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Religion in the Age of Spiritualism

Are religion and spiritualism two different school of thoughts? Is it necessary for the new-age spiritual beings to go all-out in making a distinction between the two?

“Spiritual but not religious”  – that’s the most-repeated self-description by today’s youth on Orkut, the virtual ‘community courtyard’ from Google.

So then, what does that mean anyway?

Probably that spiritualism is the new “opium of the masses”.  Karl Marx had once said that for religion. He can say that again, for spiritualism. Or would that be a mere duplication of a rather clarion thought?

Oxford Dictionary defines ‘spiritualism’ as a belief in, and supposed practice of communication with the dead, esp. through mediums! Shocked by the ‘original’ definition of  spiritualism, the spiritualists in us can take heart in the fact that the word ‘spiritual’ by the same authority is said to mean anything of the spirit or soul (spiritual relationship; spiritual home). Unfortunately, however, for today’s spiritual, the dictionary completes the aforementioned description by adding that spiritual also means religious, divine, inspired!

So, where’s the distinction between religion and spiritual? How is a spiritual person not religious? Why is religion being seen as a poor cousin of spiritualism by proponents of the latter?

The thinking, spiritualism-oriented youth would be surprised by the following description of spiritualism by western authors:

Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries. The movement’s distinguishing feature is the belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by mediums. These spirits are believed to lie on a higher spiritual plane than humans, and are therefore capable of providing guidance in both worldly and spiritual matters. Spiritualism is closely related to Spiritism, a religious movement that originated in France, and is today widespread in Brazil and other Latin countries.

What are they talking about – today’s spiritualists might wonder!

The fact of the matter, however,  is that either you like rock music in its entirety or you, like Yahoo Music, segregate rock music into 29 different categories! One of the categories is called Christian Rock. And if you think it would stop at that, you amaze yourself by finding out that there are 5 categories of Christian Rock!

Evidently, there is the truth –   music, and then there are various names of the truth viz.  rock, ballads, jazz and even spiritual and religious music.

A little peek into history tells us that until recent centuries, the history of spirituality remained bound up within the history of religion. Spriritual innovators operated within the context of a religious tradition, and became either marginalised / suppressed as heretics or separated out as schismatics.

Some western analysts believe Ralph Waldo Emerson to be the pioneer of the idea of spirituality as a distinct field.
The distinction between the spiritual and the religious became more common in the popular mind with the rise of secularism and the advent of the New Age movement.

The idea here is certainly not to challenge the ‘discipline of spiritualism’. The pursuit is to realize how denunciation of religion, any religion, for the sake of placing spiritualism on a higher plane not only lays bare incomplete understanding of religion but also defeats the very idea of spiritualism.

For, shouldn’t a person who is about the (inner, human) spirit and soul realize that religion also talks of there being God in each one us? Shouldn’t the very prevalent habit of mistaking rituals of religion with religion itself be overcome by a truly spiritual person? Shouldn’t a more evolved state of mind be magnanimous enough to give equal respect to every belief?

The fact of the matter is that both religion and spiritualism, if lived in their truest form, would be just as enlightening as one with the other’s name!

In India, the distinction between truly spiritual, religious or nationalist leaders becomes a tad difficult because religion – in spite of the nation being a secular union – is such an integral part of every identity. So whether it is the Arya Samaj in North India or The Art Of Living in the big urban centers of the country, there is no urgent or rigid separation of spiritualism from religion. Something that, while agreed by some spiritualism adherents, is not received favourably by others of their tribe. A part of the reason can be adoption of the same rigidity that had, in their belief, brought them away from religion. So while they might have now moved away from the rigidity of religious rituals, they have imbibed a rigidity in favour of their own school of thought; and in favour of their own school headmaster.

Surprisingly, or should we say disappointingly, while religious symbols  including the deities  are said to be the corrupting aspect of religion, there is no dearth of people who have achieved the cult of ‘spiritual gurus’.  Some are either self-styled Gods while others are called just that by their followers.  Some give discourse on life –   most of which are carried in almost all of the religious scriptures – while others lead you towards “holistic health and well-being”, another form of spiritualism.

Carrying the promise of being a saint, there are some learned people and some not so learned ones, who are addressed as ‘spiritual healers’. Remarkably, most of these gurus are suitably educated and do understand the basic tenets of science too. So, one often hears from their disciples, “Spiritual healing complements the allopathic medicines and reduces recovery time after any illness.”

The belief, even if you do not call the cause ‘spiritual healing’ is a true one. But it is not a unique one. While doctors themselves talk of ‘dua’ (prayers) being just as important as ‘dawa’ (medicines), religion itself talks of the role of love and compassion of the companinion and inner satisfaction and / or desire of the patient to get well as being paramount for an “aushadhee” (medicine) to work.

In other words, whether you call it spiritual healing – by self or through a guru – or call it the love and support of your loved ones; whether you call it your spiritual quest or name it journey towards nirvana; whether you call a person ‘spiritual guru’ or address him as Pandit, Maulvi or Priest, the fact of the matter is that we are intrinsically talking of the same coin. A coin that makes humanity win from each side.

So, why is this desperate need to dissociate one from the other? In fact, it would have been fair enough if it had stopped at that. The truth of the matter is that religion is fast being painted as a dirty word by some sections of the ‘spiritual world’. Keeping in view today’s state of affairs, it is barely surprising. But does that make it just?

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Entrepreneurship Startup Diaries

Take Pride in Your SoHo

Chances are that you read the latest movie reviews on a HP desktop; make presentations to clients on a HP laptop or maybe just take print-outs of images from a digital camera through HP laser printer. Yes, that’s the extent to which HP has permeated into our lives. In fact, that’s not even a representative range of the Company, which was, quite inspiringly, born in a garage!

HP is just one of the many examples of huge and trail-blazing  corporations across the globe that were born in a small room. Or even without a room.

So why can’t you house your idea in that small room of yours? Don’t you believe that limited physical space can never be a limiting factor for a mind space full of ideas?

Small or Home Office (SoHO) is a phenomenon that is making its comeback. Before the industrial revolution around the globe, nearly all offices were small offices and/or home offices, with only a few exceptions. The industrial revolution aggregated workers in factories, to mass produce goods; bringing along the need for large ‘office work’ by a big number of ‘white-collar’ professionals.

But the advent of the personal computer, and breakthroughs in voice and data communication has created opportunities for office workers to decentralize – leading to greater productivity at much lower overheads. And now, SoHOs make up a sizeable percentage of businesses across the globe.

Now several ranges of products, such as the multi-purpose computer desks and some cupboards are often designed specifically for the “SoHO” market. Several kinds of books are written and marketed specifically for this type of office, ranging from general advice texts to specific guidebooks on setting up such things as a small PBX for the office telephones.

Many top-notch consultants and the member of several professions such as lawyers, real estate agents or graphic design professionals operate from such home offices.

In fact, more and more large businesses across the globe are hiring professionals who work from home!

And it is not difficult to fathom why. ‘Normal’ offices find it difficult to adapt to new-age realities like outsourcing. The 36-hour or 48-hour cycles of much of software development have led many practitioners in this domain to do their work in home offices.

While it is still quite rare to be a part of a huge organization and yet get to work from home, the phenomenon of independent business-persons doing wonders in the field of their arena is fast becoming a visible trait of our society.
Of course, there would always be people who would suspect your ability to deliver – or worse still, your credentials. But if you can believe this, even the biggest corporations have to face apprehensions – in some form or the other – of future clients, partners or employees.

The fact of the matter is that while working from home might help you give your entire to your ideas and the business of ideas, biting more than what you can chew by investing big money into infrastructure might give you sleepless nights about the ways of early recovery of investment and probable repayment of loans. On the other hand, SoHO is safe, efficient and accepted globally.

Go for it!

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Journalism

Just Not Cricket

Just not Cricket is a phrase that speaks for life much beyond the boundary ropes of a Cricket ground. It speaks for anything that is not fair, anywhere.

Alas, one need not have gone too far to understand the real meaning of the expression. The misfortune was right there in front of our eyes, on four gloriously flood-lit evenings at the Sardar Patel Motera Stadium, India’s second biggest stadium by capacity, the Motera stadium – which, curiously, now sports Gandhinagar as its guardian city – could have been mistaken for a place playing host to Vastrapur XI vs Shahibaug XI match on four of the five days when the big-ticket ICC Champions Trophy was underway.

Admittedly, even the final was not a packed stadium, at what is routinely called the home of Indian Cricket. (Unlike Mumbai, Lords is called the home of Cricket and not the home of British Cricket.) But, how does someone else’s poor batting helping your problem of bowling no-balls?

It is no one’s case that watching Zimbabwe battle it out with either Sri Lanka or West Indies is not the most enthralling of all prospects. But do Amdavadis let go a Shah Rukh or Hrithik film just because the supporting cast is not good? And even if that were the case, the truth coming across would still be that the passion is more for the players than the script. There’s nothing wrong in it per se; but it can never be the absolute thing. Shah Rukh or Hrithik are just as much a product of the craft of Cinema as  Sachin or Dhoni are that of the sport of Cricket. People have never been, are not and can never be bigger than the idea of life itself, right?

Yes, superstars are needed across the globe to make people throng stadiums. But why should the idea of superstars be restricted to a star player of our own nation? Don’t support them when they are taking the game away from us but why not support geniuses like Lara or Muralidharan in a neutral match?

The fact of the matter is that the majority of the city – and indeed the nation – does not really have the passion for the game. We merely seek to extract a good time at the expense of the finer details of the game itself. The difference is that between having a beer while being at a pajama party and sipping wine at an intellectually, emotionally and aesthetically fulfilling dinner.

Indeed it was the holiday season and a lot of people, including, significantly, the affluent families, were probably out of town. Holiday season brings along a host of other priorities too. But what then explains the choc-o-block restaurants, multiplexes and all places public in the city?

Also, while the apathy for qualifying matches (involving Zimbabwe) is understandable, what would explain the fact that even the India – West Indies encounter was not a full house? It probably was the biggest crowd of the entire tournament, but it was not a full house. Try to come up with a reason for a Lara Vs Sachin encounter failing to completely fill up a stadium in India. Your mind might come up with all the aforementioned reasons like it being a festive season, but chances are that your heart would remain unconvinced.

And what about the Lara vs Flintoff or Jayasurya vs Pollock encounters? When next would there be an opportunity to see Pietersen score an unbeaten 80 on Amdavadi soil to take England past a resurgent West Indies?

Obviously, watching a match on television – with its never-ending replays from all possible angles – is becoming quite a joyous experience in its own. The comfort of home and joy of listening to former greats while watching the match are definite pluses. But can that replace the sheer excitement of sitting under flood lights with 50,000 other cricket lovers? What about the sound of bat hitting the ball, which somehow always manages to get heard amidst the din? What about the child-like enthusiasm that every single participant of the numerous ‘mexican waves’ experiences? What about having all the eleven fielders in our view for every single ball of the match? What about having the once-in-a-lifetime joy of catching a Sachin or Lara six in the stands? What about feeling the adrenalin rush at the entry of a superstar on to the pitch to bat? What about hundreds of wacky t-shirts and head-gears worn by the fans? And hey, what about the free fashion statements by the better half of the crowd? The list can go on and on. And yet, it can be summed up with the assertion that watching a match live is like meeting your dear ones in person and watching it on TV is like talking to them on phone.

Watching a game live gives us a completely new perspective about field positions, the merits or otherwise of going over the top of fielders during various match situations, the effort put by the fielders to cover field positions like third man and the real pace and bounce of a quick bowler. Watching Jerome Taylor hit Sachin on the chest gives us the most accurate perspective on the options available for batsmen; just as vast open tracts on either side of the pitch (visible to us every single moment) tells us about the limitations within which bowlers have to operate.

Watching a game live at the stadium is like a hands-on learning that no ‘instruction manual’ like television can replicate. We have giant screens at the stadiums now; but can we have the stadiums in our home?

But the root of our apathy lies in our knowledge about the game itself. About the game outside the halo of superstardom i.e. We care more for the entertainment friendly and very little for the studious or the simpletons.

The idea behind introducing the two crowning jewels of Ahmedabad is multi-faceted. Firstly, we believe that very few in the city – including even the true lovers of the game – are aware of the enormity of the feats of both Jasu and Mukund. And if we, through this magazine, can give even a token of tribute to their efforts on the field, it would only be richly deserved by the two.

We also wished to bring into focus the fact that the game lives – and lives handsomely – outside the ‘super-stardom ring’ too. Players who are not or could not become superstars need not necessarily be lesser players. But to understand and appreciate that, one has to understand the nuances of the game. We might cry hoarse about lack of time for our lack of effort, but don’t we all give our all to things that we like? Don’t stock-brockers think, sleep and talk the share market? Do they not understand the value of steady scrips amidst the glitter of the superstar billings? Those who do not, are not the ones who understand the business of shares. Ditto for followers of the game of Cricket.

The larger issue, however, is the lack of environment for appreciation of pure forms of any facet of life. Just as a game involving small totals and no sixes calls for refined spectators, the so-called art cinema, classical music and belief in a long haul over short cuts are all features that make – as they say – men stand out from boys. To be able to do that, you have to be in love with a thing and not merely love it. Talk to a young lady to get the meaning of the quandary.
So, is Ahmedabad in love with the game of Cricket or does it merely love the star Cricketers?

The answer, unfortunately, would have to be the latter reality.

But what should make us all hopeful is the incredible improvement in the overall sports scenario of the city. Apart from very good performances by players like Sidharth Trivedi in Cricket, our junior tennis players – like Vaidik Munshaw – are making a mark at the Asian level. And he is not alone. Tennis players are being prepared by the city in an  almost assembly-line fashion. There are good swimmers, skaters and basketball players representing the city with distinction – thereby slowly but steadily improving the city’s  ‘instinct for sports’.

Yes, it would take many years for it to become an all-pervasive reality. But when it finally happens, we would be able to cheer Prosper Utseya’s men too. Now THAT would be cricket!