Concept of Social Harmony in the time of Social Distancing
– Perceived though the Perspective of Indian Saints.
Abstract - In
the time of #social distancing the paper discusses the concept of #social harmony
as seen in the works of #Indian saints.
Social-Harmony plays a very crucial role in maintaining the integrity and unity
of a nation. Social relations among different groups are really
important aspect for any society to develop as a whole. India is a land of
yogis, poets and saints that have always show the path of love and compassion
to the world. It’s a land of spiritual practice and knowledge where various
saint- poets like Tulsidas, Kabir, Rahim, Surdas, Mirabai, Guru Nanak, Rabindranath
Tagore, Swami Vivekananda etc. have propagated the idea and value of social
harmony. The paper further discusses the idea and importance of social harmony not
only among humans but also with nature, and lessons to be learned by the spread
of #corona pandemic.
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This is a critical time but
also an opportunity for all of us to become more familiar with the ways in
which technology can keep us connected since we are unable to physically
congregate. No doubt this corona virus crisis is prompting us to improvise new ways of collaborating and
harmonizing. At this time of uncertainty, it is also important and
necessary that we do not lose optimism and self-confidence in the constructive
efforts round the world.
As such, in
the time of social distancing I would like to discuss the concept of social
harmony as seen in the works and message of Indian Saints. Social harmony as
such, can be defined ‘as a process of valuing, expressing, and promoting love,
trust, admiration, peace, harmony, respect, generosity and equity upon other
people in any particular society regardless of their national origin, weight,
marital status, ethnicity, colour, gender, race, age and occupation etc. among
other aspects.’1
Dalai Lama says “the entire
world is interdependent. That is why I often speak about universal
responsibility. The outbreak of this terrible coronavirus has shown that what
happens to one person can soon affect every other being. But it also reminds us
that a compassionate or constructive act—whether working in hospitals or just
observing social distancing—has the potential to help many.”2
Well, as such it seems that social harmony is what a society or a country yearns for. Social-Harmony plays a very crucial role in maintaining the integrity and unity of a nation. Social relations among different groups are indeed an important aspect for any society. India or Bharat, is a land of rishis, yogis, poets and saints that have always shown the path of love and compassion to the world. It’s a land of spiritual practice and knowledge where various rishis like Shri Vyasa Muni, Maharishi Valmiki, Shri Brahmarshi Vishwamitra,Rishi Agasthya, Maharishi Patanjali, Shri Adi Shankaracharya, Goswami Tulsidas, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Swami Sivananda Saraswati, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Shri Paramahansa Yogananda, Shri Ramana Maharishi, Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, Shri Aurobindo, Shri Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Shri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Shri Shivkrupanand Swami, Avadhot Sivananda Swami, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev , have propagated the idea and value of social harmony. Social harmony and equality were and are the heart of Indian ethos.
These saints and poets belonged to various castes and communities, spoke varied languages and dialects, and came from different professions. For example - Kabir was a weaver, Namdev was a tailor, Akho was a goldsmith, Goro was a potter and Chokhmela was a mahar. While Eknath and Gyanadev were Brahmins. All spoke and sang about the tradition that was based on equality and harmony of all mankind. Whereas Mirabai and Narasinh sang in praise of God. These Saints and the acharyas had their own followings. In different periods of time, several religions were formed all over India. But the beauty of these religions was that, that all of them represented pure bhakti which is the central theme of the all Hindu scriptures and was illustrated by all of the Saints. Just like a flower in a garland appear to be separate, but is tied together harmoniously by a thread or string, all the religions or traditions of India are initially tied up with the string of bhakti as if they are all one single religion of bhakti which is appearing in numerous forms.
As such, these saints-poets did not belong to any single
religion or tradition. But they belonged to this country and its people. They
did not write in Sanskrit, but preached and sang in the common dialect and
their poetry survived hundreds of years of oral tradition. The Santvani
still vibrates in the air and sky of our country giving the message of social
harmony. Let us just tune in as see what they say –
Ø Tulsidas
says –'तुलसी इस संसार में, भांति भांति के लोग|
सबसे हस मिल बोलिए, नदी नाव संजोग||’
Ø Kabir
says – ‘जाति न पूछो साधु की, पूछ लीजिये ज्ञान,
मोल करो तरवार का, पड़ा रहन दो म्यान I.’
Ø Rahim says – ‘जे गरिब पर हित करैं, हे रहीम बड।
कहा सुदामा बापुरो, कृष्ण मिताई जोग ‘
Ø Ø Chanakya says – ‘व्यक्ति अपने कार्यों से महान होता है, अपने जन्म से नहीं । ‘
Ø Guru Nanak says that cast is vain and contributes not to
goodness
or holiness: --
‘Castes are folly, names are folly
All creatures have one shelter, that of God.
If a man call himself good,
The truth shall be known, O Nanak, when his account is accepted.’
Man, no matter what
his caste or social position may be, is exalted by devotion: --
‘What difference is there between a swan and a crane, if God look
kindly on the latter?
Nanak, if it please Him, He can change a raven into a swan’
(https://www.sacred-texts.com/skh/tsr1/tsr125.htm)
In all
the above hymns or poems devotion or Bhakti comes in many flavours and the
poets sing about harmony with society as well as with the almighty. According
to various Hindu school of thoughts there are five kinds of emotions that arise
from these Bhakti songs and poems. The five bhavas or rasas they are Shanta,
Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhurya.3 These bhavas arise in one’s
heart subconsciously, and a person goes towards whatever resonates with his or
her temperament. As
such all the saints have a humanitarian message that shows basic equality of
all living beings. The list could be endless, and it’s not possible to include
in a short paper.
Every nation is the expression
of an idea and Swami Vivekanand says “This idea is working for the world and is
necessary for its preservation.” The words of Vivekanand with their freshness
and vigour provide an answer to questions that agitate both individual as well
as society.
In his Chicago Speech (11
September 1893) he says –
I
am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and
universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we
accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has
sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of
the earth.
In a letter to Justice Sir
Subramaniam on January 3, 1895 Vivekananda says -
The
modern class is not the real caste. It is in fact an obstruction to progress,
which disturbs the uninhibited activities of castes and classes amid their
differences.
He strongly believed that
India has a long-standing tradition of solving its own problems. The illusion
that no efforts were made in the past towards the upliftment of the downtrodden
and such efforts have started only recently is a deliberately constructed myth.
He asks-
Has
India ever faced a shortage of reformers? Have you read the history of India?
Who was Shankaracharya ? Who was Nanak? Who was Chaitanya? Who was Kabir? ……..
All these preachers were like the shining stars of our galaxy. Did not Ramanuj
empathize with the backward classes? Did he not try to bring them under his
fold?
He says we have made a mistake
in understanding our caste system. He believes and says everyone has made the
mistake of holding cast to be a religious institution and tried to pull down
religion and caste all together, and failed. On the contrary, he articulates that
caste is a social custom, it is an outgrowth of the political institution of
India. Swami Vivekanand understands this difference and hence he constantly
tried to separate religion from the evils of society and tried to comprehend
the truth. He says-
At
present, our religion is not in the Vedas, Puranas, devotion or deliverance; it
has entered the kitchen. Currently, religion in India is neither on the path of
knowledge nor intelligence; it only treads on untouchability. It has ended up
getting condensed in, “Aatmavat sarvabhooteshu” (consider all the living beings
as your own soul). Is this message meant to be confined to books only?
Swami Vivekanand, who was
devoted to the Vedanta, was extremely unhappy with social evils and firmly
determined to eradicate them from society. He strongly believed that a
harmonious society is the first step towards the welfare of mankind. Once
during a discussion on non-duality, Swami Vivekanand told his disciples -
I
belong to all people. We are followers of the Vedic Hindu Religion. We have
nothing to do with untouchability as there is no such concept in the Hindu
religion. Our scriptures do not mention untouchability; it is merely a
superstition that keeps interfering with the routine concentration of work of
the population.
The
recent crises have made us aware about the positive as well as negative points of
our society. Aided by donors, investors, and communities at large,
many NGOs are working to tackle the crisis and help out vulnerable sections of
the population, especially vendors, daily-wage earners, and small businesses. As
lakhs of labours have become jobless and penniless, we see many NGO’s and
organisations coming forward and feeding and sheltering those helpless and also
creating social awareness. While on other hand it seems that some religious
sects are trying to purposefully spread the virus and also create disharmony.
At this juncture the teaching of our saints and gurus can certainly guide us
towards creating harmony.
Thus, in
the present scenario it seems that this message of social harmony has become stronger.
Here it is important to understand what Sadhguru articulates when he says
“Unfortunately, certain people make our differences into discrimination…if you
take away the discrimination and keep the differences how beautiful it is …no
society in the world has this fine distinction…. these subtleties, these
differences are fantastic. We are colourful culture because of these
differences.” We should never confuse differences with discriminations. Our
nation survives and is beautified by these differences.
However,
it’s quite clear that a nation that invests in prejudice, that manifests in
oppression of its own citizenry, cannot be successful. People of all faith,
nation, colour irrespective of all these differences living peacefully in
mutual trust as a society is social harmony. Social
harmony refers to greater interconnection among its various believers. It is a
situation wherein different units feel together, where individual identities
are dissolved within a greater social reality and where there is greater
attachment to the notion of a greater unity.
It is a system where in we acknowledge that differing identities
co-exist within the system, but we also claim that there is cooperation rather
than competition or strife. Social harmony is, accordingly, a state of affairs
where social strife is minimized through cooperation, compromise and
understanding.
As such the base of Indian
civilization has always been spirituality. We have always believed that every
being has been formed from the same essence (तत्व ). In the Indian tradition, philosophy and
religion have always gone hand in hand. We proclaim earth to be our mother and
each soul to be divine. No doubt all our ancient and modern saints, poets and
rishis, from Kalidas to Sadhguru all have preached social harmony. But it is
regrettably that many times we are yet unable to sustain this status. We failed
to remember this feeling of universality and end up distancing ourselves from
each other.
Simultaneously, we should not
forget that India’s centripetal forces – economic growth, corporate and
infrastructure development and improved national democratic governance – bring
the national together. Rajiv Malhotra in his Breaking India says that
the centripetal forces that divide India are both internal and external and
they are threat to Social Harmony. The internal ones include communalism and
social-economic disparities of various kinds. India has the largest number of
poor citizens in the world, largest number of children without school. There
are social issues that are partly historical and partly modern. In each and
every social aspect we see different narratives and movement that are a threat
to Social Harmony. Separatist movements threaten everyday life in Kashmir, and
other parts. Today India is
confronted with a large number of separatist movements. While outwardly
we are surrounded by unstable and radicalized nations, while inward also there
are many threats.
The same is being said by
Vivekanand. For years we had been cut off and had stopped learning. He says
that there two causes to produce a disease, in some cases germs from outside
attack the body while in some cases germs thrive and multiply within the body.
But in both case immunity plays an important role. So, we should strength our
inner self, if we want to survive.
He says that solution will
come not by bringing down the higher, but by raising the lower up to the level
of the higher and this can be done by education. The only solution for the
welfare of the nation is to be free from social evils and adopt a harmonious
way of life through education. There should be closeness instead of rage. We
must strengthen the society instead of yearning after personal rights. We must
care for the entire mankind and not only ourselves. A harmonious society will
come into existence only on the basis of love and good feelings towards others.
In times of social conflict,
intolerance, and war-like situation, the concept and approach propagated by out
saints, to creating and sustaining peace takes on a new and urgent
significance. All of us today would appreciate the teachings of these saints
and gurus, that are clear, practical,
undogmatic, and contemporary in flavour. These teachings on Social and
Communal Harmony will prove to be important readings for anyone seeking to
bring peace into their communities and into the wider world.
Essentially the idea of वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् -
is the idea in which Vivekanand believed and is the Idea of our nation. This declaration
is not just about peace and harmony among the societies in the world, but also
about a truth that the whole world has to live like a family. Just by expecting
this idea and by at least trying to live by it and practice it in our lives, we
could make this world a better place.
This pandemic phase and the
lockdown have made us aware the we cannot and should not be tranquilized by the
false security that the modern technology is provide us. We should never
incline to forget about how fragile the life on this planet is. While preparing
our instant dinners in the safe vicinity of our kitchens we tend to forget that
food is not coming from the supermarket but from a star 150 million kilometres
away which gives light and energy to plants which feed us and the animals too.
Whether we like it or not, whether aware of it or not, we are the part of a
delicate ecosystem we are all dependable on and responsible for. For Kalidas,
The Himalaya is a great devaatma, a great spiritual presence, stretching from
the west to the eastern sea like a measuring rod to gauge the world's
greatness. While Shankaracharya referred to the holy river ganga as the goddess
of divine essence. In Sanatana Dharma nature is worshiped - tress,
animal, birds, mountains, rivers, sun, moon etc. are worshiped and are part and
parcel of existence. Indian has it has its own unique own unique eco centric approach, that has been
propagated by all saints and gurus. Eco centric approach is an
inherent part of a spiritual world view in India.
Today with every animal
species going extinct we are losing part of our own survival, a part of ourselves.
It is not possible to harm another human being or any other life form without
harming a small part of ourselves. For ages we have been running after
materialistic pleasures. We have been out of harmony with the universal law of
harmony. The image may seem conflicting, but in this atmosphere of fear,
isolation and panic, we can hear the birds again, the sky is smokeless, the
rivers are clean. Slowly we are reflecting and planning and praying of a better
world. As humans we should have empathy for nature as well.
We are lucky to have inherited
a history, culture and civilization dating thousands of years back. This past
no doubt has been a continuous source of inspiration for us. It is truly said
that our capacity and capability to understand our great inheritance will
decide our future, because each layer of society has had its own importance and
existence.
In the end we should not
forget -
Corona crisis has shown us many incidences of social harmony. Yet the politician-corporate nexus is still quite strong in the world as well as in our country.
At present, we have to be alert
and remember that – ‘The woods
are lovely, dark and deep’, but my nation has many promises to keep and a long journey
ahead. Social harmony is the demand of the day.
References -
1. Social Harmony for Being Social by Mrs.
Manisha Sharma © 2015 Global Journals Inc. (US)
2.https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/prayer-is-not-enough-the-dalai-lama-on-why-we-need-to-fight-coronavirus-with-compassion
3.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331556783_INDIA- THE_SOUL_OF_PEACE_HARMONY_AND_ETERNITY
4.
https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/emotions-or-bhavas-in-bhakti-235033
5. Vivekananda his call to the
nation published by Swami Mumukshananda ISBN 81-75050-018-7 (2001)
6. Swami Vivekananda on India
and her problems compiled by Swami Nirvedananda (1985)
