing & dancing’ Indian shatter to pieces when they did not find any Indian singing and dancing in streets, which they had seen them do so often in Bollywood films!  

Today’s Indian Media landscape is largely dominated by the electronic media which has the power to swing people’s opinion. They also garner the largest pie in the overall ad-spend. Over the years, following the path towards true Indianness, they have evolved and gone even beyond news – they also provide entertainment. Newstainment! News with full entertainment! For them, and for the public as per their logic, pure news is plain and boring. The argument proffered is that they have to do so in order to remain viable in a cut-throat competitive environment. And they seem to be contented with their unique way of presenting news which borders on trivializing the concept and the profession of journalism in many instances.

Well, to clarify, if i have to watch television for news on India i view only the English news channels but i have flipped through various Hindi and regional news channels out of curiosity and have been dismayed at the standard of their telecast. Not that their English counterparts don’t require sincere introspection for improvement.

India, with its global aspirations, and the capabilities, cannot be seen as having a Media which is below the international standards. Exception, i reiterate, to a great degree is the English language Media in both the formats – print and electronic.

As the English language press defines the Indian Media, therefore, it needs to set benchmark for the rest of the fraternity. Simultaneously, India is waiting to see them claim their place on the global platform.

I start with the English newspapers. Times of India has the largest readership in the world; however, it is not even on the horizon when global dailies are discussed. The other newspapers also have to pull themselves up and modify their reportage so as to remain contemporary but first and foremost credible – and relevant - from the international perspective.

A foreign colleague had remarked a few years ago seeing the semi-porn texture of a newspaper supplement: ‘Are Indians so frustrated sexually?’... Each of the publications needs to read the legendary New York Times and Washington Post, to name a few, to understand what i am referring to.

Now coming to the English news channels, i credit Prannoy Roy with reshaping the Indian Media and giving us a credible alternative medium to get news and current affairs information other than the Doordarshan, seemingly government’s mouthpiece. I also thank him for giving India its beloved news anchors! Including Dr. Roy himself, whether it is Barkha Dutt or Rajdeep Sardesai or Arnab Goswami, we haven’t seen anybody better than them so far in the newer generation television journalists. In this case too, the situation is akin to Bollywood where we haven’t yet got the comparable replacements to the holy quartet of Mangeshkar Sisters Lata and Asha, Md. Rafi and Kishore Kumar in singing!

Not to forget, emphasis on producing international standard news programs got initiated with Karan Thapar coming back to India and soon he floored – literally, just ask his guests on his shows – the entire nation with his intelligent, incisive and interrogative interviews! Vir Sanghvi is another very good television journalist that we had till recently. However, today both have almost receded into the background comparatively but their contributions cannot ever be forgotten in improving the news coverage and analysis in India.

These anchors are par excellence and are comparable to any international repute newsperson of the world! Honestly, in certain aspects i find them better than anybody in the global news business. Each one of them has their individuality and tremendous qualities and contributions towards the evolution of the Indian Media.

Prannoy Roy is the pioneer in the field of the Indian television news channels! His stupendous success with NDTV 24x7 propelled the fast expansion of the industry. He retains his charm as a newsperson but his style is more suited currently for serious yet leisurely discussions with statesmen and leaders in various fields. His legacy is being carry forwarded properly by his prodigies.

Barkha Dutt is true blood international in her talent! Her command over language and style of delivery is better than even the internationally established anchors on the iconic channels like BBC and CNN. She looks original in her attitude and attire. Not easy for any new news anchor to copy her. ‘We The People’ has remained popular solely because of her. And she is the face of NDTV, besides Dr. Roy.

Rajdeep Sardesai is the original angry young man of the Indian Television Industry! When he announced his leaving the NDTV, every Indian viewer felt a void as to who would moderate the ‘Big Fight’ now. He has a perfect blend of aggression and poise and is many viewers’ choice for a television news anchor. His acumen and sensibilities made him establish his new channel CNN-IBN and soon overtook his professional alma-mater.

Arnab Goswami, the most famous and the most feared television personality in our nation! He has singlehandedly redefined the news scenario in India ever since he moved to and started Times Now. Seeing the channel’s terrific success overshadowing the media giants’ like NDTV and CNN-IBN in a short span of two years and sustaining it for five years now proves one thing: Prannoy Roy could not assess his true potential. Arnab invented a new style of news presentation: he mixed it with high voltage debates! And the unprecedented popularity of his ‘The Newshour’ forced the entire industry to follow suit. He made people realize that news was not only for viewing as-it-had-happened but for dissecting and analysing and making people concerned answerable, and the perpetrators punished. His sheer courage is infectious! And his impact is immeasurable! ‘The Nation demands an answer!’ has become his tagline. He has a large fan following among the English news viewers and even the non-viewers regard his value.

Newshour has one more distinction: its hugely popular debates now having become a standard format for news on all channels have nurtured the breeds of so-called spokespersons and activists! (How i resent these omnipresent ever-visible creatures! If i had little bit power, i would mute their voices and blurr their faces! And how their purely predictable line of arguments has forced me to curtail my news – and Newshour – viewing drastically...)

Among the other English news channels, Rahul Kunwal in Headlines Today is doing a good job and is getting better gradually. Rest are almost non-existent. And the rest of the non-English channels are pure imitators and most are pathetic.

What emerges out of this brief review is that a news channel mirrors the personality of its editor-in-chief and both become synonymous over a period of time. And, as the news industry is spearheaded by the English news channels, so is the latter performing as per the nation’s expectation? Well, yes and no.

YES, because the Indian Media has effectively discharged it role as the fourth estate and we have seen certain changes taking place in various field in our country: a few powerful but criminal politicians and others being sent to jail; a few scamsters being punished; a few victims getting the much denied justice; ...

And, NO, because the Indian Media hasn’t discharged its ‘fourth estate’ duties to the fullest as it hasn’t taken up its nationally critical international responsibilities seriously. Its vision has been narrow and it has failed to look beyond our geographical boundaries. Once in a while we do witness a few debates dedicated to Indo-Pak relationship but nothing more. Howsoever significant events could be happening anywhere in the world, our media limits its coverage to internal matters only, some of which could be genuinely important but mostly are the usual ones. 

One more sincere suggestion: they should allot debating time depending on gravity of news item; all news broadcasts cannot – and should not – be treated in the same manner.

The Indian Media has to break its self-created cocoon and spread its influence worldwide. When India gets discussed, its media should get mentioned in the same breath. And when the voice of one fifth of global population gets heard by the world, it should reverberate! Our media should be able to shape global opinions and chisel geopolitical changes. When India’s media commentators like Arnab or Rajdeep or Barkha or Prannoy speaks, the world should sit up and listen. When TOI or HT or Hindu writes or reports, the targeted subject should get shaken up. And through them India should be able to project itself more comprehensively on the global canvas.

We have many Indians now become household names globally; it’s time the Indian Media added a few names to the list.

Our English news network with its highly accomplished anchors has the potential to break into the big league of BBC and CNN. Al-Jazeera from the Arab world has achieved this feat in a small time with its quality international journalism. I have no doubt whatsoever about the success of the Indian Media – all languages, both electronic and print – in the global arena. After all, the fourth pillar of the world’s largest and the most populous democracy should have – and has – the power to stand firmly and reshape the global news sphere.

Frankly speaking, i certainly do not mean to say that the world media is perfect in all aspects. They too need to introspect and review their own style of functioning so as to make a greater impact on various governments and global happenings. One case in point: with the amount of air time spent on covering Africa by both BBC and CNN, the Continent could have come in the forefront of the world affairs by now, which sadly hasn’t happened. 

Honestly, the international media – including Indian Media – could amalgamate the best aspects of all the players and remodel its reportage on current affairs. ... Who knows soon the world will watch debates as a regular style of news presentation ... and Bollywood type songs and dances could become a routine in Hollywood ... ;)  

The Mahatma and The Yogi

As the luck would have it, i got the opportunity to attend the book launch event of the eminent Indian historian Ramchandra Guha's 'Gandhi Before India' and while listening to his ever-engaging talk on his book and Gandhiji, a thought crossed my mind. 

When Gandhiji was being hailed all across the world as the Mahatma - the Great Soul, there was another Indian being heralded globally for his Yoga teachings and was acknowledged as the Yogi - the saint - Paramahansa Yogananda! And both shared deep mutual admiration and reverence. Yoganandaji got to meet the Mahatma in 1936 during his trip to India when he was invited by Gandhiji to his Wardha Ashram. The divine meeting of the two God-blessed souls is historic; if one was admired as the Political Master then the younger one was acclaimed as the Spiritual Master! And these two have been clearly the best Indian gifts to the world! If Gandhiji gave the principles of Non-violence and Truth as tools towards any struggle, then Yoganandaji taught the ancient vedic Yoga to the humanity! How i wish i were born in their times ... :) 

Here i share a tribute to the Mahatma by the Yogi, which he wrote much before meeting his spiritually-political idol.

Mahatma Gandhi
by Swami Yogananda East-West, April, 1932

At Gethsemane, out of that perishable confinement of the body of Jesus, they let loose His spirit so that it could be free to roam in the hearts of many people, and kindle their ignorance, dispelling the night as they awakened.

Oh, Gandhi! The prison walls have become a temple by Thy Presence!! And Thou art more dangerously eloquent by Thy Silence!! Thy physical voice is muffled ‘neath the prison vaults, but Thy silent voice of Spirit is loosened, and is beating the drums of universal sympathy and attention, to rouse the races slumbering in hatred, in political selfishness, in greed for possession, in mutual deceptions, and in brother making war preparations against brother.

Gandhi! Politically crucified, Thou art not only the savior of a race, of India, but also of all the selfish, hatred-stricken races of the world. And now there comes Thy prison, like a Judas, to take Thee away from us, but Thy prison shall be Thy best message bearer, the greatest preacher of Thy truth for all times, and Thy supreme slave to build a mansion of love for Thy truth and Thee in the heart of each race.

Gandhi! Thy Bible, all the warriors of futurity will read and follow, and therein learn to combat, not their brothers, but the Satan of Ignorance and all his army.

Gandhi! Thy saintliness, and the fragrance of the unfading flower of Thy determination, will charm the menacing fire of cannon, until they sing instead the Freedom of India through Peace.

Gandhi! Thy flute of peace will tune the wild beasts of political misunderstandings in the race! Just as God did not choose to use His miraculous powers to discipline man, but chose love instead, so Thou has chosen the path of love, not force, that mightiest love to free India. For Thy love will awaken love, will melt gunpowder, selfishness, political strife, hatred, wars, fighting airplanes, bombs, machine guns, and armies into the consistency of All-Freeing Love.

Oh Gandhi! Thy Love will build the United States of the World, and Thy seal will be in every heart!

...........

*(1) “The Self shines forth like a sun in those who have banished ignorance by wisdom.”—Bhagavad Gita V

India's English Vinglish

Irony couldn’t have been starker. And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Watching the acclaimed Hindi movie titled English Vinglish within the comforts of my living room environ on India’s 67th Independence Day and witnessing the churning of my emotions and resurfacing of a niggling view about my country’s inherent language complexities, I thought of sparing a few moments for a deeper reflection. 

English Vinglish is not just Sridevi’s problem in the movie; it is India’s linguistic challenge equally. Though nowhere in the world the Indians are regarded essentially as English speakers but we – the so called English literates -  take immeasurable pride in our conversational skills in a language which is still ‘foreign’ to the majority of Indians!  

We Indians love to believe that our self-perceived so called economic status in the world is due to our ability to talk in English, a status which is in past tense now anyway. The fact of the matter is that none of the developed countries – economically – except the UK and the US whose mother tongue is English – have their business conducted in a language which is not their native one. Whether it is China or Germany or Japan or other European nations, the obsession with English is clearly missing from their psyche. And India, with all its self-boasting English language skills, is still to qualify as an English speaking nation; let’s forget about it being clubbed with the developed countries any time soon. One just has to open the facts books and see India’s performance on various parameters, education being one of the primary indicators and the data is self-revealing, rather shocking.  

A glimpse into the history books uncovers that India, the land of Sanskrit, the ancient primary and complete language of antiquity from which have proliferated various Indo-European languages including English and other European and Indian languages, could not conserve the Mother Language in its own country of origin.  

Funnily, in name of saving Sanskrit from getting lost into oblivion, we have smartly relegated it as one of the language subjects in schools – taken by students as an easy source of scores! Because, in scoring marks in Sanskrit – as per the Indian education system - the only requisite is one’s temporary memory power, to be spent for mugging the things up for exams and deleting everything stored thereafter for other more important things! The net result is that Indians cannot understand a word of Sanskrit in spite of having it as one of their major subjects in school. But being a Sanskrit-illiterate has never been an issue in India!  

However, Heavens fall when an Indian is seen – heard – to be English ignorant!  

It is easy to accept the argument that when ‘change’ is the mantra for moving forward in life including how people converse, Sanskrit had to undergo changes and develop into ‘local’ lingua-franca. Going by the same logic, was it not crucial for India to preserve its rich linguistic heritage ? 

The Indian Constitution lists 22 languages as scheduled languages and includes English as a ‘subsidiary’ language. However, India’s de facto functional language is English as it is the language of higher education and all administrative works. The roots of English have reached so deep into India’s structure that only a social revolution can change the scenario and accord due respect to the Indian languages  which are complete in all sense and are as rich in vocabulary and literature as India’s esteemed English! But we Indians delightfully kept English as a ‘souvenir’ from departing Britishers on our day of Independence almost seven decades ago which in effect ensured that we remained chained to our colonial masters’ tongue  for the rest of our future. The blame is solely ours; to accuse the Englishmen for India’s English obsession will not be fair at all.   

The pet Indian line of reasoning is that with numerous active languages it would be extremely difficult to function as a cohesive country. This logic is so far from the truth as the Earth is from the most distant star in the Universe! A reading of India’s modern history – post Independence – clears all purposefully created confusion and bares the root cause of India’s continuing linguistic woes.  

By default the official coronation of English as India’s official language can be credited to its first prime minister; and a segment of ignorant Indian souls may attribute it to his well known Anglophile character. However, the major contribution cam from the Indians residing in the southern parts who strongly opposed Hindi being declared the National Language of India in spite of it being spoken by a vast majority of free India. The Southern folks felt that by being made to speak Hindi they would be subjected to North Indians’ dominance. The most unfortunate part of the whole story is that these freshly free countrymen were willing to accept the supremacy of a foreign language in their everyday lives which had enslaved them for centuries but were severely opposed to Hindi, the major language of India. The continued agitations led to succumbing of the government to their demands by making amendments in the Official Languages Act of India and letting English continue as the official language of India.  

Anti-Hindi agitations had regional politics at its core; the ascent of southern regional political parties is directly connected with their anti-Hindi stance. There was certainly no great love for their own native tongues. In any other advanced country of the world opposition to country’s main language could be construed as anti-national, but not in India. India has been so accommodative in its postures that it has lost most of its treasures due to lack of courage under challenging situations.  

But why blame the South Indians solely for India’s English Vinglish? The so called superiority complex acquired with English speaking was equally engrained in Indians from the northern parts.         

These post Independence pro-English gestures could have rewritten Indian history – in English?! – but it never happened in the manner it was envisaged to be. Political calculations could only force the alterations in Official Languages Act of India and make English its official language but it could not make inroads into lives of majority of Indians. English remained an elite language, being taught in English medium schools both in South as well as North India. The percentage of people who could speak proper English remained same in both parts of the country; the widely held perception that every person in South India knew English was soon recognized as one of the biggest myths of the modern India. And we could never become a member of the elite English speaking nations! How sad :(  

The height of self-believing English speaking India’s woes is that the real English speaking world does not recognize we Indians as Englishmen or English women! The peculiar Indian accent – the syntax of which is so wide spectrum that even an Indian cannot understand the English of another Indian if the latter happens to be from a different part of the country – cannot be followed by majority of the world population.  

Foolishly Indians love to assign the ascent of the Indian IT sector to the language of English, however, they choose not to accept the fact that China, a non-English country, is far ahead in all fields of IT including in numbers of Chinese IT professionals employed in English speaking developed economies. This is besides the fact that they are the 2nd largest economy of the world with their businesses being conducted in their own language, which the so-called English speaking India choose to ignore for its own convenience. 

The linguistic landscape is a bit bizarre in India. As the so called quality education is imparted through English medium and as the entire higher education is also given in the same language, and as the entire business is in the hands of a small portion of people trained in English, we strongly prefer to believe that we are superior to the non-English speaking fellow Indians. And, of course, we also equally bizarrely believe that we are superior to the fellow non-English speaking humans in rest parts of the world. So what if the feeling is not reciprocated by them! 

What is absolutely nonsensical about India’s English Vinglish is that almost every English educated Indian loves to believe that a person’s capabilities are directly proportionate to his/her English speaking skills! And the rest of the population – ironically majority of Indians fall in this latter category – are fools and fit for nothing. And that is the reason why “communication skills” is given top ranking in evaluating a person for any job in India. It is a different matter altogether that majority of the Indians with English conversational capabilities lack the grey matter in the same proportion as seen in non-English literates!  

The major disadvantage with this skewed attitude of the English speaking minority India is that the capable people with less or no knowledge of English language get left out from the mainstream and all spheres of life and society become a loser.  

Another interesting point about the so-called English speaking India is that they are comfortable with English only in education and work, beyond that they are as alien to their preferred language as a goat is to a guitar! No body has any love for English movies or songs or even literature. The proof of it lies in the fact that we Indians have forced the English music channels on television to convert to Hindi music 24x7! And to justify this dichotomy in our character and hypocrisy in our attitude, we shamelessly take refuge in the arms of the so-called Indian tradition and culture! @#$%&*^! (Beep, Beep …) 

When one analyzes various factors which led to India - with its limitless capabilities and opportunities -  remaining at the bottom of the grid on the global scale, its failure to preserve its invaluable heritage comes at the top. Because when one tries to emulate others, one loses all what one has; you remain neither here nor there. Because, one’s national identity is one’s passport in this world … 

I pray for my country that we realize the value of all we have as a country and leverage those priceless treasures – including linguistic wealth – and come out with head held high on the world stage. We understand that English is just a language for communication like all other languages of the world and that education and businesses – and life - can be comfortably conducted in every Indian language as well – as successfully as demonstrated by all non-English speaking developed nations.  

Simply saying: We get rid of our English Vinglish complexities …