India’s second highest civilian award doesn’t merely venerate a spiritual guru, but honors a movement that harnesses inner peace for outer action
Even as the President of India was handing over the Padma Awards last week, a few tweets surfaced wondering why the Padma Vibhushan to Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar should be under “Other” category. The allusion was to why the government doesn’t consider spirituality a category worthy of awards in its own class. The tag of “other” is vague and appears to belittle the award was the tenor.
On the hindsight, that option of “Other” appears like a tailor-made. Else, it would have been hard to find a category where Gurudev can be fitted in. Not that his work in the field of “spirituality” is not “exceptional and distinguished” enough to deserve the prize. But confining his work to the traditional understanding of “spirituality” would have been unfair.
Unlike the other winners who are all stalwarts in their chosen fields, Gurudev’s body of work has been exceptionally multifaceted and multidimensional. He is the most venerated spiritual guru in the world today, but he must also be equally credited for turning spirituality into a vehicle for changing the world.
By seamlessly combining ‘inner peace’ with ‘outer action’, he has managed to usher in visionary actions that give the hope that the ideal world we aspire for is still a realizable dream. By busting the myth of spirituality being a mere pursuit of an inner experience of peace and enlightenment, he has made spirituality fashionable and appealing. This paradigm shift partially explains how Gurudev has managed to get a huge population of young people interested in spirituality.
This is critically significant for India at a time when "vector-less energy looking for guidance and direction," has been used as the main fodder for radicalization across the world. Gurudev’s brand of spirituality which is pragmatic and action-oriented can effectively prevent “the urge to change the world” from turning into destructive pursuits. On this count, the recognition is long overdue.
In the last 35 years, his movement has also propelled several sustainable interventions in virtually every area that concerns the world. Be it global climate change, or education to underprivileged children or checking fanaticism, Gurudev has played the role of a force-multiplier by inspiring millions to take responsibility of their society, nation and the humanity as a whole.
More than the range of activities, it’s their depth that makes it relevant for the masses. Take the example of the Art of Living’s river rejuvenation project that has so far restored 16 rivers in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, impacting over 6 lakh people.
These mostly volunteer-driven initiatives have regenerated the water bodies with a budget that is nearly one-tenth of the government estimates. Its 2010 initiative ‘Meri Dilli, Meri Yamuna’ saw hundreds of volunteers clean the river of 512 tons of toxic garbage and Holy Pampa project in Kerala saw 68,000 volunteer hours being put in by over 8,000 volunteers to pick over 600 tons of solid waste.
Be it promoting organic farming or providing disaster relief or peace education, what makes Gurudev’s interventions unique is his approach of “seeing things as they are” without any prejudice and addressing the root cause. This very philosophy has also helped him emerge as the most interesting peacemaker in the world who is willing to venture even into world’s most dreaded conflict zones like Iraq and Syria. He is reported to have even reached out to ISIS in an effort to help stop the violence and killing.
A firm believer in the power of dialogue, Gurudev has been able to talk peace even those who take to violent means to fight injustice and oppression. That’s exactly what he managed to do in Columbia last year by getting the rebel group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) back to the negotiating table. The rebel group which has been waging a guerrilla war for five decades that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and displaced over 7 million people was eventually convinced to announce a unilateral ceasefire.
Apart from the material achievements, Gurudev has also immensely contributed as a brand ambassador of India by taking her geniuses to 155 countries. By articulating the essence of ancient Indian wisdom sans the orthodoxy, he has opened up the world to the brighter side of India.
The recently concluded World Culture Festival that Gurudev hosted in Delhi was another extension of his work in this direction. By bringing people from over 150 countries in an atmosphere of celebration, the festival served as the most powerful PR blitz for India at a time when the country is being portrayed as intolerant to differing ideologies.
Padma Vibushan to Gurudev is undoubtedly an accolade for turning spirituality into a powerful tool for galvanizing transformation in society.
Written by M Rajaque Rahman. The author is a former business journalist whose writing now focuses on bringing out the depth of the matter and adding a spritial dimension to things worldly.
