Politics can’t be mixed with Religion

The Bhagavad Gita is widely revered as one of the superlative heritage of the entire human civilization. Swami Chinmayanandji, noted thinker, philosopher and philanthropist is one of the world’s greatest scholars on Bhagavad Gita and Upanishad. He is also the founder of Chinmaya Mission which by way of sermons, ashrams for elders, spiritual retreats, literature and tapes is working in the direction of betterment of humanity at large. Recently, he was in Indore to conduct the 466th Gita Gyana Yagna under the auspices of Chinmaya Mission. JITENDRA MUCHHAL talked to him on contemporary issues.

Q. Why do you highlight the message of the Gita in your sermons and preachings out of various other scriptures?
A. Because The Gita was addressed to Arjun and my generation is made up of Arjuns. Highly intelligent, extremely ambitious, supremely dynamic yet incapable of action, this is my age. A confused man who renders himself incapable of dynamically acting – such a man has to be revitalised by the philosophies of The Bhagvad Gita and that is what is needed today.

Q. When the going is generally good, man is very praiseful of god’s blessings. But as things start roughing up, the same man can even curse the same lord. Does this indicate any loss of faith?
A. When I was hospitalised in the past, every morning that rascal called the doctor and the nurse would give me a bowl of sorrow by cleaning up the wound which is a painful experience. At that time, I would curse the doctor with the choicest of phrases. But when the same wound is healed. I would lie prostrate in front of the same doctor to express my gratitude. Now, does the doctor worry about the curses and the blessings while performing his duties? In the same way, the Infinitely Kind Lord gives measured quantities of joys and sorrows to every individual. So, When a person is in sorrow he cries because that is the language of pain. In the beginning, this roller coaster of blessings and curses enhanced, but with the passage of time and strengthening of faith, man learns to be static in all phases.

Q. The famous shloka of Gita ‘Karmanye vadhi Karaste…’ preaches Arjuna to go on with his work without at once worrying about the results. How is it relevant today in the age of intensifying cutthroat competition?
A. Yes, one may go ahead as the world is going about intensifying the competition leading to increased chaos, sorrow and restlessness. But if one does a job as he feels that the job ought to be done, not because of the covertedness of the profits but because of sublime inspiration and involvement, excellent work comes about. When an artist paints thinking in terms of the per square inch realisation, that is commercial art. But a painter who is fascinated and charmed by the beauty of the composition and is least concerned about the price and profit of the work that is the time when he brings about a master-piece. The result of an action is always after the action. You can’t pass in a exam before appearing in it. Now, at the time of action, if one starts worrying about the result in the future – he is depleting and wasting his mental energies which ought to have been used only in the action. Future is a closed book but future is being built up in the present. When the action itself is half-hearted, how can it reap fruitful results? The person’s job is only to do the job. Results are none of his business.

Q. But should this prohibit a person from doing any planning or forecasting?
A. Beautiful question indeed. In life when challenges come, there are always two steps – first stage is planning. In the light of the past experiences, one studies the situation and then comes to a decision. That is the time to apply the intellectual capacity to do the thinking. Live only in the present. This is the only secret of achievement.

Q. There is a growing unrest over moral degradation, corruption and erosion of guiding values of life. What do you feel about it?
A. We have witnessed this kind of decadence four times in the past in our country. Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Macedonian cultures also had a zenith but when they decayed, they died. None of these revived. That is called the destruction of a culture. An intrinsically healthy philosophy like ours shall never, die. Indeed, it shall have a decay. Decadence-because nothing is permanent. But it has this unique quality of rebounding back to revive itself. It is sad to say but it is a fact of life that man decays after long periods of peace-the texture of human beings goes down.

Q. Swamiji, how would you define religion?
A. A Very intellectual way of living in the society.

Q. Then is it necessary to portray or publicise these inner feelings?
A. For those who do not know, publicity is necessary. It should be more by actions than by words but even the importance of words can not be relegated When a person comes from the mothers’ womb how does he learn to eat, dress, bathe? Everything is taught to him is a gradual process. Similarly, religion in the form of essential values of life has also got to be taught.

Q. Who according to you, is a nobler person-one who spends his time in his work or one who spends his entire time in meditation et al?
A. An individual who is merely sitting down and his mind is wandering in sense objects is a hypocrite. On the other hand, a person who rolls up his sleeves and puts his heart and soul to work is any day nobler than the former.

Q. Do you consider birth or actions as the yardsticks of one’s status?
A. Does a doctor’s son become a doctor only because he is doctor’s son. There is no doubt about the supremacy of `actions’ over `birth rights’. It is in the day of decadence that these ideas are spaced about – you are a brahmin so you can do no wrong, you can rule the nation only if you are from Nehru’s family. This is wrong. Son of an artisan has better chances of becoming an artisan because he sees that work right from his childhood but he need not necessarily be an artisan.

Q. How do you view the emotional blackmail of a person’s religious beliefs in the politics?
A. Religion and politics can not be mixed together. It destroys both. They are basically allergic to each other and look at the results. Iran, Lebanon – innumerable example. They must be set apart Religion has no politics. So politicians should refer to religion and then frame laws and rules.

Q. But the modern trend of politicians arousing religious sentiments for their purposes is unmistakable?
A. It is necessary because politicians interfered in the religion. We have a constitution which says 32 times that India is secular. Yet they come out and say that these are minority classes – how can a secular government take into consideration the religion of a community.

Q. Do you consider India to be a secular state or a `Hindurashtra’?
A. Hindurashtra means secular state. As I said, politics and religion are to be kept apart. It is truly secular only when it is a Hindurashtra. Presently it is secular only in the speeches of politicians. These politicians have a way of distorting things. Look at how they define socialism. Grabbing and giving away to the society is not socialism, giving what you have to the society is socialism.

Q. You mean to say that people of all faiths can coexist amicably in this country?
A. Did not we do it all these centuries? We received Christians and Muslims in this country with extended arms and have lived peacefully since. But it was the policy of the Britishers to divide and rule which had lead to the troubles and rifts. Sadly, some of our politicians still intend to continue the same for their motives.