I.D. Soni
Once India was respected as leader of nations, a builder of a wonderful civilisation – a civilisation of simplicity, sympathy and service, a civilisation of light. And pilgrims from the East and pilgrims from the West came to India as to a Holy Land. What is our condition today?
What India needs today is leaders of true type. Politicians we have many: but our heart cries out: “Where are the leaders? A true leader is a person who leads or exercises dominion over a group of people. Leadership is the personality trait which enables a person to become a leader. In every society, community or nation, there is bound to be someone who stands out from among the others and acts as a guide or a leader for them. A leader emerges from a crowd of people because the rest lack the initiative of taking up the responsibility of the masses and are intellectually and morally inferior to him.
Great deeds make great men. Any person who excels himself in any sphere of activity sets an example for others to follow. He becomes a leader whom others try to emulate. Indian history and world history is replete with stories and anecdotes of great men who endured hardships and sufferings for the betterment of the society. Great men have sacrificed their personal well-being and familial interests for the welfare of their nations.
William Shakespeare said, “Some are born great, some achieve, greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them”. Some people are born leaders with an inner compulsion or urge which drives them to accomplish great tasks. Some achieve greatness because their faculty of mind is groomed in a discipline to acquire leadership qualities. This is done so as to channelize their innate qualities of leadership into a proper direction. And towards this endeavour, the training and grooming begins at an early age.
As for I believe there are four marks of true leadership. The very first is absolute unselfishness. The true leader asks for nothing for himself, but everything for the people. The second mark of a true leader is simplicity. A true leader is not a person who runs after show and ostentation. The third mark of a true leader is judgement. A true leader is a person of judgement. He thinks aright. And thinking aright, he has the gift of taking multitudes with himself. And the fourth mark of the true leader is love for the poor, love for the peasant and the labourer.
As it is said, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Apart from the innate qualities of leadership, training endows him with courage, initiative, drive, a sense of responsibility and impartiality. A leader should be intelligent, conscientious, have a liberal outlook and possess excellent communication skill to put across his ideas effectively.
I think of king Ashoka. Ashoka was a true leader of the people. He was filled with sympathy for all. Not merely tolerance but sympathy is what men want. And Ashoka gave sympathy to all. He spoke not one word against any faith. He spoke of all faiths with beautiful reverence. He realised that in all religions is the One Spirit Divine. There is a beautiful saying of Ashoka. He said: “All subjects are my beloved children”.
Today chaotic elements are growing. Today, turbulence is increasing. Today, violence is spreading like wild fire in many parts of the country. Today, India is in danger of losing what she has achieved. Today, discipline is conspicuous by its absence. Today, both knowledge and power are running to waste, are being perverted into instruments of social chaos and destruction. Today, Mother India is shedding tears while her children are busy preparing plans to truncate her. Today, Mother India is as an orphan in the night, crying for the light. Whence will the light come?
I personally feel that our hope is not politics but in education. But education should be directed by men and women of light and inspiration. For a regeneration of India, we must turn not to politicians but to educators of the true type. The more we think of it, the more we feel that an urgent, a piteous need of India today is education of a new type – an education which may integrate the character of the pupils through a proper development of the body and training of the will-power and emotions – an education which may give a triple training of the head, yes, but also of the hand and, above all, of the heart. Illuminated hearts are needed. The problems that are before India today, cannot be solved by developed brains alone: they will be solved by illuminated hearts – awakened hearts. We have neglected the heart in the present system of education. We must not forget that out of the heart are the issues of life. The heart, the emotions are the master: the brain, the intellect is only a servant. Of what use is an education which takes pains to train the servant but does nothing to train the master. In crucial moments when quick decisions are to be made, if the emotions run riot, what can the intellect do, howsoever trained it may be? So it is that we find everyday, so many of our highly educated people easily succumbing to temptations of women and gold, our doctors of philosophy, our Ph.D’s so easily yielding to anger. Their intellect has been sharpened, but their emotions are untrained. Have we ever asked ourselves, why is it that one person, kills another? The killer knows that it is wrong to kill, his brain tells him that by killing another, he is breaking the law of the land, but his emotions have run riot, he cannot control them and he uses the revolver or the sten-gun.
It is, therefore, the need of the hour and also the need of the country to have a new type of education today – an education which may inculcate in the minds and the hearts of pupils the ideals of unity and peace, of reverence for all life, of simplicity, sympathy and service, of fellowship and brotherhood – the fellowship of all races and religions, the brotherhood of all life.
Do we want to build a new India, an India of the truly strong, an India of the truly free? Then let us begin with the child. The child of today is the builder of tomorrow. It may be remembered that the nation walks on the feet of the little ones. Let us take care of our little ones. They are the richest treasure of a community a society, a nation. Let us give our children a right type of training in the home and the right of education in the school and college – and we will build a new Indian nation.
The hope of the world is in India. And the hope of India lies in unity. Without India what would the world be? And without unity where would India Be? The message needs to be spread far and wide that we all, belonging to different castes and communities, religions and races, provinces and regions, we all, Hindus and Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains, we, who belong to different religions and to no religion – we all are one – children of the One Mother, Mother/India. Let us dissolve all differences and join hands together in the great constructive task of building a new Indian nation.
May, I, dare offer practical suggestions in this connection? And the very first suggestion is this. Everyday let us spend some time in silence. We live in a hectic world: we live in a noisy world. The vibration of noise affects our nerves. And not Unoften, we lose our balance and do things of which, later, we feel ashamed. To keep our balance, let us spend some little time everyday in silence. It was Tolstoy – Mahatma Gandhi called him Mahatma Tolstoy – who said, “If every man spends but five minutes in silence everyday, the world would become new.
And practical suggestion No. 2: Let us breathe out peace to all – all men and all nations and all creatures who breathe the breath of life. There is a small prayer, we may offer it many times everyday. May all be happy and full of peace and bliss. May those that are educated and those that are illiterate, may those that are tall and those that are short, may those that are near and those that dwell far away, may those that are born and those that are yet in the womb unborn – may all be happy and full of peace and bliss! May those that love us and those that for some reason or the other are unable to love us, may those that speak well of us and those that for some reason or the other are unable to speak well of us – may all be happy and full of peace and bliss.
And practical suggestion No. 3: Build bridges of friendship wherever we go, make friends with as many as we can – specially with those who do not belong to our caste or community, or country. The only permanent peace-plan for the world is the friendship plan. Therefore, let our face wear a smile. It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “You are not completely dressed until your face wears a smile”.
In order to have this kind of atmosphere, India needs true leaders. True leaders rise to prominence not through bloodshed or coups, but because of the support and trust put in them by the masses. A true leader lives for others. A true leader is always prepared to sacrifice all for the good of others. They do have a fiery devotion towards the realization of their ideals and ceaselessly work to make it a reality. Obstacles encountered on the way do not deter them from marching towards their goals. The success of a leader lies in his ability to command respect from the whole community and to inspire people to act courageously. A true leader is he who submerges himself in the fountain of the people. A true leader does not allow himself to be overwhelmed by his status. On the contrary, he becomes humble, tolerant, and forgiving. He understands that everyone is not bestowed with wealth and prosperity and hence, he owes the responsibility of providing them their needs. A prudent leader does not isolate himself from the masses. He does not live in an ivory tower away from public gaze. He makes constant efforts to understand the masses and works for their welfare. He possesses the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes insoluble. He is articulate in his speech and ensures that the public sentiments are not hurt. A leader’s path is paved with difficulties, but he walks on undauntedly with his eyes fixed on his goal.
Every school and college conducts extra-curricular activities. They provide ample opportunities to students to choose the area of their interest. There are number of societies for debating, for organising tours, excursions, cultural programmes and other activities. By participating in such activities, they get training in organising and conducting these activities as well as exposure to speaking to a large audience. It helps them shed their initial fear and in this process they also gain tremendous confidence, which may later prove useful in different fields of activity. Training undertaken in these activities and other activities such as NCC, Scouting/Guiding Camps also makes the boys and girls disciplined and instils in them the quality of patriotism and feeling of brotherhood. It teaches young men and women to organising events and command groups. In this way they learn the ways to become true leaders provided such activities are conducted regularly and with all sincerity and dedication.
Have we ever asked ourselves the question: Why is it, that when all other ancient civilisations have parished, India alone lives on? Greece, the cradle of art and culture, Greece is gone. India lives on! Rome, ancient Rome that dreamt the dream of dominion, Rome whose eagles floated over far-off nations – Rome is gone: India lives on! Egypt, ancient Egypt is gone India lives on! Assyria, Summaria, Babylonia are gone: India lives on! Yes – India lives on for she has a mission to fulfil in the new age. India lives on for she has a message to deliver to the nations. But India will not be able to do so until her people bear wellness, in deeds of daily living, to the great ideals that have been India’s richest treasure throughout the centuries. And I have no doubt that India’s millions, who lie today prostrate in passivity, will rise from their sleep and India will peal forth her message of oneness, of living unity, of peace and spiritual fellowship to the nations of the East and the nations of the West. And India will shine once again in the splendour of the new morning sun, and India will be acclaimed once again as a teacher of the nations, as a builder of a new abiding civilisation of light.
In this world there are always several options and if one option does not work, we should take another and try it out for the betterment of the nation in which we live. Of course, it is not as easy as it sounds especially for the less privileged but the right attitude may help us deal better with the challenges before the nation.
We should realize that the world in which we are to lead our life is full of options. All we need and the country needs to do is refuse to succumb to despair and embark immediately on an alternative option even if that option was never the first choice. That is the secret of success. Don’t give up, plan once again what is better for the country, try something new and look ahead with hope. We have only two choices – either we should adjust to the divine plan and be successful or go against it and be ready to face failure.
We must remember that any mission to meet the needs of the country can only be successful when the circumstances are harmonious and peaceful in an atmosphere of violence and warfare, no mission, however, strong, can be success.