This and the following issues of the newsletter will be dedicated to Sri Aurobindo and his vision for humanity, in order to mark Sri Aurobindo’s 142nd birth anniversary on the 15th of August 2014. The remaining themes on integral education, namely, psychic and spiritual education will be taken up from the September issue. In this issue, Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s vision for India is explored in a small measure.
This re-look at India comes at a crucial period of time when the political scenario undergoes a shift after a decade of rule through a congressional outlook. India appears to be looking upwards towards growth in many areas of life for its masses. At such a crucial point of turnaround for India, it is pertinent to re-visit Sri Aurobindo’s thoughts on India and envision the role of India in the larger scheme of things.
A part of India’s history in the recent past is explored through the writings of K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, in our feature article, ‘War and Peace’, extracted from ‘On The Mother’, where he narrates the events that led to India’s independence from the time of Lord Mountbatten’s appointment as Governor-General of India to oversee the handover of power to Indians. Of the chaotic times that followed this event of, Sri Aurobindo wrote,
“I know what is preparing behind the darkness and can see and feel the first signs of its coming. Those who seek for the Divine have to stand firm and persist in their seeking; after a time, the darkness will fade and begin to disappear and the Light will come.”
The prospect of a free India was certainly a matter of Divine decree, according to Sri Aurobindo. Not only a free India, but a united India was Sri Aurobindo’s dream. Eventually, it was such an India that would lead the world into a golden era. The partition of India into India and Pakistan is often pondered over, in light of a united India. Sri Aurobindo advocated against the severance of Pakistan from India at that time. This was his response to the partition that took place despite his advice against it,
“… I am getting a birthday present of a free India on August 15, but complicated by its being presented in two packets as two free Indias: this is a generosity I could have done without, one free India would have been enough for me if offered as an unbroken whole.”
Here is a valuable message that The Mother sent to Indira Gandhi. It may well be taken seriously by all leaders. “Let India work for the future and set the example. Thus she will recover her true place in the world. Since long it was the habit to govern through division and opposition. The time has come to govern through union, mutual understanding and collaboration. To choose a collaborator, the value of man is more important than the party to which he belongs. The greatness of a country does not depend on the victory of a party, but on the union of all parties.”
No comments:
Post a Comment