Abstract
‘Spirit’ is a vital principle of life, the breath of God, air or wind. Spirituality is one’s character or quality that makes one transcend the barriers of worldliness, caste, creed and sensuality and realize one’s connection with the Truth. Spirituality leads one to search for and discover meaning in life, a meaning that goes beyond a merely material experience, however successful. The present paper aims to study elements of spirituality in Raja Rao’s Kanthapura and Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.
Keywords: Spirituality, society, salvation, renunciation, self-realization
Spirituality and Indian Culture
Spiritual experience is impartial and non-personal. It is an awareness that transcends the constraints and agendas of the personal mind or ego. Spiritual experience is the foundation stone of Indian religion and culture. Spiritual realization is an inward transformation in one’s character — a stage of upliftment from ignorance to knowledge, from an unregenerate to regenerate condition.
Gandhian Spirituality in Kanthapura
In Kanthapura, Moorthy rises above the temptation of the earthly pleasures of life. He overcomes his desires and passions and works for the betterment of the society. Moorthy conquers his senses and attains the state of Jivanmukta adhering to the ideals of non-attachment, conquest of all prejudices and emotional bondage and selfless love towards all humanity. The ideology of Gandhi in Moorthy’s vision is a simplistic formula for the benefit of his illiterate devotees. He teaches the lessons of non-violence, truth and love.
Moorthy’s concept of religion is broad and enlightened. He recognizes the pariahs as individual and awakens their consciousness. “Kanthapura is a veritable grammar of the Gandhian myth — the myth that is but a poetic translation of reality” (Iyenger, 1998).
Lama as the Embodiment of Buddhistic Spirit
Lama was holy, reverent, unsuspicious, hopeful, innocent, self-sacrificing and charitable. The Lama practices all the rules of Buddhistic religion. He is in the search of the Holy River which can wash away all the sins. Even Kim is moved by the Lama’s sincerity and innocence, begs food for him and thus begins an exceptional relationship between the Guru and Chela.
Rudyard Kipling has given a very beautiful description of the release of the Lama’s soul from the body. At the end of the story, the Lama felt that his soul was merging with the universal soul.
Conclusion
Raja Rao’s Kanthapura conveys the concept of Gandhian spirituality. Moorthy idealized Gandhian philosophy of universal brotherhood, equality, castelessness and abolition of untouchability whereas Lama in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim represented the concept of Buddhist spirituality. Both Moorthy and Lama represented spiritual concepts like love, truth, beauty, non-violence, self-realization, self-discipline through their various actions.
Works Cited
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- Kipling, Rudyard, Kim. New Delhi: Surjeet Publication Ltd., 1999.
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