I have recently received this powerpoint presentation about the glory of Indians. I think there are few follies in it as well as some vital points. This presentation made me to think about the current Indian scenario from a different angle. In his world famous speech at the parliament of religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda said, “I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation”. It was very much true at that time, but as years rolled, the grandeur of universal acceptance began to fade away. It was the British rule that spoiled us and the Mclay’s speech underlines the fact so clearly. “"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for, if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."
Indian culture is based on concepts, not by persons. A person, however great he may be, is not important in Vedantic perspective. Impersonality is the teaching of the rishis, who were even reluctant to use their names for the concepts they put forward. However, in the recent times, so called masters have embarrassed our culture by saffronizing themselves in fake ideologies and are selling spirituality in the name of yoga, meditations, Pranayama. They have added miracle mongering, charity as added flavor to sell their personalities, if those mystical deeds fail to gain attention; just like we make business strategies, where if one strategy doesn't click, then we try to make new strategies and get clicked! All these idiocy showed Indian spirituality in a doom light. Foreigners, who thought spirituality lies in those mystical things, started to pour in and the masters had the chance to sell these ideologies in the name of spirituality as lucrative business. These modernized gurus don't have the courage to admit that this is only business venture in the name of spirituality. Once the foreigners started to pour in, bewildered by the scenario, locals also started to throng in towards those limelight masters. By selling their brains and putting their heads on the feet of such masters, they put the last nail in the coffin. Those followers forget the words of this renowned saint known as Buddha; who said those immortal words which is directly linked to the sublime beauty of Vedanta. "Believe not because an old manuscript has been produced, because it has been handed down to you from your forefathers, because your friends want you to -- but think for yourself; search truth for yourself; realize it yourself. Then if you find it beneficial to one and many, give it to people"
When these are going on one side, on the other side there was some other twist which broke the backbone on universal acceptance of India. Politicians and political parties joined hands with a few cultural/spiritual leaders and put forth a new format to Sanathana Dharma, for securing vote banks by extracting words from the vast Indian philosophy so as to suit their political ideologies. The blind believers went out in rampage taking innocent lives in the name of religious intolerance. So these masters and followers and politicians thus became a disgrace to their ancestors, who loved others without looking towards caste and creed. They didn't counter violence by another violence, and upheld non-violence even when they were attacked. Every Indian, irrespective of any religion, had that non-violence in their blood bestowed to them through the legacy of ancestors. It is by the westernization, (remember Mclay words), this revenge culture was injected into the youths of every religion that existed in India and made them forget what their tradition upholds. Eventually this paved the way for attacks and counter-attacks and broke the backbone of universal acceptance. It was the western ideologies that made Indians to look everything in caste, creed perspective, thus they became disgrace to their ancestors.
Even though the majority of the qualities have been lost, still the blood of legacy of those rishis cannot be give up altogether and is still in the veins of Indians. That is why the things conveyed in this powerpoint slides came into existence. So, the glory of Indians may fade away in near future by their misdeeds and westernization, and also by the reluctance to uphold concepts above personalities which is the core concept of Vedanta. But the glory of India will continue to live forever. Because the glory of India is not vested in these politicians, or modernized gurus, on the contrary, it is linked to the ancient rishis and by the silent masters remaining unknown to majority of the world somewhere in modern India. This will make India to bask in its glorious philosophical attire, which is soul of India. The beauty that inspired as a song of life for many thinkers originated from that great epic called INDIA.
“If we were to look over the whole world to find out the country which is most richly endowed with all the wealth, power, and beauty that nature can bestow – in some parts a very paradise on earth – I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant – I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw the corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human a life, not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life – again I should point to India.” ---- Max Muller
“In the whole world there is no study … so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads… (they) are products of the highest wisdom… It is destined sooner or later to become the faith of the people… The study of the Upanishads has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.” ---- Schopenhauer
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