ABP Ideas of India | Religion With Spirit Is Spirituality, Otherwise It's Just A Set Of Rituals: Monk Gaur Gopal Das

ABP Ideas of India, Day 1: Monk, motivational strategist and author Gaur Gopal Das speaks on ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ during the first day of ABP Network’s first Ideas of India Summit.

Monk Gaur Gopal Das in conversation with actor and entrepreneur Gul Panag at ABP Network's Ideas of India Summit in Mumbai on March 25, 2022 | Photo: ABP Live

ABP Ideas Of India: “Today when life is so fast-paced, the pandemic allowed us to pause, introspect, delve in the potential within us and find happiness in little things and not just big achievements,” monk, motivational strategist, author and filmmaker Gaur Gopal Das said on Friday. 

However, he cautioned, the challenge lies in how we would continue to carry those lessons and introspect in days to come. 

Das was speaking on ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ during the first day of ABP Network’s ‘Wild Stone presents Ideas of India’ Summit.

He stressed the need to take individual as well as collective responsibility to craft happy lives. “The greatest asset of man is his ability to choose his life. We are sculptors of our lives. Happy people are those who manage to smile even in the face of obstacles because their levels of tolerance and resilience are high. They make love happen when hatred happens; they make peace happen when anger happens, they make happiness happen when problems happen,” said Das. 

But that is not enough, he said, adding that collective responsibility, which includes good governance and people treating each other with empathy, is also a prerequisite for happy lives today. 

Ideas Of India | Gaur Gopal Das Talks About Significance Of Religion & Spirituality In Life @gaurgopald @GulPanag

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Metaphorically comparing life to the journey of a flight, Das said, “Our birth, death or personal, emotional, financial, social, medical upheavels are beyond our control. There will always be a stimulus to ruin our peace every single day. But we have to effectively navigate ourselves from those problems by making the right choices.” 

With the summit coming at a time the Government of India is celebrating ‘Azaadi ka Mahotsav’, Das said 75 years of our Independence calls for celebration, deliberation and strategising for the future. Drawing an analogy from a lion’s stride where the beast looks back to see where he has come from as he continues to journey ahead, Das reiterated that we too should look back, repeat what has gone right and rectify what has not worked in our favour.  

When asked by actor and entrepreneur Gul Panag, who chaired the session, about wherein lies the relevance of religion in today’s life, Das chose to assert that there is a thin line between religion and spirituality. 

“Religion with its spirit existing is spirituality; otherwise it becomes a set of rituals which differ from culture to culture,” he said. Only when we can believe that two can unify, will there be harmony, he said. 

Das spoke about an interesting CAR acronym to underline the importance of spiritual culture. Changing what you can change; Accepting what you cannot change; and Removing yourself from unacceptable situations and subsequently Rising above such situations are the three stages towards overcoming difficult situations and achieving harmony within oneself, he said. 

Watch ABP Network Ideas of India Here:

ABP Network’s two-day 'Wild Stone presents Ideas of India' Summit will have thought leaders from various fields — culture, sports and cinema to technology, business and politics — talk about the journey of India so far. 

Among the keynote speakers for ABP Ideas of India are Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi, innovator Sonam Wangchuk, motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, renowned journalist Fareed Zakaria, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.