However, the glorious civilizations and cultures that sprang on the banks of rivers have all been buried deep beneath the sands of Time.
When these great civilizations existed and thrived along with them, there existed yet another civilization, the Indian civilization, on the banks of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the vanished river, Saraswati, on the Indian subcontinent. Through their intellect and intuition, introspection and meditation, the thinkers and sages of ancient India were able to discover the very purpose of human existence. Truth revealed itself in the form of Vedic wisdom; these sages who bequeathed their knowledge and wisdom to the entire mankind and this wisdom has come down to us in a fresh and pure form as it had existed several thousands of years ago.
How has the Indian thoughts and the way of life become fine tuned so far back in time and has been vibrantly alive all the time while other great civilizations have vanished? What is the reason for this amazing resilience? The ancient Indian sages not only looked around at the expanse of cosmos around them but also looked within and found it to be so deep that it contained everything that they thought existed outside. Their minds were liberated. At that level they were full of tolerance, compassion, understanding, love and illumination. They were the Rishis, Maha Rishis and Brahma Rishis.
People believed them and had absolute faith in them and in their teachings. They learnt the value of tolerance, and compassion became a part of their lives. They had faith in themselves and in God. They saw the multitude of forms of lives around them and also saw divine presence and action in each one of them. The incredible diversity of nature taught them that there can be diverse ways and means of cognizing Divine presence and action.
When Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism with their distinct teachings, approaches, beliefs, practices and cultures reached the Indian shores, they hardly met any resistance. They also were accepted as different other paths that led one to the only one God. These cultures that wafted in brought their own distinct fragrances and they also became part of India way of life and a harmoniously blended culture has emerged as the Indian culture.
The entire world is slowly but steadily turning around and is looking at India for spiritual guidance. Nowhere else in the world but in India can concepts such as “Let noble thoughts come to us from every side” and “The world is one family” can emerge and influence the thinking and actions of people. These thoughts are so profound, that individuals at every level of society on the face of earth need to adopt them as their motto and inspiration in their efforts towards highest common good.
