(Go to www.bharatiyachetna.org for knowing more about BCK)
B) A special Philosophical Background Note for the curious mind on the Indian civilization and the place of the Gita in It:
The Indian civilization is the oldest living civilization which has
survived the vicissitudes of history for over ten thousand years. Other ancient
civilizations like those of Greece, Rome and Egypt withered away midway after a
grand beginning. The Indian civilization is not only the oldest living
civilization; it is also one which has given birth to two of the major
religions of the world: the Sanatan Dharma, popularly known as Hinduism,
and Buddhism, apart from several other beautiful faiths which also have
followings running into millions. But that is not all: the Indian civilization has
produced such exalted ideas and existential concepts as remain absolutely
unique in the world even today. If the entire world were to follow some of the
ideals crafted by this civilization, the world would be an entirely different
place to live in, and the developmental paradigm would radically change:
terrorism and intolerance will lose their existence, mutual accommodation and
harmony will gain ground, spiritual and material progress will go hand in hand
without one uprooting the other, and self-alienation caused by the nuclear
individualism of the West will melt away making way for closely knit families
and communities full of love, mutual respect and understanding - like the ones
depicted in the Ramayana, which remains the unparalleled saga of human
relationships and models of truly civilized individual, social and political human
conduct.
When some of the ideas of the Indian civilization were presented in
English language by Swami Vivekananda in 1893 at the Chicago Parliament of
World Religions, the entire parliament exploded in applause and admiration.
When the ideas of nonviolence and truth crafted by the Indian civilization were
presented by Mahatma Gandhi before the world towards the end of the 19th
century in South Africa and then in the first-half of the 20th century
in India while fighting for Indian independence against the British, the entire
world watched the spectacle in complete awe as such a thing had been heard or
seen never before in human history elsewhere in the world. But what Vivekananda
and Gandhi presented before the world were mere fractions of what the great
Indian civilization has in store for humanity. If one were to turn the pages of
the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, and the Bhagwad-Gita, one would
encounter such lofty peaks of human thought and conduct as would make high
achievements of the modern era look dwarfed and superfluous. A time may come
when these lofty and noble ideas would unfold themselves on the world stage in
a manner that would convince human conscience everywhere - which will by that
time have been immensely tormented by the grossly materialistic and
individualistic civilization of the West on the one hand and the blood-thirsty
civilization of intolerance, violence and terrorism on the other - that the
Indian civilization is the one that can provide the core values for reconstruction
of a new human ethos all over the world. The ancient Indian civilization is,
therefore, the future of the world[1]. The Bhagwad-Gita contains,
along with the Ramcharitmanas, what is the best in the Indian Civilization. The
two together represent the essence of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
But how will this light spread across the world when its sources are
getting buried in India itself? The youth of this generation have not seen the
Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, and the Gita, which are fast vanishing
from the Indian homes. The Indian civilization signifies what is taught in the
Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana and the Gita; but it also signifies
economic prosperity. All along, it clearly emphasized need for a balance
between money, religion-and-human duties, worldly desire-and-sex, and spiritual
liberation (arth-dharm-kaam-moksha), placing money and worldly desires
below human duties and spiritual liberation. Let us not forget that the Indian
civilization has been the most prosperous civilization in the world in the
ancient and medieval periods. Therefore, a true Indian civilization does not
make sense without elements of prosperity.
Some people treat Ram-Rajya as a historical fact while many others
treat it as a poetic creation based on history, which means a
mix-of-history-and-mythology. There are still others who tend to treat it as
complete myth, and a utopia. Even if the Rama-Rajya or the kingdom of Rama were
a utopia, it would not diminish the value of the ideals that find a place in
the descriptions of the Ram-Rajya. We know that utopias are often necessary to
be built to inspire us to move towards certain lofty ideals that do not exist
on ground today, but may perhaps be brought into being tomorrow through
sustained efforts. The state withering away one day is one such lofty ideal
that belongs to realm of utopia, and which we do not discard just because it
exists nowhere today, or because it never existed before in any civilized
society. We consider the ideal still worthy of pursuit. Here we do not want to
enter into the controversy of whether Ram-Rajya is history or myth, utopia or
something that existed in the past. We only know that over a billion people can
be easily inspired to strive for a higher level of human existence that the
Ram-Rajya represents. It is interesting to bear in mind that this state of
human existence does not call for annihilation of other civilizations. It does
not even entail or imply military expansionism, since the ideal of Ram-Rajya is
that one should only aim at victory over hearts, and not over territories.
The Bharatiya Chetna Kendra has resolved to revive these
forceful ideas of the Indian civilization.
One of the great ideas produced by the Indian civilization is Ram-Rajya.
The ideas of Ram-Rajya, or the Government of Rama are very ancient, and
yet extremely modern. Rama was an ancient Indian king with a very lofty and
lovable character, who is often worshiped as an incarnation of God in India.
The description of what kind of a State Rama’s kingdom was can be found in the
epic Ramayana authored by the ancient sage Valmiki, who was a contemporary of
Lord Rama, and similar descriptions, can be found in many other literary and
historical works on the life of Lord Rama. Most recently, about 500 years back,
the poet-sage Tulasidas also beautifully depicted what the kingdom of Rama was
like[2].
[1] There is a need for caution here.
Not all ideas and practices produced by the Indian
civilization were completely unsullied. The major example of such an aberration
is that edition of the caste system that bred contempt for certain sections of
the society called the ‘shudras’, making the Indian society ‘hierarchical’.
However the practice has been outlawed, and is on the wane, and it may be
history soon. But another word of caution here: The caste system per se
was not bad. Minus contempt for the ‘lower’ castes, it was a wonderful
creation. For understanding the true nature of this system one needs to study
the essay on caste system by the French Sociologist Louis Dumont. This system
gave close and positive family-like connectivity to large groups of humans, which
is just the opposite of the self-alienation and loneliness faced by a modern
Western man or woman. The caste system also gave economic specialisation to
large groups of people, which was responsible for India’s economic pre-eminence
in the world for several millennia. Among
the scriptures of the Hindu faith, the Gita pleads for an egalitarian society
advocating equality among all, and the concept of Ram-Rajya too, as found in
the Ramcharitmanas, eliminates all inequality in no uncertain terms.
[2]Here
are some excerpts from the description of the Ram Rajya as found in the Ramcharitmanas
of poet-sage Tulasidas.
बैर न कर काहू सन कोई | राम प्रताप बिषमता खोई ||(Perfect harmony, no enmity,
no inequality)
दैहिक दैविक भौतिक तापा
| राम राज नहिं काहुहि ब्यापा ||
सब नर करहिं परस्पर
प्रीती | चलहिं स्वधर्म निरत श्रुति नीती ||
अल्पमृत्यु नहिं कवनिउ
पीरा | सब सुन्दर सब बिरुज सरीरा ||
नहिं
दरिद्र कोऊ दुखी न दीना | नहीं
कोऊ अबुध न लच्छन हीना || (nobody is poor, no
one in distress)
सब निर्दंभ धर्मरत पुनी
| नर अरु नारि चतुर सब गुनी || (Everybody without
fear, and given to duties; both men and women full of good qualities) (Excerpts
continue on the next page…)
सब गुनग्य पंडित सब
ग्यानी | सब कृतज्ञ नहिं कपट सयानी ||
(Everybody very well-educated; no cheats)
राम राज कर
सुख संपदा | बरनि न सकइ फनीस सारदा | (Unparalleled
prosperity)
एकनारि ब्रत रत सब झारी
| ते मन बाख क्रम पति हितकारी || (Men have only one
woman; women given whole heartedly to one man)
दंड जतिंह कर भेद जहँ
नर्तक नृत्य समाज | (No punishment as no one commits crime; no
discrimination)
जीतहु मनहि सुनिअ अस
रामचंद्र के राज || (The only victory aimed at is victory on hearts)
खग मृग सहज बयरु बिसराई
| सबन्हि परस्पर प्रीती बढ़ाई || (Everybody loves each
other; no strife)
लता बिटप मागें मधु
चवहीं | मनभावतो धेनु पय श्रवहीं || A lot of
honey, a lot of milk)
ससी संपन्न सदा रह धरणी
| त्रेता भइ कृतजुग कै करनी || (Land always full of
crops)
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