Can we tap the abundant energy of the Universe for our development?

The world is made of energy, say the scriptures. So then why do we need to burn up fossil fuels and play around with dangerous nuclear fuels to feed the needs of our world?

May be there is a way to tap all that abundant energy for our needs, without upsetting the delicate balance of nature and bringing untold suffering to all living beings. May be there is a way to fuel our development without leaving the planet as a trash bin for posterity.

I don't know, but we can do that only if we get rid of the "scientism" that has got ingrained in our mindsets. We need to accept that there is more mystery to the universe than we care to admit. We need to get out of our matter-entwined world view and think of the universe as energy, and then be open to explore ways to tap that energy.

The sages and yogis have shown us -- for ages -- that it is possible. But our "modern, scientific" mind refuses to accept the possibility, dismissing everything we cannot understand as humbug!

That needs to change for the planet to be saved.

And there is the question: do we really need all that we are craving for?

Can we live a life where we can do away with all the trash stuff that we're madly accumulating? Doing that will go a long way toward helping Earth from becoming a trash bin.

For both the things to happen we need to develop the right attitude and follow it through.

It is possible and we need to work to make it possible.

A society in harmony with Nature: it really existed in India!

This is one issue that has always recurred in my thoughts: how long can the world's resources last if we go at this pace? Not that long, I would say. Now consider this: modern society measures success with more consumption and possession and every nation in the world is out to increase its GDP and per capita income. Which means the pressure on our limited natural resources would get even worse. How long can the world provide for its people as more and more of them try to get more and more of those resources in their grasp? I am horrified to think of what is going to happen to this world.

Already we are hearing of many species going to disappear, ocean life and food chains collapsing, global warming, food and water scarcity and a lot more. But no one is paying any attention as we all try single-mindedly to get more wealth for ourselves and our families.

I have always wondered what an ideal world would be like. Should it be a socialist world with common ownership or resources? For a long time I thought such an arrangement could solve a lot of the problems faced by a world racing for more security and prosperity. But there are two issues here: one the socialist utopia can easily degenerate into an authoritarian regime, as happened in the erstwhile Soviet Union. Second, we are still considering nature and other living beings as resources -- to be consumed by humans.

That is where the problem is: as long as we consider that everything here has been created for our consumption, we are going to run into this wall of scarce resources and an inhospitable world sooner or later.

So what is the answer? Did a society ever exist that had tackled this problem? My search suddenly got an answer when I found this blog. 

This blog talks about what Pandit Rajmani Tigunait said about village life as it existed in North India a few years ago. Imagine how ideal such a society would have been, and the biggest surprise in this for me was that it had managed to survive the Islamic regimes and the British Raj in India. As materialism sweeped across India following its Independence, and as age-old social systems collapsed (some of the practices in those rural societies, such as untouchability, had to go anyway, but I would assume those practices were corruptions that crept in later into the system), the ideal and close-to-nature life that Indians had managed to preserve also were swept away.

With that went, I would say, the the wisdom of the sages from Indian society.

But here, finally, I think there is a blueprint that can be used to re-create such a society. Not just in India, but all over the world. For, if the world needs to survive, it will need to learn to live in harmony with Nature. My dream, nay, the Himalayan sages' vision of a Centre for Vedic Culture and Civilization would be the first step in re-creating such a society!

Civilization is under threat; we need to alter course -- fast!

A recent New Scientist article carried an alarming warning about the implications of global warming for the world and humanity, in much more clearer terms than anything I have read till now. It also included a link to an interactive map. The article says "Bangladesh, south India and Pakistan will be largely abandoned, though isolated communities will remain".

I feel bad that this ancient land will become a desert soon (there is a big 'if' here as many scientists still think these are alarmist views), but can't understand how we can avoid this unless we do something to change the competitive conspicous consumption and self aggrandizement that is sweeping the world. Many intervention techniques are being discussed by scientists all over the world to slow down and roll back global warming but I think they could invite disaster on the planet as they still do not understand the dynamics of this phenomenon and, more important, they are not trying to address the basic triggers -- human greed and ego -- that have brought this calamity on. 

I think while attempts to slow down global warming are welcome the main thrust of any effort to save the planet and civilization should be at changing the way humanity think and works, from a narrow, self-centred perspective to a broader all-inclusive one. Only such a back-to-nature approach is going to make any serious difference and help us prosper without endangering the very existence of future generations.

I believe it is the right time to start some kind of a worldwide movement that will work at the level of human consciousness to change the collective consciousness and impel humanity to go back to a lifestyle closer to nature. My dreams of an Vedic educational movement center around this but I am not sure if I am prepared enough to start on this. My fervent hope is that Himalayan sages are not unaware of this impending calamity and would be planning something drastic to keep the human civilization and life on earth from being thrown back to the stone ages.

But before any work at the level of consciousness can take effect, I guess the material scientists should be first given an opportunity to try and fail spectaculary in their efforts. Then and only then will the masses start to think of an alternative approach to life that is more harmonious than the current 'I can conquer nature' one that has been created and nurtured by modern science and education.

The educational initiative I dream of should be strong enough to take over from where Science failed and move humanity to a higher level of understanding,  or there is a great danger humanity could fall into the grip of ignorance and fall back to superstition and helplessness. I am still dreaming and trying to tap into my inner powers using the key that Panditji recently provided me. Hope I will be ready soon to start on this initiative.

Up close and personal with a Master

Searching for the ideal job has brought me back to Indraprastha. Delhi, that cradle and graveyard of many empires, seems more agreeable to me now that I have seen more of India! At least I am closer to the Himalayan masters here - closer for a person who still does not have access to the wonderful inner world.

Well, a couple of weeks back I took the opportunity to visit Allahabad and meet a great Yogi, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. The trip also allowed me to get a glimpse of the great work that this great disciple of Swami Rama is doing among the underprivileged, in both India and Africa. I observed Panditji and found him a sharp observer, of both nature and man, and also a wonderful human being with great knowledge. The greatness of his vision is evident in his work in Cameroon, Africa, which is being spearheaded by his son, Ishan Tigunait -- another great soul who is highly focused on his work. 

The day I spent in Prayag also allowed me to see how the disciples of Swami Rama lead their lives, quietly remembering God and working hard. 

One thing that impressed me while at the Himalayan International Institute's premises in Allahabad was the eco-cottages that Panditji was building for the group of disciples he was expecting to come over from America soon. He had created his own little city of those cottages and how charming they looked as the Sun slowly set over the Ganges!

But there is more to these cottages - they are made from a grass called 'Khus' that grows locally and are highly eco-friendly and at the same time comfortable. The creation of these cottages, Panditji explained, creates rural employment and once the seminars are over the material will be used to make houses for the homeless - houses which can last for 2 years. And the leftover material can be turned into compost. Panditji was taking pains to reduce the carbon footprint of his activities. And I was wondering how much it would help rural India if all our political parties and marriage shamiana makers started creating these eco-cottages. The savings in terms of money and the kick it will give to the rural economy are obvious. 

Also, while at the Institute I had the opportunity to closely observe the high level of pollution in the Ganga. The holy river flows right in front of the Institute. While taking a walk along its banks, I saw how polluted the waters were, especially as some bathing mela was in progress 2 miles upstream. And, least expected, I saw a dead body in remarkably preserved condition float by. And even more surprising, I saw local village people taking their bath in the river among all the filth.

Mother Ganges, when will you be free of this curse?

Stay tuned, I will be writing more on the great master, his disciples, their work and their knowledge here. And also about the nuggets of wisdom I managed to pick up during those few hours!

Idol worship is a "kind of corruption" but who cares?!

A recent search on Al-biruni led me to this page. What struck me was what the Persian traveler wrote about the religion of the Hindus. Biruni, aka Baruni, wrote :

"The educated among the Hindus abhor anthropomorphisms of this kind, but the crowd and the members of the single sects use them most extensively."

"The Hindus believe with regard to God that he is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble him."

Biruni argued that the worship of idols "is due to a kind of confusion or corruption." He writes:[68]

"The physical images are monuments in honour of certain much venerated persons, prophets, sages, angels, destined to keep alive their memory when they are absent or dead, to create for them a lasting place of grateful veneration in the hearts of men when they die."

Now, if we tell our hysterically religious Hindu masses that this is what real Hinduism is (what Baruni wrote was essentially what the realized masters from the Hindu religious tradition have always said, and still say), will anyone listen? In fact, I fear if anyone dares to utter such blasphemy in our religiously-charged times, he or she can expect to be lynched and, maybe, even a Vatican-style inquisition!
Hinduism, as separate from Vedic dharma, today is the opium of ignorant masses, which need it in its current form to stay addicted and hysterical.
If you are looking for salvation from such a religion, God save you. And that goes for most other religions on this Planet, as they are practiced now.

A theory designed to discredit the glory of India, and supported by our historians

If you choose and screen your friends carefully, I have found that Facebook can become a sort of provider of information filtered to your interests. Whatever your friends comment upon, or post, on this social networking site can be a easy reference for you to keep updated on what is happening of interest to you in the clutter of cyberspace. It was through Facebook that I came across this article.
"Story of India" Misses the Mark on India's History, Hindu Watchdog Group Announces
And that has reopened in my mind the question: how can this theory, never substantiated and whose only claim to authenticity is that it was articulated by some half-informed European and British colonial historians, become the dominant theory about India's past? And how can it still be tom-tomed about when there are numerous other theories of equal validity, some of them articulated by better informed historians with better evidence?
That says a lot about how our so called historians have become tools in the hands of politicians of different hues who want to discredit the Hindu civilization for narrow political gains. These politicians and academics are no better than the colonial historians but the ill-informed Indian masses -- and the government -- give them a kind of credibility which they hardly deserve.
The Aryans never came to India; there is enough evidence to prove that India was the cradle of the Aryan civilization, that is, if you have the will to open your eyes and look at the evidence with and open mind. One of those proofs, a more scientific and recent one, is mentioned in the article whose link has been posted above.
How sad it is that we call those people who discredit our identity and history as great historians!
How can this state of affairs change? To my mind it can happen only when people who want to understand the propagate the truth come together and form organizations that will sponsor studies on such topics, and also expose the current crop of pseudo-historians.
It seems an uphill task, considering the many groups of various hues who will try to usurp the stage if such an effort is made. But such an effort can succeed it it has the blessing of the Himalayan masters. Again, we need to be wary here. The Himalayan masters shun the limelight; and it is easy in the world we live in to fall for the machinations of pseudo-swamis who may try to usurp such a platform.
Which means, such an effort cannot be undertaken in isolation; it needs to be part of a holistic movement to revamp Indian society and politics, along with religion.

Let us start by cleaning up the Holy Ganga!

This is my first post in the year 2009, and here I want to return to my favourite theme: cleaning up the Holy Ganges. The more I think about it, such a cleansing would be symbolic of the cleansing of Indian, especially Hindu, society. Mother Ganges has become a super-drain of the Gangetic plain, and no one really cares about it. The so-called secular leaders who govern this country would have no reason to care and so would the many pseudo-holy men in the country. But if India and Vedic dharma have to be revitalized, I have a feeling it needs to start from the Holy Ganges.
Such a massive exercise cannot but affect the lives of every human being and animal in the Gangetic plain and, by extension, a major part of India. It will, automatically, turn into a cleansing process for our society and body politic.
Which is exactly why none of the powers that be want Holy Ganges cleaned up.
Apart from the need for hygiene and cleanliness, cleaning up Mother Ganges would also be a washing away our accumulated bad karma, cleaning up Hindustan for higher achievements in the grand scheme of things.
I hope I can contribute something towards the cleaning up of Mother Ganges this year.