The spiritual straight talk by Sadguru is often very inspiring. The other day, I was reading an article in which Sadguru wrote about compassion. It was an eye-opener and I wonder how many people really read it.

If they had read it, I am sure they wouldn’t be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gujarat state 10,000 miles away in America. The verb “celebrating” is an understatement, because for people of Gujarat it does not make any difference and they continue to live their lives as usual.

This is a scheme by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to woo rich Gujarati NRIs to send/spend money to support his projects and causes. The Swarnim Kalash that the Gujarati Samaj brought from India with a lot of hoopla and which was blessed by some priest is not unique, there are over 200 of them all over the world and I am sure there are at least 50 kalash (one for each state) in the United States. 

The officials of Gujarati Samaj wanted to find an excuse to spend a lot of money, get their photos taken, get name recognition and have a little fanfare as a sidekick. Instead, they could have spent that money for uplifting the poor and underprivileged in remote villages of Gujarat. In general, we all dislike politicians because they give us false promises at election time and most of them are corrupt; still, on such occasions, we praise them and treat them like deities.

On the other hand, we collect donations in the aftermath of the earthquake in Gujarat or the tsunami in India or the recent floods in Pakistan. These kinds of gestures are meant to satisfy people’s egos or guilty consciences because, in reality, real help hardly trickles down to the poor and the needy. Also, a few thousands collected by organizations by bribing people (because they organize musical events, dinners etc.) is like a drop in a bucket when compared with millions given by governments around the world.

In Sadguru’s words, we should be all virtuous without any bias. In other words, people being sympathetic to certain causes or with certain people are not truly compassionate. When we are passionate about everything, then we are compassionate. Compassion is not about having a little pity or sympathy for something. Compassion is the highest virtue.

The next time you reach out for your wallet at some fundraiser, think how effectively you can use your resources. Natural disasters have been happening for millions of years, but if we live in overpopulated countries in substandard infrastructure and where poverty is fact of life, people are going to suffer and die. So why not work toward reducing population growth and educating the masses so that they can take care of themselves?

Girish Modi
Decatur, GA