On the Threshold of a Golden Age

Read in Tamil : ஆன்மீகத்திற்குப் பொற்காலம் துவங்கும் வேளை

T he last few months have been a monstrous amount of travel for me. I was hoping that as I age, I would graduate from living out of a suitcase to a cupboard, but I am back to the suitcase. We were at a cusp for the last one and a half to two months, and around end of April, beginning of May, I have completed five solar cycles. The coming twelve years will be the golden age for spirituality on the planet. In many ways, it will be a time of great possibilities. When we move into top gear, it will be a good speed, a good time for the spiritual movement, for Isha, and for all of you. That will also mean a lot of work. I will take the brunt of it, in terms of activity, but you know I believe in sharing what I have. As all I have is only work, you will get it too. It is important that we do this well, with maximum impact.

Humanity is at a crossroads. Something fundamental is shifting in the very way human beings are. Things that have given hope to humanity are crumbling and falling apart. If you believed everything they told to you, you would not seek spiritual process. You would think you know the entire creation, God, heaven, and hell. Without knowing, life would pass you by. For most human beings, nothing has ever touched them profoundly. They have never looked at a tree with tears in their eyes. They have never looked at a butterfly, trembling with it. They have never caught the sunlight before it hits the blades of grass. They live without being truly alive.

In the coming few years, spiritually and socially, big things will happen. There will be a lot of change in the world, and a lot of change about me too. Be ready for that. This is going to be a good time, but like all good things, it comes with lots of activity. Many other groups are also working towards this, but we will have a significant role to play. Top level universities in the United States, such as Stanford, Harvard, Yale, the Wharton Business School, and many other Ivy League schools are opening up to the spiritual process, for the very first time. It is due to lack of time we are accepting selectively, but my intention is to touch the entire spectrum of youth. As such, universities do not mean much to me – I live in this universe. But these were the last bastions of resistance. Now academics are beginning to accept mysticism and spirituality as a part of their lives.

It is a good thing for the world that established sectors – corporate sectors, academics, and even politicians – are opening up to spiritual process. We recently did programs for the Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments, and in a few days, we are going to do a program for the government of Rajasthan, from Chief Minister, to all the ministers, and the bureaucrats. This is a blessing of many sages and seers of the past, who all aspired to marry the spiritual process and the political process. Administering a nation as diverse as India is not an enviable job. Some politicians have done terrible things, but wonderful things have been achieved too. From 1947 to today, there has been a phenomenal transformation in the country. We could have done better, but still, we have not done too badly. And the next five to ten years are going to be a golden age for India.

Economic development is essential for spiritual process to spread, because people have to see that after eating well, shopping well, still life is not fulfilling. You cannot tell this to a hungry man – it would be cruel. You must make his stomach full, and he must realize with a full stomach, still life is not fulfilling. So, economic development is an important aspect for spiritual process to happen to people. And spiritual process is an important element for fulfilling the purpose of economic development – human wellbeing. If there is economic development, but still, people are not feeling well, it is cruel too. And that is a reality in the world. Nearly forty percent of Europeans are on psychiatric medication. One in ten people in Tamil Nadu is diabetic, and a major part of the population is getting drunk the moment they have a little money. This is not wellbeing.

Unless economic wellbeing is bolstered with spiritual wellbeing, you will have everything yet have nothing. In this context India is fortunate, because economic and spiritual wellbeing will largely happen together in the next twelve years. But when it comes to spiritual wellbeing, we have to think in terms of wellbeing of humanity as a whole. I want you to know the joy of creating something you really care for. A few young people, who stood up to become teachers and fulltime volunteers, have been wearing their lives out to reach you, to come to your town and offer programs for you. It is time you also stand up and do that, because a spiritual movement is successful only if it creates a trend towards spirituality in the world. Your individual salvation will be taken care of – that is not even an issue for us. But is it not important that we live in a world that has a spiritual fragrance, wherever we go?

This spiritual springtime must be a worldwide phenomenon. Never before in the history of humanity has there been a Guru who could talk to one billion people at once. Krishna, as wonderful as he was, would have spoken gently, so only a few people heard him. Gautama the Buddha was a little more single-minded. He may have spoken a little louder, and a few more people would have heard him. Today, we are so technologically empowered that if we do the necessary work, we can sit here and talk to seven billion people. Never before was this possible. When all kinds of rubbish are reaching the entire world, it is high time spiritual process reaches the entire world too.

At this stage, already two thirds of the people who are with us, participating in many ways, have not done any program with us. They are with us on YouTube, Facebook, reading a book, or seeing us on television, and they are inspired. To give an example – when I recently went to the kumbh in Ujjain, there were armed policemen as part of the security detail for the Prime Minister. The moment they saw me, they gleefully chanted, “Shiva–Shiva,” echoing the thunderclap of Mahashivaratri. They have all been with us on Mahashivaratri via live broadcast, and as far as they are concerned, they are one with us.

The wonders of technology should be made use of for the right purposes, that is, for the wellbeing of humanity. Only if the spiritual process, the economic process, and the political process come together as one, will human wellbeing happen. I want all of you to gear up for this momentous time. Many things are in the pipeline. You will start seeing it take shape in the next couple of years, in many different ways. I have said this before – as we are changing gears and picking up speed, hold on tight or you will fall off. I have seen too many people who were very dear to me fall off, right through my life. The most important thing for me is that when a change in momentum happens, you do not fall off. So I am telling all of you, we are changing gears right now. All those sleeping ones – do not fall off. Let’s make this happen – for yourself and the world.