Philosophy, Strategy and Practice

Rāma Rājya of perfect harmony in enchanting diversity is established when we recognise the divine cosmic order of dharma.

When we close our eyes, shut all the other sense organs and still the mind, pure consciousness alone shines. It is that which is our True Self, the Ātman.

The whole of us is nothing other than this Pure Undivided Consciousness. It alone remains forever constant, throughout our three states of waking, dream and deep sleep.

In the waking state, Pure Consciousness brings to light the mind, the sense organs, and therefore the body and the entire universe itself. In the dream state, the sense organs (and the body) are folded up. The mind creates a world of its own which shines in the Consciousness as the dream. In deep sleep neither the world, nor the body, nor the mind are available to reflect the light of Consciousness. Therefore, that state is Pure Undivided Consciousness alone.

Universal Self

Awakened yogīs, even with their sense organs active, continue to remain established in Pure Consciousness. They see that all that is perceived is part of the Consciousness. It is Consciousness itself that assumes the forms of the various things that make up the Universe.

“It is all within us. Everything exists within our own Consciousness. Indeed, the entire universe is our own Self!” the enlightened one exclaims.

Thus, we see that all our apparent differences, the root cause of so much misery and conflict in the world, are nothing but a play of our own mind.

Illusion of the Mind

We all know that in infinite space, everything, from the smallest particle of an atom to the biggest galaxy, is in constant harmonious motion. But can one define a point in infinite space? How then do we move from one place to the other?

Let us take another example—Let us assume that we roll a ball. In the course of the movement of the ball, at every moment, it has covered a certain distance and is yet to cover a certain distance. Therefore, at each moment, the ball is still. If at every point the ball is still, how can there be movement in cumulative time?

Movement, therefore, is not characteristic of the object, but of our imagination. Thought is the primordial movement. Time is movement and, therefore, it is thought that is time. When there is no thought, there is no time.

The Enlightened Rāma Rājya Citizen

The mind is nothing but a bunch of thoughts, sense impressions or vāsanās, we carry from the past. By practising yoga, we transcend time. Yoga enables us to weed out the deeply ingrained sense impressions and thoughts. It helps us to vent our vāsanās through creative channels.

Creativity is an outpouring of love. It is that which helps us understand the supreme creative play in the universe.

Thus, having gained this insight, we release ourselves from the clutches of the illusionary mind, māyā, the root cause of our suffering.

We are, therefore, my dear ātmasvarūpa friends, a liberated, enlightened people!

Work that Lies ahead

So what do enlightened people do?

From the great insights into the cosmic order, the awakened one develops Dharma. Dharma is the harmonious way of human life.

Dharma plugs in every diverse element into the jigsaw of social harmony. In this neat order, all the flux is only seemingly so. Behind the veil of disquiet lies absolute calm and peace.

Just like an actor on the stage performs his role to perfection, forgetting his individual ego, every individual in the world plays an important part to help the entire society reach the shore of Jñāna.

With Dharma as the basis of social order, we can usher in a new age of permanent peace and prosperity in the world. But our first move should be to thoroughly unshackle our own people with whom we share our home.

Psychologists, philosophers, yoga practitioners, teachers, writers, dancers, musicians, actors and other communication professionals can make a start by culling out basic human values, enshrined in all the scriptures of all the sects of our country, framing the policies and rolling out the public relations programmes.

Here are a few practical approaches we could start with:

• Everyone knows that food is a basic necessity. The downtrodden verily trade their lives for the sake of food. We must ensure that no one faces the situation of being enslaved for food. Nutritious and delicious food should be made available to the hungry all over the country.
• An individual’s self-discovery happens, in nature’s school, when one’s mind is at peace. The external environment plays a crucial role in enabling the mind to find peace. Our habitats need a fresh look in this light. Decluttering our social spaces, bringing order to it and aligning it with nature to enable the realisation of true human potential is, therefore, priority.
• To facilitate social solidarity, residential areas in urban and rural areas need to be redesigned to nurture family values.
• These communities should develop a relationship with the local environment and ecology. They could start by growing their own food.
• Such communities should discover their own ‘social competitive advantage’ through which the will harmoniously fit into the larger regional, national and global societies.
• Education should be made competition free to enable students explore their creativity. Scientific education should be promoted by making it fun and play.
• Local communities should start their own schools where the parents themselves can volunteer to teach and work. The ambience of Love will induce children to discover their freedom in the context of their place in the cosmos. Through this, they would be made to understand that the knowledge and skills gained by them through education is primarily for the benefit of society.
• The appointed teachers in these schools must be inward looking.
• Rāma Rājya is characterised by the universal quest for moksha, absolute freedom. Every student must therefore receive knowledge of the four paths of yoga (Karma, Bhakti, Jñāna and Rāja yoga) as taught in the Bhagavad Gītā.
• World-class sports infrastructure, libraries, music and dance schools and sabhas, and other venues of local culture and education should be made available in every nook-and-corner of the country to encourage children and the citizens at large to come out and play, socialise, to develop their physical and mental faculties and their personalities.

Imagine what would happen when we have, in this way, liberated our people, the 1.3 billion citizens of this country.

Imagine them empowered with knowledge of the real human potential,

Of the fact that they are one with the entire Universe,

Of their immense creative power,

Imagine the immense prosperity and peace that would come in its wake.

Imagine the ripple effect of India’s Awakening all over the world.

Glory to Śrī Rāma! Glory to the one who shines in all of us as Ātmārāma!

(Published in Tattvāloka of October 2019)

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