(...Contd)

This transporting bhava or mood or state of mind is the same as what Rudolf Otto described many years ago in his book Das Heilige as the numinous. It is the transcendental mood, the sense of the contemplative, of that deep realm of understanding which needs nothing of the external world. And that, to me is why India both as a land and as an evocative image has lived on, no matter under what external conditions she has endured, slavery or freedom in the outside sense.
And there is truth here, for all the ancient civilizations have toppled and only their ruins exist, but somehow India persists. The secret here lies in Indian Ideals.
Where the Ideal meets the actual , and in case you think this is a poet’s dream, I must say that this is not just a fancy. The Ideal touches the actual in India.
Let me take two examples -- religious toleration and non-killing for food or vegetarianism. And although both can be exaggerated, they are of rare value in the world and represent something almost uniquely Indian and due to her noblest sons having “plunged in thought” as Arnold wrote.
These things make India a holy land - where all religious faiths are respected and where animals can live without being killed, hunted and poisoned.
India, and down South especially, is the only place in the entire world, where you find millions of people who do not kill to eat, not only by tradition, but also by choice. It is not only Buddhists and Jainas and Brahmins. The Tirukkural praises non-killing and says in a memorable verse that the whole of nature worships with folded hands he who does not kill to eat. It is not just mere tradition, there is a true reverence for life.
I only want to say it is a philosophic concept due to the state of mind which is India.

(Contd...)