Gram Swaraj, Mera Bharat Mahan
Are we on a right path? Are we killing Bharat?
Bharat was a country of villages.
Bharat was living in its villages for 5000 years.
Bharat means thankful. Bharat was a country where people were dependent on each other and thankful to each other for their survival.
Ram the life energy in all (not Dashrath’s son) was the GOD. Sun was the father and Earth was the mother. Agnidev (fire), Vayudev (wind) and Varundev (rains) were chief deities. People used to start their days before Sun rise, used to work with mother earth and its natural resources during the day, dinner together in the family, enjoy stories of Ramayana, Mahabharat, Panchtantra, Hitopdesh, etc., and go to bed doing astrological research of multi stars sky.
Villages were in fact Agro Estates with farmers, farm workers, shepherd and various craft persons. The Agro Estate has interdependent activities. The farmers need services of Carpenter for making plough; need services of the cobblers for leather articles required in agro activities and articles for home use; need services of the potter for earthen articles for construction of houses and home utilities; need services of the weavers for clothes and ropes; need services of metal workers, etc.
Transactions were mainly through barter system.
There were mainly 18 trades in villages other then the farming. Some were: Weaver, cobbler, potter, carpenter, black smith, gold-silver smith, meson, earthen house makers, ganchi (oil seeds press-seller)
Brahmins were the educationist and researcher of nature and divinity. Kshatriya were maintaining law & order, Vaidhyas were treating patients.
Some people who cannot make utility articles were used for other services of social and customary needs; i.e., drum biting, entertaining villagers by music and playing popular stories Mahabharat, Ramayana, Panchtantra, Hitopdes, etc. Infect, these folk players were prachraks of Indian great customs and traditions.
It was mostly the homogeneous society where everybody had similar houses to live and similar foods to eat.
The indigenous designs and technology and life styles were giving them the happiness of life. Our kitchens were our medical stores with all the medicines balancing out Vat-Pitta-Cough as per seasons.
All the communities of the village were considered one family. There were no marriages within the village. People call each other with relations of uncle, aunt, brother, sisters, nephew, niece, etc.
The caste system was not the unequal castes in present form but the respected profession of families. As all activities were group activities, people lived in joint family system. The entire family members from children to old were involved in the making of goods and tied with the union of hearts.
The land was utilized as per the fertility. The less fertile land was used for construction of houses. Medium fertile land was used for Gochar for grazing animals. The fertile land was used for food grains cultivation.
As the agriculture activities were limited to monsoon season, craft workers family members used to do farm labour in monsoon and remaining months do the craft work. The land owners cultivate the land and distribute food grains to different craft persons for their services throughout the year. Agro products and craft products were running the economy with barter system. All villages were independent. People used to meet the neighboring villagers at the time of rituals, customs, ceremonies, festivals and crisis. There was village pride, community pride, love and respects among all.
The system developed vices in the form of inequality of caste system, exploitation by the land lords and traders. But it came through import of ideas from other parts of the world.
It was a productive Bharat, in which all the members were participating in the economic and social activities.
The present India is a country of machines, where machines are working with the force of electricity and all of us use our mouth to speak more and use body less for physical activities. We are losing our creativity and craftsmanship. Many of us are earning and hording beyond our needs. The average life span of Indians have gone up but the physical and mental fitness are going down with more and more dependency on drugs.
It was mentioned somewhere: 80% of Korean can make something with hands, 61% Chinese can make something with hands; but only 10% of Indians can make something with hands.
Our country is marching towards urbanization with slums, mechanization with mass production, famous with its exports of goods, natural resources and services and import of weapons, machines and technology. Infect it is draining our natural resources for the developed nations in the name of export-import. Partition of India and disputes with neibouring country takes away huge money on defence. We are exploiting our natural resources without looking at the future needs. The productive use of debt money and utilization of money earned through all these economic activities need evaluation.
The present path is going towards urban centric India with generation of many vices i.e., cheating, gambling; govern by individual activities and people detached from each other with the disunion of hearts and fighting brains.
The 18th century Industrial Revolution ruined our country with the entry of foreign forces, slavery, adoption of foreign thinking and breaking the backbone of Bharat. Economic disparity brought jealousy and unhappiness. Physical comfirts have increased but mental disturbances also have gone up.
Brains are drained by paper money and Hearts are in danger with heart attacks. Our bodies remain Bhartiya but the blood transformed.
Where is Happiness; in bank balance or in deep sound sleep without tablets? What is important; the paper currency and fights or peace of life?
Some feel that they are cultured with new reforms of education, urbanization.
For an example, when one look at an electrical appliance i.e., mixture; it might have cost Rs. 4000. But the electricity behind it, the cables, the transformers, generators, raw-materials, managements, money, machines, transports, roads, administration, bureaucrats, politicians, corruptions, all put to gather make it very expensive. Do one need an expensive mixture or use one's hand, time and handmade Wooden Ravaiyo to perform the job.
We are Bharat. Do we need inflation of paper money and count all our activities in monetary terms, calculate GDP and compare us with others? Do we need comparison? If a village of Bharat is self dependent, the country is also self dependent. If we are happy within our boundaries, why should other interest groups purchase and govern us? Do we need westernization? Do we need urbanization? Do we need mechanization? Do we need country of Mass Production and pollution?
OR
We need Bharat of Villages; a country of social-religious harmony and economic equality; an environment friendly nation with production by mass; a country free from stress, free from poverty, free from unemployment with its entire population live in peace, happiness.
Bhart of Gram Swaraj. Mahan Bharat.
Some thoughts put down on paper to read and respond.
Shubham Bhavtu.
Yours,
Punamchand
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