The India you are comparing with the modern European is the India of the dark ages. But even till the last few centuries, Indians also went out. How else did the Aryan civilisation spread out as far as Greece and even Egypt. Guru Nanak dev himself travelled as far as the Arab countries. The only difference is that the expeditions of India and Indians were largely cultural rather than political. The political ambitions of Indian kings was largely restricted to the Indian subcontinent because they felt an underlying unity in the different kingdoms. To bring them together through the Agency of Aswamedha yagya and become a Charavartin was considered an important landmark in a king’s life. But explorations and expeditions were always going on. Even the areas of Tibet, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Persia were all given Indian names by these explorers. Luv and Kush went as far as modern Italy to establish the ideal of Rama. Even there is evidence that the characters in Ramayana knew about the South Americas and vice versa. Indonesia and Bali are other examples of going into the far East.
But yes it was not a restless, brutal or cruel expedition as we see with men like Vasco de Gama, Columbus, Alexander, Mongols etc. This idea of becoming impure by going out came in much later during the dark Ages when the Light of India had shrunk into narrow sects following the invasions and forced conversions, her strength was further weakened following the extreme Vedantic tendencies and the propagation of the ascetic ideal and Mayavada. But before this eclipse, the India of the Ages was a rich, thriving, strong society contributing in almost every sphere of human thought and activity, including Science, Mathematics, Medicine, History, Geography, Statecraft, Economics, Warfare, Trade and Commerce, Dance, drama, poetry, music, literature. I am not naming the significant works and names as it is easy to find them.
Yes during the last thousand years or a few centuries we see a fallen India. But the eclipse is passing away and a new India is rising, asserting and spreading far beyond its borders, not politically but culturally and spiritually. But it will be a wrong turn of destiny if we imitate the West whose success story is already beginning to end. India should awaken her own strengths, take whatever is best from the rest of the world even as give to the world its best and then, grow in the Light it carries in its own soul, the light of Sanatana Dharma. This essentially is what Sri Aurobindo is reminding us.
Let me share something from Sri Aurobindo’s writings showing us the way.
‘Our aim will therefore be to help in building up India for the sake of humanity—this is the spirit of the Nationalism which we profess and follow. We say to humanity, “The time has come when you must take the great step and rise out of a material existence into the higher, deeper and wider life towards which humanity moves. The problems which have troubled mankind can only be solved by conquering the kingdom within, not by harnessing the forces of Nature to the service of comfort and luxury, but by mastering the forces of the intellect and the spirit, by vindicating the freedom of man within as well as without and by conquering from within external Nature. For that work the resurgence of Asia is necessary, therefore Asia rises. For that work the freedom and greatness of India is essential, therefore she claims her destined freedom and greatness, and it is to the interest of all humanity, not excluding England, that she should wholly establish her claim.”
We say to the nation, “It is God’s will that we should be ourselves and not Europe. We have sought to regain life by following the law of another being than our own. We must return and seek the sources of life and strength within ourselves. We must know our past and recover it for the purposes of our future. Our business is to realise ourselves first and to mould everything to the law of India’s eternal life and nature. It will therefore be the object of the Karmayogin to read the heart of our religion, our society, our philosophy, politics, literature, art, jurisprudence, science, thought, everything that was and is ours, so that we may be able to say to ourselves and our nation, ‘This is our dharma.’ We shall review European civilisation entirely from the standpoint of Indian thought and knowledge and seek to throw off from us the dominating stamp of the Occident; what we have to take from the West we shall take as Indians. And the dharma once discovered we shall strive our utmost not only to profess but to live, in our individual actions, in our social life, in our political endeavours.”
We say to the individual and especially to the young who are now arising to do India’s work, the world’s work, God’s work, “You cannot cherish these ideals, still less can you fulfil them if you subject your minds to European ideas or look at life from the material standpoint. Materially you are nothing, spiritually you are everything. It is only the Indian who can believe everything, dare everything, sacrifice everything. First therefore become Indians. Recover the patrimony of your forefathers. Recover the Aryan thought, the Aryan discipline, the Aryan character, the Aryan life. Recover the Vedanta, the Gita, the Yoga. Recover them not only in intellect or sentiment but in your lives. Live them and you will be great and strong, mighty, invincible and fearless. Neither life nor death will have any terrors for you. Difficulty and impossibility will vanish from your vocabularies. For it is in the spirit that strength is eternal and you must win back the kingdom of yourselves, the inner Swaraj, before you can win back your outer empire. There the Mother dwells and She waits for worship that She may give strength. Believe in Her, serve Her, lose your wills in Hers, your egoism in the greater ego of the country, your separate selfishness in the service of humanity. Recover the source of all strength in yourselves and all else will be added to you, social soundness, intellectual pre-eminence, political freedom, the mastery of human thought, the hegemony of the world.”‘
PS: It may be however noted that India of the Ages with its gaze turned inwards, always gave priority to exploring the inner life, mapping the inner domains and discovering the inner geography and its contours.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
