More world leaders should follow PM Modi’s meditative break

There are presidents and prime ministers around the world who take regular holidays. India has its prime ministers on holiday too, and sometimes it has landed them in hot water. The Indian-origin British prime minister has been criticised during the election season for vacationing in California last year, with people insinuating he would “run away” after his party’s expected defeat next month. The idea of ​​a prime minister taking a meditation leave, especially after a brutal election season, is almost unheard of.

In May 2023, researchers from the University of Oxford and institutions in Singapore, Sweden, and Australia published the results of a study called “Mindfulness in Politics: A Qualitative Study of Mindfulness Training in the UK Parliament.” The study, which looked at several UK members of parliament who participated in mindfulness sessions, concluded that mindfulness is beneficial on both a personal and professional level, even suggesting that the government should introduce a permanent training scheme.

British research has found that mindfulness training helps politicians cope with professional stress, helping them to connect with themselves, feel more centred and grounded, and deal more humanly with others and different perspectives. Over the past decade, more than 300 British MPs in the House of Lords and House of Commons have undergone mindfulness training based in the Buddhist tradition, and there is even support for establishing a meditation room in Parliament.

It is unclear what political party they belonged to, but given the discord within the ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party, none of them are meditating or practicing mindfulness these days. But neither seems to be the case for much of India’s political and social classes. The derisive comments and memes made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi choosing to spend the final days of his second term meditating in the south indicate that Indians too are in need of a self-reflection session.

Peripheral issues surrounding the 45-hour meditation break at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial – clothing, cameras – dominated discussion within certain circles, most of whom are either unaware of the known benefits of meditation or simply accustomed to scorning traditional Indian thinking. Yet they were all in support of the break – Western leaders are known to be enthusiastic about taking breaks no matter what – and mocking Indians who don’t!

Mindfulness and meditation are two terms that are now used almost interchangeably, often in secular contexts, but there are differences between them. Mindfulness is rooted in Buddhist tradition and focuses on transcending thoughts and emotions to objectively understand the nature of reality. In Hinduism, meditation is a way to calm inner anxiety and allow one to tap into one’s inherent divine nature. However, it was long before The Beatles made meditation popular.

The West’s greater acceptance of “mindfulness” over “meditation” may explain the disdainful reaction to Modi’s meditation at a Hindu pilgrimage site and to Rahul Gandhi’s “retreat” abroad to practice Vipassana meditation, a mindfulness practice that has deliberately distanced itself from its Buddhist past, perhaps to avoid alienating people allergic to anything religious. Meditation, which often involves silent mantra chanting, clearly does not meet that standard.

Hindu scriptures say silent meditation helps people overcome the duality and confusion caused by negative and positive thoughts. Both meditation and mindfulness use yogic breathing techniques to transcend the physical body and connect with the divinity within. The difference is that mindfulness and some parts of yoga have detached from their religious roots to be more widely accepted. PM Modi is reaffirming that connection by turning places of worship into meditation spaces.

The main complaint about the PM’s meditation break is his interpretation of the term and its location, which is supposed to precede each phase of voting in Indian elections. He chose to remain silent in Kanniyakumari in 2024, and meditated silently overnight in a cave at the holy site of Kedarnath in 2019. In May 2014, as a challenger, Modi visited Pratapagad Fort, where Chhatrapati Shivaji won his first military victory over Afzal Khan.

Aside from the significance of the locations Modi has chosen for his meditation journeys (first in western India, then in the north and now in the south), the fact that he has chosen these places as a way to relax and prepare for the future sets him apart from his generation of prime ministers. Modi is not one to take holidays during his working life, and his ministers and bureaucrats are expected to maintain a ferocious pace throughout the year. These meditation breaks are the only times he gets to have quiet rest.

Vacations, not meditation breaks, have become an accepted form of relaxation among presidents and prime ministers. Indian leaders have also built vacations into their schedules. Jawaharlal Nehru began by vacationing with Mountbatten and his wife in Simla in 1948, nine months after independence, and in 1950 he took his daughter and grandchildren aboard the Indian Navy’s INS Delhi to Indonesia. He also accompanied them on several long official visits abroad.

Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi also took family trips, with the latter coming under fire in 1987 for a holiday to the interior of Lakshadweep with family and friends aboard the Indian aircraft carrier INS Viraat. As Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee took annual summer holidays to Himachal Pradesh for up to ten days, and continued to do so after leaving office. Vajpayee also took holidays and spent a week in Kerala, as did Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi at the time.

Perhaps this tradition is a relic from India’s time as a British colony. Prime ministerial holidays are a long-standing tradition in India, where the incumbent at 10 Downing Street is even given a cosy country home, Chequers, to relax in. The most abusive of this happy tradition was Boris Johnson, who went on a “staycation” in Scotland when the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold in 2020. In his final days as prime minister, he holidayed in Greece and Slovenia with his third wife and children.

US presidents usually relax at home or at vacation spots around the country. Barack Obama was an exception, traveling with his family to Cuba, France, Canada and Mexico. Joe Biden to his Delaware home, Donald Trump to his Mar-a-Lago villa, the Clintons to Martha’s Vineyard and the Bushes to their ranches in Texas. They all also managed to go to the official retreat, Camp David. But do they, or their European counterparts, use their “downtime” to meditate?

A Sanskrit word meaning meditation. DhyanaIt also means contemplation and reflection, stream of consciousness and non-judgmental observation. The Indian-origin British Prime Minister, aptly named Rishi, should start a new tradition of meditation as July’s elections loom. Surely the world would be a better place if more leaders took a cue from Modi and spent time meditating (or, in fashionable terms, “mindfulness”) during and after their term in office.

The author is a freelance writer. The views expressed in the article above are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of News18.