The Indian Spirit and the World's Future

Introduction

If reprinting of books was a matter of felt needs, then arguably, no authorial venture by a follower of Sri Aurobindo would merit as much importance as The Indian Spirit and the World's Future by K. D. Sethna (Amal Kiran). The book was published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram more than five decades back in 1953, after the passing of Sri Aurobindo.

The essays that comprised the book then (and most are being retained in the present edition) were from the editorial contributions, either openly avowed or under the pen name 'Libra' to the fortnightly review Mother India that later became a monthly.

The rationale for the publication that was offered then by K. D. Sethna has clearly not outlived its time. If anything, there seems to be a greater sense of urgency, a more pressing demand of the time spirit that appear to mark the contents and style of these essays. The conditions under which we in India live today and the circumstances at the international level, characterised by constant strife and unrest, make it imperative to give a fresh hearing to the earlier essays. It is in this context that we may recall the prefatory words of K. D. Sethna offered at the launching of Mother India:

We are here to answer a grave need of the times. This country has gained independence, but it has not found its proper line of life. There is a welter of ideologies and our minds are divided. A host of parties has sprung up, each with a different aim. In the clash of parties the right destiny of India is forgotten.

K. D. Sethna upheld the importance of the Aurobindonian approach that would be based on a higher spiritual principle, intellectually balanced, and nonpartisan, eschewing all forms of dogma and sectarianism. He affirmed the importance of a perspective, integral in sweep of men, events and circumstances. It

would be objective but not neutral in its critical assessment of the national and international scene.

Thus, anchored to impartiality, freedom and a depth of vision, the approach was to "criticise whatever militated against humanity's instinct of an evolving divinity within itself and to give the utmost constructive help to all that encouraged this instinct."

The concern that the author expresses in 1953 about the fate of the civilised world may appear passé now. However that would only be a relatively superficial reading of the matter. The Cold War may be over. Nevertheless, in the post Cold War scenario, tyranny, absolutism and the ego-play of the various human collectivities, rooted to the many atavistic forces of linguistic, ethnic, communal or nationalistic loyalties have not become outdated. If anything, the individual today is under a greater control of diabolical forces: human and technological. His freedom is constantly imperiled by instruments from the electronic, robotic and cyber world.

The "manufactured consent" generated by the media and what President Eisenhower once called "the military industrial complex" exerts a control over the human self today before which earlier forms of fascism pale into insignificance. The paranoia, hypnosis and atrophy of our deeper intellectual, emotional and aesthetic faculties seem to leave little room in our present life for making a judgment based on individual conscience and integrity.

It is against this backdrop that we can now assess the significance of the essays currently being reprinted. If no original thinking was visible in the 1950's in the country regarding the pressing national issues, as K. D. Sethna saw them, then little of the originality is apparent even now! Colonised, we are still debating the question of Indian nationalism, the meaning of national pride, the significance of the English language and the essential truths behind Hinduism. We are still confused about revivalism and secularism, the spiritual life and world crisis, the legacy of Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi for nation building.

Indeed, if one was unaware of the date of its publication, the earlier edition might well be mistaken as a current imprint. Such is

the power contained in most of the essays that ensure their great relevance to the contemporary milieu at the national and international level today.

The occasion for the reprint becomes particularly auspicious given the presence of K. D. Sethna on the centenary of his birth anniversary. The volume is ideally suited for a cross section of the reading public, and has more than historical value. Incisive and illuminating, wide in vision and deeply penetrating in analysis, it will provide answers to many of the vexing problems of our national life and cultures. It is to be hoped that such a volume will be widely noticed so that as individual Indians we can discover a greater meaning in our personal lives, and together, we can usher in a new India that will play its rightful role in the comity of nations.

7 July 2004

Sachidananda Mohanty