That must be reached from which all knowledge comes.

— SRI AUROBINDO

Vol. XXVIII. No. 2

April 1971

The Divine gives itself to those who give themselves without reserve and in all their parts to the Divine. For them the calm, the light, the power, the bliss, the freedom, the wideness, the heights of knowledge,, the seas of Ananda. - Sri Aurobindo,

A POEM BY SRI AUROBINDO

(UNPUBLISHED)

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EDITORIAL

THE STRESS OF THE SPIRIT

THE universe is a close-knit pattern in which each part, each point is inextricably linked with every other part and point. Each element acts and reacts upon every other: the karma of one is echoed and re-echoed in the karma of all others. An inevitable, inescapable mutuality rules the behaviour of the constituent entities of a whole; in other words, there is only one Force, one Presence that permeates all, even constitutes the All.

The material universe makes one single block of reality, homogeneous and indivisible. Modern knowledge has proved the fact to the hilt. It is one continuous extension like the ocean's rippling wet sheet. If you pull at one point the tension is felt in the whole at every other point. That is Einstein's gravitational field constituting the universe: a change of disposition at one point changes the disposition of the whole universe. The very character of this world is its rigorous determinism: the part is absolutely and completely a portion and parcel of the whole. Somewhat paradoxically one might say that the part is the whole, nothing but the whole, only on a reduced scale.

Viewed in this light all human endeavour, its achievements and realisations form a single collective activity: it is one force, one energy realising itself in and through many vehicles and instruments. Not even man's mental activity that seems so free and autonomous is outside the compass of the universal gravitational field where everything is appointed and determined in a compact tensile global unity.

Each individual human effort is in effect the total human effort canalised at a particular point through a particular receptacle. The unity of the whole does not consist in the combination, a summation of separate or independent units: the separate units on the surface are an illusion and valuation of individuals in this viewpoint is an anomaly, for in reality there are no individuals: they are but at the

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most the various limbs or functions of the same body, of the one and single person. Life as consciousness is one single surge: contagion (also in the good sense), permeation is its law.

Vicarious atonement, a phenomenon familiar and well-known in the religious domain, finds a very simple meaning in this view and almost becomes a very natural human phenomenon. There is an inevitable inter-action and inter-flow of psychological forces among individuals, it is no more a riddle to say that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, nor that the virtues of the sons wash away the sins of the fathers; and that is how the Avatars automatically, inevitably take upon themselves and have to take upon themselves and bear the stigmata of suffering humanity. And that is how they embody and fulfil the total aspiration of all human beings. An avatar is thus an outburst of the earth's highest need of the hour. Indeed, however great an individual, his greatness is in reality the greatness of the world-spirit in him, and also contrariwise the small-ness of an earthly being is the smallness of the universal being at a point, under a particular condition. In other words, the individual represents the weakest or the strongest link as the case may be, in the one single chain constituting the whole human race.

And yet, at bottom, it is not such an absolute determinism, this cosmos, however apparently it may prove itself to be so. It is found, actually, that behind and in and through this ineluctable fatalism there are aberrations, freaks that do not adhere to the common pattern. In the over-all macrocosmic view the reign of the fixed law is perhaps absolute but in the microcosm of infinitesimals fissures appear, discrepancies show themselves. All strict calculations turn out in the end to be mere approximations, only they tend to become more and more approximate. It is like the asymptote or the race between the hare and the tortoise in the famous story—a mathematical puzzle— where the hare starting behind can never catch up the tortoise however fast he may run. With the discovery of new factors (sometimes only a new way of calculation) the gap is sought to be reduced, but the approximation remains. For example, the bending of a ray of light from a star passing by the solar sphere is a subject for interesting calculation: between the figure as given by the Einstein-equation and the actual measurement there is a difference, although slight, yet a

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difference. Such differences are usually explained by some kind of intervention and if that intervention does not fully explain it, another intervention is brought in, and still the hiatus continues. This is just an example. The ultimate particles of matter, points of electric charge (or no-charge), points of tension are incalculable; their position or velocity is an indeterminate, not because of the infinitesimal size of the quantum, their very nature is so; they are erratic in their own essence. And one can justifiably ascribe a kind of free will to these ultimate, almost immaterial material particles, although when they are in bundles or groups they behave quite reasonably and very obedient to the law, but singly each possesses or is capable of possessing a free independent movement. There is a basis here of the spirit of independence that shows itself more clearly in the biological units, and of course, very overtly and patently in the human mental consciousness.

There seems to be an entity lying at the other end away from Matter, it is the Spirit, the individual Conscious Being. If Matter is Bondage, Law, Determinism, Spirit is Freedom, Liberty, Self-choice. That is the well-known duality-—Purusha and Prakriti, that divide existence between themselves. Purusha is the conscient Being, and Prakriti the inconscient becoming. These dual realities are however not irrevocably distinct and separate incommensurables. They are not unbridgeable units foreign to each other. The conscient being infuses itself into the inconscient becoming and initiates a conscious movement in the unconscious field. Thus where there was the absolute determinism of matter, sparks from the free consciousness intervene and modify the settled balance. That is the inner sense of the aberrations that one observes in the play even of physical laws. It is just the beginning of the stress of consciousness in unconscious matter. That stress increases in the march of time, in the process of evolution; and the natural freedom of the subject impinges on the rigid law of the object making it more and more pliable, and plastic, more and more malleable and even reversible. In man a balance is struck between freedom and bondage although apparently bondage overweighs freedom. In the higher evolved status of being man arrives and can arrive at yet greater degrees of freedom and in the end eliminate altogether the element of bondage and transmute

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it into the self-expressed rhythm of the higher consciousness. The supreme Divine Consciousness or Being is that where Nature's determinism is dissolved in the self-law of the All Spirit, the Divine Will becoming the law of the being.

The whole process of creation, the final goal of the Divine Lila is the liberation of Nature, Prakriti. Prakriti is born in bondage as inconscient Energy. Prakriti itself is a prison-house made of, wholly made of unconsciousness. The conscious Being is there involved, imprisoned and suffers and is miserable. For the gloom of unconsciousness covers it and almost swallows it up. That is the immanent Godhead in creation and is in man his soul, an emanation and representative of the Godhead. As it is commonly understood, liberation means the release of the Godhead out of the prison escaping into the Transcendent. The riddle of this creation is therefore to be solved by this process of escape of the Conscious Principle from out of the unconscious covering beyond into the pure Consciousness—laya for the human being and pralaya for the creation. Actually the Upanishad gives graphically the direction to the human soul to pull himself out, out of the containing form: even as one draws the inner stem of a blade of grass out of its covering, for that which is Pure, Stainless is not here but out there.

But we have set before us a different process. The immanent Godhead, the Conscious Being imbedded, apparently lost in matter need not withdraw or depart elsewhere to be free and to be itself. We have already said the force of its consciousness has or can have a different function and is strong enough to carry out that function. Its very presence is sufficient to infuse its own light and freedom into the environing covering and gradually dissolve its dark ignorance. Man through his soul and self can liberate his ordinary ignorant nature: he not merely liberates himself from this nature but transmutes it into an expression and emanation of the Divine Consciousness. Even so the cosmic Godhead buried in the universe grows, evolves and slowly spreads and establishes the radiance of its consciousness in the cosmic nature, makes this also the expression and embodiment of his conscious energy. That is the liberation or rebirth of nature, not its dissolution and extinction. Not extraction, but infiltration is the process.

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The Divine Purusha descends into his own shadow and by his own light transmutes the dark silhouette into a luminous image, his very self concretised upon earth.

NOLINI KANTA GUPTA

In our body's cells there sits a hidden Power That sees the unseen and plans eternity...

SRI AUROBINDO

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THE PURSUIT OF PSYCHOLOGY

MOST of our universities now have full-fledged independent departments of psychology and they are fairly prosperous in the sense that they attract students and there is plenty of activity in the departments. But we might reflect a little on the overall position of the pursuit of psychology in the country and consider what contribution it makes to the cause of advancement of knowledge in the field and to human living nationally and internationally. In this connection the question arises whether our pursuit of psychology should or should not relate itself to the traditional Indian psychological knowledge as embodied in the various yogic systems and elsewhere. When the interest in yoga is otherwise increasing in many countries and they seek it from India, then should we not consider it our responsibility to explore and interpret this body of knowledge for a wider contemporary utilisation.

To facilitate consideration of this issue a draft on "Psychology and Yoga" is presented here below and comments are invited from all interested in the pursuit and progress of psychological studies.

PSYCHOLOGY AND YOGA

I. Western psychology is a vast body of knowledge regarding human mind, behaviour and personality, normal and abnormal, individual and social. There is a branch dealing with the mind and behaviour of the animal too. This is general scientific psychology, which limits itself severely to the empirical facts and seeks to be experimental. But there is also a powerful trend of psychological investigation represented by Freud and Jung which explores the unconscious and its effects on the conscious life of man. The latter explores also the fields of religion and yogic experience. There is also a Parapsychology, and it is getting into prominence, which seeks to explore phenomena like telepathy, memories of a previous birth, premonitions, apparitions, etc., etc. Telepathy has been taken up even for experimental investigation and it is becoming an important issue.

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Suggestology, a further recent branch, seeks to study the working of suggestion in various forms.

Western psychology is, indeed, a most active science and fresh issues and lines of investigation are ever coming up. What is, in fact, more important is the phenomenon of a general psychological way of looking upon life as such, war, peace, normal human dealings, personal, national and international, which is now a part of western cultural life.

But the most influential part in this pursuit is that of scientific psychology, which limits itself to empirical facts of mind and behaviour and seeks to be experimental. Lately it has turned more to behaviour, which is more amenable to experiment.

Now the substance of achievement of this body of psychological knowledge can best be represented in the words of Gardner Murphy, an eminent contemporary psychologist. He says, "Nobody knows anything much about the nature of man. We are in a position to raise a great many questions, to raise questions perhaps so grave and so fundamental that we begin to wonder if we even have a method for approaching an ultimate solution."¹

2. In India, Yoga has been the counterpart of Western psychology. And the research in this field has been enormous. Self-knowledge or Atma-jnana has been the characteristic objective of Indian cultural pursuit and again and again new approaches and processes were discovered and evolved for it. Each philosophical system, each religious belief has a yoga or a way of Sadhana (spiritual discipline) for the realisation of its perception of the spiritual truth and reality. Apart from these, various forms of yoga are well-known. They are Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Tantric Yoga and certain yogic forms called Bidyas in the Upanishads and other spiritual practices less known. In the wake of these has come the contemporary creation in this field—the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo as embodied in his systematic and comprehensive writing, "The Synthesis of Yoga".

All these yogic systems involve psychological systems of distinctive qualities with much common knowledge. These psychological

¹ Main Currents of Modern Thought, New York;, Vol. 9, No. 2.

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systems have a standpoint of their own. They seek the essential truth of personality and a mastery of the empirical part of personality and not just and intellectual understanding an explanation of them. That means a sure and verified knowledge of personality. They do not separate the empirical from the essential and do not limit themselves in their pursuit of the knowledge of personality, but the approach is, of course, itself a limitation. But the contemporary Integral Yoga deliberately seeks the widest and the comprehensive approach and the integral psychology which it embodies is, indeed, a most comprehensive account of personality.

The method in these Indian schools of psychology is primarily introspection, a direct observation of the states of consciousness, which is cultivated with great perseverance and dispassionateness over long years of training. Introspection is, no doubt, a difficult process, but this is the only one which gives a proper appreciation of reality of the facts of consciousness and a direct knowledge of the same. A greater reliance on objective observation in Western psychology has easily led to a failure of appreciation of the reality of mental processes and psychology has tended to become a study of behaviour. And this means a miscarriage of psychology as a science of mental life, with the result that we know a great deal about personality but almost nothing of personality.

In Western psychology, Jung on purely empirical grounds, through a study of the dreams of the normal persons and of religious experience, has come to affirm that there is a 'centre' behind the apparent dualisms of mental life. This 'centre' is comparable to the 'Atman' of Indian psychological systems, with the difference that in yoga it must be made at the end a fact of experience and not retained merely as a matter of inference.

3. If we take the two bodies of knowledge, Western psychological knowledge of personality and Indian yogic knowledge of personality, do they not fall into a coherent form, yielding a surer feeling as to what personality is and what its outer form and reaction are. Indian psychology, as it were, fulfils Western psychology and Indian psychology gets a fuller and detailed knowledge of the outer form of personality. The knowledge of the essential part is indispensable. That is what lends uniqueness and wholeness to personality and is,

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therefore, most important for educational and therapeutic purposes.

Western psychology has been, one might say, rather unfortunate in emulating the example of other sciences. In the 19th century while seeking recognition, it sought to become 'a psychology without a soul'. Then it sought to be like physics and again like biology and further like physiology and lastly experimental and mathematical to be a perfect science. The spirit of experiment is a correct approach, but to seek experimentation like that of the physical sciences is a different matter. It is interesting to note that Dilthey and Spranger in Germany reminded it that its subject-matter was not like that of the physical sciences and, therefore, it should rather be itself than something other than itself. Ebbinghaus and Kulpe had sought to apply introspection to the higher mental processes, memory, thought and imagination and it yielded promising results. But neither the direction of Dilthey and Spranger nor of Ebbinghaus and Kulpe succeeded in giving an effective new turn to the science. If it had happened, the situation today might have been very different and western psychology and yoga might have found themselves closer to each other.

5. Since Independence, India has naturally sought to feel, live and act in its own selfhood more or less. This trend has had its effect in the field of the pursuit of knowledge too. India has had a high tradition of the pursuit of knowledge and scored great achievements in many fields. Alathematics, astronomy, medicine, literature, philosophy, religion and yoga are some of the most important ones. In these, in particular, the Indian scholars sought to recover their traditional roots and by doing so they felt well reinforced in their present pursuit of the same. But the process of discovering this selfhood continues and in psychology too a beginning has been made here and there. However, here India has much to contribute to world knowledge and the world demands it of us and appreciates it too when we are able to do so. Let us hope that our research is able to deliver to us in modern form the psychological knowledge of the yogic systems more and more and the sum of world knowledge of psychology becomes more confident of human personality and its varied dimensions and domains.

INDRA SEN

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OLD BENGALI MYSTIC POEMS

XLI

THE world was never born and had no beginning,

through illusion it appears to exist.

When you mistake a rope for a snake

and get frightened,

You are not then actually bitten even by a harmless snake!

It is all a wonder! O Yogi, do not wash your hands with salty¹ water.

When you will understand that the world is such as it is

by its very nature, then all your bonds will snap.

Even like the desert mirage or the airy city or

the image in the mirror

Or like the water's spout that stands solid as a stone-pillar

It is like the child of a barren woman playing odd plays:

It is like oil out of sand, like the horn of a

rabbit, like a flower blooming in the sky.

Rautu says: Indeed, and Ehusuku says also, such

is the nature of things:

If you are in ignorance, go and ask of a true Guru.

XLII

The consciousness when normal is a total zero.

Do not be sorry when deprived of your limbs.

But how do you say Kanhu is not?

He is vibrant, constantly entering into the three worlds.

The ignorant are afflicted when they do not see the seen.

But when the waves break does the ocean dry up ?

The ignorant do not see the worlds that yet exist.

They do not see the cream within the milk.

In this world none goes out, none comes in:

This is the consciousness in which yogi Kanhu revels.

NOLINI KANTA GUPTA

 ¹ I.e., not pure clean.

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THE UNITED NATIONS AND WORLD-GOVERNMENT

THE learned addresses that you have been hearing during the last one hour have indeed covered much of the ground I would have needed to tread upon today. The background of the subject before you—the evolution of the United Nations into a world-government— has been set out. The necessity of a world-government has also been emphasised. Whether it is the United Nations that is to be developed into the eventual world-government, or a totally new start is to be made in that direction, is one of the questions that we have to consider. Before coming to the broad aspects of the problem I would like to put in brief a few salient features of our approach to the subject.

In our view, the United Nations is not simply a brain-child of the leaders of the great Powers during the second World War. It was not—despite appearances to that effect an ad hoc arrangement between the contending powers to safeguard their own interests under the spacious cover of soothing proclamations. It was much more than that. In fact, the founding of the United Nations Organisation has been the culmination of an important line of the collective development of man and marks also a radical starting-point for a new phase in the history of mankind.

In our view of things, no event, be it in the life of the individual or in the life of the collectivity, is a mechanical result of blind forces or a fortuitous product of chance. Even when certain results are brought about by apparently irrational factors, to the perceiving eye not blinded by the movement, there reveals itself a sequence and an indication behind the surface. This is so because the whole movement of creation of which our earth is a significant part is purposive. Every step of this world movement has a meaning inasmuch as it is a part of an evolutionary progression that is in progress. The real character of life on this planet is one of evolution of consciousness. The evolution of forms by which Charles Darwin swore is only the outer phenomenon determined by the evolution of the consciousness within. In this context, all that happens, planned by man or imposed by Nature, contributes in some way or other to the general march in the evolution

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of humanity. This movement of progressive evolution has many aspects, many sides all of which go to make up the totality of the organic growth. The growth of consciousness expresses itself in an enlarging and self-heightening development in the spheres of mind, life-force, heart emotions etc; from another viewpoint this growth is measured in terms of economic, social and political development of humanity. The subject we are concerned with today, namely, the development of diversified humanity into a world community naturally comes under the category of the social and political development of human consciousness. It is from this standpoint that the birth of the U. N. O. and its role is to be envisaged. 

As everyone knows, man in his primitive beginnings started by himself with everything ranged against him. Apparently as a matter of expediency, though in reality as a result of the pressure of evolving Nature, he soon built a group around himself as against other groups and carried on his struggle for existence. Thus came to be aggregates of men, small, less small, a little bigger and still bigger; the family, the clan, the tribe, the principality and so on. The whole collective development proceeded step by step through a series of enlarging mergers till the nation unit was arrived at. Where man did not anticipate and fulfil this need for self-enlargement of the collectivity, Nature forced him to do so by such means as war and conquest. But the nation itself is not the final term of the political evolution of humanity. That is why nations have been compelled to associate themselves, to merge themselves in some way or other and constitute still larger units like empires or commonwealths. Is this the final goal, a divided world comprising a number of empire-formations or a number of blocks based on their own ideological grounds ? All indications point to the contrary.

The growth in the size of the collective units has not meant a corresponding growth in the unitive life of humanity, which is clearly one of the main aims of world evolution. All along man has dreamed of one mankind, one family. Corresponding to the dream of the City of God visioned by the mystics all over the world in all ages there has been also a persistent dream of the City of Man. That is so because corresponding to the existence of an individual soul in man questing for the truth of Divinity in consciousness and in life, there is

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also at the collective level a collective soul of humanity which is growing in the figure of the truth of Unity with which it is loaded. Like the individual soul building itself by evolutionary effort into an effective power for the organisation and manifestation of the supreme truths of beauty, power, knowledge and love, the collective soul of humanity also seeks to organise and develop itself through the growth and organisation of its multiple units of expression with a self-fulfilling godhead of universal Harmony, Peace and Prosperity.

Beginning with the lofty visions of one Family, one Home, of the Indian and the Chinese seers, centuries before the Christ, across the dreams of the philosophers and builders of early Greece and Rome, right through the history of Asia Minor and through the centuries of the political development of the continent of Europe, this ideal of One State, One World has been a challenging concept that refuses to be pushed into the background by any events of local or temporary significance. Whether the unification has been sought under the banner of religion or racial superiority or a particular civilisation, the aim has always been the same—a unification of the human community spread over the whole globe, in order to eliminate the conflict that is inevitable with division, in order to establish a total harmony and peace among all the people. Attempts like the Concert of Europe had no doubt only the unity of the European peoples alone in mind. But with the advent of the present century and especially the holocaust of the first great Armageddon of 1914, the whole perspective underwent a change. The idea of a community of nations all over the world came to stay. It came to be accepted as an imperative step to be taken and worked out in its practical implications. Thus the League of Nations came into being. For the first time a permanent body was brought into existence to articulate and organise the international spirit of the collectivity. A living organism with a number of arteries and channels for the flow of blood and energies to all the parts of the body was projected into existence. For apart from the political objective of world peace, there were provided various channels for international cooperation and growth in the various other spheres of development and progress—education, labour, health etc. That the experiment failed because of the half-hearted and insincere approach of its sponsors is no fault of the organisation. A new and more

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sincere attempt became inevitable and Nature precipitated the circumstances to force the issue into the open.

I do not need to take you into a detailed recital of the steps that resulted in the formation of the present United Nations Organisation. We all know how, two years after the outbreak of the second world war and its attendant suffering among large masses of humanity President Roosevelt of the United States and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, held a secret meeting on a battleship in the Atlantic and announced on August 14, 1941, a plan for peace. This plan has come to be known as the Atlantic Charter. In January 1942, 26 Nations met in Washington, discussed the Charter and pledged themselves to win the war against the Axis powers and signed a Declaration of United Nations. This was the first occasion when the term United Nations suggested by President Roosevelt was used. This was followed by conferences in 1943 ^m Moscow, in 1944 at Dumbarton-Oaks in Washington, a meeting in 1945 of President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Premier Stalin at Yalta. Thereafter 50 countries met in San Francisco on April 25, 1945, and after discussions signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26, 1945. This step was later ratified by the concerned Nations and the United Nations was born on October 24, 1945.

The purposes of the United Nations were announced to be:

To maintain international peace and security;

To develop friendly relations among nations;

To cooperate internationally in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedom;

To be a centre for harmonising the action of nations in attaining these common ends.

Membership was thrown open to all countries accepting the Charter and in a position to carry out the responsibilities arising there from.

The United Nations is made up of 6 main organs:

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The General Assembly

Security Council

Trusteeship Council

Economic and Social Council

Secretariat

International Court of Justice

The Organisation has also taken over from the defunct League of Nations the family of related specialised agencies working in the international field of Education, Labour, Health and the like.

It is now full 25 years since the United Nations came into being and started functioning as the pilot project of a serious effort at international level for the building of world harmony and peace. Naturally, as with all human institutions, the progress has not been all even. If there have been certain signal successes, there have been also many notable failures. But it is evident to any dispassionate observer that the failures have been really the failures of the member powers— especially the big Powers—to honour their obligations.

Be that as it may, the United Nations today represents the largest step forward taken so far in international cooperation. Nearly 127 countries are represented. The major areas of the globe are being served by the various agencies under the direction of the U. N. O. The very fact that the Organisation has stood and survived crisis after crisis during the last quarter of a century and still claims the allegiance of a vast majority of nations is itself a promising sign. The habit of international consultation and cooperation has become more deep-rooted and organised under the drive of this Organisation. The scope and effectivity of international action has greatly increased. Whatever failures there have been are due to certain obnoxious features— perhaps inevitable in the conditions of those formative years of the constitution like the Veto power of the great five and also due to the fact that a considerable section of humanity represented by China is kept still outside the Organisation. The failure that is laid at the door of U. N. O. is really the failure of the men that are responsible for its running.

The situation in which we now find ourselves is truly explosive. Physically the world has been brought together to an unprecedented

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degree of proximity. Psychologically there is a universal recognition of the essential oneness of mankind though different sections conceive of this oneness in different ways. Still the old habits of national claims and rivalry persist and there are constant rumblings of war-clouds. There is a climate of cold war where there are no hot wars. Is it wise under these threatening conditions to do away with the United Nations as some advocate because it has not proved as adequate as anticipated ? That surely is a counsel of despair.

The United Nations, in our view, is a projection on the material plane of the Idea of One World in the Universal Mind of humanity. Ideas take time to translate themselves into full-fledged realities and the U. N. O. represents such a transitional stage in the development of One World. It is the only basis we have got to work upon, to build upon for world unity. It is possible, by an intelligent emendation of the Charter, by a more sincere adherence to its basic principles on the part of the member states, to convert it into an effective force for world peace. World peace can only be built and ensured by a world government. And the U. N. O. is the only existing Organisation that has in its constitution all the necessary ingredients to blossom into a world government. How precisely such a development can be organised and speeded up, how the legislative, the executive, the judicial and the military wings of the future government can be evolved from the existing units of the General Assembly, the Security Council, the International Court of Justice and the U.N. task force is a question that has to be discussed in depth by the delegates that have gathered here under the auspices of the World Union International.

The World Union International on whose behalf I have the privilege to welcome this Assembly and invite the delegates to study and report their findings on the subjects offered to them committee-wise, believes that World Unity is a fact pressing for fulfilment on earth. It is a fact on the plane of Consciousness—mental, emotional spiritual. It only needs an effective material instrument to precipitate itself and establish its rule of oneness, of harmony, of peace. This is also the end towards which the labour of the collective evolution of humanity is mounting. Even as man the individual has arrived at a stage today when he is called upon to exceed the Umitation of his mind and open out into a larger dimension of being, call it by whatever

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name—spiritual, mystical or any other—if he is to continue as the monarch of Nature, the evolution of collective man also has reached a stage when each national soul—which is but a subsidiary term of the emerging World-Soul —is called upon to exceed itself and constitute with other similar formations into a World-Soul on the political plane. This demand of evolutionary Nature has had recourse to violent means like wars and catastrophes to force them to take steps. with-in that desired direction. It needed the blood bath of the first World War to bring the League of Nations into existence. The holocaust of the second world war had to take place before the U. N. O. could come into being. And now if the U. N. O. is allowed to fade out a cataclysm, far more serious than any in history before is sure to be visited upon the blind humanity in order to drive it towards the inevitable step. It is in this perspective that the World Union leads for a reformation, a re-vivification of the structure of the U. N. O. and an enlargement of its scope and function so as to turn it in the direction of an eventual world government.

And what is the type of the government we envisage, what is the political shape that we would give to the world community? Here also there is a close resemblance between the development of the individual vis-a-vis the nation state of which he is a member on one side and on the other the developing relations of the constituent member states with the world integer. Just as the ideal relation between the individual and his nation is one of mutual accommodation —the individual parting with a measure of his freedom in the interests of the community and the state providing him with the needed field and support for his evolution and growth so too the countries forming the world community shall part with a measure of their sovereignty and the larger body function so as to nourish and lead them to their several and collective fulfilment. That is to say, our goal is not a world-state, but a world-union in which all the member states voluntarily and whole-heartedly join together for the collective welfare of all. Each unit retains enough freedom to realise the truth of its own civilisation but at the same time contribute generously to the total harmony. A federated family of nations is what we hope to see emerge in the not too distant future.

This consummation is naturally linked with the next impending

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step in the evolution of the individual man. For it is in the measure in which men and women will have learnt to transcend their narrow, egoistic and selfish interests, to breathe a larger and freer air of unitive consciousness beyond the too self-regarding mind, in a word, to the extent they liberate themselves psychologically into the domains of the soul and release the hidden springs of Love and Harmony, that the leadership of the nations will be compelled to orientate the life of the nations in the same direction. The key lies in the heart of each individual.

(Chairman's Address at the Plenary Session of the World-Union Youth Parliament, Pondicherry on 27-12-1970)

M. P. PANDIT

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THE SOCIOLOGICAL OUTLOOK

IV

NOWADAYS, in education particular, there is the realisation that each human being is a self-developing soul and that the aim of both parent and teacher is to help the child to educate himself, to develop his own intellectual, moral, aesthetic and practical capacities, and not to be moulded into a stereotyped form like some inert plastic material. It is not yet fully realised, however, what the true inner being, or soul, is. Or that the true secret is to help the individual to find his deeper self, the real psychic entity within. In order to attain this knowledge, an extension of knowledge far beyond the present psychological field, is a necessary step.

At this stage, while the subjective tendency is not yet certain of its steps towards Truth, we can examine in greater detail some of the higher motives and aims of society. This will help us to avoid some of the disastrous blunders of the past, as well as help us support the movements of society in the direction of a greater Good, Harmony, Truth and Perfection dwelling among all peoples of the world.

Firstly, we see that a nation or society, like the individual has a body, an organic life, a moral and aesthetic temperament, a developing mind, and a soul. This latter is a group-soul, which having attained to a separate distinctness, must become more and more self-conscious. But the soul of a nation, being composed of a large number of individuals sharing common ideas, is quite complex.

From this point of view we can understand that there are great subjective forces working behind individuals, policies, and economic movements of a nation, which are mainly subconscious, or subliminal. As well as influencing the nation's action as a whole, they also give a personality and outlook to the members of that nation. Thus, the very expression of the people, whether in speech, writing or other activities characterises the inner motives of that nation. It is for this reason that each nation develops a characteristic literature, or music, or architecture.

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In recent years, political power and force have taken the place of the soul, as we have seen in the case of Germany, as it was under the Nazi rule. In the period between two world wars, a titanic force arose, which wanted to be greater than any nation in Europe and overwhelmed the people. It was the vital ego which came forward, as it often threatens to do in many growing nations. This becomes a violent destructive force, especially when it grips the young impressionable masses. The true soul, on the other hand, is constructive, having been instrumental in building up cultures and the creative arts, the treasures of which we can still enjoy.

V

The modern tendency within all psychologically developed countries is an attempt to understand the individual,—not only in the education of the child, but in the treatment of criminals and delinquents. There is the attempt to make allowances for heredity, environment, and inner deficiencies, and to change the person from within rather than coerce him from without. Peoples' idea of punishment is vastly different from what it was, even at the beginning of the century. All nations are slowly learning that a society which crushes or effaces the individual inflicts a wound on itself and deprives its own life of the priceless source of its own growth. Equally the individual cannot flourish by himself, for the unity and collectivity of his fellow-being is his strength and support for his own further progress.

It is a mistake of nations to imagine that the individual is merely a cell of the collective ego. The aim of the nation is then to make the individual efficient,—a disciplined instrument of the national life. But while such a nation might become powerful and efficient, economically and socially, it loses a deeper cultural life and a wider vision. Individuals of outstanding ability and independent views will tend to leave that nation and seek their fortune elsewhere.

If the State is the supreme authority and the individual merely a blind, dependent unit, the whole activity of the individual is directed to serving the State and the community. And in relation to other States the only effective law is that of war or strife between two antaagonists.

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For such States will strive only to hold the power which they have gained. War thus becomes the whole business of such a State in relation to others—whether it is a war of arms, of commerce, of ideas and culture, or of personalities each seeking to possess the world, or at least dominate and be first in the world.

But it is not in its physical, economic, or even cultural life that the true individuality of a nation is centred. It rests with the Soul, which alone can relate the good of each member of society on a footing of equality—not of strife and domination—to the good of the rest of the world.

VI

Through the influence of modern science two opposing tendencies are functioning in society. On the one hand, there is the right for each to live his own life, even at the expense of others. On the other hand, there is the tendency to preserve the type—the pack, herd or swarm—there is, the human group rather than the individual human being. Where the latter condition is predominant the idea of the State takes the place of the individual, and the State exerts its right to exist even at the expense of other States.

An extension of this idea is that even individual nations or states should sacrifice their free separateness to the life of a larger collectivity—whether of a united Europe, or of a large soviet Union, or of a total united life of the human race. But this is a dangerous step while ever the State is firmly centered in its collective ego.

The real importance of this subjective stage of social development is that man, in his subjective return inward, can get back to himself, to the root of his living and his infinite possibilities. The potentiality of a new and perfect world is beginning to widen before him. Man discovers his real place in Nature, partly glimpsed though his knowledge of Evolution and verified by the science of Spirituality. And he at last opens his eyes to the greatness of his destiny.

Now, if the State boldly asserts that it exists for the growth of the individual, and will assure the individual's freedom, dignity and successful manhood, that State will be itself assured of the well-being, strength and expansion of its capacities. It will produce such individuals

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and personalities who will help the State to become a great shining example in the world. Such happened in 19th century France, and also England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution which produced a line of great inventors who were to usher in a new age.

But the mistakes of the past, which modern society is learning and must avoid, was the crushing of the masses in order to elevate the individual. Now, after a hundred and fifty years, when the swing of the pendulum has reached the other extreme, and individual effort has been crushed and subordinated to serve the blind need of the masses, there is the chance that a midway balance will be established. Through education, especially of an international type based on spirituality, a more enlightened society will recognise the importance of the individual, and the individual himself opened to a wider vision will equally recognise the importance of a harmonious, regulated and satisfied society as the fitted medium for progress.

(To be continued)

N. PEARSON

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A COUPLET OF GHALIB

"The universe is only the manifestation of the All-Beloved. Where would we have been if Beauty had not been self-perceiving?"

THIS is the bare translation of the Urdu poet's two lines, which are pregnant with a profound spiritual significance. According to the poet, the whole creation is only the deployment of the infinite Beauty and Loveliness hidden in the Divine Being. The Divine is apprehended as the All-Beautiful and the All-Beloved. In the Sufi mystical tradition the Supreme Reality is not merely the creator of a world of teeming forms but an Artist who manifests Himself by exteriorizing what He perceives within Himself by His comprehensive consciousness. The word of creation rings forth as soon as He beholds the endless Beauty latent in His Being. We, the multiplicity, the many are not separate beings, but part and parcel of His Being, the very stuff of His eternal delight of existence. How did this creation teeming with numberless worlds, objects and beings come forth? It simply flowed out of Him when He saw Himself as Beauty and Love and Delight. The unity of the supreme Existent is not a mere monotone, but the unity of a musical symphony spontaneously marshalling all its notes and strains; it is the unity of a poem or a dance bodying forth one inspiring idea or emotion in various words and gestures and rhythms. Thus world-existence with its multiplicity of beings is neither an illusory conceptual figment nor a purposeless, dully rotating machine but an expression, a concretisation of the beauty existing in what Blake called the Divine Imagination. Poet Iqbal also echoes the same truth with a greater note of affirmation. 'Life is sincerity and purity; Life is development and growth and taking shape. Go on striving eternally; for, Life is the country of God." Yes, it is God who inhabits this world and who is growing out of this inconscient world. Thus Ghalib's couplet comes very close to what Sri Aurobindo observes in the Life Divine, "The world expresses a foreseen Truth, obeys a predetermining Will, realises an original formative

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self-vision,—it is the growing image of a divine creation."¹ And elsewhere in the same book he writes, "The self-delight of Brahman is not limited, however, by the still and motionless possession of its self-being. Just as its force of consciousness is capable of throwing itself into forms infinitely and with an endless variation, so also its self-delight is capable of movement, of variation, of revelling in that infinite flux and mutability of itself represented by numberless teeming universes. To loose forth and enjoy this infinite movement and variation of its self-delight is the object of its extensive or creative play of Force." In Sri Aurobindo's "Thoughts and Aphorisms" we hear the word of revelation, self-validating and vibrating with the mantric power, "The universe is not merely a mathematical formula for working out the relation of certain mental abstractions called numbers and principles to arrive in the end at a zero or a void unit, neither is it merely a physical operation embodying a certain equation of forces. It is the delight of a self-lover, the play of a child, the endless self-multiplication of a Poet intoxicated with the rapture of His own power of endless creation." And a little later in the same book, "If Idea embracing Force begot the world, Delight of Being begot the Idea. Because the Infinite conceived an innumerable delight in itself, therefore worlds and universes came into existence. And now I will end this commentary with another quotation from The Mother which has a bearing on Ghalib's cosmogony, "Each of the worlds is nothing but one play of the Mahashakti of that system of worlds or universe, who is there as the cosmic Soul and Personality of the Transcendental Mother. Each is something that she has seen in her vi sion, gathered in her heart of beauty and power and created in her Ananda."

The same experience is enshrined in these lines in Savitri

There unity is too close for search and clasp

And love is a yearning of the One for the One,

And beauty is a sweet difference of the Same

And oneness is the soul of multitude.²

R. KHANNA

¹ The Life Divine p. 120 (Sixth Indian Edition)

² Savitri Book I Canto III

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THE IDEAL OF HUMAN UNITY:

AN OUTLINE

CHAPTER IV

THE INADEQUACY OF THE STATE IDEA

'THEORETICALLY, the state idea demands the subordination of the individual to the collectivity in the interests of the common good. In actual fact, this amounts to the subservience of the individual to the aims and ambitions of a group of ruling persons who call themselves the state. Formerly, this group belonged to a ruling class; now it forms out of the common mass and seeks to impose its will, not by force as in the past but by a process of verbal hypnotism. In either case, there is no guarantee that this ruling group represents the best mind of the race or its noblest aspirations.

What the modern politician all over the world does represent is the average pettiness, selfishness, egoism, self-deception along with a great deal of mental incompetence, timidity and pretence. The disease and falsehood of modern political life is patent everywhere; it survives because of an inert acquiescence born of habit. It is to such hands that the individual is asked to surrender his life. What they do secure in the end is not the largest good of all, but a great deal of organised blundering and evil with a certain amount of good, which Nature manages to bring forth in the end in spite of man's imperfections.

But even if the ruling group were better fitted to govern, things would not be very different. For the state represents, not the collective wisdom and force of the community as the state idea pretends, but only so much of the available intellect and power as the particular type of state organisation will allow to come to the surface. Things would be much worse if there were not a field left for private individuals doing what the state machinery cannot do, for it is the energy of the individual which is the really effective agent of collective progress. If the state comes in to help the individual effort, so much the better. But what is now happening is such an enormous increase

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in state power and activity that the individual often finds himself helpless.

The state, we can thus see, is neither the best mind of the nation, not does it allow the best energies of the community to act freely. It is simply a collective egoism and that too not of the best. The individual has at least something like a soul, an ethical sense; he has a fear of social opinion and has to obey the law which none but the most violent or skilful ever thinks of breaking. But the state with all its enormous power has hardly any internal scruples or external check to keep it on the right path. It has no soul; it is only a military, political and economic machine. It has a poorly developed intellectual and ethical being, and it blunts its ethical conscience by fictions and catchwords. Man in his relations with other men within the community is at least a half-civilised creature. But the state in its relations with other states has been and still largely is a huge beast of prey whose only law of living is to devour. There is no public opinion or effective international law that can check this predatory habit. There is only the fear of defeat, but that too is not always effective.

Until recently, the state was little better in its internal life than in its relations with other states. It preyed upon classes and individuals within as upon weaker nations outside. In modern times, the state has been trying to grow into an intellectual and moral being, by trying to promote the intellectual and moral development of the whole community; there is even a tendency to improve its relations with other states. It is now claiming on this ground to absorb all free action on the part of individuals. This claim, if satisfied, will lead to a stagnation like the one that overtook the Graeco-Roman world after the establishment of the Roman empire.

The demand of the state that the individual should sacrifice himself at the altar of the state therefore amounts to this that a smaller ego worships only a bigger more powerful collective ego which the state represents. Our highest ideals demand that man must learn to feel one with his fellows and complete his ego by expanding it out of its limitations. But the absorption of the free individual by a

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huge state machine is not the way to do it. The state is just a clumsy convenience for our common development; it can never be an end in itself.

The other claim made on behalf of the state, that an activity directed by the state is the best means of human progress, is also based on a falsehood. It is not true to say that state-governed action is the most conducive to the perfection of the individual and the community. The only true utility of the state is that it can provide the necessary facilities for the cooperative effort of the individuals in a community. When the state attempts to take up the control of this cooperative action, it creates a monstrous machinery which will end by crushing out the freedom, initiative and serious growth of the human being.

The state is not an organism, it is a machinery; and like a machine it works without tact, taste, delicacy or intuition. It tries to manufacture, whereas man is here to grow and create. When, for example, the state provides education for all, it is being eminently useful. But when it controls the education, it turns it into routine. The state, because it is a machine, always tends to uniformity; and uniformity is death, not life. A state education, a state religion, a state culture are unnatural violences, as are other activities controlled by the state.

The real business of the state is to provide all possible facilities and to remove all unnecessary obstacles and frictions, and to afford every person a just and equal chance of self-development and satisfaction. But all unnecessary interference with the freedom of man's growth is harmful. All collectivist ideals envisage a static state of society, where no further change is to be permitted. But so long as humanity is not full-grown, there can be no static good of all independent of the growth of the individuals composing the all. Always it is the individual who progresses.

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It is therefore quite impossible that a healthy unity of mankind can be brought about by state machinery of any kind. An external unity of this kind may be intended in the near future, to accustom the race to the idea of a common life; but it cannot be durable or beneficial unless something more profound, internal and real be developed. Otherwise, the experiment will break down. It should be possible for us to avoid this unhappy result, by aiming at a true unity through a moralised and even a spiritualised humanity, united in its inner soul.

CHAPTER V

NATION AND EMPIRE: REAL AND POLITICAL UNITIES

We have to take note of the difficulties that stand in the way of human unity. These difficulties are many and varied. Will the group-units already formed give up their egoisms ? Will not an external form of unity lead to a destruction of freedom ? Can there be a real and lasting unity through external means alone, without a sense of oneness developed from within ? We have to consider these questions in their order.

The largest form of a living and real collective unity so far evolved is the nation. There is the bigger unit, the empire; but it is only a political and not a real unity. The Austrian empire (before it was broken up by the first World War) may be taken as typical of such a unit. What kept it in being was force, applied by the Hapsburg monarchy. It could remain intact so long as the other Powers acquiesced in its existence and the various diverse elements included in it did not want to leave it. As soon as their attitude changed and the rest of Europe supported the change, it began to weaken and finally disappeared. This has been true of all other empires that are formed of diverse nationalities. For example, the British Empire, before its recent reorganisation in the form of Commonwealth, was on the verge of dissolution, because it was not a single national unit and lacked a living sense of oneness.

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The distinction made here between a real and a political unity is of capital importance. When a non-national empire is broken to pieces, it never recovers because there is no real oneness. A real nation-unity broken up by circumstances will always tend to regain its unity. The nations which had long been under subjection to the Turks in Europe have recovered their political unity after long ages. So has Italy which had no independent political existence as a nation since the fall of Rome.

Similarly, a real nation-unit which never in the past had a politically organised unity tends to develop a centripetal force, which in the end makes for political unity. This has been made clear in the history of ancient and medieval Greece, and in our own day in the growth of the German nation into a formidable unity. Here, as in so many other instances, it is a distinct group-soul which strives to find for itself an organised body.

Nowhere is this tendency more clearly visible than in the history of India. Here the complexities were great, the centrifugal tendencies remained obstinately persistent, the time taken in the process was more than two thousand years. But nothing could in the end prevent the final union. The urge to unity was there from the beginning of recorded history, from the time of the Great Epics. Each of the successive empires brought the end nearer, and the more foreign the rule the greater has been its force for unity.

The role of foreign domination in the building of national unity is an interesting study. The nature of the foreign rule and its duration, the fate of the foreign element have differed in each case. But the principle always has been the same. There is none of the modern nations in Europe which has not passed through a phase of foreign domination. The result in all cases has been an awakening to the necessity of union and the rejection of the elements of disunity within the nation; sometimes, as in France, it has meant a radical change. But the final result has everywhere been the creation of a firm national unity.

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The nation is the one real and psychological unity which has thus been developing throughout the world, in spite of the absence or temporary loss of political unity. In olden times, the real and living unit was the clan, the commune, the regional people; today it is the nation. So strong is the attraction of the nation-idea that it prevails against all others. To try to destroy or break it up by force is futile, for the nation is immortal, and will remain so until there develops a group-unity that has a bigger attraction.

The question is: will the empire take the place of the nation in future ? The fact that the empire today is merely a political and not a real unity need not be a permanent bar, for in many instances the nation too developed into a real unity from an artificial political union. The empire idea has been growing of late, and it may perhaps be taken as a sign of the next step towards human unity. There emerged out of the Great War the idea of a federation of free nations on the one hand, and on the other the division of the world into a number of powerful empires. We have to consider if it is the intention of Nature to bring these two ideas into some kind of harmony by combining the nation-idea and the empire-idea into a true world-union.

CHAPTER VI

ANCIENT AND MODERN METHODS OF EMPIRE

The name "empire" is given to two distinct types of political units. There is the true, non-national heterogeneous empire, like Japan or Germany before their dismemberment; and there is the homogeneous national empire, to which the name applies only in an honorific sense, as the Japanese empire before the absorption of Formosa and Korea.

The United States of America may be described as a purely-national "empire" where the states preserve something of their old distinctness and yet there is a real psychological unity with the rest. If the true heterogeneous empire is to become a living unit, it must acquire some of the characteristics of the U.S.A.

A possible solution of the problem of empire might seem to be

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offered by the recent attempts at large aggregations on a racial or cultural basis. This was the idea underlying Pan-Germanism, Pan-Slavism and Pan-Islamism. But such groupings are not likely to create a homogeneous unity, for they would always include other races or cultures, and would have to meet the conflicting claims of nationality. The real problem of empire would still remain, namely, how to create a true psychological unity out of a heterogeneous mass.

The one historical example that might help us here is that of the ancient Roman empire. Here was an attempt to solve much the same problems that confronted the great modern empires. The Roman experiment was quite a success: it endured long, it created a sense of oneness, and its ultimate failure was not due to a disruption from within or from the external pressure of barbarian attacks, but because of a decaying of its centre of life.

The Roman secured the unification of his empire by means of conquest, colonisation and an efficient system of administration. But this would not have by itself assured its continuance, for the sense of separate nationality would in time have asserted itself. What Rome did was to blot out this sense of separate nationality, not by force but through a peaceful pressure. This she did first by assimilating the Greek culture to her own, and then by letting the Graeco-Roman civilisation to spread all over her empire—in the east through the medium of Greek, in the less developed west by means of the Latin language. To aid in the process, she began by admitting her latinised subjects to the highest offices, and ended by extending to all her subjects the privilege of Roman citizenship.

The result was that the provinces developed a psychological bond of unity with the empire which no attempt at disruption from within could destroy. But at the same time, they lost the old vigour of life. This meant that when the life at the centre grew feeble, there was none within the empire to save it from destruction. The barbarian from beyond the frontiers had to come and infuse fresh life into the decaying organism and recreate the culture of medieval Europe.

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The Roman idea has lived on in all successive attempts at empire in Europe. But none has been able to repeat the Roman success. It was as if Nature herself would not permit it.

The nations of Europe have like the Romans extended their empires through military conquest and colonisation, sometimes using the pre-Roman principle of simple over lordship or hegemony in the shape of the protectorate as a prelude to conquest. The colonies, official and military, with superior civic rights in the Roman fashion, have however been far more like the Carthaginian colonies, commercial colonies of exploitation. In exceptional cases they have also developed the old Roman principle of expropriation.

But the modern nations have not been able to uproot as the Romans did the indigenous culture and sense of separateness. All of them sought at first to impose their culture along with the flag, like the English in Ireland, the Germans in Poland and Alsace, the Russians in Finland, the Austrians in their part of Poland. Everywhere the attempt failed, leaving a sense of its futility and of the need for confining the action of the sovereign Power to administrative and economic changes with just so much social and cultural change as might be accepted by the subject peoples.

The Germans indeed tried to root out the local cultures by imposing the German language and culture as the Romans had done; at times they even resorted to massacre and expulsion. But these methods were bound to fail and even produce the opposite result, of creating a sense of hatred in place of unity. This applies with greater force to Africa and Asia where there have long existed strong and well-formed national cultures sharply differentiated from the European.

This impact upon one another of the different cultures of the world has a profound meaning for the future. The future civilisation of the world will include elements drawn from all the cultures ancient and modern, and each distinctive human group will introduce its own special variation to this unity. There will necessarily be a struggle for survival. But the fittest to survive will not rely on violence or political pressure. German culture, for example, is likely to make

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its dominant features more acceptable to mankind through the defeat of German militarism than it could have hoped to do by its victory in war.

Such of the existing imperial aggregates are likely to survive as recognise and follow this principle of interchange and adaptation. This necessity of recognising the existence of other cultures, once denied vehemently by the German sword, has now come to be accepted both in Europe and Asia. The theory of "inferior" races is giving place to another idea of things.

This is quite apparent where the European and the Asiatic meet, as in North Africa and India. Everywhere, there is a hesitancy both in offering and receiving a "superior" culture. The East is generally accepting the really valuable and more external elements in European culture. But when it comes to the question of the deepest things of life, it refuses to budge. What is shaping here is not substitution and conquest but a mutual adaptation.

There are some who still cling to the old ideas, and dream for example of a Christianised India with the English language remaining dominant and European social forms replacing the Indian. But Christianity has failed to convert India except where it brought succour to the fallen and oppressed. And there is no sign anywhere that the social forms would be Europeanised. It is the same story everywhere; there is no question of destruction or replacement but of offering and assimilation of all that is best in the culture of Europe.

The Roman solution of the problem of empire is therefore no longer a solution, for the replacement of the indigenous culture and speech by those of the conqueror is no longer possible. A new model of empire, the federal or confederate type, has already begun to evolve. The question before us now is: can such an empire become a living reality?

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CHAPTER VII

THE CREATION OF THE HETEROGENEOUS NATION

In examining the problem of empire, we have to consider the form and the reality which the form is intended to embody. The form tais some practical importance, but it is the psychological reality behind the form that is vital. The first point to consider is: will the empire-unit serve as a mere enlarged version of the nation, or will it be a new type of aggregate altogether ?

There are some who propose to create a fiction that would veil the reality of the change from the nation to the empire-idea. One way to do it would be to extend to the empire all the sentiments that have grown around the nation-idea. A variant of this method is the French notion of regarding all the colonies or dependencies as "France beyond the seas." It is a notion natural to the French temperament but alien to the Teutonic.

The value of such fictions need not be ignored. But in order to succeed, the fiction must bear some resemblance to fact, and this fact must not remain too long in the stage of nebula. For men today are less prone to accept a mere sentiment or appearance, and the thinker is abroad, the enemy of fiction.

We have then to consider if this particular fiction corresponds to a realisable fact, that is, whether the true imperial unity will be simply an enlarged version of the heterogeneous nation-unit. Let us examine the case of the most successful composite nation-unit that exists and see if there are any insurmountable difficulties.

The example of the British nation is the one we propose to study. It is composed of diverse elements of which Ireland has never formed quite an integral part; it has been the one element of failure in an otherwise successful union. We have to consider what were the conditions of this partial success.

Certain conditions have to be fulfilled before a human aggregate attains to a sense of real unity. There must be a geographical necessity

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for close union. There must be a sense of race-feeling or common descent—a factor of great importance in earlier times but one that cannot be neglected even today. A common economic motive must operate. And there must come into existence a common ego-sense that finds its expression through a common governing organ. The last is of vital importance and nothing must be done to create a sense of its separateness anywhere from the rest of the community.

In the formation of the British nation, the geographical necessity was obvious, and this took practical shape in the union of Scotland, Wales and Ireland with England. The racial origins were different and took some time to overcome in the case of Scotland and Wales. In the case of Ireland, there was a natural barrier (the Irish Sea), which accentuated the differences of economic interest which England did nothing to rectify. On the contrary, the economic life and prosperity of Ireland were deliberately ruined in the interests of English trade. After that had been done, Ireland was forced to accept a "union " with England through a common legislature, the British Parliament. Her interests were continually sacrificed to the needs of the dominant partner in this union, as was evident in the terrible Irish famines of the nineteenth century. The Irish movements for Home Rule and separatism were the natural results.

The violation of economic interests provokes necessarily the bitterest revolt. But England did something worse. In Wales and in Scotland, little had been done to assimilate the native races and languages to the needs of England, with the result that these two now form an integral part of the British nation. The opposite process applied to Ireland has led to the opposite effect. When the mistake was discovered, it had to be rectified on lines demanded by Irish particularistic sentiment.

The Irish example may soon be copied by Wales and Scotland. These have not entirely a separate identity and may in future demand a federal structure for Britain. Indeed, the whole of the British empire may in course of time be reorganised on the federal pattern—this has actually come into being in the form of Commonwealth, It would

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seem as if the British empire has been used by Nature as a field of experiment for a new type of human aggregation—the heterogeneous federal empire.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PROBLEM OF A FEDERATED HETEROGENEOUS EMPIRE

There was no such certainty as in the case of the British Isles that the colonial empire of Great Britain would achieve a real unity. Indeed its eventual break-up into independent nations was anticipated by many.

The reasons for this attitude are clear. The factors that help towards unity—geographical necessity, community of economic interests, racial affinities, a common political interest—were largely absent. On the other hand, the colonies were developing a sense of separate nationality, and there was no tangible advantage that the mother country might derive from their continuance in the Empire.

Things have now changed, and the colonial empire is now destined to become a great federated Commonwealth. There are difficulties in the way, but none that is insuperable. For example, the economic interests of the colonies might not tolerate the creation of a common customs union (Zollverein) on the German pattern, even though political unity would normally imply such a union. The race difficulty is there in South Africa, but it has been surmounted in Canada. There seems to be no essential clash of cultures or temperament that makes the union impossible.

All that England has to do is to keep in mind that her role in this matter is not to impose her will on the others with a view to secure a uniform system. She must respect the full freedom of the colonies and make them partners in the government of the empire. Her role can only be that of a clamp or nodes of union. Once this is realised by her governing mind, there is nothing short of an unforeseen cataclysm that can prevent the creation of a federated type of empire.

But the question assumes another aspect altogether when we

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come to Egypt and India. The difficulties here are so great that the problem has been shelved for the moment. But that is no solution; the difficulties of the problem have to be squarely faced. The renascence of India is going to be one of the most formidable phenomena of the near future. And the empire-unit cannot keep India permanently in antagonism to it.

There is here no question of a fusion between India and the rest of the Empire. Geography is against it, and so is the sheer weight of numbers. There are the disparities of race, colour and temperament. There is an absolute divergence of past history and traditions. This does not mean that the problem cannot be solved given the will to solve it. It may be assumed that sooner or later, some kind of psychological unity can be created, provided British statesmanship does not commit any irreparable error.

Here are some of the conditions under which such a psychological unity may become possible. India must in the first instance be allowed full freedom to develop on her own lines. And so long as she is not given full self-government, her interests must receive the first consideration. For instance, she must not be forced to join a scheme of imperial free trade which will be disastrous to her nascent industries. No attempt should be made to impose on her a foreign culture, and she must be given opportunity to develop her own culture. Her nationalist aspirations must be given increasing recognition, not merely in principle but in fact. She might under these conditions decide to remain within the empire, and in course of time develop a real, psychological unity with the empire-unit.

What kind of unity will this be ? There can be a firm political union, buttressed by a mutually helpful commercial and industrial exchange and cultural relationship resulting in an association for a rich and various culture for the life of a nobler humanity. That indeed is the purpose to be served by the new supra-national unit.

If such a unit is to come into being, it can only be as a first step towards the larger unity comprising the entire human race. Merely to enlarge the size of the human aggregate would in itself be a retrograde step unless it has this ultimate end in view.¹

¹At the time of writing, the possibility of such an Indo-British empire seemed to be remote. But the possibility had nevertheless to be considered, as pointing the way to the solution of the

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CHAPTER IX

THE POSSIBILITY OF A WORLD-EMPIRE

It seems unlikely that the empire-unit will grow into that true psychological unity which alone can make it a stepping-stone to world union.' For, it has yet to take a definite shape in the minds of men before it can be realised in practice. And if this idea fails, the only alternatives would be either a single world-empire, or else a free association of free nations.

A single world-empire, imposing its rule by force, is as we have already seen, an anachronism under present-day conditions. But let us suppose for the sake of argument that a powerful nation overcomes all the rest by force and imposes its culture all over the world by peaceful means as Rome once did. We shall find that such an attempt is not likely to succeed, except perhaps under conditions which cannot be foreseen at the moment.

The recent history of Germany has shown that the idea of a single nation dominating the rest of the world is still very much alive. Whether or not Geiman leaders and statesmen before the War of 1914 consciously aimed at world-domination is still open to question. But the fact remains that had Germany won that War, she would certainly have sought to impose her "superior" culture over the rest of the world: the whole trend of her recent thought had been in that direction. Nor is her defeat any guarantee that the attempt will not be repeated by some other Power, for the idea of Force dominating the world has not been destroyed by the War.

The German failure is no proof that the dream of world-domination is impossible to realise. Indeed, Germany lacked all the conditions of success, except only one. She did possess an overwhelming

bigger question. In actual fact, this possibility has not materialised. Its place has been taken by such aggregates as the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union and such other continental combinations as may one day become general,

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superiority in land forces. But she needed an overwhelming sea-power (and now, an overwhelming air-power also) without which she could never hope to maintain her hold on the rest of the world. Her inland position easily exposed her to a naval blockade and an encirclement. Her blundering diplomacy made Russia and France helenemies and drove England into the opposite camp. Finally, she never had that driving impulse which had been the source of' Napoleon's strength.

What then are the conditions for the success of such an enterprise? In the first place, the Power seeking world-domination must be able to meet its rivals one after the other, as the Romans did, and successfully avoid a coalition forming against it. The chances of such good luck are remote under present day conditions of publicity. It could come if, by a series of wars, only one Power were left strong enough to think of world-leadership. This seems to be impossible under existing conditions.

The aspiring Power must therefore be prepared to meet the challenge of rivals. This it could successfully do only on condition that it possessed an unrivalled superiority over the rest, both on land and at sea. There is no Power at present that can hope to attain this superiority. Russia might command an overwhelming land army, but it is inconceivable that it could ever become equally formidable at sea. England with its powerful navy has now a serious rival in the United States, and it could hardly hope to possess an equally numerous land army. In any case, there would be other powerful rivals.

The only hope of success against a coalition of enemies would lie in the use of a superior science, as Germany had done. But Science today is the common property of all nations. Unless therefore the weapons developed by the ambitious Power are of such a novel kind as to make it impossible for its rivals to cope with them within a reasonable period, we may predict failure.

But Nature can always spring surprises. And if it be her intention that this should be the way to bring about unification, she will certainly create the necessary means and conditions. But a unification

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so effected will not be lasting. For the dominant Power will find it even more difficult to maintain its rule than to establish it, and the whole problem will have to be considered afresh.

( To be continued)

SANAT K. BANERJI

The sentiment of unity is not sufficient to create unity; we require also the practice of unity.

SRI AUROBINDO

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SVETASVATARA UPANISHAD

SRI AUROBINDO

(An Unpublished Early Writing)

Chapter IV

1. The One was without form and hue; and He, by yoga of His own might, became manifold; He weareth many forms and hues, but hath no object nor interest therein; God into Whom all the universe breaketh up and departeth at the end of all and He alone was in the beginning. May He yoke us with a bright and gracious understanding.

2. God is fire that burneth and the Sun in heaven and the Wind that bloweth: He too is the moon. His is the seed and Brahma and the waters and He is Prajapati, the Father of his peoples.

3. Thou art woman and Thou art man also; Thou art the boy, or else Thou art the young virgin, and Thou art yonder worn and aged man that walkest bending upon a staff. Lo Thou becamest born and the universe growth full of Thy faces.

4. Thou art the blue bird and the green and the scarlet-eyed; Thou art the womb of Lightning and the Seasons and the Oceans. Spirit without beginning, because Thou hast poured thyself manifoldly into all forms, therefore the worlds have being.

5. There is one unborn Mother, she is white, she is black, she is blood-red of hue; having taken shape, lo, how she giveth birth to many kinds of creatures; for One of the two unborn taketh delight in her and loath with her, but the Other hath exhausted all her sweets and casteth her from him.

6. They are two birds that cling to one common tree; beautiful

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of plumage, yoke-fellows are they, eternal companions; and one of them eateth the delicious fruit of the tree and the Other eateth not, but watcheth His fellow.

7. Man is the bird that dwelleth on one common tree with God, but he is lost in its sweetness and the slave of its sweetness and loseth hold of God; therefore he hath grief, therefore he is bewildered. But when he seeth that other bird who is God, then he knoweth that nothing is but God's greatness, and his grief passeth away from him.

8. In that highest and undying Heaven where all the gods have taken their session, there are the verse of the Rig-veda; and he who knoweth not its abiding place, how shall Rig-veda help him ? they who know it, lo! they are here, they have their firm seat for ever.

9. Holy verses and sacrifices and vows and all offerings and what was and what shall be and what the Vedas tell of this is the stuff whence the Lord of the Illusion fashioned for Himself his various Universe, and in them, as with a wall, that Other by His Illusion is prisoned and fettered.

10. Know Nature for the Illusion and Maheshwara, the Almighty, for the Lord of the Illusion: this whole moving world is filled in with created things as with His members.

11. He being One entereth in womb and womb, in Him all this manifest world cometh together and breaketh up again, lo, the Master and Giver, the Lord adorable: Whom having increased within himself man goeth to unutterable peace.

12. He is the birth of their gods and He is their passing, Master of the Universe, Rudra, the mighty Seer, He beheld Hiranyagarbha shaping: may he yoke us with a bright and gracious understanding.

13. The Master and King of the Gods, is Him the worlds have their abiding place; He lordeth over the two-footed and the four-footed creatures. For what God shall we order the offering?

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14. Finer beyond fineness, He hideth in the midst of this hustling chaos, He hath created this universe taking many figures and as the One, He encompasseth it around and girdeth it; having known Shiva, the Blessed One, man goeth to unutterable peace.

15. He protecteth His World in its allotted season, yea, the Master of the Universe watcheth hidden in all his creatures; by yoga, in Him, the holy sages and the gods knew and tore asunder Death and his meshes.

16. As the rare and fine cream in clarified butter, and it is richer than the butter, so Shiva the Blessed One hath hidden Him in every one of all His creatures; but as the One He encompasseth the whole world and girdeth it around. Know God and thou breakest every bondage.

17. This God, the Great Soul, the World-Builder, sitteth for ever in the heart of his peoples; and with the heart and with the mind and with the understanding the soul envisageth Him. They who know this are the immortals.

18. When darkness is not and day dawneth not nor night cometh not reality nor unreality but all is Shiva, the Blessed One pure and absolute, that verily is the Imperishable and the suite, more glorious than Savitr and from Him wisdom, the ancient Goddess came forth like the sunlight.¹

19. Not on high have any laid hold on Him, nor shalt thou take Him on the level nor seize Him slanting from below; for He hath no likeness nor image, whose glory verily is great among the nations.

20. The Eternal hath not form that He should stand in the dominion of the Eye, neither by vision doth any man behold Him but they

¹ Alternative rendering: When darkness is forgotten, yet it is not day, nor night) and there is no real and no unreal but all is absolute, Shiva, the blessed One, then indeed it is the imperishable and a Sun more glorious than Helios (Savita) from This Wisdom came forth, the ancient of the universe.

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with heart and mind who truly know This which is in their hearts, they become the immortals.

21. Knowing Thee unborn, one cometh to Thee and his heart is full of fear, O Rudra, Thou terrible, Thou hast that other kind and smiling face, with that protect me ever.

22. O Rudra, smite not our sons nor our little children, nor our lives nor our horses nor our cattle; slay not our heroes in thy wrath, O terrible One; lo, we come with offerings in our hands and call to Thee in the assembly of the people.

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REVIEWS

What Does Your Soul Look Like ? By Gail Northe. Publishers: Philosophical Library, New York,. Pp. 136. Price: 6.95 dollars.

WHAT does your soul look like ?" This was the startling question asked of Gail Northe in 1952. We do not know what was her answer. We learn, however, that for the next seven years she posed the same question to other adults and invariably their reply was "I haven't the slightest idea." One day she asked the same question to a little nine year old boy who was blind. His immediate reply, with a radiant smile, was, "It looks like me!"

Since then the author was moved to put the same question to a number of children and youngsters between the ages of 5 and 19. Here are presented in a delectable form a considerable number of these answers, some reproduced in facsimiles (with their quaint spellings) some with the drawings of the children. It is truly astonishing how taken by surprise, children testify to their natural perception into the truth of things. To cite a few of these answers at random:

My soul looks like a seed. (Age 8)

My soul loves. (Age 13)

My soul looks like joyness. (Age 12).)

My soul is a tiny bit of the whole universe. (Age 12)

It looks like me, but it's clear. (Age 15)

Your soul does not look like anything—it is just a feeling. (Age 12)

My soul looks like a force with direction. (Age ?)

It looks like a railroad trak that never ends. (Age 10)

My soul is half good and half bad. (Age 8) (This is accompanied with a figure of which one half is shaded.)

My soul is Love, Peace, Freedom. It wants Love, peace and Freedom. (Age 12)

And surprisingly—perhaps Freud would say naturally—one child aged ^{11 1/ 2} writes: It is dirty.

Similar is another:

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It is like a black darkness inside of me. (Age 11) Mrs. Northe has chosen to cite alongside select passages from some of the world's great men to show how very much these very perceptions have found place in their philosophical and spiritual musings.

It is of interest to note that the author has kept up contact and correspondence with some of these young minds who have responded to her confidence in them and confided their thoughts to her. One of these is James who writes to her at 11:

"We were discussing that man could never be fully happy, (on average basis, scientifically) because he always asks why. Then towards the end of the period one boy brought up that spiritual people are said to be happy all their fives. He then said that this is different and was beyond our mental intelligence. (So he thinks.) My mother said also, that she loved me very much for this faith that we have when she was depressed.

"Then what had really happened is what I'm going to tell you. I was down at the main branch library and I looked for a book on this subject. I looked in philosophy and found a marvelous book which you have probably heard of, Founding the Life Divine by Morwenna Donnelly and published by Hawthorn Books, Inc. N.Y. 1956. One of the quotations I got from it was:

''To see nothing but the Divine, to be at ever in union with him, to love him in all creatures and have the light of him in all things is the whole condition of his (the spiritual man's) existence. His God-vision does not divorce him from life, nor does he miss any of the fullness of life, for God himself, becomes spontaneous to him....The joy of heaven, of ear th are only a small shadow of his possessions; for he grows into the Divine; the Divine, too, flows out of him with all the light, power and joy of an inunite experience.' (From Essays on the Gita.)

"From that I was so overjoyed because I understood it and that

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it was the most divine thing I have ever heard. At this point I was so filled with pure love, truth and happiness, I came to the highest point of cosmic consciousness I ever have had."

The Hymns of Sankara: By Dr. T. M. P. .Mahadevan. Publishers : Ganesh & , Co., Madras pvt. Ltd., Madras 17. Pp. 256. Price: RS. IO/

Edited, translated and annotated by Dr. Mahadevan, these are four hymns to Dakshinamurti, to the Guru, to Govinda and to Shiva. They laud the silent figure of the Lord as the supreme Teacher; the human Guru who represents the Divine to the disciple; God Govinda, the goal of the awakened man; the great Saviour and the giver of Bounty—Shiva.

It is a moot point how many of the large number of works— Vedantic and Tantric—ascribed to Shankara by popular tradition are really his. The lofty style, the chaste expression ana the intellectual brilliance of the author of the Bhashya on the Brahma-sutras are certainly far removed from the spirit and form of most of these works. However, the four hymns in the book are fully advaitic in character and Dr. Mahadevan brings out their import with ease and scholarship. He explains their background and symbology, e.g. on the significance of the pose of Dakshinamurti:

"Sri Dakshinamurti teaches by means of the hand-pose known as the cin-mudrā, the symbol of pure consciousness. In this pose, the thumb and th e index finger of the right hand are joined at their tips while the other three fingers stand apart. The significance of this pose is that their is identity in the midst of apparent diversity." (p.18)

Speaking of the means for the realisation and the forms of attainment, he explains:

"Four levels are usually distinguished: (1) sālokya (samen ess of residence with God), (2) siimipya (n earness to God), (3) siirt2pya (sameness of form), and (4) sāyujya (union). In the Saiva schools four means to Godhead are recognised , calyā, kriyā, yoga

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and jñāna. Caryā is the path of works consisting in cleansing the temples, serving God's devotees etc. Kriyā is the path of ritual worship. yoga is the path of contemplation and meditation. fñāna is the path of knowledge and realization of God. The four Tamil saints, Appar, Jnana-sambandhar, Sundarar and Manikkavacakar are said to the exemplars of these paths respectively."

Fifty Hindu Scriptural Tales: By V. R. Sundararaman. Publishers: Ramayana Publishing House, I, Judge Jambulinga Mudaliar Road, Mulapcre, Madras-a, Pp. 284. Price: Rs. 18/-

There is in the southern parts of India a belief—it is more than a belief—that when there is scarcity of rain, reading of the virāta parva from the Mahabharata invokes the pleasure of the rain-gods. The author of this book records: "On one such occasion, during my childhood days, I distinctly remember the whole village being inundated through a small cloud-burst and copious down-pour immediately following the reading of the portion relating to kicaka vadha or the slaying of Kichaka by Bhima in disguise."

And it is with the story of kicaka vadha that he starts the book. There are stories from the two Epics, from the Upanishads, from the Puranas-all told in a simple yet captivating manner-all of them underlining the master-role played by Dharma in the evolution of the Indian peoples. Dharma, in this context, does not indeed mean a rigid rule of conduct. It is rather the Law of things which holds them in existence and which expresses itself in different terms in different spheres of life, on different planes of being. Models of bravery, chivalry and nobility like Aia and Dilip, exemplars of high conduct like Harischandra, daring seekers of knowledge like Nachiketas and Satyakama, great types of God-lovers like Dhruva, Prahlada, specimens of heroic womanhood like Janaki and Savitri, are some of the heroes and heroines of these time-honoured tales which reflect the high Ideals and their unflinching pursuit by the men and women of Indian society across the ages.

The collection ends with the yaksa-praśna (in the vana parva of the Mahabharata). At a supreme moment of crisis, Yudhishthira

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is confronted by a Yaksha (who is really none other than Yama, the God of Law) who puts him a bewildering variety of questions which the prince in exile has to answer on pain of death. To mention only a few:

Question: What is wonder in this world ?

Answer: In spite of seeing daily his fellow-beings dying around him, man thinks that he can be eternal; by the way, he longs for it. Can anything be more wonderful than this?

Question: Which is the path?

Answer: That which has been taken by great men. Question: What is the news ?

Answer: Time is the destroyer of everything and nothing can escape the ravages of Time. This is the greatest of all news.

M. P. PANDIT

KANNADA

Sahitya Bharati: By N. Anantarangachar. Published by Prasaranga, Mysore University, Mysore, Pp. 969. Price: Rs. 45/-

For sheer range of its contents, this book—we believe the first of its kind in an Indian language—is unsurpassed. It is a literary survey of the growth of literatures in as many as nineteen languages in the country and in English written by Indian authors. The languages dealt with are: Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Mythili, Pali, Prakrit and Apabrahmsha. We understand that this work has taken fifteen years making. And no wonder. For the learned writer has conscientiously traced the beginnings of each literature to as far back as historical research has made it possible and he brings it up to the present day developments. A special feature of this treatment is that the author does not speak of the work done, down the centuries, in humanities alone; he takes a refreshing note of writing in sciences, journalism and even children's literature.

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After a comprehensive account of the birth and the growth of these several major languages, their interaction, the evolution of their scripts, the author proceeds to deal with the different literatures methodically giving their geographical area of influence, the line of writers and their works, their impact on the society, the stages of development, the special features of each regional literature, with edifying quotations wherever called for.

While speaking of the Vedas, the writer records the ancient tradition that the Veda is apauruseya, of divine origin. He also mentions side by side that many modern scholars oppose this claim and citing certain passages from the Hymns to the effect that the Rishis, old and new, created the Hymns, seek to convict the ancients of self- cont radiation . We are sorry to note that the author does not say what his own conviction is; as in most of such situations he does not pronounce and fails to give a lead. The truth of the matter is that the inspiration for these Hymns in the Veda comes from a source which is beyond the human range. It comes from the supernal regions of pure ether, parame vyoman, in the form either of a revelation or a deeper movement of audition. The consciousness of the Rishi receives it in the heart, broods over it, lets the truths take their own form in the human language, hrdātastān, and delivers them through the mind. Thus the Rishi is only the chosen instrument for expression. He is the author or creator only in this sense of a formulating instrument. The Hymns are not poetical compositions of religious mendicants praying for favours of the Nature-personifying gods.

In an interesting discussion, the writer speaks of the three stages of development through which the epic Mahabharata has passed before it emerged into its present form. The first version is called "Jaya" (perhaps because it celebrated the victory of the Pandavas). The second is the "Bharata" about which Vaishampayana informs Janamejaya: "Bhārata of 24,000 verses; devoid of legends and accounts of secondary origin." The third, expanded to 1000,000 verses is the "Mahabharata".

Next to Sanskrit, this work naturally devotes the maximum number of pages (70) to Kannada. It traces the literature from the first book in Kannada, Kavirājamārga, (9th Century A.D.) up to the present

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day. He records the great services rendered to the cause of Kannada literature by corporate bodies devoted to historical research in Karnatak, Literary Parishads etc.

While in the section of Indians writing in English, the author writes that Sri Aurobindo's writings amount to nearly 3000 pages. We do not know if it is a misprint. For his extensive writings which are being currently brought together in one Centenary edition due for 1972, cover more than 15000 pages. Another point. The Poems and Plays

There are such small slips here and there. But they are of a minor nature, inevitable perhaps in a work of this extent. Also some topics are passed over too cursorily, e.g. the śāktamata in the section on Sanskrit literature. We may also respectfully point out that the way of referring to great contemporaries or near-contemporaries, leaders of men in different fields of life, in the singular, 'avanu' strikes a jarring note, if not an offensive one. It is not that this is a uniform method followed throughout. In many places writers have been referred to with becoming courtesy 'avaru.'

To conclude: this is an admirable production. The author is entitled to the gratitude of all lovers of the national heritage for the services he has done in bringing together in his survey the developments in the various regional literary spheres, underlining their common source and interrelation. Our only feeling of dissatisfaction rises from the fact that in many places the account is too rapid and matter-of-fact. We would suggest that this great work is enlarged into two or three volumes before it is issued in its next edition. The learned author has certainly all the resources that are necessary for such an endeavour. We pray and wish that he undertakes the task.

M. P. PANDIT

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HINDI

Manonnshasanam: By Acharya Tulasi. Publisher: Kamalesh Chaturvedi; Prabandhak, Adarsh Sahitya Sangh; Churu Price: Rs. 6/-

Manonnshasanam' by Acharya Tulasi is a useful book for those who wish to combine yoga with asanas. The photographs are well reproduced and verbal explanations are very clear. The acharya has tried to explain the ten 'chakras' and three principle 'nadis'. The language is very simple but when he tries to explain the mental part of sadhna it becomes rather heavy. This book is very useful for those who practise asanas seriously. He has also given many details on varieties of pranayam and their different effects on the body.

Padachinka na: Foot prints of Acharya Tulasi. Publishers: Adarsh Sahitya Sangh Prakashan, Churu (Rajasthan) Price: Rs, 7/-

Acharya Tulasi is a well-known figure in modern India. Like a true Jain sadhu, he is always on the march and wherever he goes he leaves his foot prints in the hearts of his devotees. In this book Muni Srichandra has given a vivid description of his journey in 1962-63 laying special stress on the acharya's sermons which are in very simple and lucid language.

RAVINDRA

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