Uttaram yat samudrasya Himadreschaiva dakshinam Varsham tad Bharatam nama Bharati yetra santatihi. (Vishnu Purana)
IT describes our country as the one extending to the north of the seas and lying to the south of the Himalayas and calls it Bharat and her children as Bharatis.
When we discuss of Hindu Rashtra, the word ‘Hindu’ is not to be equated with any particular form of worship. It is not what is cannoted by the English word religion. The word Hindu stands for our entire society, those who live in this country and accept the fact that this is an ancient nation with a long history and a hoary tradition and willing to share it, are all covered by that word; they are all members of the Hindu Rashtra and believers in Hindutva.
Hindu Rashtra has been living on this land and it has a common dharma and sanskriti, a common sharing of joys and sorrows, a common appraisal of enemies and friends and a common aspiration for the future. Then, there is its glorious lineage of noble ancestors, the great men and seers who have protected and enriched the nation. This Hindu samaj cherishes a natural desire to make the nation strong, prosperous and great in all repects, to attain such cultural rights that each individual member of its becomes a model for all mankind in character and righteous conduct. Unlike other nations this society would like to use this national strength not for the destruction of other people but for the service of the world because that in fact has been the mandate of our forefathers.
Hindutva is a self-sustaining, self-renewing jungle phenomenon and is nearest to nature and assimilative in character. Hindutva is a non-geometrical forest where in old trees live out their life clearing the atmosphere from the pollutants so that man and animal can live, even when the trees and vegetation die, their remains work as nutrients for their new generation. Hindutva is thus a self-renewing way of life. In relation to other nations Hinduism stands for a harmonious synthesis among nations and not for their obliteration.
The nation Bharat is a culmination of long past of heroic endeavours, selfless sacrifices and glorious deeds of devotion…….. To have common glories in the past, to have common will in the present, to have performed great deeds together and to wish to perform still more; these are the essential conditions for being the citizen of a country.
Hindus are not just a religious community, but a nation; Hindu Rashtra is not a political concept. Nation (Rashtra) and state (Rajya) are two differnt concepts and should not be mixed up. State is purely a political concept. Nation is eternal while the state is transitory. If the state is the body, the nation is its soul (atma). In Hindu philosophy the atma is eternal and only the bodies and their forms are changed. The Hindu Rashtra has been existing since time immemorial and it shall continue to exist forever. Hindu Rashtra is a cultural and emotional concept, eternally assering itself. It makes clear that national sentiment is supreme, and all other sentiments, whether religious or sectional, should remain subservient to it.
People belonging to various religions in this country are all Hindus by culture and are nationals of Bharatavarsha. Any person born in this country irrespective of his or her religion, with the proviso that he or she loves Bharat or respects its cultural traditions are all Hindus. Logically, the national heroes of Hindu Rashtra like Sri Ram and Sri Krishna should be reverd by all the nationals irrespective of their religious beliefs.
(The writer is a MCJ student, Calicut University, Muthedathukattil House Meenadathur, P.O. Tanalur-676 307)
