I D Soni Ji
Humility is not an outstanding national virtue. Self-pride rather than self-abasement is the quality most frequently to be observed among nations which means that a very big change of heart and attitude will have to take place before the kind of world of which we dream, and for which the great majority of people long, can come into being.
Of this evil, all are guilty in greater or lesser degree. “To see ourselves as others see us,” said Professor Toynbee, in his lectures, “is a wholesome experience for all of us at all times and at all places, because human beings are in danger all the time, of being led to destruction by their natural self-centredness.”
More often than not, it is those most guilty of wrongdoing themselves who are most eager to discover faults elsewhere. How much more would be achieved, if, instead of being so concerned with other’s supposed short-comings, a real attempt was made to deal more realistically with those possibly more dangerous faults near at hand.
One thing is very certain: a persistence of the present vain-glorious attitude can result in nothing else except disaster. It cannot possibly achieve the desired end. All too long has worship been offered to the gods of self-satisfaction and boastful complacency. Belief in the infallible rightness of every national aspiration and action has become so much a recognised part of the international set-up, the merest suggestion of disapproval is viewed with extreme suspicion, as an attempt to undermine the security of state.
Yet nothing short of a complete break with the ideals which now prevail in political circles can produce anything approaching a desirable state of affairs. National Sovereignty, based upon the maintenance of huge armed forces, must ever prove a menace to the world’s peace. So long as nations insist on the absolute rightness of all they do, no real progress is possible. No nation has yet reached the state of perfection in which it can claim to be synonymous with the kingdom of God. There is just as much sin in the continued exercise of power and control gained by the methods of earlier times, as there is in trying to acquire them by more modern forms of aggression.
Today, in the world, the people are not content with what the will of God has brings them. They have become selfish to the large extent. Their cravings, their attachments and their aversions need to devote their minds and reason, literally merging their will with will of God and the Guru.
The Gita says that a man does not attain freedom by refraining from action. The ideal of karma yoga is nishkaam karma, selfless action that does not seek any reward or fruit for the action performed. The Lord does not expect renunciation of work, but the renunciation of selfish desire behind the work. Therefore, a karma yogi is he who lives a life of self-control. He remains undisturbed, unperturbed and tranquil in order to become great. Modern man has completely forgotten the true path of knowledge. The true path of knowledge cultivates right understanding, it inspires faith and dispels doubts.
Today man has become too materialistic and is preoccupied in the pursuit of possession of material things. The excessive urge for materialistic gains has made him ignore the spiritual and moral aspects of his life. He considers them obsolete and unproductive. He has no time or inclination to pause and ask himself as to where he is leading himself to. A question has been haunting the modern man-where will the mindless pursuit of transient things lead to? It has certainly not made man happier and peaceful. Today everyone complains of degeneration of values and corruption in all walks of life, but nobody seems to be prepared to break away from them and make a fresh beginning. However, there can be no hope for man if the present trend continues and man remains insensitive to the needs of others. Unless there is a revival of spiritual and moral values, this trend will continue making modern man morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Bhakti Yoga which is designated as a religious path, is an important element in the teachings of all religions. Bhakti has been described as the purest and holiest form of love, the highest love that we are capable of feeling for the ‘Divine Being’. Such a love purifies life. Such a love is the light that can illuminate the darkest life and shed its radiance on all who come within its blessed influence. Modern man has become completely obliviscent about the true sense of bhakti. He has become the victim of rituals and passions. Right interpretation of bhakti, as has been elucidated above, is nowhere seen. There are conflicts and indulgences everywhere. Modern man has altogether ignored the bhakti which has come to mean “devotion” or “love” in later literatures or scriptures of all religions. A man can grow in the life of bhakti, of faith and love as is enshrined in the scriptures.
For today, there is so much of cruelty, there is so much of carelessness, in our treatment of even fellow creatures of mother earth and the environment. Today, man has forgotten the great truth that he is only a part of nature, he feels that he is the sovereign of nature and that he can do what he pleases with his fellow creatures, with mother earth, with the environment.
The time has come when we must decide once for all that all types of human tyranny must end, all types of human exploitation must end. The time has come when we must recognize the inviolability of the individual, both human and non-human. We cannot take away that which we cannot give. Since we cannot give life to a dead creature, we have no right to take away the life of living one. Today violence in our country is increasing. There are feuds and fights; there is hatred and strife among nations.
If we want nations to be at place with each other, we must regard all life as sacred. We must grow in what that great disciple of Jesus Christ, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, called, “Reverence for all life”. We must have reverence for all life. For there is only one life. This life flows in all. This life is asleep in the stone and in the mineral; this life is astir in the plant and the vegetables; this life is awakened in man. There is but one life, all life must be regarded a sacred.
Today tremendous importance is attached to numerical strength – an importance far in excess of what is much more deserving of attention. The danger of this over-emphasis upon numbers lies in the encouragement it gives to self-glorification. Everything is measured in terms of material strength and outward achievement, rather than of real values; quantity, not quality, is made the criterion of success.
But no census can show a nation’s worth. That is proved, not by mathematical calculation, but by the people’s moral and spiritual qualities. A small community, if actuated by noble and lofty purpose, will always be a more potent force for good than masses whose motives are base and whose methods are corrupt. History shows very plainly that human effort prospers and survives, not in proportion to its size, but as it displays the virtues of high idealism and worthy purpose. These are essentials of true greatness.
Where the purely human factor is given foremost place in national calculations, the super-human will receive much less consideration than it deserves. Efforts made solely upon numerical strength will fail in the long run. Even when, for a while, appearances seem to suggest otherwise, self-pride always carries within itself the seed of its own ultimate destruction. All the great reforms that have been brought about by minorities. It is they, not majorities, that have played the chief part in achieving and shaping human progress.
The same thing will one day be true of war. Those who now are striving to banish this greatest of all curses from the earth, will no longer be held suspect and made the objects of ridicule, as is so often the case but will be acclaimed as among the World’s True Benefactors.
For those who attach much importance to figures, here are some, they would do well to ponder. Of the total number of wars waged during the hundred years from 1815 to 1914, The Great Britain, France and U.S.A. were involved in 60 whereas the “aggressor” nations, Russia, Germany and Japan were concerned in 22. Great Britain’s share of the 60 was 38. Does not this make nonsense of the frequent boast that input out about peace-loving nations? Nations are peace-loving or otherwise as it suits their own interest.
The call today is to make hazard. What has been accomplished in the past by those wholly devoted to high achievement, can be repeated. If mankind is to be saved from the denial of all its hopes, and not sink into hopelessness and despair, no amount of national self-glory will avail anything. What shall it profit a nation to be concerned only for its own safety and material prosperity and in so doing lose its Soul? There lies the crux of the present situation. As things are, no nation is prepared to renounce its pride sufficiently to follow the way that alone can free it and other nations from the vicious circle in which all are moving. Each is waiting for the others to take the first step toward a break with a state of affairs that has become intolerable.
The only remedy in such a situation is a display of true repentance on the part of both leaders and people in all lands. Always to put the blame for failure to reach agreement elsewhere will get us nowhere. Enough ground for penitence exists, near at hand to keep all the nations busily occupied in humble acknowledgment of their own offences against the good estate of mankind. Without looking for them on the other side of humanly erected “curtains”, while a persistent spirit of self-righteousness can result in nothing but a hardening of feeling, and a consequent increase of tension, confession of wrong accompanied by a sincere willingness to make whatever preparation is possible, is the surest way of promoting goodwill, and of eliciting the display of like feeling of goodwill by others.
Learning from experience, letting go of the past, and connecting the people despite differences are the important ingredients for understanding the essentials of greatness. If we can still blend with the persons we disagree, it builds our maturity and leads us to greatness. The more we stabilize ourselves in soul-consciousness, to that extent we will recognize the importance of commitment, discipline and principles. Let us make this aspect firm: if not now, then never.
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