Indian civilisational journey was always pluralistic and cherished diversity Kerala Guv
Bengaluru Dec 25 PTI Indian culture from the time of its civilisational journey had always been pluralistic and cherished diversity Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said on SaturdayIn a speech dotted with the verses from Vedas and Bhagwad Geeta Khan said India is a successful democracy not because it was written in the Constitution but it always practiced spiritual democracy by accepting diversity as the natural lawIndian culture right from the start of our civilisational journey had always been pluralistic cherished diversity Khan said during the fourth Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture which was organised by the India FoundationSpeaking about diversity he said India was pluralistic because the ancient noblemen who practiced austerity and devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge came to the conclusion that diversity is the natural lawExplaining that India did not become diverse after the arrival of semitic religions Khan cited example that Jews came to the country in the year when the temple of Solomon was destroyed and Christianity in India was older than the European Christianity because Christians came in the first century itselfAccording to Khan there is a mosque in Kerala which people believe was built two years before the death of Prophet Mohammed PBUHThe Kerala Governor also took objection to the word tolerance to define Indian pluralismTo buttress his point he quoted Vivekananda who said when someone talks of tolerance he felt as if the person tried to patronise him To Vivekananda tolerance was blasphemy he addedWe do not tolerate We respect and accept all traditions Vivekananda said in his famous speech in World Religion Parliament that the people of India with a population of 35 crore start their prayer – O Lord the way various rivers rivulets springs and water bodies they originate from their source they course in the crooked ways and finally merge into the seaO Lord we human beings depending on the natural disposition on which you have created us we take different paths but ultimately we merge into you This has been the Indian thinking Khan saidSeeking to explain why democracy succeeded in India with a continuous civilisation of more than 5000 years Khan asked Shall our genius accept this idea that we are running our government our Constitution on the basis of a borrowed idea Will that succeed No Khan averred that democracy succeeded in India because Indians if not a political democracy always had a continuous spiritual democracyLike the continuous civilisation we had continuous spiritual democracy — Aham Brahmasmi and Tatvamasi These Mahavakyas great sentences from Vedas we have never abandoned them the seasoned statesman saidTaking a dig at those who believed that Mutts monastery established by Adiguru Shankaracharya united the country he said unity of India cannot be created by making buildings but unity was created by the four Mahavakyas assigned to each of these MuttsThese Mahavakyas are from four different sources but they had the same meaning about the divinity of mankind he clarifiedDrawing a parallel between Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda Khan said in his letter to his disciple Sister Nivedita Vivekananda said his mission was to teach unto mankind their divinityKhan said the modern west gave the concept of dignity to mankind through its Union Charter of Human Rights which spoke about the rights of the human being rights of the minorities and the rights of the marginalised right to culture and right to religious faith and worshipExplaining why these rights were emphasised Khan said when the Western world embraced democracy they needed to become pluralistic because they realised that diversity should not be suppressedPluralism came to the western society only after clash between judge and the state Now they try to become inclusive but earlier exclusivity was their hallmark the Kerala governor notedThe Kerala governor observed that with the sole exception of India the world cultures were either defined by race language or by religious faithKhan also said that the minorities whether cultural religious lingual diversity were suppressed all over the world with the sole exception of IndiaHe asked the audience not to try to comprehend Indian ideas and concepts with the foreign paradigm as that will lead to wrong conclusionsIf the Indian ideas and concepts are to be understood properly then we must use Indian paradigmAccording to Khan the word secularism was meant to give respectability to the pluralism and diversity and make it acceptable On the other hand India accepted diversity since time immemorial he addedSecularism doesnt mean to be religious Secularism doesnt mean lack of faith in Supreme TruthSecularism means each individual has the right to approach to pursue the spiritual path in a manner which suits her or his own genea Everybody does according to the natural disposition on which he has been created Khan saidHe also shared some anecdotes about time spent with the former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari VajpayeeUnion Minister for Civil Aviation Railways and Commerce Suresh Prabhu too addressed the gathering and recalled his time with Vajpayee PTI GMS ROH ROH
Bengaluru Dec 25 PTI Indian culture from the time of its civilisational journey had always been pluralistic and cherished diversity Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said on SaturdayIn a speech dotted with the verses from Vedas and Bhagwad Geeta Khan said India is a successful democracy not because it was written in the Constitution but it always practiced spiritual democracy by accepting diversity as the natural lawIndian culture right from the start of our civilisational journey had always been pluralistic cherished diversity Khan said during the fourth Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture which was organised by the India FoundationSpeaking about diversity he said India was pluralistic because the ancient noblemen who practiced austerity and devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge came to the conclusion that diversity is the natural lawExplaining that India did not become diverse after the arrival of semitic religions Khan cited example that Jews came to the country in the year when the temple of Solomon was destroyed and Christianity in India was older than the European Christianity because Christians came in the first century itselfAccording to Khan there is a mosque in Kerala which people believe was built two years before the death of Prophet Mohammed PBUHThe Kerala Governor also took objection to the word tolerance to define Indian pluralismTo buttress his point he quoted Vivekananda who said when someone talks of tolerance he felt as if the person tried to patronise him To Vivekananda tolerance was blasphemy he addedWe do not tolerate We respect and accept all traditions Vivekananda said in his famous speech in World Religion Parliament that the people of India with a population of 35 crore start their prayer – O Lord the way various rivers rivulets springs and water bodies they originate from their source they course in the crooked ways and finally merge into the seaO Lord we human beings depending on the natural disposition on which you have created us we take different paths but ultimately we merge into you This has been the Indian thinking Khan saidSeeking to explain why democracy succeeded in India with a continuous civilisation of more than 5000 years Khan asked Shall our genius accept this idea that we are running our government our Constitution on the basis of a borrowed idea Will that succeed No Khan averred that democracy succeeded in India because Indians if not a political democracy always had a continuous spiritual democracyLike the continuous civilisation we had continuous spiritual democracy — Aham Brahmasmi and Tatvamasi These Mahavakyas great sentences from Vedas we have never abandoned them the seasoned statesman saidTaking a dig at those who believed that Mutts monastery established by Adiguru Shankaracharya united the country he said unity of India cannot be created by making buildings but unity was created by the four Mahavakyas assigned to each of these MuttsThese Mahavakyas are from four different sources but they had the same meaning about the divinity of mankind he clarifiedDrawing a parallel between Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda Khan said in his letter to his disciple Sister Nivedita Vivekananda said his mission was to teach unto mankind their divinityKhan said the modern west gave the concept of dignity to mankind through its Union Charter of Human Rights which spoke about the rights of the human being rights of the minorities and the rights of the marginalised right to culture and right to religious faith and worshipExplaining why these rights were emphasised Khan said when the Western world embraced democracy they needed to become pluralistic because they realised that diversity should not be suppressedPluralism came to the western society only after clash between judge and the state Now they try to become inclusive but earlier exclusivity was their hallmark the Kerala governor notedThe Kerala governor observed that with the sole exception of India the world cultures were either defined by race language or by religious faithKhan also said that the minorities whether cultural religious lingual diversity were suppressed all over the world with the sole exception of IndiaHe asked the audience not to try to comprehend Indian ideas and concepts with the foreign paradigm as that will lead to wrong conclusionsIf the Indian ideas and concepts are to be understood properly then we must use Indian paradigmAccording to Khan the word secularism was meant to give respectability to the pluralism and diversity and make it acceptable On the other hand India accepted diversity since time immemorial he addedSecularism doesnt mean to be religious Secularism doesnt mean lack of faith in Supreme TruthSecularism means each individual has the right to approach to pursue the spiritual path in a manner which suits her or his own genea Everybody does according to the natural disposition on which he has been created Khan saidHe also shared some anecdotes about time spent with the former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari VajpayeeUnion Minister for Civil Aviation Railways and Commerce Suresh Prabhu too addressed the gathering and recalled his time with Vajpayee PTI GMS ROH ROH
