OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS October 1952 January 1956 By S. RADHAKRISHNAN Vice-President of India PRINTED IN INDIA BY 8. N. CUBA RAY AT SREE SARASWATY PRESS LTD., CALCUTTA AND PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR, THE PUBLICATIONS DIVISION, DELHI CONTENTS INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Page The United Nations Day, 24 October, 1953 . . 3 Visit to the United States' Senate, 17 November, 1954 . . 12 India and Yugoslavia : Speeches on the occasion of President Tito's Address to the Members of Parliament, 21 December, 1954 21 India and the Commonwealth : Speech on the occasion of Sir Anthony Eden's Address to the Members of Parliament, 3 March, 1955 . . 26 India and Egypt : Speech on the occasion of the Address of Col. Nasser and Sardar Mahomed Nairn Khan to the Members of Parliament, 14 April, 1955 . . 28 India and Indonesia : Speech proposing the Toast to Dr Hatta, Vice-President of Indonesia, 15 November, 1955 . . 32 India and the Soviet Union : Speeches when Messrs. Bulganin and Khruschev addressed the Members of Parliament, 21 November, 1955 . . 35 India and China : Speech proposing the Toast to Madame Soong Ching-ling, 17 December, 1955 . . 40 EDUCATION AND CULTURE UNESCO General Conference, Seventh Session, Paris : Presidential Address, October 1952 . . 47 Karnatak University : Convocation Address, 26 October, 1953 . . 51 Delhi University : Convocation Address, 5 December, 1953 . . 56 [VI] Page Punjab University : Convocation Address, 19 December, 1953 . . 67 Meerut College Diamond Jubilee : Inaugural Address, 20 December, 1953 . . 74 Indian History Congress, Waltair: Inaugural Address, 29 December, 1953 . . 77 Indian Historical Research Society, Bombay: Silver Jubilee Celebrations, 12 January, 1954 . . 82 Saugar University : Convocation Address, 1 1 February, 1954 . . 87 Teaching of Social Sciences in South Asia : Inaugural Address at the UNESCO Round Table Conference, 15 February, 1954 . . 93 Delhi University, Special Convocation: Address as Chancellor conferring Honorary Degree on the Rt. Hon. Louis St. Laurent, 24 February, 1954 . . 101 Sahitya Akademi: Inaugural Address, 12 March, 1954 104 Exhibition of Nandalal Bose's Paintings, Calcutta: Inaugural Address, 27 March, 1954 ..111 The Writer and the Present Crisis : Speech at the Indian P.E.N. Congress, 16 April, 1954 . . 118 UNESCO General Conference, Eighth Session, Monte- video: Presidential Address, October 1954 . . 133 Columbia University : Charter Day Dinner, 30 October, 1954 . . 144 Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 150th Anniversary Celebrations : Presidential Address, 4 December, 1954 .. 146 Exhibition of Canadian Paintings, Delhi: Inaugural Address, 13 January, 1955 .. 152 Delhi University, Special Convocation : Address as Chancellor conferring Honorary Degree on Sir Cecil Wakeley, 22 March, 1955 . . 155 Delhi University, Special Convocation : Address as Chancellor conferring Honorary Degree on Miss Helen Keller, 16 April, 1955 . . 156 The Indian School of International Studies, New Delhi : Inaugural Address, 1 October, 1955 . . 157 Gujarat University : Convocation Address, 8 October, 1955 . . 164 The Delhi School of Economics : Inaugural Address, 18 January, 1956 ..175 World University Service Health Centre : Inaugural Address, 30 January, 1956 . . 178 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Mahabodhi Society, Sanchi : Diamond Jubilee Celebra- tions, November 1952 . . 183 92nd Birthday Celebrations of Swami Vivekananda, New Delhi : Presidential Address, 21 February, 1954 . . 191 Religion and Its Place in Human Life, Rishikesh, 12 August, 1954 . . 197 The Ancient Asian View of Man : Broadcast Address for the Columbia University Bi-Centennial Celebrations, October 1954 . . 201 The Social Message of Religion : Address at the Marian Congress, Bombay, 4 December, 1954 . . 212 All-India Shia Conference : Inaugural Address, 25 December, 1954 . . 217 Mahavira Jayanti Celebrations, New Delhi, 5 April, 1955 220 Union for the Study of the Great Religions (India Branch) : Inaugural Address, 29 May, 1955 . . 226 Shri Krishna Janmashtami Celebrations, Calcutta, 10 August, 1955 . . 242 [VIII] Page Gandhi and the United Nations : Inaugural Address, 4 October, 1955 . . 247 Indian Religious Thought and Modern Civilization: Presidential Address, All-India Oriental Conference, Annamalai University, 26 December, 1955 . . 253 GENERAL Indian Railways Centenary Celebrations: Presidential Address, 16 April, 1953 . . 289 Devanagari Script Reform, Lucknow, 28 November, 1953 . . 295 United Nations Seminar on Housing and Community Improvement: Inaugural Address, 21 January, 1954 301 Balkan-Ji-Bari, Patna : Inaugural Address, 3 February, 1954 . . 306 Indian Council of Agricultural Research : Convocation Address, 12 February, 1954 ..311 Opening of Hospital in Ahmedabad, 24 April, 1954 . . 315 Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Office of the Accountant-General, Madras, 2 June, 1954 . . 320 International Hotel Conference, Delhi: Inaugural Address, 18 February, 1955 . . 327 The Indian Rifle Association, Delhi : Inaugural Address, 2 March, 1955 . . 330 Burmah-Shell Refinery, Trombay: Inaugural Address, 17 March, 1955 .. 333 Indian Agricultural Research Institute: Inaugural Address, 1 April, 1955 . . 338 The Accountant-Generals' Conference, New Delhi : Inaugural Address, 1 May, 1955 . . 343 The Delhi Provincial Sarvodaya Sammelan : Inaugural Address, 11 September, 1955 .. 349 [ IX ] Page Opening of Durgapur Barrage, 9 August, 1955 . . 353 Seminar on Casteism and the Removal of Untouchabi- lity : Inaugural Address, 26 September, 1955 . . 357 Indian Industries Fair, Delhi : Prize Distribution, 2 January, 1956 . . 363 Hitakarini Sabha, Jabalpur, Diamond Jubilee Celebra- tions : Inaugural Address, 22 January, 1956 . . 366 PREFATORY INTRODUCTIONS Great Women of India, 1953 . . 371 Shankar's Weekly, Children's Number, 31 December, 1953 . . 379 Democracy and Education, 3 March, 1954 . . 381 Manjari, 10 April, 1954 . . 383 The Upanisads, 28 April, 1954 . . 384 Women of India, 1954 . . 386 Education for World Understanding, 5 May, 1954 . . 388 China Phoenix, 16 April, 1955 . . 390 Indian Nationhood and National Culture, 20 April, 1955 392 V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, 3 May, 1955 . . 395 Sarhjna-Vyakaranam, 17 July, 1955 .. 398 Radhakamal Mukerjee, 22 September, 1955 . . 400 Hinduism, 14 December, 1955 . . 403 Bhoodan, 1955 . . 405 Shri Ramana Maharshi, 1955 . . 408 INDEX .. 411 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THE UNITED NATIONS DAY* 24 October, 1953 ON this, the United Nations Day, it is the privilege of the member Governments of this organization to inform the peoples of the World of the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gain their support for it. The aims are stated in the Preamble of the Charter signed at San Francisco on the 26th day of June, 1945. It reads : We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of War, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to man- kind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, ....and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and of other sources of international law can be maintained.... have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims. The United Nations was established for the pro- motion of these objectives. We rejoice that there is an institution like the United Nations, for it is the symbol and hope of the new world, of the light dawning beyond the clouds, clouds piled up by our past patterns of behaviour, past ways of speaking, judging and acting, which do not answer to the deep desire of the peoples of the world for peace and progress. We owe it to ourselves * Broadcast from All India Radio 4 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS to find out why the light does not spread and dis- perse the darkness, why the sky is still clouded by fear and suspicion, hate and bitterness. If we look at the international scene where the major Powers seem to be engaged in the initial skir- mishes that can grow into a full war, where they are striving for strategic bases, bidding for allies, encouraging subversive movements in the ranks of their opponents, we feel greatly depressed and dis- turbed. Individuals can debase individuals but Governments which base their policies on power and opportunism can brutalize whole peoples. We can- not go on piling armaments indefinitely and condi- tioning men's minds for war without exposing our- selves to the risk of war. Either there will be an explosion of a devastating character or we have to settle down, join hands and prepare for an age of peace and prosperity for all. The latter can happen only if the signatories to the Charter earnestly and honestly apply the principles of the United Nations in their internal and external policies. The services rendered by the United Nations in regard to the problems of Palestine, Indonesia, Kashmir and Korea are well known. The high qua- lity of work of the specialized agencies, especially in the matter of raising the standards of health and education in the world, cannot be underestimated. In spite of these valuable achievements, the United Nations is losing moral authority. There is a general impression that its history since its inception has THE UNITED NATIONS DAY 5 been one of failure ajnd feebleness, of distortion of its original purpose, of violation of solemn resolutions. The State Governments in spite of their member- ship of the United Nations are more nationalistic than international-minded. The growing nationa- lism of the free nations of the world comes from fear and insecurity. If internationalism brings security, it will remove fear, but little is done to remove the sense of insecurity and fear. As for the unfree nations of Asia and Africa, their movements for political liberation cannot be by- passed. These resurgent peoples have traditions which are old though their political ambitions are new. They are sensitive and proud though they are weak and subject, poor and hungry. Their passion for freedom from foreign domination increases with resistance to it. The advantages of internationalism cannot be realized by those who suffer from the bitterness of bondage. By refusing to sympathize and assist the movements for freedom, we build up a legacy of resentment in the minds of the colonial peoples towards those whom they rightly or wrongly identify with their oppressors. The leading nations of the United Nations should use their influence not to maintain the status quo in colonial countries, but to make the United Nations an instrument for peaceful change. If we support colonial systems, corrupt, unrepresentative administrations which violate human rights and practise out of date feudal economies, and if this support takes the form of 6 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS military assistance, the danger to world peace be- comes extremely grave. If the Declaration of Human Rights is not to lose its meaning, if it is not to be dismissed as a mere scrap of paper, the United Nations should not com- promise with its own ideals. The bitterness of people who are victims of racial segregation is mounting. Though the racially oppressed may not engage in an open war with their oppressors who have supe- rior scientific armoury, we cannot expect them to love their oppressors. Recent investigations by the UNESCO indicate that there is no innate racial superi- ority, or inborn antagonism between races. There are no magic solutions to race problems, but apar- theid is no answer. We must promote respect and friendship among the people of all races and exploitation of none. There is an impression that the United Nations is no longer an international body which acts inde- pendently. The conflict of power groups dominates its activities. Under its auspices a campaign of abuse and vilification which breeds fear, hatred and enmity, goes on. Diplomacy by threats of reprisals is seldom an efficacious means of conducting nego- tiations between sovereign States. We need not assume that other people who profess other ideas are quite different from or are more wicked than ourselves. Fundamentally we are all very much alike. In Soviet Russia the State is highly organized and opposition to it is ruthlessly suppressed. We may THE UNITED NATIONS DAY 7 not agree with the materialist basis of communism or the missionary zeal with which it is enforced. But in countries where communism is accepted, it has meant education, opportunity and living condi- tions, which, if hard, are not harsher than those which prevailed previously. The communists recog- nize the necessity for radical social reorganization in countries where abject poverty and selfish luxury exist side by side. To talk to the starving peasant or the oppressed worker about personal freedom and civil liberties does not make much sense. He cannot be expected to prefer the democrat who, having apparently ignored his distress or exploited his labour in the past, now tells him to wait for an un- dated future before his lot is improved. Fear of communism has led us to a distorted view of the world situation and the forces at work in modern society. The valuable allies of communism are the conservative States and reactionary individuals who struggle against political freedom, social equality and economic progress of the oppressed millions of the world. The attraction of communism to the starving and subject peoples will greatly diminish if democracy takes itself seriously and sacrificially. There is a Scandinavian saying that the Supreme Court is always right even when it is wrong. Self- righteousness is our deepest spiritual malady, the belief that we have the whole truth and those who differ from us are not only wrong but wicked. In a moving world we must not cling to frozen attitudes. 8 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS We should not become prisoners of our own in- flexible policies. Orthodoxy is not necessarily a test of integrity. 'Judge not, that ye be not judged. 5 The democratic method appeals to the Indian mind with its long traditions of religion, non- violence and individual freedom. We believe that it will be possible for us to work amicably with those from whom we may differ fundamentally in outlook and method. The United Nations is intended to help us to live in harmony with nations whose reli- gion, politics and ways of thought are quite different from our own. This is possible because we have a common humanity and common interests. To build up institutions of peace and substitute them for those of war is a difficult job; it requires patience. The need for understanding and tolerance is funda- mental. Only by the persistent practice of these qualities can we hope to substitute for the clumsy, uncertain, cruel weapons of war, the methods of reason and co-operation. We must meet abuse by courtesy, obstruction by reasonableness, suspicion and hatred by trust and goodwill. This is the only way to change the heart of our opponents. This attitude assumes that there is an element of good, a spark of the Divine in every man, to which an appeal may be made. If our aim is to devise ways to relax tensions and not intensify the present Gold War, if our policy is to live and let live and not exterminate this or that way of life, we must ourselves show the democratic spirit which we expect from others. THE UNITED NATIONS DAY 9 Sir Winston Churchill, on June 5 5 1946 said : 'It is better to have a world united than a world divided; but it is also better to have a world divided than a world destroyed.' For some time past he has been pleading for a conference at the highest level among the Great Powers. The door to the con- ference room may well be the door to peace. Even if we are sceptical about the intentions of our oppo- nents, we owe it to the United Nations, of which we are members, to understand them and change their attitudes. The Soviet system is not immune to the laws of change to which the rest of this troubled world is subject. It is not impossible that the com- munists will realize that while there are certain material things without which we cannot live, there are other moral and spiritual values without which we do not care to live. When this happens, the Communist system may democratize itself. Righteous behaviour is the only sensible practical politics. In this period of crisis and apprehension we should not forget the basic principle of all religions that the way to overcome evil is by doing good. India by not aligning herself with either of the Power groups, by not committing herself in advance except to the interests of peace, democracy and world society, hopes to make a small contribution to the peaceful solution of the outstanding prob- lems that divide the Powers today. India does not believe that every nation should choose one side or the other in the present Cold War. The United 10 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS States of America should sympathize with this atti- tude of many Asian nations, for she herself had a long record of neutrality and non-involvement. India's effort to serve as a bridge-builder has been misunderstood and criticized by both sides, as for instance, in Korea. A bridge, as Benes said on a historic occasion, is likely to be trampled upon by both sides alike. We realize that the foundations of peace must be laid with patient persistence and goodwill to all. It is because we feel that the admission of the People's Government of China will strengthen the interests of peace and make the United Nations more repre- sentative than it is today, that we press for her ad- mission. It will make for the universal membership of the United Nations, reduce tension, restore hope among the Chinese people. Mankind is now in one of its rare moods of shift- ing its outlook. The compulsion of tradition has lost its force. Revolution is not only in the air; it is in the hearts of men. We must recreate and re-enact a vision of the world based on the elements of rever- ence, order and human dignity, without which no society can be held together. The new world of which the United Nations is a symbol may seem to be a dream but it is better than the nightmare world in which we live. To make this dream a reality, we should do our utmost, without being deterred by disappointments. We do not always ^undertake things in the hope of succeeding. It is better 'to fail THE UNITED NATIONS DAY 11 in a right cause that will ultimately triumph than succeed in a wrong cause that will ultimately fail*. Truth alone triumphs, not untruth, satyam evajqyate, ndnrtam. VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES' SENATE 17 November, 1954 DR Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Vice-President of India, presented the U.S. Senate on November 1 7 with an ivory gavel on behalf of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of India's Parlia- ment. The Vice- President : The Chair has learned that a distinguished visitor, Vice-President of India, is in the Capitol. If the majority leader would like to make a motion that the Senate take a recess, such a motion will be entertained at this point. Mr Knowland : Mr President, I move that the Senate now stand in recess, subject to the call of the Chair, so that it may receive a message from the Vice-President of India. The Vice-President : Before the motion is put, the Chair will appoint the majority leader and the minority leader to escort the Vice-President of India from the office of the Vice-President to the rostrum of the Senate. The question now is on agreeing to the motion of the Senator from California. The motion was agreed to; and (at 2 o'clock and 14 minutes P.M.) the Senate took a recess, subject to the call of the Chair. The Senate being in recess, the Honourable VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES' SENATE 13 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Vice-President of India, escorted by the Committee appointed by the Vice- President, consisting of Mr KNOWLAND and Mr JOHNSON of Texas, entered the Chamber and took the place assigned him on the rostrum in front of the Vice-President's desk. The Vice-President : It is my pleasure to present to the Members of the Senate and to our guests in the galleries one of the world's great scholars, the Pre- siding Officer of our sister parliamentary body, the Council of States of India, the Vice-President of India. (Applause, Senators rising.) Vice-President Radhakrishnan \ Mr Vice-President and Members of the Senate, it is a great honour to have an opportunity to speak to the Members of this world-famous Assembly. I appreciate it very much, and I am grateful to you for giving me this privilege. As your Vice-President just remarked, we have taken quite a number of things from your Constitu- tion; and one of these is the obligation of the Vice- President of India to preside over the Rajya Sabha or the Council of States, corresponding to your Senate. In fact, not only this one thing was taken by us from your Constitution, but quite a number of other things were taken by us from it. Among them is our statement of objectives justice, freedom, equality and fraternity. This statement echoes the ringing words of Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence : 14 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are not mere phrases of propaganda, but they are products of a deep-felt faith which have inspired millions, both inside and outside the United States of America. We, in India, became free in August 1947. We remember with gratitude the sympathy and the support we had from your Government and people during the years of our struggle for independence. When power was handed over to us, many per- sons felt, and so stated, that we would not be able to hold together; that our Civil Service would break down; that with disorganization of the country, there would be no law and order, and no security of life and property. But these doubts have now been dispelled. We have been able to hold the country together. The Civil Service is working as efficiently as it could. Law and order prevail. There is not a part of the country in which the writ of the Govern- ment does not run; and travellers from other coun- tries visit our country and travel from one place to another without any insecurity of life and pro- perty. But those doubts merely indicate the colossal character of the task which faces our country. We have 360 million people, and on our voters 5 list we have 170 million and in the last general election nearly 106 million went to the polls. That will give VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES* SENATE 15 you a measure of the immensity of the task which is facing our country. We know that those who are interested in this experiment of democracy will give us their utmost sympathy and goodwill in our attempts to develop a great democracy in India. We realize that political freedom is not an end in itself. It is a means to social equality and economic justice. In the last letter which Jefferson ever wrote, he said : The mass of mankind was not born with saddles on their backs, nor a favoured few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God. The end of all governments is to give a status of social equality and provide economic opportunity for the common people. We, in our country, are now engaged in the enterprise of effecting a social and economic revolution. The word 'revolution' need not scare us. It does not mean barricades and blood- shed. It means only speedy and drastic changes. We are interested not only in our objectives, but in our methods; not only in what we achieve, but in how we achieve. Through peaceful, constitutional pro- cesses we won our independence and integrated our country; and now we are striving to raise the material standards of our people. Even if these methods are slow and cumbrous we hope they will be speedy and effective even if we meet defeat in our attempt to replace force by persuasion, the poli- tics of power by the politics of brotherhood, we are convinced that the defeat will be only temporary, 16 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS for goodness is rooted in the nature of things; kind- ness and love are as contagious as unkindness and hate. Our past traditions and our recent history de- monstrate that lasting results are achieved by peace- ful methods. We must not cut the knots with the sword, but we must have the patience to untie them. In this atomic age we feel that it is foolish, if not dangerous, to fall short of patience and a sense of proportion. No society is static; no law is unchanging; and no constitution is permanent. Given time and patience, radical changes may happen both in human nature and in systems of society which reflect human nature. When my Government asked me to present this gavel to you, Mr Vice-President, I looked up some references on the subject. The Freemason's Monitor of 1812 contains the following passage : The common gavel is an instrument made use of by opera- tive masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds and consciences of all the vices. The gavel is used by masons to chisel off round corners. To build a statue out of rough stone was the work of the gavel. Human nature is the raw mate- rial. It is as yet unfinished and incomplete. To inte- grate human nature, this gavel is being used. It is VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES' SENATE 17 for the purpose of breeding and training good, disci- plined men. That is the purpose of the gavel. On behalf of the young democracy of India and of the Rajya Sabha, I have the honour and the plea- sure to present to you, Mr Vice-President, this gavel, in the earnest hope that the legislators of the Senate will discuss all problems, national and inter- national, with calmness and composure, with free- dom from passion and prejudice, with the one supreme object of serving your great people and the hitman race. May this gavel serve as a symbol to strengthen the bonds between our two countries and to promote co-operation, understanding, and friend- ship between our two peoples. (Applause, Senators rising.} The Vice- President : Mr Vice-President of India, Members of the Senate, and guests of the Senate, the Chair believes that our guests in the galleries, as well as Members of the Senate, will be interested in a little history concerning the two gavels which the occupant of the Chair now holds in his hands. The one on the right is the gavel which, according to tradition, has been used in the Senate since 1789. It is 165 years old. It is made of ivory capped with silver. The Chair does not know whether it was be- cause the gavel was used more frequently than usual during the previous session of the Senate, or because the previous session of the Senate was perhaps a somewhat longer one. However, it began to come apart toward the close of the session. 18 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS As a result, the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate set about to find a new gavel. The problem was to find a piece of ivory large enough from which to carve a gavel similar to the one which the Senate had tradi- tionally used. He was unable to find the proper sized piece of ivory through the usual commercial sources, and consequently he contacted the Commercial Attache of the Embassy of the Government of India. From there on, however, the matter was out of his hands. They not only furnished the piece of ivory, but they furnished the gavel, which the Vice-Presi- dent of India has presented to the Senate today. For the benefit of those who have been in the gal- leries in the past, and those who will be there in the future, we shall place the old gavel, which no longer can be used because it is coming apart, in a box which will be kept on the Senate rostrum while the Senate is in session. We shall use in its place the gavel of solid ivory which has been presented to us, it seems to me quite significantly and appropriately, by the largest democracy in the world, through the Vice-President, the Presiding Officer of our sister parliamentary body in India. The Chair is sure that Senators would like to hear responses from the majority leader and the minority leader to the remarks of the Vice-President of India. (Applause) Mr Knowland : Mr President, Mr Vice-President, I know that I speak for Members of the United States' Senate when we extend to you a warm VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES' SENATE 19 greeting. You come to us from one of the newest free governments in the world, and also the largest free government in the world, to this Republic of the United States of America. I know that you will extend to your colleagues over whom you preside in your country our appreciation of their thoughtfulness in sending us this gavel, which our Presiding Officers will use in the sessions of the Senate of the United States. The people and the Government of the United States have an earnest desire to live in cordial friendship with the great nation of India. We have different problems. Our history has been somewhat different from that of India; yet we, too, sprang from a colonial period. We knew what it was to win our freedom, and we are proud of that freedom as we know your own great country is proud of its free- dom. We have recognized our responsibilities in helping to maintain a free world of free men. We know that your great country is no less interested in furthering the effort to maintain a free world of free men. This is not your first visit to our country. You are no stranger here. When you go back to India you will carry with you the friendship and affection of the people of our country for yourself as well as for your country. This affection is expressed in the unanimous voice of the Senate of the United States. The Vice-President : The Senator from Texas (Mr Johnson) will respond for the minority. 20 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Mr Johnson of Texas : Mr President, Mr Vice- President, and my colleagues in the Senate, it is a great pleasure to have you, Mr Radhakrishnan, with us today. Your nation is rich in history, and has made numerous contributions to the culture of the world which are real and enduring. As we go down the road in this critical hour, searching for the peace and prosperity so necessary to free civilization, we trust that we can march together in a spirit of friendship and mutual trust and confidence. It is good to have you come among us. (Applause) The Vice- President : The Chair is sure that Mem- bers of the Senate would like to greet the Vice- President of India personally. Therefore the recess will continue until Members of the Senate have had that opportunity. Thereupon Vice-President Radhakrishnan took his place on the floor of the Senate, in front of the rostrum, and was greeted by Members of the Senate, after which he retired from the Chamber. INDIA AND YUGOSLAVIA* I SHOULD like to express to you at the outset our deep gratitude for your kindness in coming here and consenting to address the Members of Parlia- ment. I should also like to take this opportunity to express to you, on behalf of the Members of Parlia- ment who represent the people of India, and, on my own behalf, our most cordial greetings and good wishes to you, your colleagues of the Government and to the people of Yugoslavia. Histories generally describe wrongly I think a series of dull, barren, listless troop movements or a se- ries of diplomatic shufflings, suggesting, so to say, that man is all savage, greedy, cunning and always fighting one with another. There is another* side to human nature, expressing itself in song and dance, art and architecture, philosophy and culture, in manners and customs. They also determine the course of history. The spirit of the age and the genius that focuses these are the two elemental facts of the progress of all history. Our age is characterized by three things, if I may say so : craving for political freedom, socialist re- construction of society and international peace. You, Sir, voiced the dream of your country for these three great ideals which are agitating, not only Europe and America, but the whole East from * Speeches on the occasion of President Tito's Address to the Members of Parliament, 21 December, 1954 22 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Egypt to Japan. Your country attained liberation from imperial domination in 1918 after the First World War. Again it suffered in the Second World War and now it attained independence under your distinguished leadership. You have saved the inte- grity of the country and protected its independence from dangers, internal and external. We prize our liberty which we recently won. We also seek unity of our country. We are trying to resist all the forces that weaken the sense of unity and are attempting to weld this vast mass of huma- nity into a corporate nation. The second point is the socialist reconstruction of society. You, Sir, have paid very generous tributes to our multi-purpose projects and to our river valley schemes by which we are striving to bring more water to more land to feed more people. Please do not imagine that we are satisfied with the progress that we have made. We are chastened by the con- sciousness of so many things that remain yet to be done the little done, the vast undone. Though we aim at socialism if I may call it ours is an ethical socialism based on consent, not on coercion. We try to base our social structure, our social and economic revolution, on the fundamental human values. We believe that civilization is not merely advance in technology or increase in wealth. It is a state of mind, a form of society, a condition of human relationships. It is that order of society which we are trying to build up. We aim at not INDIA AND YUGOSLAVIA 23 merely material rehabilitation, but social and cul- tural rehabilitation. We are aware that we are vic- tims of age-old prejudices and allegiances which we are struggling to break down so as to build a more decent society in this country. The third thing is international peace. It is today democracy that is on trial. We cannot build inter- national peace so long as countries are under-deve- loped, or fighting one with another for the develop- ment of their own systems of society, political and economic. If democracy is prepared to assist politi- cally young, economically backward countries, the reasons for mutual strife will diminish considerably. We are happy that you, Sir, are advocating the same ideals which we hold political freedom for all nations, economic development for all peoples and friendship for all nations, whatever their ideo- logies may be. You happen to live in a very impor- tant age and your country occupies a very vital position. Compulsions of geography and history, leave alone the economic system, the racial composi- tion of your people all these provide you with great opportunities of leadership in this world for building up peace. We in our country are delighted that you are with us here. This is because you are adopting the same three ideals of political freedom, economic justice and international peace. We are waiting with keen anticipation to listen to your address, my dear President.* * Then followed the Address by President Tito 24 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Dr Radhakrishnan : Friends, we are indebted to President Tito for the excellent exposition which he has given us of the recent past of Yugoslavia and her present position and policies. He has referred to a number of different considerations. On one thing, we are all united. Our objectives are the economic betterment of the people. The methods are determined by each country depending upon its own history. The methods are optional whereas the objectives are obligatory. Whether our methods have succeeded or failed will be judged not by our professions but by our achievements. There- fore, we must be careful to see to it that we speed up the pace of progress towards achievement of social and economic justice among our people. You, Sir, referred to the lack of universality so far as the United Nations is concerned. Actually we have recognized China. The Chinese Ministers met the American Ministers at the Geneva Conference. Now, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is going to China. We weaken the position of the United Nations by having these negotiations carried on outside the United Nations, and not within its auspices. We are completely at one with you when you deplore the lack of universality so far as the United Nations is concerned. We again agree with your general stand in regard to co-existence. Co-existence is not to be regarded as some kind of a final settlement among the differ- ent systems without any kind of change. Co-exist- INDIA AND YUGOSLAVIA 25 ence means co-understanding, co-education, and thereby we will be able to bring about changes in the different systems. In other words, Yugoslavia itself may alter its system; nothing is final in this world. We are in a dynamic world and in this dyna- mic world changes may take place by mutual adjustment and accommodation. I do not wish to give another lecture now. I wish only to say that many problems are common to us both and many of our ideals are also common. Therefore, there is a large field for us two nations coming from two distinct parts of the world to co-operate and I assure you that in all these matters we will give you our co-operation. Dr Radhakrishnan : He wants to give you an idea of how his own language is spoken. Now, we will hear him speak. President Tito (as interpreted) : Friends, I am very thankful for the opportunity given to me to meet you all and especially to meet the Chairman, Mr Krishnan [Dr Radhakrishnan] and to speak about problems of our development and about the prob- lems of our foreign policies. President Tito (as interpreted) : I should like to tell you that we, the whole delegation, met here in your country a welcome we could not have expected. I should like from this place to extend through you to the whole nation of India our heart-felt thanks for the extraordinary warm welcome we have received from you. INDIA AND THE COMMONWEALTH* MAY I extend to you on behalf of the Members of Parliament a most cordial welcome ? As a leading representative of a nation which has had an intimate connection with us for nearly two centuries you are specially welcome. History is not a bare record of the past. It is not what we remember, but what we choose to remem- ber. We remember the political concepts of demo- cracy, love of liberty, the spirit of compromise, politics as the art of making the best of the inevi- table, the impetus given to the study of our past and the general awakening intellectual, social and cultural and such other positive contri- butions. Others we have elected to forget. So the relations between our two countries are cordial and friendly. For centuries our relations with the outside world were interrupted; now we have re-entered the stream of world history. Our Prime Minister recently returned from the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. Commonwealth means for us complete independence and informal association, sharing of ideals, though not of allegiance, of pur- poses though not of loyalties, common discussions which lead to better understanding of our pro- * Speech on the occasion of Sir Anthony Eden's Address to the Members of Parliament, 3 March, 1955 INDIA AND THE COMMONWEALTH 27 blems and not binding decisions which restrict the independence of the member States. You have grown up with the chief events of our generation the First World War, the rise of Com- munism, Fascism, Nazism, the Second World War and now the Cold War. History does not seem to give us any moments of relaxation. Look at the problems in this morning's papers : Korea, Indo- China, Formosa, Gaza. In this age of nuclear weapons our supreme need is peace. To preserve it, perpetual vigilance is essential, for any mad act of any one nation may throw the world into confusion and set it aflame. Man in the grip of fear is the most dangerous enemy of man. To remove fear, to dissi- pate misunderstanding, to shed off prejudice, to make us feel that we are members one of another, that is the call to our generation. I wish to assure you that our Government and our people will give whole-hearted and unstinted support to you in all your attempts to allay tensions, to build bridges, to search for peace and work for a future which is beyond the present dreams of mankind if we are wise enough to use the recent advances of science for peaceful purposes. This large and eager audience is waiting to hear you. INDIA AND EGYPT* WE are delighted to have with us today, the Prime Minister of Egypt, Colonel Nasser and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, His Royal Highness Sardar Mahomed Nairn Khan. We would like to express to them and through them to their Governments and peoples our best wishes for their peaceful progress and prosperity. When we think of these countries we have to measure their life not by centuries but by millennia. When we stand in the shadow of the great Pyramids where Thucydides, Caesar, Napoleon and many others stood, fifty centuries look down. Egypt situated in Africa, lies on the threshold of Asia and Europe, at the cross-roads of the world. The Pha- raohs, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Macedo- nians and the Romans ruled over her. In the Christian era, Egypt was a Roman colony, then a Christian settlement and after the Muslim conquest and Arab migrations that followed, an Arab strong- hold. Though Egypt suffered from external pres- sures, her spirit was unbroken and she had her freedom struggle along with ours and the names of Makram, Arabi and Zaghlul are well known. She * Speech on the occasion of the Addresses of Col. Nasser and Sardar Mahomed Nairn Khan to the Members of Parlia- ment, 14 April, 1955 INDIA AND EGYPT 29 has now emerged independent. It is one thing to break down the old regime, it is another to build the new. Political independence is only the clearing of the decks. As in other countries of the East we have on the one side monuments, tombs and ruins and on the other poverty, filth, disease and destitu- tion. The leaders of the revolution in Egypt are addressing themselves to the task of lifting these oppressive burdens from the shoulders of the people. They are engaged in a social and human revolution by which equitable distribution of land, industrial progress, religious freedom and democratic liberties are established. We are also engaged in the same exciting adventure and so Egypt has our sympathy and support as the recent treaty of friendship be- tween India and Egypt illustrates. Our relations with Afghanistan have been close and intimate for centuries. There was a time when India and Afghanistan formed parts of the same cultural region. For a while Indian and Greek sculpture fused in ancient Gandhara, the modern Kandahar. Even today we find in Afghanistan many relics of Indian culture and influence. Though she has a different system of government, a constitu- tional monarchy with two houses of parliament, she is tackling the same problems of social reform and economic progress. A revolution is not merely liberation from external pressures; it is also a libera- tion from inward obstacles and unholy prejudices. It is a revolution in the minds and hearts of men. 30 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS No nation can be built out of an agglomeration of private rights and cynical egoisms where each man is concerned only to do himself justice. An unclean Government, economic discontent, and national incoherence do not make for political stability. We therefore need leaders who, without illwill or hatred, without any love of power or personal ambi- tion, strive to remove the scandalous conditions which prevail. Moral strength and scientific progress are the only answer to the present challenge. To ensure the success of the revolution in Egypt, in Afghanistan, in India and elsewhere in the East, we need peace. We have similar urges, similar inter- nal problems and similar external interests. That is why there is so much fellow-feeling among us, that is why we welcome you with such warmth and fervently wish that the countries which made such great contributions at the very dawn of history may attain that unity and solidarity, may develop that disciplined energy and sustained power which will help to make Asia and the world rich. A rose which adorns itself adorns the garden also. A hard struggle awaits us. We want leaders who will give the people fire and enthusiasm without which ideas and ideals cannot be realized. We feel that peace is the essential condition of economic development and social progress in Asia and Africa. Civilization is not something inborn or imperish- able. It is a precarious thing, a delicate complex of order and progress, culture and creation which has INDIA AND EGYPT 31 to be acquired anew by each generation. It may be overthrown at any time by barbarians from within or without. Human survival in this atomic age depends on peace, on active international co- operation. There is no alternative to it. That is why we are alarmed at the language of anger, threats and war preparations. It is time we control our passions. The Sphinx which we see by the side of the great Pyramid near Cairo with a human head and a lion's body poses the problem which civilization has yet to solve. It warns us against the brute in us, the spirit of violence, the will for power, the instinct to dominate, the spirit of secret pride, of collective selfishness. There is a strain of irritability infecting human nature, corrupting even the noblest souls. Nietzsche tells us that deep down there is in us rapa- city, 'the splendid blond beast that stalks its prey and prowls in search of victory'. 1 From time to time, the latent urge reappears, the animal emerges and returns to the jungle. We are betrayed by what is false in us. There is no point in liberating the intel- lect if we do not liberate the heart and the con- science. We need to tame the beast. Civilization is the conquest of the animal nature by the spirit in us. I do hope that in the discussions of international relations at Bandung you will adopt peaceful methods which will make for understanding. 1 The Genealogy of Morals, Vol. I, No. 1 1 INDIA AND INDONESIA* MAY I express to you our great joy that you are able to come here and spend a few days with us ? We hope that you had a pleasant and useful time in our country and saw something of our struggles and aspirations. For centuries our two countries have had similar aims and ideals. Your very names remind us of those times. Your music and dance, your village festivals illustrate themes and stories which are familiar to us. The very name of your airlines 'Garuda 5 is an example of our long association. Our recent history has been strikingly similar. After years of struggle we emerged into indepen- dence. That is only a step in our onward march, an opportunity to shape our future and recreate a new society. Gandhiji said that we wanted freedom for the sake of the millions of India, to give them food, clothes, homes and more than all, a sense of human dignity and self-respect. Like us Indonesia is rich in natural resources : oil, gold, rubber, tin, spices and sugar. Our peoples, however, are poor and back- ward. This backwardness is due to our lag in scienti- fic and technological progress and we are trying to make up for it. In the creation of a new society, we are governed * Speech proposing the toast to Dr Hatta, Vice- President of Indonesia, 15 November, 1955 With Sir Anthony 3 1955 Col 13 1955 N. A, and N. S, to 21 November, 1955 Banquet to Chi rig-ling at 17 December, 1955 INDIA AND INDONESIA 33 by the same ideals. Your PanchaSila emphasizes national solidarity, interdependence of nations, government by consent, social justice and belief in the Supreme, along with freedom of religious wor- ship. The declaration of objectives or a change in law does not mean a change in the social structure. This requires determined will and disciplined effort. We can achieve our goal only if the world is safe from the scourge of war. Our effort on the interna- tional front is aimed at preserving peace and attain- ing those conditions which are essential for peace, viz. freedom from colonial rule, from race discrimi- nation, from economic exploitation. Whether at Colombo or Bogor, Bandung or New York we are co-operating for the achievement of these ends, firmly convinced of the principle of unity in diversity which is the motto of your State. It is the basis of co-existence, a call to us all to dwell together in peace. If we refuse to align ourselves with this or that side in this troubled world, it is because we are profoundly convinced that power politics at any time means misery to mankind and at the present time, in a shrinking world, with the development of nuclear power, it will be a disaster. Your country served as host to the most important conference of free peoples from Asia and Africa. In the past they all suffered stagnation and servitude and for the future they demand dignity and self- respect, freedom and peace. That Conference did not turn out to be a bear-garden or a tea party, but 3 34 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS became the expression of the solidarity of the Asian and African peoples in their common love for free- dom, equality, justice and peace. All those who visited Bandung are grateful not only for your generous hospitality but also for your direction and guidance. If we want our voice to be heard in the outside world, we must achieve peace within our borders. We must create a new richness of life not only in material things but in the things of the mind. We must inspire our people to join together to make something better of their existence. The eyes of the world are on us watching whether we have the strength and the courage to challenge, defy and overcome the obstacles of superstition, regionalism, narrowness of mind and intolerance which bar our path to progress. We cannot advance as a nation if we succumb to them or even compromise with them. The success of our enterprise depends on leader- ship. A great leader kindles in his people the fire that burns within him, and interprets the growing spirit of a nation to itself. It is fortunate that Indone- sia has competent, determined and selfless leader- ship. You have won the affection of the Indonesian people and the respect of us all. Expressing the hope that your country may have the benefit of your great leadership for many decades, I propose your health. INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION* MAY I express to you and the members of your Party, on behalf of the Parliament, the people and the Government of India, our most cordial welcome and say how delighted we are that, for the first time after the October Revolution in 1917, we have the honour of having the leaders of the Soviet Union with us though only for a short time ? We were all deeply touched by the very warm and cordial way in which our Prime Minister was received in your country this June, and I wish to assure though my assurance is unnecessary, for you have seen with your own eyes that our welcome to you is sincere, warm and friendly. Informal contacts from such visits make for understanding and understanding casts out fear and suspicion. Men of my generation have watched with pro- found interest your steady growth in power and influence. In the conditions of 1917, with an ineffi- cient and absolutist Government, a corrupt Church, with the flower of Russia's manhood scattered in innumerable war fronts, with unspeakably difficult economic conditions of famine and chaos, with the memory of successive defeats by the Mongol Khans, by the Turkish Beys, etc. until 1917, you felt that the * Speeches when Messrs. Bulganin and Khruschev addressed an informal meeting of the Members of Parliament on 21 November, 1955 36 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS revolution such as the one you had was essential for removing the sense of despair and creating a world of hope. You have succeeded in transforming a State, centuries behind advanced nations of Europe, into a powerful modern nation with vast industrial and economic development. The Civil War and foreign intervention which occurred in the early years led to the adoption of certain attitudes of strict control within and suspicion of foreign nations. Such causes have such effects. The conditions today are, however, different. Foreigners are visiting Russia in large numbers and Russians are visiting other countries also. Visitors to Russia are per- maded that you and your people are eager to get on with others and live with them in peace and friendship. It is irrelevant to quote Marxist doctrine or Lenin's theory, for the logic of facts is more powerful than the logic of doctrine or of theory. As you are doubtless aware, we are attempting to do in ten or twenty years, work which will ordinarily take as many generations. We are recasting our society on a socialistic pattern in ways which are consistent with our history and agreeable to our tradition. Lenin's observation is to the point : C A11 nations will reach socialism; this is inevitable. But all nations will not reach socialism in the same way.' You offer to share your scientific and industrial experience with us. We are grateful to you for it. We are willing to accept it so long as it does not impair our independence in any manner or involve pressure INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION 37 or interference. You trod the hard way and raised yourselves. Our progress depends on our inherent strength, moral fibre, willingness to work in a spontaneously co-operative spirit. We have faith in our people, so confidence in the future. Though our ways are different, our goal is the same and there are many fields in which we can co-operate to bring about a safer and saner world. History is being made at greater speed than ever before and if we are wise and willing, we can help it forward and establish a world community. We have to live together and work together. The United Nations is the symbol of what we all desire, a world community. But unfortunately it is not today repre- sentative of all the great nations of the world. China, for example, has no place in it, with the result that conferences are held outside the United Nations Organization which itself diminishes the effective- ness of the United Nations Organization. In your recent speeches you rightly spoke about Dur age of science and technology as containing the possibility of an earthly paradise or of a break-down of civilization. Given modern methods of war and technology, what another war means is terribly clear. If by accident or design we plunge the world into it, we will go down in history not as responsible leaders but as lunatics. The verdict on civilization will be : suicide while in a state of unsound mind. What we are suffering from is a sickness of mind and heart. You and our Prime Minister have sub- 38 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS scribed to the Pancha&la. The five principles are not empty phrases. If we take them seriously, we must turn back on our past, forget our bitter feuds and irrational passions, abandon our fixed ideas and sterile negations, temper our minds with a new vision, a new spirit, a new humanity, a new for- bearance. Unfortunately, however, there is still too much of egoism in the world, too much of organized selfishness. Nations eager to augment their political power are sometimes rigid, exclusive, suspicious and aggressive. The conditions in the Far East, in West Asia where a dangerous arms race is developing, the disappointing results of the recent Geneva Con- ference are illustrations. At a time like this we should not higgle about details. Pettiness is irrespon- sible. Our minds must become large and our hearts big. We have to work for peace, with tenacity and patience, lift the pressure under which we live and let the world breathe a sigh of relief. In this endea- vour of civilization, all peace-loving countries can count on our unstinted co-operation. Not by might, not by power, but by understanding and co-opera- tion among nations can we reach our goal. Concluding Speech : We are grateful to you for the speeches you have made explaining to us your domestic and foreign policies. We are greatly touched by your observations that the writings of Tulasidas, Gandhi, Prem Chand and INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION 39 Jawaharlal Nehru are available in Russian transla- tions and are widely read. I may inform you that we read and profit from the writings of Pushkin, Tols- toy, Dostoevsky, Chekov, Turgenev and Gorki. We hope that we may have greater co-operation in the fields of art and literature. Mr Khruschev told us about intellectual freedom and religious liberty in the Soviet Union. Of course, they are the best authorities on the subject and we are delighted to hear about these freedoms in Rus- sia, for they are the essential components of demo- cracy. Now that the Soviet Union has consolidated its base and provided its people with the vital things of life without which they cannot live, we hope they will give them opportunities to develop the graces of mind and the virtues of spirit without which life is not worth living. We now look forward to the production of great works of literature and art which will delight and illumine the world. It is our hope and desire to work as friends and partners in building up a great new world of peace and prosperity, freedom and justice, of real demo- cracy. sarvas taratu durgdni sarvo bhadrdni pasyatu sarvas sadbuddhim apnotu, sarvas sarvatra nandatu. INDIA AND CHINA* WE are delighted to have with us, though only for a very short time, Her Excellency Madame Soong Ching-ling, a great leader of the Chinese revolution and an old friend of our country. One of the most remarkable things in the world's history is the relationship between our two coun- tries, of peaceful co-operation across the centuries. We have traces of the influences we have exerted on each other in the literature and art of our two peo- ples. Our cultures intermixed, our trade flourished, mutual appreciation grew and there has not been a single instance of military conflict. Something pre- cious and unique has been built up over a long past. Though intercourse between our two peoples was interrupted for some centuries it has now been re- vived. We passed through trials and tribulations and have now achieved the power to shape our future and are facing similar problems. Our distinguished guest was associated for many years of her life with the work of one whose name is honoured in recent Chinese history. Sun Yat-sen helped to free China from the Manchu rule in 1911 and formulated the three objectives of nationalism, democracy and livelihood or socialism. He worked * Speech proposing the toast to Madame Soong Ching-ling, Vice-Chairman of the People's Republic of China, 1 7 Decem- ber, 1955 INDIA AND CHINA 41 for national solidarity, government by the people and employment and opportunity for all. Soon after his death, reactionary forces came into power and revolutionary purposes, principles and policies were compromised. Twenty-four years after his death, on October 1, 1949, came the New China, a realization of his dream of a free, independent, socialist China. We have also the same ideals of a welfare state which we are striving to establish through the forms and processes of parliamentary democracy. We should like our generation to go down in history not as one which split the atom and made the hydrogen bomb, but as the generation which brought together the peoples of the world and trans- formed them into a world community. The tragic experience of history teaches us that understanding among the peoples of the world is essential if civili- zation is to survive. If we do not stir up the latent good sense and goodwill of the people now drugged with debilitating hatred, it will only mean that though we teach history, history does not teach us. To the end of fostering peace and relaxing interr national tensions, China and India last year, on the 29th of April, signed an agreement regarding trade and intercourse between the Tibetan region of China and India, incorporating in the Preamble the now famous five principles, the Pancha&la. Two months later they were reaffirmed in the general statements made by the Prime Ministers of India 42 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS and China, and of China and Burma. In October 1954, the Soviet Union and China accepted them ; and after that many other countries, including Yugoslavia, Poland, etc. It is our earnest hope and desire that all the countries of the world may be persuaded to follow these principles of mutual respect, mutual concern and international morality. For we believe in friendship with all nations, what- ever their political, economic and social systems may be. We will without haste and without rest explore every avenue that will lead to better understanding among the peoples of the world. In this endeavour of civilization, we two peoples can work together. It is a matter of deep sorrow to us that your pro- per position in the United Nations Organization has not yet been recognized. But the day is not far off when you will be able to contribute more effectively to world peace through the United Nations Organi- zation than now. The ideals of peace and friendship among nations are not merely the concern of Governments and diplomacy. They must well from the impulses and emotions in the hearts of men and women. It is in this context that the original Buddhist Panchaila becomes relevant that we should not hurt life, should not take what does not belong to us, lead a life of chastity of body and mind, not tell lies which we often do in the name of diplomacy, and take no intoxicants, and demagogy is a great intoxicant. These principles of piety, purity and compassion INDIA AND CHINA 43 were accepted centuries ago in all Buddhist lands, China, India, some parts of West Asia, Japan, etc. The spirit of PafichaSila is the spirit of restraint, of humaneness, of brotherly co-operation, 'with malice towards none and charity for all'. These qualities have sustained for centuries the Chinese civilization. She has survived all the vicissi- tudes of history and is today a powerful nation be- cause she has preserved them in spite of what the world did against her and what she did against herself. In the maintenance of cultural traditions the place of women has been very significant. This country in every generation has produced millions of women who have not found fame, but whose daily existence helped to civilize the human race. Their warmth of heart, their self-effacement, their unas- suming loyalty, their strength in suffering even when subjected to severe trials have been among the glo- ries of this ancient land. In the few days you are here, you will see for yourself how the women of our country have been striving with success to obtain equal rights with men which is their due, in political, economic, cultural and social life. They are work- ing, I hope they will concede, with our full support and co-operation, for a higher form of family life where men and women regard themselves as equal partners in the pursuit of the ends of dharma, artha, kdma and mok&a^ where the wife is said to be grhinl % the head of the household, sacivah, a wise counsellor, 44 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS i) a good friend. I have no doubt they will have an increasing share in the development of a new style of life in the country and friendship among nations. I would like you to convey to your people and your Government our best wishes in your stupendous adventure of building a New China, where you will be able to save not only the bodies but the souls of your many millions. Your unremitting service to your nation, your friendship for our people, your faith in co-operation between India and China, and your passion for peace have brought you near our hearts. I have now great pleasure in pro- posing the health of Her Excellency Madame Soong Ching-ling. EDUCATION AND CULTURE UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE: SEVENTH SESSION, PARIS PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS October 1952 LOW delegates and friends, I am deeply Ji touched by the great honour which this Con- ference has conferred on me, on my delegation and on my country. I refer especially to the very warm and generous words with which the Chairman of the Executive Board put my name forward. I also refer to the way in which the Head of the French delegation, the Minister of Education of France, stepped aside, waived his right and enabled this Conference to propose a representative of an Eastern country. For the first time in this General Conference you have a President from this geo- graphical area. I am, therefore, thankful to each delegation to the French delegation in particular and to the Executive Board which put forward my name unanimously for this exalted position. I have been connected with UNESCO for a number of years, ever since it was established in this beauti- ful and intellectual city, and I have seen the work of our Director-General. I believe very firmly that the work of UNESCO is of much greater importance than other types of work calculated to foster peace, free- dom and progress. Under the inspiring and coura- 48 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS geous leadership of our Director-General, we have now emphasized the central objectives of this Orga- nization : freedom and progress. Freedom is easy to talk about. This morning the Leader of the American delegation, the distinguished President of last year, who had conducted the business of this Conference with such great care and consideration, said that a 'third war can be avoided 5 . I echo his sentiments. If we believe that a third war cannot be avoided, it only means that civilization has failed, education and culture have failed, UNESCO itself has failed. It is essential, therefore, that we should will not merely peace, but the conditions that are essential for secur- ing peace. Mrs Jouhaux, representing i L o, ex- pressed the hope that Human Rights would become 'functioning, living realities 5 . It is a great statement. Let them become functioning, living realities. There are millions who are the victims of political power, of economic greed, of racial pride. It is not possible for them, when they are slaves to other men, to lead happy, contented lives. No man can attain happiness in this world if he feels hungry or cold, if he is a slave to other men, if he is surrounded by filth and disease, and if he does not have the elementary necessities for ordinary life. It is essential for him to have some leisure for recrea- tion, for reflection. How many people in this world have these facilities, which are formulated in the Declaration of Human Rights ? And is it not our purpose here to work for the realization UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 49 of those Human Rights ? We know, as a matter of fact, that the inventions of science and technology have removed the greatest obstacles to human well-being and happiness. If only we use them for proper purposes, it will be possi- ble for us to lead the world to a happy, safe and generous state. What is it that prevents this ? It is human stupidity, it is human cussedness. How can we remove these obstacles which are in the minds of men, which prevent us from using the great ins- truments of science and technology for making this world a better and happier place ? That is the ques- tion we all ask. We talk about penicillin, we talk about chloroform, aeroplanes and the telephone. On the other side, we have terrible weapons : atom bombs, poison gas, germs, etc. Men must use the* instruments of science for the improvement of the conditions of life, for the fault is not in science and technology. What is demoniac is in the nature of man. If we wish to cure this element of vileness, wildness, cussedness, in the nature of man, it is essential for us to mobilize the great spiritual re- sources of mankind. The cure for that is to restore the truths of the spirit to the central place in the minds of men. Let those truths of the spirit sway the minds of men, transform the lives of men. The truths of the spirit are liberality, understanding, freedom. Those who deny freedom in the name of freedom are no less dangerous than those who deny freedom in the name of discipline and authority.) Let us, 4 50 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS therefore, send out from this Conference a message to this groping, uncertain, discontented world : that love and not hatred, that freedom and not fear, that faith and not doubt, have in them the healing of the nations. If we carry out these principles in our daily life and in our international relations, out of the anguish of this world will be born a new unity of mankind, a unity in which the ideals of the spirit will find safety and security. I thank you once again for the honour you have done me by electing me to this exalted position, and my thanks are real and warm. KARNATAK UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION ADDRESS 26 October, 1953 MY first duty is to congratulate those who by hard work and disciplined effort obtained their degrees today. I should like to tell them that the very same qualities which they exhibited during their University careers must continue in future and I hope that they will continue. I will be unfair to myself and to you if I should promise you glittering prizes or comfortable posi- tions. The times ahead of us are of a very difficult character. The movements which took place in other countries during a span of centuries have all occurred here more or less simultaneously. What answer to the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution or the political Revolution all these things have been telescoped so to say in these few years in our country. We have won political independence. But it is not to be re- garded as giving us complete freedom. There are ever so many other things which require to be ful- filled if this first step is to be regarded as a prepara- tion for the liberation of this great land. If we wish to follow up political revolution by a social and eco- nomic one, our universities must send out batches of scientists, technicians, engineers, agriculturists, etc. 52 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS These are essential for changing the face of our country, the economic character of our society. But we should not believe that science and technology alone are enough. There are other countries, much advanced countries in the world, which have achieved marvellous progress in scientific and tech- nological side, but yet they are torn by strife and they are unable to bring about peace, safety and security of their own people. It only shows that other qualities are also necessary besides those deve- loped by science and technology. Just now a student was introduced for his Degree and he was called Doctor of Philosophy in Science. In other words science is also regarded as a branch of philosophy. The function of the universities is not merely to send out technically skilled and profes- sionally competent men, but it is their duty to pro- duce in them the quality of compassion, the quality which enables the individuals to treat one another in a truly democratic spirit. Our religions have pro- claimed from the very beginning that each human individual is to be regarded as a spark of the Divine. Tat tvam asi, that art thou, is the teaching of the Upanisads. The Buddhists declare that each indi- vidual has in him a spark of the Divine and could become a Bodhisattva. These proclamations by themselves are not enough. So long as these princi- ples are merely clauses in the Constitution, and not functioning realities, in the daily life of the people, we are far from the ideals which we have set KARNATAK UNIVERSITY 53 before ourselves. Minds and hearts of the people require to be altered. We must strive to become democratic not merely in the political sense of the term but also in the social and economic sense. It is essential to bring about this democratic change, this democratic temper, this kind of outlook by a proper study of the humanities including philosophy and religion. There is a great verse which says that in this poison tree of samsara are two fruits of incomparable value. They are the enjoyment of great books and the company of good souls. If you want to absorb the fruits of great literature, well, you must read them, read them not as we do cricket stories but read them with concentration. Our generation in its rapid travel has not achieved the habit of reading the great books and has lost the habit of being in- fluenced by the great classics of our country. If these principles of democracy in our Constitution are to become habits of mind and patterns of behaviour, principles which change the very character of the individual and the nature of the society, it can be done only by the study of great literature, of philo- sophy and religion. That is why even though our country needs great scientists, great technologists, great engineers, we should not neglect to make them humanists. While we retain science and technology we must remember that science and technology are not all. We must note the famous statement that merely by becoming literate without the develop- ment of compassion we become demoniac. So no 54 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS university can regard itself as a true university unless it sends out young men and women who are not only learned but whose hearts are full of compassion for suffering humanity. Unless that is there, the univer- sity education must be regarded as incomplete. I have been a teacher for nearly all my adult life, for over forty years. I have lived with students and it hurts me very deeply when I find that the precious years during which a student has to live in the Uni- versity are wasted by some of them. I do not say by all of them. Teachers and students form a family and in a family you cannot have the spirit of the trade union. Such a thing should be inconceivable in a university. University life is a co-operative en- terprise between teachers and students and I do hope that the students will not do a disservice to themselves by resorting to activities which are anti- social in character. Character is destiny. Character is that on which the destiny of a nation is built. One cannot have a great nation with men of small character. If we want to build a great nation, we must try to train a large number of young men and women who have character. We must have young men and women who look upon others as the living images of themselves as our Sastras have so often declared. But whether in public life or in student life, we cannot reach great heights if we are lacking in character. We cannot climb the mountain when the very ground at our feet is crumbling. When the very basis of our struc- KARNATAK UNIVERSITY 55 ture is shaky, how can we reach the heights which we have set before ourselves ? We must all have humility. Here is a country which we are interested in building up. For whatever service we take up, we should not care for what we receive. We should know how much we can put into that service. That should be the principle which should animate our young men and women. Ours is a great country. We have had for centuries a great history. The whole of the East reflects our culture. We have to represent what India taught right from the time of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Whether in domestic affairs or in international affairs we must adhere to certain standards. My advice to the young men and women who are graduating today through this University is : Mother India expects of you that your lives should be clean, noble and dedicated to selfless work. DELHI UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION ADDRESS 5 December, 1953 MAY I at the outset express with deep sir^cerity my sense of obligation to the members of the Court for electing me to the high office of the Chancellor of the University ? I appreciate the distinction of being your first elected Chancellor, under the provisions of the new Delhi University Act. It gives me very great pleasure to find that the first degree which I confer as Chancellor is on my dear friend Shri C. Rajagopalachari. We are all proud to admit him into our fellowship. He is one of our most illustrious administrators and statesmen, well known for his commonsense and courage, balance and judgment, qualities greatly needed in this confused age of conflicting standards. The young men and women who are taking their degrees today have in him an example to guide them. It is the privilege of the Convocation speaker to congratulate those who by dint of hard work and disciplined effort have attained degrees and distinc- tions. My good wishes are with you and I hope very much that the qualities of mind and character which have helped you in your University courses may continue to be with you in the larger life you are entering. DELHI UNIVERSITY 57 We cannot offer you prospects of glittering prizes or even comfortable positions but opportunities for silent unobtrusive work and constructive service are there in plenty. It is a matter for great sorrow that there is not among our youth that sense of exhi- laration, that release of energy, that buoyancy of spirit that characterize great liberation movements* Since the attainment of independence we seem to have lost the inspiration of a great purpose. Many of us do not realize how radically our position in the world has altered. At the time of the transfer of power, there were critics who felt that we would not survive the effects of partition, that our country would be broken to bits, that our administration would be disorganized, that there would be no rule of law, no security of life and property. All these critics have been confounded by the actual results. In the international world where our standing is only of six or seven years' duration our reputation for integrity, independence and love of peace is high. I may remind you of a statement made by a distinguished visitor to this country that India would rather die or commit suicide than submit to pressure or intimidation from any quarter. That may be so or may not be so. At least we have won the esteem of other nations. But what we have done is very little compared to the vast undone. Political freedom has given us the great opportunity and the sacred responsibility of building up a new India free from want and disease, rid of the curse of the caste 58 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS and the outcaste, where women will enjoy the same rights as men and where we shall live at peace with the rest of the world. The inspiration of such an India should sustain you in your work ahead. We are living through one of the great revolu- tionary periods in human history. The revolutionary efforts spread over several centuries in other parts of the world are concentrated in a short span of time in our country. We are facing a many-sided chal- lenge, political and economic, social and cultural. Education is the means by which the youth is trained to serve the cause of drastic social and econo- mic changes. Nations become back numbers if they do not reckon with the developments of the age. The industrial growth of our country requires a large number of scientists, technicians and engi- neers. The rush in our universities for courses in science and technology is natural. Men trained in these practical courses help to increase productivity, agricultural and industrial. They also hope to find employment easily. To help the students to earn a living is one of the functions of education, arthakari ca vidyd. I do not believe that scientific and technological studies are devoid of moral values. Science is both knowledge and power. It has interest as well as uti- lity. It is illuminating as well as fruitful. It demands disciplined devotion to the pursuit of truth. It deve- lops in its votaries an attitude of tolerance, open- mindedness, freedom from prejudice and hospitality DELHI UNIVERSITY 59 to new ideas. Science reveals to us the inexhaustible richness of the world, its unexpectedness, its wonder. Nevertheless, these qualities are developed by science incidentally and not immediately. It does not directly deal with the non-intellectual aspects of human nature. Economic man who produces and consumes, the intellectual man, the scientific man is not the whole man. The disproportionate em- phasis on science and technology has been causing concern to thinking men all over the world. The great crimes against civilization are committed not by the primitive and the uneducated but by the highly educated and the so-called civilized. One recalls the saying that the most civilized State is no further from barbarism than the most polished steel isTfrom rust. Scientists have now found means by which human life can be wiped off the surface of this planet. Of the many problems that now face the leaders of the world, none is of graver consequence than the problem of saving the human race from extinction. Struggling as we are with the fateful horizons of an atomic age, the achievements of science have induced in our minds a mood of despair making us feel homeless exiles caught in a blind machine. We are standing on the edge of an abyss or perhaps even sliding towards it. The Prime Minister of England ,in a recent speech contem- plated : 'We and all nations stand at this hour in human history before the portals of supreme catas- trophe and measureless reward. Our faith is that in 60 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS God's mercy we shall choose aright, in which case the annihilating character of these agencies may bring unutterable security to the human mind. 3 To choose aright requires the cultivation of the heart and the intelligence. Escape from decline and catas- trophe depends not on scientific ideas and material forces but on the perceptions and ideas of men and women, on the moral judgments of the community. If we choose rightly, the achievements of science may lead to such a degree of material wealth and abundance of leisure as has never before been pos- sible in human history. All this will be possible only if we achieve a revolution in the inner compulsions that control us. Any satisfactory system of education should aim at a balanced growth of the individual and insist on both knowledge and wisdom, jndnam vijnana-sahitam. It should not only train the intellect but bring grace into the heart of man. Wisdom is more easily gained through the study of literature, philosophy, religion. They interpret the higher laws of the universe. If we do not have a general philosophy or attitude of life, our minds will be confused, and we will suffer from greed, pusillanimity, anxiety and defeatism. Mental slums are more dangerous to mankind than material slums. Independent thinking is not encouraged in our world today. When we see a cinema, we think very fast to keep up with rapid changes of scene and action. This rapidity which the cinema gives its DELHI UNIVERSITY 61 audiences and demands from them has its own effect on the mental development. If we are to be freed from the debilitating effects and the nervous strain of modern life, if we are to be saved from the assaults which beat so insistently on us from the screen and the radio, from the yellow press and demagogy, defences are to be built in the minds of men, endur- ing interests are to be implanted in them. We must learn to read great classics which deal with really important questions affecting the life and destiny of the human race. We must think for ourselves about these great matters but thinking for oneself does not mean thinking in a vacuum, unaided, all alone. We need help from others, living or dead. We need help from the great of all ages, the poets, 'the unacknowledged legislators of the world' r the philosophers, the creative thinkers, the artists. Whereas in sciences we can be helped only by the contemporaries, in the humanities, help comes from the very great, to whatever age and race they may belong. At the deepest levels of existence, in the inti- mations of the nature of the Supreme, and the eco- nomy of the universe, in the insights into the power and powerlessness of man, the changing scene of history has its focus. The events of history reflect the events in the souls of men. If this country has survived all the changes and chances it has passed through, it is because of certain habits of mind and conviction which our people, whatever their race or religion may be, share and 62 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS would not surrender. The central truth is that there is an intimate connection between the mind of man and the moving spirit of the universe. We can realize it through the practice of self-control and the exer- cise of compassion. These principles have remained the framework into which were fitted lessons from the different religions that have found place in this country. Our history is not modern. It is like a great river with its source back in silence. Many ages, many races, many religions have worked at it. It is all in our blood stream. The more Indian culture changes, the more it remains the same. The power of the Indian spirit has sustained us through difficult times. It will sustain us in the future if we believe in ourselves. It is the intangibles that give a nation its character and its vitality. They may seem unimpor- tant or even irrelevant under the pressure of daily life. Our capacity for survival in spite of perils from outside matched only by our own internal feuds and dissensions is due to our persistent adherence to this spirit. If our young men are to live more abun- dantly, they should enter more fully into the expe- rience and ideals of the race, they should be inspired in their minds and hearts by the great ideas en- shrined in our culture. Inattention to our culture in our universities is to no small extent responsible for the increasing unrest among students. In recent weeks the lawless activi- ties of some students in some parts of the country filled us with shame and sorrow and I have had DELHI UNIVERSITY 63 occasion to refer to them and tell the students that by these acts of defiance of authority, they do a national disservice and imperil the future of the country, that they are traitors to the past and ene- mies of the future. Today I propose to point out what we should do to improve the atmosphere in the universities. Students are not trained to ap- proach life's problems with the fortitude, self-control and sense of balance which our new conditions de- mand. Without this disciplined enthusiasm for great causes, students become a danger to themselves and to society as a whole. This approach is encouraged by a study of our classics. I hope that the uni- versities will pay greater attention to this side of education. <^' A university is essentially a corporation of teachers and students. The relations between the two have been of a sacred character. The kind of education that we provide for our youth is deter- mined overwhelmingly by the kind of men and women we secure as teachers. Magnificent buildings and equipment are no substitute for the great teacher. Every attempt should be made to draw a good proportion of the best ability in the country into the teaching profession. If this country is to participate in the march of mind in science and scholarship, universities must recruit for their staff some of the best minds of the country. The univer- sity teacher should be helped to live in comfort, if he is to devote himself to learning, teaching and 64 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS research. As the young recruits to the universities are paid low salaries, they fail to appreciate intellec- tual values and get interested in writing textbooks or obtaining examinerships. I hope the University Service will become as attractive as the all-India Services, for that is the only way to recruit and re- tain some of the ablest persons for the universities. As the example of the teacher has great influence on the pupils, we cannot evade our responsibility to the teaching profession. A more enlightened public attitude is essential. Besides, our colleges have increased their numbers regardless of the fact that competent teachers are not employed to deal with these increased numbers. It is impossible for the students to get adequate academic tuition or moral guidance. Some of the educational institutions have become commercia- lized and adopt the shift system as in the factories. If the results are unfortunate we have ourselves to blame. There is nothing wrong with our students. What is wrong is the system. Living conditions in universities leave much to be desired. True education needs conversation and debate, exchange of opinions and thoughts with friends with whom we can speak and listen easily, sympathetically and without fear. But are the opportunities for these adequate ? Again, there is no adequate provision for games and other corpo- rate activities. There is no reason why students who are physically fit should not be encouraged to join DELHI UNIVERSITY 65 the National Cadet Corps in larger numbers. Mem- bership of the Corps fosters habits of discipline, team work and dignity of labour. I regret to say that the schemes of development adopted by the Centre and the States do not pay adequate attention to this most important of all problems, the education of the youth of the country. Our whole experiment in democracy will suffer if education is not given top priority. The future leadership of the country will be imperilled if uni- versity education is allowed to deteriorate for lack of financial support. Character is destiny. This maxim applies to indi- viduals as well as to nations. We cannot build rightly with wrong materials. More than your intellectual ability or technical skill, what makes you valuable to society is your devotion to a great cause. We have great natural resources, intelligent men and women and if in addition we learn to work together with pride and spirit of dedication in the sacred cause of rebuilding our country, no one can prevent us from achieving our goal. Our future destiny as a nation depends on our spiritual strength rather than upon our material wealth : ndyam dtmd balahlnena labhyah. The goal of perfection cannot be achieved by the weak, not the weak in body, but the weak in spirit, atma-nisthd-janita-viryahinena. The greatest asset of a nation is the spirit of its people. If we break the spirit of a people, we imperil their future; if we deve- lop the power of spirit, our future will be bright. 5 66 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS prasaraya dharmadhvajam prapuraya dharmaSankham pratddqya dharmadundubhim dharmam kuru, dharmam kuru y dhaimam kuru* PUNJAB UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION ADDRESS 19 December, 1953 I AM happy to be here and speak to you a few words on this important occasion of the sixth Annual Convocation of the Punjab University. I offer my congratulations to the graduates of the year who, by strenuous work and disciplined effort have attained their degrees, and some of them have achieved distinctions also. Your University has had to face many difficulties of an unexpected character. After partition you had to improvise practically a new University, shifting your teaching departments to different centres and starting new professional institutions. Naturally, your colleges have suffered from over-crowding, bad housing, ill-equipped and inadequate staff. These difficulties affect the maintenance of high standards. Yet the work which you have done in very difficult circumstances must be to you a matter of pride and satisfaction. I hope that in the new capital, whose building has attracted attention far and wide, the University will have its permanent headquarters with enough accommodation for its growing needs. Your Chan- cellor has had great interest in University education and his experience will be of considerable help to 68 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS you in your attempts to develop the teaching side and exercise adequate supervision over the affiliated colleges. Buildings and equipment are not all. Good teachers who are interested in the welfare of the students, who have enthusiasm for their subjects and are able to impart it to the pupils they form the central framework of a university. Our com- mercial-minded generation reserves its respect for those who make money and so the best ability is drawn into administration, business and the learned professions. We have to realize that the kind of education we provide for our children is deter- mined overwhelmingly by the kind of men and women we secure as teachers. The low esteem in which teachers are held is the most eloquent evi- dence of the malady from which our society suffers. We must get the right type of men for the teaching profession, and not the incompetent and the un- ambitious. Respect for the teachers cannot be ordered. It must be earned. The next few years will be a testing time, more severe and more exacting than we have known for many years. Political freedom which we won at much cost and sacrifice is only an opportunity. It is not a fulfilment. If we are to develop a strong demo- cracy, political, social and economic, it is necessary for us to work hard and work unitedly. The ideal imposes on us a sacred responsibility. Men are not made democratic by the mere formulation of ideals in the Constitution. They are not made good by PUNJAB UNIVERSITY 69 mere exhortation. Great ideals of justice, equality, fraternity and freedom which we have inscribed in our Constitution must be woven into the social fabric. We must apply them to the myriad situations of our daily life. Unfortunately, the state of mind in which we found ourselves at the time of political liberation is not marked by revolutionary fervour. The spirit of enjoyment has prevailed over the spirit of sacrifice. We seem to demand more than what we give. There is much evidence of low morale, dissatisfaction and discontent among people, all leading to serious slackness. We must overcome the spiritual sickness which seems to be enfeebling our community. If we do not change our minds, we cannot change anything. A nation is built in its educational institutions. We have to train our youth in them. We have to impart to them the tradition of the future. Through all the complexities and diversities of race and religion, language and geography, the forces which have made our people into a nation and which alone can keep them one are being shaped. These do not be- long to the material sphere. The unity is not one of physical geography, it belongs to the realm of ideas. It is a matter for men's minds and hearts. Our country has suffered when internal dissensions pre- dominated and central unity declined. We used to complain that those who ruled us for centuries adopted the principle of divide and rule. At any rate it is true that our subjection was due to our 70 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS divisions. We must therefore guard ourselves against separatist tendencies of language, religion and province. It is in the universities that we should develop a corporate feeling and a feeling of social purpose. Our universities must give inspiration to a generation which stands in sore need of it. In the different branches of our planning effort we require trained men and it is for the universities to supply them. Naturally young people wish to get trained in scientific, technological and professional courses. Many of the changes that have transformed our daily lives, our hopes and ideals for the future are the results of the dominating role which science has come to play in our lives. No such radical changes have ever before occurred in so brief a period of our history. But an exclusive or one-sided em- phasis on scientific studies results in grave disad- vantages. Power and wealth begin to exercise a kind of intoxication on the minds of men. We wish to get on and succeed. Other ends are subordinated to this one end of achieving greater wealth and higher social status. The desire to get on is a laudable ambi- tion provided it does not exclude other more laud- able ambitions. Our future welfare and destiny as a nation will depend more on our spiritual strength than on our material wealth. Scientific progress is precarious and conditional. If we are only learned without being truly cultured, we become a danger to society, sa aksaro vipantatve raksaso bhavati dhruvam he who is literate, when PUNJAB UNIVERSITY 71 inverted becomes a demon. There is an observation of Aristotle which is akin to this saying : Man when perfected is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms meant to be used by intelligence and virtue which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals. In the international scene, the crisis which con- fronts us is the gravest in the whole of recorded history. We are armed with the weapons of modern science and the techniques of modern psychology, without ourselves being redeemed from greed, selfishness and love of power. We have increased our/ power over nature, but not over ourselves. Science and technology are not a cure for selfishness nor a key to the mystery of the universe. Our progress can be secure only in an atmosphere of confidence, hope and security.| President Eisenhower in his recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly on the eighth of this month called for means, c to hasten the day when fear of the atom will begin to disappear from the minds of the people and the Governments of the East and the West'. Before making his appeal to the peoples of the world to co-operate in this great venture and pledging the United States 'to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death but consecrated to his life', 72 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS he spent a few minutes in the meditation room of the U.N. building. To make a new start, we need a new approach. Respect for the basic values of spirit is the only antidote to the distempers of our society, social, economic and political. We must recognize that there is something in man that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. If sheer confusion domi- nates the scene and we live in an age of anxiety and greed, it is because our training has been one-sided. It is wrong to assume that the only means required for the betterment of mankind are more and more of scientific discovery and technological improvement. It is through the study of the great classics of the world that we grow in our spirit. The basis of demo- cracy is the central principle of all religions, that there is an intimate connection between the mind of man and the moving spirit of the universe. This principle of democracy must become an effective faith. In our educational institutions, we can train our young men and women in the spirit of demo- cracy. We must increase wealth, reduce inequalities and raise the standards of the common man. Let the bright image of a new India where we will be free socially and economically break through the fogs of fear and ignorance, self-interest and superstition. The importance of education is not only in know- ledge and skill, but it is to help us to live with others. Co-operative and mutually helpful living is what we should be trained for. Moral qualities are of greater value than intellectual accomplishments. PUNJAB UNIVERSITY 73 We have in our country great natural resources, intelligent men and women and if in addition, we learn to work together with pleasure, with pride, with a sense of duty in the sacred task of rebuilding our country no one can prevent us from reaching our goal. The Buddha says : 'None else compels, ye suffer from yourselves/ If our institutions give our young men character and democratic discipline, the future of our country is safe. Dharma is what holds society together. dharma eva hato hanti, dharmo raksati raksitah. MEERUT COLLEGE DIAMOND JUBILEE INAUGURAL ADDRESS 20 December, 1953 IT is appropriate that we remember all those who worked for the last sixty years to make this College what it is today. I am happy to find here Dr Sita Ram, Principal Chatterjee, and others who must feel proud of their work for the College. It has been steadily growing and it has today over 4,000 students, a number of departments, teaching and research. Naturally you have an ambition to make it into a university. It is true that in our Report we said that if finances were adequate and if academic respon- sibility was undertaken, this College may be enabled to grow into a university. But these two conditions are essential financial solvency and academic adequacy or soundness. Mere change of name will not make a college into a university. Universities which have developed without sound financial back- ing have acquiesced in academically unsatisfactory practices. With ill-equipped and inadequate staff, the students do not get proper academic tuition or moral guidance. For over 4,000 students you have now 135 teachers and this cannot be regarded as adequate. You must lay stress on quality rather than on quantity. You must be able to get on your staff men noted for their learning and scholarship, men MEERUT COLLEGE DIAMOND JUBILEE 75 who do not merely teach but are eager to make additions to knowledge. The profession of the teacher should not be reduced to a trade. It is a call- ing, a vocation, a mission. It is the duty of teachers to make pupils good citizens of the new democracy. They must impart to the students zest for new expe- rience, love for adventure in knowledge. A University should give a universal outlook. When students pursue different courses, meet to- gether in a common fellowship, when they enter into the society of good and great men, they en- large their lives and characters. If we are not in- terested in the high matters of the fundamentals of science and philosophy, we are not truly educated. We must preserve the basic values of our own cul- tural heritage without losing the momentum which science and technology give to human progress. If a man does not come to terms with his own self, if he has not an integrated view of life, he will be- come ruthless, destructive, even insane. He will be a lost spirit. In our conceit, we are losing faith in the ultimate values and attempting to live outside the dimension of spirit, to close the frontiers of the an- cient hidden mysteries. We are uprooted, homeless, half-mad with fear and pride. The magic of life is fading and we find it more and more difficult to find the real value and the flavour of life. Today we must struggle not so much against death and disease as against man's oppression of man, against the injustice and tyranny that make 76 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS life so tragic and liberty so hard to preserve. In our philosophy of life we have the fundamentals on which a new world society can be built. When it is said that we are a secular State, it does not mean that we have an indifference to tradition or irreverence for religion. I hope that in this Col- lege, whether it is a College or a University, these fundamental values of spirit will be preserved. INDIAN HISTORY CONGRESS, WALTAIR INAUGURAL ADDRESS 29 December, 1953 THOUGH the subject of my special study is not history, you have been good enough to ask me to inaugurate this Congress. Just as memory is the principal factor in the sense of personal identity an individual possesses, even so history is the memory which a nation possesses. In spite of continual changes in our bodily cells and mental processes, each one is aware of himself as the same person from birth to death. This is so largely because of the per- sistence of memory. History is the cause of the nation's persistent identity. It is that which links the past, the present and the future. By connecting the past with the present, we perceive the continuity and solidarity of the ages. It is our duty therefore to undertake a systematic account of our history, an account which is objec- tive and dispassionate. I know that this Historical Congress has undertaken such an account. Writers of history should remember what Mallinatha, the renowned commentator, has said : i na amulam likhyate klncit na anapeksitam ucyate. Nothing is written here without authority; nothing is said here which is irrelevant. 78 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS There are some historians who wish to be show- men, anxious to make an appeal to the public. To make an effect they sometimes distort facts or adorn tales; there are others who are concerned with accu- racy. There is no incompatibility between accuracy and appeal. To secure both requires learning, intel- ligence and imagination. The late Lord Balfour described Sir Winston Churchill's World Crisis as 'Winston's brilliant autobiography disguised as a history of the universe'. It is generally said that the only lesson of history is that we learn nothing from it. This is a warning. By a proper study of history, we can learn a great deal from it. Our steady and endless struggle for truth stretches back to the fountain springs of human thought. The passage of several thousand years sees not much change in our general character, its strength as well as its weakness. Centuries of foreign rule and endless oppression leave us still an active force in the world though quarrelling among ourselves with insatiable vivacity. We must instruct our boys and girls in schools and colleges in the historical sequence of events in the past. We must treat with scientific detachment and accuracy the circumstances which marked the decline and fall of governments in India. Never were we in greater need of objective and scholarly study of our past history and present condition. We must strive to determine the great fundamentals which govern a peaceful progression towards a INDIAN HISTORY CONGRESS 79 constantly higher level of civilization and the forces that impede it. Your President-elect, Dr Kane, has given us in his monumental work Dharma Sdstra, a historical account of our social life. He enjoins on us a cordial but critical devotion to the ideals which inspired our minds and hearts across the centuries. A fundamental lack of national coherence has been our grave defect. We complained against the British rule that it attempted to divide us and rule us. But what are we doing today to heal the divisions ? It is no use acquiescing in the evils of society on the assumption that historical processes dictate the pattern of society, that men are not in control of events, that events are in control of men and the course of history. When Germany plunged into Nazism, the classic excuse of the German was : 'What could I do, I am only a little man. 5 This is a retreat from responsibility. There is no doubt that man's freedom of action is limited. He does not work in a vacuum. Social conditions, environmental pres- sures, what are called historic forces, influence him. But he can set his face in the right direction or the wrong. There are some philosophers of history who argue that there is a sense of inevitability about the histo- rical sequence. The late Mr H. A. L. Fisher did not agree with the determinist view of history. In the Preface to his History of Europe, he writes : 80 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS One intellectual excitement has, however, been denied me. Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history, a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emer- gency following upon another as wave follows upon wave, only one great fact with respect to which, since it is unique, there can be no generalizations, only one safe rule for the historian, that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen. There are many historical developments which justify Fisher's observation. In the last war the Allies swore lasting friendship for Soviet Russia and hosti- lity to Germany. They vowed a Punic peace. Germany like Carthage should be ploughed up, cursed and sown with salt. Now Russia and the Allies are in opposite camps and Germany is a friend of the Allies. One can only feel something like awe at the waywardness of history, with her fantastic turns and twists. This waywardness, this contingency, is the result of the free will of man. The age we live in threatens world-wide catas- trophe. It also holds out unexpected hope and pro- mise. Man must take charge of events on a world- wide scale. He should cease to be a helpless, mecha- nical puppet and become a wakeful, responsible, truly creative being. Where freedom is absent, his- tory is fate. As people who possess faith in human dignity, we must not passively wait for a world order of peace but we must strive actively to bring the nations into the ways of peace. It is easy to drift INDIAN HISTORY CONGRESS 81 into a fatalistic attitude that nothing can be done and we must await helplessly the catastrophe which will destroy civilization. We must not only envisage the horrors of war but work with all our might to raise barriers against it. We must work for peace not merely because of the fear of the consequences of war but from the conviction that war and all that leads to it are a defiance of justice and humanity. ' History can serve as a strong force for international co-operation. It must bring into proper focus the great heroes who have stressed the dignity and the brotherhood of man. History is not merely the story of squabbles long since dead. It is also an account of the struggles of man to achieve higher standards of living, justice, peace and security. The victories of peace should be described and not merely the horrors of war. History must be used to develop an understanding of the cultures of the other nations of the world. The New Year must be both a challenge and a message of hope to the millions whose lives are over- shadowed by the threat of another war. It should summon us to further the cause of peace by being men of peace ourselves. The best plans are destroyed by ambition, hate and greed. Let us rid ourselves of these passions and realize that the Will which con- trols the universe is not power and majesty but love and peace. I have pleasure in inaugurating your meetings and I wish you success in your deliberations. 6 INDIAN HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY, BOMBAY SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS 12 January, 1954 T AM delighted to be here and be associated with the JL Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Histori- cal Research Society, which was founded by Father Heras in 1926. Though it started as the Post- Graduate Department of St. Xavier's College, under the inspiring leadership of Father Heras, it has functioned as more than a mere College Society and served the needs of the country in historical research and scholarship. The Institute has been planned with great care and attention to detail. You have a Library, a Museum, a Numismatic Collection, Manuscripts, Photographs and Sculp- tures. The list of theses prepared in the Institute is an impressive one. The Commemoration Volume pays a well-deserved tribute to the excellent work done by Fr. Heras as a historian and guide and friend of other history workers. He has himself written a number of works of great value on a variety of subjects, Asoka, Akbar, the Pallavas, and has been for the last twenty years working on a matter of considerable importance to the world Proto-Indo- Mediterranean Culture. We are indeed greatly indebted to him for his scholarly INDIAN HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY 83 contributions and the way in which he has helped workers in this field. History is not a mere series of intrigues and aggressions, furies and devastations, pillages and conquests organized by kings and rulers, despots and dictators. This is not the whole story. We should not be satisfied with the deeds and misdeeds of our emperors and statesmen, the dates of their births and deaths, their triumphs and defeats. There is the cultural history, the social history, and the history of the sciences. In a true sense history is a struggle of man to reach beyond himself, to approximate to the ideal of freedom and of human concord. Rightly studied it should not breed hatred among nations. It must look upon nations, great and small, as partici- pants in a common enterprise, some fortunate in their undertakings, others restricted in their efforts, unequal in their contributions but equal in their desire and will for peace and progress. History should teach us how nations gave to each other and took from each other. In that way it must prepare us for the future order. Man, as he is, is not to be regarded as the crown- ing glory of evolution. The story of life on earth goes back to a thousand million years. In each geo- logical period there have appeared creatures which might have been represented as the highest types of creation. Yet those forms of life have been super- seded by others. When we look at the steady climb of life in the path of evolution, it is presumptuous to 84 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS assume that man, the latest product, is the last word or the final crowning glory, and with his arrival the steps of evolution have come to a sudden end. If the past is any clue to the future, we cannot regard man- kind as anything more than a stage in life's progress, and a mile-stone on the path of evolution toward a greater future. The next stage is not in his physique but in his psyche, in his mind and spirit, in the emer- gence of a larger understanding and awareness, in the development of a new integration of character adequate to the new age. When he gains a philoso- phic consciousness and an intensity of understand- ing, a profound apprehension of the meaning of the whole, there will result a more adequate social order which will influence not only individuals but peoples and nations. We have to fight for this order first in our own souls, then in the world outside. This means that man must purge himself of his intolerance, his love of power. Progress is not a law of nature. To say that his- tory is the product of the automatic operation of impersonal forces, mechanical nature or economic production is wrong. Human effort is the method by which our needs are realized. Hegel, Marx, Speng- ler suggest a kind of inevitability of history. Spengler, for example, traces an analogy between the life-cycle of a living organism and that of a culture. They are born, have a youth, mature, grow old and die. History is a creative process, a meaningful pattern. It is brought about by the spirit in man. While INDIAN HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY 85 external conditions determine our progress to a large extent, they are not completely coercive. Mechanistic fatalism is drawing mankind near to the abyss of self-destruction. We must realize that the human individual is capable of transcending conditions and controlling them. Human beings are not mechanical entities. If they were so, their future would be* completely predictable. But they are creative human spirits. History advances by jumps, not always by gra- dual changes. It was a characteristic error of the past to count on gradual evolution, to presume that the advances in history, as in the biological world, spontaneous realities emerge suddenly and in a sense without preparation. History proceeds very often by jumps which we call revolutions. There is a well-known saying that the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from it. This is a comment not on history but on human stupidity. If we are careful we can learn a great deal from history. Our past history demonstrates that we failed whenever our centre weakened, when internal dissensions became prominent, when famine and disease were allowed to spread, when administration became unclean and corrupt. These indicate the great need for warding off the forces that are subver- sive of stable order. Contemporary history also re- inforces this truth. Russia before the October Revo- lution, Germany in the period of economic depression which brought Hitler to power after the practical 86 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS wiping out of the middle classes, China in the forties and more recently Egypt they demonstrate that when selfish leaders develop vested interests in the administration, national discords arise, economic development is checked and revolutions occur. We find today in our country, in spite of the attain- ment of independence and the many impressive achievements, a wide-spread sense of dissatisfaction and frustration. If these things are to be removed and if the young men and women are to be per- suaded to enlist themselves in the work of internal consolidation and development, it is essential to em- phasize national unity, rapid economic development and a pure, clean, and honest administration. We must put down the forces that impair our national unity, retard our economic progress, whether these forces come from the rich or the poor, the capitalist or the labourer, and endeavour to raise standards of effi- ciency and honesty in our administration. National unity, economic reconstruction and good govern- ment are the needs of the hour. I hope that these ends will be kept in view by our leaders and people. We are living in days of destiny. What happens in our country in the next few years will determine not only the future of our land but of a large part of the world. This is not a time for faint-heartedness. We must avoid the deadly sin of cynicism, of des- pair. However rugged the obstacles that confront us may be, we must face them with honesty and serious- ness and push on. That is the warning of history. SAUGAR UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION ADDRESS // February, 1954 y OFFER my congratulations and good wishes to the JL candidates who have taken their degrees and won distinctions. It is my fervent hope that the equip- ment of mind and the habits of discipline which these degrees and distinctions symbolize may con- tinue to be with them in their future lives. You are fortunate in living today in a Free India which requires for its full development every able- bodied citizen who can serve the country without thinking of his own personal reward or suitable status. I know that it is easy to say that work is its own reward, but workers should also live, and if their work is to be satisfactory, they must be enabled to live in comfortable conditions. Our Governments, Central and Provincial, should devise rapidly me- thods of employing all available talent. If we are unable to give employment even to our educated youth they become neurotic and dissatisfied with the existing economic order. Full employment and social security are treated today as the true tests of real democracy. This view is not unknown to us. In a Kalinga Edict, Ak>ka writes : All men are my children. Just as I desire on behalf of my own children that they should be provided with all manner 88 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS of comfort in this as well as in the other world, similarly, I desire the same for all people. In this University you have conditions which make it possible to develop true university life. You do not suffer from over-crowding. I am glad that you pay attention to research work. No teacher can inspire his students or win their respect if he is not himself interested in extending the frontiers of know* ledge. The ability to teach pupils to teach them- selves, to inspire students to new lines of enquiry is a rare gift. The work and reputation of a university depend on the presence of such teachers. The Government of India are considering ways and means by which conditions in universities can improve. They wish to assist you in building hostels, providing playgrounds and more than all, in raising the status and salary conditions of the teachers. But no teacher deserves consideration if he does not love his subject and care for the intellectual and moral development of the students. It is teachers who have no academic interests but are ambitious for power and position in the university administration that start intrigues and party spirit. Factionalism has been the curse of our public life and I fervently hope that this University is free from it. Teachers in colleges and universities require to be selected with great care, and when once they are recruited, they should be treated with consideration. When I last visited this University with my col- leagues of the University Education Commission, SAUGAR UNIVERSITY 89 Dr Hari Singh Gour was the Vice-Chancellor. This University owes its existence to his inspiration and munificence. In these days when we are money mad, his example that wealth is to be used for public good and not for private advantage cannot be over- estimated. Dr Gour believed in the rights of reason. He was anxious that we should develop a scientific frame of mind, a rational outlook on life. He was deeply distressed by a good deal of superstition and obscurantism that pass for religion in our country. He felt that the social prejudices and religious superstitions which our people adopted in blind unthinking trust were mainly responsible for our degradation, political and economic. Even our ancient writers protested against the abuse of reli- gion. Look at the following verse : ^ vrksdn chitvd, pasun hatvd krtvd rudhirakardamam yady evam gamyate svargam narakam kena gamyate. If one can go to heaven by cutting trees, killing animals and making blood to flow, how, pray, can one go to hell ? This verse is a condemnation of practices repugnant to one's conscience but assumed to be permitted by religion. India was never con- quered from without; she was defeated from within. It is the unexamined life that led to our suffering. Dr Gour believed in education which is the means for the spread of scientific habits of mind, social reform and spiritual outlook. It would please 90 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS his soul if those who are trained in this University acquire sane outlook and democratic behaviour. Dr Gour felt that the inspiration for the renewed life should be spiritual, as his respect for Buddhism on which he wrote an important work indicates. The crisis of our time lies in our acquisition of vast new powers over the world of nature without ac- quiring any more power over ourselves. The prob- lem facing us is : why has not man grown in moral character as well as in intellectual power ? Why is he obsessed by unrelenting hatreds and unceasing fears ? Flight from spiritual life accounts partly for the frenzy of our time. We suffer today not so much from the split atom as from the split mind. Intoxi- cated by the achievements of science we seem to believe in the supremacy of man. isvaroham aham bhogi siddhoham balavdn sukhi. There is a lack of humility, a lack of reverence Tor the ideals, grace of mind and charity of heart. There is only the will to power which assumes many forms. We exalt our views into ideologies and think that the world could be saved only by the accep- tance of this or that way of life. The spirit of reason will tell us that we should avoid extremes of ideology and of action and return from excess to moderation. The Buddha showed us the middle path which ^avoids the extremes of self-assertion and self-denial. To induce the right attitude of life we must refine the minds, the tastes and the manners of our youth. We must make them adopt the principle of all great SAUGAR UNIVERSITY 91 religions : 'Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.' While we expect the Governments to tackle with the problems of illiteracy, unemployment, etc., we expect the universities to fight the evils which matter most hatred, malice, idleness, mutual distrust and love of domination. These sap our national strength and are oft en not assu aged but inflamed by some of our leaders. That is why we wish to protect the universi- ties from encroachments by outside political agencies. We must train the young to the best possible all- round living, individual and social. We must make them intelligent and good. They must learn to observe spontaneously those unwritten laws of decency and honour felt by good men but not en- forced by any statute. I am happy to note that courses in science and the humanities are prescribed for all in this University to promote a balanced education and avoid the evils of narrow specialization. It is by the study of the great classics that we can improve our taste and civilize our behaviour. We must all strive to make this country a true democracy, a vast family where every member retains his personality, but all hearts beat in unison. The Rg Veda concludes with a prayer asking us to develop unity of purpose, of heart and of understanding : samdno va dkutih, samdnd hrdaydni vah samdnam astu vo mano yathd vah susahdsati. 1 *X, 162 92 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS It is this spirit which should sustain us. Calamities may be inflicted by others, but no nation can be degraded but by itself. Outsiders may inflict injury on us but they cannot bring us shame. Dishonour comes only from ceasing to remain faith- ful to oneself. There is no material suffering from which one cannot rise if only one maintains one's spirit of self-reliance which is the source of all real greatness. You are a young University and you have yet to build up sound traditions. May it be given to you to contribute a little to this task by your own qualities of intellectual integrity and active sympathy, prajnd and karund. TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN SOUTH ASIA* 15 February, 1954 I HAVE great pleasure in inaugurating the Round Table Conference on the Teaching of Social Sciences in South Asia. May I offer to the represen- tatives of the seven participating countries and other delegates to the Conference a cordial welcome on behalf of the Government and the people of this country and also of the UNESCO, of which I happen now to be the General President ? This Conference is called in pursuance of the resolution 3.141 of the Seventh Session of the General Conference, which reads : 'The Director- General is authorized to encourage social science teaching in Universities and Secondary Schools emphasizing the contribution that such teaching can make to human progress and to education for living in a world community. 5 The first two topics proposed for discussion are, to my mind, of great importance. What are the disci- plines which belong to the group of the Social Sciences and what is the unity binding them ? So- cial Sciences include Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Social Psycho- logy. There is adequate justification for giving * Inaugural Address at the UNESCO Round Table Conference 94 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS greater attention to Social Sciences than we used to do till now. For, Social Sciences help us to under- stand the society in which we live, the basic needs of human beings, the economic arrangements and the political forms. Even as every educated citizen should have some knowledge of the material world in which he lives, it is equally important that he should have some knowledge of the society in which he lives. Certain basic needs are essential factors of human behaviour at all times, the need for security, for tradition, for religion. But the forms in which these needs are expressed are capable of great variation from time to time, from place to place. Again, poli- tical theories are based on views about the psycho- logy of man. Hobbes, for example, began his political theory with a psychological doctrine of the nature of man. His despotic State was devised for a fear-driven humanity. Locke and his followers advocated political freedom and non-intervention by Government on the assumption that man was naturally good and self-improving and his economic activities generally tended to help society. The conflicting ideologies today are also based on con- flicting views of the nature of man. There is a danger that a scientific view of social phenomena may incline us to a determinist view of history which looks upon social growth as obedience to certain laws. Vico proclaims that history is a regular alternation between progress and regression. TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 95 St. Simon looks upon history as a series of oscillations between organic and creative periods. Marx holds that history is a succession of economic systems, each violently replacing its predecessor. These views raise the age-old problem whether man makes his- tory or history makes man. Great historical figures may be products of their time, but by their indi- vidual genius they alter the climate of thought, incite revolutions, change the structure of society and start new epochs. The way in which Marx and Rousseau influenced the course of history is an illustration of it. Man is not body and mind alone. He has, in addition, the spiritual dimension. As long as the nature of man is interpreted by sciences, natural and social, and his life and world are shaped accord- ing to these concepts, the essentially free spirit of man is overlooked, and yet it is this free spirit that accounts for the waywardness and the unpredicta- bility of history. When the late H. A. L. Fisher re- marked that he saw no plot, rhythm, or pre-deter- mined pattern in history, but only the play of the contingent and the unseen, he was referring to the free activity of human beings. Man is a moral agent who can determine his behaviour. He can grow by the exercise of his will. If a human being loses his creativity and becomes an item in an anonymous crowd, the knowledge which he now possesses through science and technology may choke him and the power he now commands may wipe him out. 96 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS But he can control the knowledge and use the power he now has if he has a sense of values and does not betray his own creativity in his love for routine. This brings us to the question of human values. The study of Social Sciences will bring us nearer the goal of human progress to some extent, as every increase of knowledge will do. But the main objec- tive of human progress and living in a world com- munity which the General Conference resolution states, requires something more than science, na- tural or social. Disciplines which deal with values like Ethics, Philosophy and Religion are essential for promoting the ideals of good life and world community. Agricultural sciences and industrial arts can in- crease our productivity. But they do not tell us what we should do with increased wealth and leisure. Economics, Politics and Jurisprudence can frame good laws and define fundamental rights, but they do not by themselves bring about a good society. The knowledge of Social Sciences in the hands of men whose values are chaotic is not a help. The marvellous achievements of natural sciences in recent years gave rise to the impression that human progress would be automatically secured with the rapid advance of science and technology. This view was shattered after the experiences of the two World Wars. Never before has scientific progress been so general and intensive and never before has intol- erance been so savage and civilization so fragile. TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 97 It is argued that the balance between the increase of power over nature and the lack of control over oneself may be restored by the study of Social Sciences. Our malady is traced to our one-sided concentration on the study of non-human nature, and the neglect of the study of man, especially man in society. In an article in the Universities Quarterly, Lord Beveridge wrote : c lf mankind is to make worthy use of this growing mastery over nature, he must learn how to master himself. To win that mastery he must take the same road as has led to his mastery over nature, the hard, long road of science, applied not to nature but to man in society/ The Social Sciences, he argues, must be based on a study of facts and not on deduction from concepts. * Without them civilization is in danger. Without better understanding of themselves and society, there can be no assured happiness for mankind.' It would be wrong to think that the betterment of mankind can be secured merely by the knowledge derived from natural and social sciences. While natural sciences give us mastery over nature, social sciences do not give mastery over ourselves. They give us basic information and knowledge about man in society. But progress depends not merely on knowledge but on will. Both natural and social sciences give us instruments and no norms for the right use of those instruments. Social Sciences tell us how we can control human beings in society even as natural sciences tell us how we can control 98 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS nature. By equipping man with this additional knowledge, the need for guidance has become greater. We have seen in our own time how the weapons of modern science and the techniques of modern psychology have been used for different schemes of social regeneration. Some advocates of social Utopias have organized the cupidities of men into terrifying systems of power. Some have used the newly acquired knowledge for sowing distrust, starting fissures among peoples who are already dis- rupted by their own dissensions. Leaders of States take hold of virgin minds, plastic, enthusiastic, im- pressionable, generous, and make them victims of racial, class, religious, or national pride. If we are to use the knowledge of Social Sciences for helping human progress and world community, we must obtain the discipline of human nature from Aesthetics and Ethics, from Philosophy and Religion, though they are not in the strict sense of the term Social Sciences. Sciences, natural or social, give us knowledge not judgment, power not vision, strength not sanction. The aims which the resolution puts before us can be secured only if we look upon ourselves as mem- bers of humanity as a whole. The world conscious- ness should be aroused. The environment is suitable, only re-education is necessary. If the cave man had been asked to think nationally, he would not have understood. His ancestors thought in terms of family. Slowly the family clan yielded to the village* TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 99 Then we had the City State and after that the idea of a nation grew up. It is still dominating us and will continue to do so, so long as there are peoples suffer- ing from foreign control. Today the world has be- come small and our vision is enlarged. To make the world safe for peace, our conscience must grow and our comprehension of human dignity must increase. Civilization is constituted mainly by a series of human relationships which provide for the best possible development of the potentialities of human beings. We must, if we are to prepare ourselves for the new world which is on the horizon, rid ourselves of racial pride and religious intolerance and of that deep-seated lust for power which Isocrates says, 'is the wicked harlot who makes city after city in love with her, to betray them one after another to their ruin 5 . (8.103) If Social Sciences testify to any truth, it is this, that nations, great in their intellec- tual, industrial and political achievements, fail to survive if they do not possess vision, charity and friendship for others. If the world is to be saved, the great nations of the world should look to one ano- ther as friendly competitors in the onward march of civilization and worthy rivals in the arts of peace. Education in Social Sciences should help us c to grow mature and free, to flower in love and good- ness, 5 to increase wisdom and virtue. We should work for a general renewal of humanity. If the know- ledge derived from sciences gets into wrong hands, the world will be in peril. If enough men and 100 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS women arise in each community who are free from the fanaticisms of race, religion and ideologies, who will oppose strenuously every kind of mental and moral tyranny, who will develop in place of an angular national spirit a rounded world view, we will get near the concept of 'on earth one family 5 , I hope that your deliberations will help to ad- vance the study of Social Sciences in the South Asia region and help their peoples to an understanding of the basic needs and the ultimate ideals of human society. DELHI UNIVERSITY SPECIAL CONVOCATION* 24 February, 1954 MAY I welcome you most cordially dnto our fellowship and express our sense of deep pride that we have in you, our latest graduate, one who has faith in the new international society and world peace. We have watched with admiration the great part that Canada under your leadership has been playing in the United Nations and her endeavours to mediate between the United States and the Commonwealth, whenever such occasions arose, and I hope that such occasions were few. It is the first time that the Prime Minister of Canada visits our country and other parts of Asia. It indicates the increasing recognition that the prob- lems of the world cannot be disposed of without reference to the wishes of the Asian people. East and West have come together never again to part, It is no more a question of closer contact or asso- ciation, but one of intimate union, union for a com- mon creative destiny. 'We are members one of another,' said St. Paul, and if we courageously im- plement this truth in our daily life, in national and * Address as Chancellor admitting the Rt. Hon. Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada, to an Honorary Degree of Delhi University 102 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS international affairs, we will make history 'rich in quality and majestic in scale 9 . If there is unrest today in Asia and Africa, and if there are disruptive forces social, economic and political at work, we are convinced that these troublous conditions can be improved only by the extension of democratic liberties to them. We do not love freedom if we do not give freedom to others. We must show that we are zealous for social right- eousness and we will not tolerate mass misery whether in the East or in the West. The free deve- lopment of each nation is the condition for the free development of all. So long as people suffer in any part of the world from the evils of political, econo- mic and racial exploitation, the world will be marred by cleavages and threatened by discords and peace will be precarious. In working for the new society, the Universities have a great part to play. The silent under-currents of human feeling, the general anxiety for peace and co-operative living are far nobler and more impor- tant than the much publicized conflicts of racial, national and ideological ambitions. It is for the Universities to prepare for the world community by taming the savageness of man, overcoming wildness, anarchical ambition, spiritual blindness, recalci- trance which are grave internal obstacles and the verve to settle problems by the arbitrament of force, forgetting that justice is more important than arma- ments and the maintenance of peace by threats of DELHI UNIVERSITY 103 horror is repugnant to the moral sense of mankind. Political and economic arrangements are matters for contract and they can succeed only if there is unity of purpose, of heart and mind, springing from devotion to great ideals. It is the main function of Universities to foster world loyalties, a sense of moral values and faith in the human spirit, ideals which are shared by the Universities of the East and the West. The problems are vast and the stakes are high and many of us seem to feel utterly helpless and inconse- quential. We shrink within ourselves and gaze in dazed condition at the spectacle of society rushing towards its ruin with the seeming fatality of the Greek tragedy. But we are not prisoners of destiny. The human individual is a free agent, svatantrah kartd ; 'he is a cause, not an effect/ in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas. When, therefore, we find a person of your serene and commanding qualities, steadfastly working for peace, without being dis- couraged by difficulties, with faith in the ultimate destiny of mankind the waves on the shore may be broken, but the ocean conquers nevertheless we feel proud to honour you. May you live long to lead your nation, and through it the world, to an era of positive peace and general prosperity. SAHITYA AKADEMI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 12 March, 1954 IN the regrettable absence of our Chairman who is essentially a man of letters, who has strayed into politics owing to the conditions of our time, I have been asked to inaugurate the Sahitya Akademi or the National Academy of Letters. As the Maulana Sahib has just explained, we have now an Academy for drama and music; we hope to set up one for the visual arts and today we are starting an Academy for Letters. Sahitya Akademi, the phrase combines two words, one Sanskrit and the other Greek, suggesting the universal aspiration of our enterprise. Sahitya is literary composition, Akademi is a society of learned people. It is an academy of literary men, those who do creative work in literature in the different languages of our country. Maulana Sahib has rightly emphasized the importance of standards. Association with the Academy either as Fellows or as Members is regarded as a great distinction in all civilized countries. It is the means of recognizing men of achievement, encouraging men of promise in letters, educating public taste, and improving standards. The Sahitya Akademi of our country should take note of the important creative work done in the different languages of the country. SAHITYA AKADEMI 105 I agree with you, Maulana Sahib, in thinking that the intellectual renaissance through which we are passing is, to no small extent, due to the impact of Western culture on our society. This impact came to us through the English language. Your references to the writings of men like Tagore and Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghosh and Nehru fully justify the inclu- sion of English among the languages to be noted by the Akademi. It is the aim of the Government to take the initial steps and encourage by adequate financial grants the work of the Akademi. It is not the responsibility of the Government to produce creative work. We are reminded of Napoleon's remark : 'I hear we have no poets in France, what is the Minister for the Interior doing about it ?' No Government can make poets to order; it may subsidize versifiers. The Akademi should remain completely autonomous, if we are to have a creative and not a managed litera- ture. When we aim at a Welfare State and expect the State to provide all things, we must see to it, in the interests of our social health and vitality, that the individual does not lose the freedom to live his own life by his own standards, according to the dictates of his own conscience, that he has the liberty to con- form or not conform, to do, undo, or misdo so long as he does not interfere with the equal freedom of others, and does not cross the limits of decency. Soceity is becoming more and more regimented. 106 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS The scope for free activity is becoming increasingly restricted. We are all numbered and docketed. We are becoming anonymous units in a crowd, not free subjects in a society. The individual seeks the shelter of the crowd for safety, for comfort, for relief from loneliness, from responsibility. We have a fear of freedom. When our activities are regulated, imagi- nation which rests in solitude cannot thrive. Unless the individual has the courage to be lonely in his mind, free in his thought, he is not capable of great writing. Great literature, like true religion, is what a man does with his solitariness, to use Whitehead's phrase. W. B. Yeats says : We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric but out of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry. The aim of literature is the good of the world visvafreyah kavyam. Its purpose is not to reflect the world but to redeem the world. It is not to mirror the glinting surfaces of the given but to recreate the experience. The literary artist must enter into soli- tude, glimpse the vision, bring it down to earth, shape it with emotion, and carve it into words. Literature is the channel between spiritual vision and human beings. The poet is a priest of the invi- sible world, a divine creator, a kavi. He is not a mere entertainer but is a prophet who inspires and expresses in varied ways the entire aspirations of the society to which he belongs. All this means concentration and integrity which become difficult, if not impossible, if our minds are filled with slick- SAHITYA AKADEMI 107 ness and violence or if we become puppets with stereo- typed opinions. An academy, as used and understood by the Greeks, meant a body of students gathered round a leading philosopher for the study of philosophical problems. The first Academy was the philosophical society founded by Plato about 387 B.C. where he taught his pupils among whom was Aristotle. These academies were like the forest hermitages of the Upanisads. In Renaissance Italy, groups interested in humanistic studies formed academies. Modern academies are the continuation and development of these mediaeval academies. The French Academy is one of the five academies which together consti- tute the Institute of France. The French Academy includes not only men of letters but philosophers and historians whose works rank as literature. Bergson, Gilson and Grousset were elected Members of the French Academy. Our National Academy of Letters may include creative writers in history, philosophy, oriental studies also as the French Academy does. Whatever gives the shock of intellectual and ima- ginative pleasure and says something fresh and stimulating is literature or sahitya. The Rg Veda, the first literary document in the world, is not merely religion and symbolism but poetry and literature. The Bible, the Avesta, and the Quran are not merely classics of religion but are works of literature. The seers of the Rg Veda clothe exalted 108 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, thought in words of force and feeling. The first verse reads : agnim He purohitam yajnasya devam rtvijam hotdram ratnadhdtamam. The seer piles up five adjectives to suggest Agni's competence to confer material and spiritual bles- sings. In the Upanisads, we find noble ideals and artistic expression. Many literary devices are em- ployed to increase the effect and impress the reader, e.g. in the Brhaddranyaka Upanisad, the writer points out, in a series of passages, how all objects of the world, earthly possessions, romantic delights provide opportunities for the realization of the self. na vd are patyuh kdmdya patihpriyo bhavati, dtmanas tu kdmdya patih priyo bhavati, no vd are jdydyai kdmdya jdyd priyd bhavati, dtmanas tu kdmdya jdyd priyd bhavati; na vd are putrdndm kdmdya putrdh priyd bhavanti, dtmanas tu kdmdya putrdh, priyd bhavanti; na vd are vittasya kdmdya vittam priyam bhavati, dtmanas tu kdmdya vittam priyam bhavati; and so on. In the Chdndogya Upanisad, it is said : yathd, saumya, ekena mrtpindena sarvam mrnmayam vijndtam sydt, vdcdrambhanam vikdro ndmadheyam mrttikety eva satyam. To illustrate the same point, other images of a nugget of gold, a pair of scissors are used. Another Upanisad, after pointing out that we live in a three storeyed house of waking, dream and sleep, refers to the state of freedom or illumination SAHITYA AKADEMI 109 in words of intellectual rigour and aesthetic sensi- bility : ndntah prajnam, na bahis prajnam, nobhayatah prajnam, na prajnanaghanam, na pregnant, na prajnam, adrstam, avyavaharyam, agrahyam> alak- sanam, acintyam, avyapadeyam y ekatma-pratyaya- saram, prapancopasamam, santam, sivam, advaitam, caturtham manyante, sa dtma, sa vijneyah. It is not necessary to refer to the beauty and grace of the Bhagavadgita. It is a delight to read the stately and sonorous prose of Samkara. Look at this : sa ca bhagavan jnanaisvarya-sakti-bala-vlrya-tejobhih sadd sampannah, trigundtmikdm vaisnavim svdm mdydm mula-prakrtim vasikrtya, ajo, avyayo, bhutdndm isvaro, nitya-fuddha-buddha-mukta svabhdvopi san, svamdyayd dehavdn iva jdta iva lokanugraham kurvan iva laksyate. 1 Gandhi includes in his prayers the famous verse from Guru Govind Singh's writings : isvara alia tere ndma mandir masjida tere dhdma sabako sanmati de bhagavan. Indian writers, whatever subjects they handle, aim at literary grace and distinction. Our term sahitya should include the classics of religion and philosophy even as Greek literature includes Plato's Dialogues and Thucydides' History. Literature has been one of our major contribu- 1 Commentary on the Bhagavadgita 110 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS tions to the world. Our epics and plays, our tales and folk-lore transmit to us the great ideals of har- mony with nature and integrity of mind. They have influenced the literature of the different languages of the country. In the millennium between the Greek drama and the Elizabethan, the only drama of quality in the world is, according to Berriedale Keith, the Indian drama. An Indian drama is not merely a play. It is poetry, music, symbolism and religion. Images chase one another beyond the speed of thought in the writings of Kalidasa who is known outside our frontiers. He represents the spirit of India, even as Shakespeare England, Goethe Germany and Pushkin Russia. It is by its art and literature that a society is judged at the bar of history. They are the reflection of the vitality of a race. They decline when people suffer from spiritual exhaustion. We live today in an age of change, adventure, opportunity and expanding horizons. New influ- ences are penetrating our thought. Our minds are in conflict and confusion. If some of us suffer from boredom and triviality, it is because we are neglect- ing the spirit in man and making him a subject of economic greeds or a bundle of conditioned reflexes. It is for the men of letters, the artists and the thinkers to recapture the dignity, the mission and the destiny of this ancient race and produce a new climate of ideas which will prepare for the univer- sal republic of letters and a world society. EXHIBITION OF NANDALAL BOSE'S PAINTINGS, CALCUTTA INAUGURAL ADDRESS 27 March, 1954 I AM happy to be here and inaugurate the exhibi- tion of paintings of Acharya Nandalal Bose who, for two generations, has enriched the art of the world, established the fame of Indian painting and contri- buted to human welfare. It is fitting that this exhibi- tion of paintings should be held in this College of Art and Craft, where Nandalal Bose received his early training. After leaving the College, he joined Abanmdranath Tagore's School of Painting and his influence on Nandalal Bose's work has been lasting. Rabindranath Tagore invited him to join the art section of Vicitra, a society of artists and literateurs. When Tagore founded the Visvabharati, Nandalal Bose became the head of its Kald-bhavan. There he trained bands of young men and women for whom his life and work have been a source of constant inspiration. Genius in this country in the past was anonymous and Nandalal Bose comes nearest to that ideal. Utter simplicity, unostentatious manners, a child- like heart conceal a rare blend of creative vision and fine craftsmanship. While his paintings are examples of great inspiration and technical skill, few 112 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS men have endeared themselves by simple good nature to their pupils, colleagues and friends as Nandalal Bose. India has had a long tradition in fine arts and even in painting the tradition goes back to the pre- Christian era. From the drawings in red pigment of animals and hunting scenes in the pre-historic caves of Singhanpur and Mirzapur, it is evident that painting has had a long history in this country. 1 The Rdmdyana, the Vinaya Pitaka refer to citrasdlds which answer to our picture galleries. The Buddhist fres- coes found on the walls of a cave in Sirguya in the Madhya Pradesh belong to the first century before Christ. Fa Hien and Yuan Chuang describe many buildings as famous for the excellence of their murals. The art of fresco painting in the Ajanta caves reached a perfection never surpassed any- where else. The nobility of the theme, the majestic scope of the design, the unity of the composition, the clearness, the simplicity and the firmness of the line give us an impression of the astonishing perfec- tion of the whole. Religious piety fused architecture, sculpture and painting into a happy harmony. These artists with their deeply religious spirit worked in anonymity. They brought their faith, their sincerity as well as their skill to serve their 1 'There are primitive records of hunting scenes crudely drawn on the walls of a group of caves in the Kaimur range of Central India, while examples of painting of the later Stone Age have been found in excavations in the Vindhya hills.' Percy Brown : Indian Painting, p. 15 HIBITION OF NANDALAL BOSE'S PAINTINGS 113 religion. After this period we had the Moghul and the Rajput Schools as well as independent develop- ments in the South, in the Courts of Tanjore, Pudukkota and Mysore. 2 In the British period, occidental influences became prominent. As a part of the general cultural reawakening to which Bengal contributed a great deal, we became conscious of our own artistic heritage. E. B. Havell, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and Abanindranath Tagore call- ed upon Indian artists not to be mere slavish copyists of crude Western models but to realize the spirit of India's great artistic past and develop free creative expression. The new School of Painting, inspired by the master artists of Ajanta, produced a series of sponta- neous masterpieces which revealed the soul of India to the world. They became famous for their spiritual quality, aesthetic appeal and inward truthfulness or integrity. The history of Indian painting presents the cultural and spiritual history of the Indian people. Not only was the art practised from ancient times without any gap though our knowledge of the history of the art may have many gaps the theory of it has also been formulated. In a pre-Buddhist work called Sad-anga or the six limbs of paint- 2 Abul Fazl, writing of contemporary Hindu painting, says : 'Their pictures surpass our conception of things. Few indeed in the whole world are found equal to them.' Aini Akbari, Block- mann's E.T. Vol. I, p. 107 8 114 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS ing, six principles were set forth : i. Rupa-bheda or knowledge of appearances. We must study the forms, the objects, animate and inanimate, human figures, nature and landscape, ii. Pramdnam or cor- rect perception, measure, structure, proportion, perspective. Hi. Bhdva, or the action of feelings on forms, iv. Ldvanya-yojanam or the infusion of grace or beauty in the artistic representation, v. Sddrsyam or similitude, truth, vi. Varnika-bhanga or the skilful use of brush and colours, control over technique. The purpose of all art is sacramental. In ancient times, art was used not as a means for public enjoy- ment, but as an accessory of worship. The great displays of sculpture and painting took place in India as in ancient Greece in temples and were made in honour of the gods. In temples and cathe- drals men became conscious of the power of works of art, to quicken their spirits and give dignity and order to their lives. dtmasarhskrtir vdva silpdni : The arts, mechanical or fine, are for the refinement of the soul, dtmasarhskrti. They help fuller understanding of the human spirit and greatly enlarge our capacity for life. He who attains to the vision of beauty is from himself set free. In the disinterestedness of aesthetic contemplation, the human spirit is momentarily freed from the inconsistencies and confusions of temporal life. moksdyate hi sarhsdrah Music and literature, dance and drama, sculpture and painting are intended to EXHIBITION OF NANDALAL BOSE'S PAINTINGS 115 purge the soul of its defects and lead it to a vision of the Eternal. These arts cannot refine the soul unless they spring from the soul, unless the spirit of man raises itself above its usual routine level. The artist is a priest. The aim of art is to capture the inner and informing spirit and not merely the outward semblance. It is by integral insight or spiri- tual intuition rather than by observation and ana- lysis of given objects that the sculptor or the painter attains to the highest power of artistic expression. Our arts are not concerned with the appearances of the actual. They are directed towards the realization of ideas, of the truth in the objects. Arts do not so much represent as suggest. They do not so much reproduce reality as create aesthetic emotion. They are interested in the spirit of men and things rather than in their material forms. In all arts we have imaginative creation. It is related of a famous modern painter that when he had painted a sunset, someone said to him : C I never saw a sunset like that,' and the painter replied : 'Don't you wish you could ?' The artist's primary aspiration is for a re- deemed world. His mind is not a mirror which re- flects the glinting surfaces of the given. It is on fire, close to contemplation. Croce is correct when he speaks x>f c the artist, who never makes a stroke with his brush without having previously seen it with his imagination'. 3 When the king Agnimitra found the portrait of Malavika lacking in fidelity to the Aesthetic, p. 162 116 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS original, he traced it to iithilasamadhi^ impaired concentration. 4 An agnostic and culturally uprooted age cannot hope to regain that faith and singleness of soul which gave to mediaeval Christian art its peculiar self- confidence and innocent intensity or to acquire that meditative calm which imparted such immanent sublimity to the Ajanta frescoes. But only work flushed by the past and pointing to the future has lasting significance. When we come across a great genius who has abiding faith in the spirit of this ancient land, who has that rarest of all qualities, unhampered, un- clouded vision, who has a highly developed artistic sense restrained by a sense of discipline and sound workmanship always conscious of its true purpose, we feel that our country has come into its own in the world of art. Nandalal Bose takes his material from the classical myths and legends of India and gives new form to ancient ideals. His pictures of iva and Parvati, his scenes from the life of the Buddha, and of Caitanya are of abiding quality. He has also given us exquisite pictures of ordinary themes, a dog curling on the ground, a goat suckling its kids, a child playing with a kitten, etc. etc. The abundance and versatility of his work are impressive. Though his outstanding work is in paint- ing, he has tried other ways such as the fresco, clay- modelling, wood-cut, etching, leather work, textile 4 II, 2 EXHIBITION OF NANDALAL BOSE'S PAINTINGS 117 design, stage decoration, etc. Whatever be the means, Nandalal Bose's work achieves lasting great- ness because of his conscious sense of dedication. The appeal of great art is not to an esoteric clique. The poorest and the most illiterate respond to it. It has been in our country the great exponent of our national faith and tradition. Nandalal Bose's work should be known to millions and exhibitions like this and albums of reproductions deserve to be encouraged. It is my earnest hope that he may live long and inspire our people with his own faith in the destiny and mission of this ancient race. THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS* 16 April (Easter Friday), 1954 FRIENDS, Shri C, P. Ramaswamy Aiyar spoke to us of the valuable work done by the Annamalai University in fostering Tamil studies. Tamil is the language which is the symbol of the soul of the Tamil people. It has had a long history and is still vigorous and dynamic. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru spoke of the basic unity of India despite the diversity of languages and exhorted us to study each other's literatures and understand the kinship of thought and ideals binding the different literatures. The P.E.N. takes us a little farther into the world arena. The P.E.N. India Centre is now in its twenty-first year. It was founded in 1933 by Madame Sophia Wadia with her great faith in its possibilities for the cause of world unity and human brotherhood. The India Centre of the P.E.N. has functioned all these years, promoting unity within and under- standing without. It^has served as a link between the different linguistic regions of India and as a bridge between India and the other nations of the world. Its one essential objective has been to create a community of mind which is the essential basis for a stable world order. * Speech at the Indian P.E.N. Congress THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 119 While Governments use power and sanctions to mould events, we use persuasion, we appeal to reason and emotion and use words spoken or written to shape the future. We do not serve any nation, faith, or ideology. Our cause is humanity and our interest is peace. "Our first President, Rabmdranath Tagore, though his inspiration was derived from the spirit of India, spoke of the universal man. In his Visva-Bharati he sought the co-operation of all countries, all creeds and all cultures. His life was spent in the persistent effort to build a new world of human fel- lowship. For our second President, Sarojini Naidu, Indian culture was not a monotonous one but a rich, full diversity. India is one in spirit, however diverse in race and creed. Differences of language have not been an impediment to the growth of a common cultural outlook. Both our Presidents were inspired by the vision of human unity. With such examples to guide us, we literary men, poets and play-wrights, editors and novelists, should use our gifts to clear the mists of misunderstanding and give to our world which is shrill and sharp a friendly countenance and character.^ If we wish to bring about radical changes in our patterns of behaviour, we should bring about changes in our modes of thought. We must start revolutions in the minds and hearts of the people. We live today on the edge of a precipice. The perils of atomic and hydrogen developments domi- 120 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS nate our thoughts and trouble our conscience. A great atomic scientist of the United States, when he saw the first atomic blast where the flame and the smoke rose from the earth and touched the fringe of the atmosphere of the New Mexican city, said that he was reminded of the Bhagavadgita. He quoted : 'If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One. ...I am become death, the shat- terer of the worlds. 51 The effects of the hydrogen bomb are vastly more devastating. Their incalcu- lable destructive power, we feel, will act as a great deterrent to war. But by these threats of limitless horror we are appealing to the baser instincts of human nature fear, greed and hate. It is a familiar conception of Indian thought that the human heart is the scene of the age-old conflict between good and evil. It is assailed by weakness and imperfection but is capable also of high endea- vour and creative effort. Man is a composite of life- giving and death-dealing impulses, yasya chdyd amrtam, yasya mrtyuh> whose shadow is immortality and death, as the Rg Veda 2 puts it. The Maha- bhdrata says : amrtam caiva mrtyus ca dvayarh dehe pratisthitam mrtyur dpadyate mohdt satyendpadyate amrtam. Immortality and death are both lodged in the nature of man. By the pursuit of moha or delusion 1 XI, 12, 32 2 X, 10, 121 THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 121 he reaches death; by the pursuit of truth he attains immortality. We are all familiar with the verse in the Hitopadesa that hunger, sleep, fear and sex are common to men and animals. What distinguishes men from animals is the sense of right and wrong. 3 Life and death, love and violence are warring in every struggling man. Modern psychology repeats this truth in technical terms. There are two sets of instincts in each human being, those which conserve and unify, called erotic instincts from the sense which Plato gives to Eros in the Symposium, and those which destroy and kill, which are called the aggressive or the destructive instincts. The death instinct functions in every living being, striving to work its ruin in contrast to the erotic instinct which makes for the continuance of life. These two sets of instincts do not work in isolation. They get mixed up like the waters of the river Jamuna, the dark daughter of Yama, and those of the river Ganga issuing forth from the tangled locks of Siva. Destructive instincts are some- times stimulated by an appeal to idealism. Ordinary people are kindly and generous, friendly and co- operative but by propaganda and indoctrination we can drain their vital springs, call the destructive instincts into play and raise them to the power of a collective neurosis. The cruelties of history are perpetrated in the name of noble causes. The 3 dhdra nidrd bhaya maithunamcasdmdnyametat pasubhir nardndm dharmo hi tesdm adhiko vise$o dharmena hindhpatubhihsamdndh. 122 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS atrocities of the Inquisition, for example, drew their strength from the destructive instincts which were released in the name of religion. In the past, men were infected with the war fever by an appeal to the great causes of freedom and democracy, honour and justice, which often served as a camouflage for the lust for power, religious fanaticism and race prejudice. So all wars were regarded as just and holy wars. Civilization consists in the gradual subordination of the instinctive life to the sway of reason. It is the duty of independent thinkers who do not yield to pressure or intimidation, who are fervent in their quest of truth, to foster the feeling of community and diminish the force of aggressive instincts. When we feel persuaded that the enormous power which nations now possess will act as a deterrent to war, we are having in view the little savage, the 'old Adam 5 that lies at the bottom of every human breast. Of all emotions the least compatible with freedom and the most degrading to man is fear. By planting appalling fear in men's hearts, we corrupt their morals and destroy their minds. A London schoolmaster writes : In the bus on the way to school I asked one of our small boys (age 11) what he intended to be when he grew up. He replied : "Sir, I need not worry, as by that time there will be nowhere to grow up on."* 4 Mr R.R. Willis of Bow Brook School, Peopleton, Worces- tershire, in the London Times, April 5, 1954 THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 123 Principal Jacks suggested that the only way to avert war was for both sides to proclaim that they would use all the bombs they had, the moment the war started. Field Marshall Lord Montgomery, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said in a broadcast from London on Tuesday, the sixth of this month, that if a war broke out, both sides would use atomic weapons 'from the outset 3 . President Eisenhower said : As long as men in the Kremlin know we are in a position to act strongly and retaliate, war is not a decision they would take lightly, but they might do this in a fit of madness or miscalculation/ So we have the fear that some neuro- tics may seize control of the frightful machinery of war and shatter to bits in an hour all that has been built up in the course of centuries. The power to retaliate does not give us any security. We seem to live in a state of morbid fear, suspicion and hatred. President Eisenhower at a Press Conference on March 17, 1954 said: 'The world is suffering from a multiplicity of fears. We fear the men in the Kremlin; we fear what they will do to our friends around them; we are fearing what unwise investiga- tions will do to us here at home as they try to combat subversion or bribery or deceit within. We fear depression; we fear the loss of jobs. All of these with their impact on the human mind makes us act almost hysterically, and you find hysterical reaction.' 5 To cure the fears that he has listed, President *New York Times, March 18, 1954, p. 4 124 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Eisenhower wishes to summon up faith in the des- tiny of America. The failure of nerve, the hysterical reaction are due to lack of faith in the spirit and the institutions of America, in the democratic way of life which we value above life itself. What is the democratic way of life ? It includes good faith, tolerance, respect for opinions which we do not share, equal justice for all, the power to speak one's own thoughts, to act according to one's conscience, do one's duty as one sees it, to live under a Govern- ment which he has a voice in making and unmak- ing, to promote the causes and advance the reforms which command his devotion, however repugnant they may be to the rulers. Many of our difficulties are due to this fact that the suppressed peoples are demanding the very liberties which we hold so dear. The unrest in Asia and Africa is proof that democracy is growing and not dying. If we sincerely believe in our professions that all men are created equal, that all persons, irrespective of caste and creed, race and nation are entitled to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if we accept seriously the principles of religion that we are members one of another, that in God there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Greek nor Barbarian, if we are eager to implement the principles of the U.N. Charter, if our faith in democracy is not skin-deep but from the heart's core, then our whole approach to the problems that now divide the world will be very different. We will then THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 125 stand by the people who are suffering from colonial domination, economic oppression and racial discri- mination and strive to bring them relief by remov- ing the hardships which now fetter their lives. These are problems which are independent of com- munism. They are natural, indigenous and legiti- mate. We must face without fear the revolts and revolutions of the oppressed peoples of Asia and Africa. Jf, on the other hand, we defend the ex- ploiters and condemn the exploited, if we persist in ruling the mass of mankind by force and fear, if we compete with one another in depriving the unhappy peoples of the world of hope and faith, we have ourselves to blame for the world situation. If the whole world is living under pressure it is because of our hesitations and compromises. Peace cannot be had without our paying the price for it. The price can be paid only by those who have something to offer, those who have power and wealth. They should decide not to use their power for the domination of people, not to use their wealth for their corruption. Power and wealth depart from nations as they depart from men. The instances of Assyria, Babylon, Crete, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Spain leap to our eyes. What endures for any nation is what it contributes to the common heritage of all nations, to literature and arts, to science and government, to freedom and democracy. In cases of national or ideological conflicts, we should seek not a precarious military solution but a 126 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS permanent human one. We cannot divide the peo- ples of the world into blacks and whites. These sharp distinctions which develop feelings of hatred for large sections of humanity are not adequate to human relations. The common people in every country are like ourselves, ordinary human beings, who wish to go about their daily work, do their best for their children, cultivate their own garden and live at peace with their neighbours. If some of them are willing tools of their Governments, many are their unwilling victims. Instead of threatening those who are opposed to us with frightful disaster, we should appeal to their higher nature. We may not love each other or like each other; we may at least talk to each other, try to understand each other. We must learn to put ourselves in the place of other people and realize how they feel. On this Easter Friday, it may not be inappro- priate to remember that the Cross is the symbol of ultimate victory, the swallowing up of death by life. It proclaims that understanding and compassion are more powerful than fire and sword. 'Blessed are the meek/ those who have patience, humility, understanding and love. 'In my Father's house there are many mansions/ said Jesus. No nation need assume that it has been cast by heaven for the role of the lords of creation. If there are people who differ from us, our duty is not 1o fight them but to help to remake them, to open their eyes, to demonstrate to them the sterility of THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 127 their programmes, to make them aware of the rich horizons of the human spirit. We may have to put up with a good deal of malice and misrepresentation but the democratic way of life requires of us charity and understanding. The glory is not in war but in reconciliation. Since no Government in the world desires us all to go down in a common disaster we must try to negotiate. If agreement is impossible then peace is impossible, but peace does not mean submission to the enemy. Negotiation is not ap- peasement nor is bomb-rattling diplomacy. Diffi- culties are there to be faced and overcome. We may not be able to solve them forthwith. We must learn to live with difficulties. The world cannot be sud- denly or magically transformed. Human progress embraces vast stretches of time. There is no need for impatience or discouragement. Failure should not bring forth anger. Error is not crime; it is only youth, immaturity. 'When a tree grows up to heaven,' says Nietzsche, c its roots reach down to hell. 3 There is no duality between heaven and hell. The opposition is between higher and lower stages of development. When our vision penetrates beyond the stuffy horizons of good and evil, we will be gentle with the frailties of the weak and be stern only with ourselves. Faith without works is empty. We are not pre- pared to extend democratic liberties to those who do not possess them. We are not prepared to adopt the democratic spirit in dealing with our adver- 128 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS saries. Infidelity to our own ideals has to be cured if the process of rebarbarization of the world is to be checked. If, as the French saying has it, war is too impor- tant to be entrusted to the generals, we may say that peace is much too fragile to be entrusted to politi- cians. Our Prime Minister who has given us a stir- ring and stimulating address is not a mere politi- cian. The intellectuals must become aware of their mission to build a universal society, which is truly free and democratic, based on the preciousness of the human soul. The P.E.N. strives to promote 'good understanding and mutual respect between nations, to dispel race, class and national hatreds and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world'. Out of the anguish of our times is being born a new unity of all mankind in which the free spirit of man can find peace and safety. It is in our power to end the fears which afflict humanity, and save the world from the disaster that impends. Only we should be men of a universal cast of mind, capable of interpreting peoples to one another and developing a faith that is the only antidote to fear. The threat to our civili- zation can be met only on the deeper levels of consciousness. If we fail to overcome the discord between power and spirit, we will be destroyed by the forces which we had the knowledge to create but not the wisdom to control. For the new effort we need the sense of religious purpose. THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 129 In the Rg Veda, which is our earliest literary document, we see the face of early India, while it was yet dawn from which the bright day has grown. For those early writers, literature was the outcome of spiritual discipline, a purging of the emotions, a setting aside of all selfish considerations. That experience is a fever in which the mind is on fire and the spirit in exaltation. Literary artists, who are emancipated in their minds and hearts, are the spokesmen of the unborn world unity, based not on fear, greed and hate, but on that which is eternal in man, the spirit that hungers and thirsts after righte- ousness, the spirit that will not be denied. We are meeting in this sacred place Chidam- baram which has been famous for centuries in South Indian history. From the sixth century onwards, great Saiva saints like Appar, Jnanasambandar, Sundarar, Manikkavacagar visited the temple and sang the praises of Nataraja. The Chola Kings for four centuries from the ninth onwards worshipped Nataraja as their tutelary deity. The temple is dedicated to one of the five symbols (pancalingd) : i. the symbol of earth (prthivi) at Kanchipuram; ii. the symbol of water (ap) at Jambukesvaram; Hi. symbol of light (tejas] at Tiruvannamalai; w. the symbol of air (vayu) at Kalahasti; and v. the symbol of space (dkdsa), ether, having no material representation, at Chi- dambaram. The Indian spirit does not encourage the proud assertion of human personality but leads 130 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS our thoughts out from ourselves into the universal life. These five elements are hints of the Infinite, whispers from secret sources, which speak to us of a Presence mightier than ourselves. The universal Reality transcends the cosmic process and exceeds the categories of the empirical world. It is therefore treated as indefinable by lin- guistic symbols or mental concepts. It is without form and yet is the source of all forms. From the cosmic end the Supreme Reality becomes the cosmic lord, Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. The image of Nataraja is the representation of the pure, undifferenced Being which stands behind the image with a curtain and a string of bilva leaves suspended in front of it. Nataraja is the manifesta- tion of the Lord of the cosmos. He is the perfect image of becoming as distinct from pure being. He symbolizes rhythm, action, movement. God is a creator-artist. In regard to these manifestations, different aspects are brought out in different symbols. This makes for the appreciation of other forms of worship. A mediaeval Indian mystic wrote : 'There may be different kinds of oil in different lamps, the wicks may also be of different kinds but when they burn, we have the same flame and illumination.' Whatever may be our view of the Divine, whatever may be our mode of approach, if our effort is sincere, we reach the goal. True religion is not what we get from outside> THE WRITER AND THE PRESENT CRISIS 131 from books and teachers. It is not the religion of routine which we adopt as a matter of habit. It is the aspiration of every human soul, that which un- folds within oneself, that which is built by one's life- blood. It is the fulfilment of our nature in which there is joy which overflows into world's service. Nanda, one of the sixty-three famous Saiva de- votees, though born an outcaste, by his intense devotion to the Supreme, became a nayanar and is adored as a saint. The earth is made radiant by the greatness of such people who have risen from small beginnings to great heights of devotion. The story of Nandanar illustrates that the distinctions of caste and outcaste are untenable for the authenti- cally religious being. Here in Chidambaram we find a repudiation of cosmic purposelessness, acceptance of various forms of worship which are accepted as valid, insistence on human equality and participation in the world's upward evolution. Those are the beliefs and aspira- tions of our people, however disloyal some of us may have been to them. It is this disloyalty, false com- placency, facile religion and pharisaism that are responsible for the weakness of our social fabric. We should raise our voice against the unbridled might of social, economic and religious reaction. Only when we shake off our internal insufficiencies will it be possible for us to make significant contri- bution to human welfare. The events of the last few weeks portend either the 132 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS end of human history or a turning point in it. This warning is given to us in letters of fire. We recover moral control and return to spiritual life or we pass out as so many other species. Survival demands a change in the spirit of our lives. Let us labour to bring it about while yet there is light. Krnvanto visvam dryam* Let us make the whole world happy. 6 Rg Veda, IX, 63.5. visvam bhadram kurvantah UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE : EIGHTH SESSION, MONTEVIDEO PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS October 1954 MAY I extend to you all a very hearty welcome to this Eighth Session of the General Conference meeting in this beautiful city, pleasing to the eye and soothing to the mind. It is the capital of Uru- guay, reputed to be a model democracy in this part of the world. We are now witnessing democracy in action the country is in the throes of a general election. It is said that democracies can function properly only in small States here is an example. Hitherto, in history, when we wished to alter or abolish Governments we had either dynastic succes- sions or violent revolutions; a more human, a more civilized, a more dignified method of altering consti- tutions, of changing Governments is the method of free elections, and in this country today we are having free elections. I am informed that they do not look upon political freedom as an end in itself. Everything is being done to raise the material standards of the people of Uruguay. You have here free education education free in both the schools and the universities; you have free medical services, you have pensions for old-aged people or people suffering from sickness, 134 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS or who have contributed to Government service. I believe that the State of Uruguay can be regarded therefore as a model democracy. We wish them well in the future. I have no doubt that their security is sure because they have neither uranium nor oil. Since we last met our membership has increased. We are very glad to welcome the delegates from Soviet Russia, which has, for the first time, joined this Organization. I venture to hope that their presence here will contribute to the dissipation of the mists of misunderstanding, the dissolution, so to say, of frozen attitudes, of rigid postures, of fear, suspicion and distrust, and contribute to the deve- lopment of world understanding which is one of the main objectives of this great Organization. Not only Soviet Russia, but other countries have also joined, Byelo-Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, who were with us for some time, then left us, now, like prodigals, have come back to us. I do hope that their presence here will also help to pro- mote world understanding. I am informed that there are certain technical difficulties in the way of their immediate admission and recognition. Without prejudging the issue, without anticipating the Ad- ministrative Commission's decisions as a very strictly temporary measure I am just throwing out a suggestion to you, that they may be allowed the full voting rights. As a matter of fact, I am going to make a statement on that question as soon as time permits. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 135 The world, once divided by oceans and conti- nents, today is united physically, but there are still suspicions and misunderstandings. It is essential for us not to live apart but to live together, under- standing one another, knowing one another's fears and anxieties, aspirations and thoughts ; that is what we are expected to do. We have all subscribed to the United Nations Charter that Charter which affirms faith in the fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person. Political freedom and economic justice are two sides of democracy; both are essential. We should lay stress on the improvement of the economic conditions of the people as well as on liberty and freedom. No society can claim to be democratic if it does not permit political liberty, freedom of conscience, free- dom of choice between parties, and opportunities of peaceful and orderly changes of Government. No true democracy can remain satisfied merely with conditions which safeguard political liberty and freedom of the individual. It must secure the econo- mic conditions which will validate this faith in the dignity of the human person. If our professions about the dignity of the individual are to be taken seriously, we must do away with all sorts of discri- minatory practices; we must admit the indepen- dence movements in colonial territories, recognize that poverty in any part of the world constitutes a danger to prosperity in any other part. We must not acclaim racial extermination, enslavement or 136 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS segregation, but work for racial harmony. In large parts of the world there are millions of people who, on account of their race, have no share in the civi- lizations surrounding them. In this Organization we must try to look within ourselves, to find out our insufficiencies, remedy them and get together in a spirit of humility and understanding. The international situation is somewhat better. The difficulties are many, the hazards are great but there is hope in the air. We find that the situation has improved to some extent. In Korea the war has stopped. Anxiety, however, is felt that there is no unification of Korea yet. It must be brought about on the basis of free elections. The Indo- China war has ceased and it is the general hope that the three States of Laos, Cambodia and Viet-Nam may be- come independent and answerable to themselves. Any outside interference with these States may spoil the chances of a democratic settlement. The Anglo- Egyptian agreement about Suez is a considerable step towards peace in West Asia. In regard to the colonial problems many are still unsolved, though marked advance is noticeable in regard to the future of the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Tunisia and Greenland. I may be pardoned here for referring to a small colonial problem, the matter of the French possessions in India. It has been solved in a peaceful, democratic, civilized way. I should like to congratulate the Government and the people of France and their great Prime Minister, who has UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 137 been acting with rare courage, vision and foresight on international questions. France, that gave the world the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity can do no other. The ticklish problem of Trieste has also been settled with the goodwill of the Powers concerned. The other one of the Saar is, I hope, nearing solu- tion. Even in regard to the problem of disarmament, we see some signs of revived hope. While we are glad that the outstanding questions are being tackled, it is unfortunate that in many of these matters the United Nations Organization has been by-passed. In the Geneva Conferences about Indo- China, we had discussions with the People's Govern- ment of China, and their attitude was co-operative and helpful and yet that Government is still un- represented in the United Nations, so the Indo- China Conference had to be held outside the auspices of the United Nations, thereby weakening the strength of the United Nations itself. In spite of all its defects, the United Nations is a symbol of the human hope for unity which we have been seeking for centuries. The spark of the spirit of man has compelled its creation. Science and mechanical ingenuity have been busy for more than four centuries in knitting together the whole habit- able surface of the planet by a system of communi- cations. ,Every form of human intercourse is rendered possible. The political unification of society is inevitable. The present system of a world broken up 138 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS into sixty or seventy national States is an anachro- nism in an age which has discovered the technique of flying and the making of the atom bomb. Will unification be brought about by force, which, in this atomic age, will mean not only material but moral devastation, or will it be by the alternative method to war, voluntary co-operation without the use of violence and coercion ? The United Nations asks us to learn to live in a world community and not die of the disease of chauvinistic nationalism. We may be French, we may be German, we may be American, we may be Russian, but we are essen- tially human beings. Let us not overlook that fundamental fact. The weakness of the United Nations is the human weakness. If it is not able to function better it is not because there is anything wrong about the Organi- zation, but we members working this Organization are deficient in our moral capacity. We still believe in nationalism, though we aspire to be members of the international community. Powerful nations in the world are attempting to use the United Nations and its Agencies as instruments of their national policies. If we are to develop an international outlook, it is essential that member nations should, at any rate in their relations with international organizations, subordinate national considerations to international obligations, which they do not always do. I am afraid that in our attempts to defend demo- UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 139 cracy, we are throwing away the content of demo- cracy. Governments are becoming more centralized, more thorough in their administration, more coer- cive on their citizens, more effective in their control of thought and opinion, even in democratic States. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great liberal, who was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, once wrote that 'freedom of speech is freedom for the thought we hate'. There is no freedom in allowing freedom to express whatever we desire. If we allow freedom to the people who express undesirable, even poisonous thoughts, it is then that we are the advocates of freedom. To attempt to compel persons to believe and live as we do is not a feature of democracy and has been a perpetual source of strife in the world. Evangelism in politics, in business, in religion, will have to be restrained if we are to live together in this world. We should not punish people for holding opinions which are unpopular or distasteful, we can punish them only if they commit offences or violate the laws of the land. We must assume people to be innocent unless they are proved to be guilty, and not hold them to be guilty until they prove them- selves to be innocent. If the drift to totalitarianism in democracies continues, there will be nothing left for democracies to defend. The Programme and the Budget of UNESCO will come up for detailed consideration in these three or four weeks. I do not wish to anticipate or prejudge 140 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS your discussions and decisions. In considering the different items on the agenda, the main objective of the UNESCO, education for living in a world community with all that it means by way of funda- mental education, international understanding and co-operation, economic development, improvement of health and community development, will have to be borne in mind. The gross result of the Second World War was not the defeat of the Axis Powers they have all been regaining their former positions, and we welcome that but the real result of the Second World War was the rise of Asia and Africa. A large number of countries in the East have gained their indepen- dence China, Pakistan, India, Burma, Indonesia, Ceylon, etc. The outstanding fact of these countries is their mass misery, and the redeeming feature is their anxiety to rescue themselves from the back- ward conditions in which they found themselves. What they are attempting to do is to raise their standards, standards of literacy, standards of health and sanitation; it is here that UNESCO is helpful. If we help to remove destitution and despair, we safeguard better the interests of peace. It is the one way of demonstrating that we are members one of another. This Organization has been concerned with the spread of fundamental education. It regards illi- teracy as the main disease from which millions of people in the world suffer . We are using all the mass UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 141 media for the spread of literacy. But fundamental education is not to be confused merely with the acquisition of information and skill. We have to impart scientific habits of mind. The immense im- pact of mass media in our lives encourages passivity, acquiescence and conformity. Young minds are exposed to surface objectivity, to slogans and catch- words, to the acceptance and elaboration of the obvious. We all eat, think, hear and read substantial- ly the same things. We are developing stereotyped attitudes of mind. We are resisting independent thought, individual creativeness or contemplation. But these are the ways by which we can best contri- bute to human welfare. The greatest works of scienti- fic genius, metaphysical insight, these are all done in those few moments when individuals sink into themselves and try to contemplate and meditate. These great achievements have all been made by individuals who have been able to resist the current of the crowd and have been able to sit alone and still and reflect for themselves. If these mass media are going to make our minds automata, if they are going to kill our spirit, then they are the gravest danger. Essential as they are, educators must be on their guard so far as the disadvantages of these things are concerned. For a moment, please do not imagine that I am trying to discourage the use of mass media, I am merely warning you against the abuse of mass media, which reduces human indivi- duals into robots. That has to be prevented. 142 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS The most essential need of our age is the spirit of religion religion not in the small sense of the term but in its largest sense. Think true, live love they constitute the essence of religion. The pursuit of money and pleasure, the technological civilization, is killing the power of mind and spirit. T. S. Eliot said, when we pass away, the wind will blow over the ruins of our homes saying : Here were decent godless people; Their only moment the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls. That would be the comment on this civilization if it becomes merely technological and ceases to be moral. In UNESCO we should make fundamental edu- cation, to youth and adults, to all of us, base itself on the twin principles of truth and love. Reverence for all life should be created in the minds and hearts of the young. Education, to be complete, must be humane, it must include not only the training of the intellect but the refinement of the heart and the discipline of the spirit. No education can be re- garded as complete if it neglects the heart and the spirit. We live today in a state of cold war, that is, armed fear. It is not peace that we are having, but a pre- carious equilibrium in which dissension does not declare itself because of mutual fear. It is not a state of order ; there is no inward tranquillity. We have to build up loyalty to the world community in men's UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE 143 hearts and minds. Only then shall we have a human society bound by love of one and the same end; then the outer order will be the spontaneous ex- pression of the inward peace. To build that peace in the minds of men is our task. No nation in this world can hold its place of primacy in perpetuity. What counts is the moral contribution we make to human welfare. Let us, therefore, try and develop the qualities of charity in judgment and compassion for people who are suffering. If we adopt such an approach, the tensions of the world will diminish rapidly. There are many misunderstandings. We can build peace even on the basis of misunderstandings. When once peace is built, misunderstandings will diminish. In the words of St. Paul : "If it be possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone.' I have great pleasure in declaring open the Eighth General Conference of UNESCO. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CHARTER DAY DINNER 30 October, 1954 MAY I, on behalf of the Universities of India, express to you on this auspicious occasion our deep gratitude for the outstanding services to science and scholarship which this great University has ren- dered in the last 200 years ? V The contemporary world situation brings to my mind a significant short story. Christ came from a white plain to a purple city and as He passed through the first street, He heard voices overhead, and saw a young man lying drunk on a window- sill. "Why do you waste your time in drunkenness?" He said. "Lord, I was a leper and you healed me, what else can I do ?" A little further through the town He saw a young man following a harlot, and said : "Why do you dissolve your soul in debau- chery ?" and the young man answered : "Lord, I was blind and you healed me, what else can I do ?" At last in the middle of the city He saw an old man crouching weeping upon the ground, and when He asked why he wept, the old man answered : "Lord, I was dead, and You raised me unto life, what else can I do but weep ?" * ^ Health, wealth, leisure and life itself which science can further are the opportunities for a higher With Mr Louis St. Laurent, 22 1954 f Inaugurating the Round Conference on Teaching of Social Sciences in South Asia, Delhi, 15 February, With 22 1955 the New Delhi, 12 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 145 life. Our distressed generation is obscurely aware that the present crisis is a spiritual one and what we need is a healing of the discord between the outward resources of power which are assuming frightful proportions and the inward resources of spirit which seem to be steadily declining. j To redeem and re-create our civilization we need a recovery of spiritual awareness, a new and trans- forming contact with the inner springs of life, a sense of value. It is my earnest hope and prayer that this great University may send forth in the years to come men and women of skill and ability, of vision and courage, of wisdom and virtue, who are incap- able of fear and impatient of injustice. BOMBAY BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY: 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 4 December, 1954 I AM grateful to the management of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for their kind- ness in asking me to preside over this meeting which concludes your 150th anniversary celebrations. It was on November 26, 1 804, that a few enlightened Englishmen started the small Society which has developed into this great organization. I am glad you had on this November 26th a public meeting to celebrate the event, which was presided over by the great jurist, scholar and educationist, Dr Jayakar. Twenty years previous to 1804, in 1784, the Bengal Asiatic Society was founded; and 20 years after 1804, in 1825, the Asiatic Society of London was established. The initiative in all these three movements was taken by a few Englishmen who, for different reasons, took to Asian studies. Whether it is the consciousness of the responsibi- lity of government or the urge for evangelism or the spirit of exploration, enquiry, widening one's horizon by bursting the bonds of one's own limited culture or the pure joy of contemplating the wond- rous works of man under distant skies, whatever be ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, BOMBAY 147 the motive, we owe to these English pioneers an immense debt of gratitude not only for their impres- sive achievements, but for the impulse they gave to the study of our past. Warren Hastings defended in his Council Charles Wilkins' rendering of the Mahdbhdratd a work which I have not come across as a work that 'may open a new and most exten- sive range for the human mind beyond the present limited and beaten field of its operations'. He wrote an introduction to Wilkins' version of the Bhagavad- gitd, noting privately that it was 'part of a system which I long since laid down and supported for reconciling the people of England to the natives. of Hindustan'. When he took some steps for the pro- tection of the pilgrims to Banaras, he said that he did so for 'conciliating a great people to a dominion which they see with envy and bear with reluctance'. Though his interest in Indian classics grew out of a political purpose, he eventually developed an admiration for the classics of India like the Bhaga- vadgitd which, he declared, would live "when the British dominion in India has long ceased to exist and when the sources which it once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance'. The universality of interest which this Society has acquired is obvious from the fact that it counts among its precious possessions not only several Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu manuscripts but also European classics such as an early edition of Dante's Divine Comedy and the first folio of Shakespeare. Des- 148 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS pite all differences of colour, race, religion, climate, there is a deep affinity of mind and spirit between the East and the West which transcends all variations. Terence's statement is well known : 'I am a man; I reckon nothing that is human alien to me. 5 If we are to shape a community of spirit among the peo- ples of the world which is essential for a truly human society and lasting peace, we must forge bonds of international understanding. This can be achieved by an acquaintance with the masterpieces of literature, art and science produced in different countries. When we are in contact with them, we are lifted from the present and the immediate pas- sions and interests and move on the mountain tops where we breathe a larger air. sarhsara-visa-vrksasya dve phale amrtopame kdvydmrta-rasdsvddah salldpah sajjanais saha. An affectionate regard for the past and an ima- ginative interest in the life of other times give us a sense of perspective, an equipoise which is so essen- tial in times of tension. Whatever our immediate exigencies may be, we should not abandon moral values. Though the Society was started by a few British members, its gates were thrown open to Indians in 1840, the first Indian to be elected being Mr Maneckji Cursetji. The Society has enjoyed the patronage of the progressive and prosperous com- munity of the Parsees. A large number of distin- guished Indian scholars have made notable contri- ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, BOMBAY 149 butions to our knowledge of the past. The names of Bhau Daji, Mandlik, Yajnik, Bhandarkar, Bhaga- wanlal Indraji, Telang, Ranade, J. J. Modi, Sukhtankar, Belvalkar and Kane spring to our mind* They have built bridges from the past to the present and served as cultural intermediaries be- tween India and the rest of the world. I hope the present generation of students will be stimulated by the examples of these great scholars and keep the torch of learning alight to continue the supremacy in scholarship which has been so well established by this Society for over a century. The activities of your Society illustrate Indo- British co-operation in the field of Asian studies, more specially Indian culture. Your membership includes men of all races, cultures and nations. Even the honours you bestow commemorate British and Indian names, Campbell and Kane. Recipients of these honours also belong to different nations. The world is my country, All mankind are my brethren, To do good is my religion, I believe in one God and no more. Thomas Paine The intellectual renaissance which we see in our country today is due to no small extent to the activities of the members of the Society. Many cul- tural movements of this part of India were stimu- lated by them. Historic events are not always shaped by the acts of statesmen. They are moulded by the hidden currents flowing beneath the surface of poli- 150 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS tical history of which we cannot predict the out- come. We influence these hidden currents only by changing opinion. We change opinion by affirming truth, unveiling error, dissipating hate and enlarg- ing men's minds and hearts. This essential work is the special function of this Society. One of the most significant political facts of our time is the rise of Asian countries China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon and their in- creasing influence in world affairs. The need to understand the Asian mind has become important and the work of societies like this will be of great importance in promoting understanding between Asia and Europe. It is sad that the excellent work of the Society is hampered by lack of funds. You are unable to have printed catalogues of books and manuscripts, which are essential for any research work. In a prosperous city like Bombay, with influential persons on your management, with a sympathetic Government in power, and above all with solid work to your credit, I have no doubt that financial difficulties will be soon overcome. We cannot pride ourselves on our love of learning and allow such institutions to languish. There is a story in Greek mythology. The Greek Eos, answering to the Vedic Usas, the immortal Goddess of the Dawn, fell in love with the mortal king of the Ethiopians. She besought her fellow Olympians to confer on her human lover the im- ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, BOMBAY 151 mortality which she and her colleagues enjoyed. Though they were jealous of their divine privileges, they yielded to her importunity. She forgot, how- ever, that the immortality of the Olympians was matched with perpetual youth. Eos and her aging human mate were cursing their fate, for the merciful hand of Death could not come to their rescue by putting an end to his growing senility and affliction. Unless we preserve the spirit of youth, keep an open mind and change our beliefs and practices we can- not endure. India has endured for centuries; it is because she has kept her spirit of youth. She can keep alive only if she does not idolize her institutions, does not turn them into ends in themselves. To preserve the thought, spirit and inspiration of this ancient land and let them inform our customs and institutions are the tasks assigned to this generation of scholars. May this Society continue to do its useful work for many years to come. EXHIBITION OF CANADIAN PAINTINGS, DELHI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 13 January, 1955 IT is very kind of you to refer to my recent visits to Canada where I found a good deal of sympathy and understanding of our efforts, national and inter- national. Your great Prime Minister by his visit to our country, by his courage and forthrightness, strengthened the close bonds of goodwill and friend- ship between our two countries. We appreciate the assistance which we have received from Canada through the Colombo Plan, and we are now co- operating in the difficult and delicate task of the Supervisory Commissions in Indo-China. All these, however, belong to the political and economic plane and history is not all politics and economics. There- fore, we are specially glad to welcome this exhibition of Canadian paintings. Canadian art, like Canadian thought and life, was for a long time derivative in character, reflecting the influences of the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America. Today, she has attained cultural maturity and this exhibition of paintings manifests the artistic development of a resourceful and gifted people. If art is national in its roots, it is universal in its EXHIBITION OF CANADIAN PAINTINGS 153 significance. Great art has in it the suggestion of a good life, not merely for the members of its nation but for all men. It is a search for a deeper and more complete understanding of man. It enlarges our sensibility, purifies our instincts and lifts us above the harsh realities of everyday life and gives us a sense of mental and spiritual refreshment. It is generally said that art is an expression of a higher order which supervenes on the natural activities of man. If happiness is like the bloom on the cheeks of youth, if grace is the perfection of nature, art manifests the deeper impulses, the poetry residing in the hearts of men. An ancient Vedic saying points out that art is born of excess, that creative activity arises whenever physical and vital needs are satisfied. It is born out of our superfluity. Whereas it is the function of the State to provide clothing and shelter, it should not socialize intellec- tual and artistic endeavour. The highest work of genius is individual, free, unregimented and un- controlled. The artist walks where the breath of spirit takes him. He cannot be told his direction. He does not perhaps know it himself. The State can give art courage, confidence and opportunity. It is to be a patron, not a mentor. The mechanics of living must be organized but the art of living should be entirely free. The individual today is beaten by organization. He is dwarfed, imposed upon, brushed aside by his group or party, business or propaganda. Govern- 154 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS ments are becoming more and more centralized and more effective in moulding the minds of people. Freedom of the human spirit is difficult and fragile and unless we preserve it no great art is possible. It is the result of the disciplined intelligence of free men and I hope that while our democracies will do everything for feeding, clothing and housing our people, they will leave the spirit of man free. We had an exhibition of Indian paintings in Canada and this exhibition of Canadian paintings here which I have the honour to inaugurate will help the growth of mutual understanding and friendship between our two countries. DELHI UNIVERSITY SPECIAL CONVOCATION* 22 March, 1955 IT gives me great pleasure to take part in this func- tion and confer the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science on Sir Cecil Wakeley, formerly President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In his life and work we see a combination of profession with passion; and his forceful personality has played a great role in inspiring our young men and women to achieve the high standards of surgery which now obtain in this country. In India we have been aiming at the improve- ment of our standards of health because we believe that without physical fitness the well being of mind and spirit are not possible. dharmdrtha-kdma-moksdndm arogyam mulam uttamam I hope, Sir Cecil, this country will have the guidance of your genius for many years to come. * Address as Chancellor admitting Sir Cecil Wakeley to an Honorary Degree of Delhi University DELHI UNIVERSITY SPECIAL CONVOCATION* 16 April, 1955 IT is a great happiness for us to count you, Miss Helen Keller, among our graduates. If the quality of greatness consists in the triumph of the human spirit over apparently insuperable obstacles, we have a notable example of greatness in our new Graduate. Physical handicaps generally result in an impoverishment of life; but they have been used in this instance for the enrichment of life with an implacable faith and a concentrated purpose. When two of her senses were cut off others became more powerful. Physical blindness opened her inward eyes to the light within : pratyagatmanam aiksad avrttacaksuh. The message of her life has been a message of hope. Her tour in the country has moved us to expand the facilities for the relief of the sightless and the hard of hearing. We know how great a force for good a single human being can be. May she con- tinue to dispense hope and happiness to the physi- cally handicapped for many years to come. * Address as Chancellor admitting Miss Helen Keller to an Honorary Degree of Delhi University THE INDIAN SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, NEW DELHI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1 October, 1955 I AM happy to be here and inaugurate the Indian School of International Studies. I should like to congratulate the Chairman, Dr Hridaya Nath Kunzru, and the Governing Body of the School on their enterprise in establishing this School which will fulfil a real need of the University. The programme of a university is expected to keep pace with the development of life and the progress of society. Our students should be trained to live in a world where international relations dominate all human concerns. All religions have proclaimed the oneness of the human community. Though it was the implication of all religions, the conditions and forces for reali- zing this dream of ages have not been available till our time. Today , mankind in all parts of the world are being steadily and inevitably moulded by the forces of history and geography, science and techno- logy, into a single human community. There is a growing sense of international interdependence ; the Hague Court, the Workers' International, the close industrial and financial ties that bind the different countries, the League of Nations, the United 158 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Nations Organization itself, they all demonstrate that the order of social life based on the concept of an international society is being slowly established. This growing international society involves us in international relations which are tackled by states- men and diplomats. In a university, however, we treat these problems from an academic or scientific point of view, study relations of nations, the laws, principles, tendencies, forces which come into play when nations get into close and intimate relations with one another. Social and political sciences which were hitherto viewed from a strictly national point of view are to be studied from a broader angle. The field of International Studies covers several subjects from natural sciences to moral philosophy, from geography to metaphysics. While the different international organizations deal with problems as they arise from time to time, university students must consider the play of ideas, the variety, the dis- cursiveness, the simultaneity of the world, the different national traditions and their interactions. We should become aware not only of facts, needs and peoples but of goals, norms and values. While we should study the actual relations of Governments and peoples, we should also know how we should behave towards people who live outside our national boundaries. What we see in the world today is the struggle between the still powerful tradition of national sov- ereignty and the emerging international order based INDIAN SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 159 on the concept, not only of the unity of mankind but of the community of mankind. The many acts of aggression, of violations of the rule of law among nations such as it is, of over-emphasis on national sovereignty are the main obstacles to international co-operation. But if we look at the direction of the evolution of mankind, the present agitations, con- flicting interests, divergent ambitions of peoples must be solved by peaceful methods. Nations of the world are profoundly convinced that another war would mean the collapse of present-day civilization. The development of nuclear power and its concen- tration in two groups have brought us to the end of the military road for the settlement of international disputes. It is clear that the alternatives are mutual survival or mutual destruction. Crush or conciliate your enemy, said Machiavelli. The perception of this obvious truth has resulted in an improvement in the international situation. While we combat for peace in this period of vacillation, we should re- affirm the concepts of international community, co-operation and the reign of law. Diplomacy has had till now a somewhat dubious reputation. What was said of logic by a well-known master of Balliol may be said of Diplomacy. 'Is it a science ? no; is it an art ? no. What is it then, a dodge ?' It has not thus far been linked to moral principles which regulate dealings between individuals, If we are to help the present society to grow organically into a world order, we must make it 160 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS depend on the universal and enduring values which are implanted in the human heart, that each indi- vidual is sacred, that we are born for love and not hate. We must recognize the worth and inalienable rights of the individual as supreme and proclaim that sovereignty resides not in the State but in man. This is the meaning of the Declaration of Human Rights. The State is the servant of the people. If these principles are to guide us, we must try to settle disputes peacefully, protect nations against the use of lawless force, and develop modes of com- munication which will permit various civilizations to enrich and not destroy one another. We have learned to live peacefully in larger and larger units. The concept of a community has grown from a narrow tribal basis to the Nation State. There is no stopping short of a world community. We must replace anarchy by order in the international community. Our PanchaSila focuses attention on the main objectives of the U.N. Charter : /. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty Cf. Article 2, Clause 4 : 'All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political indepen- dence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.' INDIAN SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 161 2. Non-aggression Cf. Article 2, Clause 3: 'All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and jus- tice, are not endangered/ 3. Non-interference in each other's affairs Cf. Article 2, Clause 7 : "Nothing con- tained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settle- ment under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the applica- tion of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.' 4. Equality and mutual benefit Cf. Article 2, Clauses 1 & 2 : 'The Orga- nization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.' C A11 Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from Membership, shall fulfil in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accor- dance with the present Charter.' 5. Peaceful co-existence This is covered by the Clause in the Preamble : 'To practise tolerance and live 11 162 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS together in peace with one another as good neighbours/ As war is the climax of international misunder- standing, so is peace the outcome of proper under- standing among nations. We must achieve inter- national accord by co-operating in solving problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character, by promoting and encouraging respect for the human rights of all, irrespective of race, sex, language, or religion. Naturally this School will lay stress on the study of the political, economic and cultural organizations of our close neighbours. A new Asia, which is eager to throw off foreign domination, anxious to catch up with the twentieth century, determined to achieve tolerable conditions of life for their oppressed, ill-nourished, ignorant, illiterate fellow beings, the right to be themselves and to be answerable to themselves is the principal feature of our age. Our great neighbour China after centuries of unrest, chaos, strife and oppression has now emerged as a strong Power, eager to develop her resources and raise her standards. We ourselves gained our political independence eight years ago and are engaged in the task of economic and social reconstruction. The backwardness of Asian and African nations has been a perpetual source of economic rivalry and strife among the advanced nations of the world. If they become economically and socially advanced, one great source of conflict will be removed. INDIAN SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 163 Historians tell us that there is no visible pattern in human society. It only means that there is nothing inevitable in human affairs. Our future depends on the way in which human beings will act and I hope that those who are working in this Institution will develop a world-mindedness. Whe- ther we like it or not we live in one world. We require to be educated to a common conception of human purpose and destiny. The different nations should live together as members of the human race, not as hostile powers but as friendly partners in the endea- vour of civilization. The strong shall help the weak and all shall belong to the one world of free nations, a community, catholic, comprehensive and co- operative. May this School and its workers help to bring this day nearer. GUJARAT UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION ADDRESS 8 October, 1955 T THANK you all for giving me this opportunity to JL come here and speak to you. A Convocation Speaker is expected to give advice to the students. I don't suppose students generally relish advice. Apart from students even elders do not relish advice. Graduation marks the end of one stage and the beginning of another and the graduates of this year have my very best wishes for a useful, happy, pros- perous career. They are entering life at a very significant juncture in the history of our country. Eight years ago, we won independence. That in- dependence has been only political. We are not constrained by any external authority to behave in this way or that way, the entire initiative rests with us. Before independence, whenever anything went wrong, we had the excuse 'it is all due to foreign domination'. That excuse has disappeared. As the Buddha has said, we suffer from ourselves. None else compels. Today we have freedom to shape the future of our country in any manner we choose. If we are able to shape that future with knowledge, with vision, with courage, we may have a great future. I should like to tell the students that what they have learnt here, intellectual habits, GUJARAT UNIVERSITY 165 moral character, these things will stand them in good stead and they will be able to make effective contributions to the upbuilding of our country when they enter life. I wish to congratulate this University on the progress that it has made, I am informed that last year the University started two Departments : of Gujarati Language and Literature, and Social Sciences. There is a wrong feeling about Social Sciences, which I should like to dispel. There are many people who think that just as Physical Sciences give us control over material nature, Social Sciences give us control over man's nature. A very distinguished educationist, Lord Beveridge said : 'Just as we control through natural sciences the physical world, hereafter we will be able to control human nature by a study of social sciences.' This is not quite correct. You will find also Lord Adrian addressing last year the British Association of Science at Oxford say : we have come to a time when by pressing a button it will be possible for us to obliterate two-thirds of the world and if we understand the nature of human behaviour, we may be able to avert that catastrophe. Mere understand- ing of human behaviour, of the manner in which man acts in society, is not enough. There have been people in this world who took hold of the weapons of science and the techniques of psychology, orga- nized the cupidities of men into gigantic and terri- fying systems of material power. 166 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Today, the forces of geography, history, science and technology are making the world interdepen- dent. They are welding us into one world and the concentration of nuclear power in two great centres constitutes a challenge. Either we may enter life or death. We have either to live together or to die together. That is what Social Sciences tell us. It depends on our behaviour. But Social Sciences do not educate the human mind with regard to the norms, the goals, the purposes. If we want to use our knowledge, physical and social, for the regeneration of humanity, Social Sciences by themselves are not enough. They supply us with instruments, but those instruments may be used or abused by man. So the transformation of man is more essential than mere acquisition of knowledge. Statistics, economics, politics, psychology they are all empirical sciences. They give us facts, they give us principles, they tell us how men will behave when confronted with certain circumstances. But how men should behave, what attitude they should adopt, what behaviour they should impose upon themselves, what self- control they have to insist on these things are not given by Social Sciences. When we have a Depart- ment of Social Sciences, let it be understood that Social Sciences will have to be supplemented by Social Philosophy, Social Ethics. These are the disciplines that we require. There is another danger with regard to Social Sciences. The moment we use the word 'science', GUJARAT UNIVERSITY 167 we at once think that society acts in obedience to certain laws, that there are certain predictable features, that it is possible for us to make society conform to certain principles. The Marxist view of history holds that there is such a thing as dialectical march of events. Spengler, for example, tells us that cultures are organisms and that world culture is a collective biography; birth, growth, age, decline, decay and death are all phenomena which apply to social institutions. Then again we are making the mistake which raises the age-old problem whether history makes man or man makes history. Our an- swer has been : raja kdlasya kdranam. We have always said that the individuals of genius incite revolutions, change the course of history. They start new epochs. It is the individuals who mould society. A great historian of Europe, H. A. L. Fisher, said a few years ago : C I see no predetermined plan, no pattern, no rhythm in history.' There is the play of the contin- gent, the play of the unseen, the play of the incal- culable, of the unpredictable, that's how he put it. He meant that the human factors determined the course of history. We should not think that the events are overwhelming and man is just a petty, puny creature unable to cope with the forces of the world. That has not been our view of life. We have always believed that it is possible for individuals of genius to mould the course of history. We can re- mould the pattern of society. We can refashion our social structures and organizations. In this city with 168 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS which Gandhiji has been associated, it is unneces- sary for me to dilate upon the importance of the individuals so far as the historical progress is con- cerned. People may remain outside history, but they make history in a very real sense by the very attitude of withdrawing, so to say, from the work of society. So there is no point in our saying : what can we do, the circumstances are too much for us, therefore we have to succumb. There is no such thing as inevitability in history. There is such a thing as the play of the human factor in the recast- ing of society. Our students must go out with faith in the free spirit of man; they must go out with the faith that it is open to them to remake themselves every day. Every day we are recasting our own nature; for the worse or for the better, we are recreating ourselves perpetually. If we want to transform possibilities into actualities, what is necessary is the exercise of this freedom, of the sub- jectivity which the human individuals have. As I said in the beginning, it is our hope to convert the political freedom into true freedom in the social, cultural and the economic sense. We cannot bring about this conversion by merely sitting down with folded hands. We can do it with our brains, with our hands, with our sacrifice, with our sufferings. These are the means vouchsafed to us for trans- forming our aspirations into actualities, possibili- ties into realities. Universities are expected to prepare young men and women with not only infor- GUJARAT UNIVERSITY 169 mation, knowledge and skill but also spirit of dedi- cation and detachment. These qualities are essential for the stupendous task of remaking the history of this great country. I do hope, Mr Chancellor, that your University is turning out boys and girls not merely possessed of learning but also endowed with purpose and vision. Universities are not mere places of learning. They are homes of culture. They are centres for the making of men and women. Man-making is the task that has been assigned to the universities in our country today. Are we making men, are we merely turning out people who can repeat parrot- like certain passages, or are we giving them a refine- ment of feeling, a civilizing of their purposes, a ripening of their understanding, both of nature and of society ? That is the supreme test of the functioning of any university. And if we are not able to fulfil this purpose we are responsible for the failure. You, Mr Chancellor, referred to the distemper which prevails in certain places in our country. I have been a teacher for over forty years of my life. I want to tell you there is nothing radically wrong about our students. I want to say that we are not giving them the opportunities which they should have. Look at our teachers : no man is a true teacher, if he has not love for his subject arid en- thusiasm for transmitting his zeal to the pupils. They should, of course, be placed above the verge of want. But we cannot have teachers who feel that 170 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS they are first and foremost members of a party, or a clan, or a caste, or a community; who are not able to rise above all these considerations and serve the interests of the society as a whole. We should strive to make our boys and girls citizens of this great country. It is essential that the teachers of a university or a college should be selected with the utmost care. They must be selected not merely for their intellectual competence, but for their love of the subjects, their enthusiasm for making the students grow in their hands. These are very essential. Again, we have got unwieldy classes. A class room which can accommodate about 150 people is sup- posed to contain 500. What are we encouraging in such a class, if it is not indiscipline ? It is impossible for us to make a class room of 150 contain 500 by any amount of congestion which we can bring about. Then again, are there any extra-curricular activities ? In most of the colleges, which arc over- crowded, the teachers are few, the boys are many and there are no opportunities for them to express themselves in free, artistic, emotional, or intellectual activities. In other words, unless we have scope for the expression of the individual's full personality, our college or our university will be a failure. I know that there have been some cases of boys laps- ing into moral and spiritual dissolution. If we are not to imperil the future of our country, priority number one must be given to education. There GUJARAT UNIVERSITY 171 is no point in our bringing about material rehabili- tation, having large dams, etc., if the men we turn out are small and petty-minded. Unless the men themselves become large-hearted, vigorous in their intellect and refined in their minds, they will not be able to utilize all the conveniences and comforts which we are placing at their disposal. What's the good of bringing about a change in the environment if we do not bring about a change in mind ? We must change ourselves and if we have to change ourselves, we have to start this process in the institutions which cater to the needs of students. Therefore, greater attention requires to be paid both by the State and the Central Governments to see to it that colleges have restricted admissions, have adequate staff, and there is a living communi- cation between the teacher and the students. A conversation across the table with a * wise teacher is much better than a long course of study. Have we opportunities in the present ill-equipped and ill-staffed colleges for that kind of personal intercourse between the students and the teachers ? So long as we do not have it, what's the good of our saying that students are suffering from a distemper or the university standards are falling ? I want the youth to be given a fair and square deal. It is essential for us, for the Government, to bring about an altogether different orientation, so far as the educational reconstruction of our country is concerned. And I do hope that those in power, 172 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS those who are governing the country will take these things into account. The States Reorganization Committee Report is to be published the day after tomorrow formally, though it has been substantially released already. That again shows the lack of discipline in high places. Anyway, there is going to be a redrawing of the boundaries of our States. In all this we have to remember that this country has been for centuries a single country. When the Chinese pilgrims came here, they went to all parts in this country, to the North, to the South. When our people went out as representatives of our culture to China, they did not go from any one part. They went from different parts of India to spread the message of the Buddha or of Shaivism. So from those early centuries, when our Mahdbhdratd talks about Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Kashmira, etc., and when Samkaracharya esta- blished his four Mathas in the four corners of India, the one thing that they wanted to impress on us was the unity of this great land. Whatever may be the minor differences or adjustments that may take place, they must not militate against this sense of the oneness of our great country. Whenever we suffered in our history, it was because provincial, caste, communal differences came to be exag- gerated; whenever we succeeded, it was because such differences were ignored and we stood up united to win our goal. Unity means strength and progress. Linguism, provincialism, caste conscious- GUJARAT UNIVERSITY 173 ness, etc. will mean dispersal of our energies and the downfall of our country. It is essential, therefore, that we should take into account this one great fact that whatever our pro- vinces may be, whatever differences may take place in them, we belong to this great land, which was responsible for much of the art and culture of the whole of the East. It is Shaivism, it is Buddhism, that went out there. Shiva, the Mahd Togi, the Buddha, the great Compassionate One they constitute, they symbolize for us the essence of religion. Deepen your awareness, extend your love. Ab- hqya y freedom from fear, ahimsa, freedom from hate : one is the inward, the other is the outward aspect of true religion. All other things are embroidery, paraphernalia. They do not touch the essentials of religion. If we harbour in our thoughts evil, greed, malice, violence, spirit of superiority, pride, we are not religious men. If, on the other hand, we are able to rid our mind and our thought of these impulses and if we always behave with generosity and with love, we have the spirit of true religion. Our people say, the one important purpose of all universities is integration of the individual and the society. The question was raised in the Upanisad : 'What is tapasT Different answers were given. Ultimately someone said svddhyaya pravacana, that is tapas. svadhyaya, study, reflection, research, ad- vance of knowledge and pravacana, communication 174 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS of it, transmission of it to others. We must advance knowledge and communicate it. Love of learning has been our precious possession all these centuries. Let us cling to it. THE DELHI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS INAUGURAL ADDRESS 18 January, 1956 FROM the previous speeches it is clear that this School interprets the concept of a Welfare State in a broad and human way. Welfare is not to be confused with merely physical or material welfare. One of the great economists, Alfred Marshall, in the opening chapter of his work, Principles of Economics, said : 'The two great forming agencies of the world's history have been the religious and the econo- mic. Here and there the ardour of the military or the artistic spirit has been for a while predominant, but religious and economic influences have nowhere been displaced from the front rank even for a time and they have nearly always been more important than all others put together.' The divorce between the two has done great harm to society. The sickness of our society, its unease, lies deep in our soul. Con- flicts in the world are conflicts in the human heart writ large. The outer conflicts between men will cease if men are at peace within themselves. This School is the outcome not of a bright idea, but of a deep faith that study and research in economic thought should be controlled by wisdom. Those who work in it are expected to be imbued with a social vision, a social awareness, a social purpose. ' 176 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS We should work for the improvement of the material conditions of our fellow-beings. The face of our society is scarred by the extremes of wealth and poverty, of affluence and want. Power cor- rupts a few, but poverty corrupts millions. If the latter challenge the existent order, it is not due to malice, greed, or resentment, but to a sense of utter inadequacy and helplessness, the realization that these conditions are not inevitable but are preven- table. Society is a single whole. If one part of it exploits another, the whole suffers. If we hurt one hand with the other, it is the individual who suffers. That is why our democracy should become socia- listic if it is to save itself. If it does not in a few years effect improvements in the material standards of our ordinary people, the future of our democracy will be in peril. There are no statutory methods for the achieve- ment of socialism. We are not prisoners of any ideologies. We are not inhibited by any doctrinaire considerations. Take this School. It is due to the initiative, energy, enterprise, public spirit, strength of emotion and power of mind of Dr Rao. Though it gets Government aid, it is not under Government control. It is, therefore, in a position to undertake independent investigations and offer competent advice and criticism to the Government. We do not claim that our Government can do no wrong. It may not do so consciously or deliberately, but as human institutions Governments are also fallible, THE DELHI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS 177 and we require free, honest, dispassionate, con- structive criticism to help Governments. This day's ceremony marks another stage in the progress of this School. The reputation of a school depends not on its buildings and equipment, neces- sary as they are, but on the solid work which its members do. We should judge our work by the highest academic standards. I hope that members of this School started under such high auspices will work hard, will work honestly, will work with plea- sure and pride in their work and help the economic thinking, planning and progress of our country. This School has had from the beginning the in- spiring guidance of our Prime Minister who is the President of the fraternity. His presence here today is another indication of his deep interest in the School. We are grateful to him for finding some time for this function. I propose a very hearty vote of thanks to him. 12 WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE HEALTH CENTRE INAUGURAL ADDRESS 30 January, 1956 I AM happy to be here and declare open this health centre built by the World University Service with the help of the Government and the University Grants Commission. It is one of a number of activi- ties promoted by the World University Service in this University as well as in others. The World University Service is one expression, small but significant, of the growing unity of man- kind. A University by its very definition has a universal outlook. For it nothing human is alien. Its function is to develop a world community. This service helps people in different parts of the world to understand one another. In this country with its variety of regions and languages, the integrating factors of a national society are shared respect and affection for common ideals. Society is a partnership between the past, the present and the future. In a vast geographical region like India, diversity is only to be expected, but this diversity has to be subdued to national unity if we are to make any progress in the world. Here in Delhi University teachers and students from different parts of the country are brought WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE HEALTH CENTRE 179 together and get to know each other and develop a broad national outlook. Those who work in the University should aim at acquiring not only learning but culture, that refine- ment of the soul which we define as dtmasariiskrti. This refinement helps us to conquer the forces of greed and arrogance and develop a way of living, a standard of behaviour which requires us to take the interest of other members of society. Today, which is the eighth anniversary of the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, it is essential for us to undertake an inward searching of hearts. With many of us our culture is thin and superficial and at the first crisis it falls away and exposes our callous- ness, cruelty and lack of feelingfor others. We justify what we do on account of some alleged injustice and make our reason the servant or the instru- ment of our passion. Violence is a cowardly escape from patient negotiations and peaceful settlement of differences. When we urge the world to adjust the differences among nations by peaceful methods, if we resort to violent methods for vindicating what we regard as our rights we should not be surprised if the world puts us down for hypocrites, mithya- carinSy talking one thing and practising another, It is essential therefore that we must search our hearts, and discover the narrowness of mind which threatens our unity, diminishes our horizons and hampers our progress. Each one of us in the privacy of his own heart and soul must find out what is 180 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS wrong with him. We must work at tasks wider than our scope and range. We must commend our hurrying years to the care of a great cause, the welfare of this country and the world. With strength and faith we must work for building up a nation which will be invulnerable to the schemings of small men. I do hope that those who .study in this University and who are members of this World University Service will develop a largeness of out- look and generosity of heart and view the problems which face us with courage, strength and patience. PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION MAHABODHI SOCIETY, SANGHI DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS November 1952 I AM happy to be here on this auspicious occasion when the Mahabodhi Society is celebrating its diamond jubilee and the sacred relics of Sariputta and Mogallana arhats are being installed in this ancient Buddhist site. The Mahabodhi Society owes its origin to the enterprise, zeal and devotion of Anagarika Dharma- pala whom I had the honour of meeting in Calcutta in the last years of his life. Today when we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Mahabodhi Society, we should think of him in grateful memory. The Society is fortunate in having for its Secretary such a devoted and ardent worker as Devapriya Valisimha, to whose energetic enterprise we largely owe the return of these sacred relics to India. Gautama the Buddha is the voice of Asia, he is the conscience of the world. His message spread to Tibet, Burma and Ceylon, Cambodia, Annam, China and Japan. Buddhist religion and philoso- phy, literature and art have civilized a large part of humanity. Its spirit of reason and its ethics of love make it attractive to the modern mind. I may give one or two instances. Schopenhauer kept a golden Buddha in his modest bedroom. Anatole France 184 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS observes that 'Buddhism has a singular attraction for free minds' and that 'the charm of Sakyamuni works readily on an unprejudiced heart. And it is, if one thinks of it, wonderful that this spring of morality, which gushed from the foot of the Hima- layas before the blooming of the Hellenic genius, should have preserved its fruitful purity, its delicious freshness; and that the sage of Kapilavastu should be still the best of counsellors and the sweetest of consolers of our old suffering humanity/ c On the first of May 1890, chance directed me into the peaceful halls of Musee Guimet, and there alone, among the gods of Asia, in the shadow and silence of meditation, but still aware of the things of our own day, from which it is not permitted to any one to detach himself, I reflected on the harsh neces- sities of life, the law of toil, and the sufferings of existence; halting before a statue of the antique sage whose voice is still heard today by more than 400 millions of human beings, I admit that I felt tempted to pray to him as to a god, and to demand the secret of the proper conduct of life for which governments and peoples search in vain. It seemed as though the kindly ascetic, eternally young, seated crosslegged on the lotus of purity, with his right hand raised in admonition, answered in these two words, wisdom and compassion (prajna and karuna) .' Like all great religions in their purity, if we set aside the gross superstitions and the mean practices that disfigure them, Buddhism is compact of wisdom MAHABODHI SOCIETY 185 and love. Its philosophy of life and its code of con- duct appeal to the modern mind steeped in the spirit of science, for the Buddha's approach is rational and empirical. The Buddha does not ask us to accept anything on authority. He does not say, 'Thus is it said* but 'thus have I felt or experienced'. pariksya bhiksavo grahyam madvaco na tu gauravat. He asks us to accept his words, after testing them. We are not to rely on any external support but we should make our own self our support, the Eternal Law our refuge. The Buddha says : 'I leave you, I depart, having made the self my refuge.' 1 The voice of Spirit in us must be satis- fied. The Buddhas do but tell the way, it is for each one of us to swelter at the task. 2 The Buddha's authority, mahapadeia rests on his own personal experience. When, according to the legend, he saw a decrepit old man, a dead man, a diseased man, and a reli- gious mendicant, he discovered poverty and pain, sickness, old age and death. The shock of this discovery led him to renounce his luxurious home and become an ascetic. The affliction of the world roused the Buddha's compassion. The fallen and stricken state of the world at the deepest level of its being became a problem for him. He studied con- temporary systems, consulted the great teachers of 1 Digha N&aya, II, 120 * Dhammapada, 276 186 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the time and after disciplined meditation, dis- covered the truth of things. The Buddha is he whose name is truth, saccandma. What is real, sat is the truth, satya. Whatever is impermanent is asat or unreal. For those who have eyes to see and the spirit to respond, the world in which we live is a world of birth and death, growth and decay, in which nothing remains and nothing is ever repeated. There is nothing stable, nothing permanent in this world, marandntam hijivitam. The theme of impermanence, of flux, of change is pre- sented in different ways. The image of the turning wheel is used as a symbol of the world of becoming or existence. What is the remedy for the mortality which is inherent in all composite things ? The Buddha resolved to discover the secret of life eternal. So long as we cling to the contingent, caused existence, samskrta, we are in bondage to time but there is an uncomposite, asamskrta, 'an unborn, qjdta, an un- caused, an immutable 5 . If we know and realize it, we pass from death and rebirth to nirvana and peace. The law of karma governs the world of objects, of existence in the world of time, of cause and effect, and nirvana relates to the world of freedom, of the subject which transcends the object, of the centre of being. Man's existence includes the power, the determination to stand out of existence and on the truth of being. If man fails to transcend his existential limits, he is condemned to death, to MAHABODHI SOCIETY 187 nothingness. He must first experience the void, the nothingness, to get beyond it. To stand out of objective existence, there must come upon the individual a sense of crucifixion, a sense of agonizing annihilation, a sense of the utter nothingness of all this empirical existence which is subject to the law of change, death. We cry with St. Paul : 'Who shall save me from the body of this death ?' c Lead me from death to immortality. 5 mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya. If this world were all, suffering would be the permanent condition of human life. Our life would be reduced to a nullity, negation, death. Jf existence were all, if the objective time series were all, if samsdra were all, there would be no escape from fear and suffering. When the Buddha asks us to seek for liberation and strive for it, he affirms the reality of another world. He tells us that it is possible for us to circumvent the time process and attain en- lightenment. There is being by itself, which transcends the time order. Existence is in being : samsdra is in nirvana. Eternity is centred in time. That art thou. In all of us there dwells a secret power of freeing ourselves from the changes of time, of withdrawing our secret self away from external things, of dis- covering to ourselves the Eternal in us. At that moment we annihilate time; we are no longer in time but the timeless is in us. This awareness of the timeless in time is nirvana. It is that ultimate 188 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS primordial mystery which all religions have sought for and tried to express by means of faltering, imper- fect symbols and images. It is not absolute void. It is positive being paradoxically affirmed. Paradox is the only way by which we can express in human terms the apprehension of ultimate reality. It is the way to signify both human insight and human weak- ness. Look at St. Augustine's confession : 'What art Thou then, my god, what, I ask, save the Lord God. . . most far and yet most near. . . ever busy, yet ever at rest; gathering, yet never needing. . . seeking, though Thou hast no lack. . .What can any one say when he speaks of Thee?' 3 Bodhi, en- lightenment, is a gnosis that cannot be communi- cated. Paradox does not preclude enquiry as premature definition does. All vital religions are open religions and not closed systems. Nirvana which is freedom from subjection to time can be achieved in this life. Time and eternity are not incompatible and this life is a point of intersection between time and eternity, samsdra and nirvana. When we live from moment to moment like plants and animals, we live in bondage to time. Our existence becomes time-conditioned. Even in such a mode of existence there may be moments which are hints and suggestions of the eternal. These moments, intense and isolated, with no before and no after, in which we are lost in timeless contemplation, are the closest most of us 8 Confessions, Bk. I, Ch. IV, E.T. by C. Bigg MAHABODHI SOCIETY 189 ever get to freedom from the flux of events, from bondage to time. This deliverance from death and rebirth is the crown and completion of a life of discipline and meditation. It is to be achieved by the ethical path suggested by the Buddha. It con- tains the oldest and the most permanent truth of the human race. The Brhaddranyaka Upanisad asks us to give, be compassionate and practise self-control : datta, dayadhvam, damyata. What is demanded is a wise and compassionate heart. The Buddha asks us to avoid the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. As Matrceta puts it : 'What harm has your hair done ? Perform the tonsure on your sins. What earthly good is a monk's robe to a mind besmirched ?' kejdh him aparddhyanti klesdndm mundanam kuru sakasdyasya cittasya kdsdyaih kirn prayojanam. The Buddha was more aware of human unhappiness than of human sin. By affirming that every human being contains the possibility of arhatship or Buddhahood, Buddhism gives abiding value to the individual soul. The preciousness of the human soul is the basis of all civilization and the|hope of our troubled world. ^, The fear of war remains today the one obsession that dominates our lives. We seem to live in an atmosphere of impending catastrophe which may result in a renewal of barbarism, a new age of dark- ness, of spiritual blindness in which the gains of science and the glories of culture will be lost. We 190 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS need today a great manifestation of the spirit of love, of understanding and compassion to break through the encircling gloom. It alone can give to those whose life is void of purpose, a motive for existence, a reason for courage and a guide for action. 92nd BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA, NEW DELHI PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 21 February, 1954 I AM happy to be here and distribute prizes for recitation and speech competitions. I congratu- late those who have won these rewards on their achievements. The students who won the prizes and the many others who competed for them had the great opportunity of reading some of the writings of Swami Vivekananda. I have no doubt they have been impressed and inspired by what they have read. Vivekananda's life and teachings have pre- pared us for the new age of freedom in which we live. They tell us how best we can consolidate the freedom we have recently won. He was one of the great leaders of the Indian Renaissance. Like all the great teachers of India, Vivekananda did not profess to be the formulator of a new system of thought. He interpreted for us and the world India's religious consciousness, the treasures of her past. His writings and speeches are all fortified by quotations from the Indian scriptures and the life and sayings of his great Master, that transcendent religious genius, Shri Ramakrishna. In the short time at my disposal it will not be 192 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS possible for me to speak on more than one or two aspects of Vivekananda's teachings. The two dominant features of our age are science and democracy. They have come to stay. We can- not ask educated people to accept the deliverances of faith without rational evidence. Whatever we are called upon to accept must be justified and sup- ported by reason. Otherwise our religious beliefs will be reduced to wishful thinking. Modern man must learn to live with a religion which commends itself to his intellectual conscience, to the spirit of science. Besides, religion should be the sustaining faith of democracy which insists on the intellectual and spiritual development of every human being irrespective of his caste, creed, community, or race. Any -religion which divides man from man or supports privileges, exploitation, wars, cannot com- mend itself to us today. If we are passing through a period of the eclipse of religion, of the light of heaven, it is because religions as they are practised seem to be both unscientific and undemocratic. Vivekananda showed that the Hindu religion was both scientific and democratic, not the religion as we practise it, which is full of blemishes, but the re- ligion which our great exponents intended it to be. The most obvious fact of life is its transience. Everything in this world passes away, the written word, the painted picture, the carved stone, the heroic act. Great civilizations are subject to the SWAMI VIVEKANANDA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS 193 law of time. The earth on which we live may one day become unfit for human habitation as the sun ages and alters. Our acts and thoughts, our deeds of heroism, our political structures are a part of history, of becoming, of process. They all belong to the world of time. Time is symbolized in India's tradition by birth and death. Is this all-devouring time, lokaksayakrt, this void, this siinya, this mayd> this sarhsara, is it all, or is there anything else ? Is this world which is a perpetual procession of events, self-sustaining, self-maintaining, self-esta- blished, or is there a Beyond underlying it, unifying it and inspiring it, standing behind it and yet immanent in it ? Is becoming all or is there being behind it ? Will man annihilate nothingness or will nothing- ness annihilate him ? This very problem, this dread, this anxiety that we have, this feeling of the preca- riousness of the world bears witness to the world beyond. It is a longing for life eternal in the midst of time. Because of the implicit awareness of the ultimate reality we have the sense of godforsakenness. By logical investigations and by personal ex- perience, our great thinkers came to the conclusion that there is a Beyond of which all this world is the expression. The Upanisads give us an explanation of this fundamental problem. They mention logical arguments and also experiences of men who bear witness to the reality of the Supreme. What we call the Vedas are merely the registers of the spiritual 13 194 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS experiences of the great seers. Says Vivekananda : 'By the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasure of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times/ They are therefore ever-expanding. What is built for ever is for ever building. For Vivekananda religion is Yoga. It is personal change, adjustment, integration. It is not profession of a doctrine. It is the reconditioning of one's nature. It is not intellectual orthodoxy. It is awakening of the life of spirit in man. He wrote books on Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and urged that the goal of spiritual realization can be reached by any one of these different methods. When we express the truths of spiritual life in intellectual forms, these latter are abstractions from live experience. They do not deal justly with the immensity and mystery of spiritual life. If we exalt the particular creeds over the universal truths, we tend to become intolerant. The famous words of S. T. Coleridge are very much to the point : 'He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity and end by loving himself better than all.' Intolerance is an expression of religious conceit and not humility. We today speak of our secular attitude. We are not secular in the sense that we are indifferent to religion. We are secular because we regard all reli- gions as sacred. We believe in freedom of conscience. SWAM! VIVEKANANDA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS 195 Each soul has the right to choose its own path and seek God in its own way. Secularism requires us not merely to tolerate, but to understand and love other religions. Bearing in mind Shri Ramakrishna's experience, Vivekananda said : 'We Hindus do not merely tolerate. We unite ourselves with every religion, praying in the mosque of the Mohammed- an, worshipping before the fire of the Zoroastrian and kneeling to the Cross of the Christian.' In his travels abroad, Vivekananda felt miserable about the backwardness of India in several matters, the way in which religion is confused with so much obscurantism and superstition. He protested vehe- mently against the abuse of religion, about our insistence on touchability and untouchability. All this was inconsistent with the great principles of our religion that the Divine is in us, in all of us, operative and alive, ready to come to the surface at the first suitable opportunity. The light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, this antar-jyoti cannot be put out. Whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not, the Divine is in us, and the end of man consists in attaining union with the Divine. The ultimate tests of true religions are recognition of truth and reconciliation with human beings. To overcome enemies we must possess that which far surpasses enmity, ahimsa, or renunciation of hatred. Vivekananda raises work to the level of worship and exhorted us to seek salvation through the service 196 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS of God in man. If we in our country are to profit by the teachings of Vivekananda, it is essential that we should all be interested in not only constructive work, but become dedicated spirits, spirits dedicated to the task of establishing a spiritual religion which transcends ecclesiastical organizations and doctrinal sophistries and subtleties, a religion which leads to the transformation of human society and brings it nearer to the Ramrajya or the Kingdom of God, which our prophets have set before us. RELIGION AND ITS PLACE IN HUMAN LIFE RlSHIKESH 12 August, 1954 MAY I thank you for this opportunity to be here and speak to you a few words on religion and its place in human life ? In our country, as in many others, the end of religion is experience of ulti- mate reality Brahmdnubhava or personal encounter with God, Krsnarjuna-samvada. The goal of religion is the opening of a new realm of consciousness. When this consciousness arises, we see that the individual parts of the universe derive their signi- ficance from the central unity of spirit. This renewal of consciousness is the second birth. To have this second birth, to be reborn, to be renewed, is the goal of the religious quest. All seers, whatever be their sects or the religions to which they belong, ask us to rise to the concep- tion of a God above gods, who is beyond image and concept, who can be experienced but not known, who is the vitality of the human spirit and the ulti- macy of all that exists. This is the highest kind of religion, the practice of the presence of God. We attain to this through meditation, contem- plative prayer. To aid the concentration of mind, as a support for contemplation, we have image 198 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS worship. By the visible aspect our thoughts are drawn up in a spiritual flight and rise to the invisible majesty of God. We adore the Divine through the symbol or the image. Temples, like churches and mosques, are witnesses to man's search for God. We have in our country many temples, some in ruins, some deserted, and there does not seem to be any justification for another unless we, through it, are able to capture the true spirit of religion. It is in these sacred precincts that we have to fix our minds for some brief intervals in the routine of life on what is per- manent. In the modern age when we depend a great deal on the mechanical devices whose smooth functioning enables us to live a life of comfort at the material level, we tend to become estranged from an awareness of the inner reality. When the centre of life shifts to the objects, we overlook our own free subjectivity. In our country we have suffered a great deal on account of the abuse of religion. We affirm in loud tones that the service of man is the worship of God. But we have tolerated beliefs and practices which are anti-social. If paropakdra and bhutadayd are to be regarded as the central features of religion, no one who claims to be religious should tolerate practices which disintegrate society. No temples should be raised in the country which permit social discrimi- nation. Temples should foster social discipline and solidarity. RELIGION AND ITS PLACE IN HUMAN LIFE 199 This is a place where we have many sadhus and samnyasins. They are treated with respect by the community as the representatives of our religion. While laymen have their responsibility, sadhus and samnyasins have a higher responsibility. It cannot be said that they are all today men without selfish longings and personal ambitions. The Buddha remarked : 'What harm has your hair (keid) done ? Remove defects (klefa) from your hearts. 5 The sadhus and samnyasins inherit a great tradition from Yajfiavalkya, Buddha, Sarhkara, and Ramanuja and they must endeavour to live up to this great tradition. May I, in all humility, appeal to them that the robes they wear will be sullied if they do not act in conformity with the ideals their robes proclaim ? We are today facing many problems of an un- precedented character. If we have to solve them, we must have men and women who have the spirit of religion. What is needed is not textual learning, vakydrtha-jfiana but atma-jnana or self-knowledge. When India is said to be a Secular State, it does not mean that we as a people reject the reality of an Unseen Spirit or the relevance of religion to life or that we exalt irreligion. It does not mean that secularism itself becomes a positive religion or that the State assumes divine prerogatives. Though faith in the Supreme Spirit is the basic principle of the Indian tradition, our State will not identify itself with or be controlled by any particular 200 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS religion. This view of religious impartiality has a prophetic role to play within our national life. No group of citizens shall arrogate to itself rights and privileges which it denies to others. No person shall suffer any form of disability or discrimination be- cause of his religion. All alike will be free to share to the fullest degree in the common life. This is the meaning of secularism. THE ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN* IN Columbia University, students of different cultures, from different parts of the world, are brought together, and this provides an opportunity for redefining man's cultural destiny and rediscover- ing his larger heritage. Those who are organizing this series of broadcasts are persuaded that our great need today is a deeper understanding and appre- ciation of other peoples and their civilizations, especially their ethical and spiritual achievements. The Asian view of man is not very much different from the ancient European view of man. I do not believe in the pseudo-science of national or conti- nental psychology which affirms that all Asians are this and all Europeans are that. The history of any people is slightly more complicated than these sweeping statements would suggest. As a matter of fact, the Asian and the European peoples had com- mon beginnings and developed from them relatively independent views and acquired certain features which marked them from each other. In spite of varying developments, the different peoples of Asia possess a number of features in common, which will justify our speaking of an Asian view of man. This view is essentially a religious one. All the living faiths of mankind had their origin in * Broadcast Address for the Columbia University Bi-centen- nial Celebrations, October 1954 202 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Asia : Confucianism and Taoism in China; Hin- duism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism in India; Zoroastrianism in Iran; Judaism and Christianity in Palestine; and Islam in Arabia. The religions adopted by the Western people are all derived from Asia. In a short discourse it will not be possible to deal in detail with the different religious develop- ments. I shall content myself with a statement of the Indian point of view, with which I happen to be somewhat familiar. Besides, Indian culture has influenced a large part of Asia's thought and art and affected other parts of the world also. Peoples of different races, languages, and cultures met on the soil of India; and, though we read of occasional clashes, they have settled down as members of a common civilization whose primary characteristics are faith in an unseen reality, of which all life is a manifestation, the primacy of spiritual experience, a rigid adherence to intellectual norms, and an anxiety for harmonizing apparent opposites. The one doctrine by which Indian culture is best known to the outside world is that of tat tvam asi. The eternal is in one's self. The Real which is the inmost of all things is the essence of one's own soul. The sage whose passions are at rest sees within himself the majesty of the great Real. Because there is the reflection of the Divine in man, the individual becomes sacred. If we try to possess man as flesh or as mind to be moulded, we fail to recognize that he is essentially the unseizable who bears the image ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN 203 and likeness of God and is not the product of natural necessity* Man is not something thrown off, as it were, in a cosmic whirl. As a spiritual being, he is lifted above the level of the natural and the social world. He is essentially subject, not object. Modern existentialism points out that a type of thought which dominates the treatment of objects is inade- quate to the thinker, the existing individual. His inward reality is not to be equated with the qualities by which he is defined or the external relations by which he is bound. We know the self not in the sense we know the object. When we look inwards we find a limit to our knowledge of the inner life. The self is deeper than the perceptions, thoughts, and feel- ings. We cannot see it or define it, for it is that which does the seeing and the defining. It is the eye which is not the object but the subject of our knowing. It can be grasped, not by thought, but by our whole being. Then we realize the existential presence of the ultimate reality in each individual. The Indian classic, the Bhagavadgita, speaks of the spirit of man as immortal. Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not burn him, waters do not make him wet, nor does the wind make him dry. He is uncleavable, he cannot be burnt, he can be neither wetted nor dried; he is eternal, all- pervading, unchanging, immovable; he is the same forever. The term 'personality* is derived from the Latin persona, which means literally the mask that is 204 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS worn over the face by the actor on the stage, the mask through which he sounds his part. The actor is an unknown, anonymous being who remains intrinsically aloof from the play. He is unconcerned with the enacted sufferings and passions. The real being is concealed, shrouded, veiled in the costumes of the play. To break from the confines of persona- lity into the unfathomed reaches of his true being requires disciplined effort. By penetrating through the layers of the manifest personality, the individual arrives at the unconcerned actor of life. Man is more than the sum of his appearances. When Crito asks : c ln what way shall we bury you, Socrates ?' Socrates answers : 'In any way you like, but first catch me, the real me. Be of good cheer, my dear Crito, and say that you are burying my body only, and do with that whatever is usual and what you think best.' The Indian thinkers do not oppose nature to spirit. When the natural life of man comes to itself, his spiritual being becomes manifest. Man's final growth rests with himself. His future is not solely determined, like that of other animals, by his bio- logical past. It is controlled by his own plans for the universe. Man is not an insignificant speck in a depersonalized universe. When we overlook the inward subjectivity of man, lose ourselves in the world, we confuse being with having; we flounder in possessions as in a dark, suffocating bog, wasting our energies, not on life, but on things. Instead of ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN 205 using our houses, our wealth, and our other posses- sions, we let them possess and use us; we thus become lost to the life *of spirit and are soulless. It is attachment to nature that is inconsistent with spiri- tual dignity. It is not necessary for us to throw off the limitations of nature. Our bodies are the temples of the Divine. They are the means for the realiza- tion of value, dharma-sadhana. When human beings are most clearly aware, most awake, they feel that in some sense which cannot be clearly articulated, they are the instruments for the expression of the spirit, vessels of the spirit. When we realize this, we outgrow individualism, we see that we and our fellow-men are the expressions of the same spirit; the distinctions of race and colour, religion and nation become relative contingencies. We are re- minded of Socrates' death-bed statement : C I am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world.' To the large-hearted, all men are brothers in blood, says a well-known Sanskrit verse. The Bhagavadgitd tells us that a truly religious man sees with equality everything in the image of his own self, whether in pleasure or in pain. From the emphasis on the immanence of the Divine in man, it follows that there is not one single individual, however criminal he may be, who is beyond redemption. There is no place at whose gates it is written : Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. There are no individuals who are utterly evil. Their characters have to be understood from within 206 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the context of their lives. Perhaps the criminals are diseased fellow-men whose love has lost its proper aim. All men are the children of the Immortal, amrtasya putrdh. The spirit is in everyone as a part of one's self, as a part of the very substratum of one's being. It may be buried in some like a hidden trea- sure beneath a barren debris of brutality and violence but it is there all the same, operative and alive, ready to come to the surface at the first suit- able opportunity. The light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world cannot be put out. Whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not, the Divine is in us and the end of man consists in attaining conscious union with the Divine. A Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher observes : 'There is no hamlet so forlorn that the rays of the silver moon fail to reach it. Nor is there any man who by opening wide the windows of his thought cannot perceive divine truth and take it into his heart/ The distinction between the kingdoms of light and of darkness, between heaven and hell becomes untenable. The cosmic power of the Eternal, His universal love will not suffer defeat. Hindu and Buddhist systems aim at universal salvation. Ac- cording to Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha deli- berately refrained from coming to the final term of enlightenment in order to help others on the way. He has taken a vow that He will not enter into nirvana until everything that exists, every particle of corruptible dust, has reached the goal. ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN 207 This does not mean that the Hindu and the Buddhist religions cancel the distinction between good and evil. It only means that even the evil have other chances. The Divine provides the soul with a succession of spiritual opportunities. If there is only one chance given to human beings, they have at the end of this one life to be redeemed if good or condemned if evil. Such a doctrine is not consistent with the view that God is infinite love, infinite compassion. India has stood for an ideal that does not make man merely a creature of time, dependent solely on his material conditions and possessions, and confined to them. We have proclaimed that the world is under moral law, that the life is the scene of man's moral choice. It is dharma-ksetra. It is never too late for man to strive and attain his full stature. For the Hindu and the Buddhist, religion is a transforming experience. It is not a theory of God; it is spiritual consciousness, insight into Reality. Belief and conduct, rites and ceremonies, dogmas and authorities are subordinate to the art of con- scious self-discovery and contact with the Divine. When the individual withdraws his soul from all outward events, gathers himself together inwardly, strives with concentration, there breaks upon him an experience sacred, strange, wondrous, which quickens within him, lays hold on him, becomes his very being. The possibility of this experience constitutes the most conclusive proof of the reality of God. Even those who are the children of science 208 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS and reason must submit to the fact of spiritual experience which is primary and positive. We may dispute theologies, but we cannot deny facts. The fire of life in its visible burning compels assent, though not the fumbling speculations of smokers sitting around the fire. While realization is a fact, the theory of reality is an inference. There is a difference between con- tact with reality and opinion about it, between the mystery of godliness and belief in God. Rationalistic self-sufficiency is dangerous. The human mind is sadly crippled in its religious think- ing by the belief that truth has been found, embo- died, standardized, and nothing remains for man but to reproduce in his feebleness some treasured feature of an immutable perfection which is distant from him. Claims to infallible truth, based on alleged revelations, are not compatible with religion as spiritual adventure. The fulfilment of man's life is spiritual experience in which every aspect of man's being is raised to its highest point; all the senses gather, the whole mind leaps forward and realizes in one quivering instant such things as cannot be expressed. Though it is beyond the word of tongue or concept of mind, the longing and love of the soul, its desire and anxiety, its seeking and thinking are filled with the highest spirit. This is religion. It is not mere argument about it. When we frame theories of religion, we turn the being of the soul into the having of a thing. We ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN 209 transform what originally comprehended our being into some object which we ourselves comprehend. Thus the total experience becomes an item of knowledge. Our disputes about dogmas are in re- gard to these partial items of knowledge. At its depth, religion in its silences and expressions is the same. There is a common ground on which the different religious traditions rest. This common ground belongs of right to all of us, as it has its source in the non-historical, the eternal; the uni- versality of fundamental ideas which historical studies demonstrate is the hope of the future. It will make for religious unity and cultural understanding. The essential points of the Asian outlook on life, which are also to be found in the great tradition of spiritual life in the West, give us the basic certain- ties for the new world which is on the horizon. These are the divine possibilities of the soul, faith in democracy, unity of all life and existence, insistence on the active reconciliation of different faiths and cultures so as to promote the unity of mankind. Modern civilization, which is becoming increa- singly technological, tends to concentrate on a limited order of truth. It accepts the scientifically verifiable as the only basis for action. Some scientists and technicians who have emerged as the leaders of our age speak of man as a purely mechanical, material being, a creature made up of automatic reflexes. They emphasize the more earthly propen- sities of men and women. They seem to be blind to 14 210 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the higher sanctity which lives in man. Those who are born in this age feel the loss of faith; they are the spiritually displaced; they are the culturally uprooted; they are the traditionless. The only hope for man is a spiritual recovery, the realization that he is an unfinished animal and his goal is the Kingdom of God which is latent in him/ 'All epochs dominated by belief, in whatever shape, have a radiance and bliss of their own and bear fruit for their people as well as for posterity. All epochs over which unbelief, in whatever form, maintains its miserable victory are ignored by posterity, because nobody likes to tug his life out over sterile things. 5 Few people would deny the truth of this statement of Goethe or that this is an age of unbelief. It is an age not so much unlit by belief as lacking the very capacity to believe. The modern community, as a community, has lost its sense of the relatedness of things. There is a void today in men's minds which dogmatic religions are unable to fill. When the old gods, the old verities, the old values are fading, when life itself has become dim and its very forms are stiffening, there ^are always some intense natures to whom it is intolerable that there should not already be new and greater faiths in sight. We are too profoundly religious to be able to endure this precarious predicament. When Graeco-Roman civilization was triumphant, it failed to supply its conquered peoples with a religion and, instead, was itself conquered by a ANCIENT ASIAN VIEW OF MAN 211 religion supplied by them. May it not be that today the peoples of Asia may supply a spiritual orienta- tion to the new world based on science and techno- logy ? By its material and political devices, the West is able to provide a secure framework of order within which different civilizations could mingle, and fruitful intercourse between them can take place by which the spiritual poverty of the world can be overcome. Without a spiritual recovery, the scientific achievements threaten to destroy us. We are living in days of destiny. Either the world will blow up in flames or settle down in peace. It depends on the seriousness with which we face the tasks of our age. A human society worthy of our science and the mobilized wisdom of the world can be built if those in power and position are willing to submit to severities which are not so drastic as a war will demand. Let me end with an ancient prayer : Let all here be happy, let all be healthy, let all see the face of happiness, let no one be unhappy. Peace ! Peace ! Peace ! sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu nirdmaydh^ sarve bhadrdni pasyantu, md kascit duhkhabhdg bhavet. fdntih ! sdntih ! sdntih ! THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF RELIGION* MAY I, at the outset, offer you, Cardinal Gracias, our warm congratulations on your appoint- ment as Papal Legate ? I am happy to be here and take part in this ceremony, convinced as I am, that the great need of our age is revival of spiritual values. The two wars in our generation and the alarming advances in nuclear weapons, the social strains and upheavals that have become chronic, the lack of any clear vision of the future have had vastly disintegrating effects on our minds and morals. Many observations are made on the place of reli- gion in modern life and it is said that it imposes shackles on the human mind, that it blinds reason, that it deadens sensibility, that it asks us to sur- render our integrity and submit unthinkingly to authority in belief and practice. Socially it is argued that it disdains the world, that, if it takes interest in it, it is only to defend the status quo and justify existing wrongs and evils. The leaders of religions are doing little to check the process of decivilizing men in the name of vast organizations, of destroying the springs of tenderness, of compassion, of fellow- feeling in the human heart. The need of the world today is human unity and religions are proving to * Address at the Marian Congress, Bombay, 4 December, 1954 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF RELIGION 213 be great obstacles in its way. They have departed from their original purity, lost their dynamic vigour and degenerated into arrogant sects. The spiritual inspiration is buried under irrational habits and mechanical practices. It is therefore most appropriate that you should have selected for the motto of this Congress the seventh verse of the first chapter of the second epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy : 'The spirit he has bestowed on us is not one that shrinks from danger; it is a spirit of action, of love and of discipline.' Freedom from fear, abhaya, which does not shrink from danger, a state of peace and power this is the inward grace of a religious mind; its social expression is action and love. Love of God and love of neighbour are the two sides, inward and outward, of a truly religious soul. Love of God is not a mere phrase, not an intel- lectual proposition to which we consent with our minds. It is a transforming experience, a burning conviction. Life eternal cannot be had from mere knowledge of the meaning of texts. It is the worship of God in spirit and in truth. It is what is called dvitiyarhjanmci) a second birth. We are born into the world of nature and necessity, of darkness and death; we must be reborn into the world of spirit and freedom, of light and life. The destiny of man is not natural perfection, but it is life in God. Human nature finds its fulfilment in God. Religion, in all its forms, declares that the human 214 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS being should be made into a new man. Man, as he is, is the raw material for an inward growth, an inner evolution. As he is, he is incomplete, un- finished, imperfect. He has to reach inner comple- tion through meta-noia which is not adequately translated as repentance. Unless, in Jesus' words, we repent, unless we are reborn, unless we are renewed in our consciousness, unless we become like a little child, responsive to the magic and mystery of the world, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. When a man is reborn in the world of spirit, gains insight into reality, his lostness is no more, his loneliness disappears and he has communion with the Divine. Discipline of human nature is essential for the attainment of the goal. Purity of mind and body is the means for perfection. Models of purity as the one you are celebrating this year help us to purify ourselves. Peace of mind can be attained only by self-control, the control of our emotions and desires Such a redeemed soul participates in the work of the world : sva-dharma-karma-vimukhdh krsna krsneti vadinah te harer dvesino mudhdh dharmdrtharh janma yadd hareh. Those who merely say, Krishna, Krishna, and are indifferent to their respective duties are enemies of God, foolish, for the very Lord takes birth for the sake of righteousness. God is not merely justice and power; He is love and understanding. If we are to THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF RELIGION 215 imitate the Divine, we must work for the better- ment of the world. In spite of pettiness and defeat, treachery and disappointment, despite death itself, the authentic religious soul feels that it is better to live in accord with the ideals of truth and love than retreat into cynicism, denial and despair. Even when misfortunes befall us, we should not shrink from danger but be 'steady like a lamp in a windless place 5 , 1 (Bhagavadgita) or as Dante puts it, 'stand like a tower whose summit never shakes 5 . Jackals may howl in the fields but up above the stars shine. Goodness is more deeply rooted in the nature of things than its opposite. Life has a destiny which justifies any sacrifices to which it is called. All our activities whether they relate to our society or the world should be permeated by the spirit of religion. 2 When we know what a frightful evil war would be in this atomic age, it is our reli- gious duty to do everything in our power to avert it. The world is not for hate and malice, for revenge and destruction. We must stand up for the spirit of just and merciful dealing and work for love and charity on earth. If the brotherhood of peoples is to be realized, all nations must go through a process of inner renewal. On the 23rd of November I had the honour of a private audience with Pope Pius XII whose purity of life and penetration of mind are well known, 1 VI, 19 2 See Bhagavadgita IX, 17 216 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS He has issued a prayer for the year which asks us to strive for peace and fellowship. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and op- pressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, make all men feel the attraction of goodness. May they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace. Religion is the force which can bring about this inward renewal. The different religions are the windows through which God's light shines into man's soul. There can be differences about the rays they transmit or the intensity of their splendour, but these differences do not justify discords and rival- ries. We must distinguish between the eternal light and its temporal reflections. The followers of dif- ferent religions are partners in one spiritual quest, pursuing alternative approaches to the goal of spiritual life, the vision of God. It is this view that has been adopted by this country from ancient times. We have here Jews, Christians, Catholics and Protestants, Parsees, Hindus, Muslims, who are exhorted by the spirit of this country which is incorporated in our Constitution, to learn from one another. May this Congress contribute to the process of co-operation among the different reli- gions and further the spirit of spiritual understand- ing and religious enlightenment and fellowship ! ALL-INDIA SHIA CONFERENCE INAUGURAL ADDRESS 25 December, 1954 I AM glad to be here today and inaugurate the thirty-ninth session of the All-India Shia Con- ference. We are meeting on Christmas Day, known throughout the world for its spirit of goodwill and fellowship. It is that spirit which is India's supreme need today. We are living at a time when we should subordinate all considerations to the great cause of building up India. The people inhabiting this vast land may differ in a number of ways, but they are bound together by an essential unity. The history of India, even as that of the city of Delhi where this Conference is being held, is ample proof that whatever worth-while the present generation has in- herited from the past is not exclusive but composite. Contributions to it have been made at different points of history by people belonging to different religions and races. Many Shia religious teachers and men of letters brought the refinement and culture of West Asia to the heritage of India; and it is this universal nature of our heritage that we must seek to keep alive. Ours is a Secular State. This does not mean that we believe only in material values and have scant regard for the spiritual. Happiness should not be 218 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS confused with material comfort or sense of satisfac- tion. It is really intellectual refinement and spiritual joy. The ideal of secularism means that we abandon the inhumanity of fanaticism and give up the futile hatred of others/ In a secular State there will be the spirit of true religion, and the environment neces- sary for the development of a gentle and considerate way of life. The saints of the world, belonging to all religions, including Shia saints, were leaders of redemptive work, of voluntary sacrifice and of stead- fastness against tremendous odds. The existence of various religions, communities and languages in India should not come in the way of its solidarity. The problems facing the Shia community social, economic, spiritual are by no means peculiar to them. Everybody in this country, irrespective of his caste or creed, stands in some need of spiritual or material rehabilitation. Let the Shias therefore not look upon themselves as being in competition with others for this or that facility. While it is your aim to work for the social better- ment and the cultural advance of the members of the Shia community, you must guard against the danger, which all community consciousness has, of militating against national solidarity. Whether we are Shia or Sunni, Hindu or Moslem, we all face the same problems and I hope you will work as devoted citizens of this country, which is now engaged in the noble enterprise of building a great and prosperous nation. We are all partnefs in the ALL-INDIA SHIA CONFERENCE 219 task of national reconstruction. We here could look with profit to the example of Yugoslavia, whose President, Marshal Tito, was in Delhi recently. With a population of less than twenty million, Yugoslavia has two scripts, three religions, four languages, five nationalities and six republics and yet it is One nation. It is to achieve national solidarity in the truest sense of the term that all efforts in this country should be canalized. If religions are to continue to have their original appeal, they must adapt themselves to the needs of the times. For religion as for many other things there is no such thing as standing still. Stagnation is bound to overtake a religion unless it is alive to the changes taking place around it. In the Middle Ages, the days of its vigour, Islam produced great thinkers and humanitarians who profoundly affect- ed contemporary human thought. But if a religion aspires to immortality it has to be constantly young, which is only another way of saying that it must be alive to the demands of the times. I have said it at Al-Azar in Egypt and elsewhere and I say it here, that Moslems would do well to examine the need of making some changes in customs and manners while adhering to the two fundamental precepts of Islam faith in God and the welfare of humanity. MAHAVlRA JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS NEW DELHI 5 April, 1955 ^-pHE period between 800 to 200 B.C. has been JL characterized as an axial period of history. In other words, the axis of world's thought shifted from a study of nature to a study of the life of man. In China, Lao Tse and Confucius; in India, the seers of the Upanisads, Mahavira and Gautama the Buddha; in Iran, Zoroaster; in Judea, the great prophets; and in Greece, the philosophers Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato; all of them turned their attention from outward nature to the study of the human self. Today, we are celebrating ihejayanti of one of those great figures of humanity, Mahavira. He is called the Jina, the conqueror. He did not conquer kingdoms; but he conquered his own self. He is called Mahavira, the great hero, not of the battles of the world but of the battles of the inward life. By a steady process of austerity, discipline, self-purifi- cation and understanding he raised himself to the position of a man who had attained divine status. We are therefore celebrating hisjayanti because his example is an incentive to others to pursue the same ideal of self-conquest. This country has from the beginning of its history down till today stood for this great ideal. When you MAHAVlRA JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS 221 look at the symbols, the statues, and other relics which have come down to us from the time of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa down to our own day, we are reminded of the tradition that he who establishes the supremacy of spirit and its superiority to matter is the ideal man. This ideal has haunted the religious landscape of our country for four or five millennia. The great statement by which the Upanisads are known to the world is tat tvam asi that art thou. The potential divinity of the human soul is asserted thereby. We are called upon to understand that the soul is not to be confused with the body which can be broken, or the mind which can be moulded, but it is something which is superior to the relics of the body or the fluctuations of the mind something which each individual has, which is unseizable, so to say, which cannot be merely objectified. The human being is not something thrown off, as it were, in a cosmic whirl. As a spirit he is lifted above the natural and the social world. Unless we are able to realize the inwardness of the human self, the prin- ciple of subjectivity, we lose ourselves. Most of us are always lost in the pursuits of the world. We lose ourselves in the things of the world health, wealth, possessions, houses, property we let them possess us, we do not possess them. Such people are those who kill their own selves. They are called atma-hano jandh, so it is that in our country we have been asked to possess the soul. 222 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Of all sciences the science of the self is the greatest. adhydtmavidyd vidydndm. The Upanisad tells us : dtmdnam viddhi, know thyself. Samkara lays down as an essential condition of spiritual life, atma-anatma- vastu viveka: the knowledge of the distinction be- tween the soul and the non-soul. There is nothing higher in this world than the possession of one's soul. So it has been said to us by different writers that the true man is he who uses all the possessions of the world for the purpose of realizing the innate dignity of the soul. The Upanisad in a series of pas- sages tells us that husband or wife or property these are opportunities for the realization of one's own self: dtmanastu kdmaya. He who achieves through discipline, through a blameless life his highest status is a paramdtman. He who achieves complete freedom is an arhat, free from all chances of rebirth or subjection to time. In Mahavlra we have an example of a man who renounced the things of the world, who was not entangled in the bonds of matter but who was able to realize the inward dignity of his own self. How can we pursue this ideal ? What are the ways by which we can attain this self-realization, this self- possession ? Our scriptures tell us, if we wish to know the self, sravana, manana, nididhydsana are to be practised. The Bhagavadgitd says : tad viddhi prani- pdtena pariprasnena sevqyd. The same three great principles were asserted by Mahavira when he men- tioned darsana, jndna, caritra. We must have visvdsa, MAHAVlRA JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS 223 faith, sraddha, that there is something superior to the things of this world. Mere faith, blind unthinking faith, will not do. We must have knowledge, manana. By reflection we convert the product of faith into a product of enlightenment. But mere theoretical knowledge is not enough, vdkydrtha jndnamdtrena na amrtam We cannot get life eternal by mere textual learning. We must embody these great principles in our own life, caritra, conduct is equally essential. We start with darsana, pranipdta, or sravana. We come tojndna, manana, or pariprasna\ then we come to nididhydsana., sevd, or caritra. As the Jain thinkers put it, these are essential. What are the principles of caritra, or good con- duct, saddcarana ? The Jain teachers ask us to under- take different vows. Every Jain has to take five vows : not to kill anything, not to lie, not to take what is not given, to preserve chastity and to renounce pleasure in external things. But the most important of them all is the vow of ahimsa, the vow of non-violence, of non-injury to living beings. Some even renounce agriculture for it tears up the soil and crushes insects. In this world it is not possible for us to abstain from violence altogether. As the Mahdbhdrata has it jwo jivasya jwanam 'Life is the food of life.' What we are called upon to do is to increase the scope, so to say, of non-violence -yatnat alpatard bhavet. By our self-effort we must reduce the scope of force and increase the scope of persuasion. So ahimsa is the ideal which we have set before ourselves. If we adopt that ideal we will get another conse- quence of it which is framed in the Jain doctrine of anekdntavdda. The Jains tell us that the absolute truth or kevala-jnana is our ideal. But so far as we are concerned we know only part of the truth. Vastu is anekadharmatmakam 9 , it has got many sides to it; it is complex; it has many qualities. People begin to realize this side of it or that side of it, but their views are partial, tentative, hypothetical. The complete truth is not to be found in these views. It is only realizable by the souls who have over- come their own passions. This fosters the spirit which makes us believe that what we think right may not after all be right. It makes us aware of the uncertainties of human hypotheses. It makes us believe that our deepest convictions may be change- able and passing. The Jains use the fable of the six blind men dealing with the elephant. One takes hold of the ears and says it is a winnowing fan. Another embraces it and says it is a pillar. But each of them gives us only one partial aspect of the ulti- mate truth. The aspects are not to be regarded as opposed to each other. They are not related to each other as light is related to darkness; they are related to each other as the different colours of the spectrum are related to one another. They are not to be regard- ed as contradictories, they are to be taken merely as contraries. They are alternative readings of reality. MAHAVlRA JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS 225 The world today is in the throes of a new birth. While we aim at one world, division rather than unity characterizes our age. In a two-world pattern there is a temptation for many of us to think that this is right and that is wrong and we must therefore repudiate the other. Well, these are to be regarded as alternatives, so to say, as varying aspects of one fundamental reality. Over-emphasis on any one aspect of reality is analogous to the attitude of the blind men in the fable each of whom described the shape of the elephant according to the part of the animal he touched. Individual freedom and social justice are both essential for human welfare. We may exaggerate the one or underestimate the other. But he who follows the Jain concept of anekantavada, saptabhangi naya, or syadvdda, will not adopt that kind of cul- tural regimentation. He will have the spirit to dis- criminate between the right and the wrong in his own and in the opposite views, and try to work for a greater synthesis. That should be the attitude which we should adopt. So the necessity for self- control, the practice of ahimsa and also tolerance and appreciation of others' point of view these are some of the lessons which we can acquire from the great life of Mahavira. We would have paid a small part of the debt which we owe him if we remember these things and go away from here with these principles implanted in our hearts. UNION FOR THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS (INDIA BRANCH) INAUGURAL ADDRESS 29 May, 1955 THE world has been shrinking at an increasing pace, with the advance of communications and technology. We have now the physical basis for a unified world community. We do not any more live in separate worlds. Asia and Africa cannot raise the living standards of their peoples without technical aid from Europe and America. These latter cannot subsist without the commodities and raw materials of other parts of the world. Besides, science and technology have put great powers in the hands of men, which rightly used can give strength, freedom and better life to millions of human beings, or abused will bring chaos and destruction. Professor Adrian, President of the Royal Society of England, in his inaugural address on 'Science and Human Nature' at the 116th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, said that the control achieved over the forces of nature was so complete 'that we might soon become able to destroy two-thirds of the world by pressing a button. 3 The destructive power now in the hands of men has reached such terrifying proportions that we cannot afford to take any risks. World solidarity, THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 227 lokasamgraha, is no more a pious dream. It is an urgent practical necessity. The unity of the world is being shaped through the logic of events, material, economic and political. If it is to endure, it must find psychological unity, spiritual coherence. The world, unified as a body, is groping for its soul. If mankind is to save itself, it must change the axis of its thought and life. There is throughout the world an increasing spread of materialism, mecha- nical or Marxist. A few of us who happened to be in Oxford some years ago felt that the contemporary religious situation was like a house divided against itself and so long as sectarian jealousies and religious rivalries continued, it would be difficult to ward off the growing evil of materialism. Convinced of the need for religion and the equal need for co- operation among religions, this Union for the study of the Great Religions of the World was started. It has no partisan or propagandist objectives. It calls for a sympathetic study and understanding of the great faiths which count millions of adherents and which possess, in spite of obvious defects, elements of strength and vitality. There are several centres of this Union in different parts of the world and I am happy to be here today and inaugurate the Indian Centre. The need for religion, for a system of thought, for devotion to a cause which will give our fragile and fugitive existence significance and value does not require much elaborate argument. It is an intrinsic 228 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS element of human nature. The question is, what kind of religion? Is it a religion of love and brother- hood or of power and hate? Secular ideologies ask us to worship wealth and comfort, class or nation. The question is therefore not, religion or no religion, but what kind of religion. So long as any religious system is capable of responding creatively to every fresh challenge, whether it comes by the way of outer events or of ideas, it is healthy and progressive. When it fails to do so it is on the decline. The break-down of a society is generally due to a failure to devise ade- quate responses to new challenges, to a failure to retain the voluntary allegiance of the common people who, exposed to new winds of thought and criticism, are destitute of faith, though afraid of scepticism. Unless religions reckon with the forces at work and deal with them creatively, they are likely to fade away. We live in an age of science and we cannot be called upon to accept incredible dogmas or exclusive revelations. It is again an age of humanism. Religions which are insensitive to human ills and social crimes do not appeal to the modern man. Religions which make for division, discord and disintegration and do not foster unity, understanding and coherence, play into the hands of the opponents of religion. The general impression that the spirit of science is opposed to that of religion is unfortunate and untrue. One of the main arguments for the religious THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 229 thesis is the objective consideration of the cosmos. What is called natural theology is based on the study of the empirically observable facts and not from authoritative sources such as revelations or traditions. Those who attempt to construct by reasoned argument a theory of ultimate being from a survey of the facts of nature are adopting the scientific method. The Brahma Sutra which opens with the sutra, athato brahmajijnasa, now therefore the desire to know Brahman, is followed by the other, janmadyasya yatah. Brahman is that from which the origin of this world (along with subsistence and dissolution) proceeds. The sutra refers to the account in the third chapter of the Taittiriya Upanisad. There has been a steady ascent from the inorganic to the organic, from the organic to the sentient, from the sentient to the rational life. The rational has to grow into the spiritual which is as far above the purely rational as the rational is above the purely sentient. A spiritual fellowship is the mean- ing of history. The purpose of the cosmic process is the city of God in and out of time. Earth is the seed ground of the new life of spirit. Earth and heaven are intermingled. 1 1 The vision of a renewed creation finds poignant expres- sion in the Apocalypse of St. John : 'Behold the tabernacle of God with men; and He will dwell with them and they shall be his people ; and God Himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and death shall be no more. Nor shall mourning nor crying nor sorrow be any more, for the former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne said : "Behold, I make all things new." ' 230 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS The spirit of science does not suggest that the ultimate beginning is matter. We may split the atom. The mind of man which splits it is superior to the atom. The achievements of science stand as witnesses to the spirit in man. The nature of the cosmic evolution, with its order and progress, sug- gests the reality of underlying spirit. I need not refer to the metaphysicians trained in science like Lloyd Morgan, Alexander, Whitehead, and others. Albert Einstein in his book, The World As I see It, observes that the scientist's 'religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignifi- cant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages. 5 Scientists are men dedicated, set apart. They have renounced the life of action. Their life as the pursuit of truth is service of God, who is Truth : satya svarupa, satya- ndrqyana. Erasmus delivered the great dictum : 'Wherever you encounter truth, look upon it as Christianity.' The spirit of science leads to the refinement of religion. Religion is not magic or witchcraft, quack- ery or superstition. It is not to be confused with outdated dogmas, incredible superstitions, which THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 231 are hindrances and barriers, which spoil the simpli- city of spiritual life. Intellectual authority should be treated with respect and not merely inherited authority. Besides, science requires us to adopt an empirical attitude. Experience is not limited to the data of perception or introspection. It embraces para-normal phenomena and spiritual states. All religions are rooted in experience. Among the relics of the Indus civilization are found figures which are the prototype of Siva, suggesting that he who explores his inward nature and integrates it is the ideal man. This image has haunted the spiritual landscape of this country from those early times till today. The Upanisads require us to acquire brahma-vidya or dtma-vidyd. 2 The Katha Upanisad says that man is turned out- ward by his senses and so loses contact with himself. He has lost his way. His soul has become immersed in outer things, in power and possessions. It must turn round, dvrtta-caksuh, to find its right direction and discover the meaning and reality it has lost. The Jina is one who conquers his self. He is the mahdvira, one who has battled with his inward nature and triumphed over it. The Buddha asks us to seek enlightenment, bodhi. These different 2 Some aspects of Greek religion emphasize self-knowledge. Heraclitus said : 'I sought myself.' The injunction to know the self was written over the porch at Delphi. Socrates started his quest by becoming aware that he does not know himself and indeed, that he does not know anything. When we know that we do not know, we begin to know ourselves. 232 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS religions ask us to change our unregenerate nature, to replace avidyd, ignorance by vidya or wisdom. Of course, they do not mean by vidya textual learning. The man who knows all about the texts is mantravit, not dtmavit. ndyamdtmd pravacanena labhyo na medhayd, na bahund srutena? 'This self cannot be attained by instruction nor by intellectual power nor through much hearing. 5 Religion is not mere intel- lectual conformity or ceremonial piety; it is spiritual adventure. It is not theology but practice. To assume that we have discovered final truth is the fatal error. The human mind is sadly crippled in its religious thinking by the belief that truth has been found, embodied, standardized and nothing remains for us to do except to reproduce feebly some precious features of an immutable perfection. Religion is fulfilment of man's life, an experience in which every aspect of his being is raised to its highest extent. What is needed is a change of consciousness, a rebornness, an inner evolution, a change in under- standing. The distinction between time and eternity is quali- tative. No quantity of time can produce eternity nasty akrtah krtena. Our thought must be lifted to another order of reality above time. 4 The change from reason to spirit is a qualitative one. There is no such thing as an automatic evolution 8 Katha Upanisad, I, 2.33 4 Cf. Spinoza : 'Eternity cannot be defined by time or have any relation to it.* THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 233 of man, something that happens according to the laws of heredity and natural selection. Man's evolu- tion is bound up with his conscious effort. As he is, man is an unfinished being. He has to grow into a regenerate being and permit the currents of uni- versal life to flow through him. Those who have evolv- ed, who have realized their latent possibilities, who are reborn, serve as examples and guides to others. This is the teaching of Christianity. Jesus asks us to bring about this rebirth, the second birth, to become a new man. The change takes place by inner contemplation, not outer life. When Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, he is condemning the man of pretences, who keeps up appearances, who con- forms to the letter of the law. 'Except your righte- ousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' 5 We must act not from the idea of reward but for the sake of what is good in itself. To attain heaven which is the higher level of under- standing, of being, one has to undergo inner growth, growth in wisdom and stature through prayer and fasting, through meditation and self-control. Jesus says of John the Baptist that he is the best of those born of women but the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than he. 6 John speaks to us of sal- vation through moral life. He tells us what to do, not what to be. Jesus insists on inner transformation. John 6 Matthew, V, 20 Ibid, III, 2; Luke, III, 10-14 234 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS symbolizes the man of external piety, Jesus, the man of inner understanding. 7 John asks us to become better, Jesus asks us to become different, new. John the Baptist was puzzled when he heard that Jesus and his disciples ate and drank and did not fast. They plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath day. Jesus healed on the Sabbath day. John is still a man born of woman; he has not experienced rebirth. 'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' 8 The writer to the Ephesians says : 'Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead.' 9 We are like dead people; we should wake up. Christian teaching in its origin, before it became externalized and organized, was about awakening from sleep through the light shed by the inner wisdom. Jesus was one who had awakened and taught others the way of awakening. In this way, says the writer to the Ephesians, 'you will redeem the time. 310 The Kingdom of Heaven is the highest state, attainable by man. It is within us. 11 c He hath set 7 Luke, XVII, 20 8 John, III, 3 9 IV, 14 10 V, 1 6. William Law following Boehme writes : 'Do but suppose a man to know himself, that he comes into this world on no other errand but to arise out of the vanity of time. Do but suppose him to govern his inward thought and outward action by this view of himself and then to him every day has lost all its evil; prosperity and adversity have no difference, because he receives them and uses them in the same spirit. 5 The Works of William Law (1749), reprinted in 1893, Vol. VII, p. 1. " John, III, 3 THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 235 eternity in the heart of man. 512 Man stands between the visible and the invisible worlds. Our ordinary level of consciousness is not the highest form or the sole mode of experience possible to man. To get at the inner experience we must abstract from the outer. We must get away from the tumult of sense impressions, the riot of thoughts, the surgings of emotions, the throbs of desires. Boehme says that we come into the reality of our being and perceive everything in a new relation, c if we can stand still from self-thinking and self-willing and stop the wheel of imagination and the senses.' Karl Earth observes : 'Men suffer, because bearing within them an invisible, they find this unobservable inner world met by the tangible, foreign, other outer world, des- perately visible, dislocated, its fragments jostling one another, yet mightily powerful and strangely menacing and hostile.' 13 The great scriptures are the records of the sayings of the prophets, dpta-vacana. We do not prove the truth of an idea by demonstrating that its author lived or that he was a respectable man. The evi- dence of truth lies in man's experience of it when it enters into him. The Buddha asks us to accept his words after examining them and not merely out of regard for him. 14 All religions require us to look upon life as an la Ecclesiastes, III, II 13 Commentary on Romans, p. 306 14 parikjya bhik$avo grdhyam madvaco na tu gauravdt. 236 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS opportunity for self-realization atmanastu kdmaya. They call upon us to strive incessantly and wrest the immortal from the mortal. God is the universal reality, wisdom and love and we are His children, irrespective of race or religious belief. Within each incarnate soul dwells the god-consciousness which we must seek out and awaken. When mankind awakes to the truth, universal brotherhood will follow, the at-one-ment with the great fountain- head of all creation. One whose life is rooted in the experience of the Supreme spontaneously develops love for all creation. He will be free from hatred for any man. He will not look upon human beings as though they were irresponsible things, means to other peoples 5 interests. He will boldly work for a society in which man can be free and fearless, a subject, not an object. He will oppose terror and cruelty and stand by the outcast and the refugee. He will give voice to those who have no voice. What gives Marxism its immense vitality is the vision of injustice made good, of the poor raised to power and the proud brought low. Religion in this sense will be the binding force which will deepen the solidarity of human society. The encounter of the different religions has brought up the question whether they could live side by side or whether one of them would supersede the others. Mankind at each period of its history cherishes the illusion of the finality of its existing modes of know- ledge. This illusion breeds intolerance and fanati- THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 237 cism. The world has bled and suffered from the disease of dogmatism, of conformity. Those who are conscious of a mission to bring the rest of humanity to their own way of life have been aggressive to- wards other ways of life. This ambition to make disciples of all nations is not the invention of the Communists. If we look upon our dogmatic formu- lations as approximations to the truth and not truth itself, then we must be prepared to modify them if we find other propositions which enter deeper into reality. On such a view it will be illogical for us to hold that any system of theology is an official, orthodox, obligatory and final presentation of truth. 15 Reality is larger than any system of theo- logy, however large. All great religions preach respect for other ways of life, whatever their practices may be. It is well known that in the East religious feuds have been relatively unknown. Early Christianity was not authoritarian. It was humanistic and tolerant so long as it was the religion of the poor and humble peasants, artisans and slaves, but when it became the religion of the Roman Empire, authoritarianism became more prominent. The tension between the two never ceased. It is illustrated by the conflict 15 Gf. Charles E. Raven : 'It is precisely this claim to an absolute finality whether in the Church or the Scriptures or in Jesus Christ or in anything else, this claim that revelation belongs to a totally different order of reality from discovery or that a creed is something more than a working hypothesis, that perplexes and affronts those of us who have a proper sense of our own limitations.' 238 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS between Augustine and Pelagius, between the Catholic civilization and the many heretical groups and between the various sects within Protestantism. So long as this attitude persists, intolerance is in- evitable. Faith without wisdom, without tolerance and respect for others' ways of life is a dangerous thing. The Crusaders who marched their armies eastward could not conceive it to be possible that the God of Islam might be the same God on whom they themselves relied. The historian of the Crusades, Mr Steven Runciman, concludes his account with very significant words which have a bearing on the contemporary world situation. In the long sequence of interaction and fusion between Orient and Occident out of which our civilization has grown, the Crusades were a tragic and destructive episode. The historian, as he gazes back across the centuries, must find his admiration overcast by sorrow at the witness that it bears to the limitations of human nature. There was so much courage and so little honour, so much devotion and so little understanding. High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed, enterprise and endurance by a blind and narrow self-righteousness; and the Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost. 16 The Quran asks us c not to revile those whom others worship besides Allah lest they, out of spite, revile Allah in their ignorance.' 17 The Quran says : 'We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to 18 A History of the Crusades, Vol. Ill (1954), p. 480 17 VI, 108 THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 239 Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to other Apostles from their Lord. We make no difference between one and another of them, for we bow to Allah/ 18 Muhammad thought of himself as one who purified the ancient faith and rid it of the extravagances that had crept into it. The Quran says : c The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah, which we have sent by inspiration to thee. And that which we enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus, namely, that you should remain steadfast in religion and make no divisions therein.' 19 A religion which brings together the divine reve- lation in nature and history with the inner revela- tion in the life of the spirit can serve as the basis of the world order, as the religion of the future. What- ever point of view we start from, Hindu or Muslim, Buddhist or Christian, if we are sincere in our intention and earnest in our effort, we get to the Supreme. We are members of the one Invisible Church of God or one Fellowship of the Spirit, though we may belong to this or that visible Church. In all countries and in all religions, there are creative minorities who are working for a religion of spirit. We feel the first tremors of the rebirth of the world. There are several organizations working in the world today World Congress of Faiths 18 II, 136 19 XLII, 13 240 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS (1936), World Alliance for Friendship through Religion and Church Peace Union (1914), World Brotherhood (1950), World Spiritual Council (1946), Society for the Study of Religions (1924). Inter-religious understanding which is the aim of this Organization, is native to this country. ASoka in his twelfth edict proclaimed : He who does reverence to his own sect, while disparag- ing the sects of others, wholly from attachment to his own, with intent to enhance the glory of his own sect, in reality, by such conduct, inflicts the severest injury on his own sect. Concord, therefore, is meritorious, to wit, hearkening and hearkening willingly to the law of piety as accepted by other people. Gandhi said : C I hold that it is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the Scriptures of the world. A friendly study of the world's religions is a sacred duty. 5 We must have the richness of the various traditions. We are the heirs of the heritage of the whole of humanity and not merely of our nation or religion. This view is being increasingly stressed in western religious circles. Archbishop William Temple puts it in a different way : All that is noble in the non-Christian systems of thought or conduct or worship is the work of Christ upon them and within them. By the Word of God that is to say, by Jesus Christ Isaiah and Plato and Zoroaster and [the] Buddha and Confucius conceived and uttered such truth as they declared. There is only one divine light, and every man in his measure is enlightened by it. Yet, each has only a few rays of that light, which needs all the wisdom THE STUDY OF THE GREAT RELIGIONS 241 of all the human traditions to manifest the entire compass of its spectrum. 20 Dr Albert Schweitzer observes : c Western and Indian philosophers must not contend, in the spirit that aims at the one proving itself right in opposition to the other. Both must be moving towards a way of thinking which shall eventually be shared in com- mon by all mankind.' 21 Professor Arnold Toynbee writes that he would 'express his personal belief that the four higher religions that were alive in the age in which he was living were four variations on a single theme and that, if all the four components of this heavenly music of the spheres could be audible on each simultaneously, and with equal clarity to one pair of human ears, the happy hearer would find himself listening, not to a discord, but to a har- mony. 522 In an article in The Observer, October 24th, 1954, he writes that 'this Catholic-minded Indian religious spirit is the way of salvation for human be- ings of all religions in an age in which we have to learn to live as a single family if we are not to destroy ourselves.' This Union does not wish any religion to compromise or capitulate. It wishes to treat all religions as friendly partners in the supreme task of nourishing the spiritual life of mankind. When they begin to fertilize one another, they will supply the soul for which this world is seeking. 20 Readings in Saint John's Gospel, First Series (1939) 21 George Seaver : Albert Schweitzer (1947), p. 276 22 A Study of History, Vol. VII (1954), p. 428 16 SHRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI CELEBRATIONS, CALCUTTA 10 August, 1955 IT is always a pleasure for me to come to Calcutta and I am specially happy to be here on this sacred occasion. Yesterday I had the pleasure of opening the Durgapur barrage which will help to increase the food production of West Bengal. Many of our schemes of the Second Five Year Plan are calculated to effect our economic prosperity. But we must improve not only the circumstances of man but man himself. If we look at what man has done to man, we will find that the task of his regeneration is a vital necessity. We are impressed by the great achievements of the modern world, the achievements of Welfare States justice, equality before law, universal educa- tion, telephones and radio, trains that run in time, etc. etc., but we cannot forget that these great advances in scientific progress have not prevented our descending into depths of horror submarine warfare, napalm and atom bombs, obliteration air attacks, liquidation of millions in camps of death. All this shows that we seem to be concerned more about the mastery of the environment than the mastery of our desires. We seem to be aiming at power and more power, mechanical, nuclear. In SHRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI CELEBRATIONS 243 spite of many centuries of progress and enlighten- ment, we find great nations, leaders of civilization, practise cruelty, persecution and superstition. But this does not mean that human nature cannot be changed. The power of Governments over men's beliefs has increased of late. We can inspire men with an ardent desire to kill one another or we can help to make them sane and reasonable people. Governments can turn large masses of men this way or that as they choose. We can generate collective enthusiasm for good or bad. This country from its early beginnings has looked upon the human being as a spark of spirit, an amsa or fragment of God. To realize the divine destiny in him is his task. It has therefore worshipped the monk meditating in the cave and preferred him to the prince living in luxury in a palace or a military hero or an industrial magnate. A Sanskrit verse says : 'Holy is the family and blessed the mother, nay, the earth itself becomes sanctified by him whose mind is absorbed in the Supreme Brahman, the ocean of infinite knowledge and bliss. 5 The aim of every human being is to attain this unity, this communion with the Supreme Spiritual Reality. Shri Krishna in the Bhagavadgitd tells us how best we can attain to this final end of man. We are not asked to accept anything on trust, take anything on authority but discover for ourselves the truth of things. The cosmic process which takes us from matter to life, life to mind, mind to intelligence, 244 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITTINGS and intelligence to spirit, requires an underlying Reality to support and sustain it. As it is something which transcends the intellectual level, we cannot describe it by words. We indulge in contradictory descriptions to indicate the immensity of the mystery. The avatara, the incarnation, is not an event which happened once upon a time. Shri Krishna is not a long forgotten figure of a distant past, but a living presence. The birth of God, the manifesta- tion of God takes place, when we are able to break down the obstacles which shut in the divine splen- dour. The Bhagavata says : Devaki is a devarupinL Each of us has a divine nature which is covered over by the undivine. If we are able to break down the shell, the outer walls, the imprisoned splendour reveals itself. There is the birth of God, the God who is with us, who is our friend, suhrt. How are we to realize the God in us ? Different methods suited to different temperaments are sug- gested but devotion to the Supreme Lord is the easiest. The Ndrada Bhakti Sutra says that among the devotees there are no distinctions of caste, learning, external appearance, birth, possessions, occupa- tions, etc. No religion can justify or accept with equanimity these tragic distortions of human dignity. India's centuries span some five millennia. The message India holds for mankind that this world is not all and that it is sustained by a supreme spirit SHRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI CELEBRATIONS 245 which can be defined and approached in various ways has still meaning for us. India did not believe in exclusive nationalism or chosen people. These are romantic myths. Above all nations is humanity, civilization, vdranasi medinL The whole world is our sacred home. We are asked to work for world solidarity, lokasamgraha. A culture is never static when alive. It is always seeking a stable equilibrium, a harmony, a stillness where all tensions social, spiritual and personal are resolved, a state of balancing where men are at peace with themselves, with their fellow-men and with forces of nature. Our minds today are greatly confused, aneka-citta- vibhrdnta. There is an irrationality, an impulsiveness among people, a moral and a spiritual vacuum. Strange voices are heard. If we are not to be seduced by false notes, if we are to preserve our national chastity, the message which has come down to us from ancient times will have to be revitalized. We must remind ourselves of the teaching of our pro- phet souls, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Ghaitanya. All of us may not be called to be saints, but whatever work we undertake, trade, business, or industry, teaching or healing, we should undertake it in a spirit of worship. Our whole life, all our activity must become a vocation. Plato once remarked that when the modes of music change, the walls of the city are shaken. A change in the modes of our thought and beliefs is 246 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the first symptom of growing uneasiness and will soon manifest itself in political and economic arrangements leading to the shaking of walls. While we should respond to the changing conditions of the world, we should do so within the framework of our cultural heritage. GANDHI AND THE UNITED NATIONS INAUGURAL ADDRESS 4 October, 1955 I AM glad to be here today and inaugurate a sym- posium on Gandhiji's teachings and the United Nations. Gandhiji is essentially a religious man. He has faith in the essential unity of mankind. We are the children of the One Supreme whatever be our caste or sex, creed or country. Every religious man believes that he has kinship with the whole of humanity. Socrates, for example, declared on his death-bed that he was not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world. Every authentically reli- gious man looks upon the whole world as his home. The central features of religion are abhaya and ahimsa, freedom from fear and freedom from vio- lence or hate. Ahimsa is vaira-tydga. These are the teachings of all religions. Buddha calls them prajna and karund. 'Let a man overcome anger by non- anger; let him overcome evil by good; let him over- come the miser by liberality; let him overcome the liar by truth/ 1 Jesus names them truth and freedom* Truth will make us free. Our conduct to be right 1 Dhammapada, XVII, 3. Cf. Mahdbhdrata : akrodhena jayet krodham asddhum sddhuna jayet jayet kadaryam ddnena satyendlika-vddinam. 248 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS should be based on non-violence* Love overcomes and endures and hatred destroys. ahimsd-laksano dharmah, hirhsd ca adharmalaksanah. dayd dharmakd mula hat. If we are all children of the One Supreme, it fol- lows that all wars are civil strife and all misunder- standings require to be cleared up not by violence but by peaceful methods. * Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you "love your enemies.'" 2 Gandhi asks us to recognize evil and combat it but he recognizes no enemy, for all men are brethren. So Gandhi advocated the method of peaceful persuasion. He held up to us the power of non-violence, of gentleness : mrduna ddrunam hanti mrduna hanti addrunam y ndsddhyam mrduna kincit tasmdt tiksnataram hi mrduh. Though we have been relying on force all these years, gradually we are tending to displace force by persuasion, coercion by consent. In the relations of parent and child, teacher and pupil, warden and ward, employer and employee we are revising our notions and using sympathetic understanding in place of enforced obedience. In the field of inter- national relations, violence has been the usual method of settling disputes. Reliance on military power has been an integral feature of the inter- national policies of powerful nations. Recent 2 Matthew, V, 43-44 GANDHI AND THE UNITED NATIONS 249 developments in the weapons of war are making us rethink our traditional opinions. We stand today on the edge of a razor which divides the past from the future. 3 We have reached a dead end on the military road. If we adopt the military methods, we will effect the death of civilization. There is heavy concentration of military power including the atom and hydrogen bombs in two centres and there is a perception that a war in this context will not serve any national, ideological, or human interests or values. If we hang on to old methods of security in the new world we will die. It is clear that peace is not for the strong but for the just, yato dharmah tato jayah. There will not be peace until men learn to be just and they will not learn to be just until they learn to renounce reliance on force. The United Nations Organization requires us to adopt peaceful methods of negotiation, adjust- ment, and agreement. The United Nations Orga- nization and its specialized agencies are trying to remove the causes which breed wars. When science has enabled us to provide the benefits of civilization for the whole human race, why is it that we have the great contrasts of poverty and wealth, hunger and food, insecurity and great power, bondage and freedom ? Our hope remains in removing these paradoxes by radical changes. The conquest of physical poverty, the removal of 8 kfurasya dhdra nUitd duratyayd. Kafka Upanifad, I, 3 250 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS misunderstandings and the liberation of the human spirit are the aims of the United Nations. If the United Nations is unable to achieve its objectives, it is because nations who have sub- scribed to the Charter are unwilling, unready, or unable to carry out their obligations. They are still obsessed by their national interests and security by military power. Instead of using the United Nations as an instrument for mediation and peace- making, we use it for the implementation of cold war strategy. When aggression takes place, in some cases collective action is encouraged, and in others it is discouraged. Military assistance through pacts to some countries is accepted as reasonable while even sale of arms to others is deplored as unreason- able. It is unfortunate that strategic considerations supersede adherence to principles. This weakens the moral authority of the United Nations. Again, the United Nations loses much of its value because many countries who should be its members are refused admission. Millions of men still under colo- nial rule are not represented in it. The universality of the United Nations is impaired by discriminating treatment. Policies of race discrimination, colonial domination are practised by many countries and though they are gross violations of human rights, the United Nations is unable to enforce the provi- sions of the Charter. The trouble in United Nations Assembly today about the Algerian issue is one evidence of it. All this is possible because powerful GANDHI AND THE UNITED NATIONS 251 nations of the West set the course of debate and influence decisions and the largest Asian nation has no place in it. In human history it is often the days of great tribulation and deepest despair that are the prelude to a time of enlightenment. The scale of our distress is sufficient to prompt the question whether we have not, on the presumption of nationalism and pride of material achievements brought the world towards the verge of annihilation. We have followed false roads in blind confidence. What the world n^eds today is not political or military unification but re-education. The indivi- dual should be trained to think in terms of humanity as a whole instead of in terms of this or that parti- cular clan or country. Modern means of communi- cation have widened inter-cultural and inter-racial contacts and sympathies. The time when different races and nations lived in comparative isolation, under their own distinctive laws and institutions is over. We have to adjust ourselves to the new world. The differences are not to be fought out of existence. The United Nations, in spite of all its defects, represents a unique and valuable contribution to the cause of peace. It is a bridge between the two groups into which the world is divided. It is a platform for the debate of issues which divide men and a rallying point for co-operation concerning issues on which there is unity. It is an agency dedicated to the purpose of developing mutual 252 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS understanding. It should be our endeavour to make it approximate to a world organization with faith in democratic and social progress. True demo- cracy and peace are organically related. Gandhi who pleaded for the adoption of non-violence in international relations was the greatest servant of the cause of man which the world has had in recent times. INDIAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION* I I AM greatly honoured by the invitation to preside over this session of the Oriental Conference. I received it with a certain surprise for I have not taken an active part in the deliberations of the Oriental Conference. I attended the Oriental Con- ference which was held in Calcutta in 1922 and had the honour of welcoming the Conference at Banaras in 1943. So it is extremely kind of you to have thought of me for this exalted position. You will be disappointed if you expect from me any broad survey of the work done in Oriental studies since the Conference last met. I have neither the knowledge nor the competence to undertake such a survey. My remarks will be limited to the subject of Indian philosophy and religion and even there to one or two points of contemporary interest. The constructive ideas on which civilization is built are conventionally traced to this or that country, Greece or Rome, China or India. There is an old Talmudic saying The Rabbis ask, why was the Law given in the wilderness, and the answer is given : In order that no one country could claim * Presidential Address at All-India Oriental Conference, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 26 December, 1955 254 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS proprietary rights over it. This is true of all ideas. They are by nature universal. They may arise in individuals and may develop their power through communities. But we cannot speak of them as be- longing to this person or that community. This would be to violate their character as ideas. Ideas are not dead things. They have hands and feet. They are alive and challenging. They are charged with power. Their action is unpredictable. II Perhaps in this great religious centre, I may be forgiven if I refer to the fundamental spiritual values of the Indian tradition which may be helpful for fostering world unity. I must, however, caution that this brief and general discussion should not be taken as a complete or even an adequate account of the different religious traditions. The problem of religion arises from the realiza- tion of the imperfect condition of man. Life is not merely a physical phenomenon or a biological process. Who shall save me from the body of this death, from the snares and dangers of this world ? The need for redemption implies the presence of conditions and circumstances from which we seek escape or liberation. The fundamental concepts of Indian religious life may be briefly indicated. The goal of life is communion with the Supreme. It is a life of reali- RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 255 zation, a gnosis, an inner intuitive vision of God, when man achieves absolute freedom and escapes from the blind servitude to ordinary experience. It is a subtle interwovenness with the realities of the spiritual world. It is not knowledge or the recogni- tion of universal ideas through a dialectical process or analysis of empirical data. It is analogous to Plato's vision of an irresistible harmony with the deepest reality of the world inspired and sustained by the spiritual in us. asti brahmeti ced veda paroksam jndnam eva tat ; asmi (aham) brahmeti ced veda aparoksam tat tu kathyate. This brings out the distinction between intellec- tual recognition and spiritual realization. We can free ourselves from the shackles of the body and in a split second we can see the truth and be overcome by it. We see God so intensely that the soul is more certain and more possessed by the sight of God than the bodily eye by the light of day. tad visnoh paramam padam sadd pasyanti surayah, diviva caksur dtatam. The Brhaddranyaka Upanisad tells us that through fravana, manana and nididhydsana, we have to attain dtma-darfana 1 , dtma-darsanam uddisya veddnta sravana manana nididhydsanam kartavyam ity arthah. The Mundaka Upanisad says : pranavo dhanuh sow hy dtmd brahma tal laksjam ucyate ; apramattena vedhayam taravat tanmayo bhavet* 1 IV, 4-5 * II, 2.4 256 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS veddham etam purusam mahdntam ddityavarnam tamasah parastdt? anubhutim vind mudho vrthd brahmani, modate.* Intuition is not emotion but the claim to certain knowledge. It gives us a sense of divine reality as a thing immediately certain and directly known. The sense of God penetrates the seer's consciousness, but it does not come like the light of day, something external, something out there in space. The barrier that separates the seer from the divine life is broken down. It is the aim of the seer to live in the light and inspiration of this experience, to be one with God in an abiding union. The records of these experiences are the Vedas, 'ever the same yet changing ever 5 . The Vedas which constitute the essential foundation of the entire spiritual tradition of India are based on integral experience. The term Veda, derived from the root vid refers to a doctrine based not on faith or revela- tion but on a higher knowledge attained through a process of intuition or seeing. The Vedas are seen by the rsis, the seers of the earliest times. The Vedas do not give us theories or theologies. The hymns contain reflections of a consciousness that is in communion with metaphysical reality. The gods themselves are not mere images but projections of the experience of significance, of forces directly perceived in man, in nature or beyond. The Vedas are neither infallible nor all-inclusive. Spiritual 8 See Svetasvatara Upani$ad, III. 8; see also III. 21 4 Maitreyopanijad, 2 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 257 truth is a far greater thing than the scriptures. We recognize the truth and value of much that has been proclaimed by non-Vedic prophets and we are led equally to perceive the insight of many religious teachers in later centuries. The Veda is a record of inspired wisdom and deep inner ex- perience. 5 The second factor is the emphasis on the divine possibilities of man. The great text, tat tvam asi stresses this truth. The Supreme is in the soul of man. For the Upanisads, as for Plato 6 and Philo, 7 man is a celestial plant. Godhead can be described and approached in various ways. The Hindu thinkers were conscious of the immensity, the infinity, the inexhaustibility and the mysteriousness of the Supreme Spirit. A negative theology develops. Brahman is a reality which transcends space and time and so is greater than human understanding can grasp, fantofyam dtmd. Brahman is silence. Yet Brahman is the continuing power which pervades and upholds the world. He is the real of the real, the foundation on which the world rests. He is essential freedom. His different functions of creation, preservation and perfection are personalized in the forms of Brahma, Visnu and Siva. The individual deities are affiliated to 6 tad vacandd dmndyasya prdmdnyam. Vaise$ika Sutra 8 Timaeus, 90 7 De plantatione, sec, 17; cf. Seneca : 'The place which God occupies in this world is filled by the spirit in man.' 17 258 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS one or the other. When approaching the different conceptions and representations of the Supreme, the Hindu has a sense of humility, a deep awareness of human frailty. Even if religions claim to be the results of divine revelation, the forms and contents are necessarily the products of the human mind. {a devo visvakarmd mahdtmd sadd jandndm hrdaye sannivistah hrdd manisd manasdbhiklpto ya etad vidur amrtds te bhavanti* Religion reflects both God and man. As religion is a life to be lived, not a theory to be accepted or a belief to be adhered to, it allows scope and validity to varied approaches to the Divine. There may be different revelations of the Divine but they are all forms of the Supreme. If we surround our souls with a shell, national pride, racial superiority, frozen articles of faith and empty presumption of castes and classes, we stifle and suppress the breath of the spirit. The Upanisads are clear that the flame is the same even though the types of fuel used may vary. Though cows are of many colours, their milk is of one colour; the truth is one like the milk while the forms used are majny like the cows. 9 Again, the Bhdgavata says even as the several senses discern the different qualities of one object, so also the 8 Svetahatara Upani$ad, IV, 17 9 gav&m aneka-varndndm kfirasydsty eKa^wnotil k$iravat pafyate jMnam liAginas tu gavdm yathd. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 259 different scriptures indicate the many aspects of the one Supreme. 10 In the Upanisads we find a four-fold status of the Supreme Reality dtmd catuspdt, Brahman, Isvara, Hiranyagarbha and Viraj. While the world is the form of the divine, visvariipa, the cause is three-fold. pddo'sya sarvd bhutdni tripddasydmrtam divi. 11 The problem facing man is the conflict between the divine and the undivine in him. Toga-sutra- bhdsya says that the stream of mind flows in two directions, the one leading to virtue, the other to vice : citta-nddi ndma ubhayato vdhim, vahati kalydndya, vahati ca papaya. 1 * To overcome the conflict and inte- grate the personality is the aim of religion. This problem has no meaning for beasts and gods as Aristotle says. It concerns the human predicament. 13 There are different recognized pathways by which the duality is overcome and perfection reached. In order to see in the world of spiritual reality, we must close our eyes to the world of nature. The Katha Upanisad says that man is turned outward by his senses and so loses contact 10 yathendriyaih prthag dvaraih artho bahu-gundsrayah eko ndnd iyate tadvat bhagavdn fdstra-vartmabhih. 11 Rg Veda 12 I, 12 13 dvau eva cintayd muktau paramdnande dplutau yo vimudho jado bdlo yo gunebhyah par am gatah. Two are free from care and steeped in bliss : the child inert and ignorant and he who goes beyond the (three-fold) attributes. Cf. Samkara : nistraigunye pathi vicaratam ko vidhih ko nifedhah* 260 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS with his own deepest self. His soul has become immersed in outer things, in power and possessions. It must turn round to find its right direction and find the meanings and realities it has missed. 14 To hear the melodies of spirit, we must shut off the noise of the world. This is not to renounce the powers of sight, hearing and speech. It is to open the inner eye to spiritual realities, capture the sounds that come from the world of spirit, sing in silence the hymn of praise to the Supreme Being. True religious life must express itself in love and aim at the unity of mankind. Bead necklaces, rosa- ries, triple paint on forehead, or putting on ashes, pilgrimages, baths in holy rivers, meditation, or image worship do not purify a man as service of fellow-creatures does. 15 The Hindu dreamed of universal peace and clothed his dreams in imperi- shable language. mdtd ca pdrvati devi pita devo maheSvarah bdndhavdh sivabhaktds ca svadeso bhuvana-trayam. uddra-caritdndm tu vasudfiaiva kutumbakam vdrdnasi mtidini. The goal of world unity is to be achieved by ahimsa which is insisted on by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The fact that the Tamil classic Tirukkural is "II 1.1 15 rudrdkjarriy lulasi-kdstham^ tripundram y bhasma-dhdranam ydlrdh sndndni homds ca japd vd deva-darsanam na ete punanti manujam yathd bhuta-hite ratih. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 261 claimed by different religious sects indicates its catholicity. Its emphasis on ahimsa or non-violence in its varied applications, ethical, economic and social, shows the importance which ancient Tamil culture gave to it. Tirukkural is used by the Buddhists and the Jains, the Saivites and the Vaisnavites. It is called podumurai or common scripture. The other two works of Tamil literature Silappa- thikdram and Manimekhalai, exalt the virtues of chas- tity and renunciation. Even Manu intended the message of India to be of universal application. etad desa-prasutasya sakdsdd agrajanmanah svam svam caritram sikseran prthivydm sarva- mdnavdh. All the people of the world would learn from the leaders of this country the lessons for their beha- viour. There is a persistent misunderstanding that we look upon the world as an illusion and this view is attributed to Samkara. The Brahma Sutra clearly makes out that the world is not non-existent, ndbhdva upalabdheh, that it is not a mental aberration, na svapnddivat. Of course Samkara affirms that the world is not Brahman. As the manifestation of Brahman it is real only in a secondary sense; it has what is called vydvahdrika satta. By no means is it to be dismissed as utterly unreal. It is different from 262 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS prdtibhdsika sattd or illusory existence. Sarhkara makes out that the world is a progressive manifestation of the Supreme : ekasydpi kutasthasya citta-tdratamydt jndnativaryd- ndm abhivyaktih parena parena bhuyasi bhavati. In this sacred centre, I may mention the following verse : jagat trayam fdmbhava-nartana sthali natddhirdjo'tra par ah tivah svayam sabhd nato ranga iti vyavasthitih svarupatah fakti-yutdt prapancitd. The three worlds are but the dancing hall of God Siva. The King of dancers is the Supreme God himself. The audience, actors and the stage are evolved and ordered by the Lord from his own self in association with his Sakti. 1 * Though there was no missionary motive, no attempt to convert others to the Hindu faith, its influence extended to other regions like Java, Bali, where we still have a Hindu colony, and other parts of the East. Greek leaders like Heliodorus became devotees of the Hindu faith. While missionary reli- gions carry out propaganda and are interested in the increase of the number of their followers, Hindu religion was not what we call a proselytizing reli- gion, though in its great days it had no objection to foreigners accepting the Hindu faith. 16 Soma-stava-rdja, verse 40. Gf. also Sriharsa : tad eva rupam ramaniyat&ydb k$am k$ane yan navatdm vidhalte : That beautiful form appears fresh and different every moment. Nai$adha RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 263 III Buddhism which arose in India was an attempt to achieve a purer Hinduism. It may be called a heresy of Hinduism or a reform within Hinduism. The formative years of Buddhism were spent in the Hindu religious environment. It shares in a large measure the basic presuppositions of Hinduism. It is a product of the Hindu religious ethos. But soon it established itself as a distinctive religious tradi- tion. It split early into two branches, though the nature of its thought and teaching is common to its different expressions. The Hinayana is the southern, Pali or Theravada Buddhism; the Mahayana is the northern, mainly Sanskrit Buddhism. Both groups claim that they are loyal to the teachings of the Buddha. The former is more monastic than the latter. Mahayana has been more sensitive to the religious yearnings of the people. While Hinayana places its emphasis on individual attainment of salvation, the Mahayana emphasizes the grace of the Divine. It is sometimes contended that the Mahayana Buddhism reveals a stage of truth greater than that which the Buddha gave to his followers in the Pali scriptures as they were not spiritually mature to receive the higher stage of truth. The name Buddha means the Awakened One, from the root budh to awaken. The Buddha is one who attained spiritual realization. He gives us a way based on clear knowledge, on awakening. 264 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Buddhism is a system of spiritual realization. So in Buddhism personal realization is the starting point. The religious experience of the Buddha is the funda- mental source of the religious knowledge of the Buddhists. Uddna says that he who attains final knowledge fulfils the vow of celibacy, he is the Brah- mana who has the right to declare the truth. 17 From his experience of enlightenment, bodhi, the Buddha derived his doctrines. The four-fold truth, the nature of man and the character of the world, the cause of this predicament, the way by which man may rise above it and the state of enlighten- ment or release from subjection to time are the results of his own experience of truth. The Buddha shared with men those aspects of his experience which can be expressed in words. The state of en- lightenment is beyond definition or description. The Buddha refused to speculate on the nature of transcendent reality. Each of us has to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha who blazed the path. Each individual has to attain the experience by his own individual effort. Only when the individual himself experiences enlightenment, he is said to know the truth or be enlightened. He is then freed from the shackles of earth-bound existence and becomes divine. The scriptures, the Pali Tripitakas y are the sources for the knowledge of truth, since they record the Buddha's teachings. They are 17 veddnta-gu vusita-brahma-cariyo, dharmena sa brahmavddam vadeyya. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 265 Buddha-vacana. The seekers of the past and the masters of the present attained salvation by devo- tion to the path revealed by the Buddha and placing their trust in him. The Buddha stresses the possibility and need for each individual attaining the truth. Hinayana holds that the experience of enlightenment which was realized by the Buddha is attainable by other human individuals if they follow the path in his footsteps. Every individual has in him the possibi- lity of becoming an arhat, who is superior to time and has conquered the world. The Mahayana adopts the ideal of Bodhisattva who, though he has attained release, out of concern and love for man- kind lived in the world where he may serve men by bestowing hope and guiding their steps. It preaches universal salvation. In Hinayana the founder of Buddhism is worshipped as the Divine. The other deities worshipped by men pay homage to the Buddha. He is said to be the instructor not only of men but of gods. He is to be adored as the saviour of men through the truth which he exemplified in his life. In the Mahayana, the earthly Buddha is the eternal Buddha who reveals himself in all worlds. Gautama Sakyamuni is an earthly incar- nation of the Eternal Buddha who exists in countless worlds. All things are subject to him. All existences are the results of his creation. The nature of God- head which has developed in the Mahayana is analogous to the Hindu conception. According to 266 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the doctrine of the Trikaya, the Dharmakaya or the body of Dharma is the ultimate first principle, the Divine from which all things proceed and to which they all return. It is the ultimate Godhead com- pletely transcendent to the world. The next category of the Divine is the Sambhogakaya, the body of bliss or enlightenment. This answers to the personal God, who is the creator and preserver of the universe. He is the deity worshipped by man. Nirmanakaya is the manifestation of the Divine on earth. It is the Divine incarnate in human life and history for the purpose of making the Divine known to man. Mahayana Buddhism has scope for the gracious saving power of the Divine. It is not merely by human effort but by divine grace that man attains salvation. The Buddha recognizes diverse ways to reach the truth. But when the truth is attained, the way falls away. One need not insist that it is the only way to reach the truth. The Buddha gives us the parable of the raft. Any person who wishes to cross a danger- ous river having built a raft for this purpose would indeed be a fool if, when he had crossed, he were to put the raft on his shoulders and take it with him on his journey. 18 In China when the followers 18 Majjhima Nikaya, XXII. Gf. the Upanisad. fastrany abhyasya medhavi jHdna-vijftdna tat parah paldlam iva dhdnydrthi tyajet granthdn ase$atah. The wise one studies the scriptures intent on understanding their significance and (having found it) throws away the books as he who seeks the grain throws away the chaff. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 267 of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism meet and exalt their own religion, they conclude with the chorus : 'Religions are many, reason is one; we are all brothers/ 19 Prince Shotuko of Japan (seventh century A.D.) reconciled Shintoism, Confucianism and Buddhism : Shinto is the source and root of the Way, and shot up with the sky and the earth, teaches man the Primal Way; Con- fucianism is the branch and foliage of the Way, and bursting forth with man, it teaches him the Middle Way; Buddhism is the flower and fruit of the Way, and appearing after man's mental powers matured, teaches him the Final Way. Hence to love one in preference to another, only shows man's selfish passion. . . indeed each new creed enlightens the old. 20 According to the Buddha's Four-fold Truth, the nature of human existence is said to be of a fugitive and fragile character. This did not mean for the Buddha a world-negating creed with no concern for temporal affairs. The Buddha is not only the dis- coverer of truth but also its revealer to mankind. He shares with men the truth which he has attained. He shows men the way by which truth may be found. The middle path of religious realization is not only the end of religion but also the means by which truth is attained. The means of attaining the goal participates in the nature of the goal itself. The ethical means and the spiritual end cannot be 19 J. Estlin Carpenter : The Place of Christianity in the Religions of the World, p. 60 20 Inazo Nitobe: Japan (1931), p. 370 268 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS separated. The end of enlightenment enters into the means. It is impossible for a people who despise the world to produce the art and culture which en- riches our world. Buddhism does not cause men to turn from the pursuits and endeavours of human life. Buddhism purports to be a universal religion applicable to all mankind. In the Mahayana, not only one's personal salvation but that of all crea- tures is stressed. Through their infinite love for struggling humanity, the Bodhisattvas elect to post- pone the final bliss of nirvana to which they are entitled so that they may continue the unending labour of saving the souls of all since all are destined for Buddhahood. The Buddha entrusted to his followers the propa- gation of his doctrine. Under the patronage of Asoka who became a convert to Buddhism, repent- ing bitterly the carnage involved in the conquest of Kalinga, Buddhism became widespread in India. Asoka ordered to be carved in stone columns and rocks the precepts of Buddhism. He enjoined his 'children', i.e. his people, to love one another, to be kind to animals, to respect all religions. This zealous Emperor 'beloved of the gods', devdndmpriya, had relations with the countries of the Mediter- ranean and West Asia. He sent abroad missionaries to spread the Buddhist gospel. Tradition has it that his own son carried the doctrine to Ceylon. It has spread to many other lands from Afghanistan to Japan. It is a supra-regional religion. In the process RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 269 of its expansion Buddhism absorbed into itself the traditions and cultures of the different areas which have accepted its message. While accepting the beliefs and practices of the native peoples, it has helped to refine them. IV According to Jainism, a Tirthankara is one who provides the ship to cross the world of samsara. The ship is the dharma. The Tirthankara is the arhat, the object of worship. Such a person revitalizes the dharma of the world. By destroying the four karmas, he attains the four eminent qualities of ananta- jnana, infinite knowledge, ananta-darsana or infinite perception, ananta-virya or infinite power, ananta- sukha or infinite bliss. Endowed with these qualities he becomes an omniscient being who spends the rest of his life in the world for the good of mankind. When the self realizes its true nature it is freed from subjection to time or as it is said, it is released from rebirth. He becomes siddha paramesti, the perfect being. The siddha is worshipped because he repre- sents the final spiritual perfection. The arhat, the siddha, the sangha and the dharma are the four objects of supreme value worthy of adoration. Jainism emphasizes the potential divine stature of man and its teaching claims to be of universal application. 270 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS V In Zoroastrianism there is a dualism, an open struggle between two forces. Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu are the two warring principles and in their struggle is grounded the drama of cosmic life and human history. The one is the principle of light, justice and the good; the other is the principle of darkness, injustice and evil. The battle between these two is decided by the victory of the good. Before the triumph of light over darkness is com- plete, the universe and mankind must pass through endless cycles of exhausting torment and untiring strife. Man in the world is confronted by the choice between the two principles. Since the conflict between the two principles is universal as to space and time 3 the choice which man must make is not differentiated and delimited by empirical boundary stones. As a matter of course, those who are called to be followers of Ahura Mazda form among them- selves bonds of spiritual solidarity, having nothing to do with empirical relations between them, relations derived from considerations of race, poli- tical allegiance and racial groups. The doctrine is a universalist one. The Avesta says : The souls of the faithful of both sexes in the Aryan coun- tries, the Turanian countries, the Sarnatian countries, the Syrian countries, the Dacian countries, in all cc-untries all these do we venerate. 21 Toft XIII, 143, 144 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 271 Here we have an explicit definition of a univer- sal religious community which supersedes all dis- tinctions of race, caste and nationality. A believer wheresoever he be found, is an object of veneration. In the Zoroastrian sense, a believer is one who, irrespective of his political allegiance and earthly origin, becomes a follower of Ahura Mazda in the pursuit of justice and peace. Zarathustra teaches : 'And we worship the former religions of the world devoted to righteousness.' 22 VI Persia, though defeated at Marathon and Sala- mis, exerted a powerful influence on the post-exilic Hebrew prophets and the Hellenic world. Imme- diately after the two great Athenian victories over the army and the navy of the Persians, a vast trans- formation is apparent in Hellenic religious life, due to the penetration of Indian and Zoroastrian ideas. Professor Flinders Petrie, the great Egyptologist, in his excavation of Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt, discovered in the Persian strata of the city, pottery beads and figures of Indian type. Comment- ing on it, he writes : 'The importance of the Indian colony in Memphis under the Persian empire lies in its bearing on its importation of Indian thought and the rise of the ascetic movement before Christ which culminated in western monachism\ 22 Tasna XVI, 3 272 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Reverend Frank Knight writes: 'Monasteries or groups of ascetic devotees living together in a communal form and ordering their lives on rules laid down by Indians were established in Egypt by 340 B.C. It is in many ways probable that Greek Stoicism was not an indigenous Hellenic product, but merely infiltration via Egypt of beliefs derived from the Buddhist priests of India.' 23 According to Plato, Socrates says : When the soul returning into itself reflects, it goes straight to what is pure, everlasting and impartial and like unto itself and being related to this cleaves unto it when the soul is alone and is not hindered. And then the soul rests from its mistakes and is like unto itself even as the Eternal is with whom the soul is now in touch. This state of the soul is called 'wisdom', what we call jndna. Dionysius who plays a relatively minor role in the epics of Homer now appears among the Olympian gods on the friezes of the Parthenon. Between the two dates the incursion of the Dionysius mysteries and the transformation of Greek religious life must be placed. This introduces a new mystical element into the traditional religion of the Hellenic world. The dualism of the Zoroastrian philosophy under- lies the Orphic attitude. The empirical world, the world of sense, of existence, is confused and tor- mented. Through music, contemplation, love, man can liberate himself from the sphere of sensory 23 Quoted in G. S. Ghurye : Indian Sddhus (1953), p. 1 1 , to the of the of Lord their at Sattchi,' 29 the 16 the 011 Removal >f 26 1955 Inauguration of the 9 August, 1955 the of New I May, 1955 Addressing tlie 39 th Session of All India Conference, Delhi f 25 November, 1954 Pri/e Distribution, Indian Industries .Fair, 2 January. 1956 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 273 experience and earn spiritual immortality even now. Thus the religious world of the Greeks became fami- liar with the concept of spiritual community. The ecdesia spiritualis has been a historical reality throughout the centuries. Communities of men who recognize a solidarity unrelated to race, nation, blood, politics, class, or caste, who are bound by a common belief in transcendental values and parti- cipation in divine grace sprang up. Heraclitus calls every man a barbarian who heeds only the testi- mony of his senses to the exclusion of the spiritual harmonies which remain inaccessible to the corpo- real ear. The Stoic thinkers declare that all men are brothers by an inescapable law of nature. VII The Jewish Bible does not begin with the Jews. It starts with the story of Adam which in Hebrew means man, admi. Genesis (V. I.) says : 'This is the book of the generations of man.' It does not speak of the Levite, the priest, or the Jew but of men. The children of earth are viewed as one family. They have one ancestor who is the father of all. Distinc- tions of caste and class differentiation by blood or descent do not supersede the primary fact of human equality. 'Why was man created one?* asktheRabbis and answer : 'In order that no man should say to another, "My father was greater than thine." ' Though the Jews are said to lay great stress on 18 274 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS ceremonial piety, there is also stress on a different attitude to life. Man is made in the image of God. In his ultimate nature man partakes of the divine essence. The Proverbs describe the spirit of man as the candle of the Lord, a candle which has to be lit with a divine flame. Though man is made in the 'image of God 5 , c the Fall of man' represents the lapse from the state of dose relationship with God. Now, man possesses the image of God only potentially and not actually. To conform to the will of the Supreme, personal sancti- fication is essential. The flame of spirit must be kindled in each human soul. 'Thus saith the Lord God. I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh.' 24 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me/ It is the aim of the Jews to create a broken and a contrite heart for God will not despise it. For creating a new man and a new world, a 'turning of the soul' is essential. The soul of man is seen as 'the lamp of God, searching out all the recesses of the inward parts.' God said to Moses according to Exodus : 'Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live.' When the Covenant of God is written in the heart of man, the transcendent will become completely immanent. 'I have said, ye are gods and all of you are children of the Most High/ (Psalms) 11 Ezekiel, II, 16, 19 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 275 The Hebrew Bible will not compromise with ido- latry. 'Thou shalt have no other gods but me. 5 Tacitus says : 'The Jews condemn as impious all who, with perishable materials wrought into the human shape, form representations of the deity. That Being, they say, is above all and eternal, given neither to change or decay.' 25 Philo quotes a letter written to Caligula by king Agrippa of Judaea in which it is said : "O my Lord and master, Gaius, this temple has never, from the time of its original foundation till now, admitted any form made by hands, because it has been the abode of God. Now pictures and images are only imitations of those gods who are perceptible to the outward senses; but it was not considered by our ancestors to be consistent with the reverence due to God to make any image or representation of the Invisible God." 2ft The Jews do not admit into their temple any image or representation made by hands, no visible likeness of him who is Invisible Spirit. They stress the transcendence of God. The great Commandment of the Jews is to 'love thy neighbour as thyself.' In Leviticus XIX, where we find a commentary on this principle, it is said : Let there be no hate in your heart for your brother; but you may make a protest to your neighbour so that he may be stopped from doing evil. Do not make attempts to get equal with one who has done you wrong, or keep hard feelings against the children of your people, but have love for your neighbour as for yourself. I am the Lord. 26 Hist., V, 5 29 Quoted by Leon Roth : Jewish Thought as a Factor in Civili- zation, (1955), p. 25 276 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS This principle applies not only to one's brothers or kinsmen or neighbours but to all. 'And if a man from another country is living in your land with you, do not make life hard for him; let him be to you as one of your countrymen and have love for him as for yourself; for you were living in a strange land, in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God/ Micahasks : 'What doth the Lord require of thee,but to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. 5 Moses uttered the prayer : 'Would that all God's people were prophets.' Isaiah says : 'He shall judge between the nations and they shall beat their swords to ploughshares. . . Neither shall they learn war any more,' The weapons of war should be turned to the service of peace. The nations form one family and they are inter-responsible. VIII Christianity is the religion based on the life and experience of Jesus. The Cross becomes significant only when we make it our own, when we undergo crucifixion. Jesus bids us to walk the path which he trod, that we may share the union with God which he attained. 'Seek and ye shall find.' Each one must seek for himself if he is to find. The truth latent in every soul must become manifest in the awakened spiritual consciousness. It is Jesus 'risen in the hearts of men.' Then shall we be able to 'work in the newness of life'. All things are then made new. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 277 Those who raise themselves above their unregene- rate condition are the god-men who are the manifes- tations of the new creation, the promise and pledge of the destiny in store for humanity. There is no one way by which spiritual rebornness is attained. 4 Marvel not that I have said unto thee, ye must be born again* . . The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' 27 In the same spirit it is said : 'All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.* 28 St. Paul says : 'Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you/ 29 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.' 30 'Ye are the temple of the living God.' 31 For Origen, there is a blood-relationship between God and man. Though God is the source of our being, everlasting, transcendent, he is also close to our hearts, the universal Father in whom we live, move and have our being. 'Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.' 32 27 John, III 28 II Timothy, III. 16-17 29 I Corinthians, VI. 19 80 Ibid, III, 16 81 II Corinthians, VI, 16 82 Matthew, V, 48 278 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians, says: 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. 533 'Be assured of this as a certain truth, that, corrupt and earthly as human nature is, there is nevertheless in the soul of every man the fire, light, and love of God. 5 (William Law). 'He who inwardly enters and intimately penetrates into himself gets above and beyond himself and truly mounts up to God.' The vital thing for us is not to hold the creed but to enter into the experience out of which it was developed. Man is an unfinished creation. He is left to seek and achieve completion. Tor this purpose the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil.' 34 It is a war that shakes the whole cosmos; it is waged in the innermost soul of man. Love of God is the easiest way to reach salvation. John says : c lf a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. 5 This love is a new birth, being begotten of God. 'Who- soever is begotten of God doeth no sin because His seed abideth in him and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God, 5 says John. Love conquers the world, all its fears and anxieties. The practice of love is the natural result of awareness of God. Jesus looks upon the least of God's children as oneself. 'And all ye are brethren. 5 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father 83 II, 12-13 84 I. John, III, 8 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 279 is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but of the world.' We must love even our enemies. 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.' 35 The Gross means physical suffering, earthly defeat but spiritual victory. Through suffering lies the way to liberation. Pascal says that Jesus struggles with death until the end of the world. In this boundless Gethsemane which is the life of the universe, we have to struggle on unto death wherever a tear falls, wherever a heart is seized with despair, where- ever an injustice or an act of violence is committed. 'Hast thou seen thy brother ? Then thou hast seen God. 5 This was the motto which the early Christians had, as reported by Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. The message is of universal applicabi- lity. 'God that made the world and all things there- in. . .hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. For in Him we live, we move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are all His offspring.' (St. Paul) Existentialism first used by Kirkegaard in the technical sense is the doctrine which stresses subjec- tivity. He holds that subjectivity is truth. It is a protest against Hegelianism which holds that we can reason our way to truth. The riddles of existence cannot be solved by speculative means. For Kirke- 35 John, VIII, 7 280 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS gaard, truth can be found only by passionate search, by the existential commitment of the whole perso- nality. Truth is inwardness. Kirkegaard says in his Journals : c The purpose of this life is. . .to be brought to the highest pitch of world-weariness/ Heidegger asks us to pass from unauthentic exis- tence to authentic existence, from samsdra to moksa or nirvana. For Marcel the goal is self-knowledge. It is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be entered upon reverently. IX Islam affirms that the spread of materialism brings about the downfall of great nations. The decline of the Greeks and of the Persians is ascribed to the spread of godless materialism. Theological controversies divided Christendom, and problems of social justice and brotherhood were neglected. Muhammad affirms the unity of God and the brotherhood of man. The Muslim feels deeply man's insignificance, the uncertainty of his fate, and the supremacy of God. Their poets, prophets and preachers enlarged on the abyss between the Creator and the creature. Though Allah is a being without form and without parts, without beginning or end and without equal, He must be described partially at least if He is to be apprehended by man. He is viewed as a personal being, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and compassionate. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 281 If one has to live a truly human life, i.e. a religious life he must surrender his thoughts and actions to God. O man, Thou must strive to attain to thy Lord a hard striving until thou meet Him. They are losers indeed who reject the meeting of Allah. They will perish indeed who call the meeting of Allah to be a lie. He regulates the affairs, making clear the sign that you may be certain of meeting your Lord. The Quran says : 'Whomsoever He willeth, Allah sendeth astray, and whomsoever he willeth He setteth on a straight path/ His transforming 'grace is essential for our effort to draw near to God. The domestication of foreign elements has been in process throughout the history of Islam. While the barbarians relegated Greek thought to a few monasteries, Muslim scholars translated Greek classics, absorbed Greek thought and transmitted it later to the West where, in the twelfth century, it produced a great intellectual revival. We generally say that the European mind is made by three ele- ments: Greek culture with its contribution of science, art and literature; Roman civilization with its code of political conduct, law and institutions; and Christianity. The first two are common to Islam and Christianity and Islam believes that it has perfected and completed Christianity. Muhammad recognized the fact that each reli- gious teacher has faith in his own mission, and his vision and experience fulfil the needs of his people. 282 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS] There is not a people but a warner has gone among them And every nation had a messenger. And every nation had a guide. And certainly We raised in every nation a messenger, saying Serve Allah and shun the devil. To every nation We appointed acts of devotion which they observe. For every one of you did We appoint a Law and a way. 86 X If there are similarities in the religious experience of mankind, it only means that a common humanity reacts in more or less similar ways to man's en- counter with the Divine. The common points to be found in the different manifestations of religion should not lead us to think that they are organized in each religion in the same way. The manner in which these beliefs are correlated varies from one religion to another. Each religion is a living orga- nization of doctrine, worship and practice, has an uniqueness and individuality of its own and changes as a whole in response to the needs of the age. While therefore we indicate the area of agreement, the distinctive arrangement of the basic presuppositions gives the quality to different religions. For our present purpose, it is not necessary to stress the differences which are important and fundamental in some points. Even though each sect of a religion claims to be the true representative of its specific 3 Quran, XXXV, 25; XVI, 37 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 283 religious message, yet all the followers of all the sects feel that they are bound together in a unity. As we are trying to overcome the conflict within each religion where every organized group claims to possess the truth by the recognition of the unity of religion, even so conflicts among religions require to be reconciled, if religion itself is not to be defeated. The world has bled and suffered from the disease of dogmatism, of conformity, of intolerance. People conscious of a mission to bring humanity to their own way of life, whether in religion or politics, have been aggressive towards other ways of life. The crusading spirit has spoiled the records of religions. In future there can be only one civilization in the world for it is no more possible for different civiliza- tions to live in ignorance of one another. The scientific discoveries which have penetrated all parts of the earth are making the world one though the different civilizations live by and cherish their distinctive principles of life. If the world is to be united on a religious basis, it will be not on the basis of this or that religion but by a co-operation among the different religions of the world. If the different religions strive to achieve their common ideals and seek to understand the differences in a sympathetic spirit, the world will be relieved of the misery and fear which now engulf it. The tradition of opposition to one another should yield to co-operation. The conviction of superiority which is natural should not prevent appreciation of other faiths and fruitful 284 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS interchange among them. Erasmus delivered the great dictum: 'Wherever you encounter truth, look upon it as Christianity.' We must remember the spirit of this advice when we are wandering in the obscurity of the future. If the message of reli- gions is to be articulated in relation to the problems of our age, we must give up the view that any one religion contains the final, absolute and whole truth, and adopt the Eastern attitude that the faith is realized in historical patterns, though no one of these patterns should regard itself as the sole and exclusive truth for all. We must be on our guard against the enemies of truth, men of fixed ideas and fanaticisms. Between the believers in the different historical patterns,Jthere exists a hidden common substratum. If we overlook this, we will not be able to overcome nihilism, lack of faith and irreligion. If we seek for a joyous reconciliation of the mem- bers of the human family, we will discern that even heretics have divined some aspect of Godhead. Just as God lets his sun shine on good and evil, He pours forth His loving kindness on all the children of mankind. The witness of the different major religions strengthens the view that religion is the hope of man and can sustain the new world. bahu-dvdrasya dharmasya nehdsti viphald kriya?^ Religion has many doors; the observance of its duties can never be useless. This view makes for the appreciation of religious knowledge, of the beliefs 37 Mahabharata, Sdntiparva, 174, 2 RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND MODERN CIVILIZATION 285 and practices of other peoples. This understanding makes for spiritual fellowship. Within this fellow- ship, each religion will have scope for full expres- sion. Religious reflection will be stimulated by the knowledge and friendship of others of different religions. We will also have universal ethical standards. Even as the interplay of Jewish, Christian and Muslim in the West has enriched the experience of the West, that of Hindu, Buddhist and Con- fucian has enriched the experience in the East, so the cross fertilization of ideas among the living faiths of the world will tend to foster and enrich spiritual life. The sign of hope is the perpetual youth of religions, the way in which they renew themselves as the world changes. Arnold Toynbee says : As I have gone on, Religion has come to take a more and more prominent place, till in the end it stands in the centre of the picture. . . I have come back to a belief that Religion holds the key to the mystery of existence; but I have not come back to the belief that this key is in the hands of my ancestral Religion exclusively. . . The Indian religions are not exclusive-minded. They are ready to allow that there may be alternative approaches to the mystery. I feel sure that in this they are right, and that this catholic-minded Indian religious spirit is the way of salvation for all religions in an age in which we have to learn to live as a single family if we are not to destroy ourselves. 88 88 When the controversy was raised about Professor Arnold Toynbee's aversion to the exclusiveness of Christianity, he affirmed that he sided 'with Synmachus as against 286 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS The choice before humanity is either co-operation in a spirit of freedom and understanding or conflict in an atmosphere of fear, suspicion and jealousy. The future of religion and mankind will depend on the choice we make. Concord, not discord, will contribute to the establishment of spiritual values in the life of mankind. Concord alone is meritorious, said Asoka : samavaya eva sadhuh. St. Ambrose, with Manglic (who said that "Even as God has given several fingers to the hand, so has he given Man several ways") as against William of Rubruck and with Radhakrishnan asagainst Karl Adam, Jean DanieJou and Hendrik Kraemer.* A Study of History, Vol. X, p. 238 GENERAL INDIAN RAILWAYS CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 16 April, 1953 THE origin, growth and expansion of the railway system are all epitomized in this Centenary Exhibition. You see there an engine which drew one of the first trains, and I travelled from New Delhi to here in a train drawn by an engine which was made at the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works. On this occasion of prospect and retrospect, as Shri Vasist said, we have to remember the adminis- tration of Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor- General from 1848 to 1856. In those years, as a liberal imperialist, he tried to do his best for intro- ducing great improvements in communications and other things in this country. He was responsible for introducing the telegraph. Again, he made the postal system cheap and effective by the use of the railways. Till then mails were being carried by couriers and runners, by horses and camels or by carriages and boats. After the introduction of the railway mail service, the postal system increased manifold and we are able to reap the benefits of all the changes that Lord Dalhousie introduced. That the railway system affected the social life and habits of our people need not be reiterated. It 19 290 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS broke down distances, physical and psychological. It brought together people from different parts of our country and gave them a sense of responsibility and political unity. It reduced the incidence of famine by facilitating the transport of food grains from surplus to deficit areas. It used to be said of a great country that it was hell for the poor, paradise for the rich and purga- tory for the middle classes. I do not think such a characterization is likely to be made of our country. We have pledged ourselves to the building of a Welfare State. Our Minister for Railways just now described to us the things that have been done during the recent five or six years after the attain- ment of independence. He has linked up parts of the country with one another which were not hitherto connected by railways. He has paid great attention to the amenities of third class passengers and the comforts of workers are also being taken into ac- count. On the whole, every attempt is being made to increase the welfare of the railway worker, of the railway passenger and indirectly of the people at large also. But, as the Minister has said, there are also ever so many things which require to be done. In a vast country like this, there are still undeve- loped regions which are inaccessible to communi- cations. The success of our Five Year Plan in its different sectors of Agriculture, Industry, and Multi-purpose Projects will depend on the capacity of the Railways to provide transport facilities. INDIAN RAILWAYS CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 291 The Minister referred to the primary need of rehabi- litation of railway track, of rolling stock and other equipment and he has also told us about the need for development. But he ended up by saying that all these things are conditioned by the state of our finances. In other words, finance is the greatest bottleneck. We have the will, we have the purpose, we have the ambition and we are anxious to build as rapidly as possible a Welfare State in this country. But there is this financial trouble. Per- haps if the international tension is somewhat re- laxed, more funds may be made available for constructive purposes. Recent developments in the international situa- tion seem to be a little more promising. The deep darkness which enveloped the world since the end of the war has dispersed a little and a few bright rays of light are visible. In the last few weeks we have had several indications from the Communist world of a wish for co-operation with the Western democracies. Faith in the peaceful co-existence of different systems requires us to avoid not only mutual interference but even the appearance of it. Perhaps the world will be greatly reassured if the Cominform is abolished even as the Comintern was abolished during the Second World War when nations like Russia and America fought and suffered together. Democracy is based on diversity, tolerance and mutual respect. If the great Powers show mutual respect and consideration, the nightmare-world 292 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS in which we live may pass into one of light and sanity. The great funds which are being spent for destructive purposes, for increasing the weapons which inflict death, may then be utilized for the purpose of promoting the interests of life. Then our Railway Minister may come forward to say : 'Here there is some relief, here I am getting some more funds and it may be possible for me to build the railways and to expand the whole system and make it possible for people in distant villages also to have more frequent contacts with the rest of the country/ The Centenary Exhibition has given a sense to us that a truly democratic spirit prevails among the workers. Democracy is recognizing the value of the service done by the smallest and the biggest. We may worship God in our own way. The spirit of worship is one though the flowers we offer may be varied and may be of different qualities. So also, from that old gentleman who came up here, who served the railway for 53 years, up to or down to our Railway Minister, they are all working for one common cause. They have a sense of their respon- sibility; they have a sense of the contribution which they are making to the railway system of our country. It is essential, therefore, that this spirit of democracy, that feeling of family sense, that sense of comradeship should prevail among the workers in all the fields and factories of our country. It is a commonplace to say that today a social and economic revolution is in our midst. That revolution INDIAN RAILWAYS CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 293 must be ensured success. If we succeed in bring- ing about that revolution by democratic processes, it will be a greater victory for democracy than any number of military victories in the battlefields. If we are able to build up a Welfare State by peace- ful, parliamentary, non-violent processes, the whole Cold War will disappear and we will be able to establish that the objectives of a Welfare State could be realized by methods which are non- violent in their character. This railway system of our country whose purpose and administration are evident to any one who goes round this Exhibi- tion has been worked with the full co-operation of all people. I should like to take this opportunity to congra- tulate the Railway Minister, Members of the Railway Board and all the ordinary workers who are also contributing to that on the success that they have attained. The other day a foreign expert said that India is one of the twelve best administered countries of the world. Well, if India is well admi- nistered, the Railway Administration has also contributed to the good name which our country has acquired and I do hope that the Railway Administration will go on working with honesty, with efficiency and increase the reputation which our country has for good administration. We are in a critical time. We have ideas, we have purpose and all that is necessary is we must dream and think together, aspire together and achieve 294 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS our objective. But the first attention must be paid to our domestic problems. That depends on national solidarity and I do hope that the railway system of our country will continue to progress and will continue to assist in building a community mate- rially and culturally high and give us a satisfied India which will be able to make an effective contribution to the world itself. DEVANAGARI SCRIPT REFORM LUCKNOW 28 November, 1953 I HAVE not paid much attention to this question though I know it is a very important one. Our Constitution lays down that 'the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari Script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purpose of the Union shall be the inter- national form of Indian numerals.' ( 3431 ) We are required to get Hindi adopted as the official language, if possible, within 15 years. The Govern- ments of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have already adopted Hindi in Nagari script for official purposes. The use of Hindi will spread in other areas also. So it is essen- tial that the script should lend itself easily to the requirements of printing, typewriting, etc. With about 16 vowel sounds, 35 simple consonants and a large number of complex conjunct consonants, the number of distinct types necessary for printing and typing exceeds 500. This number of graphic symbols does not make for easy or speedy communication. Different Committees have been set up for the purpose of effecting improvements in the script and their recommendations are to be considered by us. The Nagari script is now used for Sanskrit, Hindi, 296 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS Marathi, Nepali. It is best that we have a uniform script in the whole country. Our aim should be simplicity and speed. We should not, of course, make changes simply to suit typing and printing. We have typewriters designed to suit the Chinese script which contain over 500 symbols. Mechanical needs should not control changes of script. Our attitude in the matter should be neither resistance to all changes nor acceptance of wholesale changes. Shapes of letters change in course of centuries and even decades. The printing press has given some fixity to our script. Even today there are slight varia- tions in the Nagari script between North India and South India. Whatever changes are absolutely necessary for the popularization of the script and for its use in printing and typewriting, may be made so long as these changes do not injure the integrity of the script. A telegraphic code for Nagari script has been introduced in some provinces, but I understand that the response to it has been poor, possibly be- cause the international Morse code is simpler than the Nagari Morse code. We all know the difference between the alphabet and the script, between the order of the arrange- ments of sounds and the order of the shapes of the letters. Simply because our alphabet is scientifically arranged, it does not follow that our script is also scientifically fixed. A perfect language will have for its principle one sound, one symbol. In the present DEVANAGARI SCRIPT REFORM 297 Nagari script, we do not have short vowels e and o as we have in some other alphabets. In Marathi,Telugu and Tamil the sound of & I is used. But it is not found in the Nagari script. In Tamil we have a sound zha as in Dravida Kazhagam. We have also the hard T r. These do not find a place in the Nagari alphabet. We have the same alphabet in many Indian languages but different scripts. We may also arrange the Roman letters in the Sanskrit order. This will help to popularize Hindi in non-Hindi speaking areas and spread the knowledge of Indian literature, philosophy and religion outside India more easily and effectively. During the last war the Indian Army, recruited from all the Provinces of India, was successfully instructed in Hindi through the Roman script. It is sometimes suggested that both the Nagari and the Roman scripts may be used for the expression of Sanskrit. Such a co-operative usage will bring us into intimate relations with our Sanskrit heritage from which almost all the lan- guages of India are derived, and European culture. The Roman script adapts itself to expansion by the use of diacritical marks. The Roman script, it is contended, is not European in its origin but is really derived from Asia and is well suited for the expression of Sanskrit. I realize that this suggestion is beyond the scope of the Conference which is convened for the specific purpose of effecting the necessary improvements in the Nagari script to suit the needs of the modern printing press, typewriting 298 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS and those of the growing politically-conscious population. The suggestion that one uniform Nagari script should be employed for all the languages of India will have to be considered with great care and cau- tion. The use of the Nagari script for Sanskrit in many parts of the country is not very old. We owe it to the work of the European Sanskritists and the unifying tendencies of the different universities from 1857 onwards. The first volume of Max Muller's edition of Rg Veda Samhita was published from Oxford in 1854 and the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras which were founded in 1857 started prescribing Sanskrit texts in Nagari script. Till then Sanskrit works were written in Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Maithili, Mewari in Nepal, Sarada in Kashmir, Telugu, Kannada, Grantha in the Tamil country and Malayalam. The Nagari script was used for Sanskirt works in the Hindi area, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharash- tra. To suggest the displacement of native scripts by Nagari is not at the present time a practicable proposition. All these local scripts as well as Nagari are derived from the old Brahmi script. When Hindi in Nagari script is more generally accepted in non- Hindi areas, the people who speak other languages will also become familiar with the Nagari script and perhaps may adopt it as an alternative to their own. In these matters, natural growth should be the method and not official imposition. DEVANAGARl SCRIPT REFORM 299 The punctuation marks which are in use in English may be adopted. As for the international numerals or the Deva- nagari numerals, there are arguments for each. The Nagari script and the Nagari numerals, it is said, should go together. They form an organic whole. When it is decided to use the Nagari script, consis- tency demands that the Nagari numerals should also be used. On the other side it is said that inter- national numerals are used the world over. Even countries like the Soviet Union which insists on the general use of the Russian language by all its people, use the international numerals and not their national ones. These numerals, it is argued, were originally Indian and spread to Europe through the Arabs. If the international numerals are used, accounting, book-keeping, etc. are greatly facilitated when trade and commerce are becoming interna- tional. It is suggested that in Hindi correspondence, the Hindi numerals may be used and in all other cases international numerals. In considering the different problems about the Nagari script we should not forget that we are living in an age of vast material and intellectual changes and that almost a new world is coming into existence. In this new world some of the inveterate prejudices and peculiarities now dividing nation from nation will diminish. Distance is no more an obstacle to the interchange of thought. As we envisage a co-operative world commonwealth, 300 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS every attempt should be made to make the different peoples of the world recognize their kinship and solidarity. We should build bridges of communi- cation and understanding and not barriers. UNITED NATIONS SEMINAR ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT INAUGURAL ADDRESS 21 January, 1954 I AM honoured by your invitation to inaugurate the regional Seminar on Low Cost Housing and Community Development. From the speeches now made it is clear that the Seminar is not a general conference and that the Working Group is not a talking shop, and that the Seminar is limited to technical specialists. I, therefore, appreciate the distinction of being asked to inaugurate it as I am in no sense of the term a specialist in these matters. It is significant that this Seminar is organized under the auspices of the United Nations by the Technical Assistance Administration and the Eco- nomic Commission for Asia and the Far East. This shows that the problem of housing shortage is of a world-wide character, and its rapid solution will further considerably the prospects of peace and security in the world which are the main objectives of the United Nations. While there is no country in the world today which is not faced in some degree by this problem, it is very acute and urgent in Asian countries where 302 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS millions live in insanitary slums or filthy hovels, and many are literally homeless. The United Nations Charter places before the peoples of the world the ideal of a democratic society. This ideal is not altogether unfamiliar to the Asian people. In the third century B.C., Asoka said in Kalinga Edict II : C A11 people are my children (sarve manusya mama prajati) . Just as I desire on behalf of my own children; that they should be fully provided with all kinds of comfort and happi- ness, (sarvena hitasukhena) in this world as well as in the other, similarly I desire the same (comfort and happiness in this world and in the next) on behalf of all people, evam eva me icchd sarvamanusyesu.' Disrespect for the common man is the essence of fascism and a great source of danger to the peace of the world. We have in Asia millions of people who are tattered, dusty, abject, feeble and forsaken by the future. Their poverty and prostration are not accepted as inevitable. The hungry and homeless people are not concerned with the intricacies of economics or the complexities of politics, but they ask for food, clothing and shelter. If we are to further the interests of peace and democracy, we as a Welfare State have to put ourselves on the side of the poor of the world. Wise policy consists not in opposing the social revolution which is inevitable but in being of use to it and in making use of it. In our country the problem of housing has as- sumed special importance and urgency in recent HOUSING AND COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT 303 years. Increase in population in the last three censuses since 1921 has been 11 per cent, 14*3 per cent and 13-4 per cent, while the urban population alone has gone up by 21 per cent, 32 per cent and 54-1 per cent. The influx of refugees in recent years has aggravated the magnitude and the intensity of the problem. Our Government is doing its best by building houses for Government servants and for displaced persons, by helping private building corporations and in other ways. If the housing needs are to be met adequately, it is essential to reduce the costs of construction. It is here that the deli- berations of this Seminar may be of use to us. They may tell us how we can produce locally building materials on a large scale, adopt better techniques than we do now, and lower the costs of construction in other ways. Only then will it be possible for us to provide adequate housing arrangements for persons of low income groups. Even these houses should provide minimum standards of health and privacy and have essential services like lighting and water- borne sanitation. Our greatest need therefore is low-cost housing. In dealing with the problem there are two aspects to be considered. There is, first, the narrow one of providing housing for workers engaged in urban and industrial areas so as to ensure for them satis- factory living conditions and thereby improve the per capita outturn. But the more vital aspect relates to the provision of housing as a part of community 304 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS building in rural as well as in urban areas. One of the main causes of the growing need for housing is the movement of people from the villages to the towns, and there can, surely, be no long-range solution unless conditions are created in the countryside which will induce people to continue to live there in reasonable comfort. In a sense this is a part- of the larger problem of providing more avenues for gainful employment in the non-urban areas, but better housing and greater attention to communal needs in our villages will secure a better balance, mitigate the acuteness of housing scarcity in the towns, and make altogether for a fuller and healthier life. Housing is not merely satisfaction of a material need for shelter. It has a special purpose also. Our physical needs can be treated in two ways. We can treat them as material problems which we must solve in material terms or we can treat them as opportunities for the expression of social values. There is the need to eat. We develop out of it the art of cooking and the domestic occasion. Out of the instinct of sex we develop the art of love and marriage. So also out of the need for shelter, we develop hearth and home. Housing is not merely the business of providing people with material accommodation. A house is not the physical satisfac- tion of a physical need. It is not simply a house but it is a home, a centre of family life. The way in which we build houses should express our social thinking. HOUSING AND COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT 305 I hope that your deliberations in regard to building materials, techniques, and achieving a balance between urban and rural development will be of benefit not only to the world but to us in India. 20 BALKAN-JI-BARI, PATNA INAUGURAL ADDRESS 3 February, 1954 I AM happy to be here and inaugurate the annual session of the Balkan-ji-bari and pay my tribute to the work which this institution has done for nearly thirty years. This is a conference of workers and a gathering of children. Children constitute the wealth of the country and by directing their ener- gies in proper channels we improve the physical and mental health of the whole community. We have had in our country great respect for children. The Brhad-dranyaka Upanisad asks us to be done with learning and desire to live as a child : tasmdd brdhmanah pdndityam nirvidya bdlyena tisthdsei 1 . What are the characteristics of a bdla ? Another Upanisad (Subdla) gives the answer: bdla-svabhdvo asango niravadyah the characteristics of a child are non-attachment and blamelessness or innocence. Nietzsche says : 'The child is innocence and obli- vion, a new beginning, a play, a self-rolling wheel, a primal motion, an holy yea-saying.' 2 We have worshipped the divine child Krishna. One of the most famous symbols of the Christian religion is the picture of the Madonna and the Child. 1 III, 5. 1 2 Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1 .2 BALKAN-JI-BARI 307 c Except ye become like little children ye shall not see the Kingdom of God.' For Heraclitus, 'the Kingdom is of the child. 3 To become like a little child is not easy. It costs us a great deal to acquire the grace and meekness of the childlike. The Chinese thinker Mencius observes : 'A great man is one who has not lost the child's heart.' There are things which are hidden from the learned and revealed to the babes. Narada, who gives the knowledge of the Supreme Self according to Sabda-Kalpadruma, (Dictionary of words) ap- proaches Sanatkumara who is represented in Indian tradition as an eternal child. The learned Narada goes to the unlearned Sanatkumara for instruction. 3 The child symbolizes open-mindedness, recepti- vity. Children are sentimental, warm-hearted and eager to make friends, A child's personality is sensi- tive and responds rapidly to the surrounding in- fluences. Physical care of children is not enough, emotional care is also needed. It is far easier to mould the next generation nearer to the goal of a social democracy than to change the present. By helping the children to love their fellows whatever be their caste or community, we will develop a sense of brotherhood. By bringing all the children into one fold today we foster tomorrow a sense of community among all Indians. It is by false doctrine that the children are seduced from their natural springs of life. The social * Chdndogya Upanifad, VII, 1 308 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS nature of the child is distorted into queer shapes by the poison of indoctrination. In our country we train them to feel that they are members of this caste or that community 5 of this province or that language group, and thus give a wrong twist to their minds. When it is our desire to train our people to feel that they are first and foremost citizens of this great land, this direction of the mind will have to start when they are little children. Every child is an experiment, an adventure into nobler life, an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new. Every child is a distinct individual. A child's capacity for personal and social relationships should not be unchanelled or misdirected; if it is rightly guided, it will contribute to the enrichment and stability of the child's life. We have to give our children a sense of the great spiritual heritage and make them feel proud of their Indianness. durlabham bhdrate janma. It is difficult to be born in Bharat. To be born here provides a great opportunity to change the social structure of India and through it the nature of humanity. We should give children an idea of our culture that all religions lead to God and they are only different pathways. To quarrel about the ways to God is both irrelevant and irreligious. Religious intolerance is against the spirit for which this country has stood for centuries. Our culture tells us that God dwells in the heart of every being, even if he be wicked or degenerate. This faith is the basis of democracy. It asks us to BALKAN-JI-BARI 309 practise charity (ddna), self-control (damd) and com- passion (daya) . It impresses on us the importance of our action, that every act has its consequences. The world is a moral order. Transgression of the moral law is followed by punishment. We cannot be un- just with impunity. We must therefore love justice. These lessons are to be conveyed to the children by means of songs and stories, play and work. By celebrating national festivals and anniversaries of great leaders, children grasp the spirit of our heri- tage. The lives of the great characters of the world give the children what Whitehead calls a habitual vision of greatness. Excursions may reveal to them the vastness of our country and the greatness of its art and architecture. Children get their first picture of the past from historical tales, and prejudices inculcated at an early age are difficult to eradicate later. We should not grow up thinking that our country has always been right. History books should be carefully written and should promote friendship among nations. We must help our children to think of India as a whole, as a nation with its part to play in the world. We must give them a sense of historical perspective and check the events of the day against those of the past. Books for children, films for children should be carefully prepared. There should be special radio programmes for chil- dren into which great care, vitality and imaginative experience are put. Radio and cinema must enlarge the horizons of children and send them back to 310 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS books. Great books are the basis of our culture and civilization. We must keep children aware of the value of good reading, give them the opportu- nity to see and handle neatly produced books. This organization fosters international contacts by means of pen friendships. The dangers of a narrow nationalism are avoided. Care of children is not only a science but an art. We need people who have a genuine love and respect for children. It is essential that ideas of children's welfare should spread in the villages. An organization like this should not complain of lack of workers. Many ladies of middle class families may be in a position to spare a few hours a week and be trained for this purpose. Municipalities and Town Committees should consider it their duty to provide parks and playgrounds, libraries and nurseries, bdlbhavans for children, for sometimes neither homes nor schools offer adequate opportunities for the talents and energies of children. This organization aims at supplying the gap. It should also strive to improve the tone and character of children's schools. I hope that by the activities of this organiza- tion the children's cause will be given high priority in our plans for social reconstruction. INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CONVOCATION ADDRESS 12 February, 1954 MAY I, at the outset, offer my good wishes and congratulations to those who have been awarded today Diplomas, Certificates and Prizes. Their hard work and disciplined effort have had their reward. A very distinguished scientist, whose name may remain unmentioned, said it was all agriculture and not culture. His remark, I dare say, was only a play on words. There is an essential connection between Agriculture and Culture. We are all familiar with Aristotle's oft-quoted saying that we must live before we can live well. Before we build a civiliza- tion, a social order which will foster cultural crea- tion, we must secure continuity of food supply. So long as a people remain in the hunting stage and depend for their existence on the precarious fortunes of the chase, they cannot develop a settled life. Their energies will be spent on the perils and chances of the hunt. If the nomads who gather food become the tillers who grow food, we have the basis of culture. When people settle down to till the soil and provide for the uncertain future, they find time and inclination to develop the arts and the 312 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS traditions of civilization. They build huts, temples, schools, domesticate animals, breed cattle and transmit more effectively than before their mental and moral heritage. As culture has its roots in agriculture, great civilizations developed round large rivers which made the surrounding soil fertile and offered easy communications. These civilizations centered round the Yangtse, the Ganges, the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The disappearance of favourable conditions may destroy civilization. Vast climatic changes, exhaus- tion of the soil, earthquakes and floods may threaten the life of any civilization. There is hardly an ancient culture which does not have the story of the Flood. It lingers in the memory of peoples. But the reason- ing man led by the instinct for survival devises ways and means to overcome these threats and obstacles. When the stick was made into a plough, it was a modest invention, but its importance was great. In the Rg Veda 1 , Sita is invoked as presiding over agriculture or the fruits of the earth. In the Rdmayana we read that Janaka himself held the plough and tilled the earth when at the touch of his plough Sita sprang up from the furrow of the soil. To avoid entire dependence on rain and destruction by flood, dams were constructed. The dams raised by Chandra Gupta functioned till A.D. 150. Remains of ancient canals are to be found 1 IV, 57. 6 COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 313 in all parts of the country. Till the other day we were not behind many of the progressive nations of the world. Owing to circumstances which I need not pause to consider here, we fell behind. Our scientific development was arrested and our society became stationary. We still adopt old methods with the result that, though a very large majority of our population is engaged in agriculture, we suffer periodically from famines and food shortage. Today we are passing through an all-round renaissance. The Council of Agricultural Research which has attained its Silver Jubilee is one expression of it. It has served as a clearing house and co-ordi- nating agency for all advanced agricultural re- search. The status of the Institute has grown with the years and it is a matter of gratification that scholars from countries of South-East Asia are also being trained here in Agricultural Research and Statistical Investigations. The popularity of the Institute is evident from the fact that you are unable to select more than a fraction of the total number of qualified candidates, who seek admission. When I visited a few Agricultural Colleges some time ago as a member of the University Education Commission, it struck me as somewhat strange that the actual tillers were not touched much by the agricultural education imparted in the Colleges. Our farmers may be ignorant, but they are not lacking in intelligence. Dr Voelcker of the Royal Agricultural Society of Great Britain who visited 314 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS India in 1890 reported : c Certain it is that I, at least, have never seen a more perfect picture of care- ful cultivation, combined with hard labour, perse- verance and fertility of resource than I have seen at many of the halting places in my tour/ I have no doubt that if we make the results of scientific research available to the farmers, they will utilize them in their farm practices. The results must be publicized by visual education, radio, bulletins in our principal languages, microfilm services and by other means. Agriculture is a major national issue. Our Five Year Plan recognizes its great importance* We have large projects intended to increase our food produc- tion, and we have succeeded in increasing it. And yet our practices are of a primitive type and our farms are uneconomic. Land legislation has not been sufficiently courageous and imaginative in all parts of the country. Even where the cultivator is willing to improve his technique, debt and lack of resources stand in his way. While some of these problems are for the Government, Central and Provincial, you, gentlemen, who have taken your Diplomas and Certificates and Prizes today can do a great deal in educating our peasantry who form 70 per cent of our population. While you carry out your own researches, it is your duty to spread knowledge of advanced agricultural technique among the people. I hope that in years to come you will succeed in modernizing our agricultural prac- tices. I wish you well. OPENING OF HOSPITAL IN AHMEDABAD 24 April, 1954 ~T AM happy to be here and participate in the J. proceedings of this morning, declare the Hospital open and transfer its management to the Ahmeda- bad Municipal Corporation. Ahmedabad has been famous for its industrial magnates. Two of the hardest things in life are to acquire wealth by honest effort, and when one has acquired it, to use it properly. Many of the mill- owners here have acquired wealth and a few of them have learnt to use it properly. This Medical Trust is an example of the latter. As Shri Morarji Desai just explained to you, this Medical Trust has grown from small beginnings in 1936 to its present position due to the generosity of the family of Shri Vadilal Lallubhai. This whole Trust is the product of private enterprise encouraged by our national leaders. The foundation stone of the original dis- pensary as also of the present Hospital was laid by the late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, whose name is permanently associated with our struggle for freedom and after the attainment of freedom with the consolidation of the country, with the integra- tion of the States. If we have faith in our own destiny, we feel the need for unity within the country. Sardar PateFs remarkable services to our 316 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS country make for national unity which is the essen- tial pre-requisite of our freedom. The hospital in Ellis Bridge was declared open by Shri Morarji Desai. Gujarat is rightly proud of its contributions to our political and cultural Renaissance; the great work of the Father of the Nation ably assisted by Sardar Patel and Shri Morarji Desai will be re- membered for long. You rightly take pride in the fact that the facili- ties of the Medical Trust were thrown open to all people irrespective of caste and creed, sex and age, high and low, rich and poor. It is the lack of this spirit that exposed us to the invaders and the spoilers, and the cultivation of this spirit in all walks of life will foster national solidarity. There is a queer view that the outlook of this nation is other-worldly, not this-worldly, it is world- negating and not world-affirming, that we despise the world as an illusion and concentrate on things above. There cannot be a graver or more erroneous misconception. While we look upon this world as unreal, if detached from its basis in reality, when looked at as rooted in reality, it acquires great significance. Samsdra is a perpetual succession of events, one superseding the other but is this succes- sion mere change without any order, without any intelligibility, without any purpose? If we look at it we find that it is a progressive unfoldment of reality. It is an increasing manifestation of the values implicit in reality, matter, life, mind, intelligence OPENING OF HOSPITAL IN AHMEDABAD 317 and spirit. The fulfilment of man consists in his acquiring spiritual freedom. Sarhsdra is to help us to attain moksa. This moksa does not mean a repudiation of body and mind or of the world. - Life eternal or amrta means the play of the vital organism, the satisfaction of mind and the abun- dance of spiritual peace. One is a step to the other. Without the proper development of bodily life eternity cannot be gained. That is why the Toga Sutra insists on the development of kdyd-sampat or physical prowess, rupa Idvanya bala, vajrassamhananat- vdni kdyd-sampat. We call our medical science dyurveda, the science of life. It is drogya sdstra. It is the science of health. Health is not the mere absence of disease; it is positive well-being, making for efficiency and joy in life, in all works, intellectual and spiritual. The unhealthy people are those who are bored, who seem dead to the glamour of life, to the challenge of life. Healthy people have faith in action, in life. The science of life, the science of health stress the preventive aspects more than the curative. They try to make us health- conscious. In our country today we do not have enough medical facilities for our population and its inci- dence of disease. Our rate of infant mortality is still very high. Though the average expectation of life has increased by four or five years, the waste of human potential, of things worth while in people is still large. 318 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS According to the so-called oath of Hippocrates, the father of Greek medicine, the doctor must swear 'to make no pretence of magic, never to take ad- vantage of a patient's sufferings or fears but to remember always that he enters a sick man's house as a friend to all who dwell there.' We have had hospitals of two kinds from early times. Asoka's inscriptions speak of purusa-cikitsd and pafa-cikitsa, . treatment for men and for animals. I am delighted to know that this Hospital which has been doing excellent work all these years is now equipped with up-to-date apparatus and instruments and has provision for a hundred beds which may be increased to 250. The medical staff is whole-time and it is a plea- sure to know that they are not only able but devoted. Treatment of suffering patients requires not merely skill but devotion. Faith in the doctor goes a long way in effecting recovery. He must have the healing touch. Dr Desai's example will be fol- lowed by others, I hope. Medical science is rapidly advancing. There are many specialized branches in it. Workers here may be able from their own know- ledgej[and experience to contribute to growth in it. It is" unfortunate that lawyers and doctors have not been'able to make substantial contributions to jurisprudence and medical research as our physi- cists and; chemists have done. Perhaps opportunities have not been available. In such institutions they may be forthcoming. OPENING OF HOSPITAL IN AHMEDABAD 319 Blessed is he who has found his work. There is no other way to happiness. In taking charge of this Hospital the Municipal Corporation is discharging its obligations to the people of the city. I only hope that the spirit of devotion to suffering humanity will animate the Corporation authorities in dealing with the problems of this Hospital. LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE OFFICE OF THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, MADRAS 2 June, 1954 I AM happy to be here in response to the kind invitation of my friend Shri Narahari Rao to lay the foundation stone of the Office of the Accountant- General, Madras. Shri Narahari Rao has given you an account of the way in which the different branches of this office were scattered in the city of Madras and how he has been endeavouring to bring all of them together into one central building and how thanks to the interest taken by the Government of India he has succeeded in his efforts in finding suitable places for the offices of the Accountants-General in the different centres of this country. He has enumerated Chandigarh, Bhuba- neswar, Bangalore, etc. In other words, whatever may have been the difficulties in the past, today we are happy to note that there is a site here, a building will soon come up and the officers of the depart- ment will be able to work here in healthy condi- tions the Auditor-General says that in healthy conditions they will work better than they used to do hitherto. We reciprocate his wish. Shri Narahari Rao has also pointed out how the Accountant-General's office in Madras arose out of OFFICE OF THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, MADRAS 321 the beginnings of the East India Company. As businessmen, they were interested in the mainte- nance of proper accounts and audit and the very office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General is based on the British model. It is something which is above all party and political considerations. The Comptroller and Auditor-General is not appointed because he has rendered any political services to the country; he is appointed because of his indepen- dence and expert knowledge. His responsibilities are not to the party in power, not to the Govern- ment of the day but to the tax-payers, to the Parlia- ment which includes the representatives of the tax-payers. The analogy in the British Administra- tion is to Her Majesty's Judges. Their office is of a judicial character. Being an academic man, I may claim that the qualities needed in the academic world are also the qualities needed for the officers of the Audit and Accounts Department. An objec- tive and intensive study, a disinterested desire to find out the truth and a willingness to face the truth even if it is inconvenient and unpalatable these are the qualities which are necessary in the academic world and I take it that they are the qualities expected of the officers of the Audit and Accounts Department. This State has contributed many able and devoted servants to the Audit and Accounts Service. They have earned for themselves a very high reputation and it is my hope and earnest prayer that that 21 322 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS record will be kept up and the best people, irrespec- tive of other considerations, will be recruited to the Audit and Accounts Service and that they will be able to do their duty so far as the country's interests are concerned. Shri Narahari Rao spoke with a natural and legitimate pride in the work of the Audit and Accounts Department. By and large the officers of the Department have done their work well. I am not a technical man, I know nothing about auditing and accounting, but I do hope that the advice tendered by the Comptroller and Auditor- General for the separation of audit and accounts will be accepted and implemented in due course I hope it will not be a long course by the Government of India [Shri V. Narahari Rao : c and the States also 5 ] and the States also my friend corrects me. Recent reports have revealed to us serious irre- gularities in the working of the administrations themselves. They have referred to the great losses sustained by the Government by errors of judgment, negligence, incompetence, inefficiency. It was all right during the war period when we wanted to speed up business and therefore we relaxed standards. There is no justification today for re- laxing standards. Ours is a poor country, its re- sources are limited and we cannot afford to risk any kind of waste and the Audit and Accounts Department will have to look upon their functions as functions of the greatest public utility by pointing out errors and by showing where and how we can OFFICE OF THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, MADRAS 323 remove abuses, effect economies, increase efficiency and reduce waste of expenditure. These things are very essential. Shri Narahari Rao spoke to us about the way in which the Accounts Department some- times find fault with the States. There is a popular feeling that, if the Accounts people are well thought of by the States, there is something wrong about them [laughter] and if they are not well thought of, they are doing their duty properly ! That may be so or may not be so. I do not believe that the different departments of the State are working at cross purposes. All that I mean is that the Accounts Department must not be afraid of courting un- popularity. They must not go about always saying things which will please their superiors. There is an increasing tendency in our country today to say things which our superiors wish to hear and it is that tendency that has to be resisted. I do hope that these people who are the watch-dogs, so to say, of the public funds or the tax-payers' money will exercise great vigilance and control and see to it that we get a proper return for every rupee we spend and there is a proper utilization of public funds. My friend Narahari Rao is retiring shortly. I have known him for over thirty years. I have observed his steady rise to the present exalted position. When he looks back on his long record of work in different capacities, he can have the satisfaction of having done his work with fearlessness, with independence, with impartiality and with a single-minded devotion 324 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS to duty. These are the qualities which have marked his career. He has said things which are unpalat- able to the powers that be. He has not made a secret of the failings of the Government wherever he had noticed failings. But wherever he found there was enough to justify praise, he was the first man to offer praise. Praise where praise is due, cri- ticism where criticism is justified that has been the policy which he adopted, and we are proud that our first Indian Comptroller and Auditor-General has set an example which can be followed by others. All those who are in the lower hierarchy, in the lower rungs of the ladder, also require to be competent and they must realize that they are doing work which is of fundamental importance to the State. I go round the world; I see countries which are making progress and countries which are subject to upheavals. When I look back on the conditions which bring about great social upheavals, I notice that three conditions always prevail before revolu- tions occur whether it was Russia in 1917 or Germany in 1932 or China in 1949 or Egypt in 1950. The three preliminary conditions for great upheavals are lack of national cohesion, economic depression, and corrupt and unclean Governments. Lack of national solidarity has always been a pre- cedent to social upheaval. If we want to ward offa re- volution in our country today, we should try to sub- ordinate linguistic, provincial, communal and religi- ous considerations to the supreme duty of building OFFICE OF THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, MADRAS 325 up a great State. So far as the Audit and Accounts Service is concerned, it is an All-India Service. The members of that Service have nothing to do with considerations of province, etc. They should develop what I may call an all-India patriotism. " Secondly, we should fight economic depression. If people starve and suffer from poverty and un- employment, we have a condition precedent to social upheavals. We are trying to build up a wel- fare State. Building up a Welfare State is not to be regarded as merely a motive for promoting one's own welfare ! It is the welfare of the country which we have to set before ourselves, and there the work which the Audit and Accounts Department can do is great. By exposing failings, by revealing defects, you set before the country a great standard and see to it that our Schemes are carried out with economy and efficiency. -\ The third condition which brings about up- heavals is a corrupt and unclean Government. As Shri Narahari Rao himself said, the Audit Depart- ment is obliged to say things which are embarrassing to the Government but it is the duty of its officers, on account of their loyalty to the country, to act as a check even on the Government of the country. The Comptroller and Auditor-General is responsible, as I said, not to the Government of the country. He must serve as a check even on the Government. He must have control over even the Exchequer. Government may make mistakes. It is 326 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS wrong to assume that the Government can do no wrong. The Auditor-General is independent of the Executive. But if Administrations, operating de- partments, spending departments and the Accounts Department work together in close collaboration, the Accountant-General will give financial advice before schemes are formulated and exercise financial control later. It is the duty of the Audit and Ac- counts Department to carry out the financial poli- cies of the Government and maintain the authority of Parliament. If I have one advice to give, if I am presumptuous enough to give any advice to the officers of the Audit and Accounts Department, it is this : Do not shrink from truth for fear of offending men in high places. INTERNATIONAL HOTEL CONFERENCE, DELHI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 18 February, 1955 IT is a great pleasure for me to be here on the occasion of the first meeting in India of the Administrative Council of the International Hotel Association. I am happy to know that so soon after the formation of the Federation of the Indian Hotel Association, the Federation had been able to invite the Council to meet in this country. I am afraid that my own acquaintance with the problems you will consider is very meagre. My only claim to be here is that I happen to be a much travelled man and I have stopped in hotels of different lands in different lands. At a time when our attention was limited to our country we tried to promote an understanding of the different peoples and institutions of our country by means of pilgrimages : Banaras and Rameshwar, Puri and Dwarka have been important pilgrim centres. As we travel from one place to another we acquire an idea of the different peoples, their insti- tutions and temperaments. Even when communi- cations were difficult people travelled from one part of the world to another to visit holy places. The scenes of the life and work of the Buddha in 328 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS India, the holy places in Jerusalem and Mecca in Arabia are visited by Buddhists, Christians and Muslims. In former ages the world consisted of a number of societies slowly evolving on their own lines. Out of their varied experiences came the treasures of wis- dom, art and science which we have inherited. Now the world is converging into one society. Modern transport has reduced the boundaries of the world to the dimensions of a small country; physical proximity has led to a mingling of races and cul- tures. The need to understand other peoples and their ways has become imperative. For any great people to declare for isolation is to betray itself. We have to understand other nations and get on with them. There should be no quarantine nations. On account of the development of the new weapons of warfare humanity is facing a supreme crisis. If we are to escape atomic annihilation we must renounce war as an instrument of national policy and get near one another. Patriotism is not enough. Nationalism is a local interest. The happiness of the human race is of greater importance than the triumph of this or that nation. International friendship and co-opera- tion are our great needs. We must understand one another and learn to live together. Nothing helps this process of mutual understanding as travel. In promoting tourism, hotels play an important role, and as far as possible we should try to see that our hotels are well run, equipped with modern INTERNATIONAL HOTEL CONFERENCE 329 fittings where visitors get all the comforts necessary. Travel must be both pleasant and useful. It is also essential to have trained guides who can explain with authority, with charm and with contagious enthusiasm. I hope that this new field which is opening out before our country will contri- bute to large tourist traffic and more than that to international understanding. THE INDIAN RIFLE ASSOCIATION, DELHI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 2 March, 1955 I AM the last man to be called upon to inaugurate this Conference, for I have never in my life handled a rifle. There is a verse in the Mahdbhdrata which says : I/ agratah caturo veddh prsthatah safaram dhanuh idam brdhmyam idam ksdtram Sdpdd api farad api. It suggests that we must resist evil by moral force if possible, by physical force if necessary. We should not submit to injustice or acquiesce in evil. Even if we resist evil by physical force it must be done in a spirit of ahimsa, out of a sense of duty, without bitterness or hatred. The Toga Sutra makes out that ahimsa is vaira-tydga or renunciation of hatred. It is not possible all of a sudden to attain a stage where love will be the law, though we must steadily work towards this goal. Even our great saints put forth supreme efforts to reduce the scope of force and replace it by persuasion (te yatndt alpatard bhavet). We should constantly endeavour to reduce the number of occasions when we have to use force. THE INDIAN RIFLE ASSOCIATION 331 We have come to a stage in the development of the weapons of war when we cannot settle any questions by resort to war. We should ask ourselves not what we should do to gain a victory in war but what we should do to prevent war. A military contest will be destructive of both the victors and the vanquished. The alternatives are : Shall we renounce war or shall we put an end to human civilization ? We must give up the military ap- proach to international disputes. We must work for changes in the social situation which will make for a more adequate realization of the ideals. Non- violence is the only remedy in the present situation ksama hi fastram khalu brdhmandndm. ' Within nations we have come to replace the lawless use offeree, himsa, by the legal application of force danda. But in international relations we are still anarchical, and are ready to resort to a naked assertion of power. We do not yet have an inter- national authority to which the nations submit. It should be our endeavour to establish the rule of law among nations. Even now we should do our best to resort to legal processes, peaceful settlements. So long as this stage is not reached, nations will continue to have armies as we are having, however much we may regret it. So long as we have armies, we must train people in the use of arms though our ideal should not be abandoned simply because it has not yet been attained. These Rifle Associations, National Cadet Corps 332 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS and such other organizations are intended to give us training in accuracy, marksmanship, physical courage, disciplined behaviour, team work, and I do hope that these organizations will function without making men trigger-happy, military-minded, ag- gressive, or violent in spirit. BURMAH-SHELL REFINERY, TROMBAY INAUGURAL ADDRESS 17 March, 1955 MAY I express to you my grateful thanks for the opportunity you have given me to come here, see this great installation and formally declare it open? I congratulate all those connected with this enterprise, the designers, the engineers, and the builders and all other workers whose willing co- operation and determined effort have transformed, practically a year in advance of the original time- table, this island site into an active refinery. This refinery is an expression of the great task in which this country, vast, poor and industrially backward, is now engaged. Since the attainment of independence, our problems have become more economic than political. Freedom was won with the hope of making fuller and richer the lives of the humble and ordinary people who make the Indian nation. It is said that power corrupts; it is forgotten that poverty corrupts to a larger extent. If power may corrupt a few men at the top, poverty corrupts the lives of millions. The presence of large numbers of people who are hungry and homeless, miserable and lonely is a challenge to us all. Poverty is not inevitable. The experience of other countries shows that it is preventible. Our awakened masses are 334 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS moved by a sense of resentment, born not of malice, greed, or envy but of a feeling of utter inadequacy and helplessness. It is the duty of every civilized Government to alleviate the misery and degradation of the poor and remove the contrasts between irresponsible wealth and abysmal poverty. Demo- cracy must get rid of these, if it is to save itself. It is only natural that our Government is interes- ted in increasing national wealth and well-being, and providing larger employment opportunities for our people by industrial construction. Your refinery, apart from marking a significant stage in the industrialization of our country, helps to solve in some measure our chief problem of unemployment. With the awakened social conscience of the people, Governments in all countries are compelled to take more active interest in the organization of the economic life. Wealth is a social product and should therefore be equitably controlled and distri- buted. The directive principles of our Constitution impose certain responsibilities on the State and its control and influence in the industrial sphere will increase in the future. We are not in these matters prisoners of any ideology. We are empiricists. Our chief objective which is to raise the living standards of our people is obligatory but the way to achieve it is optional. So long as private enterprise functions with honesty of purpose and a sense of social justice and contributes to a rapid improvement of the BURMAH-SHELL REFINERY 335 living conditions of the common man and larger employment, it will have full scope. When we speak of a socialistic pattern of society, we do not wish to uproot every enterprise that exists and recreate the industrial world anew. We wish to lay stress on the social vision, the social purpose, the social approach. The different ways of organizing economic life may be symbolized by a forest, a garden and a park. Unfettered free enter- prise is comparable to a wild growth of a forest where wheat and tares are mixed together. In spite of its great achievements free enterprise has pro- duced power-hungry and money-mad people who for the sake of gain adopted doubtful methods of child labour, slave trade, burning of coffee and sinking of wheat. We must gather the tares and burn them in the fire. Its opposite is cleaning up the whole ground, breaking even the sods, recreating a new society where private enterprise is stifled and public control is all-comprehensive. Where a forest symbolizes the first, a garden laid out on a set pattern represents the second. There is a third way of organizing economic life, which we have adopted, where the traditions of the past are adjusted to the rights of the future. History does not permit us the luxury of escaping from our inheritance. We have not a clean sheet of paper to write upon. Our future economic organi- zation will grow out of our past. A park where we have natural growth and planned growth both governed by an overall purpose and design 336 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS represents the mixed economy which we have adopted. The vitalities of economic life require to be brought under social and moral control. In these large industries we create wealth not for self- aggrandizement but for national welfare. You rightly observe that your refinery is an outstanding example of what private enterprise backed and encouraged by an enlightened democratic Govern- ment can achieve. In an increasingly interdependent world no nation can remain isolated. In the early years of her development Soviet Russia welcomed economic and technical aid from the United Kingdom and the United States among others. It is interesting to know that several outstanding American engineers were decorated by the Soviet Government for their services to the development of Soviet agriculture and industry. The oil industry is a co-operative venture in which the Americans, the British and the Indians participate. If these work together in a spirit of harmony and in the interests of the Indian people, they will strengthen the present policy of the Indian Government. They must serve the interests of our people, not only the interests of the millions of consumers of petroleum products but also of the many thousands who work in the country at large for the promotion of the business. All those connected with the oil industry in its production as well as distribution form one great fellowship. This is the meaning of democracy in industry. The BURMAH-SHELL REFINERY 337 British are well known for their art of making the best of what is inevitable. I do hope that here also they will co-operate with the spirit of the times. You refer to Dr Bhabha's Atomic Energy Depart- ment. We are living perhaps at the close of an industrial epoch and the rise of another. The peaceful use of atomic energy will bring about in a decade or two a new industrial revolution. I very much hope that this city which has already played a notable part in the industrial life of the country will help to promote use of atomic energy, not for blasting the fertility of the soil or twisting the biological forms of life but for ushering in a new era of plenty for mankind. I have great pleasure in formally declaring open this Refinery. For all those connected with the planning and development of this Refinery, it is a day of triumph and rejoicing. May it also be a day of dedication to the welfare of the Indian people. 22 INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE INAUGURAL ADDRESS / April, 1955 T AM happy to be here and inaugurate the Golden JL Jubilee Celebrations of this Institute. This Ins- titute, popularly known as the Pusa Institute, has grown from small beginnings to its present position of importance in agricultural research. I need not repeat what your Director has just mentioned, the different branches in which research work is being done and the high quality of the work done. As one example, you rightly mention the way in which the sugar industry has been revolu- tionized by the researches of Barber, Venkataraman and others. This Institute is recognized today as an important centre for agricultural research in the world. On an occasion like this it is only appropriate that we should remember all those who helped to build this Institute and raise it to its present posi- tion. The Institute owes its origin to the vision of British administrators and the generosity of an American friend, Mr Phipps. Pioneer workers in the different branches studied here have established high traditions which it should be your endeavour to maintain if not enhance. 'Experiment,' wrote INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 339 Leonardo, is the true interpreter between nature and man/ 'Thou, O God, dost sell us all things at the price of labour.' We are celebrating this Jubilee at a time when the output of foodgrains is showing a steady increase, thanks to the 'Grow More Food' campaign, rural development projects and good monsoons. In this connection we have to remember the services of the late Rafi Ahmed Kidwai who had unusual courage, determination and drive. Our present problem is not one of food shortage but of surplus and a decline in agricultural prices and I am glad that our Government is aware of this situation. Though we are embarking on a bold plan of industrialization in the Second Five Year Plan, designed to draw men away from land and find gainful employment for them in industries, the base of our national prosperity will continue to be agri- culture. The history of advanced nations shows that land will remain the main source of their prosperity and no highly industrialized nation can sustain itself if its agricultural economy becomes narrow or weak. The Industrial Revolution of England was largely the consequence of cheap food and fodder which she imported from America. America's pri- macy in world markets stems from her food sur- pluses. The impressive rise of the Soviet Union is again due to the wide agricultural basis of her economy. Recent happenings in the Soviet Union, however, indicate the need for reconditioning the 340 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS methods of agricultural production and farm- management. Though there will be a shift to industrial produc- tion in the Second Five Year Plan, attention to agriculture new techniques, soil conservation, soil fertility, reclamation of land should not diminish to any extent. We must increase food production if we are to remain secure from the fluctuations of nature like uncertain monsoons. Besides, the nutri- tional value of our diet is not high. If the quality of our diet is to be raised, we must produce more fruits and vegetables, more milk and milk products. This means that we should improve the quality of our cattle and increase the production of fodder crops. Again, even industry cannot flourish without a prosperous agriculture. We need raw materials not only for industries but for export also. To stimulate the increase of agricultural produc- tion we must speed up agrarian reforms aiming at an equitable distribution of land to peasant culti- vators. Our land reforms are still slow and halting; they require to be speeded up. This will raise the purchasing power in rural areas and provide a large market for the products of industries and handicrafts. In this vast enterprise, the work of Research Institutes is vital and urgent. We must carry the results of scientific research to the workers in the fields. Our peasants may be illiterate but they are not ignorant. In spite of their caution and conservatism INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 341 they are open to new ideas and generally behave as reasonable and responsible citizens. Their tradi- tional wisdom is well known. A balanced development of the countryside is the foundation of ordered national growth. Economic well-being sustains national life. Adequate living standards bring us the opportunity for sustained intellectual and spiritual endeavour. The very term vyavasaya means effort, exertion, purpose and resolve. Vyavasayin is one who acts energetically and resolutely. From the beginning agriculture has been a symbol of human effort. When man ceased to wait passively on nature and started to control it, civilization began. When he changed from food-gathering to food-producing, he settled down to communal life. We can control not only material environment but also our human environ- ment. We can cultivate not only land but our inward life. Our cultural traditions were based on natural phenomena. Early man saw nature in terms of the great orderly repetitive processes of nature. Man and nature both pass through the cycle of birth and death. The Katha Upanisad 1 says : sasyam iva martyah pacyate, sasyam iva jay ate punah. 'A mortal ripens like corn, like corn is born again. 5 We come across in the tradition of the Chinese, Babylonians, Egyp- tians, Greeks, Romans and other people the con- ception of the sky and the earth as the two great U. 1.6 J42 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS principles of the universe : dydvd prthivi. The sky- god controls the seasons and the earth-goddess nourishes men and animals. Social scientists are agreed that religion grew originally out of agricul- ture. Our harvest songs, our folk dances, our festi- vals centre round agricultural events. Man is not absorbed by the objective happen- ings. Reason and conscience guide his judgments and actions. He need not submit to the pressure of the material environment. He can mould the natural forces. Even as he checked drought by in- venting the irrigation systems, controlled floods by dams, studied scientifically soil deficiencies, insect infestations, plant diseases, to overcome them and increased agricultural production, he can yet reach new heights of creative achievement. In this exciting enterprise your Institute will have a great part to play. I have much pleasure in inaugurating the Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERALS' CONFERENCE, NEW DELHI INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1 May, 1955 I AM happy to be here today to inaugurate this first Conference of the Accountant-Generals. Though the beginnings of the Department go back to 1753 and we have had one or two conferences at the technical level previously, this is the first con- ference convened for the purpose of considering current principles, methods and practices and examining the basic concepts of accounting and auditing. Rules of business and procedure framed to suit a Government interested mainly in tax collec- tion and preservation of law and order require to be reconsidered in view of our objective of a Welfare State and a socialist pattern of society. In the Preamble to our Constitution we lay stress on fraternity 'assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation.' This concept of national solidarity and brotherhood is the meaning of the Welfare State. Our political theorists maintain that the interests of the rulers and the ruled are iden- tical in an ideal State. In a Kalinga Edict Agoka said : 'All men are my children. Just as I desire on behalf of my own children that they should be provided with all manner of comfort in this as well 344 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS as in the other world, similarly I desire the same for all people.' In the new context it is increasingly realized that all wealth is in some measure a trust, all material well-being owes so much to the com- munity which protects it and to the fellow-workers who helped to create it. We owe our wealth to our society and to our neighbours. Property does not confer an absolute right and in the complex and inter-connected world of modern industry no man can claim that his wealth is entirely earned by his own efforts and he has an absolute say in its disposal. The concept of fraternity in this increasingly inter-dependent world has to be extended beyond the frontiers of the nation State. All religions pro- claim the infinite value of each human soul and the infinite respect each man owes to his neighbour's liberty and well-being. If there are some nations which have higher standards of living it may be argued that their wealth is created by the material resources of other countries and the labour of men and women who live in the world's slums or are removed from there to work in other continents like the African and the Asian labourers. The relation- ship between the developed nations and the under- developed ones of the world is somewhat analogous to the conditions which prevail in regard to the haves and have-nots in a nation State. Even as the old concepts of property are revised, so national economic policies require to be altered in the direction of fraternity and social responsibility. Aid ACCOUNTANT-GENERALS 1 CONFERENCE 345 to under-privileged countries represents not so much charity as justice. Mankind must learn to consider itself a single family inhabiting a small corner in the vast spaces of the world. We must work for a free and just society in which imperialism and exploitation will become things of the past. One of the greatest disruptive forces in the world today is economic instability, and the desperate conditions of many African and Asian countries and this should trouble the spirit and stir the con- science of the advanced nations. World peace can be secured only by a rapid improvement of the conditions of people who now suffer from hunger,, fear and hate. The Colombo Plan, the Technical Assistance schemes, the programmes of the econo- mic and social advancement of the United Nations, are the first feeble attempts to establish new eco- nomic relationships between nations. Our country has vast natural resources, and yet we are poor. Nature has been bountiful but we have not been making proper use of her gifts. By the development of multi-purpose projects, the appli- cation of science to agriculture and industry, by graduated taxation, we are attempting to implement the ideal of the Welfare State. The Public Sector of our country is gradually increasing and govern- mental obligations in the development of industry are also widening. We are also receiving te some extent aid from foreign nations. It is our obligation to see to it that our resources are not wasted, that 346 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS the undertakings are carried out with economy and efficiency. In this matter, your Department will have to make valuable contributions. To speed up this great enterprise of effecting progressive all- round development, the procedures and practices hitherto adopted may require revision so as to avoid unnecessary delays and fruitless discussions. Your Department has had a long and proud record of public service spread over a period of years and has built up a great tradition of indepen- dence and integrity, qualities which are needed today more than ever before. Our Constitution embodies and defines the duties and powers of the Comptroller and Auditor-General and enjoins on him and his officers certain obligations. They should be independent of the Executive if they are to serve as an effective safeguard of democratic government. Sound management of a nation's finances is an essential condition of political stability and social welfare. History shows that Governments come to grief if they overlook sound economic canons. In a democratic State the Legislatures vote the grants and the Executive are charged with the spending of it. The Comptroller and Auditor-General and his officers are expected to see to it that these grants are spent for the purposes for which they are voted by the Legislature and in conformity with the various laws, rules and regulations in force. In a democra- tic constitution where we have rule by the majority ACCOUNTANT-GENERALS' CONFERENCE 347 party, it is essential to ensure that Governments are responsible and obey the mandate of the Legisla- tures. They must govern themselves if they wish to govern others. It is your function to secure the compliance of the spending departments to the will of the Legislatures. In addition to high technical competence a certain detachment from party poli- tics, fidelity to the interests of the people and fear- lessness are expected from the Audit and Accounts Officers. We look to them to expose incompetence and maladministration and wastage. Our resources are limited and we have to make them go far. We cannot afford waste of any kind and there can be no room for culpable incompetence. Of course, administration and audit should work together in a co-operative spirit. They are not working at cross-purposes. As you say, conflict if any between the two is due to historical conditions. The rooted habits of mind die hard and perhaps the conflict may be reduced by a freer interchange between the officers of Audit and the Administrative departments. You have referred to the separation of Accounts from Audit. You wish to relieve the Accountant- General of the responsibility of maintaining ac- counts and entrust this task to the spending depart- ments themselves. This will mean the training of executive officers in the technique of accounting. Perhaps when this is achieved and when we have accounts officers distinct from audit officers, who 348 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS will look after internal finance and accounting, a freer interchange between the two may become possible to mutual advantage. We will watch with interest the working of the scheme in the three departments at the Centre. It is a matter of great satisfaction that the recruit- ment to the Service is made on an all-India basis. Some of the ablest men of our country are selected for this Service. Petty considerations of caste, community, province, language do not count. The responsibilities which the members of your Service will have in the future will be much greater and greater things will be expected of them. The honour, the safety and the welfare of our nation will be involved in your labours and it is my earnest hope that you and your officers will discharge your duties without fear or favour, without malice or ill will, in the sole interests of the nation. THE DELHI PROVINCIAL SARVODAYA SAMMELAN INAUGURAL ADDRESS 11 September, 1955 I am delighted to be here and inaugurate the Delhi Provincial Sarvodaya Sammelan. Sarvo- daya is a comprehensive concept. When it applies to the individual it means that there should be an all-round awakening or reaching forth of the indi- vidual. When it applies to society it means that all individuals should have equal opportunities for their development material, mental and spiritual. It applies not merely to our society but to the world society. Sarvodaya aims at the progress of all people. Technological and economic developments are bringing the peoples of the world together as mem- bers of one human family, living on a shrinking globe. To serve this world community is the pri- vilege and obligation of the men of this generation. For the first time in history man's dream of a world of freedom, security and peace has become a practical possibility. Man has succeeded in chang- ing things. If he succeeds in changing himself we will have disciplined leaders who can wield spiri- tual, mental and physical tools by which the new world can be built. By organizing our inward resources we can order our relationships with our 350 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS fellows and build up a society which is non-violent and non-exploiting in character. When we attained political independence we associated with it a national awakening, a national rebirth. We expected an all-round betterment. We are striving to raise the material standards of our people through our Five YearMans. Mere improve- ment of environment is not enough. What we call progress is nothing if it is not accompanied by inner change. In the last analysis, the resources of character decide the destiny of nations. The conflicts we come across in the social world are the external symptoms of inward strife. Each one of us has an impulse to violence, has love for domination. We hate what opposes our aims. We are maddened by what obstructs our wishes. We all wish to become bosses. We wish to have no equals/no colleagues, but only slaves and subordinates. This internal strife which is the inner condition of men in high stations becomes war when it breaks out on the world arena. The only thing more wicked than the will to dominate is the temptation to submit. The recent disturbances in Patna, Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi show how near to violence our spirits are. If many of us avoid violent action it is due to the fear of consequences. Our lives are more legal than moral. We have not been persuaded in our hearts that non-violence is the one sure way of abhyudaya and nihsreyasa. This is the human, the ethical attitude. This condition of inward strife is not incurable. SARVODAYA SAMMELAN 351 Each one has to resolve it within himself. We should respect our opponents and listen to their arguments. We should not attribute to them unworthy motives. To do great work and remain modest, to have authority and remain gentle, to have office and remain sensitive, to have power and not be coar- sened by it are major virtues even in India. Even God has aversion for conceit and love for humility isvarasyapy abhimdna-dvesitvad dainyapriyatvdc ca. x The Bhoodan Yajfia fosters the right attitude to life. Land, labour, life itself are a trust and we have to use them for the good of the people and the glory of God : jagad-hitdya krsndya. Acharya Vinoba Bhave wishes to bring about a redistribution of land, but more than that he wishes to spread the spirit of love and co-operation. He wants us to use our possessions as a sacred trust and make our life a spontaneous self-giving. For him each word is a prayer and each deed a sacrifice. He teaches us to live largely on little. We are often asked whether it is great persona- lities or great ideas that move the world and deter- mine the character of an age. An age gets its ideas from its personalities. Development depends on leadership. While Governments deal with outer symptoms, the moral and spiritual leaders deal with causes. By governmental action alone we cannot change the nature of mankind. Acharya Vinoba Bhave is trying to bring about a moral regeneration 1 Jiarada Bhakti Sutra, 27 352 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS of our country. He reminds us of the ultimates of human thinking, of the fundamentals of ethics, that love is better than hate, peace is better than war, that co-operation is better than conflict, persuasion better than force, gentleness better than violence.*- We wish him god-speed in his work and many happy returns of this day. OPENING OF THE DURGAPUR BARRAGE 9 August, 1955 I AM happy to be associated with this important phase of the progress of the Damodar Valley Corporation. This Corporation was set up formally on 7th July, 1948. It has many objectives the production of electric power, flood control and irrigation and navigation. It has a large number of self-sufficient items which have begun to yield returns. When the different objectives of this project are realized, this vast area which frequently became a scene of desolation and sorrow will become one of progress and prosperity. When we won our independence, our most urgent task was the rehabilitation of refugees. Next only to it in importance was the stepping up of agricultural production. This project by which nearly one lakh acres will be brought under irriga- tion is one of the means by which agricultural production can be raised. All those connected with this Organization should feel proud that they have completed this part of their great project. Even as we are attempting to reduce troubles in this area, other parts of the country, north Bengal, Bihar, Assam, U.P., are suffering from ravages by floods and people are standing up to these disasters with rare courage and determination. Our 23 354 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS sympathies are with them. We hope in the Second Five Year Plan to take steps to check these damages by controlling floods. A plan is necessary because we cannot afford to waste our substance haphazardly, spending much and achieving little. The Plan is not a Government Plan but a National Plan in which we all should take interest and pride. Take these works here. They help both Bengal and Bihar. They help to reduce the distress of people of both these States and to that extent they are a sacred achievement. Those who work here should do so not merely for the sake of the employment which this project gives but for the opportunity of service which it offers. Here you are, from all parts of India, working together in a spirit of fellowship for a common objective. All work is sacred. What makes it sacred is the dedication and integrity of the men who undertake it. The poverty, the unem- ployment are a challenge to democracy. We must work for a country with equal opportunities for all, a country in which comradeship, not caste, will be the spirit of the nation, a country in which the people refuse to rest content while poverty is the lot of the large majority. Work of this kind is worship. It is a secular form of sanctity. - There is a natural tendency to get used to evils that have been long with us, the spirit of caste, of provincial jealousies and communal rivalries. If they are allowed to perpetuate themselves, if we do not fight them, our future will not be bright. DURGAPUR BARRAGE 355 You, men of the superior or subordinate staff here, have an opportunity to develop an all-India patriotism and subordinate your differences to the good of the nation. We are fervent believers in democracy. It would be foolish to ignore the stupendous achievements realized under other forms of government. Their methods may not be ours, but we cannot fail to note the passionate fervour and sincerity with which their objectives are being pursued. If we are to uphold our ideals, our conception of life, both national and international, if we are to see them prevail, then considerable effort must be made by us and a spirit of passionate enthusiasm and dedicated service must be roused among our people. Are we doing it today in our country ? These projects show that our country is on the move and if we are patriotic and persistent, we will soon emerge as a nation of dignified citizens, whose lives will be simple and austere. Welfare is not material comfort or economic prosperity. It is wholeness of being. The good life is not a matter of the goods we consume. If the world is passing through a neurosis, it is because men are becoming fragmented and have lost their dignity as human beings. There is a neurosis of doubt, fear and insecurity. We have to avoid economic exploitation and mass manipulation if we are to preserve in- violate our dignity as human beings. To preserve wholeness of being, we shall have to remember the 356 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS tradition which has sustained us all these centuries, which requires us to depend not on outer diversions but inward resources for true happiness. The country expects from each one of us, not feebleness but efficiency, not grudging work but dedicated service. SEMINAR ON CASTEISM AND THE REMOVAL OF UNTOUGHABILITY INAUGURAL ADDRESS 26 September, 1955 IN inaugurating the Seminar on these vital ques- tions, I do not propose to enter into the details which it is for you to work out. I shall be content to indicate what seems to me to be the broad principles which should govern your discussions and decisions. I note that you plan to consider these questions from 'the social, economic, educational, psycholo- gical, legal, political and welfare angles 5 . It is a good augury that this Seminar is being held in a University atmosphere where it is easy to avoid vague generalizations, impatient criticisms, or angry abuse. I expect from you solid sociological thinking and sound advice which will enable us 'to counteract and eradicate the twin evils within a given period of time 5 , to use your own words. The first thing one should remember is not to confuse religious principles with social institutions. Religious principles are fundamental and enduring, while social institutions change from time to time. Whenever a change is demanded in social institu- tions, the cry is raised that religion is in danger. This is a false cry. Social institutions are functions of a local social context. The rules relating to eating, 358 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS drinking and marriage are social regulations which have changed from time to time. When Robert de Nobili of the Society of Jesus allowed Indian Christians to follow their social conventions and permitted Hindus after conversion to retain their yajnopamta and the tikha he demonstrated the distinction between the universal religious truths and the temporary social forms. He appeared in Madura clad in the saffron robe of the sadhu with sandal paste on his forehead and the sacred thread on his body from which hung a cross. De Nobili gave out that he was a Brahmin from Rome. That there is a distinction between religion and social regulations is also evident from the way the Syrian Christians adopted many of the usages of the Hindus, including caste and untouchability* Con- versions were discouraged and the low class converts remained outcast for all practical purposes. The Jains, the Sikhs, the ViraSaivas, the Brahmos, the Aryas do not recognize caste divisions but they themselves have become castes like the Jews and the Parsees. Our social habits give social expression to reli- gious principles, and as we understand their impli- cations better, the religious leaders themselves effect social changes. From the seers of the Upanisads and the Buddha to Tagore and Gandhi, leaders of reli- gion have been advocates of radical social changes. In their own age these were regarded as heretics, protestants and not as champions of reaction, CASTEISM AND UNTOUGHABILITY 359 privilege and vested interests. Truly religious men are preachers of righteousness, heralds of social justice. Religion is not bound to any particular social order. It has to judge every social order on its merits. The use of the word dharma in relation to the rules of caste and untouchability suggests that there is something sacred about them. In the Mahdbharata, dharma is defined as that which holds society together. 1 It is evident that the practice of untouchability is anti-social and a violation of the principles of dharma. The State has decided to remove the discriminations resulting from the prac- tice of untouchability by making them criminal. It is not consistent with the modern trends of politics or the principles of religion. It is a social crime and the sooner we get rid of it the better for the good name of our country and for our national solidarity. Only by giving special opportunities can we help the weaker sections of the society to forge ahead. It is not merely the material rehabilitation of the submerged people; we must give them a sense of human status and dignity. The future generations should not be compelled to bear the burdens of the past. The test of a civilization is the way it treats its weak members. In the early centuries of the Christian era our thought and practice in regard to caste were far more fluid, less rigid, less closely defined than they afterwards became. The references to anuloma and 1 dhdrayad dharmam ity dhufi dharme$a vidhrtdh prajdh. 360 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS pratiloma marriages are a clear evidence of the prevalence of inter-caste marriages in the dynamic periods of our history. When religion lost much of its spiritual power and ethical idealism, caste prejudices became pronounced. The stiffening of caste restrictions and the subjection of the country occurred together. It is regrettable and unfortunate that in many parts of the country public life is corrupted by the caste spirit. There is such a thing as the logic of history. Everything has its cause; possibly the subjection of the past is the result of our social divisions. We can shape our future better if we avoid the wrong causes. An ancient verse tells us that the Brahmin and the outcast are blood brothers. 2 We have always held up as the ideal the individual who is above considerations of caste, varndtita. The Bhdgavata says : 'He is dear to Hari, in whom there is no pride of birth or of activity or of his status in society/ 8 Samnyasins are emanci- pated from caste. In modern society there does not seem to be any economic, ethnic, or ethical justi- fication for caste distinctions. Candidates are re- cruited for all-India services on grounds of character and capacity, guna and karma. They are not the monopoly of any one caste or community. Superiority in the social hierarchy is determined 2 antyajo viprajdtis ca eka eva sahodarah eka-yoni prasutas ca ekasdkhena jdyate. 3 na yasya janmakarmdbhydm na varndsrama-jdtibhih sanjate 9 sminn ahambhdvo dehe vai sa hareh priyah. 11. XI. 2.51. CASTEISM AND UNTOUCHABILITY 361 by the graciousness of living, by austerity. In India the price of power is renunciation. If Gandhi is treated as the Father of the Nation, if Vinoba Bhave is adored by millions, it is not on account of their birth in the Vaisya or the Brahmin caste but because of the holiness of their life, aparigraha is the vrata of the highest. The Ndrada Bhakti Sutra tells ;us that among devotees there is no distinction of caste, learning, appearance, birth, possessions, occupa- tion, etc. 4 We today live in a society which is giving way to the inexorable claims of a new order. We cannot stay the advance of time. If we clasp to our heart something that is past, if we cling to something that is defunct, we will be left behind. Forgetting is as essential as remembering. Much needs to be for- gotten if the essential is to be remembered and preserved. Societies stagnate if they resist change; they prosper if they are ready to change. The neurotic fear of change which we often come across is opposed to our tradition. The principle of life is^ change, caran vai madhu vindati. Only by moving, advancing can we achieve sweetness in life. The creative minds transform the tradition which they inherit. This tradition is never finished and closed. It ever remains open and continues to be built. Loyalty to the fundamentals of our faith provides sanctions for radical changes. We must bridge the gulf between what we profess and what we practise. 4 ndsti teftt jdti-vidyd-rupa-kula-dhana-kriyddi bhedah. 72 362 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS There should be a sustained nation-wide drive for the removal of all social disabilities from which people suffer. We must purge our society of man- made inequalities and injustices and provide for all equality of opportunity for personal well-being and social development. The awakening of our people from listless fatalism to self-awareness and self- assertion is a ground for hope. Our humanity must assert itself against all that destroys humanity. Let us hope, fight and suffer for the cause of men. The State is the servant of every citizen. Let us establish a society in which economic justice and provision of opportunity are available for all the members of society. INDIAN INDUSTRIES FAIR PRIZE DISTRIBUTION 2 January, 1956 ALL good things come to an end : so also the Industries Fair ! It has been the greatest draw in Delhi for some weeks. Almost every one interested in industrial enterprise in our country has visited the Fair, and thousands of students have come to see it. I have no doubt this has given our people an idea of the urgent need for industrial development and also a sense of our backwardness in this matter. Our Five Year Plan aims at speeding up the development of heavy and machine-making indus- tries. Our aim should be to produce all the require- ments of our life ourselves. We must be able to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, nurse the sick, train the minds and civilize the emotions of our people. In this matter we believe in co-operation with other countries. We have no favourites, no foes. We wish to be friends with all. We wish to learn from all countries though we have to depend on ourselves. This Fair will increase our foreign trade and help us to build new industrial concerns. We should try to remove the economic deficiencies and work our industries with due regard for the rights of workers. In an economic democracy there must be a large participation and partnership of workers 364 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS in industrial enterprise, a greater comradeship between the management and the workers. At the beginning of the year we turn back and look forward. We have tried to do our best to help nations to understand one another. Our achieve- ments may not measure up to our hopes. Yet, we have to persist. Ten years after the establishment of the United Nations it has now become a little more representative of the world with seventy-six members, but it is not yet fully representative. It is our ambition to make the United Nations an inter- national authority reflecting the conscience of the world. It has to become a world parliament though its decisions today are not enforceable. All this can happen not by military methods, pacts and al- liances, but by co-operation in other matters. Here in this Fair where we have many nations of the world working together, cutting across national, racial and ideological barriers, we have an indica- tion of the emerging of world solidarity. We should live as compatriots in this world which has become one unit of co-operation. Almost all the advariced nations of the world have sent their exhibits to us and are making gifts of some of the important ones to our country. We are grateful to them all for their presence here and their expression of goodwill for us. I am delighted to present the awards to all those who have been judged to be worthy of them. I hope our friends from outside will remember this visit to INDIAN INDUSTRIES FAIR 365 our country and we ourselves will profit from their presence. We are thankful to the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries for organizing this Fair. Mr Bansal worked day and night for months before the Fair was organized and during its continuance he has worked very hard. We are grateful to him. While we have to pay adequate attention to the industrial growth of our country, we should not forget that security is not enough; social justice is not enough. We have to aim at the refinement of human relationships, at the development of the virtues of mind and the graces of life. HITAKARINI SABHA, JABALPUR DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS INAUGURAL ADDRESS 22 January, 1956 THE Sabha has done its work for a stretch of nearly eighty-five years for the intellectual and moral development of the people of Jabalpur and its neighbourhood. It is good to remember all those who helped the Sabha to expand its activities. The aim of education is not merely to liberate the intel- lect but also to free the heart and the conscience. Mental slums are more dangerous than material slums. It is through educational institutions that we have to develop the spirit of democracy, the spirit of compassion. I have spent many years of my life in the study of India's thought and history. This country has had long periods of noble deeds, of great things con- ceived and executed, of elevating influence exerted on countries both East and West. But there have also been periods of pain and ignominy, of cruel vicissitudes and misfortunes, of maladies and disas- ters. We should recall the ideas of validity and vitality which made for progress and give up those petrified prejudices, cynical egoisms, inward distor- tions, unholy prejudices which reigned in our hearts and checked our progress. We have to fight today SABHA 367 not so much against death and disease as against man's inhumanity to man, oppression and injustice. In the years before Independence we complained about the policy of divide and rule. But today we seem to be dividing ourselves and in danger of losing the significance of freedom. Tragic happen- ings in some parts of our country resulting from the publication of the Government's decisions on the reorganization of States have distressed us all. There are anti-social elements in all societies which are ready to exploit grievances, real or imaginary, and it is the duty of the leaders to control such elements. In a democratic set-up when we wish to get decisions which are unacceptable to large sec- tions of the community altered or modified, we do not resort to direct action or indulge in acts of vio- lence. We do not attribute unworthy motives to those from whom we happen to differ honestly and legitimately. Like every other human institution our Government is not infallible. It has taken a good deal of time, had numerous consultations, spent long hours deliberating and reached its deci- sions. And if we do not agree with some of them, there are peaceful, constitutional methods open to us to get them changed. But the incidents that have happened in different parts of the country have caused us all great sorrow. No people can be de- graded except by themselves. Others may inflict injury but they cannot bring us shame. Dishonour comes only from ceasing to be faithful to ourselves. 368 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS In the last analysis the resources of character deter- mine the destiny of nations. I hope that our leaders will realize their responsibilities and strive to restore peace and calm in the country and not do anything which will injure our interests at home and damage our influence abroad. If we are to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of our millions in all parts of the country, we should stand together and not allow considerations of caste and community, race and religion, language and province, to retard our onward march. India is one and if one part injures another, it is the whole that suffers. If with one hand we hurt the other, it is the individual who suffers. We have been working together all these years as limbs of one body Marathas and Gujaratis, Bengalis, Biharis and Oriyas and there is no reason why we should give up our traditional attitude of real friendship and genuine co-operation. We have many problems facing us and with faith in ourselves and confidence in our future, we have to tackle them. When hardship leaves man, when smugness creeps in, our energies decay, our spirits droop, we will get near our fall. Therefore today we must wake up, search our hearts, set aside selfish impulses and base passions, bring to our country selfless and dedicated spirits and make great strides in the promotion of public welfare. PREFATORY INTRODUCTIONS 24 GREAT WOMEN OF INDIA* TNDIAN tradition has generally respected woman- JL hood, as the essays in this book indicate, though occasionally we find derogatory references to wo- men. Even God is regarded as half man, half woman, ardhanarisvara. Manu declares that where women are honoured, there the gods are pleased; where they are not honoured, all works become fruitless. 1 Women are human beings and have as much right to full development as men have. In regard to opportunities for intellectual and spiritual deve- lopment, we should not emphasize the sex of women even as we do not emphasize the sex of men. The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than the physiological peculiarities which distinguish us from one another. In all human beings, irrespective of their sex, the same drama of the flesh and the spirit, of finitude and transcen- dence takes place. Women cannot do some things that men can. Their physiology prevents this. That, however, does not prove any inferiority on their part. We must do the things for which we are made and do them well. * Shri Sarada Devi Commemoration Volume, 1953 1 3.56 372 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS In early times education of women was en- couraged. The goddess of learning is Sarasvatl. The Mahdnirvana Tantra says : 'A girl also should be brought up and educated with great effort and care/ 2 The Devi-Mahatmya declares : 'All forms of know- ledge are aspects of Thee; and all women through- out the world are Thy forms.' 3 We hear of great women like Maitreyi, Gargi, Arundhati, Lilavati, and others. In the Vedic age women enjoyed equal opportu- nities for education and work. They were eligible for upanayana or initiation and brahmacarya or study of Brahma-knowledge. In certain periods of our history, education of women was sadly neglected, and women lapsed into illiteracy and superstition. Writing to Margaret Noble (Sister Nivedita) on 29 July, 1897, Swami Vivekananda said : Let me tell you frankly that I am now convinced that you have a great future in the work of India. What is wanted is not a man but a woman, a real lioness to work for Indians, women especially. India cannot yet produce great women, she must borrow them from other nations. Your education, sincerity, purity, immense love, deter- mination, and above all, your Celtic blood, make you just the woman wanted. If Swami Vivekananda complained, 'India cannot yet produce great women 5 , it is because of the degra- 2 VIII, 47 3 ii f 6 GREAT WOMEN OF INDIA 373 dation to which they were subjected in recent times. We have wasted, in our recent past, women's gifts by failing to recognize them as human beings, able to act, to achieve and to engage in projects, given the right conditions. Thanks to the Ramakrishna movement and Gandhi's work, women are slowly coming into their own. It is true that Ramakrishna advised renun- ciation of women and of wealth for his male devotees; but that was only in view of man's possible weakness with regard to the opposite sex, for he also advised his women devotees to renounce men and wealth. Ramakrishna's respect for womanhood comes out in his dealings with his wife Shri Sarada Devi and other women. He accepted a lady, Bhairavi Brahmam, for his teacher. Woman is not innately wicked, any more than man is. Gandhi engaged many women in his struggle for the political liberation of the country. This has helped in the emancipation of Indian women. II While spiritual life and social service are open to women, marriage and motherhood are treated as the normal vocation for them. Modern anthropology brings out clearly that marriage and family are found in one form or another as fundamental institutions in every human society, primitive or 374 OCCASIONAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS civilized. It is difficult to imagine a social organiza- tion in which these institutions are not found. The relation of man and woman is the expression of an urge for duality. Each is a self which requires the other as its complement. The division of the sexes is a biological phenomenon, not a historical event like the division of races and classes. Male and female constitute ordinarily a fundamental unity. The institution of marriage was exalted in the Indian tradition. Women were free to choose their husbands. The freedom of women is evident from the account of the popular festival called samana y where men and women met and mixed freely. There is an interesting passage in the Saptatati, where Durga, who is Kumdri, virgin, tells the Asuras who aspired to marry her : 'He who conquers me in battle, he who humbles my pride, he who is my equal in this world, he shall be my husband/ Women were not the bond slaves of pleasure. The end of marriage is spiritual comradeship. The Mahdbhdrata says : 'Let this heart of yours be mine, and let this heart of mine be yours/ 4 Yet sex life was not despised. Its importance for human deve- lopment was recognized. It has been the tendency of man to use woman as an object of amusement and pleasure. Woman is asked to look upon man as the meaning and justifi- cation of her existence. This is in line with the well-known saying, 'He for God only, she for God 4 1,3,9 GREAT WOMEN OF INDIA 375 in him.' It is often said that the Oriental woman is a slave. It only means that self-assertion is not her quality. The Oriental woman is not very different from other women in her innermost nature. She remains essentially feminine on account of her social and religious culture. She gives and not takes. The world over, women are devoted and obedient. They dare to suffer where men would shrink. In both men and women, especially in women, there is a deep desire to reproduce their kind. This is not a product of social conditioning. The satisfactions and creative opportunities of mother- hood are well known. A woman bears the suffer- ing caused by the pains of labour, but she forgets them in the joy of