Indian Cultural Values for Youth

Culture is the art of living. Since time immemorial, culture refers to the faiths, religions, customs, traditions, practices, languages, ceremonies, art and architecture, music and dance and more importantly the values that are centred around an individual’s way of life.

Indian culture is generally considered as a blend of diverse sub-cultures that are spread all over this subcontinent. It is due to India’s unity in diversity that our culture has had a profound influence the world over and it is accepted as being tolerant, accommodating, open-minded, sacred, secular yet spiritual and predominantly concerned with the common human welfare. The total credit for having applied the underlying principle of unity in diversity that has produced a common culture despite an amazing pluralistic society belongs to our forefathers-our ancient seers, sages, religious leaders and great philosophers. It is now the responsibility of the youth of India to preserve the ancient culture at the time when scientific advancements, technological developments and fast transformation to the westernised way of life keep their minds preoccupied. And at the same time, it becomes prerequisite to save our culture for Indian youth.

Let us discuss a few tenets of Indian culture. The first and foremost quality of Indian culture is love and respect for parents and elders, gratitude for teachers and good care of your fellow beings and guests are time and again emphasised in our culture and scriptures. In our Vedic verses, it is proclaimed that regard your mother, father, teacher and guest as God himself. This indeed formulates unique family values in our culture. The myth of Sharwana Kumar exemplifies the devotion of a son towards his parents. The great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata also present ethical values.

For generations, the Indian society has had the traditional joint family system, which has nurtured the value of sharing and caring, tolerant and helpful to one another. It is rather unfortunate that these values are losing their ground. The value-based traditions and practices are fast declining with the uprise of westernisation in general and American pragmatism in particular.

It has been customary in our society to respect elders and bow down to them and seek blessings. The teacher-student tradition has been exemplary to the world. Teachers were held high in high reverence by students. Students learnt practical value-oriented lessons from the teachers by living with them in Gurukuls and serving them. The western professionalism has daunted this noble tradition. The traditional Gurukula system has ended up in today’s much-debated modern educational system. So the value-learning institutions - joint family and gurukul had been disintegrated. Nuclear family system and modern school and colleges give birth to intolerance and self-centeredness.

     Our ancient scriptures are the sources of Indian culture and cover the entire range of knowledge. These books teach us our duties from our birth to death, besides enumerating the values, virtues, morals and ethics that we are supposed to fellow. The Vedas describe our obligations and responsibilities in all stages of our life – Brahmacharya (student life), Garhasthya (family life), Vanaprastha (retired life), and Sannyasa (preparation for salvation).

Scriptures such as the Upanishads, through the conversation between a sage and his disciple, not only speak about faith and the ultimate goal of human life but also spell out the quality and traits that are required of a young man. Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are loaded with values. With dharma or righteousness as their principal guiding force, other virtues such as good conduct, true friendship, truth, non-violence, service, dedication, duty, etc., are ingrained in these epics and Puranas. Many Smriti-Shastras outlined the laws, rules and codes of conduct, applicable to individuals, communities and nations. Bhartrihari’s Neeti Shastra gives an exposition of morality, conduct, character, wisdom, behaviour, prudence, and much more. In short, all our scriptural texts provide a framework of values aimed at making us well-groomed personalities.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations of Nature with a religious significance” India has always advocated an environment-friendly culture. Our ancient seers saw nature as being the manifestation of God. Swami Vivekananda said, “All this which we see around us is the outcome of that consciousness of the divine.” Thus there was gratitude towards nature in India since the time immemorial. We regard everything around us as pervaded by a subtle divine presence- be it a river, mountain, lake, animal, flora or a star or planet. Our ancient sages and seers believed that Divine reality is expressed in every manifestation of matter.

The Indian culture is primarily Cosmo-centric, wherein man is considered to live as part of a system in which everything is related to everything else. This concept has been the basis of our scriptures. Actually, this principle is permeated by a reverence for all life, and awareness that the great forces of five elements i.e. air, water, fire, earth and sky without which life is not possible. The same idea permeates all forms of life including plants, trees, and animals are all bound to each other. Indian culture holds that it is our utmost duty to protect and nurture the vibrant nature. Even the abiotic world has been perceived as a living creature with a soul. It is a very significant concept as it placed man as equal to every other element of our environment. The Indian thought greatly emphasizes a very cordial relationship among all the elements of our world. To highlight the importance of various components of our environment, various rituals have been institutionalized. These rituals ensured that we treated even the non-living world with great care and maintain harmony.

Fire is conceived as the messenger of God. Earth has been considered as mother goddess. The sky is worshipped as father. Earth worship manifested itself even in stone worship. Sun, water, plants, which are the very basis of human survival are worshipped. Trees that provide shelter, food, fuel and oxygen are called tree gods. They are considered worthy of worship. Some trees like Pipal, Banyan, Banana etc, are an integral part of our temples. Hymn IX of Book 10 of Rig Veda is dedicated to Water. The hymn recognizes the life-giving ability of water, not only physically but also spiritually. The prayer concludes that a plentiful supply of pure water is always available. So, it can be said that nature worship and nature preservation is an integral part of Indian culture. Ecology is an inherent part of Indian cultural ethos.

Similarly, respect and conservation of wildlife is an inseparable part of Indian culture. The cow is revered as mother. Bull, snake and other animals are worshipped. Our seers formulated this culture on the principle that the guiding motive of mankind should be charity towards men, charity towards all animals. Vegetarianism has always been promoted in this culture. Consumerism is always shunted. With such rich culture and heritage, where compassion and kindness were the very foundations of living style, there was no need for human right or animal welfare organisations. Our youth should be taught these values and be aware of the necessity of adoration and preservation of Mother Nature.

Ethics and values have guided the Indian economy and trade since ancient times. The age-old saving habit that prevails among us bearing in mind the need to conserve for future coupled with simple lifestyle has guarded us at the time of adversity. Our old proverbs, myths etc. suggest being watchful in spending the earnings. Simple lifestyle and emphasis on self-control are inherent in our culture. Here is a hymn from Isha Upanishad:

"Everything in the universe belongs to the Supreme God. Therefore take only what you need, that is set aside for you. Do not take anything else, for you know to whom it belongs".

Isha Upanishad also says: “Resources are given to mankind for their living. Knowledge of using resources is absolutely necessary.”

Indian culture is family-oriented, society-oriented, and nature-oriented. On the contrary, western culture is individual-oriented. The family, society and nation get prominence over the individual in our culture where the service and sacrifice are considered as great virtues. On the other hand, individuals get prominence in western culture. Nature is considered divine in the Indian context and hence is revered but the west believes that nature is meant for enjoyment and for the consumption of man. Indian culture is moralistic and spiritualistic, based upon ethics and values whereas the western culture is materialistic. So, Indian youth should not blindly follow the western way of living which is being promoted through media on the name of development.

Swami Vivekananda said that the youth of India should imbibe renunciation and service in their character. Although scientific advancement and technical developments are essential for national progress but youth should be alert to the fact that such developments can profoundly affect the culture and traditions of a society if left unchecked.

It is the need of the hour to stress the relevance and significance of the core aspects of our culture and the tradition among our youth. This is where the role of education comes in. Values and ethics, rational customs, glorious traditions and lineage of our ancestors, will definitely give the youth inspiration and motivation to assimilate the eternal values that Indian culture embodies.