The Great Reform

The great reform must take place without any social shocks,

without a drop of blood being spilled; which can happen in no other waythan by the recognition and the axiomatic truth of Oriental philosophy,

which teaches us that the great diversity of fortune, of social rank and of

intellect, is due but to the personal Karma of each human being. We

reap only what we have sown. If the personality of each physical man

differs from that of every other, the immortal individuality, or the immortalbeing in him, emanates from the same divine essence, as that of his

neighbours. He who is thoroughly impressed with the philosophic truth

that every Ego begins and ends by being the indivisible WHOLE, cannot

love his neighbour less than he does himself. But, until this becomes a

religious truth, no such reform can take place.

— A Master of Wisdom

CONTENTS

1. What India Needs 1

2. Programme of October 2010 4 - 5

3. I mportant Information to Members of IIWC 8

THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF WORLD CULTUREPost Box 402, 6, B.P. Wadia Road, Basavanagudi,

BANGALORE - 560 004. 26678581Founded : 1945

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Shri B.P. Wadia & Smt. Sophia Wadia

A voluntary non-political organisation registered under the Societies Act,with the objectives of promoting human brotherhood and culture.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2008-2010

President Justice Sri M.N. VenkatachaliahVice-President : Dr. R.N. NagarajHon. Secretary : Shri Y.M. BalakrishnaJoint Secretary : Shri L. ChandrashekarMembers Shri K. Jairaj, IAS

Dr. Y.C. KamalaShri D.N. Munikrishna, IPSShri Prakash KambathalliDr. V. RamamaniShri M.L. RamprakashShri T.K. Thimmaraja Setty

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Edited and Published monthly for the Indian Institute of World Culture,6, B.P.Wadia Road, Bangalore - 560 004.

by Sri M.L. Ramprakash

Printed by : Sri Venkateswara Printers, Rajajinagar, Bangalore -10.: 23157955 , 23307219

(for circulation among members only)

Price Rs. 1.25 per copyOctober 2010

WHAT INDIA NEEDS

[The following article is reprinted from Theosophy (Los Angeles) of February1926. In the decade that has gone by since the publication of this articlegreat changes have taken place in India, and elected representatives ofthe people are now shaping the course of events in eleven provinces; butmuch that is implied in this article is true to-day as it was in 1926.Suggestions and commendations made in the article can be practiced andapplied with less difficulty to-day because of the political power which theIndian people have achieved, and so we reprint it here.]

The problem which India as a community is trying to solve at

present is the same which confronts every human soul in this age. Many

think that political emancipation would free India's soul. This conjectur

e is of the stuff of which fancy is made. It is true that Soul of India is enchained,and that political fetters disable her from expressing her nature and delivering

her message to the world. But political bondage is the least of India's

troubles. That great country of a glories past has failed to express her

nature or speak her message centuries before 1857 when India passed

under the direct rule of the British crown. Or even before 31st December,

1600, when Queen Elizabeth granted the charter for trading purposes to

the English East India Company.

The story of the ebb and flow of the genuine soul-science in thatland charged with religious fervor and emotion provides a strikingcommentary in the study of the Karma which India faces to-clay; it alsocontains a clue to the remedy. How so priceless a scripture as theBhagavad-Gita became obscured and well-nigh forgotten for centuries isa romance in itself. How the philosophy and the followers of the greatBuddha perished in the land of his birth and labours is a poignant tragedy.How many of the teachings of Buddha's successor, the real Sankara-Acharya, mysteriously disappeared leaving a powerful priesthood tocontinue its craft, would perhaps make the most thrilling story of thereligious underworld.

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India lost the power of soul-expression through her own errors—sacerdotal and psychic; through her own sins of omission—non-attentionto and non-application of the true teachings of Shri Krishna, of the Buddha,of Sankara-Acharya. India's intellectual degradation followed and broughtin its wake the loss of her foreign trade and prestige, and finally herphysical and political downfall. India did not lose her spirituality becauseClive stood victorious at Plessey. India's political doom invited that" mischievous boy" to her Eastern shore, and that doom was but thenatural resultant from the degradation of her inner self.

In the night of time, some 10,000 years ago, the pride of theBrahmana caste sowed the seed of untouchability. If the Aryanforefathers migrated from beyond the Hindu-Kush and built the awe-inspiring Aryan-Varta, Motherland of avataras and Mahatmas, there havealso been hordes of emigrants who went to western lands to live andmultiply; they settled in many places—from the borders of adjoiningAfghanistan to the distant shores of the Dead Sea in Judea. Thatfascinating tale remains to be told. Those who were persecuted and whofled from the land of the Aryans took with them the ore of hatred to returnwith the sword fashioned therefrom.

Looters like Alexander and Nadir-Shah, conquerors likeMuhammad of Ghazni and Baber the Mogul, were but instrumentsof Karma which divided the people who tried to maintain theirunity by a policy of exclusion. The foreign traders, Portuguese, Dutch,French, and British, came to get back the gold which Indian merchantsmade in western lands—for trade resorted to questionable ways ofacquiring wealth then as now. Pliny's complaint about Roman matrons ison record—they brought in all the silks of Ind and sent out all the gold ofRome.

Here is nemesis The true unsectarian spiritual doctrinewas rejected (e.g. the caste institution as depicted in the Gita; thenoble truths of the Buddha, the protestant, of Sankara, the Reformer, ofThiruvallur, himself born and untouchable Pariah, and others like him),and that neglect brought to India padre-missionaries. Fratricidal

wars within her own borders drew as by the power of magnetinvaders to her frontiers. Vaishya-dharma, its method of honestyand its mission of mercy and charity, was neglected by the traderthrough greediness, and corrupted Vaishya attracted to it his like.

The spirit slumbers in the weak body of the modern Indian. CasteHindu or Untouchable, Muslim or Christian, Parsi or Buddhist, all eat theproduce of the ancient soil and absorb the virya-energy of Aryavarta-different mentality, personal ambitions, separative tendencies,notwithstanding. These latter have not succeeded in killing the hiddenstrength of that wonderful peninsula. In this, India is unlike Iran or Egypt.

Sva-Suddhi, self-purification--in this lies India's future.Her political emancipation will not wash clean her soul corruption.Industrial revolution will but smother her ancient spirituality.Western culture can only turn her into another Egypt. Therefore we havegreat sympathy with the ideas and ideals of India's famous leader, M.K.Gandhi. More and more, we see from his Young India how he is makingthe political issues subservient to moral and spiritual ones. Hindu-Muslimunity, the removal of untouchability, are mass movements, which willtake long in producing satisfactory results. We do not believe that thatunity will emerge nor that untouchability will disappear unless individualisticwork is pursued. If Mr. Gandhi's movement, which has producedthousands of believers, will now produce a few hundredintelligent men and women who will break the thread of beliefand wear the robe of enlightened Faith, the Shraddha of the 17th

Gita, men and women who will cease to obey the call of any othermuezzin than the divine immortal silent speaker in the heart ofeach then India will take the first step towards emancipation.

The world is in sore need of the example of a nation which wouldemancipate itself by a bloodless revolution. Nations like men in fettersoften fail to notice the cause and the meaning of their sorry condition andtheir ill lot. To turn the seeming evil to good we require knowledge tounderstand and courage to act. All spiritual masters of India taught thedoctrine of meeting evil and hatred by loving justice, which implies

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knowledge. The greatest of all wars is that of our DivineSelf against our demoniacal self; that war is the root of allwars, the source of all strife. Kurukshetra is called Dharma-kshetra- the battlefield of righteous law and duty. The

performance of Dharma by one's self is to bring the whole worldto duty—such is the spirit of the Gita teaching. The methodadvocated by Shri Krishna is to purify our own sense of duty,i. e., purify the senses of Knowledge—gnayan-indriyas, and theorgans of action—karma-indriyas. The purifier is SELF-Knowledge, Atma -Gnayan.

India sorely needs the practice of Atma-Gnayan asKrishna, Buddha, Sankara, taught it. India's great books fromthe Vedas down are obscured. Sacerdotalism veils the soul;mantrams have become mummeries; pranayama hasdegenerated into lung breathing; to-day dhyana is attention toworldly objects, dharana is attachment to kama-passion, andSamadhi is vacuity. True Knowledge gone, false teachers rule.Corrupt philosophy has emasculated soul and therefore the body.

Back to the first principles of Atma-Gnayan, say we toall Indians, if they want to restore the glory of their ancient land.What are those principles?

First, that Atma, the soul, is sexless, casteless,colourless, nationless, the same and identical in sage and savagealike; and that the Brahmana is no nearer to lshvara than aChandala. Says Krishna in the Gita (X-20): "I am the Ego whichis seated in the hearted of all beings"- Muslims, Parsis, andMlechhas included. "Of what caste is He who speaks in thePariah," asks the poet-saint Vemana, what caste is He whopervades the Pariah as well as other men?"

Second, that Buddhi, the Soul's discriminating powerand faculty, unfolds through the process of life and death, wakingand sleeping, labour and repose, eating and assimilation, actionand meditation. This difference of man's unfolding Buddhi or

discriminative power colours the mind and produces caste-varna. ABrahmana is not one by the virtue of physical birth but by his Buddhishowing the virtues of tranquility-shamma, self-control-damma, etc.,enumerated in the Gita (XVIII-42). Therefore, are there Brahmanas amongthe Pariahs and the Parsis.

Third, the purification of Manas, the thinking principle, has tobe undertaken, so that it may acquire the aid of its consort, Buddhi, andunveil the real nature of the universe. Manas enables the discriminativefaculty to become an active evaluator of the objects of illusion and bringsAtma to recognize the maya of separateness, to realize its ownUniversality, its own impartite Reality.

The sense of separateness dwelling in the lower nature of everyHindu, Muslim, Parsi, Jain, Sikh, envelops the manas as smokesurrounds fire; this kama-passion with its separative tendency darkensthe vision of Manas-Intelligence and forces Buddhi to remain inactive;thus the sovereign lord of the body, Atma, becomes deluded. The realenemy of India is this kama-passion that enthralls the bodies of itssons and daughters. Indians need not a religion to believe in buta philosophy to practise, not the strength to kill or to defeat theiropponents but the will and the virility to purity each his ownpassion-kama, his own egotism-ahankara.

Many religious beliefs, numerous languages, hundreds of castesand classes at present cause conflict; these are symptomatic of thesway which kama exercises over India's sons and daughters. Thewithdrawal of the British Army and administration will not abolish thissway. The demolishing of this ancient enemy within will compelall seeming fetters like alien dominance to fall away. India's rise toher ancient status consist in Sva-sudd hi, in self-purification—notnecessarily by all the millions but certainly by a few noble hundredsamong them. This is the task that awaits the real patriotic Indian.

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!I MPORTANT INFORMATION TO MEMBERS OF IIWC

Regarding `RNI Number', we have applied for New Delhi for confirmation

of our title of the Monthly Bulletin. After confirmation, we have to apply for

'RNI Number'. It will take a few months for these to process. IN the

meantime the Monthly Bulletin will be posted to Life Members who have

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Obituary We regret to announce the sad demise of our Life Member

Mr. A.A. Mecci, IIWC offers sincere condolence to the bereaved family.

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