Page 88 - SocialHarmony

92 Social Harmony

There is no need of a divine light to understand this truth.
Does the heart of brothers and sisters not bleed on beholding
this state of affairs? Are we already accustomed to the short-
lived brotherly feelings? Are we habituated to this situation or
are we ready to sacrifice ourselves in order to challenge it?

In this thoughtless world that is swinging between
transformation, revolution and perestroika, are we determined
to take it to the threshold of the twenty-first century with a
burning desire of rejuvenating our world and making it healthy
and carefree once again?

Rakshabandhan is not a festival for entreaty, nor for
expression of personal emotions or simply carrying out rituals
of reciprocation. It is a festival of quiet determination, of
innocent and unselfish love that flows like a sparkling brook.

It is a time when every woman at the threshold of the
twenty-first century should be able to recreate the immortal love
of Mother Kunti in her rakhi, when every woman’s rakhi should
carry the strength of Indrani’s rakhi which will awaken Indra
like greatness in the heart of every man and protect society from
its enemies. One string of Karnavati’s rakhi had the power to
transform the aggressor Humayun into a protector; why then
is today’s Indian woman so weak?

When reality is not actually far from her, has the Indian
woman unknowingly become entrapped in the shallow feminist
movements of the West and become reduced to an ordinary
woman who merely gives birth to a man?

Is the present situation not challenging for the mother
within every woman? Why is it that a man who is born from a
woman’s womb fails to become an ideal brother, son, husband
or even an ideal human being who can conduct his life according
to the expectations of civilized society?

It is not possible to bring about a change by merely
criticizing external forces. Today, on the occasion of
Rakshabandhan, it is the need of the hour to free ourselves of the
tempest of Western culture, to rid ourselves of its brazen
wantonness and to relive and repeat our own glorious past. It
is imperative for every woman to reawaken the dormant