We celebrate Western originated festivals and traditions.Mother’s Day is one such celebration. However, we forget that as per our tradition of “Matru Devo Bhav,”Mother is a Goddess. Practically speaking, we have Mother’s Day every day of the year and honor her by bowing down to her and getting her blessings. Since we cherish our mother every day in this manner, dowe need to reduce it to a “one day celebration?”Now let us ask ourselves a simple question, “would we celebrate Mother’s Day, if it originated in Africa instead of America or the West? Or any other celebration for that matter such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day?Point is, we have this tendency to blindly mimic the West in thought, words and action. If Americans celebrated birthdays by cutting watermelons, or squeezing lemons (number of lemons depending on age),instead of cutting cake and extinguishing candles, we would do the same.
Similarly, there are many such examples where this faithful following of the West happens. International Woman’s day comes to mind. And maybe, “international gadha day” will be celebrated if the Americans do so.This blind aping of the West is a reflection of our inferiority complex and this complex has done us muchharm. This extends on the Dharmic level to our Acharyas who seek validation of Geeta by introducing itas the “Bible of the Hindus.” They even quote the Bible to explain the Geeta! Why even think of bringingthe Bible into the picture? It is totally unnecessary and only goes to show our lack of confidence andinferiority complex. Our traditions are great and need no quality control or fake certifications.
They have stood the test of time and will continue to do so. And Indians need to articulate the glory of our traditions instead of being apologetic about it.At one time, I took the subway from a small town in New Jersey to New York. A young American girl was seated next to me and we started talking. In the course of the conversation, I spoke to her about Raksha Bandhan, a celebration to cherish the pure love between brother and sister. And this simple bond of love is renewed every year. She was so enthusiastic with the thought that she told me that she would tie the string of pure love on Raksha Bandhan day.And there are many such rituals in our culture that doesn’t get traction because we are not proud of our culture and traditions. The main reason this is not happening is the mental wound of Inferiority complex that prevents us from glorifying our own tradition.
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