((APRIL 1944)
One of the oldest prayers recorded in our books runs
as follows -It can be translated as follows:-
“O -Gods!
Let us hear good things with our ears.
Let us, continuing to perform
sacrifices, see good things with our eyes. Let us continue to praise you,
ourselves possessing healthy limbs and let us live the life allotted to us by
divine dispensation.”
A few points in the prayer deserve to be gone into
more fully. First, the prayer is addressed to
Devas (plural and not singular). Scholars would say that this must
have been composed at a time when the seers had not arrived at the conception of one God, as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the universe, but believed in many gods like, Agni, India,
Varna. The I consider a minor matter; the thing to be noted is that man is
addressing some superhuman power that controls him and the universe in which he
finds himself.
Secondly, the person who prays is not a single individual, but Yajatrah;
those who perform sacrifice, and raise
their voice of prayer for this common benefit. Let us hear, let us see is this
prayer and not let me hear, let me see. There are many prayers addressed in the
singular may I live long, may I have plenty of wealth, to enjoy. The plural as
should have been used deliberately denoting the community as a whole and not
the individual. It can hardly be a case of the royal.
Thirdly, the praying, charaterise themselves as performing sacrifices. Life terrestrial and
celestial are bound together by sacrifice. Sreemad Bhagavat Gita tells us that the Lord of the Universe after
creating addressed humans as follows: -
With this do ye foster Gods and may the Gods in turn
foster you; Fostering each other (thus) ye shall gain the Highest Good. This is a square deal and not an one-sided
transaction.
Social solidarity is emphasised and no attempt is
made by a person caring for his own
benefit and trying to steal a march over others. The Gita ideal of conversation
of society is anticipated.
Best
thinkers of all ages have been aiming at the uplift of society as a
whole. A nation is considered to be
civilized and prosperous if it stands not a few individual tests, but a
few-broad social tests. What is the
percentage of literacy among its
people, men and women? What diseases have been controlled or eliminated
and what is the rate of morality? What
is the average of purchasing power of the nation indicative of its average and
Rockefellers are there in that nation, or how many Taj Mahals have been built.
The test is social, i.e. as a whole
and not with reference to a few
tall poppies only.
What is the world at present attempting to do on the
constructive side? The Atlantic
Charter guarantees four freedoms i.e. freedom from want and fear and the
freedom of work and worship. Here again the outlook is definitely social and
not individualistic.
what about
the famous Beveridge Plan in England,
of social security for all? It aims at
assuring medical help to everybody,
occupation and wages to everyone and
guarantees freedom from want to every one in
England. Here again the ideal
aimed at is social uplift and not the prosperity of a few individuals.
Lastly coming to
our own country, there is the
Fifteen-Year Plan of reconstructions expected to cost an expected to cost an expenditure of 1,000 crores of rupees. It is true
that a few British cricis have condemned this as a device of the
plutocrats to better their own
positions and they point out that the main industry of the country agriculture
is not given the attention, it deserves; but this is not disinterested criticism.
We see that broadly speaking it aims at raising the standard of
life the masses and not at the amelioration of the conditions of a section only of the people
of the land.
One thing is common to all these, the Atlantic
Charter, the Beveridge Plan and the Bombay Industrialists scheme:- They
are all for large section of the World's population are whole and not for
small groups and much less for
individuals. One who utters a prayer
like the Bard who wanted good for me, wealth for me and everything desirable
for me would now be laughed out of court.
Let the whole nations once more pray with one voice: