|
T hose who advocates some define direction, include two distinct groups of
people. There are some who suggest that we must go back to the position when we
lost our independence and proceed from there. On the other hand there are
people who would like to discard all that has originated here in Bharat and are
not ready to think about it. They seem to think that western life and thoughts
are the last word in progress and all of it should be imported here if we are
to develop. Both these lines of thought are incorrect, thought they do
represent partials truths and it will not be proper to discard them altogether.
Those who advocate starting from where we left off a thousand years ago, forget
that whether it may or may not be desirable. It is definitely impossible. The
flow of time can not be reversed.
| The Past Cannot be Disowned
|
I n the past one thousand years whatever we assimilated whether it was forced
on us or we took with willingness cannot be discarded now. Besides, we too have
created originality not a little. In the life of our society, We did not remain
always mere passive witness to whatever new challenging situations arose; nor
did we merely react to every alien action. We too have attempted to reshape our
life as required to face the new situations. Therefore, it will not do, simply
to close our eyes to all that has happened in the past one thousand years.
| Foreign Ideologies Are Not Universal
|
S imilarly those who would like to make western ideologies the basis of our
progress forget that these ideologies have arisen in certain special situations
and time. These are not necessarily universal. They cannot be free from the
limitations of the particular people and their culture, which gave birth to
these Isms. Besides many of these ideas are already out of date. The principles
of Marx have changed both with the changing times as well as with varying
conditions to the extent that parrot like repetition of Marxism for problems
facing our country would amount to a reactionary attitude rather than a
scientific and pragmatic one. It is indeed surprising that those who claim to
reform the society by removing dead traditions, themselves fall prey to some
outdated foreign traditions.
| Our country: Our problems
|
E very country has its own peculiar historical. social and
economic situations and its leaders decide the remedies to the ills that beset
the country from time to time taking into consideration its background. It is
illogical to believe that remedies which the leaders of one country decided to
try for their problems are likely to be applicable as such to all other
peoples. A simple illustration will suffice. Even though the basic organic
activity is the same in all human beings the drugs which may be helpful in
England may not prove equally helpful in India. Diseases depend also upon
climate, water, dietary habits and heredity. Even though the external symptoms
may be apparently similar the same drug does not necessarily cure all persons.
Those who apply a single penacea to all diseases must be considered quacks
rather than doctors. Therefore Ayurveda states i.e. for the disease in each
place remedy suitable to that place must be found. Therefore, it is neither
possible nor wise to adopt foreign Isms in our country in the original from in
toto. It will not be helpful in achieving happiness and prosperity.
| Human Knowledge Is Common Property
|
O n the other hand it needs, to be realized that not all the thoughts and
principles that have sprung up elsewhere are necessarily local in space and
time. The response of human beings in a particular place time and social
atmosphere may, and does, in many cases have relation and use to other human
beings elsewhere and at other times. Therefore to ignore altogether the
developments in other societies, past or present is certainly unwise. Whatever
truths these developments contains must be taken not of and accepted. The rest
must be scrupulously avoided. While absorbing the wisdom of other societies it
is only proper that we avoid their mistakes or perversities. Even their wisdom
should be adapted to our particular circumstances. In brief, we must absorb the
knowledge and gains of the entire humanity so far as eternal principles and
truths are concerned. Of these the ones that originated in our midst have to be
clarified and adapted to changed times and those that we take from other
societies have to be adapted to our conditions.
T he western political thought has accepted Nationalism,
Democracy and Socialism or equality as ideals. Besides now and then, there have
been attempts directed at world unity which took the shape of the "League of
Nations" and after the second world war, the "United Nation Organizations". For
a variety of reasons those have not succeeded. However, those definitely were
attempts in that direction.
All these ideals have in practice proved to be incomplete and mutually
opposing.
Nationalism led to conflict between nations and in turn to global conflict,
whereas if status-quo is regarded as synonymous with world peace the
aspirations of many small nations to be independent would have never been
fulfilled. World unity and Nationalism conflict with each other. Some advocate
suppression of Nationalism for world unity whereas other regard world unity as
an utopian ideal and emphasize national interest to the utmost.
Similar difficulty arises in reconciling Socialism and Democracy. Democracy
grants individual liberty but the same is used by capitalist system for
exploitation and monopoly. Socialism was brought in to end exploitation but it
eliminated the freedom and dignity of the individual.
Mankind stands confused. unable to decide what is the correct path for future
progress. The West is not in a position to say with confidence that "this alone
and no other" is the right path. It is itself groping. Therefore simply to
follow the West would be an instance of a blind being led by another blind.
In this situation our attention is claimed by the Bharatiya culture. Is
possible that our culture can point the direction to the world?
From the national stand point we shall have to consider our culture because
that is our very nature. Independence is intimately related to one's own
culture. If culture does not form the basis of independence then the political
movement for independence would reduce simply to a scramble by selfish and
power seeking persons independence can be meaningful only if it becomes
instrument for the expression of our culture. Such expression will not only
contribute to our progress but the effort required will also give us the
experience of joy. Therefore, both from the national as well as human
standpoint it has become essential that we think of the principles of the
Bharatiya culture. If with its help we can reconcile the various ideals of the
western political though then it will be an added advantages for us. These
western principles are a product of revolution in human thought, and social
conflict. They represent one or the other aspiration of mankind. It is not
proper to ignore them.
| Bharatiya Culture Is Integrated
|
T he first characteristic of Bharatiya culture is that it looks
upon life as an integrated whole. It has an integrated view point. To think of
parts may be proper for a specialist but it is not useful from the practical
standpoint. The confusion in the West arises primarily from its tendency to
think of life in sections and then to attempt to put them together by patch
work. We do admit that there is diversity and plurality in life but we have
always attempted to discover the unity behind them. This attempt is thoroughly
scientific. The scientists always attempt to discover order in the apparent
disorder in the universe, to find out the principles governing the universe and
frame practical rules on the basis of these principles. Chemists discovered
that a few elements comprise the entire physical world. Physicists went one
step further and showed that even these elements consist only of energy. Today
we know that the entire universe is only a form of energy.
Philosophers are also basically scientists. The western philosophers reached
tip to the principle of duality; Hegel put forward the principle of thesis,
anti-thesis and synthesis; Karl Marx used this principle as a basis and
presented his analysis of history and economics.. Darwin considered the
principle of survival of the fittest as the sole basis of life. But we in this
country saw the basic unity of all life. Even the dualists have believed the
nature and spirit to be complementary to each other than conflicting. The
diversity in life is merely an expression of the internal unity. There is
complementary underlying the diversity. The unit of seed finds expression in
various form - - the roots. the trunk, the branches the leaves, the flowers and
the fruits of the tree. All these have different forms and colors and even to
some extent different properties. Still we recognize their relation of unity
with each other through seed.
| Mutual Conflict - Sign of Cultural
Regression
|
U nity in diversity and the expression of unity in various forms
has remained the central thought of Bharatiya culture. If this truth is
wholeheartedly accepted then there will not exist any cause for conflict among
various powers. Conflict is not a sign of culture of nature: rather it is a
symptom of their degradation. The law of the jungle, "Survival of the Fittest"
which the West discovered in recent years was known to our philosophers.
We have recognized desire, anger etc. among the six lower tendencies of human
nature, but we did not use them as the foundation or the basis of civilized
life or culture. There are thieves and robbers in the society. It is essential
to save ourselves and the society from these elements. We cannot consider them
as our ideals or standards for human behavior. Survival of the fittest is the
law of the jungle. The civilizations have developed not on the basis of this
law but by consideration of how the operation of this law will be the least in
human life. If we wish to progress, we have to keep this history of
civilization before our minds.
Co-operation also obtains in abundance just as conflict and
competition in this world. Vegetation and animal life keep each other alive. We
get our oxygen supply with the help of vegetation whereas we provide
carbondioxide so essential for the growth of vegetable life. This mutual
co-operation sustains life on this earth.
The recognition of this element of mutual sustenance among different forms of
life and taking that as the basis of an effort to make human life mutually
sustaining is the prime characteristic of civilization. To mold the nature to
achieve the social goals is culture but when this nature leads to social
conflict it is perversion. Culture does not disregard or deny nature. Rather it
enhances those elements in nature which are helpful in sustaining life in this
universe and making it fuller richer, and curbs others which obstruct or
destroy life. Let us take a simple illustration. The relationship such as
brother, sister, mother and son, father and son are natural. These are same
both in man as well as among animals. Just as two brothers are sons of one
mother so also two calves have a single mother cow. Where lies the difference??
In animals by lack of memory the relation is short-lived. They cannot build up
an edifice of civilization on these relations. But men use this natural
relation as a basis to construct a more harmonious order in life, to establish
other relationships flowing from these basic relationships so as to knit the
whole society in single unit of co-operation. Thus various values and
traditions are built. Standards of good and bad are constructed accordingly. In
society we find instances of both affection as well as enmity between brothers.
But we consider affection good and aim at enchanting affectionate brotherly
relations. The opposite tendency is disapproved. If conflict and enmity is made
the basis of human relationships and if on this basis history is analyzed, then
it would be futile to dream of world peace to result out of such a course of
action.
A mother brings up her children. Mother's love is held up as the highest love.
On such a basis alone we can devise the rules regulating the life of mankind.
Sometimes there are examples of selfishness and cruelty of a mother toward her
child. Among some species of animals mother devise her progeny to satisfy the
hunger. On the other hand among monkeys mother carries her child long after its
death. Both types of behavior are found among living things. Which of these two
principles of nature can be made the basis of civilized life? We cannot but
conclude that alone which helps to sustain life can be chosen, the contrary
cannot lead to civilized life. Human nature has both tendencies, anger, and
greed on the one hand and love, sacrifice on the other. All these are present
in our nature. Anger etc. are natural to man and beasts. For the reason if we
make anger a standard in our life and arrange our efforts accordingly then the
result will be a lack of harmony in our. life. Therefore the exhortation, "do
not yield to anger". Even. when the anger arises in one's mind one can exercise
control over it and one should do so. Thus control becomes a standard of our
life and not anger.
Such laws are known as the principles of ethics. These principles are not
framed by anyone. They are discovered. A suitable analogy is that of the law of
gravitation, that if we throw a stone it falls on the ground. This law of
gravitation is not framed by Newton. He discovered it. When he saw an apple
falling to the ground from the branch, he realized there must exist such a law.
Thus he discovered this law, he did not frame it. Similarly there are certain
principles of human relations such as, if one feels anger it is on the whole
beneficial to mankind that one must control anger. These principles of ethics
are then discovered.
"Do not tell lies to one another, say what you know to be true". This is a
principle. Its usefulness becomes apparent at every step in life. We
appreciates truthful person. If we speak lie, we ourselves feels unhappy; life
cannot go on; there will be great confusion.
These Principles Constitute Our Dharma
A child does not speak lie by nature. Often Parents, teach their child to speak
untruths. When the child desires something, if parents do not wish that child
should have it, they conceal the object and tell the child that the desired
object has disappeared. The child may be fooled a couple of times but soon
knows the real situation and learns to speak untruth. This fact that by nature
a person is truthful is a law that is discovered. Many other principles of
ethics are similarly discovered. They are not arbitrarily framed by someone. In
Bharat these principles are termed "Dharma", laws of life. All those principles
which bring about harmony, peace and progress in the life of mankind are
included In this "Dharma". On the sound basis of "Dharma". then, we must
proceed with the analysis of life as an integral whole.
When Nature is channeled according to the principles of Dharma. we have culture
and civilization. It is indeed this culture which will enable us to sustain and
sublimate the life of mankind. "Dharma" is translated here as law. The English
word 'religion' is not the correct word for 'Dharma'.
As pointed out earlier an integrated life is the foundation and
the principle underlying this culture as well as its aims and ideals.
We have thought of life as Integrated not only in the case of collective or
social life but also in the individual life. Normally an individual is thought
of in the physical bodily forms. Physical comfort and luxury is considered
happiness. But we know that mental worry destroys bodily happiness. Everyone
desires physical comfort. But if a person is imprisoned and there he is given
finest of food etc., will he be happy? A person does not experience joy on
getting nice food if it is also accompanied by a few abuses. There is a
well-known incident in Mahabharata. When Lord Krishna went to Hastinapur as an
emissary of Pandavas, Duryodhan invited him to enjoy his hospitality. Lord
Krishna declined his Invitation and went instead to Vidura's home. Overjoyed by
the visit of this much revered guest, Vidura's wife served the banana skins
while throwing away the pulp. But Lord Krishna enjoyed even the meal of banana
skin. That is why it is said, "Even a modest meal served with dignity and
affection tastes better than the best delicacies served with disrespect". It is
necessary therefore to take not of the mental happiness.
Similarly there is an intellectual happiness which too must be considered. Even
after a person gets comforts for the body, and importance, affection. etc.
Which please the mind. if he is involved in some intellectual confusion he is
reduced to a state almost similar to madness. And what is madness itself? A
lunatic may have all physical comforts, he may be perfectly healthy and
properly cared for by his relatives; but he does not posses intellectual
happiness. Intellectual peace is also essential and important. We will have to
take all these things into consideration.
The Political Aspirations of Man
Body, mind, intelligence and the soul.-these four make up an individual. But
these are integrated. We cannot think of each part separately. The confusion
that has arisen in the West is due to the fact that they have treated each of
the above aspects of human being separately and without any relation to the
rest. When there was movement for democratic structure, they proclaimed "man is
a political animal" and therefore his political aspirations must be attended
to. Why only one person should be the king and others his subjects'? Let
everyone rule! In Order to satisfy this political man they gave him the right
to vote. Now he did get the right to a vote, but at the same time other rights
diminished. Then the questions arose. "The voting right is nice but what about
food? What if there is nothing to eat ?"
They wondered, "Now that you have voting right, you are the king. Why need you
worry?" But man replied, "What shall I do with the state if I do not get any
food? I have no use of this voting right. I want bread first. Then came Karl
Marx and said, " Yes, bread is the most important thing. The state belongs to
the 'haves'. So let us fight for bread. He saw man as primarily made up of
body, wanting bread. But hose who followed the path shown by Karl Marx came to
realize that they had neither bread not voting-right.
At the opposite end there is USA. There is both bread as well as voting right.
Even so there is lack of peace and happiness. USA has highest list in number of
suicides, number of mental patients and number of persons using tranquilizers
to get sleep. People are puzzled as to the cause of this new situation. Man
obtained bread, he got his voting right, still three is no peace, no happiness.
Now they want back their peaceful sleep. Sound and undisturbed sleep is a
scarce commodity in the present day America. Those who think realize that there
is a basic mistake some where, whereby even after acquiring all good things of
life, they are not happy.
The reason is that they have not thought of the integrated human being. In our
country we have thoroughly considered this matter. That is why we have stated
that progress of man means progress of the body, mind, intellect and soul of
man, all together. Often it has been propagated that Bharatiya culture thinks
only salvation of the soul. It does not bother about the rest. This is wrong.
We do not think of the soul but it is not true that we do not consider body,
mind and intellect of much importance. Other gave importance of body alone.
Therefore our attention to the soul is unique. With time this created and
impression that we are concerned only with the soul and not with other aspects
of human being. A young unmarried boy cares for his mother, but after marriage
he cares both for his wife as well as his mother, and discharges his
responsibilities towards both of them. Now if anyone says that this man has no
loves for his mother, it would be untrue. A wife also loves only her husband at
first, but after the birth of child, she loves both her husband and child.
Sometimes an unthoughtful husband feels that his wife neglects him, after the
birth of their child. But this is generally not correct. If that is true then
the wife has certainly slipped in her duty.
Similarly, while we recognize the need to pay attention to the soul, we do not
neglect the body. Upanishads declare in unambiguous words i.e. weakling cannot
realize the self. Again Body is truly the primary instrument to discharge the
responsibilities that dharma in joins. The fundamental difference between our
position and that of the west is that. whereas they have regarded body and
satisfaction of its desires as the aim, we regard the body as an instrument for
achieving our aims. We have recognized the importance of the body only in this
light. The satisfaction of our bodily needs is necessary, but we don't consider
this to be the sole aim of all our efforts. Here in Bharat, we have placed
before ourselves the ideal of the four fold responsibilities, of catering for
the needs of body, mind, intellect and soul with a view of achieve the
integrated progress of man. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are the four kinds
of human effort. Purushartha means efforts which befit a man. The longings for
Dharma, Artha Kama and Moksha, are inborn in man, and satisfaction. Of these
four efforts too, we have thought in an integrated way. Even though Moksha has
been considered the highest of these purusharthas, efforts for Moksha alone are
not considered to give benefit to the soul. On the other hand, a person who
engages in action, while remaining unattached to its fruits, is said to achieve
Moksha inevitably and earlier.
Artha includes what is known as political and economic policies. According to
the ancients, it used to include the justice and punishment also. Kama relates
to the satisfaction of various natural desires. "Dharma" defines a set of rules
to regulate the social activity. Artha and Kama, so as to progress in an
integral and harmonious way, and attain not only Kama and Artha but also Moksha
eventually.
Thus even though Dharma regulates Artha and Kama. all the three are
interrelated and mutually complementary. Dharma helps achieve Artha. Even in
business, one requires honesty, restraint, truthfulness etc. which are the
attributes of Dharma. Without these qualities one cannot earn money. It must be
admitted that Dharma is instrumental in attaining Artha and Kama. Americans
proclaimed, "Honesty is the best business policy". In Europe they said,
"Honesty is the best policy". We go one step forward and assert "Honesty is not
a policy but a principle" i.e. we believe in dharma not just because it is
instrumental in acquiring Artha but because it is a fundamental principle of
civilized life.
Kama too can be attained only through Dharma. Having produced the material
things such as nice food. when, where, how and in what measure it will be used
can be determined only by Dharma. If a sick person eats food meant for a
healthy one and vice-versa, both of them will be at a disadvantage. Dharma
helps in restraining the natural tendencies of man, whereby he is able to
determine what is beneficial to him apart from what is pleasurable. Hence
Dharma is given the foremost place in our culture.
Dharma is of primary importance, but we should not forget that it is not
possible to practice Dharma in the absence of Artha. There is a saying "What
sin will not be committed by one who is starving? Those who have lost
everything become ruthless." Even a rishi like Vishwamitra driven by hunger
broke into the home of a hunter and ate the flesh of a dog. Therefore we are
enjoined to see that there is enough wealth created continuously, since wealth.
also strengthen Dharma. Similarly the government has maintain law and order and
prevent chaos, which definitely destroys Dharma. At the time of Chaos, law of
the jungle prevails where the strong feed upon the weak. Therefore stability in
the state is also essential for the prevalence of Dharma.
In order to do this, education, character building, spread of idealism, and
suitable economic structures are all necessary. Governments also fall inside
the realm of Artha. Excessive power of state is also harmful of Dharma. It was
said that a king should be neither too harsh nor too soft with his people.
Heavy reliance on harsh measures produces a feeling of revolt in people. When
state usurps the rightful position of Dharma, then there is this evil of
preponderance of power of the state. Dharma suffers thereby. This is the reason
of the decline of Dharma in ruthless states.
When the state-acquires all powers, both political and economic, the result is
a decline of Dharma. In this way if the state has unlimited powers, the whole
society looks towards the state, for everything. Officers of the government
neglect their duties and acquire vested interests. These are all signs of the
preponderance of the powers of state.
Dharma staffers a setback. Hence Artha should no be allowed to acquire hod in
either of these two ways.
Karma too has been considered on the same lines. I the physical needs are
neglected, and desires entirely suppressed, Dharma does not grow. Dharma cannot
be observed if one has no food to eat. If the fine arts which satisfy the mind,
are altogether stopped, then the civilizing influence on people will not be
present. Mind will become perverse and Dharma neglected. On the other hand, if
greediness of the gluttons of Rome or sensuousness of Yayati prevails, then the
duties will be forgotten. Hence Kama too must be pursued consistent with
Dharma. We have thus considered the life of an individual in a through and
integrated manner. We have set the aim of developing body, mind intellect as
well as soul in a balance way. We have tried to satisfy the manifold
aspirations man taking care that efforts to satisfy two different aspirations
are not mutually conflicting. This is the integrated picture of all the
fourfold aspirations of and individual. This concept of a complete human being,
integrate individual, is both our goal as well as our path. What should be the
relation of this integrated human being with the society and how the interests
of the society should be enhanced will be discussed tomorrow.
23rd April 1965
|