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"IF
I can’t provide something to the society for the bread it gives me, I am a
thief." - So
says Mahatma Yogeshwarji Maharaj who renounced worldly pleasures at the age
of 19, has written more than 80 books in three languages on Indian religion,
and who sees part of his role as being to guide India in the social,
spiritual and political fields.
He is presently in this
country on what he describes as his "South African Pilgrimage" and this will
be incorporated into a book he is writing. Mahatma Yogeshwarji also began
work on another book since he arrived in Durban a fortnight ago - a Gujarati
translation of the Mahabharata.
Intensely nationalistic in
outlook - "I am a lover of India", he proclaims. His work has extended
beyond the narrow concept of religious work.
PRAYER POWER
"When India was struggling
for independence we stayed in the Himalayas and prayed to the Almighty to
guide our land to freedom," he says, stressing his firm belief in the power
of prayer. His religion is also lived out in visible social action, through
the building of a school in the Himalayas and by providing medicines and
money to the poor. Several politicians too, came to him and his colleagues
for guidance. But, he adds, many are too arrogant to take the advice.
India's saints should lead
India in the social, political and spiritual spheres, he says. “If we just
inspire and guide we serve the country."
"We have no political
ambitions for positions, still, we have a love for our motherland and we
know, and can show the way." He hopes to unite India not in the name of
language or race but in the name of the betterment of the nation."
COMMON CAUSE
"We must serve the
motherland. If we lay the emphasis on this then people will be united. The
common cause must be there and that is the betterment and upliftment of the
masses."
Mahatma Yogeshwarji said:
"We are not political leaders, we don't want to be. We are saints and the
duty of saints is to denote the path. Our role is that of saints not
politicians and we must speak and write the truth."
Doing this has not always
been easy, Religious leaders have been harassed and imprisoned and many have
been too afraid to speak out.
The Mahatma himself has
not had any such experience, though. During the emergency three years ago,
he addressed meetings and stated that he thought the policy was not right.
"I said that there should
be a round table conference to hear what all sides had to say. That is our
role."
On the social level he
says, there should not be any sort of differences. All should have equal
opportunities to progress, in the political, educational, commercial and
other spheres. There should be no discrimination on the grounds of race,
color and creeds or religion and the same policy should apply to all. "We
say there must be social equality."
His South African
pilgrimage, he says, is not so much to learn as to "behold" and during his
two weeks in Durban he has traveled around, and given lectures on yoga,
Indian culture, and peace and tranquility.
He has already picked up a
few words of Zulu.
The Mahatma briefly
visited the Phoenix Settlement started by Mahatma Gandhi, and described the
place as "humming with no activity." It was a solitary place and had no
outstanding personality there," he added.
But, he enjoyed meeting
Mrs. Sushilaben Gandhi there, and noted that a book he had written on Gandhi
was at the Settlement library. He said that despite Gandhi's activities
here, this country still had discrimination, and perhaps "many Gandhis are
needed."
IN CONSCIENCE
"The soul of Gandhi is
still working in the conscience of the African people," he said, having
enquired whether Black people in South Africa were working for their
freedom. Mahatma Yogeshwarji Maharaj felt that the inclination to devote
himself to spiritual work at the age of 14 believing that he was being
called upon to serve "mankind and lead a saintly life."
At the age of 19 he
renounced everything and went to the Himalaya Mountains where he spent the
next 20 years. He spent 15 years doing strict penance to attain bliss. Such
discipline, he admitted, had not been easy, but he succeeded.
He is greatly optimistic
about the younger people in India who are very interested in the speeches he
delivers at colleges across the country. "They are interested because I love
them, and because I am there as a lover of India and not as a religious
teacher," he said. |
