Author: Swami Chaitanya Keerti
Publications: The Times of India
Dated: October 6, 2001
OSAMA bin Laden does not live in
Afghanistan", declare the fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"He lives in our hearts", they proclaim, loudly and proudly.
Terrorism and its poisonous weeds
have no permanent address in any country. They live and flourish in the
hearts of people and in almost all parts of the world, and the most surprising
thing is that the so-called religions are responsible for this poisonous
growth.
The world has become clearly divided
between two expressions of religion. The choice is between the religion
of terrorism and the true religion of self-transformation and compassion
for the world. The religion of terrorism may be divided into thousands
of sects and ideologies but it is united by one common goal that has only
one name: Terrorism. The people opting for this religion will live and
die for it.
The other religion which is the
religion of the sane people is the religion without any name and can be
labelled as the 'pure religiousness of self-transformation'. It helps in
moulding people as better human beings with values of love, compassion
and non-violence. They may believe or not believe in any ideology, they
may worship any God or not, but they transform themselves with meditation
and share their awareness, bliss and compassion with all who come in contact
with them.
In the hearts of such people lives
the fragrance of enlightenment of all the buddhas, mystics and saints.
But, unfortunately, such people are not in big numbers. These flowers of
meditation and compassion have been outnumbered by the weeds of hatred
and violence. And now there is an urgency to restore the balance between
these two forces, otherwise the oscillation towards violence will destroy
the world very soon, whether Nostradamus predicted it or not. Hundreds
of thousands of people are needed around the world to meditate and create
good vibes to balance the forces of death and destruction. There is an
urgency and situation of emergency. Such people belonging to any religion
should unite in the spread of human values and restore the balance.
In his book In Search of the Miraculous,
written more than 30 years ago, Osho had predicted that the coming few
years are going to be very significant years in man's history. Now a handful
of people will be of no help in spiritual matters. Unless a mighty and
massive spiritual movement sweeps the earth, it will be impossible to save
the world from the mire of materialism. It will be a very, very momentous
moment in a person's life; the coming 50 years are going to be fateful
and decisive, in the sense that either religion, or stark irreligion -
all that is against religion, will live.
The struggle that has been going
on from time immemorial has reached its moment of decision. And looking
at the situation as it obtains at present, there is not much hope. But
I am not disappointed because it seems to me that very soon a simple and
natural way can be found which will revolutionise the lives of millions
of people spiritually. A few individuals can be of no help in the present
times. In olden times it was enough if only one person became enlightened.
Now this would not do. In view of the tremendous explosion of population
taking place in the world, a few individuals cannot do a thing. Now something
tangible can be possible only if, commensurate with the huge population,
hundreds of thousands of people are influenced and involved in spiritualism.
And it is possible as I see it.
If a few people form a nucleus and
begin the work, India can play a significant role in that momentous fight.
No matter how poor and miserable, how degraded and slavish, how misled
and misguided this country has been, yet this land has some well preserved
treasures with it. Down the centuries such people have walked across this
land that their light, their fragrance, their blessings have left their
vibes in the air, have left their imprint on every blade of grass here.
People in this country have gone astray but the dust of this land still
remembers Buddha's feet walking on it, the trees still cherish the memory
that Mahavira had once stood in their shade, the seas surrounding this
country still know a different voice they had heard in the past and the
skies of this country are still full of hope. Everything is there, only
the human being has to come back home, to nature.
In this time of great upheaval India
has a historical role to perform, as it has the reservoir of eternal wisdom
that no country has been blessed with.
