LyrArc Insights

On 75th Republic Day while reading the Bhagavad Gita by Swarupananda and pondering on its message to Bharat

 

LETS GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME

On hearing "aye mere watan ke logo" and Vajpayee's "kadam milake chalna hoga" at the NCC rally,  one is reminded how far we have traveled through time,

Gandhi in 1910 with Hind Swaraj, Quit India 1942, China's entry into Tibet 1951, Vajpayee in 2000, the pandemics of 1917 and 2020,

Through 1500 and 1800, as our frontiers were broken from first the Indus and then the sea,

So we ask how do we secure the frontiers, and build a new future this time?

 

Great was the sacrifice of the Satyagrahis at Dandi in the Salt March in 1931, in the prisons of the Andaman Island more so,

Great the loss in the wars on two continents in 1917 and 1944, in the invasions in 1500 over the Indus and by 1800 over the oceans,

So great the suffering of the farmers and the people taxed to extremes, some starving,

So great the loss of science and technology that left Bharat backward and behind Europe,

Its wealth leaving Bharat that Naoroji put forward, little to develop the country, little for technology and development.

 

Then let us get it right this time,

Lets build good governance,

No leakage of funds that build roads, bridges, airports, schools and hospitals.

 

O people of Bharat, forget not your heritage,

"paritranaya sadhuna vinashaya cha,

dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge,

For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma, I come into being in every age,"

It gave courage to Gandhi in the freedom struggle,

O land of Swarupananda's Bhagavad Gita of Vidyadagar, of Ramakrishna, of Vivekananda, of Nivedita, and Gandhi,

Lets get it right this time.

 

Through good governance, through duty, through sacrifice, through the Gita's Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga,

Let us show the right way and get it right this time,

O' people of Bharat remember the words of the Bhagavad Gita and put your faith in the Lord who said to Arjuna-

"I am the self O'Gudakesa existent in the heart of all beings,

I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings,

Of Adityas I am Vishnu, of winds I am Marici, of luminaries the radiant Sun, of asterisms the moon,

And long before Arjuna- the Lord said this to Vivaswat, till it was lost through lapse of time.

 

To the people of the world, to the people of America, Europe, Africa, and Asia,

A vision of the world that stretches in time from Nachiketas to Bodhidharma, to St Paul,

A vision filled with the spirit of Nachiketas, Bodhidharma and St Paul,

In the immortal words of St Paul- 

"He is our peace who hath broken the middle wall of partition between us,

Who hath made both one, in one body- for habitation of God through the Spirit,"

Let us build an openness to the world using the best of Nachiketas, Bodhidharma and St Paul,

Let us get it right this time.

 

The Bhagavad Gita as the heritage of all mankind,

And surely for all the people of the land of Bharat, Gandhi's spiritual lighthouse,

Not hidden in Sanskrit, just as the Bible was in Greek and Latin till Tyndale cut through all obstruction to put it in English for every Englishman in 1550,

And as Wilkins did to put the Bhagavad Gita in English in 1784,

A common heritage in Punjabi, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu, for All the People.

 

Without this so much harm done, so much injustice through superstition,

So much injustice done to untouchables and to women,

The Lord speaks to every man and woman and holds all dear and is partial to no one,

Without this science hidden by superstition, and scientific observation crushed.

 

Without science and technology, with learning hidden from the people,

The descent through centuries into poverty and collapsing civilization,

Without Tyndale no scientific revolution in Europe, without Wilkins's Bhagavad Gita no delayed scientific revolution in Bharat,

Forget not this lesson O' people of Bharat,

Lets get it right this time

 

All the people of this land rise and fall together,

Supremely dear to me are the seekers of knowledge says the Lord, but none more dear to me than the wise,

The fire warms only those who come near to it,

Ever seek the right path,

Learn each lesson well,

Lets get it right this time.

 

O' people of Bharat, the Way Forward is before us,

Through concentration achieve the impossible, says the Bhagavad Gita,

Concentration of effort, concentration of energies, concentration of mind;

And another kind of concentration for technology to build a new Bharat,

Bringing larger, ever expanding pools of capital, human intelligence and energy, and land, putting them to work with science and technology;

Each year building on the accumulated results of years past, always true to what we have learned and are learning about the quality of the air, water and land.

 

"That by which all this is pervaded, know that for certain to be Indestructible," says the Lord in the Bhagavad Gita,

"None has the power to destroy this Immutable,

Fight therefore O' descendent of Bharata,"

With the mind steadfast in Yoga, with evenness of mind,

Lets get it right this time