The idea behind India

In previous post, I tried to establish the point that all modern nation states have some basis.
So what is that idea, that basis behind India.

Here, I will like to make one more assertion (which should be obvious), nations do not come into existence out of spontaneous order, nor national identities self-evident.
This means that nations have to be formed and national identities have to be defined.

Ravi Kiran indicated that much. I do not agree with him completely ofcourse, because by arguing that religious nationalist are digging from, for the basis of India, he is implying that secular nationalists (like him I suppose) are trying to construct Indian identity on principles which are completely disconnected with Indian civilization, with relying on past only sake of tokenism much like congress did.Relying on cricket to define national identity is not one of best ways ofcourse, for the reason, We get beaten by Pakistan on regular basis.

Whether a nation thrives or disintegrates depends as much as on the idea it is formed, as the external circumstances. Therefore nation based on racial or tribal identities are considered to be most stable, however as the societies evolve the more evolved ideas play a part in identity.
One of the examples is USA.

So what defines India ?

Is it language ? No, because India is a nation of such diverse group of languages, a language can not be sole basis for nation. At most, it can enable communication between different regions.
For example Hindi and English.

Is it race? No, in fact I have concluded that genetics can not be used except in limited case for understanding India.
Is it religion ? Yes and No, Yes if it taken in Indian context, No if in narrow western context.

So what is it ? Our Indian culture, our shared heritage ?

What is Indian heritage ? People will say it is tolerance , equal respect for all religions, I think it is something more exalted than that.The essence of India is quest for eternal truth. This is expressed in Vedas , it is there in Bhagvad Gita, it is in concept of dharma.It is Gautham Buddha and Shankara. It resonated in Sangam and Carnatic Sangeet. Indian religion , Indian philosophy, Indian Science,all are manifestations of this quest.
Kabeer, Mira, Chaitanya, Raheem and Raamahans all define what is Indian. Great souls like Swami Vivekananda and Guru Aurobindo realized this.
Subramanyan Bharathi expressed this in his poems.
This was the ideal for which our revolutionary sacrificed their happiness, their wealth their very life with nothing but exalted joy.

And this is the reason why Indians are inherently tolerant, a civilization which seeks the essence of life has no time for inquisition.Even in our dogma we did not seek destruction of others.Even at lowest points we did not turn out who sought refugee.Even when we became stagnant , we did not reject ideas because they were foreign.In this land where enlightenment was sought , even nobler expression of atheism like Buddhism was endorsed.We did not persecute religions on the contrary we delighted on the expressions of spirituality.

When Swami Vivekananda said that India is a religious county, he was referring to this truth.

This in my view is the essence of India. This is what binds every Indian of whatever religion on region at sublime level.It is more than worth preserving, it is also more than worth cherishing. The only justice to this heritage is when we emulate it. Only after it has been realized in practice, we will measure up to our ancestors then we can claim to be rightful heir of a exalted culture.

Incidentally that is what I meant when in this post, I expressed dissatisfaction with state of Hinduism.For Hinduism is not mere path to devotion, it is inseparable from essence of India. Hinduism is quest for truth. Kingdoms do not make a civilization and even institutions are secondary.

What matters is spirit of questioning and seeking for answers, in other words argumentative spirit, it is what unifies science or philosophy or religion for that matter. It is therefore natural to assert that in order to realize our ideal, scientific exploration is as essential as religious enlightenment.

This is a Indian view and opposite of western view which considers science and religion on opposite poles.This has been expressed in Ramayana and Mahabharatha, when characters have taken independent often contrary position.In my opinion, for Indian civilization to be of relevance, this spirit must be reawaken.