East and West

BY PROF. C. KUNHAN RAJA, M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon)

One hears so much nowadays of the spiritual civilization of the East and of the materialistic civilization of the West, of the possibility of a conflict in the immediate future between this spiritual and this materialistic civilization, between the East and the West, between the white and the coloured nations of the world. We hear also of the collapse of the Western civilization, of a Pan-Asiatic League and of Europe coming and sitting at the feet of Asia as ‘Chelas’ to learn wisdom.

True civilization is neither spiritual alone nor materialistic alone. There is no exact division possible between matter and spirit. They are not two opposing factors in the Universe. They are not two mutually destructive forces in this world. Matter and spirit are the two aspects in which Truth manifests itself. They intersperse each other and function in co-operation with each other to fulfill the great purpose. To set matter and spirit, one against the other, is to corrupt philosophy and religion with the diplomats’ design of ‘divide and rule’.

The assumption of two such distinct forces is a fallacy. To associate each with East and West is a further fallacy. The Chinese civilization of the Far East, the Chaldean civilization of the Middle East and the ancient civilization of the Near East, in which Jesus Christ was born, not one of them can be called more spiritual than the modern civilization of Europe. The civilization of India as seen in the ‘Vedas,’ in the ‘Purarias’ and in the Classical Sanskrit Literature, is not less materialistic in tone than the modern civilization. When we think of Veda-Vyasa who codified the Hindu culture, of Vasishtha and other sages who lived for the welfare of the less evolved members of the human race, when we think of kings like Rama, Yudhishthira and Harischandra, when we think of philosophers and reformers like Sankara and Ramanuja, we must not forget the sage Kasyapa who allowed himself to be bribed with gold and who left the great king Sri Parikshit to die a miserable death; we must not forget the voluptuous life in Courts and cities corrupted by gambling, wine and women; we must not forget the superstitions and cruelties glorified under the name of religion.

When we condemn European civilization with its long-range guns, poison gas, bombs and submarines, with its competition in industry and deadly rivalry in commerce, with its ultra-nationalism and mutual jealousy and distrust, with its false economic theories which compel a large number of innocent beings to groan under poverty and misery, when articles of use lie rotten for Want of purchasers; when we think of European civilization in this way, we must not forget the earnest desire of statesmen to put an end to the atrocities of war, to bring industry more and more under popular control and to make commerce free, to bring in an atmosphere of internationalism so that jealousy and distrust vanish, to correct the false economic theories of the last century by making consumption and not profit the aim of production. We must also think of the abolition of slavery, of the emancipation of women, of lifting politics above religions and creeds; we must also think of the large number of humanitarian movements for the relief of the dumb and the poor and the suffering; we must also think of the missionary and other organisations within the Christian Church whose members go out into the far regions in the outside world, and at great personal danger and subject to the oppressions of climatic conditions exposed to diseases, spend whole lives in bringing the light of knowledge to the savage nations of the jungles and the deserts, or in attending to the poor persons suffering from very loathsome diseases; we must also think of the many educational institutions and many hospitals and orphanages run by the philanthropy of individuals and societies; we must also think of scientists who dedicate their whole life to the discovery of Truth with no thought of any personal gain, and who through their labours have helped so much man's spiritual progress by bringing in the forces of nature as an aid to man, by bringing men closer and closer to one another through improved ways of communication and mutual understanding, and thus creating a real consciousness of unity and brotherhood of man; we must also think of the great achievements of modern science –the Atlantic Liners, the air-ships, wireless and X-ray marvels, the attempts at the solution scientifically and by experiments of the nature and constitution of the Universe, and of the origin and nature of life and matter, the thrills of the Polar expeditions and of the conquest of the Everest, solving the mysteries of the stars in the skies, and all that science promises to achieve. All this shows a very high stage of spiritual evolution in the modern man, and all this is a contribution from Europe; if Asia is contributing anything or has contributed anything to the modern civilization, it is mainly towards militarism, nationalism, competition, jealousy and rivalry. The true fact is that Asia has long lost her culture and civilization, which is as much an advance in material things as in things spiritual, and she is now trying to console herself with the boast that matter is base and destructive, and that she is the custodian of the intangible and incomprehensible spirit.

Civilization cannot exist by itself, independent of the life of a nation; it has to be revealed through the life of the people –through so many forms and conventions. There may be no inherent and inseparable relation between the true spirit of a civilization and the forms and conventions prevalent among the people who develop that civilization; at best there may be merely a sort of concomitance. Still people associate civilization and these forms as inalienable factors, and they consider persons who do not conform to these forms as lacking in civilization. Indians have their own forms and conventions–the particular way in which their homes are arranged, their way of cooking and eating and dressing, their etiquette and manners. Indians consider these forms and conventions as the soul of India's civilization, and anyone who strays away from these non-essentials is branded as denationalised. Indians have the reputation of being a nation of philosophers. Still they cannot understand that they can remain essentially Indian, steeped in an essentially Indian civilization, even if they speak another language, even if they change their ways of dressing, eating, mode of arranging their homes, their etiquette and manners. They do not separate the real from the non-real, the essential from the casual.

Europe has a civilization of her own. The East may not recognise it as a high civilization and some people may even question its title to be called a civilization, just as the West on the whole does not recognise a thing called an Oriental civilization. But no one can convince a Westerner that he has no civilization and no one can deny him the right to have his own convictions. Europe has a civilization of her own. That civilization manifests itself in the life of the European nations, now spread throughout the world, a life clothed in many forms and conventions. A European associates these forms and conventions with civilization as inextricable factors.

If you place your feet on the shining brass fenders round the fire-place, if you eat oranges and spit the seeds into the fire, if you drop the cigarette ashes on the carpet, if you keep the end of a lighted match stick on the mantel-piece, or your cigarette-end on the table, if you eat a banana and throw the skin out into the public road or into the garden through the window, if you soil the table-cloth with drops of tea, if you do not handle the instruments with ease and grace at dinner, if you do not conform to some decorum, to some prescribed conventions in the little affairs of ordinary life, a European, just like an Indian, considers you as uncivilised. You may be the greatest Oriental, a great artist and poet, philosopher and thinker; but these qualities are beyond the comprehension of the normal people and you are judged by the extent to which you conform to the forms and conventions recognised within a particular civilization.

There is really no colour problem. There is only a lack of mutual understanding due to the diversity in forms and conventions in social life. An Oriental, if he can behave properly, if he can adapt himself to the forms and conventions of the West, is ever welcome to an English home. Few Englishmen in England examine the colour of your skin. He does not care for it. He is particular only about your polished shoes and clean nails. A well-behaved (from the Western point of view) Indian is welcome to an English home, but not an Englishman or Englishwoman who is an organ grinder in the public street or a hawker in boot-lace and match boxes, or who hangs about street corners for immoral purposes. If any colour problem is present in the life of a. nation, it is in India. A Brahmin, whether he is a beggar or a leper, can enter the innermost sanctum in a Hindu temple; he is quite welcome in a Brahmin house. But an Englishman, though belonging to a very aristocratic family, though his family may have been very famous for centuries and may have produced many eminent persons, if he enters even the outer walls of a temple or the first portal in a Brahmin house, he defiles the place. No such colour and race prejudice exists anywhere in England.

Civilization is essentially the same, whether it is ancient or modern, whether it is Eastern or Western. It consists in man's quest after Truth, man's struggle against the limitations of the physical life. There must be an aspect of matter and an aspect of spirit in all civilizations. The differences are in the forms and conventions, and these are the non-essentials of civilization. East and West are in a state of conflict with each other, not because there is anything conflicting in their civilizations, but because the outward forms are different; they are in this militant attitude, not in defence of culture but in defence of forms. If only East and West will understand that these forms are non-essential and of secondary importance, that they can alter these forms without doing any harm to civilization, so much misunderstanding can be avoided. If East and West can slightly alter their forms in life, if they can come to some sort of adjustment, it will be found that they have a common civilization.

Pessimists are never tired of saying that the days of Western civilization can now be counted, that the civilization will soon collapse. Neither history nor experience supports such a hypothesis. A four years’ war, a slight dislocation of industry and commerce, the collapse of an empire or two, the extinction of a royal house, these events are very trivial in the history of a civilization. The fears regarding the imminent collapse of modern civilization are no more seriously to be taken notice of than the fears of an old woman, who as soon as her husband sneezes once, gets into a fit and calls a lawyer to make his will.

There are several persons who expect that in the near future Europe will have to sit at the feet of Asia to listen to the latter's sermons of wisdom. That is a day which might never come, and which should not come. If it is unfortunate that Asia should have been dominated by Europe, it is equally unfortunate that Asia should dominate over Europe. The unfortunate thing is aggression, and it matters little who the aggressor is. The attempt of all well-wishers of humanity should be to see that the whole world lives like one civilised nation, dropping off all labels of East and West, coloured and white, spiritual and materialistic. By throwing off all our forms and conventions–the merely external aspects of civilization–and by saturating the minds of Indians with a little more of the essential spirit of Oriental civilization, we shall be able to make an easier approach to the West; and it is the duty of Asia, –being more spiritual and philosophical as is claimed, and hence less scrupulous of the mere externalities, –it is the duty of Asia to make that approach and thus to hasten the day when Europe and Asia will live side by side in greater harmony.

(Reprinted from Triveni, Sept.-Oct. 1929)

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