The task before us is to build India anew. A few days before Sadhu Vaswani dropped his physical body, he met a number of young students. One of them said to him, “Beloved Master! Give us a message that we may inscribe in our hearts.”
Sadhu Vaswani looked lovingly at the young people and said to them: “Never forget that you and such as you, are the builders of tomorrow. The future is in your hands!”
How true! Our youth represent the future of the country, the future of the world; in them lies the hope for humanity. They will be the builders of a new India. How many of you will devote yourself to creating and sustaining a democratic society? And how many of you will put all your energy into maximising corporate profits?
At a Question-Answer Session, a young business executive said to me: “With due respect to the values you speak of, we see all around us that only ‘clever’ and ‘smart’ people are able to win over their rivals. If we practise honesty, it does not seem to pay. Did Sri Krishna not tell Arjuna that he must use all means to win the battle? Is this not what we must also do?”
I must confess that I was alarmed by the young man’s misinterpretation of the message of the Gita.
In answer to his question, I explained to him that Sri Krishna does not ask us to do anything and everything to win the battle. He only asks us to work, to do our duty to the best of our abilities. But we must realise, that work is not the end, not the goal according to the Gita. Work is only a means to an end; and the end, the goal that Sri Krishna recommends to us, is self-realisation and loka sangraha (welfare of the people).
We shall introspect on this. India never developed an imperialistic culture or imperialistic ambition. Our national traditions never encouraged a cult of pride and power. In the creative process of evolution or revolution, hate has no place. What binds and builds is the vision human, the vision universal.
November 14 is Shri Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday and is the celebrated as Children's Day across India.
Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.
