INDIAN   KNOWLEDGE  PRODUCING  SOCIETY :  A  SOURCE  OF INSPIRATION  FOR  WESTERN  STALWARTS

The quest for knowledge is the fundamental necessity of civilization. A knowledge society can produce a cultured  , civilized and developed society but the perception of knowledge may be different among  different societies ,  states and nations. Means and end for obtaining knowledge is different among different societies but one thing is obvious and undeniable that knowledge is essential  for development and prosperity .The Indian concept of knowledge producing society is quite different from western method of knowledge producing society.

                  The various saints and sages of Indian society idolised spiritual wealth as the most effective tool to tackle amicably all the burning problems of society but the western concept of  a knowledge  society , a utopian society was a society which mastered in  how to acquire material comfort and material prosperity and that was their sign of development and progress .Sages in  early Indian society tried to strike a balance between spirituality and materialism , they wanted to establish an equilibrium between nature and society  ,which is still regarded as the best and the only judicious way of  sustainable development in India. Their approach for visualising society was quite different .They never exploited nature visa-vis society .They believed in mutual co-operation and establishing a symbiotic relationship between spiritualism and materialism.

                       Diversity as well religious tolerance is our asset not liability it is our strength which fosters innovation and cultural synthesis .Pluralism has been  the character of Indian civilization from the beginning. India has rejected assimilation and ‘melting pot ’model. Instead it prefers “salad bowl”or “glorious mosaic” model in which each cultural ,ethnic and religious communities maintain their own  distinctness.

Mark Twain while visiting India in 1896 said ,”Any thing that can be done by God or man has been done in this land.”

E.P. Thompson ,the great British historian had also noted,”India is perhaps the most important country for the future of the world.All the convergent influences of the world run through this society:Hindu, Muslim ,Christian , Secular ,Stalanist ,Liberal ,Maoist ,Democratic , Socialist, Gandhian. There is not a thought that is being thought in the west or East that is not active in some Indian mind.”

Octavio Paz,the Nobel Laureate from Mexico,wonders about India’s syncretic culture ,he said “Hinduism and Islam are two civilizations occupying a single territory or are they two religions nurtured by a single civilization,it is impossible to say.”

 The UNDP Report, 2004, debunked the notion that cultural diversity leads to clash of civilizations. It said that diversity and protecting minority rights are crucial for development. More importantly,it saw India as an example how “poor and diverse countries can do well with multicultural policies.”The Indian experience suggests that no culture is perfect or represents the best life.Countries and societies benefit from a critical dialogue among cultures.  

Diversity in India is celebration and its all due to our rich spiritual and cultural heritage nurtured by our rishis and munis .It is their penance, sacrifice and spiritual wealth which has attracted many western scholars to visit India for peace and spiritual  enlightenment.

V.S Naipaul   was a great novelist of Indian origin . He came to India because he wanted to find his ancestral roots so that he could get the inner peace and contentment which he could not attain in  the western society.

 E.M.Forster  and Christopher Isherwood were two great authors. They  wanted to adopt the positives of the Indian society to improve the western society as well as to find a remedy for the gradually growing disinterest of west towards spiritualism which was, according to them, the root cause of the declining ethics and quality as well as the social disarray in the western society.

                                                                                                     CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

 Mirra Richard  , a  French lady  wanted to understand the true purpose of life and was not satisfied with the western ideology.So she embraced Hinduism to find the answer to her queries and to satisfy her inner spirit.

Thomas Macaulay, a BRITISH  historian expected the relationship between India and Britain to be a ONE WAY TRAFFIC but realized that in reality India had a lot to give to the British Empire. He felt that India’s cultural heritage and spiritual integrity were two things that needed to be implemented in British society. In fact he described this relationship as the weirdest of political anomalies.

 James Boswell in early 1760s was the first westerner to come to India not for profit or trade but to impress upon the Indians his views on almost everything ranging from politics to religion but instead he himself got influenced by the spiritual heritage and cultural prowess of the natives. He acted as a role model to the other travellers who later on came to India.

  

  Carl Jung (1930s) was an American psychoanalyst wanted to see the west from the Indian perspective so that he could observe the various defects which had cropped up in the so-called perfect utopian western society.

Martin Luther King Jr (1960s) wanted to study thoroughly the Gandhian teachings and wanted to see them in practice so that he could  implement them in USA to dispel the evil of discrimination from the American society.

       



Thus all these western thinkers came in India for search for truth and spiritual treasure of India which is non-existent in west because in western countries there is material prosperity not spiritual prosperity so they may have external comfort of life but not inner comfort and peace which always has had a catastrophic effect  on the western countries either in various forms like exploitation of nature , inner conflicts or degradation of values ,  ethics ,  morality ,  spirituality in religious principles or humanitarian principles and its impact is felt all over the world due to increasing globalization and the influence of west all over the world.

 SWAMI PRABHUPADA(founder of International society for Krishna consciousness) rightly remarked : In the western world ,theologians have been unable to scientifically present the laws of God or indeed, God himself, and thus in Western intellectual history a rigid dichotomy has arisen between theology and science.In an attempt to resolve this conflict,some theologians have agreed to modify their doctrines so that they conform not only to proven scientific facts but even to pseudoscientific speculations and hypotheses, which,though unproven,are hypocritically included within the realm of “science”.On the other hand,some fanatical theologians disregard the scientific method altogether and insist on the varacity of their antiquated,secretarian dogmas.Thus bereft of systematic Vedic theology,material science has moved into the destructive realm of gross materialism,while speculative Western philosophy has drifted into the superficiality of relativistic ethics and inconclusive linguistic analysis.With so many of the best western minds dedicated to materialistic analysis,naturally much of western religious life,separated from the intellectual mainstream,is dominated by irrational fanaticism and unauthorized mystitic and mystery cults .People have become so ignorant of the science of God that they often lump the Krisna consciousness movement in with this odd assortment of fanciful attempts at theology and religion.Thus dharma,or true religion,which is strict and conscious obedience to God’s law, is diminishing.Truthfulness,is also diminishing ,simply because people do not know what the truth is.Without knowing the absolute truth one cannot clear understand the real significance or purpose of life merely by amassing huge quantities of relative or hypothetical truths.Tolerance or forgiveness ,is diminishing as well,because there is no practical method by which people can purify themselves and thus free of envy.Unless one is purified by chanting the holy names of the Lord in an authorized program of spiritual improvement ,the mind will be overwhelmed by anger ,envy and all sorts of small –mindedness. Thus mercy ,is also decreasing. All living beings are eternally connected by their common participation in the divine existence of God .When this exis tential oneness is obscured through atheism and agnosticism,people are not inclined to be merciful to one another ;they cannot recognize their self-interest in promoting the welfare of other living beings .In fact,people are no longer even merciful to themselves : they systematically destroy themselves through liquor,drugs tobacco,meat eating,and whatever other cheap gratifactory processes are available to them.

                                      In the recent days we are hearing quite a lot about minorities being under threat in India. There have been a few odd church attacks that has given the propangandists some much needed topic for derailing the nation from the path of progress and for diverting the public attention away from progressive ideas .It will be an abomination if such people are allowed to hinder our country’s progress. Discrimination against anyone is not in the gene of Indians. It would be inappropriate to come to any conclusion on these attacks without detailed inquiry. What we are not realising today was realised by many western thinkers in the yester years. Many of them realised that they could not find inner peace in the west and the only destination that came to their mind was India-the land of incomparable cultural and spiritual heritage. Many also came here to find the solutions for the problems in the wetern society, which they expected to find  in India’s spirituality and purity. So to avert a moral disaster it is necessary to prevent being influenced by the western culture.

Mahatma Gandhi once said:”I don’t want my house  to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blow about my house as freely as possible.But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

          






Thus there is need to preserve and aggrandize our cultural heritage with spiritual ornamentation to stop the bad effects of the wind of change blowing from western countries
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Aurobindo’s concept of’ MASS  SPIRITUALISM ‘and Deen dayal’s concept of ‘INTEGRAL HUMANISM’ has  solutions to many maligning social problems which are hindering our countriy’s progress. Positive conflict in a multicultural India sometimes innovates new mechanisms to handle Diversity.

As Ralph Miliband(political scientist) rightly said “conflict is not only civilized, but civilizing it is not only a means of resolving problems in a peaceful way, but also of providing new ideas,ensuring progress,achieving ever-greater harmony,and so on. Conflict is “functional”,a stabilizing rather than a disrupting force”. Inspite of some , once in a blue moon conflicts  in India we preserve and nurture diversity with an open heart.

References:

1.       Paine ,Jeffery    -    Father India

2.       Swami Prabhupad  -   Srimad Bhagavatam Twelth Canto

3.       Roy , Ash Narain  -   Celebration of Diversity Key to India’s success ;  Yojana magazine issue: Feb 2015                                                 .