In English
Hanker after God more than after gold
The age-long approach to life and living that has suffered a set-back in recent years, as the Minister said, is sure to triumph again; the enticement of science and western fashion, of cynicism and ruthless egoism will fade away; it is but the ash upon the cinder that is glowing hot; blow a breath and it falls away. Like clouds that pass along the sky casting shadows on the plains, these distractions lead some away from the goal; but there is no need to despair that India will lose its heritage. Now that the rulers too are inheritors of the same treasure and aware of its uniqueness, the danger of its neglect is very much less. The rulers are not different from the ruled; the people themselves select the rulers and entrust them with powers, responsibilities and funds to plan and perform programmes of all-round uplift. So, there must be greater mutual understanding and cooperation than in the past, when the rulers belonged to a distant country and strange culture. The Minister described in his speech how progress in mechanisation and industrialisation has brought various social ills and individual maladjustments in their wake; he recognised the efficacy of (the eternal religion) in assuaging these evils and commended the study of the , and . He spoke of an advisory council of religious leaders which can help the rulers in preserving and promoting the principles and practices of . What the rulers are anxious to give, the people must be eager to take; what the people are eager to achieve, the rulers must be anxious to foster; that is the way the country can go forward in this fundamental field of spiritual activity. Above all, people must hanker after God more and after gold, less. - the urge to accumulate fortune, to live in luxury, to revel in scandal, to delight in falsehood, to take pride in display - these must be cast aside. They bind a man to triviality; they smother his divine nature which struggles to blossom into service, sacrifice and all-pervading love.