Patriotism

Patriotism is the love of one’s own country. It is a divine spark in the human breast. It teaches a man to love his own native land more than anything else. A patriot thinks no sacrifice too great for his country; he is ever prepared to die for his motherland.

Patriotism is a noble virtue. The Sanskrit proverb says that your mother and motherland are greater than heaven. In our country’s distress or danger we should be ready to stand by her, to work for her, to lay down our lives for her if need be. Has she not nursed us on her lap, nourished us of her plenty and sheltered us in her warmth? Not to love one’s country is ingratitude indeed.

But this should not bind us to the fact that patriotism is everything, it may not always be the highest duty of a man. A narrow minded exclusive patriotism is a positive danger.

A bigoted patriotism is a perpetual cause of war. And this patriotism flourishes whenever there is war.

Patriotism often makes us unjust, unfair and generous in our estimate of other people. Every nation, every race, has something definite and distinctive to contribute to the cultural heritage of the world. It is foolish to say that any nation has all the monopoly of God’s good gifts. There was a time when our leader spoke of India’s mission of spiritualizing the world and the sentiment was applauded because it appealed to the patriot in each one of us. But all missionary zeal that draws its inspiration from national self-love is wrong. No nation has a monopoly of the virtue. Patriotism must be sobered by a proper respect for other people’s culture.

Patriotism does not lie in thinking that one’s own country is the best. We must love our country, but we must not hate any other country or its people. The true patriot must respect other countries because he respects his own.

Patriotism will sooner or later be superseded by the cult of universal brotherhood.