Contemporary acharya packages ancient wisdom in Netspeak
by Ranjit Hoskote
Mumbai: ‘Interactive Vedanta’ is
probably how Mr Uday Acharya would describe the series of talks on the Bhagavad
Gita that he is giving at a city book store every Saturday afternoon this
month. His name may conjure up the image of a story-book guru given to
heavy-duty Sanskrit pronouncements, but when Acharya talks about the spiritual
quest, he employs the language of the Internet buff.
“We do have the power to
unscubscribe from unhealthy ideas and subscribe to healthy ones, as though theywere
list-servers,” observes the 43-yearold teacher, whose journey as a seeker began
while he was a schoolboy in Mumbai and came under the influence of Swami
Chinmayananda and his disciple, Swami Dayananda. “And the spiritual quest is
rally a constant process by which we upgrade ourselves.”
It is scarcely surprising, then,
that many of the people who visit Acharya at the book store’s website (where he
answers questions relating to spirituality and personal development) are young
people. Students and professionals, they speak from a condition of distress
brought on by an inability to balance happiness and spiritual purpose with
career demands and material rewards – Acharya transfers the healing insights of
the world’s religious traditions for them in a terminology they understand.
His sensitivity to this new,
growing audience may also explain why Acharya, despite having 12 years of teaching
on the Upanishads and the Gita behind him, calls himself “an explorer, a
continuous student, not a teacher on a pedestal, but a friend.” This
reinterpretation of the guru’s role gives him the opportunity, he says, to
learn from contemporary experience while sharing the knowledge he has inherited
from the past.
“There is enough wisdom available
in the world to see us all through,” smiles Acharya, who imbibed both philosophy
and tact from his teachers at the global headquarters in Rishikesh during the
early 1980s. “My aim is to cull and share as much of itas possible with people
across religions, cultures and generations.”
Acharya gathers that wisdom from
an eclectic array of sources, including the Upanishads, the Dhammapada, Anthony
de Mello’s parables, Richard Bach’s meditations, Edward de Bono’s courses in
mental agility, Fritjof Capra’s attempts to bridge science and religion, as
well as the often riddle-like teaching stories of the Zen and Taoist masters.
Emphasizing the self-development
aspect of these legacies over the religions one, he reminds us that the essentially similar core teachings of all the
wisdom traditions should not be obscured by outward differences.
Although not an ordained
sanyasin, Acharya leads wha he terms “a sadhu life in society, dedicated to
putting people in touch with their inner resources, helping them to optimize
their time and energy, to fulfill themselves at play, at work, in their
relationships.”
Through the periodic workshops
that he holds for students and corporate groups, Acharya helps people to help themselves
in very practical situations. “I show them that problem can be turned into
opportunities, because growth takes place at the point whee challenge
stimulates response,” he says. “Each of us must lead an authentic life, tapping
into our creativity while generating synergy with others.
Working with colleagues like the
spiritual teacher Ram Mohan and the psychologist Rani Raote, Acharya guides
students through minefields like success and interpersonal relationships,
stress management, love and obsession. To his corporate shishyas, he speaks on
themes like leadership, ethics and managerial values, competition and
achievement.
“Those of us who occupy positions
of authority should learn that the win-win situation is the best,” he muses. “You
don’t have to be either a clone or a control freak to get ahead of the
competition – just keep upgrading your own abilities and you will surpass the
competition anyway.”
Renouncing competition in favour of co-operation as
a ruling paradigm, Acharya insists that the inequities of human society can be
dissolved only when networks of individuals and communities act on a commitment
to positive change.“This is just an updated version of the satsang,” he says. “In
the network-satsang, people will reinforce one another’s best qualities. They
will learn to use desire instead of being used by it, to adopt constructive
attitudes and manage their choices intelligently.”
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