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Jagat Singh Mehta is a former foreign secretary of India. He received the Padma Bhushan award in 2002.

What does spirituality mean to you?
I cannot say that I am a spiritual person, though I would not say I am agnostic. I would simply go back to one of the Gita’s famous quotations: do your work regardless of what the consequences are --- the idea of karam yoga. Spirituality is basically in my work.

So is there any place for a divine force or energy in your belief system?
I do not deny God, but God is through a good, selfless life. I do not dispute the existence of an overarching force, but the form it has taken in my life is public service.
And God is not completely in control. Man has so much in his hands when it comes to shaping his own destiny. We must exert it ourselves and act as if destiny was 100% in our hands.

It probably is not. But if you feel that even 5% is not in your hands, it becomes “scapegoatism”. You always find that it is somebody else’s fault. My suffering, the suffering of others and the suffering of my country are somebody else’s fault. So I am very cautious about putting the blame on others or a supreme force. I get irritated when people blame situations on circumstances. We make our circumstances and we must repair them. God expects everybody to do their duty.

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