Guiding Light: What India Needs Today

Once India was respected as a leader of nations, a builder of a wonderful civilisation — a civilisation of simplicity and sympathy and service, a civilisation of light. And pilgrims from the East and pilgrims from the West came to India as to a Holy Land. What is our condition today?

The more I think of it, the more I feel that an urgent, a piteous need of India today is education of a new type — an education which may integrate the character of the pupils through a proper development of the body and training of the will-power and emotions — an education which may give a triple training — of the head, yes, but also of the hand and, above all, of the heart.

An education which may inculcate in the minds and hearts of pupils the ideals of unity and peace, of reverence for all life, of simplicity, sympathy and service, of fellowship and brotherhood — the fellowship of all races and religions, the brotherhood of all life.

Friends, the hope of the world is in India. And the hope of India lies in unity. Without India what would the world be? And without unity where would India be? The message needs to be spread far and wide that we all, belonging to different castes and communities, religions and races, provinces and regions, we all are one — children of the One Mother, Bharat Mata. 

Friends, have you ever asked yourselves the question: Why is it, that when all other ancient civilisations have perished, India alone lives on? Greece, Rome, Egypt, Assyria, Summaria, Babylonia are gone. India lives on! Yes — India lives on for she has a mission to fulfil in the new age. India lives on for she has a message to deliver to the nations. But India will not be able to do so until her people who lie today prostrate in passivity, will rise from their sleep and India will peal forth her message of oneness, of living unity, of peace and spiritual fellowship to the nations of the East and the nations of the West. And India will shine once again in the splendour of the new morning sun, acclaimed once again as a teacher of the nations, as a builder of a new abiding civilisation of light.

(August 15 is India's Independence Day.)

Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader

Published on: Tuesday, August 15, 2023, 06:00 AM IST