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!

Time To Bring Back The Philosopher Kings

The news of businessmen and film stars grabbing forest land in the Western Ghats comes as no surprise to me, considering the kind of rulers we have. The problem is we like to read and revel in such news, but scarcely do anything about it other than blame the government. But we are the ones who elect our own rulers, and when it comes the time to select our representatives we forget our duty -- we prefer to go by our religious, caste, regional and other parochial preferences than about the suitableness of the candidate. And then we blame the government. What a sorry state of affairs. We are digging our own grave and we blame others when they are just trying to finish off the job we started, and bury us!

I personally feel India is not ripe for democracy. And thinking about it, why do we need this western adjunct to our political life. I am not saying we go back to our monarchies. God forbid! But we could try to bring back the philosopher kings who ruled in Indian's golden age, the ones who were guided by the great sages - the Rajgurus. But for that we need a fundamental change in the way we mould our new generations. Because such kings will arise and can thrive only in an enlightened society. And we can start doing that only by establishing educational and other institutions that go by the teachings of the Himalayan masters. Again, I am making a case for institution(s) for Vedic culture and knowledge. Any takers?

A School of Vedic Culture and Religion

Sorry, I have been away for some time. But I will be updating this blog more frequently now. Last few days I have been reading up on Sri Vidya and tantra, especially the book 'At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama' made a deep impression on me. The more I read it (I have read Swami Rama's 'Living With The Himalayan Masters' earlier), the more I feel humanity is hurtling down the path of destruction, and India, which had traditionally acted as a counterveiling force to the materialistic tendencies in the world has now switched sides, adding to the momentum of the destructive forces. The answer seems to lie in resurrecting the Vedic culture, not the Vedic culture that have come to us through the filter of Hindu priests, but in the original, unadulterated teachings of the Himalayan sages.
Those teachings are eternal - Sanatana - and hold valid for today's world as much as they did when they were first taught. It seems the competitive consumption we are indulging in, without regard to the impact on nature, is taking us to certain doom - unless we decide to apply the brakes now. But for that, the world intelligentsia and opinion leaders need to back a new way of living centred not on conspicuous consumption, but on sensitivity and respect to nature. If they don't, a new breed of more perspicacious opinion leaders and intelligentsia need to be created. That is where we need a School of Vedic Culture and Religion. The faster that is set up, the better.