Aug 15, 2002, 12.00am IST
GEETA CHANDRAN.
Today, once again, the national flag will be hoisted at countless official and formal events all over the country. Following the recent Supreme Court judgment to allow all Indian citizens to fly the Tricolour, the flag will probably also flutter on rooftops and courtyards all over India.
But beyond undoubtedly being an abstract symbol of our nationhood, does the flag have any real meaning for us today? Artists are not impressed by the imprints of authority; symbols have to be invested with real meaning.
I have wondered whether the inherent symbolism of our national flag can once again become a beacon for ordinary people, especially the youth and children. Towards this end, I have tried to make sense of the Indian Tricolour for the pre-sent times. I feel the three colours of the flag — saffron, white and green — represent three pan-Indian values. And it is those values that will stand the test of time for the country, the nation and its people.
Saffron has a special cultural context in India. It is the colour of intellectual search by the sages of yore and of the Buddha and his renunciation and the Middle Path. Thus saffron represents sacrifice and passion.
These terms are often considered dirty words and have been made cheap by plastic images of cardboard nationalism in popular culture, especially in popular cinema. But nation-building in its essence requires passion and sacrifice. The concept of a common goal beyond individual vanities requires commitment.
As a classical dancer, I am probably more aware than most of the erosion of public values and the growth of hydra-headed market forces that willy-nilly unleash new rules in our world.
The newly fashionable urge to acquire more of the latest may make us an enviable statistic on the disposable income index, but will it generate any wealth that lasts? Today, the idea of sacrificing narrow personal gains in favour of the larger good is unfashionable. But the Indian classical arts enshrine this concept of sacrifice. Artists are aware that they do not exist for themselves but for their art. It is an extremely noble sacrifice, worthy of the highest consideration. We need to bring that junoon into other realms of national life. The saffron on the Tricolour beckons us to reinstate this missing value in our public and personal lives.
White represents peace. This past decade has seen the erosion of peace in our country. Communities, religions, castes and creeds, and our neighbouring nations are more than willing to tear apart the fabric of peace for their own agendas. Great insecurities are being created in society. Women, of course, suffer the most. Lack of peace affects them profoundly. The arts suffer next.
There can be no creativity without peace. Peace and harmony are intrinsic to enlighten- ed democracy. Discourse without discord needs to be built into our system. We need to abandon absolute and polarised values and encourage the culture of tolerance which reflects our nation’s plurality and diversity.
The green in the Tricolour represents progress and growth. Almost all our social and economic ills can be related to poverty and deprivation. Development, growth and progress are key partners to peace and sacrifice. Unless there is sustainable, trickle-down or bottom- up, growth, there can be no stability.
Artists have a vested interest in growth. It is only when the economy grows that the arts get their sustenance. Prosperity has many benefits; and I think art is an important beneficiary.
Can we not invest our national flag with multiple meanings that encompass both national pride and an enlightened manifesto for a better future?
SACRED SPACE
Celebrating True Freedom
That disciplined man with joy and light within, becomes one with God and reaches the freedom that is God’s.
Bhagavad Gita 5.24
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
John 8.32
The Self, indeed, is below. It is above. It is behind. It is before. It is to the south. It is to the north. The Self, indeed, is all this. Verily, he who sees this, reflects on this, and understands this delights in the Self, sports with the Self, rejoices in the Self, revels in the Self. Even while living in the body he becomes a self-ruler. He wields unlimited freedom in all the worlds. But those who think differently from this have others for their rulers; they live in perishable worlds. They have no freedom at all in the worlds.
Chandogya Upanishad
Desire is a chain, shackled to the world, and it is a difficult one to break. But once that is done, there is no more grief and no more longing; the stream has been cut off and there are no more chains.
Sutta Nipata
The quest of pleasure brings nothing but torment abounding; Man thus makes of his evil desires only a shackle about the neck. You seeker of false delights, liberation comes only through the love of God.
Gauri Ashtpadi
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