It will certainly be a shame on the 21st century Bharat, if one’s own innocent kin have to bear insults and physical onslaughts, because of one’s wrath over a trivial issue or one’s superiority complex, which also facilitate the divisive forces to take benefit out of it to tarnish Bharat’s image and also to slow down the momentum of good social welfare activities being carried out all over.
All have to bear in mind that freedom and equality could be achieved and consolidated only on the strength of the quantum and intensity of fraternal feeling in the society. And the nation will be in a position to face the challenges before it only on the basis of this strength. As dense clouds of threat to security, unity, sovereignty and integrity loom large even today, it is all the more necessary to take forward the tradition of goodwill promoted by great seers like Sree Abhinavagupta and Sree Ramanujacharya. Our thoughts, words and deeds should be to cement and further fortify the oneness of all Indians, and not to weaken it. Those who give leadership in different walks of our social life, should be disciplined enough to display this sense of responsibility. Along with this, necessary mechanism should be put in place to prompt our people also to behave with this sense of responsibility. Education should equip an individual to earn his livelihood, make him self-reliant self-respecting and also make him confident about earning his livelihood. Along with acquiring knowledge and learning, he should have a sense of responsibility, congenial attitude as a citizen, and be a good person leading a life based on values. Education should be such as to meet these demands and the curriculum should be suitable to satisfy these needs. Different programmes, festivals, campaigns, etc., being organised at the social level, are intended to impart social education and culture. But, at times, they lose their spirit and turn into hollow and meaningless rituals. If at all we take care to restructure them, keeping in mind the demands of the changing times, and organise them at social level, they will still prove to be the best instruments for social education. Emancipating ourselves from the wrongful influences caused by centuries-old slavery and self-forgetfulness, we have to formulate our national policies based on our own traditional genius. For this, we have to imbue our hearts with our great and lofty eternal values, ideals and culture. Through our life and deeds we must show to the world that, as a nation, we are marching ahead with self-confidence, finding answers to all sorts of painful problems that have been nagging the world for millennia. And this is the sum and substance of the message the great saint Gulabrao Maharaj has given us through his voluminous works and his life-long penance. Activities like Samarasata, Gou-samvardhana, Kutumbaprabodhan, etc., aimed at bringing about the required change in the Samaj are being some voluntary organizations. But it is necessary for the entire society to become active in this direction. During the nine days of “Navatri,” gods – the noble human-force of that time- coordinated, harnessed and consolidated their might and, on the tenth day, decapitated demons like Chanda, Munda and Mahishasura to relieve humanity of their burden. People of India have to do it every year and break the barriers to progress of the country.
