Indian spirituality is not wimpy. We stand up for what matters. We stand up for life.
Look back and see, the greatest spiritual icons in this culture – Adiyogi Shiva. Does he look wimpy to you? Well, he’s the most athletic God and he’s a warrior, has a weapon in his hand. Rama – a very peaceful man. But always weapon in his hand. No, he’s not carrying a weapon as a decoration. If righteousness in the society is disturbed, he will use the weapon. Krishna, almost every image, calendar image that you have, always in the battlefield, that’s what you’ve seen.
Well if you want more extreme examples, you have Kali, Chamundi. If they are provoked sufficiently by injustice, by negative forces in a big way, they will respond. By essence they are not violent people, but they are not somebody who will shy away from the duty of standing up for what is right.
This misunderstanding that if you’re spiritual you must always be as soft as a willow is not the way forward
So, this misunderstanding that if you’re spiritual you must always be as soft as a willow is not the way forward. It’s very important, especially people who consider themselves as spiritual, stand up to create the highest level of integrity in the societies in which we live. If you do not take that stand, if you just want to comfortably pass away. Well, it is not spirituality.
You are misunderstanding cowardice as peace. Peace will not happen simply because you just let everything be. As an American poet said – just ease is not justice. Just keeping everything as status quo is not really justice. If we understand this, we understand that when we need to stand up, when we need to take a stand, we will. And everybody should.
Everybody who is a concerned citizen, everybody who is a concerned human being on this planet, must stand up for what matters. Not just what matters to me or to you, what matters for larger well-being. You must always stand up. This is very important. Namaskaram.
