Virtues of the "Middle Path"

Just read this interesting article by Ex BBC Correspondent Mark Tully about how Indian culture has mastered the art of adopting middle path in life and how west can learn from this unique quality.

I think in this age of contradiction and competition, there is more scope for middle path to help us lead better life and make this planet a better and safer place than it is today.

For starters, how about applying this principle of middle path on environment.
So many talks have failed on global warming and in fact have added to tension between developed and developing countries. Where as developed countries are asking for everyone to reduce the greenhouse gases and other factors contributing to global warming on equal basis, developing countries like India and China are claiming that they are still in early stage of economic development and hence they can’t do as much as developed countries who should take the lead. They in fact claim that their per capita pollution is less than developed countries e.g. America. But I think growth without care of environment will lead to disaster. China is adding 2 coal-based power plants every week!! And I think here comes the middle path as saviour. How about developed countries taking the lead in reducing global warming and agreeing countries like India and China to carry on with their development but invest in counter measures as well e.g. growing the tree plantation rate, better fuel quality, more alternate sources of energy and bringing in stringent standards around environment.


Take example of economics we started on a kind of socialism got little success and went almost bankrupt. We than declared out love for pure capitalism which did not work either as seen by downfall of BJP government despite ‘India shining’ claims. Now government is talking about the middle path – reforms with human face e.g. rural employment guarantee schemes and other inflation control measures like now allowing petroleum products to be fully liberalised.

And look at our foreign policy, we neither supported the United States nor openly criticized it for its aggression against Iraq, India's government has taken what it calls the "middle path". Mostly this approach has served us well.

Take example of common man, while we are all adapting to the new culture resulting from globalization, while we are indulging ourselves in virtues of capitalism, we still seek spirituality. I specifically liked few examples Mark gives in his article. How will you explain the rise and rise of so many spiritual gurus from big ones to small timers. How will you explain more and more people visiting holy shrines from Vaishno Devi to Thirupati Balaji? In west they are facing a big problem in convincing the younger lot to come in the church.

Dalai Lama sees middle path as the only solution for Tibetan problem. In fact this great philosophy of middle path can be termed as the foundation of Buddhism.

While no policy or principle can be applied successfully in ALL circumstances, we have shown the world that middle path is the way to go. Next time when someone discusses Indian culture and it contradictions, make it your duty to correct them and explain that Indian culture is about taking the middle path. We have a proven theory here with many examples as above. Some bigger political problems of the world could be solved if someone genuinely understands the meaning of middle path and act on it. But then for some culture it could be sign of indecisiveness and weakness, though we know its not correct.
Nevertheless, next time you have a crisis/issue/problem at home or workplace, try adopting the middle path, you might get surprised with its effectiveness !!