When we think of the Bharatiya Nationhood, it at once appears to be unique and distinctive in its essence and form from the concepts of other peoples on the globe. All other nations are more like flies on the wheel of Time or the cycle of ‘life and death’ but not Bharat.
All nations’ of the world have all been, very much like human beings subject to the law of birth, life and death. No nation is known so far to have escaped this law of nature except one and that is Bharat. In spite of ceaseless efforts to discover the secret, the birth and the beginning of Bharat have defied all the great research scholars. Cast a glance around and ask if there is in existence any nation elder or older than Bharat.
Bharat is the oldest nation born and yet alive on the surface of this globe. A large number of younger nations appeared on the horizon, shone for a while like meteors and disappeared for ever in the oblivion. The records of their civilisations are now the histories of short-lived nations.
- Where is that Greece of the omniscient Aristotle, and his worthy disciple Plato who gave science and philosophy to Europe?
- What happened to the Greek nation whose two proud heroes Philip and Alexander claimed to have conquered the world declaring impudently that they only were born to rule and the rest of humanity to serve them as slaves?
- What is the fate of that Rome of Caesar which once infused self-confidence in Europe and conferred on it the famous laws?
- Where are also those other Christian nations of old times which under the plea of saving the humanity and in the name of non-violence ran rivers of human blood on earth?
The truth is all those have been swept off; and now purely materialistic nations nurtured on the principles of Capitalism and Communism have arisen in places of the old ones, The Russia of Zar is no more. It has been metamorphosed into a completely new State. There is China our neighbour. She has lived almost as long as ourselves. But the China of old was Buddhist till yesterday. The spirit of the Buddhist China was a gift of Bharat. Having accepted Communism as her ideology, the Chinese Nation has undergone a total conversion. It will have to be admitted without any reservation that as much a new nation has sprung up in China as the old one has been buried.
It is on this account and in this sense we affirm that all the old nations of the world have disappeared from the surface of the earth. Only Bharat has survived defying death or change.
It may be asked what is the meaning of births and deaths, the rise and fall of nations? For in cases of all those nations which have disappeared and died, are not the lands, the seas, the people still existing?
Does not the humanity inhabiting those various> territories on earth inherit the blood of their forefathers? Why and how can it then be said that a nation is dead or that a new one is born? An individual has his individuality. A nation has its national spirit and character. It is called its ‘अस्मिता’, the essence or the spirit. It is the particular characteristics which distinguish one thing from the other and their consciousness that is called the ‘अस्मिता’ the soul of a thing. ‘अस्मिता’ is a quality of only a sentient being which has consciousness and knowledge. The nature of the soul and spirit of one nation which distinguishes it from other nations is then the ‘अस्मिता’, as the essence of its nationhood. There must be a common current running in every individual of the national society. It is in the existence, affirmation and manifestation of this ‘अस्मिता’, that a people rise to full nationhood.
It is only the community of people throbbing with the sense, sentiments and the spirit of oneness which deserves to be called a nation. When such a community or the people living in a distinct piece of land abandons their distinguishing consciousness of the spirit of unity and oneness, ‘अस्मिता’, then indeed the nation is said to have committed its suicide. It soon dies and disappears.
After such a forsaking of the spirit, when the people adopt new forms and formulas of life then the nation is said to have been converted or changed. It may be that such a transformation of a nation may lend it a newer spirit and splendor a while. Such a nation may accelerate its progress. But that does not refute the fact that the old is dead. When it is said that the European nations from the days of the Greek history to the Zardorn have died, our meaning is clear. It is in this sense that we claim Bharat which had to face many a death-struggles, has survived with its spirit and soul unchanged.
The soul and spirit of the Bharatiya people today are exactly what they have been through thousands of years past (However small in number, spirit is alive!). It is in the same unbroken spirit and thought that the people of Bharat are continuing their course of life. For instance, the regard and sentiments which the ‘Cow’ inspired in the people of Bharat in the days of Atharva Veda, and then in the days of Mahabharat, milleniums of years back, persist to this day in this middle of the 21st century. If the President is to be considered as the true representative of the people of a nation, then it is apparent that the President of Bharat, who carries in his heart the same high regard and reverence for the sacredness of the ‘Cow’, as, the Rishis of the old times or the kings and common people of the Mahabharat days, represents the sentiments of the people. It is an indication that the nation is unchanged.(If he has no reverence for Cow and promoting slaughter, throw him out of office!)
Rama and Krishna worshipped the river Ganga. That very sentiment persists in the Hindu society of the present times. In other nations the relics of history become show pieces in their museums. But in India today, the whole society carries in its thoughts and actions all those sentiments and feelings with which the ancient forefathers were inspired thousands of years back. There is nothing like a relic or a forsaken idea in India. Even narrow minds and parochial personalities who get themselves encased in their territorial or provincial prides and prejudices have unreservedly admitted that the spirit of Bharatiya nationhood has persisted since the prehistoric ages right up to the present times in an unchanged unbroken form and current. This persistence of the essence of Bharatiya nationhood which is a miracle according to some is a patent fact. It is for this reason that we consider our past to be worthy of becoming a sure and unshakable foundation for the future. It is the firm conviction of our gifted prophets that the Providence has bequeathed this national heritage to the people of Bharat for the saving of humanity.
Imbued with this belief an individual born in this land identifies himself with every particle on the surface of the earth. It is this spiritual identification with the Universe, a psychic consciousness of oneness that is the essence of our nationhood. The spirit which the word ‘Arya’ inspired the Aryas of the Vedic age to carry the message, and the mission of ‘Aryanising the humanity’ (civilising the universe), also continues to enthuse our great thinkers and heroes of today.
– बालशाश्त्री हरदास (Savarkar’s associate)
अस्मिता is profound Sanskrit word which cannot be translated to any other language. When word ‘अस्मिता’ is led by word ‘राष्ट्रिय’, it becomes sparkling source of living energy. It is a common current running in every individual of Nation society. It conveys that society has faith in land, pride for their legacy and confidence to progress ahead with very same cultural base. It is proof of immortal Nation ‘भारत’.
If you don’t have ‘राष्ट्रीय अस्मिता’, you probably cannot connect yourself with I-ness of Nation. You fail to associate your identity with National identity. Bunch of individuals, without ‘राष्ट्रीय अस्मिता’, is not Nation.
Nurture राष्ट्रीय अस्मिता, in you, in your family, in your society, in your friends, in your colleague. Demonstrate. Exhibit your own example.
To Nurture राष्ट्रीय अस्मिता, study and put Vedic Culture in action, in your life. Demonstrate!
May Bharat live forever. May we thrive hard to expect & emerge return of super-heroes. May we live like micro-version of these super-heroes who kept भारतीय अस्मिता alive since time immemorial.
Return of स्वामी, स्वामी रामदास.
Return of राम, परशुराम.
Return of वीर, वीर शिवाजी.
Return of गुरु, गुरु नानक.
Return of आचार्य, आचार्य चाणक्य.
वंदे मातरम| अस्तु|
