India's Gurus take to TV to Spread their Message

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A97-2003Dec14.htmlNEW DELHI,

INDIA, December 19, 2003:

 

An industrialist sat in front of the television at 7 a.m. On the television

screen in front of him is one of India's best-known gurus who chanted a prayer

in Sanskrit before launching into a soothing lecture on how to cope with

stress. "Begin each day with a pure thought," he advised. "When you do

breathing exercises, when you control your anger, when you laugh, you're

actually prolonging your life." The industrialist, Rajiv Malhotra, 44, said

listening to a guru each morning helps him "get peace out of this mechanical

life."

 

Malhotra is not alone. As Indians move to the cities and leave behind

traditional Hindu worship, they are turning in search of spiritual sustenance.

"Spirituality was always part of the Indian psyche, but now it has just found a

new vehicle, 24-hour television," said Madhav Kant Mishra, executive director of

the seven-month-old Sadhna religious channel. Some of the programming can be

found on mainstream, India-based cable channels such as Zee TV, which claims a

worldwide audience of 225 million, and Star Plus of the Murdoch media empire.

Some of the most ardent viewers are educated middle-class and wealthy Indians.

 

The pressures of economic growth and modernization have taken their toll on

religious tradition as observed by Hindus as well as the country's Muslim and

Christian minorities. "Indian religions are very locality-specific," said Ashis

Nandy, one of India's leading social scientists. "You have family priests,

family gurus, personal gods, village Gods and Goddesses which is what living

Hinduism is, and that is truly in decline in urban areas. Therefore you begin

to search for substitutes," Nandy

said.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A97-2003Dec14.html

 

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