Page 170 - SocialHarmony

174 Social Harmony

failed to value our roots and the main cause of this failure is
certainly the slavery we suffered from for more than 800 years.
During this period, when we were under foreign rule, our
ancestors fought for independence and wore out all their energy
in battle. As a result, there was a major vacuum in the time
between the acceptance of new systems with creative thoughts
and the abandoning of old systems which they were used to.
Moreover, independent India somehow started believing that
the government will bring all the necessary changes, and our
downfall began from the moment this belief was implanted in
our minds. This situation remained in India till 1992, at which
point, we realized that we should get rid of this thought.

Just imagine that, in villages cobblers would make shoes,
and thus his customers’ needs for footwear were satisfied.
Similarly, the blacksmith of the village made knives, sickles,
scissors, etc. Thus, he was also running a small-scale household
business according to people’s needs. And the village economy
worked very well like this. There were many professions in
villages. The villages were harmonious. But today, this system
has broken down. The multinational companies have invaded
the markets. Big companies make fancy shoes and an ordinary
cobbler or a blacksmith cannot survive in the competition with
such big companies. The new economic structure needs to
restore these cobblers and blacksmiths. But again, we have failed
to create such a structure. Our entrepreneurship was not only
for individual prosperity but it had incorporated social
responsibilities as well. Therefore, it is the demand of the time
to create new things. It is about time we expanded our skills of
entrepreneurship. Let us create new milestones that bring
happiness to the entire humankind. There should be an
arrangement that brings about a change in a common man’s
life. If we cannot manage to do so, no matter how many tall
towers we build, we will only feel loneliness within as we have
not contributed to the welfare of humankind. The happiness
that social service in any form brings cannot be compared with
any materialistic achievement.

Let me illustrate this through an example. You wear a new,
expensive branded shirt and see yourself fifty times in the