(March 1944)
Everybody now a days talks of planning. Postwar Reconstruction implies replanning our economic life mostly. Planning obviously has its advantages; efficiency can be increased and firction and wastage reduced.
If so much be conceded we may ask, “Should not human society be replanned?” Economic replanning touches just one aspect of man’s activity; though it is very important it is not all. “Man does not live by bread alone.” Is a truth acknowledged by everything.
Social planning consists in arranging social life in such a way that the wastage involved in the present competitive life struggle may be avoided and each individual may be made to live the richest and the fullest life he is capable of and contribute at the same time the maximum benefit to the society of which he is a unit. His life should be so organised that there is maximum scope for his faculties as and when they develop.
The ages of our country hit upon the happy idea of Varnasrama-dharma as the basic social principle. Every one was expected to follow the activity settled by his Varna (or the caste in which he was born) and Asrama (or the stage of which he was in). This was alright when the Hindus were a self-contained nation and Hindustan had no foreign element in it. When the old principles of Guna (capacity and character) and Karma (activities) ceased to be the tests of a Varna and when the accident of birth settled it, the weakness of the institution began to manifest themselves. Today the institution of caste has degenerated to such an extent that it is condemned by most people through it has its advocates still.
The sister-institution of asrama has fallen, into desuetude and it is its revival that forms the subject matter of this article.
Man’s life was divided onto four stages. First came childhood and youth during which the individual was expected to undergo disciplinary training and acquire the knowledge, secular and religious, which he could maintain himself and be a useful member of the society. This was called Brahma-Charya. The second stage of life was that of Grihstha or the householder. Life has, nowadays, become so complicated and apprenticeship for a successful life is so taxing and prolonged that most of us go through a short or long term of preparation and then the rest of life is one continuous second stage. We have practically forgotten the third and the fourth stage through curiously enough we have millions of Sadhus who have, apparently, renounced the world and are sanyasins, in name at least; but the third stage, that of Vana-Prastha, one who retires to the forest and deliberately prepares himself for the fourth stage of complete renunciation, has gone practically out of existence.
In the time of our national poet Kalidasa this four-fold division of a man’s life was not merely a theoretical ideal. But was practiced at least by kings like those of the race of Raghu. The poet thus refers to the members of that –illustrious line following the asrama ideal in full.
They acquired learning when very young; enjoyed the good things of the world in their middle life; they followed the path of forest- dwellers in old age and cat off their bodies by yoga-process. Raghu the main hero of the poem after whom the Kavya is named as Raghuvamsa is described as leading such a well planned life.
We raise our feeble voice for a revival of the third stage of life with suitable modifications necessitated by the social conditions of the present day.
Our ancient Lawgiver Manu has prescribed a sever course of discipline for these. Manu, Chapter VI, verse 1-33 deal with this third stage. I shall extract some important points only. First the question when one is to enter the third stage is answered thus, “When a man notices that the skin of his body is shrinking and his hairs turn grey, when a man sees the face of his grand children let him then retire into a forest.” What about his wife if she is alive? “Let him leave her with her sons or take her with him is she be willing to accompany him”. Manu goes into details about the Vanaprastha’s food and daily routine. The essential thing to be noted is that the forest dweller should become a Niyatendriya (one with senses completely under control). He is asked to bathe twice and wear skin and bark and subsist on Vanya (grains growing wild in the forest) or on Saka-moola-phala i.e. leaves, roots and fruits. Leaving aside non-essentials let us see the kind of life he is expected to lead.
He should be sever devoted to studies, accustomed to bear cold and heat, friendly to everyone, with controlled mind, giving and never receiving from anybody, kind towards every creature. What he is to study is mentioned later.
For the purification of his self (he should study) the various Upanishads that form part of Sruti or the Vedas.
As the first stage was a preparation for the second, this third is a preparation for the fourth stage of sanyasin.
It is not possible in this twentieth century to follow the rule literally; but the spirit of it may be observed. Firstly it is necessary that at a particular stage in life we must retire from secular activities and turn our attention to problems of Life, whence, whither and why. Secondly at some stage we must put a stop to our acquisitive activities and retire from competing with others. Government servants and others are compulsorily retired after their fifty-fifth year; but many still continue to struggle to earn a pittance. Those who have not enough to fall back upon should be guaranteed a minimum old age pension and those who have earned enough ought, in fairness to younger people retire. Thirdly society as constituted and run at present requires a honorary posts. It is impossible to pay for them adequately unless our view on remuneration be radically changed. Especially in the fields of social amelioration, Public Health and Sanitation and above all in the fields of religious and social awakening.
For all the work that lies-ahead of us the days of postwar reconstruction, we must quite an army of workers, qualifies by their knowledge ad ripe experience to lead, but not costing so much as the experts imported for various purposes y Government WE must have an organisation to utilise the services of elders, willing to serve. If these are well to do like Government pensioners they can look after themselves; others poor but willing and qualified to serve must be guaranteed a minimum allowance for their upkeep.
But men and women should also change the present method of life, clinging to the house all their lives. They must realise that they have had enough service rendered unto them by the world and must, in their turn, render service to the world.