{"id":347,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=347"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","slug":"137-asiatic-democracy-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/137-asiatic-democracy-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-137_Asiatic Democracy.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nAsiatic Democracy<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>A<\/font><\/span>SIA<\/font><\/b>
\nis not Europe and never will be Europe. The political ideals of the West are not
\nthe mainspring of the political movements in the East, and those who do not
\nrealise this great truth, are mistaken; for they suppose that the history of
\nEurope is a sure and certain guide to India in her political development. A
\ngreat deal of the political history of Europe will be repeated in Asia, no
\ndoubt; Democracy has travelled from the East to the West in the shape of
\nChristianity, and after a long struggle with the feudal instincts of the
\nGermanic races has returned to Asia transformed and in a new body. But when Asia
\ntakes back
\ndemocracy into herself she will first transmute it in <\/span>her
\nown temperament and make it once more Asiatic. Christianity was an assertion of
\nhuman equality in the spirit, a great assertion of the unity of the divine
\nspirit in man, which did not seek to overthrow the established systems of
\ngovernment and society but to inform them with the spirit of human brotherhood
\nand unity. It was greatly hampered in this work by the fact that the European
\nraces were in a state of transition from the old Aryan civilisation of Greece
\nand Rome to one less advanced and enlightened. The German nations were wedded to
\na military civilisation which was wholly inconsistent with the ideals of
\nChristianity, and the new religion in their hands became a thing quite unrecognisable to the Asiatic mind which had engendered it. When Mahomedanism
\nappeared, Christianity vanished out of Asia, because it had lost its meaning.
\nMahomed tried to re-establish the Asiatic gospel of human equality in the spirit.
\nAll men are equal in Islam, \u2014 whatever their social position or political
\npower, \u2014 nor is any man debarred from the full development of his manhood by
\nhis birth or low original station in life. All men are brothers in Islam and the
\nbond of religious unity overrides all other divisions and differences. But Islam
\nalso was limited and imperfect, because it confined the ideal of brotherhood and
\nequality to the limits of a single creed, and was<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-757<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nfurther
\ndeflected from its true path by the rude and undeveloped races which it drew
\ninto its embrace. Another revelation of the old truth is needed.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>India from ancient times had received the gospel of Vedanta which sought
\nto establish the divine unity of man in spirit; but in order to secure an
\nordered society in which she could develop her spiritual insight and perfect her
\ncivilisation, she had invented the system of caste which by corruptions and
\ndepartures from caste ideals came to be an obstacle to the fulfilment in society
\nof the Vedantic ideal. From the time of Buddha to that of the saints of
\nMaharashtra every great religious awakening has sought to restore the ancient
\nmeaning of Hinduism and reduce caste to its original subordinate importance as a
\nsocial convenience, to exorcise the spirit of caste-pride and restore that of
\nbrotherhood and the eternal principles of love and justice in society. But the
\nfeudal spirit had taken possession of India: and the feudal spirit is wedded to
\ninequality and the pride of caste.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>When the feudal system was broken in Europe by the rise of the middle
\nclass, the ideals of Christianity began to emerge once more to light, but by
\nthis time the Christian Church had itself become feudalised, and the curious
\nspectacle presents itself of Christian ideals struggling to establish themselves
\nby the destruction of the very institution which had been created to preserve
\nChristianity. When the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity were declared
\nat the time of the French Revolution and mankind demanded that society should
\nrecognise them as the foundation of its structure, they were associated with a
\nfierce revolt against the relics of feudalism and against the travesty of the
\nChristian religion which had become an integral part of that feudalism. This was
\nthe weakness of European democracy and the source of its failure. It took as its
\nmotive the rights of man and not the dharma <\/i>of humanity; it appealed to
\nthe selfishness of the lower classes against the pride of the upper; it made
\nhatred and internecine war the permanent allies of Christian ideals and wrought
\nan inextricable confusion which is the modern malady of Europe. It was in vain
\nthat the genius of Mazzini rediscovered the heart of Christianity and sought to
\nremodel European ideas; the French Revolution had become the starting-point of
\nEuropean<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-758<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ndemocracy
\nand coloured the European mind. Now that democracy has returned to Asia, its
\ncradle and home, it will be purged of its foreign elements and restored to its
\noriginal purity. The movements of the nineteenth century in India were European
\nmovements, they were coloured with the hues of the West. Instead of seeking for
\nstrength in the spirit, they adopted the machinery and motives of Europe, the
\nappeal to the rights of humanity or the equality of social status and an
\nimpossible dead level which Nature has always refused to allow. Mingled with
\nthese false gospels was a strain of hatred and bitterness, which showed itself
\nin the condemnation of Brahminical priestcraft, the hostility
\nto
\nHinduism and the ignorant breaking<\/span>
\naway <\/span>from the
\nhallowed <\/span>traditions of the past. What was
\ntrue and eternal in that past was likened to what was false or transitory, and
\nthe nation was in danger of losing its soul by an insensate surrender to the
\naberrations of European materialism. Not in this spirit was India intended to
\nreceive the mighty opportunity which the impact of Europe gave to her. When the
\ndanger was greatest, a number of great spirits were sent to stem the tide
\nflowing in from the West and recall her to her mission; for, if she had gone
\nastray the world would have gone astray with her.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Her mission is to point back humanity to the true source of human
\nliberty, human equality, human brotherhood. When man is free in spirit, all
\nother freedom is at his command; for the Free is the Lord who cannot be bound.
\nWhen he is liberated from delusion, he perceives the divine equality of the
\nworld which fulfils itself through love and justice, and this perception
\ntransfuses itself into the law of government and society. When he has perceived
\nthis divine equality, he is brother to the whole world, and in whatever position
\nhe is placed he serves all men as his brothers by the law of love, by the law of
\njustice. When this perception becomes the basis of religion, of philosophy, of
\nsocial speculation and political aspiration, then will liberty, equality and
\nfraternity take their place in the structure of society and the satyayuga <\/i>return.
\nThis is the Asiatic reading of democracy which India must rediscover for herself
\nbefore she can give it to the world. It is the dharma <\/i>of every man to be
\nfree in soul, bound to service not by compulsion but by love; to be equal in
\nspirit, ap-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-759<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nportioned
\nhis place in society by his capacity to serve society, not by the interested
\nselfishness of others; to be in harmonious relations with his brother men,
\nlinked to them by mutual love and service, not by shackles of servitude, or the
\nrelations of the exploiter and the exploited, the eater and the eaten. It has
\nbeen said that democracy is based on the rights of man; it has been replied that
\nit should rather take its stand on the duties of man; but both rights and duties
\nare European ideas. Dharma <\/i>is the Indian conception in which rights and
\nduties lose the artificial antagonism created by a view of the world which makes
\nselfishness the root of action, and regain their deep and eternal unity. Dharma
\n<\/i>is the basis of democracy which Asia must recognise, for in this lies the
\ndistinction between the soul of Asia and the soul of Europe. Through dharma <\/i>the
\nAsiatic evolution fulfils itself; this is her secret.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nCharter
\nor no Charter<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWe
\nhave already said what we had to say on Mrs. Besant\u2019s idea of a National
\nUniversity. In her speech on Education delivered at the Corinthian Theatre, she
\nreferred again to the subject of the Charter and invited the National Council of
\nEducation to get a Royal Charter to confer degrees. She gave the instance of the
\nEnglish Universities which have got such a Charter from the King, but "it
\ndid not follow that those Universities were under Government control, the
\nCharter being but a guarantee for the education which the University undertook
\nto give". It is surprising that so acute an intellect as Mrs. Besant should
\nnot perceive the fallacy of appealing to English precedents. An arrangement
\nwhich works in England for the benefit of the country, may easily be worked in
\nIndia to its disadvantage, for the simple reason that in India the interests of
\nthe governing bureaucracy and the people are not identical, while in England the
\npeople and the Government are one. Socialistic State control may work well in
\nEngland, in India it means the control of public business in the interests of a
\nsmall and alien caste. So with the proposed Charter. Mrs. Besant gives away her
\ncase when she admits that the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-760<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nCharter
\nis a guarantee for the education given in the University. Certainly, the
\nauthority having the guarantee has the right to see that the guarantee is not
\nabused and that the education is up to a standard consistent with the dignity of
\na Royal Charter. This means at least potential State control. In England the
\ncontrol is not exercised, because no public interest can be served by
\ninterfering with the work of the educational experts who conduct these
\nUniversities, but if the Universities were to fall very much behind in their
\neducational standard, it is conceivable that the potential right of interference
\nmight be exercised. If the National Council of Education were to get a Royal
\nCharter, this potential right of interference would be in the hands of the
\nauthority issuing the Charter, in other words, with the King, which means, for
\nIndia, with the Secretary of State, which again means with the Anglo-Indian
\nbureaucracy; and we know how that bureaucracy would be likely to use the power.
\nAt any moment the Council might have to face the alternative of either accepting
\npractical control by officialdom or sacrificing the Charter; this would mean a
\ncrisis which might wreck the new education altogether. Quite apart, therefore,
\nfrom the sacrifice of that principle of robust independence and faith in its own
\nfuture which is its true strength, the Council would be guilty of an impolitic
\nstep, if it accepted, much more if it asked for a Charter. The latter idea is
\nindeed inconceivable. The exclusion of the Council’s students from the learned
\nprofessions means only exclusion from the Government service and the Law, and it
\nis more wholesome for the new institution to be removed from these temptations
\ntill it is strong enough to make these professions seek for its students instead
\nof its students seeking for them. The hankering after a Charter is born of
\nweakness and deficient faith; it will be no gain to National Education and may
\neasily be fatal to it.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 16, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

The outbreak at Tinnevelly is significant as a warning
\nboth to the authorities and to the leaders of the popular party. For the<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-761<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nbureaucracy,
\nif they have eyes to see or ears to hear, it should be an index of the
\nfierceness of the fire which is burning underneath a thin crust of patience and
\nsufferance and may at any moment lead to a general conflagration. Whence does
\nthis fire come or what does it signify? It is a suddenly blazing fire of straw,
\nsay the bureaucrats, kindled by the hands of mischievous agitators; it means
\nnothing except that the authors of the mischief must be vigorously repressed.
\nEven if this were true, it is at least a subject which might well cause
\nreflection in minds not blinded by selfish infatuation why it is so easily
\nkindled, why it blazes out so fiercely and in so many places far apart from each
\nother. Some years ago agitators might have spoken themselves hoarse and yet
\nthere would have been no such upsurging of the population of a whole city in
\nreckless revolt against established authority. Still more significant is the
\ndefiant spirit of the people which neither the imprisonment of the leaders, nor
\nthe shots of the military could quell, but rather lashed into fiercer rage. This
\nis no light fire of straw, but a jet of volcanic fire from the depths, and that
\nhas never in the world’s history been conquered by repression. Cover it up,
\ntrample it down, it may seem to sink for a moment, but that is only because part
\nof the imprisoned flame has escaped; every day of repression gives it a greater
\nvolume and prepares a mightier explosion. To the popular leaders it is a warning
\nof the necessity to put their house in order, to provide a settled leading and
\nso much organisation as is possible so that the movement may arrive at a
\nconsciousness of ordered strength. At Tuticorin it was the inspiring voices, the
\ncheerful and confident faces, the strong and calm example of their leaders in
\nwhich the people felt their strength, and enabled them also to act with a
\nrestrained enthusiasm and a settled courage. The removal of that inspiring, yet
\nquieting force, led inevitably to the resort to
\nviolence which has startled the whole country by its devastating fierceness,
\n\u2014<\/span> though
\nat the same time it was mild enough compared with what an European mob would
\nhave done at a similar pitch of excitement. Throughout the country the same fire
\nis burning or beginning to burn and where it has gathered force, it can only be
\ncalm and restrained so long as it feels either that it is well led or that it is
\ndeveloping an ordered strength. Any weak-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>762<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nness,
\nany failure of a serious kind on the part of the leaders will be the signal for
\nstorms before which the ‘unrest’, so alarming to English politicians, will prove
\na mere bagatelle. It is only conscious strength, it is only organised courage
\nthat can afford to be calm and patient. This is not the time to be inventing
\ncreeds and constitutions which a year or two will tear into shreds, but to
\nrecognise facts, to put ourselves in touch with the present and make ourselves
\nstrong to control the future.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 17, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-763<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asiatic Democracy                   ASIA is not Europe and never will be Europe. The political ideals of the West are not the mainspring of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\n
\n
\nThe
\nWarning from Madras<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n