Selflessness and sacrifices are Foundation of the best life

  Sacrifice and selflessness are the central point of Indian culture therefore Indian culture is based on selflessness and not on consumerism. Its fundamental voice is sacrifice which we learn from Vedas - Tena Tyaktena Bhunjithah l Here we found the expression of utilising the worldly things along with the feeling of sacrifice therefore one should use power and wealth even with the feeling of sacrifice which is a directive in Indian literature we often find and this fundamental feeling of Indian culture can be observed from the character of Maryadapurushottam Shri Ram and Yogeshwar Shri Krishna like great souls where as Mahakavi Kalidas has also expressed in these lines highlighting the ideas of sacrifice -

Prajanameva Bhutyartham Sa Tabhyo Balimagrahit l
Sahastragunamutastrashtumadatte Hi Rasam Ravih ll (Raghuvansh 1.18)
Adanam Hi Visargaya Satam Varimuchamiva l
 This means King Dilip collected tax for the work Welfare of the people and great people collect wealth for the means of giving donation the way cloud accumulates water from the oceans only to return in the form of rain which is the feeling of sacrifice is expressed self restraint and selflessness and expressing this ideal Mahakavi Kalidas adds -

Agridhnuradade Soarthana Asaktah Sukhamanvabhuta l (Raghuvansh - 1.21)

This means a king remains selfless and collects wealth for the Welfare of his subjects and while keeping himself rising over his personal profit or loss he uses the facilities and Comforts in a proper manner and the ideal of a family person also lies on this idea of sacrifice and self restraint -

Tyagaya Sanbhritarthanama, Prajayai Grihamedhinam (Raghuvansh - 1.17)

This means ancestors accumulated wealth to be distributed among needy people and they accepted a family life only to give birth to children.
This feeling of selflessness and self-restraint will increase the feeling of sacrifice in a person and here sacrifice means giving out everything for the Welfare of others and always be ready to help needy people around and even for protection of ideas of life one has to be ready to sacrifice his life and such qualities can be seen in the people who are selfless and have a self restrain. In the description of Raghuvansham we find that cow Nandini needed protection for which king Dilip got ready to sacrifice his life for this purpose and also for following the instructions of his father Maryada purushotam Shri Ram easily agreed to give up his Empire and to abide by his social duties and responsibilities for his brother Bharat also agreed to give up the kingdom and he looked after the empire of Ayodhya not like a king but like a hermit and mother Sita to abide by her duties as a wife agreed to give up all the Comforts of a royal palace and agreed to go to the forest bear a lot of pain but never leave husband alone. Such ideals are easily evident in the life of great man of India who were born and raised in the Sanskar of Indian traditions.
The character of Lord Ram's son Kush is also inspiring in the way he displayed the ideas of selflessness and self restrain as according to Raghuvansha Kalidas has described that once at midnight in Ayodhya Adhi Devata suddenly appeared in the palace in front of kush and seeing an unknown lady in loneliness suddenly said that he was a source of inspiration for Indian youth as Kush says -

Katvamshubhe ! Kasya Paeigraho wa  Kim va Madabhyagmakaranamte l
Achkashva Matva Vashinam Raghunam Manah Parastrivimukhpravritti ll
                                                                                                 (Raghuvansh - 16.8)

This means o sacred lady, who are you ? whose wife are you? what is the reason for coming to me at this hour ? and answer these questions in such a manner that men of Raghuwansh have complete self restrain and they keep themselves away from other women and see other women as their mother sister or daughter. These men are taught since their childhood to follow the path of self-restraint and selflessness and only this kind of language they can speak.  one such example related with Shivaji is also world famous as it is well known that when a beautiful lady from his enemy side was captured by his soldiers and brought in front of him he paid her full respect and called her mother and asked his soldiers to return her to her husband because Since his childhood days his mother Jija Bai and his Guru had given him ideals and Sanskar of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Immortal speech of Yogeshwar Shri Krishna in Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta also spread the same message of selflessness and sacrifice as Lord Krishna tells Arjun that desire and pleasure must be avoided by a human to abide by his duty because Geeta is the idea which tells people to give up lust. By considering Arjun as a medium this message of sacrifices and selflessness has been given for everyone and with the feeling of sacrifice it has been said for everyone to do purushartha which has been said in the following words-

Klaibyam Ma Sma  Gamah Partha Naitatrvayyupapadyate l
Kshudram Hridayadaurbalyam Tyaktvottishtha Parantapa ll (Geeta  - 2.3)

This means Arjuna don't turn your self away from the battlefield because it will be an example of coward and leave the weakness of your heart and get ready for the battlefield and for protection of your duty and arouse the feeling of sacrifice Geeta gives the message of the fact that Human body will destroy one day but the soul never dies -

Antavanta Ime Deha Nityasyoktah Sharirinah l
Anashinoaprameyasya Tasmad Yuddhswa Bharata ll (Geeta  2.18)

This means the soul is Immortal but the body will destroy one day therefore a man should never think of destruction of this body and he should engage himself in his duty and join the battlefield because the fear of death or the fear of leaving all the wealth and prosperity of the world makes a man go away from making sacrifices and being selfless but Gita teaches Anasakti that means keeping away from lust, karmafal or result of actions and teaches that the body will die but soul will remain Immortal and the parth of sacrifice is the best path. And in this context Lord Sri Krishna has criticized the tendency of engaging in pleasure and enjoying prosperity because only these are the things which keep a man away from being selfless and get ready to make sacrifices-

Bhagaishwaryaprasaktanam Tayapahritachetsam l
Vyavasayatmika Buddhih Samadhau Na Vidhiyate ll
(Geet  - 2.44)

This means if a man has lust for enjoying pleasure and enjoying prosperity then his mind is never focused on his Dharma and performance of his duty and he remains indecisive and cannot be stable which means therefore if a person remains away from such pleasure only then he can follow the path of selflessness and sacrifices and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was inspired by this teaching of the Gita as he would read Geeta and follow its teachings in his life regularly because he would get a lot of energy from the message of this scripture and he agreed to sacrifice everything what ever he had for the freedom struggle of the country and he made a Supreme sacrifice. Lokmanya Tilak was a great scholar of the Geeta and taking inspiration from the teachings of the Gita he became a great warrior of India's freedom struggle and taking inspiration from the message of the Gita Chandrashekhar Azad, Sardar Bhagat Singh, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and many brave soldiers of India easily agreed to sacrifice their lives and more over Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil in his autobiography has quoted the sloka of Gita expressing his desire to sacrifice his life-

O God ! May I be born hundred times in India l
The reason is that I could sacrifice my life in the service the people l

Maharshi Dayanand who was known for his great sacrifices, sacrificed his life for revival of weather and make the country free from social evils and he stuck to the path of his duty and faced opposition frim his opponents but also the time came when pebbles were thrown at him, he was forced to drink poison but he never turned his face from his duty and finally he gave his life inspiring all the sages of India. Maharshi shraddhanand was also a disciple of Maharshi Dayanand who also give a great example of selflessness and sacrifice and he revived the Gurukul system started by sages and he had to give away his building wealth and moreover he also had to give his sons for the Gurukul and in Haridwar at the bank of Ganga and created history by establishing the system of Gurukula which was to present an ideal before the society and it was a revolutionary step in the field of education under which he joined the freedom struggle to ensure the freedom of the country and he launched the purification movement and finally he was shot dead by the enemies of the country but nobody can deny the fact that his life has been an example of selflessness and sacrifice.
Taking this tradition forward in the present generation yugpurush yogrishi Swami Ramdev Ji Maharaj is an ideal before us who has worked tremendously for revival of Vedic culture, yoga, Ayurveda , indigenous and Indian culture, and spread all this across the world and he has given every moment of his life in the service to the nation because the almighty has brought him on this planet with a lot of talent great capabilities, great energy and resources to serve the society and he is working to make India a self dependent, powerful , ideal spiritual Nation.
His life is an epitome of sacrifice and he uses simple clothing, he eats simple food and he leads his life according to the rules of yoga and sets an ideal for present generation, his life is a source of inspiration and he is known as the father of yoga revolution on this earth which is the greatest contribution by him to the mankind because he has taught people how to remain free from diseases and training them with the knowledge of yoga he has given a new lease of life to crores of people and help the people to lead a happy and pure life. Besides Sanskar , education especially quality education is the best medium for building a great Nation and from this point of view Vaidik Gurukulam and Acharyakulam are the institutes of which many e branches are being set up all around where the leaders of India for every field will be prepared and with the help of the Government of India the Indian Education Board that has been set up has been a historical step and selflessness and sacrifice are the greatest quality of his life and gives inspiration to all because in reality these qualities are the foundation of life.