India in the eyes of western greats
‘To the philosophers of India, however, ‘Theory of Relativity’
is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to
people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (one kalpa is about
4,320,000 years).’
--- Alan Watts, an eminent English philosopher
I thank Mr Salil Gewali from the core of my
heart for providing me an opportunity to have a glimpse of the book titled
“What is India ?”. It’s indeed a great experience to have a look at the views
of some of the great minds, who in unambiguous manner came to endorse the
unique contribution of Indian sages, thinkers and scholars born on this divine
land from time to time. It’s no secret that in modern India the rise of so
called secular brigade has made it near impossible task for the present youth
to have access to the true image of India’s glorious past.
Worse, any attempt to have a look into the past is ridiculed by the
progressive intellectuals as an attempt of saffronisation
of education. Against this
backdrop, it’s indeed laudable that author decided to bring in open the contributions
of great Indian minds via the words of enlightened souls from the Western
world. The youths of our times whose minds have been programmed to view the
contributions from the Western world as ultimate will be forced to reshape
their brainwaves after intercepting the pearls of wisdom scattered in the pages
of this wonderful book penned by Mr. Gewali.
It’s high time that we come to acknowledge the contributions of our
sages. At this juncture, I wish to quote the words of Radhakrishnan, which will
let my readers to know why it’s so essential to be in league with the wisdom
of Indian sages. It will let you know why it’s so essential to take as
much steps as possible to resurrect the glory of past. I pity the intellectuals
who believe that if we started looking into past we are bound to return to cave
ages. I need to tell such bogus thinkers that the nation which forgot to honour
the great relics of past , sooner or later, became a forgotten past !
Radhakrishnan says : ”From the beginning of her history India has adored and
idealized ,not soldiers and statesman, not men of science and leaders of
industry ,not even poets and philosophers ,who influence the world by their
deeds or by their words, but those rarer and most chastened spirits, whose
greatness lies in what they are not what they do; men who have stamped infinity
on the thought and life of the country, men who have added to the invisible
force of goodness in the world. To a world given over to the pursuits of power
and pleasure, wealth and glory, they declare the reality of the unseen world
and the call of the spiritual life. Their self-possession and self command ,
their strange deep wisdom , their exquisite courtesy, their humility and
gentleness of soul , their abounding humanity , proclaim that the destiny of
man is to know himself and thereby further the universal life of which he is an
integrated element.” ( Eastern Religions And Western Thought by S.
Radhakrishnan , P.35)
I am sure the book which is primarily the compilation of intellectual
giants from across the globe like T.S. Eliot, Albert Einstein, Werner
Heisenberg, Julius R. Oppenheimer, Erwin Schrodinger, Voltaire, Mark Twain,
Emerson , Arthur Schopenhauer, Yeats, Alan Watts, Thoreau, Romain Rolland,
Abdul Kalam, Paul William Roberts and Brian David Josephson , to name few,
would allow young minds to reshape their perspective. They are, at present, bit
ashamed in acknowledging the contributions of our sages in open and bold
manner. The compilation of the quotes has been done in excellent way which
already won the appreciation of the readers from across the world. The NASA
scientists Dr. A V Murali says –‘This compilation is simply outstanding! I
never knew that such a compilation exists and we all should be thankful to the
author! These great quotes should be embossed on plaques and displayed on the
walls of our Parliament, State Assembly Halls, and at all our educational
institutions. Most importantly, the material should be made a compulsory
reading for all the school students (elaborating more on ‘ who is who’ and the
monumental contributions of these intellectual giants).’
These candid declarations on the part of these great minds would
shatter the reluctance shown on the part of Gen-Next to embrace the wisdom
found in Vedas and other Indian scriptures. Recently, I came to be aware of
progressive souls making mockery of the Indian civilization saying that we have
tendency to overrate our achievements and as a result we are all the time lost
in self-glorification. When I contrast the myopic observation of that soul with
the revelations present in the Gewali’s book I must say let’s become aware of
the glorious legacy instead of giving to sense of rejection caused by the
onslaught of progressive literature. The term “progressive literature” makes me
laugh as one hardly finds anything progressive while reading books falling in
this genre. Without any prejudices in mind let those secularists ponder amazing
opinions of the father of Atomic Bomb, Julius R. Oppenheimer, 'What we shall
find in Modern Physics is an exemplification, an encouragement and
a refinement of old Hindu wisdom.'
All must congratulate the author for successful culmination of
herculean task whereby he managed to bring at one place thoughts of leading
Western thinkers pertaining to contributions of Indian geniuses in various
spheres like science, literature and philosophy. The book is a conscious
reader’s delight; a prize possession of any soul who wishes to be aware of the
contributions of ancient India when wisdom of sages ruled the roost.
----Arvind K Pandey,
Allahabad-211016, Uttar Pradesh