I am continuing with the process of my own deprogramming as part of the deprogramming of the world that needs to take place. I thought it was cool to smoke Havana cigars and smoke tobacco in pipes of different styles. I guess I was trying to create an image and make certain statement about myself and my unique style in presenting myself to the world. Certainly I was influenced by the existing images, current fashion. I came to the realization it was stupid of me to smoke tobacco and put poison into my body. It also did not go well with the treatment of smoking cessation in our clinics that I was advocating. I also decided that I was not going to wear a tie with my suit as it made me feel physically choking and uncomfortable. Besides I did not know why someone would tie something, however fanciful, around one's neck. I wonder if it is a remnant of some kind of subjugation in the primitive days. I have not seen a Pope, cardinals, or kings with any kind of a tie. As an admirer of Gandhi and his simple lifestyle I got rid of my habit of drinking tea and coffee. I do not think tea or coffee has any special nutritional value other than it serves as a stimulant or pastime or convenient way of social interaction.

            I started abstaining from the use of alcohol. I acknowledge the very limited nutritional value of beer and wine in strict, well-disciplined use. I consider the use of alcohol in Kerala, the most literate state in India, where I live about 9 months of the year, to be an anti-sign as most of the persons there do not seem to know how to consume alcohol. I gradually started reducing my meat and fish intake until I decided to become a vegetarian. In this context it is good to remember my half-hearted promise to Vinoba Bhave in Paunar Ashram in 1979. He suggested that I give up beef. I told him I would try to do that. I also realized that it is very important to eat right as food is the first line of medication. In that regard I subordinated taste to nutritional needs and what the body needs to stay in good physical health. After all, when a physician prescribes medication, the patient is not concerned about the taste of the medicine. It is also very important to maintain a steady weight. A steady weight will help one to wear one's clothes until they wear out. Also bodily skin develops fewer wrinkles as one ages. As one listens to the messages one's body gives, one takes preventive measures that can eliminate expensive hospital or doctor visits. And I must say that I have stayed away all my life from medications and all sicknesses except one that resulted from my own ignorant life style, and that was corrected before further damage. I have also maintained my weight since I took it to get a passport 37 years ago. Moreover, I buy things solely on the basis of my needs, not on the basis of fashion or advertisements or what others suggest. I created my own style with regard to my apparel. In other words, I design my own dress and create my own fashion, so to speak, that fits in with who I am. I do not need to be Ied by the tastes of designers, actors, actresses, and sports personalities who do not share my value system, and most of whom because of their lack of training in spirit-life are plunging this world into darkness and chaos. The sad reality is that an overwhelming majority of people in the world chases after these so-called celebrities and vain personalities, try to imitate them, and live their purposeless lives vicariously. I choose to imitate nobody as I know I would be compromising with my own self and inner being.

           In the previous paragraph, deprogramming the world in the physical realm was briefly dealt with in the context of my own deprogramming by way of eliminating unhealthy habits and inculcating new ones. Now I would like to broach the mental health of the world in the background of my own mental hygiene. My examination revealed that I had a socially desirable value system. My thinking was not in consonance with my feeling and my private world. In other words, my intellectual conviction did not translate into an emotional one. My feeling did not go all the way with my reasoning, and my feeling had quite some ways to catch with my thinking. So I had to examine my deeply ingrained prejudices and biases. I found there were quite a few. There were subtle discriminations on the basis of color, caste, creed, gender, and ethnic origin, that needed to be gotten rid of to be who I want to be and need to be out of my own well-thought out free choices and decisions. Once I was able to identify my covert and hidden issues based on my old programmed self and hypocrisy, and brought them to the surface, I was able to gradually and persistently deal with them. I am not fully done. I am only a work in progress. In this connection I came to realize I do not have to like all that I love.

            The spiritual realm is the most difficult and intractable one. Spirituality for most people is based on their religions which in turn are based on clearly defined doctrines and dogmas. Religions are the most persistent, all-pervasive, enduring systems that program their adherents. Each religion has its own practices consisting of prescribed rites, rituals, and devotions. The pressure from one's religion to conform is enormous. Guilt and eternal damnation hang over one's head like the sword of Damocles. Either one believes the given official doctrines or dogmas or one does not. If one does not believe one is condemned outright. In Islam, for instance, one's ceasing to believe or one's questioning the prophet or proponents of the tenets or changing one's religion may cost not only ostracism but even death. Spirituality for most is based on these unquestioned and unquestionable doctrines and dogmas. If one does not go along with the doctrines or dogmas handed over from generation to generation, handed over from say, two millennia, one can be in serious trouble. Forget about doctrines and dogmas, one can be in serious trouble if one questions do or does not follow the current arbitrary disciplines such as celibacy for priests, reservation of priesthood only for males in the Catholic church that do not have anything to do with doctrines and dogmas. Followers of religions do not mind abridging human rights to accommodate their rigid understanding of religion, spirituality, tradition, and God. God or religion does not need to be accommodated or programmed. Questions in the area of spirituality since it is tightly and seemingly inextricably intertwined with religions are not easily entertained. That is why it is so very important to separate spirituality from religions to find a common ground for all humanity. By no means I want to minimize or diminish the outstanding contributions religions made to tame humanity's manifold, narcissistic, primitive, wild impulses, and to put humanity on various paths leading to spirituality and the Ultimate Meaning. Yet judging from the uncompromising positions and the unyielding directions that the major religions are taking, I do not think they are, without substantive changes, capable of delivering the goods, that is, bringing humanity to its final destination. The more we become aware of the limitations of religions, the more every religion is inflexibly entrenched in its own self-righteous position, the more we need to focus on spirituality as the last hope for humanity. It is also in order to remind ourselves that we have, with all good will on everyone's part, made very little progress in the arena of ecumenism among world religions. Until religions get their act together in formulating a viable spirituality for all, It is imperative that we extricate spirituality from religions even at the risk of temporary confusion and dismay that many people may suffer on account of their own insufficient development and lack of awareness. The unfortunate reality is that religions have infantilized humanity. Spirituality beyond religions is the most important practical need of the hour to give some cohesion and concerted direction and purpose to humanity. Swami Vivekananda, Narayana Guru, and Mahatma Gandhi, in their own ways, pointed to a spirituality beyond religions. Pope John XXIII by opening the Catholic Church to let in fresh air for the much belated and needed changes through the historic Second Vatican Council, was attempting to move away from previous entrenched positions and dogmatism of the Catholic Church. It is also interesting that John Paul II who with all his charisma tried to turn the clock back to the pre-Vatican II era is presented as a model through his recent beatification rather than John XXIII who exuded hope for a new humanity. Currently I am not seeing any bold, visionary religious leader in the horizon who can mobilize people toward a spirituality of love, service, and hope for humanity. That means we cannot shirk from our own responsibility of being prophets to interpret the signs of the times.