Mass literacy is welcome, is a necessity, an absolute
blessing, but may it be attended with diffusion of culture as well. The mere
spread of diluted education does not conduce to the well-being of the nation as
it offers neither a strong information base nor does it train the intellectual
faculties well enough to equip them to explore the realms of knowledge in
depth. Moreover, knowledge divorced from character-building and refinement of
culture serves not the national cause well enough as run-of-the-mill graduates
and undergraduates throng the national scene filling it with the fruition of mass
mediocrity. This is counter-productive for the development of the nation as it
significantly stifles the creativity of the talented minority who suffocate in
the inert atmosphere of the proliferating popular culture devoid of substance
or merit. The net result is the lowering of academic standards throughout the
country, absence of good research and the lowering of the culture of the nation
as well. This is hardly the progress we as a free nation seek. Our independence
has been hard fought and it will be a travesty of the sacrifice of our martyrs
if we cannot arrest this decadent trend in our national life which is eating
into the vitals of our culture and rendering it sterile. The advancing tide of
gross materialism must be stemmed and the national current must be re-oriented
towards its pristine heritage of spirituality and wisdom that is the hallmark of
the Indian civilisation.
And how may this be achieved?
To begin with, the curriculum in schools and colleges must
include the study of Sanskrit as a mandatory academic discipline. Thus, within
a short span of time an entire generation will be well-versed in Sanskrit and
be privy to the grand spiritual, intellectual and cultural treasures contained
in the vast body of Sanskrit literature. Today, we as a nation are not even
well-aware of the vast resources of thought embedded, nay, enshrined in our
sacred books merely because of our ignorance of Sanskrit, the language of our
illustrious ancestors. Sanskrit literature is a mine of intellectual and
spiritual thinking, the vast reservoir of noble ideas and ideals which once nourished
the nation and has the potential of re-vitalising her. The Upanishads comprise
the sublimest spiritual literature wherein lie the seeds of civilisation and knowledge
of the Supreme Self, inspiration divine that can recharge the depleted
resources of our vast population and set them up on the royal avenue of
quickened national evolution. The study of Sanskrit will re-connect Indians to
their glorious spiritual and material past and make them conscious and proud of
their heritage. Only then may patriotism be fruitful in the reshaping of India’s
destiny and may go beyond frothy emotionalism amounting to nothing. Sanskrit is
the lifeline of India as it holds in its ambit the highest aspirations of
humanity, the subtlest discoveries of the spiritual laws governing the universe
and the blueprint of our national evolution as envisaged and activated by our rishis (seers of Truth) of yore. Only if its study be made mandatory and its
research encouraged by the State may we as a nation hope to regain our lost
bearings and begin afresh our ascent along the line of our innate national development.
No comments:
Post a Comment