The Foundation of the Indian nation || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2021)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi Greater Noida 20.1.2021  Context: What lies at the foundation of the Indian nation? How to develop a love for India among Youth? Is nationalism good for India? How is India different from other nations? In what ways have the youngsters of today lost their love for the nation?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Acharyaji, in few days, Republic Day, that is 26th of January, will be celebrated.

00:17And the work that Foundation is doing is very closely linked with the youngsters.

00:24So I wish to ask you, in what ways do you think the youngsters of today have lost love

00:32for the nation?

00:35You cannot love someone or something you know very little of.

00:49The nation, at its root, represents a community of people united through certain values.

01:11For someone to really love the nation, it is important that firstly he knows what those

01:20values are.

01:23Those values must be worth loving and even more fundamentally, certain values must exist.

01:36And those values cannot be just theoretical, ideals on paper.

01:51So what does the Indian nation stand for?

01:55When you say youngsters today have probably, I do not know how you say that, lost love

02:05for the nation, I would be interested in knowing what exactly have they lost love for?

02:16Do they know what the Indian nation stands for?

02:21And do they know what is worth loving?

02:26See, a nation does not become admirable or respectable or lovable just by the dint of

02:38being a nation.

02:44You may very well have, theoretically, a nation that is founded on hatred towards a group

02:53of people or something.

02:58And there do exist so many nations that have come into existence this very way.

03:05They exist because of a certain dislike towards something.

03:13And we have had nations in history that existed just to obliterate other nations.

03:21And we have had nations where the connecting thread is as fragile as, you know, a shared

03:41language, shared ethnicity, shared food habits.

03:55So a nation is not necessarily lovable on its own.

04:08What is it that lies at the base of the Indian nation?

04:12Do we know that?

04:14Firstly, do we know that?

04:18Secondly, is it worth loving?

04:19We have to investigate these questions.

04:31What lies at the foundation of the Indian nation?

04:38Or are we just a disparate group of people living politically together for the sake of

04:49convenience?

04:54If you say you are an Indian, I say I am an Indian.

04:58What connects and unites the two of us?

05:03Most people do not want to go into this.

05:07Most people are far more eager to talk of diversity than to talk of the underlying oneness.

05:24Because talking of diversity is easy, no?

05:30What you are saying is, he has his own uniqueness, he has his own individuality, he has his own

05:38idiosyncrasies, and that's about India.

05:45Fine, accept it.

05:51Each one of us is different.

05:56But isn't it commonsensical to ask that if each one of us is different, then what is

06:04it that enables each one of us to be called an Indian?

06:15Or is it just a thing of political convenience?

06:19Is it just a thing of past and legacy?

06:22Or is there something more alive to it?

06:32That's a question unfortunately we don't ask or address.

06:42That's a question unfortunately neither the leadership nor the intelligentsia seems keen

06:49to take up.

06:55And if you do not answer that question, then how do you expect youngsters to really be

07:04loving towards the Indian nation?

07:13People are keen to identify themselves with something or the other.

07:17So even if youngsters do not know what is at the root of the nation, they will still

07:28manage to have some kind of patriotism.

07:37One cheers for India in cricket matches.

07:46But that is in no way an indicator of true love.

07:53Because you cannot have love without clarity.

07:56When you say you love India, you are asked what exactly do you love?

08:01You have no answer to give.

08:04For most people, India is just a bit of land, a boundary on the global map, a political

08:23entity.

08:25No, these aren't exactly things you can fall in love with.

08:38If you are to fall in love with something, then the thing has to have a sacredness in

08:43it, a beauty in it, a certain beyondness in it.

08:48These are the things you associate with love, right?

08:53If you are to really love India, then India has to be more than a political entity.

09:01Then you have to know the values that constitute India.

09:08For that, first of all, there have to be values.

09:11And there have to be people who worship those values.

09:19Values worth worshipping.

09:26How has India been a nation all throughout in history?

09:33India has been a nation because of its Vedantic foundation.

09:44I understand it will be quite risky for most people to acknowledge this.

09:50But that's what lies at the base of the Indian nation.

10:00Values that come from Vedanta.

10:05And now you know why youngsters have only a shallow relationship with the nation today.

10:14Because they are not familiar with the underlying values, the underlying Vedanta.

10:32So for practical purposes, they will remain Indians.

10:36An Indian passport is there.

10:38An Indian jersey is there.

10:47And somebody will ask them, what does it mean to be Indian?

10:52And they will come up with some icons of Indian culture.

10:55Like?

10:56Like dosa.

10:57Masala dosa.

10:58I challenge you, how do you represent India to someone of another nationality?

11:20Tell me.

11:21When you go abroad, how do you express what you mean by India?

11:36Beyond the area on the map, what does India mean to you?

11:41How do you communicate it to, let's say, that Dutch national?

11:48How do you communicate it?

11:50It is quite horrifying.

11:54But you have very little beyond the masala dosa.

12:03Maybe you have a few other things.

12:05Come on.

12:06Like?

12:07Like Bollywood.

12:08Yeah.

12:09The Bhangra.

12:10Yeah.

12:11The cow.

12:12The cow sitting in the middle of the highway, that is.

12:22The monkey riding the elephant.

12:29Peeing by the roadside.

12:34You can have Mahatma Gandhi, or you'd probably talk of the colours of Holi, or you'd probably

12:51talk of the Diwali lights.

12:56These are all good, nice, vibrant images of the Indian landscape.

13:05How can you fall in love with these?

13:08Tell me.

13:09The question was about love, right?

13:17It's not so easy loving a masala dosa, or is it?

13:25That's the entire thing.

13:26We do not know what India stands for.

13:34To us, India stands for a victory in a cricket match over Pakistan, now it's Australia, and

13:50the Kumbh Mela, Naga Sadhus, Yoga.

14:06What is India beyond all this to you?

14:08Tell me.

14:10And if India is very little beyond all this, how will you fall in love with India?

14:17How?

14:20You can have some parochial pride, but that parochial pride is in no way love, or is it?

14:34To love you need something, I said sublime, something sacred, something worth worshipping.

14:42And it's a sad thing that that which is worth worshipping does exist in India, but is often

14:54not deliberately introduced to us.

14:59The present generation has been deliberately starved of the essence of India.

15:10No wonder they have no real feeling towards the nation.

15:16They are Indians only by name, only by passport.

15:26And they don't want to remain Indians even in name.

15:34Is it not so?

15:39Yes, ghuls, pairs.

15:51Go to YouTube or any of the social media and you will find all Indians, I don't know what

15:59you call these, you can't call these as pen names, but usernames.

16:04Indians having usernames like, I mean the fellow's name is Martin Hawk.

16:20Martin Hawk?

16:28We think of these things as trivia, right?

16:32The fellow's name was Marthand, Marthand means the sun.

16:38Marthand Kumar became Martin Hawk.

16:42We think of this as some kind of a passing fad, but it's not passing fad, it points towards

16:49something deeper.

16:51The fellow is ashamed of his identity.

16:56He wants to wear a totally different persona.

17:07This is bound to happen because he does not know his identity.

17:13The identity of India, the root of the Indian nation is essentially spiritual.

17:21You devoid Indians of spirituality and they will remain Indians only in name.

17:33India is a very very special nation, very special nation.

17:40And that's why I say that nationalism, when applied to the Indian context, is something

17:46very essential, provided it is nationalism on the right grounds, the right true nationalism.

17:59Because other nations are founded on very exclusive grounds, sometimes even on violent

18:10and narrow-minded grounds.

18:17The Indian nation is founded on a very expansive ground, very expansive, very uplifting, very

18:26enriching.

18:29And therefore nationalism must flourish in India.

18:36But not the nationalism of the shallow kind.

18:46Not the kind of nationalism that led to the World Wars.

18:57True nationalism.

18:59And what does true nationalism mean in India's case?

19:04Nationalism founded on truly Indian values.

19:10And what do we mean by Indian values?

19:12I am being very specific here.

19:14By Indian values, I mean the values enshrined in Vedanta.

19:27As long as the youth remain in touch with the essence of the nation, the nation will

19:41stay safe.

19:44When the youth start losing touch with Vedanta, the nation starts losing its inner security.

20:02Externally you can try to keep the political entity safe using the army and technology

20:07and what not.

20:09But inwardly, the nation will decay.

20:16Let that not happen.

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