Today is India's 66th Independence day. ( Thanks to Madhulika Khatri for correcting my mistakes.)
The grand event that began with a "Tryst with destiny" has now seen 65 years of that destiny unfold. The leadership of that era was a great mix of philosophy, character and determination. The task of achieving independence of a daunting one and still more daunting one was the task of rebuilding the nation. The activists had to quickly change their roles to become statesmen. Some key decisions taken then have shaped our country now. I feel we are probably the best of example of democracy. I don't know if there are countries where communists are a part of the democratic process, where states of completely different cultures & languages proudly unite under one national flag, where there so many different religions living together in close proximity.
World over, there are so many organizations and institutes that have adopted Yoga. There are so many troubled people who have joined some meditation technique or other originating in India. There are so many Indian religious scholars who are spreading the message of peace and goodness.
I feel so proud to be a part of India and everyday I read more about it, discover more hidden truths of its culture, the discovery of India is never complete.
Somehow contemporary history does not reflect these ideals. The headlines everyday are a string of disturbing news - "Riots in Assam", "Mob in mumbai where some of them were desecrating Amar jawan", "A lady committing suicide after suspicious forced relationship with a former minister", "A minister ordering police to arrest a person because he asked a challenging question"... and so on.
There are other headlines that are repeating year after year - "Turmoil in Lok sabha - session suspended", "Poverty line lowered", "Bail granted to Corrupt minister", "Woman molested", "crores unaccounted for from government project" and so on..
How can a country with such high standards be a victim to such low morality? I don't have a good answer but i always wonder why we do not attempt to bring our high standards to our day-to-day living. Why is it we pray only in a temple or a mosque but do not take the feeling of well-being outside? Why we listen to a good speech but fail to try to put it to practice. Why is it that we preach honesty and truthfulness in our homes but practise something else outside?
The pursuit of high ideals are inherent in all of us and in our families. It is only when we come out and express this we start to make a difference. We had the good fortune to be a part of this well-being in numerous such events in past 1 and half years or so. There are so many great people around. The service that they do, the blogs they write, the effort they put, the message they communicate all of these inspire all of us. In the Independence day parade at NJ, we had common folks join in and be with us for about 3 hours in baking hot sun. And when we walked past the crowd singing and chanting "Jai Hind" & "Vande mataram", we saw the spirit in a lot of by standers. They encouraged us and we encouraged them.
And that is how, change will happen. It is easy to feel disappointed and see the futility of doing anything. It is easy to be arm-chair philosophers and do the tea-time intellectual talk.
Once we know the ideal we are pursuing, we just have to take the one more step in the long march, sing one more syllable in the national song, dream one more hope and eventually we will achieve the goal.
Wishing All a happy Independence Day. Jai Hind.
Asato maa sad-gamaya (Lead us from Untruth to Truth)
Tamaso maa jyotir-gamaya (from Darkness to Light)
Mṛityor-maa-mṛitan gamaya (from Death to Immortality)
Om shaanti shaanti shaanti (Om peace, peace, peace)
The grand event that began with a "Tryst with destiny" has now seen 65 years of that destiny unfold. The leadership of that era was a great mix of philosophy, character and determination. The task of achieving independence of a daunting one and still more daunting one was the task of rebuilding the nation. The activists had to quickly change their roles to become statesmen. Some key decisions taken then have shaped our country now. I feel we are probably the best of example of democracy. I don't know if there are countries where communists are a part of the democratic process, where states of completely different cultures & languages proudly unite under one national flag, where there so many different religions living together in close proximity.
World over, there are so many organizations and institutes that have adopted Yoga. There are so many troubled people who have joined some meditation technique or other originating in India. There are so many Indian religious scholars who are spreading the message of peace and goodness.
I feel so proud to be a part of India and everyday I read more about it, discover more hidden truths of its culture, the discovery of India is never complete.
Somehow contemporary history does not reflect these ideals. The headlines everyday are a string of disturbing news - "Riots in Assam", "Mob in mumbai where some of them were desecrating Amar jawan", "A lady committing suicide after suspicious forced relationship with a former minister", "A minister ordering police to arrest a person because he asked a challenging question"... and so on.
There are other headlines that are repeating year after year - "Turmoil in Lok sabha - session suspended", "Poverty line lowered", "Bail granted to Corrupt minister", "Woman molested", "crores unaccounted for from government project" and so on..
How can a country with such high standards be a victim to such low morality? I don't have a good answer but i always wonder why we do not attempt to bring our high standards to our day-to-day living. Why is it we pray only in a temple or a mosque but do not take the feeling of well-being outside? Why we listen to a good speech but fail to try to put it to practice. Why is it that we preach honesty and truthfulness in our homes but practise something else outside?
The pursuit of high ideals are inherent in all of us and in our families. It is only when we come out and express this we start to make a difference. We had the good fortune to be a part of this well-being in numerous such events in past 1 and half years or so. There are so many great people around. The service that they do, the blogs they write, the effort they put, the message they communicate all of these inspire all of us. In the Independence day parade at NJ, we had common folks join in and be with us for about 3 hours in baking hot sun. And when we walked past the crowd singing and chanting "Jai Hind" & "Vande mataram", we saw the spirit in a lot of by standers. They encouraged us and we encouraged them.
And that is how, change will happen. It is easy to feel disappointed and see the futility of doing anything. It is easy to be arm-chair philosophers and do the tea-time intellectual talk.
Once we know the ideal we are pursuing, we just have to take the one more step in the long march, sing one more syllable in the national song, dream one more hope and eventually we will achieve the goal.
Wishing All a happy Independence Day. Jai Hind.
Asato maa sad-gamaya (Lead us from Untruth to Truth)
Tamaso maa jyotir-gamaya (from Darkness to Light)
Mṛityor-maa-mṛitan gamaya (from Death to Immortality)
Om shaanti shaanti shaanti (Om peace, peace, peace)
