“Let us not do activities that serve our selfish interests but are harmful to our nation”, said Pujya Bhaishri during Independence Day celebrations
India’s 66th Independence day was celebrated with great enthusiasm in the courtyard of Shri Hari Mandir in the inspiring presence of Pujya Bhaishri on 15th August 2012 as per the tradition every year. The programme was commenced with the hoisting of the national flag by Pujya Bhaishri accompanied by the singing of the national anthem. Thereafter, the students and teachers of Sandipani Rishikul and Gurukul expressed their views and thoughts about Independence Day. The students of Rishikul and Gurukul also presented a musical programme of patriotic songs.
Pujya Bhaishri concluded the programme with his enlightening speech as follows:
Today the nation celebrates its 66th independence day. Everyone loves independence, as independence keeps people happy. Whether it is economic, cultural or intellectual, dependence of any kind robs us of our happiness. “Independence is my birth right and I shall obtain it”, is the slogan of each and every individual. It takes great efforts to be liberated from slavery and achieve independence. Our people have fought a valiant battle to win independence for our country. Many brave people have sacrificed their lives for this purpose. Only then did we win freedom.
However, after gaining freedom the onus of retaining and defending independence lies on the shoulders of its’ people and the nation. The people and the nation have to maintain themselves capable of defending their independence. Although we achieved independence, we could not transform this into good governance because we could not make ourselves capable of protecting this independence.
When an individual gives priority to one’s own selfish interests and lives accordingly over those of the nation, then the independent nation cannot be transformed in to a good Government. Such an individual does not benefit oneself, nor the society or the nation. This is why problems like corruption are seeing a huge rise in our country. Instead of being based on principles, politics today has become merely a means of gaining power and holding onto it, which in turn does not make a good Government. A nation is built by its people but the character of the people decides the future of the nation. Therefore, our urgent need currently is to build good characters. Unfortunately, this aspect has been ignored for many years. Unless there is an increase in the number of people with good characters the country’s independence will remain vulnerable.
Let us not talk today about the duties of the people occupying the positions of power in our country. Instead let us concentrate on what our responsibility is. It is the responsibility of educational institutes like ours to groom responsible and reputable citizens. When Shri Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughna returned from Gurukul they had imbibed “vidya, vinay nipoon gunashila”, meaningthey had become knowledgeable, skilled and virtuous. On the basis of this verse we can say that there should be a strict quality control on the students that graduate from such educational institutes. Even if schools are run by private trusts or people who have taken up education professionally, the task of character building can certainly be accomplished if it is provided the importance it deserves.
When the Prime Minister addresses the nation from the walls of Red Fort he expresses his thoughts about the problems faced by the nation. However when we celebrate Independence day here, in the court yard of Shri Hari mandir, what we can do in the presence of Shri Hari is the task of character building. We must work in that direction. It does not matter if we cannot become the sun but we can certainly become a lamp. It should be our resolution that the interest of the nation will always remain of supreme importance to us.
Let us not do activities that serve our selfish interests but are harmful to our nation. Let us resolve to be committed to defend our nation’s independence and be prepared to fight for our country.
Jai Hind!
