PLEASE permit me space in your column to remind man of their importance in this world, especially in Hinduism.
Editor, in our Hindu language a human being is ‘Manushya’. ‘Manushya’, means one who is endowed with a mind (Manas) and has the power to think and to reason. A human is a sentient being who alone, among all of God’s creations, possesses the faculty of thinking and is blessed with divine intelligence. Moreover, he alone has the capacity to evolve spiritually and attain perfection or God-Realisation. Editor, another Hindu word called “Maanava’ also conveys the same idea. Hence we get the Dharma of man, maanava dharma.
Maanava Dharma. What is the essential nature of man? It is the power of becoming divine that marks out man from all other beings. How is it possible for man to become divine? Hinduism teaches that God is present everywhere. He is also in our hearts. Hinduism holds that man is divine by nature. Divinity is already within him. But divinity lies deep in our being. Our unclean minds stand in the way of perceiving it. Just as light cannot be seen through a smoky chimney, so Divinity (God) cannot be seen through an unclean mind. Desire, greed, anger, hate, envy, pride, and selfishness are so many impurities that obscure the Divinity within man. So long as these sway our minds, we make mistakes almost at every step of our lives and very often behave like brutes; our imperfection fills the cup of our miseries and also brings untold sufferings upon others.
It is due to these impurities that, at the beginning, we seem to stand on a level with the brutes. Yet, we are not brutes. Why? Simply because we can work our way up to Divinity; something which the brutes cannot do.  As human beings we are born with the power of removing all the impurities of our minds and becoming divine in all our acts. This is precisely our maanava dharma.
Of course, the path is long and the goal is far ahead. To bring out the Divinity in us completely is no easy job. The whole advance cannot be made by a single step. Yet, it is a fact that a little progress on the path of Dharma has its own reward. As our minds become purer, we grow wiser and stronger and experience inexplicable joy. This inspires us to move forward. This process goes on from birth to birth till the mind becomes absolutely pure. It is then that man can see God, touch God, commune with God and even become one with God. Then really man becomes perfect. For it is then that the Divinity that has all along been latent within him manifests itself completely.