The Detour

The idea of ‘Integral Humanism’ arises in an era when the world was already fractured beyond belief. An era when, on one hand, ‘Capitalism’ has just arisen to be a viable form of Economy and aspires to accelerate the material growth of the world to imagination beyond while on the other hand ‘Communism’ seeks to build an Egalitarian society where the concept of class divide will be abolished. On one hand arose the theory of ‘Liberalism’ while on other was ‘Fascism’. And then was the story
of ‘Nazism’ which took the whole discussion to a totally different plane. Needless to say it was a time of many and many ‘isms’. But this time the story was totally different. While INDIA was busy introspecting about who to adopt, it was BHARAT which did the hard work, deeply thought and came up not with an ‘-ism’ but a practical way to move forward for the whole world. It seeks to shed all the petty conflicts amongst us so that we can live and enjoy life and prosper together as sensible organisms living on a mote of dust suspended in the sunbeam. The idea was not to create a new ‘-ism’ with slight deviation from the original as was the thought culture of the west but to integrate all the ideas in a manner that it works efficiently. As the ‘Capitalism’ seemed to be at war with its own people and environment and dictatorships were being created in the name of ‘Socialism’, a new paradigm, a new dimension to human evolution, a new way of life was a must. As Bhagwan Sri Krishna said in the Gita that true knowledge is timeless. One may observe some variation in its expressed form owing to varied situations and conditions but that does not mean the creation of new knowledge. So a way of perfecting all other ‘-isms’ was inevitable. And thus bhartiya ‘Darshan’ proved to be light at the end of the tunnel.
It all started very well for the west. The whole philosophical thinking in the west was centered around the idea of individual rights. But as the time passed the ideas got corrupted and those very ideals of liberty became the tool of exploitation. Class divide was formed. And then came the idea of class struggle and communism. But a connecting string in all this was the idea of ‘Materialism’. The idea that material wealth and prosperity will bring happiness and content in the hearts of individuals and hence the society. But, this idea slowly proved to be the biggest blunder in human history. The very fact that spiritual well being and evolution of consciousness was ignored proved to be the fatal flaw of western thought. Communistic principles went to another extreme and ignored all the individual freedom and treated it like a senseless, emotionless entity. To sum it all up, The blind belief in Materialism and not knowing where to stop has been two major flaws in the western thought process. That is why a new transformational thought process which can harmonies all the extremes was much needed.
Against this backdrop, we are forced to recapitulate, whether we in this country, can afford a blind imitation of the west. Swami Vivekananda was told by western thinkers, “we would accept your ideas of spiritualism and in return you should accept our ideology of socialism. You agree with us in the sphere of economics, while we do so in the area of spiritualism”. But, Swami ji replied, “Brothers, you are right, but your new ideology is in an experimental stage while ours is an ancient nation. We are no fanatics. Before we accept your ideology, let us see that it has stabilized. We should like to see the evidence whether it has sustained the society for some five hundred years. We cannot accept an ideology which has not
yet been tired and is still in a state of experimentation”. As Bruce Lee says “It’s about ‘Acting unacting’ or ‘Unacting acting’. The combination of Natural instinct and control in harmony leads to optimal results. It’s all about ‘Natural Unnaturalness’ or ‘Unnatural naturalness’.” And this is what inspired Bharat to look at its ancient way of life and draw from those core beliefs a system which worked in harmony with Individual, Society and Nature.
Center of Development
In this thought process human development as a whole, both on the individual level and on the societal level at the same time, forms the core of development models. Thus the chance of conflict between individual and society is minimised. At
the same time a holistic development model for the all round growth of humanity can be ensured.
Individual and Society
The relationship of the individual with the nation-society has been similarly defined. But in the west, there appears a conflict between the two. A fierce controversy rages there over the question of the border between the individual and the society. If the individual is permitted a bigger latitude the society is curtailed in the same ratio and if the society is allowed a wider range of control, the individual’s liberty is abridged in the same measure. Therefore, we witness a tug of war between the individual and society in the west. But in Bharat, both have their due place. Neither is at loggerheads with the other. While the principle of an individual’s right to complete happiness and development and also the society’s obligation to social
discipline is demanded of the individual on the other. The individual is expected to strive for his contentment and development and simultaneously required to surrender to the will of the society, i.e to do his duty to the society unhesitatingly and voluntarily. The ultimate lies in his readiness to offer his happy and developed self at the feet of the society. Thus, we can infer that there exists a complete identification between individual freedom and social discipline to the great astonishment of the west.
Nationalism and Internationalism
What has been said above about man and society relationship is true of nationalism and internationalism. Let’s call it ‘Positive Nationalism’ where Nationalism does not lead to Protectionism but to co-operation between nation states thus leading the way for constructive Internationalism.
Environmentalism
Living our life in accordance with nature has always been our way. Development models must be formed in a way that is sustainable and in accordance with the Nature. The worship of Trees and Animals alike ensures respect and love for them and ingrained in our psyche not to detach yourself from their well being. If we look at the whole thought process that emerged in India then we can trace very distinct quantifiable features of this thought process. It is a philosophy that rejects Chaos as a tool for societal reconstruction, rather it emphasizes on the process of assimilation and integration to achieve a unified society. Also the interdependent nature of life of individuals and the well being of society erases the notion of class conflicts and never ending civil wars. The amazing thing that comes out of it is, it re-establishes the ideals of ‘Eternal Dharma’. In order to prevent the homogenisation and standardisation of the society, and to establish a multi cultural, heterogeneous and vibrant society we as human beings must revisit the concept of ‘Integral Humanism’ in specific and ancient and Eternal ‘Hindu Dharmic Concepts’ in general.