Arun Jandial
A trend has started that such organisations as claim to be spiritual, cultural and non-political which have so far by and large remained neutral, not affiliating or collaborating with the Govt of the day to win favors have now started joining hands with the Govt and handing over its platform to the top functionaries, Ministers etc, as if they are the role models for their members to follow.
These organisations profess to have higher aims of creating a better world promoting awareness, universal brotherhood, love, understanding, compassion, purity, honesty, good conduct, humanitarian values etc.
The top Govt functionaries, Ministers in the Govt who are presented on their platforms to address the members have their conduct contrary to the principles preached by these organisations hence they fail to create the desired effect of inspiring and motivating it’s members of discovering inner peace and happiness by connecting to the Source. In fact what it does is that it subtly endorses the agenda and policies of the Govt which for any Govt is to gain and retain power.
Unless the speaker practises what he preaches and possess those qualities, his lecture however interesting and scholarly it may be can never bring desired transformation in the individual and the society and that is the sole reason that despite so much talk on peace and harmony we find unrest, clashes and conflict around us.
There are very many organisations working in the field of spirituality which don’t depend on the Govt of the day for their expansion and remain neutral, apolitical whereas so many so-called social, cultural, religious, spiritual and service organisations to win favors seek Govt patronage and inadvertently collaborate in its agenda of dividing society in the name of religion, spreading misinformation, mistrust, hatred, polarising electorate, exploiting religious, nationalistic sentiments, making issues of non-issues, eroding democratic values, rule of law leading to conflict, communal clashes, violence and loss of human life affecting peace and harmony in the society and prosperity of the country.
Those who being disenchanted with the hypocrisy and unethical political culture prevailing in the field join such spiritual organisations for spiritual goal of realisation start feeling disenchanted with these spiritual organisations also as political parties are clever enough to hook important functionaries of these organisations desiring proximity to the power centre and thus infiltrate their ideology for Govt patronage and support to spread their teachings and expand their reach in return for electoral benefits it may reap by gaining credibility and support of members of such spiritual organisations through such collaborations and subtle endorsement of Govt agenda and it’s policies at the cost of its principles.
( The writer is retired Medical Officer, Ayurvedic and Heartfulness Yoga teacher)
