At this Time of Crisis,
Love for the Land like Loving God is very Important
The Hindus believe that it is God who has manifested Himself as the nation. The nation is nothing but the outward manifestation of that Virat Purusha. It is the same God who is hidden in our heart as the Antaryamin and again is manifested in the collective consciousness of the nation. The motherland is the abode of God. Therefore in our sacred books India has been described as Punya Bhumi or the holy land, as Karma Kshetra or the place of activity, which affords the worker the greatest opportunity for the purification of his heart through selfless works, as a means to find out the Truth. All the activities of the people inhabiting this land should be considered as acts of sacrifice whose presiding deity — Jajneswara — is Narayana Himself. The political organisation of the country manifested in the forms of Samrajya or Empire is to be consecrated at the feet of the Lord who is the real Emperor of the land, the earthly king being his mere representative, a shepherd of the Master for looking after His flock.
The idea of God manifesting Himself as the nation is closely associated with the Indian nation-ideal. …The love of the mother-country is deep-rooted in the heart of all Hindus, men or women. It is a religion with them and manifests itself in their daily prayers. Therefore no special effort need be made today, at this critical period of Indian history, for the evolution of a new national ideal. It is already there. It is in our very blood. Our forefathers knew that the worship of the country and the nation (Virat) bestows the highest spiritual results. If the worship of God in the plant and the stone can constitute religion, there can be no doubt that the service to the country and the nation can also bestow the same religious merit, if not higher. The Sadhaka worshipping an image in the spirit of God gets his desired boon. Why should not a devotee, sincerely worshipping the nation — the collective manifestation of Divinity — with the idea that it is God, attain to his cherished ideal?
Consciousness of mutual help and co-operation and a spirit of sincere self-consecration for the service of the motherland can alone save the nation from its imminent peril. The national edifice of India must be based on the consciousness of this ideal.
[Swami Ashokananda]
from Prabuddha Bharata, 1923
