CIVILISATIONAL IMPERATIVES & INDIA'S NATION BUILDING a talk with Mr Jagmohan, the fiesty former governor of J&K

Mr Jagmohan, the fiesty former governor of J&K gave an impassioned talk on Civilisational Imperatives and India's Nation Building at the VIF on 29 July,2010. He defined civilisation as the manifestation of the intellectual, cultural, social and moral attainments of a community. He then evaluated India's civilisational developement in these terms. Very pertinently he asked- the freedom struggle had thrown up a large number of stalwarts and great leaders. Why have we failed to produce great thinkers and reformers in the post- independence era? He dilated upon his own efforts for reforming the Vaishno Devi Shrine which today attracts over 80 lakh pilgrims a year (up from just 5 lakhs in 1990) and to encourage research on the Saraswati River and Vedic civilisation. He spoke of the need to revisit the core of Hinduism - that life is all divinity and we are aspects of that divinity. There is a need to go back to the Vedic/Upanishadic roots of Hinduism today and purge it of subsequent malpractices/distorted customs.