[ Tale to Understand the Importance of Having a sense of Patriotism for One's Own Country at all times!]
In Ramayana, after the death of Ravana , Vibhisbana fell at the feetof Rama and said, “Swami, I never aspired to be the King of Lanka. Ionly wanted my brother to give up his bad qualities. I pray to you totake over the Kingdom of Lanka.â€
All the rakshasas also came and prayed to Rama that he should become King of Lanka .
Lakshmana also supported them saying, “O brother, Bharatha isalready ruling over Ayodhya. Even if you return to Ayodhya, you may notbe crowned as the King.
So, I request you to take over this kingdom and transform all therakshasas.Lanka is full of golden mansions. Where else can you findsuch a beautiful place? I will be very happy if you rule over thisKingdom.â€
Rama lovingly took Lakshmana close to him and said,
“Lakshmana, how could you get such a silly desire? Just becauseone’s mother is ugly, can he call any other beautiful woman as hismother? Even though my country is poor compared to Lanka, I stillconsider it as my mother. Lanka may be full of gold, but I don’t wantitâ€!!
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SPIRITUAL COMMENTARY
What a tremendous patriotism Lord Rama had for his own kingdomAyodhya! He respected and adored his kingdom like his own †mother†as,any country we belong to becomes our †motherland†since we have beennurtured and brought up in that country, like how a mother nurtures herchild.
We should develop this kind of love and faith towards our country.Parents and teachers should inculcate such spirit of patriotism intheir children and students. We should declare wholeheartedly with asense of pride that this is my country, this is my mother tongue.
A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers,and woods , but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to thatprinciple.Unless our conception of patriotism is progressive, it cannothope to embody the real affection and the real interest of the nation.
We should love and serve our homeland; at the same time not hate orhurt the homeland of others. We should not indulge in criticizing othercountries or people belonging to other nations. Having trust and faithin our own country, we won’t try to put down any other country. Weshould never bring grief or sorrow to our country. To have pride in ourown motherland is important.
There are millions of educated men and women all over the world, buthow many really benefit or contribute to the society’s progress? We areutilising our education for our own selfishness and self-interestalone.We have to eschew selfishness and self-interest and make oureducation useful by resolving to serve the society and our country,forits progress and development. That way we should make the best use ofour education we have received.
Let us respect and revere our elders and our country and set anideal to humanity.Let our conduct befit the degrees we haveacquired.Education is meant to broaden the mind.Education anddiscrimination should go hand in hand. The prosperity of the nationdepends on the progress we make in the field of education.The future ofthe nation rests on the students and the dynamic youths a nationproduces and nurtures.
Every Nation has stocked plenty of wealth for us. What is thiswealth? It is the spirit of sacrifice, which can be acquired throughservice to society.
“Karmanu bandheeni Manushyaloke “, human society is bound by action.
“Sareeramadhyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam “, the body is gifted in orderto undertake righteous actions, not to eat, drink and make merry.
We must render service to others till our last breath.
The essence of 18 Puranas can be summed up in one phrase:“Paropakarah Punyaya Papaya Parapeedanam.†HELP EVER; HURT NEVER. Setan ideal, which is helpful and delightful to one and all!!
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.†- John.F.Kennedy .
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