Awakened intelligence is true religiosity
WHEn loud slogans, political aggression and hyper-nationalism cloud our vision and thinking, it becomes exceedingly difficult to distinguish the light of sublime truth from the glitz of falsehood. As every institution begins to decay, even the religious domain fails to remain unaffected by this psychic poisoning. You and I, therefore, need not be surprised if we find ourselves amidst ‘gurus’ and ‘babas’ who too begin to speak the language of majoritarian Hindutva and spread the messages of hatred and divisiveness.
Think of, for instance, Baba Ramdev. Well, I admit, it would be unfair to altogether negate his contributions — particularly, the way in our times, he has popularised diverse traditions and practices of yoga, ayurveda and alternative modes of healing beyond the hegemonic biomedicine. However, it is really terrifying to see him accusing Muslims of resorting to terror and abducting Hindu women. In fact, recently at a gathering in Barmer, Rajasthan, his provocative and ugly remarks on the entire Muslim community are bound to shock everyone who has not yet lost her/his sanity. ‘Muslims’, he said, ‘offer namaz five times a day and then do whatever they want.’
Does this sort of toxic and symbolically violent gesture have even the slightest resemblance with what one expects from a truly spiritually enchanted person, ie the flow of love, compassion and fusion of horizons? As an awakened soul, a spiritual teacher is expected to remind us of the need to overcome all sorts of violence legitimised in the name of ‘saving’ one’s religion, be it Osama bin Laden’s terrorism, or, for that matter, the aggression implicit in the cacophony of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Or, is it that religion has lost its loving kindness, become merely a ‘yoga technique’, and reduced itself into a catchy slogan for generating a mindset in tune with totalitarian politics?
Yes, these days, all sorts of ‘sadhus’ and ‘babas’ are becoming enthusiastic champions of the ‘Hindu rashtra’. As any critique of the prevalent state of affairs in India — say, the controversy centred on the dramatic rise of Gautam Adani’s business empire in the Modi era — is seen to be a ‘conspiracy’ to degrade our ‘success story’, even the sophisticated new-age guru, Sadhguru, has had to come forward to assert his ‘nationalism’. His Twitter message seeks to remind us of the conspiracy against ‘shining India’, particularly at a time when ‘India’s enterprise is on a solid foundation and institutions are trustworthy.’
It seems that the ruling regime —terribly annoyed by the Hindenburg report, and the interrogation by the Opposition in Parliament — needs Sadhguru’s blessings. This nakedly visible close affinity between celebrity babas and the political establishment is the new normal.
Think of, for instance, Dhirendra Kumar Shastri, the chief priest of Bageshwar Dham in Madhya Pradesh. This young baba — the sensational proponent of his brand of ‘sanatan dharma’ and Hindu rashtra — looks more like a talkative magician eager to hypnotise his devotees. He defies even the slightest trace of reason and logic. And through the running commentary on 24×7 politically-engineered television channels, his ‘miraculous power’ — say, his simple blessing that a child with a hole in his heart can be healed, or someone who has just suffered a paralytic attack can be cured — is legitimised and sanctified. And even a mediaperson from a television channel, far from probing into the hollowness of this magical hallucination through the light of reason and science, allows himself to be ‘hypnotised’ by the dramaturgical performance of the ‘baba’.
There seems to be no end to our degeneration — the reduction of religiosity to a loud sensation, and the celebration of moral and intellectual dumbness. Not surprisingly, then, these days those who critique this sort of ugly practice are castigated as enemies of the ‘sanatan dharma’ and ‘Hindu rashtra’. The aim is to promote superstition, abhor reason and allow this unholy nexus of politics and religion to flourish.
My critique, I must assert, does not mean that I am indifferent to the redemptive power of religiosity or spirituality. In fact, these ‘babas’ ought to be told that true religiosity has nothing to do with magical skills, or ‘miraculous powers’. Instead, it is a continual quest for seeing the ocean in the tide, and remaining calm, meditative and compassionate, despite the temporality of the phenomenal world, or the trauma of bodily pain, suffering and death. A truly spiritual master does not need any ‘magic’ to attract the crowd — I mean, innumerable helpless people, tormented by inexplicable tragedies, waiting for some instant remedies and miracles.
Instead of playing with this vulnerability and associated psychology of fear, he/she communicates through loving kindness and urges us to transform our tragedies into opportunities for deeper realisation. Who would tell these ‘star babas’ that no ‘miraculous power’ could prevent pain and death?
We know about the severe stomach infection that inflicted Gautam Buddha’s body before his death. Neither Ramakrishna Paramahamsa nor Ramana Maharshi could escape the pain of cancer. Yet, what made them truly enchanted teachers of humankind was their ability to go deeper into the rhythm of life and death, body and soul, temporality and eternity, and finite and infinite. They radiated love and compassion — not magical strategies and loud slogans.
And, as all great poets and mystics would repeatedly remind us, there is no other miracle except the light of awakened intelligence. Yes, poet Walt Whitman expressed it beautifully: “To me every inch of space is a miracle.” And it is this miracle that enchants us, and inspires us to live with love and gratitude and relate to this vast universe with wonder and the ethics of care. This is our true religiosity — beyond all organised churches.
