Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 years: The Story of the Quest: Part 2

    I recall the day in Wakefield, England when I was waiting at the bus station for a boarding a bus to London. That was 1996. A Briton sitting next to me, who was also waiting for his bus, asked me which country I was from. “India”, I replied. He looked at the sky trying to recall where the country was located. After a few seconds, he was able to vaguely recall the country with some difficulty. “India.. that poor country?”, he murmured and then looked at me. I did not know precisely how to respond, since until then I had great ideas about my country. I had always thought the country must be known abroad as one of the oldest civilisations, which produced all marks of human advancement including poetry, mathematics, health sciences and surgery, music, a developed religion and philosophy much before today’s advanced  nations and the Greeks woke up to the light of civilisation. It was a rude shock to me to find that the most important thing about my country to mention was its poverty. Soon I realised that it was a matter-of-fact statement, not one inspired by malice, even though the questioner’s country itself was largely responsible for colonising, and impoverishing India.

    This incident instigated me to probe the issue of Indian poverty a little deeply when I returned to India after one and a half month of stay in England. Since then, seeing India poverty-free became one of the missions of my life. However, my interest in the phenomenon of Indian poverty was less academic than practical: it consisted in finding the action blueprint that would lead to making India free from poverty. Yet, there cannot be a solution to a complex problem until the problem is understood in detail, and in its various dimensions. Hence, I began the study of poverty in general and Indian poverty in particular.

    Before returning to India, I had been to a jail in West Yorkshire to see how the prisoners were trained for earning a living when they left the jail. The arrangements were remarkable; as remarkable as any arrangement based on common sense would be. They were, for example being trained in wall plastering. The plaster styles created by the prisoners were better than the ones found in five star hotels in India. Not that the prisoners themselves created it; they were given the right material and training for creating the styles. They were told about the best practices, and the bad practices; the all the do’s and don’ts. The plasters from the walls were regularly taken off, and fresh plastering done by new prisoners. The training to prisoners was expected to be such as would give them an edge when they went out in the open market to compete with other plaster-masons. That was the real training to help them with a profitable livelihood. In Indian jails, or elsewhere in India, I have seen nothing of the kind. Not that the technologies were not available in India: the Indians did not have the right attitude towards excellence in vocational training. 

समग्र क्रांति की अवधारणा

(The Concept of Integral Revolution)

व्यक्ति का जीवन और लोक-जीवन दोनों ही एक शरीर की तरह हुआ करते हैं, जिनके एक अंग या पहलू का प्रभाव दूसरे अंग या पहलू पर कामो-बेश पडता ही है. एक अंग में हुई गम्भीर बीमारी तो कभी-कभी पूरे शरीर को नष्ट कर देती है. कैंसर अगर एक अंग में हो जाये, और उसका उचित उपचार न हो, तो सारे शरीर में फ़ैल कर उसे नष्ट कर देती है. आज राजनीति में भ्रष्टाचार का कैंसर केवल लोक-जीवन के एक अंग, राजनीति, को नष्ट नहीं कर रहा है, बल्कि लोक-जीवन के सभी अन्य अंगों को बुरी तरह प्रभावित कर रहा है. चूँकि मंत्रियों में भ्रष्टाचार है इस लिये अफसरशाहों में भी भ्रष्टाचार है. आखिर उन्हीं के सहयोग से तो मंत्री भ्रष्टाचार करते हैं. जब अफसरशाह भ्रष्ट होंगे तो उनके सभी अधीनस्थ छोटे अधिकारी और कर्मचारी भी भ्रष्टाचार के लिये स्वतंत्र होंगे ही. किसी बड़े अधिकारी को उनके भ्रष्टाचार को रोकने का नैतिक बल कहाँ होगा? इसका परिणाम वही होगा जो आज हो रहा है. गरीबी जाने का नाम नहीं लेती. किसान भूखे मर रहे हैं, और मजदूर खून के आँसू रो रहे हैं. जन-सामान्य पेशो-पेश में है.

    मगर सारा  दोष राजनीति को देना उचित नहीं होगा. अगर शिक्षा उचित होती और बच्चों को उचित संस्कार दिये गए होते, तो बड़े हो कर हर  राजनीतिज्ञ भ्रष्ट ही नही  होता, अधिकांश अफसर भ्रष्ट नहीं होते. धर्म और धर्म-गुरु जो लोक जीवन पर इतना गहरा प्रभाव रखते रहे हैं, अपने भक्तों को भ्रष्टाचार के लिये मना नहीं करते.  क्या यह उनका नैतिक भ्रष्टाचार नहीं है? ईश्वर और देवताओं की ऐसी छवि बनाना कि वे भी चढावे ले कर गलत- सही, उचित-अनुचित का विवेक ताक पर रख अपने भक्तों को धन-दौलत और पद-शोहरत दिया करते हैं, क्या भ्रष्टाचार नहीं है? क्या यह बात  जनता को और धर्म-गुरुओं को राजनीतिज्ञोंने सिखाई? नहीं! अर्थात दोष सिर्फ राजनीति का नहीं है. हमारे धर्म और हमारी संस्कृति भी में भी कहीं ना कहीं खोट है. शिक्षा-पद्धति में भी कहीं-न-कहीं समस्याएं हैं.

    कला और साहित्य सभ्यता के प्राचीनतम प्रतिमानों में से हैं. आज उनकी क्या दशा है देश में? देश के एक बड़े साहित्यकार का नाम ले सकते हैं आप? एक बड़े कवि का नाम जानते हैं आप? राजनीति ने माहौल जरूर खराब किया है, मगर सांस्कृतिक पुनरुत्थान की भी सारी जिमेदारी राजनीतिज्ञ पर ही है क्या ? सामजिक और सांस्कृतिक नेतृत्व कहाँ सोया रहा हमारा?

    संक्षेप में यह कि हमें लोक-जीवन को इतना खंड-खंड बाँट कर नहीं देखना है. राजनीतिज्ञों और भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध लोक-शक्ति आज उठ रही है, संगठित हो रही है. यह एक शुभ लक्षण है. मगर इस लोक-जागरण को हमें  विस्तार देना है. समाज के हर वर्ग को और हर पीढ़ी को इस पनपती हुई क्रान्ति में समेटना है, और समग्र क्रान्ति की ओर मोडना है. हर गाँव में जीवन को उसके सम्पूर्णता में समेकित कर विकसित करना है – समेकित और सामग्र क्रांति करनी है! व्यक्ति के जीवन में भी यही सामाग्र क्रान्ति और सम्पूर्ण निर्माण हमें करना है. इस समेकित क्रांति और सम्पूर्ण निर्माण की रूप रेखा हमें धीरे-धीरे स्पष्ट रूप से समझनी पड़ेगी, और इसमें अपनी भूमिका ढूंढनी पड़ेगी.

आइये इस प्रयास में हम जुड़ें. जुड़ने का पहला तरीका होगा इस संवाद से जुड़ना. समग्र क्रान्ति मंच से जुड़ना.

Ramdev and Congress

रामलीला मैदान में सोये हुए लोगों पर लाठी चार्ज और स्वामी रामदेव के साथ अमानवीय व्यवहार स्वस्थ लोकतान्त्रिक परम्पराओं पर कुठाराघात है. भ्रष्टाचार में आकंठ डूबी हुयी राजनितिक पार्टियां भ्रष्टाचार की पोल खोले वाले अपने प्रतिपक्षियों के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार करें यह आश्चर्यजनक नहीं है. मगर यह निंदनीय है.

मगर बाबा रामदेव के विषय में भी विषय में कई बातें हैं जिन्हें बाबा और सत्याग्रह करने वाले सभी लोगों को समझनी जरूरी हैं. 

अनशन और सत्याग्रह नैतिक शस्त्र हैं. उन्हें करने वाले के पीछे सत्य और नैतिकता का पूरा बल होना चाहिए. व्यक्तिगत विद्वेष की भावना नहीं होनी चाहिए. क्रोध नहीं होना चाहिए. वाचालता नहीं होनी चाहिए. सत्याग्रही को दुराग्रही भी नहीं होना चाहिए. सत्याग्रह नाटक भी नहीं है जहाँ दोनों पक्षों के बीच गुप्त समझौते हो जाएँ और ऊपर से सत्याग्रह का नाटक चलता रहे. 

बाबा रामदेव की बातों से किसी के प्रति व्यक्तिगत विद्वेष की बू आ रही थी. दबाव में पत्र लिख देना और जनता से छुपा कर रखना एक सत्याग्रही के सत्यनिष्ठ और पारदर्शी आचरण का प्रमाण नहीं है. कैसा दबाव और कैसा भय? सत्याग्रही को तो प्राण का भी भय नहीं होता फिर किस भय से दबाव में सरकार को चिट्ठी लिखी गयी? सत्याग्रह स्थल से प्राण के भय से भागा क्यों गया? 

जिस उद्देश्य से सत्याग्रह शुरू किया गया वह मूलतः उचित था. काले धन का राष्ट्रीयकरण होना ही चाहिए. इस सम्बन्ध में सरकार की ढुल मुल नीति से देश अच्छी तरह परिचित हो गया है और यह संदेह गहराता ही जा रहा है कि विदेशों में जो काला धन पड़ा हुआ है उसका सम्बन्ध कहीं ना कहीं राजनेताओं और अफसरों से जरूर है.  मगर इस मुद्दे पर जो सत्याग्रह किया गया उसमें सत्याग्रह की भावना और स्वरुप में  शुचिता की कमी दीखी. यह लगभग सभी सुधी लोग महसूस कर रहे हैं. 

अभी  देश में क्रान्ति की जरूरत है, अहिंसक क्रांति की. मगर इस क्रान्ति का बीड़ा उठा कर जो लोग आगे आ रहे हैं, उनके पास देश के विषय में एक समग्र जीवन दृष्टि की कमी दीख रही है. उनकी सोच क्या है यह ठीक से जानने के लिये उनका कोई साहित्य भी नहीं है. भारत जैसे विशाल बहुसांस्कृतिक और पुराने इतिहास वाले  को एक  देश को एक वास्तविक क्रान्ति के पथ पर चलाने के लिये न केवल भावनात्मक गंभीरता बल्कि वैचारिक गहराई और विस्तार की भी जरूरत होगी. गांधी, नेहरु, राजेन्द्र प्रसाद, लोहिया  का साहित्य और उनका कर्तृत्व इस प्रकार  की वस्तुस्थिति का प्रमाण है. वैयक्तिक और राष्ट्र जीवन के प्रत्येक पहलू  पर गांधी ने सोचा और लिखा. केवल बोला नहीं. नेहरु के 'विश्व इतिहास की झलक' पर महान इतिहासकार  टायनबी ने लिखा कि इतना बड़ा मानसिक फलक एक राजनीतिज्ञ का हो यह विश्वास नहीं होता. भारतीय इतिहास के प्रवाह को मोड़ने के पहले इस प्रवाह को, इसके उत्स को, इसकी दिशा को,  समझने की जरूरत है. चिंतन और चिंतनपरक लेखन से विमुख आज के हमारे क्रियावादी और राजनेता  अगर इस प्रवाह के थपेडों से घायल हो कर इतिहास के  हाशिए पर चित हो  जाएँ तो ताज्जुब नहीं. 

एक लोकतंत्र में आमरण अनशन-परक सत्याग्रह अहिंसा का अंतिम अस्त्र है, ब्रह्मास्त्र है, और इसका अधिक प्रयोग अस्त्र की गरिमा और प्रभाव को कम कर देगा. लेकिन भ्रष्टाचार-निरोध के बहादुर योद्धा निराश न हों. यह एक छोटी हार है. बड़ा युद्ध हम जरूर जीतेंगे! भारतीय इतिहास की धारा मोड़ के कगार पर है. भारतीय  इतिहास की कोख से ही और भी शक्तियां उठेंगी और इतिहास की दिशा को बदलेंगी. 

Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 years: The Story of the Quest: Part 1

Once I went to make a presentation of ‘Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 Years’ paradigm to a government department in New Delhi. A bureaucrat with whom I sat for some time heard about the proposal. He wanted to know if the economists and planners who had been working for poverty alleviation for the last 60 years were all fools that they could not achieve in sixty years what it was possible to achieve in just 2 years. I could see indignation in his eyes. I only told him that I was presenting no mystical formula, and he could join the presentation session to see for himself if what I was proposing was feasible. However, his protest was stuck somewhere in my heart, since it was apparently a valid comment. I myself wondered how the planners and economists missed out such simple recipe while working with various complex recipes for poverty alleviation. I did not get an appropriate answer to this question until, after some time, a read an anecdote about Isaac Newton, the great scientist.

    Once Isaac Newton was working in his lab, absorbed in big ideas. He noticed that a family of mice was struggling to get out of a hole in the wall of his lab room. He found that the mice were many and the hole was one. He felt anxious as to how so many mice would get out through one hole. Therefore, he called his assistant and asked him to make more holes in the wall so that each of the several mice could get out through them.  

    It is not known how authentic the story is, but one thing in the story is very authentic. People, whose minds are occupied with big things, or absorbed hundred per cent in something else, sometimes fail to notice the small and the obvious. It did not strike Newton at that time that all the mice could one by one get out through the same one hole if only the hole was a little widened to facilitate entry of one mouse. Similarly, while the economists and the planners keep themselves busy finding complex recipes to bring prosperity to the nations, they often overlook a few very simple facts, which can help them remove poverty and erase the poverty line in just two to three years’ time. One honest bureaucrat told me that very few of these economists, planners, bureaucrats and politicians were truly in the game of removing poverty. They had their own different games to play. That was the reason poverty lingered on from decade to decade.

   What is then the simple recipe for poverty alleviation that I proposed? 

    Before I came to that simple recipe, I would like to narrate the journey of somebody, who was not a qualified economist, that took him to the destination where he thought he had found the way extreme poverty could be removed within a very short period from the poorer areas of the country and the world.  

New Ideas vs Old Ideologies.

The ideological schisms of the past represented by sharp divisions between socialism and capitalism are gradually being buried by all thinking people everywhere. We have seen Russia. The Unites States is now dubbed a ‘socialist’ country by many  because of the welfare orientation of the state. And China is being now called a capitalist country by some owing to the private ownership being granted on all the means of production, and due to the growing number of its High Networth Individuals. You would not be surprised to know that now everyone can own a private house in China for 70 years on lease and this lease can be inherited by the lessee’s children. In China of today you can own a car and everything that we can own in other places, with a fig leaf attached in some cases like housing. The role of private property, private initiative and freedom is increasingly being recognised in the communist block and the role of a welfare state is understood in the capitalist block countries.  From extremities of values, the ideologues and people are settling for a more acceptable balance of values. There is little doubt that finally there will be a near convergence in many senses. 

Humanity is maturing, and therefore political and conceptual fundamentalism is diminishing. Just as the evolution in the nature has been producing species that are often difficult to tag with a specific class and name, political  evolution is also generating unseen mix of ideas that can not be comprehended with the help of archaic and simplistic ideological concepts and adages, but which represent the evolving human reality better and are fitter to survive. What we need to prepare ourselves intellectually for is to comprehend and appreciate  the new ideological thought-species without wearing our old colored spectacles. 

In India too the age of ideologies may be on its way out, and what is going to set in is the age of ideas - a brave new world of ideas that conform to the contemporary reality better and that, at the same time, happen to cater better  to the ideals of human development. It is a matter of time that the adages like 'left', 'right' and 'center' would become irrelevant, and new terms of comprehension will have to be coined. It may however take some more time for those new tools of comprehension to be forged - maybe till Samagr Kranti takes roots in the Indian soil.

Hindu Religion,Spirituality and Service to Humanity

By PK Siddharth

(Text of the speech  delivered on the occasion of World Confluence of Humanity, Power and Spirituality, 2^nd -5^th Jan, 2010 at Kolkata, India)

There was a man who invented the dynamite. He then became a dealer in explosives and earned a great fortune as a merchant of explosives. He became extremely rich through this trade. His explosives were very effective, and they did what they were expected to do in a large number of countries, abetting bloody battles and wars. The man was very proud of his achievements as an inventor and as a merchant. He thought that his life was very good and successful till one day he asked one of his friends a question: “Tell me how would I be remembered by the posterity?’

“As a merchant of death”, replied his friend.

The man fell from heaven.

In a moment his interpretation of life, universe and self changed. He encountered the moment of truth.

He decided to pool together all his money, and put it in a trust so that the income from its interest would be sufficient to give awards every year to such people as would make a contribution to the preservation and promotion of peace in the world.

Today the award instituted by him inspires thousands of people all over the world to work for peace, and for achievements in sciences, literature and philosophy that would take the humanity farther in its quest for excellence. His name is so honourable today that people feel proud to be associated with his name.

His name was Alfred Nobel, and it is he who instituted the Nobel Prize. Today, most inventors, scientists, economists, writers and social workers find it a matter of pride to be called a Nobel laureate, just because Alfred Nobel dedicated all his wealth to the service of humanity.

Service to humanity is a value that is viewed with approval by nearly every enlightened person, whether he is a theist or an atheist, a believer or a non-believer.

The reasons for turning to service of humanity are different for different people.

Mother Teresa took up service to humanity because she believed in God and thought her service to the poor would endear her to God. There are a vast number of people who render service to humanity in various ways for religious fulfillment and spiritual growth. But today, in the age of reason, there are now a growing number of people all over the world, who do not render human service to please God or to secure for themselves a place in the heaven after death. They do it just because it appeals to their reason that they should plough back into the society what they received from it.  Bill Gates has committed a huge chunk of his personal wealth to the service of humanity. Bill and his wife Melinda keep traveling across continents to find how they and their wealth could be of any service to the suffering humanity anywhere in the world. It does not appear that they have been doing his for – or primarily for - religious reasons. It is perhaps because they like the happiness and profound satisfaction earned through philanthropy.

Therefore, service to humanity is as dear to an enlightened atheist or an agnostic, who does not believe in God, heaven or hell, as it may be to a believer, who either wants to simply win the grace of God, or wishes  to secure for himself an assured place in the heaven. In this article, however, it would be my endeavor to throw some light on the relationship between religion, spirituality and service to humanity, especially as it figures in Hinduism.

There is a clear and strong stream in Hinduism that believes in sanyas as one of the valid and effective ways of attaining God. A sanyasi is one who takes to spiritual practices like Jap, dhyan or meditation and other spiritual kriyas or actions in isolation from ordinary worldly activities. A sanyasi renounces the world and performs only nitya and naimittik karmas or actions like daily ablutions and a selected set of actions that are strictly necessary for spiritual attainment. He shuns all kamya karmas or actions rooted in the worldly domain. Effectively, he is believed to have got a license to do nothing other than his necessary personal cleaning, and mediation, chanting etc., including what we ordinarily think of as human service. He is believed to be able to scale spiritual heights without having to render any service to humanity or the world. It is this notion that Lord Krishna in the BhagawdGita sets out to blast.

Such sanyasi, or renouncer, can be a gyan yogi or a bhakti yogi. ‘Yog’, called ‘yoga’ in English, literally means ‘joining’, ‘adding’ or ‘bonding’ (together). The opposite of ‘yoga’ is ‘viyoga’ or separation. In Hindu philosophy ‘yoga’ signifies a way of life that joins or binds a spiritual aspirant and God together. In other words, ‘yoga’ means a path that leads to attainment of God or Godhood. A person practicing such a way of life is called a ‘yogi’.

The Hindu philosophy recognizes several paths or ‘yogas’ that can lead to attainment of God or Godhood. The three main and well known paths, among so many, are gyan yoga, bhakti yoga and karm yoga. Gyan yoga focuses on contemplation or meditation of God, and is knowledge-oriented, where knowledge does mean worldly knowledge, but knowledge of God and related matters. Bhakti yoga focuses on devotion to God, and is essentially feelings or emotions-oriented, drawing basically on emotions of love and reverence towards God. Karma yoga focuses on actions that pertain to the worldly domain. Though these actions are performed in the worldly domain, which a sanyasi or renouncer would ordinarily shun, the actions are without personal attachment and are dedicated to God. The karma yogis seek to attain God through such detached and dedicated actions.  

It is important to note that not only gyan margis or knowledge-yogis can be sanyasis or renouncers of the world. Even staunch bhakti margis can be sanyasis. The famous bhaktas like Tulasidas, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ramkrishna Paramhans, Bhaktivedant Swami Prabhupad were all bhakts or bhakti-yogis, and they were all renouncers of the world. They spent all their time chanting the name of God, and reading, writing, thinking and talking about God and His deeds, with little interest in actions pertaining to the worldly domain.

The popular understanding in Hinduism is that the gyan-margis and the sanyasi bhaktas are under no obligation to perform any kamya Karma or worldly actions, which apparently include, among others, service of other humans. This was the point in issue between Swami Vivekananda and the other disciples of Ramkrishna, when Swami Vivekananda set out to set up Ramkrishna Mission for service to humanity in ways other than mere preaching and blessing. Vivekananda’s gurubhayis or co-disciples of Ramkrishna were of the opinion that as sanyasi bhaktas their prime duty was to chant the names of the Mother Goddess with full devotion and to keep remembering her all the time without being interrupted by ‘worldly’ thoughts and actions. It took Swami Viviekanand quite a bit of effort to convince his peers that service to humanity was as much a part of their spiritual quest as bhajan-kirtan and other puja chores.

Not that this was Swami Vivekananda’s own view on spirituality and religion. What he was saying was only a re-affirmation of what is strongly advocated in the main scriptures of Hinduism including the BhagwadGita and the Rmayana – the two principal sources of Hindu religion and spiritual practice. The BhagwadGita is the only religious scripture that deals in great detail with the issue and philosophy of how to attain God through action without renouncing the world.

The idea of Hindu sanyas is put in the right perspective by Sri Krishna, whose BhagwadGita is considered the most authentic commentary on Hinduism. In the Gita he talks about the Sankhya Yogi-Sanyasis hailing them as genuine spiritual aspirants. However, at the end, he clarifies that genuine Sankhya yogis are the ones that work for the welfare of all creatures, and not only the humans – ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूत हिते रताः. – ‘those who work for the service of others reach me’. In other words, the path to God lies through service to humanity and the world. In the Ram Charit Manas Lord Ram says – परहित सरिस धर्म नहिं भाई, पर पीरा सम नहीं अधमाई – ‘there is no holy duty or dharma like doing good to others, and nothing worse than doing ill to others’. It is not only thus spake Rama; it is also thus acted Rama. The entire life of Lord Rama is a long drawn act of philanthropy and service to people in spite of being a king.

The Hindu faith, at a certain stage of evolution, came to believe in the varna and ashram order. Not all varnas and all ashramas were needed to do everything, and there was a division of duties. Sanyasis, as explained earlier, were not expected to engage in day-to-day worldly affairs, and were expected to renounce the world. But Lord Krishna clarified in the Gita that none – no ashram or varna – was exempt from these three duties -   tapa (penance), yagna and daan (giving or charity), because these three are universal purifiers, and purify all their practitioners. Sri Krishna gives unusual – better than popular - meanings to tapa and daan, and leaves daan unexplained. How could a poor shudra give daan? How could a poor Brahmin give daan? How could the sanyasi give daan? The import is clear. Daan does not only mean giving of money. Those who do not have surplus money to give must give their time for human improvement, their knowledge or skills (vidya) for human service, treating service to humanity as service to God. Unlike in other faiths or semitik origin, in the Hindu faith and metaphysics, all is God, all humans are God (falsely believing themselves not be God under the spell of maya or delusion), and all creatures are God (वासुदेवः सर्वं इति सः महात्मा सुदुर्लभः – गीता). Therefore service to human beings and to other creatures is literally service to God in Hindusim. Swami Viviekanand was deeply aware of this fact, and therefore he roped in his sanyasi friends for service of humanity in more ways than preaching and blessing. Thus service to humanity and the world is inextricably built into Hinduism at the normative level. If it has failed to percolate to the grassroots from time to time, it is the failure of the religious and spiritual leadership of Hinduism, just as straying of a large number of Islamic groups into terrorism is a failure of Islamic religious leadership and not of Islam as such.

But all said and done, in practice philanthropy and ‘giving’ have so far remained largely an individual affair in Hinduism, and that too at a much less than satisfactory level. Few Hindus, even of the better-off middle class, set apart any money regularly for giving to the poor, and few among us set apart any fraction of our spare time for serving the needy – the aged and the old, the orphans, the poor, or for transmitting our knowledge to the underprivileged children.

The Hindus have also shown little penchant to serve the humanity in an effectively organized manner. Spiritual leaders like Swami Vivekananda were among the first to carry forward this spirit of service to the humanity through an organized mission. Since then many other missions have sprung up under the umbrella of Hinduism. But it is unfortunate that the instances of the Hindu rich coming forward to donate generously for philanthropic causes have not generally been remarkable, barring exceptions. That the Ram Krishna Mission is still not able to expand its chain of schools essentially meant for the underprivileged beyond half a dozen is a sad commentary on Hindu and Indian philanthropic attitude. The Aurobindo mission seems similarly constrained in the matter due to lack of resources.

A more unfortunate part is that the Hindu rich are more prone to making donations for construction of temples, which would serve the interests of gods and deities, than for construction of schools that would serve the interests of the ordinary humans.  Building of skill-development centers that would facilitate livelihood generation and poverty alleviation would attract even less donations from the rich in India. If Krishna was right in asserting that the path to God lay through service to humanity and the world (ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव...), then contributing for setting up schools, hospitals and skill-development centers for livelihood generation for the poor would secure for the donors a better place in the heart of God than donating for creation of temples for gods and deities who are already well-fed and well-looked after. The message of Swami Vivekananda ‘first bread and then religion’ has found very few buyers among the Hindus. The first need of India of today is not religion but bread. The enlightened Swami, while pleading for regeneration of the Indian society and nation without destroying the religions of the masses of India, expressed his ideas on primacy of addressing the issues of hunger and poverty of India in no uncertain terms:

“Material civilization, nay, even luxury, is necessary to create work for the poor. Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God who cannot give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven! Pooh! India is to be raised; the poor are to be fed…”

In fact the Hindu view of philanthropy and service to others goes beyond service to mankind. It extends to all creatures – ‘सर्व भूत हिते’. This difference in service ethics arises from certain distinctive ideas in the Hindu metaphysics. The major religions of semitik origin do not officially believe that animals have souls. They also do not believe that a human can ever be born as an animal or a tree. Hinduism on the other hand believes that all forms of life have souls, which can reincarnate themselves as humans, and humans can also take rebirth as animals or trees. Therefore there is a greater commonality between the human and other forms of life, and that service to other forms of life is also important like service to humans. In Hinduism, therefore, it is common to find votaries of go-sewa or service to the cows which were the most common of all animals working or living with the humans. Even harmful animals like snakes are given milk to drink, and a bird of bad omen like the owl is closely associated with the goddess of wealth Lakshmi as her vahan or vehicle, and worshipped.

That service to humanity and karm-yoga is the highest of all paths and yogas was admitted by one of the greatest sanyasi kriya-yogis of modern times – Yoganandji in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, which is one of the most must-read books for all spiritualists and religious aspirants. In the book he has devoted a chapter to Gandhiji who he wanted to teach kriya-yoga. For this he went to the ashram of Gandhiji and stayed there for two days. The sanyasi-yogi has narrated his observations of Gandhiji who was an avowed karm-yogi, and who never lost an opportunity to state that every moment of his life was dedicated to Sri Krishna and Lord Ram through service to the people. For Gandhi, his participation in the political work and constructive program was a spiritual quest, but Swami Yoganand though Gandhi needed spiritual initiation. After staying with him at his ashram the kriya-yogi realized that the karm-yogi he had sought to teach kriya-yoga was at a higher plane that him. So at the time of departure, the sanyasi touched the feet of the person he had sought to make his disciple. After all a true spiritual person and yogi was expected to be truthful, and Yoganandji stood up to spirituality by confessing that Gandhi, a true servant of humanity, was superior to the kriya-yogi sanyasi Yogandand!

The real test of a religion is not found in what is written in its scriptures and books, but in what the majority of its adherents practice in real life. If this litmus test were to be applied to Hinduism of today, it would most likely fail the test as regards philanthropy in practice. The truth has to be accepted and faced boldly. At the same time truth has to be improved and altered through conscious and concerted action of all Hindus. Let us as Hindus commit today that we would spare part of whatever is there surplus with us – money, time, knowledge, skills – for the poor and the underprivileged, of whichever caste and creed, whichever race or religion. 

Apology

After quitting my job in July, I kept wandering for some time for unavoidable reasons. I am now back in New Delhi, which is going to be my headquarters for some time.  During my travels I hardly had access to the Net. I also had no time to pen down my thoughts. Hence this big gap between August 7, when I posted my last article, and now, November 4, 2010.

I will keep posting my views and my reflections on my blog though I would shortly be creating a separate Hindi BLOG under the title SAMPOORN KRANTI, which means TOTAL REVOLUTION.  The contents of the Hindi blog may often be different from my English blog.

My new website (www.pksiddharth.in), which is under renovation, will contain my writings and reflections in a more organised fashion subject-wise.

I am sorry to discontinue on this blog  the story of The Barber Boy and a Billion Children since the work has acquired the shape of a novel - or a memoir in the form of a novel - a NOVELOIRE, which is proposed to be published in due course.