Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals : 20-1. SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

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05/04/2020.
Chapter-20."Philosopher and Administrator " : 1.

An address given on the 22nd of October, 1975 in reply to the message of H.E. Dr. Channa Reddy, the then Governor of U.P., when he visited the Ashram.
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1.
The message which has been so eloquently and powerfully expressed by our honoured guest His Excellency may be regarded as perhaps the spirit behind the voice of India. It has been an awakening message not only for the reorientation that is necessary in the envisagement of spiritual values, but also in the effort to rectify any erroneous approach in the public life of man in the outer world. The message, in its quintessence, conveyed the great truth that is operating invisibly behind all human functions in the world; and that is the need of the hour. What is this need? The need is to see things as God would see things and, as His Excellency put it beautifully, to do what God would expect us to do. This is something very difficult for the human mind to conceive – what God expects us to do. Well, to put it plainly, God would expect us to follow the principles of His constitution. And what are the principles behind His law, His Satya or Rita – Dharma, as the Vedas have put it? This also has been impliedly pointed out in the message of His Excellency when he said that God has been present in every one of His Avataras, which signifies that perfection is immanent in every stage of evolution. And he has also beautifully said that God blessed not merely Prahlada but also Hiranyakasipu. It is not merely an analogy that he has given but a great secret of human action in the world in the light of what God would expect us to do in this world.
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2.
It is difficult for the human mind to conceive the law of God because, in one word, the principle of God is also the principle of integration – the integration of existence in the various levels of its manifestation. This is very important to remember. While God is the Supreme Integration, it does not mean that He is merely a transcendental integration minus the world of values and actions. The word 'integration' means inclusiveness of every conceivable value and type of existence. And in this blend of the totality of values to be envisaged in the light of God's vision, in this reoriented vision, we would see the world as a field of duty, not imposed upon us by external power or force, but as a mandate that comes voluntarily from our own inner core which is commensurate with the principle of God.
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3.
I am very glad that His Excellency has pointedly put his finger on the knob that there is no gulf between spirituality and secularity; or, rather, we have to give a new and correct definition of what religion is and what secularity is. Religion has been wrongly interpreted as love of God to the exclusion of the world; and secularism was wrongly interpreted as love of the world minus God. Not so is the message. And he has told us that our vision has to be a Godly vision and it is only from the point of view of this Godly vision that we can work in this world as God would expect us to work. There is no secularity for God; there is no religion for God. We cannot say God is a spiritual person or a secular person. He is not even a human being. Though we talk of humanity, mankind, etc., God rises above this concept of the species to which we are likely to be wedded in an emotionalism of our attitude for a particular group or category of creation.
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To be continued ...


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