Who are we as “Bharatiya”? In the era of war of narratives, identity, and consequent politics of power, this is a question to be asked, introspected, and replied to repeatedly by us and to us. This is particularly applicable to Macaulay’s educated “so-called modern” Indians who examine and infer all aspects of Bharat and Bharatiya culture through the lens of the Western narrative on Bharat. This is also essential to all those non-Bharatiyas with the least first-hand experience or knowledge of this ancient civilisation, yet portray Bharatiya culture as a culture of snake charmer or Hindu supremacists due to the influence of one-sided media.
While an illiterate Bharatiya with rich exposure to traditional values and norms based on spiritual teachings may have a fair idea of Bharat’s all-inclusive and eternal striving for self-realization based on “Karma and rebirth”, and can understand the resilience and co-existence of endless faith, language, and culture since thousands of years, the highly qualified modern Bharatiyas are often more confused on “Who are Bharatiyas?” “How Bharat is a unique country in the world?”, “What is Bharatiya Consciousness,” “What are Bharaiya’s individual and collective goals as inheritor of the World’s most ancient and existing civilisation, etc”. In his seminal book, Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Sah Sarkaryawah (Join Secretary) of RSS, a doctorate degree holder in Nuclear Chemistry answers many such questions eloquently with real life examples. The book explains clearly why answering such fundamental questions has larger implications on the day-to-day debate on education, culture, religion, language, citizenship, gender, etc., and on the related policies of Bharat currently and in the years to come.
This book is a collection of 34 essays, divided into four sections, viz. “Sangha and Samaj”, “We: Soul of Bharat”, “Reflections”, and “Inspiration Continues”. These essays are befitting replies to the contemporary one-sided narratives on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Bharatiya Prospective, on Psedu Secularism, and on the nexus among anti-Bharat forces. Essays of the first section counter the propaganda narrative on the RSS by the opposite party. Dr. Vaidya answers most of the questions that pop up in the media or other common discourse frequently, saying, What RSS did do to the freedom struggle of Bharat? What does this organization do for the caste division? How Hinduness (Hindutva) can NOT be an exclusivist idea as it believes on “Ekam Sat, Vipraha Bahudha Vadanti (Truth is one, sages say it differently using different names)”? While explaining these issues, he does not forget to tell how the selective presentation of history since the colonial period is shaping Bharatiya’s mind. He rejects the common discourse that the freedom of Bharat was just because of Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi but was achieved by the joint efforts of all sections of the society. In summary, the first section gives a brief history, purpose, and activities of the RSS, its role in the freedom struggle, and more importantly how it is rooted in the principles of eternal Bharatiya Society, which withstood countless foreign invasions in the past 1000 years. And who else can justify this job other than Dr Vaidya, who is an insider of the Sangha Family by birth and by work?
The second section of the book, “We: Soul of Bharat” is the crown of the book which must be read by every educated Bharatiya to be independent from the colonial outlook, or to say to be free from the confusion that happens due to parallel structure of Macaulay education and Bharatiya spiritual based teachings on holistic progress on life. These essays combine Bhartiya philosophical thoughts with historical as well as emerging events to remind every Bharatiya about their righteous duty to their motherland. The Western concept of development is based on the very individualistic and material well-being of humans with an aim to conquer nature, assuming humankind is the master of nature. Such “prematured” development is creating endless issues for humankind such as man-made and natural disasters, climate change; social, familial, and psychological adverse outcomes; competition between man and woman; forceful and cohesive methods of imposing religion on others, etc. Such development couldn’t bring peace, happiness, or contentment despite all affluences in the so called “developed societies”? In this context, the book illustrates how the Hindu view of life shows a way to modern thinkers where “everything is a manifestation of same divinity”! In a very comprehensive way, he gives a quick understanding of the strengths of the Hindu view of life in modern era such as “divinity is omnipresent, hence it is easy to let go”, “the entire universe is interconnected and hence everyone is interdependent”, “the earth is our mother, hence we can milk her but cannot exploit” etc. He summaries the principle of Karma and rebirth, and hence one is always responsible on their own for anything that happens and will happen to them. In this section of the book, readers are bound to be engrossed as the author responds to many fundamental questions on Bharatiya consciousness, dharma, the revival of Lord Ram’s birthplace, abrogation of article 370, the invincible soul of Bharat, tribals as non-Hindu, denying bharat’s own identity etc. in a captivating way. The author reiterates that importance of Bharat in the global world is increasing in the past few years. His thoughts on this section of the book perfectly answer, “who are we”, what do we stand for, where do we come from, and where do we intend to go? It is said that the sages, saints, and cultural ambassadors of India traveled across the world to enlighten people without any force, which is possible due to the holistic, integral, interconnected, and spiritual Hindu view of life! These saints never believed in the mass proselytization of people, which is an essential aim in the Abrahamic faiths. The wealthy kings never burdened the other countries with war. The author explains clearly why Hindu is a “dharma”, but not a religion. This section further makes us realize why Bharat is “Vishwaguru” despite being backward in many material indicators compared to high-income countries! The points raised and answered in this section are perhaps often realized by common Bharatiya in their daily interactions but they are often unable to put two and two together due to a lack of coherence between the educational system and Bhahartiya values.
In the third section of the book, Dr Vaidya unapologetically slams the ideologies which anti-Bharat by nature. They are termed as anti-Bharat because either they want to uproot the dharmic or spiritual culture of India, which is prevalent in every stone and leaf in India, or try for mass proselytization to end the only existing ancient civilization in the entire world. While these forces kept on presenting themselves as “liberal”, “progressive”, etc, they always vehemently opposed anything which is not in their line. Dr. Vaidya gives a classic example of how a movie called “Budha in a Traffic Jam” was debarred from screening in a premier University just because the movie doesn’t align with communist ideology! He spells out common apprehension on “Why Bharat would not be a Hindu Pakistan”, “ Why Sangha and Muslim Brotherhood are incomparable ”, and “How Akhanda Bharat concept is NOT a geo-political concept but a geo-cultural concept” etc. Throughout the book, Dr Vaidya rightfully quoted celebrated thinkers of India, such as Swami Vivekananda, Dr Ambedkar, Ravindranath Tagore, S Radhakrishnan etc. The last section of the book is a bunch of tribute to the four eminent personnel of Bharat. All these essays are great read to understand the life and work of leaders who influenced Bharat. They are also helpful to know how Bharat survived when nearly all other ancient civilizations fell.
In short, this is a fascinating book that discusses how Bharat’s eternal spiritual principles are appropriate answers to the problems in modern life irrespective of geographical and cultural boundaries. This book will raise bhartiya consciousness to many generations to come! This book is recommended for anyone who is interested to know the spirit of Bharat, “Without sacrificing our own and without destroying others”!
