(Name of Lord Ram takes us from bottom of material world to the peak of spirituality.) The beauty of India is many minds blossom like flower with name of Lord Ram irrespective ...of their faiths. But, that is not the point. Point is the underlying assumption that material world is something 'low' and spirituality the 'peak'. It is much contested assumption at least in India, thanks to the openness of this country.
With advent of Britishers in India and they being our rulers our self esteem was deeply hurt. They had defeated us in material progress especially after Industrial Revolution. So, we carved out a space for ourselves by saying: 'They may be great in material things but we are spiritually great' with it started two separate domains of 'Western Materialism' and 'Eastern Spirituality'. I think this is factually flawed argument. And my argument is not that we are not spiritually great but that of exactly opposite to it namely: We being great in material pursuits as well. I say so not out of some jingoism but because I believe spiritual progress can not be achieved by starving people.
"Slaves do not attain Salavation" said Swami Vivekananda. We can not expect peaceful mind in ailing body. 'Sound mind in sound body' is well known dictum. Therefore, we need to march forward in material world as well.
When self appointed guardians of their ill-conceived and ill-understood notion of 'Indian Culture' beat up women for celebrating their love it becomes nothing short of irony. They say there is no place for such materialistic and lowly act in 'Bhartiya Sanskriti'. They are fools. Do they want to erase the stories Krishna Lilas with Gopis? Will they destroy the 1000 years old monumental temples of Khajuraho which are full of erotic sculptures? Where will they hide the Konark Temple? Do they wish to burn down the 'Kamsutra' written by Vatsyana during the Gupta Period? Where will they bury the thousands of yakshis with voluptuous bodies found in every nook and corner of the country? What do they have to say about phallus worship prevalent in India right from the time of Harrapan Civilization which continues even today in form worship of Shivalingam? These people have not understood the Indian Culture and problem is these ignorant-misogynist fools want to impose their version on me and my fellow citizens. I protest..!!
On one hand we have literature with spiritual dispositions like Upanishads, Gita, Tripitika, Agam Granthas, Avesta, Quran, Guru Granthsaheb and many other books. And on the other hand we have materialistic literature of Charvaka and his 'Lokayata school'. For Rishi Kanad of Vaishesik philosophical school matter which he calls as 'Anu' i.e atom is at the root of everything in the world. This is essentially materialistic. Sanskrit and Pali are the two languages and they contain more than half of total literature till today ever written anywhere in the world on atheism. We in our long history have built beautiful Houses, Cities, Roads, Palaces, Tanks and Canals all for our material progress..!! Does anybody want to deny that?
India is neither spiritual nor materialistic its both and more than it. It wants balance of these two. The four Purusharthas are Dharma (No English translation possible nearest will come moral law), Artha (Economic prosperty), Kama(Desires) and Moksha. This is balance, this is good. India is open, inclusive, multiethnic, multreligious, multilingual and yet one strong rising nation-state.
Food for thought: Materialist i.e Jadvadi believe 'Matter' is at the root of world and Spiritualists i.e Chaitanyavadi believe 'Energy' is at the root of the world. But, Albert Einstein in his famous equation E=mc2 has showed 'Energy' and 'Matter' are inter-convertible. Do we need to fight now??
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