This paper was presented at the
National Seminar on
Indian Psychology: Theories and Models
SVYASA, Bangalore,
December 26 - 28, 2007
Spirituality and peace
Santa Misra
“Peace technology” (wpt.com) is the new challenge of this millennium. With the advancement of different technologies of 20th century like information-technology, bio-technology, media technology, etc, in this 21st century man as a homo-sapiens marching forward to its ultimate end -- to get peace wholeheartedly, emerging the very term “peace technology.”
Peace is the ultimate reality of life and absolute in its term and spirit. To reach this point intuitive knowledge and spirituality act as a milestone.
Spirituality is that conscious energy, keeping yoga as a technique in its heart, can act as a medium in the reunion of our ‘petty self’ (the existential energy) with that of the ‘universal self’ (the celestial energy) whole heartedly, which can help human being to have peace in their body, mind and soul. The element of spirituality is defined as the individual sense of peace, purpose, belief and meanings of life that reflect in the values and ideas one holds about each and everything. It should not be confused with religion which means “to bind again” (Bergson, 1907). Rather it is the ‘awakening to the moment’ experiencing heightened response to the magnificent event of-idea (Berkel, 2004).
The ‘human mind’ is the ‘building block’ of peace technology, of which the human beings are the technocrat. If the holistic understanding of the phenomena “spirituality” will be induced in their mind in specific context of understanding the bits and chunks of human sensibility (which is a fact of human existence) then surely and certainly the peace will prevail and can save the universe from devastation.
With this aim in mind that science and spirituality should go together for the wellbeing of mankind at large, using yoga as an intervening variable, the primary objective of the study is to explore whether kriya yoga practice can enhance the spirituality (SQ) of the individual. It is a longitudinal study consisting of Kriyabans (N = 50) and Non-kriyabans (N=50) of Prajnana Mission international and others from different places in Orissa. All the subjects were individually administered the SQ questionnaire in their own set up within a gap of two years. The analysis of the result done by using appropriate statistical techniques reveals an enhancing effect of kriya yoga on spirituality. Hence spirituality can be a voyage to peace technology.
Email the author, Dr. Santa Misra, at santaamisraa@rediffmail.com