The beauty of Swadhyay is its personal mandate; for most of its existence, the Swadhyay Parivar provided a powerful collective environment that nurtured Swadhyayees in our pursuit of self-development.
Yes, along the way there has always been an influence of human nature. Swadhyay utsavs and kendras always had a sprinkle of inequity: people who were ‘more dedicated’, people who were ‘close to Dadaji’, people who followed with ‘blind faith’, people who had ‘responsibility’, people who could ‘sing better’, etc. In the corners or at the lunch table after kendra, there was always argument to be started about whether Swadhyay was actually an "organization" and whether the "motabhais" were really just part of a hierarchical structure.
In retrospect, there is a sense of laughable nostalgia for those days. Swadhyay the "organization" was, at most, a necessary nuisance. We needed it to come together, but it was hardly in the way of the individual’s ability to practice Swadhyay in his/her own life. Swadhyay was an open concept: everyone was a Swadhyayee, regardless of Hindu sect or even religion. The environment was friendly and open to anyone who wanted to attend kendra, listen to pravachan, celebrate utsavs, attend programs, do bhakti pheri, or take responsibility for something. If you didn’t want to do more than come to kendra ever now and then, no one bothered.
That was then.
Somewhere along the way we started to define what it meant to be a Swadhyayee. We began to informally observe the regularity of Swadhyayee attendance at functions, only certain ‘grades’ of Swadhyayees (based on commitment) were allowed to attend certain programs/meetings, we had unsaid rules of what could be talked about and what couldn’t at what times, we quietly criticized those who participated in things outside of Swadhyay Parivar activities, and the process of taking responsibility became opaque and subjective. The ‘motabhais’ stayed the same, other ‘leaders’ were hand-picked loyalists, rumors spread about those who were relieved of their responsibilities, the children/wives of ‘responsible people’ were given special treatment and access to Dadaji or were given responsibility as sanchalaks at DAY youth camps, the ‘process’ began to trump the humanity of responsible Swadhyayees. A fair ‘system’ became widely known for nepotism rather than meritocracy. Human nature was no longer a laughable influence.
However, it was still pleasantly tolerable: the rapidly growing parivar and its organizational challenges did not prohibitively interfere with the individual ability to practice Swadhyay or attend kendra.
This is now.
As it turns out, the real challenges were yet to come. The abrupt removal, for whatever reason, of key people in Swadhyay’s inner council in India and an effort to ostracize those associated with them outside of India set the stage for serious transformation of the Swadhyay Parivar. The organization faced a real challenge to fractionalization and proactively reacted to control damage and get past the bitter power struggle that started it. However, for the first time, Swadhyay was faced with major criticism from an insider’s perspective - and took an understandable, but immature approach of "you are either with or with them" to dealing with Swadhyayees around the world.
It was clear in the reactions of Swadhyay leadership that the institution was deeply affected/threatened by the situation and they often introduced issues to innocent audiences to avoid any potential for major divisions within the parivar; however, a great series of mistakes emerged in attempting to coach Swadhyayees in what to believe/say and do. The availability information was on a need-to-know basis and rumors began to brew. Further, the participation of Swadhyay leadership in identifying "anti-Swadhyay" elements indicated a forced shift to recognizing Swadhyay as an ‘organization’ to which membership was be assessed. Not everyone was a Swadhyayee anymore. So started a definitive process of the Swadhyay Parivar taking ownership of the until-then universal philosophy of Swadhyay and what it meant to be a Swadhyayee.
A Fundamentalist approach to Swadhyay
Fundamentalism is not always a bad thing, but the term in many ways accurately reflects the narrow-minded / intolerant progression of Swadhyay's leadership style as it tried to regain total control of the Swadhyay Parivar. Over the last five years, it has been interesting to watch major shifts in the way Swadhyay ‘the organization’ operates. Numbers of attendees have become important. Publicity and politicians became part of the modus operandi of programs. Leaders have instructed Swadhyayees not to read emails from or interact with individuals who have a different view of current events in the Parivar. Free-thinking, well-intentioned Swadhyayees with no mailice towards Swadhyay have been ostracized and bad-mouthed in Swadhyay power circles. Commitment to Swadhyay is "measured" by kendra attendance. Deviant questions in meetings are publicly balked and inquisitive minds are humiliated in front of peers and behind closed doors.
Not encouraging free and critical thinking would seem completely against the basic tenets of the Swadhyay philosophy.
Swadhyay (the organization) was on high alert for people who had even reasonably legitimate questions about leadership, governance, or finances. Swadhyayees, under the consequence of banishment, defamation, and removal from social networks, are fearful of thinking critically or speaking their minds. The recent murder of Pankaj Trivedi, allegedly for his vocal opposition to Swadhyay leadership and governance raises serious questions of the institution’s current priorities. Has Swadhyay "the organization" and its processes become more important than respect for life (and the God within it) itself?
In recent times, open dialogue is not encouraged within the Parivar, perhaps because of the fear of losing control of its own follower base. After all, it is easier to tell people what to do than to create a process to hear them tell you what they think. From the perception of a serious threat from its critics, the institution has become more explicit in attempting to control who Swadhyayees meet, where their children go and what they do during summers, and most importantly - whether or not people can practice Swadhyay or call themselves Swadhyayees.
The Swadhyay Parivar is in a very delicate moment; As Swadhyayees, we should realize that the philosophy and its contribution to humanity is much bigger than petty human nature issues of power, money, and internal politics. The leadership should take humble steps to avoid escalating the divisiveness, regardless of the venomous actions of Swadhyay critics. Rather than coaching Swadhyayees to respond to criticism in unison, the Parivar should encourage Swadhyayees to ask questions, and the leadership should be genuine and sincere in the honesty of its responses.
Swadhyayees were once called "soldiers of God," which has in many ways become "soldiers of the "Swadhyay Parivar’s leadership." In so many ways, the Swadhyay "organization" no longer embodies the divine principles that Dadaji’s life and the Swadhyay philosophy represents. The leadership, it seems, does not represent God.
We just want to practice Swadhyay #$%@!
It is unfortunate that the entire Swadhyay Parivar has been dragged into a conflict that has nothing to with being a Swadhyayee. It is not our fight: we don’t go to Swadhyay to hear the latest power gossip or defend the actions of its leadership. The projection of irrelevant-to-being-a-Swadhyayee issues on Swadhyayees around the world has seeded doubt and encouraged narrow-minded divisiveness that has taken the focus away from the self-development that makes it so enriching. In places, it is even tearing apart families who fall on opposite sides of the Swadhyay divide.
The real Swadhyay is getting lost in the mess. Perhaps many Swadhyayees need to take a step back and remember what inspires us about Swadhyay to ensure that their actions are in the same spirit; the ‘organization’ may not be worth saving - but the concept and the philosophy are certainly worth the effort.
