The Radiance of Rooted Enlightenment: Embracing Culture, Mother Tongue, and Heritage Without Shame
“Enlightenment is not running away from where you come from; it is standing tall in it, without shame, without arrogance, with deep gratitude.” ~ Adarsh Singh
The Misunderstood Face of Enlightenment
For centuries, humanity has carried different notions of what enlightenment means. Some imagine an enlightened being as someone who has renounced all connections to culture, society, and rituals, choosing a life of detachment far removed from ordinary roots. Others think of enlightenment as rising so high above the human condition that one no longer identifies with language, heritage, or the festivals of the people.
Yet, this interpretation is partial and misleading. True enlightenment does not demand one to throw away one’s cultural inheritance. It does not make one ashamed of one’s mother tongue, rituals, festivals, or traditions. In fact, enlightenment shines its radiance on these very associations and transforms shame into pride, confusion into clarity, and inferiority into dignity.
“When a man is ashamed of his roots, he has not yet touched the soil of his own soul.” ~ Adarsh Singh
The purpose of this blog is to explore enlightenment not as an escape from culture, but as a profound return to it, an embrace of roots without ego, a celebration of heritage without superiority, and a dignified awareness that languages are tools, not measures of worth.
Roots, Culture, and the Soul of Belonging
Every human being is born into a soil, a society, and a culture. Our roots shape us in ways that are often invisible to us. The festivals we celebrate, the stories our grandparents told, the prayers sung in early mornings, and the language whispered by our mothers, these form the architecture of our soul.
When we walk away from these roots in the name of modernity or globalization, we lose an essential part of our identity. To be ashamed of one’s roots is to carry an inner fracture. Enlightenment is the healing of this fracture.
It is not about rejecting modernity, but about balancing it with heritage. It is not about idolizing culture blindly, but about seeing its beauty without shame.
“To be enlightened is not to carry the burden of judgment toward your own culture; it is to walk freely in its garden, picking its flowers with gratitude.” ~ Adarsh Singh
Rituals, Beliefs, and the Bridge to Universality
Many people think rituals, practices, or local customs are primitive remnants that hold us back. But to an enlightened being, these are not chains, they are bridges. Rituals connect the human heart with the timeless. They carry encoded wisdom, hidden stories, and symbols that reveal deeper truths.
Beliefs, when seen with awareness, are not prisons but stepping stones. They provide a base from which the seeker can move higher.
Festivals, too, are not just occasions of superficial joy but collective reminders of gratitude, change, harvest, love, and community. Each dance, each song, each lamp lit in celebration is a symbol of human connection to the cosmic order.
The enlightened being sees all this not as superstition to be discarded but as beauty to be cherished, while also transcending rigid dogmas.
The Language of the Soul ~ Mother Tongue
Among all roots, perhaps the most intimate is language. A child learns the world through the sound of a mother’s tongue. The first lullabies, the first words of comfort, the first stories of heroes and gods, all come in that native rhythm.
And yet, in our world today, many feel ashamed of not speaking an “international” language fluently. They carry an inferiority complex if they stumble in English or French, but feel no embarrassment if they cannot speak their own mother tongue.
This inversion is tragic.
Languages like English are powerful tools for global communication. But they remain just that, tools. They do not define the soul of a human being. They are windows, not roots. To mistake fluency in an alien language as a sign of superiority is to be enslaved to illusions.
“A language is not a crown to wear, it is a window to look through. Your mother tongue is the window to your soul; international languages are only tools for travel.” ~ Adarsh Singh
An enlightened being never feels inferior for not knowing an international language perfectly. He or she knows that speaking with authenticity in one’s mother tongue carries far greater dignity than parroting alien words without depth.
The Illusion of Inferiority and the Shadow of Colonization
Why do so many societies carry shame about their own languages and cultures? The answer lies in history. Colonization, domination, and cultural erasure created hierarchies of language and customs. People were taught to look down upon their own ways and worship the so-called “advanced” cultures of others.
Even today, this shadow lingers. A person in a village may be a repository of wisdom, compassion, and lived knowledge, but because they do not speak an international language, they are dismissed as “uneducated.” Meanwhile, someone who memorizes foreign grammar rules is considered sophisticated.
This is a distortion of values. Education is not fluency in alien tongues. True education is awareness, wisdom, compassion, and authenticity.
“An inferiority complex is not born from ignorance; it is born from comparison with borrowed measures.” ~ Adarsh Singh
Enlightenment removes this borrowed lens. It restores dignity to one’s own soil, language, and practices.
Enlightenment as Integration, Not Escape
When we think of enlightenment, we often imagine sages in caves or monks walking away from society. While detachment has its value, enlightenment at its fullest is not about escape but about integration.
The enlightened person walks in society with grace, celebrates festivals with joy, speaks the mother tongue with dignity, and practices rituals with awareness. They are not enslaved to tradition, but neither are they ashamed of it. They live in balance, honoring both their roots and their wings.
In this integration lies true freedom.
“To be free is not to deny your heritage; it is to carry it lightly, as one carries a lamp in the dark, not as a burden, but as a light for the path.” ~ Adarsh Singh
The Universal in the Particular
Some argue that clinging to roots, culture, or mother tongue limits one’s universality. They say that an enlightened being should transcend identity and belong to the whole cosmos. This is partly true, enlightenment is indeed universal.
But here is the paradox: the universal is only found through the particular.
Just as a river reaches the ocean only through its own banks, a human being reaches universality through their particular culture, language, and roots. You cannot dissolve into the cosmic by disowning your soil. You dissolve by going so deep into it that its fragrance becomes universal.
A lotus does not bloom by hating the mud. It blooms by embracing it fully.
Practical Ways to Embrace Rooted Enlightenment
Speak Your Mother Tongue Proudly: Use it in daily life, teach it to your children, and cherish its music.
Celebrate Festivals Consciously: See the symbolic beauty behind rituals instead of dismissing them.
Study Your Heritage: Read the stories, scriptures, and folklore of your culture with openness.
Reject Inferiority Complex: Do not measure your worth by fluency in international languages or foreign customs.
Balance Tradition and Modernity: Use international languages and global practices as tools, but not as replacements for your own roots.
Practice Gratitude for Your Roots: Remember that your ancestors, culture, and soil gave you your foundation. Gratitude dissolves shame.
The Dignity of Belonging
Enlightenment is not about abandoning identity but about dissolving shame around it. It is about carrying your culture, language, and heritage not as a burden but as a blessing.
The enlightened being is not embarrassed to dance in traditional clothes, to chant ancient prayers, to speak in the mother tongue, or to celebrate festivals with childlike joy. They know that these are not chains but wings, wings that carry the fragrance of belonging into the universal sky.
“When you are no longer ashamed of your roots, you are ready to bloom into the universal. Enlightenment is not an escape, it is celebration.” ~ Adarsh Singh
Sat Sep 6, 2025
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