PROUT: February 2006 Archives

At the very outset let me state that many theories have been propounded on this earth. Some of them survived for some time and then gradually passed out of existence; others emerged like meteors, exhibiting their dazzling radiance for a very short time, and then vanished into darkness. The mere existence of a theory is not the essential point; what is important is whether the theory promoted the welfare of all, the spiritual well-being of all -- otherwise its advent on this earth was quite useless. Such useless theories are not even worth mentioning.

Any theory will contain the seed of well-being if its firm foundation is sama-sama'ja tattva [principle of social equality]. It may survive for a very long period -- even for eternity - if it cherishes the ideal of forever promoting the welfare of all. This is the essential point.

I have already said several times, and I repeat, that while moving towards the inner world, human beings have to maintain equilibrium and equipoise in the external world. If some declare that "Brahma satyam' jaganmithya'" ["Only Supreme Consciousness is real and the world is false"], they will not be able to do anything in this "false" world. They are simply deceiving themselves - it is a sign of hypocrisy. An honest person should never resort to hypocrisy in any sphere of life; under no circumstances must he or she compromise with any unjust theory. This is the rule; this is correct. Propriety dictates this.

Culture is a vague term. It is the collective name for different expressions of life. People eat, enjoy hospitality, laugh on some occasions and shed tears on others, and thereby express life through various actions. The collective name of all these actions is culture.

What is the democratic way of life? It includes faith in human relations, tolerance, respect for opinions even if contradictory, equal justice and rights for all, freedom of thought and expression, to act according to one’s conscience, to do one’s rightful duty without fear, to support a government which a person has a voice in making and dissolving, and to promote morality cause and advance proper reforms without fear of a repugnant reaction from the ruling class.

In this fight for independence, the Indian leaders committed a blunder. they should have engaged themselves in an economic fight instead of starting a political movement. The British took advantage of this blunder of the Indian leaders. They got the opportunity to divide India into two parts. They infused in the Muslims the idea that the Hindus formed the majority, and that therefore if the British quit India the government would naturally go into the hands of the Hindus, and the Muslims of the whole of India would remain as their subjects.

This shrewd policy yielded good results. A Hindu phobia grew among the Muslims. The Muslim leaders began to propagate this Hindu phobia at the top of their voices, and as a result of this anti-Hindu sentiment created out of Hindu phobia, a Muslim nation was again born in India in this twentieth century. Directed by this Hindu phobia, they demanded a separate homeland for the Muslim nation. It was not possible for the Hindus to resist this demand for a separate homeland, because at that time no nation which could be termed a Hindu nation was formed in India.

Thirty farmers in Andhra Pradesh commit suicide -- ironically, by consuming the same poisonous pesticides which were partly responsible for the loss of their crops. Over one hundred thousands farmers demonstrate furiously in Meerut ... in Gujarat restive farmers burn buses ... in Maharashtra they stop rail and road traffic. Underground water sources are being drained dry, fertile agricultural lands are becoming wastelands at an ever-increasing rate, crops are being blighted with mysterious diseases--and overall production has stagnated over the past two years. To paraphrase Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the state of Indian agriculture."

The next image of the future which is increasingly gaining adherents is that of global collapse. This image is constituted in various discourses. The first is the economic. In this perspective, the world economic system's inability to deal with increasing levels of inequity (within nations and between nations), the international debt load, and rising speculation in the global stock markets will lead to a global collapse of epic proportions. Areas integrated into the world capitalist system will be particularly hard hit; those areas that are self-reliant will manage, though. This image is also constituted in the language of the return of the Vengeful God. Because Man has tampered with nature (through technological development--genetic engineering, space exploration, overindustrialization), nature is now striking back--we can't escape our collective karma. What will result is environmental catastrophes such as the Greenhouse effect, earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, water shortages, and other wonderful things one can ponder while one falls asleep at night. Religious groups, in particular, are eagerly awaiting this event, or series of events. For many it is the Armageddon, the return of Christ, the Madhi, or Amita Buddha. It is the collapse of the hope and promise of the science and technology revolution, of the rationality of the enlightenment, and of liberal democracy. While some imagine this collapse as leading to the arrival of heaven on earth, most see this world as that of the rise of the worst of humans, a post-nuclear society ruled by the mighty.

In olden times, when the Aryans came to India, there was no compact social order in the land of India. The population of India consisted of small or big tribes of Austric, Dravidian and Mongolian origin.

A few days ago a journalist asked me my views about the destructive effectiveness of atom bombs and their future reaction on the human race. Ordinarily, I do not have any contact with journalists. But I did give a reply to this question. I said, "Human strength is much more powerful than the strength of atom bombs." Therefore, to think that atom bombs will annihilate the human race is nothing but to defame human intellect and psychic power because atom bombs are the creation of human beings. Human beings are the creators of atom bombs, so how can atom bombs destroy human beings?

In attempting to unravel the mysteries of history in imputing order to the seemingly disorderly currents in the human past, in reaching out to the future, Sarkar has joined the august company of Toynbee, Marx, Hegel, Spengler, Wells, among many others; and in erudition and breadth of vision, he is not excelled by any. Quite a few scholars have endeavored to detect in the chaos of history a certain rhythm, and imperceptible harmony that complies with certain natural laws, but their peers, suspicious of anything conferring rigor on past trends, have criticized and scoffed at them. Sarkar's contribution, however, belongs to a different genus. It is immune at least to those strictures to which other theories of historical determinism have been subjected.

While the vision above presents Sarkar's thinking, it does not place it in the context of other images of the future. By placing Sarkar's vision in the context of other images we will better be able compare his thought. We use as our points of comparison, the images developed by futurist James Dator.³²

This new era, however, for Sarkar is not one that pits spirituality against science. Sarkar believes that technological development controlled by non-capitalists, by humanists, will lead to increased economic growth, intellectual development and social equality. Sarkar, in fact, sees the development of technology that will have "mind" in it, that is, technology that will have some level of self-awareness. Most likely this will result from developments in artificial intelligence. Sarkar also forecasts that once full employment is reached, and once the untapped potential of humans, individually and collectively, is increasingly realized, instead of massive unemployment because of productivity gains from robotics, we will simply reduce our work week, such that "one day, we may only work five minutes a week. Being not always engrossed in the anxiety about grains and clothes, there will be no misuse of mental and spiritual wealth. [We] will be able to devote more time to sports, literary discourses and spiritual pursuits."22 Struggle then will largely be in intellectual and spiritual realms; in the constant effort to reduce the gap between the finite and the infinite, between the present and the ideal future.

There are numerous divergent views regarding the exact interpretation of the term "nation". Some are of the opinion that the inhabitants of a particular state form a nation. Even if the terms "state" and "country" are taken to be synonymous, the controversy over "nation" does not end. Some people hold the view that the structure of a nation depends on language. Others are of the opinion that the foundation of a nation depends on one or more than one factor from among the following: similar manners and customs, similar mode of living, similar traditions, racial similarity, religious similarity, etc. But practical experience does not indicate that these factors are especially important.

Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar is well known as a social philosopher, political revolutionary, poet, and linguist. He has also been described as the complete renaissance man.¹ These descriptions come as a result of his numerous books and articles in the fields of natural sciences, world history, art, health, and political-economy, his creation of the Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) and his role as spiritual teacher of the social service, spiritual movement Ananda Marga.²

Sarkar has described the inner spirit of society as to “move together”. Society originated as a family in the early phase, and was strengthened subsequently under the guidance of group mothers and group fathers. Later, with growing social complexity, group leaders emerged as kings and queens. The emergence of classical religion made the social structure stronger under the dominance of the priestly class.

The formation of a World Government will require a world constitution. A charter of principles or bill of rights should be included in such a constitution and encompass at least the following four areas: