Anna Hazare speech to Youths

Mahatma Gandhi

There are number of form of protest that we get to see in recent time, we may classify them broadly in two categories- violent and non violent.  The pioneers of non violent protest were Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King, with the latter being inspired by the former. In this form of protest there is no physical harm done to the authority against who the protest is. There is no force other than the force of righteousness and self belief. There is no fear even to loose one’s life in the hands of the oppressor, there is but one uncompromising love towards people which makes a superman out of a man. After the death of Gandhi, Albert Einstein famously said that-“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.”

      

Martin Luther King Jr

     We are fortunate to see such a non violent act of protest in our times, and it came at a very fitting moment, when corruption in India (amounting to billions of dollars) was reaching an unbearable point, a man of 71 took the baton of passive resistance in his own hand. Anna Hazare now in fast unto death promises to fight the Government of India and compel it to draft the Jan Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill which aims to punish all those who are accused and proved of corruption. The Government fears to pass such a bill and wanted it to be just an eye-wash for the public but now it is shaken to the very roots, as millions of Indians have joined him and raised their voice against corruption. There has been candle light march across the country; students from prestigious colleges taking into fasting, general public unanimously have supported the movement. The fight goes on but without a shed of blood and destruction, that is what is beautiful about it.

          I was not born when Gandhi lived neither were my parents, but when I listened to this speech of his, directed to the youths, I felt great deeds are not possible without great visions, and I am convinced that Anna Hazare certainly has it. I have translated this speech from Hindi to English, so that youths of the world can read and get inspiration from this; for this truly is an inspiring speech. 

Anna Hazare, social activist

Anna Hazare speech at a youth camp organized by All World Gayatri Pariwar

          On hearing the words of Guruji (referring to the previous speaker) I really get inspired to take few more steps ahead for social work. I must say that the real power of a Nation is the power of the youths. If this power rises, then the future of the Nation is bright. Vietnam was built by the youths, Japan was raised from difficult times by the youths and the revolution in Indonesia was made possible by the youths. Four months ago I travelled to twenty four districts of Maharashtra (his native state); in these twenty four districts I meet and interacted with a hundred thousand college students. If God wishes in few years I plan to bring forward more youths and students towards social work.

          When I was a youth I thought about the biggest puzzle of the world.  Everyone around me seemed to run to and fro without a stop, and they don’t quit until the die. Looking back in the history Alexander the great who ruled almost the entire of the known world, even he departed empty handed. This is a real mystery you know, we come empty handed and we go empty handed, yet all our life we narrowly confine ourselves to what is ours. Some are step ahead, they say-‘What belongs to me is of course mine, but what is yours is also mine’. Through out the life there is but one word-‘mine’.

          The dream of the night and the dream of the life are no different. We hear stories of kings and their pomp and show, when we sleep we dream about being a king with the same grandeur, and when the dream breaks we found ourselves in the same miserable condition. So is with our lives, we dream of possessing beautiful mansion, top class cars and when we die, the dream of life is broken there is absolutely nothing. These material dreams are there as long as we live and are gone when we are gone. Even the dead body is so unpleasant that we can’t keep it at home like all other memories and have to cremate. A body is an asset till it is alive but when it falls; it becomes more of a liability. I was young and thinking of this misery of life, and a strange feeling to end my life occupied me. If death was certain so was the fact that I wouldn’t carry anything with me, then what was the point of living. At Delhi station I chanced upon to see a poster of Swami Vivekananda, and bought a book of his and that was the turning point.

          This book made a real difference, I continued to read more of him and found something which changed my perception. I didn’t understand why God created the Universe, I am still unsure why every living thing should exist at all, but what I now know for certain is that all this which goes on around us, is just a fruitless search for pleasure and solution in our lives.  We are in pursuit of some kind of solution to our problems, but the irony is we look for the solution which exists outside where in real, the solution lies inside. The solution which we take from outside is temporary and comes with an expiry date.  One buys a motorcycle, and is so joyful and cheerful about it, rides two-three times around the village to show everyone but the moment there is a puncture the joy gushes out like a deflated balloon. We fill our cupboards with beautiful tea sets and dinner sets in our dinning room, so people when they come, they see and admire, but when those  break we lament over it more than a day. Therefore the material solutions that we look for is continuous cycle of happiness and sadness, but the real happiness or joy has to come from inside, and it comes through service that you offer to others. When you do voluntary work, you realize the need for their development and the necessity to fight the corruption linked with it. They are two sides of the same coin. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that to change a village, one needs to change the villagers, when the villagers change the villages will change, and when the villages will change, the country will change. Many think that development only means multi storey buildings, great roads and so on when in reality the first task is to develop and equip those people who will use them. Today in Mumbai you find buildings going higher and higher at the same time the moral values of the people are coming down lower and lower. This is not the kind of development I am talking about.

          So one need to break down the problems, world peace cannot be achieved unless countries within it change, countries cannot change if the villages cant, and the villages can’t change if the people doesn’t. So it always comes down to the people who need to change. What change is required? That change which will make us think about our neighbors and drive us to do some service for those who need it, thus create a fraternity about ourselves than to always concentrate about our own. Change comes when the dictionary in our mind incorporates a new word which is –“us”.

 Where is India compared to South Korea, China and Japan? We got to rebuild our Nation and that can be done by the youths. In doing this we must integrate our words with our actions. And people who speak of development and change must have few attributes in them- a clear vision; will to sacrifice and a strong but clear character. Gita (Srimad Bhagavad Gita) taught us that the amount of sacrifice one makes, the happiness rebounds in the same manner.

          You must have seen farms of corn, where do you think these come from unless one seed of corn is sacrificed to get many; this is true in life too. Today we need not one seed of corn, but several seeds who will sacrifice themselves to make the Nation. A seed may think I have all the things in life why should I sacrifice? Ironically those seeds which are not sown into the ground are either bad or sent to the grinding machines to get flour. Lets look at our own families do we remember our great grandfathers who lived 200 years ago, no we don’t why because they all went to grinding machine like the corn, those who didn’t are remembered till today. Why do you think we celebrate Gandhi’s birthday? So youths must know that to make a total revolution one needs to have a clear vision, clear character and a heart to do a little sacrifice for others. And one more big thing is required- the power to sustain insult. If you try to good things take it for granted you will be insulted and ridiculed, you will not get one incidence where one who dedicated himself towards the service of Nation has not been insulted. You can’t even cite one example, we are ordinary people, great reformers had been spitted on their face, beaten and tortured, it is perhaps a rule of nature that anyone who wants to do great things also suffers great insults. Those trees which stand tall and have good fruits, only those are pelted by stones, one which bears no fruit and is dry no stones are thrown to it. So if someone insult you, that is the first thing which suggests that you are very much alive and active. There is a saying in Marathi that when flood comes the big trees near the shore are washed away, but the grasses are not. Because the grasses lean since it has modesty, similarly in your life if you don’t have modesty you will be distracted and washed away. These few things you must bear in mind before you dive to work for the Nation. 

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If you like this please read about the staggering facts about corruption in India and if we had all that money:http://sumitsoren1983.blogspot.com/2011/08/stats-on-corruption-in-india-and-if-we.html

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