Title: India as a teacher
in a new era
Author: Francois Gautier
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: January 3, 2000
India is entering the
third millennium. It doesn't matters that this is a bit of an artificial
date created by the West, which arbitrarily decided that the year zero
started with the birth of Jesus Christ. India is entering the third millennium.
What does she wish for
herself? That she succeeds in her liberalisation? Overcomes the consequ-ences
of westernisation, which has killed the soul of so many so-called Third
World countries? Or gets rid of the dreadful Nehruvian legacies, which
tried to destroy all that was holy and ancient in this country and embraced
instead western concepts totally alien to India like Marxism?
And if she does this
then, perhaps, in spite of her huge problems she will emerge as a superpower
in the third millennium. And then, finally, the West will also take notice
of her, as it did of China 30 years ago.
But what does India have
that Ch-ina doesn't? Democracy for sure. India is certainly a much more
democratic country than China. She has proved it through 50 years of strife.She
has a proved it by throwing up leaders and throwing them out when they
perfo-rmed badly.
What else does she possess
that China does not? India is also a bastion of the pro-western, open-minded,
English-speaking, highly cultured upper and middle classes. Soon the West
will realise that in Asia India is fighting an isolated battle against
Muslim terrorism, which is rising everywhere in Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Bangladesh or faraway in Chechnya. No western nation could wish a friendlier
country than India, whose elite dr-eams of sending their sons and da-ughters
to study in Harvard!
But there is so-mething
else, so-mething infinitely more important, which India can bring to the
West. And that is her spirituality. India is a vast and ancient land which
alone has managed to keep within herself thanks to the stubborn will of
her people and by the silent tapasaya of her yogis hidden in their Himalayan
caves the immaculate truth, the ultimate knowledge, the secret of our destiny.
At a time when the worldhas
never been as disoriented as it is now; at a time when mankind is erring
on the road to evolution; at a time when man has forgotten the `why' and
`how' of his existence and all religions have failed, India holds the key
to man's future.
And what is this knowledge?
It is not some mystical, faraway and smoky Ut-opia, but a pragmatic, down-to-earth,
Cartesian knowledge which can be put immediately into practice. Take pran-ayama,
for instance, the most exacting, precise, mathema-tical, powerful bre-athing
discipline one can dream off. Its effects and results have been observed
and categorised by Indian yogis for millennia and it brings in, ve-ry quickly,
wonderful results in both the well-being of the body and the quietude of
the mind.
What about hata yoga,
a 5000-year-old technique, which has inspired today all kind of aerobic,
and so-called yogic techniques and gymnastic drills around the world? Practised
properly it brings health, strength and endurance to the body. It is the
secret of Indian yogis'incredible longevity and it may help foster immortality
in the future.
What about meditation,
that queen of all the yogic sciences? That which is above everything, that
without which any yogic discipline is impossible? That which interiorises
us, carries us within ourselves, to the discovery of our true soul and
nature. There are hundreds of different meditation techniques, simple,
Cartesian, easy to experience, which have been devised by Indian sages
since the dawn of Bharat. And so many scientific studies have been done
in the West which have shown that it decreases stress.
India is full of ashrams,
of yogis, of masters who are still keeping alive all those wonderful sciences.
From the tip of Kanyakumari to Kashmir, you cannot go anywhere in this
country without finding some ashram, some sadhu, practising a particular
tapasaya. If Indian schoolchildren were taught at a very early age the
combined techniques of pranayama, hata yoga and meditation, it would may
be produce the next human species of ourera, a race which is spiritualised
in both mind and body.
Unfortunately, for a
long time, the Indian government did not recognise the wonder that India
possessed. But India's yogis and gurus are going all around the world to
spread this wonderful knowledge. Some of these men are genuine, some are
semi-fakes, some are total fakes. But it does not matter because almost
all of them carry abroad the message of yoga and are propagating India's
eternal dharma to the western world.
It may be even that India
will become conscious of the wonderful treasures she harbours within herself
when the West will point its finger at it. After all, this happened in
a lesser way in Japan with its martial art techniques, Zen Buddhism, rock
gardens and Bonsai art, when America took to them after the Second World
War. Let us hope though, that the true India will emerge before that and
enter the third millennium with the knowledge of herself.
