Recently I read some reports on a conference in which India’s history was discussed with the conclusion that there is little reason to be proud of India’s past 1000 years for what some people call the enslavement by invaders. But I have a different view.
Of course, we know and recognize that India has been attacked and in many ways dominated over the past 1000 years by invaders of all kinds. It has cost India millions of lives and the loss of the great esteem that India had been known for. But now things have changed. We do not have to live in those memories, nor base India’s identity on those times. We can be thankful for the tolerance, durability, perseverance, and flexibility that India and its people are known for, and that the culture of India still exists, and the intellectual character of its society is not only still intact but is blossoming now more than ever.
It was only a matter of becoming free again from the dominance of outsiders, those invaders and the exploitation they imposed on India’s people and its resources, to finally allow India to again flex its intellectual wings to become a major force with which the world must recognize and engage and reciprocate. As we can see, even India’s economy is surpassing the economy of England, which was one of India’s dominating forces for a few centuries. It was only a matter of time when India’s superior culture and the ingenuity and intellectual capacity of India’s people would again shine forth.
Therefore, I say there is much to be thankful for to be where India is now. But there are lessons we need to remember. India needs to remember that one of the prime reasons for the last 1000 years of attacks and dominance by outsiders was the lack of unity among the princely states to defend themselves from the invaders. When the Muslims first entered India, they were repelled. By they returned with a bigger force and cut through. But if other princely states would have joined in to help, they could have easily fought off the invading forces. But that did not happen. So, one by one, the princely states were attacked and defeated, which lead to the domination over India by outsiders for so many years. This should not be allowed to happen again.
Other lessons we should learn is to make sure we do not become apathetic to the need to defend India’s culture. Apathy is one of the most dangerous symptoms that allows you to be defeated by those who hate you or want to exploit you. Secondly, the divisions among the Indians should be viewed as superficial, and not very relevant to the ongoing existence of the cooperation and respect we need to show each other for our future development. Thirdly, the secular media, when secular in many cases means to be anti-Hindu or even anti-India, needs to be recognized as a major challenge to our unity and to the future well-being of India and its people. To have a press which amplifies or magnifies anything that can be interpreted as anti-Hindu is obviously working against the very culture and vibrancy and unity of Indian society.
India was one of the greatest and most developed and wealthiest countries in the world, and gave the planet inventions and developments for which the world enjoys the fruits of today. These were such inventions as in metals, textiles, medicine, surgery, rhinoplasty, and mathematics, and on and on, which were way ahead of the rest of society, and without which the world would be devoid of many of the developments that came from these inventions. (Anyone can read more about these in my book, “Advancements of Ancient India’s Vedic Culture.”) Furthermore, we should recognize how the Vedic philosophy and its spiritual understanding and the wisdom of India’s great rishis and sages were so well accepted and respected that it influenced many other cultures throughout the world. (Anyone can read my books “Proof of Vedic Culture’s Global Existence” and “Mysteries of the Ancient Vedic Empire” for lots more information on this point of view.) As a foreigner, I constantly count my blessings that I came across the Vedic philosophy and culture of India.
So, now that India is again free to chart its own course and destiny, Indians should be proud of what it has offered in the past and use that as a sign of what it can offer in the future.
However, we should dedicate ourselves to what works now. We can see how well India gave contributions to society in the past, but also how the invaders interfered with India’s continued progress, because if the last 1000 years of slavery, as some call it, did not happen, who knows how much farther ahead in progress India might be today. So, we should also reject those foreign influences that have the power to be a hindrance to what India and its people were and what they are today. We should reject the foreign influences and recognize the way they slaughtered so many Indians and destroyed so many of its temples, and forcefully converted so many people, and imposed such events as the horrible Goan Inquisition, and still today inflict the feeling and politics of division. (My book, “Crimes Against India” describes much more of this history.)
We should reject those cultures or religions that are outrightly opposed to Vedic and Indian values, or that have a history of slaughtering millions of Indians or destroying thousands of temples, or forcefully converting people to foreign or invader’s religions. If they have had such little respect and so much disdain for us in the past, that is not likely to change any time soon. They may, in fact, simply look at what they do now as conducting unfinished business–the continued conquest of India.
What benefit is there to cater to these outside, anti-Indian and anti-Hindu forces and organizations? At the time of this writing, the ex-CM of Mizoram wants to declare it as a Christian country that should separate from India. How many more times is this going to be allowed to happen?
We should also reject things like communism and see it as an outside force that does not and has never worked, and which in India is now only a distraction in its attempted implementation.
Am I proposing nationalism? No. I am only proposing that India depend on what actually works, what actually benefits all of India as a people. And we can find that what actually produced the higher consciousness, intellectual capability, flexibility, etc., is what had always been a part of India’s Vedic lifestyle and culture.
That does not mean we reject everything that comes from the west or outside of India. We can take whatever actually benefits India. But we take the best and leave the rest. Nonetheless, we should use the proven formulas of what comes from India, what we know works best for India.
Actually, India should try to become as self-sufficient as possible, especially agriculturally, technologically and philosophically.. That is what India was over 1000 years ago, which attracted so many people, including all of its invaders, to come to India. But if India becomes more self-sufficient, then whatever difficulty happens to the rest of the world, India is least affected by it. It remains a contributor to the world, not a taker, and remains in control of its own destiny. The more you depend on others, the more you depend on their approval, and then their dictates. India should be above all that. This will really show the flexibility and versatility of India, which Indians should value. It’s India’s system, culture and lifestyle that has protected it all these years, and that is what we must be thankful for.
A good lesson in this regard is Britain. It was once a great empire, but now has become reduced to a small island. And even what is left of its own culture is gradually disappearing and changed by the inflow of immigrants into the country that are not assimilating. We need to make sure that does not happen to India. We should have learned our lessons very clearly from the last 1000 years to plan India’s destiny wisely, and for that we should be very thankful.
By bhakta Ankit
By Subroto Das
By Siddhanta Das
On 18th February ISKCON Gaya celebrated Lord Nityanand Appearance day. Program started with vaishnav bhajan and kirtan followed by Abhishek. More than 56 bhogas offered to Lord Nityanand. Prasad distributed after arati.. Jai Nityanand.
Haresh Govinda Das: On February 17th, more than 70 devotees of ISKCON Ahmedabad performed special harinam sankirtan on street of Ahmedabad in the morning for the soldiers who laid their lives in a horrible terrorist attack.
After meditating all morning to be able to distribute a Bhagavatam set as an offering to Nityananda, we took a Bhagavatam set with us and displayed it. It was an average day until this sweet Chinese lady shows up at our table from no where. We tried to sell her a small Chinese book, but when she started speaking we realized she was hungry for way more than a small book . She was like “ I’m on a spiritual journey, I locked myself up in a room for a year with different ancient spiritual texts. I was hardly eating or sleeping trying to figure out who am I and what’s going on with my life. Right now I’m really interested in studying Hinduism. So which book do you recommend?” At that point it clicked, I realized this is the person that will take Bhagavatam set. I spent about 45 mins explaining and showing her the Bhagavatam cantos. Sure enough she agreed to take the set.
Today we celebrated Nityananda's Appearance day at the ISKCON Orlando temple. We were graced by guest speaker HG Adikarta Das who gave an uplifting class on the mercy and kindness of lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda- who is lord Balaram himself, appeared in 1474 in the village of Ekachakra. Along with Lord Chaitanya and their many associates, they came to spread love of god through the powerful mantra of this age (as predicted in the Vedas), the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra!
"If you are anxious to go back to home, back to Godhead, and become associate with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then the best policy is to take shelter of Nityānanda."
Glimpse of HH Mahavishnu Swami Maharaj ji accompanied with us for our Food for Life Program at IIMSAM, Near Kisumu Airport. Organization taking care of Orphans and a few HIV/AIDs affected children backed by United Nations and World Health Organisation. Harinam Kirtan followed by Prasadam serving by Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan Temple, Kisumu, Kenya.
Krsnanandini Devi Dasi,: A few years ago, my husband, Tariq and I presented a seminar on the concept of what we term “Magnanimous Marriage.” In such a marriage, husband and wife are actual benefactors for one another. Benefactor is defined as a kindly helper, a person who benefits and supports another.
In Janmasthan Mandir there is a Deity of Nitai (Nityananda). Hadai Pandita Bhavan is the site of the original house of Nityananda’s father. There are two banyan trees by this temple that are said to have existed since the time of Nityananda. In the centre of the main altar of the temple is a deity of Lord Nityananda. To His left, with His hands raised, is Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. On Nityananda’s right is Sri Advaita Acarya.
