Essence and Spirit of Vande Mataram on this Amrit Mahotsav
YOGA BHARATI team joins the whole Punya Bhoomi Bharat (as referred by Swami Vivekananda when he returned to India after his first global visit) in celebrating the Amrit mahotsav, the 75th Independence which is being observed within the country and beyond by all the lovers of this nation across the globe.
Bharat is not just a nation like others which have a concept of proper governance, infrastructure, education, economic power, defence capacities, etc. These are very important for a country to be strong, self-sufficient and project itself in the world around as a confident nation. Bharat is much more than that. Right from the time immemorial, this is conceived more as a culture, as a civilisation. I see this land called Bharat as the Mother of all civilisations. It is more than respect and dignity but to see the divinity. From the times of Ramayana or much before that, to the leaders of this nation in the present day, Bharat always nurtured the idea that, this is the God beyond all Gods.
Spirituality and yoga had been its core, and it is its score. This is going to be the core forever and its identity. Anywhere in the world, if anybody would like to become spiritual, the doors of this land are wide open. He who seeks, will find the best guide, direction and path in this particular land. Because, the core of this culture is not in the materials but in sacrifice “Thyaga”.
Our people have exhibited their excellence in various fields like medicine, science, engineering, law, economics and even in politics but the bedrock of all this development is the core of this mankind. That core has always been spirituality and yoga. Spirituality is not confined just to temples, rituals or the mantra chanting priests, but it is much beyond a human value, in the subconscious level. Similarly yoga is not just confined to, doing some practises of physical postures but much deeper than that, in various activities, which have been categorised as various streams of yoga. Apart from this, several practices were given by the ancient sages and yogis. Many new masters are adding newer techniques so that people have a variety of things to practise.
One day, I was thinking and realised that the poet of the great song - “Vandemataram”, Bankim Chandra Chatarjee, must have had an insightful experience of this concept that Bharat Ma is the driving force behind every drop of blood in this soil. That must have been a profound experience and it is this experience which has flown out of him like the poetry called as Vande Mataram spontaneously. On this occasion, we need to salute this saint, Bankim, a million times!!
That spirit within this song, we call it “Bharat Ma”.
Oh Ma, You are the knowledge and experience called ‘Vidya’. You are the part of life called ‘Dharma’ but You are also the core of the heart called ‘Hrudi’ in every individual and You are the guiding force called ‘Marma’.
By saying these things the poet has completely covered every thing which manifests in the form of the civilisation. But simultaneously the poet also conceived about the great spiritual and yogic culture which is within, in the form of the next few stanzas of poetry, which flows like this.
“Oh Mother! You are the ‘Prana’, the life force within, it is You, oh mother, You are the strength in my arms. Deep from within, if I have the devotion springing up that is also none other than You!“
These represent Raja yoga, Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga.
Every discipline that we do in Raja yoga is a discipline of prana. It is not confined only to the practice of pranayama but even when the asanas or the earlier steps like Yama and Niyama. Primary force behind all these things is nothing but Prana. In other words, anything that you do is using prana.
Sage Bankim Chandra says, “Oh Bharat Mata, you are the prana in every cell of this body.”
This only means that we are practising yoga in every cell of our body when we think it is You Oh Mother, who is working through this body in this prana.
The poet further says that “You, Bharat Mata, are the strength in my arms from within.”
Every karma that we do, uses the strength and ‘we’ try to own the success or failure of that activity, Karma. When we know once that the strength behind all our karma is nothing but just Bharat Mata, then any karma that we do becomes automatically ‘Karma yoga’.
An ultimate statement, the poet adds is that “Love, the emotions that is overflowing within me is also nothing but You, Bharat Mata! “
We are born with wonderful emotions. When they're corrupted by ego, they become violent emotions and they give suffering to us and disturbance to others. We can save ourselves from this happening, by attributing all these emotions to divinity and not being born out of us. The greatest living divinity in front of us, is this great country with great culture of thousands of years and that has filled us with these emotions. That's why the poet uses this expression at the very end and ultimately as the path of bhakti, emotion in the form of devotion.
When these things form the culture within, what else can one be? Every individual is the most sacred temple and the great deity inside this temple is the ‘Bharat Mata’. What can be more satisfying and giving direction, an entity path showing within us other than the Bharat Mata? This Mata within us in the form of and sum total of all that belongs to this culture which is embedded within us since thousands of years. This is called ‘Samskara’. On one side, she herself is the one removing the evil within, with the help of ten weapons of righteousness in 10 hands and at the same time she is the one sitting on the soft petalled lotuses.
O Mother, you are the one who gives us instruments to speak and language to express and the lyrics to penetrate, and the poetry and music of our prayers. What all you have given to us, we offer it back to you.
O, Divine mother, on this occasion of Amrit mahotsav.-
तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म, तुमि हृदि, तुमि मर्म
त्वं हि प्राणा: शरीरे बाहुते
तुमि मा शक्ति,
हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,
तोमारई प्रतिमा गडि मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे मातरम् ।। ३ ।।
वन्दे मातरम् ।
त्वं हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी.
कमला कमलदलविहारिणी
वाणी विद्यादायिनी,
नमामि त्वाम् नमामि कमलां.
अमलां अतुलां सुजलां सुफलां मातरम् ।। ४ ।।
वन्दे मातरम् ।
Taken from Vande Mataram
This is the prayer, spirit and the direction for everyone in the family of YOGA BHARATI.
Written By,
Yogashree N.V. Raghuram