THE REGENERATION OF INDIA ... 1

THE REGENERATION OF INDIA ... 1

CHILDREN, THE HOPE

The regeneration that will be must come from the children, pure and unspoiled as they are. They must be brought up by ideal teachers in a free and fair atmosphere where their inherent genius will find occasion to flourish. No wonder Sri Ramakrishna, like the master fisherman, cast his net on the youth to gather his apostolic band of disciples. Yes, children, they are the way out of the terrible mess we have landed ourselves in.

THE RE-VISITATION OF PAST SOULS

The wheel of karma is rolling and fresh souls are being added unto this terrestrial play to carry on the drama of existence. India shall rise, not on the shoulders of corrupt politicians or crafty businessmen but on the bedrock of the unstained souls of her children who are coming unto her from her past, freshly delivered to raise her unto glory. These souls all have had a glorious past and must now fulfil their unfulfilled dreams in a fresh incarnation in a renewal of active pursuit of their ideals.

THE EMPTY CHALICE

The pure and the unstained are naturally idealistic and prone to noble action. The vacuous mind, free of unwholesome desires, tends spontaneously towards pure contemplation and virtuous action. Herein lies the hope for the world and herein lies the hope for our motherland as well. Desires creep in with maturity as the fluids contaminate the body, sully the mind and cover the soul. Dark ignorance envelopes.

CATCH THEM YOUNG

'Catch them young' -- this ought to be the motto. But do not indoctrinate them with malefic ideology or contaminate their beings with noxious political affiliations. Ideals work best in a pure mind that is free to think and act accordingly. Hence, all indoctrination must stop and a free atmosphere be allowed to prevail where children, exposed to the ennobling principles of life which are in consonance with their natural self, will grow into fuller human beings who are sensitive to life's demands and compassionate to the larger cause of human welfare. Politics must be kept out entirely from the environment in which children grow up which is why Swami Vivekananda had mandated on the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to eschew all connections with it, for a spiritual order must follow the same principle of life-building as children must.

CREATE THE ENVIRONMENT

The problem is not so much with the children of pure and impure possibilities but with the impure environment which only quickens their toxic side to fruition. Here we have a titanic task at hand to produce the proper environment that can effectively nurture the best elements of the growing child. Pretentious academic talks by educationists of little learning and feebler understanding of the complexity of the problem will not solve it but will make matters worse confounded. All this information streaming in from the West, ill-digested and unassimilated by academics here in India, will not solve our particular problems. They are shallow and insincere and have not solved the problems of their own societies, what to speak of India. The West is in a state of social unrest that is growing by the day and, yet, our academics, pupil to these western preceptors, intend to solve India's social problems using western prescriptions. This will not do.

End of Part 1

To be serialised...

Written by Sugata Bose