Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, July 2002

A few anxious students raised many disturbing questions on the scourge of violence that has been afflicting us throughout the world. They are quite intelligent to form such pertinent questions. Evidently, they use their power of thinking to probe larger issues. They are sensitive to human woes which shows the presence of a throbbing heart in them. But then they do not know who will use the effective hand. The power of the hand has been delegated to the Government who can use the three--head, heart and hand--together, because the Government has been endowed with all of these three dimensions.

The recent killings at Godhra and all the consequent carnage in the state of Gujarat, India, the protracted Taliban fights, insurgency, the sweet delusion of terrorist martyrdom elsewhere in the human home called mother earth--in short, all forms of violence, vandalism, aggression and terrorism the whole of humanity has been wilting under--are a source of anguish in the hearts of many youngsters as also old-timers. At the same time, instances abound in the pages of recent records the world over to confirm that these atrocities are being perpetrated by youth and old alike. It is a malady to which all have fallen prey.

Let us try to analyze two different mindsets controlling the world with its myriad kinds of expressions. One, I would like to call, a quantum mindset developed and nurtured by a section of humanity; and another a holistic mindset developed by another section; both of these are enriched with the experiences of our journey through the fact-oriented world. Though history remains ever changing with newer discoveries affecting and readjusting the almost settled deductions, we have quite a few references by which it can be said without fear of contradiction that our discovery about ourselves and all that are around us began with our belief in a Creator, or the source of all.

The holistic mindset: One of the two inquiries records its gradual developments of successively finer and broader levels of our existence beginning with a materialistic search--each one confirming the realization of a particular level to be that of a unity. At every level, our search ended with the confirmation that there is unity as a whole: as matter we are one, as life we are one, as mind we are one, and finally ending our holistic enquiry--which transcends and also includes all the previous levels--we have confirmed that as spirit we are one.

The quantum mindset: The other enquiry presents quite a different picture. It began with our dependence on a benign and benevolent Creator. Our inadequate understanding about the Creator has put Him under human limitations. We experienced continuous fights and killing in the name of such a Creator. Helpless, we turned towards a human substitute for the Creator. This again led us to more horrific experiences of unbridled powers unleashing the terrors of Concentration Camp, Gas Chamber and the like. We had yet another substitute for God left in the form of 'matter' to repose our faith in. This has given shape to all forms of sciences, soft and hard, which value every thing in quantifiable units. All these sciences are concerned with a universe, which is nothing but matter; even all life forms on the earth are also manifestations of the same matter whether of singular or multiple building block/s.

This may be a disturbing revelation to many people--proponents and followers of materialistic philosophies--that we are no way better than stones; that is what in fact these philosophies say. Identify yourself if you so like with stones and follow the doctrine at your sweet will, we have nothing to lament for--is their unanimous message. The philosophies supporting the supremacy of Money, invoked a god of money in the form of the greed of 'economic man'. The philosophies supporting the supremacy of Power inspired the craze for cruel power in people like Hitler. The philosophies supporting the supremacy of Sex or libido roused carnal instincts in the inherently selfish genes of man.

Based on these materialistic philosophies, Economics has taught us a consumerist approach to life. We regard human beings as machines and relations with allies and consumers as relations in terms of units of profit. 'I will have a relation with you provided I gain so much units of profit. I shall bring up my children with the hope that they pay back their debts to me in a higher coin.'

These are all records of a transition of our belief from 'consciousness' to an ingredient called 'matter' of which we are the manifestations and which is definable in quantifiable units. Even the idea of 'giving according to necessity' and 'taking according to ability' is believed to have been dependent on units of input-output relation.

In fine, man is nothing but matter manifesting his competence to enjoy lust, greed and power having more privileges to enjoy than others. But the way is through struggles (or violence), call it a 'class struggle' or a 'struggle for existence'.

Our idea about God remained exclusive. Since God is the creator of all, all are included in His creation; all are His children already. If some of His children wrest the right to enjoy a privilege of leading other children of His, and find some outsiders to deal with, then it is a wrong idea. Swami Vivekananda says that people enjoy many privileges of which religious privileges are the worst type. A physically fit person may arrogantly claim his right to bully others; an intellectual may also do so in his own way. But it is a contradiction in terms if a person claims to be spiritual and at the same time wants privileges. This is hypocrisy. Swamiji says that this is the worst type of the three privileges, because an incompetent person claims undue rights.

It is easy to incite public sentiment, based on exciting philosophies--not only religious, but also political, economic etc--but not to quell it with authority. It will happen as long as the idea of fulfilling selfish interests through discriminatory appeasement remains paramount in our mind. But all hatred and bloody retaliations are decried from the core of sensible peoples' heart, who cannot but be passive in action, but active in wishing good for all.

Remedies can be envisaged by those who are not physically or emotionally a part of any particular incident. The problem of violent acts had been there and, unfortunately, will persist even though we may deny it. Hence it should be viewed as a legacy of our unwise thinking. We should therefore stop referring to any particular incident. Instead of deliberating on an incident, acting and reacting to its anatomies, let us reflect on and weigh the destruction these violent acts have caused to human and other life forms on earth and whatever we have built, explore effective means to first minimize them, and if possible overcome them.

In the context of a nation, the solution seems to be less complicated as we may try to find solidarity on a 'one nation' perspective. We find Swamiji addressing us as a nation, exhorting us to forget all differences when the question of the interests of the nation comes--not only at the time of foreign invasion, but always. No privileges on the basis of particular identity, but consideration on the basis of pecuniary necessity. Privileges encourage division, and make them legal rights also. It is seen that to solve a case of disagreement, all the disagreeing groups initiate dialogues among themselves, sometimes a third party or an arbitrator or a group is formed for the purpose. History teaches us that all violence has to end with dialogues. Unfortunately, the path has been filled with rhetoric and the need to debate rather than discuss the issues. In the absence of real dialogue, people look for one-step solutions to problems.

When basic ideas remain nationalistic, none shall nurture anti-national ideals that are controlled and guided by harmful alien forces, be they religious or political. Let us shun our ways that alarm other sections and harm others; let us hear each other, then each one of us will find that we are not always right.

We can take up Swamiji's formula for settling points of mutual differences. Let all the parties, who are involved in any crisis, separately note down their grievances and deposit them to the mediators (a group of people), and through them exchange each other's view. The group of mediators, who will act as arbitrators, should not only be impartial but also should, as Swamiji says, have these three things: feeling, solution and purpose. The members in the group should have a genuine feeling for the lamentable after-effects of any incident. Indifference on their part is not a quality. They should really feel the pangs of those who suffered in the incidents; they should see that the solution does not become outlandish; they should take into consideration the age-old traditions of mutual agreement, the benevolent ingredients of any group's customs etc. It should be open and beneficial to ALL, without being unnecessarily soft.

The forum may be required to be empowered with state sponsorship, because it works in national interest. The state holds 'power', hence power may justifiably be utilized for the good of the nation. The outcome of it has to be enacted in a general way to be stringently followed by all the groups. We may be handicapped in many ways to contribute to the regeneration of our country, but we can try to minimize the maladies. It is a struggle, but non-violent. If we begin with a crude process of dialogue on national lines, things will take shape slowly; an awareness will be created, which will be conducive to thrash out further details of disagreement.

To rise above all particular situations/ incidents of violence, and be an arbitrator, we might try to discover and accept a single basis, a lingua franca, as it were. All violence originates from selfish motives, when we do not recognize that others have the same right to protect themselves. There are no different human rights for different individuals on discriminative lines. Vedanta preaches oneness, which is the language of all, and for all. It is not a belief in any god to be eyed with suspicion as a brand of a particular religion. It stands out as a glorious testimony to our successful struggle to discover the whole. It can be applied not only at the national level, but at the inter-national level also. It is a universal philosophy of values that is everybody's property. The business world tries to look at this holism by globalization, science by trying to discover one source for the whole universe, politics by the UNO. Let us use any of these three labels and universalize this Oneness. Intra-national and inter-national understandings cannot be governed by contradictory laws. The loftier the ideal, the more extensive will be the 'event horizon'. There is no other ideal loftier than the ideal of ONENESS, which is devoid of any discrimination whatever.