Although India has had a history of being ruled by foreign intruders, most people in the region retained their faith and cultural identity. The entire country did not undergo conversion, either in the sphere of religion or culture. Why was it so?
A probable answer lies in the higher quality of Indian spiritual thought. Though physically subjugated, most people’s minds and hearts remained their own. Another reason could be that religion was a very personal matter for most people of India, and it was more about higher philosophy. They had an Ishta Devta, personal god, and were steeped in ancient traditions; they could not bring themselves to surrender their souls to their oppressors. I say ‘higher philosophy’ because one cannot really call it ‘religion’ as that would make it very narrow indeed – it is really a celebration of life, with deep insights. Philosophy expounded in the Vedas, Upanishads and Patanjali Yoga Darshan, for example, transcends all caste, creed and physical boundaries and really ought to be the guiding principle for national and international discourses. This, together with high technology, should be the mantra of development for not only India, but the world. This could be the basis of a new philosophy.
Every act of violence for ethnic cleansing brings faith to the fore and the strong reaction to it forces the population to become even more fundamentalist. The whole basis of subjugation of one religion by another brings greater misery and more radicalisation.
Most religious authorities control the hearts and minds of followers mostly by coercive means. In fact, all isms and religions have been misused for such control. The spirit of enquiry is missing. Ancient Indian philosophical thought was based on the spirit of enquiry where the guru, the preceptor, only showed the way – the disciple had to find the goal. That is a higher form of thought process and is spiritual in nature rather than dogmatic.
The hearts and minds of people can be approached non-violently, by higher thought. No matter how criminal or evil a person is, he can always be inspired by higher thought that is universal in nature.
Winning of hearts and minds through higher intellectual thought is the way forward in this time of ethnic strife and violence all over world.
Similarly, Gandhiji, through non-violent ways, won the hearts and minds of the people. He distilled the ancient philosophy of the Bhagwad Gita and used it to raise the level of discourse to a very high level, thereby achieving remarkable results.
But for this transformation to happen, we need large numbers of evolved leaders like Adi Shankaracharya and MK Gandhi who understand higher philosophical thought and who share their insights with the world. This, together with high technology, should be the development philosophy. This combination will enable us to live sustainably and efficiently and is likely to give us a sense of purpose and an emotionally satisfying life.
Nevertheless, for the world to follow this strategy, we have to first make it happen here in India. In the past, all great thoughts from India went abroad after they were practised in India for a period of time. Therefore, there is a need for our own population (including netas) to accept gracefully that there are different shades of opinion. If we understand the greatness of ancient Indic philosophical thought, that could help remove our fears and insecurities.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India, Speaking Tree, 26th January, 2019
Although India has had a history of being ruled by foreign intruders, most people in the region retained their faith and cultural identity. The entire country did not undergo conversion, either in the sphere of religion or culture. Why was it so?
A probable answer lies in the higher quality of Indian spiritual thought. Though physically subjugated, most people’s minds and hearts remained their own. Another reason could be that religion was a very personal matter for most people of India, and it was more about higher philosophy. They had an Ishta Devta, personal god, and were steeped in ancient traditions; they could not bring themselves to surrender their souls to their oppressors. I say ‘higher philosophy’ because one cannot really call it ‘religion’ as that would make it very narrow indeed – it is really a celebration of life, with deep insights. Philosophy expounded in the Vedas, Upanishads and Patanjali Yoga Darshan, for example, transcends all caste, creed and physical boundaries and really ought to be the guiding principle for national and international discourses. This, together with high technology, should be the mantra of development for not only India, but the world. This could be the basis of a new philosophy.
Every act of violence for ethnic cleansing brings faith to the fore and the strong reaction to it forces the population to become even more fundamentalist. The whole basis of subjugation of one religion by another brings greater misery and more radicalisation.
Most religious authorities control the hearts and minds of followers mostly by coercive means. In fact, all isms and religions have been misused for such control. The spirit of enquiry is missing. Ancient Indian philosophical thought was based on the spirit of enquiry where the guru, the preceptor, only showed the way – the disciple had to find the goal. That is a higher form of thought process and is spiritual in nature rather than dogmatic.
The hearts and minds of people can be approached non-violently, by higher thought. No matter how criminal or evil a person is, he can always be inspired by higher thought that is universal in nature.
Winning of hearts and minds through higher intellectual thought is the way forward in this time of ethnic strife and violence all over world.
Similarly, Gandhiji, through non-violent ways, won the hearts and minds of the people. He distilled the ancient philosophy of the Bhagwad Gita and used it to raise the level of discourse to a very high level, thereby achieving remarkable results.
But for this transformation to happen, we need large numbers of evolved leaders like Adi Shankaracharya and MK Gandhi who understand higher philosophical thought and who share their insights with the world. This, together with high technology, should be the development philosophy. This combination will enable us to live sustainably and efficiently and is likely to give us a sense of purpose and an emotionally satisfying life.
Nevertheless, for the world to follow this strategy, we have to first make it happen here in India. In the past, all great thoughts from India went abroad after they were practised in India for a period of time. Therefore, there is a need for our own population (including netas) to accept gracefully that there are different shades of opinion. If we understand the greatness of ancient Indic philosophical thought, that could help remove our fears and insecurities.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India, Speaking Tree, 26th January, 2019