PrintFriendly- India’s oral tradition has evolved constantly to adapt to changing times and circumstances, keeping the eternal values intact
- To reach the common people, there was a need to make dharma, or right living, more accessible, closer to their daily lives
- Bhakti saints used music, poetry, local languages to bring God closer to people – they broke barriers of caste, class, religion & gender
- India is a land that is blessed with a rich cultural and intellectual milieu
- Our land is home to writers, scholars, saints and seers who have expressed themselves freely and fearlessly
- And whenever the history of human civilization entered into the era of knowledge, it is India that has always shown the way
- A false perception was created about India that India needed social, political and economic reform initiated by outsiders
- India’s soil is that soil from where change has always originated
- Our Saints integrated each and every citizen in their quest for social reform. Nobody was left outside the ambit
- Our civilization stands tall, overcoming obstacles
- Our Saints did things that may seem seemingly small but the impact was very big and this altered the course of our history
- In Hindu philosophy, time is accepted as a very important factor of the absolute -we are dik-kal- badhita- conditioned by space and time
- We all remember the role of Shri Narayana Guru in transforming Kerala
- Sri Sri Thakur Ramakrishna broke the mental barriers that keep us apart
- He lived the Muslim way of life, he lived the Christian way of life, he practised tantra
- “The Reality is one and the same;” he said, ” the difference is in name and form”
- His teachings are relevant to us today, when we are confronted with people who use religion, caste to divide & create animosity
- If we had not a teacher like this, would there have been a disciple like Swami Vivekananda
- Let Sri Sri Thakur Ramakrishna’s words inspire us to see the divine in all things
- To harness self & the ego in the service of the poorest & weakest so that we find the greater truth that is the essence of all religions
Author
(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)