Bharatiya Pragna - Dr. Th Chowdary

150th Birth Year
12
Tribute
sary, is an expensively from her high estate, and ruthlessly put an end to
equipped laboratory which appeals to the eye all that self-satisfied little-minded vanity which
by its grandeur, and cut and dried schemes for has been the cause of our fatal weakness. What
various ? endowed chairs and an undue haste to is it that stands in her way ? Is her mind paraly-
fill them. The tragic fate of Tata’s princely benesed by weak superstitious fears ? Not so ; for
faction for research is too recent, but its lessons, her great thinkers, the Rishis, always stood for
it is to be feared, will not be easily learnt. If dis- freedom of intellect and while Galileo was implay
and lavish expenditure had been the sole prisoned and Bruno burnt for their opinions, they
requisite for discovery of laws of nature, then boldly declared that even the Vedas are to be
American Universities with their endowments rejected if they do not conform .with truth. They
exceeding millions, should have had the monopoly
in scientific advance ; but this has, by no
means, been the case. On the other hand a Davy,
a Faraday and a Rayleigh have made epochmaking
discoveries within the walls of the less
pretentious Royal Institution, and have created
worthy disciples and successors. It is the man
who carries torchlight that can alone kindle other
flames. It is by constant contact with the mind of
his teacher that the disciple becomes inspired and
shapes his future life. It is not the blare of publicity
but a sequestered life that is necessary for
great scientific achievements. Once the master
is found, let him have his disciples who should
be enabled to devote all their lives in the sacred
cause of science. It is no pillars of granite, but
aspiring and undaunted souls that are as milestones
which mark the advance of human knowledge.
urged in favour of persistant efforts for the discovery
of physical •causes yet unknown, since
to them nothing was extra-physical but merely
mysterious owing to the hitherto unascertained
cause. Were they afraid that the march of knowledge
was a danger to true faith ? Not so ; for to
them knowledge and religion were one. Do they
now lack devotion to a life consecrated to
knowledge ? Not so ; for they have still the
sanyasin spirit which utterly controls the body
and can meditate or inquire endlessly while life
remains, never for a moment losing sight of the
object, never for a moment let it be obscured by
any terrestrial temptation.
Undying Hope
These are the hopes that animate us. For
there is something in the Indian culture which is
possessed of extraordinary latent strength, by
which it has resisted the ravages of time and the
destructive changes which have swept over the
The Message from the Past
earth. And indeed a capacity to endure through
In any case if India has to make any con- infinite transformation, must be innate in that
tribution to the world, it should be as great as mighty civilization which has seen the intellectual
the hope we cherish for her. Let us not talk of culture of the Nile Valley, of Assyria, and of
the glories of the past till we have secured for Babylon wax and wane and disappear, and
her, her true place among the intellectual nations which today gazes on the future with the same
of the world. Let us find out how she has fallen invincible faith with which it met the past.
November & December 2008 Bharatiya Pragna