Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living - 2

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations warns that the earth is in the ICU, and its environment is the culprit.

The problems are:

Depletion and degradation of life-support systems such as water, air, and the earth’s fertility.

Shrinking biodiversity, which provides the basic material for innovative gene combinations.

Man’s waste-making industrial culture, which guzzles up the world’s raw materials.

The present art/science of development as the process of converting nature’s limited gifts into consumables for Man.

An educational system that is a marketing process for industrial products.

A general mindset replacing nature’s spontaneity with manmade structures, wiping out humanity’s Sneha, Prema, Daya, and Bhakti.

The psychological effects of all-round degradation of nature's systems, family, community, health, entertainment, driving humanity towards narcotizing entertainment, drug culture, alcoholism, depression, and warfare, all resulting from the collapse of Man’s psychological support base of family and community, society, and the ecosystem.

As we navigate the complexities of environmental stewardship, the path forward intertwines innovation, education, and societal cohesion in the following areas: 

1. Promoting Circular Economy: Embracing Recycling and Reuse:

Metal, plastic, and wood-made articles, machinery, and consumable hardware can be used, reused, and re-reused. Manufacturers should offer buy-back options when they sell hardware. The materials can be easily reused. Water is said to have fifty uses, each use exploiting only one virtue of the element. With water resources shrinking at an alarming rate, recycling and multiuse technologies must enter the scenario.

2. Innovating Sustainability: Beyond Fossil Fuels:

Merely substituting fossil energy sources with renewable energy sources won’t serve any purpose if man’s mindset in consuming energy at the present rate continues. The pity is man continues to think in the old fashion in a totally new context. Take millets, for example. Each millet has a specific virtue, but the recipes for millet-cooking simply substitute millets for potato, amaranthus, rice, or wheat. Such fine arts and usages are being lost. Such mistakes occur because of man’s long-lasting friendship with Nature and its bounties fading out. Technology is a mindset that neglects fine details and individuality. Creative thinking and innovation processes emerge from closely watching and observing each gift of Nature.

3. Educating for Sustainability:

Dr. Ian Brown conducted a survey of 3000 schools across the world at the request of his mentor Maharshi Mahesh Yogi. Dr. Brown’s survey reveals the fact that the present-day school education cannot teach our children the worthwhile values of (1) Morality and ethics, (2) Appreciating Nature's (asthetic) values, and (3) Compassion. Green education has to include these vital lessons in its curriculum. Education both formal and mass education has to play a major role in environmental safety. The present education, a marketing process, is luring the student into accepting a particular lifestyle as appropriate.

The old system of education based on memory tests and rote is being edged out. Education has to be more entertaining to keep the students from running away from the classes. One Scientist, educator of England has pointed out that the teachers have to use more and more medicines to quieten the children and pin them down to the classroom. The teacher has to be the administrator of knowledge in a more entertaining way so that the child is retained in the classroom. The teacher has to retrain himself to administer education in a more alluring way because he has to compete with more attractive media such as cell phones, telephones, internet TV, etc.,

This makes the teacher’s job unenviable, and the teachers have to act like edutainers to attract students. In India, the attendance in Government school classes is continuously slipping down questioning the very effectiveness of Government schooling systems. The school has become part of the market, and it has to fight for its place in training the human mind. Uncontrolled media, social media, etc., grab the minds of the children. The present post-corona scenario forces teachers to admit they find it very difficult to run the offline classes for cell phone-addicted children.

True education simply does not dish out information but makes the student learn on his own. To wean the learner away from his groove of old consumption patterns, the teacher has to show enormous patience, love, eco-awareness, and communicate his/her wisdom to the student. MA VIDVISHAVAHAI. “Let us love each other” has to be the classroom ethos. The society accustomed to five hundred years of waste-making consumer culture will not yield its dearly held affiliation without a mother-like persuasive appeal by the teacher.

4. The Green Warrior's Path: Yoga, Kriyas, and Sustainable Consumption:

The green warrior embodies a holistic approach to sustainability, advocating for reduced consumption while emphasizing physical and psychological well-being through practices like Yoga and Kriyas. They understand that personal sacrifices yield rewards such as strengthened will, relaxed body, and heightened consciousness, setting a trend for societal change towards mindful living. Asking man to consume less, without offering some physical and psychological compensations, is not going to be easy. Yoga and Kriyas, which strengthen man’s will-power, enable man to do with less and less of the pleasures derived from external objects, will certainly help. A relaxed body consumes less food and absorbs the nutrients from the food in a better manner. This may not mean much to the food economy, but the opinion-makers and society leaders will set the trend for the common people. Ultimately man has to prove for himself that every sacrifice will reward him in the form of strengthened will, relaxed body, better concentration, greater consciousness of the mind, and a greater amount of love. Unless a green warrior accepts this principle, it will be unfair for the world to ask him to forego external sensual treasures.

5. The Purpose of Life:

Nature is continuously losing its orderliness as shown by increasing entropy. Nature consisting of animate objects cannot reassemble itself. It is the duty of living things to devote themselves to nature’s work. Man, being the highest on the ladder of life, has to take maximum responsibility to restore order. It is an unescapable duty of every man. Man does not have to go too far to search for his duty. That part of nature which gets degraded by the man handling of it should call for his first attention. Therefore, man’s duty towards nature, yajna lies in the objects which he handles in his day-to-day life. This is Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of universal thinking and local working.

6. Holistic Science: Integrating Analysis and Synthesis:

Science consists of two processes: analysis and synthesis. Man takes apart the constituents of a sugar candy – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. But he misses two true points. He does not look up at the sweetness of sugar, which is its essence, and he does not come back to reassemble sugar from the parts. This process of synthesis is mostly neglected in science. Though strictly speaking analysis and synthesis make up science together, historical western science gives more credit to analysis than to synthesis. A green warrior has to correct this imbalance.

7. Cultivating Collective Consciousness: The Role of Social Units:

The individual cultural habits, consumption patterns, and tastes are shaped by his immediate family. A family is controlled by the community, though this control is invisible. The community is protected by the nation, and it helps to retain its cultural values. The nation’s culture justifies the existence of a nation and defines its contribution to the whole world, the whole creation. Its smaller unit is sustained by the larger unit and gets its liveliness from the next lower unit. In this manner, the smaller and bigger units of a nation and its culture are linked by symbiotic relationships. Environmental degradation impacts such relations and social break-up, atomization of the society leads to the breakup of all such entities. Therefore, the green warrior has to care for all such social units. But the individual breaks-up and crumbles to pieces when the family system breaks down. Germany and America are telling examples of such breakdown leading to drugs, personal abuse, alcoholism, and social discord. The inter-cohesion of society is linked to the inner harmony of the individual and vice versa. The role of the family system in providing care and safety for women, elders, and children has been well-studied. Therefore, greater, and greater social consciousness helps not only in saving the individual but also helps in saving the environment in the form of collectives such as grazing land, water bodies, fisheries, and public utilities. The individual, family, community, etc., are stages in the growth of collective consciousness.

8. Every Moment Matters: Cultivating Mindfulness:

It is the nature of many leaders to try to find universal solutions for every problem. They want a formula, a talisman, a sutra for every problem so that it can be universally applied. This act reduces universal problems to a small level, trivializing local problems. What is needed is a small solution that applies to local conditions and local problems. This comes from attentiveness, also called mindfulness. Clubbing a few unrelated problems in man’s overenthusiastic approach leads to neglecting individual problems. A Gobar gas plant suitable for a rocky and dry area in Tamil Nadu will not work in a water-locked area in the Netherlands. A green warrior has to curb his tendency to become the universal problem solver, a messiah. He has to have the humility to solve the problems one at a time, as they come.

9. Beyond Imposed Structures: Rediscovering Nature's Creative Flow:

Nature is very creative. It is very lively. It changes its actions frequently. And this unrehearsed action is called spontaneity. But man in his wisdom wants to impose his mentally made structures on the free-flowing nature. One scientist famously said, “This is the privilege of the Scientists, to find out the law of nature and impose human will on it.” This idea comes from the concept that no knowledge is good if it is natural. Every good thing has to be man-made. This has led man to impose his artificially made will, structure, calculatedness on free-flowing nature. Nature is amorphous. Nature does not confine itself to any formula. In that manner, all man’s understanding of its nature is only approximate and much less than the total truth. It is an approach that takes away from our understanding of nature’s creativity, spontaneity, productivity, and biodiversity. Jagdish Chandra Bose talks about nature’s rejuvenescence, nature’s spontaneity, chance, the very charm of living by presenting a series of surprises and keeps man constantly on his toes. Therefore, this structured approach to knowledge leads man to dullness, ennui, and forces man to seek happiness from elsewhere than from nature. This is the reason for man resorting to drugs, alcoholism, and narcotizing entertainment.

10. Unity in Conservation: Collaborative Environmental Roles:

The art of protecting nature, ecology, and environment has to be according to roles allotted to different segments of the society. The Governments can make only laws. And any law is as good as the lawmakers’ capacity to implement the law. Therefore, the Government has to have faith in the heart of man to save the environment. It can only make laws that emanate from the community and the individuals. The individual is very sensitive about the degradation of nature and is the first to suffer when the environment crumbles. Therefore, he is the starting point of any move to restore nature to its pristine harmony. But the voluntary organizations consisting of sensitive individuals, scholars, opinion-makers have to act as intermediaries between the individual and the Government. They have to control the greedy individual by the common ethical values and alert the Government about the impending damages. Therefore, each segment has its well-defined role in saving the environment.

11. Holistic Health: Embracing Natural Healing Alternatives:

A learned doctor with long-standing experience in the profession has written an article about medicines in this volume. Chemicals as opposed to herbs and nature cures are fighting for man’s attention. The medical corporate sector has such enormous clout that its budget is larger than the combined budgets of many countries. Therefore, medicine manufacturers use all their muscles to inject all kinds of chemicals into the human body. These chemicals prevent man’s natural self-healing energy, and the so-called modern medicine is a great threat to the human bodies all over the world. One science writer has written that if we could close all the hospitals today, we can think about human health fifty years afterward.

12. Water: The Modern Charkha for Green Warriors:

Jayaprakash Narayanji once said that he was searching for the modern equivalent of Gandhiji’s Charkha, the spinning wheel. This systematic tool has to be simple; it has to be relevant to all, and it has to keep man mindfully engaged and it should appeal to everybody’s need. Modern Green warriors have found that tool, for forming a cohesive society in WATER. Collecting, serving, distributing, recycling, and applying the multiple uses of water could be a society-building tool for humanity. It touches the lives of everyone and is already a universal problem touching not only human lives but also the lives of plants and animals.

13. Empowering Leisure: Cultivating Well-Being:

Asked what the greatest danger and problem for humanity in the future could be, double Nobel Laureate John Bardeen said “LEISURE”. All the speeding equipment, vehicles, airplanes, etc., glorify speed and science itself has equated speed with efficiency. Saving time in his workplace and travel, man has been left with much leisure time, not knowing what to do. He allows himself to be lured by drugs, alcohol, and narcotic entertainment. Ms. Magadelene, the ex-U.S. Secretary of State, drew our attention to this danger, wherein we fail to observe the beauties of our paths. The centenarian Paramacharya of Kanchi and Vinoba of the Bhoodan movement have enjoyed walking to the workplace, allowing themselves enough time to interact with people on the way. Modern speed-equipment leaves a great footprint on the traveller’s mind. He is agitated, moving, and restless, even when he has completed his journey. Tagore’s beautiful article “Walking barefoot to the school” should teach us what we miss when we run away or travel by a speeding-up vehicle.

14. Foot-loose Societies:

Schumacher, the energy expert, has bemoaned humanity’s habit of foot-loose traveling in the name of tourism. In Ancient India, everyone has to find happiness in his immediate surroundings, and an occasional traveller has to return to his base as early as possible. Today, smaller houses, crowded cities, the drudgery of work, drive people away from their habitats, causing a great drain on the world’s fuel stock. Man has to control his traveling to irreducible minimum to save fuel and to find happiness within himself and in his immediate surroundings.

Amidst mounting environmental challenges, a resounding call for change reverberates across sectors. The prelude sets the stage for a transformative journey towards sustainability. Embracing circular economy principles, stakeholders advocate for a paradigm shift in material consumption, promoting reuse and recycling. Beyond renewable energy adoption, the narrative urges a deeper cultural rethink of energy consumption. Education emerges as a linchpin, with calls for a holistic approach that instils values of morality, ecological consciousness, and compassion. The path to sustainability intertwines with personal wellness, as yoga and mindfulness empower individuals to consume consciously. Social cohesion and collective action emerge as essential pillars, urging communities to reclaim their roles in environmental stewardship. From local adaptations to global collaborations, the propositions paint a portrait of hope, resilience, and collective determination in the face of environmental crisis.

Vivekananda Kendra, NARDEP has produced a manual Environmental Awareness in day-to-day life. It could be our manual not only for saving the earth but also for saving oneself.

 

N.Krishnamoorti

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Editor Vivekvani                                                                                                & Senior Worker of Vivekananda Kendra

Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living

Rationale

In the modern world, the consumeristic behaviour suggests a yardstick for success: the more you own, the better your life will be. We tend to equate buying things with positive emotions. Subsequently, we think that purchasing new stuff makes us happy. While our lifestyles and consumption choices might fulfil our needs and aspirations; they also have important impacts on our environment and on our interdependent societies and markets.

Our consumption habits are putting our resource levels at great risk. The amount of stuff we use in order to live has exploded in many parts of the world, highlighted by the fact that the global extraction of materials has tripled over the past four decades, rising to an enormous 70 billion tonnes in 2010. If current trends continue, then this dramatic increase in the amount of material we consume will continue to rise as populations grow, the middle class expands, and incomes increase (UNEP, 2011).

Today, cities are associated with 60 to 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, consume 75 percent of natural resources, and account for 50 percent of all waste (UNEP, 2012). By 2050, the number of people living in urban areas is expected to reach 6.3 billion – roughly two-thirds of the global population. This will have a profound effect on what and how individuals and societies consume, especially when it comes to food, mobility, housing, consumer goods and leisure.

As a result, this urban shift carries with it immense social implications. The extra pressure these new urban consumers will place on the world’s increasingly scarce resources will exacerbate existing tensions between the world’s wealthiest 10 percent, whose lifestyles contribute half of global carbon emissions, and the growing numbers of urban poor, who are responsible for only 10 percent of carbon emissions (Oxfam, 2015).

If current trends continue, by 2030, humanity will need the equivalent of two Earths to support itself, according to some experts. This is clearly not viable in a world where climate change will make it even harder for the natural world to provide for our needs.

There are encouraging signs that society is beginning to understand the impact of our daily choices. Terms like “quality of life” and “sustainable lifestyles” regularly appear in the media, illustrating that people are already weaving sustainability into their daily decision-making. Carbon footprinting, food waste reduction campaigns, urban gardening, vehicle sharing models, and surveys to understand the values and motivations of youth are all ways that are helping people to live more sustainable lifestyles.

Yet these actions, in general, are piecemeal. They are not yet framed within a holistic vision of what constitutes a sustainable lifestyle. Living sustainably is not just about individual choice: it is also about ensuring that governments and businesses enact policies that guide people towards these types of lifestyles. Often ignored is the role that public sector institutions can play in shaping better policy and the role of businesses in providing more sustainable goods and services.

Fortunately, sustainable lifestyles are now solidly anchored in policy. The COP21 Paris Agreement made it clear that sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production (SCP) will be key in the fight against climate change. The goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and intergovernmental processes like the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on SCP give further support to champions of sustainable lifestyles by acknowledging the powerful role they can play in lifting people out of poverty, ending hunger, and reducing inequality while protecting the environment. At least two of the eight themes of the World Economic Forum 2016 in Davos, Switzerland, highlighted the impacts of climate change on our lives and the effects of increasing wealth inequality on economic development. This clearly shows that sustainable consumption and lifestyles are growing in importance on the international stage (Akenji and Chen, 2016).

With this solid foundation in place, it is now time to develop a more structured, life-cycle, and evidence-based understanding of sustainable lifestyles to facilitate global dialogue and measure progress. This will enable us to focus on the ‘hotspots’ on where critical action can be taken.

For individuals, this means understanding the impacts of their daily decisions and embracing more sustainable lifestyles. For governments, it implies setting a conducive regulatory context, facilitating and inspiring better citizen decision- making, creating market demand through sustainable public procurement, and supporting research, development, and innovation. For the private sector, it implies integrating sustainability into core business strategies to develop innovative ways to meet the needs of people while reducing the pressure on the world’s dwindling resources. This includes communicating about product sustainability performance to enhance informed decision-making.

VK-NARDEP’s perspectives of sustainable living

Inspired by the Eastern wisdom of the Samagra Vikas approach, we at VK-NARDEP have learnt a deeper and broader meaning of Development. Our understanding of development goes beyond materialistic and quality of life indicators. We see Development as the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth of man in consonance with his family, community, patriotic and global identities and relations, helping him to live in harmony with Nature and live without impoverishing or endangering future generations.

The Samagra Vikas approach greatly emphasises on development with a human face.The modern science and economies see the parts as divorced from the whole. This approach sees trees and misses the woods. This vision also failed to see the interdependence of the parts of Nature, their underlying linkages and the overall utility. Synthesis and holism lost out the race for a place in man’s scheme of things. Thereafter, the economies got divorced from the social concerns of man and became the study of the management merely of the materials and wealth.

In this paradigm, social units such as family, community and cultural entities suffered the most. The new science and economies promoted lifestyle and a thought-pattern that led to the atomisation of the community. This resulted in isolation of the individual from his emotional and biological provenance and cultural background. The modern science and technology is emphasising on production of ‘over concentrated useful things’ like vitamins through intensifying the technology and leaving the rest of the things as waste. This is the central cause of all problems of today. Life is natural and cannot be compartmentalised.

In earlier days, man was slow, land-loving, Nature-lovers and family and community centred. He led a subsistent way of life, which kept him self-contented. The values and norms promoted by the institutions of the early days, guided the man to live in harmony with fellow human beings and Nature through sharing and caring. Commercialisation of social transactions degraded community values and created orphans, who could not ‘purchase their way out’.

The present paradigm of development, for sure, is leading to an irreversible destruction to the mankind. It is the responsibility of every individual human being to change the present situation. Each individual’s role in restoring our ancient lifestyles is inescapable. Everyone should keep doing at his/her own capacity towards this cause and one should not wait the whole society to change. “Be, but don’t expect”.

VK– NARDEP is committed to translating the grand concepts of sustainable living into packages for application in day-to-day life and take the same to the masses.

Digital Exhibitions

VK-Nardep has established an exhibition entitled Gramodaya Park, in the headquarters campus of Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The exhibition gives insights into sustainable solutions to the problems encountered by the world. Presently Gramodaya Park has established permanent exhibitions on water management, agriculture, housing and health. The exhibitions are visited by thousands of  people per annum on an average.

Now, we propose to promote a digital exhibition in Gramodaya Park on “Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living” with the following objectives:

Strengthening the individuals’ existing knowledge about sustainable lifestyles.

Motivating the individuals to adopt sustainable living practices.

Sharing best practices and partnerships among the practitioners, aspirants, implementing agencies, government bodies and policy makers.

Cultivating partnerships and networking among the different stakeholders.

To bring the contents of the exhibition to the knowledge of non-viewers, we have decided to present them simultaneously in print medium in the form of 3 volumes of Kendra Patrika with a title – “Promoting Pathways to Sustainable Living”. The first volume covers the five sections (i) Philosophical aspects (ii) Economy, Energy, Environment (iii) Inner Sustainability (iv) Thinkers and (v) Sustainable Development through stories.

The second volume will cover different verticals such as (i) Water (ii) Food (iii) Energy (iv) Forests (v) Agriculture (vi) Housing (vii) Mobility (viii) Markets (ix) Globalisation (x) Consumer Goods (xi) Communication (xii) Education (xiii) Health etc.

The third and the last is the most important volume – The Trend Setters which will have 4 sections such as:

1. Nations – Bhutan, Cuba, Germany, Costa Rica etc.

2. Movements such as Voluntary simplicity, Slow living, Slow cities, Minimalism, 
     Holistic Health, Organic Natural farming etc.

3. Individuals – Green Warriors, Sadhaks, Followers etc.

4. Book Reviews of a few important books related with Sustainable Development

Contributors of the first volume are mainly our colleagues who are practitioners of Sustainable Living such as:

Shri N.Krishnamoorti – who is our friend, philosopher and guide for the last four decades.

Shri Dileep Kulkarni, who worked for Vivekananda Kendra a few years before settling in Kokan area of Maharashtra and living in tune with Nature for the last 3 decades and motivating and guiding people of Maharashtra by conducting shibirs, giving lectures and writing highly inspiring books.

Shri T.Raghunandan who too worked for Vivekananda Kendra in the formative years, managed a 10+2 Senior Secondary School in Rajasthan for thirty-one years with his wife Vasantha and has now settled  down in Kerala for sadhana.

Shri Aravindan Neelakandan too is associated with Kendra since last two decades and who is now an associate editor of the famous magazine “Swarajya”.

Dr.Prakash Maithani retired as an advisor, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India is also closely associated with us since last three decades.

In addition, to cover the gaps, we have added articles of the few individuals to make the volume complete.

Our close friend and well-wisher Shri Venkataraghavan alias Keshav added value to the Kendra Patrika by designing the cover page and illustrations in the pages of this issue. Hope, readers will appreciate our efforts.

                                                                                                            G.Vasudeo

The Unsung Heroes -2

 Sacrifice: The basis for a great nation

Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan trust is very happy to bring out the second volume of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika on unsung heroes. 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsava' has provided the context and opportunity for India to look within to question herself as to why did we forget so many freedom fighters from all parts and all communities of India who fought sacrificing everything with British and what is the best way to remember them. As we forgot them we also missed the drives of freedom fights to pass it on to future generations. These freedom fighters fought not just for political freedom but for reclaiming and expressing 'Swa' of India in all systems of life which the British had destroyed. 

 

Swami Vivekananda whose message served as great inspiration for freedom movement realised that India was not just any other nation. But India was nurtured with truth of existence that is the world view of oneness of existence by the great sages, rishis, saints so as to guide the humanity to evolve spiritually. Thus, India's freedom movement was not only in India's interest but it was for the well-being of the whole humanity. 

 

Swami Vivekananda almost becomes poetic while describing India. He says, 'This is the ancient land where wisdom made its home before it went into any other country, the same India whose influx of spirituality is represented, as it were, on the material plane, by rolling rivers like oceans, where the eternal Himalayas, rising tier above tier with their snow-caps, look as it were into the very mysteries of heaven. Here is the same India whose soil has been trodden by the feet of the greatest sages that ever lived. Here first sprang up inquiries into the nature of man and into the internal world. Here first arose the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, the existence of a supervising God, an immanent God in nature and in man, and here the highest ideals of religion and philosophy have attained their culminating points. This is the land from whence, like the tidal waves, spirituality and philosophy have again and again rushed out and deluged the world, and this is the land from whence once more such tides must proceed in order to bring life and vigour into the decaying races of mankind. It is the same India which has withstood the shocks of centuries, of hundreds of foreign invasions of hundreds of upheavals of manners and customs. It is the same land which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its undying vigour, indestructible life. Its life is of the same nature as the soul, without beginning and without end, immortal; and we are the children of such a country.'

 

The colonial rule of British destroyed India's well spread system of education for all communities, irrigation system and land policy which made India Sujalam- Suphalam, flourishing industry and commerce. As India relegated to poverty and ignorance, she forgot about her ‘Swa’ and her role in comity of nations.  The impact of British rule even after independence was not course- corrected. Additionally, political exigencies further compounded and prolonged the misfortune of India. Dharma is the life- center of India. Even though there were some emperors who politically had united India, India was always considered as one nation even when there were many political units or kingdoms or janapadas in India. It was Dharma that united India. The understanding of Dharma, the insistence for practice of Dharma were common. 

 

Thousands of freedom fighters sacrificed their life so that India is again established firmly, vibrantly and with conviction in oneness of existence, in divinity of human soul and divinity of the creation and for India mould her national life on Dharma. But we forgot, what is India, what is the life centre of India, how should we strengthen India, what is the speciality of India etc. Fortunately, by the penance and blessings of the great Rishis and Sadhus and the merit of sacrifice of crores of freedom fighters, over the period, an awakening is perceived, self-confidence is evident, and India appears getting ready to express her 'Swa'.  At such opportune time, 'Azadi ka Amrit mahotsav' also has provided an occasion for us to go deep into what India stands for; to understand and practice Dharma to raise our nation not to dominate other countries but to guide the whole humanity. 

 

Swami Vivekananda had said that Dharma is the life centre of India but unfortunately we equated Dharma with exclusive religions and thus we failed to understand that whatever may be the religious tradition of a person, Dharma is to be practiced by all. Dharma is our duty towards our expanded self that is the families, society, nation, humanity and whole creation.  

Though in the days of Swami Vivekananda religion word was used by him in his English lectures, what he meant was always Dharma. Swami Vivekananda pointed out, 'We have seen that our vigour, our strength, nay, our national life is in our religion. I am not going to discuss now whether it is right or not, whether it is correct or not, whether it is beneficial or not in the long run, to have this vitality in religion, but for good or evil it is there; you cannot get out of it, you have it now and for ever, and you have to stand by it, even if you have not the same faith that I have in our religion. You are bound by it, and if you give it up, you are smashed to pieces. That is the life of our race and that must be strengthened. You have withstood the shocks of centuries simply because you took great care of it, you sacrificed everything else for it. Your forefathers underwent everything boldly, even death itself, but preserved their religion. Temple after temple was broken down by the foreign conqueror, but no sooner had the wave passed than the spire of the temple rose up again. Some of these old temples of Southern India and those like Somnâth of Gujarat will teach you volumes of wisdom, will give you a keener insight into the history of the race than any amount of books. Mark how these temples bear the marks of a hundred attacks and a hundred regenerations, continually destroyed and continually springing up out of the ruins, rejuvenated and strong as ever! That is the national mind, that is the national life-current. Follow it and it leads to glory. Give it up and you die; death will be the only result, annihilation the only effect, the moment you step beyond that life-current. I do not mean to say that other things are not necessary. I do not mean to say that political or social improvements are not necessary, but what I mean is this, and I want you to bear it in mind, that they are secondary here and that religion is primary.'

 

Each soul is potential divine. The goal of life is to manifest that divinity by controlling the nature external and internal, so said Swami Vivekananda. The striving to manifest our divinity by performing our duties to all collectives is Dharma. Controlling the nature external and internal is Dharma. Getting rooted in one's own being is Dharma.  But what is my being, is in all the beings. Therefore, to interact with everything i.e. with man and nature with feelings of oneness is Dharma. Man is not just body, mind, intellect.  Man is an expanding consciousness which manifests as various collectives like family, society, nation and whole creation. Being part of all these collectives, naturally man is bound to fulfil his duty as part of the whole.  Simultaneously, we have a duty to perform and a function to enrich our larger self that is families, society, nation and the whole creation and ultimately realize our divine nature. 

 

In above quotation, we have to mark very important words of Swami Vivekananda, 'You have withstood the shocks of centuries simply because you took great care of it (Dharma), you sacrificed everything else for it.' We as a nation withstood the shocks for centuries because we sacrificed everything for Dharma. It is that sacrifice which is the need of the hour. Sacrifice not to die in the war necessarily today, but to rebuild our nation, to express the 'Swa' of India, the oneness of existence in all systems of national life.

The great work is done by great sacrifices alone. As Vedas say, 'Tyagen eke amritatvamaanasu'.  We got the freedom because of the great sacrifices by all these freedom fighters from all the parts of India, from all the communities of India, from different social stratas. For them the education or career, the job or status, the comforts or enjoyment were not important but making India free from colonial rule was important. Therefore, they sacrificed everything. For rebuilding of our nation too, we need to sacrifice. Nations are not built by selfish interests or from comfort zones. In whatever job or profession, we are, can we devote ourselves fully? Can we manifest excellence in each field? Can we spare our sometime to work for good of the society without any expectation? If yes, then we are really remembering all these great freedom fighters not just in words or memory but also in action. And that is what they expected from us. That was the only expectation of theirs when they went to the gallows smilingly, that after them, would come many more who would free the country and rebuild it with great sacrifices. May their lives as brought out in the second volume inspire us to sacrifice, to work, to manifest our excellence in the service of the people and our motherland.

                                                                                    

                                                                                        Nivedita Raghunath Bhide

 

The Unsung Heroes

 In this year of the completion of 75 years of independence from British rule, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan is bringing out this issue of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika on unsung heroes of the freedom movement in India.  India is celebrating 'Swaraj 75' for securing the independence from the British colonial rule 75 years before. No nation likes to be ruled by other powers and thus it is very natural that every country strives to get freedo
m. The freedom movement in India naturally was to get freedom from the colonial rule. But drives for freedom movement were much deeper than getting self- rule. The great personalities like Swami Vivekananda had reminded India that purpose of her existence was not only for herself but for the evolution of humanity. Freedom of India was just the prerequisite for this ordained mission.

As is the genius of India, the freedom movement was de-centralised, as there was no central authority directing and guiding it. It was also multi-layered. At various stratas of the society, people were fighting with the British. Though apparently it was seen that the agitations, fight etc., in some of the places were for local issues, but that is not true. The fight was for restoring the various systems of India which were based on Swa of India, the oneness of existence.  Those systems always were democratic, giving freedom to choose how to live and contribute for the bigger good but these were disrupted and destroyed by colonial powers, to loot India. Thus fighting with the colonial rule became essential.

Various methods were adopted for fighting for freedom like direct attack as revolutionaries were doing; fights and skirmishes; non-cooperation; defying the powers; exposing the atrocities of colonial rule at international forums; awakening the pride of Indians in India through newspapers, kirtan, lectures etc., and thus preparing to protest them  against British rule  in various ways. Each effort contributed and supplemented other efforts. The freedom was the result of the impact of all these various endeavours, struggles and fights for freedom at various levels and of course at various period.

More we are knowing during 'Swaraj 75' about these unsung heroes directly and thus about the freedom movement, for many of us, it is a paradigm change. Over the years only few were credited for getting the freedom for India. It is thus, that people are getting aware that many fought for freedom. People came to know also, about many more details of Indian systems that were in existence. We now know that India had well spread system of education where children of all communities got education. We know that we had a very systematic traditional irrigation system thus making India Sujalam, Suphalam. Therefore even the agriculture of India was not solely dependent on rains. We had very good commerce, trade, industry making India the richest country for the longest period in the world. But the British destroyed all our systems. The systems that they imposed were more to exploit the people and keep them uneducated and poor, to destroy the industry here, to make the land owners as land labourers and to make Indians ignorant about themselves. This was resisted deeply by the soul of India and thus we see freedom fighters from all the regions, communities and professions of India. The freedom fighters are from Janajati, rural and urban areas. Persons from all professions, students, house wives were part of freedom movement.

But the curious question is in such a vast and diverse land, without any central authority directing, how and why India responded as one nation, one people?

India is full of Diversity. The Diversity in India like names and forms of Ishvara, the languages, the festivals, way of dressing etc., is perhaps more than the Diversity in the rest of the world. But that does not mean that India is not connected or has no commonalities. In spite of such Diversity, the people of India or regions of India are deeply connected with each other.    Vincent Smith, a historian, not an admirer of India had to acknowledge that, 'India ... beyond all doubt, possesses a deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound than that produced either by geographical isolation or by political suzerainty. That unity transcends the innumerable diversities of blood, color, language, dress, manners and sect.' we can rather say that because of such deeper unity, India has immense diversity that adds to the colours of India.

Because of this deeper unity in India, all the people and thus India always respond as one nation to the situation. Even in the freedom movement persons from all creeds, communities and regions participated though apparently issues were different in different regions, somewhere it was the rights to use forests, somewhere land, or the loss of Kingdom, or imposition of taxes or conversion etc. Though issues were different, what was common was  the hurting the Swa of India was resisted. And what drives India in the absence of any central authority whether religious or otherwise? All our diverse traditions draw their inspiration, source, sustenance from the Truth of existence. They are not inspired by personalities or theologies but by principles. The principles spring forth from the realisations of various Sages, Rishis, Sants, Devotees, ancestors etc. And their realisations are of the Truth of existence which is same for all. Truth of existence does not change as per the regions or communities. And that is what connects us, beyond diversity of regions and communities. Therefore, as long as we are rooted in our tradition, we respond as one. While reading about these unsung heroes in this issue of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, we would get glimpse of Swa of Bharat. If we understand how so many spontaneously responded, we shall understand India.

The title of the issue itself is misleading in a way. As if these unsung, less known, freedom fighters wanted to be celebrated and so they sacrificed their lives for the freedom of India. That is far from the truth. There were no calculations, to expectations in their sacrifice for the freedom of India. They just sacrificed in the hope that India will be free to fulfil her global mission of guiding the humanity. If at all the word 'unsung-heroes' indicate anything, it indicates that how ungratefully we as a nation forgot, them and needed the occasion of 'Swaraj 75' to remember them, to sing about them. After this year, again these freedom fighters should not be forgotten but should become part of our education system, our history-learning, our local and regional celebrations. 

To really make the sacrifice of all the freedom fighters worthy, it is necessary also to look ahead to the future of India. As these unsung heroes sacrificed their life, careers, families without expecting anything in returns, to make India radiant in her Swa, to enable her to guide the world, we have to work for it. As Swami Vivekananda had said the great work can be done by great sacrifices only, we need to follow these unsung heroes. They had to die, give up their life, we have to offer the maximum time and energy in the interest of our motherland. We are born in a special land where working for her rejuvenation is in itself working in the interest of the humanity. Let us make coming 25 years as Amrit kal, a period when we reclaim back our faith in the immortality of Atman and thus work to contribute for the Nation.

                                                                                                                   Nivedita Raghunath Bhide