Indian Idea of Socialism

...Socialism is not an European idea, it is essentially Asiatic and especially Indian. What is called Socialism in Europe, is the old Asiatic attempt to effect a permanent solution of the economic problem of society which will give man leisure and peace to develop undisturbed his higher self. Without Socialism democracy would remain a tendency that never reached its fulfilment, a rule of the masses by a small aristocratic or monied class with the consent and votes of the masses, or a tyranny of the artisan classes over the rest. Socialistic democracy is the only true democracy, for without it we cannot get the equalised and harmonised distribution of functions, each part of the community existing for the good of all and not struggling for its own separate interests, which will give humanity as a whole the necessary conditions in which it can turn its best energies to its higher development. To realise those conditions is also the aim of Hindu civilisation and the original intention of caste. The fulfilment of Hinduism is the fulfilment of the highest tendencies of human civilisation and it must include in its sweep the most vital impulses of modern life. It will include democracy and Socialism also, purifying them, raising them above the excessive stress on the economic adjustments which are the means, and teaching them to fix their eyes more constantly and clearly on the moral, intellectual and spiritual perfection of mankind which is the end.

Sri Aurobindo
September 21, 1907

Indian Memory Museum - A FACT Initiative!

Please have a look:
http://www.fact-india.com/
http://www.factusa.blogspot.com/
http://youtube.com/factindia
http://www.francoisgautier.com/

'But overall,as you know, FACT has an ultimate goal: To build an Indian
Memory museum. No nation can move forward, unless it faces squarely its
past. As His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living
Foundation, pointed out recently, “ the courage to remember, helps us not to
repeat the same mistakes and to build a better future for our children ”. We
have got the land now in Pune, but we need funds to start leveling, fencing
etc.

If you want to help for all these noble endeavours, you can help us raise
funds, as we operate on shoestring budgets. FACT India is a registered Trust
with tax exemption...'

Facing the past squarely is essential for a nation to boldly create its future. The study & the projection of the past in India has been over the last six decades the monopoly of a few 'eminent historians' or distorians who have shaded it through their prisms of isms & ideology, to satisfy some groups & sections. The sad result has been that most of what is taught as history to young impressionable minds is unable to evoke in them a greater & deeper understanding of this land, its heritage, ethos & the struggles & triumphs of its people. A deep pride never develops & a lingering sense of deprecation remains.
A society, people, civilisation does not so much dissolve under external pressures as it does by 'suicide' - the unwillingness to defend, preserve & spread - & the first step towards that process of self-annihilation is the practice of forgetting, negating & denigrating one's past.
The task undertaken by FACT, that of creating an Indian Memory Museum, is a unique one in that sense, one that can indeed go a long way in preserving the distinct Bharatiya identity & its race memory, all nationalists must come forward to support this endeavour!

Take time off & Make an attempt to also visit & Remember:
'An Exhibition on "Sikhs: the defenders of Indian Dharma" will be inaugurated by H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Delhi on 22nd January 2008. The exhibition shall be positioned at the Banglasaheb Gurudwara New Delhi and is a collection of paintings and compilation of facts and figures.

The exhibition is a combined effort of SGPC New Delhi and FACT '

FACT - Director
41 Jorbagh,
1st floor,
New Delhi 110003
Tel: +91-11-24649635 / +919811118828

National Education - briefly defined!

National education cannot be defined briefly in one or two sentences, but we may decsribe it tentatively as the education which starting with the past and making full use of the present builds up a great nation. Whoever wishes to cut off the nation from its past, is no friend of our national growth. Whoever fails to take advantage of the present is losing us the battle of life. We must therefore save for India all that she has stored up of knowledge, character and noble thought in her immemorial past. We must acquire for her the best knowledge that Europe can give her and assimilate it to her own peculiar type of national temperament. We must introduce the best methods of teaching humanity has developed, whether modern or ancient. And all these we must harmonise into a system which will be impregnated with the spirit of self-reliance so as to build up men and not machines - national men, able men, men fit to carve out a career for themselves by their own brain power and resources, fit to meet the shocks of life and breast the waves of adventure. So shall the Indian people cease to sleep and become once more a people of heroes, patriots, originators...

Sri Aurobindo
24 February 1908

A DAILY ASPIRATION FOR THE NATIONALIST

I believe that India is one, indissoluble, indivisible. National unity is built on the common home, the common interest and the common love.

I believe that the strength which spoke in the Vedas and Upanishads, in the making of religions and empires, in the learning of scholars, and the meditation of the saints, is born once more amongst us, and its name today is Nationality.

I believe that the present of India is deep-rooted in her past, and that before her shines a glorious future.

O Nationality, come thou to me as joy or sorrow, as honour or as shame! Make me thine own!

Sister Nivedita