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

* PUBLIC MEETING AT ALWAR, RAJASTHAN ON 19TH MAY 03

* PUBLIC MEET & RALLY IN JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN, 26TH MAY 03

For further information contact:

7, Jantar Mantar Road,

New Delhi 110001.

Ph. 91-11-23366765/ 23367943

Email: agnivesh@vsnl.com