Spirituality
Spirituality
and Social Change
Talk by Dada Maheshvarananda at the “Globalization or Localization” Conference
in Wellington, New Zealand on March 3, 2001
Namaskar
is a traditional yogic greeting that means, “I greet the divinity
within you with all the charms of my mind and the cordiality of my heart.”
We are divine beings, each one of us. We have, in addition to physical and mental
qualities, spiritual qualities. Our journey, as individuals and as members of
a global community struggling against economic globalization and injustice,
is two-fold. It is personal, and it is collective.
Capitalism
teaches the superiority of the individual: “I win, you lose.” Or, “I
win and it really doesn’t matter what happens to the rest of the
world.” What are the lessons we teach our children in school? “Get
a good education, then get a good job and make some money.” Western
education offers no clear message of social responsibility. We have responsibilities
to others as well as individual rights.
Compassion
is the most important quality for a spiritualist to have. We need to
feel compassion for others and to serve those who are less fortunate
than ourselves.
So our journey
is both external and internal. Just as we learn from all our personal
experiences, so we also learn from the collective struggle for social
justice.
I teach
prisoners, as Father Jim Consedine does [another speaker at the conference].
I teach them meditation and yoga every week, and personally I find it
very gratifying, because they are in a process of transformation. I am
inspired by the example that my spiritual master, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar <../../sarkar/default.htm>,
gave when the first person he chose to teach meditation to was an infamous
criminal in Calcutta who later became a great saint and spiritual visionary.
So I think, “If that was the person who he felt was most worthy
of spiritual transformation, then who am I to judge the spiritual potential
of others?”
We are all
brothers and sisters. When I was a child, I often used to fight with
my brother and sister, but of course we remained family. In the same
way, human beings have lots of differences, and I’m going to fight
and struggle against injustice. But I always want to remember that I’m
fighting and struggling against the bad actions that people do and not
against who they are. Because they are, forever, my brothers and sisters,
too.
I accept
a universal definition of God: that which is omnipresent, omniscient
and omnipotent. For some, this may seem a rather standard dictionary
definition of the Supreme Being. But I think the definition is very revolutionary.
If He is everywhere, then that means He is right inside me and He is
right inside you and He is right inside our planet earth.
God is both
He and She. I use the male pronoun unnecessarily, because I have trouble
calling the One I feel so close to an “It”. Both the masculine
and the feminine are equally present in that Supreme Being -- it is we
who are limited by our concepts of male and female.
If that Being is here in me and here in you, then that means I have to act accordingly,
I have to work accordingly. I cannot be a spiritual capitalist, one who says, “I’m
going to go to a nice monastery, to a beautiful forest retreat, to the mountains,
I’m only going to do my spiritual journey.” That’s capitalism.
That’s selfishness.
In my opinion,
spirituality is everywhere. In some places, of course, you will feel
more spiritual energy. But you don’t have to go on a pilgrimage
to any place, because if you close your eyes, wherever you are, you can
find all that you seek. So that inner journey is more important than
any pilgrimage. Yes, I like to go to the mountains sometimes, to the
forests, I love nature, and clearly there is more spiritual energy in
some places, such as this beautiful Maori center. But that’s relative.
We shouldn’t stop our progress because we’re not in a spiritual
place. I’ll meditate four times a day wherever I am.
Consumerism
and materialism is what our current society teaches us. It goes like
this: “Buy a new pair of Nike tennis shoes and you’ll be
happy. Buy a new car and you’ll be happy.” (You’ll
probably get a woman with the car, because most advertisements have a
beautiful woman next to the car, so obviously you’re going to get
that, too!)
That’s
a lie. These capitalist lies are what we have to stop, because they are
destroying human minds, convincing people that money is the secret to
happiness. Television, film, radio, magazines all get money from advertisers
to spread these lies. When our minds become clear and strong in meditation,
in spiritual practices, then we can begin to see through the veil of
lies and legitimacy. Happiness doesn’t come from any material thing;
it comes from your own heart. That’s a fundamental truth.
Prabhat
Ranjan Sarkar <../../sarkar/default.htm>, the founder of Prout <../5fpp/5fpp.htm>,
was both a great spiritual master and also a revolutionary. I first met
him in January 1978 in a prison cell in India where he was a political
prisoner for seven years. After his release, the US, UK, Australia and
some other rich countries refused to give him a visa because they said
he was a dangerous revolutionary.
In August
1979, he came to Bangkok, Thailand where I was working. I had the wonderful
opportunity to spend seven days with him. One very dark night, what I
would call a very “Tantric” night, three of us went with
him on a walk in a park. At one point he stopped and explained why the
dictator President Ferdinand Marcos had just deported him from the Philippines:
“ They
say I am a dangerous man. But I am not a dangerous man; I am not a strong
man. Imagine, they are scared of me, and I am only five feet two inches
tall!
“ You know how a fish store smells? Ugh! Yet some people like that ‘fishy’ smell.
Only those who like the ‘fishy’ smell of selfishness are afraid of
me. Selfishness is a mental disease and they know that Prout gives no scope for
selfishness.”
We are trying
to create a world that limits the expression of that particular mental
disease. I used to work in a psychiatric hospital, and I have friends
with all kinds of mental diseases. They need a certain kind of care.
But we must not allow people with the mental disease of selfishness to
run our economies and our countries, to dictate the world that our children
can have.
As spiritualists,
we have to unite. We have to unite with other spiritualists, like these
great people beside me. We have to unite with people of all expressions
and beliefs and faiths. I believe the only “ism” that we
can support is universalism, the idea that we are one human family. You
have your beliefs, and I have mine, but we are all moving in the same
direction. If we climb a mountain, it doesn’t matter from which
side of the mountain you start your climb; we’re all going to reach
the summit together.
I believe
that spiritual practices are fundamental to the spiritual path. They
are what you actually do to get there, whether they take the form of
some kind of meditation or some kind of deep personal inner reflection.
It is gratifying to work for an organization that teaches meditation
free of charge. Whatever type of meditation we do, our goal is to become
better people. An ideal human being, a saint-like person, a God-like
person - who cares what their faith is, who cares whether they are Muslim
or Jew or Catholic or Protestant or a yogi? When we become ideal human
beings, then we’ll all be one.
To unite
the moralists, to unite those people who are fighting against injustice,
against exploitation, is our goal. Our spiritual practices, our spiritual
vision, our spiritual love and compassion are fundamental to get there.
They are our strength, our inner sustenance.
Logically,
if we look at the world, global ecological destruction is a very real
possibility. Spiritually, though, I know we’re going to make it.
P. R. Sarkar said, “Your future is bright. It is brighter than
gold, it is brighter than platinum, it is brighter than anything you
can ever imagine. And you’ll see it with your own eyes.”
How will
it happen? I don’t know. And whether it happens this year, or next
year, or later, I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing
now: fighting for social justice, working against capitalist exploitation,
doing my spiritual practices and encouraging everyone else in this human
family to learn and try them, too. Because we need inner peace and we
need global peace. Without one, we have an angry world. Without the other,
we have people dying completely unnecessarily. That’s a crime.
That’s totally unacceptable. Humanity is bleeding. We must awaken.
We must work together. We must make a better world. We don’t have
another option.
