Fellow Indians,
We are Indians and nothing but Indian.
An Indian is an Indian is an Indian, period.
We are Adivasis, Atheists, Bahais, Bos, Buddhists, Chrsitians, Dalits, Hindus, Jains, Jewish, Muslim, Sikhs, Tribals, Zoroastrians and every possible grouping. We are Brown, Black, White, Yellow and green with envy and phir bhi dil hai Hindustani (our heart is Indian).
Our Motherland is represented by every race, nationality, ethnicity, language, culture and religion. We see God as one, none and many; and in every form; male, female, genderless and non-existent, being and non-being, nameless and with innumerable names.
We are proud of our heritage – a multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-regional and multi-linguistic society, where we have come to accept and respect every which way people have lived their lives. For over 5000 years, India has been a beacon of pluralism – it has embraced Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Baha’i and Zoroastrianism to include in the array of the indigenous religions; Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
We may want to consciously start thinking and acting as one people, one people within a nation and a community and one people globally. It’s like home when we are conflict free. I do hope each one of us purges any bias towards the other, there is joy in being free from ill-will. Try to be free from it this day forward… free from anything that prevents you from being a part of the whole.
Our combined philosophies believe in one world ; Hinduism describes the world as Vasudaiva Kutumbukum, the whole world is one family, the idea of Ek Onkar(one) in Sikhism, you are all created from the same couple as Quraan puts it and Jesus embraced every one regardless of who any one is… similar philosophies are grounded in all our religions.
A few don’t follow their own heritage and resort to theivary, loot, murder, terrorism, rioting, rapes, infanticide and other evils that destroy the fabric of the society, but a majority of every group goes about their own way, living their life with struggles and ease and don’t even bother others. We should build upon the 99% of population and not on the less than 1% that does not follow any principles.
On this day, and every day from here forward, make a pledge to yourselves to talk about in terms of we Indians – and not Malyalee, Gujarati, Bengali…. or Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isaee. Don’t expect others to jump and say the same, give them the time and if you are consistent for at least a year, you will see others emulating you.
India led the way to the freedom movement, since 1947 every country has been liberated from colonialism. Indian democracy is a shining example to the world, where the people have peacefully transferred the powers. Indians are inherently secular and economically capitalistic. They believe in “live-and-let-live” life style, which is the essence of capitalism.
Through the years we have expressed the highest degree of maturity on handling extreme situations; the more divergent opinions we hear, the larger our heart grows, the bigger our embrace would be and we can cushion more differences. Let’s continue to honor the concept that there is always another side to the story, as finding the truth is our own responsibility. I am proud of my heritage and am proud to be an Indian-American.
Click and enjoy:
Jai Hind
Mike Ghouse
Committed to cohesive societies
www.MikeGhouse.net
Please visit for more details about India. http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/
MikeGhouse is committed to building a
Cohesive Societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a
professional speaker, thinker and a writer on
pluralism, politics,
civic affairs,
Islam,
India,
Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on
Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he writes weekly at
Dallas Morning News and regularly at
Huffington post, The Smirking Chimp and several other periodicals. His daily blog is
www.TheGhousediary.com
