A few days ago, it was the Heritage celebration day. What exactly is heritage? Let us look at this concept in two ways; from the perspective of a nation/society and the way an individual relates to the concept.
Let us begin with the larger whole. In a country like ours, which is almost a (sub) continent, there would but be many natural and geographical wonders that would be heritage sites. An example could be the Himalayan wonders or the coastal curios.
Historically as well as civilisation wise, such wonders could defy counting, beginning with zero, that is, and stretching literally up to the infinity. These could include fields aa diverse as archaeology, arts,literature to religion and philosophies. We must as a society learn to respect this great heritage. We must preserve this heritage, be it forts or unique architectural wonders. Just as we must not allow the ravages of time to dilapidate the unique structures, we must not deface them either by writing silly sundry comments there, for instance.
When it comes to our unique individual heritage, it is our very identity that is our real heritage. Wherever the world may take us, the unique, definit(iv)e selfhood never changes. This selfhood, though we may work on it as an adult, is given to us by the ideals bestowed on us by our parents, by the shared, subtly stated principles and values that form the very bedrock of our lifetime. Whatever may happen, this heritage stays!
Similarly, the family heritage in the form of monies and jewelleries that our parents give us in the will, is also a form of heritage we must respect. To begin with, such a heritage is a symbol of their simple, sincere, disciplined and dedicated lives. By honouring such an individual heritage, we are actually paying a tribute to that entire value system.
Moreover, it is quite possible that in some realm of existence not as yet validated by our current knowledge systems, their souls could exist in some yet not fully mapped way, and at that level, these souls would sense a great exaltation and ecstasy when they would realise that their immediate descendants respect their heritage every possible way. Such contentment would truly re-lease their souls.
Long live our duty to respect our heritage every reach/rich way!
Pratima@The real stories and souls are in heritage. Let us conserve it as a sacrosanct duty!
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