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Hare Krishna, Hare Rama For the benefit of my friends from abroad, I would like to say a few words in English. Distinguished guests, it is my privilege to be present at today's pious function to mark the opening of this magnificent temple and also the Glory of India Vedic Culture Centre in Delhi. The piousness of today's function is further enhanced by the fact that it is taking place on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navmi. I would first of all like to express my deepest sense of appreciation for the vision, dedication, and achievement of the International Society for Krishna Conciousness (ISKCON) and all those who have collaborated with it to present this unique spiritual gift to the nation's capital. The ISKCON movement has few parallels in the world in terms of its rapid global spread, its trans-national, trans-ethnic and trans-professional appeal, it's outward simplicity and the devotional energy of its followers. In the less than three and half decades since its inception it has established temples in practically all parts of the world and many of them are marvels of beauty such as the one that is being opened in Delhi today. The Maha Mantra of Hare Krishna Hare Rama reverberates to the dancing feet of ISKCON devotees each morning and evening in temples from Stockholm to Sau Paulo and from Miami to Mayapur. But what ISKCON has achieved is indeed globalisation of the Gita appeal. Some people say that my government is opposed to globalisation but let me say that I am all in favour of globalisation of the message of the Gita. Not only of globalisation of message of Gita but indeed all the messages of all the sacred books of the world with which the message of Gita bears close conformity. If today the Bhagavad Gita is printed in millions of copies in scores of languages and distributed in all nooks and corners of the world the credit for this great sacred service goes chiefly to ISKCON. l understand that ISKCON is also propogating the message of Gita through the latest gazette of information techonology and this temple itself provides an astonoshing demonstration of the use of "high tech" to popularise the higher truth of life and universe. For this accomplishment alone Indians should be eternally grateful to the devoted spritual army of Swami Prabhupad's followers. The arrival of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad to the United States in 1965 and the particular popularity of his movement gained in a very short span of 12 years must be regarded as one of the greatest spiritual events of the century. What was responsible for the rapid spread of the ISKCON movement globally? The answer should be sought in two factors; internal and external. The external factor was, in my opinion, the disillusionment in the leading minds in western countries and arising out of combination of the materialistic idealogy and culture in the west. Both capitalism and communism give birth to disillusionment since both are essentially materialist idealogies that are incapable of satisfying the real needs of man. Young sensible searching minds could not have reconciled themselves to the reality of wars, violence, greed, excessive consumerism, and degradation of human and natural environment. They had to seek answers and ISKCON was one movement where they found answers. The internal factor was of course the inner strength of ISKCON's message. A message founded in the philosophy of Gita. It answers all the moral concerns and needs of the world, be it man's quest for inner peace, his need for belonging with the rest of the human and natural community, his concern for the enviromnent, or his attitude towards work and attitude towards death. The Gita provides comprehensive and internally consistent answers to all these concerns. It is in this respect that ISKCON differs from other passing fits and fashions that appealead to the disillusioned Western minds in 1960's and 70's. These fads come and go but the ISKCON movement is growing from strength and strength. The transcendental and universal message of the Bhagavad Gita is evocatively communicated by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad in his book Bhagavad Gita As It Is and I would like to read the following excerpt from his introduction to the book. "In this world, men are not made for quarelling like cats and dogs. Man must be intelligent to realize the importance of human life and refuse to act like an ordinary animal. The human being should realise the aim of his life and this direction is given in all Vedic literature and their essence is given in the Bhagavad Gita. The Vedic literature is meant for human being and not for animals. Animals can kill the other living animals and there is no question of sin on their parts, but if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste he must be responsible for breaking the laws of the nature. If we properly utilise the instructions of Bhagavad Gita then our whole life will become purified and ultimately we will be able to reach the destination which is beyond the material sky. That destination is called the sanatan sky, the eternal spiritual sky. In this material world we find that everything is temporary. It comes into being, stays for some time, produces some bi-products, dwindles and then vanishes. That is a law of the material world. Whether we use as an example this body, a piece of fruit, or another world of which we have information. That world consists of another nature which is sanatan, which is eternal". In this distinguished gathering of spiritual masters and spiritual seekers I am indeed a layman. But permit me to share with you a few thoughts of mine on the relevance of Gita's message in today's national and global context. The Gita's relevance is universal and eternal because it provides a satisfactory answer to three basic question of life: What are we? What should we do? And how should we live? Human beings have brought up these questions in all societies and all times. The Gita answers these question through the harmonisation of jnana-yoga, karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga. The beauty of Indian culture is that it makes the essence of these three parts of yoga available to the lowest man as weIl as to the highest seeker. The Gita is not a prescription for non-action or passivity. It gives a radical message of action which transforms the self and the society. That is why it could inspire complex revolutionarism in freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Lokamanya Tilak and others. But in times of peace and nation building, Gita can also inspire the politician, the teacher, the worker, the scientist and the common citizen and film actors also. Therefore the motive of all ours today should be yogah karmasu kaushalam. What we need today is the application on a national scale of the work related idealogy of the Gita. This will create a new work culture and a new work culture will create a new India. A word about the architectural beauty of the new ISKCON temple: It is undoubtably a worthy addition to New Delhi's array of beautiful buildings and structures, both old and new whose number is sadly far less than what the nation's capital ought to have and who se collective beauty is even more sadly drowned under the sprawling and spreading sea of ugliness and ordinaryness. The spectacular look of this temple and
its landscape reminds me of an Italian quotation I came across in
a newspaper yesterday. It is by a celebrated author Shri VS Naipaul
who commented on the possibility of beautiful modern buildings in
India. Naipaul says "Independent India has not produced Architecture.
Poor countries need very fine buildings to rut people in touch with
what is possible in the beautiful. Such fine building are the most
public art". Naipaul is right, we need more and more buildings
which rut our people in touch with our own tradition of beauty and
aesthetics. Naipaul may also be right in observing that buildings
are the most public art. We cannot tolerate a situation where everything
that is beautiful - beautiful painting, beautiful beaches, beautiful
mountains, resorts and beautiful works and arts - is available only
to those who have money. The beautiful temple, of course, is more
than a piece of public art. It puts people in touch with the higher
beauty of the almighty creator and all His creation. Besides sounds
and indeed all vibration in the temple have the effect of soothing
the devotees, comforting them, giving them hope and confidence and
elevating them to a transcendental plane of existence, at least
for the brief time we spent praying and worshipping in the temple.
May I once again felicidate all those who have had a hand in making
a great dream come true. The acharyas of ISKCON, generous
donors, the architecht, the landscape designers, the engineers,
workers and all other humble devotees. Thank you very much indeed. |
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