Sri Aurobindo's message for the 15th August 1947

[Was it that there still lived within my deep recesses a naïve, young man who had been brought up in the heady, early years of Independence? A man who lay buried under the debris of cynical and callous politics of later decades, but was somehow still alive. Born six years after Nehru’s Discovery of India was published in 1946, I read it some years later in college, as also his famous midnight speech about India’s tryst with destiny. Together, they had set my pulse racing. Here was a leader, who had discovered for himself and for all of us the soul of an eternal India. Here was a leader who gave us a vision of where we, an ancient people, were headed as a modern nation.
I cannot possibly count the number of times I went back to these two most magical pieces of writing. Last week, I picked up the book again. While the magic had faded a little, there was no denying the power of his words. The words were steeped in his immense faith in the land, in its people, and in their collective wisdom to build a better future for themselves. Home > Op-Ed Letting India discover Rahul Bhupinder Brar Indian Express: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 The writer is professor of political science, Panjab University, Chandigarh bb21852@rediffmail.com Marketime 9:03 AM]

While reading a passionate piece like this by a person of approximately same age, a lot of consternation occupies the mind. Why it is that The Renaissance In India / The Foundations of Indian Culture by Sri Aurobindo has never appealed to him? Or, Sri Aurobindo's message for the 15th August 1947 that was broadcast a few hours before Nehru’s tryst with destiny speech, has never set his pulse racing? [TNM]