Integral Humanism by Shri. Bhagaiah Vadla Saha Sarkarya Vaha, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at Siddhartha Auditorium, Vijayawada .
Sri Deenadayal and Sri Nanaji belong to the Rishi parampara. They visioned the parampara of ancient Rishis and the circumstances that lead to a happy and comfortable life of man. They experienced and propagated on such vision. Truth is one. It is eternal and everlasting. They perceived, experienced and spoke about it in human life. They spoke of its need not only for India but also for the entire human society and creation. Sri Deenadayal and Sri Nanaji Deshmukh were guided by Sri Guruji. The Parampara, Vedas and Upanishads showed the way of life to Sri Guruji. This creation and human life are perpetual. How should we lead this life happily? This is the most important question before every one since times immemorial. We are very fortunate that Sri Deenadayal in the year 1964, at Vijayawada answered this question through his concept of Integral Humanism which is a permanent direction to the entire human race in social, economic and political fields.
In the beginning itself I opposed in Sri L.S.Reddy as he was speaking in English. It does not mean that I am against English. I speak in English when I go around in America. Even today we believe that one cannot become an intellectual or a scientist without knowing English. This is completely a wrong notion. As all the other languages, English is also a great language. Some of the eminent scientists of the world were not fond of speaking in English. The English scientists stand only after the Israelites, the French and Germans. Language by itself does not add to eminence. We are unable to examine issues in their proper perspective because we are living in Bhavadasyam.Please forgive me for talking in this manner.It was said that Newton invented the laws of gravitational force. Does it mean that the gravitational force never existed before that? How foolish is it? Bodayana already said about gravitational force. Newton or Bodayana must have brought it into the lime light but gravitational force is eternal.
Democracy has been there in India for a very long time. Harshavardhana ruled our country with principles based on the democracy. Many of us understand the concepts of capitalism, socialism etc very easily. Attempts were made for over 1000 years for establishing universal peace and global unity but we find global terrorism. There has been an utter chaos in the whole world.All of us want to have good climate and environment but instead we had global warming. Instead of economic independence and comfort we find global recession. We find that most of the countries in the world are trying to occupy other nations. Most of the intellectuals are constantly contemplating on these issues. How should we achieve world peace? All the human beings should live in peace and harmony. In the year 1964 itself, when Deendayal has no name or fame, he proposed a new concept and emphasized on what is truth and what is untruth, what is permanent and what is impermanent. It is an universal idea that applies to every one- irrespective of majority or minority.
Every nation has an Atma (chiti). It exists naturally from its inception. It is not attained because of a planned effort or a political process. So also our nation has an atma right from its existence.During Rama and Ravana war, Vibheeshana deserted Ravana and joined Rama. Even then nobody called him as bhatrudrohi, defector or a traitor. Similarly when Lord Krishna killed his own uncle, nobody found fault with him. We are not looking at Mahabharata as a political battle. We look at is as a fight between Dharma and Adharma .Even a layman also thinks that Dharma won in the battle. It does not mean that all common people are ignorant. In the same manner, all literates are not knowledgeable. Because Dharmaraju stood by dharma, we adore him even now. As Duryodhana opposed dharma, we consider him bad even now. This is the atma of our nation.
You might have read “ The Tao of Physics” by Dr.Fritjof Capra,”A Place for Human Beings” by Pamela Rainbear Portugal and “Nothing by Chance” by Richard Bach. Some of you might be familiar with books on Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics. According Dr.Fritjof Capra, though before 17th century only IQ was preached to be great, after a period of hundred years it was accepted that EQ is as important as I.e. that time, IQ was considered to be higher than inner spirit and knowledge. By 19th century it was agreed that SQ is also as important as the other two.Now the world is agreeing that the SQ, spiritual quotient is more important than IQ and EQ. This idea is now being supported by Quantum Mechanics. Only after this acceptance, the world began appreciating our knowledge and science based on the ancient Indian tradition.
According to the Western philosophy, individual society, nation, world, universe are separate entities. The Indian perspective is different. For us family, society, nation, nature, world, universe and paramesthi revolve around the central point of individual and they are only the extended forms of individual at different phases and levels. We need social control and discipline (anusasan) along with individual freedom. This feature was stressed by Sri Deenadayal. Excessive individual freedom leads to anarchy. We need motivation for competition. At the same time, it must not erode equity in the society. Individual development and social justice must go together. In the present day society, we don’t find social justice. Only a few are benefitting at the cost of a vast majority. All those who are responsible for this kind of situation are certainly punishable.
In the real life, we find basic unity internally and diversity externally. There is no inherent conflict between nationalism and internationalism. Different varieties of identity should not hinder the social unity. We need unity but not uniformity. We attain Moksha or liberation even if we do not pray to any God. This is the philosophy (chintana) of Indians. Even if we do not pray to God, we can attain peace through sadacharam and satkarma- good deeds and good action. There should be rule of law but we should not be slaves for the government. The government should be a subservient to the people and not the other way round. Development does not mean developing a few metropolitan centers, deserting villages .Development must not lead to cultural decay. The villages should not be turned into deserts.
Sri Deenadayal pondered over all these issues. His tatva chintana led to tatva darsana. Body, mind, intellect and soul together form an individual; they are not separate entities. All are part of an integrated whole. Whatever we do must give comfort for body, mind, heart and soul. We have to do only such things which provide comfort to them. Integral humanism does not focus at only economic aspects but aims at all round development or comprehensive development (vikasam) of man.
Once a dog from Russia and a dog from India met at the boundaries of Russia. The dog from India said “you are very strong and healthy”. The dog from Russia said “I am very strong but I have no right to bark”. In the same way every human being must be respected and be made happy. He must be wise. The soul (atma) will be satisfied if only there is coordination among body, mind and intellect.
We eat when we are hungry. It is natural. If we snatch other’s food by beating them, it is brutal and unnatural.Even though we are hungry , if we share the food we have with others around us that is real culture (Samskruthi). Sacrifice is the corner stone of our culture. There is joy in sharing and giving and not in taking. But the politician taught us only to take. Man is not a solitary being. In the case of Westerners, life revolves around the individuals. Individualism leads to selfishness, greed and egoistic behavior. This may lead to conflict between the individual and the family. Families are being separated. Because of gross material pursuits, man is losing his peace of mind. Indian culture never gave importance to individualism.Ours is a collective and sharing culture.But due to the impact of western culture, unfortunately our families are also being ruined. We find many divorce cases in courts in places like Vijayawada, Guntur, Kakinada, Delhi etc. All the people are educated. They are earning lakhs and lakhs of rupees. The one reason behind rising tide of breakup of families seems to be growing individualism in the present generation. Family does not mean only money and physical relationship. It is an emotional bond between members of the family. After our birth before we are named, we are only related to our parents. After naming we are related to grandfather, great grandfather, gods and goddesses, society, nation and history. The family supports the individual’s development with love and affection. The individual becomes an adult and offers himself for the family. The individual and the family are not at conflict with each other. They are complementary and supplementary to each other. This is the reason why the institution of our family is still alive. In our society the individual is not the basic unit for the society. Family is the basic unit. Then come extended families and village. Now a day it is unfortunate to find that the institution of family crumbling.
From ancient times various occupations in the society were given equal importance. In Rigveda we have a sloka in which all occupations are given due respect. There is mutual respect and relationship among individual, family and occupation. Dharma and tradition are not one and the same. No word from English can substitute the word Dharma. Upasana is sometimes referred as religion. It is Dharma that unites all of us. Acting according to our will and pleasure is not Dharma.The present societal crisis is largely because of people doing what they like rather than what they are supposed to do according to the tenants of Dharma. We have to strictly adhere to our dharma towards our family, elders, society,nature and country. Saying or preaching that “my religion is great. If you follow my religion only you will attain salvation. You will go to hell if you follow your religion” is adharma.
A teacher, an employee or a business man many earn some money. As they are serving the society, they are provided means for leading their lives with dignity. If we live as per Dharma there is no struggle and no need for leading corrupt lives. It is our society and we cannot live without a society. We and society are inseparable .We are complementary. We wear clothes for protection. Many threads are woven into this form. If the threads are separated they don’t protect us. Thread is individual and cloth is the society. We should live together as society.
This creation manifests itself from one common divine force. Our ancient rushi parampara have told us that creation is the manifestation of divinity. This is an accepted truth. Matter will be transformed, it will never be destroyed. The creation contains only one divinity, only one philosophy and only one matter. Diversity is the beauty of nature. Variety is the beauty of nature. Divinity is not animosity. Enjoy the diversity. Realizing the unity in diversity and ekatma darsanam is hindu tattvikata. Accepting diversity as long as it does not harm human welfare or environment sustainability is the norm to be followed.It is the responsibility of man to find unity in diversity. Loving and caring our family, village and nation is not integral humanism. A total transformation of ones thoughts and deeds is necessary to realize the divinity within ourselves and fellow human beings. Once we realize the divinity, there will be no conflict in our relations with other living beings. We live in harmony with other living beings.
It has been wrongly articulated that entire creation is for the comfort and happiness of man. It was told that those who can exploit the nature as much as they can are the most intelligent fellows. The consequence is visible. Mindless exploitation led to water, air and atmospheric pollution. Sri Deendayal pointed out long back that nature is not for the enjoyment of man. We are critically dependent on nature for our very existence. We should not exploit the nature but we should live along with it (sahajeevanam). Nature gives us means for our survival and provides support systems for our sustenance.Hence,we need to protect the environment and prevent its degradation.
I went to an exhibition in Washington. I found these lines “Earth is not a piece of land. It is our mother. Nurture it, nurture it. Don’t exploit it “I went still inside. I found these lines there” Water is not made H2O. It will be more for your life”. I moved forward and found these lines “The trees, the nature, don’t exploit it”. I wondered if it is India or America. People from America, Russia and China feel that we should not exploit nature. We have the same sort of awareness in our villages from very ancient times. Unfortunately, modern education failed to spread environmental awareness among educated for a long period. Only in the last few decades, there is emphasis on sustainable development. Toro said in Boston that nature will wipe out that all those who will exploit it indiscriminately.Toro also said that nature can fulfill the needs of everybody but not his desires.
Controlling the desires by man is part of integral humanism. The whole world is looking at our yoga, our Gita and our culture. Unfortunately, our society is degenerating in values more than the American society. We find intellectual dishonesty everywhere. Our values are of high value but the practice of them is poor. Individual, family, society and nature are extended circles. All are interrelated and interdependent and each is a part of the other. When our society and nation are a part and parcel of this infinite universe (anantha viswam), how can we separate them from this world and this universe? There is no conflict between the ideals of nationalism and internationalism. We never exploited anywhere. Our thought of universal family “Vasudaika kutumbam” is very lofty. I visited Grand canals in Phoenix, America. It was 500 kms long and 50 kms wide. The three mountains were named after Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. It was told that they were being called so for thousands of years. There might have been coordination and cooperation among people of different races in the past. So also in the present, we have to cooperate with other nations. We must not jealous of other races or countries.we must not hate others. At the same time, we must not allow either America,China or Russia to disturb the whole world.
Integral humanism has a comprehensive vision to cherish and a mission to follow. We were subjected to oppression and suppression because we have not practiced it. Our society must come together on the basis of integral humanism. We have to be united irrespective of caste, religion or language and it is only then other nations will respect us.Artha and kama are essential but they have to be fulfilled according to dharma.It is the essence of integral humanism. There should be coordination among body, mind intellect and soul. If we have to attain dharma, artha, kama and moksha, We should follow the four ashramas, Brahmacharya, Gruhasthashrama, Vanaprastha and Sanyasam. The dharma of Gruhasthashrama is also equally important. Gruhastha has the concept of seven children. 1) own children 2)society 3)physically challenged people 4) planting trees 5) digging ponds 6) help for temples 7) helping sages and wise men. Our rishis are gruhasthas and gruhasthas are the base for our society.
Everyone should be provided with productive work. He has to work hard and our economic policies must not lead concentration of wealth in a few hands.The dictum of Gandhiji that “we want production by the masses but not mass production”is relevant in this context. Let us plan for economic development taking village as the basic unit and agriculture as the centre of activity. We live amidst the people earning thousands and lakhs of rupees per month. This is good. Recently I visited an Ambedkar colony in Tumkur. They don’t get water even once in 10 days. This should not happen. This is injustice and Adharma. Economic planning should be made with village and agriculture at the central point. I bought this shirt spending five to six hundred rupees. Our farmers are growing tomatoes, paddy, wheat, vegetables or producing milk. But they do not have marketing facilities for their products. There is no planning and development. The principles of Deenadayal are humanistic. These days we find wealth being concentrated in a few hands. Some are monopolisng trade and commerce and some are political power. Some political parties along with the print and the TV channels are confusing people and are virtually making them mad. The economic policies being pursued are unjust and unfair.They are against the letter and spirit of integral humanism. So we are at a great loss.
The economic policies should do justice to the common man and his hard work. If such economic policies are to be designed and brought about we should understand the core principles of integral humanism, which will pave way for honesty, commitment and efficiency in all economic endeavors. The basic philosophy of Integral humanism is rooted in our cultural ethos and suitable to our conditions and nature of our people. Why this hesitation to practice? We should not blindly imitate others.Adoption to suit our historical and geo-political conditions are the need of the hour. We must strive for spreading awareness about integral humanism. Sri Deendayal was against discrimination based on caste, gender,race,religion language etc. Even though he is not physically present in our midst, his philosophy stood the test of time. We serve the society only if we live in the society. There is some divine power which is leading all of us. We are only the means. I believe that by 2025-2050 the circumstances will be favourable for implanting integral humanism.
Delivered by Shri. Bhagaiah Vadla, Saha Sarkarya Vaha, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at Siddhartha Auditorium, Vijayawada
Video Link: https://youtu.be/0XuVa1Sew5A
