From the Kathmandu Post:
Spiritual enlightenment in the twenty-first century
By Sushil Kumar Lamsal
What will the twenty-first century be specially important for? The debate has not yet subsided. There are people who believe it to be the century of high information technology ,automated by machines. In geopolitical terms ,apprehensions are that the West will lose its control over the East and countries like China and India are increasingly expected to emerge as Super Powers.
But these are details. The fundamental question is :What will the twenty-first century be important specially in terms of the emerging consciousness of the human being?
And the answer is simple .The unequivocal answer ,as it seems to me , is that the twenty-first century will be an era of Spiritual Enlightenment.
Many people who have bumped over Mahesh Yogi’s Veda Vision -quite accidentally ,of course, will probably be interested to know how and why .
Swami Vivekananda was probably the first Indian saint to create a hungama in the West. The reason for such an uproar was that the Americans were tough people who wanted concrete answers to concrete questions. As it turned out ,the Indian saint had even more concrete answers to offer. In fact ,he had a new vision of life to offer-a new way of life to offer.
However, it should be noted that his answer was not an isolated answer .It was the answer offered by the Vedas and the Upanishads and a very long succession of mystics and saints.
But the question is :What was the answer?
In short , the answer was that material affluence, as sought by the West and now the East ,is not at all the only purpose of life. Material well-being is worth being sought but not hankered after. Human life is the apex of a long succession of lower forms of life and therefore it loses its meaning if its only pursuit is to satisfy the instincts. Life loses its meaning if it isn’t steered toward spiritual enlightenment.
It is beyond doubt that the West has realised the futility of the entire succession of scientific and technological marvels. At least thoughtful people have realised it more acutely and with much pain. Else, what answer can you offer to the question of life’s purpose?
The West is the leader in Science and technology and, as it seems ,it is going to be the leader in Adhyatma too. The very simple reason behind it is that they are people with questions in their heads and are never tired of endless pursuit. It seems-alas -that we are people with answers in our minds-heads overflowing with fixed answers to the vital questions of life and death. The great German thinker and researcher Max Mueller believed that the whole of wisdom found in Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cervantes ,Dante , Virgil, and the entire European literature is readily available in the Upanishads.
There is a distinction to be made here. The West has traditionally been interested in things without and the East has traditionally been interested in things within. The question is: Is there a limit to a material quest? It seems to me -No.
The idea is summed up beautifully by a great romantic: Tired of our eternal efforts to push our way through matter ,we changed our direction. We went inside ourselves and created a new world.
But the romantics were probably not aware of Transcendental philosophy and the Indian mystics. Jakob Boehme might have been a an exception, though. In the twentieth century ,however, the West in general and America, in particular, have keenly been interested in Eastern philosophy and mystic traditions. That explains the popularity of Rajneesh and Krishnamurthy, among others, and now Mahesh Yogi.
It has to be understood ,however, that the Eastern philosophy is not another sleeping tablet for the disillusioned West. It has proved to be a viable alternative to meaningless struts and frets. Nay, it has come to be recognised as the ultimate purpose of life.
Spiritual Enlightenment will be the essence of the twenty-first century precisely because of the methodology and spirit of the West. The long tradition of inquiry is now turned upon the ultimate purpose of the human life and it is now that Spiritual Enlightenment will receive the utmost significance. Science and Religion will finally be reconciled and one will be explained in terms of another. Ignorance separated them poles apart and now Wisdom will unite them. Answers as to the significance of life will be attempted, and the human soul will reach unexpected heights. Then will the mission of Swami Vivekananda ,Acharya Rajneesh ,J. Krishnamurthy and Mahesh Yogi be truly initiated. |
