This blog is an Independence Day special. What should the idea of a nation be? During Olympics, we witness the wins of sportsmen representing a nation and get happy when the country we belong to win medals while appreciating the sportsperson also. Why are we happy if our nation does well in a medal tally or unhappy if our country loses?

Cynical take on the idea of a nation

So much emotion, positive or negative, gets generated when we analyze world events linked to a nation. A nation is an idea , an artificial construct. It does not exist except in the minds of people by means of a narrative. Simply put, a nation is just a narrative. A narrative can be drawn by creating a commonality of purpose based on past history or shared ideology. Nature, on the other hand, does not have the idea of a nation. Nature is inhabited by people living in particular places as well as moving across places depending on opportunities available. This is the reason why over centuries, there has never been an idea of a single permanent border of any nations – nations keep getting redefined either by means of power or by means of a new narrative and new nations keep getting created, again and again while old nations keep dying out despite living out a glorious life.

Even people never stick to a single nation. They keep moving either in search of bread or a (perceived) opportunity or lifestyle.. If one reads the history of China around 300 BCE, the kingdoms of the North invited talented people across China and come and work with the kings there (despite these being seen as different nations). Despite more difficult travel conditions, throughout history, one sees people moving across “nations” to either plunder the wealth in other nations or escape from poor life conditions in their own home locations. When Pundits were being massacred in Kashmir, those who did not want to convert kept on leaving Kashmir. The Bhat’s living in Karnakata trace their origin to Kashmir. You often come across people whose family remembers their origin – I met this “proud” Bengali girl who told me that they too trace their lineage to Kashmir who migrated to Karnakata first and then to Bengal. I met this “proud” Telugu who says that his family name is Kulkarni who migrated to Andhra during the time of Marathas for job prospects. And as we migrate, we take on some mannerisms of the adopted place and make that place “mine”. But the “mine” is merely a mine of emotion and fluff at a certain point of time, is it not? Why can I dub something as “mine” if the “mine” keeps changing depending on situation and circumstances? Or, if we are aware that whatever we term as “mine” may not be “mine” after a few years or after a few generations, why should this idea generate frenzy or emotion that we witness during Olympics or other sporting events or we go to wars for? 

At least India and China have had civilizational identities since millennia despite being multiple “nations” within. But world over outside these two, idea of a nation remains an artificial concoction. Many modern nations are artificial concoctions driven by ideas taken from the (so-called) European Enlightenment. One may argue that if more than half the words are common between Constitutions of various democracies across the world, why should they remain as separate nations? What really separates nations of similar Constitutions? Is it not better if these separate nations integrate into a single nation and celebrate the values of European enlightenment jointly? Why continue as separate nations and then expend energies “naturally” on an “artificial” construct? 

Purpose of any identity is to know itself better

There is a reason why people want to come together. Phrases like “Man is a social animal”, etc are phrases which are empty and meaningless since they do not state clearly as to why man is a social animal. Using सनातन धर्म lens, we can state that essentially, we have an identity – we exist (सत्), we are aware (चित्) and we seek experience (आनन्द) to know ourselves better. That is all there is. Life takes the form of Neem tree or Dolphin or Pig or Human or a Scorpion just to experience and know something about itself via that experience. This thus becomes our root identity – one that takes on to multiple experiences and one that wants to learn about itself via that experience. 

धर्म states that from the state of universal in which state we are the All, we took on to the state of an individual. The “All” became an “individual”. But we have taken on individual identity only to know one aspect about our original universal state. Just as I may be a career carpenter but I may take up an adventure to reach Everest Base Camp to know myself (my stamina, my endurance, my adventure spirit) better, the Universal also takes on the role of an individual merely to know Itself better. There is actually no interest in knowing the individual as a distinct entity – it is merely taking the body of an individual to know something about its Universal capability better – that is all. Just as an actor retains the idea of a character throughout the timeframe of the drama, the Universal also keeps taking various the role of various life forms eternally – in the process, it knows something about Itself better.

Universal becomes an individual

However, while the drama of life went on, somewhere, somehow, someday, the Universal loses its connect with itself. And starts living as an individual cut off from the Universal. A distinct (lower) identity takes on. It starts seeing the world as distinct from itself and sees its own features as special and unique. But life as an individual is tough since it is clear that one cannot live as an individual since survival is not possible if the other beings are not helping the individual live its life. So while the connection with the other is appreciated intellectually, the individual continues to see itself as distinct.

Quest for social circle or nationhood is a return journey towards universality

But despite the move towards individualism, deep inside, the quest to live life as per the innate idea of our own universal identity never leaves. In this quest to regain the Universal, the individual then becomes part of a flock or cult or a family or society. Taking this further, nations are also formed as an attempt to regain the universal. Our quest for societal expansion and social mixing tendencies is thus merely a quest to expand out of our individual limiting space and move towards Universal. Seeking सत्संग thus becomes a natural urge for all. 

But there is a problem. We are fully mixed up in terms of our understanding of ourselves. And therefore, in our quest for expansion, we take on the wrong ideas of ourselves as a separate individual with a limited identity and we make nations out of this idea of limited identity. So you have an Agent Smith (for Matrix enthusiasts) who goes around making everyone as his own copy. This is the idea of conversion where one approaches universal by trying to make the world as a carbon copy of ourselves. So a nation gets created based on the idea of a religion and call themselves by names as “Land of the Pure” though implicit in the idea of “Pure” is that there is an idea of impure who are not seen as part of such a nation. So this becomes an Agent Smith kind of nation. But such a nation is a diseased one since it is not based on real idea of universal about itself. Any exclusion cannot make a nation universal – that much should be obvious but unfortunately, such obvious aspects remain hidden for most. The other way many nations are conceived of is based on a history of kings who may have created an empire driven by personal ambition and succeeding generations who have a history of shared living under such a King’s successors come together and form a nation (for example, many of European nations have the history of some king who ruled 100s of years back). Such stunted ideas of nationhood stem out of the need for regaining the Universal within us but given that they are formed based on limited ideas (like language, race, etc), they remain chaotic and synthetic in their conceptions. 

Then we have modern nations where there is no Agent Smith kind of thought process but those driven by money. So just as gold diggers sought US for many centuries to enhance their material life, what unites the people here are not individual identities but quest for material prosperity. And thereby, ideas like individualism, free spirit, freedom, etc prosper in such a place but behind all these values, the quest is world dominance framed on the lines of material prosperity. So such a nation will make friends with whosoever facilitates money making as the end goal. Use of words like democracy, etc are just a smokescreen. It is all about Money – Honey. Many modern nations also have economy goals like higher GDP or higher per-capita income and work to keep growing as per these parameters incessantly. Such nations thereby do remain synthetic in their conceptions.

Concept of भारत

Conception of भारत had been unusual. Why will this part of land ruled by different kings, having different languages, customs, family affiliations across many centuries be seen as a single landmass. There may be geographical reasons, there were also kings like Bharata who ruled this entire land but the idea of a single nation is not alone owing to a great king who ruled in an ancient past. It had been something deeper.

Bharat means one who reveals in bliss of light. And what does light mean? Light signifies knowledge. And what is knowledge or Truth? It is that we are all Universal. All diversity is really One. There is no other. And the nation of Bharata has been seen as one since it was inhabited by people who lived their lives in quest for Truth. Either they made quest of truth their lifestyle or chose to follow those or mould their lives aligned to assist in their quest for truth.

A simple श्लोक from श्रिविष्णुसहस्रनाम  can be instructive here.

वेदान्तगो ब्राह्मणस्यात् क्षत्रियो विजयी भवेत्।
वैश्यो धनसमृद्धस्यात् शूद्रः सुखमवाप्नुयात्।।

By chanting श्रिविष्णुसहस्रनाम, a ब्राह्मण will get ब्रह्मज्ञान, a क्षत्रिय gets विजय (in all his endeavours), a वैश्य gets abundant धन while a शूद्र gets सुख. Everyone gets what they seek as per their orientation. Why am I picking a श्लोक from श्रिविष्णुसहस्रनाम to talk about idea of a nation? This is because mindset at the root expands to the idea of a nation. And what lies at the core? It is the idea of diversity. There are different kinds of people in the world – there will be an Agent Smith type, there are money-minded people here, there are commoners here – all are moulded by their own character and personality and all may pursue what they seek. And they may further align with those like-minded people and pursue their interests. But there is a catch. Says श्रीकृष्ण in the गीता – 

मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्यु: पापयोनय: |
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम् || 9:32||

All those who take refuge in Me, whatever their birth, race, sex, or caste, even those whom society scorns, will attain the supreme destination.

This may be taken as a श्लोक pushing towards unity. This means that one may pursue diversity, choose social groups to align oneself too to pursue goals of the world (money, poetry, sports club, etc) but this diversity must also rest on the core of Unity which is identification with the Universal or Divine. Diversity is not a problem, grouping in clubs or clans is not a problem as long as all these individual pursuits are aligned to the ultimate goal of attaining the Universal. 

भारत may thus be conceived of as a nation that has taken “Unity in Diversity” as its motto. The Unity is the idea of Universality that binds all in the Universe. Diversity is merely different expressions of the One and pursuit of diversity is the quest of the Universal to know Itself better. Diversity that is of the type of individualism that is disassociated with the Unity principle is a recipe for chaos and cannot sustain itself after a while. Unity that strives for homogeneity of the Agent Smith kind is not natural since the Universal has chosen diversity deliberately to know Itself. 

How can we be sure that this is indeed the conception of the land of भारत? This can be a long and a separate topic but I will choose a very simple incident from the महाभारत to convey this – when कृष्ण and Bhima fight Jarasandha (who was the king of Magadha), after he was killed, कृष्ण installed the son of Jarasandha as the natural heir. The kingdom was not made part of any other nation nor the son or family of Jarasandha destroyed. All of them continued their lives just as before while कृष्ण moved back to His own city after the war.

Live and let live is the motto. The Universal is expressing Itself through all life forms. Thus, right to life is paramount for all beings. Similarly, the Universal is expressing Itself among beings to experience various kinds of experiences – and through all of them, It knows Itself. कृष्ण will therefore not want to impose Himself into the land by someone who have chosen a different lifestyle for themselves. Jarasandha was expansionist and trouble-some – so he was removed but his son was installed in his throne since the choice of diversity principle needs to be respected. 

To conclude, geography, race, clan, language, ethnicity, religion, etc may be the basis for a nation. But such a stunted idea will not last. But when nationhood is conceived as Unity in Diversity, geography becomes irrelevant. People who are in pursuit of Truth come together to form a nation. But such a nation does not exclude those outside the Nation but allows the diversity principle to work by respecting the choice of other nations who prefer to organize themselves into categories that they deem fit as appropriate for their idea of nation-hood. This is why it has been rare for ancient Indian kings to conquer nations outside its jurisdiction (there will no doubt be exceptions) but it has been common across millennia to spread the knowledge of Truth. And pursuit of Truth is the core reality of all of life and whether such a nation exists in a certain geography or not, it will still exist eternally since, after all, Truth is eternal.

ॐ तत् सत्