Baba
Dealing with false history
Namaskar,
In one of His discourses, Baba says that history should be rewritten. What is the reason behind it, and why does Baba say history should be rewritten?
Why is history important?
When citizens of a country read about the great work of their ancestors, then they feel proud and do not develop an inferiority complex. Students in school read history so that they know some of the great individuals and who did significant work in their time. By reading history, students will know what type of works are called great and what is not so great. Students also get a general idea about the society they live in. Students like to become what they read in history about their ancestors. Without such knowledge they do not have a vision of what to be in life. Great work done by ancestors becomes an inspiration for the students.
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Is history presented in the right way?
Kings, who defeated other rulers, wanted to write history about themselves, and tried to overshadow the previous glories. Self-glory of the king became important and everything else that happened in the past became unimportant. This is the story behind history taught in schools in many countries.
Looking back in Indian history
Fifty years back in Indian schools, students were taught about the discoveries of Vasco da Gama and Columbus. With such type of instruction, students in India thought western countries were further ahead and India was behind. History books were filled with achievements of people around the world such as Moghuls and Britishers. These were the school curriculums long after Indian independence (1947). As a result, there was a huge inferiority complex among Indians. Children learned about the greatness of people who were non-Indians, and hence they never learned how to become great in India as the history books did not contain the greatness of any Indians. So they wanted to become like those about whom they studied in history books.
Later on, it was revealed that people like Columbus and Vasco da Gamawere aggressors, and they stole properties of places they resided. In Indian history books, it was taught that they were heroes who did wonderful work and discovered new parts of the world. In the history books there was a chapter called “Nayi duniya ki khoj” (Discovery of a new world). In primary schools, children learned about these things and so naturally they would try to become like others about whom they studied and dreamed about in their early life. This is an example of how history is not written properly.
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History books are filled with lies
Baba says that most of the history books are lies. False and fake things were glorified in history. People who were exploiters and assassins made sure that the history was written according to their wishes, and they made sure to buy the brains of the wise people of those days. One outsider king came and killed a king in India, then changed the history books. Then he bribed the pundits with money, salary, pension, land, and other assets so that the pundits work for the new king. Cleverly, the pundits associated the new kings with deities in the local area, mentioning that the new king was sent by thelocal deity. Reading such types of misled facts are not going to drive society forward.
How intellectuals get sold to the rich?
Even today, intellectual people are bought to work for materialists, or work on supporting wrong stories, work on magazines, news, media to show that work done by the rich is good. The authors of such work become slaves of money, and lose their basic sense of knowledge when they support the wrong-deeds of rich. Such work involved exaggerating false things. In today’s vaeshya world, intellectuals are attracted by the materialistic allurements. Such intellectuals are given positions in organizations led by the materialists / capitalists. One example is that an intellectual person is hired by a newspaper owner to publish wrong news, and the intellectual person is paid well. In this example, the intellectual person sold out to do wrong things. The intellectual person writes the newspaper in such a way that the rich materialistic person gets prestige in the society, his image is high in public while he does all sorts of exploitation behind closed doors.
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Materialists are made to be viewed as good
Indeed all over the world, materialists are perceived as good rather than bad because they try to build their reputation by donating money for so called noble causes. Journalists write good things about such people to build their image in society. In India, the rich people are called sahu (i.e, noble, great). That is why it is needed that wise people write history, based on truth.
What should be included in history?
History should be written in such a way that it should include facts and events such as how society struggled with exploiters and how brave people fought with such exploiters. How such exploitations were eradicated from the society. Who were these people, and how did they fight against such people to bring fairness and stability to the society. Let us see a few examples.
Example 1: Slavery existed before, but now we do not see slavery.
Example 2: Before there were not any rights for women. But now that is changed. Women were treated equally with men and are employed in all sectors in society.
These two examples suggest that these are not minor changes in the society. The changes did not happen overnight either. People have struggled for generations, went through significant hardship, and many lost their lives to bring such changes in the society. Such attempts by people who brought significant change in the society should be included in the history.
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Examples of farce in history
What we see around the world today is that people who are in leadership of various countries insert content which is of their own interest in history books. This content typically includes self-glory of people who are in charge. Rather than including the appropriate content, they tend to cleanse their bad reputation by including self-glory in history books. Here are a few examples:
Example-1(In India): Lalu Prasad Yadav, former chief minister of Bihar in India. He was a pure exploiter, and a docait. In his many years of leadership he has been put in jail a number of times, but during his time, he included a number of self-glory style stories in the primary school history books. Such types of false content were in the history books for five years to a decade, which children read about. Later on with a lot of effort such content was removed.
Example-2 (In U.S): Even today in southern states in the U.S in history books it is taught that Civil War occurred because of economic reasons, but the truth is that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil war. In Southern states rich people wanted to keep slavery intact, because it was beneficial for them, but northern states opposed such an idea---which resulted in the Civil war. But even today, in southern states facts are not included in the history books. These were two examples in India and U.S, but we will such instances all over the world.
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Itiha’sa & Itikatha’
History should be rewritten. Itiha’sa (History) should include teachings from the past based on true stories that contribute to the well-being of the society.
Ananda Marga philosophy states, “Itihásati ityarthá itihása. The word itihása is derived from iti + has + ghaiṋ. Itihása is that part of itikathá which carries some educative value. The entire history or itikathá is not all itihása; itihása, which has no English synonym, is only that particular part of itikathá which has educative value. What is taught these days to students in the name of history of India (Bharatvarsa Itihás) is not really itihás. It is actually itikathá. Take the case of the Mahabharata.” (1)
Itikatha includes true stories but the content is all encompassing of each and every incident of the past. Often a book might contain 1,000 pages, and maybe there are two stories which are inspirational and will have a positive impact on the society. Out of 1,000 pages of itikatha’ 50 pages are noteworthy and should be included as itiha’sa. The true story of 1,000 pages is itikatha’ is of not much value for society but the 50 pages of itiha’sa is very important. Itiha’sa should be written carefully as it will have an impact on the society. It is the responsibility of people to rewrite itiha’sa that is inspiring for children and moves the society forward.
Ananda Marga philosophy guides us, “If one does honest works then one moves towards the eternal truth, and if one performs dishonest works then one moves towards untruth." (2)
Conclusion
If history is not rewritten then the false, self-glory content of past leaders in the history books will result in inferiority complex in the young children of the next generation. Young children even though they live in their country, breathe, eat, do their activities in their country, they will develop an inferiority complex and try to be like people of other countries about whom they have studied in the history books. Such an inferiority complex may result in exploitation in the society by materialists. Young children and adults will use food, clothes, and lifestyle of other countries because of an inferiority complex. Such an inferiority complex is only the result of wrong content in history books. If history had been written about people of their own country whose contribution towards society’s improvement was instrumental, then such an inferiority complex would not develop among children. Every country has past heroes whose contribution is significant, and such content should be included in history. That is the importance of history in moving the society forward.
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Compared to the last 1,000 years, now the society has moved forward significantly. Human beings now have more freedom, people have more rights. Who are the individuals who made sacrifices in the past to bring such a change in the society? Every society has such heroes and their contribution should be included in the history books. Typically, acts of such heroes are included in the books instantly because rulers are against such heroes. So it is the duty of the next generation of people to rewrite history and inspire society to march forward.
In Him,
Nira’ka’ra
Rudrananda wrote fiction: “Sharanagati”
All know that Rudrananda has written a fictional historical account to glorify himself in a last-ditch attempt to convince others that he is not a cheat or a CBI agent, but a great bhakta. The name of his fraudulent book is “Sharanagati”. So everyone should be alert because Rudrananda is a cunning politician who can paint day as night, and night as day, and befool millions.
References
1. A Few Problems Solved Part 3, “Verse, Mythology, History and Itihása”
2. Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 9, “Man Is Only an Actor in the Great Drama”
* * *
The below sections are entirely different topics, unrelated to the above material.
They stand on their own as points of interest.
* * *
== Section 2: Prabhat Samgiita ==
Bad days are behind us
“Púrva ákáshe aruń heseche, sakal kálimá sare geche…” (Prabhat Samgiita #2295)
Purport:
The crimson dawn smiles in the eastern horizon. All the blackness has vanished - the problems, predicaments, and plight are over. The darkness of night was not very blissful, so due to His karuna He has transformed it by adding brilliant colour.
Now the cruel bite of ignorance and gloom are gone, and the monstrous hunger of trickery and deception are over. All our bad days are behind us. There is no longer any narrow sentiment of the self-indulgence of groupism; now the ocean of spiritual effulgence is dancing.
There is no misunderstanding from one person to the next. All belong to one family and are ready to live in a harmonious manner. There is no murderous desire to senselessly injure or kill animals. The mechanical decimation and destruction of the forests has stopped. Deforestation is a thing of the past. Now all the living beings on this earth may flourish. The new humanity has arisen - the era of neo-humanism has come...
“Púrva ákáshe aruń heseche, sakal kálimá sare geche…” (Prabhat Samgiita #2295)
Purport:
The crimson dawn smiles in the eastern horizon. All the blackness has vanished - the problems, predicaments, and plight are over. The darkness of night was not very blissful, so due to His karuna He has transformed it by adding brilliant colour.
Now the cruel bite of ignorance and gloom are gone, and the monstrous hunger of trickery and deception are over. All our bad days are behind us. There is no longer any narrow sentiment of the self-indulgence of groupism; now the ocean of spiritual effulgence is dancing.
There is no misunderstanding from one person to the next. All belong to one family and are ready to live in a harmonious manner. There is no murderous desire to senselessly injure or kill animals. The mechanical decimation and destruction of the forests has stopped. Deforestation is a thing of the past. Now all the living beings on this earth may flourish. The new humanity has arisen - the era of neo-humanism has come...
== Section 3: Important Teaching ==
Baba says, "I do not think it good to criticize anyone ..., saying, “Well, Mr. So-and-so may be leading a virtuous life now, but don't you know, he was a terrible sinner in the past.” We must forget the past. I said at the outset that sins are like the dust of the street that settles on clothing. We must shake this dust off and move ahead." (1)
In His above teaching Baba is guiding us that If a person has rectified themselves then one should never talk ill of them by recounting their past misdeeds and sinful dealings.
Reference
1. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 5, A Few of Tantra's Special Characteristics
== Section 4: Links ==
Shravanii Purnima - Sun, 22 Aug 2021
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