INDIA 2017 – A TRYST OF PLURALISM

We observe pluralism as a blend of two, three or five different community living together in a Nation. But that isn’t the case because within that community even there are two, three or five different Gods and Goddesses moving together. So India’s Pluralism is defined as a seeking of individual, because the crowd cannot be made to seek something.

This being the fundamental   ethos of the culture , we must understand that this happening is probably in competition with the other world, otherwise this land would have always been a land of seeking. Truth and Liberation has always been the highest values of this land – India.  Our grand parents have always been an integral part of our lives in building our cultural values through the daily discussion without being left out with words like : Karma, Dharma, Mukti and many such spiritual touch. They never held up to God as the highest value but Mukti or Liberation as the highest value.

LAND OF GOD : INDIA

I would like to mention that we never live in a land of ‘A God’ or any typology of God. All the people we worship have walked in this geography at one point of time moving to the trials and tribulations that all of us went through. Infact they have one through much more than us ,enabling us to bow down before them not because they were SuperHuman but Humans trempelled by life that is here.

For instance : Sachin Tendulkar is known as ‘The God of Cricket’, that is because he has excelled beyond certain limits in such a way that most people think them to be above humanity. Here I would again like to quote SadaGuru Ji who has described India as a colloidal society of chaos. To go deep into the meaning of chaos in this context is either having a gardener to take care of a society effectively to build into a beautiful environment- or have a society as a forest which in any which ways will go for millions of years without anybodies care or concern.

The question is in this forest of India’s Diversity where is this tree of Pluralism ?

Is our idea to India a wild new in today’s age?

So we can use this metaphor created by SadaGuru Ji that some people are coming into our garden and trying to turn it into a manicure garden as desired by them which is where the Pluralism starts. This has various forms  – to begin with religion first , caste and probably diversity in every aspect.

SINGULAR PLURALISM

With the millennial approach so far in India the only singular thing is Pluralism. Diversity will always be a fact but will it be inclusive of other factors or spaces or challenges that India has to learn with time. The most critical barrier is with the attitude and double for people with disability who face it more due to their functional  limitation. Mentioning this, how do   I  forget on the daring young lady Malvika Iyer who is a roaring example of patience and a born fighter who survived a bomb blast and fought her life back and shining like a star in the constellation – India’s Pride.

Above all any type of societal sitgma that people go through stands a hindrance in their life forcing them to  leave the  society or infact sometimes their own life. I get reminded of a quote by Rabinranath Tagore “ Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high . Where knowledge is free . Where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls .. Let My Country Awake”

This is not  just happening in India but all over the world with the mobilization that is being drawn by globalization. We are a Nation of 1.3 billion people packed with 4% worlds population, where we step on each others toes and not necessarily you’ve got to be a Muslim. We should understand that we are largely an unpoliced Nation where a lot of things happen and then the law is implemented unlike United States where in less than 3 minutes and 20 seconds armed police will be there to trap you down.

SCOOP OUT OF THE NUTSHELL

So how do we get out of this trauma?

Ones’ the Maya of societal stigma is removed each of us will be more aware of what we deserve.   Whether it is a product of inclusion or any segment , education is indispensible for any change and most of all in education people should be taught of inclusion. All doesn’t end up in teaching Maths and Science but Mental Health , Lifestyle ,advocate disabilities studies and ban the racism ads. Essentially all these points of discrimination make people believe that they do not belong to this society anymore. So the practical point of  globalism is to make people involved and flourish like never before.

Let me remind you all of the second stanza of  our National Anthem which I really don’t know why we no longer sing

“Ohoroho Tobo Aahbaano Prachaarito,Shuni Tabo Udaaro Baani
Hindu Bauddho Shikho Jaino,Parashiko Musholmaano Christaani
Purabo Pashchimo Aashey,Tabo Singhaasano Paashey
Premohaaro Hawye Gaanthaa”

This is Diverse India and this is what should be sung by every Indian which defines the fundamental ethos of the country.