Political Revolution

The pages of the world's history are replete with accounts of violent power struggles meant to overthrow ruling political formations, which have turned exploitative, unjust, dictatorial, and corrupt. When these struggles are successful, there is, for a limited period, a sense of satisfaction in the so-called victory of 'good' over 'evil' and a hope of changing the condition of masses.

However, in many instances, the victorious, supposedly representing the suffering masses, have simply been unable to fulfill promises and realize the dreams of suffering masses. It seems the set of rulers change without any change in the condition of the people. Many political revolutions directed against colonial masters have been violent. The historic, bloody French revolution - for a while - rekindled dreams of liberty, equality, and fraternity. However, as history shows, those dreams have remained largely unrealized.

A fundamental & necessary ingredient of democracy is respect for an individual. In modern times, a human being is easily 'sold' on an enticement of some form. Very often a human being - a voter - is seen to have become a purchasable commodity. For example, in electoral politics, it has been a common observation that some voters often 'sell' their votes to the highest bidder. Any political system that is unable to accord necessary value to a human being cannot be called a successful one. In the current time, with the political systems squarely resting on the twin pillars of fear and materialistic power, the human being has become secondary or worse. Only bhakti can awaken the self-reverence of a human being, and as a result he can cease to be a purchasable commodity.

A human being may be poor, living in a hut, and may not possess money, education or position. How is it possible to arouse his self-reverence (asmita) ? How can he preserve his self-respect ?

Rev. Dadaji has shown an elegant, beautiful way out of this quagmire. The Almighty God dwells within every human being. Therefore, a human being may be poor, but he need not feel worthless. He may be uneducated, but need not feel helpless. His self-reverence can only be awakened with bhakti. A human being with self-reverence cannot be purchased for some political agenda.

In communities where Swadhyay thoughts have taken root, elections occur with unanimity and without bitter political fights.