Nationalism in Decline 2

In my last post “Nationalism in Decline” I had argued that the nationalist feelings have faded from our hearts. I had blamed our ruling class for dividing our people, I had blamed our education system for loss of belonging and I had blamed the blind race to develop, without any regard for our own culture and traditions, for loss of identity among our people. In this post I would like to discuss the negative effect that all these things are having on our people.
All of us are running a marathon with no end. Every time we see the ending we run faster, push others, and toil harder so as to be the first to reach the end but on reaching there we find that the end is the start of another race. Everyone wants to come first in every race and this is taking its toll on the physical and mental health of almost everyone. Today’s youth is suffering from high anxiety, frequent depression, High BP, etc. To overcome these depressions and anxieties our young professional can be seen at the numerous pubs and discos every weekend. The motto is “work hard party harder”. But if this is the perfect world then why do we feel sorry the next morning? Why does the anxiety and depression returns once we come back to our senses? If this is the best way then why do we feel empty inside? Why are we always dissatisfied with our work and with our life? What is that one thing that is missing from our life? The thing that is missing from our lives is the inner peace. We have fiercely competed for everything but we have forgotten the one most important thing without which life cannot be happy, fulfilling and satisfying. There is a sloak in Gita “Karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadacana ma karma phalahetur bhur ma te sango stv akarmani”(your right is only to perform your prescribed duty, but you never are entitle to the fruits of that action. Do not be motivated of the results of your activities, and do not have any attachment for doing your duty) this sloak was imprinted in the hearts of every Indian in past. It was this knowledge that has helped millions of Indians to live their life in peace and eternal bliss though they were materially poor. This philosophy of life has been replaced by a rat race where everyone wants to overtake others. In our pursuit of development of an individual we actually forget to properly define what this development means? We have copied West without thinking if it was desirable for us. I agree with the philosophy of integral humanism proposed by Pandit Deendayal UpadhyayaI. I accept that for human development there is a need to develop its body, intellect and soul. In today’s world we are only concerned with our body and to some extent our intellect but we have neglected our souls completely. Though we have achieved great wealth but it has been done by devoting all our efforts towards our bodily needs. But we have completely neglected the needs of our soul and this is creating the unrest within most of us. The youth is worst affected by this neglect for it is farthest from its roots. Most of the youth do not realize this. They see people driving their expensive cars, living in palatial houses, media showing the glitter of celebrities’ life and consider it to be the aim of life. They work harder and harder to achieve that money and fame. Some become successful and move ahead while many are left behind in this race. One thing common with successful and unsuccessful person is that both are not happy. No one has peace of mind. The successful person wants more and wants to reach to even greater heights and is afraid of losing his position while the unsuccessful person is either frustrated or restless. But no one is happy. In our desire for big success we fail to appreciate little moments of happiness that comes in our way. Today people don’t have time for their own children and to compensate for this they buy expensive gadgets for their lads. Children spend hours in front of these gadgets thereby ignoring their mental, social and physical growth. All these internal unrest are forcing people to look for peace outside. They are ready to believe anyone who will offer them few words of console and who would offer them peace of mind. They flock the Ashrams of many so called Godmen (though many of these swamis are genuine and very knowledgeable but some are swindles who are cheating people). The real problem is that we know so little about our own religion that we are ready to listen to anyone who seems to possess any knowledge.
Most of the revolutions and other big changes in the world have taken place due to the active participation of youths. Colleges and universities used to be nerve centre of such movements. New ideas were formed and discussed in such places of learning. But today the discussions in colleges are confined to opposite sex, movies, sports, etc. Issues related to nation, society, governance, etc. are hardly discussed. During my four years in IIT Delhi I don’t remember any meaningful discussion that we had. The general feeling among youth is that the government is responsible for all the ills of our country (though it may be correct to some extent but then it is we who have been electing our governments). They feel that they can do nothing to change this situation and show helplessness while discussing such issues. But I feel the real thing is that resolve is missing in us today. The blame for this missing resolve can be put on our upbringing. Our upbringing laid little emphasis on character building.
I have heard many people saying that corruption in politics is responsible for all the ills of our country. But isn’t this corruption in politics a manifestation of corruption in our society. Tell me a place where there is no corruption in India. Is it not true that many teachers (one of the most honest profession) do not teach properly in classes so that students are forced to take tuitions from them? Is it not corruption? Is it not true that many doctors (one of the most honourable profession) do not treat patients properly in the government hospitals leaving them with no choice but to consult the doctors in their private clinics or asking patients to do unnecessary tests or prescribe expensive medicines when cheaper alternatives are there? Is it not true that corporate and businesses use every trick to avoid paying taxes? Is it not true some farmers and dairy owners use harmful chemicals to boost up their production? Is it not true that people like you and me fudge our medical bills and rent receipts to save our taxes? Cannot we classify all this as corruption? The reality is that most of us are as corrupt as we can be. The reason why politicians and bureaucrats get the flak is that they get more opportunities to be corrupt and hence it is more visible. The reason for the ills of our country is not corruption but the loss of values. Corruption is just an effect of this. Ethics and morals find no takers in our society. Society as a whole has rejected these concepts in practice and it only does the lip service to such concepts. I feel that our politicians are responsible but not because they are corrupt but because they have removed ethics from our education they have diverted us from the knowledge that has been accumulated because of thousands of years of experience.
Material gains have become the end of life. All we are concerned with is the result (material) without any thought about the means by which it has been achieved. This mindless disregard for means has brought us to the brink of destruction. In our hunger for more and more material we are stripping the mother earth with the resources that she needs to keep us alive. It is clear now we can not survive if we continue with our mindless pursuit of material. We will have to reach a balance where human and nature can compliment each other and not compete against each other.
The problem with our society is that not much thought has gone into what we want to achieve and where we want to end up. After gaining independence from British no serious attempt was made to define the path that our country should take. Our policy has been the result of some short time crises we faced without proper discussions on the long term implications of those steps. Mahatma Gandhi made an attempt in his Hind Swaraj to define the route that we should take. But instead of discussing and improving it, it was called impractical and ignored by the people who had sworn to follow him. The matter of fact is that we forgot Gandhi on 31st Jan 1948 and we recall him every year for few hours on 2nd Oct. He had envisioned an independent and strong India based on the path of Dharma. Are we the nation of that vision?
Our politicians have tried to base our country on secular credentials. In their zeal to protect secularism they have kept concept of Karma and Dharma out of our test books. But does secularism can be the excuse to keep people away from Dharma (please don’t translate Dharma as religion for it has much deeper meaning). Dharma inspires us to leave selfishness and help others. Dharma teaches us to be patient, forgiving, contented, pure, knowledgeable, and truthful and to have control of our own senses. If we keep people away from Dharma it will lead to chaos and unrest in the society.