ADHYATMA JAGARAN MANCH
[Movement for Spiritual Regeneration]
(The inauguration photo
of AJM)
India is spiritual by nature. A majority of world religions have sprung
up from the soil of our land. Our seers and saints have meditated long and
deep and unpacked the mysteries of life and eternity. India has a spiritual
destiny that needs to be fulfilled for the sake of the whole world.
Millennia before the idea of a global order dawned in the west, our seers
intuited the spiritual truth that the whole of humankind is an extended
family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam).
Indian culture, marked by respect for diversities, ahimsa, religious
harmony, and compassion, is the fruit of true spirituality. Rather than
feeling insecure on account of religious, cultural and linguistic
diversities, we have celebrated them as our shared wealth. More than in any
other part of the world, religious communities lived in peace and harmony
in our land. The followers of Islam and Christianity fight among themselves
in other parts of the world. But they live in peace and brotherhood in
India. The spirit of India has had the strength to overcome the virus of
violence in religions and to promote compassion and harmony. This is the
tradition and history that we are proud of.
Today, however, depraved politics threatens to corrupt our religiosity
and to drag the whole country into division and anarchy. This chokes the
spiritual core of all religions and inflames communal passions. Religion is
being forced into an unholy alliance with communal politics. As a result,
militant religiosity becomes an encouragement for inhuman practices such as
hate, violence, cruelty and destruction. Our light is threatening to turn
into darkness. Untruth, contrary to our prayers, seems poised to overwhelm
truth and the dark clouds of death, rather than the sunshine of life, looms
in the horizon.
Communalization of politics has serious consequences for culture of
governance. It is when a party fails to provide good governance but still
wants to gain or regain power that it plays the communal card. Communal
politics is, thus, a threat both to our spiritual heritage from the past
and our well being in the present.
In our context, it is secularism that has collapsed into communalism.
Secularism is a negative outlook that seeks to exclude religion from the
discipline of politics. Religions, in their spiritual core, are the
reservoir of positive and life-furthering values. The secular model of
separating religion from politics has expelled values from politics. It is
in this vacuum that communalism has flourished. Communalism is unspiritual
religiosity, driven by vested interests and worldly calculations. It is
unprincipled politics pretending to be religion.
Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, insisted that politics without
principles was an evil. That evil is today staring us in the face through
unprecedented corruption, open advocacy of aggression, the spread of the
cult of hate and violence, and the lack of a sense of cohesion and
integration in our national life. Sadly, several religious leaders are
playing themselves into the gameplans of communal politicians. Others are
hiding in the sanctuary of their religious insularity. Neither helps. The
need of the hour is for those with spiritual concerns and authority to
participate actively and ardently in the process of nation-building. As
Gandhiji has taught us, it is only on spiritual foundations that a healthy
nation can be built. Spirituality is the meeting point for religion and
politics. Unless politics is shaped and disciplined by spiritual values, it
could rob us of our humanity and subvert our march to welfare.
Today, we cannot afford the luxury of indifference. Nor can we continue
to play the game of 'watch and wait'. We have watched enough and waited for
too long. Over this period of time, the character and culture of our
country have been degraded. No one with any spiritual sensitivity can sit
back, abandoning the destiny of the people of India to communal
politicians, no matter who they are. True spirituality is firmly committed
to the dignity and welfare of all people. It transcends all forms of
discrimination and alienation. National unity is possible only within a
framework of shared spirituality. The real enemies of India are those who
spread enmity and disunity among our people and not the followers of
various religions.
What India needs today is not a larger dose of consumerism. It is,
instead, a spiritual regeneration. Today we have too much religiosity, but
too little of spirituality. Most people are not even aware of the
distinction between the two. Political and religious leaders, wedded to
each other through vested interests, are misleading the people and hurting
the soul of India.
It is this sad reality that Adhyama Jagaran Manch as an all-faiths
people's movement seeks to address. All those who believe in the shared
spiritual destiny of the 100-crore citizens of India are welcome to join
this movement. Nobody's religious or political label will stand in the way,
as long as there is a willingness to work tirelessly to imbue our national
life, especially our political culture, with positive and integrative
values. This movement aims at regenerating the values of oneness,
compassion, ahimsa, and social justice. It hopes to work towards making
freedom of religion meaningful by liberating people also from divisive and
irrational religiosity. It is inspired by a passionate conviction that at
their spiritual core all religions contain the nectar of life and not the
poison of death. Religion is a call to unity and humaneness. India is a
garden of spirituality; and it must be filled with the flowers of love,
peace, truth, compassion, harmony, human worth and quality of life for all.
The mark of a genuine spiritual movement is the active participation of
the people. The goal of spirituality is the liberation of human beings from
the prisons of untruth, prejudice, hate and disunity. This liberation
cannot be imported from a distance or gifted on a platter. Genuine
liberation is what people do for themselves. The goal of a spiritual
initiative is, hence, limited to enabling the people to liberate
themselves. This puts the emphasis firmly on people's active participation
in the process of their empowerment. Dear readers, it is imperative
therefore that all of you participate in this spiritual movement in
whichever way you can. Some of the ways in which you can do so are:
(a) Understand the vision of this movement and share it with your
neighbours.
(b) Participate in the programmes to be organized under the auspices of
Adhyatma Jagran Manch and motivate others to do so.
(c) Organize the people in your own locality and hold meetings and
yatras to propagate the goals of this movement.
(d) Extend whatever financial support you wish to.
(e) Cultivate a passion for social justice and the will to fight all
forms of evil and adharma.
Swami Agnivesh
Nirmal Deshpande
Rev. Valson Thampu
For further information contact:
7, Jantar Mantar Road,
New Delhi 110001. (India)
Ph. +91-11-23363221/ 23367943
Fax -+91-11-23367946
Email: agnivesh70@gmail.com
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