The enclosed article has been authored by a Spiritual Bee’er who wishes to remain anonymous.
On the occasion of India’s Republic day, some thoughts crossed my mind:
1️⃣ Reasons for India’s Downfall
India is in its 76th year of independence. For more than 1000 years, our nation faced an existential crisis due to the onslaught of foreign invaders. Every year we celebrate India’s independence and republic days by remembering the great freedom fighters, whose sacrifices liberated our nation from the slavery of foreign rule. But we seldom think about the reasons that caused our once great nation to plunge into a downfall.
What are these reasons? They have been outlined by Swami Vivekananda as follows:
- The neglect of the masses – A great national sin
- Neglect & oppression of women – Another great sin
- In-fighting amongst various kingdoms for power – This went on for centuries together
- Mass oppression in the name of religion/caste (untouchability)
- Monopoly of education
- Exclusiveness – Not sharing the knowledge with other nations (all foreigners were called mlechhas)
- Lack of organization
- Forgetting the great treasure of Vedanta
The price of these mistakes was huge. India suffered for centuries and had to make costly sacrifices to come out of the shackles of slavery.
So the question to ask ourselves today is: Are we making sufficient effort to avoid repeating these mistakes of the past?
2️⃣ Two Threats to Independent India
On 15th August 1947, when India became free, Sri Aurobindo, a freedom fighter and Rishi, remarked that “India, today is free but she has not achieved unity”, subtly expressing his displeasure at the partition of India along religious lines.
In the same speech, Sri Aurobindo outlined 2 threats to independent India – 1) Communalism and 2) Communism (China). The more the nation falls prey to the former, the more an invasion by the latter becomes imminent.
Haven’t we have seen these predictions come true with respect to Pakistan (the erstwhile part of India), which has been reeling under extreme bigotry and has fallen prey to China? By allowing China access to its roads & ports, Pakistan has put the sovereignty of India too in jeopardy.
Isn’t there a lesson to be learnt from this?
3️⃣ Invisible Personalities behind India’s Independence
These days news channels & social media platforms are full of contentious debates over which freedom fighter’s efforts made Indian independence possible – was it Mahatma Gandhi or Subhash Chandra Bose? However the real answer has been stated by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, the God-realised sage & founder of the Gayatri Pawar, at Haridwar.
“It is an undisputed fact that Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Maharishi Ramana did immense sadhana to uplift India and free her from the slavery of the British rule.”
While Mahatma Gandhi united the whole country in fighting against the British in the early 1900s, it was Swami Vivekananda, in the late 1800s, who through his soul-stirring speeches and immaculate character, awakened the weakened nation and made it psychologically ready to fight the then mighty British. Many prominent freedom fighters of India were thoroughly inspired by Swami Vivekananda – So don’t we owe our freedom to him and the other contributing Rishis, too?
4️⃣ Akhand Bharat
On the eve of India’s partition, Sri Aurobindo predicted the future formation of Akhand Bharat – a union of South Asian nations, much like the European Union of today. The necessity for Akhand Bharat, Sri Aurobindo emphasized was to safeguard the spiritual heritage of Vedanta, from getting obliterated by an invasion from China. We have seen how China has wiped out Buddhist heritage from Tibet, by destroying ancient texts, monasteries and exiling the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader.
Therefore in future, India is sure to lead the formation of Akhand Bharat. She will do so to guide the world spiritually towards peace by assuming the mantle of Vishwa Guru. Her future rise shall not be to exercising hegemony and domination over other nations. To underscore the inevitability of Akhand Bharat, the Mother, who was the spiritual-counterpart of Sri Aurobindo, on many occasions sat in front of the map of Akhand Bharat, whose outline she herself had drawn.
So to conclude, whether it is history or mythology, the purpose of both is that current and future generations should learn from the good and bad deeds of the past. History should be a torch bearer to the future generations. If we do not learn from history, these republic day celebrations have no value.
Should we not do our bit in restoring India back to the position of Viswa Guru?
