India's Prime Minister Speaks at Delhi Temple Opening

[Guest guest]

NOTE: NOT TO BE GIVEN OUT INDISCRIMINATELY, ESPECIALLY IN INDIA

ALSO: There are spelling and syntax errors.

 

Speech delivered 5 April 1998 at Glory of India project opening in New Delhi

by India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

 

 

SPEECH STARTS HERE

 

Hare Krishna

Hare Rama

 

For the benefit of my friends from abroad, I would like to say a few words

in English.

 

Distinguished guests, it is my privilege to be present at today’s pious

function to mark the opening of this magnificent temple and also the Glory

of India Vedic Culture Centre in Delhi. The piousness of today’s function is

further enhanced by the fact that it is taking place on the auspicious

occasion of Ram Navmi.

 

I would first of all like to express my deepest sense of appreciation for

the vision, dedication, and achievement of the International Society for

Krishna Conciousness (ISKCON) and all those who have collaborated with it to

present this unique spiritual gift to the nation’s capital.

 

The ISKCON movement has few parallels in the world in terms of its rapid

global spread, its trans-national, trans-ethnic and trans-professional

appeal, it’s outward simplicity and the devotional energy of its followers.

In the less than three and half decades since its inception it has

established temples in practically all parts of the world and many of them

are marvels of beauty such as the one that is being opened in Delhi today.

 

The Maha Mantra of Hare Krishna Hare Rama reverberates to the dancing feet

of ISKCON devotees each morning and evening in temples from Stockholm to Sau

Paulo and from Miami to Mayapur. But what ISKCON has achieved is indeed

globalisation of the Gita appeal. Some people say that my government is

opposed to globalisation but let me say that I am all in favour of

globalisation of the message of the Gita. [long applause] Not only of

globalisaion of message of Gita but indeed all the messages of all the

sacred books of the world with which the message of Gita bears close

conformity. If today the Bhagavad Gita is printed in millions of copies in

scores of languages and distributed in all nooks and corners of the world

the credit for this great sacred service goes chiefly to ISKCON. I

understand that ISKCON is also propogating the message of Gita through the

latest gazette of information techonology and this temple itself provides an

astonoshing demonstration of the use of "high tech" to popularise the higher

truth of life and universe.

 

For this accomplishment alone Indians should be eternally grateful to the

devoted spritual army of Swami Prabhupad’s followers. The arrival of

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad to the United States in 1965 and the

particular popularity of his movement gained in a very short span of 12

years must be regarded as one of the greatest spiritual events of the

century. What was responsible for the rapid spread of the ISKCON movement

globally? The answer should be sought in two factors; internal and external.

The external factor was, in my opinion, the disillusionment in the leading

minds in western countries and arising out of combination of the

materialistic idealogy and culture in the west. Both capitalism and

communism give birth to disillusionment since both are essentially

materialist idealogies that are incapable of satisfying the real needs of

man. Young sensible searching minds could not have reconciled themselves to

the reality of wars, violence, greed, excessive consumerism, and

degradation of human and natural environment. They had to seek answers and

ISKCON was one movement where they found answers.

 

The internal factor was of course the inner strength of ISKCON’s message. A

message founded in the philosophy of Gita. It answers all the moral concerns

and needs of the world, be it man’s quest for inner peace, his need for

belonging with the rest of the human and natural community, his concern for

the enviromnent, or his attitude towards work and attitude towards death.

The Gita provides comprehensive and internally consistent answers to all

these concerns. It is in this respect that ISKCON differs from other passing

fits and fashions that appealead to the disillusioned western minds in 1960s

and 70s. These fads come and go but the ISKCON movement is growing from

strength and strength.

 

The transcendental and universal message of the Bhagavad Gita is evocatively

communicated by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad in his book "Bhagavad Gita As

It Is" and I would like to read the following excerpt from his introduction

to the book.

 

"In this world, men are not made for quarelling like cats and dogs. Man

must be intelligent to realize the importance of human life and refuse to

act like an ordinary animal. The human being should realise the aim of his

life and this direction is given in all Vedic literature and their essence

is given in the Bhagavad Gita. The Vedic literature is meant for human being

and not for animals. Animals can kill the other living animals and there is

no question of sin on their parts, but if a man kills an animal for the

satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste he must be responsible for breaking

the laws of the nature.

If we properly utilise the instructions of Bhagavad Gita then our whole life

will become purified and ultimately we will be able to reach the destination

which is beyond the material sky. That destination is called the sanatan

sky, the eternal spiritual sky. In this material world we find that

everything is temporary. It comes into being, stays for some time, produces

some bi-products, dwindles and then vanishes. That is a law of the material

world. Whether we use as an example this body, a peiece of fruit, or----

another world of which we have information. That world consists of another

nature which is sanatan, which is eternal."

 

In this distinguished gathering of spiritual masters and spiritual seekers I

am indeed a layman. But permit me to share with you a few thoughts of mine

on the relevance of Gita’s message in today’s national and global context.

The Gita’s relevance is universal and eternal because it provides a

satisfactory answer to three basic question of life: What are we? What

should we do? And how should we live?. Human beings have brought up these

questions in all societies and all times. The Gita answers these question

through the harmonisation of jyan-yoga, karma yoga and bhakti yoga. The

beauty of Indian culture is that it makes the essence of these three parts

of yoga available to the lowest man as well as to the highest seeker. The

Gita is not a prescription for non action or passivity. It gives a radical

message of action which transforms the self and the society. That is why it

could inspire complex revolutionarism in freedom fighters such as Mahatma

Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Lokamanya Tilak and others. But in times of

peace and nation building, Gita can also inspire the politician, the

teacher, the worker, the scientist and the common citizen and film actors

also. [laughter] Therefore the motive of all ours today should be yogah

karmasu kaushalam. What we need today is the application on a national scale

of the work related idealogy of the Gita. This will create a new work

culture and a new work culture will create a new India.

 

A word about the architectural beauty of the new ISKCON temple: It is

undoubtably a worthy addition to New Delhi’s array of beautiful buildings

and structures, both old and new whose number is sadly far less than what

the nation’s capital ought to have and whose collective beauty is even more

sadly drowned under the sprawling and spreading sea of ugliness and

ordinaryness.

 

[ In Hindi (PRESUMABLY THIS GRAF ONLY AND IT COULD BE OMITTED IF YOU THINK

FIT—MG) ] If to clear the collected garbage around the temple, the

government’s specific help was needed, then it should be understood that we

have a long way to go, we are behind [in the global context].

 

The spectacular look of this temple and its landscape reminds me of an

Italian quotation I came across in a newspaper yesterday. It is by a

celebrated author Shri V S Naipaul who commented on the possibility of

beautiful modern buildings in India. Naipaul says "Independent India has not

produced Architecture. Poor countries need very fine buildings to put people

in touch with what is possible in the beautiful. Such fine building are the

most public art". Naipaul is right, we need more and more buildings which

put our people in touch with our own tradition of beauty and aesthetics.

Naipaul may also be right in observing that buildings are the most public

art. We cannot tolerate a situation where everything that is beautiful:

beautiful painting, beautiful beaches, beautiful mountains, resorts and

beautiful works and arts is available only to those who have money. The

beautiful temple, of course, is more than a piece of public art. It puts

people in touch with the higher beauty of the almighty creator and all his

creation. Besides sounds and indeed all vibration in the temple have the

effect of soothing the devotees, comforting them, giving them hope and

confidence and elevating them to a transcendental plane of existence, at

least for the brief time we spent praying and worshipping in the temple. May

I once again felicidate all those who have had a hand in making a great

dream come true. The acharyas of ISKCON, generous donors, the architecht,

the landscape designers, the engineers, workers and all other humble

devotees. Thank you very much indeed.

 

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10 DOWNING STREET

 

The Prime Minister

 

I am delighted to have this opportunity to send through Claire Ward this

message of congratulations on the opening of "The Glory of India Vedic

Culture Museum"

 

India has always been able to reconcile her strong and varied religious and

cultural heritage with the demands of the modern world. Britain has

benefited from this heritage through the vibrant presence of the Indian

community and looks forward to working with India, in a truly modern

partnership, as we approach the next millennium. I wish the Museum every

success.

 

 

Tony Blair