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Swami and His Foes
Suresh Naig
It was one winter evening at Coimbatore, in the year 1984. Even till date I couldn't recollect the reasons, which made me to visit Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, to listen to a lecture of a Swamiji.
It was a moderate crowd of less than 100 persons, most of them having attained superannuation, found the lecture an inexpensive entertainment. The Swamiji, whose name I forgot, was no different from any other Swamijis. Like many of the Swamijis he was also 60 plus, but beyond which his proper age was not discernible. He had also sported a long beard, like any other person of his clan, which had turned grey, had long unkempt hair and he worn a long piece of cotton jubbah, which had obviated the need for a dhoti, though he was wearing one.
At a much younger age, I had a problem of differentiating one cine actress from the other, since I felt all of them looked alike with heavily made-up face and all the cine heroines of yester years appeared to me as padded horses! of a different kind.
As I grew up, I developed the skills in identifying a female cine personalities, but my problem of identification shifted to Swamijis, who not only looked alike, but also behaved alike, with their monotonous uninspiring lectures. This swamiji was no different.
He opened his lecture praising the U.S. from where he had returned, after a long and fruitful visit. He said, 'I was discussing with few young Americans about Indian culture and our ancient practices aimed at healthy living. This discussion happened in the house of my host, an Indian settled in U.S.A. The American youth were casual in their approach, some with cigarettes dangling from their lips, exhaling a cloud of smoke, some with coke bottles in their hand, some casually lying on the sofa and yet showed seriousness in learning about our culture. I was astonished by their questions and eagerness to learn new things.'
When the swamiji continued his monotonous lecture, praising the new found land of his opportunities, a person who was sitting in the front row was infuriated. He burst out at the Swamiji, 'I have not come here to listen to your praises for America, I had expected that you would deliver a lecture on Geeta or Mahabharat.' Sitting four rows behind, I was curiously enjoying all these things.
When the Swamiji tried to reply to the infuriated man from the first row, with an innocuous smile, the agitated person in his early forties fumed and left the hall in a huff. It appeared to me that the person left the hall out of envy, on the Swamiji's foreign jaunt.
Unfazed, the Swamiji continued his lecture. His lecture was centred on the need to live in tandem with nature, with abundant examples from his day to day observations. He was narrating, 'the other day I saw some people eating cucumber bought from a road side vendor, peeled, cut and after applying salt and pepper powder on it. If God wanted us to eat cucumber with salt and pepper, he would have put the same in cucumber.' His lectures continued on the same line with many more examples, which all of us would have commonly encountered on a daily basis.
His concluding punch was, 'we have stopped eating to satiate our hunger since long, we have stopped drinking to quench our thirst since long. Since our acts no longer reflect the purpose, we are facing certain peculiar problems. If all our acts are purposeful, intended for the specific and natural purpose, we no longer would need to worry about our physical and mental health.' The Swamiji concluded his lecture and the forum was open for questions from the assembled audience.
My question was specific. 'Swamiji I agree with you on many of the points, which are parallel to the views expressed by Van Dyer in his book Sky is not the limit. However there is one act in India which is very purposeful, and we are witnessing the population explosion. Is it not right to indulge in it, relegating the purpose, for the benefit of the society?'
Before the Swamiji could respond, many in the audience, tried to show their disapproval for my question. Swamiji, after some thoughtful silence for maximum effect, opened his mouth fondling his grey beard. 'it is easier said than done, but regular practice of Yoga is the answer for your question.' And he left it at that.
After so many years I felt otherwise. In 1984, when I was young I felt, "It was easier done than said" and now at my 50+ age I realise it is easier said than done".
Swami and His Foes
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Deepti Lamba
URL
November 11, 2008
09:07 PM
In the current scenario Yoga instead of cheap porno cds may actually help people think of higher purpose than the debase one
On the other hand good health tends to make people very purposeful;)
Enjoyed reading the article.
blokesablogin
November 12, 2008
12:13 AM
Lovely "portrait" Suresh!
suresh.naig
November 12, 2008
02:39 AM
Deepti and blokesblogin:
Thanks for your comments and return of wits. Of late I feel the comments are weightier and worthier, because of its brevity. Thanks again.
kerty
November 12, 2008
09:21 AM
Deepti
"porno cds may actually help people think of higher purpose"
Only one thing gets higher and it has only one purpose. To hold their future in their own hands and screw the rest.
Morris
November 12, 2008
02:30 PM
I wonder whether hindu religion is more self centred than the others. Hindu gurus seem to be talking more about the growth of the individuals rather than the society at large. The religion does not have answers for the problems of the society. Just wondering. Any comments?
blokesablogin
November 12, 2008
06:08 PM
Morris: individuals constitute society. When at the level of individuals you have contented people who are not greedy but are giving and kind, after having recognized that there is no "other", THEN, you will have a "divine" society.
kerty
November 12, 2008
10:06 PM
Morris
Man-making, family-making, community-making and nation/civilization-making are religious projects. When any of them are unattended or ignored, no amount of man-making can ever be enough to hold the society, because any progress in man-making front can be undone by reverse-engineering in all other fronts.
Morris
November 12, 2008
10:17 PM
blokesblog
"after having recognized that there is no "other", THEN, you will have a "divine" society."
Is that really good enough for to day's problems of the society at large. You may be fully contented having a dozen children and all the rest. But have you really looked at your contribution to the society. Each one may feel divine in his own little world but collectively the living condition they produce can be miserable.
suresh.naig
November 13, 2008
12:32 AM
Morris,
Religion, especially Hinduism recognises, individuals, society, nation etc, which is all encompassing. It specifies individual responsibilities, family responsibilities, social responsibilities and even specifies responsibilities for the rulers.
We have been made to unlearn the treasures, by superimposing it with trash, in the recent past by the invaders.
Let's not blame the religion for our induced myopia, induced by concerted efforts of different persons, from outside and from within.
commonsense
November 13, 2008
07:47 PM
suresh.naig:
""Religion, especially Hinduism recognises, individuals, society, nation etc, which is all encompassing. It specifies individual responsibilities, family responsibilities, social responsibilities and even specifies responsibilities for the rulers.
We have been made to unlearn the treasures, by superimposing it with trash, in the recent past by the invaders.""
yeah right! eternal principles, regardless of social change? yes, go ahead, blame it on the "invaders", not social change. every problem that india faces and will face: you guessed it, "the invaders"!!! simple-minded thinking and shirking of one's responsibilites, anyone??
suresh.naig
November 13, 2008
08:42 PM
commonsense: your "eternal principles", to jump into the fray without bothering to study the context.
I have not mentioned any present day problems of India, or Indians. I have mentioned the grosss misunderstanding of Hinduism and it was mentioned as a 'matter of fact' and never as a problem.
Close your eyes, take few deep breaths, relax your body, which is known as meditation, a past tradition, which people are rediscovering now, should do you lots of good, not withstanding your fascination to hold brief for the invaders.
commonsense
November 13, 2008
10:04 PM
suresh,
that's because hinduism or non-hinduism is relevant and not relevant. pick and chose what works, discard what doesn't. to go on and on about how wonderful everything was until it was shattered by "the invaders" is delusional at best...there were always "invaders" so to speak, everywhere, through cultural titration, intermixing of cultures, institutions, ideas...however, please keep dreaming of delusions of pure cultures that presumably errupted form the pure, uncorrupted soil of "India"
kerty
November 13, 2008
11:47 PM
CS
Concepts of 'invader' and 'native' arise only in the context of each other. What people object to is intermixing of cultures, sabotage of institutions and imposition of ideas thru wars and violence, thru coercive institutions of despotic rulers and totalitarian statism. People rightfully identify such forces with 'invader'.
commonsense
November 14, 2008
07:01 AM
Suresh,
BTW, (before Chandra jumps on me for being anti-Hindu!!), what I said, in my so-called mind at least, applies to any religion and culture, be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc. etc. that dreams of delusional "purity" that never was. Or imagined pure cultures such as Chinese, Indian, Gujrati, Marathi, what have you! There were never "pure" as their thekedaars take them to be - they have always been in the making, always hybrid and ""mongrels"" and that's a good thing too!
suresh.naig
November 14, 2008
07:20 AM
commonsense:
My son,who is an animal lover objects to any one referring Indian breed of dogs as "mongrels", which he claims is from the root "trouble mongers".
He is a hard core patriot, his patriotism covers even Indian dogs.
smallsquirrel
November 14, 2008
08:53 AM
sureah, your son needs a lesson on word history and how to research properly.. the word mongrel comes from the Old/Middle English and essentially means MIXED. It has other (negative) connotations now, but the root of the word, and the true meaning of the word are just fine.
commonsense
November 14, 2008
02:21 PM
thanks SS.
Suresh, perhaps your son might be right about "mongrels" if he existed in his own "private world" which by the way is the root of the word "idiot" from the Greek "idiotes", meaning simply, "private person". "Idiot" did not always have a negative connotation either and I certainly don't intend to imply the negative connotation. Private definitions and understandings of words are just fine as long as such understands are not used to communicate with others who do obviously have no access to personal takes on public meaning of words.
In other words, we were always mongrels.
suresh.naig
November 14, 2008
07:38 PM
cs: thanks mongrel.
commonsense
November 14, 2008
09:46 PM
You're more than welcome pure-bred Suresh!
sincerely,
happy mongrel
suresh.naig
November 15, 2008
12:10 AM
cs: Actually my response was for your statement, we were always mongrels, which includes me:)
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