I visited the Jagannath Puri temple with my parents this weekend. I took them to Kashi Vishveshwar and other temples a few years ago. I routinely visit the famous Ganesha temples in Pune- Dagduseth Halwai Ganapati and the Saras Baug Ganapati temples. It made me think, what is it so much in visiting the temples? By doing this, do we call ourselves religious? What does being religious mean? Does it only mean doing pooja every day or visiting a temple? Or does it mean a routine of discipline of worshipping the Lord who makes you answerable and who can tell you what is right and what is wrong? What does ‘Spirituality’ mean? Do we attain a state of ‘Spirituality’ by being religious? These are some and more of the questions that often plague my mind! Doesn’t Spirituality mean achieving the highest form of mindset? Doesn’t it mean that you accept all around you as if they are your own? Do you take them as they are and look at only their strengths and not their weaknesses? How does one attain Spirituality? Is it through meditation and yoga, like our age-old saints did? Or is it through being religious? or is it by doing something for the needy, or becoming sensitive to the needs of the weaker? Can spirituality and attaining this state of mind be taught through university education?
In a world full of conflict and hatred against each other, in a world of competition where one wants to push the other down and rise up, in a world with nuclear families, in a world that is materialistic, in a world where the young are bombarded with news through social media, can Universities play an essential role in bringing in this ‘Spiritual quotient’ amongst young people who may be from any region, religion, caste or creed? What Spirituality means is attaining a state of mind that will accept differences, that will respect people from different cultures and religions, and have an open and broad mind to accept diversity and consider the whole world as one family as what is taught in our Upanishads – वसुधैव कुट्टुंबकम.
Universities must try to build this ‘Spiritual Quotient’ through education. The New Education Policy prescribes value-based education, building Indian Knowledge systems as part of the curriculum, bringing students from different regions and countries into the same classroom to create diversity and inclusivity and teach our young students’ empathy and sympathy to the weaker section through community service. All this will help our young population be resilient, have mutual respect, build an open mindset, and be healthy. After all what is being healthy? Health is also defined as not just physical well-being but also mental, social and Spiritual well-being! So, let us, through our Indian higher education system, create a young population which is healthy and has a high ‘Spiritual Quotient’!