The soul of India or let us say in our words – “Bharat ki Atma”, what is it actually? What is the true definition? I guess it’s the most difficult answer and the simplest question of all. Ever since the formation of our country by ‘Chanakya’- The father of politics or the first emperor of our country ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ India has always been a mystery.
The literal India has no limited editions. It’s an ever changing equation of Mathematics which has no solution of its own. Perhaps, we don’t even need one. Some equations are meant for never to be solved. They are just like higher order calculus equations or are like a black hole where in time every theory, every culture, each king has played a song of fire and ice and have finally doomed to this eternal black hole. But time doesn’t hold only curse in our fate. It has blessed us with evolution, adaption and modification from its vast treasure of mysteries and a great history.
INDIA- a land which was once ruled by great kings, eventually evolved as ‘Bharatvarsha’ under the reign of its first emperor. It was attacked by the great emperor ‘Alexander’ who then dropped his mission to acquire the whole world, thus facing defeat in this land. In time it was attacked by Mughals, was looted by plenty of their rulers and was continued to be attacked and looted till Akbar the Great decided to rule the land as a country rather than harass and exploit it. There were kind rulers like Shahjahan, fierce rulers like Aurangzeb and patriotic rulers like Tipu sultan who would go to any extent to save the integrity of this land.
As the clock moved on, British people came to our country. They turned wicked, greedy and thirsty looking at our golden bird which once flew high with pride. Nonetheless, our country became a mixture of culture, thoughts and started rising with a new hope. A hope of modernization and freedom, an air of change, a dream to fly high with one rule –To love and only love.
There were many changes in our civilization in time. From being one of the oldest civilizations to one of the greatest race, we have been through a lot, experienced a lot. The journey began from Harappa civilization where we followed nature, prayed her for our well being and took it as our one and only deity. Time took its course and Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism came in to the big frame. There were some flaws, some evils and certainly some epic stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata through which emerged great heroes like Rama, Krishna and Hanuman. Like we say, ‘too much of goodness is also evil’. As always when there were some distant chanting of Hare Rama Hare Rama…Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, somewhere in this land Buddhism was evolving. Humanity was purely in disguise of this new religion thus bringing it back to the world. To show the world again, ‘Love is the foremost religion of every living being, of every human’.
With the advent of Mughals, Islam came in the frame and so did Sikhism, thus giving us ten great gurus. The British bought Christianity and with it, so did Mother Teresa who preached us the language of love, once again by serving the needy, by spreading love and care to everyone irrespective of its brand and label which we have done ever since the beginning of this world by caste, creed, race, religion and culture.
INDIA or BHARAT is not a country which was built up in a day. I would say it rather took centuries to develop its roots, to define its true soul when compared to Rome and is ever changing since then. No doubt that Rome is beautiful but India is something more than just beautiful.
INDIA is unpredictable just like our cricket match where we all say ‘India hai.. last over mein kuch bhi ho sakta hai’ and we hung onto our couches with our breathe held high until India is declared winner. This is our True India. The soul of India resides in its people who follow various religions. The tricolor- saffron, green and white show us the mixture of cultures which has made INDIA.
India is not made by Hindus nor by Muslims. It’s not made by general categorists or the SC/STs. The city dwellers and villagers, both are a part of this great nation called INDIA. In the present episode of World where we should be talking about technology and development, it’s a pity to say that we Indians have succumbed to the topic of ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Hindu Desh’. What is this love jihad? What is this Hindu Desh? Is this what our past has bestowed us? Is this what great rulers like Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka the great, Akbar, Shahjahan and many more have dreamt of? If we try to eradicate Muslims and convert our country to a Hindu Desh or may we try to finish Hinduism and covert this land to an Islamic province just what ISIS wants to do, Are we really giving our great nation what it deserves or are we just tearing its soul apart?
The amazing rituals and cultures of Varanasi, the sweet Raas of Vrindavan, the meditating silence of amaranth, Amritsar and many more, the various masterpieces of Mughals that emphasized their wealth, might and glory, innumerous temples of lord Buddha in Gaya, the monasteries in amazing places across the country which mark the symbol of peace and silence in the words of meditation, the land of temples at the end of this land with various beliefs and mythical stories which in time have only preached us the lesson of love, sacrifice and humanity – this is what real India is made of. This is what The Soul of India is made of. Tearing down any part of it will only lead to the peril of our existence, our great nation.
A land which is abode to 100 billion of people demands more of us. It demands love, care and respect. It’s not restricted to one religion. It has and always been hospital to everyone despite of their religion. Just as the time flew by, the religion of humanity has evolved in various forms. Time is soon to come when we will be known by one and only one religion –‘The religion of Humanity’ where we all will be taught only one thing –to love. Time has bought the religion of humanity again and again but with different names, through different people at different places. But unfortunately, we failed to identify them. We forgot to notice the simple message that every religion has preached us –the lesson of love and humanity. I wish we all open our eyes soon and before some other religion emerge once again to teach us the same lessons, it’s time that we all wake up and change the cycle of life which is about to repeat again.
