India is a faith based country whose nature is very much religious
although in Indian context religion is very much different what
generally people conclude from this word. Religion in India has some
different meaning from pre reformation age of Western world where
church and state had no separation and western world fought hard to
evolve the concept of secularism. In Indian context religion is not
intermingled with state and Hinduism as a religion has no institution
as church to dictate state. In this way definition of religion is very
much different in Indian context which is not pregnant with danger of
fundamentalism. For thousands of years India has a diverse culture as
Hinduism has never been confined in one prophet and one book. Hinduism
evolved itself as a principle for universe and here duty for every one
is defined as religion. For thousands of years India has its identity
in its religiosity and now even in modern world India is being
identified with its religiosity as its nationalism. But this
religiosity has wide range of coverage for every faith and religions.
India showed its generosity thousands of years back when this nation
which carries history of continuity for last five thousand years first
overwhelmingly sheltered to Jews when they were forced to leave their
promised land. This strong bond of relationship between Hindus and Jews
has continuity for thousands of years. From time to time Hindus saints
raise this issue and praised Jews for their great heritage, culture and
legacy. India as a faith based country and most populated Hindu country
always keep lot of reverence for saints and sages. In modern history of
20th century we have lot of Hindu saints who crossed the confinement of
rituals or routine worship and dreamed something big. One name which we
remember in this tradition is Swami Vivekanand who addressed the world
religious conference in 1893 in America and opened the door for
internationalization of Hindu religion. After his speech in 1893 he
became popular in the whole world but particularly in India his
popularity changed the era and Indian youth of 20th century got
international exposure. His contribution to modern India is more than
any political or social leader. Every political or social movement was
organized by those figures who drawn inspiration from Swami Vivekanand.
Swami vivekanand was such a visionary person that he taught Indian
people to see their problem in global perspective and being a faith
based and religious country people responded him and heard him
carefully.

Again
India is on the verge of change and country is facing lot of internal
and external problems from security to nation building, in this hour of
crisis Indian people again hope for a Saint to guide them.

Few days back I had a chance to visit Haridwar a holy pilgrim for
Hindus and well known for spiritualism ,yoga and meditation. In this
visit I got a chance to meet an influential saint with richest
following in India Swami Avadheshanand Giri. He is the chief of Juna
Akhara a tradition of sages in Hindus. This Akhara is a conglomerate of
various saints and sages which counts in thousands. In Hindu tradition
there is a big role of Master( Guru) and disciple . The purpose of my
visit was to witness the ceremony of Gurupooja (worship of Master) and
in this way I had a chance to meet Swami Avdheshanand and spend some
time with him. During my brief interaction in various sessions it was
known to me that how much passion he has for Israel. Being a saint his
heart beats for mankind but his first love after India is Israel. He
gave me a book of Israel to read which articulates the ancient history
of Israel with comparison of its contemporary situation. His passion
got overflowed when he showed in that particular book how third temple
mount has been converted into a mosque. He was the saint who had a
privilege to lead the Indian delegation in Israel in this year in
"presidential conference-Facing Tomorrow". With his lot of experiences
from Israel he has realized the necessity of strong Indo-Israel
relations.

In present scenario where some religions have been used to achieve
political goal with lot of bloodshed it was always nice to see a saint
talking for progress of country with security and spirituality.
Religiosity in India has influenced people to such extent that
administrative machinery and political structure did not decide the
future of India but it is force of saints and sages with their
followings have the last laugh. Taking this truth into consideration
vision of Swami Avadheshanand ranks him to a realistic saint who is not
only worried for his traditions and rituals but want to contribute in
nation building as well.

In my meeting I was a curious listener and tried to analyze his vision
which culminates in strong and developed India. He has worked a lot to
organize and collect hundreds of scientists to search for those ancient
rivers of India who have vanished in course of time. This initiative
from a saint sounds unusual as we have some different concept for
religion and faith but Swami Avadheshanand has broken the tradition and
he is working overtime day and night to fulfill his vision as well as
his rituals and traditional worships etc. One thing which inspired me
was his love for Israel and its culture as well as respect for its
technological advancement in irrigation and defense. In his visit to
Israel he had a chance to meet with agriculture minister who has taken
the project of drip irrigation in farming.

According to Swami Avadheshanand this technology could prove to be a
revolution in Indian agriculture sector. Story does not end here he
ranks Israel as natural ally of India in cultural and strategic areas
also. Swami Avadheshanand is a different saint who believes in using
new technology with an IPOD with him to see the film on holocaust
whenever he gets chance.

He has several programs to execute .He looks to have more social and
spiritual interaction between Hindu saints and Rabbis as well students
of both countries along with thousands of Jews who come to visit India
every year.

Indians in particular and Hindus in general term Jews and Israel as
their allies but due to cold war syndrome and leftist inclination of
academicians and pursuance of polity for political correctness India
took 44 years to have a diplomatic relationship with Israel and it
happened in 1991 only when government headed by P.V.Narsimha Rao
initiated on this front and both countries opened embassies in their
countries. After 15 years of diplomatic relationship between these two
countries who have several similarities in them started to come close
to each other. Now time has come to have more cultural and social
interaction between people of these countries and when this has been
initiated by a saint in India nobody could question about its long term
success.

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