...[L]et me take up a subject over which your friends have been greatly agitated recently. Who is a patriot and who is anti-national? Isn’t...
...[L]et me take up a subject over which your friends have been greatly agitated recently. Who is a patriot and who is anti-national? Isn’t that what you have been shouting about? Come, let me show you all the lies that have been told about nationalism. Along the way, I will also tell you about some of its truths . . .
There are no ancient nations anywhere in the world. All nations (rāstra) are modern. Ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient India – all of them may have had great civilisations whose architecture, art, and literature are objects of admiration. But they were not nations.
To realise this truth, you will have to forget for the time being the history you were taught at school. Because it is that history, drilled into your heads from the time you were children, and constantly renewed by national festivals and ceremonies, the speeches of your leaders, and novels, films, and television serials, that make it seem obvious to you that your nation is ancient.
But I will show you that this is merely a conventional idea, a samskār. You take it for granted because everyone says it is so. In actual fact, it is not true....
