शनिवार, 11 अगस्त 2012

महामानव पंडित सुन्दरलाल शर्मा

डॉ.चन्द्रकुमार जैन
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राजनांदगांव. मो. 9301054300
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वक्त की ख़ामोशियों को तोड़कर आगे बढ़ो

अपने ग़म, अपनी हँसी को छोड़कर आगे बढ़ो

ज़िन्दगी को इस तरह जीने की आदत डाल लो

हर नदी की धार को तुम मोड़कर आगे बढ़ो

छत्तीसगढ़ में भारत की आजादी की लड़ाई में सबसे पहले जेहाद का बिगुल फूंककर अपना सब कुछ न्यौछावर कर देने की त्याग वृत्ति के साथ मातृभूमि की सेवा का दिव्य आराधन करने वालों में पंडित सुन्दरलाल शर्मा का नाम इतिहास में सदैव स्वर्णाक्षरों में अंकित रहेगा. भाग्य के बल पर निर्भर रहने के स्थान पर कर्म के संबल से राष्ट्रीय चेतना को स्वर और दिशा देने वाले ऐसे कर्मवीरों से हमारी यह पावन भूमि गौरवान्वित हुई है.

मार्ग की हर बाधा को पुण्य मानने वाले और हर चुनौती को सौभाग्य मानकर उस पर विजय अभियान को सतत जारी रखने वाले ऐसे धीर-वीर-गंभीर महामानवों ने भारत भूमिऔर छतीसगढ़ महतारी के ऋण से मुक्त होने की अदम्य अभिलाषा को ही जैसे अपने जीवन का परम लक्ष्य बना लिया था. यही कारण है कि अपनी समस्त सुख-सुविधाओं का त्याग पर वे पथ के बाधक को भी साधक बनाने का महान अवसर नहीं चूके, जिससे अंततः भारत माता को पराधीनता की बेड़ियों से मुक्त करने का महाभियान सफल हो सका. पंडित शर्मा ऐसे ही अभियान के महारथी थे जिन्हें त्याग, तप, उत्सर्ग के संगम के साथ-साथ व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व के इन्द्रधनुषी महामानव के रूप में प्रतिष्ठा प्राप्त है.

सच ही कहा गया है कि बाधा जितनी बड़ी हो, उसे पार करने कि प्रसिद्धि उतनी ही बड़ी होती है. कुशल नाविक भयानक तूफानों और झंझावातों में ही मशहूर होते हैं. पंडित शर्मा इसकी जीवंत मिसाल कहे जा सकते हैं. छतीसगढ़ के गांधी के नाम से उन्हें ऐसे ही नहीं पुकारा गया. दरअसल हरिजनों को उनका हक और सम्मान दिलाने के लिए जो साहसिक भूमिका उन्होंने निभायी उसमें उनके अचल-अडिग स्वभाव के साथ-साथ उपेक्षित, तिरस्कृत या बहिस्कृत जन के प्रति उनकी गहन सहानुभूति, संवेदना तथा उनके जीवन स्वप्न से सक्रिय सरोकार का ही परिचय मिलता है.

वरना कट्टर विचारों के उस माहौल में तब जबकि गांधी जी हरिजन उद्धार का शंखनाद कर रहे थे, घर-घर पहुंचकर हरिजनों को जनेऊ पहनाने, उन्हें मंदिरों और वर्जित स्थानों में प्रवेश दिलवाने का भागीरथ अनुष्ठान आखिर कैसे संभव हो पाता ? इस असंभव को पंडित जी ने संभव कर दिखाया. सत्य से मत डिगो-चाहे जियो चाहे मरो का नारा देकर उन्होंने अपने जीवन दर्शन की साफ़-साफ़ तस्वीर दुनिया के सामने रख दी थी.

सचमुच वह असाधारण दिन था जब, जैसा कि इतिहास गवाह है सन १९३३ में पंडित सुन्दरलाल शर्मा के प्रयास से जब गांधी जी का दूसरी बार छत्तीसगढ़ की माटी में पदार्पण हुआ था, तब राजिम-नवापारा में हुई महती सभा को संबोधित करते हुए बापू ने सहज ही कहा था कि पंडित सुन्दरलाल शर्मा उम्र में तो मुझसे छोटे हैं, परन्तु हरिजन उद्धार के कार्य में मुझसे बड़े हैं. उस दौर में गाधी जी का यह कथन कितना महत्वपूर्ण था यह कहने की जरूरत ही नहीं है पर आज भी छत्तीसगढ़ में ऐसे माटी के सपूत के होने का गर्व-बोध समस्त छतीसगढ़ वासियों को होना स्वाभाविक ही है. ऐसे ही प्रयासों और प्रसंगों की यादों को बार-बार ताज़ा किया जाना चाहिए जिससे अपनी धरोहर और शक्ति का परिचय नई पीढी को मिलता रहे.

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शुक्रवार, 10 अगस्त 2012

QUIT INDIA SPEECH

The Quit India speech is a speech made by Mahatma Gandhi on August 8th 1942, on the eve of the Quit India movement. He called for determined, but passive resistance that signified the certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement is best described by his call to Do or Die. His speech was issued at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay, since re-named August Kranti Maidan (August Revolution Ground). However, almost the entire Congress leadership, and not merely at the national level, was put into confinement less than twenty-four hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress leaders were to spend the rest of the war in jail. (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

Quit India Speech
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Before you discuss the resolution, let me place before you one or two things, I want you to understand two things very clearly and to consider them from the same point of view from which I am placing them before you. I ask you to consider it from my point of view, because if you approve of it, you will be enjoined to carry out all I say. It will be a great responsibility. There are people who ask me whether I am the same man that I was in 1920, or whether there has been any change in me. You are right in asking that question.


Let me, however, hasten to assure that I am the same Gandhi as I was in 1920. I have not changed in any fundamental respect. I attach the same importance to non-violence that I did then. If at all, my emphasis on it has grown stronger. There is no real contradiction between the present resolution and my previous writings and utterances.

Occasions like the present do not occur in everybody's and but rarely in anybody's life. I want you to know and feel that there is nothing but purest Ahimsa1 in all that I am saying and doing today. The draft resolution of the Working Committee is based on Ahimsa, the contemplated struggle similarly has its roots in Ahimsa. If, therefore, there is any among you who has lost faith in Ahimsa or is wearied of it, let him not vote for this resolution.

Let me explain my position clearly. God has vouchsafed to me a priceless gift in the weapon of Ahimsa. I and my Ahimsa are on our trail today. If in the present crisis, when the earth is being scorched by the flames of Himsa2 and crying for deliverance, I failed to make use of the God given talent, God will not forgive me and I shall be judged un-wrongly of the great gift. I must act now. I may not hesitate and merely look on, when Russia and China are threatened.

Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for India's independence. In a violent struggle, a successful general has been often known to effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship. But under the Congress scheme of things, essentially non-violent as it is, there can be no room for dictatorship. A non-violent soldier of freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country. The Congress is unconcerned as to who will rule, when freedom is attained. The power, when it comes, will belong to the people of India, and it will be for them to decide to whom it placed in the entrusted. May be that the reins will be placed in the hands of the Parsis, for instance-as I would love to see happen-or they may be handed to some others whose names are not heard in the Congress today. It will not be for you then to object saying, 'This community is microscopic. That party did not play its due part in the freedom's struggle; why should it have all the power?' Ever since its inception the Congress has kept itself meticulously free of the communal taint. It has thought always in terms of the whole nation and has acted accordingly ...

I know how imperfect our Ahimsa is and how far away we are still from the ideal, but in Ahimsa there is no final failure or defeat. I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it will be because God wanted to help us by crowning with success our silent, unremitting Sadhana1 for the last twenty-two years.

I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours. I read Carlyle's French Resolution while I was in prison, and Pandit Jawaharlal has told me something about the Russian revolution. But it is my conviction that inasmuch as these struggles were fought with the weapon of violence they failed to realize the democratic ideal. In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for such democracy that I invite you today. Once you realize this you will forget the differences between the Hindus and Muslims, and think of yourselves as Indians only, engaged in the common struggle for independence.

Then, there is the question of your attitude towards the British. I have noticed that there is hatred towards the British among the people. The people say they are disgusted with their behaviour. The people make no distinction between British imperialism and the British people. To them, the two are one This hatred would even make them welcome the Japanese. It is most dangerous. It means that they will exchange one slavery for another. We must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the British people, we fight their imperialism. The proposal for the withdrawal of British power did not come out of anger. It came to enable India to play its due part at the present critical juncture It is not a happy position for a big country like India to be merely helping with money and material obtained willy-nilly from her while the United Nations are conducting the war. We cannot evoke the true spirit of sacrifice and velour, so long as we are not free. I know the British Government will not be able to withhold freedom from us, when we have made enough self-sacrifice. We must, therefore, purge ourselves of hatred. Speaking for myself, I can say that I have never felt any hatred. As a matter of fact, I feel myself to be a greater friend of the British now than ever before. One reason is that they are today in distress. My very friendship, therefore, demands that I should try to save them from their mistakes. As I view the situation, they are on the brink of an abyss. It, therefore, becomes my duty to warn them of their danger even though it may, for the time being, anger them to the point of cutting off the friendly hand that is stretched out to help them. People may laugh, nevertheless that is my claim. At a time when I may have to launch the biggest struggle of my life, I may not harbour hatred against anybody.

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सोमवार, 6 अगस्त 2012

DO IT ANY WAY....

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;


... Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you

of selfish, ulterior motives;

... Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some

false friends and some true enemies;

... Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

... Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

... Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

... Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

... Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

... Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

We can do no great things - only small things with great love.

- although commonly attributed to Mother Teresa,

who kept a copy of this prayer on

the wall of her Calcutta orphanage,

this prayer was actually written by Kent Keith.

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