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Interview with Swami

Chinmayananda – 2

We continue with Pritish Nandy’s famous interview that
took place in 1981 and was published in Sunday, Ananda
Bazar Publication, Calcutta, as a cover story. “It must be
tough to be a Guru,” Nandy asked Pujya Gurudev after a
particularly tiresome session. “Not tough; it’s lonely,” said
Hinduism’s most famous hostage.
Editor

But this spiritualism you are talking about has often
been the means to social exploitation. Many practitioners
of faith have, over the centuries, hoodwinked, shortchanged,
and manipulated the weak and the gullible. Many
societies have been kept under the yoke of religion for
years and years, without hope of escape or redemption.
Look how the church exploited people. Look at how
Hinduism has exploited our illiterate masses and kept
them shackled for centuries. Look at the track record of
most religions, and you will know what I mean. Where do
you find purity in such an exploitative system? Why has
religion allowed itself to be used as a tool for social
subjugation or political aggrandizement?

Have you noticed that in India, religion has never been
organized? In the West, on the other hand, this has always been
the case. This is because Christianity had to organize. They had
to fight Rome. However, when religion becomes organized, it
becomes a powerful entity, and power often has a tendency to be
abused.

Tapovan Prasad 11 July 2025