Friday, April 5, 2019

Nature of Man - India's Discovery

Man has an innate curiosity to know.  Man discriminates information, organizes, and decides on an action.  Man innovates and man adapts to the environment.  Man realizes that the nature is a benefactor and life has value.  Man understands that there is a difference between happiness and unhappiness and also that happiness is a function of one's own interactions.  Man discovers that respecting another life is the key to human happiness!

The above is a sum total of India's story as people created habitat on India's soil.  The discovery need not be unique to India, but because of her location and plentiful food supply, India had the privilege of retaining people who came to live.  India became a living civilization where the man evolves than escapes.  India discovered that each man is inherently creative and the creativity is an endowment that must be explored and manifested.

Some people ascribe the name "God" to the endowment of creativity forgetting that creativity is natural and built-in.  Lack of food, disease or distress can be impediments on human creativity.  Creativity is a mental function and it operates when the body functions are sound and normal.  India had the privilege of resources to offer health to her people such that they can maintain a creative life.  Good health is a function of good water, good air and clean environment.  Cleanliness became the cardinal principle of living in Indian eco-system.

The discovery that Man is free is a deduction, but is never fully realized.  We form a society when our own freedom does not clash with another's freedom.  The universe is large enough and can hold us all endowing each our own freedom.  We accept than we encroach.  We exist and allow all to exist.  We consume what we need not because we can.  While such practice might appear logical, its development in human society took thousands of years. It survived in India in its grass-root level.

What does the Man do?  Man takes care of the universe.  Man offers his services for the betterment of others who might be handicapped, who cannot move or who might be weak.  These others could be trees, animals, birds, sick people or people in old age.  Man does not start the day in search of personal survival, but Man feels secure that his sustenance is available to him at home.  He uses his skills to create new products, produce new composition, generate new literature or think of engineering methods for the betterment of the health and happiness in the universe.

This tranquil philosophy of a cultivated view of life was marred by Islamic invaders to India, who
were wanderers and were looking for easy access to food.  In search of Man, India had forgotten the enormous task of defending herself against intrusion.  Man also can betray in the threat of life and family to turn against each others.  While the initial invaders came to plunder and go away, the later ones thought to occupy and stay.  Thousands of people were butchered, many more were converted to Islam under the threat of death. 

Defiance did develop, but was sporadic and slow.  The Maratha Shivaji built up his own militia to fight against the intruders.  The Islamic Army was harassed through guerrilla warfare, militia hiding in the hills and the jungles.  The local people eventually gained advantage but Shivaji did not live through to enjoy it.  The Mughal Empire eventually collapsed and the Marthas did rule a major part of the country.

The period 1500AD to 1800AD is the period of faith and perseverance in India.  India survived through the atrocities.  It became richer in culture through adopting the new traits of splendor and grandiosity, but it became weaker as a nation, loose among its people.  While art, architecture, music, dance and literature thrived in various regions, the Indian nation looked insecure and unstable.  There were too many middle men, too many small kings, there was little national defense.

These topics would be our points of discussion our next seminar entitled "The Study of Mughal-Maratha Period, 1500AD-1800AD" on Saturday, May 4, 2019 at Bemis Hall in Lincoln.  I take the
opportunity to invite you all to join,  Please register at https://www.indiadiscoverycenter.org

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