Diversity and Unity in India

                                                

 “No man is an island; entire of itself, every man is a piece of the

continent.” A very good morning to the pompous assembly.

India is not only the oldest civilization but it is oldest surviving

civilization. Its unique composition of religion caste culture, flora and
fauna makes it a mega diverse country. No other place on earth has
so much of co existing diversity as in India. If we look back to our
past we find that India was greatest puller of world ideas. Alexander
the great was advised by his mentor Socrates that one who rules
Gangatic plain will rule the world. From millenniums India was
offering hope like no other can. Whether it was Sufism or
Zoroastrian all ideas and religions has flourished in India. From north
to south and east to west India can best told as diverse but what
bounds it? It is culture and many more

India is not only diversified in spiritual manner but it is also

variegated topographically. It has all types of climates at one place.
From the beautiful folds of the Himalayas, via the mystic Thar
Desert, through the splendid plateaus and the angelic forests of the
seven sisters to the heavenly seas and oceans, all is what you call
incredible. It has been said that Hinduism is not a religion but a
collective culture. This culture of collectivism is older than age of
any religion. This is one of the bounding threads of unity. Mark
Twain has very accurately stated that India is the cradle of the
human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history,
the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition.

Our country India is a civilization born on this planet first. This place
is the most discrete and diversified civility on the terrain. Here you
find a garden of uncountable variety of people, lifestyles, cultures,
religions and faith. we Indians are part of a huge brotherhood, where
everyone is a brother and sister to each other, each person is a
companion to one another, and all the masses, from wherever in the
country, are connected to all others. This brotherhood is known as
India.
 
1 billion people, 1650 languages, 120 creeds, 9 religions, 7 races, 4
castes, and 1 country. This is how 18 % of the world population is
customized. But all this difference does not stop our nation to live in
peace and harmony. From the beginning of an independent India,
that is 1947, our country is filled with different diversities but this
topic never was a problem for our nation. We all are happy together,
weather it is a difference in our lifestyles or, our thought processes,
w all have been in a circle of trust and unity. The biggest diversity in
India is about the religion. And religion has never been a problem for
us. Let me tell you a fact, we all know that the Jews are one of the
most humiliated cultures in the whole world. The Jews in fact sent
every country about how it humiliated the Jews. And my dear
friends, India was the only country where they sent us that “forget
about persecution we never faced discrimination” From the smallest
children, to the oldest elders, whether it is a Hindu, a Muslim, a
Christian, a Sikh, or any other religion, we all play, talk and live
together. We all might have different festivals, but the only Muslim
child of any street will celebrate holi with all other children and
spread colors of happiness. Whether it be the lady, who spends all
day and night in the temple, will never forget to go to the church on
Christmas. Let it be the Sikh Paaji, who always carries the dagger of
faith, cannot forget to spend his time with his friend on Eid. As we
are all heirs to a common and rich culture which flourished centuries
ago our cultural heritage serves as a bond of unity between people
of different faiths and creeds. Even the early Indian history
unmistakably shows that the political consciousness of the people
has from the very early times, grasped the whole of India as a unit
and assimilated the entire area as the theatre of its activities. India
is not a mere geographical expression, nor is it a stark collection of
separate peoples, traditions and conventions. India is much more
than this. The best proof lies in the fact that Indian history has
quickened into life. It is true that superficial observers are likely to
be bewildered by the astonishing variety of Indian life. They fail to
discover the one in many, the individual, in the aggregate; the
simple in the composite. With them the whole is lost in its parts.
What is needed is the superior interpretation, synthesis of the power
of the mind that can give rise to a vision of the whole. A keen
penetrating insight will not fail to recognize the fundamental unity
beneath the multeity variety in India. The diversity itself, far from
being a damaging cause of disunity and weakness, is a fertile source
of strength and wealth. Sir Herbert Risely has rightly observed:
“Beneath the manifold diversity of physical and social types,
languages, customs and religions which strike the observer in India,
there can still be discerned a certain underlying uniformity of life
from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin.”

As stated above, Every Indian is connected to every part of India.

Every new person you meet there is ready to help and guide you
wherever you want with warmth and love. It feels in some way that
you are connected with that person. Not only that but every new
place visited there shows and gives some relation to another place.
Let me give you an example; have you ever gone Rameshwaram in
the southern part of India? Whenever you go there, before doing the
prayer of Lord Shiva the priest always tells you to do the prayer of
another shivling before doing the prayer of the main statue. Then
our curiosity asks why we have to do the prayer of the other shivling
before doing the prayer of the main one. The priest will extinguish
that curiosity by telling you that this statue is of kashi vishwanath
which is 2400 km. away in the north in Varanasi. At Rameshwaram
only, there are also 22 wells in which you have to bath. The first well
in which you bath is actually a virtual connection to the north of
India. Another illustration of this connectivity is shown at almost
every holy place in India. The priest will take some water in his
hands, and will say a Sanskrit shloka - Gange cha Yamune chaiva
Godavari Saraswati, Narmade Sindhu Kaveri jalesmin sannidhim
kuru. This Sanskrit Shloka means that in this water I invoke the
presence of holy waters from the rivers Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari,
Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri. And there is not much
doubt in proving the fact that Sanskrit sloks have much scientific
meaning inside them. I think that this much can explain the
connectivity and zest of every place and every person on this land.

India Being such a discrete country is the only country on the planet
which never wanted to conquer any other land in the world. Not only
this, India in her history never attacked on any country, she always
defended herself. Whether it be the Indo-Pak wars between 1947
and 1999 or the clashes between India and China in 1962 and 1967.

This is the difference between India and the rest of the world. We all
know that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. And the
mindset of those people was to rule, so what did they do? They
finished almost all the natives of that place. They killed all the native
tribes there and simply ruled that place. Instead of Columbus and
The Americas let’s talk about an Eastern country Cambodia.
Cambodia comes from the word Kambuj, which was the name of a
rishi of India. He went to Cambodia and civilized that place, but… he
did not control it. He said and allowed them to live the way they
used to live but what he taught them was the way to live in a
civility, in a society. This is the difference!

This is India. Even though it has thousands of diversities and Billions

of people, even if there is a climax in the country or a war across,
even if there is a political deadlock or a difficult situation, this is my
country which no one can tear, break or kill. This is Incredible India.

Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!