Former Rajya Sabha Member Karan Singh on Thursday said concepts from the Vedanta, which is the essence of the Upanishads, such as the welfare of all beings, the unity of all religions and the divinity inherent in each human being were more relevant now. “We need them more today than we ever did,” he said.
Delivering the Millennium lecture on ‘Vedanta Today,’ at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, he said the present was an age of great turmoil, tension and transition. “We find ourselves precariously poised between a disappearing past and an uncertain future. It is a time to look into our scriptures to see if we can absorb the courage, the compassion and the wisdom to deal boldly with the problems we face today,” he said.
To reach the goal of a new India and a new humanity, there was a need for a new green revolution, a new social revolution, a new economic revolution and a spiritual revolution to get over ridiculous taboos in the name of religion, Mr. Singh said.
Striving for peace
On a question about the concepts of war and peace in the Vedanta, he said that the Upanishads stood for peace.
“Where we see any injustice we must fight against it. But if there is any kind of war mongering, any creation of a war psychosis, then that must be avoided, since that would be a catastrophe. Fair enough that we must do what we need to do in national interest. But nonetheless, we must continue to strive for peace,” he said.
Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan was present on the occasion.