{"id":3239,"date":"2013-07-13T01:46:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3239"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:46:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:52","slug":"29-indian-culture-and-external-influence-vol-the-foundations-of-indian-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/the-foundations-of-indian-culture\/29-indian-culture-and-external-influence-vol-the-foundations-of-indian-culture","title":{"rendered":"-29_Indian Culture and External Influence.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\n
\nINDIAN CULTURE AND EXTERNAL INFLUENCE <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nIN<\/font> considering Indian civilisation and its renascence, I suggested
\nthat a powerful new creation in all fields was our great need,
\nthe meaning of the renascence and the one way of preserving
\nthe civilisation. Confronted with the huge rush of modern life
\nand thought, invaded by another dominant civilisation, almost
\nher opposite or inspired at least with a Very different spirit to
\nher own, India can only survive by confronting this raw, new,
\naggressive, powerful world with fresh diviner creations of her
\nown spirit, cast in the mould of her own spiritual ideals. She
\nmust meet it by solving its greater problems,\u2014which she cannot avoid, even if such avoidance could be thought desirable,
\n\u2014in her own way, through solutions arising out of her own
\nbeing and from her own deepest and largest knowledge. In
\nthat connection I spoke of the acceptance and assimilation from
\nthe West of whatever in its knowledge, ideas, powers was
\nassimilable, compatible with her spirit, reconcilable with her
\nideals, valuable for a new statement of life. This question of external
\ninfluence and new creation from within is of very considerable importance; it calls for more than a passing mention.
\nEspecially it is necessary to form some more precise idea of what
\nwe mean by acceptance and of the actual effect of assimilation,
\nfor this is a problem of pressing incidence in which we have to
\nget our ideas clear and fix firmly and seeingly on our line of
\nsolution. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut it is possible to hold that while new creation\u2014and
\nnot a motionless sticking to old forms\u2014is our one way of
\nlife and salvation, no acceptance of anything western is called
\nfor, we can find in ourselves all that we need, no considerable
\nacceptance is possible without creating a breach which will  <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-439<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nbring pouring in the rest of the occidental deluge. That, if I
\nhave not misread it, is the sense of a comment on these articles
\nin a Bengali literary periodical1 which holds up the ideal of a
\nnew creation to arise from within entirely on national lines and
\nin the national spirit. The writer takes his stand on a position
\nwhich is common ground, that humanity is one, but different
\npeoples are variant soul-forms of the common humanity.
\nWhen we find the oneness, the principle of variation is not
\ndestroyed but finds rather its justification; it is not by abolishing
\nourselves, our own special temperament and power, that we
\ncan get at the living oneness, but by following it out and raising
\nit to its highest possibilities of freedom and action. That is a
\ntruth which I have myself insisted on repeatedly, with regard
\nto the modern idea and attempt at some kind of political unification of humanity, as a very important part of the psychological sense of social development, and again in this question
\nof a particular people’s life and culture in all its parts and
\nmanifestations. I have insisted that uniformity is not a real
\nbut a dead unity : uniformity kills life while real unity, if well
\nfounded, becomes vigorous and fruitful by a rich energy of
\nvariation. But the writer adds that the idea of taking over what
\nis best in occidental civilisation is a false notion without a
\nliving meaning; to leave the bad and take the good sounds
\nvery well, but this bad and this good are not separable in that
\nway : they are the inextricably mingled growth of one being,
\nnot separate blocks of a child’s toy house set side by side and
\neasily detachable,\u2014and what is meant then by cutting out and
\ntaking one element and leaving the rest ? If we take over a western ideal, we take it over from a living form which strikes us; we imitate that form, are subjugated by its spirit and natural
\ntendencies, and the good and bad intertwined in the living
\ngrowth come in upon us together and take united possession. In fact, we have been for a long time so imitating the West, <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n1<\/sup> Narayan,<\/i> edited by Mr. C. R. Das <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-440<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\ntrying to become like it or partly like it and have fortunately
\nfailed, for that would have meant creating a bastard or twy-natured culture; but twy-natured, as Tennyson makes his
\nLucretius say, is no-natured and a bastard culture is no sound,
\ntruth-living culture. An entire return upon ourselves is our
\nonly way of salvation. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThere is much to be said here, it seems to me, both in the
\nway of confirmation and of modification. But let us be clear
\nabout the meaning of our terms. That the attempt in the last
\ncentury which still in some directions continues,\u2014to imitate
\nEuropean civilisation and to make ourselves a sort of brown
\nEnglishmen, to throw our ancient culture into the dust-bin
\nand put on the livery or uniform of the West was a mistaken
\nand illegitimate endeavour, I heartily agree. At the same time
\na certain amount of imitation, a great amount even, was, one
\nmight almost say, a biological necessity, at any rate a psychological necessity of the situation. Not only when a lesser
\nmeets a greater culture, but when a culture which has fallen
\ninto a state of comparative inactivity, sleep, contraction, is
\nfaced with, still more when it receives the direct shock of a
\nwaking, active, tremendously creative civilisation, finds thrown
\nupon it novel and successful powers and functionings, sees an
\nimmense succession and development of new ideas and formations, it is impelled by the very instinct of life to take over these
\nideas and forms, to annex, to enrich itself, even to imitate and
\nreproduce, and in one way or in another take large account
\nand advantage of these new forces and opportunities. That is a
\nphenomenon which has happened repeatedly in history, in a
\ngreater or a lesser degree, in part or in totality. But if there is
\nonly a mechanical imitation, if there is a subordination and servitude, the inactive or weaker culture perishes, it is swallowed up
\nby the invading leviathan. And even short of that, in proportion as there is a leaning towards these undesirable things,
\nit languishes, is unsuccessful in its attempt at annexation,
\nloses besides the power of its own spirit. To recover its own <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-441<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\ncentre, find its own base and do whatever it has to do in its
\nown strength and genius is certainly the one way of salvation.
\nBut even then a certain amount of acceptance, of forms too,
\n\u2014some imitation, if all taking over of forms must be called
\nimitation,\u2014is inevitable. We have, for instance, taken over in
\nliterature the form of the novel, the short story, the critical
\nessay among a number of other adoptions, in science not only
\nthe discoveries and inventions, but the method and instrumentation of inductive research, in politics the press, the platform,
\nthe farms and habits of agitation, the public association. I do
\nnot suppose that anyone seriously thinks of renouncing or exiling these modern additions to our life,\u2014though they are not
\nall of them by any means unmixed blessings,\u2014on the ground
\nthat they are foreign importations. But the question is what we
\ndo with them and whether we can bring them to be instruments and by some characteristic modification moulds of
\nour own spirit. If so, there has been an acceptance and
\nan assimilation; if not, there has been merely a helpless imitation. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut the taking over of forms is not the heart of the
\nquestion. When I speak of acceptance and assimilation, I
\nam thinking of certain influences, ideas, energies brought
\nforward with a great living force by Europe, which can awaken
\nand enrich our own cultural activities and cultural being if
\nwe succeed in dealing with them with a victorious power and
\noriginality, if we can bring them into our characteristic way
\n"of being and transform them by its shaping action. That
\nwas in fact what our own ancestors did, never losing their
\noriginality, never effacing their uniqueness, because always
\nvigorously creating from within, with whatever knowledge
\nor artistic suggestion from outside they thought worthy of
\nacceptance or capable of an Indian treatment. But I would
\ncertainly repel the formula of taking the good and leaving the
\nbad as a crudity, one of those facile formulas which catch
\nthe superficial mind but are unsound in conception. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-442<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nObviously, if we "take over" anything, the good and the bad
\nin it will come in together pell-mell. If we take over for
\ninstance that terrible, monstrous and compelling thing, that
\ngiant Asuric creation, European industrialism,\u2014unfortunately we are being forced by circumstances to do it,\u2014whether
\nwe take it in its form or its principle, we may under more
\nfavourable conditions develop by it our wealth and economic
\nresources, but assuredly we shall get too its social discords
\nand moral plagues and cruel problems, and I do not see how
\nwe shall avoid becoming the slaves of the economic aim in
\nlife and losing the spiritual principle of our culture. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut, besides, these terms good and bad in this connection mean nothing definite, give us no help. If I must use
\nthem, where they can have only a relative significance, in a
\nmatter not of ethics, but of an interchange between life and
\nlife, I must first give them this general significance that whatever helps me to find myself more intimately, nobly, with a
\ngreater and sounder possibility of self-expressive creation, is
\ngood; whatever carries me out of my orientation, whatever
\nweakens and belittles my power, richness, breadth and height
\nof self-being, is bad for me. If the distinction is so understood,
\nit will be evident, I think, to any serious and critical mind
\nwhich tries to fathom things, that the real point is not the
\ntaking over of this or that formal detail, which has only a sign
\nvalue, for example, widow remarriage, but a dealing with
\ngreat effective ideas, such as are the ideas, in the external
\nfield of life, of social and political liberty, equality, democracy.
\nIf I accept any of these ideas it is not because they are modern
\nor European, which is in itself no recommendation, but
\nbecause they are human, because they present fruitful viewpoints to the spirit, because they are things of the greatest
\nimportance in the future development of the life of man.
\nWhat I mean by acceptance of the effective idea of democracy,\u2014
\nthe thing itself, never fully worked out, was present as an
\nelement in ancient Indian as in ancient European polity and <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-443<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nsociety,\u2014is that I find its inclusion in our future way of living,
\nin some shape, to be a necessity of our growth. What I mean
\nby assimilation, is that we must not take it crudely in the
\nEuropean forms, but must go back to whatever corresponds
\nto it, illumines its sense, justifies its highest purport in our
\nown spiritual conception of life and existence, and in that light
\nwork out its extent, degree, form, relation to other ideas,
\napplication. To everything I would apply the same principle,
\nto each in its own kind, after its proper dharma, in its right
\nmeasure of importance, its spiritual, intellectual, ethical,
\naesthetic, dynamic utility. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nI take it as a self-evident law of individual being applicable to group-individuality, that it is neither desirable nor
\npossible to exclude everything that comes in to us from outside. I take it as an equally self-evident law that a living
\norganism, which grows not by accretion but by self-development and assimilation, must recast the things it takes in to
\nsuit the law and form and characteristic action of its biological
\nor psychological body, reject what would be deleterious or
\npoisonous to it,\u2014and what is that but the non-assimilable ?
\n\u2014take only what can be turned into useful stuff of self-expression. It is, to use an apt Sanskritic phrase employed in
\nthe Bengali tongue, ātmasātkarana,<\/i> an assimilative appropriation, a making the thing settle into oneself and turn into
\ncharacteristic form of our self-being. The impossibility of
\nentire rejection arises from the very fact of our being a term
\nof diversity in a unity, not really separate from all other existence, but in relation with all that surrounds us, because in
\nlife this relation expresses itself very largely by a process of
\ninterchange. The undesirability of total rejection, even if
\nit were entirely possible, arises from the fact that interchange
\nwith the environment is necessary to a healthy persistence
\nand growth, the living organism which rejects all such interchange, would speedily languish and die of lethargy and
\ninanition. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-444<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nMentally, vitally and physically I do not grow by a
\npure self-development from within in a virgin isolation; I am not a separate
\nself-existent being proceeding from a past to a new becoming in a world of its
\nown where no one is but itself, nothing works but its own inner powers and
\nmusings. There is in every individualised existence a double action, a
\nself-development from within which is its greatest intimate power of being and
\nby which it is itself, and a reception of impacts from outside which it has to
\naccommodate to its own individuality and make into material of self-growth and
\nself-power. The two operations are not mutually exclusive, nor is the second
\nharmful to the first except When the inner genius is too weak to deal
\nvictoriously with its environmental world; on the contrary the reception of impacts stimulates in a
\nvigorous and healthy being its force for self-development and
\nis an aid to a greater and more pronouncedly characteristic
\nself-determination. As we rise in the scale we find that the
\npower of original development from within, of conscious
\nself-determination increases more and more, while in those
\nwho live most powerfully in themselves it reaches striking,
\nsometimes almost divine proportions. But at the same time
\nwe see that the allied power of seizing upon the impacts and
\nsuggestions of the outside world grows in proportion; those
\nwho live most powerfully in themselves, can also most largely
\nuse the world and all its material for the Self,\u2014and, it must
\nbe added, most successfully help the world and enrich it out
\nof their own being. The man who most finds and lives from,
\nthe inner self, can most embrace the universal and become
\none with it; the svarāt,<\/i> independent, self-possessed and
\nself-ruler, can most be the samrāt,<\/i> possessor and shaper of
\nthe world in which he lives, can most too grow one with all
\nin the Atman. That is the truth this developing existence
\nteaches us, and it is one of the greatest secrets of the old Indian
\nspiritual knowledge. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nTherefore to live in one’s self, determining one’s self-expression <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-445<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nfrom one’s own centre of being in accordance with
\none’s own law of being, svadharma,<\/i> is the first necessity. Not
\nto be able to do that means disintegration of the life; not to
\ndo it sufficiently means languor, weakness, inefficiency, the
\ndanger of being oppressed by the enviorning forces and overborne ; not to be able to do it wisely, intuitively, with a strong
\nuse of one’s inner material and inner powers, means confusion,
\ndisorder and finally decline and loss of vitality. But also not
\nto be able to use the material that the life around offers us,
\nnot to lay hold on it with an intuitive selection and a strong
\nmastering assimilation is a serious deficiency and a danger
\nto the existence. To a healthy individuality the external
\nimpact or entering energy, idea, influence may act as an irritant
\nawakening the inner being to a sense of discord, incompatibility or peril, and then there is a struggle, an impulse and process of rejection, but even in this struggle, in this process of
\nrejection there is some resultant of change and growth, some
\nincrement of the power and material of life; the energies of
\nthe being are stimulated and helped by the attack. It may
\nact as a stimulus, awakening a new action of the self-consciousness and a sense of fresh possibility,\u2014by comparison, by
\nsuggestion, by knocking at locked doors and arousing slumbering energies. It may come in as a possible material which.
\nhas then to be reshaped to a form of the inner energy, harmonised with the inner being, reinterpreted in the light
\nof its own characteristic self-consciousness. In a great change
\n.of environment or a close meeting with a mass of invading
\ninfluences all these processes work together and there is possibly
\nmuch temporary perplexity and difficulty, many doubtful
\nand perilous movements, but also the opportunity of a great
\nself-developing transformation or an immense and vigorous
\nrenascence. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe group-soul differs from the individual only in being
\nmore self-sufficient by reason of its being an assemblage of
\nmany individual selves and capable within of many group <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-446<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nvariations. There is a constant inner interchange which may
\nfor a long time suffice to maintain the vitality, growth, power
\nof developing activity, even when there is a restricted interchange with the rest of humanity. Greek civilisation,\u2014
\nafter growing under the influence of Egyptian, Phoenician
\nand other Oriental influences,\u2014separated itself sharply from
\nthe non-Hellenic "barbarian" cultures and was able for some
\ncenturies to live within itself by a rich variation and internal
\ninterchange. There was the same phenomenon in ancient
\nIndia of a culture living intensely from within in a profound
\ndifferentiation from all surrounding cultures, its vitality
\nrendered possible by an even greater richness of internal
\ninterchange and variation. Chinese civilisation offers a third
\ninstance. But at no time did Indian culture exclude altogether
\nexternal influences ; on the contrary a very great power of
\nselective assimilation, subordination and transformation of
\nexternal elements was a characteristic of its processes; it
\nprotected itself from a ay considerable or overwhelming invasion, but laid hands on and included whatever struck or
\nimpressed it and in the act of inclusion subjected it to a
\ncharacteristic change which harmonised the new element with
\nthe spirit of its own culture. But nowadays any such strong separative aloofness as distinguished the ancient civilisations,
\nis no longer possible, the races of mankind have come too
\nclose to each other, are being thrown together in a certain
\nunavoidable life unity. We are confronted with the more
\ndifficult problem of living in the full stress of this greater
\ninteraction and imposing on its impacts the law of our being. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nAny attempt to remain exactly what we were before the
\nEuropean invasion or to ignore in future the claims of a modern
\nenvironment and necessity is foredoomed to an obvious failure.
\nHowever much we may deplore some of the characteristics
\nof that intervening period in which we were dominated by
\nthe Western standpoint or move away from the standpoint
\nback to our own characteristic way of seeing existence, we <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-447<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\ncannot get rid of a certain element of inevitable change it
\nhas produced upon us, any more than a man can go back in
\nlife to what he was some years ago and recover entire and
\nunaffected a past mentality. Time and its influences have
\nnot only passed over him, but carried him forward in their
\nstream. We cannot go backward to a past form of our being,
\nbut we can go forward to a large repossession of ourselves in
\nwhich we shall make a better, more living, more real, more
\nself-possessed use of the intervening experience. We can
\nstill think in the essential sense of the great spirit and ideals
\nof our: past, but the form of our thinking, our speaking, our
\ndevelopment of them has changed by the very fact of new
\nthought and experience, we see them not only in the old,
\nbut in new lights, we support them by the added strength
\nof new viewpoints, even the old words we use acquire for
\nus a modified, more extended and richer significance. Again,
\nwe cannot be "ourselves alone" in any narrow formal sense,
\nbecause we must necessarily take account of the modern
\nworld around us and get full knowledge of it, otherwise we
\ncannot live. But all such taking account of things, all added
\nknowledge modifies our subjective being. My mind, with all
\nthat depends on it, is modified by what it observes and works
\nupon, modified when it takes in from it fresh materials of
\nthought, modified when it is wakened by its stimulus to new
\nactivities, modified even when it denies and rejects; for even
\nan old thought or truth which I affirm against an opposing
\nidea, becomes a new thought to me in the effort of affirmation
\nand rejection, clothes itself with new aspects and issues. My
\nlife is modified in the same way by the life influences it has to
\nencounter and confront. Finally, we cannot avoid dealing
\nwith the great governing ideas and problems of the modern
\nworld. The modern world is still mainly European, a world
\ndominated by the European mind and western civilisation.
\nWe claim to set right this undue preponderance, to reassert
\nthe Asiatic and, for ourselves, the Indian mind and to preserve <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-448<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nand develop the great values of Asiatic and of Indian
\ncivilisation. But the Asiatic or the Indian mind can only
\nassert itself successfully by meeting these problems and by
\ngiving them a solution which will justify its own ideals and
\nspirit. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe principle I have affirmed results both from the
\nnecessity of our nature and the necessity of things, of life,\u2014
\nfidelity to our own spirit, nature, ideals, the creation of our
\nown characteristic forms in the new age and the new environment, but also a strong and masterful dealing with external
\ninfluences which need not be and m the nature of the situation
\ncannot be a total rejection; therefore there must be an element
\nof successful assimilation. There remains the very difficult
\nquestion of the application of the principle,\u2014the degree,
\nthe way, the guiding perceptions. To think that out we must
\nlook at each province of culture and, keeping always firm hold
\non a perception of what the Indian spirit is and the Indian
\nideal is, see how they can work upon the present situation
\nand possibilities in each of these provinces and lead to a new
\nvictorious creation. In such thinking it will not do to be
\ntoo dogmatic. Each capable Indian mind must think it out
\nor, better, work it out in its own light and power,\u2014as the
\nBengal artists are working it out in their own sphere,\u2014and
\ncontribute some illumination or effectuation. The spirit of
\nthe Indian renascence will take care of the rest, that power
\nof the universal Time-Spirit which has begun to move in
\nour midst for the creation of a new and greater India. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-449<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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