INTEGRAL HUMANISM: AN ANALYSIS OF SOME BASIC ELEMENTS

by Deendayal Upadhyay

We present here two ‘Bauddhik Vargas (Intellectual Discourses) which were delivered in Rajasthan Sangh Shiksha Varg in Udaipur on June 4 and 5, 1964. These Bauddhik Vargas have been obtained from the files of the then Bauddhik

Pramukh (Incharge of Intellectual Activities of the RSS) Sh. Jaidevji.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Indian philosophical thought underlined the conflicts of Eastern and Western thoughts very prominently. Swami Vivekanand was the pioneer in this direction and Lokmanya Tilak through his ‘Geeta Rahasya’ carried it forward. In 1909 Mahatma Gandhi in his ‘Hind Swaraj’ voiced this concern profoundly. Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya analyzed and presented a solution to this concern in his first ‘Bauddhik Varg’. Principles of Individualism and Soci...

How the integration of individual and society, based on the equations emerging from four fold principles of shiksha, karma, yogakshem and yagya paves the path for attaining four objectives of life i. e. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, provides the subject for second Bauddhik Varg.

The concept of ‘Integral Human’ is essentially Indian. Some learned people insist on calling it as a philosophy or ‘darshan’ which is not wrong. Hon’ble Nanaji Deshmukh stressed the use of ‘Darshan’ in the literature of Deendayal Research Institute.

There is an English saying: “Nations die in peace and live in war”. That we should unite at the time of war is fine, but it is not a very happy situation that only war should unite us. Our nation has existed for thousands of years, but it is not right to say that only conflicts, wars and catastrophes formed its basis.

We exist as a nation on the basis of a positive sentiment. We are guided by a definite philosophy of life. We are born in this world not for hostility towards and conflict with others. We are guided by a positive thought that unites rather than splits. Those who don’t have positive thoughts may say as they wish.

Our Culture Engaged in organizational work, we find that culture is our unifying factor. We must devote some thought to this aspect of our nationhood. Many people ask us nowadays as to what ‘ism’ do we believe in. The answer is-we don’t believe in any ism. We believe in Hindu culture or Bharatiya philosophy. We are then asked in which one of the modern ‘isms’ – communism, capitalism, anarchism or imperialism – we believe. We believe in none of these. These are all foreign ideologies. In foreign countries people asked me, Would you like to have champagne or Beer? Both of them are different types of liquors. I refused both of them. In the same manner, some people in our country ask if I believe in Capitalism or Communism. We say ‘no’ to all these. It is, as if these are the only two ideologies. That...

They don’t look at life holistically, in its entirety and are lop-sided. That’s why we don’t accept them. What is distinct about our culture is that it looks at life in all its dimensions.

In the West, there is a tendency to treat any and every subject as central to life. Everything is seen through the same coloured glasses. The West is given to compartmentalization. We view everything from all perspectives, all dimensions. We have looked at life in its entirety. It is, however, true that every part was also looked at for purposes of deeper understanding. We might have read an anecdote-about some blind persons and an elephant. Each one described the elephant differently, in his own way. That was because the blind did not possess the ability to describe the elephant in its entirety. Mere probing cannot lead to a complete understanding of something. Moreover, probing can lead to an error too. And that’s precisely the problem with the western approach.

Senses Alone Lead to Incomplete Knowledge

Western knowledge rests on senses, but this perception doesn’t yield complete knowledge. Eyes can’t see everything and every visible thing can also not be seen in its true form. The West has devised some instruments also for the purpose, but they also have their limitations. It is like stars in the sky whose light takes hundreds of years to reach the earth. We do not even know whether those stars still exist when we see them or have already become extinct. Yet, their light is visible. Likewise, while sitting in a train, trees seem to be racing past. Among moving clouds it is the moon that seems to be moving. All this proves that eyes are not always reliable visual guides. Instruments like telescopes and microscopes have been invented to remove this deficiency of the eyes. But it has not been possible ...

Therefore, it is that we have emphasised looking within. View the world and creation through wisdom. Wisdom alone leads to complete knowledge. Our sages could see reality in its completeness by turning their gaze within. It is difficult to see this totality, but not all that so. It is possible if efforts are made. Just as a good Vaidya can diagnose all the bodily ailments by reading the pulse, in a similar manner, the present past and future of a human being provide his complete picture. Completeness has always been our...

Man is Not Free The West is grappling with the question whether the individual has primacy or the society. Many aver that an individual is free to do anything he or she likes. But can a man claim to have absolute freedom? The individual cannot do anything by himself. He has to work in conjunction with others. For his food, nourishment, routine activity-for virtually everything he depends on others. Even as science progresses, the individual is beco...

human being is the most helpless creature at birth. All activities-walking, talking, eating, learning—everything is taught to him by others. His joy, happiness also depends on others. Eating, drinking, travelling, celebrating festivals, visiting fairs alone give him no joy. Our happiness multiplies on auspicious occasions. Like in weddings, it multiplies only when others come visiting us. Even though during illness and grief visitors can, at times, prove more of a burden than help, their company tends to lighten our grief and provides succour. The conclusion is that one cannot ...

Our Creator Himself is bound by the laws of His own creation. He cannot save someone from burning one who takes a fireball in his hand. Only the application of some ointment can provide relief. Some say, God is capable of anything, but this is not quite true. God cannot be unjust; else he will be the devil. He can only be just. His actions are not unbridled; He too is bound by the laws of His own creation.

Capitalism, Socialism, Communism and Other isms Some people treat freedom as absence of all restraints. Western thinking is that, be it society, nature or all creation as such-all is meant for the individual. The West says-‘conquer nature’. The frequently used English expression is-exploiting natural resources-that is to say, using everything for personal consumption and aggrandizement. Slaughter animals and eat them up because everything is meant for me. This is their world-view. Man is big and mighty, hence everything is meant for him. Man, sure is big and powerful, but our conception of ‘big’ is: ‘Big is one who is for others and, for the service of others’.

In the West, one talks of the conquest of nature. They call climbing the Everest the ‘conquest of the Everest’. We too went to the Himalayas, climbed peaks, but with a sense of worshipful renunciation. “I will conquer, I am the mightiest”-this attitude is egotistic...

The communists say that the owner of the machine employs labourers, pays little to them, and consumes the most himself. They arouse a feeling of jealousy among the workers (against the entrepreneurs), stating, “They move around in cars on the fruits of your labour. You labour, but being alone, you are weak. You should hence all unite. ” St...

The communist organisation too implies the rule of labour and not of society. In the labourers’ collective, the worker cannot do anything by himself. He is asked to surrender his power for the collective. Thus the worker loses his freedom too. It is, therefore, a Dictatorship of the Proletariat, not the sense of society. Communism is a totalitarian ideology which leads to to...

Conflict is inherent in capitalism too. Competition forms its basis and the principle of survival of the fittest provides its underpinnings. The communists do not believe in competition but in class-struggle. This system also gives rise to competition-that of the class instead of the individuals. The West thus doesn’t think of the whole ...

Co-operation, not Struggle It is not just the fittest who survive in this world, the weak survive too. That is precisely the meaning of civilization, that the weak too are protected. So that the weak may also survive is exactly why medical sciences like Ayurveda are required. The strong and fit will survive anyway. Police too exists for the protection of the weak. The State was created to obviate the justice of the dominant. Society and laws are created so that the strong do not run over the weak. It can hence be said that the basis of society is co-operation and not struggle. Nature also follows this principle...

Struggle is also visible at times, but it is not natural, it is only superficial. Differences are also seen, but they too can be complementary.

The absence of complementarity denotes the demonic spirit. It has been said by us that there is no plant or herb that is not medicinal in nature. The milkweed plant is harmful when consumed as such, but is beneficial when administered as a medicine. It is essential to mate sickness with the right medicine.

It is therefore not right to seek struggle in nature. To create unity where there is struggle is our tradition.

As against that, our approach is non-dualistic and non-differentiating. Difference and dualism is only external. The question is how to perceive the underlying oneness.

Marriage in our tradition creates oneness between two distinct individuals, that is, husband and wife. In the West they are bound by a contract, they don’t become one. Marriage is treated as a contract which may last or may come to an end. We treat husband and wife as one in this life, in the previous one and also in the life to come. Parvati had married Shiva in her past life itself and does the same in her present life too. Oneness of life and complete absence of difference is a unique aspect of our world-view.

Not Struggle but Oneness the Basis Differences permeates everything western. Even in communism there is no equality. Struggle and class conflict form its substratum...

Integration and unity form the basis of our thinking. The evils of casteism and untouchability grew in our midst, but we made all efforts to eradicate them.

Self-Centeredness and Selfless Good Deeds We believe in neither capitalism nor communism, we believe in integral humanism. We believe in oneness and unity. We have a soul. In harmony, lie divine riches. We progress by according primacy to the divine spirit, by viewing it as the basis of everything. People in the West give primary importance to demonic and destructive practices. They put self before everything else. On the contrary, we have accorded primary importance to selflessness and selfless good deeds. Both selfishness and selflessness reside in man, but that the latter predominates, is a godly conception. The West has viewed selflessness too in terms of self-interest.

But our selflessness is guided by a sense of service and good of others. We will serve in happy times anyway, but we serve even in times of personal distress. In the West, farmers are urged to produce more to raise their standard of living. The farmer produces there so that he may earn more for his material well-being, our farmer produces grains with a sense of duty-to feed ants, birds and human beings, as if he were performing a sacred Yajna.

The fact is we are a God-centric people. That which is not visible is the centre of our gaze. We move towards the centre, the western people move outwards, away from it. Moving towards it, we get ever closer to the centre. In the West each individual is a centre, they move away from the centre, thus getting farther and further away from it. Call it God, soul, Brahma-that’s what is our Centre. That’s why we believe that soul resides in all. In the West everything is treated as a machine, a mechanism, including the

inert. For us society and nation are also manifestations of Godhead, their conception of these are mechanical.

Realising the principle of completeness, our life has to be an expression of that totality and duty has to form the basis of our life. This principle is what shall engage our thoughts today. When we talk of totality or completeness, we have to consider wherein an individual’s excellencelies. In what does a person’s happiness lies? It appears as if a person’s happiness lies in the satisfaction of his wants and desires.

Body Some people consider the body and the belly alone as all important. To a full belly means everything is alright. The whole world worries only about the belly. Bread alone is what matters and if alongside other material needs are also fulfilled, one thinks all is

Heart It is not just bodily well-being that one needs, but also the well-being of the heart. The wealthy don’t lack food; they in fact have enough to eat to the point of indigestion. Still they are often so unhappy that they are afflicted by sleeplessness.

Both our heart and mind need happiness and joy. Physical and mental well-being goes together. There is a saying:” Having a happy heart means having Ganga in a bowl. ” An unhappy heart results in joyless eating and irritability.

A happy heart alone likes food; even not so good food gives satisfaction. Bare bread can produce wrestlers, whereas the best and the most delicious of food can cause emaciation.

That’s why Tulsidas has said: Neither welcome, nor respect, no affection in the eyes; Go not to such a home, even if they way you with gold. Krishna didn’t go to Duryodhan’s house for a meal, but to Vidur’s. He ate even the banana peels out of the love he received there. A mother’s meal excels all delicacies, because there is love in it. However much Bheem ate, he didn’t feel satisfied without the chapati Kunti made for him. Clearly, it is the heart that needs to be fed.

Intellect Besides the heart, the intellect also needs catering to. A mentally sick person, despite being showered with love, remains unhappy until mentally healed. It is hence obvious that intellect also needs food, and healthy food at that.

Soul Happiness of the soul is as important as that of the mind. Some say that the soul remains unaffected. How can one, therefore, talk of the happiness of the soul? But we do feel happy on seeing a peacock dance. We experience happiness on being praised for a good deed. What is it in us that experiences this happiness? Is it the heart, the mind or the soul? We feel bad on being abused, even though our body feels no pain. Why do we then experience unhappiness? Here the ‘I’ comes into play. There is something apart from the body and the mind, which is termed the ‘I’. This ‘I’ is actually what is called soul. It is the connection of the soul that forms the basis of a relationship. Without this connection, the other remains a stranger to us.

The Aggregate of the Four is the Individual The aggregate of the body, mind, heart and soul is what constitutes the individual, and happiness the satisfaction of these four components. The well-being, progress and the refinement of these four constituents is essential. Catering to just one is a sign of incompleteness.

The collective too has body, mind, heart and soul. As in the case of the individual, we should think of all these elements in the case of the group or the collective, because the collective also possesses them. We can try to understand this through an example. If a club has forty members, the forty form its body. The will and desire of the forty to form a club constitutes its heart. If this will is taken out, the club would crumble. It’s this will that keeps the members together. The organizational structure, membership fee, rules, regulations to run the club represent its mind. That’s what provides stability to the club. The oganisation comprises thought and mind. The club has, besides, a purpose, and goals of health and entertainment. Likewise, all organizations that are founded have all these four elements. In all collectives, its members constitute its body, the desire or will to be together, its heart, its organizational structure its mind and its goals, its soul.

The Nation A nation is the largest unit of a collective. A nation must, also, need have these four components. For a nation to be, there has to be a country which comprises a landmass and people residing therein. Landmass in itself doesn’t constitute a country. A landmass worshipped as a mother by the people living on it alone can be accorded the status of a country. South-pole, where nobody lives can’t be called a country. But India is a country as we, its people, treat it as mother. The second pre-requisite is the desire to live together and the resolve to realise that desire. The third is a system, rules and a constitution, most appropriately called by us Dharma. And the fourth is the ideals and values of life. The sum of these elements constitutes the nation. Just as body, heart, mind and soul form an individual, similarly the aggregate of the country, the will to live together, Dharma and ideals of life form the basis of a nation. Just as an individual comprises body, heart, mind and soul, similarly a collective comprises people, their determination, Dharma and ideals. That’s how these two entities come into existence.

Individual: Society’s Gift When a person is born, he is completely dependent on the society. The society builds the individual through education. A human being without education, or without moral val...

Human brain becomes functional in the way it does only due to society. The body and bodily activities also owe to society. The society teaches us to eat, drink and walk. There is much else that society teaches us. In the West, people can’t squat the way

Education to Action Education creates the first relationship between the individual and the society. It is education that brings the two together. The individual begins to learn from society right after birth. Drinking milk has also to be learnt. The learning curve goes on widening.

An individual begins to learn according as he is taught by his parents and teachers. He works for the society, whereas others think that he is working for himself.

But that really is not true. The individual is linked to the society through his actions. Does a farmer produce grains only for himself? ...

Action to Acquisition All human actions are for society. The society takes care of his material needs. The society teaches us to weave. We weave cloth but do not consume the whole of what we produce ourselves. We give it back to society. When the society pays us a thousand rupees for what we produce, are we compensated adequately or not? Some say that the society never pays us back fully. People have different thoughts on this monetary compensation. Marxists declare that price should be paid according to the labour input. Entire Marxism rests on the premise that the worker labours, creates value and the capitalist keeps the fruits of his labour. Such labour is termed exploitation. But is this really true? Suppose the labourer produces cloth worth two thousand rupees and is paid only one thousand rupees for it, is it to be assumed that he has been exploited to the tune of a thousand rupees? It is really not true. That is because a labourer cannot produce on the strength of his labour alone. Production also involves the entrepreneur’s capital, machinery, his brains and his ability to sell in the market. The value of the product can be more than two thousand rupees, it can even be ...