INDIA: A POTENTIAL SPIRITUAL SUPERPOWER
India’s potential to be a spiritual superpower is based on its ancient traditions of tolerance, plurality, and mutual acceptance embodied by its Swamis and Sufis.
I have always maintained that India is a potential spiritual superpower. Why is this so? This is traceable to India’s long spiritual traditions. Since ancient times, India has been engaged in spiritual activities. India has also been a land of pluralistic and multi-religious societies. Indian Swamis and Sufis followed the principle of inclusiveness. The pluralistic and inclusive nature of Indian society is not by accident. It is directly due to the Indian way of thinking. India believes in pluralism.
A major school of religious thought in India is based on what can be called Monism. Monism means that the Divine Reality, One, is manifested differently and is present in every particle of the universe. According to this religious philosophy, everything in the cosmos is a part of a manifestation of the Divine. Adherents of this way of thinking believe that every human being, indeed every creature, is a particle of the Divine. This concept accords equal position and respect to everyone, regardless of religion, ethnicity, caste or class.
This way of thinking is a major component of the culture of tolerance in India. It resonates with something that the well-known Indian thinker and reformer Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) declared at the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions: “We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.”
According to the Indian Constitution, which came into effect in January 1950, all citizens of India have equal citizenship rights, and there is no discrimination based on religion. There are thousands of mosques, madrasas, and various Islamic organizations in India today, and they are flourishing and working smoothly. Muslims have a presence in every field of Indian society. For example, the President of India holds the highest office in the country. In the history of independent India, four Muslims have, to this date, held the office of President. They were Dr Zakir Hussain (1967-1969), Mohammad Hidayatullah (July-August 1969), Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1974-1977) and Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2002-2007).
If there are some issues that Muslims in India face, they are due to the Laws of Nature. Differences are a part of the Laws of Nature. Thus, it is natural that there will be some issues in every society that are different. According to the Laws of Nature, having a totally problem-free country is impossible. No country is an exception in this regard.
I have established my mission in India under ‘The Centre for Peace and Spirituality International.’ It has spread throughout India as well as abroad. We have never received the slightest problem from the Indian administration. The spiritual greatness found in India is what makes India potentially a spiritual superpower. However, to make this a reality, we need to usher in a spiritual revolution in this, the second decade of the 21st century.
