MY MOTHERLAND ... 5
We have to be vigilant as a nation. We must not commit the same mistakes of the past, our historical disunity which brought in the Muslim invaders and the European colonists that so depleted our nation and reduced it to eventual ruin. Ours must be an united stand where each one of us must contribute our daily share towards the ushering in of national good, towards the preservation of our national identity and culture, and towards the maintenance of the vast body of our citizenry at a decent level of human subsistence. Our creativity, our labour, our service and sacrifice must all be geared up for building our motherland and raising her once more to her pristine heights of civilisation whence she had once inundated the world with her fertile ideas that in turn civilised the world then.
We must overcome narrow obscurantism and view the wider issues confronting us in the light of our universal understanding which is our heritage.Truth can never be self-defeating. Truth ever prevails over falsehood, not the type Gandhiji practised to an inordinate degree where he confused personal adherence to the word uttered with its corresponding national adherence to it where the world of realpolitik has to be as well reckoned and must never be neglected as a sine qua non of the larger derivative of simplistic truth which becomes ineffectual otherwise in conducing to collective good, but truth in all its comprehensive application suited to situation and circumstance as Sri Krishna has exemplified in his divine life.
The life of a nation is the life of its citizens. In a monarchy, as in Great Britain, it would mean the life of its subjects. But India is a democracy despite its pocket feudal elements even today trying to execute their age-old tyrannical reign over their imaginary subjects. As such, an enlightened citizenry ought to be our national strength. For this, universal education is necessary and the space for free thinking. Regimentation of ideology has never been India's ethos and any attempt to make the country into an intolerant realm of singularity of viewpoint will spell the doom of this nation. Narrowness of acceptance cannot conduce to the health of the nation neither can desecration of the heritage of the nation lead to progress. Enlightenment is a state of being quite apart from so-called progressive thinking or its opposite, the regressive mode of decadent adherence to an enlightened past in a distorted and self-seeking way. And this enlightenment is the basis of true nationhood whose fundamental feature is harmonious living amidst variant expression of such existence. For cultures abound in their express variations and cultures thrive in such variant expressions, bringing about the optimal evolution of the human species within the framework of space and time and historical circumstance.
We are at a crucial time in our national life, an inflection point potentially when we must take stock of our situation and curve up towards a higher destiny for which all our historical past has prepared till this day. It is a difficult task for the considerable history of our nation's past has to be taken care of as we make our onward move. For nations with a meagre self-reserve to fall back upon, the call is to take decisions about their forward march along a line which they deem best from the limited number of variables afforded to them but for a nation of India's vastness and variability of culture indigenous and culture thrust upon by alien invasion, the problem is far more complex and requires careful brooding before a definite course is adopted for better or for worse. Here, therefore, shallow thinking and narrow ideology will for sure prove ruinous to the nation's course and one needs to drink deep of the wisdom of the seers and savants, the saints and sages, the Avatars and Acharyas of our ancient land before any definite plan we draw up that will determine the destiny of the land.
Swami Vivekananda used to say that we, Indians, must be rooted in our Hindu culture first before we make any attempts at advancing the national cause. And what is that Hindu culture? It is the culture of the soul, of the divinity of man, of the solidarity of life and of the integrity of the Being based on the realisation of the Self, the Atman, the Brahman. This culture of the soul is in the life-blood of the nation and no amount of politics will conduce to national good if, first, we are not rooted in the spiritual self-culture and in the understanding of the principles of life and Nature.
Without knowledge there can be no direction to life and without the depth-culture of the Spirit there can be no knowledge to provide such necessary direction for the movement of national life. For a vortex motion in ignorance of life's essence can only lead to annihilation of the nation as has been the fate of countless civilisations of the past which briefly blazed during ts high noon of energetic expression and then faded away as evening set in to darken hopes and set in the rituals of death.
Such ought never to happen to India for she holds the key not only to her own salvation but the salvation of the whole world as well. Unto her has been entrusted the priceless treasures of the Spirit for which she must bear account before the whole of humankind. India must survive and flourish, for upon her life depends the life of humanity as a whole. Spiritual culture, the civilisation of the Self, is in her keeping from time immemorial and this she must share with the world at large to quicken it 'to life and freedom'.
The evolution of India is, thus, of paramount importance to the world and this, the world, too, must realise. Upon India's welfare rests global welfare. The fate of humanity in its final analysis, in its last few laps of this marathon of terrestrial evolution rests on the salvation of India. The message of the soul must go out 'from her borders' to the vast world to make it conscious of its divine Self.
Thus, instead of trying to finish off India, as has thus far been the attempt of the Anglo-American forces, judicious it will be to help preserve India's heritage. Enmity towards India must cease and cooperation must replace conflict if the world seeks a spiritual redemption. Otherwise, despite the redemption of their Saviour and his promises of salvation for his flock, the western world will fall short of redemption and bring about its own downfall, and, with it, the doom of the rest of humanity.
Hence, let India guide the world spiritually and let humanity follow its wise preceptor unto its preservation. May my motherland rise to the challenge and fulfil her divine destiny to its perfect fruition !
Written by Sugata Bose
We have to be vigilant as a nation. We must not commit the same mistakes of the past, our historical disunity which brought in the Muslim invaders and the European colonists that so depleted our nation and reduced it to eventual ruin. Ours must be an united stand where each one of us must contribute our daily share towards the ushering in of national good, towards the preservation of our national identity and culture, and towards the maintenance of the vast body of our citizenry at a decent level of human subsistence. Our creativity, our labour, our service and sacrifice must all be geared up for building our motherland and raising her once more to her pristine heights of civilisation whence she had once inundated the world with her fertile ideas that in turn civilised the world then.
We must overcome narrow obscurantism and view the wider issues confronting us in the light of our universal understanding which is our heritage.Truth can never be self-defeating. Truth ever prevails over falsehood, not the type Gandhiji practised to an inordinate degree where he confused personal adherence to the word uttered with its corresponding national adherence to it where the world of realpolitik has to be as well reckoned and must never be neglected as a sine qua non of the larger derivative of simplistic truth which becomes ineffectual otherwise in conducing to collective good, but truth in all its comprehensive application suited to situation and circumstance as Sri Krishna has exemplified in his divine life.
The life of a nation is the life of its citizens. In a monarchy, as in Great Britain, it would mean the life of its subjects. But India is a democracy despite its pocket feudal elements even today trying to execute their age-old tyrannical reign over their imaginary subjects. As such, an enlightened citizenry ought to be our national strength. For this, universal education is necessary and the space for free thinking. Regimentation of ideology has never been India's ethos and any attempt to make the country into an intolerant realm of singularity of viewpoint will spell the doom of this nation. Narrowness of acceptance cannot conduce to the health of the nation neither can desecration of the heritage of the nation lead to progress. Enlightenment is a state of being quite apart from so-called progressive thinking or its opposite, the regressive mode of decadent adherence to an enlightened past in a distorted and self-seeking way. And this enlightenment is the basis of true nationhood whose fundamental feature is harmonious living amidst variant expression of such existence. For cultures abound in their express variations and cultures thrive in such variant expressions, bringing about the optimal evolution of the human species within the framework of space and time and historical circumstance.
We are at a crucial time in our national life, an inflection point potentially when we must take stock of our situation and curve up towards a higher destiny for which all our historical past has prepared till this day. It is a difficult task for the considerable history of our nation's past has to be taken care of as we make our onward move. For nations with a meagre self-reserve to fall back upon, the call is to take decisions about their forward march along a line which they deem best from the limited number of variables afforded to them but for a nation of India's vastness and variability of culture indigenous and culture thrust upon by alien invasion, the problem is far more complex and requires careful brooding before a definite course is adopted for better or for worse. Here, therefore, shallow thinking and narrow ideology will for sure prove ruinous to the nation's course and one needs to drink deep of the wisdom of the seers and savants, the saints and sages, the Avatars and Acharyas of our ancient land before any definite plan we draw up that will determine the destiny of the land.
Swami Vivekananda used to say that we, Indians, must be rooted in our Hindu culture first before we make any attempts at advancing the national cause. And what is that Hindu culture? It is the culture of the soul, of the divinity of man, of the solidarity of life and of the integrity of the Being based on the realisation of the Self, the Atman, the Brahman. This culture of the soul is in the life-blood of the nation and no amount of politics will conduce to national good if, first, we are not rooted in the spiritual self-culture and in the understanding of the principles of life and Nature.
Without knowledge there can be no direction to life and without the depth-culture of the Spirit there can be no knowledge to provide such necessary direction for the movement of national life. For a vortex motion in ignorance of life's essence can only lead to annihilation of the nation as has been the fate of countless civilisations of the past which briefly blazed during ts high noon of energetic expression and then faded away as evening set in to darken hopes and set in the rituals of death.
Such ought never to happen to India for she holds the key not only to her own salvation but the salvation of the whole world as well. Unto her has been entrusted the priceless treasures of the Spirit for which she must bear account before the whole of humankind. India must survive and flourish, for upon her life depends the life of humanity as a whole. Spiritual culture, the civilisation of the Self, is in her keeping from time immemorial and this she must share with the world at large to quicken it 'to life and freedom'.
The evolution of India is, thus, of paramount importance to the world and this, the world, too, must realise. Upon India's welfare rests global welfare. The fate of humanity in its final analysis, in its last few laps of this marathon of terrestrial evolution rests on the salvation of India. The message of the soul must go out 'from her borders' to the vast world to make it conscious of its divine Self.
Thus, instead of trying to finish off India, as has thus far been the attempt of the Anglo-American forces, judicious it will be to help preserve India's heritage. Enmity towards India must cease and cooperation must replace conflict if the world seeks a spiritual redemption. Otherwise, despite the redemption of their Saviour and his promises of salvation for his flock, the western world will fall short of redemption and bring about its own downfall, and, with it, the doom of the rest of humanity.
Hence, let India guide the world spiritually and let humanity follow its wise preceptor unto its preservation. May my motherland rise to the challenge and fulfil her divine destiny to its perfect fruition !
Written by Sugata Bose
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