The oceanic congregation of intellectuals in Bharat (India) emanate from individual channels of knowledge, which eventually imbibe greatness as they meet and merge with the cause of humanity and nationalism. From the very ancient times, Bharat had been the gravitational centre of intellectualism. However, repeated territorial conquests in different forms injected venom in the nation’s backbone, thereby rigidly distorting physicality, mentality and morality of an individual and therefore, the country as a whole.
Though, with our united resistance through physical efforts we have been able to combat the conquerors on the battlefield, but we have failed to completely wipe off their deep rooted impact from the social arena. This has not only contaminated the cultural discourse but also infested our intellectual stream.
The right way to defeat such elements is definitely not with ammunition, as they continuously tend to change their appearance, making it difficult to track them down. The solution to this challenge is self-realization. It is this realization that would make our brain churn to understand the underlying organization of the colonizers and their belief systems. In general, whenever a change is expected, it is the sequence of events in a system that needs to be transformed or amended; bringing out a revolutionary change in a system requires trust, respect and support from peers.
In Bharat, there is a very popular saying that we enjoy unity in diversity. However, this is wrongly quoted, as there is one almighty and nature is a reflection of that supreme power in many forms, i.e. diverse forms of one-ness. Similarly, there has been an upcoming trend of fouling the basic usage of words. For instance, whatever is regarded as tradition is ‘outdated’ and opposed to modernity. Some British officials characterized our historical journey into three phases: Hindu, Muslim and British-powered reigns. After independence, the period marked by Hindu-rich cultures and traditions was regarded as ‘Ancient’, Muslim-reign became ‘Medieval’ and British-rule was proudly manifested as ‘Modern’.
In our country, the sense of devotion and sacrifice has always been framed in a sequence of higher vision that emanates from individual, family and ancestral-institutions to nation, humanity and God. According to our tradition, acquisition of wealth and desire has always been strictly bounded by Dharma, beyond which aspiration of any form or intensity is Adharma and hence, injustice to mankind and self.
Bharat is not just a territory but ‘bearer of knowledge’ that stands firmly on a foundation enriched with cultural one-ness. We have a rich culture of words, tunes, colours and expressions. A culture of words gives birth to wonderful scriptures and literature, culture of tunes springs out into soul refreshing ragas, culture of colours radiates most vivid form of imaginations as paintings, and culture of expression is molded as fantastic forms of dancing moves. Our cultural cosmos inherently drives us from Nar to Narayana.
The present day challenge is to affirm intellectualism in Bharat so as to uproot violence of all forms. Every nation has a core culture that strengthens the bond of nationalism and humanism. This culture is gradually getting wiped off in Bharat owing to religious conversions. Such activity not only invades our spiritual tradition but also blocks our awareness and knowledge of our own being.
This ultimately calls for decolonizing the mind of our citizens so that nationalism could resurge with even deeper projection of cultural narratives into our veins. Time has come when western academics needs to get challenged and media monoliths should act in a manner that breeds lesser conflicts on indigenous matters and more on alienated polity of the west.
-By Dr. Adwitiya Sinha (Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, UP; Twitter: @DrAdwitiya)
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