Page 26 - MTYOI - Eng

4 A Message to the Youth of India

After attaining independence, India sought
Western-style affluence through industrialization. A
new educational machinery was designed to produce
innumerable workers blindly dedicated to a massive,
complex social system based on profit and exploitation.
Ancient values were undermined and the natural
environment was raped. Almost all aspects of Indian
life have changed radically, from eating and dressing, to
social conduct and values. The India of just a generation
ago was another world, a different scene. Day by day,
yesteryear’s culture is being hammered into oblivion. In
the land of religion, the land of wisdom, young people
are ignorant of the rishis and äcäryas and instead
idolize monkeylike music and cinema stars. The exalted
lifestyle of the past is largely forgotten, as modern
Indians prefer to be meat-eaters and drunkards.

Despite all this, Indians are still Indians (although
perhaps not quite sure what it means to be Indian).
Their attempt to become sahibs is simply artificial—
and a poor imitation—for even though trying hard,
they cannot become fully Westernized. Caught between
tradition and modernity, India is left with the worst of
both worlds.
Although most modern Hindus retain a
little interest in their dharma, generally they are
overwhelmingly concerned with earning money and
pursuing artificial standards of living. And while India’s
recent economic progress has been remarkable, still,
amid dreams of a future high-tech paradise, the reality