01-04-2005, 05:52 AM
Revered Swami Jyotirnanda (copied to Sw Dayananda Saraswati)
(Please feel free to distribute)
In response to your email about the government agenda to control Hindu temples.
The distress you feel is understandable.
Here is a nation of 80 percent Hindus, where the Hindus have to cower to corrupt politicians to survive or have a say in running their own institutions!
Vivekananda had warned that if India loses its sense of perspective and moves away from spirituality and embraces a more secular stance, the state will crumble. Spirituality is ingrained in our blood, even if we try to move away from it, we are bound to fail as it goes against the grain of our inner constitution.
The 'easy independence' we enjoyed through Gandhian methodology has come at a heavy price; our future being dictated by the Nehru clan and all that 'secular' ideology that came with it. We displaced our 'spiritual ideology' in favour of this 'crass materialism' that was imported from the West. The West has mastered this ideology and have harnessed its powers for the good of its people. We alas are unable to handle it.
What we now have is a cocktail of the worst of the East and worst of the West in full play on the Indian subcontinent.
The Bollywood phenomenon is an example of this amalgamation: Escapism, sentimentality, pornography, greed and lust -- sheer poison laced with honey - deceptively dished out through wonderful settings and music is eating away the spiritual fabric of this nation even in the remotest villages.......but no one seems to notice or care.
Surveys show that one of the most corrupt nations in the world today is India. No aspect of its life is free from underhanded methods. What to say of the politicians and their methods of promoting a 'secular' agenda. A Hindu nation where the real Hindus have to take cover by resorting to 'declassifying themselves from being defined as Hindus' in order to survive (as in the case of the Ramakrishna and Aurbindo centres), reflects the desperate state of affairs.
Where is the dignity or freedom that should arise from our Hindu teachings? Sure, our children have the freedom to take on hard labour for survival while vast portion of the population lives in abject poverty and degradation.
A small elite continue to live off these poor people. We are not practising Hindus in any sense! We are only Hindus in name so is it a wonder that the system is now asking us to relinquish our rights to run our own temples?
Is there no way out? We can and should protest vociferously (at least that shows that we are still alive) but as you are aware we are shouting at the corrupt politicians. We may try and protest to the people, but they have gone back to their inertial sleep with easy fixes of the opium of popular Bollywood culture.
The resolution of the Indian problem will come --- and it will come from the West. The spiritual salvation of India is through the spiritual salvation of the West. This nation is maturing itself out of a 'materialistic mode' and is shifting to a spiritual mode. It is only when this process matures and becomes established in the West, will India get a wakeup call from her slumber of degradation. The world is now a global village and things have a habit of developing rapidly ....In our lifetimes we will see these developments coming to fruition. Well, we hope and pray that this process happens sooner rather than later.
regards
dilip lakhani
Vivekananda Centre London
(Please feel free to distribute)
In response to your email about the government agenda to control Hindu temples.
The distress you feel is understandable.
Here is a nation of 80 percent Hindus, where the Hindus have to cower to corrupt politicians to survive or have a say in running their own institutions!
Vivekananda had warned that if India loses its sense of perspective and moves away from spirituality and embraces a more secular stance, the state will crumble. Spirituality is ingrained in our blood, even if we try to move away from it, we are bound to fail as it goes against the grain of our inner constitution.
The 'easy independence' we enjoyed through Gandhian methodology has come at a heavy price; our future being dictated by the Nehru clan and all that 'secular' ideology that came with it. We displaced our 'spiritual ideology' in favour of this 'crass materialism' that was imported from the West. The West has mastered this ideology and have harnessed its powers for the good of its people. We alas are unable to handle it.
What we now have is a cocktail of the worst of the East and worst of the West in full play on the Indian subcontinent.
The Bollywood phenomenon is an example of this amalgamation: Escapism, sentimentality, pornography, greed and lust -- sheer poison laced with honey - deceptively dished out through wonderful settings and music is eating away the spiritual fabric of this nation even in the remotest villages.......but no one seems to notice or care.
Surveys show that one of the most corrupt nations in the world today is India. No aspect of its life is free from underhanded methods. What to say of the politicians and their methods of promoting a 'secular' agenda. A Hindu nation where the real Hindus have to take cover by resorting to 'declassifying themselves from being defined as Hindus' in order to survive (as in the case of the Ramakrishna and Aurbindo centres), reflects the desperate state of affairs.
Where is the dignity or freedom that should arise from our Hindu teachings? Sure, our children have the freedom to take on hard labour for survival while vast portion of the population lives in abject poverty and degradation.
A small elite continue to live off these poor people. We are not practising Hindus in any sense! We are only Hindus in name so is it a wonder that the system is now asking us to relinquish our rights to run our own temples?
Is there no way out? We can and should protest vociferously (at least that shows that we are still alive) but as you are aware we are shouting at the corrupt politicians. We may try and protest to the people, but they have gone back to their inertial sleep with easy fixes of the opium of popular Bollywood culture.
The resolution of the Indian problem will come --- and it will come from the West. The spiritual salvation of India is through the spiritual salvation of the West. This nation is maturing itself out of a 'materialistic mode' and is shifting to a spiritual mode. It is only when this process matures and becomes established in the West, will India get a wakeup call from her slumber of degradation. The world is now a global village and things have a habit of developing rapidly ....In our lifetimes we will see these developments coming to fruition. Well, we hope and pray that this process happens sooner rather than later.
regards
dilip lakhani
Vivekananda Centre London