Last week we celebrated Dussehra – a festival that for centuries has marked the victory of good (Ram) over evil (Raavan). Burning of effigies of Raavan, his brother and son has been an integral part of this celebration (particularly in North India) for over a century. This year was not the same though. There were scattered instances of people worshipping Raavan and protesting against burning of his effigies. Some elements of the Indian society discovered a caste angle in this and termed Dussehra festivities as a conspiracy against the upper caste brahmins, to which Raavan is believed to belong. This may be a small beginning, but my discussion with many educated people indicates that it may not be long before Raavan worshipping emerges as a popular cult in India. For context, I have not heard or read any leader or wise man critical or concerned about this; though some social media commentators did appear amused.
Many years ago, a wise man advised me to “Believe in your strengths and weakness”. Without giving it a thought, I replied firmly, “I do!” He paused for a while and said calmly, “knowing is different from believing. For example, you know that you will die someday. But do you really believe it!” I understood the meaning of what that wise man was trying to tell me, many years later.
We all, especially our politicians and social media activists, know the strengths and glorious past of our country. But do we really believe in that? In my opinion, no, we do not!
We all know, religion is at the core of Indian society. The Indian political and economic paradigms therefore must be constructed around religion.
Even a cursory study of Indian history, whether critically proven or mythological, would suggest that the best economic and political periods in the history of the sub-continent were when a righteous king at the helm protected and promoted religion. Conversely, the worst periods, economic and political, were those when some tyrant attempted to destroy religious beliefs and knowledge.
Traditionally in India, education, research, arts, architecture, science, and the State itself, have all developed and prospered around religion. Religion was also woven intricately with agriculture, which was the primary profession.
By adopting secularism as a major social construct, especially since the 1970s, the Indian State has unfortunately equated religion with bigotry. This has not only made religion a divisive (instead of bonding) force, but has also led to the degeneration of strong traditions of seeking spiritual, scientific and material knowledge for the larger welfare of the human kind.
In the past five decades we have reached a stage where religion is used to evoke fear & violent passion in people's minds and manipulate them. Money & power, and not knowledge & evolution, seem to have become the primary aim of religion. Ignorance and superstitions are destroying people's lives. It is commonly seen that the gullible people borrow money to feed illiterate and unscrupulous persons, whose only quality is their surname.
Intelligentsia and academics are scared to explore and propagate the tremendous wealth of knowledge stored in traditional scriptures for the fear of being labeled "communal and bigot". Politicians are scared to promote the traditions of knowledge seeking and spiritual evolution. A society of seekers is degenerating into a society of xenophobes. The consequences are that the entire nation bothers about winning one medal in any global supporting event but does never bother about winning a Nobel in mathematics, physics or medicine.
I had the opportunity to interact with many Indian Vedis scholars. I have no doubt about the superiority and purity of their knowledge base and understanding. The Vedic tradition is inarguably one of the best-known ways of life with "seeking" as its fulcrum. The modern problem however is that people claiming to have knowledge, do not want common people to "seek". They want us to accept whatever they offer. I want the Vedanta to be my spiritual guide. They just want me to wear the Vedanta as my identity (Hindu) as a badge, and claim superiority over other religious identities.
I have been hearing the phrase "21st century belongs to India" for the past three decades. Many politicians and analysts have used this cliché to emphasize the tremendous economic opportunities that India could offer in the next few decades, given its young demography. The list of investors and global States seeking strategic partnerships who have been excited by the potential is long and impressive. The list of investors and Statesmen who have been disappointed in the past two decades may be even longer.
The point to evaluate critically is whether India sans its core ethos is viable as an economic and strategic power house! In my view, perhaps ‘not’. Remember, startups and advanced technology are a necessary good in the modern times. But the policymakers must believe that Apple, Facebook, Twitter, NVIDIA, Tesla and Amazon etc. are outcome of a Society that promotes and cherishes knowledge seeking and freedom of thought. It is not the other way round.
