Dr.
Shanker Adawal
Part 3
The
uninformed critics describes the Hindus as a nation of anchorites, all of them
ready to die and reserve a berth in heaven. Nothing is farther from trust than
this fallacy. There is little authority in the Hindu thought to support this
criticism. The Hindu never despised vital aims, social satisfactions, and
obligations. He conceded absolute reality to life and its needs, and did not
neglect its demands and duties. He had a social conscience. Kautilya in his Arthasasatra states that it is a criminal
offence liable to punishment by fire or imprisonment for a man to turn an
anchorite or take sanyasa without making adequate provision for his family and
dependents. He had to take a no-due slip from the town or village magistrate.
The
Hindu nation’s love of beauty and its secular genius are seen in many of its
inventions, e.g., the number zero, the art of drama, dance, sculpture or
architecture, etc. They have developed many of the fine arts to great heights
and are acclaimed as exemplary.
Taitiriya Upanishad
records the prayer of the aspirant for money, gain, cattle, children and a life
of hundred years. The Hindu mind never neglected the economic values but they
saw that it was not abused. Mild non-violent
type of socialism is advocated in the Bhagavata
Purana. It states: “Living beings have a right only upto what is necessary
for satisfying their hunger, he who feels like acquiring more is a thief and
deserves punishment.” The Hindu outlook did not stand for an acquisitive
society nor for an affluent society without any state control. It stood for a
dharmic society. It allowed men to make as much wealth as possible without
contravening the principles of dharma. The Hindu mind was not doctrinaire in
its approach and so it did not believe in the doctrine of absolute equally. It
believed that each should grow to his best in the manner suited to his grain
and svabhava. They knew the true implications of the doctrine of equality. They
proclaimed an optimum ideal for mankind which is summed up in the Gita-sarva bhuta hite rataha, the good of
all, the sarvodaya of Gandhi. The Hindu never declared that “all men are equal”
(sarve janaha samano Bhavantu) but
that all men must be happy (sarve janaha
sukhino Bhavantu).
The
Hindu view of social organization is democracy. But it is not the democracy
where what the majority think is the law. It does not believe in the cult of
numbers which in the words of Matthew Arnold gives us a new type of barbarism.
It
is a type of democracy which is described by Gerald Herald as organic. “It is
the rule of a people who have organised themselves in a living and not a
mechanical relationship, where instead of all men being said to be equal, which
is a lie, men are known to be of an equal value could but find the position in
which their potential contributions could be realised.”
Manu
rejects the different views that dharma alone or that dharma and wealth, or
that wealth and enjoyment are the most important values. He holds that all the
three harmoniously cultivated, jointly constitute the threefold end of human
life. This represents the most essential current of Hindu social philosophy and
ethics. 9.
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