The Bangla Dream, Part 12 - Universal and Eternal
Putting various Bhāratīya consciousnesses together - and making them greater than the sum of their parts - is the New Dream.
It is Hind Swaraj, it is The Mother, it is the Khalsa, it is Shiva, it is Venkata, it is the Ramcharitramanas. When I look back at the history of Bhārata, I find myself in the Kashmiri pandit mapping the impossible to map Ananatag cave, in the Jat soldier pushing back the invader from the West. in the toiler of the Gangetic plains and in the vanvaasi who knows every little scent of the forest in Malwa. I am the Gujarati merchant looking out to the sea, the Odia fisherman welcoming the birds into Chilika. I am the Hoysala temple architect fusing north and south, the Malayali port trader welcoming the world. I am the Chola merchant taking Dharma to shores anew.
I am the pilgrim climbing a hill on foot to reach my deity - am I in Tirumala, Junagadh or in Katra? I am the Gurkha soldier charging into battle with “Jai Maha Kali, Ayo Gorkhali” on my lips. I am connected in all this by the thread of Dharma. Because for the Bhāratīya people, Dharma _is _the nation. This glue of Dharma is why the Bhāratīya nation is a nation. It is why the parts come together to form the whole. Bankim knew this, when he told The Mother, that তোমারই প্রতিমা গড়ি মন্দিরে মন্দিরে (tomhari pratima godi mandire mandire). This is the concept that became Aurobindo’s “Mother”. And this Mother is eternal.
Which is why the New Dhārmika Elite needs to realize that reclaiming the physical space of our sacred geography is a non-negotiable aspect of our future. Being a primary, emergent tradition, our geography is more important to us than to those from other traditions. The Dhārmika tradition is inexorably connected to the land we have peopled for centuries. This emotion found a concrete expression in Bankim’s above-quoted Vande Mataram - the nation is inseparable from Dharma. They are one and the same thing - Aurobindo says at Uttarpara: ”When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists. To magnify the religion means to magnify the country”. This process of reclaiming public space has to end with the ambition to one day return the Panjab, Sindh, Kashmir and Bangla to their Dhārmika roots. It is likely that this will never happen, I believe that this impossibility should not affect our ability to imagine it happening, and how we can make it happen. The process of Dhārmika rejuvenation does not end till there is a Sun Temple in Multan.
Because the beauty of Dharma is that vestiges of it even exist in the people who’ve most rejected it. I’m reminded of a Bangladeshi Muslim friend of mine in college who picked up a book he dropped and pressed it to his forehead. It was a very poignant moment for me and showed me the depth of the Bhāratīya identity and the impact it leaves on people. Despite the conversion, despite the decades of this alien software and rampant indoctrination, the faint embers of Dharma remain in the people inhabiting our strange neighborhood “countries”. The flames are, in this sense, eternal, or Sanatan. These vestiges have to be engaged through a system of Dhārmika apologetics. For this, the doctrines of faiths of Christianity and Islam will have to be studied seriously. They have their own set of apologetics, and our counter-apologetics has to be serious, positive, and must have a Dream of the future to show to the reverter. There’s many of these converts who would be willing to revert to Dharma if given an opportunity and a tangible process to follow, but sadly our lack of organization even prevents these people from making the leap. A New Dhārmika Elite has to change this paradigm decisively.
To end this series, I think it’s only fair I go back to someone who has inspired the writing of the series in the first place. I have quoted him extensively in this essay too, because I genuinely believe that no single person has more beautifully articulated the scale of the task ahead of us, and the immense human effort it will require to raise a once-great civilization back to the place it deserves at the world table. While he himself was enamored by Rishi Bankim’s writings, today, Aurobindo stands in front of us like a river raftsman who has navigated the rapids and has left a detailed map of how to get there. His writings and work have to be the single biggest guiding source of our future.
When he came to Baroda to work in the administration of the Gaekwad Maharaja, he eventually began working as a teacher at Baroda College. This section from this wonderful article bears repeating in full:
From accounts left by his students, one gets to know that Aurobindo had an overawing presence as a teacher. His classes were not of an interactive nature. He usually started the class by reading relevant passages from the sourcebooks, and after that with half-closed eyes, delivered his lecture without any reference notes. He did not ask any questions. On the whole, his delivery did not exactly adhere to the academic conventionalities of the subject. He expressed his own thoughts on the subject and his delivery was not necessarily directed towards achieving success in examinations. He also presided over debates and literary events conducted by the students in the College and spoke at the Central Hall of the College. The language in his lectures and dictations was the finest example of classical English and inspired students to strive for higher levels of adeptness in expression. He laid a lot of stress on articulate expression in compositions, particularly underscoring the importance of a logical flow of ideas. He always equated clear composition with clear thinking.
Among his students was K.M. Munshi, who in later life became an eminent litterateur, lawyer, freedom fighter, founder of the Bharati Vidya Bhavan, and later in independent India, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Munshi recounted his interaction with him. While discussing how to intensify the spirit of nationalism the Professor pointed out to Munshi the map of the country and said, ”Look at that map. Learn to find in it the portrait of BharatMātā. The cities, mountains, rivers and forests are the materials which go to make up Her body. The people inhabiting the country are the cells which go to make up Her living tissues. Our literature is Her memory and speech. The spirit of Her culture is Her soul. The happiness and freedom of Her children is Her salvation. Behold Bharata as a living Mother, meditate upon Her and worship Her in the nine-fold way of Bhakti.” Munshi also mentioned that when asked about what books one should read, the Professor suggested Vivekananda, whose works had just come out in the previous few years.
As usual with Aurobindo, I find myself in a position where there is very little I can add. The only thing I’ll say is that only a New Elite who believes the above passage deep in its heart can lead this country to its deserved destination. We have to remember, as the great man says in his essay Rishi Bankim Chandra, the essay that inspired this whole series, that ”Ours is the eternal land, the eternal people, the eternal religion, whose strength, greatness, holiness, may be overclouded but never, even for a moment, utterly cease. The hero, the Rishi, the saint, are the natural fruits of our Indian soil; and there has been no age in which they have not been born“.
This is the path that, as the New Elite, must tread on. Again, he adds, that ”Once that vision has come to a people, there can be no rest, no peace, no farther slumber till the temple has been made ready, the image installed and the sacrifice offered”. It is the job of this New Dhārmika Elite to bring this vision to the people of Bhārata, and we must reflect the restlessness and urgency needed to make this vision - A Fair and Gracious Dream - a reality.
Authored by Samyak Dixit. Published by Brhat.