whereas animal diet
goads towards decreasing
the assets of life.
Message, 9.319
Expressing his reverence for those hermits, seers and prophetic personalities of India who considered
nature to be something sacred, Mahatma Gandhi once said the following:
I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful
in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations
of Nature with a religious significance.37
Little did Mahatma Gandhi realize that this attitude of reverence towards nature was not only a matter of
ancient Indian heritage but also an essential part of the philosophy of life of a great contemporary of his,
to whom he had gone for guidance at the time when divisive forces towards the end of the British rule in
India started demanding the partition of the country on religious grounds.
The Darwinian concept of hostility and rivalry mentioned earlier in this chapter has been
manifesting itself in history not only in the form of an over-exploitation of nature by man but also in the
form of rivalry and hostility between different countries, races and tribes. Political interpreters of the
Darwinian theory might say that it was perhaps this deep-seated urge for rivalry and hostility, this
tendency to survive and flourish at the cost of others that made kings and war lords with stronger weapons
in the past to defeat other communities in battles, rob them of their wealth, burn their houses, capture their
women and rule over them, exploiting all their valuable resources. One of the things that India can
legitimately feel proud of is that from the earliest known beginnings of its history, the main stream of
Indian culture has been propagating the message of universal brotherhood as opposed to the world view
which says that we must flourish and enjoy life by defeating and killing others. This message of India
remained unheard like a voice in the wilderness and India itself was, for centuries, made a victim of the
tendency it had always denounced. Those who attacked and ruled over India robbed her of her gold,
diamonds, her natural resources, her raw materials for industry, and many of her other very valuable
possessions, but they did not succeed in robbing her of her conviction that the future of humanity was in
cordial togetherness and mutual support and not in unhealthy rivalry leading to one community
suppressing and exploiting the other. The Rig Veda, for example, said:
lekuh o vkd~fr% lekuh ân;kfu o A
lekueLrq oks euk~s ;Fkk o lqlgklfr AA
samani va akutih samani hridyani va
samanamastu vo mano yatha va susahasati
(Rig Veda. 10.191.4)
37 Glimpses of Indian Culture - By Dr. Giriraj Shah. p. 106.
May you plan your target together, may your hearts be together and may
your minds be together so that you can achieve what can be achieved by a
dynamic togetherness.
The Atharva Veda (3.30.6) used the metaphor of the wheel of a chariot, aranabhimiva bhitah
(vjkukfHkfeokfHkr%) and exhorted people to help and support each other as the spokes of the wheel of a
chariot support and reinforce each other. This message of a cordial togetherness has always been an
essential part of the main stream of Indian culture. It found its expression in the writings and speeches of
Indian stalwarts like Nanak, Chaitanya Deva, Ramakrishna, Aurobindo and Vivekanand and has been
very forcefully and explicitly expressed in the utterances of Sri Sri Thakur. Sri Sri Thakur’s message of
becoming is the message of harmony, the message of a loving and mutually supportive relationship
between the individual and his environment.
Endure
and endeavour
to make one great,
and thus be great
in the making!
Message,1.113.
In Sri Sri Thakur’s philosophy of life, the other individuals in our society and the other species in our
habitat are not necessarily our hostile competitors; they are and can be a source of support to us and so in
our own interest we should strengthen this source of support and enrichment.
Environment is the only source
of life and nourishment;
so service is inevitable
to sustain oneself,-
therefore be serviceable
to make it healthy,
wealthy
and vigorous in life!
Message, I. 117.
As Lord Krishna did in the Gita, Sri Sri Thakur used the device of repetition to emphasize certain aspects
of his message though each utterance made use of a different metaphor and therefore looked all new and
original. The following utterance, for example, says the same thing, though in a different idiom.
To become prosperous,
or to be in position,-
whip yourself
to make others exalted
in life and riches.
Message,1.58.
Making others exalted and elevated, Sri Sri Thakur said, is a natural and inevitable part of the culture of
healthy becoming, and helping others was a pre-requisite for one’s proper growth and extension. Attaining
great heights of spirituality was impossible unless one nurtured and nourished the environment with a
feeling of genuine love and sympathy.
The last fragment
of your worship
is to seek and search the difficulties
of your environment
and to fulfil:
Verily, I say unto you,
until and unless you finish that
with love and sympathy,
your worship is deaf,
dull and dumb.
Message, 1.250.
In an emotionally charged language, Sri Sri Thakur said that the person “that sobs with sympathy and
fellow-feeling at the miseries, sorrows and difficulties” of the people in the environment and “elates
[them] with hope and service, raising them with a loving embrace and responsibility towards endurance,
and leads them to their welfare and success” does something heroic.
. . . Such a heart dwells in the Hero:
He it is who is Nature’s rescue
to the call
of Sufferers!
Message, 1. 239-40
Thus, Darwin’s concept of biological evolution is very different from Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of
becoming. Darwin’s concept of evolution is based on rivalry, hostility and cut-throat competition of the
individual with the other individuals of the species whereas a loving and inspiring service to the
environment is an inevitable ingredient of Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of becoming.
The desire for the good of others is the mother of one’s own good.38
Nor is Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of becoming identical with certain other semi-scientific notions based on
Darwin’s notion of biological evolution. If we consider the history of ideas during the second half of the
nineteenth century, we will find that Darwin’s theory of evolution was subjected to certain modifications
and oversimplifications and even distortions by one of his contemporaries. Herbert Spencer, a
contemporary of Charles Darwin, presented this theory of biological evolution differently from the way
38 Satyanusaran. Sixth edition. 1974. P.53.
goads towards decreasing
the assets of life.
Message, 9.319
Expressing his reverence for those hermits, seers and prophetic personalities of India who considered
nature to be something sacred, Mahatma Gandhi once said the following:
I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful
in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations
of Nature with a religious significance.37
Little did Mahatma Gandhi realize that this attitude of reverence towards nature was not only a matter of
ancient Indian heritage but also an essential part of the philosophy of life of a great contemporary of his,
to whom he had gone for guidance at the time when divisive forces towards the end of the British rule in
India started demanding the partition of the country on religious grounds.
The Darwinian concept of hostility and rivalry mentioned earlier in this chapter has been
manifesting itself in history not only in the form of an over-exploitation of nature by man but also in the
form of rivalry and hostility between different countries, races and tribes. Political interpreters of the
Darwinian theory might say that it was perhaps this deep-seated urge for rivalry and hostility, this
tendency to survive and flourish at the cost of others that made kings and war lords with stronger weapons
in the past to defeat other communities in battles, rob them of their wealth, burn their houses, capture their
women and rule over them, exploiting all their valuable resources. One of the things that India can
legitimately feel proud of is that from the earliest known beginnings of its history, the main stream of
Indian culture has been propagating the message of universal brotherhood as opposed to the world view
which says that we must flourish and enjoy life by defeating and killing others. This message of India
remained unheard like a voice in the wilderness and India itself was, for centuries, made a victim of the
tendency it had always denounced. Those who attacked and ruled over India robbed her of her gold,
diamonds, her natural resources, her raw materials for industry, and many of her other very valuable
possessions, but they did not succeed in robbing her of her conviction that the future of humanity was in
cordial togetherness and mutual support and not in unhealthy rivalry leading to one community
suppressing and exploiting the other. The Rig Veda, for example, said:
lekuh o vkd~fr% lekuh ân;kfu o A
lekueLrq oks euk~s ;Fkk o lqlgklfr AA
samani va akutih samani hridyani va
samanamastu vo mano yatha va susahasati
(Rig Veda. 10.191.4)
37 Glimpses of Indian Culture - By Dr. Giriraj Shah. p. 106.
May you plan your target together, may your hearts be together and may
your minds be together so that you can achieve what can be achieved by a
dynamic togetherness.
The Atharva Veda (3.30.6) used the metaphor of the wheel of a chariot, aranabhimiva bhitah
(vjkukfHkfeokfHkr%) and exhorted people to help and support each other as the spokes of the wheel of a
chariot support and reinforce each other. This message of a cordial togetherness has always been an
essential part of the main stream of Indian culture. It found its expression in the writings and speeches of
Indian stalwarts like Nanak, Chaitanya Deva, Ramakrishna, Aurobindo and Vivekanand and has been
very forcefully and explicitly expressed in the utterances of Sri Sri Thakur. Sri Sri Thakur’s message of
becoming is the message of harmony, the message of a loving and mutually supportive relationship
between the individual and his environment.
Endure
and endeavour
to make one great,
and thus be great
in the making!
Message,1.113.
In Sri Sri Thakur’s philosophy of life, the other individuals in our society and the other species in our
habitat are not necessarily our hostile competitors; they are and can be a source of support to us and so in
our own interest we should strengthen this source of support and enrichment.
Environment is the only source
of life and nourishment;
so service is inevitable
to sustain oneself,-
therefore be serviceable
to make it healthy,
wealthy
and vigorous in life!
Message, I. 117.
As Lord Krishna did in the Gita, Sri Sri Thakur used the device of repetition to emphasize certain aspects
of his message though each utterance made use of a different metaphor and therefore looked all new and
original. The following utterance, for example, says the same thing, though in a different idiom.
To become prosperous,
or to be in position,-
whip yourself
to make others exalted
in life and riches.
Message,1.58.
Making others exalted and elevated, Sri Sri Thakur said, is a natural and inevitable part of the culture of
healthy becoming, and helping others was a pre-requisite for one’s proper growth and extension. Attaining
great heights of spirituality was impossible unless one nurtured and nourished the environment with a
feeling of genuine love and sympathy.
The last fragment
of your worship
is to seek and search the difficulties
of your environment
and to fulfil:
Verily, I say unto you,
until and unless you finish that
with love and sympathy,
your worship is deaf,
dull and dumb.
Message, 1.250.
In an emotionally charged language, Sri Sri Thakur said that the person “that sobs with sympathy and
fellow-feeling at the miseries, sorrows and difficulties” of the people in the environment and “elates
[them] with hope and service, raising them with a loving embrace and responsibility towards endurance,
and leads them to their welfare and success” does something heroic.
. . . Such a heart dwells in the Hero:
He it is who is Nature’s rescue
to the call
of Sufferers!
Message, 1. 239-40
Thus, Darwin’s concept of biological evolution is very different from Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of
becoming. Darwin’s concept of evolution is based on rivalry, hostility and cut-throat competition of the
individual with the other individuals of the species whereas a loving and inspiring service to the
environment is an inevitable ingredient of Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of becoming.
The desire for the good of others is the mother of one’s own good.38
Nor is Sri Sri Thakur’s concept of becoming identical with certain other semi-scientific notions based on
Darwin’s notion of biological evolution. If we consider the history of ideas during the second half of the
nineteenth century, we will find that Darwin’s theory of evolution was subjected to certain modifications
and oversimplifications and even distortions by one of his contemporaries. Herbert Spencer, a
contemporary of Charles Darwin, presented this theory of biological evolution differently from the way
38 Satyanusaran. Sixth edition. 1974. P.53.
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