29. INDIA, THE MOTHER!
WHY should we love the motherland? What does it involve?
Patriotism V. Nationalism
Usually we speak of patriotism or nationalism. But both words do not mean the same thing. George Orwell explained patriotism and distinguished it from nationalism in a famous passage:
"By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."
[ From: Notes on Nationalism, 1945 ]
He has clearly brought out the essence of patriotism- devotion to a place and its culture, defensive militarily and culturally.
Mother and Motherland
This was beautifully stated millennia ago in a few words by Rama in the Ramayana. After the battle is over, Vibhishana invites Rama and company to enter Lanka and spend a few days. Rama declines the invitation and utters words which will remain immortal:
जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी
Mother and motherland are superior to even heaven!
It is the national motto of Nepal!
World as home?
There are many who would consider such sentiment to be pure jingoism or chauvinism. But why should it be so? Is not a normal person attached to his/her mother? Is not the bond with the mother something special? Does it imply dislike or hatred of others?
Many people today would say, sincerely, that they are above such low and limiting notions, that the whole of humanity is one, that they are citizens of the world, the world is their home. This is indeed a noble sentiment and high ideal. But is humanity ready for it, really? How many countries would welcome you, and let you remain as you are, there? Will you continue to be welcome in case hostilities break out between the two countries? Why do countries have Visa regulations and continue to tighten them?
And within modern India how many states will welcome you if you speak a different language? They just suffer you!
Leave the world alone. Take the European Union. It is remarkable that countries which were traditional enemies and fought many wars came together in some arrangement. But do the people of those countries feel emotional and cultural unity, apart from economic and political interests? Do they feel like one people? Are the English, the French, the Germans the same or alike? Are they really comfortable with each other? Do they feel Greece is really their equal? Do the Greeks feel so, in turn? Would be citizens of the world, knowing only English, should visit France and Germany and experience what it is like there! After all, they all follow the same religion, at least nominally, even if it is secularisn? Perhaps, only real scholars would be welcome across borders. Even there, modern universities have erected ideological barriers among themselves.
The concept of motherland holds something more than all these earthly ideas. Ethnic identity still matters, as the aftermath of the fall of the USSR has shown. There is an invisible chord which binds you with the place of your birth. Who ever left his native place without a lump in the throat? Nationality does mean something- however it may be defined, whatever may be its basis.
There have been violent and ugly manifestations of nationalism in the past. This has happened with every ideology- religion, socialism, democracy, beginning with liberty, equality , fraternity, etc. It does not invalidate the ideology as such.
Orwell's words imply that there is something more than defence of space: it is defence of culture! And culture has evolved in response to and in the soil of a place! It is not narrow-mindedness to love one's own culture, or nationality any more than it is to eat the food one is accustomed to. It becomes a threat and a problem only when it leads to a superiority complex and a hatred of and the urge to dominate or eliminate others. It is a problem only if it breeds prejudice.
Aggressive nationalism and peaceful culture
Unbridled Nationalism, in the service of ambitious politicians, usually leads to aggressive postures and attitudes, often culminating in war, as we saw in the two world wars. Ethnic nationalism often leads to attempts at genocide. This is due to the Western idea of 'nation' as
being mainly a political unit- a State. However, the people also constitute a society, and such societies may exist in any State! [Rome conquered the Greeks, but adopted Hellenistic ideas! Roman youngsters were sent to Athens to study!] In India, Rabindranath Tagore gave expression to it. He talked of society- 'samaja', and not in terms of political nationalism. [Ironically, in contrast to the Romans, India became free of British rule, but has become more Anglicised or Americanised thereafter. Modern Indian education thoroughly de-Indianises everyone.]
Einstein and the French savant Romain Rolland also disliked the idea of nation states and nationalism. However, Einstein felt a deep attachment to his Jewish heritage, though he was not a Zionist, practising Jew or outwardly religious.
If we consider nation as a society, then it becomes a cultural unit/unity sharing common values. Each such society is unique and need not pose a threat to others, so long as there is no intention of one to dominate others. The history of the last two thousand years unfortunately shows that both Christianity and Islam have forced themselves on other people and nations! It is their belief that they alone are the true path and their prophet alone is the true one! How can they let others live in peace, then?
INDIA IS DIFFERENT
But this is not our view. India differs in two vital respects from the rest of the world, especially the West. Nationalism has risen in the West on the concept of Nation-State, a political dispensation. India has never felt this. We have felt a broad cultural unity, a philosophical unity as the more fundamental value. Nor do we force our ways on others, or enforce uniformity everywhere.
Diana Eck , western academic ( with the usual western prejudices ) and no 'Hindutva' advocate, writes of :
"a particular idea of India that is shaped not by the modern notion of a nation-state, but by the extensive and intricate interrelation of geography and mythology......The fact that the people of ancient India.....gave a single name to the whole of this diverse subcontinent is itself noteworthy. The name is Bharata. ... This is an indigenous name... India like Japan, China, and Greece links its modern identity with an ancient and continuous civilization."
[India, A Sacred Geography, Harmony Books, 2012. p.45-46]
INDIA, THE MOTHER
Is India then a mere geographical entity? NO, say our scholars and savants.
India is not a mere congeries of geographical fragments, but a single, though immense organism, filled with the tide of one strong pulsating life from end to end.
-Radha Kumud Mukherjee: Nationalism in Hindu Culture, 1921.
Our highest ideal of love and devotion to our country is to be found in our conception of our land as Mother....... We addressed our land not merely as ......mother country, but simply as Mother.
This Mother is the spirit of India. This geographical habitat of ours is only the outer body of the Mother. The earth that we tread on is not a mere bit of geographical structure. It is the physical embodiment of the Mother....Our history is the sacred biography of the Mother.
- Bipin Chandra Pal in " The Soul of India."
BANDE MATARAM:
Salutations to the Mother!
That is why Bankim Chandra Chatterjee sang "Bande Mataram!" He addressed India as Mother, not just mother country!
वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यशामलां मातरम् ।
शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीं
फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीं
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीं
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ।। १ ।। वन्दे मातरम् ।
सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यशामलां मातरम् ।
शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीं
फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीं
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीं
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ।। १ ।। वन्दे मातरम् ।
“Vande Mataram!
Sujalam suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim, sumadhura bhashinim,Sukhadam, varadam, Mataram! Vande Mataram!
Sujalam suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim, sumadhura bhashinim,Sukhadam, varadam, Mataram! Vande Mataram!
तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म
तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म
त्वं हि प्राणा: शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारई प्रतिमा गडि
मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे मातरम् ।। ३ ।। वन्दे मातरम् ।
तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म
त्वं हि प्राणा: शरीरे
बाहुते तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारई प्रतिमा गडि
मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे मातरम् ।। ३ ।। वन्दे मातरम् ।
Tumi vidya, tumi dharma,
Tumi hridi, tumi marma,
Tvam hi pranah sharire!
Bahute tumi ma shakti,
Hridaye tumi ma bhakti,
Tomarayipratima gari mandire mandire!
Tumi hridi, tumi marma,
Tvam hi pranah sharire!
Bahute tumi ma shakti,
Hridaye tumi ma bhakti,
Tomarayipratima gari mandire mandire!
Mataram Vande Mataram!
I bow to thee, Mother
richly watered, richly fruited,
cool with the crops of the harvests,
the Mother!
Thou art knowledge, thou art conduct,
Thou our heart, thou our soul.
For thou art the life in our body,
In the arm thou art might, O Mother,
In the heart, O Mother, thou art love and faith
It is thy image we raise in every temple.
I bow to thee, O Mother!
Nation has a destiny!
While Tagore was against the ugly aspects of political nationalism, he was aware of the distinct role and destiny each nation carried. He said in his first English speech in India, in Madras, in 1919:
On each race is the duty laid to keep alight its own lamp of mind and its part in the illumination of the world.
Thus each nation has a distinct role to play and it is by being itself, and not by imitation of others, that a nation fulfills itself and its duty to the world community at large. How different this is from the ugly display of aggressive political nationalism!
Bharat Mata Ki Jai !
Before Gandhi entered the political scene, the country was reverberating with the joyous song of Vande Mataram, and the cries of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai ",made famous during the days of Bengal Partition. How did this song achieve such a status? How did it capture the hearts of the people? It was not a sudden development. As Diana Eck records:
" .... we glimpse something essential about the land of India itself. The land, in this vision , is the dismembered and distributed body of Shakti, providing the soil for a strong sense of the translocal belonging.
"Mother" is the name - both powerful and affectionate- by which Hindus call Shakti, be she Kali the frightful or Ganga the beneficent....it is also the name by which they call the land of India- "Bharat Mata, Mother India."
Seeing India as Mother is both spiritual and geographical. It is grounded in Hindu affection for the land itself.
"Vande Mataram" has been able to take hold so powerfully in modern India not because it was fabricated and instrumentalised in the colonial context by Hindu nationalists old and new, but because of the widespread associative meanings that have long linked the land and the goddess." (p.297-299)
India as Goddess
No Indian leader has brought out the distinct nature of India in modern times as Sri Aurobindo. In very clear words he said:
Mother India is not a piece of earth; she is a Power, a Godhead.
India is not the earth, rivers and mountains of this land, neither is it a collective name for the inhabitants of this country. India is a living being, as much living as , say, Shiva. India is a Goddess as Shiva is a god. If she likes, she can manifest in human form.
The Soul of India is one and indivisible. India is conscious of her mission in the world.
India is the guru of the nations, the physician of the human soul in its profounder maladies; she is destined once more to new-mould the life of the world and restore the peace of the human spirit.
We now can understand what is the meaning of India, and what it means to love India. It is more than political attachment. How can one who does not subscribe to and bow down to the Mother that is India be considered an Indian?
Westerners and westernised Indians cannot understand this idea of India- nor can they like it! They fancy to think that India was not a nation before the British invented it! What utter idiocy! I quote Diana Eck again:
"The resistance to ideas of India's unity is embedded in colonial thought and often in postcolonial thinking as well. Even the many books that address the idea of India in recent times seem to acquiesce to largely Western constructs.
What are some of the ways in which India has seen itself and enacted its regional and pan-regional identities? Political analysts do not touch this question.Postcolonial studies do not reach very deep into the premodern subsoil of India to inquire whether there have been alternative ways of imagining the complex collectivity of India in a distinctively Indian idiom."
".....geography of this kind is more than a map. It is a three-dimensional sacred landscape. " (p.47,49)
BHARAT MATA
Indians have always considered their land as more than geography. She is Bharat, Bharat Mata. She is Mother, not just Motherland. Mother cannot be changed or exchanged. That is the basis of true love of India. Any one who cannot consider India his or her Mother and bow down in love and reverence is simply not Indian. It is not mere political allegiance that makes one a true Indian.
India is not merely the motherland. She is Mother.
Vande Mataram!
Note:
1.While 'Jana Gana Mana' of Tagore has been adopted as the National Anthem, it can be seen that it merely celebrates the physical features of the land of India, and lacks the psychological depth and emotional richness of Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram expresses the genius of India.
2. It is good to remember that India attained Independence on 15 August- the birthday of Sri Aurobindo! This is the seal of Divinity on the work of Sri Aurobindo for Indian Independence.
3.Modern Indian Republic is a political mechanism on foreign models. Real India is an Organic , living Entity.
