Arajkata, Bharat and the Stuttering Wheel of Progress
India, as a nation is probably the most unique in the world and on the planet. No other country in the modern day world harbors the level of spiritual, cultural, philosophical, actionable and moral diversity that India does. Many authors, critics, world leaders, poets and mystics have written about this. But what is diversity? UK, a tiny island nation alone has more than 20 dialects, Canada has numerous sub tribes within their Great Aboriginal System and so on. Is it the number of languages? or the Gods worshipped? or the food? To me it is none of this.
The diversity that we call is a sublime outcome of the history of the nation that runs on the philosophy of Arajkata or Chaos. Many distinguished writers and authors have written and spoken about Chaos with a negative connotation but I see two sides to Chaos or Arajkata. A good side and then the bad side. Chaos may be a large spiral or circular galaxy that encompasses numerous thoughts, beliefs, ideals, morals and karma. However, in simple terms Chaos does represent dis-orderliness. This I see critically as the reason why even when 1.2 Bn people investing so much energy and time to progress or vikas, we are turning into a large Karmic cycle of action and inaction resulting into a chaotic growth story with many martyrs. We can always blame the leadership for mis-guiding or mis-leading. It is easy to blame versus self-correct. However, in an era of self-realization, hyper aggressive God-worship that has penetrated beyond the riches and the well-offs, we are not realizing that our Karmic thoughts and actions of Lying, deception, arguing, suppressing, controlling self and others around us is perhaps resulting in the cancelling of the Good thoughts and actions when in worship. This hyper-aggressive modern day worship trend is misleading people to believe that praying for wealth, no obstacles, growth, is selfish in nature and no molecule, island, brain neural network has formed without a collection of many. This ‘many’ is our diversity but the era we are in is so focused on self, not the self-realization but the self-ish. As hard and critical this sounds, this Karmic thought and action pattern results in creating more obstacles in our journey giving it a tone of a hurtling train that keeps following off its tracks.
Chaos when seen in an abstract form, or a litany of great ideas, a prose full of unrhyming verses is beautiful in nature. When you look at NASA’s images you can only stare at the beautiful chaos that the Universe harbors. From Chaos, beauty emerges, patterns emerge, solutions emerge. Chaos or Arajkata is not necessarily bad. However, one has to be intelligent, wise and smart to perceive Chaos for solutions and growth.
Even if Bharat or India is blessed with Arajkata due to its history and amalgamation of races from around the world, we can use this Chaos to bring order.
However, the growth cycle that I am noticing includes a lot of Personal/Self related energies that are causing a great deal of resistance to the wheel. Personal/Self energies are those that are attained when in your prayers or worship, demands, you ask only for your self and families wellbeing and growth. Of course neither me or anyone is a mind reader but this is displayed in the actions in modern day society. When your mindset is about the greater good, the people, the nation and the fabric you are part of, you will automatically engage in action that has a broader, kinder and growth oriented effect.
Its a common saying, building a big mansion on a flimsy foundation will always result in collapse. What I see in the modern day leadership, is this aggression and urgency to build with Self-center is going to result in a major crash, fragments of which we are seeing already. Even if at the core you have the greatness and virility for Bharat and the world.
Whether MBA, or a Sage, or general reading teaches you that good Leadership involves sustainable and collective action it does not mean creating boundaries in that collective. Whether it is a Political party creating a select politburo, leaving out members of lower caste, gender, age or a Corporate beefing up its upper management with men, men and men.
When I see India or Bharat’s Arajkata or Chaos as its strength, i see a Nation of more options, of more possibilities and more outcomes. Divergent thoughts on a topic coming from people with different cultural and geopolitical leanings is not bad, if at all it presents more ideas, perspectives and options. However, the highly ingrained socio-moral fabric does not allow us to have a healthy discussion amongst ourselves allowing for a collective solution oriented approach. This has been described in a lot more detail by the Great Amartya Sen who spoke about this valiantly in his epic book The Argumentative Indian. Arguments are not good period. When arguments become a mainstay for any discussion, it is a sign of decay and unfortunately this is the inaction that is leading to the stuttering of our growth wheel. We have been and are getting too stuck up in our perceptions, ideals and morals. Of course, this is seen globally but more so in our great nation. In a country where older generation is always revered for wisdom and solutions to all problems, the youth is getting suppressed and misguided by the limited thinking harbored by the great old minds. This is not to say that their though process is archaic, it is limited in nature and un-open to the Universe’s Grandness.
Hinduism, is such a powerful religion, so dense, so diverse resulting in so many perceptions, interpretations, directions. This could be the reason why Bharat, a country of majority followers of this religion have this unique strength
As a devout trainee in the scientific-mystic thought, research and following of Lord Shiva’s energy, I see where this chaos and boundless energy comes from. In the last 4 years after revisiting great Bharat, and having traveled, Kerala to Kashmir to Uttrakhand to Guwahati, meeting hundreds of entrepreneurs, advising Governments and companies, one pattern that has stood out for me and that is our ability to always find a solution to any problem possible. Globally recognized now as Jugaad. The method with which a solution is proposed is never straight. When you dig deeper psychologically or spiritually, you see an essence of letting things free wheel. Free wheeling is a process where you lose control. When control is lost consciously, usually in prayer and meditation, you connect with the source. This ability to let go and not have boundaries, mechanisms, is the reason why there is always cacophony associated to a Government’s scheme/program, a tech entrepreneur's tiring pitch, a shop-keeper or small businessman’s sale pitch. Our ability to use so many possibilities combined with spiritual energy makes us truly a superpower that can find best of solutions in the most dire of situations. Covid-19 was an eye opener for me personally, when I saw how our countrymen/women self-organized and came together to stand with utmost compassion and worked to fix the Nature’s wrath. Why did it require an event of such proportions to come together for once regardless of all labels, tags and brands . Was it the fear of Death or something deeper and bigger that we need to unleash to achieve greater good.
However, we have to be careful as this creative force when used for manipulation has dire consequences as observed for decades in our inactions resulting in small to mega scale scams.
My only advise as we grow as a community, as a nation is to use our blessed history of spirituality and its strength of high energy and Arajkata to drive meaningful and inclusive growth. In a era where Mental Health is changing human behaviors and hence impacting societies at large, we all need to pray and worship for greater good, kindness, compassion and inclusivity to help our people, nation and Mama Earth as our 3 key pillars of Karma or bhakti.
Jai Hind
Dr. Aman Iqbal is a human being who uses his training and learnings in science, spirituality, arts and technology to help countries achieve their grand goals. Aman has advised Governments of Canada and India-his home nation and currently on a world tour to spread his knowledge and wisdom. Dr. Aman sees politics with a very different lens.
Dr. Aman is also not just many million arm chair critics who are just talking and not doing much. Dr. Aman is leading a unique Pharma technology company in India to help India achieve Self-Reliance and enable green technologies. In just 9 months, company has tackled a major $500Million USD out of $25Bn USD import problem and supporting companies in Nation’s ecosystem.
