Respected swami Shantatmananda ji, Revered monks of the Ramakrishna order, chief guest Shri Sam Pitroda, distinguished Olympians Shri Abinav Bhindra and Shri Akhil Kumar, and my dear friends, I am honored to be given an opportunity to speak on this wonderful occasion. I am extremely grateful to RK Mission New Delhi for providing me with this opportunity.
I bow down to the great leader in Swami Vivekananda and his great master Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If I were to summarize the mission of swamiji in a single phrase, then that would be the message of “Empowerment from within”. Swamiji believed in the Divinity in man and encouraged everyone to realize and accept it.
We Indians, as a society, today stand on the edge of a cliff. There is authoritarianism being exhibited at the top of the pyramid while the danger of anarchy is lurking at the bottom of it. And when these two forces come into contact, then there will only be destruction. There is a growing inequity in the society. On one hand, there are millions starving and on the other we boast of few of the richest men in the world. On one hand, we take pride in our rich cultural heritage where women are accorded the highest respect and on the other, there is a growing incidence of female foeticide, sexual harassment and dowry deaths. The society as a whole is getting frustrated. People want a change and in real quick time. We already are witnessing glimpses of this revolutionary spirit. Fortunately, these protests are peaceful till today but we never know when it will take a violent turn. I don’t want to see a Libya or a Syria here because India is no Libya or Syria and if we come down to fighting, there are so many differences amongst us that it will lead to the bloodiest civil war ever fought in the history of mankind.
How do I stop this? What is the root cause of all this misery? What is the kind of change that we want to see? Has our leadership failed us? Do we need better leaders and better governments? Or do we need to relook the very conception of leadership that we have. Here comes Swami Vivekananda’s message as an answer.
Gone are the days when leadership was based on the criteria of birth. Gone are the days when leader was perceived to be one who possessed a fixed set of traits. Gone are the days when different leadership styles to suit different situations were “taught” in colleges. The time has come. The time has to come to discover the leader within each one of us. A leader need not have followers. Be the follower of the leader within you. Let us accept the infinite power present in each one of us.
We do find leaders in our day-to-day life. A young budding cricketer probably sees his leader in the great Sachin Tendulkar. What we need to understand here is Sachin is nothing but the closest reflection of the great hidden potential in that young cricketer. The real leader is within.
Every young has a dream. I am young. And I have a dream. I dream of India as a country of “One Billion Leaders”. I dream of One Billion leaders who do not fight each other for power but accept the infinite potential within each one of them and grow powerful by day. I dream of One Billion leaders who readily sacrifice their individual egos for the common good. I dream of One billion leaders who infact are the servants of the whole mankind.
How do I plan to realize this dream of mine? How do I integrate these one billion leaders towards a common goal?
We always take pride in talking about “unity in diversity” whenever we talk about India. It is a great attribute indeed. But even greater is the fact that this land has actually allowed such a diversity to flourish which no other civilization could ever achieve. Now what is the unifying factor of all this diversity?
A century ago this unification was achieved through Nationalism. Thousands of leaders sprouted to fight the mighty British and achieve national independence. Today we are a strong independent nation and hence nationalism wont be as effective as it was then. Today probably religion serves the purpose better. Infact religion will serve as a better unifying factor compared to Nationalism because the diversity we talk about is rooted in this very religion. Religion in India, unlike in many other countries is founded on the principles of secularism and democracy. Throughout the Indian history, Religion has been striking the right chord in between the temptation of authoritarianism and chaos of anarchy, thus been a vehicle of good governance.
By the word Religion, I do not refer to any particular sect like that of a Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Nor do I wish to create a new sect altogether. By the word religion I refer to a set of values and a way of life that makes a Hindu a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian. I speak of that religion where to serve is to pray and to conquer is to sacrifice. Progress and not mere reform; Evolution and not mere revolution is the motto of this religion. I wish to take up this religion to realize my dream. It is the vehicle of change within each one of us. The change we are longing for is the change within.
Yes, there are challenges. Yes, I cannot preach this religion to a hungry stomach or a diseased man. But I am not talking about churning out One Billion leaders overnight. It must start with small infant steps. It is a chain reaction in which leaders breed new leaders. In fact the very process of this chain reaction solves many of our problems today.
One Billion Leaders. This is my Dream. This is my Belief. And this is my Hope. Let us make it our Dream, our Belief, and our Hope.
4 comments:
Pranit, you presented your idea eloquently. Especially, the sentence about anarchy shaking hands with authoritarian governance, could vivify our docile society.
Thought Provoking.
@krs : thanks mama
@pavan: hyd ki eppudu vastunnavu be...ragane call cheyyi
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