HINDUS NEED TO COME OUT OF HYBERNATION

HINDUS NEED TO COME OUT OF HYBERNATION

14-AUG-ENG 6

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-----------------------------Once a large flock of vultures reached an island while flying. That island was in the middle of the sea, where there was peace and quiet. There was abundance of fish, frogs and small sea creatures. There was no dearth of food for the vultures there. And the most important thing—there were no predators on the island.

It was as if the vultures had found heaven. A comfortable life, without any danger. Every day fun and frolic, full stomach food and peaceful sleep. Most of the vultures were young. They decided to settle there. They said, “What is the use of the forest now? There are dangers and difficulties there. We will live here, this is our future.”

But there was also an old vulture in the same flock. He had seen the forest where life was difficult, but true. He had learned to fight with predators, learned to fly in hunger, and learned to get up after falling.

One day the old vulture called a meeting. He said, “Sons, this island is not making you strong, it is making you weak. You have forgotten how to fly, your claws have become blunt, and your eyes have become sunken in the mist of laziness. Come, let us go back to the jungle, where life is difficult, but it teaches you to survive.”

The young vultures laughed. One said, “Baba, you are old-fashioned. Times have changed now. We are getting rest, then why should we return to the jungle?” The old man tried to explain a lot, but no one listened. He flew alone. Time passed. After a few months, the old vulture remembered his old friends. He thought, “Let me see how everyone is.” He returned to the island. But what he saw there brought tears to his eyes. There were dead bodies of vultures lying everywhere. Some injured vultures were writhing in pain. He ran and asked an injured vulture, “What has happened?” There was remorse in the eyes of the injured vulture. He said,

“Baba, a few days after you left, a ship came. Some hunting dogs were left on this island from the ship. At first they did nothing, but then they realized that we cannot fly. Our claws have become useless, nails have become blunt. Then they attacked us... and killed us one by one. We could not run away even if we wanted to. Please forgive us, we did not listen to you...” The old vulture bowed his head. He knew that what was to happen has already happened.

But would you like to know, who were those young vultures? Those vultures are none other than today's Hindu society. A society which has been fighting wars for thousands of years, which had inherited knowledge, sacrifice, penance and renunciation. But now it has sunk into comfort like the vultures of the island. A society that is sleeping in the lullaby of casteism, hedonism and secularism, does not remember how Raja Dahir was killed, how Veer Haqiqat Rai was tortured, how Sambhaji Maharaj was cut into pieces. That does not remember how temples were destroyed, how daughters were looted, what happened in Punjab, Bengal, Kerala, Kashmir. That society is now living only in dreams of fun, social media and comfort, believing that nothing will happen now. But is nothing really going to happen now? Because the hunters are returning again… this time with new ships. Think, have you also become the vulture of that same island? There is still time… learn to fly, wake up, and protect your existence.