EWS #1 On India’s destiny and challenges

Dec 6, 2017

Narad (00:00:08):

Good evening. Today is the sixth day of December, 2017, and I welcome you to a new series Evenings with Sraddhalu.. And today I have two questions to put to you. Going back almost 50 years now, mother was asked if you were asked to sum up just in one sentence, your vision of India, what would be your answer? Mother: India's true destiny is to be the guru of the world. And then the second question, similarly, if you were asked to comment on the reality as you see it, how would you do so? In one sentence, Mother says, the present reality is a big falsehood, hiding an eternal truth. So 50 years now, <laughs> from that statement, approximately where is India?

Sraddhalu (00:01:21):

I think you should also read the third question. Okay. <laugh>,

Narad (00:01:26):

The question was: What according to you are the three main barriers that stand between the vision and the reality? Mother: Ignorance, fear, falsehood.

We see a new India emerging. Could you share your experiences?

Sraddhalu (00:01:54):

Yes. I think in the 1960s, somebody from the Indian political space asked the Mother this question, what is the root cause of India's problems? And of course, the conventional answers that they expected would be things like poverty, education, et cetera. Social issues. Yeah. And Mother's, one word reply, root cause of India's problems, insincerity. And then he asks, what is the solution to India's problems? And Mother's one word, reply. Sincerity. Sincerity. And if you look back at the years since India won her independence from colonial rule, this is the one thing which is so obvious in all of public life, insincerity, utter falsehood. Yeah. And the other two words, ignorance and fear. Yeah. These are also significant because when you look at the whole problem, you realize that when India became free from colonization, we continued exactly the same colonial policies, the same governance structures, the same administrative structures, the same political structure, the same education, the same social values, the same mindsets, memes, which came with colonization, which were designed to enslave India. And everything has continued exactly the same. Even our great constitution of India is a replica of the British Constitution. So the same thing continues. People make a big deal about the constitution. But I try to break that by pointing out three great world records that the Indian Constitution has. It's the world's fattest constitution. Because it was not thought out.

What they did was they had a committee of 300 people I see going through constitutions of the world, taking the British constitution as the base, and then taking pieces from other constitutions and throwing it in. So it's never been thought out from the root out. It's just been pieces thrown in together. And so it's become the world's fattest constitution and second world record. It has the maximum number of constitutional crises because things don't fit, the pieces don't join, and they don't represent the reality of people's lives and values. The Constitution is not in sync with the Indian need, with the culture, with its values, with its spirituality, just with basic social values. It does not fit. And the third great world record that India has, India's constitution has, is that it has the maximum number of constitutional amendments.

So you keep putting patchwork upon patchwork upon patchwork to resolve what is broken. And briefly, in the 19 late nineties, this question had come up in the political circles of revising certain elements of the Constitution. And the then president, also a product of the British Raj mindset made a comment: "We have to ask ourselves whether the constitution has failed us or have we failed the Constitution". So implied was that if things don't work, then it's your fault because you can't fit yourself to the constitution's requirements. When was it formed? 1948 or just after? Okay. Just, just after. Within a year or two. This went through this committee. And the implication is if the Constitution states that you should walk on your head, then you should make the effort to do that. Whereas everywhere else, when you go to countries which have grown out of their own aspiration, the Constitution was a representation of their aspiration, their vision for what they already aspired for.

Sraddhalu (00:06:17):

And here's a constitution which is warped and imposed, suppressing what is your natural aspiration? And so when Mother speaks of this, first of all, the falsehood, this is one example of the falsehood. The whole of life has been warped because of warped ideas, warped structures, warped systems thrust upon India. But to undo the warping, you have this ignorance and fear which come in the way. And this, there was such a huge reaction when the discussion came up briefly in the 1990s for some revision. And there was a huge reaction from the political class and others. The whole economics framework of India and the developmental framework is also a replica of the models imposed and the colonial rule. They don't fit the needs of India's not only values, but also its Indic tradition of development. You see, India is the only country which has a sustained developmental model going back at least 5,000 years of recorded history, at least and much more. We have planned cities dated to 7,000 BC with neat roads, with gutters for water flow, with garbage disposal systems and everything designed. And none of these developmental models involved usurping other people's wealth, colonizing others. None of them involved conquest of others, none of them involved destruction of nature. They were all sustainable models and sustainable in a way that allowed for a huge diversity of human types and needs. India is also one of the most diverse spaces in the whole world. Mother made a comment about this saying that in a sense, India is representative of the whole world's problems. It's as if every human type in other cultures and civilizations and nations has been represented within India as a subset of the larger civilization. Every problem associated with those types of humanity or lifestyles has been also represented as a result. And all of this in a space which has been held together in an ideal of unity, going back, as I said, at least 5,000 years according to our own records, at least 10,000 years. But you have to, if you accept European dating, then you say at least 5,000 years. But you could hold this space in a unity, which was cultural and spiritual. The political unity on the scale that we call India is a relatively recent phenomenon as a nation. But internally in its more than 300 princely states, there was always the sense that all of India is one unit. And yet having a track record of such a developmental model, you have a western model placed upon India, the result of which is the destruction of our environment as is happening everywhere in the world. The destruction of indigenous values which are being completely extinguished, the uniformity that is imposed on the whole of the country, not allowing for local diversities and needs, which creates other problems. And all of this is the remnant of the colonial phase and what prevents us from changing, again, ignorance and fear.

Narad (00:10:04):

You said 1948 approximately was being formed. Did Sri Aurobindo have comments on that?

Sraddhalu (00:10:12):

I don't think he makes any direct comment. I'm not aware of at least of comments in the Indian constitution, but he does make comments going way back on all the problems we are facing today. This is interesting. If you see his writings in the Vande Mataram and the Karma Yogin, which is a little over a hundred years old now, every issue that India is struggling with today has been mentioned there. And they were all during British times. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>. And even later, when India became free, he has some letters describing what is required for India in its developmental structures. And one of the key comments he makes, and this is made a hundred years ago, 1910, he writes, and this is his prophetic vision looking at the future. And he writes, there it is becoming increasingly clear that India will pass through the experiment of parliamentary democracy simply to realize that it is not suited for us.

And so this experiment is going on now, what, 70 years almost. And there is no attempt to change. And he states in one of his later correspondences, what is the model required? He said, the mindset of the Indian is to choose their king to choose one person whom they trust. The parliamentary, particularly the Westminster Parliamentary model, requires you to select a local representative of a party. And all the local representatives get to parliament and then they select their head. And this indirect selection is what is causing, is the root cause of the corruption in India today. What happens is we want to pick somebody we trust, but we cannot choose that man. He's selected by this group that we left, and these people are known crooks of the party. But because we trust this one person, we select the crook and knowingly put a crook in parliament and still we have no guarantee that they will get together and select the person we want. So he recommended switching to a presidential model where people directly select the person that they trust, and then he forms a team to execute government policies. And on the other extreme, on the grassroots level, again, he describes the current problem of the Westminster model of Parliament. He says, people come for the votes at the time of voting. They come, they seek your votes, and then they walk away and you don't see their face for the next four years. And the only way to correct for that is a panchayat type government at the local level where the people who were responsible for managing things are your neighbors. You meet them daily, you can always engage with them, solve the problem. So in between a structure which would link the presidential model at the top and the grassroots structure to link them.

And he said the exact details don't matter how you link it, as long as it is a product of the innate genius of India. So he has discussed not the specifics of the constitution, but the overall governance model. And so it was for everything else, you go back a hundred years, a little over a hundred years. And Sri Aurobindo had left his high paying job to become principal of a college. Why? Because he wanted to kickstart a new educational system which would be appropriate for a free India. Now, this is a hundred years ago when people were not even dreaming about India being free. He's starting an educational system. And even when he kickstarted the education, the freedom movement for India, the vision that he set was very different from other freedom fighters. First of all, in his time there were no freedom fighters who asked for complete freedom from colonial rule. He was the first to declare that India must be entirely free. But the reason he gave is interesting. He says, it's not because we hate the British. It's not because they're not governing well. All those issues may be there, but that's not the cause. He said, India has a destiny to fulfill in the world upon which the future of humanity depends.

Sraddhalu (00:14:45):

And for India to be able to fulfill that destiny, India must first find herself, become conscious of her soul. In order to become conscious of her soul, she has to be free. Therefore, we have to work for India's complete freedom. And if you see the chain from there, where is he looking at first India has to be free. Then there's this whole period of finding your soul as a nation <laugh>. And it can take a long time because you have this huge backlog of the colon colonial phase, a comment on that. I will come back to after that having found her soul. She must then reorganize her national life around her soul. That process is going to be there also pretty long. And then as a result of that organization, she will then impact the world and fulfill her role in the world. As Mother describes here, the destiny to be the guru, guru of the world. It has to be as an example of how to integrate the spirituality in daily life in a collective setting, which is inclusive, universal, and which allows for the full diversity of human types and needs to be present in a single underlying spiritual unity. That's the example she has to set. So we are looking at a program which goes across a very long time. And the first step was making India free, for which she had been the kickstarted that and then all the other elements required for the future. He began the educational system. His writings and education were also at that time, more than a hundred years ago, which he tried to implement within the college where he was, which later we further developed in the Ashram school and the Mother's guidance, the whole framework of Integral education was developed and so on. Many other comments which he made on the economics and so on. But the point I wanted to get to in the early stage where India is still struggling to be free, he has very interesting observations about various national issues, issues of integration development and all that. There, there's an interesting comment from the Mother. She says, the problem with India today is the inertia - Tamas. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it openly also again, a hundred years ago in his writings in the little booklet called Tales of Prison Life.

Mother comments on that. Separately, she says, the British overstayed, they were supposed to have left in 1920 when in fact the whole movement had come to this poise as a result of the work they had done, that the British had come to the negotiating table. I dunno if you're aware of this, it's a very interesting incident that took took place in 1920. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were working for India's freedom from the occult levels equally as he had started initially from the political level. And there's this incident that Mother narrates: when in deep concentration Mother, they worked together and they did something. And India, Mother said, suddenly, India is free. It's not will be, but 'is free'. It's done. Sri Aurobindo asked, how did it happen? Was there much bloodshed? Mother's response: She said, no, they went, as they came. They foresaw the possibility of partition. It is one of the most horrible events in human history, which has been completely buried. People still do not face the reality of it. It was so terrible that an entire civilization was torn apart. The entire body was split and torn apart. People from both sides were forced into migration, which nobody wanted. Yes, yes. Purely because of a few politician's greed, billions were butchered. Millions died of starvation. Nobody will even talk about it. It's such a painful episode. And the people who witnessed it wouldn't speak about it. It was so bad. And it's not there in your history textbooks. Even in India, they'll not tell you what happened. Not at all, no. Partition happened. That was it. I see. What happened at that point. They will not tell you. It is such a painful event. And Sri Aurobindo foresaw this possibility. And so their effort was to bring India to freedom without this division. And in the event as it was initiated from above, it was so.

Sraddhalu (00:20:36):

And interestingly, this is in 1920, within two years, the British came to the negotiating table. They said, we are willing to discuss freedom. Let's talk terms. And what happened then? This is one of the tragedies of India's story that at that time, Mahatma Gandhi not had not yet become Mahatma. He had just come from South Africa. He had no real understanding of Indian values and culture. He wanted to promote himself as a political leader. And he diverted the full energy of the negotiation by saying, we do not want freedom. We ask instead that our Muslim brothers should have the right to follow the khilafat after Turkey as their religious head. Now, the entire energy of the negotiation for India's freedom was re-diverted to a political religious issue where you are saying a part of your own country will be, will owe allegiance to the religious head from another country.

It's really the first step of partition. Sri Aurobindo points to this as the first step, the beginning of partition. And the British found that very convenient. The whole discussion shifted to a separate political identity based on religion. And India's freedom was set aside. Meanwhile, the other great leaders died out. Gandhi began to work to get his position and the rest of the steps, which followed only increased the basis of division along the religious lines. It was only much later. And that's why when mother said the British overstayed 25 years plus. Yeah, yeah. That India had to wait. And when finally the last step of during the second World War, the last step was there. An attempt was made to give India freedom bin initiated on an occult level what is called the Crips mission. Crips, yeah. The proposal. And it was intended to prevent India from having a partition. And it was the last chance he sent a special emissary from the Ashram. Was that soda <inaudible>? No, he, no, he sent a special emissary from the ashram. Oh, oh, yes. Yes, I remember. The lawyer. Yeah.I forgot the name [Duraiswamy Iyer?]. We'll come back. Yeah. He was a lawyer. And he sent him as an emissary to Ma ma Gandhi and told him, gave the reasons why this should be accepted. And one of the reasons he gives, it's the last chance for India to be free without partition. Gandhi rejected it saying that tell Sri Aurobindo to look after his own affairs, and not meddle in politics. And the result was of course the partition. Yeah. All of that has further delayed what would have been otherwise a more natural unfolding of India's spiritual destiny. The result of partition, Sri Aurobindo writes at that time of partition: He gave a message when India became free, that if this continues, then there is a great danger of India, even there's great danger of war, but of the delaying and even of losing the larger purpose in the destiny of India. And then he says, this cannot and must not be by whatever means this partition has to be annulled and so on. That process, again, has been extremely painful. If you look at all the wars, which Pakistan initiated, all the terrorism of the world, if you look at originating from Pakistan, yes. Yes. It's interesting why this has to happen. It's as if you cut off the arm of a person. Do you expect the arm to become a new person? There's no soul there. The soul is one. So when they made partition, they split off Bangladesh, one side Pakistan on the other side. And the result was you had countries without a soul.

And when you don't have a soul, what takes its place is an ego. And what's the nature of the ego? Division, fear and hatred. So the basis of Pakistan's existence is fear and hatred for India, because if you remove the fear and hatred, it would just merge back. There's no reason for it to be separate. And this is the problem even today, that's the reason why all the time in Pakistan, you'll see the people, the politicians who come to power, they come on to power on the basis of fear and hatred of India. Common man doesn't have it. It's just the politicians and the military. 'cause They know that you remove these things and there's no reason for them to be separate. So Mother worked for this for the reunion. She helped Indira Gandhi during the Bangladesh war, and advised her to immediately free Bangladesh. Guided even the people in the military during the war to the means by which the minimum bloodshed would be, had, there are many interesting stories relating to that.

Sraddhalu (00:26:13):

Yes. And after that, the last step she told Indira Gandhi, now go immediately to West Pakistan and finish the problem there. Yes, I remember that the Indian army had more than 150,000 soldiers of Pakistan as their, they had been captured and large territories of Pakistan had been taken. It was a matter of a few days. And the problem would've been finished. And at that time, the US stepped in and put pressure on Indira Gandhi and stopped the war. They forced a peace treaty. And the peace treaty was like this. Bhutto on the other side said, I have no, I cannot negotiate with my people to make peace with India unless you release all my soldiers and give back our land. And so Indira Gandhi said, okay, in good faith. Now this politics doesn't work on good faith.

But she gave back the soldiers, gave back the land. Bhutto said, I will, within six months, I will come back with a treaty. We'll make peace. Of course, he was overthrown, he was killed. And the army took over, that thing never happened. It was a very interesting conversation Mother had at that point, recorded in the agenda with Satprem. She said it was a huge error because of which India will suffer a lot. And India's own development and destiny is greatly delayed because of that. And then after a few weeks, she makes a comment. I have seen how it'll happen and it'll not be through war. The world situation will change and the US will support India instead of Pakistan. And Pakistan will then begin to break up internally and part by part it'll break into five parts. And part by part they would want to rejoin India.

It's very interesting to see how things have developed, especially in the last few years, and particularly in the last six months that the US has openly come out in support of India. Yes. Put open pressure on stopping funding, terrorism and training of terrorism in Pakistan. Yes. Stop the funding itself. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and many other things have happened at the same time. The result of which is that internally there is a, there are these fissures forming within the Pakistan military and polity. The specific process of breaking up need not happen in an obvious form. It is the point of the psychological breakup and the recognition that it does not have any existence separately and Mother conceived of a kind of a local federal structure in which all these countries, which were once the whole of India will come together. And we've seen, in the last 20 years, a framework called SAARC - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which is precisely formed of these countries, which are the body of the soul of India, which have been brought together initially on a cultural platform. And in the last few years it has been converted into an economic platform. And with the present government, there are even structures being created, linking them with highways going across with communication systems, internal trade structures, even a shared satellite for the whole of the SAARC region and things like that. It's as if the whole space is being brought together. Yeah, there's a very interesting description of Sri Aurobindo though when he speaks of how when India wakes, he describes the Mother will draw together, she will draw together her children. We are seeing the signs of this beginning to happen now, but all of this is things at an inner level, things which are more occult than obvious, overt to people. On the external side, what you see are two things, A new energy, a new enthusiasm, and a vitality which is awakening. And with it parallelly, the spirituality.

Sraddhalu (00:30:58):

And it is this, which to me is the most important sign of India's resurgence. And to understand this, we need to go back to a kind of a longer span of time. You see things with India cannot be understood within a few years because it's a civilization that goes back 10, tens of thousands of years. And if you have, if you see the arc, the beginning of this imprint of civilization is from the vedic age, which defined the Indian space with its spirituality. Sri Aurobindo makes an observation that he says something like this, 'God always keeps for himself one chosen country in which the highest liberating knowledge is preserved through all the vicissitudes of time'. And then he says, for this Chatur yuga, at least, Chatur yuga is the cycle of four yogas, for this Chatur yuga at least, that country is India. And so from that point, the imprint of the Vedic age and the spiritual work of the Rishis is, as if pushed into the collective consciousness through a series of stages. First, the Vedic age itself being a kind of an intuitive age, there is the formulation in more mental terms and philosophical terms through the Upanishadic phase. From there that Spirituality further descends into the life of the people through the Puranic age, where the same values and experiences of the weather are inculcated through stories, through life values, life systems. Little children grow up with stories which teach not only spiritual truths, but because they are symbolic stories, they resonate deep inside them in their own inner spaces, spiritual and psychological with the truth of something, obviously externally, a symbol, but resonating on multiple levels within and forming, forming the civilization and its values. And so the result is from that period, we see this space as if separated, protected on the north by the Himalayas, these huge mountains on the south by the oceans and within that space, allowing for a huge diversity again.

And something is being developed and being prepared. And you see the passage of the Vedic imprint leading to a huge fluorescence of the Indian civilization where everything Sri Aurobindo describes has three characteristics. That it had this great power of the intellect, this tremendous vitality daring to attempt everything without fear. And third, going into details and mastering details in every field. We could have a whole discussion going many hours on the explorations and masteries of astronomy, astrology, music, dance mathematics, physics, chemistry, what is called chemistry now, it was much more profound, but always bridging the inner with the outer, the underlying occult layers of reality. And the most material layers of the physical reality were all bridged in a body of knowledge, which was spanning in every field, even in martial arts, everything was turned to spirituality. It's very interesting to observe how they did it.

Sraddhalu (00:34:38):

And everything was made part infused with the yogic knowledge of development and awakening of consciousness. And anything you do in the Indian culture in the traditional way is intended to help you grow in consciousness and realize the spirit. Without that, it's not interesting for India. So you have this great civilization with this huge diversity taking spiritual forms. And interestingly, as there is this perfection in the materials here and the wealth and comforts growing, there comes as if a corrective measure that says, wait, wait, don't get lost in matter. There is also the spiritual. Don't lose yourself. And so something happens about a little over 2000 years ago, with the imprint of Buddhism, followed by the Shankara that turns away from life to a kind of an exclusive other worldly spirituality, which was not in consonance with the vedic ideal. And yet it was one of those experiments which was, it's possible,

So do it <laugh>. The results Sri Aurobindo says was the beginning of the decline, because the spirituality which embraces life, fulfills. The spirituality withdraws from life, it weakens life. And then he says, gradually you see the energy of the civilization dropping, the creativity dropping and the last creative outburst about a thousand years ago. And then comes Sri Aurobindo's very interesting observation. If not for the Islamic invasions, India would've become a nation of monks, <laugh>. So in the larger scheme of things, when everythings heading towards a life renouncing spirituality, withdrawing to monkhood, comes this battering ram of the invasions. And as a shock, they wake up the civilization. And you see a repeated series of attempts to regain and rebuild the vitality. One of the most interesting from a spiritual perspective is what is now living as Sikhism, the Sikh tradition, which Sri Aurobindo points to, as one of the first attempts to unify the truth of the Indian tradition with the core truth of Islam.

And he says that the Islamic tradition is about surrender to God, but on the basis of his strength and of a certain they respect strength in the other. And in the collision that took place, this was precisely the component which in India had declined. And so it was as if India had to reabsorb that truth. Now, from an alien invasion and the first attempt to, to bridge that, you see in the Sikh tradition where the first Guru organizes in the society to protect itself. He goes to every home, picks the eldest son, brings them together to form the Khalsa, the community, the spiritual family. And the symbol of Sikhism is also a weapon, a sword, and a spiritual [sign]. The two are united - strength in spirituality, and the whole call is Sat Sri Akal - the truth, highest eternal. It is dharma, but now given a form which is dynamic, energetic, protective, and organizing society around that in what is a spiritual family cutting through all other distinctions.

Sraddhalu (00:38:26):

So it's the first attempt Sri Aurobindo refers to, but at that time, humanity and India was not ready for something which could transcend a religious form. And so it finally takes a form which becomes more religious, but the vitality is preserved and the defense is taking place. Meanwhile, a series of very interesting events take place where there are what may be described as Vibhutis who come into India to help regenerate and rebuild one such was Shivaji who protected India from the Islamic invasions and even pushed back the invasions to such a point that if not for another generation, India would've been completely free. But that's around the time the British came in and it took a very different turn. And the colonial phase that came with the British had brought its own interesting issues. But what you see there is a series of attempts to reawaken. And at the last phase when the British came, we can ask ourselves, was the colonial phase necessary at all? I believe, and I look, try to look at it this way also, that if there is a divine hand guiding the destiny of something so valuable for the future of the world, then everything that happens has behind it, either something which is intended or some support, which makes the best use of it.

When Europe came to India through many gates, the British were only one of several. The French came, the Dutch came, and a few others. Sri Aurobindo's observation of all these, the British were the only ones who had a sense of fair play. You see, everywhere else where colonization took place, they lost their culture, they lost their language, they lost everything. The British kept a distance, they colonized, but they kept a distance. So if at all, India had to be colonized, that they were the best in a sense, you could use their own system against them. If they did something wrong, you could use their legal system because of the sense of fair play. And so it was the least of the bad, so to say, passing through that passage, India was politically united. The same thing could've happened by a different means without losing its intrinsic systems.

But now it came through colonization, the external political unity took place. And if the British had left in 1920, the vitality which had been awakened during the freedom struggle would've carried you through without losing the spiritual foundation. And Mother's comment that they overstayed has to be understood here. The result was a complete suppression and a dulling into deep inertia, which we are still struggling with in terms of systems, but the people are waking up. And so it's a question of time before the systems also will be questioned and recast. I give this example often to people, when people complain of corruption. So not only the political system, as I said, is warped not matching our needs, but the governance structures are exactly what the British designed and they designed governance structures not for serving people, but for exploiting, for looting the country. That was what colonial colonialism was about. They built the railway system not to serve people, but to transport the goods out. And so the governance structure has at the local level, the most powerful person is called the collector. Why? Because his job is to collect taxes. And today you still have the collector sitting there in exactly the same role!

Sraddhalu (00:42:14):

And there's a patchwork attempt to give him other powers, other responsibilities. But he's still called the collector. And his powers are still designed for exploitation and not for governance, not for service. The relationship the Indian people have with their bureaucrats and with their police force is one of fear. The bureaucrats have the power to mess around with you completely. They can do what they like with you, but they cannot give you the thing you need because that power is kept on top. So the whole system of governance is lopsided. At the top you have the power to understand people and make exceptions. At the bottom, they have only the power to harass and make you stick to the rule or make you fail because you missed a comma somewhere in your paperwork. And so the whole thing needs to be rebuilt, recast, but no one's thought about it. And the people who took over immediately after freedom, Nehru, Gandhi, and various others were all British educated. So their mindset was still of the colonizer. It was a very interesting interview of Nehru with Kenneth Galbraith, the American ambassador there. Yes. And Kenneth Galbraith notes in his memoirs. He said at some point in their conversation, Nehru leaned over to him and said, proudly, 'you know, I'm the last Englishman to rule India'.

Narad (00:43:41):

Oh!

Sraddhalu (00:43:43):

He considered himself an Englishman. Yeah, he was proud of that identity. He was not an Indian. And second, he considered his role as prime minister to be ruling, not serving. Not only that, Nehru was not elected. In the very first process of electing prime minister, everybody chose Sardar Patel. At which point, Mahatma Gandhi stepped forward and said to Sadar, I want you to step down because I have promised Nehru's father that I will make him prime minister. And he was selected, not elected. So the very first step of democracy in its infancy choosing a prime minister was shortchanged. And subsequently you see the pattern all through the corruption and all the, all that is endemic to this mindset that we are rulers, we are British, not Indian, and we are here to rule you and take to exactly what the British did. Nehru, it is said that Nehru used to send his suits for dry cleaning to Paris. Some people dispute it, but the point being that was his value system and a whole lot of other issues which followed. Nehru believed that India should be communist because everybody else said no, it shouldn't be. So he accepted a compromise to be socialist. So it had to be centrally driven. Now, this is again, if you look at the way Indian civilization has grown, it's always been grassroot up. Sri Aurobindo points out, it's always life expressing diversity. Nehru wanted to impose top down. Of course that failed massively. Nehru believed in linguistic states. Patel said, no, it should be states designed around natural boundaries. The result is to this day, we have states quarreling over river water sharing because Nehru made them linguistic.

Nehru believed in large states. Sardar Patel spoke of small states. Sri Aurobindo also refers to smaller states and so on. I mean, these are such practical issues. Had Sardar Patel been the prime minister of India, things would've been very different. But again, it's one of those sad events, <laugh>, which have only delayed things. The only way we can look at it positively is to say that every possible problem which India could face, has had to be faced. Now, to support this viewpoint, I will quote roughly in summary what Sri Aurobindo says somewhere. He says, and this is a hundred years ago again, he says, 'India is passing through a kind of a vast national yoga', meaning like an individual going through yogic process where problems have to come up to be dealt with and then cleared. And then when they're cleared, then the next layer comes forward to be cleared and so on until the whole being is purified. And he points to this example, he says something like that, all the problems which needed to be dealt with come up and they're being dealt with. So it's as if India had to exhaust the possibility of all that can be done by imitation of everyone else, beginning with your world record of a constitution to all the other governance structures and so on. And when everything is proved to have failed, you're forced to begin to introspect and to find how would you want to do it, what's not natural for you, what's true, what is an expression of the deep truth of your being. And so this kind of process of introspection has been going on. It's not like it's not happened, it's been going on always. But there have been two Indias. There's India, which is still a product of the colonial imprint, and especially through education.

Sraddhalu (00:47:32):

And then there is India, which is in the villages and emerging from the villages in traditional educational frameworks. And the two collide, they've always collided since India's freedom, even before India's freedom, they've always been in collision. The result was, they used to say in jest, there is India and there is Bharat. Bharat is the name we call ourselves. India is the British name. So even our constitution begins with India, that is Bharat. You had to say it because otherwise India has no meaning, you see? Anyway, so there's always been these two and these two values have been in collision in a sense. Again, if you want to give a positive perspective to it, it represents something which India has to absorb from the west and harmonize internally. But in the first absorption, which is in the package as it came with colonial rule, there is an indigestion. It doesn't work, it doesn't fit. And you kind of throw up or you have dysentery, and there's this struggle going on with the two colliding. But at some point you have to recognize the truth of it without the form and then find harmony. I see the first signs of this happening in the last two years with the present Prime Minister. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>, who is the first prime minister who does not come with the trappings of colonial training.

See, what happened was after Nehru, all those who came subsequently, they all had their education abroad or in schools which were with the colonial mindset. Narendra Modi, is the first prime minister who is not from that educational background, he grew from the grassroots with the indigenous values, who spent all his life in service to others, not in ruling, not in inheriting power, authority, money or fame. So he knows the reality at the grassroot, and he has literally grown through all the levels, all the layers of the struggle. And it's as if in that movement of his being pushed forward, there is something of the spirit of India, which is coming forward. I want to comment on this. There's very interesting discussion of the Mother recorded in the Agenda where she speaks of 1965, about, she says, to Satprem, for the last 15 years, approximately since India's freedom for the last 15 years, Sri Aurobindo and I have been looking for the right man who can lead India.

Now you see what that means. At that time, you had, let's say almost a billion, less than a billion, half a billion people. Yeah. Among half a billion people there looking for the right man to lead India. And then she says, we found one <laugh>, but they killed him in Kashmir. And that was Shama Prasad Mukherjee whom mother had invited when the Ashram school was started, he was there as a guest of honor, and he was meant to be the liaison with the government to assist the further development of what was to be Sri Aurobindo University, which Mother said would become one day one of the greatest centers of learning on the earth. And then she said, it may take 50 years, or it may take a hundred years. You may doubt whether I'm present. She says she knew human nature, you see? Yeah, yeah.

<Laugh> people forget her. Forget why we are here. And she said, you may doubt whether I'm present, but I will be there. And she says, with all the creative power of Sri Aurobindo's genius, I preside over the formation of this university. Yeah. So I have great hopes for this. We are going to hit 75 next year, 75 years. We are nowhere near, nowhere near what she had said it to be. In fact, we have declined. The school was the cutting edge of education in the world. Yeah. Under Mother, all the most advanced new ideas of education, which today have become spread all over the world while we have declined. And so-called forgotten. The innovation has dropped. It's not bad, but it's not, no more on the cutting edge. So there's going to be an awakening even here. And we are going to just 50 years or a hundred years.

Sraddhalu (00:51:57):

So we have missed the 50 year deadline, the 75 year deadline. I'm looking at the hundred year deadline, <laugh> another generation, and it'll be one of the greatest centers of learning. Why? Because well, they preside over it. Yeah. But coming back to 1965, looking for somebody who can lead India. Yeah. And they found one person, Shama Prasad Mukherjee. And there's this incident narrated by somebody that when he was going to go to Kashmir, Mother asked a telegram to be sent to him saying, 'do not go. It's dangerous for you'. And the person did not send, he was killed in the train. And that was the end of that. And they didn't find somebody else briefly with Indira Gandhi, the Mother did something which helped India, saved India in a way. When Indira Gandhi came to the Mother, you'll see there's a very interesting photograph of the Mother with Nehru. Yes. And then the next prime minister, and then the third person who almost became prime minister, who was king maker, and then Indira Gandhi, all of them, it's as if the power went through one by one through each of them. And the last was Indira Gandhi. So at a time when she was in a crisis politically, she came to the Mother because she had met earlier. She had the memory of what it meant. She came to the Mother, Mother had her stay in the Asham main building in Pavitra's room, I believe. And then I heard this from Udar Pinto saying how he saw Indira Gandhi enter the Mother's room like a lamb. And Mother met her alone. And then she came out and Pinto said she came out like a tiger. And when he went in to meet the Mother, Mother told him, he says, 'I brought down the highest power on her, and she absorbed everything'. She goes back, she splits the Congress, she forms her own Congress - I. The others fade out literally from all politics. And she takes over and becomes the most powerful prime minister of India in modern Indian history. She had complete power over everything. She could have done everything. Unfortunately, just after mother left her body, it was under her rule that they introduced the word secularism in the Indian constitution, which became the cause for so much suffering later because it was misused by all the politicians to further divide along religious lines and so on. She became responsible for the emergency, which, and so on. But what is interesting is during her tenure, there was the strength of her central rule that brought together what were otherwise becoming tendencies for, fissiparous tendencies. And Mother had made a comment that India needs a dose of what's the word she used? A benevolent dictatorship is the phrase she's used. So under Indira Gandhi, we briefly saw that, and then of course it went off track. My point though, in narrating this, is to show that they're looking for the right person to lead India. And what does it mean that they didn't find one? There's a huge requirement to be an effective instrument for the Divine in the political space because there you have to have the vitality. You have to have, you have to have the spirit of service, selfless service. You have to have the knowledge, the vision of what it is that has to be achieved and the skill to manage. Because politics is one of the most rigorous, demanding and challenging domains much more than business because everybody is after you. Then, the values that politicians have are the worst. And to survive in that space, you need something special.

Sraddhalu (00:56:02):

I believe that this has happened now in these last two years, I dunno if it's all right to speak about politics and personal matters. Certainly. You see. Narendra Modi as a young man was always aspiring for spiritual life. At the age of 18, he left his house, went into the Himalayas, lived there as a monk for three years. He went twice to the Rama Krishna mission, asking to be ordained as a monk. They refused <laugh> fortunately. But when he lived in the Himalayas as a monk, three years that he was there, something happened. The full story of which he has not yet told, but he was sent back to serve. And subsequently you see his journey in politics, he has lived like a monk. No personal possessions, no personal attachments, no family connections. It's always been the life of a monk in a normal dress of a politician. It takes a lot. I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm sure he has his flaws, but it takes a lot to be able to live in that space without losing your core principles. And to have somebody who can survive in that is one of the rare possibilities. And then to bring such a person into the position of power. So I'm convinced when this took place, it was literally there was a Divine intervention, which has made this possible. Of course, there's this whole system and there's this whole mass of corrupt people. The ignorance, the fear, and the insincerity and the falsehood and all that is still there. But there's a cleanup process that's going on for the last two years, which has given hope to people.

To me, that's the most important thing. How long that cleanup process takes place is secondary. That it is happening has given hope to people. And it's allowed young people to come forward and begin a process of actualizing what is their vision and their aspiration. And this is what you see suddenly among the young people and awakening, taking place in which the vitality is rising without losing the spirituality. Sri Aurobindo has a very detailed description of the requirement for India's awakening. He explains this in great detail. First, he says, what is passing for Sattvikta, that is the purity of Sattva is not so, it is in fact Tamas. And he is writing this a hundred years ago. It's all in the Tales of a prison life. And he says it is an imitation, but it is inertia. The correction for the inertia is rajas, but Rajas in itself will only create confusion and all, he describes all the perversions possible.

So what is needed is the Sattva leading the rajas. And it is a combination of these two which will complete the process. Even when you turn to become Sattvic, there are dangers and there's a sattvic ego as well as Rajas. And the Satvik ego might involve turning away from life because you have something more beautiful. And so he describes all this in stages and he says very interesting comments because he is describing all this in the context of India and India's awakening. And he says, the, because of the dangers of the Rajas, when it comes too strongly that it might lose the Sattvic rule, it is for this reason, he says that the release of the Rajas in India has been delayed <laugh>. So the suggestion is that there is a great power that is leading, guiding the development of this space. And things are being done behind the scenes, which we do not fully see. And once the sufficient base of Sattva has been established, the Rajas being released will serve under the influence of the Satva. And this is the sense I have of the last 15 years in India. There is a passage which I'm tempted to read to you of Sri Aurobindo describing what's happening in India with the young generations coming up. And it is part of this collection that is called The Tales of Prison Life. And in which he writes this about young children.

Sraddhalu (01:00:44):

'For The past few years in India, one can see as if a new race being created in the midst of the old that was dominated by the gross influences. The earlier children of Mother India were born in an irreligious atmosphere or one of religious decline and received an education in keeping with that. They had grown short-lived, small, selfish, and narrow in spirit. Many powerful great souls were born among these people. And it is they who have saved the race in its hour of great peril. <Laugh>, But without doing work, compensated with their energy and genius, they've only created a field for the future greatness and the marvelous activity that awaits this race. It is because of their good deeds that the rays of the new dawn are brightening up all the corners. Now comes the description. These new children of Mother India, instead of getting the qualities of their parents, have grown bold, full of power, high souled, self-sacrificing, inspired by the high ideals of helping others and doing good to the country. That is why instead of being obedient to their parents, the young men go their own way. There is a difference between the old and the young. And in deciding a course of activity, there is a conflict between the two. The older trying to keep these youth born of divine emanations, the pioneers of a golden age confined to the old selfish and narrow ways without understanding they're trying to perpetuate the age of iron'. You see the new children he is describing as the pioneers of the golden age, born of divine emanations. 'The Youths are sparks born of the great energy, Maha Shakti, eager to build the new by destroying the old. They're unable to be obedient or submit to the laws of respect for the parent. God alone can remedy this discordance, but the will of the great energy cannot be in vain. The new generation will not leave without fulfilling the purpose for which they have come'. Then there's a bit of a criticism of the existing system. 'In The midst of the new, the influence of the old lingers on because of the fault of inferior heredity and an Asuric education. Many black sheep have also taken birth'. The whole educational system is Asuric, this is the reality. You have to say it. Children commit suicide by the thousands every year. I know at the time of exams, I know all over India. I know.

Narad (01:03:58):

Did you know that Pondicherry has the highest rate of suicide? Pondicherry? Yeah.

Sraddhalu (01:04:07):

That is strange. It is very strange. It has also the highest mosquito infestation in the country. So I wonder maybe the pressure of the Asuric influence is equally strong where the power of light is also strongest. Yes. That's how I saw it when I heard of it. Mm-Hmm. 'But, And those who have been ordained to inaugurate the new age are unable to manifest their inherent force and strength'. So I believe this has actually happened. He's writing this way back a hundred years ago. It's actually happened that many who were damaged by this educational system of the colonial phase went through this. They were, they were ordained to inaugurate the new age, but unable to manifest their inherent force and strength. Why? Because of this damage. And this is why it is so important for the new education to come.

Narad (01:05:06):

Yes.I think this is a very good place to stop also, because perhaps we could in our next session, <laugh> begin with the omnipotence flaming pioneers and the Sun eyed children of a marvelous dawn.

Sraddhalu (01:05:17):

Yes. So I'll just read this last line of the paragraph. Please. Please. 'Among The youth is a marvelous sign of manifesting the age of gold, a religious bent of mind'. Today, we'll use the word spiritual, but in that context. 'And In the hearts of many a longing for yoga and half expressed yogic powers'. Very interesting. What year? This is let see, 1909 <laugh>. Oh my gosh. Yes. It's quite amazing. So it's happening. Yes. And I see as they're less damaged, they're coming out with greater force. And this is the reason why the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was started. And let me end with this. Sri Aurobindo had a vision of the work to be done for India. The Ashram was only meant to be the first container for let's see, the womb of the new race and Mother commence on this. She says until 1929, he had detailed plans for starting all over India training programs for the youth.

We have a term in India called Akada, which is the equivalent of gymnasium in old Greece. Mm-Hmm, where young people come and build themselves intellectually, emotionally, and physically. The full development of the human being. Okay. You may call it a deliberate spiritual training program for the youth. He had plans to organize such programs all over the country till 1929. And afterwards of course, many other things took place. And after 1956 with the supramental manifestation, mother began this process of expansion because in a sense their primary work had been accomplished. And you see, after that Mother's program of expansion with allowing new centers to grow in different places, the beginning of Auroville and the Society and all those things, all of which involved this process of expansion. I believe that these were meant to be centers for the young people to grow. To the extent that we have not done that, we have failed. But it's still meant to be like that and Mother will use it. There is a phase where you build the institutional framework and then later it'll be filled with the Spiritual content and nurturing content of it. But Mother, starting the school and building the school was also meant for this. She said to Kireet Joshi, ‘My work has three steps. First step the school, second step Auroville, and third step India’. So we'll see how that works out.

Namaste.

Thank you.