Today being the birth day of Periyar, I received forwarded Whatsapp messages/greetings on the occasion. Coincidentally, there was also other unrelated messages, one of Mr. Sahayam the IAS officer & anti-corruption advocate on one of his encounters with few young men and another from Sathguru Jakki Vasudev on achieving unlimited potential in various personal dimensions. I could not resist but compare the contributions of these two men on the occasion, especially from Periyar's point of view.
Mr. Sahayam family's and his personal sacrifice and courage to fight corruption have become legendary. In this world where everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, Mr. Sahayam has gained and sustained more than his share of popularity for good number of years although he did not pursue it or market himself towards his personal gain. From what I see his work and his speeches are shared by people who are not gaining any material benefit or favor for that. He doesn't run a marketing machine to push his agenda. Anti corruption remains a slogan and ambition for emerging political parties in general. However, the emerging parties haven't done much other than to raise it as a slogan to gain votes. Established parties however are wishy-washy on the topic only to blame the opponent at every chance. The ruling parties are especially vicious to the straight forward administrators if they don't bend as needed. Mr. Sahayam is one of many civil servants who have fought and are fighting corruption. That calls for incredible courage on his part. Look at what happened to Mr. Uma Shankar who was one of the straight forward IAS officers victimized by earlier administration. Uma Shankar got dragged into multiple scandals and got pushed to the sidelines. Given the state of the top level leadership on both administrative and judicial wings, any departmental charge and inquiry spells doom to the career of honest officers. Mr. Sahayam is marching forward in this backdrop, for no personal gain and making a lot of sacrifice. He could have chosen to be another complacent officer or even someone to sing the tune of his political masters. Power and money would have lined up to him. But he has chosen principled life for the benefit of broader society. For that, he would have gained Periyar's accolade.
When growing up, one of the self help and spiritual text that influenced me profoundly was of Swami Vivekananda. His writings on Karma yoga, was enlightening to young minds in spiritual quest. I am not purview to how he built the Ramakrishna Mutt. But in the pre-internet days, my guess is he had rich sponsors who funded him and his vision. His ardent followers published his work and raised funds to reach out across the world is my presumption. In the modern day, spiritual leaders have tools that they can use to directly reach out to crowd source their mission. Sathguru is one of the savvy spiritual leaders who has leveraged the internet tools to market him and his Isha foundation. There are many leaders famous and infamous who dominate the spiritual market place today. I don't undermine the product or the organization in the spiritual market. They are emerging as organized faith groups that has almost close to cult follower-ship just as any other religious group . It gets interesting when these groups argue about whether Shridi Baba should be prayed to or not. That is of entertainment value for the masses. In contrast to Swami Vivekananda however, the modern spiritual leaders remain on the sideline on the major societal issues. The slogan "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached" is as powerful and potent today as it was in the days of Swami Vivekananda to energize the young men and women of his days to march towards the freedom struggle. The quotes of the modern spiritual leaders however don't target any societal issues, but rather fulfill their market need, essentially remaining vague and lacking conviction. The modern spiritual leaders choose such non-controversial areas as planting trees, conducting eye camps, educating the poor children, etc., that delivers feel-good factor for their predominantly young professional followers instead of such issues as fighting prevalent alcoholism among youth. Those services are also important contributions of an organization. But any non-profit organization can offer those services. If Periyar was here today, he would urge Sathguru to direct his mission towards eradication of alcoholism among youth through his spiritual teachings. The element of courage and sacrifice for social cause, that lacks today, will then get established in the spiritual path. People beyond their willing and paying followers will benefit from such initiatives.
Mr. Sahayam family's and his personal sacrifice and courage to fight corruption have become legendary. In this world where everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, Mr. Sahayam has gained and sustained more than his share of popularity for good number of years although he did not pursue it or market himself towards his personal gain. From what I see his work and his speeches are shared by people who are not gaining any material benefit or favor for that. He doesn't run a marketing machine to push his agenda. Anti corruption remains a slogan and ambition for emerging political parties in general. However, the emerging parties haven't done much other than to raise it as a slogan to gain votes. Established parties however are wishy-washy on the topic only to blame the opponent at every chance. The ruling parties are especially vicious to the straight forward administrators if they don't bend as needed. Mr. Sahayam is one of many civil servants who have fought and are fighting corruption. That calls for incredible courage on his part. Look at what happened to Mr. Uma Shankar who was one of the straight forward IAS officers victimized by earlier administration. Uma Shankar got dragged into multiple scandals and got pushed to the sidelines. Given the state of the top level leadership on both administrative and judicial wings, any departmental charge and inquiry spells doom to the career of honest officers. Mr. Sahayam is marching forward in this backdrop, for no personal gain and making a lot of sacrifice. He could have chosen to be another complacent officer or even someone to sing the tune of his political masters. Power and money would have lined up to him. But he has chosen principled life for the benefit of broader society. For that, he would have gained Periyar's accolade.
When growing up, one of the self help and spiritual text that influenced me profoundly was of Swami Vivekananda. His writings on Karma yoga, was enlightening to young minds in spiritual quest. I am not purview to how he built the Ramakrishna Mutt. But in the pre-internet days, my guess is he had rich sponsors who funded him and his vision. His ardent followers published his work and raised funds to reach out across the world is my presumption. In the modern day, spiritual leaders have tools that they can use to directly reach out to crowd source their mission. Sathguru is one of the savvy spiritual leaders who has leveraged the internet tools to market him and his Isha foundation. There are many leaders famous and infamous who dominate the spiritual market place today. I don't undermine the product or the organization in the spiritual market. They are emerging as organized faith groups that has almost close to cult follower-ship just as any other religious group . It gets interesting when these groups argue about whether Shridi Baba should be prayed to or not. That is of entertainment value for the masses. In contrast to Swami Vivekananda however, the modern spiritual leaders remain on the sideline on the major societal issues. The slogan "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached" is as powerful and potent today as it was in the days of Swami Vivekananda to energize the young men and women of his days to march towards the freedom struggle. The quotes of the modern spiritual leaders however don't target any societal issues, but rather fulfill their market need, essentially remaining vague and lacking conviction. The modern spiritual leaders choose such non-controversial areas as planting trees, conducting eye camps, educating the poor children, etc., that delivers feel-good factor for their predominantly young professional followers instead of such issues as fighting prevalent alcoholism among youth. Those services are also important contributions of an organization. But any non-profit organization can offer those services. If Periyar was here today, he would urge Sathguru to direct his mission towards eradication of alcoholism among youth through his spiritual teachings. The element of courage and sacrifice for social cause, that lacks today, will then get established in the spiritual path. People beyond their willing and paying followers will benefit from such initiatives.
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