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INDIA: WANDERING IN NOISE FOR PEACE This article will give a brief idea about some valuable treasures of India to all readers and about changing attitude of looking at such treasures by Indians. It will depict a true scenario explaining the importance of Meditation and classical music in ancient India and its existence in Modern India. India is a country of great history. It is also known worldwide for its ancient treasures such as Meditation, Yoga, Ayurveda, Tantra etc. However, common people in today’s India seem to have almost forgotten of such treasures especially meditation which was originated in Indus valley civilization about 5000 years ago. Meditation is practiced for attaining enlightenment and liberation. A meditation posture could be described as a posture of a person sitting with closed eyes with legs folded and palms one above the other. Things have changed very drastically in India due to competition resulting in lack of right and positive attitude towards practicing meditation. People have been found to think about meditation in a different way and give reasons for not practicing it in present India. Some less educated people think that meditation should be done only if one has mental problems; some think if they go to temples and attend religious ceremonies then there is no need to do meditation. Some youth feel they do not need to do it since they are quite mentally stable in their life. Youngsters along with some middle aged people themselves decide that they are quite mentally stable and they know themselves fully from inside. And for that purpose they may not need to choose the path of meditation. Some people also think that people who meditate for years sitting in Himalayas can see Lord Shankara and seek his blessings and in order to seek spiritual presence of mythical gods one has to meditate. Some people say they don’t get time to meditate due to work and family commitments. They say family takes most of their time and hence for other activities such meditation, yoga etc. they can’t find time. The word “Sansara” and getting involved with it make them give reasons for not practicing meditation. This is one of the most common reasons given by people of India for not practicing meditation. But the same people wouldn’t mind watching television everyday for more than 2 hours or going for a movie when even 10 to 15 minutes in a day are enough for practicing meditation for beginners. In short, they wouldn’t mind spending time on entertainment but meditation and the benefits of practicing it, if explained by any spiritual teacher, they would just listen to him and try their best not to put his teaching in action as any ------average student would listen to his teacher in school or college casually without going in depth trying to understand the meaning of a particular subject. In a way most of the people of India have some misconceptions about meditation. If a college student starts practicing meditation and informs his friend about it, his friend will ridicule him by saying that he has gone crazy and will try to discourage him from practicing it. This is happening in modern India. Some youth find it funny whereas some find it fascinating. It is commonly observed that those who go to temples to attend the lectures given by religious Gurus or some mystics in religious public gatherings, get influenced by them immensely and try to practice their teaching genuinely but a few months later they come back to their normal routine such as reading newspaper early morning, going to office, attending religious lectures in temples due to other people’s influence, eating in restaurants or watching Bollywood ( Indian version of Hollywood ) movies on weekends, chatting or sending text messages to friends and relatives, listening to Bollywood music daily, coming back home on time or late at night and then forgetting what they were told to do for the process of transformation by their Gurus or mystics whom they adore in their life. Most of the Indians have been seen to put a mask since centuries and pretend to want change in themselves in the society they are living and if the process of transformation is taking more time than their set time, they would turn their back from it or get totally bored with it only because it didn’t give them instant results which they were expecting in the beginning of the process and finally stop doing it by returning to their normal routine. PRACTICING MEDITATION IS A PATH TOWARDS SELF- AWARENESS, SPIRITUALITY AND ENLIGHTENMENT. But in today’s India people are told by some religious Gurus to get engaged in some unessential activities which are not conducive to one’s mental health such as doing charity for one’s own religion or making oneself engaged in singing devotional songs of Saints or Mythical Gods without knowing its meaning with loud and noisy musical instruments most of the times in temples, rather than stressing on practicing meditation in order to know one’s true self when meditation could be practiced in temples silently without any irritating musical instruments which are not soothing to human ears. Fortissimo music for a long period might not be soothing for human health and peace in the long run. Things could be achieved without making any noise as Gautam Buddha did when he started preaching his eight fold path. Meditation has encouraged western people across the world whereas people of India seem to have lost in a different kind of world which is also called a dream world of Bollywood and have forgotten the true purpose of practicing it and large number of benefits attached to it. Saint Dyaneshwar and Saint Tukaram were also great saints of India who showed the path of liberation and enlightenment to common people. They used to explain the meaning of their Shlokas (verses- Small religious text paragraphs) to people. And during their time common people were enthusiastically taking part to attend their lectures. They used to sing Shlokas with a few musical instruments. The sound of these ancient instruments such as Chiplya (Khartal), Veena (an ancient stringed instrument) etc. was very soothing to human ears. People used to feel happy from inside while listening to such musical instruments. But in today’s India people have adopted a new life style of listening to loud music which they feel is exciting to their mind. Every individual wants peace and happiness in inner as well as outer surrounding. Every human being wants to be happy hence strives to find ways to achieve happiness. A FEELING OF SILENCE FOR THE INNER JOURNEY IS A VITAL PART OF EVERY HUMAN BEING FOR HIS INNER GROWTH. People who are always in a hurry without a pause can’t achieve peace and people who are unconscious, remaining ignorant about them being unconscious also can’t achieve it. How can they achieve it? The answer is through ‘Meditation’. And if it is done with calm music it can help a person to grow inwards strengthening the level of consciousness and know his true being. If one looks at the history of India, one may find that India had been ruled for more than 1000 years by Moguls and British Empire later until the revolution took place. During the era of slavery, Indians had to adopt rather accept a cruel form of slavery from its rulers which took the people especially the upcoming generation far from its ancient treasures and then the path of suffering, constant fear of life and death from invaders made people remained in anxiety, worry and took them to the unknown path of adaptation of life style of the intruders which might have appeared wonderful and nice outwardly but was not enough for achieving inner growth. It failed to create a peaceful environment in India. Due to many invasions the land of India accumulated enormous blood of innocent common masses. After the era of invasion followed by the onset of freedom created a great impact on common people’s mind as it slowly changed people’s mentality towards looking at life. And in the present situation, after the independence, a new fear has arisen in common naive masses. And this fear is not coming from the heirs of invaders but their own people, rulers from their own land and they have set a new motto against the rebellions and that is “We will do what we want to do. We will not tolerate anyone who will try to create any hurdles in our so called good work for people. And those who rebel or object will be tortured, beaten and killed and now they have to decide which path they want to choose. India is a democratic country and people can live here happily with freedom provided that they don’t rebel against us and interfere in our freedom of doing what we want to do. So whatever morality we set for them they will have to accept or else it will be difficult for them to live their life happily with freedom.” The older generation who knew about ancient treasures failed to pass values and advantages of it on to the next generation in the right perspective. This is one of the major causes of ignorance of such treasures among youth. Youth feel that the louder the music, the better for creating an environment for happiness with thrill. Yes, thrill is the right word. They feel music which thrills them totally is only good and everything else is boring. Yes, boring is the word they use for classical music. They have been preached all wrong notions about finding happiness through louder music by the contemporary freaks in India. Indian movie makers are not the only ones who could be blamed for creating such music and distributing in public proudly but also some music directors. Even they are falling prey to the allure of instant fame and money from the film industry. They must also be held responsible for creating such noisy atmosphere in India especially among the illiterate masses which could be avoided if they reject to fulfill the demands of movie makers and try to be firm on their decision about not to give vulgar and noisy entertainment to common masses. Looking at this scenario in modern India, intellectuals and spiritual masters can say that common people are truly wandering in the clouds of noise looking for peace. Developed countries around the world have also recognized the importance of practicing meditation and people from all over the world coming to India for its spirituality and to meditate in order to transform themselves but most of the Indians seem to have forgotten its importance in spite of its existence in their own religion. In short, people who are very far coming close to meditation and some who stay so close or perhaps closely related with Meditation and its existence are going very far from practicing it. If youth in India recognize its importance and start practicing it truly with open mind they will be able to recognize many things which happen around themselves and will take them close to the inner soul. As their minds become quiet they will start looking for answers instead of getting engaged in a kind of dream world of Bollywood movies and salacious songs. As a result there will not be any need for any boisterous and filthy kind of entertainments. There will not be any need for addictions such as opium, marijuana, tobacco and alcohol. If not 100 percent but at least 30 percent educated Indian students including the ones in the villages will be able to develop a good and healthy change in them. When young generation of India changes their being into a meditative being, they would be the first ones who would take necessary steps in changing the noisy atmosphere of their country into meditative one just like ancient India. They would be the ones who will try their best for bringing a radical change in today’s India. Spiritual masters and intellectuals of India should not wonder if they see common people have started practicing meditation superficially in great numbers after watching Bollywood movies in which actors and actresses whom they adore in their life deeply were shown meditating repeatedly. Common people would do so only due to strong impact of Bollywood on their fragile mind and because they have got accustomed to learn and copy most of the things from movies since decades. They would not give a serious thought to why one has to practice meditation but if they see their favorite celebrity that they respect practicing meditation repeatedly on screen they would copy him or her blindly and in order to show others rather seek importance from their friends, family members and society they would start practicing meditation in home and tell proudly about how he is also doing the same as that actor or actress has done in movies. If the education ministers of India (who are literate) include some chapters about benefits of practicing meditation solemnly in syllabus of schools and colleges and motivate students to do it sincerely for their well-being, a lot many unexpected things might appear in them which will take the county far ahead than what presently it is. Good (non-corrupt) and thoughtful politicians can do it if they show the willingness to do it seriously and want a healthy and new person with a healthy mind to be born and transformed again. Music has always influenced people for centuries. Classical music has always proved to be fruitful to humans for internal peace. In the past, Indians were taking interest in classical music but in today’s India only old people who are in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s seem to listen and attend classical musical programs. Listening to classical music has been shown to be induced a state of calmness and works as anti-depressant. Musical instruments such as Santoor, Flute, Sarod have several benefits on human mind as they help in improving memory and concentration level. Listening to classical music also helps relaxing one’s mind. Several studies have shown that. Not all but most youth seem to be engaged only in noisy music. In some way youth feel that classical music is only for old people. In today’s India they have been found to ridicule old people due to their liking towards classical music. It is strange but true. People from developed countries have also recognized the advantages of classical music on human brain but common masses in India seem to have gone far from it. It might take several years for Indians to recognize India’s hidden treasures such as meditation, Classical music, Charvaka philosophy, Tantra, Tantric sex without any guilt attached, Kamasutra, golden ages of Indian culture and many more ancient things. Youth in India still don’t know what they are missing but when they will see thousands of people around them coming from different parts of the world in major cities of India talking, praising and preaching about ancient Hinduism and Buddhism, there is a chance for them to get awakened about ancient Indian treasures and take active interest in the real world rather than being only in the world of Bollywood which is also called a dream-world. What India truly needs is some serious and conscious form of initiation commenced by intellectuals and true spiritual masters with respect to meditation, ancient music, Tantra, Yoga etc. which will help to bring a glorious change in changing people’s mentality towards looking at ancient treasures in the right perspective which will eventually be helpful for creating happiness and peaceful environment in their hectic life. Once people realize the fact that inner bliss, laughter and peace are essential for happiness and growth of human mind (which has a predominant characteristic of wavering from one place to another), within some decades, they would be changed by attaining these qualities, passing through the path of contemplation and consciousness flooded with inner laughter.
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