In the last lap of the marathon election campaign, two wisdom-filled books, both by Japanese authors, helped turn the focus of my thoughts inwards. In the din of the election battle, when much of my energy was taken up in arguments and counter-arguments, I regularly felt the need for moments of quiet contemplation to know if I was doing the right thing the right way. Of course, it helped to have a session of collective meditation each evening along with fellow volunteers in the campaign office. But the dialogue with oneself was also aided by a remarkable book The Secret Life of Water by Masaru Emoto, who has written another best-selling book The Hidden Messages in Water. He presents a revolutionary theory that our thoughts, positive or negative, have a direct effect on water and, by implication, on all life and on the creation of our world tomorrow. “Water reflects the human soul,” he writes. “If you say ‘Thank you’ to water, it will be reflected in the formation of beautiful crystals overflowing with gratitude in return. If the hearts of those who live on the planet are contaminated, then the earth will become that way.” In other words, perform every action, including electioneering, with the right attitude if you want the right results.

The question that I frequently asked myself over the past few months was this: “Our party says that it wants to contribute to the building of a better India tomorrow. Are we, therefore, participating in this election campaign with the purest of thoughts, feelings and actions?” The honest answer is that many of us — above all, our leader L.K. Advani — tried with as much honesty as we could summon. True, we lost the election, and defeat always brings a terrible feeling of disappointment. But we have the satisfaction that we did nothing that would ever shame us or belittle us in our own esteem. If anything, we were elevated by working for a leader who motivated us with his selfless character, his indefatigable personal effort, which daily exceeded the limits of human capacity at his age, and his inspirational thoughts for the nation (“Let’s make the 21st century India’s century.”) Even in this moment of defeat, that is some victory in itself.

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