Introduction:
Since centuries Bharath is well known and center of
attraction in the whole world. This land has been very sacred and precious
since thousands of years. This land has
been making people curious since ages and many have come here to know, to
explore what is Bharath. Many have left all their own belonging and come to
Bharath to satisfy their hunger of knowledge and spiritual curiosity. Some of
them came here from a far-away to loot Bharath. There are in fact a lot of
things which makes Bharath the treasurer of knowledge, the leader of
spirituality and the father of philosophy. To understand Bharath in a nutshell, we need to understand
from 3 different perspectives.
- Prakrithik Bharath
- Sanskritik Bharath
- Adhyatmik Bharath
There is a stotra in Sanskrit called Ekatmata stotra which
talks all about Bharath to find the Ekatma Vichar in all different parts and
parcel of Bharath. A stanza from there goes below
रत्नाकराधौतपदां
हिमालयकिरीटिनीम्
| ब्रह्मराजर्षिरत्नाढ्याम्
वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥३॥
Meaning: one who gets washed by the ocean that is the source
of gems, the great Himalayan Mountains as crown and one who is rich with the
gems of rajarshis and brahmarshis, I salute that mother India
This Sloka has the answer of all these 3 perspective of
Bharath.
Prakrithik Bharath:
Geographical Boundary:
The geographical area of Bharath is clearly defined in the
above stanza. Its physical boundary is spread across Himalaya as her head
region to Indian Ocean as her foot region.
Similar thing is said in Vishnu Purana :-
उत्तरं
यत्समुद्रस्य: हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं
तद् भारतं नाम: भारती यत्र संततिः ।।
The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south
of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of
Bharata.
Barhaspatya Shastra says:-
हिमालयं
समारभ्य: यावत् इंदु सरोवरं। तं
देवनिर्मितं देशं हिंदुस्थानं प्रचक्षते।।
Starting from Himalayas and extending upto the Indian Ocean
is the nation built by Gods, Hindusthan. Thus it fits the description of a
varsha perfectly as it is a massive piece of earth separated from rest of the
world by a mountain range. भारत
(Bharat) is named so after Emperor Bharata, the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta
Maharaja and ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas.
The mountains:
महेंद्रो
मलयः सह्यो देवतात्मा हिमालयः | ध्येयो रैवतको विन्ध्यो गिरिश्चारावलिस्तथा ||
Meaning: These mountains of our country should always be
remembered - Mahendra, Malaya Giri, Sahyadri , Himalaya, the abode of gods,
Raivataka, Vindhyachal and Aravali.
The Rivers:
गंगा सरस्वती सिंधु ब्रह्मपुत्राश्च गण्डकी| कावेरी यमुना रेवा कृष्णा गोदा महानदी
Meaning: These
important rivers of our motherland: Ganga, Sarasvati, Sindhu, Brahmaputra,
Gandaki, Kaveri, Yamuna, Reva, Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi.
The holy Places:
अयोध्या
मथुरा माया काशी कांची अवंतिका | वैशाली
द्वारका ध्येया पुरी तक्शशिला गया ॥
प्रयागः पाटलीपुत्रं विजयानगरं महत् | इंद्रप्रस्थं
सोमनाथस्तथामृतसरः प्रियम्॥
Meaning: Important holy places - Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya,
Kashi, Kanchi, Avantika, Vaishali, Dwaarika, Puri, Takshashila, Gaya. Prayaga, Pataliputra, Vijayanagara, Indraprastha,
Somanath and Amritsar.
Many more Prakritik aspacts are there to explore the
identity and glory of Bharath. The prakritik spheres have been surrounded with
our lives since centuries. We know Bhisma as the son of Ganga, Ram talking to
Trees, being with Army of monkey, sages considers the forests and mountain as
their house.
Sanskrita Bharath:
If sanskritik Bharath is not understood then nothing is
understood about Bhrath. Bharath will be an empty piece of land without it's
samskritika identity. That is the heart beat which keeps beating since ages.
Many legends come to this land to accelerate the heart beat and they did it
successfully. That keeps continuing eternally. We can consider the People, the
culture, scriptures, family system, yoga, ayurveda, festivals, food, art,
music, knowledge, education and many more in this samskritika bharath.
People:
This land has done many transformation, this land has made
many human to god. Many people could able break their selfish boundary and
lived for the entire humanity, they have manifested Dharma in their own-self,
they have shown ways to all of us. There are lots and lots of personalities who
followed truth and who made this land as one.
- Take the example of Adi Sankaracharya, who traveled the whole India and established Mathas in all 4 sides of India hence connecting people, their culture, their believes.
- Sri Ram travelled from Ayodhya till Rameswaram and then to Srilanka so that the whole of india will be connected with one string, his philosophy and ideology. Every king used to rule their kingdom considering the Culture of all Aryabrat or Bharathvarsh.
- Chanakya travelled the whole of India to awaken and unite the whole India so that they can fight the foreign invaders together.
- Swami Vivekanda has travelled the whole India to redefine Hinduism and refill the quest of people on spirituality, to enhance the patriotic feelings and to remind them their glorious past.
- Many a times Sri Guruji has travelled the length and breadth of India to establish the thinking of "Vasudhiva Kutumbkam" among all the people of India which has helped India to break many of the Lakshmanrekha which were drawn based on language, caste, creed etc.
All the common people of Bharath are inspired by these great
legends and followers of their paths. They created a social structure with our
family system which gave birth to a wonderful culture.
The Bharatiya society follow an eternal rule, an unwritten
principle and a natural evolution. That is the reason it is still unbroken,
undisturbed and never ending. The nature itself is a perfect example of
following unwritten rule. Sun & moon do their work, so are trees and
rivers. This wonderful combinations of human kind and their culture brought up
many wonderful thing for themselves and for the entire universe. Hence the
Yoga, ayurveda, festivals, food, art, music, knowledge, education and many more
popped up in this land.
Adhyatmika Bharath:
If we try to understand the spirituality prevailing in the
world we can derive 3 kinds of it.
- Symantec type: Like Islam or Christian or other non-Indian religions: They have one Book, one god and one birth concept.
- Morality based: Have certain rules so that socially people can live with each other. No concept of God. Just follow the defined, accepted and agreed upon rules.
- Indian Spirituality: Know "Who you are?" and "What is your purpose of life?" etc. After understanding, this life will take it's own path.
To know Indian spirituality we need to understand 3 things:
- Shradha
- Dharma
- Karma
Shradha:
श्रद्धावान
ल्लभते ज्ञानं, तत्परः
सं यतेन्द्रियः। ज्ञानं
लब्ध्वा परां शान्तिम, अचिरेण अधिगच्छति।।4.39।।
Meaning:
The man who is full of faith, who is devoted to it, and who
has subdued the senses obtains
knowledge; and having obtained the knowledge he attains at once to the supreme
peace.
This is a land of seeker who has always been curious to
learn to satisfy their intellect. This
is not a land of belivers where everybody has to believe certain things. Even
if it is Lard Krishna telling to Arjuna, Arjuna did not accept it easily and
had lot of doubts and confusions which Krishna had to clarify one after
another, that is our Philosophy. Our philosophy is not just to believe but to
explore, experiment and experience.
Dharma:
May be this word Dharma is a Bharath-only word, there is no
perfectly matched & translated word in Non-Indian Languages. Many people
translate this to Religion which is incorrect. To an extend this has
similarities with "Righteousness" but still that cannot fully justify
the meaning of Dharma.
धृति:
क्षमा दमोऽस्तेयं शौचमिन्द्रियनिग्रह:। धीर्विद्या
सत्यमक्रोधो दशकं धर्मलक्षणम्।। (मनुस्मृति ६.९२)
अर्थ
– धृति (धैर्य ), क्षमा (अपना अपकार करने वाले का भी उपकार
करना ), दम (हमेशा संयम से धर्म में
लगे रहना ), अस्तेय (चोरी न करना ), शौच
( भीतर और बाहर की
पवित्रता ), इन्द्रिय निग्रह (इन्द्रियों को हमेशा धर्माचरण
में लगाना ), धी ( सत्कर्मों से बुद्धि को
बढ़ाना ), विद्या (यथार्थ ज्ञान लेना ). सत्यम ( हमेशा सत्य का आचरण करना
) और अक्रोध ( क्रोध को छोड़कर हमेशा
शांत रहना )।
Prescribing 10 essential rules for the observance of Dharma:
Dhriti (Bravery), Kshama (Forgiveness), Dama (Self-Control), Asteya (Non-Stealing),
Saucha (Cleanliness), Indriya nigraha (Sense Control), Dhee (Sense of
reasoning), Vidya (Knowledge), Satya (Truthfulness) and Akrodha (Never to lose
temper)
"पृथिवीनं
धर्मं धृतं " meaning-“World
is upheld by Dharma.”
"राम
विग्रहवान धर्म " - Ram is the
personification of Dharma. If we want to follow Dharma, just follow Ram.
From all the above slokas we can make out the definition of
Dharma how broad & vast that is! How true & experiential that is!! How
recent and dynamic that is!!!
Karma:
Everything in this creation is continuous, circular and ever
moving. Take the example of earth
rotating the sun, see different seasons in the atmosphere, observe the day and
night. Also there is cause and effects which the whole modern science is based
on. Bharathiya Philosophy is one of it's kind which talks about all these. In
spiritual perspective as well Human kind takes rebirth based on Karma. What is
going to happen in next moment is based on the Karma of current time as well as
previous birth. It does not rule out doing Karma in current time, neither it
rules out the consequence of the Karma in all previous births. In Bhagvat Gita
there is a seperate chapter focusing on Karma Yoga. It talks about liberation
or god realization through Niskama Karma.
Conclusion:
Bharath is nothing but a perfect amalgamation of it's
Prakrithik, sanskritik as well as adhyatmik aspects. It has been glowing and
existing as the center of attraction for the whole world. It has been
enlightening the whole world with it's knowledge and wisdom, strengthening the
whole world with it's natural resources and skills, purifying the whole world
through it's spiritual power and ever-accommodating religions. This is nothing
but a divine entity, it is nothing but the living manifestation of mother Shakti.
Prakrithik aspect explains Bharath from North to South.
Sanskrita aspect explains Bharath from
West to east. Adhyatmika aspect covers from top to the bottom. In this way all
6 dimensions of understanding Bharath are covered.
Bharath mata ki jai!!
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