Thus Spake the Divine - Independent India (Swaraj)

Thus Spake the Divine

Independent India (Swaraj)

In this section of the book, Poojyasri Maha Periyava expresses concern over various social issues relating to government, current education system and its shortcomings, ways of reducing crimes, improving the living standards of people and so on.

Many people exhibit their ownership of India differently viz. “Swaraj”, “India, My Motherland” “India, My Own Country” etc. But, personally, they try to imitate the behaviour, culture and attire of Westerners. So long as we continue doing this, we will not be true Indians and our country cannot be deemed to be an independent nation. If we want to be true Indians, then, we should identify the religious practices and other rituals followed in our country from times immemorial, acknowledge that they are good for our well being, and, accordingly, change our current Westernised disposition. Our traditional culture, conducts and Dharma should remain unaltered from the past. We should stop copying the culture of other countries.

If we really want the feeling of “Swaraj” and run our Parliament with absolute freedom, we should introspect on the culture and civilisation of our country. We must then endeavour to reinforce the same into our society once again. India has a unique culture and civilisation, which we should preserve with utmost commitment. Though many civilisations have dwindled with passage of time, our culture and civilisation has been resilient. Despite facing rough weathers, they remained robust and stood rock solid for several thousands of years. This is because there is something unique in our culture and civilisation. We should remain true Indians and use all our strength and freedom to transform our people into true Indians.

Unfortunately, we are framing our rules and laws with the mind-set of Westerners. If we vote for a Government, which does not follow our culture and practices, then we will continue to be slaves as earlier. We have been gifted with a religion in which even our Shastras relating to social life are aligned with our own soul and the divine. Therefore, we should elect only those people in Government, who are followers of the rules of Dharma and adhere to our spiritual practices. The programmes of our Government should be implemented as per the Shastras of our religion. This will make our country a role model for people of other countries too.

To do that, however, those governing us should be conversant with the essence of our fundamental Shastras. There are several books and documents, which can guide us in understanding the values of our culture. That is why I am drawing references from those documents and speaking to you all on various matters. All people who have voting rights should contemplate and elect only virtuous and righteous people to the Parliament. We should make use of the freedom given to us in such a way that our Governments are run with the prime objective of establishing Dharma.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.