Waiting For Baba Ramdev

I don’t think it is that hard to understand his motivation, like all well meaning Indians, he is unhappy with the current direction of nation and wants to set it right. However while his intentions are admirable, his competency reg politics is suspect as I argue in this post.

Now coming on to your second point

However, in my opinion, the most important argument against Baba Ramdev’s political foray, is that he is much more valuable outside formal politics.

Ans: This is more logical but flawed. The reason are following:

1. There are thousands of saints in India who will never enter politics and continue to do their spiritual activities ONLY.
2. In any case, Baba Ramdev will act as mentor (Chanakya kind of role) and hence he will continue his activities like Yoga etc along with it.
3. Corruption can’t be removed by corrupt people. The system needs an overhaul and an outsider only can do it. If u need corollary, many a times for taking harsh steps, companies bring outside CEO’s who look at things afresh.

I hope these are enough but am willing to engage in further discussions with you. take care

Thanks Puneet for comment and sorry for my late reply. I went through the links you provided and while I didn’t have the opportunity to pursue everything in detail, at first glance its confirms my concerns. When I said no ideas, I meant no new Ideas, what he says is not very different from what has been said earlier and can not ensure progress of India. The reasons for this are too many and I will cover them in future posts

Thanks

I disagree with you on “non-monastic intellectual Hindu movement”. It has not worked in past and it will not work in future. Only hindu ruler in past who had a control over India was Chandragupta and the reason was because there was a Chanakya behind him. Now, we should look at reasons why it will not work:

A non-monastic intellectual is likely to be married with concerns abt relatives and will have materialistic aspirations. Power corrupts is not a whimsical statement. Many such good intention people have been corrupted in past and I see no chance of change in future. Also, this kind of person is likely to be too liberal (Weak) to overhaul the system upside down and that is what we need.

Baba Ramdev will commit mistakes for sure but he has strength of conviction and no materialistic agenda.

I appreciate your patience in responding to me though I criticized monastics.

Yes, most Hindu householders are selfish bastards concerned with their petty salaried jobs, promotion etc. Like the Tansen guy, they would even convert for money. They won’t instill spiritual/Hindu culture in their children for fear that that may affect their studies (though they will hypocritically act surprised when their children get westernized).

However, monastics also have defects. They have zero knowledge of public psychology. They themselves have got good success in controlling their minds, so they don’t know what works for those who cannot control their minds.

Consider, for instance, Baba Ramdev’s idea of making the nation 100% yoga oriented. Well, the most accepted commentaries of the Yoga Sutras divide people’s minds into five levels (bhUmikAs) – kShipta (scattered), mUDha (dull), vikShipta (partially scattered), EkAgra (concentrated) and niruddha (completely under control). Those who are at the “kShipta” and “mUDha” levels are not qualified to follow yOga. That makes sense, because things like meditation only work with people who have a certain degree of maturity and control. Our ancient scholars realized it, but the modern saints, while theoretically accepting that there are different paths to fit different levels, are actually pushing a “one size fits all” solution.

Thus, you see, even in imparting spirituality (spirituality being their forte) these folks are in dire need of teachers’ training skills. What about other subjects? None of these saints have made a name for scholarship in science or economics or anything. And naturally so – all their life they have been focusing on controlling their minds, not in acquiring worldly knowledge such as science, politics, economics etc.

My head sags down in utter shame and humiliation when I see Sri Sri being floored by Zakir Naik, or kicked in his ass by Maulana Mahesh Bhatt. Similarly Baba Ramdev was ridiculed very badly by media when he said that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured by yoga. I can’t stand to see the leaders of my religion having their noses so publicly slashed like this.

Thus, my suggestion is to go for neither monks nor householders to direct the intellectual course of the Hindutva-movement, but the “Intellectual Kshatriya”. These people could be unmarried like Narendra Modi, and spend their life researching on how to improve the material situation of the world. Let Baba Ramdev etc. restrict their instructions to spirituality.

Dear Froginthewell, I liked your comment as it gave me certain knowledge about different mind levels of people and I was wondering where do “My mind” fall among these. While it will take some time to do self analysis, I would rather reply to you first.

My personal view is that Baba Ramdev is quite smart, sharp and quick witted. I am sure he realizes that 100% is not possible BUT he cannot put 99% as the vision statement. As long as it is not forcefully implemented (Which it can’t be anyways), I see no harm in this vision. I feel that he has the potential to use political platform skillfully.

I understand your concern about Baba Ramdev that he may make religion a laughing stock. Well frankly, the history books already have already made Hinduism like that. If not for living saints who have kept it alive, most of Hindus would have lived in permanent inferiority complex. So, he can’t do more harm than what has already been done. He may make it clear to the world that Yoga is Indian and Yoga in Hindu (There are doubts raised even on that).

I do not want to go into details of Sri sri debates as he has a different kind of personality But I love Baba Ramdev debates. He is skillful, can generate laughs and can easily counter the other party. You may look at his “Aap ki adalat” videos in youtube where he is grilled by Sambhavna and Kashmira (who can give nightmares to anybody) and in the end Baba Ramdev left only appreciation in their minds.

Whatever we may say, Modi has been permanently stamped with Godhra riots and will never be allowed into Indian center politics.

Thanks for the welcome (And apologies for being late )

Nationalism is actually reason of many problems. Nationalism actually asks people to believe in their leader and surrender yourself assuming that he will take care of you. Remeber German Nationalism & Italian Nationalism before world war 2, then Bolshevism in Russia? The real change come through patriotism and liberty, not through nationalism.

Baba has no new idea to remove corruption, but I have one which I posted at http://www.bharatswabhimanbachao.com/Our_Solution_of_Corruption.htm

We need to deeply analyse why things don’t work as they are expected. The success of capitalism was due to the fact that Adam Smith built theory around human psychology, and the socialism failed because it assumes that the power holder will be an angel sent directly from heaven, and he will be without any defects and self interest. Most of India’s problems like corruption, poverty, class struggle are result of socialist policies and Baba’s policies are that of a front rank socialists. He is not a solution but could be cause of even bigger problems.