THE NATIONAL NEED ... 1

THE NATIONAL NEED ... 1

There is a need to activate Swamiji's principles of 'Practical Vedanta' in ordinary life and that cannot be achieved by passive piety and staying aloof from the pertinent political issues that rock society today. This does not mean that one has to enter active politics as such but one must voice one's civic concerns and lend one's intellectual might to the clarity of public political perception by way of service to the nation. This is the sine qua non of enlightened citizenship. This is binding on all those who are deemed public intellectuals. It is their right as well as duty to use their intellectual might to strengthen the hands of the nation and help bring about its advancement in the right direction. Opinions will differ but in the ensuing debate and discussion, deliberation and dissent, will emerge the direction which the nation will take, penetrating the dense cover of the flora that shrouds vision now.

It is of utmost significance that politics be attended to by enlightened citizens in whatever way they are capable of rendering their services, and this must be done in as free and fair a manner as possible. Pushing through a pre-set political agenda may not eventually be productive of the desired end, for in sleight of hand tactics immediate gains may be arrived at but in the long run it fouls up the whole process and foils the original idea and end. Hence, in being critics of the government, intellectuals and politicians in general must be conscientious and not carping unnecessarily, for it weakens the polity to always adopt a negative stance with respect to whatever the ruling dispensation attempts to do for the good of the country.

Nationalist feeling must inspire even intellectuals and not a sterile internationalism that hurts the nation. Real internationalism is a far cry for a person who does not feel the pangs of misery at the fallen state of his motherland. Let us be nationalists first like Netaji and Rash Behari Bose were and then attempt high-flown internationalism like Tagore and Gandhi which so often helped, though, the enemies of our motherland to gain the upper hand during our protracted period of the freedom struggle. And God help us from communist internationalism which is totally opposed to the spirit of our motherland and her heritage !

Written by Sugata Bose