Battle for soul of Bharat

The current political and ideological turmoil that we are witnessing today is the result of sustained ideological struggle for soul of Bharat i.e. India fought by RSS against the left that is sustained by Marxist philosophy. Capitalism is a purely economic thought and has no ideological moorings.  That is why China can still call itself Communist though it is capitalist for all practical purposes.

With full backing of soft Fabian socialists led by Nehru, followed by Indira Gandhi’s opportunist call for Socialism - Marxists under took control of all cultural, educational and fiscal policy making bodies. Major reason for this was the romanticism that Marxism and Socialism carried during those days of ideological war between Capitalist and Communist economies. Socialism is nothing but watered down version of Communism that ultimately would end up as Welfare economics of Capitalism.  None in Congress had intellectual depth to sustain those ideas in practical governance so they chose Marxists as their fellow travellers with different labels of Left, Secular etc.

This copying of western models was not acceptable to RSS that believed in ancient wisdom of our ancestors, seers and strategists like Chanakya.  RSS believed that solutions to India’s problems would come from its own genius that had made India ‘golden sparrow’ even till late 18^th Century. Scientific achievements that covered pure science as well as applied science showed the way forward. We had to be inspired by our own genius and march into future.  Second chief Guruji exhorted people time and again that aping west would not solve problems of Bharat. As Dattopant Thengdi, one of the foremost ideologues of RSS, put it – both Capitalism and Marxism were basically materialism based ideas that imagined that if physical well being and material requirements are fulfilled human beings will be happy and satisfied. The only fight between the two ideologies was who owns the resources. While Capitalism asserted that it was individual who should have freedom to own any resource that he/she wants, Marxists said State should own all the resources and decide their usage. But, both were one on the idea that material satisfaction is all a human being longed for.

While RSS laid foundation of renaissance of Hindu dharma that was the fountain head of great religions of world like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and many other sampradayas and faiths.  One of its swayamsevaks, Deendayal Upadhyay was given the task of crystallizing economic thought for Bharat from genius of Bharat. Deendayal Upadhyay, whose birth centenary falls this year, was a rare combination of field worker in touch with thousands of volunteers working for strengthening of society and also a thinker moulded by study, reading and deep understanding of India’s history, darshan (a bigger word than philosophy) and ‘chiti’. Chiti, according to Upadhyay was the inherent nature of a society or a nation. Each nation has its own ‘chiti’ and it will grow healthily only if it followed its chiti. Policies and thoughts that went against its chiti would not allow it to flower to its full potential and would lead to mental unrest of people.

Deendayal Upadhyay laid out the philosophy of ‘Integral Humanism’ that said, human being does not have only physical wants but also spiritual needs. Human being is different from animals because it has vivek (intellect) that needs to be nurtured too. This was the basic difference between Western economic thought and Indian economic thought. This integral view of life had led Indian sages to talk of four purusharthas (or activities) that a human must do in his/her life time. That is  artha (earning material wealth), kaam (enjoy physical desires), dharma (do it with conscious following of righteous path) to attain moksha (freedom from cycle of rebirth).  To do this, they exhorted people to follow the path of four ashramas – Brahmacharya (celibate student), Grihasthashram (raising family and looking after it), Vanprasthashram (give up day to day issues of family and direct one’s gaze towards ‘van’ i.e. forest and work for society) finally leading into Sanyasashram (give up social activities and do penance for self discovery) before leaving this world.

This philosophy is purely Indian and is not reflected in any other ideology or philosophy. Hence, insistence of RSS to evolve our own economic philosophy. The outcome was Integral Humanism.

Capitalism advocates ‘individual freedom of choice’ as the highest form of achievement while Marxism puts individual freedom as the last resort, with State controlling the lives of all members of society (for their own well being) as Communist state knows best. Hence, no private ownership, no individual freedom to decide for self. Disasters of different magnitude have hit followers of both philosophies. Capitalism resulted in unbridled consumerism, environmental disasters and extension of individual freedom to ridiculous heights that led to break of families and nuclearization of individuals. On the other hand, Communism led to suppression of individuals and families to such an extent that economies failed with individual creativity suppressed and spiritual needs sought to be killed by strict agnostic approach.  To put it in famous words of Vladimir Dudintsev – ‘not by bread alone, does man live’

It talks of individual as the centre piece of any economic thought that will not only seek material wants but also spiritual needs of individuals. Here individual is not an island; he is centre of a spiral that extends from him/her to family to society and nation, all nurturing each other. So, well being of the last man in the queue needs to be looked after. Deendayal Upadhyay called it ‘Antyoday’ (welfare of the last man).

This is the battle on economic front that RSS has fought with proponents of both Capitalism and Marxism.  This is the reason; RSS and Integral Humanism cannot be put as Rightist. Rightist economic thought of Capitalism while Leftist is the economic thought of Marxists. We need to be careful about mixing up this terminology with Western world view.

Other Kurukshetra of thought is the way we are taught to look at Indian history and philosophy. History that we know is transmitted to us by British and earlier by a few Western researchers. It was as per their self-interest. So, they came up with Aryan Invasion Theory, softened later to Aryan Migration theory. They taught us about Aryan-Dravidian divide that has been used for decades now to split Indian society. Though new research and studies falsify this approach, historians who have made their living out of quoting West and done little of original research they refuse to see it. They only see a defeated India since eons and not continuous resistance from Indian kings and saints that didn’t allow complete conversion to either Islam and later Christianity inspite of gigantic efforts of invaders. With sustained efforts of researchers to whom privileged rooms of academia are closed, truth is slowly coming out and people are slowly realizing that we come from same genetic pool, there is no divide and we are not a defeated nation.

Third front of Kurukshetra is  the way philosophy of Hindu Dharm. Rajiv Malhotra clubs all faiths born out of Dharmic traditions vs faiths born out of Abrahamic traditions from land of ancient Israel.   The Western world view is tampered largely by Christian and of late Islamic world view. So, Hindu philosophy is seen through its own world view that they cannot comprehend and presented as a perverse mix of sex and mumbo-jumbo that they cannot understand.  For people who do not believe in Atma-Paramatmaa, Karma, All truths leading to same God it is difficult to comprehend philosophy of Dharm. People brought up on superiority of their religion and exclusivity cannot understand the inclusive nature of Dharm. They have not yet got over the difference between religion and dharma. As Rajiv Malhotra puts it, there are so many terms in Sanskrit and Dharm philosophy that are untranslatable and lead to huge confusion in mind of a commoner. Dharm is one critical term. For West educated elite, this is a major mind block. Hence, any talk of Hindu, Hindu rashtra (not state) means a nation where there is no place for minorities.  Hindus never had theocratic state. King always followed Dharm (rule of law) and let people follow their respective faiths. Hindus have welcomed persecuted people from all over the world and adopted them as their own. Christians, Jews, Parsis – all have been sheltered at various times and prospered. There are many invading races that settled down in Bharat and got assimilated into our culture.

RSS has spearheaded this battle for soul of India in this clash of ideas. It is gratifying that 90 years of its hard work is slowly bearing fruits. People of India as well as overseas are slowly recognising genius of Bharat. Indian citizens have begun to take pride in their culture and history. They have begun to look for Indian solution to Indian problems.  Indian genius is surely going to win this clash of ideas to see India rise again as the leading nation of the world.