Your spirituality in your face
April 14th, 2010
I’ve always been someone who has been quite particular about my fitness. My infatuation with my fitness started a long time ago courtesy my father who introduced me to yoga. At that time there were no babas or morning TV to guide you through and therefore to help me do it right he got me a beautiful book on yoga. After the initial resistance I picked up the thing pretty fast as the book had detailed illustrations of each asana. At that age I still can’t figure out if it was the book with pictures on glossy pages, the firang model or the very thought that I could easily do those asanas, or all three that got me interested in yoga. And from then on I continued doing yoga, something which I carry on with even today.
Then came the TV which was a pretty big deal in those days. Apart from chitrahaar and Sunday movie there was a program on yoga by a guy called Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari who was a close associate of Indira Gandhi. For want of a better choice I used to watch this guy. And it carried on for quite some time. Quite amazingly, this guy built up some kind of a following but that did not include me. And the reason was that he himself never did what he preached. He had two students who did yoga to show the asanas to us. On top of that he himself was a big fatso. Not surprisingly, after the death of Indira Gandhi people dropped him like a hot cake. Not just this criminal cases were slapped on him too. I did not realize it then but this was the beginning of commercialization of spirituality and yoga on TV. Of course there have been many such people over the ages who built up huge followings and then graduated to becoming sect leaders but this did not happen on TV. It was more physical than that.
Over a period of time the number of channels on our TV increased till I lost count of them. With the channels going 24X7 there was a big inflow of all kinds of programs. Most channels had some kind of fitness related programs in the morning. Some channels had some swamis or babas delivering sermons, singing bhajans or even some gurus teaching yoga. Something on every channel for everybody’s taste. I realized that all of a sudden every one wanted to catch our attentions. Our eyeballs were suddenly becoming very important. On the spiritual front not just the number of programs but even the number of channels exploded like never before. And some of them were rather too blunt and in your face. Your spirituality was being thrust on you. To my bewilderment I found my mom and after marriage my mom-in-law listen to these discourses and bhajans pretty regularly, something which I found rather difficult to get myself to do on a daily basis. And they were not the only ones doing this. Gullible as we are, I found millions of Indians across every town, city and state following some religious preacher or the other. It was as if the Hindu society was being divided all over again. And this time it was based on babas and swamis.
It was as if there was virtual competition between swamis as to who had more following. Apart from creating a kind of cult the major attraction was, you guessed it, money. Even the best swamis in the business, like Bapu Asaram, were accused of financial and even criminal wrong doings. Yeah, there were some very good ones too like Shri Shri Ravi Shankar but there were hundreds of others who were in this only to make money or indulge in other sleazy acts. Every other day there is some disclosure of some swami or baba exploiting his followers in some way or the other. Some of these swamis became so rich that they went about their business in flashy cars and even helicopters. Though I’m a devout Hindu in certain ways but I really found it very difficult to identify myself with any of these so called spiritual leaders. I also realized that all these religious teachers emphasized more on spirituality than yoga. Our being healthy was not really of any use to them. Our being spiritually attached to them was.
Then came Swami Ramdev. It was a few years ago that I read about him and checked him out on TV channel AASTHA. The guy seemed to be talking sense. He was more keen on physical than spiritual well being of his followers. According to him you could only be spiritually healthy if you were physically healthy first. This was surely the first swami who not just said something like this but showed you how to do it as well. And I’ll admit that though I’d been doing yoga for a pretty long time but I really did not know the wonderful effects of PRANAYAM. It was an absolute revelation that shaking your tummy in a particular manner could do wonders for your overall well being. And it was all so simple. On top of that he was making and selling ayurvedic products as well. And that too at throwaway prices. That was it. Swami Ramdev was my kind of guru.
The guy is actually quite a phenomenon. Coming from a very poor background he has risen to incredible heights not because of his spiritual sermons but it’s because of his focus on physical fitness of his followers. It’s only after he had indeed built a very strong following that he started talking about spirituality, Hinduism and other socio political issues, quite a lot lately I might add. He established a Patanjali Yogpeeth in 2006 which is doing phenomenal work in this field. The endeavor includes research on herbal and natural therapies to cure many incurable diseases like AIDS, cancer etc. This research may be in nascent stages right now but who knows in a few years time we may see some tangible results on that front too.
But like in all good things there was a flip side to this saga too. I found his take on many issues absolutely in-agreeable, to put it mildly. His stance on non vegetarian food for one is something I don’t really agree with. Though I’m not exactly a voracious non vegetarian but yes, I do eat it occasionally. And I don’t think it’s wrong. Even Shri Ram, who is a much revered deity of Hindus, is supposed to have been a meat eater at some point in his life. What else do you think he was doing when they say that they used to go for SHIKAR in the jungles? If Shri Ram could eat meat, well, so can I. And you too. There are other very valid reasons on this score which I’m not going into for the moment. Suffice to say that it is entirely a personal choice whether you want to eat meat or not. Either way it’s absolutely fine.
The second issue on which I have serious reservations was the issue of multinational companies. If he had his way he would throw out all these companies from the country. Well, I find that to be a rather extreme statement and it would be pretty lame to even argue against this stance. These companies may be making a lot of money but there contribution towards growth of Indian economy cannot be wished away.
The third major issue which is quite thorny is his take on homosexuality. He says that gays are actually sick people and need to be sent to asylums for treatment. Well, for me that’s ridiculous. These guys, like you and me, are just humans. They did not become gays out of choice. They were made that way by our Gods, the same Gods who made you and me heterosexual. So how can we possibly fault them for being gays? And no, unlike Swami Ramdev I don’t believe that Indian culture and society are under threat because of gays.
There are a few more issues where I completely disagree with him but the aim is not just to talk about these differences. The aim of this is to talk about influence of any religious teacher and our respective beliefs in them. There is no doubt about the fact that some of these leaders like Swami Ramdev do talk a lot of sense but it would be absolutely naive on our parts to follow everything that they say blindly. Our faith and common sense need to coexist in our hearts and minds. You can let your faith be a driving force but let your common sense do a reality check before you take any major decision. At least that’s what I do. I do yoga with Swami Ramdev every morning and even use his ayurvedic products like aloe vera and stuff but beyond this I use my own free will to decide what is correct and what’s not. And so should all of us. Don’t you think?
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April 14th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
My my my....swami's gods yoga spirituality etc etc... 80% of india's productivity is lost to silly religious and spiritual rituals... Ppl nowadays are into a lot of wrong doing that they are always behind god or god men begging for pardon!!!
U can believe in sumone who says there is no god, but never in someone who says i'm god!!! Trust the preachings but not the preacher lol..
anyways who is God?- u n me are god and work is worship!!! Life is as simple as that and we are not gonna reach anywhere searching for some non existent stuff called 'God' after all godliness is something inside me and u and anybody who thinks good..rest is just beating around the bush to utopia..
sush wud've agreed with u at least a little if u had written 'MONEY IS GOD' ;-) after all its after money that all these god men are after. Reminds me of a really nice old tamil song-'♪♫ ♪♫ kaasay dhan kadavul ada, andha kadavulukkum adhu kadavul ada ♪♫ ♪♫' ( money is god, and money is god even to the gods)
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April 15th, 2010 at 9:23 am
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Comments on : @swamiwwwji, HMMMM!!! I forgot....
Comment By : swami www ji
April 15, 2010
yea sush everybudy's a swami even u-swami sushma ji ...lol the swami and ji literally fits into any indian name...lol wot a naming philosophy indians have developed ages ago!!!
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April 15th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Nice observations Sush. Ramdev is a very sincere man but he needs to be more practical than he is right now. His opinion on medical science is also not very flattering though all his knowledge and research is based on what medical science has published. He needs to give credit where it is due.
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April 15th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Belief in God or God men just makes u lose ur self confidence cos u tend to owe everything to them where one is non-existent and the other is a crook.
We got to learn to have confidence in ourselves and our fellow beings friends and family if we want to get any kind of achievement practically be it small or big.
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April 19th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Sush, a wonderful observation on a subject that can be debated infinitely. Merits, demirits aside, yes, your concerns are indeed not in line with a enlightened philosophy called Hinduism.
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The following intellectual quote augments your observation to the core.
QUOTE:
"Hinduism is a richly diverse family of philosophies, traditions and practices strung together by certain core, essential beliefs. Essential to Hinduism is also the concept of pluralism. This pluralism and resulting diversity, in the context of Hinduism, is exemplified in the various ways Hindus have defined our relationship with the Divine. This relationship is characterized by a beautiful spectrum that ranges from absolute duality to absolute non-duality and perspectives in between these two. If I may, I cite an oft given example of water in the form of a drop and the ocean to better explain these two concepts. Those ascribing to absolute duality would say that while a drop of water and the ocean share the same qualities, the same characteristics, the drop of water can never be the ocean. Those ascribing to non-duality would say, that yes, the drop of water and the ocean, do indeed share the same characteristics and qualities and are thus, one in the same.
But regardless of where one falls in the spectrum of these beliefs; regardless of this name one calls God by - be it Krishna, Christ, Yahweh or Allah; regardless of gender, race, religion, caste, nationality, sexual orientation, age, we are part of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam –that is we are members of a world family which shares the quality of Divine oneness. And so we share unity not only in Diversity, but unity in Divinity.
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UNQUOTE:
Therefore, a deviation to these basic ethics is only to construe a present that would largely benefit the individual as is the case in Baba Ramdev. He is a brilliant teacher who can exude and impart confidence to the Public. At the same time his socio-political thoughts and views does not ascribe too well with you, me and perhaps several others.
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God is an integral part of our existence. It is an infinite force that unifies and binds us. The gist of Hindu doctrines also augments this fact. It is a fraility in us and hence, if there is an assumed bridge put across to us by way of a god-man or sadhu, we obviously cling to it. It is our fraility that these people utilize, not our rationale.
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End of the day, WE have to decide whether we should be governed by the good or bad motives of self proclaimed god-men. With regard to Baba Ramdev, he does a wonderful job in motivating, inciting and attracting mass public to a better health concept. He should be given due merit and respect for this free social service which no common man would undertake to do on his own free will.
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May 14th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
OM,
Sush finally I got something where our thoughts are going different directions. Why not we should throw out the multi national companies as they loot crores of rupees every year. If you know, Bharat every year is taking some extra debt from foreign countries as compared to the former year just to clear that former years debt. And we people are just throwing our money on their products when we have better indigenous products. Might be we are not producing better products in every field but the products made with zero technology are far much better than these MNC's products like soap, oil, shoes, clothes and many more.
And if you feel they are a big boost to our economy, then just wants to remind you we have 250 lakh crores of our indian money in swiss and other foreign banks and around 60 lakh crores in India and that is all black money. Just we need to bring that back. Do you think after getting this money back we need MNC's? And to make this possible we have to use indigenous products specially made with zero technology.
Will discuss much more as I am great follower of Swami Ramdev.
Sorry for now, need to leave.
Jai Bharat
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May 16th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
If multi national companies are indeed making money here in India so are our hundreds of companies from other countries. By that analogy they too should not be allowed to operate there.
Another example, just in case you do throw out all the foreign companies, imagine what'll happen to our energy and defence requirements which are met largely through imports. No one would give you these things if we throw their companies out. I've just mentioned two most important things.There are hundreds more.
It's all give and take. As you can see, though your intentions are very sincere it would be nearly impossible for us to implement them.
As for our money in Swiss banks is concerned I feel that these two issues are not related, though we do need to get this money back at the earliest.
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Comments on : @Sandeep, the call for swadesh....
Comment By : Sandeep Rana
May 21, 2010
Namaste Sush,
As you said, "its all give and take", I appreciate that. I am very much aware of what we are giving, can you please elaborate on what we are taking from them? And if we are taking something how much we are paying for that, is that worth what we pay? I wish to remind you an incident when Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was our prime minister and he visited America to demand them to share there technology with us i.e. a Super Computer and One some hitech engine.(i forgot the name of that engine.). It was denied to us and our prime minister came back empty hands. Our Indian Scientists prepared a much better Param Computer and the day it was launched officially, American government denied the American Visa for life time to all the Scientist part of that team who prepared the Param Computer.
Is it what we have taken from them?
And our Param Computer is far better from theirs in all aspects and is used till date in Canada for weather forecasting.
I have taken a small example Sush. There are many others. And we are giving them Rs. 2000 Crores every year which they earn as profit only from a single company Pepsi Cola.
And what these cold drinks are just pesticides, this is what the government reports have said. Are these cold drinks passed by any standard organisations from our government--NO. And this company alone has taken away lakhs of jobs of juicemakers. And are in reply providing just a few thousand jobs.
Is it the way they boost our economy????
Jai Bharat
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May 22nd, 2010 at 9:23 am
Firstly, a country does not become rich just by printing more money. That would be a disaster. A country becomes rich based on just one word. It's called DEMAND. If there is demand for workers there will be demand for everything else, food, consumer goods etc etc which in turn means more taxes and more money for our govt. By allowing foreign capital we have achieved this one big thing.
The second issue is technology. Look around you. Any and everything from cellphone to TV to cars to even internet was created by foreigners. We are using their technology and for that we have to pay a cost.
There are many other reasons because of which we cannot just throw these companies out or de-globalize, so to speak. In fact even America cannot afford to throw out foreign companies from their country. All our economies are now interlinked.
And that's a cryogenic engine that you're talking about.
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Comments on : @Sandeep, I think you'll have ....
Comment By : Sandeep Rana
May 22, 2010
Namaste Shush,
Learning to live in globalized world does not mean we need to live a compromised life. You are true that this is not a finance related site, however when we talk about Bharat we should not forget economy point cannot be put aside. If you are talking about globalization let me make it clear that after globalization started in India in 1991 the Indian Rupee value against American Dollar was 17 Rs and just within 20 Yrs it has reached Rs 50 per dollar. Globalization only work for economically strong countries, the countries which were already strong has grown stronger and developing countries has grown weaker on the economical grounds.
Secondly, yes we have great demand of worker and work and everything, but you know when we keep working for others we can never become rich. We need more world standard companies like Reliance, Tata, Indian Oil which can be listed under fortune 500. The Idea behind is that profit should not go outside India, if that keeps on draining India will only grow poorer.
Thirdly, you are talking about the technologies given by them, yes indeed there are but do not forget that India has given so much to the world before it was evaded by evaded by foreign rulers and Britishers, ie Zero, Algebra, Cosmic information, Months, days there are many more in fact Aeroplane was first designed in India was successfully tested which was later stolen and was named to Right brothers. Believe me India has so much of potential, we can make far better technologies than they have made. Even you would be knowing that there are so many Indians who have been working in NASA and so many other companies which have given so much to the world. Just the need for the day is that we need to invest more on R&D and before that our higher education should not be in English as no Developed country except America and Australia provide education to its people in English, eg Japan, China, Germany etc. If we change our education system we can do lot better. Every Indian should be given higher education in Hindi only, and then you'll get talent from villages that have never been explored so far due to bad education system.
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May 23rd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
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May 23rd, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Namaste Shush,
This is not fair, you cannot just quit like that.
Anyhow, lets go back to your points on spirituality.
1 - On Non Veg – Dear, spirituality and Non Veg can never be mixed. Spirituality means knowing your true self, exploring soul's base qualities like love, peace and happiness. This is what human keeps looking for all his life knowingly or unknowingly. However those who consume Non Veg cannot experience these qualities, the reason behind is: it has been scientifically proven that at the time of slaughtering any animal there takes place a secretion of chemicals which are produced due to fear, anguish, frustration, anger etc as it does in humans and all living beings. These chemicals play a very major role in controlling thoughts and feelings. So when an animal is consumed, we also consume these chemicals and the effect is that a vegetarian is much more calm, loveable and happier than the Non vegetarians.
2. Throwing MNC’s out of the country – This will happen and you will see India’s GDP will grow much faster than it is now. You agree or not time will prove it and we’ll see it. Also you won’t mind this change I believe
3. Homosexuality – Again you have mentioned homosexuality under spirituality header. However spirituality means that you have command over your senses. Homosexuality is something where one goes against the law of the nature just because one feels comfortable and ecstatic in that relation. Yes, there had been exceptions ever since the humankind is known for its existence. But that does not mean we legalize those exceptions, then this would become a rule; gradually. Let it be an exception.
4. Use my own free will to decide what is correct and what’s not: Yes everyone has the right to think and do what ever one feels is correct. But remember one thing that an ordinary human can not think at par with someone who is at the top of his spirituality and growing much matured day by day.
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May 24th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
As far as having meat is concerned, let me add that this too is a person thing. Even Shri Ram had non veg to eat, as I said in my post.
About MNCs let me again tell you that they cannot and will not be thrown out. If you don't believe me just wait and watch. Your wait will never end.
And I'll request you not to not take this so very personally.
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