|
|
Modern Culture with reference to Hind Swaraj |
|
Manish Jain
At
a recently held seminar on ‘Hind Swaraj’ at Sarnath, Mr Manish Jain,
from Udaipur addressed the audience on ‘Modern Lifestyle’ and backed
up his information with statistics. Having stayed in the US, Mr
Jain, could closely observe several negative aspects of Western
Civilisation, mentioned by Mahatma Gandhi in his book, ‘Hind Swaraj’.
As a result of this, Mr Jain decided to return to India a decade
ago. Seeing the futility of our hollow education system, Mr Jain has
refrained from sending his seven-year-old daughter to school. He is
doing his research on ‘Hind Swaraj’ and wants to bring about
awareness amongst people by making Hind Swaraj his mission.
His contact
details are:
www.swaraj.org/shikshantar / Email:
manish@swaraj.org
The US is
considered to be a pillar of modern culture or lifestyle and the
following information will help understand the hidden violence in
the name of modern culture:
Gandhiji had
anticipated such a situation a century ago and had warned about it
in his book, Hind Swaraj published in 1909. For some, it may look
like a crazy thought but there is a systematic thinking behind this
thought.
‘Hind Swaraj’ is
not only for Indians but also for all those rooted in colonialism.
Issues like environment and terrorism, bring to light the increasing
divide in our social system over the last 100 years.
In the present
situation Hind Swaraj should be read and understood as poetry and
not as a report. The poetry is symbolic. Hind Swaraj represents the
negative aspects of railways, doctors, advocates and the like, who
are a part of modern social system. The British claimed themselves
to be the best at the time as they had the railways, doctors,
advocates and the like, but Gandhiji targeted these areas.
There is a need to
give a deeper thought to what is health. What are we eating and
drinking? Aren’t we falling sick due to our wrong eating and
drinking habits? We have this false notion of becoming fit by taking
medicines, instead of changing our wrong habits. Does not our modern
culture teach us this? So is the doctor doing good for the society
or harming it?
A majority of the
people do not get justice in today’s judicial system. Instead of
resolving the issues by honesty, love and graciousness, people rush
to the advocates and through them make several trips to the courts
for years, only to fill up the pockets of the advocates. Does not
modern culture teach us this? So is the advocate doing good for the
society or harming it?
The British had
visualised the use of the railways primarily for the transport of
raw materials. As a result, our nation’s trade and business as well
as villages were destroyed. So have the railways done good for the
Indian society or bad?
How do we look at
technology? Has it been able to reduce the pain of the workers at
the lowest level in the country? Or has it been able to help a few
individuals make profits by snatching away the employment of several
others? It does increase the power of production, while most of the
people are left devoid of the purchasing power. So will such
technology help the society or harm it?
We should ask
ourselves whether such facilities of modern culture improve
interpersonal relationship. Does it bring people close to each
other?
The
question-answer style adopted in Hind Swaraj is representative and
effective. It also aptly echoes the questions and doubts arising in
the minds of the readers.
Just because we
have created and adopted a certain system in our modern culture,
does not mean that we cannot raise questions about it.
Who is progressive
and who is backward in today’s culture, considering the points
raised above? Media and means of mass communication show that 98
per cent of the junk food consumed today contains fine wheat flour
and there is a need to tackle some basic questions. Only then would
we be able to find answers to the questions raised above.
There are a very
few books, which explain modern culture. Modern culture is being
propagated as though it is the best, that it is based on advanced
science and that there is no alternative to it.
Gandhiji has
challenged this propaganda in his Hind Swaraj. According to him, a
picture of the modern culture is presented in such a manner as
though there is an unlimited stock of all the resources in the
world. Modern culture claims to be the solution for all the problems
ailing the society and should that be considered to be the ultimate
truth.
Let us look at the
use of the basic definition of modern culture:
Development: Where
there is a centralisation of technology and infrastructure as is
seen in the US, where raw materials are transported quickly from a
small place to a bigger town. Gandhi questions this definition.
Monoculture:
Modern culture sets the same standard for all the utilities, whether
they be the interior of a hotel or a home, clothes, food items or
any consumer items. There is no scope for unity in diversity as seen
in Indian culture.
Commercialisation:
Everything is looked at in a commercial sense. Nothing is sacred in
such a system. Even water is sold, though it was unheard of in the
Indian culture. Never was any money taken at a drinking water
fountain. Love and relationships are now saleable. Gandhi raises
questions about this.
Modernity: It has
become fashionable to deem what is modern to be right and finding
fault with all that is old.
Power Game: Power
is subtly connected to this modern culture resulting in a power
game. Everybody seems to feel that he does not have power, even if
he be the President of the World Bank. There is a need to understand
this power game.
Institutionalism:
In the modern culture we suppress our conscience and raise the flags
of institutions. For example, however much Americans may not want to
support war, they have to join it due to orders. These are offences
against humanity.
Mechanisation of
life and thoughts: We are not given training to think on our own. We
do not give a thought to why we are doing what we are doing. Human
Resource Development looks at human beings as a commodity.
Labelling: We are
taught to continue to do what we are doing, according to the way we
are labeled and not to think out of the box. For example, if one is
an economist one should be a human first and there should not be any
questions about being an economist first or a human being. What
should one give priority to—to humanity or to economics?
Centricity: On the
basis of the above, our thinking becomes centric, limited and
selfish. We lose our sensitivity. Dependence on others brings about
a feeling of insecurity in us and we are mentally prepared for
division.
Pre-dominance of
Experts and Professionals: We shunt our commonsense. We depend on
experts, giving up our ability to think independently, as though we
cannot live without the knowledge of the experts.
Readymade
alternatives: We do want solutions to our problems, but expect to
get them from others. There is an alternative in Hind Swaraj. Gandhi
maintains that we are neither without work nor are we poor and we
should make ourselves strong on the basis of our strength, power and
culture, but we have lost that mindset.
Gandhiji speaks
about the shortcomings listed above and emphases the points listed
below:
Self-control:
Modern culture encourages consumerism. It believes that nature,
resources and the human body, are meant for consumption, whereas in
Hind Swaraj, Gandhi speaks about the need for self-control.
Voluntary
Simplicity: Gandhiji believes that we can adopt voluntary simplicity
by keeping our needs limited with self-control.
Peaceful Life:
Modern culture forces us to lead a fast life. But we need to slow
down the pace of our life to lead a peaceful life.
Self-rule:
According to Gandhiji, self-rule means ruling oneself. God has made
us unique as well as mutually dependent. But modern culture teaches
us to live a compartmentalised life. Hence, we are not living in
self-rule in the true sense.
Sharing: Modern
culture teaches to lead a selfish life; whereas as our Indian
culture teaches us to refrain from accumulation and to increase
selflessness by sharing. There is a need to revive the culture of
giving gifts, so that we learn to think about others.
Physical Work:
Physical work is considered lowly in modern culture, hence school
children are taught to depend on books, making them handicapped and
a burden on the society. Physical work is not meant only in the
service of the others, but also for our spiritual, intellectual and
moral development. There is nothing wrong if children develop the
habit of physical work.
Moral education is
true education: True education is that which teaches to live a moral
life. Gandhiji has given great importance to this in Hind Swaraj.
What kind of
issues should be raised after a century of writing of Hind Swaraj?
Following are the
examples of such questions:
Why is it that
every child should go to School? Mechanically, we have been pushing
our children in the rat race of modern culture. Why don’t parents
think of an alternative, although they are themselves worked-up
about their problems?
We speak about
democracy, but where is democracy in its real sense?
Raise question on
the unlimited usage of computers. Are we aware of how much water
and other resources are being used for computers? Every time we go
on Google search, we emit 1.5 kg carbon in the air.
Liberate our minds
from colonialisation. Question ourselves on who and what we are?
What is modernisation? Why are we bent upon imitating others? Do we
believe that for everyone self-respect and self-esteem are the
fundamental things?
Struggling
countries like India and Tibet should ask why they want to be
independent and what they want to become. Tibet’s struggle is not
only against China. We will have to redefine our battle for
humanity. It’s a question of purifying our conscience.
We should look out
for the answers to these questions, which touch our lives, in Hind
Swaraj. How many plastic bags do we use? How many clothes do we keep
beyond our needs? To what extent do we understand the process behind
the manufacture of goods that we use?
It is not just
these modern things, but the modern system has had an impact on us
and Gandhiji warns us against this in Hind Swaraj. We should rethink
over the definition of Swadeshi. We should consider how many things
have had an impact on our lives. We should ponder how the ‘use and
throw’ culture has had an impact on our thinking and has become a
part of it.
In Hind Swaraj, we
get an idea of how Gandhiji looks at not only the people of India,
but also of the world in terms of ideal political, social, economic,
moral, cultural, educational and legal structure. |