Dr Karuna Thakur
Modernity, also celebrated as the period of enlightenment in the western societies from the 17th century onwards, was a life changing experience, as philosophy, technology, and education combined to unfold different ways of looking at art, culture, space and virtually everything connected with human freedom and liberty. There was something more that the growth of modern industrial society introduced -a work ethic, which considered work as worship and leisure as a sacrilege and demanded among other things commitment, discipline and accountability. An element of appreciation along with the material benefits for managers of work provided good reasons to enhance their skills on the job. However, the work ethic being what it was – complex and hard to sustain, soon took its toll and turned into an obsessive – almost a nerve wracking pursuit. Work spaces were no longer sacred but contentious sites of deepening distrust and dissonance. Besides work, modernity in general, was not just about growth and progress, it had given rise to its own forms of discontent that somewhat, constrained individual route to both happiness and contentment. It is not unsurprising that psychosomatic -disorders, suicides and drugs were the unwelcome gifts of modernity and development to these societies.
India and Beyond : A transitional society like India which was home to timeless spiritual and social values and a steady work culture , too came under pressure to shed its slow pace. A generation of Indians who had come into the fold of modern western education and all that it promised towards advancing life’s opportunities felt attracted to its charms. But instead of maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity, they conveniently departed from traditional values that were seen as restrictive , authoritarian or regressive , though not all of these were so in effect . Without finding any replacement for what was seen as a baggage of the past , the generation moved on ; cherishing the ideas of freedom and progress in the western tradition which addressed only the individual self as it was on the outside – not the inner self . A further drift in the society became visible with the coming of globalization – the internet and social media ,which plunged a network dependent generation ,not only in India but even beyond into a virtual domain of self celebration with a million followers online and an insular lonely real world within the four walls of their habitat . One could very well ask: what was compromised in this mindless pursuit of the self centered individual? Indeed! It was the system of the self: its ability to manage anxieties, respect human relations and be flexible to the needs of life. But most significantly, what was compromised was the individual ability to define limits of how much is really enough. If anything, enchantments of modernity, while adding to material and intellectual gloss had eclipsed the innate goodness of human beings and also their ability to be equanimous – striking a harmonious balance between the outer and the inner self.
Force of Nature and Learning : Adversity, natural disasters and pandemics evoke extreme human responses, often negative in nature, because of the trauma caused as a result of material and human losses. On a positive side, they are also known to stir deeper realms of human consciousness to realize not only the fragilities of human existence but also a sense of endurance to accept the power of the universe which challenges both reason and scientific research. Pandemic in our times has done something similar -brought humanity on its knees. Everyday encounter with death, loss of loved ones and helplessness on the happenings around has pushed humanity towards something which does not come very easily to it -look inwards. There is nostalgia for the past – the joys of simplicity, togetherness and family warmth all of which are being relived with a feeling of both appreciation and longing. How those times and people were taken for granted? The childhood friends whose memories haunt , the loss of dear ones whose unremitted love and care was seldom returned either in gesture or a word of gratitude, simply because the trappings of the outer world were so overwhelming . There is a deepening feeling now, more than ever before, that small can be beautiful, minimalism a pleasure. Also , that human goodness is a priceless virtue which universe returns sooner or later, because the other things that were pursued so relentlessly in the past seldom brought peace – they only lowered the happiness index – never enhanced it, not even in the best of times .
Rewiring the system of Self : In the midst of inertia and melancholia of the pandemic , the inexorable drive towards physical fitness, yoga and meditation has emerged as a desperate human attempt to find the crucial missing balance between the external demands and the inner conflicts. Transformative tools- both scientific and spiritual, which have the power to heal human heart, body and soul, being transdental in nature, can be universally adopted as per individual convenience, belief and conviction. In that sense, any practice which teaches respect for universal elements of sun, earth, fire, water and air only reflects its inclusive and interdependent nature and hence appreciable; because the very nature of existence on this planet is interdependent . Even the Yogic practice of Surya Namskar is one form of acknowledgement of this interdependence – an obeisance in gratitude to the properties of the rising sun which shines above all regardless of who are the beneficiaries. But like the bounties of nature, transformative tools are abundant in each community , faith and religion , and for the purpose of larger human good and universal acceptance, these too can be reinvented in neutral terms for self healing . While the process of invention and reinvention of tools continues, a steady journey towards exploration of gross internal peace, contentment and gratitude for whatever life has offered, in whatever measure, has begun for humanity. There is a wishful prayer though, that one does not pay the same price for the journey ever again.
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