SALUTATIONS !
“Poor is a Nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the Nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honour them!”– Cicero
Our Constitution reads – ‘We the people of India, that is Bharat’.
Our History and our Gurus tell us that the concept of Sanatana Dharma led to India / Bharat being a country with a common Dharmic culture, even if with some diverse practices and customs, from the early times of the Rig-Veda (about 60,000 plus years ago) and even to this day, from the Himalayas to the peninsular tip washed by the three seas and was thus easily, geographically and culturally, recognized as Bharat, where the mother culture of BHARATA prevailed. Where the three syllables of the word BHARAT convey a meaning; ‘ BHA’ or our perception of the Cosmos/Universe through our senses, which allows recognition of the ‘RA’ or Raga/ music of the Spheres and of ‘Ta’ or Tal, the rhythm of it ALL, to follow and live by. This Mother Culture and Civilization, with its reverence for Nature and for the Land in which it was nurtured is represented by the ideal of BHARAT MATA a concept that is more than just the Nation. Hence,
Salutations!
To Bharat Mata -as the personification of the Culture & Civilization of BHARAT!
Many were named Bharat after this culture. However, history tells us that Raja Bharat, the son of Raja Dushyant and Shakuntla, himself named after the culture, who during his reign had established his sway and spread this culture of BHARATA, encouraging pilgrimages and commanding vassalage across the Land, and though our culture does not really have the concept of a ‘Father of the Nation’, we could recognize him as the earliest Patriarch and Ruler of BHARAT-the Land, after whom the Nation was named and hence, perhaps, as the ‘Father of Bharat Varsha – our ancient Nation.
Salutations!
To Raja Bharat, – The Father of our Nation!
History also, tells us that Freedom is never given to any Country, it is always taken/wrested.
It was the FIRST Prime Minister of India, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had challenged the British. He had not only formed the Azad Hind Government in exile with himself as the Prime Minister on 21st. October 1943, but also, established a Bank, issued currency, stamps and published Newspapers in eight regional languages. He also, incorporated and maintained the ‘Azad Hind’ force, raised earlier by General Mohan Singh Deb, as the Indian National Army with its slogan ‘Jai Hind’, which had hoisted the Tricolour Azad Hind Flag in the North-East of our Country and over the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in December 1943 and fought the British army. His Government was then recognized by some 11 countries.
He is also, today recognized as the one who compelled the Imperialist British to recognize the peril from the demobbed INA and the other World War veterans in India, and at the first sign of mutiny of the Indian Sailors and Soldiers in 1946, to accept that the time had come to move out of India, especially as they themselves in their home country were living on ‘rations’ and on the benevolence of the Americans.
Of course the British needed to save face and and gain time to adjust the trade imbalance and hence, claimed that this was done willingly by them and gave credit to Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi even as they partitioned the Country on allegedly only religious grounds, but really to allow the USA / UK to have an Military ally in the region against the then USSR. If it would have been only on religious grounds then, Pakistan would have been a contiguous country carved out of Bengal, Bihar and Eastern U.P., of areas that had majorly voted for a separate Muslim Nation, instead of West and East Pakistan. The British had earlier disbanded the other territories of Akhand Bharat ( Burma, Ceylon, Nepal and Afghanistan), and even left all the other Princely States free to decide for themselves, expecting that India would break-up.
Even as on 15 August 1947, one third of the Country was partitioned as Pakistan, another third, consisting of Hyderabad, Junagadh, J&K and a few smaller Principalities were not incorporated into India. Also, the Governor General was an appointee of the British Majesty, who in turn appointed the so called Prime Minister of India, all under an act passed by the British Parliament. It is then a question as to on whom or what Jawaharlal Nehru had taken his oath as Prime Minister on 15 August 1947, as India remained a British Dominion till its Constitution was ratified on 26 January 1950. The truly elected Indian Government was only sworn in in 1952, after the Country’s first election. It is therefore now the time to recognize the true liberator and the first Prime Minister of Azad Hind/ India / Bharat!
Salutations!
To Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose!
– The First Prime Minister of Azad Hind /India /Bharat!
History again tells us that when the moment arrives the Man will also, arrive, and so at that crucial moment, there was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who rallied all these Princely states and cemented them into what we today call India / Bharat. It therefore becomes our duty to recognize him as the ‘Iron Man of India’ and the representative of the ‘Unity of India / Bharat’.
Salutations!
To Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel!
– The Iron Man and Unifier of India / Bharat!
India/Bharat continues to give birth to, and nurture many heroes who, work to keep alive and disseminate across the world the many facets of its culture, traditions and civilizational values that make it unique. Some, like Swami Vivekananda and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swamy Prabhupada, expounded and spread awareness of the spiritual aspects of Sanatana Dharma.
Then came Sadhguru Jagdish Vasudev, with his practical and implementable ideas on how the world can learn from Ancient Bharat, to live better in a sustainable manner in accordance with the Laws of Mother Nature, and to also better understand ourselves as Humans, and live together harmoniously. It hence behooves us to recognize such good work done by him as the Apostle of the culture, traditions, and civilizational values of Ancient India/Bharat.
Salutations!
To Sadhguru Jagdish Vasudev!
– The Apostle of the Culture, Traditions and Civilizational values of Ancient India/Bharat!
Many great men of India/Bharat also shined brightly in the Business and Industrial firmament, spreading, and implementing the ethical, moral and Dharmic value systems into such a transactional world. The person who does all this in an exemplary, effective, and admirable manner is Shri Ratan Naval Tata, the Chairman of Tata Trusts, the largest charitable organization in the Country and the doyen of many businesses/industries in diverse fields across the world. It is therefore our duty to recognize him for such work.
Salutations!
To Shri Ratan Naval Tata!
– The exemplary Businessman /Industrialist of India/Bharat!
Now to all those whom we do not know individually, but to whom we all owe a lot. Hence;
Salutations!
To all those; – ‘Unsung Heroes’
– Who had, over the many millennia, made ’Bharat’- our Country, the most knowledgeable, prosperous and envied Country in the world.
– Who had, over the centuries of invasions and foreign rule, struggled to keep alive our culture, our ancient history and knowledge.
– Who had fought valiantly to protect our citizens from the rapacity of the foreign, barbaric invaders and finally succeeded in freeing our Country from the foreign invaders and colonial Imperialists.
“To every man on this earth death cometh sooner or later. How can a man die better than facing fearful odds, while protecting the civilizational values of his People’s Dharmic Culture, and the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his Gods.!” – Anon.
# Note: In memory of all those who fought and died in the first clash, in AD 301 of the new militaristic and barbaric Abrahamic culture against the Dharmic civilization that had come from Bharat to Armenia, and in the many millions of other clashes thereafter all across India / Bharat.
JAI BHARAT! – JAI HIND!