Do
all of us feel proud of our glorious culture and civilisation? We need to think
over this matter seriously. Culture and civilisation are the identity of any
society and country. Any society or country without the knowledge of their
culture, civilisation, heritage and history is just like a tree without any
roots. It is all knowing that our culture and civilisation are one of the most
ancient in this world. Students must be taught right from their school days how
glorious, creative and challenging this journey has been. Yes, it is correct
that our country was partially or fully under Mughal and British Rule for more
than four hundred years before 1947. During this period, there were planned
attempts by the invaders or rulers to brainwash the minds of common people in
all possible manners – persuasive as well as coercive, that there was nothing
in the culture and civilisation of this country to be proud of. During this
long period, it was tried nefariously in a sustained way mainly through the
education route so that the children and the future citizens of the country
start feeling and accepting that they were poor, uneducated and destined to be
slaves. Fortunately, however, even during those challenging times many
saints, warriors and wise people continued hard in their own unique ways to impress
the common people that our country’s culture, civilisation and heritage had
been extremely developed and our countrymen had been engaged actively in
helping and enriching the human race through their knowledge of science,
literature, agriculture, art, music, philosophy, yoga, ayurveda etc. from the
very ancient days.
In
later half of 19th century Swami Vivekananda asserted very
forcefully, “Our sacred motherland is a land of religion and philosophy - the
birthplace of spiritual giants - the land of renunciation, where and where
alone, from the most ancient to the most modern times, there has been the
highest ideal of life open to man. This is the motherland of philosophy, of
spirituality, and of ethics, of sweetness, gentleness, and love. These still
exist, and my experience of the world leads me to stand on firm ground, and
make the bold statement that India is still the first and foremost of all the
nations of the world in these respects; study the history of the whole world,
and you will see that every high ideal you meet with anywhere had its origin in
India… …” In this regard the views of renowned poet, writer and the former
Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is very relevant. He asks what
our country has not given to the world? He says that India gave the brilliant
piece of writing – Bhagwat Gita, the divine teaching for the good of entire
humanity. The message of spiritual enlightenment as unfolded in the Gita by
Lord Krishna holds good for the society even today.
It
is interesting and equally heartening to note that many renowned foreign
intellectuals, scientists and writers expressed their views strongly to tell
the world about our glorious culture and civilisation. The Nobel Prize Winner
French historian, dramatist and writer Romain Rolland says that if there is one
place on the face of this earth where all the dreams of living men have found a
home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is
India. Another Nobel Prize Winner, the famous playwright, critic and political
activist George Bernard Shaw opines that the Indian way of life provides the
vision of a natural and real way of life. We veil ourselves unnatural masks. On
the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the
Creator's hand. The opinion of the great American humorist, writer and essayist
Samuel Langhorne Clemens popularly known as Mark Twain is also worth noting. He
says that India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human
speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great
grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in
the history of man are treasured up in India only. The German-born British
Scholar and Professor of Oxford University Friedrich Max Muller asserts that
there is no book in the world that is so thrilling, stirring and inspiring as
the Upanishads. And finally, let us also enjoy what the Nobel Prize Winner in
Physics Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to
count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
As always, I'm keen to know what you think on this subject. Hence, I request you to post your comments to share your valuable opinion. (hellomilansinha@gmail.com)
# Published in my Sunday Column of "Morning India" daily.
# Click here to enjoy my Blog in Hindi, "Chalte, Chalte" (चलते, चलते)
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