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. |