the eastern wisdom of india, tibet, japan is gaining acceptance in western countries
and western lifestyle is attracting people of east.
its not a new phenomena as this process has already started 50-100 years ago and will take another 100-200 years to complete.
the indian gurus were already aware of this shift in human consciousness. thats why many indian gurus have visited western countries in last 100 years. to name few of them – swami ram tirth (uncle of poonja ji aka papa ji), swami vivekananda, meher baba, jiddu krishnamurti, yogananda paramhansa, A. C. bhaktivedanta, maharshi mahesh yogi, swami rama, osho, jaggi vasudev and so on.
many of them were specifically asked by their mentors to go and preach dharma in the west. e.g. yogananda paramhansa and swami rama (read books autobiography of a yogi and living with himalayan masters). it is because the indian sages could see that western people will be more open to spiritual search than people from east in near future.
so whats the reason behind this – reason is that both of them have lived one sided life. east has given lot of importance to inward search to find the ultimate truth (samadhi or enlightenment) and ignored the outward reality of this temporary life. whereas the west has only explored in the outside world and didn’t tried to explore the inner world.
the whole genius of east was exploring the inner secrets of life. so that they can come out from this cycle of life and death. whereas the whole genius of west have only tried to find ways so that they can make the life easier, better and longer.
so both of them achieved in the pursuit but at the same time neglected the other side. so this shift is a balancing act by nature.
moreover, since the west has reached the material prosperity so they are ripe for spiritual explosion. reason being, mind is never satisfied. no matter how much luxury you have, your mind will get bored with it sooner or later. so no amount of luxury can satisfy the mind. more intelligent the person, more quickly he will realize the futility of material world and will try to look for something which can give him inner peace or bliss.
another reason is that west is more freedom oriented. there is no suppression of ideas. to be spiritual you should be open and innocent. you should not be fanatic but considerate and have accepting nature.
among west, america has the best chance for spirituality to grow because america is a new country or you can say a young country. to search for truth you need fresh mind which is not burdened with age old beliefs and secondly you need the energy of a youth to explore truth. so the soil is ripe in america for spirituality to grow.
what about east – now grass always looks greener on the other side. when million people try for spiritual bliss then very few among them achieve something substantial or permanent experience of samadhi. for others life is difficult. there is much poverty and struggle in india. so western lifestyle looks attractive.
real spirituality demands lot of patience, sincerity and boredom with existential life. few hundred years back india was the richest country of world. it used to be called as ‘golden sparrow’. thats why many people could afford to see the futility of this material world and choose to take sannyas (e.g. buddha, mahavira, bodhidharma, vishwamitra and so on). but now india does not have that luxury. in old times, richness was not given so much respect as compared to wisdom in india. but now in india wealth and fame is given more importance. so things have changed.
moreover, real spirituality is not a matter of one life time. it needs practice and patience over a period of life times. so how many people will be interested in real spirituality where you sit alone and watch your mind or your breath. in the era of facebook and twitter it is difficult. but still there are some people in west as well as in east who are pursuing spiritual path. they will keep the lamp alive.
but more or less, the american society will become more spiritual and eastern society will become more materialistic with the passage of time.
few qualities which inspire search for truth:
1. knowing well that materialistic life cannot fulfill you or can not give you eternal freedom or peace of mind.
2. you are innocent and open to truth. you only want truth at any cost.
3. you have not accepted the age old beliefs which kills curiosity or suppress/hide the truth.
4. you are ready to let go of material comfort and have the will to search.
5. you have the energy to search. thats why the youth is the best time to seach.
6. you are an old soul and know from within that like all living beings you will also die one day. so better use your time well to search ways to come out from this cycle of life and death.
7. you always listen to your inner voice. you ignore the voice of head or mind.