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!

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!

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.

Listen to the Message of the Himalayan Masters

The more I read about the tradition of the Himalayan Masters, the more enchanted I become. This lineage of great sages has been guiding life on earth of eons now. And we poor mortals have the gall to think we are the ones who are the smartest on earth!
Consider the few thousand years of known human history (most of which is anyway pretty cloudy and sketchy). We the 60-odd years of comparative peace following World War II is a great achievement. But when you compare our timelines with the planetary ones, those 60 years seem like a second, even a fraction of a second. And we think we have achieved something!
Already the tenuous peace that held is fraying. The world is headed inexorably to another period of war and suffering. So much for man's haughtiness.
Yet, for the discerning, a little bit of probing will suffice to know that behind all this drama is the hand of the great sages, doing their work silently.
The more I think of it, the more I am certain civilization as we know it is headed for doomsday. Even our exploitation of earth and its natural resources have reached the point where they are being taken faster than they can be renewed.
The only option for right thinking individuals who want to change this course of doom is to seek out the ways of the great sages and practise what they have taught. The teachings have been there always; only we need to practise it.
We talk of religious dialogues, tolerance, etc. And come to think of it, we don't even know why we are here. Are we running after something completely useless by following the way of life? I am more and more convinced that we are. And I am taking the message of the sages to heart seriously. Let me practise, and the rest is in THEIR hands!