MUSINGS OF THOUGHTFUL MINDS

 

MUSINGS OF THOUGHTFUL  MINDS

 

YOUNG PEOPELE, according to Ayn Rand, do seek a comprehensive view of life, i.e., a philosophy, they do seek meaning, purpose, ideals --- and most of them take what they get.  It is in their teens and early twenties that most people seek philosophical answers and set their premises, for good or evil, for the rest of their lives.  Some never reach that stage: some never give up the quest; but the majority are open to the voice of philosophy for a few brief years.  These last are the permanent, if not innocent, victims of modern philosophy.

 

Ayn Rand believes that such teenagers are not independent thinkers not intellectual original; they are unable to answer or withstand the flood of modern sophistries.  So some of them give up, after one or two unintelligible courses, convinced that thinking is a waste of time---and turn into lethargic cynics or stultified Babbitts by the time they reach twentyfive.  Others accept what they hear: they accept it blindly and literally; these are today’s activists.  And no matter what tangle of motives now moves them, every teacher of modern philosophy should cringe in their presence, if he is still open to the realization that it is by means of the best within them, by means of their twisted, precarious groping for ideas, that he has turned them into grotesque little monstrosities.

 

Ayn Rand concludes: Now what happens to the better minds in modern universities, to the students of above average intelligence who are actually eager to learn?  What they find and have to endure is a long, slow process of psycho-epistemological torture.

 

                                                -----

Social relationship, says poet Mohammad Iqbal, is a blessing to the individual.  His latent capacities are hereby actualized.  Individual attains respect through society.  Society gets its organization through its members.  His power of self-expression and his capacity for self-measurement flow from society.  The individual becomes saner through social contact so that the one becomes many.  Individual alone, unaware of ideals and value judgments; his capacity for self-activity tends to deteriorate.

 

                                                ----

The traditional view, according to Karl Marx, in which man is always conceived of as the purpose of production, seems to be much more sublime than the modern world, in which production is presented as the purpose of man and wealth as the purpose of production.  But hat is wealth – when stripped of its bourgeois form --- but the universe of the needs, powers, enjoyments, productive forces of individuals?  The full development of the human sway over natural forces, those of so-called nature as well as those of his own nature?  The complete emergence of his creative potentialities?

 

                                                -------

An organized instrument of administration which is called the Government, says AurobindoGhosh, is nothing else than human development in the individual and in the group.  The individual, standing alone, cannot develop; he depends on the support and assistance of the group to which he belongs.  The group itself cannot develop unless it has an organization by means of which it not only secures internal peace and order and protection from external attack but also proper conditions which will give free play for the development of its activities and capacities – physical, moral, intellectual. The nation or group is not like the individual who can specialize his development and throw all his energies into one line.  The nation must develop military and political greatness and activity, intellectual and aesthetic greatness and activity, commercial greatness and activity, moral sanity and vigour; it cannot sacrifice any of these functions of the organism without making itself unfit for the struggle for life and finally succumbing and perishing under the pressure of moral highly organized nations.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE ETERNAL LINES

 

ETERNAL  LINES

                        RABINDRANATH TAGORE

 

ON the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous.  On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances.

 

They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells.  With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep.  Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

 They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.  Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again.  They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.

                                                                                 

The sea surges up with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.  Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby’s cradle.  The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.

 On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.  Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play.  On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meting of children.

 

                                                --------

 

WHEN I bring to you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints --- when I give coloured toys to you, my child.

 

When I sing to make you dance I truly know why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth --- when I sing to make you dance.

 

When I bring sweet things to your greedy I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice – when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.

 

When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight that is which the summer breeze brings to my body --- when I kiss you to make you smile.

                                              ….

 

THE sleep that flits on baby’s eyes----does anybody know from where it comes?  Yes, there is a rumour that it has its own dwelling where, in the fairy village among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms, there hang two timid buds of enchantment.  From there it comes to kiss baby’s eyes.

 

The smile that flickers on baby’s lips when he sleeps --- does anybody know where it was born?  Yes, there is a rumour that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning – the smile that flickers on baby’s  lips when he sleeps.

 

The sweet, soft freshness that blooms on baby’s limbs ---- does anybody know where it was hidden so long? Yes, when the mother was a young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of love --- the sweet, soft fresh that has bloomed on baby’s limb.                            ----

FEDERALISM

 

FEDERALISM

Federalism is a system of government in which the individual states of a country have control over their own affairs, but are controlled by a central   government for national affairs. Some examples of  this system of Government are the United States, Canada and India. However, they are no exactly like each other.

            According to Part I o the Indian Constitution, the Union of India, that is Bharat, is a federal Union, with a distribution of power, of which the judiciary is the interpreter.

            Thus, India has a central government which makes laws for the whole country. There are 28 States and 8 Union Territories as on 5^th August 2019. Some states like the Uttar Pradesh are very big, while others are very small like Goa Similarly the Union Territories also differ in size and population. The smallest Union Territory is Lakshadweep.

            Each State/Union Territory has its own type of natives, history, geography, culture, occupations, dress, language, festivals, food habits and beliefs.

            The Head of the Federal Union of India is the President. The Heads of States are Governors and the Heads of Union Territories are Lieutenant Governors. Chandigarh has an Administrator as its Head. The appointments of Governors, Lieutenant are made by the President for a fixed term.

            There are three types of laws. Central laws, State laws, U.T. laws. The Central Government makes central laws through the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and these are mandatory for the whole country, like laws about Defence, Railways, Currency, Post offices, National Education Policy, National Language, National Criminal and Civil Codes, etc. The State Government makes its laws through State Assemblies and Legislative Councils. Some laws like Education Policy, State Language, State Transport, can be made by the State without the interference of the Central Government.

            All laws should be true to the provisions of the Constitution of India. Any law which violates any of these provisions can be challenged in courts, including High Courts of respective States and the Supreme Court of India which is the Top Court of the Land .

            No State UT law becomes valid without the approval of the Governor/Lieutenant Governor and the National Law without the approval of the President of India.

            Under Federalism, it is desirable rather imperative for the Central Government to consult the States/UTs while making any new law or amending any old law. Unnecessary interference in the autonomy of the State/UT is expected to be avoided.        

                                               **********

COMMUNISM

 

COMMUNISM

Briefly speaking communism is a political movement that believes in an economic system in which the state controls the means of producing everything on behalf of the people. It wants to create a society in which everyone is treated equally. It is opposed to capitalism in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for profit by private owners rather than by the government.

             Communism was first developed by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his friend Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in the middle of the nineteenth century. Both were German l philosophers who took a lot of interest in economic systems and were dead against the   exploitation of the workers. They jointly published the Communist Manifesto in 1848.

             Russia became the first communist state at the end of 1917. In 1922, the other territories of its empire also joined and became the Soviet Union. Subsequently many other countries adopted communism. Today only China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam are communist states. India has no communist state but it has two Communist Parties CPI and CPI (M).

            India has accepted communism partially, for example it has abolished landlordism, framed some pro-workers laws, given more and more recognitions to the rights and interests of the working classes. However, it could not communist philosophy about religion. Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the people. It teaches them to accept status quo and believe in the Karma theory.  India could not promote atheism.  It is a multi-religious country which is secular and socialist but allows religious freedom to every citizen. Furthermore, it allows private business, industry and ownership of land and property which communism does not. In communism, the distribution of wealth and material products is according to one’s needs, but there is no agreement as to who will define and decide the needs.

            Indian political thinkers like Nehru and Gandhi shared Marx’s love for the poor and the down-trodden but they were against violent and unfair means of communism to achieve any relief.  In Marxism all types of methods are valid if they achieve the desired goals. Nehru and Gandhi believed that only good methods should be used for good aims.

            However, every country agrees with Karl Marx that the labouring classes should not be exploited and they should be paid the wages which they deserve for all types of productions and outputs.

                                                            ---------

                                                         

SOCIALISM

 

SOCIALISM

In simple terms socialism is a set of political and economic theories. They are based on the belief that (i) everyone has an equal right to the share of a country’s wealth and (ii) the government should own and control the main industries.

It advocates that the means of production and distribution and exchange should be owned and regulated by the community as a whole.

There is not much difference between Communism and Socialism,  and also Marxism and Socialism.  In fact, socialism is the middle stage between the overthrow of capitalism and realisation of communism.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) introduced Communism and thus also socialism.

In essence, India is also a socialist country. The Preamble to the Constitution of India says that India became a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic from 26^th November 1949 and it decided to secure to all citizens:

JUSTICE , social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.

Thus Indian Constitution ensures Social Justice which stands for: (a) removal of economic inequalities; (b) provision of decent standard of living to the working people; and (c) protection of the interest of the weaker sections of society.

To provide social justice, the Government has many special schemes for scheduled and backward classes; under privileged people, economically weaker sections of society, etc; by way of many quotas and financial aids and concessions.

However, India has a mixed economy.  It has both public and private sectors. But there is more and more trend towards privatisation which stands for capitalism with checks. Even railways are being handed over to the private sector. We already have public and private players in industry, business, banking insurance, education, electronic media, health, transport, tourism, etc.

 The growth of Socialist Thought and Movement in India has a long and varied history. There came up and disappeared a big bunch of socialist parties. Some are still alive but  with hardly and prominent presence. Among important socialist leaders, one can name Acharya Narendra Dev and  Ram Manohar Lohia.

There is one strong objection to India’s mixed economy and that it is it creates unnecessary competition and confrontation between the two. The standards of performance of the two are not equal. Some public sectors appear to be inefficient and run into loss, while private sectors provide better service and make a lot of profit for themselves.                                     *************

      

     

ETERNAL LINES

 

 

ETERNAL LINES

 

Hymn to the Spirit of Nature

 

Life of Life! Thy lips enkindle

With their love the breath between them’

And thy smiles before they dwindle

Make the cold air fire; then screen them

In those looks, where whoso gazes

Faints, entangled in their mazes.

 

Child of Light! Thy limbs are burning

Through the vest which seems to hide them,

As the radiant lines of morning

Through the clouds, ere they divide them;

And this atmosphere divinest

Shrouds thee whereesoe’er thou shinest.

 

Fair are others: none beholds thee;

But thy voice sounds low and tender

Like the fairest, for it folds thee

From the sight, that liquid splendour;

And all feel, yet see thee never, ----

As I feel now, lost for ever!

 

Lamp of Earth! Where’er thou movest

Its dim shapes are clad with brightness.

And the souls of whom thou lovest

Walk upon the winds with lightness

Till they fail, as I am failing,

Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing!

 

                        ---Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

The Human Seasons

 

Four seasons fill the measure of the year;

There are four seasons in the mind of man:

He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear

Takes in all beauty with an easy span:

He has his Summer, when luxuriously

Spring’s honey’d cud of youthful thought he loves

To ruminate, and by such dreaming nigh

His nearest unto heaven: quiet coves

His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings

He furleth close; contented so to look

On mists in idleness----to let fair things

Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook:

He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,

Or else he would forgo his mortal nature.

 

                        ---John Keats

 

Blow, blow, thou winter wind

 

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen

 

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh ho! Sing heigh ho! Unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:

Then, heigh ho! The holly!

This life is most jolly.

 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,

Thou dost not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot:

Though thou the waters warp,

Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remember’d not.

Heigh ho! Sing heigh ho! Unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:

Then, heigh ho! The holly!

This life is most jolly.

 

                                    William Shakespeare

 

                        Grass

 

A child said What is the grass?

fetching it to me with full hands;

How could I answer the child?

I do not know what it is any more than he.

 

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition,

out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,

Bearing the owner’s name some way in the corners,

that we may see and remark, and say Whose?

 

Or I guess that grass is itself a child,

the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,

And it means, sprouting alike in broad

zones and narrow zones,

Growing among black folks as among white,

Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give

them the same, I receive them the same.

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut

hair of graves.

 

Tenderly will I use you curling grass,

It may be you transpire from the breasts

of young men, It may be if I had known them

I would have loved them, It may be you are from

old people, or from offspring taken

Soon out of their mothers’ laps,

And here you are the mothers’ laps.

 

This grass is very dark to be from the white

heads of old mothers, Darker then the colourless

beards of old men, Dark to come from under

the faint red roofs of mouths.

 

Or I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,

And I perceive they do not come from the roofs

of mouths for nothing. I wish I could translate the

hints about the dead young men and women,

And the hints about old men and mothers, and the

off-spring taken soon out of their laps.

 

What do you think has become of the young

and old men? And what do you think has become

of the women and children?

They are alive and well somewhere,

The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.

And if there was it led forward life, and does not

wait at the end to arrest it,

And ceased the moment life appear’d.

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,

And to die is different from what any one supposed,

and luckier.

 

                                    ---Walt Whitman

ETERNAL THOUGHTS OF SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE

 

ETERNAL THOUGHTS OF SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE

Subhash Chandra Bose was one of the bravest sons of India who fought for his country’s freedom in his own unique way. He was born on 23^rd January 1897 in the Cuttack home of his parents. He is popularly known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the Founder of the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) which added new vigour to the ongoing freedom struggle of the country.    

The celebrations of his 125^th birth anniversary started yesterday (23 Jan 2021) all over the country, particularly in Kolkata, the capital of West  Bengal.  

This short write up is not a biographical sketch of this very great Indian her but a small bouquet of his socio-political thoughts. I believe that he was a marvellous visionary   who knew the real spirit of his motherland reference to not only her past and present but to the future that was yet to be.

What follows are a few extracts from his remarkable speeches delivered from time to time.  

“The Civil Service (He had passed ICS exam) can bring one all kinds of worldly comfort but are not these acquisitions made at the expense of ones soul?...national and spiritual aspirations are not compatible with obedience to the Civil Service conditions (India was then governed by the British).”

“On principle I cannot accept the idea of being a part of the machinery which has outlived the days of its usefulness and stans at present for all that is connected with conservation, selfish power, heartlessness and red-tapism.”

“Only on the soil of sacrifice and suffering can we raise our national edifice.”

“We have got to make a nation and a nation can be made only by an uncompromising idealism.”

“You cannot free one half of your soul and keep the other half in bondage. You cannot introduce a light into a room and expect at the same time that some portion of it will remain dark. You cannot establish political democracy and endeavour at the same time to resist the democratization of the society. …let us not become a queer mixture of political democrats and social conservatives. Political institutions grow out of the social life of the people, and are shaped by their social ideas and ideals.”

“It is necessary for the different religious groups to be acquainted with the traditions, ideals and history of one another, because cultural intimacy will pave the way towards communal peace and harmony. I venture to think that the fundamental basis of political unity between different communities lies in cultural rapprochement.”

“In order to facilitate cultural rapprochement a dose of secular and scientific training is necessary. Fanaticism is the greatest thorn in the path of cultural intimacy, and there is no better remedy for fanaticism than secular and scientific education.”

“One of the most hopeful signs of the time is the awakening among the youth of this country. The movement has spread rom one end of the country to the other end, as far as I am aware, has attracted not only young men but your women as well. The youth of this age have become self-conscious; they have been inspired by an ideal and are anxious to follow the call of their nature and fulfil their destiny. The movement is spontaneous self-expression of the national soul, and on the course of this movement depends the nation’s future weal. Our duty, therefore, is not to attempt to crush this new-born spirit but to lend it our support and guidance.” (Prophetic words as we read them today.)

“I stand for an independent republic.”

            The source of whatever has been quoted above is The Selected Speeches of Subhas Chandra Bose, a Govt. of India 1962 publication.)

                                                **********

24^th January 2021                                                                               G.R. Kanwal

GANDHI THE MARTYR

 

GANDHI THE MARTYR

 

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called the Father of the Nation, was assassinated on 30^th January 1948 barely eight months after India had won Independence on 15^th August 1947.

 

Gandhiji was a unique leader. He fought with the indomitable British empire with his noble weapon of non-violence and to the amazement of the whole world led India to the dawn of freedom.          

 

Here are some opinions about this immortal political-cum-spiritual leader of India.

 

***A poem entitled “Mahatma” penned by Hamayun Kabir on 2^nd October 1942:

Across vast spaces and vast times he strode buoyed upon the hopes of an ancient race achieving courage out of dark despair.  Like a huge serpent resting coil on coil slept the vast country in involuted sloth, but a breath of life stirs every vein----for Gandhi breaks the charm of magic sleep, brings back life till age-long lassitude drops like old dead skin from frozen limbs.

 

A puny figure strides upon the scene of vast and elemental suffering: Strides against a background where sloth death paints in dull phantasmagoral grey the end of all endeavour, hope and faith.  What secret magic transforms the scene?  Whence springs forth a deep abiding force that thrills the landscape with abundant life, till the puny figure dominates the scene, over vast and elemental suffering triumphs, and with new birth’s pang and radiance shoots the landscape’s dull phantasmagoral grey?

 

The static, dead and slothful continent thrills to a new song of hope, of forward move. The momentum gathers, the masses shake and strain and quiver for the onward march from slow decaying death to resplendent life.

 

A lone figure stands upon the sands of time, stands upon the shores of India’s timeless space, draws upon its vast primeval wells of granite suffering and immemorial hopes: Launches India’s resistless caravan into adventures new, a perilous path where out of Life’s substance must be carved new values, new direction, order new ---Gandhi, Mahatma, India’s leader, India’s soul.

 

                                                            ---

Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in his Autobiography first published in 1936: “Gandhiji had pleaded for the adoption of the way of non-violence, of peaceful non-co-operation, with all the eloquence and persuasive power which he so abundantly possessed.  His language had been simple and unadorned, his voice and appearance cool and clear and devoid of all emotion, but behind that outward covering of ice there was the heat of a blazing that concentrated passion, and the words he uttered winged their way to the innermost recesses of our minds and hearts, and created a strange ferment there. The way he pointed out was hard and difficult, but it was a brave path, and it seemed to lead to the promised land of freedom.  Because of that promise we pledged our faith and marched ahead.  In a famous article---“The Doctrine of the Sword”--- he had written in 1920:

 

“I do believe that when there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence…I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless victim to her own dishonour.  But I believe that non-violence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.

 

“Forgiveness adorns a soldier.  But abstinence is forgiveness only when there is power to punish; it is meaningless when it pretends to proceed from a helpless creature.  A mouse hardly forgives a cat when it allows itself to be torn to pieces by her….But I do not believe India to be helpless.  I do not believe myself to be a helpless creature….

 

“Let me not be misunderstood.  Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will….

 

“I am not a visionary.  I claim to be a practical idealist.  The religion of non-violence is not meant merely for the Rishis and saints.  It is meant for the common people as well.  Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute.  The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows no law but that of physical might.  The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law----to strength of the spirit.

 

“I have therefore ventured to place before Indian the ancient law of self-sacrifice.  For Satyagrah and its off-shoots, non-co-operation and civil resistance, are nothing but new names for the law of suffering.  The Rishis who discovered the law of non-violence in the midst of violence, were greater geniuses than Newton.  They were themselves greater warriors than Wellington.  Having themselves known the use of arms, they realized their uselessness and taught a weary world that its salvation lay not through violence but through non-violence.

 

“Non-violence in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering.  It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the putting of one’s whole soul against the will of the tyrant.  Working under this law of our being, it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for that empire’s fall or regeneration.”

 

 

 

 

A NIGHT OF SWEET WORDS

 

A NIGHT OF SWEET WORDS

 The English poet John Keats (1795-1821), said in one of his odes that heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.

So on the night of January 20 ,202I I hopefully waited at around 9.45 P.M. (IST) for the speech to be delivered by Joseph Robinete Biden Jr who was going to be sworn in as the 46^th President of America.

True to my expectation, he really uttered a number of sweet words.  “Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause; the cause of democracy, the people, the will of the people has been heard.”

 “On this hallowed ground just a few days ago, violence sought to shake the Capitol’s very foundation. We come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power, as we have for more than two centuries.”

“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, and conservative versus liberal. “

“America has been tested, and we have come out stronger. We will be engaged with the world once again, not to face yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. “

“This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve.”

“We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities, much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, and much to gain.”

Delightfully enough for India, Kamala Harris, whose grandfather still lives in Tamil Nadu, secured a unique place in American history by taking oath as the first woman Vice-President of America. She said in her oath: “ I kamala Devi Harris do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

  The words spoken by the new U.S. President were surely sweeter than those we had heard just a few days ago from other speakers. However, one would like to see them being translated into solid actions as soon as possible.

In the end , here is a poem  which you may find relevant to what has been said above:

Betwixt what thou art, and what thou wouldst be, let

No “If” arise on which to lay the blame.

Man makes a mountain of that puny word,

But, like a blade of grass before the scythe,

It falls and withers when a human will,

Stirred by creative force sweeps towards its aim.

Though wilt be what thou couldst be. Circumstance

Is but the toy of genius. When a soul

Burns with a god-like purpose to achieve.

All obstacles between it and its goal

Must vanish as the dew before the sun.

“If” is the motto of a dilettante

An idle dreamer; ‘tis the poor excuse

Of mediocrity. The truly great

Know not the word, or know it but to scorn,

Else had Joan of Arc a peasant died,

Uncrowned by glory and by men unsung.

                                    *********

21^st January 2021                                                  G. R. Kanwal

LASKI ON EDUCATION

 

 

LASKI ON EDUCATION

 

 The education of the citizen is the heart of the modern State.  Most of the disgust which even the adherents of democratic government have felt with its working is due to the fact that it has never been trained to the understanding of its functions; most, also, of the difficulties which social theorists have sought to meet by changes in the machinery itself, than to the fact that it is seeking to cope with a population which often passes through life without even the knowledge of its existence.  Children who are herded into industry at the age of fourteen, when the problem of knowledge has scarcely begun to exert its fascination, can hardly be expected, under the conditions of modern industrial life, to understand, much less to work, the complicated technique upon which their well-being depends.  The defects of democracy are most largely to the ignorance of democracy; and to strike at that ignorance is to attack the foundation upon which those defects are built.  In the presence of that ignorance, it is inevitable that those who can afford the luxury of knowledge will alone be likely, or even  able, to make their desires effective.  A State which fails to offer an equal level of educational opportunity to its citizens is penalizing the poor for the benefit of the rich.  There cannot be a responsible State until there is an educated electorate.

                                               ….

 For political liberty to be real, two conditions are essential.  I must be educated to the point where I can express what I want in a way that is intelligible to others.  Anyone who has seen the dumb inarticulateness of the poor will reealise the urgency of education in this regard.  Nothing is more striking than the way in which our educational systems train the children of rich or well-born men to habits of authority while the children of the poor are trained to habits of deference.  Such a division of attitude can never produce political freedom, because a class trained to govern will exert its power because it is conscious of it, while a class trained to deference will not fulfil its wants because it does not know how to formulate its demands. 

                                              ….

Children who are brought up in an atmosphere where things of the mind are accounted highly are bound to start the race of life with advantages no legislation can secure.  Parental character will inevitably affect profoundly the quality of the children whom it touches.  So long, therefore, as the family endures --- and there seems little reason to anticipate or to desire its disappearance --- the varying environments it will create make the notion of equal opportunities a fantastic one.

                                                     

   Children who come hungry to school cannot, on the average, profit by education in like degree to those who are well fed.  The student who is trying to do his work in a room which serves for the various tasks of life cannot find that essential isolation without which the habit of thought can rarely be cultivated.  The boy or girl who has to assume that at fourteen they are bound to pass into industrial world rarely acquires that frame of mind which searches with eagerness for the cultivation of intelligence.  In the modern world, broadly speaking, opportunity is a matter of parent circumstance.  Boys of a certain social status may assume that they will pass from the secondary school to the university.  Boys whose parents are, broadly, manual workers will in the vast majority of cases be inevitably destined to manual work also.  There is no reason to decry either the value or the dignity of manual work; but there is every reason to examine the social adequacy of a system which does not at every point associate the best training available with those qualities most fit them to benefit by that training.  We do not want --- unduly.  But no State has established conditions of reasonable adequacy until the period of education is sufficiently long, first, to ensure that the citizen knows how to use his mind, and training which prevents the wastage of their talent.

 No one can deny that this wastage today is enormous.  Any student of the results of adult education in Europe will have realized how great is the reservoir of talent we leave unused until it is too late.  The sacrifices today involved when the average manual worker seeks the adequate education of his children are sacrifices we have no right to demand. 

Often enough, the training of one child is built upon the conviction of others to a life of unremitting toil.  The circumstances which those who live by intellectual work know to be essential to its performance are, as a matter of definition almost, denied to the vast majority of the population.  And since citizenship is largely a matter of the use of trained intelligence, it is obvious, accordingly, that its substance is denied to all save a fraction of the community. 

 Our business, therefore, is to assure such an education to all as will make every vocation, however humble, one that does not debar those who follow it from the life of intelligence.  That certainly means an extension of the period within which the earning of one’s living is impossible.  It means also that even after the earning period has commenced there are full opportunities for the devotion of leisure to intellectual ends.  It means, thirdly, that those who devote themselves to the business of teaching represent the best minds at the service of the community.  In the modern State the teacher has a responsibility far greater than that which devolves upon any other citizen; and unless he teaches from a full mind and a full heart he cannot release the forces which education has in leash.

  Nothing in all this denies the probability that mental qualities are inherited and that, other things being equal, the children of able parents will be abler than the children of average parents. But it does deny the equation, characteristic of the modern State, between ability and material position.  The average trade-union leader cannot afford to send his sons to the university; but the ability of the average trade-union leader is probably not inferior to that of the average banker or the average bishop. Where, that is to say, the inequalities of our system are not due to natural causes, there is a clear case for their remedy.  Nor can we hope to discover the existence of capacity unless our system provides for its discovery.  It may do so today in the case of the rich; assuredly it does not do so in the case of the poor.  And it is urgent to remember that, important as nature may be, it requires an adequate nurture if it is to function satisfactorily.  The present inequalities are not referable to principle. 

 We have therefore to define the outlines of such a system as build the inequalities we admit upon the needs of society.  At present they most largely arise from the impact of the property system upon the structure of the State.  But what is reflected by the property system is less ability to serve the community than ability to gain economic power without reference to the quality of wants supplied.

 The provision of adequate opportunity is, therefore, one of the basic conditions of equality, and it is mainly founded upon the training we offer to citizens.  For the power that ultimately counts in society is the power to utilize knowledge; and disparities of education result, above all, in disparities in the ability to use that power.  I am not pleading for equality of function.  I am pleading only for the obvious truth that without education a man is not so circumstanced that he knows how to make the best of himself and that therefore, for him, the purpose of society is, ab initio, frustrated.  Once men are in that situation where they can know themselves, the use they make of their opportunities becomes subject to principles of which equality is only one.

 

THUS SPAKE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

 

THUS SPAKE SWAMI  VIVEKANANDA

The Indian monk Swami Vivekananda was born in Kolkata on 12^th January 1863.  He died on 04 July 1902 at Belur Math, in Howrah. His full name was Narendra Nath Datta. He  had the good luck of becoming the chief disciple of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans, after whose name he founded Ramakrishna mission in 1897, which is doing selfless socio-spiritual work not only in India but also worldwide. However, in spite of having very good health and inexhaustible physical energy, Swami Vivekananda’s  life span came to an end  when he was hardly 40 years old.

His birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day since 1984, and among other programmes, the following quotes are recited at almost every venue of celebration:

1.Arise awake and do not stop until the goal is reached. 2.You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. 3. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel. 4. We have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you; none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. 5.All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

            It is obvious from these quotes that this great Indian monk had a perfectly  enlightened body, mind and soul. Each word of these quotes tells us of the inner treasures which we have to utilise ourselves without any external motivation. The emphasis everywhere is on self-realisation.

What amazes me is the limitation which is attached to Swamiji by mentioning him as a Hindu monk. I believe he is one of the most  inspiring spiritual teachers,  for all human beings, young or old, men or women, of any faith or religion, in any country and at any time.  His message of dynamism, inward development, self-reliance and universality is a common gift for one and all. Shouldn’t to arise, awake, and not to stop until the goal is reached be the foremost commitment of every individual all over the globe. There is no condition of being young or old, man or woman, of this or that nation, ideology or religious dispensation. All of us whoever we are today and even those who will succeed us in coming times should not stop  until the intended  goal is reached.

            Swami Vivekananda is a spiritual leader for the whole world. His sermons and writings show that he was a citizen of the world, and all the people were his brothers and sisters. In his talk on India’s message to the World , he rightly said:

“Here and here alone the human heart expanded till it included not only the human, but birds, beasts, and plants; from the highest gods to grains of sand, the highest and the lowest, all find a place in the heart of man, grown great, infinite. And here alone, the human soul studied the  universe as one unbroken unity whose every pulse was his own pulse.”

 

And before I conclude, one more quotation which runs like this:

“It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body  --- to cast it off like a disused garment. But I shall not  cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until, the world shall know that it is one with God. “        

Reference: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Calcutta 700014(January 1989 reprint).

 

 

18^th January 2021                                                                   G.R.Kanwal

 

 

QUOTES

 

QUOTES

A NAME IS A KIND OF FACE WHEREBY ONE IS KNOWN.---FULLER

 

YOU WILL FIND POETRY NOWHERE, UNLESS YOU BRING SOME WITH YOU.---JOSEPH JOUBERT

 

WHO WILL ADHERE TO HIM THAT ABANDONS HIMSELF.---SIR PHILIP SYDNEY

 

GREATNESS IS SO OFTEN A COURTEOUS SYNONYM FOR GREAT SUCCESS.---PHILIP GUEDALLA

 

LAWS SHOULD BE LIKE CLOTHES.  THEY SHOULD BE MADE TO FIT THE PEOPLE THEY ARE MEANT TO SERVE.---CLARANCE DARROW

 

YOUTH, THOUGH IT MAY LACK KNOWLEDGE, IS CERTAINLY NOT DEVOID OF INTELLIGENCE; IT SEES THROUGH SHAMS WITH SHARP AND, TERRIBLE EYES.---H. L. MENCKEN

 

ONE FOOL CAN ASK MORE QUESTIONS IN A MINUTE THAN TWELVE WISE MEN CAN ANSWER IN AN HOUR.---LENIN

 

I NEVER WONDER TO SEE MEN WICKED, BUT I OFTEN WONDER TO SEE THEM NOT ASHAMED.---JONATHAN SWIFT

 

NEXT TO LOVE, SYMPATHY IS THE DIVINEST PASSION OF THE HUMAN HEART.---EDMUND BURKE

 

THE STUDY OF MATHEMATCIS CULTIVATES THE REASON; THAT OF THE LANGUAGES, AT THE SAME TIME, THE REASON AND THE TASTE.  THE FORMER GIVES GRASP AND POWER TO THE MIND; THE LATTER BOTH POWER AND FLEXIBILITY.  THE FORMER, BY ITSELF, WOULD PREPARE US FOR A STATE OF CERTAINTIES, WHICH NO WHERE EXISTS; THE LATTER, FOR A STATE OF PROBABILITIES, WHICH IS THAT OF COMMON LIFE.  EACH, BY ITSELF, DOES BUT AN IMPERFECT; IN THE UNION OF BOTH, IS THE BEST DISCIPLINE FOR THE MIND, AND THE BEST MENTAL TRAINING FOR THE WORLD AS IT IS.----TRYON EDWARDS

 

MAN’S LOVE IS OF MAN’S LIFE A PART; IT IS WOMAN’S WHOLE EXISTENCE.---FRANCIS BACON

 

THE GREATEST GLORY OF A FREE-BORN PEOPLE IS TO TRANSMIT THAT FREEDOM TO THEIR CHILDRE.----WILLIAM HAVARD

 

THE HEART OF MAN IS A SHORT WORD, A SMALL SUBSTANCE, SCARCE ENOUGH TO GIVE A KITE A MEAL, YET GREAT IN CAPACITY; YEA, SO INDEFINITE IN DESIRE THAT THE ROUND GLOBE OF THE WORLD CANNOT FILL THE THREE CORNERS OF IT.----WHEN IT DESIRES MORE AND CRIES, “GIVE, GIVE,” I WILL SET IT OVER TO THE INFINITE GOOD, WHERE THE MORE IT HATH, IT MAY DESIRE MORE, AND SEE MORE TO BE DESIRED.----BISHOP HALL

 New Yorkers like to think of their hometown less as a city than as a nation unto itself. They refer to the country in which they reside as little more than a geographical accident of little relevance.  “I don’t live in America,” they’ll tell you.  “I live in New York.” ----GARY YOUNGE, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR.

 

The Global economic boom has accelerated greenhouse gas emissions to a dangerous threshold not expected for a decade and could potentially cause irreversible climate change.----TIM FLANNERY, A CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENTIST

 

India has behaved in a responsible manner as far as non-proliferation is concerned…It is important to us that India be in a position to restart big-scale international cooperation in civilian nuclear energy.  And this means necessarily an agreement with the IAEA, and an evolution of the guidelines of the NSG.----JEROME BONNAFONT, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO INDIA.

Honesty is the best policy, but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man.---RICHARD WHATLEY

 

When the gods were more human, men were more godlike,.---SCHILLER

 

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.---BOLLEAU

 

Justice is not a cloistered virtue; she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men.”---LORD ATKIN

 

                                        ----------