Tuesday,28.08.2007 (GMT)
http://www.indiavision.in/article/National/Religion/829/

As India turns 60, an open invitation to shape a new global order is awaiting India’s affirmative response. One only has to go by reports of how the world is lapping up Indian spirituality to find that elusive magic formula for peace.

The popularity abroad of the formula of yoga, pranayama and meditation confirms that paranoia about Indian spirituality is gradually giving way to a sense of appreciation and acceptance. At least, outside India!

The credit for this shift in the global perception must go to New Age gurus with mass followings who travel across the globe to articulate ancient Indian wisdom in simple and pragmatic style. Their approach makes spirituality looks more acceptable and appealing.

Take the example of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. His teachings are universal and focussed on something as ubiquitous as breath, away from any dogmatic beliefs. Already, he presides over a spiritual empire that’s spread over 140 countries and travels to nearly 40 countries each year. He has been welcomed into mosques, he has addressed churches and he has touched hearts.

From Iraq to Pakistan, Kosovo to Denmark, Russia to the US, these spiritual ambassadors have proved that spirituality transcends all barriers of race, creed, nationality and religion. The red carpet welcome Indian spiritual gurus, be it Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Baba Ramdev, are receiving proves that the global demand for Indian spirituality is picking up by the day.

These New Age gurus have done to Indian spirituality what Swami Vivekananda did to sensitise the world to the Vedanta philosophy and Mahatma Gandhi to the ideal of ahimsa.

India has a lot to offer. It has a long tradition of spirituality, and an impeccable track record of uniting people. The spiritual strength of India is an example for the entire world.

Sadly, this definite edge for India is noticed more by outsiders than those who have been bestowed with the honours of shaping the country’s future. Caught in the political compulsion of being “secularly correct”, India’s ruling class shy away from anything that’s spiritual. Leave alone, deploying it as a diplomatic tool.

These leaders consider even breaking bread with a spiritual leader a political suicide. But they have no problem breaking fast over an Iftar party! Minority appeasement is secular, but spiritual uplift is communal.

The question now is: will India be able to capitalise the booming demand for its spiritual offering? If one goes by the response Indian gurus get abroad, then this question is almost irrelevant. But the apathy of the Indian government towards anything spiritual raises the fear that India might just miss the bus.

It’s time our rulers start seeing India’s spiritual wealth as an equally valuable, if not more, indicator of its strength as its swelling foreign exchange reserves.

It’s not about shaping a new global order alone. Spirituality can be harnessed as solutions to many of India’s domestic woes. Naxalism (Maoism) and terrorism will be rooted out in no time, that too without using any force. There will be no room for rabble-rousing over a Uniform Civil Code. The tragedy of this country is that our political dispensations are more interested in finding new electoral fodder than promoting a universal spiritual code of co-existence.

(The author works for Art of Living Foundation and can be contacted at rajaque@gmail.com)

New rise of the Hindu by Tarun Vijay
[2 May, 2007 l 1816 hrs IST]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Tarun_Vijay/articleshow/1993903.cms

Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, must be a long place from India’s Sanskrit learning centres and if a “fun-filled” spoken Sanskrit residential camp named Shraddha (devotion) for teenagers alone gets booked three months in advance, there must be something extraordinary about it. The interesting part is that the youth who have grown up in the US and made Sanskrit a part of their daily lives shall teach at the camp.

In China there is a renewed interest to know and learn about Hindu dharma and when I was there on a fellowship from Sichuan University, the vice-president of the university asked me to help them understand Hindu movements and write a book on the contemporary Hindu scene.

While the richest steel man of this planet Laxmi Mitttal is a devout Hindu so is the firebrand icon of entrepreneurial dynamism Anil Ambani , who took 17 friends on a special jaunt to Kailas Manasarovar , including the charming Adi Godrej family; and he told me once that his mornings begin with a puja to Ambaji.

Hindus are on an unprecedented rise all over the globe and they have startled the world with their prowess in mathematics, science, technology, industry and medical sciences. An average Hindu in the West is considered an honest, persevering, talented and compassionate vegetarian with an extraordinary capacity to adjust with the local societies and serve the adopted land with unquestionable loyalty. Hence Vodafone, Citibank, Pepsi have them preside at top positions.

The new Hindu is assertive and sensitive, not aggressive or a silent spectator to the assaults of the secular Taliban. So he stands up against a Durga being painted with whiskey bottles in her hands by an Amsterdam ad agency, or a Ganapati on the toilet cover, and voices strong protest against the destruction of the ancient Ram Sethu down south.

Faithful to his roots yet free from ritualistic blind dogmas, he gets angry at hypocritical religious behaviour. So while Indira Nooyi would dazzle the audience in the Ashok Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan receiving the coveted Padma award in a South silk saree, she may not be an exhibitionist and declare that she is an ambassador for Hindu dharma or go to a temple in the full glare of the media.

Dharma is a very personal and valuable theme for a modern Hindu, not to be worn on the sleeve. And to make corrections and improvements is an ongoing process for every devout that makes his faith – Sanatana , meaning always with the times, ever-changing yet eternal in its basic message.

The message of love, compassion and respecting (not tolerating please, that word spells negativism) the other viewpoint. That’s the attitude and a belief distinguishing us from the Semitic streams. All roads lead to one God and all prophets have spoken well for humanity - that’s a Hindu speaking at home or in a congregation without hesitation. He won’t mind bowing his head before the inspiring and the compassionate altar, a picture of Jesus or an Islamic place of reverence, without compromising his own convictions. That’s the reason he hates the politically-charged groups, parties and so-called ideological war horses, which have hardly done anything to correct or make amends in the caste-ridden structure or in the attitude towards women.

See the Provoked and decide which society you belong to. The Hindu who worships Durga during Navratra but kills the same Devi when she arrives in the womb? Or the Hindu who claims to see Ram in every creature, but refuses to dine with his co-religionist if he happens to be from a so-called “lower caste”? Hence the anger within in the new, real Hindu. Against the loot of the pandas in pilgrim centres, mismanaged temples and a complete control of the so-called high castes on every decision-making body of the society.

The reservation issue may be a difficult one, but pray who stops the high and mighty of the Hindu “high caste” to start centres of excellence for their disadvantaged sections so that they never ever feel the need to use the reservation ladder? While the stereotype basks in the meaningless repetition of the old dogmas, the newly-risen Hindu has started working on such development themes bringing Laxmi and Saraswati on the same platform.

For a Hindu, the spread of his vast entrepreneurial empire has to be greeted with the Gayatri Mantra (Videocon ad) and Vande Mataram (the Kumarmangalam Birla campaign) but nevertheless the biggest challenge comes from within and not from outside “enemies”.

Job reservation for non-Hindus, the arrest of Shankaracharya on Diwali night and refusing to execute a non-bailable warrant against the Imam, the temple takeover spree by the state power, stopping of morning bhajans in trains, subsidy to Haj and silence on Hindu pilgrimages, biryani for terrorists and no hope for patriotic Kashmiri Hindus uprooted from their homes in the Valley — all these issues make him uneasy.

This anger for the inner corrections and a will to excel has given a unique hue to the new rise of the Hindu which is the only assuring factor in spite of the cacophony of various interest groups working to confuse the march of the Sanatana Dharma .

The author is the Editor of Panchjanya, a Hindi weekly brought out by the RSS. The views expressed are his personal.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Japans-Hindu-linkages-still-alive_15985.shtml

New Delhi - Apart from the widely known fact that Buddhism in Japan has its origin in India, not many probably know that so many Hindu deities surround the life of a Japanese.

Speaking at a lecture titled ‘Hindu Gods and Goddesses rooted to Japan’ here Friday, Lokesh Chandra, the director of International Academy of Indian Culture, highlighted how deeply Indian religion and culture has influenced Japanese culture and tradition over the past centuries. He said that many temples across Japan are full of Hindu deities.

Chandra said Japanese couples who desire to have a beautiful daughter pray to goddess ‘Saraswati’ even to this day. Saraswati is also believed as the patroness of writers and painters.

‘In ancient times, Japanese generals prayed to Saraswati to be victorious in war,’ Chandra told the gathering which was also attended by the Japanese Ambassador to India Yasukuni Enoki and his wife.

Year 2007 is being celebrated as Japan-India Friendship Year to commemorate the 50th year of the cultural agreement between the two countries.

According to Chandra, who has travelled to Japan many times to study the country’s culture and tradition, Saraswati is also worshipped as the ‘goddesses of kitchen’. Many traditional Japanese plays are dedicated to the Indian deity.

Sharing a trivia he said how in 1934, a Japanese woman had a vision that she was the incarnation of goddess Saraswati and stared writing in Sanskrit, a language she never heard off.

There is a suburban district in Tokyo named Kichijo, which traces its roots to ‘Lakshmi’, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Lakshmi was propagated to China along with Buddhism in the ancient time, to be known as Kichijo in its Chinese form and then reached Japan as a Buddhist goddess.

Chandra also spoke extensively about how Sanskrit language has influenced traditional Japanese calligraphy.

The Indian text was introduced into Japanese society many centuries ago. Japanese monks had to study Sanskrit in order to master Buddhism from original Indian scriptures and textbooks.

Lord Ganesha in Japan symbolises the joy of life that arises from the power rooted in the virtues of wisdom and compassion.

Young Japanese worship Ganesha to win in love whereas the old worship the deity to get success in business.

There are roughly 100 temples dedicated to Ganesha in Japan, Chandra added. An 11th century Ganesha temple is the oldest among them.

Together with Hindu gods and goddess, ancient Japanese society was also introduced to Indian dance forms and musical instruments.

A typical example is the ‘Biwa’, which actually had its origin from the Indian ‘Veena’. One of Japan’s largest lake is also known as Lake Biwa.

One can also see the influence of the Indian epic Ramayana in the traditional Japanese dance forms of ‘Bugaku’ and ‘Gigaku’.

The yearlong cultural celebration was kicked off here last week that was attended by former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori among others.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Japans-Hindu-linkages-still-alive_15985.shtml