The Foundation of the Indian nation || Acharya Prashant (2023)

Acharya Prashant

🧔🏻‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquiry-gita-course?cmId=m00056  📚 Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?cmId=m00056  ➖➖➖  #AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita  #nationalism #nation  ➖➖➖  Video Information: 13.04.23, IRMA (Online), Greater Noida  Let's understand Nationalism and Indian Nationalism   Context: ~ What is nationalism? ~ Is nationalism good or bad? ~ What was the rise of nationalism? ~ What is nationalism in India easy? ~ What is the origin of Indian nationalism? ~ What is called nationalism? ~ Nationalism and Vedanta ~ Nationalism can be a force for good  Music Credits: Milind Date

Transcript

00:00If I say that we can be together as a nation only because we share a certain common language

00:12or a certain common religion, do you see the dangers that come with it?

00:19Or we are one nation because we are Aryans?

00:29That's how much of Germany wanted it in the 30s and 40s.

00:40So that's the reason why nationalism, like any other ideology, becomes problematic.

00:52However, there is a very distinct kind of nationalism that can be very virtuous.

01:02But only that kind of nationalism, a nationalism that is not divisive, a nationalism that is

01:11not founded on what separates the two of us, instead founded on what unites the two of

01:22us.

01:25Think of the various kind of nationalities you know of, are they not all founded on divisions?

01:38A group of people, they get together and they say we are a nation.

01:43We are a nation because we have a common shared characteristic and therefore we are separate

01:49from somebody else.

01:50Think of why India had to be politically divided.

01:55What was Jinnah's argument?

01:58What was the two nation theory?

01:59He said Hindus and Muslims, they are not just two different religions.

02:06They are two different nations because everything about them is distinct, exclusive.

02:23So when you have a nationalism that is founded on differences, then nationalism becomes toxic,

02:31violent and leads to horrible consequences.

02:38So we are saying let there be a nationalism that is not founded on the differences between

02:46man and man, instead it is founded on what is common between you and me, man and man.

02:57Now what is it that we share?

03:02Now that takes us into philosophy, rather metaphysics.

03:07What is common between the two of us?

03:09If you look at one person and then at another, you would only perceive differences, right?

03:16Even if you say that they share a common language, the dialect or the accent would be different.

03:27Even if you say that they share a common religion, yet they might be investing themselves

03:35in different stories or different verses or different gods.

03:45So by definition, one person is always very distinct from the other and the differences

03:54are countless.

03:57Man is different from woman, is he not?

04:00The young person is different from the old person.

04:04The rich says he is different from the poor, right?

04:12The ones living in the East say we are different from the Westerners.

04:20Pakistan got made on the basis of religion, but then had to be divided on the basis of

04:26language.

04:30So differences never end.

04:32You find one commonality and behind that commonality, there would be 10 differences lurking.

04:40The moment you found your nationalism on something that is not absolutely universal, you are

04:50just inviting discord, strife, hatred, limitations and none of that is any good, obviously.

05:06Are you getting it?

05:11So the Germans say we are one people, the French say we are another people.

05:19The Brits say, oh, we belong to Europe, but we still are a distinct class.

05:23We don't even want to be a part of the Euro.

05:31Why do we do that?

05:33Because the ego thrives only in differences.

05:38The ego loves to have boundaries.

05:42Ego is another name for boundaries.

05:49The bounded self is called the ego, right?

05:55So most of the nationalism that you see actually arises from the ego and is therefore not auspicious

06:03at all.

06:08You need a nationalism that arises from something beyond the ego.

06:17And therefore I say let there be a nationalism based on the unifying principle.

06:28That unifying principle, as far as I have seen, is enunciated most clearly in Vedanta.

06:34I do not say it is not mentioned or pointed at anywhere else.

06:45But Vedanta spells it out quite neatly.

06:52That unifying principle is called the borderless self, Atma.

07:03That clarity which is not tainted by personality, when you say you know something, when you

07:17say you believe in something, when you say you understand something, that is never pure

07:24or absolute because that is colored by, marred by, spoiled by your particular personality.

07:34So the Hindu has one belief, the Muslim has another belief, the Christian has another

07:39one, right?

07:42You believe in one thing when you are 15, by the time you are 35 your beliefs change.

07:49Beliefs over thoughts or ideologies, opinions are not absolute.

07:55There is a long shadow of our personal self over them.

08:02And therefore all ideologies we said are not really worthy of being given a very high position.

08:16They cannot be seated as the absolute.

08:20Vedanta talks of that which dissolves the differences between us.

08:32That which dissolves the ego itself because the ego is what separates the two of us, right?

08:40When I say I, I mean that I am distinct from you.

08:45The ego is the divisive principle.

08:49I implies separation.

08:52The moment I say I, I mean me versus the world.

08:56I am there and the world is separate or distinct.

09:02So I say I, you too say I, and the moment we utter I, we mean that the two of us are

09:09not the same.

09:12I-ness is separation.

09:16Therefore I-ness is suffering.

09:23Hence can we have a nation that is founded with the objective to dissolve I-ness?

09:37Now, remain patient.

09:42Let us not declare this as too absurd or impractical or utopian.

09:53Can we have a nation founded with the very objective to create conditions in which the

10:02ego is dissolved or sublimated or purified?

10:07Only that kind of nationalism is proper.

10:12Let us create a nation that does not exist to quarrel with the others, that does not

10:20exist to stand separate from the others.

10:28Let us create a nation that does not take its identity from resistance to the others.

10:40Where does Pakistan, for example, take its identity from?

10:45It says I am different from India and that's my identity.

10:49And that's the reason they have to be compulsively hostile against India.

10:54Do you see that?

10:59The same thing applies to all the nations of the world.

11:04The same thing applies even to India as it currently exists.

11:13There have to be borders, there has to be discord, acrimony, strife, the threat of war.

11:21And the threat of war pleases the population so much, does it not?

11:29In fact, nationalism would lose its charm and romance if there were no wars.

11:41Wars consolidate the feeling of nationalism, do they not?

11:48When an enemy attacks you, you feel so much more of a national identity, right?

12:03Now, none of that is good, obviously not good.

12:10So the basis of nationalism has to be an inward approach that takes care of the ego.

12:23The constitution must say that the state exists to uplift its citizens internally.

12:32Obviously, internal upliftment would require conducive external conditions.

12:41To that extent, the physical world has to be taken care of.

12:47You cannot say you want to address somebody's ego problem without taking care of his or

12:54her environment.

12:55You will have to take care of education, health, media.

13:02You will have to protect the genuine interests of the various groups of citizens as they exist.

13:13And then you will say, ultimately, everything has to boil down to the pure self.

13:21Yes, there is the legislature, there is the executive, there is the judiciary.

13:28All these would function.

13:29There is the media, there are the laws and the sub laws, there are the various houses

13:38of the parliament, there is a federal structure, all that is there.

13:44But the purpose of all that has to be the inner freedom of the individual.

13:53That's the proper nation in which everything functions with the purpose of liberating the

13:59individual.

14:00Now, is that not a worthy goal?

14:06Should not the nation be founded on that basis?

14:12So that's the kind of nationalism you have to bring to the new generation.

14:18Are you getting it?

14:22If you bring the militant kind of nationalism to the new generation, you are not doing them

14:26any good.

14:31When you talk of freedom fighters, you must talk of those who strove for political freedom.

14:38Equally, you have to talk of those who strove for inner freedom.

14:44Otherwise, it becomes just a case of one people fighting the other people out of hatred, resistance

14:55and otherness.

14:59And that leads to a lot of falseness, artificiality.

15:04Then you have to ignore the facts, you have to rewrite history, you have to weave narratives,

15:12you have to somehow manage to cast imagination as facts.

15:23And all that is quite childish and funny, right?

15:27Except for the fact that it can lead to terrible consequences.

15:37So bring the reality of life to the young.

15:45The reality of life as we live it, as we see it, is the reality of the ego.

15:51If they can see how the inner thing operates, they will also see its futility.

15:59Are you getting it?

16:04You don't need to then teach nationalism as something separate from life.

16:12If they can see how life is founded on division and strife and suffering, then they'll want

16:25to end it, right?

16:27And when men get together in their common mission of ending suffering, a noble nation

16:34is born.

16:37Don't you want that kind of nation?

16:41People are getting together so that they can together eliminate the suffering of mankind.

16:48And since they are getting together, they constitute a nation.

16:51Will that not be a very, very noble and desirable nation?

16:57Please tell me.

16:59Yes?

17:01Or would you want people to get together to pelt stones on some other group?

17:07Is that the kind of nationalism that you want?

17:09It could be stones when it comes to small groups and it becomes missiles when it comes

17:13to large and powerful groups, right?

17:1620 people on one side pelt stones on 20 people on the other side.

17:21And when these 20 people become a nation, a nation of 20 crore people, then they pelt

17:26missiles on the other 20 crore people, right?

17:30And they also then get together and form groups and coalitions.

17:40So Russia is scared of the NATO and different kinds of groupings are happening, all with

17:51the purpose of defending the self and defeating the other.

17:57And the more that happens, the more we come closer to catastrophe as a people.

18:07Are you getting it?

18:13We do not want to repeat history.

18:17In history, nations have never been founded on the right basis.

18:22And therefore, those who could understand life, like we said Tagore, had to reject nationalism.

18:30They said nationalism is the worst kind of toxicity.

18:39Let's not reject nationalism per se.

18:42Let's just say, let there be an all-embracing nationalism.

18:47Let there be a unifying nationalism.

18:49Let there be an enlightened nationalism.

18:56Let there be a nationalism that is not founded with the object to inflict suffering on the

19:01other.

19:05You can inflict suffering on the other only if you do not see that you and the other are

19:09the one.

19:12The moment you start seeing the underlying oneness, it becomes impossible to inflict

19:17suffering on the other.

19:20Can we, as Indians, come together on this noble basis?

19:29And that would be the real Bharat.

19:37India cannot be about geographical frontiers, a location on the world map.

19:49India is just too big to be contained on a world map.

20:00India is just too transcendental to be marked as a piece of earth.

20:19Who is an Indian?

20:21An Indian is someone who understands the very basis of life.

20:35The one who sees that you are born to be liberated.

20:42Only such a fellow deserves to be called an Indian.

20:47Because India, not the political country India, I am talking of the real India.

20:52I am talking of the very concept of Bharat.

20:59The real India is founded on understanding, realization, both.

21:08We want to understand.

21:12India is the place where the urge to understand hit the human for the first time.

21:25India is the cradle of religion itself and true religiosity is about understanding life

21:33and therefore getting liberated from its bondages.

21:41That's who an Indian is, who wants to understand what this thing called the self is, what is

21:46meant by relationships, who am I, who is the other one, what is this thing called life,

21:51why am I alive, what is death.

21:55Only someone who is conscious enough, keen enough, and courageous enough to go into these

22:05questions deserves to be called an Indian.

22:08And that's the kind of nationalism we need, a nationalism founded on understanding.

22:17From where I am looking, you know, 140 crore people do not deserve to be called as Bharatiya.

22:28They may continue to hold the Indian passport, that's a separate matter, but when it comes

22:35to being Indian nationals, well, that's a very elite thing, that's a thing that requires

22:47a lot of qualification.

22:50Being a citizen is another matter, desh and rashtra are not the same.

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