In the name of freedom.
Now recently someone filed a PIL in supreme court regarding morning prayers in kendriya vidyalayas, " astoma sadgamya " of forcing Hindu prayer on students, of violating religious rights of non Hindu students.
I had studied in a convent school and our morning prayer was " our father who art in heaven " it's a Christian prayer. All my classmates which comprised of Hindu, Sikh , and also Muslims girls daily chanted this prayer during our Assembly in the morning along with our principal. Non of us ( students ) had any complain & nor do our parents.
I still remember our sister principal took us for an excursion to Mumbai, goa, pune. On the day we had to depart from our school, the bus ( which had to carry us to Delhi railway station ) had not arrived, all students their parents were eagerly waiting. Fearing we may not reach Delhi railway station on time, Our sister principal took us students to the chapel in our school to pray for arrival of our bus.
We all prayed in front of Jesus Christ's statue and non of us or our parents complained.
Then why is it today, people are complaining of Sanskrit shlokas chanted in kendriya vidyalayas.
"Astoma sadgamya" it means, lead me from ignorance to truth. Is there anything wrong in the meaning ?
Doesn't all of us ( irrespective of our religions ) want to shed ignorance and move towards the truth?
Parents belonging to all religions teach this to their sons & daughters right from their childhood.
Any thing related to Sanskrit is Indian. Why can't we take it like that. Why see it through the prism of religion.
In the name of freedom of expression, speech and democracy, we are actually seeing our almost 5000 year old Indian practices through religious prism only.
Think for a while what's wrong in students doing surya namaskar in schools. Those who feel it hurts their religious sentiments should not do it they can sit in school library, read books or do something else by the time other students do surya namaskar. Banning surya namaskar will send wrong message that we are snatching the rights of those who want to do it.Where are we Indians going ? What are we doing ?
Some people shouting "Bharat tere tukde honge" slogans at a prestigious university and some netas who don't like our present government go there to support them. Critising government is OK but sharing a dias with those who shout such slogans really hurts.
Calling army chief 'sadak ka gunda' is their freedom of speech. They will use derogatory words for our prime minister and then say -"pradhanmantri Ji ne democracy ko shatter kar diya", they will shout to say it loudly everyday in television studios. I don't understand if there is no democracy left in our country then how is it that they shout & say all this on nearly daily basis.
And there is only one reason for it because there is a lot more democracy in India, that's why you say what you say. Sometimes i feel even our forefathers would not have thought in their wildest dreams that asking our fellow citizens to sing 'vande matram' together and saying 'Bharat mata ki jai' together would be dubbed as curtailing someone's freedom. Infact, all our freedom fighters during freedom struggle said 'Bharat mata ki jai' & sang 'vande matram'.
This is new India where you ask someone at a working place, government offices or a school to say 'Bharat mata ki jai' or 'Vande Matram' and immediately news channels will pick up and start debating whether it's curtailing individual's rights.
What kind of precedence our we setting for future generations.
There are many things in our India that are violating some of our citizens rights like children not having proper education due poverty, children suffering from malnutrition, lack of maternity facilities for women living in remote villages. Is this not the violation of her right? Why can't we debate these more.
Take the example of international yoga day when the first time it was announced by united nations on request of our prime minister modi, instead of rejoicing that our 5000 year old practice is getting so much recognition by UN, some people and news channels started debating chanting of shlokas during yogic kriyas. Whether these shlokas be done away with or should they be chanted before starting yoga.
The obsession whether to chant shlokas or not while doing yoga was so much that some news channels even invited a Pakistani yoga teacher for his opinion on this matter.
We forgot to celebrate yoga's recognition by UN and the world and we turned it into a t.v. debate dramas for channels trp.
Those who want to practice yoga but do not want to chant shlokas should not chant shlokas its just that simple no one is forcing them. Infact, democracy is not about forcing. Similar, by not letting others to start yoga on international yoga day by reciting shloka or Sanskrit prayer, is denying them of their freedom & fundamental rights.
Let us concentrate on how to make India, the India of our dreams, let's debate education , cleaning India , poverty, there are so many issues to be discussed to make India better rather than these futile debates.
These issues include the people of India irrespective of their religion, caste etc.
I had studied in a convent school and our morning prayer was " our father who art in heaven " it's a Christian prayer. All my classmates which comprised of Hindu, Sikh , and also Muslims girls daily chanted this prayer during our Assembly in the morning along with our principal. Non of us ( students ) had any complain & nor do our parents.
I still remember our sister principal took us for an excursion to Mumbai, goa, pune. On the day we had to depart from our school, the bus ( which had to carry us to Delhi railway station ) had not arrived, all students their parents were eagerly waiting. Fearing we may not reach Delhi railway station on time, Our sister principal took us students to the chapel in our school to pray for arrival of our bus.
We all prayed in front of Jesus Christ's statue and non of us or our parents complained.
Then why is it today, people are complaining of Sanskrit shlokas chanted in kendriya vidyalayas.
"Astoma sadgamya" it means, lead me from ignorance to truth. Is there anything wrong in the meaning ?
Doesn't all of us ( irrespective of our religions ) want to shed ignorance and move towards the truth?
Parents belonging to all religions teach this to their sons & daughters right from their childhood.
Any thing related to Sanskrit is Indian. Why can't we take it like that. Why see it through the prism of religion.
In the name of freedom of expression, speech and democracy, we are actually seeing our almost 5000 year old Indian practices through religious prism only.
Think for a while what's wrong in students doing surya namaskar in schools. Those who feel it hurts their religious sentiments should not do it they can sit in school library, read books or do something else by the time other students do surya namaskar. Banning surya namaskar will send wrong message that we are snatching the rights of those who want to do it.Where are we Indians going ? What are we doing ?
Some people shouting "Bharat tere tukde honge" slogans at a prestigious university and some netas who don't like our present government go there to support them. Critising government is OK but sharing a dias with those who shout such slogans really hurts.
Calling army chief 'sadak ka gunda' is their freedom of speech. They will use derogatory words for our prime minister and then say -"pradhanmantri Ji ne democracy ko shatter kar diya", they will shout to say it loudly everyday in television studios. I don't understand if there is no democracy left in our country then how is it that they shout & say all this on nearly daily basis.
And there is only one reason for it because there is a lot more democracy in India, that's why you say what you say. Sometimes i feel even our forefathers would not have thought in their wildest dreams that asking our fellow citizens to sing 'vande matram' together and saying 'Bharat mata ki jai' together would be dubbed as curtailing someone's freedom. Infact, all our freedom fighters during freedom struggle said 'Bharat mata ki jai' & sang 'vande matram'.
This is new India where you ask someone at a working place, government offices or a school to say 'Bharat mata ki jai' or 'Vande Matram' and immediately news channels will pick up and start debating whether it's curtailing individual's rights.
What kind of precedence our we setting for future generations.
There are many things in our India that are violating some of our citizens rights like children not having proper education due poverty, children suffering from malnutrition, lack of maternity facilities for women living in remote villages. Is this not the violation of her right? Why can't we debate these more.
Take the example of international yoga day when the first time it was announced by united nations on request of our prime minister modi, instead of rejoicing that our 5000 year old practice is getting so much recognition by UN, some people and news channels started debating chanting of shlokas during yogic kriyas. Whether these shlokas be done away with or should they be chanted before starting yoga.
The obsession whether to chant shlokas or not while doing yoga was so much that some news channels even invited a Pakistani yoga teacher for his opinion on this matter.
We forgot to celebrate yoga's recognition by UN and the world and we turned it into a t.v. debate dramas for channels trp.
Those who want to practice yoga but do not want to chant shlokas should not chant shlokas its just that simple no one is forcing them. Infact, democracy is not about forcing. Similar, by not letting others to start yoga on international yoga day by reciting shloka or Sanskrit prayer, is denying them of their freedom & fundamental rights.
Let us concentrate on how to make India, the India of our dreams, let's debate education , cleaning India , poverty, there are so many issues to be discussed to make India better rather than these futile debates.
These issues include the people of India irrespective of their religion, caste etc.
Hope and pray that our indian politicians rise above these futile debates
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