Duties are Pious than Rights

Supreme Court recently ordered that National Anthem must be played in all Cinema Halls before screening of a Film and every audience in the Hall must stand up to show respect to the National Anthem, thereby conveying a stern message to the new generation that we must respect National Anthem . 

 Some people like Suhel Seth are opposing this move by Honorable Supreme Court and arguing on CNN NEWS 18 that this is like forcing us to show our patriotism; like forcing us to touch feet of our parents; He contends that SC can not teach us morality.

These foolish people forget that Article 51 A (i) of our constitution which enshrine fundamental duties mentions -"To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem"- as one of our duty. Fundamental Duties are the basis of our citizenship. We are suppose to maintain the dignity of the constitution by not doing anything in violation of the letter and spirit of the constitution. And if someone shows disrespect to the ideals of the constitution i.e. National Anthem, it must be treated as anti-social and anti-national activity as it is like questioning the very existence of a Sovereign Nation.

Again, if someone fails to perform the duties assigned by the constitution, it is the responsibility of the Guardian of the constitution, i.e, Supreme Court, to ensure that citizens of a country follow the duties expected of them by constitution in larger national interest. Yes, sometimes it becomes essential to insist on the observance of morality. Most of the people observe moral behavior because either they are afraid of Law of the Land or they fear that Law of Nature will punish them if they perform some bad deeds or do not follow natural laws. If a child does not touch feet of his parents what is wrong in telling him by his teacher that if he does not do so he shall be punished. 

Elitism laced with ego is clearly discernible in the mentality of these people opposing the move. For a concerned Citizen respect for National Ideals like National Flag and National Anthem should come from within; and if it does not, it is a dangerous symptom for a nation. I am not able to understand why people do not stand up showing respect to National Anthem being played in Cinema Halls? what is it which stops them to do so? For me, something is seriously lacking in their patriotism. These people vigorously demand for their Right to Freedom of Speech and other rights but when it comes to follow the duties they start feeling that they are being forced to do so.

It is pertinent to mention here that there can be no rights in a society where there are no duties. And those disrespecting our National Ideals must be dealt with high handedness. Sometime to maintain order in society and to maintain Integrity and Sovereignty of a nation, it becomes essential to resort to force.

***" PANICK /DISRUPTION::: IS IT BECAUSE OF SCARCITY OR MENTAL DEPRAVITY"***

Real character of people is reflected in time of crisis. Majority of the people have become mentally depraved and utterly impatient. Selfish Individuality has enveloped the ethos of egalitarianism. Selfless service has lost its relevance.They are concerned only with their own comforts and needs. National interest and society' s interests comes much later in their preference. Charles Darwin's principle- Survival of the fittest, which smacks of extreme individualism from sociological point of view has become sole criteria of today's human with least concern for weakest of the weak. All the incidents of arson, loot, destruction in past couple of days after the decision of Demonetization reflect the same depravity of modern day human being. If a senior citizen is waiting in queue, all other persons should give him way to move ahead so that he does not have to face the hardship. If a doctor refuses to treat a person just because patient does not have change currency or old currency its not Modi' s fault. Such things are happening because people have become mentally corrupt and morally degraded being much much worse than animal. My personal experience at one ATM at Delhi- I withdrawn Rs. 2000 after standing in queue for one hour. Many people are using Three to Four ATM cards to withdraw money though they might manage by Two ( Rs. 2000 per card) with utter disregard for other people in queue. For rest of the expenses they could have easily used debit cards and Wallet. Some people are so desperate that they literally start playing with the touch pad or keyboard of the machines as some machines are taking time to process. This is causing more trouble resulting in disruption in machine's functioning. To be precise it may be said that in time of such crisis of national level if people behave more responsibly, with patience, do not create panic; and are concerned for their brethren also then definitely we can successfully pass through such situations.

Sanskrit in IIT

Recently, Ministry of Human Resource and Development has proposed that Study of Sanskrit language should also be a part of academic curriculum of IITs. I do not see anything awkward or abnormal in this decision. And why only in IITs; Sanskrit language should also be made part of the curriculum of IIMs and they should be taught original text of Arthashastra, a master piece of Management, Economic policy, Diplomacy and Strategy written by Kautilya in Sanskrit.

IITs are Brand India. Students from IITs are recruited by top companies of the world; and they get the opportunity to work in every nook and corner of the earth. Sometimes they are settled permanently in those foreign countries. They are the real ambassadors of Indian culture and values. If they are taught the Sanskrit language along with the original ancient texts of Astronomy, medicine, Science etc written in Sanskrit language, it will further hone their skills and will enthuse in them the sense of pride that the ancient past of their country was so rich and progressive as far as science and technology is concerned. They will carry this knowledge with them and disseminate it all over the world.

Sanskrit has always been an Integral part of our ancient culture and civilization. Our ancient texts related to Religion, Philosophy, Medicine, Science and Technology, Astronomy, Mathematics have all been written in this language. Aryabhatta, Bhaskaracharya, Shushruta, Charaka, Sage Kapila,Patanjali are some of the great scholars in this field.

Under the influence of Western Culture and language we have allowed our own ancient language and thereby our valuable ancient knowledge to perish. It is on the verge of getting extinct if we do not make realize new generation the importance of this ancient language. Do not just give it a treatment of a means to clear the Civil Service Exams or clearing UGC/NET exam; it deserves much more than that. We must be able to communicate in this language along with Hindi, English, Urdu or other Dravidian languages. We must know that Sanskrit is the mother of most of the languages including some European like German as well as Dravidian like Malyalam, Telugu , etc.This tells the importance of Sanskrit;as it is not just a language, infact it may be called a "Literary Encyclopedia". And we must be proud of it.

It is not just a sheer chance that Max Muller, a German indologist and a expert of Sanskrit language in 19th century took keen interest in Upnishads and Vedas and translated them and other Sanskrit texts in english, he was well aware of the richnes and value of the knowledge contained in these texts.

We remained a slave of a foreign language by relegating our own language into the oblivion and thereby depriving ourselves of its richness for all these years; and Europeans learned, did research and extracted all the valuable knowledge for their own progress. In Germany, Sanskrit is still taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level and its charm and attraction is increasing day by day among the youths of Europian countries as well as among East Asian countries like China and Japan.

Now the time has come to awaken ourselves from the deep slumber and take a vow to repeat the clarion call of Shri Dayanand Saraswati- "Back to Vedas"; and reclaim our lost glory.