Eminence of a Nation
Friday November 19 2004 08:43 IST
By Karmayogi
Motilal Nehru had his
clothes made in London by the King's tailor Poole. Some zamindars sent
their pregnant wives to England so that the newborn children would be
British citizens.
Because Britain ruled India, the Indians revered the British
capital.
Britain ruled not only India, but a good part of the world. Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands were imperial
countries by their military might. That was the reason for their eminence in
the early part of this century.
Such an eminence today is most enjoyed by America in all walks of her
life. It will be interesting to us to know how she arrived there. Writers and
thinkers say America attained that status by her capacity to
produce.
Production is economic strength. Economic might gradually spills over into
other areas and makes a country militarily strong, politically important.
America was NOT aiming at
hegemony or superiority in any field in the 19th century. She was producing all
she needed aiming at self-sufficiency and that resulted in her becoming a world
leader today.
Not to aim at any external goal, but to concentrate on the work on hand is a
spiritual principle. It is to shift from outside to inside.
Spirituality says that shifting from outside to inside results in: (1) years
are abridged into hours; (2) man, who is a slave of circumstances, finds himself
a master of life; (3) karma is overcome; (4) one is able to do what has not
been attempted so far.
A nation as a whole doing it will surely rise in eminence. How can we describe
such a process to ourselves? We are an ancient nation. India has a hoary past of
the Buddha, vast empires, great universities and a long procession of
enlightened sages. Our immediate task is to overcome poverty, rise in the
educational level, and provide every youth with employment. Europe has done so by her
technology.
Is it possible to draw upon our spiritual potential to arrive at an economic
goal? Rising population has changed all by itself from a curse into a strength
by education, especially vocational education.
Life, especially when it rises, meets with rise and fall. Resorting to the
Spirit, i.e. by being utterly truthful and self-reliant, the fall will drop off
by itself. Life will be one continuous rise.
The business man who is at the mercy of his market will be a master of the
market. That is a rare knowledge the Spirit has given us. This path will help
us reach our goal very quickly. It is a knowledge we can offer the world. Any
discovery of science has a negative side.
Any method of the Spirit – truth, self-respect, values, etc. – eliminates the
negative side. It is a spiritual knowledge, rather a spiritual experience.
Applied to life or business, it becomes powerful and a rare possession. The
future is for the Spirit all over the world, as they said in the 19th century,
‘‘the future is for science''.