The Cry of Harbinger
Amitava Dutta
This is already
known to us that, more than 70% of our country comprise of rural areas and
villages. Since time immemorial they have been deprived by the upper sections
of our society and the poor rural farmers got used to the domination paid by
the so called upper class people.
Swami Vivekananda
said, ―The real nation who live in cottage have forgotten their man-hood, their
individuality.‖ He added, ―We have to give back to the nation its lost
individuality and raise the masses.‖ GIVE BACK THE NATION ITS LOST
INDIVIDUALITY AND RAISE THE MASSES. He also said, ―These common people have
suffered oppression for thousands of years- suffered it without murmur, and as
a result have got wonderful fortitude... …They have got the wonderful strength
that comes of a pure and moral life, which is not be found anywhere else in the
world.‖ It is quite surprising to believe that from right before the Mughals
and till the English Rule over our country, NO MARK OF DEMOTION IS OBSERVED AND
WE HAVE NOT LOST OUR INDIVIDUALITY BASED ON THE CUSTOM AND CULTURE, ETHOS, AND
OUR RITUAL VALUES AND NORMS. Swamiji said, ―Let new India arise in your place.
Let her arise- out of the peasants‘ cottage, grasping the plough; out of the
huts of the fisherman, the cobbler, and the sweeper. Let her springfrom the
grocer‘s shop, from beside the oven of the fritter- seller. Let her emanate from
the factory, from marts, and from markets. Let her emerge from groves land
forests, from hills and mountains.‖
I believe, our
rural people are the backbone of our country- THEY GIVE US THE FOOD WE EAT. It
has become like this that if a plant dies, the market cost increases. The rural
famers are not acknowledged about this fact that WHAT is the importance of
their existence. Just like WE CAN SLEEP because the INDIAN ARMY STAYS AWAKENED,
similarly, WE CAN EAT because the INDIAN FARMERS starves. They are feeding us
but please reach the green and find out what they are eating, what are the
menus of their daily diet. Swamiji said, ―Look at the masses of our country!
What a look of sadness on their faces and want of courage and enthusiasm in
their herats, with large stomachs and no strength in their hands and fet- a set
of cowards frightened at every trifle! WHAT IS THE SOLUTION??
Swamiji has
answered- EDUCATE THE MASSES TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS. He said, ―We have,
therefore, to wait till the people are educated, till they understand their
needs and are ready and able to solve their problems…educate our people, so
that they may be able to solve their own problems. The only service to be done
for our lower classes is to give them education, to develop their lost
individuality.‖ HOW EDUCATION? Swamiji answered- ―By education I do not mean
the present system, but somethingin the line of positive teaching. Mere book
learning won‘t do. We want that education by which character is formed,
strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can
stand on one‘s own feet.‖ For implementing these words of Swami Vivekananda, we
have to reach to the green, the poor rural children who are the future of
today‘s India. Swamiji said, ―Feel, my children, feel; feel for the poor, the
ignorant, the downtrodden.‖ He has guided us presenting a moto for today‘s
youth- ―Elevation of the masses without injuring their religion.‖
We have to reach
to them- the poor people and encourage them with the ideas of Swami
Vivekananda. WE HAVE ALSO TO WEAR HALF PANTS AND VESTSand WORK with them in the
fields… this will never demote our status but I belief this will brighten and
enlighten our character. We have to frequently visit our villages and motivate
them with all our strength and risen them in the hierarchical gradation. We
have to teach them that- ―From the highest God to the meanest grass, the same
power is present in all‖
Swamiji wanted a
NEW INDIA. He said, ―A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of
holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion‘s
courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will
go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation,
the gospel of social raising up- the gospel of equality.‖ So friends- my dear
brothers and sisters- JOIN HAND TO HAND and just DRAG OFF THE POVERTY off this
POOR INDIA. LET‘S START NOW- TO BRING UP A NEW GREEN INDIA TO GIFT THE UPCOMING
FUTURE GENERATION. ‗
This
is the ancient land where wisdom made its home before it went into any other
country, the same India whose influx of spirituality is represented, as it
were, on the material plane, by rolling rivers like oceans, where the eternal
Himalayas, rising tier above tier with their snowcaps, look as it were into the
very mysteries of heaven. Here is the same India whose soil has been trodden by
the feet of the greatest sages that ever lived. Here first sprang up inquiries
into the nature of man and into the internal world. Here first arose the
doctrines of the immortality of the soul, the existence of a supervising God,
an immanent God in nature and in man, and here the highest ideals of religion
and philosophy have attained their culminating points. This is the land from whence,
like the tidal waves, spirituality and philosophy have again and again rushed
out and deluged the world, and this is the land from whence once more such
tides must proceed in order to bring life and vigour into the decaying races of
mankind. It is the same India which has withstood the shocks of centuries, of
hundreds of foreign invasions of hundreds of upheavals of manners and customs.
It is the same land which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its
undying vigour, indestructible life. Its life is of the same nature as the
soul, without beginning and without end, immortal; and we are the children of
such a country.‘
-
Swami Vivekananda
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