Cogito, ergo sum

I grew up in a small town of North-India in a family of science-beliving parents and religious grandparents. As a beloved grandchild, I remember attending many talks of Sadhus (hermits) with my grandfather as well as a disciplined son, attending lectures on Maths and Physics by my father. Exposure to both Science and Philosophy/Mythology made me a scientist who wants to feed his curiosity by asking questions with the eyes of a Philosopher who wants to see the root of every problem. Till my early 20s, I heard many Indian Gurus (teachers)/Sadhus(hermits) with their amazingly subtle understanding of Hindu religious books as well as those with blind beliefs. What amazes me that whenever I tried to read those religious books, despite my proud nature as a science guy, I fell trap to the blind belief (accepting or rejecting) because of my naivety. This naivety is still among us because of our busy lives and that's the reason some self-proclaimed Sadhus/Gurus take advantage of it which leads to disbelief in thousands of year-old traditions.

You might be thinking that I must be delusional who despite so much social, economic, and technological development of the country writing about its loss of soul. What is interesting in our past? poverty, social-discriminations, and many other problems. There is no doubt that we eradicated many social problems such as Child-marriage, Sati-Practice [1], and many more but is that the "Soul" I am talking about? The India we know today is the country that faced thousand years of Mughal rule, many invasions, and 300-400 years of British rule but why it is so different than the one described in ancient texts and religious books, or heard from Maukhik-Parampara (tradition of transferring knowledge in the form of stories, songs)? We (inspired by scientific-thinking) asks questions such as, "Where are those Sadhus/Gurus who heal people by magic or tell your future by looking at your face/palm?" which is logically-ridiculing. But why not we ask questions like "What are those states of mind about which some Gurus/Sadhus speaks? or What kind of knowledge they talk about?

The reason is obvious, that science can't give an answer to that so we don't bother to ask and that is where the importance of spiritual guru comes. A spiritual guru is a person who guides you for what you are seeking for but he can't help thousands of disciples due to human limitations which don't exist for some famous gurus. All these human exaggerations about spiritual gurus are increasing chaos and resulting in rejection of the traditions. Moreover, this is the era of (mis-)information and the world is so dynamic because of technological developments. Due to historical misinterpretations and social media, we are more confused every day about our own culture. No Bible, Quran, and Bhagwat-Geeta tell us to share their teachings on Instagram to get blessings, or texting It on Whatsapp will bring good luck to us.

There is so much confusion that people naively accept anyone who teaches something as a Guru. Most famous gurus nowadays are narrators who just read religious books in public. There is a huge difference between a Sadhu and a Guru. Sadhus (hermits) and Gurus (teachers) played very important roles in ancient Hindu society. A Sadhu leaves society in search of God and even now can be seen near Himalayas and Ganges while a Guru stays in the society to transfer the spiritual/political/social/not-scientific knowledge to others. A Sadhu can be a Guru if he decides to teach/guide his/her disciples. A scientific-teacher can't be a Guru because Guru is an authority with firm faith while science accepts no authority and encourage questioning.

In this era of globalization, we are flooded with cultures, ideas, and beliefs but no other idea or belief can make your idea greater or smaller. Also, it's very easy, due to human nature, to run for something we never had thus we are chasing the more appealing materialistic ideas, and indeed they are with great perfection in contrary to the perfection of Hindu society in spiritual ideas. But that doesn't mean one should leave their own ideas. The world is full of colours, choose your colours wisely.