The Myth of Separate Identity
“It has
been the tragic lesson of the history of many a country in the world that the
hostile elements within the country pose a far greater menace to national
security than aggressors from outside.”
— Guruji M. S. Golwalkar
The truth
of Guruji’s words has echoed across centuries and civilizations. Nations seldom
collapse under the pressure of foreign invasion; they crumble when the spirit
of unity within is corroded by the idea of separateness. The gravest dangers to
a civilization arise not from external attack, but from inner disintegration
— when communities begin to imagine themselves as apart from the collective
whole.
The
Indian subcontinent stands as the most profound example of this tragic lesson.
The partition of 1947, culminating in the creation of Pakistan,
was not merely a division of territory; it was a rupture of the civilizational
consciousness of Bharatavarsha. The so-called “Two-Nation Theory” asserted
that Hindus and Muslims constituted two distinct nations, incapable of
coexistence within a single political framework. This fallacy — that a
religious community could define itself as a separate nation — became the
political justification for vivisection.
The Continuum of Fragmentation
The
subsequent history of the subcontinent exposes the hollowness of that
separatist dream. Barely two decades after its creation, Pakistan itself
split into Bangladesh and Pakistan, revealing that religion alone could not
serve as a binding national force. Language, culture, and shared memory proved
stronger than dogma.
Yet the psychology
of separatism — once rewarded — did not fade away. The success of religious
partition inspired similar currents elsewhere, most notably the Khalistani
demand that surfaced decades later. The ideological precedent had been set:
if one community could claim separate nationhood on the basis of faith, others
could imitate the formula.
In this
manner, the virus of separateness — the illusion that political
sovereignty must mirror religious identity — continued to threaten Bharat’s
integrity long after 1947.
The Fallacy of Separate Identity
The very phrase “separate identity” is
deceptive. In a multicultural civilization
like Bharat, there are no separate
identities — there are only multiple, interwoven,
regional, and linguistic expressions of a single civilizational
stream.
Every region of India — from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari, from Gujarat to Assam — manifests a distinct form of life rooted
in its indigenous language and local genius,
yet nourished by a common Indic linguistic
and philosophical foundation.
Though Tamil
appears at first glance to be of distinct origin, it is deeply nourished by the shared Sanskritic–Prakritic base
of Bharatiya thought. Its conceptual vocabulary, sacred idiom, and metaphysical
undertones are harmoniously aligned with the Indic world of meanings. The
literary and spiritual efflorescence of the Āḻvārs, Nāyaṉmārs,
and the Siddhar traditions —
vibrant to this day — exemplify how Tamil integrates into the greater dharmic stream
rather than standing apart from it.
Similarly, Kannada and Telugu,
while developing rich independent literatures, are linguistically and
syntactically nourished by Indic sentence
structures and semantic frameworks rooted in Sanskrit. Their grammar,
rhythm, and poetic aesthetics echo the same civilizational cadence that
sustains all Bharatiya languages.
Thus, to imagine these languages — or the
communities that speak them — as culturally separate is to misunderstand the
very nature of Bharat’s unity. Each tongue is a unique articulation of a shared consciousness, not a separate
identity. The many languages of Bharat are not isolated voices but notes in one vast symphony, each
resonating with the same spiritual pitch.
Colonial Roots of the Myth
The
modern concept of “separate identity” was not an indigenous creation. It
was a product of colonial manipulation — a method of governance designed to
fracture civilizational unity. The British census, the policy of
communal electorates, and the relentless classification of people by
religion, caste, and tribe created a mindset of exclusive identities
where none had existed before.
This
artificial compartmentalization replaced the dharmic idea of shared
belonging (sahabhāva) with the colonial politics of competition.
Communities were taught to think of themselves as minorities or majorities —
categories alien to Indic thought. Thus, a civilization that had sustained
infinite diversity for millennia was reduced to a battlefield of identities.
The Indic Vision: Unity Through Dharma
In the
dharmic worldview, unity does not mean uniformity, nor does diversity imply
division. Dharma recognizes bheda (difference) but harmonizes it
through samanvaya (integration).
The Vedic seers declared — “Ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti” — “Truth is
one; the wise speak of it in many ways.”
This is the civilizational ethos of Bharat: many expressions, one essence.
The
notion of “separate identity” is, therefore, a myth born of ignorance and
insecurity. It is a shadow cast by the loss of dharmic perspective. When
the sense of oneness (ekatva-bhāva) is replaced by the obsession with
difference, the nation weakens from within — exactly as Guruji warned.
The True Lesson
The
partition of India, the birth of Bangladesh, and the later Sikh separatist
movements are all manifestations of the same delusion — that community equals
nationality, and that religious identity overrides civilizational belonging.
But the soul of Bharat has always been larger than these transient
divisions. It is a living civilization, not a mechanical state.
To
preserve that civilization, Bharat must reject the myth of separateness and
reaffirm the truth of organic unity.
We must remember that a nation survives not by its borders, but by its
binding consciousness — the sense that every language, every custom, every
temple, every festival, and every faith in this land is a unique expression of
the same eternal rhythm.
Conclusion
Guruji’s
warning remains timeless: the gravest threats arise not from foreign invaders
but from internal disunity.
When a society forgets its shared origin and begins to imagine itself as a
cluster of isolated communities, it becomes its own undoing.
The antidote
lies in returning to the dharmic vision — a vision that sees the many as one,
and the one expressed in the many.
The myth of separate identity must yield to the truth of civilizational unity.
Only then can Bharat remain what it has always been — not a mere
nation-state, but a sacred continuum of consciousness.
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