I am recounting my conversation with Pitaji when I lived with Him in Faridabad, around year 2000. After dinner, He would sit in the verandah and I would join him on the floor beside Him. One day I asked Him: When will this period of excessive overconsumption end? The markets are full of food, liquor, consumer goods. The media is full of mindless entertainment. Newspapers with girlie pictures. All kinds of drugs are available and wherever you look there is a party on. Will it ever end?
Yes, He said, change is coming. 2022. What kind of change Pitaji. Time will Reset, He said. What does it mean Pitaji – Time will Reset? He said just as we talk about a past – for instance the Indus Valley Civilization was 5,000 years ago, similarly we will begin to speak of a time that was. In the sense that there will be a dramatic change that will come almost overnight. The world will come to a stop almost instantaneously because it is digitally connected. Planes will abort takeoff and taxi back to the bay. Ships will turn back for home. The Banks will shutter down. Printed Money would lose currency and Governments would become non-existent. The World will Shut Down. From the standstill global situation, India will kickstart soonest. I said how come Pitaji? He gave three reasons:
- India is the land of Bhama Shah – a historical personality who lived in the times of Rana Pratap (1550-1600) of Mewar – now Udaipur. He was a successful businessman whose forefathers had made a fortune under the Mewar Kings. So, when Rana Pratap was defeated and chased into hiding in the forests by the Mughal army, Bhama Shah came with his entourage bringing wealth and exhorted him to fight the enemy. Similarly, when the collapse comes, the modern day Bhama Shahs – the Tatas and the Birlas – would set up their tables and chairs at Railway Stations, Power Plants, Water Works etc. and tell the state employees to continue work as usual since they would pay them their salaries. The trains and the buses; the electricity and water departments, etc. would become operational quickly.
- He said that India is criticized for its excessive Government today. But this bane will become a blessing since in the vastness of rural India you will always find a Government employee in almost every nook and corner – whether it is a railway staffer at a remote level crossing, or a forest guard in a distant wildlife sanctuary or a gate man in a faraway reservoir, or a constable at a hinterland police chowki etc. For the rural India, these petty minions are the State. And they will abide by them. Thus, the administrative collapse will be short lived. The Government will start functioning again.
- Indian agriculture is not entirely dependent upon petroleum like most countries in Europe, Australia and the Americas. Despite mechanized plowing, the Indian farmer continues with traditional practice of using the wooden plow harnessed by two bullocks. So, India will continue to produce enough food to feed itself.
Post 2022, India will lead the world in two things. He said Hindi language will become universal and so will Indian Gods and Goddesses because as He said a person is free to select the kind of God / Goddess that he / she likes from a vast Hindu pantheon offering all kinds of Gods, with all kinds of qualities, to suit one’s taste!
Another thing I recall, He said that in post 2022 world, not everything from this civilization will perish. Some things will carry on to the next age. For instance, He said that Computers will not go. Because mankind understands their importance. One can run a computer for as little energy as that which is needed to light a bulb and in return the computing it offers is immense.
On another occasion Pitaji spoke of Earthquakes and Tsunamis that He said were coming.
