India is a unique country in many ways, one of them being its extreme diversity of language, culture, belief systems, food and lot more. Even within Hinduism, the number of Gods that people worship, the variety of processes of worship and the diversity of philosophies is mind boggling. And diversity is surely a good thing in general since it makes people living in the society be more open to new ideas and more tolerant to people who have divergent opinions. However, for a diverse society to function smoothly and prosper materially, it is also important that proper security and stability of its territory be maintained. Road accidents, fatal diseases and the like surely need to be curbed down since they cause a significant loss to the country's human resources as well as economy. But lot more problematic for India are those people and countries which make targeted attempts at causing chaos and disharmony in India by various ways. And the first step in neutralising them is proper identification. Who are these people and these countries?
As they say, charity begins at home! India has a long history of producing all kinds of people, and this goes much before the Greeks reached our lands more than two millennia ago. If there is a God, India is his experimental lab. Too dirty, dusty and complicated! The place where Sagar Manthan has been taking place for millennia! Best Nectar as well as Worst Poison is available here in plenty! The very reason why the East India Company could gain such a strong foothold in India was that some of our own people were willing to sell their brothers for their own prosperity, which also did not last very long. They failed to realise that the one who is paying them to kill their brother, may one day pay someone else for killing them too! And many of these traitors very much belonged to the Hindu religion. Even after independence, these traitors are still very much present in several walks of life. It is not very difficult to figure them out if one reads available information and opinions carefully enough. If we think that this problem is going to get solved just because we now have a constitution and a judicial system, we are just day dreaming. There is no dearth of intellectuals in this country who can cleverly twist and turn every law and provision to suit their own likes and dislikes. Always remember, this country is God's experimental lab. Dirty, dusty and complicated! The Ravanas and Duryodhanas are born here for a reason, and so are Ramas and Krishnas! And so yes, the best epics are indeed going to be written here!
Now when there are Hindus in India who are not really working for India's best interests, how can we expect that all people of other faiths will be doing so? It is true that an individual does not need a certificate of patriotism from anyone, but it is certainly important for the government of any country to know who is working for the betterment of the country and who is working against it. Now of course, these things are not always written in black and white, and there is a lot of grey scale, but some actions and thought processes can and should be seen in black and white. If someone is throwing stones at the Indian army, if someone is providing shelter to a terrorist, if someone is shouting anti-India slogans in public, there is no way these things can be seen on a grey scale. These are not misguided youths! These are also not mentally ill people. These are either criminals or brainwashed idiots, who should have no place in civil society. But how do we deal with them? With the strictest law of the land, and no kindness shown to them! But will that solve the problem?
Law enforcement is only to curb the symptoms, like what a pain killer does. But viruses and disease causing microbes are not scared of pain killers. They may calm down for a while, but come roaring back as soon as the conditions become conducive for their growth. So is the case with law enforcement. To cure the disease something much deeper is needed. In Yoga and Ayurveda, there is a concept of prana or life energy, and it is believed that all diseases are caused when there is an obstruction to the flow of this prana. And all cures are aimed at reinstating the proper flow of prana to all parts of the body. The same is true for a country. Every country also has a certain prana, whose proper flow is necessary for its smooth functioning and prosperity. Any obstruction in the flow of this prana causes all kinds of problems. So while we carry on with law enforcement, we need to understand this life energy of India and make sure it starts flowing properly again. What is this life energy?
As Vivekananda once pointed out, the life energy of India is its spirituality. Not religious dogma, not superstitious practices, not even dry philosophies, but a life giving spiritual process. What is needed is wide dissemination of the knowledge of actual Yogic practices that lead to spiritual development. Surely, lot of positive movement has happened in this direction, specially after declaration of the International Yoga Day on 21st June every year. But the current movement is mainly restricted to few spiritual organisations conducting Yoga workshops at various places. What is required is a lot more deeper penetration of these practices in our educational and intellectual spaces. What is required is development of proper academic disciplines based on these practices. What is required is a free and open dialogue between these practices and modern scientific concepts. These things are not happening as much as they should be, for various reasons.
One reason is that the western scientific thought is predominantly materialistic in its nature, and so rejects many spiritual concepts at the outset. And another reason is that many Yogis believe that ancient Indians had figured out all that has been figured out and science is just reinventing the wheel. This ideology is quite problematic for obvious reasons. Ancient Indians have surely done a great deal of work in many areas, but there is no evidence of them having known any mathematical descriptions of modern science. It is very important for both sides to drop their defences, since all that these defences are doing is to stop the world's life energy from flowing properly. Truth and sincerity do not have to be afraid of any challenge. If scientific ideas are true, they will survive no matter what. And if Yogic practices truly lead to well-being, they will also survive no matter what. This is a Sagar Manthan whose time has come. Surely some Ravanas will come out of it, but so will Ramas and Krishnas. Let the games begin!
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