Thanks to Indian Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi for
invoking Sri Aurobrindo, in his Independence Day speech (15th August
2018). I will reproduce it over here:
“Today, we celebrate
the birth anniversary of Shri Aurobindo. He said something very pertinent –
What is Nation? What is our Motherland? It is not a mere piece of land, not
just an identity, nor is it a figment of imagination. The Nation is a
repository of a great force manifested through many organized units to give it
a concrete shape. It is this thought of Sri Aurobindo which is uniting the
country and taking it ahead.”
Thanks to Gautam Chikermane (@gchikermane). He shared the
pamphlet in which the “What is Nation?”
was mentioned.
I read the pamphlet and was highly inspired by the thoughts
of Sri Aurobindo. This was part of the
political writings carried out during the period 1890 to May 1908.
I will share some sections of the pamphlet titled Bhawani Mandir.
Please remember the writings was during 1890 to 1908. This
is very much applicable today also.
On what is lacking
“We have all things
else, but we are empty of strength, void of energy. We have abandoned
Shakti and are therefore abandoned by Shakti. The Mother is not
in our hearts, in our brains, in our arms.”
“How many attempts
have been made, how many movements have been begun, in religion, in society, in
politics! But the same fate
has overtaken or is preparing to overtake them all. They flourish for a
moment, then the impulse wanes, the fire dies out, and if they endure, it is
only as empty shells, forms from which the Brahma has gone or in which it lies
overpowered with Tamas and inert. Our beginnings are
mighty, but they have neither sequel nor fruit.”
On Knowledge
“Is it knowledge that
is wanting? We Indians, born and bred in a country
where Jnana has been stored and accumulated since the race began, bear about in
us the inherited gains of many thousands of years. Great
giants of knowledge rise among us even today to add to the store. Our capacity has not shrunk, the edge of our intellect has not
been dulled or blunted, its receptivity and flexibility are as varied as of
old. But it is a dead knowledge, a burden under which
we are bowed, a poison which is corroding us, rather than as it should be a
staff to support our feet and a weapon in our hands; for this is the nature of
all great things that when they are not used or are ill used, they turn upon
the bearer and destroy him.
Our knowledge then, weighed down with a
heavy load of Tamas, lies under the curse of impotence and inertia. We choose to fancy indeed, nowadays, that if we acquire
Science, all will be well. Let us first ask ourselves
what we have done with the knowledge we already possess, or what have those who
have already acquired Science been able to do for India. Imitative
and incapable of initiative, we have striven to copy the methods of England,
and we had not the strength; we would now copy the methods of the Japanese, a
still more energetic people; are we likely to succeed any better? The mighty force of knowledge which European Science bestows is
a weapon for the hands of a giant, it is the mace of Bheemsen; what can a
weakling do with it but crush himself in the attempt to wield it?”
On what India needs
“The deeper we look,
the more we shall be convinced that the one thing wanting, which we must strive
to acquire before all others, is strength – strength physical, strength mental,
strength moral, but above all strength spiritual which is the one inexhaustible
and imperishable source of all the others. If we have strength
everything else will be added to us easily and naturally. In the absence of
strength we are like men in a dream who have hands but cannot seize or strike,
who have feet but cannot run.”
On will
“We often see in the
cases of old men full of years and experience that the very excess of knowledge
seems to have frozen their powers of action and their powers of will.”
"Our race has grown just such an old man with stores of knowledge , with inability to feel and desire , but paralysed by senile sluggishness, senile timidity, senile feebleness. If India is to survive , she must be made young again"
On Choice
“It rests with us what
we shall create; for we are not, unless we choose, puppets dominated by Fate
and Maya; we are facets and manifestations of Almighty Power.”
On acquiring strength
“This is no fantastic
idea, no superstition but the ordinary law of the universe. The gods cannot, if
they would, give themselves unasked. Even the Eternal
comes not unawares upon men. Every devotee knows
by experience that we must turn to Him and desire and adore Him before the
Divine Spirit pours in its ineffable beauty and ecstasy upon the soul.”
On searching true source for strength
"There are the fathomless fountain-heads, the deep and inexhaustible sources, The shallow surface springs are easier to reach , but they soon run dry. Why not then go deep instead of scratching the surface ? The result will repay the labour."
On concentration
“….entire
concentration is necessary; the mind must be devoted entirely to its aim as a
spear is hurled to its mark; if other cares and longings distract the mind, the
spear will be carried out from its straight course and miss the target.”
References:
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