Saturday 25 March 2017

Nation - an extension of man

 

But still, because there is no other way, let us try, when I use the word Nation, you must think I mean Rashtra. You must translate it immediately into Rashtra and try to understand it according to Sanskrit connotation. Then it will be slightly easier.

Then what is this Rashtra? About man – I told man or woman – is the totality of the physical, the mental, the intellectual and the spiritual - four dimensions, which every one of us has got. We are not only body. We are not only mind. We are not only intellect. We are not only the spirit or the soul. We are all these together. So that is man. Nation is easily described as a collection of men. We say, "India is a Nation of hundred crores of people". So what is understood thereby? That, Bharat is a collection of hundred crores of people. That is what is generally understood. But, that is also not correct. Simply by collecting people you cannot make a Nation.

A Nation is not merely a collection of people just like a family is not a collection of a man, a woman and two or three children. If you bring together a man, a woman and two or three children, they do not become a family. It is true – in my family there is a man, a woman, and children too. But simply bringing a man, a woman and three children does not make a family. A family requires a husband, a wife and their children a father, a mother and their daughters or sons. Then only they become a family. So family is a living concept. It is not an arithmetical concept. It is a living concept. It is an organic concept. A family grows and is not made. A family evolves. A family develops. Similarly a Nation. True, it consists of many crores of people. But many crores of people put together do not make a Nation unless there is something which is born, grows, develops and flourishes as an organic living being.


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