As per Hindu mythology, the trinity of Brahmha, Vishnu and Mahesh are considered as God. Brahmha is associated with creation, Vishnu with sustenance and nourisher, and Shiva with destruction. Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are considered as incarnate of Lord Vishnu and a larger chunk of Indian population worships them and consider book of Ramayana and Gita as their sacred scriptures.
Then we have Maharishi Ved Vyas, who has been credited with writing Vedas, Puranas and Upanishad, and it’s said that later on two more men of great wisdom followed, known as Maharishi Patanjali & Maharishi Dhanvantri. These three Maharishis scripted manual of instructions to be adhered by human beings so as to enjoy stress free, meaningful, healthy and happy life.
Buddha, Jesus, Mahaveera, Nanak, Prophet Mohammad and alike also belongs to that first level of God incarnation and they all guided humanity and showed them the right path to live stress free and a soul enriching meaningful life. All of them are revered and respected and are worshipped by their respective followers, and their religious books such as Bible, Koran, Granth Sahib and other prominent religious scriptures are a household name in their followers' houses.
That was organic evolution of universe where God set up such a beautiful and amazing world filled with green earth, mountains, flower & fauna, water bodies and lakes, animals and reptiles, and fresh air, beautifully capped with majestic sky over all of us.
Then over the past few centuries, God gifted humanity with few men and women of extraordinary talent and wisdom, such as Galileo (who reset the norms of astronomy), Socrates, Freud, Aristotle, Newton, Einstein , and alike, but their contribution to advancement of civilisation, and up-gradation of human race is not recorded as well, but short of worshipping, of these iconic personalities. I am of the view that such visionaries should also be termed as Maharishis, who laid down basic rules and laws of ethics, philosophy and science, which later on were found quite useful in advancement of science and technology across the globe. There are many more men and women of extraordinary wisdom, whose contribution to our civilisation had been unparalleled and we owe our gratitude to all of them for making our lives so much secured and comfortable.
That marked the beginning of inorganic evolution of our universe, where with advancement of science and technology, civilisation over the years had leapt from one level of comfort to another level at an unimaginable rate of growth. The learned philosophers, poets, dramatists, reformists over the years, brought in tremendous changes in our behaviour and the ways we human beings conduct ourselves and communicate.
Then come the second run visionaries, inventors and entrepreneurs like Benjamin Franklin, Volta, Michael Faraday (Electricity), Marconi & Nikola Tesla (Radio & TV), Thomas Edison, Henry Ford (Automobiles), Wright Bros (Aeroplane), Charles Babbage (Computer), Elisha Otis (Elevator), Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn (Internet), Marie Curie, and alike who did pioneering work in enhancement of user friendly gadgets they developed which has made life of human beings much easier and more comforting. In fact, advent of Electricity and Radio & TV ushered in major social change in the 20th century. But for their path breaking contributions, we, the human beings, probably still would have been living only an advanced version of nomadic life. I believe such visionaries should also be categorised as Rishis, if not Maharishis.
From the latest generation, we have Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Tim Berner Lee (www), Martin Cooper (Mobile phone), Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce (Micro chips - Intel), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla), Wills Carrier (Air conditioning), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jan Koum & Brian Acton (WhatsApp), Travis Kalanick (Uber), and many more like these men and women of exceptional wisdom, shall also fall in the same category of visionaries who revolutionised the way human beings interact, compute and commute, opened up innumerable vistas of advancement in science & technology across various fields of interests from aviation, medicines, biotechnology to exploring the mystery of universe. Once again, contribution of these visionaries brought out more comforting life style for all human beings and equipped them to face various challenges natures throws on us from time to time. These visionaries and legendary people, besides improving our life style, created so may job opportunities for people across the globe, giving meaning to their lives. For example, Uber, Ola and alike other such companies, along with GPS has brought in so much security in our life. These inventors and entrepreneurs should also be termed as Rishis, and need to be applauded for their massive contribution to betterment of living conditions of human beings, and laying down firm track for future advancement too.
In fact, IT related revolution has totally encompassed our lives and has opened up endless opportunities in all area, directly and indirectly affecting lives of human beings, and creating huge opportunities for future research & development. I shall like to go a step further to say that IT rather has become the 6th element of our existence, like 5 basic elements of earth, water, air, fire and sky our scriptures talk about, and we just can't think of living without its impact in our day-to-day life.
I am of the view that while we keep aside any controversy associated with any of these visionaries for their commercial decisions, who later on went on to become successful corporate honchos, they really need to be honoured and in fact can be termed as neo-rishis, and be given a due space on our walls for their extraordinary contribution to our society.
I suggest that we need to have museum of these men & women of immense wisdom, referred as neo-Rishis, Rishis, and Maharishis, just short of worship, and walls of our school and colleges needs to be decorated with their portraits to inspire the next generation.
God gave us an amazing world, and God's chosen men & women - Maharishis, Rishis and neo-Rishis are making it better.