We have beautiful human lives so be thankful and act responsively: Yogi

It is always encouraging to interact with Dr. Chintamani Yogi, as he is filled with positivity and you feel that energy. He not only talks about it, but has taken many initiatives towards spreading positivity in Nepal and abroad. However he is not taking any benefits from these initiatives. He is also the champion for promoting inter-religious harmony. During a brief catch-up with Nepalekhabar.com, he shared about his activities and how we can promote positivity in the society. Here are the excerpts:

Can you inform us about your involvement in social works?

I have started my journey in social service through Matribhuvi Sewak Sangh. The main purpose of the organization is to create good citizens and promote harmony in the society, so that the country will benefit from it. While working on this, we realized that there is a need of an educational institution that will promote good education and also promote nationality and spirituality. We have been running three Hindu Vidyapeeths, which have been operating since last 35 years, and these schools have the principle of teaching students English but not to make them English people. We have the policy of Sanskrit as compulsory subject. We have been promoting yoga, meditation and spirituality. We are open to all castes and creed and have been providing education to around 1,500 students including some Muslim children. All the staff and teachers involved work with the service motif. We endeavor to provide Value Based Education, Culture Based Education and Spirituality Based Education, which has very positive impact on the students. The students are quite well cultured and mannered.

Apart from Hindu Vidyapeeth, we have been organizing teachers’ orientation programs, interaction programs to promote value based education as our motif is to change the country and it is not possible with limited number of students studying in Hindu Vidyapeeth. We are also running Bal Shanti Griha (Children’s Peace Home) for providing care to orphan children. We have been running three Gurukuls (Naimisarandya Gurukul in Banepa; Baba Barkhandi Gurukul in Saptari and Gorakhnath Veidic Gurukul in Chaughera Dang) in different parts of the country, so, we have been trying to promote positivity and spiritualism through different fronts.

At a time when schools are charging very high fees, you have been running schools with minimal fees; how are you operating it?

We have been taking very nominal fees from those who can afford to pay, and providing scholarships to those who cannot afford to pay. We are taking fees only to meet day to day operations and have been getting support for developing infrastructure for the organizations. As we are motivated from our service motif, our priority is to instill value, culture and spirituality in our students. If we cannot make them honest and well-mannered, they will add to the problems in the country. If you take the example of Nepal, most of the problems are not created by uneducated people, rather it is created by highly educated people; so we are aware of what type of students the country needs. In Hindu Vidyapeeth, we are trying to promote value based education and promoting various activities towards it. We are having one extra period to teach them about philosophies of our culture, religion and other philosophical issues.

You mentioned that some Muslim students are also studying in Hindu Vidyapeeth, what is their reaction? Are they feel comfortable attending school that promotes Hindu beliefs?

The parents seem satisfied as they feel that if their children study in Hindu Vidyapeeth, they will be honest and well mannered. They feel that their children will be good citizens if they attend our school as they understand the teaching of all religions are the same. Initially some students of nearby areas enrolled in the school and the parents felt satisfied by the performance of their children. They are participating in all extra-curricular activities so this is the good example of religious harmony.

How is the performance of graduates of Hindu Vidyapeeth?

They have been promoting Nepali culture, moral values and religion wherever they are. They respect their teachers and promote good-will in the society. Their parents are also thankful to us and say that they made good decision to enroll their children in this school. They are well-mannered and doing well in their fields.

Many schools have been putting pressure on children and limiting students to text books; how you are trying to expand the reach of value based education?

I feel it is not possible to make overall change in the country only through Hindu Vidyapeeth as we are producing very limited number of graduates. I don’t want to promote HVP as a good institution but we are trying to promote the same culture with others. I have been involved in training programmmes on value based education in different schools and colleges and doing it continuously. We all should understand that we need to make our children happy rather than creating pressure on them to be successful and earn more money. We have been promoting it across the country.

Do you have any programmes for students who are not studying in Vidyapeeths?

We have been promoting it through two means. The first is some children of Nepali origin staying abroad are coming to Hindu Vidyapeeth every year. They spend one week to one month here and learn about our values and culture. We are also organizing one session every year for Nepali children and youths to promote culture. Some volunteers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities are also coming here to teach. They spend a month here teaching English and also learn the values of Hinduism / Buddhism and our culture.

Apart from Hindu Vidyapeeth, you have been involved in different social sectors; can you shed light on it?

Apart from Hindu Vidhyapeeth, I am involved in Bal Shant Griha where 40 orphan children have been getting free education and shelter. We have been operating Shanti Sewa Ashram under the guardianship of Bholanath Yogi, where we have been running adult education and also after school programme for poor and marginalized children. As their parents are either working somewhere or do not have capacity to help in their homework, we are supporting them to do homework, learn about culture and manners. This has very good impact on the children of poor families as if they were not involved in this programme they could have been in the streets in the absence of their parents and could have started wrong practice like substance abuse. We are also providing different trainings to women towards involving them in livelihoods activities. We have been running three Gurukuls in Banepa, Saptari and Dang. Apart from these, we are also supporting other Gurukuls for promoting value based education for supporting poor and marginalized communities. We have also been promoting values and harmony in the society through Youth Society for Peace as we realize that youths are the main pillars of the country.

Apart from these, I have been supporting other initiatives aimed at bringing positive changes in the society.

You have been doing a lot on your personal initiatives. Don’t you think big temples and other public institutions should learn from you and spend the money they have in social Initiatives?

If we see the history of Nepal, all the social work were started by these social institutions. If we look at the major historic places and UNESCO heritage sites, these were all designated at the initiative of Nepali people. However, as we were passing through transitional phase, people’s attitude changed and these institutions also failed to prioritize these issues.

However, of late people are gradually moving towards positivity. The importance of value based education and moral education are being realized these days and even the private schools have been teaching Sanskrit and eastern philosophy. People are practicing yoga and meditation in every nook and corner, which is very positive. However, you are right; there are no efforts taken by big temples to operate big hospitals, universities and research centers, which they could have done easily. This may be due to self-interest of some people, so we need to be sensitive towards it and pressurize authorities to involve in such social initiatives. This is not happening at the moment because of people’s attitude and lack of morality. For example, people see religion in temples but not in a human being. Some have become religious but have not been able to become spiritual. We have been visiting temples but do not support needy people. In a real sense, we have not been taking the real meaning of religion. We are casting the real message aside and adopting only showy attitude.

This has been the attitude of Nepali people living abroad. They also seem detached from their values, so what is your take on it?

I have been visiting abroad mostly US (Nepalese Cultural and Spritual Centre in Dallas and Shree Pashupati Buddha Temple in Los Angles), Australia and Europe and doing some initiations to connect people, families and communities. I have been organizing Satsang Yatra (Spiritual Journey) for connecting society and people to develop good intention and promoting brotherhood. The main issue we need to consider is whether building a big house is your success or connecting your family. If we see people abroad, they are facing many issues like problems with their children, suffering from frustration and depression, etc, as they are running after materialistic things and neglecting spirituality; so I am trying to connect them in a positive thread. We are also organizing Cultural and Spiritual Camps for Nepalese kids in US and Australia, which have become very popular and it had very good impact in the society. As people realized the value of spirituality, they have been providing quality time for supporting the camp -when people these days do not have an outlet to express their feelings. I am trying to connect Nepalis living abroad and give the message that we need to live our life even while we earn money. My main intention is promoting our teaching to all human beings of the world as the teaching of Hindu religion is promoting good intention across the country. I have been attending various seminars, teaching and preaching in various universities, schools and communities in these countries. What I have realized is that although we are poor in terms of physical resource, we have very high culture and society.

What is the difference in the western world and our society in terms of spirituality?

This is quiet sad that western countries have been taking our culture and learnings very seriously but we are moving towards the wrong direction. Yoga and meditation have reached every nook and corner of the world, Hindu universities have been established in US and other countries and they have been inviting me to attend various programs to learn our values and culture and some very good schools have been providing Sanskrit education, but we are neglecting it. The western world realized that lack of spiritual understanding is a main issue as they feel they are suffering from depression and other problems like loneliness and family separation due to lack of spiritual knowledge and taking our religion and culture as a means of healing these problems but we are not valuing it. Nepali people are deprived from this good information. Media is also not raising this issue properly and heading towards earning money at any cost. You can buy medicine by earning more money but how your family providing the medicine (what is their intention) determines whether the medicine works for you or not. In this context, we should think of creating a family where your family members give you medicine with good intention.

What is your recommendation for people moving towards this direction?

There are two issues. One, we have been moving towards western culture leaving our tradition followed by our ancestors. However of late there are attempts of seeking positivity. People are trying to head towards positivity, good values and philosophy. The number of people adopting yoga and meditation is increasing gradually. However it may take time as this is the only alternative for being happy. We need to follow all positive aspects and move towards positivity as almost half of the population is abroad. The second thing is we need to give good education, culture and respect to children. Support them to learn positivity rather than imposing them your will. Actually it is good to earn money but it is more important to be happy. We have this beautiful human life so be thankful to it and act responsively leaving aside personal biases.

(Editor’s Note: How do you find this interview please send your feedback at info@nepalekhbar.com. You can also recommend people who has started some positive initiatives for promoting their initiatives. )