Never let the past overburden you, but always let it teach you
India, i. e. “Bharat” is the land of diversified cultures and values, beholding in herself the flavours of the longest epics such as “Mahabharata”,stories of valor of Maharana Pratap, struggle of the great social reforms of the 19th century, Rajaram Mohan Roy, Eshwar Chandra Vidyasaagar, Rani laxmi bai, Pandita Ramabai, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and many more great souls.
Human revolution is one of the most extraordinary phenomenons that took place on the earth. Beginning with inventions of fire and wheel by Humans, to the use of complex iron and copper tools and development of settled livelihood, humans are the most advanced creatures on the planet. But with this great advancement and the ambitions of humans which tend to never end, the most capable animal HUMAN turned wild, mean, consumerist, capitalist and above all self obsessed. The increased volume of practices such as, corruption, crony-capitalism, smuggling, theft, events of eve teasing, rape, sexual assaults etc. and etc. has let the whole human community down.
People have gone out of their senses in this hectic and fast growing world, racing for acquiring wealth and power. The question is, have all of these problems not existed prior 21st century!? The answers to this is that off course these kind of heinous crimes existed earlier as well but this is the power of humans to cope with these situations. History itself is the witness that even during the later Vedic period with emergence of Manusrimti, not only women but the so called lower casts or “shudras” and vaishyas also have to go through discrimination and ill treatment of the Brahaminical class. But people during those times got their ideals in enlightened figures – Gautam Buddha and Mahavira. The two acknowledged figures stood against such practices and showed the path of truth and non violence. Even Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime took inspiration from these principles and values. These principles were largely about “human salvation, consciousness of mind and soul and humanity.”
The epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata and the story of Jesus Christ, all revolve around great deeds of humanity, dharma, sacrifices etc. People around the world today worship one or the other forms of God, be it Hindu Gods and Goddesses, Jews worshiping Jesus or Muslims worshiping Mohammed Prophet. But do they really worship them for attaining peace and consciousness? Or just for the sake of their own well being and prosperity?! To worship should mean to follow their teachings of love, humanity, ethical values, dharma etc. These religious epics- Quran, Bible, Geeta are the richest sources of human values.
If we move a little forward in history and throw attention towards the great movements of medieval times around the world such as Sufi movement, Bhakti movement etc. we get the evidences of reforms in the original forks of worship, turning the society into more contemporary and realistic forms of profession of devotion towards god and mankind. These movements condemned all forms of cruelty towards humans as well as animals and taught the lesson of mysticism. These emphasized on direct connection with god or the good of everyone. The world today is heading towards India and looking upon it to be a path maker in the field of meditation and yoga, the practices which are a source of escape from the inhumane world into a world where it has patience, peace, love and satisfaction. These virtues has enabled the man to first think and then act.
There is no denial to the fact that past and especially 19th century has shown the world one of the most cruel phase of humanity. The practices of sati, untouchability, child marriage, bonded labour, mass killings of Jews (under Nazism), polygamy, Purdah system and many more were written in Black letters in the history. But all of this came to an end with the tireless efforts of such great human beings as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who stick stick to his principles despite huge criticism from society and even family. It was his efforts which led to laws such as Abolition of Sati Act. Other great personality is Eshwar Chandra Vidyasaagar whose efforts brought in existence the law of widow Remarriage Act. Leaders like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, their whole life advocated for abolition of untouchability. Female warriors of those times- Savitribai Phule, Sarojini Naidu, Mother Teresa were, are, and will always be inspiration for the world to strive for achieving equal status for women, poor, unprivileged. These great souls have taught us to work for human betterment, even without any personal gains.
Why can’t today the world look back for one and adopt these values and culture that we owned in the past. The incidents of cow slaughter and mob lynching are nothing but a slap on the face of teachings of Buddha, Mahavira and even ideals of Gandhiji. Abraham Lincoln one of the revolutionaries and a face of anti-black movement of America, fought with all his efforts against black racism in the U. S. A but the events of killing of black activists on the streets of U. S. A by officials is not something for which the nobel man had dream of. History is not just a source of knowledge of the past theories but is a treasure to look back at and learn to cope with the modern day problems destroying humanity and depriving the mankind and consciousness. It’s high time, the world should adopt the principle of Lord Mahavira –
Live and let live.
International Journal of Research (IJR) 