Introduction
At the midnight hour of 14 August
1947 Jawaharlal Nehru spoke of the solemn promise of
Tagore had long ago such a poetic dream, that it seemed to almost come true: “I
have loved India and sought to serve her not because of her geographical
magnitude, not because of her great past, but because of my faith in her today
and my belief that she will stand for truth and freedom and the higher things
of life.” The giver of the national anthem wished
Where the mind is without fear and
the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken
up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the
depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches
its arms towards perfection;
Where the
clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert and of dead
habit;
Where the mind is led forward by
Thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my
Father, let my country awake.
...Where the words come from the depth of truth ... words come from the depths of truth ... the Word comes from the depths of Truth: that is the mantra of life and existence. But do
these words, these dreams of Tagore bear reality in the maze of life in which we live
today? One wonders. Once, while he was walking on a street in London India America ,
and there are plenty of Frenchmen in France ,
and Italians in Italy , and
Germans in Germany ; but
there are very few Indians in India India ’s malaise,
that is India India ’s freedom was already settled, settled
long ago; his concern, however, was, what India
Bankim’s Bande Mataram
In
his address dated 29 January 1908 given at National School in Amaravati, in
Maharashtra, Sri Aurobindo regretted that the meaning of Bankim’s Bande Mataram was not understood “because there was no
patriotism except such as consisted in making India the shadow of England and
other countries which dazzled the sight of the sons of this our Motherland with
their glory and opulence. The so-called patriots of that time might have been
the well-wishers of India India
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving, Mother of
might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams
Over thy branches and lordly
streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease,
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother, I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow…
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleams,
Dark of hue, O candid-fair
In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored
hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free.
Is there anyone today who cries
“Mother, mother mine, mother great and free”? In his speech, Sri Aurobindo said
that he was exceedingly pleased that the song had become popular in all parts
of
And yet there is something interesting about Bande Mataram. About five
years ago the BBC conducted an online survey of world’s top ten songs. Response
from 155 countries showed that, following the Irish National Anthem, Bande
Mataram got second position.
About Bankim and his song composed
in 1875: “Bankim Chandra was among the first batch of graduates from
But there are voices which continue
to object Bande Mataram as the National Anthem. Here is RC Majumdar,
objective and bone-dry: "During the long and arduous struggle for freedom
from 1905 to 1947 Bande Mataram was the rallying cry of the patriotic
sons of
Sri Aurobindo ‘madnesses’
Speaking about one of his
‘madnesses’ Sri Aurobindo says: “…whereas others regard the country as an inert
object, and know it as the plains, the fields, the forests, the mountains and rivers,
I look upon my country as the mother, I worship her and adore her as the
mother. What would a son do when a demon sitting on the breast of his mother is
drinking her blood? Would he sit down content to take his meals, and go on
enjoying himself in the company of his wife and children, or would he, rather,
run to the rescue of his mother? I know I have the strength to uplift this
fallen race; it is not physical strength, I am not going to fight with the
sword or with the gun, but with the power of knowledge. The power of the
warrior is not the only kind of force, there is also the power of Brahman which
is founded on knowledge. This is not a new feeling within me, it is not of a
recent origin, I was born with it; it is in my very marrow. God sent me to the
earth to accomplish this great mission.”
“I know I have the strength to
uplift this fallen race… This is not a new feeling within me… I was born with
it… God sent me to the earth to accomplish this great mission.” In that
mission, in the fire of that determination, in the Yajna of Freedom, was born
Indian nationalism, in it was given the liberating mantra, Bande Mataram.
Came great souls chanting the Hymn
of Freedom. Let us take an example, of young Jatin Mukherjee’s. Hardly was he
in his teens, and he was aware that his mission in life was to fight for the
freedom of his Motherland. A great share of the credit of this spirit of his
must go to his mother who was a widow. Of a powerful build and with commitment
to principles, his approach was that of the revolutionary’s. For him the use of
bombs and firearms was perfectly in order in the struggle for freedom. On one
occasion he was in prison for fifteen months, but for want of proof the
government was helpless and he was released. In the first decade of the last
century a whole group of young hearts sacrificed their lives for this great
cause. It seems, special souls had taken birth at the time. Even as Sri
Aurobindo was sent by God, they, his ageless companions, came following him to
accomplish the mission. It was the Hour of God, indeed, and weighty and
historic things happened in the swiftness of time. A whole nation awoke to the
truth of her soul.
The spirit that inspired the time
can be put in Sri Aurobindo’s words as follows: “There are times in a nation's
history when
We must recognise that
Even today
Let us see what happened during the last
couple of centuries. Emperor Shahjahan spent crores of rupees in seven years to
get his famous peacock throne made. It was studded with some of the costliest
precious stones, with rare diamonds and emeralds. But alas! It is no more there
now. The raider Nadir Shah was attracted by it and took it away with him. Later
the East India Company snatched it from us and shipped it to
And about the Taj Mahal? The labour cost
alone, by today’s wages, comes to about Rs. 2000 crores. 20,000 workers toiled
for 22 years and 1000 elephants were employed to transport the construction
material. No doubt here is a piece of wonder, enchanting in its life-breathing
lyricism. But, then, that is how the taxpayers’ money was squandered.
The ancient Indian precepts of governance were
different. They affirmed that the taxes collected from the citizens represent
the wages of the king. These were paid to him for the performance of kingly
duties, duties towards the people of the kingdom. He was expected to give them
protection. He was expected to maintain law and order. He was expected to
promote activities of trade and commerce. Indeed, he must prop up not only arts
and sciences and industries, but also culture. He stands for values and must
unswervingly uphold these. Performance of kingly duties, and not enjoyment or
satisfying one’s own wants and wishes—that is the role of the king as a public
servant.
But during the period of recent history, of
some thousand years,
On 23 June 1757—tomorrow
it will be 252 years ago—in the Battle of
Plassey Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, was defeated by Robert Clive,
defeated by very dubious means. Another dishonour was inflicted on the psyche
of the country. Clive claimed from the successor Mir Jafar the crony £40
million and a huge personal revenue of £30,000 a year.
Queen