INDIA
is one. But wherein lies that unity, what is its
nature?
Many
are of the opinion that India
has no 'unity'; the condition that prevails at present and the possible development
may at the most be termed 'union'. Union is the agreement and harmony of many
antagonistic entities, but unity is the organic oneness of the same entity.
To-day we proclaim India
an undivided nation, but as a matter of fact India
is not exactly of that type. She is a collectivity of many diverse sub-nations,
a continent. Bengal is a state or a sub-nation, the Punjab
is a state or a sub-nation, the Tamil Nadu and the Andhra Pradesh are each a
state or a sub-nation but the unity of the whole of India
is merely a geographical formula. Or perhaps it can be said that India
is one to some extent in her culture, religion, conduct of life and social
discipline. Consequently India
may at the most be compared with Europe. India
is one in the sense that Europe is one, – not as one
country or one nation, not as a homogeneous group of people, like France
or Germany or England,
but for the commonalty that exists in general in the way of thinking, the
mental formation and in the mode of living. Of course there are Muslims in India.
Their genius is trying to strike a different note,
still the foundation of India
and her original character are the Aryan genius. The Muslims can be admitted
in the way Jews have a place even in Christian Europe.
Is this sort of unity all that is there? It would seem so when we look from a
superficial point of view, from the outside.
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But if we try to look deeper we shall find the true power that is at play
behind the external form.
The
unity of India
lies in her soul-power. The unity that we see in the education, culture,
behaviour, conduct and the mould of her character are the outer manifestation
of an inalienable unity which is derived from a still profounder living being.
Behind India
stands the 'One Being', purusam ekam. That is the person who alone
brings about harmony, unity and oneness in the diverse, innumerable and variegated
life of India.
The unity of India
does not lie in the mental plane alone, gradually it
is taking shape in the vital and is going to get embodied even in the physical.
It
is the descent of the soul-power of India
that is pressing to fuse India
into a single nation. The political unity of India
is not only possible but inevitable, and the secret of that consummation is to
be found in this mystic fact. Indeed, if we compare India
with Europe from this point of view, the difference of
the two will stand out in bold relief. The political unity of Europe
appears to be a very difficult and even an impossible problem. The union of Europe
is an armed peace. One kind of union was attempted at times in the past, but
the union which Caesar, Charlemagne and Napoleon wanted to bring about was but
the sole supremacy of a particular country and nation; that means the union of
the devourer and the devoured. Another type of union too is at present visible
in Europe – that is the formation of groups in their
self-interest, each group combining to pool its resources against others. None
of these unions is real unity. The compromise, the compact arrived at among
different interests are not the infallible unity of the soul; the undivided
personality of the collective being has not emerged there.
In
fact every European country has a well-developed and distinct personality of
its own; each wants to secure a separate fulfilment, each is self-sufficient
and distinct from the rest. There is a mutual give-and-take among them, often
they
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move
together for a common cause; but the collective existence of each is boldly and
strongly demarcated. Look at England,
France, Italy
or Germany. The geographical boundary of each stands distinctly like the
contour of an individual human body. The collective existence of Europe,
awake and alive, belongs separately to each of the European countries and
nations and in no way represents the collective being of all Europe.
On
the other hand, if we look at India
we find that the whole of India
possesses a well-defined and distinct geographical outline. But the boundaries
of the separate states of India
are not so well-marked; their geographical features do not look well-built and
complete wholes. No doubt, each of them has its own speciality, but their
collective beings do not stand out prominently in contrast to one another. If
we think of Asia in connection with India,
then the difference between India
and Europe will be clearly noticed. In the case of India
the visualisation of a single indivisible state is easy and natural, but the
same cannot be said of the whole of Asia; the countries
of Asia like those of Europe have
their different ways of life and modes of being. Europe
has a similarity to Asia, but not to India.
If India
is to be compared at all then the object of comparison cannot be Europe
but a country of Europe which is called a 'nation'. India
cannot be classed with Europe, but Great
Britain, for example, can be mentioned for
comparison. Britain
is a homogeneous country or nation. Its collective being has a separate living
individuality. As in Great Britain
there are Scotland,
Wales and England,
so in India the
separate states like Bengal, Maharashtra
and the Punjab are the different limbs of the collective
being of India.
But the thing is that just as Asia is far larger than Europe,
the states of India
are larger than the European states. To European eyes China
and India
appear like continents. Not only is India
larger in size but from the point of diversity also India
displays a
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greater
profusion that is almost endless. Those very differences and diversities that
are to be found on a smaller scale within any European country are there in India
on a larger scale. The divisions which are considered insignificant and
therefore overlooked in a nation of Europe stand prominently
here because of their amplitude, their immensity in size; such divisions too
are accepted as somehow useful.
So
it comes to this that the unity of India
is vaster and more complex than the unity of any of the nations of Europe.
But for that reason it cannot be concluded that this unity is no unity. Rather
we know that science is proving the fact that the higher the being rises in the
scale of evolution the greater complexity does its individuality acquire. Such
diversity and variety are visible in India
because a higher and greater synthesis is thus worked out or about to be
wrought in a distinct manner and on a larger scale.
The
collective union of Europe, its living truth, is not the
unity that exists among the countries or nations of Europe.
Of course an attempt is being made to bring about a sort of oneness through the
length and breadth of Europe; but that oneness is still
a conception, still an ideal, not even a living ideal yet. The inner being has
not as yet become conscious and alert about its own personality. But in the
case of India
the awakening of her inner being has stood by far the first. India's
personality of collective existence is indeed a living truth. The unity of the
whole of India
is, as it were, axiomatic and God-given. The oneness that is trying to become
awake and conscious in India
is not the unity and the personality of the whole of India,
but rather, the oneness of the different personalities of the states of India.
Therefore we notice contrary ways of life-manifestation in India
and in Europe. In Europe the
collective personality has awakened and the sense of unity has been established
first within the limited areas of different countries. Having established
these two things Europe is progressing towards the
larger unity in its totality. The trend of Europe is the
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gradual
ascension to the total consciousness of the inner being from the consciousness
of the external physical parts. But in India
what happened is the gradual descent to the external physical parts from the
total consciousness of the inner subtle being. India
first discovered her own inner being. This being of India
is ever awake, so in India
the manifestation of that being and the descent of her power are making the
different states gradually become conscious and discover their own
individualities. Perhaps Europe has had to start from a
political union or oneness in order gradually and finally to attain to the
unity-of the soul, and achieve her own individuality. India
has long acquired the unity of the soul and this self-conscious individuality
is the last word of India's
oneness.
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