LOKMAMTHAN : LOK OF BHARTIYA CIVILIZATION

The entire world today has some identity in one way or another. However, for most parts of the world, this identity has altered over time and this transition was not merely natural. Most of the civilizations in this world have embraced this change that has altered their native identity.

Most civilization in the world has lost their original identity after confronting cultural and political invasions. If we look at the history of invasions, then perhaps India is the only nation that has managed to keep its cultural legacy alive even after meeting numerous waves of invasions. Every invading force came to India to alter the native identity of India and replace it with their version of identity. But most of the invasions in India failed.

Invaders came to India, fought battles and many took political control, and yet they failed to alter the native civilizational and cultural identity of India even after ruling for thousands of years. One of the major aspects that helped us to sustain as a civilization is our affluent cultural diversity. Given the scale of our diversity and richness of our cultural identities and still the common trait of unity runs across these diverse identities, it has acted as a safeguard against every cultural and political invasion.

India or Bharat has one of the finest cultures that has remained resistant to invasions and has remained alive since time immemorial. Every tradition belonging to every different community in India has some degree of treasured knowledge that is both spiritual and scientific. There is no shred of doubt that it is our diverse practices in terms of language and rituals that perfectly defines our civilization. However, for Bharat to be considered as a single Indic civilization there must be some unity.

We are a diverse civilizational and despite of this if we have survived then the credit goes to our ancient knowledge structure in the form of Dharma. Many incorrectly correlate dharma with religious philosophy which is entirely a misperceived concept. Any religious concept will propagate one central authority and it has very less to do anything with diversity. Dharma, on the other hand, is altogether different and Dharma in Bharat is what allows local identities to thrive and survive keeping the diverse character of our civilization into account.

Diversity of Bharat stands for acceptance but it also expects other societies or ideas to propagate mutual respect in order to blend into the Bhartiya society. But how one is supposed to differentiate between the ideas that are willing to blend with Bhartiya society and the other that has a long-term objective of replacing the native identity of Bharat? To know this, one needs to know about the belongings and qualities of the Bhartiya civilization. Without understanding Bhartiya culture, practices, and philosophy, our civilization can't sustain itself in the long run.

Every civilization originates a distinctive culture over time. Culture is a society's distinctive set of values, norms, beliefs, teachings, practices, traditions, knowledge, arts, cuisine, language, literature, and customs. To propagate the same knowledge structure of our civilization, from time to time, we had seen saints debating with people and other scholars. We also had a gurukul system that assisted Bhartiya people to know their prosperous civilizational values. But as time passed, we failed to keep our knowledge structure intact and we saw demographic alterations that have only taken India away from its native civilizational identity. Even many in India today don't have any idea why we are not just a nation defined by political boundaries. We are a continuous and probably the only surviving native civilization.

         To rejuvenate the same lost knowledge structure, debate and discussion among the masses are necessary. Lokmanthan, a unique cultural event that is about to be held in Guwahati, Assam is also one optimistic step in this direction. It intends to make our generation understand the Bhartiya civilization from all cultural aspects. Right from language, and rituals to cultural practices. Lokmanthan also intends to bring out the hidden rituals and practices of our civilization that is still prevalent and are supporting India's dharmic identity to stay alive.

While both North and South America and nearly half of Africa have been converted to the religion of the European colonizers, this is not the case with Bharat. In contrast, the precolonial faith systems in India or Bharat make it the 'living indigenous civilizations' to a significant extent.

However, in today's time very few are aware of this fact that makes our civilization proud. Many of our young generation people consider west or European culture as their ideal and take it as a progressive culture. But they are unaware that those are the civilizations that got converted and lost their native identity in a few hundred years. Bharat on the other side kept flourishing as a native civilization maintaining its unique cultural and spiritual values. Lokmanthan event is a great platform where the youth of Bharat will know unique facts about Bharat and its age-old traditions. It's an event where scholars will debate and discuss why and how Indian civilization is altogether different from any other civilization in the world.

It is the spirit of Indian civilization to "strive for liberation" that has kept India intact as a nation, despite numerous attacks by the external forces, and the invaders. Spirituality had no one single head. There has been no whole and sole pope, a ruler or a head of a state did not automatically become the head of the church. Today also, we don't have any such form of Bhartiya civilization that has an individual commanding body which could be converted with an objective to convert the identity of our civilization.

Every house and each parent were a spiritual head. The invaders simply could not invade each and every house. They could not convert each and every household. So that was the spiritual strength that kept India intact as a nation, and Hindu as a living civilization. The ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian civilizations are long dead. You find them on the pages of history books. Not so with the Indian, the Hindu civilization, which has not only survived but is thriving.

     This freedom of thought, freedom to express one's thoughts and beliefs, and to act according to one's belief, is the survival secret of the Hindu civilization, as also its contribution to the world. But we should not take this for granted and in the name of modernity keep our younger generations away from civilizational values. To achieve this, we need a churning of these values in the public domain and at a large scale. Lokmanthan scheduled to be held in Guwahati is a great opportunity for our younger generation to become a part of the Indic renaissance and know their great civilization.