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Chapter 17
PROGRAMME FOR THE SEEKER
98. The Gita’s Scheme for Harmonious Living
19. Purity of food keeps the mind pure. It also strengthens the body. One can then serve the society properly. Both the individual and the society will then be happy. There will be no conflicts in the society wherein yajna-dana-tapas are going on in the right manner and are charged with mantra. Just as mirrors reflect the images in each other, happiness in the individual and in his society are reflected in each other. My happiness and the society’s happiness are not two distinct things. This can be tested, and on testing we shall find them to be one and the same. One will experience oneness (non-duality) everywhere. Duality and malice will disappear. The Gita is suggesting a scheme to have harmony and orderliness in society. How nice it would be if we could organise our daily life in accordance with the Gita’s plan! 20. But today, there is conflict between individual and social life. How to resolve this conflict? This question is being discussed everywhere. What are the proper spheres of authority and action for the individual and the society? Where is the boundary to be drawn? Who should have pre-eminence amongst them? Who is superior? Some are protagonists of individualism; they regard society as an inert entity, whereas individuals are full of consciousness. A military commander would speak gently to an ordinary sepoy while dealing with him as an individual, but he will not mind ordering a battalion in the way he likes. The battalion is as if inert, like a wooden block which can be moved at will. Even here, while I am addressing a couple of hundred persons, I am saying whatever occurs to me, irrespective of whether you like it or not, as if you all are an inert mass. But when I have to deal with an individual, I have to listen to him patiently and give an answer after thoughtful consideration. Thus there are some who expound that society is inert and only the individual is a conscious entity, while some others attach importance to society. I may lose my hair, my hand may be amputated, I may lose eyesight, even one of my lungs may cease to function, still I continue to live. Each organ, looked at separately, has no life of its own. If any one of the organs perishes, the whole does not perish. The body is a collective entity; it continues to live. This is the standpoint of the collectivists. These are the two approaches opposed to each other. Your inferences will depend on your point of view. What you see is coloured by the colour of your eyeglasses. |
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