India and Spirituality

A wide-ranging dialogue with Shri Rajiv Gandhi — Questions by François Gautier

These are extracts from an interview with the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, by François Gautier on the 24th of February, 1988.

François Gautier: Do you agree that Hinduism is what made India great?

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi: No, not at all. What made India great was its ability to be diverse, to absorb all kind of influences, to synthesize them, to indianize them. I would even say that the India of today is a sort of a model for a mini-world, where you find everything: different religions, different races, different everything. You name it and you’ve got it!

But it’s got a tendency to pull apart, from Kashmir to Assam, from Punjab to Gorhhaland. What is the binding solution to all this?

In India the binding solution is much deeper: it is the spiritual link. Inner spirituality is our strength. It kept – and it WILL keep – India… India.

Is India still a socialist country?

Oh yes! Yes, very much so. But it is socialism “à l'Indienne”, socialism based on human beings, on a different value system. If you look at the Western world today, materialistic values are predominant and it's only in recent years that some questioning has started. Perhaps France is the only country which is slightly different. And if you also look at communist countries, again they’re immersed more and more in a materialistic outlook, and we feel it is not good.

Do you think there is a decline in the West?

Difficult to say. I think you’re referring to that book which has just come out, The Fall of the Great Empires. Well, every civilization goes up and down, we feel that the East has a certain inner strength, which the West has not been able to develop or preserve.

Sri Aurobindo, the great Sage and philosopher once wrote that India will be the spiritual leader of the world. What do you have to say?

Well, the West MUST acquire spirituality and I am sure it will. I feel that one of the things that give us that inner strength is TIME. The East in terms of civilization has, say, a 2000 years advantage. That does make a difference, it gives you resilience, a certain wisdom. Whether India can give this to the world, that is another question. I hope it can, and I’ll do my best for it.