COME WITH ME ON A JOURNEY, MR. MODI
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher
It’s great to see our Prime Minister making his mark overseas in places like Japan etc. Soon he will be in America that not so long ago denied him entry.
According to Kishore Makwana’s Common Man Narendra Modi, published in 2014, Shri Modi who started at the age of eight as a Balswayamsevak, a junior cadet in the RSS, left home at 17 for the Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Rajkot, the Belur Math near Kolkata and Swami Vivekananda’s ashram in Almora, in the Himalayan foothills. He became a full–time Pracharak (campaigner) of the RSS in 1970 before completing his under graduate and post graduate studies in political science from Delhi and Gujarat universities.
Clearly, our PM is a man of learning with transcendent leanings, so I have designed an alternative itinerary for Mr. Modi that might help in ways he may not have thought about.
But first I must reveal that I am wary of reserved, man-made belief systems that are controlled by people in power, regardless of whether they are politicians or religious pundits with long beards, stiff collars, white cassocks, coloured markings on foreheads or curious half coconut skulls.
Such pious-looking individuals and the astute institutions they represent, have influenced every society on earth. Many remain in their grip.
Psychologist David McClelland came up with what is known as the ‘Three Needs Theory,’ a motivational model that explains how the needs for Achievement, Power, and Affiliation, affect the actions of people. Everyone has these three types of motivation regardless of age, sex, race, or culture. People with a need for ‘Affiliation’ create and maintain social relationships, join a group and adhere to cultural norms.
The world’s religious power centres lie in Nagpur, (RSS headquarters) Mecca, Rome, Jerusalem, and Dallas, (not sure of this one) the buckle of America’s Bible belt. Each of them keep millions of their faithful under their thumb. A global glance will suggest that overwhelmingly people are motivated by ‘Affiliation’ rather than ‘Achievement’ or ‘Power.’
From his RSS nurtured background, Shri Narender Modi has so far indicated a preference for ‘Affiliation.’
But personal growth comes when people develop a worldview that permeates and demonstrates its relevance in politics, the arts, education, science and culture.
That requires a great deal of exposure.
And that is my earnest desire for our dear Prime Minister.
Because he also clearly demonstrates the second motivational need for ‘Power,’ – in his desire to influence, teach, and encourage others to enjoy hard work, for we know he places a high value on discipline.
We also know he is achievement-motivated by the way he has overcome incredible challenges. People motivated by ‘Achievement’ prefer work in which the results are based on their effort rather than on anything else, and they like to receive feedback on their work.
In other words our PM cannot be pigeon-holed into any one category, he is quite an unusual person – David McClelland would need to study people like him somewhat differently.
Nonetheless I do think our PM could use some more exposure in his travels, so my journey of discovery with him begins with one of my favourite prayers from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28:
o? asato mā sad gamaya
tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
m?tyor mā am?ta? gamaya
“Lead me from the unreal to the Real
Lead me from darkness to the Light
Lead me from the temporary to the Eternal”
Then I would like to travel with Mr. Modi to Shantiniketan to study Tagore’s magnificent ode to freedom that should reside in every Indian heart:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
From there I would like to take our PM to Jerusalem – not to study the unending retaliation that continues to rage there for a dead past, (which India should not duplicate) but for a walk in the Judean hills to imagine listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and to ponder why the Masiha placed these two verses in sequence in Matthew 5: 7-8:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Subsequently I would like to share my ‘DC’ and ‘JC’ formula with Shri Modi – ‘DC’ for ‘Don’t Care’ ie don’t care about religious labels like, H, M, C, etc. and ‘JC’ for ‘Just Care’ – for all our countrymen are in desperate need good governance.
Finally, I’d like to go for a movie with our esteemed PM, to see Helen Mirren, Om Puri and Manish Dayal in The 100 Foot Journey.
What Gandhian and international exposure did a gora author like Richard C. Morais obtain? How did he create the heart-warming story of an Indian Muslim family opening a desi restaurant in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France?
Can all Indians discover that prejudice can be overcome with hard work, innovation and genuine good will?
Is it remotely possible that such a journey could show Mr Modi that instead of the H-Rashtra he and his Sangh Parivar are hell bent on, there is another more desirable Rastaa?
And before I reluctantly part company with our august PM, I would like to remind him that the shortest pilgrimage to the Truth is from the mind to the heart and back – with a new understanding of what is real faith in the Maker of us all.
The Truth that sets men free.
Frank Raj is the Editor of the 21 year-old Dubai based magazine, 'The International Indian' and the author of 'Desh Aur Diaspora.'