‘Bhakti as a source of harmony in society’ is excerpt from the speech by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam while releasing A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism at Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore, on 31 May 2008.
In Meerut, I came to know of a functional joint family system
called Grihastha Ashrama having nearly sixty to seventy members. This system is
working on three important principles:
- treating everyone as a manifestation of God;
- implicit faith in the mercy of God; and
- steadfast dependence on the chanting of His name.
Since I had heard so much about this spiritual family, I
visited it during my recent trip to Meerut. I saw the family consisting of
grandparents and grandchildren. The extended family — from the young to the
experienced — had come from different parts of Meerut. All of them explained
how their life got transformed after coming into contact with this family. I
was observing how they had achieved this transformation. When I observed them
during their bhajan, I found that they all enjoyed every verse and were
bubbling with enthusiasm. In short, during the prayer period the whole family was
in a new state of cheerfulness. When I interacted with the members, there was a
revelation: whatever
they did, they did for God. Their work is highly interlinked with divinity.
For example, the gardener feels he is gardening to get
flowers for worshipping God. The decorator of the divine place has the mission
of beautifying it. The kirtan group of the family composed the vocal music and
used musical instruments to generate appropriate tunes to suit the divine
environment. A divine rhythm emanates because they are singing the glories of
God with passion.
For the head of the family, all the family members, and
whoever assembled there, were images of God. Regarding their profession, each member
— whether undergoing education or pursuing a career — felt that the divine
family environment had enhanced their performance in every activity and made them
happy and contented.
This type of divine environment of the joint family system
may be existing in many places in the country, in many religious environments.
Such harmony in homes will definitely bring order in the nation and thereby peace
in the world.
Source — Edited excerpt from the speech by Dr A P J Abdul
Kalam while releasing A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism at Ramakrishna Math,
Bangalore, on 31 May 2008.