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BE YOUR OWN LIGHT !
“On a balmy evening in May 1950, two gentlemen seated themselves on a bench in Bombay’s Cuffe Parade and proceeded to hold a conversation. One of them was the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. The other was noted writer Mulk Raj Anand, author of ‘The Untouchable’.
Forty years later, Dr. Anand recalls the illuminating conversation with the Messiah of the downtrodden.
Mulk Raj Anand : Namaskar, Dr. Ambedkar !
B. R. Ambedkar : I prefer the Buddhist greeting—Om mani padmaye ! May the lotuses awake.
MRA : I agree. How thoughtless we are ! We inherit words without questioning their meaning ! Of course, namaskar means I bow before you . . . . .
BRA : That perpetuates submission ! May the lotuses awake is a prayer for enlightenment!
MRA : Indeed, old habits die hard. We adopt them unthinkingly . . . . .
BRA : In everything.
MRA: Come to think of it, one is not born stamped Hindu ! Or
Muslim ! or Christian! Hindu parents give their child a name during the naming ceremony ! Sanctified by a priest reciting verses in Sanskrit, which the child does not understand. A sacred thread is put on his body. And to and behold the boy is a Hindu !
BRA : Idiocy !
MRA : If you by mean the Greek word, idiot-going round and round in circles !
BRA : One must question all old habits, ideas, practices. Education should encourage the new young to ask the teacher, one new question a day . . . . .