Humanism, viewed integrally

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>Sun, 13 Feb 2005 12:02:40 -0800

>

>Humanism, viewed integrally

>Sudheendra Kulkarni

>The Pioneer

>February 11, 2005

>

>(February 11 is the death anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya)

>

>Post-independence India has not produced many political leaders who

>were also philosophers in their own right. Sadly, even those who were

>first-grade philosopher-politicians have not received the attention

>they deserve. Nowhere perhaps is this truer than in the case of Pandit

>Deendayal Upadhyaya, the principal organiser and guide of the

>Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which, in 1980, re-emerged as the Bharatiya

>Janata Party. The BJP continues to revere him as its ideological guru.

>Indeed, its constitution enshrines "Integral Humanism", his chief

>philosophical work, as the "basic philosophy of the party".

>

>One does not have to be a BJP supporter to realise the greatness and

>enduring value of this work, which is a collection of four lectures

>that Deendayalji delivered in Bombay on April 22-25, 1965. What

>strikes any unprejudiced reader of this treatise is its mind-expanding

>power. In a short space of 32 pages, its author illumines the vast

>expanse of the Bharatiya Darshan, presenting a seamless elucidation of

>almost all the fundamental issues that political philosophers of all

>times have grappled with. Its additional attraction is its simplicity.

>In the great tradition of Indian seers, Deendayalji's style is so

>unpolemical and unadorned that it is difficult to believe that it was

>employed by the leader of a party that per force had to work in a

>confrontationist ideological environment.

>

>The obscurity that surrounds "Integral Humanism" is rather perplexing.

>After all, the BJP is one of the two principal poles in Indian

>politics today. Under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it also

>provided one of the best governments at the Centre. Still, its basic

>philosophy has attracted little scrutiny from academic and political

>circles. In mainstream media debates, "Integral Humanism" is so

>unfamiliar a phrase as to make one wonder whether it is a victim of

>deliberate black-out.

>

>Deendayalji was a remarkable political leader, so unlike leaders of

>his era or the times that followed his death on February 11, 1968, in

>a mysterious case of murder while travelling in a train. He was more a

>teacher than a mass mobiliser. His leadership lay in the power of his

>intellect and, more so, in the strength of his ethical influence on

>the people around him. Ideology and idealism were inseparably woven

>into his personality which, like Mahatma Gandhi's, radiated sincerity.

>

>Deendayalji's basic impulse in developing his discourse was

>humanistic, and not political in the narrow sense of party politics.

>In words that resonate with the anguish felt by every right-thinking

>person in the world, he writes: "Man, the highest creation of God, is

>losing his own identity. We must re-establish him in his rightful

>position, bring him the realisation of his greatness, reawaken his

>abilities and encourage him to exert for attaining divine heights of

>his latent personality."

>

>Every philosophy carries with it the birthmarks of the times in which

>it originates. Since the great debate in the early decades after

>India's independence revolved around the theme of "capitalism vs

>communism", Deendayalji developed "Integral Humanism" partly as a

>counter to both. He presents persuasive arguments to show the pitfalls

>of both systems. "Both capitalism and communism have failed to account

>for the Integral Man, his true and complete personality and his

>aspirations. One considers him a mere selfish being hankering after

>money, having only one law, the law of fierce competition, in essence

>the law of jungle; whereas the other has viewed him as a feeble

>lifeless cog in the whole scheme of things, regulated by rigid rules,

>and incapable of any good unless directed. The centralisation of

>power, economic and political, is implied in both. Both, therefore,

>result in dehumanisation of man." How true, considering the global

>developments of the last four decades.

>

>However, Deendayalji was anything but doctrinaire in his approach.

>Though a strong critic of aping the Western way of life, he accepts

>that "Western principles are a product of a revolution in human

>thought and it is not proper to ignore them". His critique of the

>Western political and economic thought does not call for its total

>rejection; it only highlights its inadequacy. Referring to

>"nationalism, democracy, socialism, world peace and world unity",

>which were the hotly debated "Big Ideas" in India and elsewhere in the

>1960s, he says, "All these are good ideals. They reflect the higher

>aspirations of mankind." But the manner in which the West has voiced

>them shows that "each stands opposed to the rest in practice."

>

>It was Deendayalji's deeply held belief that "Bharatiya Culture" (it

>is notable that the word "Hindu" or "Hindutva" does not appear in his

>treatise even once) was capable of harmonising and realising these

>great ideals for the common good of mankind. What was the basis of his

>belief? It is the "integral" approach of our culture - the "keynote of

>Bharatiya Sanskriti" - which views every aspect of human life not in

>isolation, but holistically in light of the universal and enduring

>principles of man, as applied to the specific conditions of each

>society. In contrast to the theory of class conflict (as in

>communism), Indian culture posits inter-dependence between various

>sections of society working together for the common weal of all.

>Similarly, rejecting notions of any inherent contradiction between the

>individual and society (as in capitalism), it underscores the

>essential concord between the two. "A flower is what it is because of

>its petals, and the worth of the petals lies in remaining with the

>flower and adding to its beauty."

>

>The great merit of "Integral Humanism" lies in its successful attempt

>to deal with a problem that has defied so many political philosophers

>of our age: how to conceptualise a practical approach to achieve peace

>and harmony within the individual man and society. Deendayalji

>persuasively describes how the Bharatiya way of life seeks the

>simultaneous progress of the body, mind, intellect and soul. He also

>explains how a balanced observance of the four-fold responsibilities -

>Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha (the four Purusharthas or desirable

>human efforts) guarantees all-round development of both the individual

>and society.

>

>This may sound like a restatement of the well-known principles of

>Indian philosophy. Some of "Integral Humanism" is indeed an inspiring

>elucidation of that. However, what is new in this treatise is

>Deendayalji's intellectually audacious leap in applying these

>principles for the goal of India's national resurgence. First, he

>resurrects, from the works of ancient Indian rishis, two important

>definitional traits of nationhood (called "chiti", the nation's soul,

>and "virat", the power that energises the nation) which deserves to be

>studied in depth by today's thinkers. If understood properly, these

>would strengthen our national unity and provide motive force to

>India's emergence as an integrally Developed Nation.

>

>Secondly, with the courage befitting a social revolutionary,

>Deendayalji calls for abandonment of all those customs

>("untouchability, caste discrimination, dowry, neglect of women") that

>are symptoms of "ill-heath and degeneration" of our society. ("We have

>taken due note of our ancient culture. But we are no archaeologists.

>We have no intention to become the custodians of a vast archeological

>museum.") Thirdly, he lays down general objectives of India's economic

>reconstruction which, in spite of the vast changes that have occurred

>in the global economic terrain in the past four decades, are still

>valid.

>

>Lastly, his emphatic espousal of Dharma Rajya (which, according to

>him, does not connote theocratic state but only a law-governed state

>and duty-oriented citizenry) echoes Gandhi's concept of Ram Rajya.

>"Dharma (which is different from religion) sustains the nation. If

>Dharma is destroyed, the nation perishes." Does Dharma Rajya negate

>democracy? Not at all. Look how Deendayalji creatively expands the

>meaning of Lincoln's famous words: "In the definition of democracy as

>'government of the people, by the people and for the people', of

>stands for independence, by stands for people's rule, and for

>indicates Dharma. Dharma Rajya encompasses all these concepts."

>

>Today, on the death anniversary of this great Indian, who was also a

>firm votary of value-based politics, we would do well to study, and

>rededicate ourselves to, the undying ideas and ideals of Integral

>Humanism.

>

>

>

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