We Indians should take pride in our Nation, its history and cultural heritage. We should revive this spirit of pride in our younger generations too. The spirit of patriotism is lost. Here the media can play a major role in reviving this spirit by highlighting stories and documentaries on India’s freedom fighters who shed their blood that we may free ourselves from foreign oppression.
Swami Vivekananda said, “Give the children an inspiration of national feelings". “The Indian is my brother, India is my life. India’s society is the cradle of my Infancy, the pleasure garden of my youth, the sacred heaven. The soil of India is my highest heaven, the good of India is my good.”
The true Gandhian spirit should be instilled in us. Let’s ask ourselves, “How relevant are we to the causes for which Gandhiji lived?”. His message was that any one big or small, rich or poor should take to physical labour. In fact Gandhiji felt that only those who contribute to the states welfare through physical efforts should have the voting right. In this regard the carpenter or mason will stand a better chance than a millionaire, who does no labour.
Today the world is divided for lack of human understanding. Ego and complexities dominate. But it is a fact that everyone throughout the world is touched by the Gandhian spirit. People worldwide, are realizing the importance of simple life, protection of nature, village development, women’s uplift etc. Yes, we should work constantly and diligently for the uplift of the people. We should follow Gandhi’s way of simple living and high thinking.
Gandhi’s message is mostly exemplified by his own life which has gradually surfaced through the globe’s contemplating minds and are becoming part of universal values. The appeal of a soul that is so humane and so absolutely sincere is irresistable. Today we have come to realise fully that if it is to be made useful it should have both knowledge and skill, which according to Gandhiji would mean working with the hands and exercising the mind. Both are equally important for our human development. Most of the advanced nations have long been preaching this philosophy in the field of Education. Only in the country of his birth, does one find it a great struggle with very limited sources to introduce a vocational component in our school system.
Inculcation of sound values was for him an integral part of education. According to Gandhiji any form of oppression or demanding compliance by force is violence. He stood for simple life with fewer wants and for him the economy is the corner stone of virtue. It fully echoes the sentiments of those who grieve over the consumerism that threaten the global ecology and peace.
It is by no dreams or exaggeration that more and more intellectuals the world over quote and draw inspiration from Gandhiji’s philosophy of life today, than in his life time.
Bala Kumar S
St. Mary’s Anglo-Indian Higher Sec. School, Chennai.1.