Aakaashaatpatitam Toyam, Yathaa Gacchati Saagaram, Sarva Deva Namaskaaram Eshwaramprati Gacchati. All the way to the ‘whole’ and not to any individual ego is the pranaama or prostration to the deity/ies; even as the water from sky unites with the ocean. There is neither ‘one’ nor ‘many’… there is ‘only God’! An antidote for the prevailing anathema of the world!
India is rightly the mother of civilizations which any commoner in any part of the world with some historical background would know. India is the only place on the planet which has been home to every religious path, is also known. India has been the soil to reap riches, to nurse the battered and to raise the souls towards freedom of the spirit. India as a land of wisdom has seen many a brave heart, a noble heart, a compassionate heart and remained the repository of teacher-taught lineage, is certainly indisputable. What is almost forgotten is the fertile ground for all this to grow and prosper. This is an important area where work needs to be consistently done.
Let us now remind ourselves these points:
Bharata/India, the crown-jewel of invaders lost her children, her treasures but continued to embrace more and many. Since the political freedom of the nation in 1947 ‘India continues to be hospitable’ as the adage – matrudevobhava, pitrudevobhava, acharyadevobhava and athitidevobhava (mother, father, teacher and guest is God) is being practised with pride and sincerity. But we Indian’s should remember that we have to rise from our deep slumbers whenever we are confronted by forces beyond our ken of imagination which disrupt the spiritual sovereignty of our motherland… We cannot afford to be complacent when we live in a virtual world where every piece of information is precariously available without restriction. We become victims if vulnerable, much faster to the threat to our internal security, primarily of the ‘intellectual’ kind. It is but natural that when we do not guard our home including our ancient texts, our powerful temple structures and our traditional practices underlying them, which are age-old scientific discoveries and precious to mankind, we would find ourselves at the receiving end of both mockeries due to misinterpretation and plagiarism due to misappropriation. Our Upavedas like Gandharvaveda with music, dance, drama and Ayurveda with Yoga besides others have been preserved for posterity but are being practised by pseudo professionals with only commercial interests and lacking inherent knowledge. This is happening not only in India but widely abroad. We have some practitioners who may realize this imbalance between text and practice in many fields but are not budging from their position basically because they feel much more secure materially to toe the line drawn by the powerful. By default, power follows money more so, because everything is being measured in terms of how much something or somebody could yield!
Even if one small fragment of our entire wealth of knowledge is barely remaining with us, it is still considered a huge volume of the ‘cream’, when compared to what would be the bounty collectively in other parts of the world. Maybe, like the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple in South India which still is the richest despite the lost booty. Here again, lies the danger in just being happy-go-lucky! We need to act as well to distribute these lamps of knowledge evenly within the country now and unite the people to lead lives of material, emotional and spiritual contentment that form the hallmark of success for Bharata (Bharata itself means ‘devoted to light and knowledge’).
In a land which was born rich but believes in dharma, artha, kama, moksha, any abundance through right means is always enjoyed for generations but never by ‘loot’ as wealth and fulfilment of desires are to pave way for salvation before this life ends and the next one begins. ‘Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra’ or the battle for truth is the level where we cannot anymore, get skewed despite canons becoming subverted for years together. We are at this phase of the country’s unique status as among the top giants in globalization, harbouring a bulk of the rural economy, attempting indigenous development, facing an exodus of brainy youngsters and blending the deep edifice of Sanatana (eternal) dharma along with the education adopted from the erstwhile imperial model. Above all, the most positive note is a fast emerging bunch of inspired Indians similar to the wave before independence, willing to work for nation building, based on core values culled out of the ancient manuscripts and scriptures. These are being made available as the original sources for references in almost all branches of knowledge systems on cyberspace.
Wherever we live, whatever we do, however, we are, whenever we think, we seemingly have no major differences as human beings but it is ‘whoever we call’ that seems to divide us. This is a by-product of our religions. We could unanimously either delete or simply whisper in our hearts without any unwanted uproar. Why scream out whatsoever when you can listen to the sound of the divine silence? Why raise an alarm when you should be concentrating on a syllable, word or sentence that has been evoked from the supreme as a conduit towards higher realms?
The role model for typical Indian in today’s times is to nurture a task force that would pass out not only from world-class universities with ease and distinction but also get prepared to face the universe as world leaders. What makes a human different from an animal is to think with a sense that all this dissipated energy could be channelized towards connecting everyone, harmoniously blending lives and joyfully exploring the oneness through the principle of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family).
Let us all herald pride in Bharata and peace everywhere in 2018!
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