The Sanatan Dharma or the Vedic culture infused sacredness into every human activity. The Bharat Kshetra as the Indic civilization was widely known in the ancient times, is the Knowledge Seat of the World. There was a mad rush from and beyond the Asian continent, whereby students faced life threatening struggles to reach India in the hope of getting admission to the top Universities. From Taxila to Nalanda to Sharadapeeth and Vallabhi, each institute was a center par excellence with subject-specializations to offer. Temple campuses were hubs of education and research, funded by donations from the rich and the monarchs, so the disciples were never to be charged fees during the study. That’s why, while other religions spend the donations on conversions activities, Hindus have absolutely no clue what they are donating for in the temples today while paying hefty fees to schools, most of the profits of which clearly go into conversion.

The Gurus led the viharas (origin of the word “Bihar”) which were faculty-student exchange programs, guest lectures and internships of those days. The Gurus and their wives were deemed parents and were so treated with respect for the entire articleship time span. The dakshina or the fees were charged only upon successful presentation of the intended skill-sets by the learners. These Gurus-scientists were also nominated as law-policy makers and advisors in the King’s court with the titles of Raj-rishi, Acharya, Kul-guru and so on.

The Abrahamic onslaught which the civilization saw, demolished these temples first because “Arth” meaning economy-money & “shastra” meaning knowledge, both were at the same spots. While the Islamic radicals burned most books, took few of them back to their homeland and fortunately gave credit in some translations, the west chose to loot all the books and re-introduce many concepts as western inventions and discoveries.

The Britishers set the last nail in the coffin by fixing a completely feminine and memory-based class-room education system which has no real-market implications whatsoever. Most British colonies were forced to adopt this model which ate away about 20% plus of human life and ended up producing an adult totally clueless about what he’s supposed to do except jobs after throwing a party upon convocation. There are no official records worldwide of the word “unemployment” prior to this fruitless invention of “job”. Jobs were meant for only those who couldn’t make out what to do with life 8 hours every day. All jobbers were clubbed in the last section of the caste classification of “shudra”. It was done with a constructive motive of giving a healthy body some 8 hours of work looking at his inability to learn enterprising skills and saving him from resorting to some illicit activities like theft, violence and gambling. The campus placements of today are a mockery as students of merit who could have been potential employers get sold out for a mere package, while the audience claps in awe and entrepreneurship remains a compulsion for the left-out. For 20 long years the child is tortured to invest time and money on what he is not good at, then he still turns out as a fresher for work and then next 40 years the human resource experts try finding in him what he is good at. Not surprisingly, most economies of the world are labelled as sinking or under depression every fourth year.

After demolition of entrepreneurship based ancient India Gurukuls, every effort was made to paint the most advanced culture with the most liberal depictions of empowered women in real life and even in the sculpture-architecture, as backward and orthodox. While its more than clear that the practices of Sati, Johar, Child marriage, Ghunghat and restricting movements of women up to homes were defenses created against the radical islamic rule, there is a fashion to abuse Hinduism. Ours is a culture which celebrates women and gave the World intellectual Rishikas like Gargi, Anusuya, Yami, Maitreyi and the likes who were leading influencers in research and philosophy in ancient India. Ours is the only civilization which depicts the word ‘dharma’ as duty and not religion, where names have meanings and languages are coded to define the dynamics of every relation. Perhaps the inheritors today, who have lost the sense of seeking along with the west need to research the intellectual depth of our enlightened forefathers who worshipped the feminine as a form of Godliness. Generations of today are so confused that they assume everything western to be modern by default to the extent that the 1960s US laborer’s attire of jeans becomes a daily wear.

The illness of fake secularism among the youth is a direct output of changing jobs every fourth year and shifting to different cities. The lack of belongingness and even boredom towards one’s own culture, festivals and family is alarming. The youth is made to live insecure throughout at the mercy of banks, employers and neighbors who change like his unstable thoughts. Upon losing touch with the roots, identity and the pride, the youth lives a soul-less depressed life. Since the natural branding of one’s own region is devastated, people are buying brands and have become impulsive, addicted buyers in the hope of generating a false sense of identity.

From 1800-1900 AD, Gurukul education system was wiped out. From 1900-1950 AD, Hindu traditions were on target. From 1950-1990, the leftist narrative wiped out the Hindu legacy from the syllabus and questioned the practices as the scientific understanding and connect with the reasons for the Hindu way of living was lost. From 1990-2020, capitalism and consumerism had its way, but it invoked the need for resurgence in the sleeping Hindu giant. The episodes of Tanishq, EROS, Arrey and so on, are nothing but a continuing series of attempts to wipe off the self-esteem and pride. Now is the time to reset.

A nation thrives only with a cause of fighting for the deep sense of pride among its people. The river which loses its source, eventually dries.

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