Monday, March 11, 2013

Sahaj Marg, India and the Indians

Translation of an article by Alexis: "Sahaj Marg, Inde et Indiens" on Élodie's blog in Europe: Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg.


March 11, 2013


Sahaj Marg, India and the Indians

Alexis text:

Diaspora: Overseas Indians
What is the seductive power of the SRCM outside the public of Indian origin?

India has 93% of the supporters of Sahaj Marg, 82% of its contributors, 68% of the regular churchgoers and 55% of the preceptors.
 
On the financial side, India has 67% of the turnover of the SRCM of Chari, 62% of the assets, excluding real estate, but it has also the majority of the real estate.
 
India has about a thousand centers versus 102 meditation centers overseas, it also has 140-200 ashrams versus 17 overseas missions, and it still has two training centers (CREST), two retreat centers, a school (LMOIS) and the global headquarters of the Mission (BMA).

What then remains of the Mission abroad? Not much!
 
Europe and North America especially in the U.S., a little in the Middle East and the Malay Peninsula, the horn of South African with Madagascar and Mauritius, and  three times nothing in Oceania
 
Six countries of the Indian diaspora had more than one million citizens of Indian origin in 2002: Burma, the USA, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
 
Two thirds of the global Indian diaspora is concentrated in the following areas: 5,000,000 in Peninsular Malaysia, 3 to 4 million in the Middle East, 2 million in the horn of South African, almost as many in the U.S., and more than one million in the United Kingdom.
 
Strange parallelism between numbers of overseas Indian diaspora and the SRCM ...

Let's dig a little more, shall we?:

Historically, in the late 60s and early 70s, when the Shri Ram Chandra Mission overflowed its borders and spread beyond India, it has flourished mainly in the Malay Peninsula and the Horn of South Africa, the regions of ancient Indian settlement with the first wave of emigration of the 19th century: the recruitment of cheap labor following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire 1833-1834.
 
The second wave of migration occurred much later, after the independence, in the second half of the 20th century. It involved more qualified Indians heading for developed countries, it is the generation of Chari, who was exiled for some time in the former Yugoslavia.  The third wave began in the mid-70s, with the shock and the boom of the oil industry, to Gulf countries seeking unskilled temporary workers. The fourth and final wave began in the 90s with globalization, the opening up of the Indian economy and the potential of destination markets.

It is therefore no coincidence that Sahaj marg proliferates first in Malaysia, Mauritius or South Africa. The ashram of Lenasia is one of the oldest ashrams abroad, for example. Dubai, and in the other Gulf countries, (Sahaj Marg) proliferates much later ...
 
Babuji and Chari make their first trip to the United States in 1972. In the mid 80s, Chari complains that the number of abhyasis has not progressed. In 2003, he requests that the Indo-Americans make a little room for Native Americans in the Mission ...
 
Between the two, the Indo-American population consists of the fourth wave of emigration: the USA has 800,000 citizens of Indian origins in 1990, 1,700,000 in 2000 and 2,300,000 in 2005! Meanwhile, SRCM is growing: in 1995, already 50% of the preceptors are of Indian origin. In 2007, two-thirds of new preceptors are also. And Chari is rightly concerned about the fate of the Native Americans ...
 
In the top 50 of the largest overseas donors to the Shri Ram Chandra Mission in India, 34 are of Indian origin, specifically 31 are Indo-American. The first three of them contributed more than half of the donations.
 
Most are at the head of start-ups in the computer hardware or software, or in the production of generic drugs. The Patels of Gujarat hold nearly half of the American (hotels, motels, etc. ) hospitality industry.
 
We thus find all the new Indian middle class, on average more qualified, more industrious and better paid than the Native Americans, but also a generation of expatriates, uprooted and torn between their origins and modernity.

The vast majority of the world abhyasis are Indian or of Indian origin. It seems that it is not a coincidence that the SRCM grows mainly in the areas of Indian immigration, it is all but impossible to really grow elsewhere.
 
Chari was the first man of the diaspora of Sahaj marg! It is not a coincidence that his successor, Kamlesh Patel, is Indo-American ...

But I hear you grumble. And Europe then? He forgets Europe! He says anything ...
 
Yes, Europe is the exception. Only England is a place of strong immigration from India, other countries have a smaller Indian population, yet the Mission has developed there.
 
Certainly, this is true for France and Denmark, just as in Switzerland and Germany, but that's about it. Elsewhere, the numbers are much reduced and/or progress very little or they even stagnate or regress ...

In brief, apart from a handful of  "illuminated", Sahaj Marg never conquered any population but the Indians ... and at the height of paradox, the French and Danes.
 
Their power of seduction - that of SRCM, Sahaj Marg and / or Chari - is confined to the Indians, it is also pretty pathetic. But Chari has managed to seduce the (some) Danes and the (some)  French ...

Alexis 

 



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