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| Swami Agnivesh |
Religious people can be quite scary, especially
nowadays. Swami Agnivesh was a religious person in the genuine sense of the
term. He loved people. He stood for what was right. He gathered enemies because
he was a good man. Today [Sep 11] is his third death anniversary.
I met Swami Agnivesh personally only once. It was some
20 years ago when he visited the school where I was teaching in Delhi as the
chief guest on the occasion of Independence Day or Republic Day. I had no idea
what kind of a person he was until then. His speech on the occasion struck a chord
with me. When words come from the heart, they are powerfully eloquent. Swami
Agnivesh’s speech had the power to stir the depths within.
Here was a man for whom religion was a matter of
action rather than prayers and rituals. Swami Agnivesh was a champion of social
justice and communal harmony. Ramachandra Guha described him as a man of “steely
courage and enormous compassion.” That was the most apt description of the
person that the Swami was.
He got into quite a few clashes with the right-wing
activists because of his convictions and courage. These activists of the
Bajrang Dal and the RSS attacked him because they couldn’t accept his inclusive
vision and spirituality.
It was after the Kandhamal violence of 2008 that Swami
Agnivesh became a chosen enemy of the right-wingers in North India. Swami
Lakshmananda was killed by some attackers whose identity was never ascertained.
The crime was believed to have been committed by Maoists. But certain members
of Bajrang Dal and RSS put the blame on Christians and attacked hundreds of Christians
in and around Kandhamal. Thousands of houses belonging to Christians were burnt.
About 6000 houses were plundered. Many people were burnt alive. Many were
forced to convert to Hinduism. Those were horrible days in Odisha. Swami
Agnivesh appeared there like a soothing balm. But the killers didn’t want peace
and harmony. They attacked the Swami many times. I was in Delhi at that time
and watched the national news channels showing the brutal assaults on this holy
man by certain vicious elements.
Swami Agnivesh was a professor at St Xavier’s College,
Calcutta before he donned the garb of an ascetic. He wanted to do more than
teach the principles of management to young, ambitious people. He wanted to
liberate the country from certain ills that plagued it from deep within. He was
an ardent campaigner against child labour and bonded labour. Eventually, he
strove to make religion and spirituality really meaningful.
What we now have in the country is not religion or
spirituality though they pretend to be sacrosanct. The country needs more
teachers like Swami Agnivesh.
At Sawan Public School, Delhi
Religion is the prime tool for political ascendancy, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteAnd that has to change for civilisation to advance.
DeleteA worthy post. All should read this. Religion teaches good things but we don't learn from religion. We learn through interpretation of religion and that can have any angle depending on the perspective of the presenter. I don't know this Swamiji but his ideology was pure and meaningful. Only few people can reach this state above religion. I liked this post because I feel your post wants us to explore this perspective which swamiji showed and then accept it in our lives. I like such posts. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there are very few people like him today. I can only wish: May his tribe increase.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteHear! Hear! I have been blessed to know such teachers who put Love into Action... from such as these we find hope. YAM xx
This monk's death was lamented by some eminent personalities of India for obvious reasons.
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