Subramania Bharati and the Indian Renaissance
Prof.
R. RAPHAEL
Subramania Bbarati, though he Wrote his poems, novels, short stories
and prose works in Tamil, which is a Dravidian language, is accepted today by
the people of India as one of their national poets, because in his creative
writings, he synthesises the spiritual, cultural,
social and political aspirations of the Dravidians and Aryans who were both
struggling under the suffocating atmosphere of the British Raj
which trampled under foot all the values of human civilisation
to establish their superiority over us. His writings stand as a pillar of
strength against the onslaught of those who seek to gain Power over the
spiritually inclined people of
“The
immediate provocation for the genesis of the poem was of course political.
Bound in bonds of slavery, Mother India was then being more and more insulted
and injured as her great sons were consigned to jails and tortured in various
ways. This vision of the enslaved motherland found powerful symbolism in Draupadi hemmed in by the Kuru
courtiers and outraged by Duhshasana’s infamous
hands,” says Dr. Prema Nandakumar.
Like
Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda
and Tilak, Bharati gave our
people a new orientation, a new hope to live by, a new awareness
of their rich heritage and a sense of urgency to fight for their natural and
spiritual rights. He wants his people to live righteously among
themselves, shed the fear-complex infused on them by the Britishers
and fight for their political rights courageously. Bharati,
then, is a poet, a philosopher and a guide to his people.
The
first note that rings through all Bharati’s writings
is his concern for unity and solidarity among the people of
Bharati is very alive
to the vital tradition of Indian spirituality. However, he is not an ascetic,
bent on picking holes on the realities of this world. He is enough of a
materialist to recognize the intrinsic worth and practical utility of the
things of this world; imaginative enough to see their beauty and charm and
intuitive enough to realize that the temporal life has an eternal and
transcendental significance. The two most important elements that strike our
attention in Bharati are his love for this world and
for the activities connected with our lives on earth.
Bharati has a
prayerful attitude to this world. It is Divine Mother’s gift to man. In “
“The
Realism of Life are Her bounteous breasts; and
consciousness, her milk of endless delight...They call her
“And
many are the wondrous toys and dolls which my Mother showeth
me;
“There
is one that is named the Moon, and it sheds a nectar
like flood of light. There are herds and herds of clouds, many-coloured toys, yielding rain. There’s the Sun, too,
foremost of my playthings, the beauty of whose face I have no words to
depict...
“A heavenful of stars, sparkling
like tiny gems. Many a time, but in vain have I essayed
to count them all. And then those green hills, that never
stir from their places, silent toys, offering speechless play.
“Rivers
and rivulets, fair and playful, that wander all over the land
and, in the end, flow into that marvellous
toy. yon ocean, wide and boundless-seeming, with
dashing billows, spouts of spray and its long, continuous chant wherein my
Mother’s name is ever chanted: Om,
This
could have been written only by a lover of nature who sees the indelible
footprints of God in created things. Bharati thus
appears to be an Augustinian to the very core. We might even call him a Wordsworthian. For him, the whole world is singing the
glory of God.
Bharati, then, is not
a materialist like Thales. Anaximenes, the Stoics and Epicurus. Thales may
depart with his water, Anaximenes evaporate with his
air, the Stoics may burn away with their fire and Epicurus
may be anatomized into his atoms. But Bharati
believes with Plato that “all things have their being from God, and from
something immutable.” Bertrand Russell says that “Platonists are the best in
logic and ethics, and nearest to Christianity.”
In
my book entitled Ananda Coomaraswamy:
Spiritual Frontiers of Art, Literature and Culture, I laboured
hard to show that there is a close affinity between Plato’s transcendental
philosophy and the Indian conception of life. The
point I am driving home is that at his best, Bharati
is a Platonist, a true Christian, a true Hindu.
To
Bharati, the whole world is an abode of God. The
things of this world have their being, beauty and perfection in Mother Shakti, the Primal Energy, Creatrix Universalis:
You
have manifested as all
O
Kali! Everywhere you.
The
evil and the good–
Aren’t
they the Divine’s play?
And again:
You
have spread out as sky
Beyond comprehension.
You
have built universes
And
charged them with speed;
You
have placed them far,
Far
away from us
Beyond
leagues so many.
O
Forn! I praise you as Kali.
sings
Bharati of Mother Shakti.
Bharati holds that all
things have a measure of beauty and perfection commensurate with their being.
Intellect, intuition and the physical senses are all real faculties.
“We
know that the Universe is Being. We guess it is
Infinite. We cannot comprehend Infinity. Mind is one phase of Existence. We are
aware of a mental life. As experience is the sole proof of things, we require
no further proof or the existence of the mind. This mind, we infer, has many
phases and almost infinite potentialities. We have learnt this, again, by
experience. We infer that all experience is one...We can therefore identify our
being with the Universal Being.” says Bharati.
Since
reality is known only through experience, the pleasures that experience brings
cannot be regarded as being sinful. In his essay, “What must Each one of us
Meditate On?” Bharati says, “If anyone desires to
enjoy the genuine pleasures of this world and perform good deeds that would
bring lasting benefits to himself and to others and if he
is desirous of removing the perplexities and sorrows of life and ensure a happy
and renowned life, it is not impossible for him to experience these
pleasures: he can surely achieve these legitimate pleasures in this world and
that too in this life.”
The
point that Bharati drives home is that we should not
hate this world in the name of religion and live like recluses. Such
otherworldliness is bound to be taken advantage of by the other people who
glorify our spirituality only to rob us of our purse. It is this apparent
unconcern for the happenings of this world that has rendered us a slavish
people.
“This
world is one,
The
male, the female, the men, the angels,
The
serpent, the bird, the wind, the sea,
The
Life, the Death–all these are but one...
The
Vedas, the fish of the sea, the whirlwind, the jasmine flower–
These
are the manifold appearance of the one thing,
All
that exists is only one thing–the one
The
name of this one is ‘That’
‘That’
is god
‘That’
is the nectar, the immortal.”
From
these lines, it follows that society is not an illusion. Family is not a source
of misery and women not a source of temptation. Here then is the most direct
statement of affirmation by Bharati. “It is being
held in our country that the world is unreal. All the Sanyasis
are harping on this depressing philosophy. Let them. I am not going to feel
sorry for it. Family people shall not even utter it...The properties bequeathed
to us by our parents, are they unreal? There stands the queen of the house like
a golden statue. She willingly shared all the joy and all the sorrow of the
family. She brought up the children. Is she unreal? Are children unreal? Let me
put the question straight to the parents themselves. Are children unreal? This
kind of philosophy won’t do for family people. What we require in this world
are long life, knowledge, sound health and enough wealth. Let us pray fervently
to our family deities to grant us these boons. God is one. The grace of God
should be experienced in our endeavour to practise virtue, in our endeavour
to acquire wealth and in our endeavour to seek
pleasure,” says Bharati.
If
life is meaningful, it must be lived as it ought to be lived. Bharati would say that we should live without fear in
action and in contemplation, performing the normal duties of life in the best
manner possible. From this it follows that man is responsible for what he does
and that man is his own master for he moulds his own personality.
Bharati’s conception of
duty is basically a recapitulation of the teachings of Krishna to Arjuna. He says: “Realising that
we are not separate from God, we must perform all our duties of this world most
perfectly as offerings to God. One who swerves from his duty is not free. Every
right presupposes a corresponding duty. Even God has his own duty. God is a Karmayogi. Ascetic renouncement is not
necessary. Women and children are not false illusions. Other men are not mere
masses of earth. We have our duties towards them.”
Bharati goes on to say
that “those who put their entire trust in God go on performing their duties
constantly. Where there is genuine devotion to God, there is also charity.
Where there is no charity, there cannot be genuine devotion but only a
pretension to it.”
This
is really a profound observation from the standpoint of ethics. Bharati implicitly says that there is a relationship
between God and man and between a man and his fellowmen, or what the
philosophers call an I–Thou relationship. These two sets of relationships
impose on man certain duties. In addition to these, man has a duty to himself,
too. The basis of Christian ethics is actually these three-fold relationships.
By
connecting the moral and religious act with charity, Bharati
has clearly shown that man cannot develop his personality to the fullest extent
possible by behaving as if he were not his brother’s keeper. When a man regards
his neighbour as an inferior creature and refuses to
establish communication with him, he perpetuates Kaliyuga.
Without charity, then, Kaliyuga, cannot
be destroyed and the age of truth, the renaissance in India, cannot come.
Bharati’s
conception of renaissance in India, thus, implies action and contemplation.
Contemplation presupposes a set of values or convictions which determine the
course of action one undertakes. The first point that Bharati
insists on as being essential for the birth of a new order in India is the
recognition of the human race. The crux of the matter is that division of our
people into different castes is senseless and defeats the purpose of Indian nationalism.
“There are two evils peculiar to India. One is the lack of money and the other
is the confusion of castes”, says Bharati.
Bharati regards caste as a
symbol of Indian decadence. It is a symbol of the nadir of the Hindu civilisation during the age of Kaliyuga.
In the introduction to his Story of the Vedic Rishis,
Bharati quotes Jsgdish Chandra Buse to prove that Indian
civilisation has the intrinsic vitality to withstand
the destructive effect of time. Civilisations have
been born, have grown to maturity and have died. But our ancient Indian civilisation is alive even today. But Bose
warns us saying that during the Middle Ages, Indians took their stupidities and
meanness for their greatness. Bharati explains what Bose means by this: “From the Middle Ages onwards, India
has been rotting below the dust and rubbish of caste. Mother India has been in
a deep coma.” Only love for all men as children of God will wake up Mother
India from her coma.
In
his essay, “The Tamil Renaissance,” Bharati says that
though meat-eating and drinking may prove to be harmful, “it is wrong on our
part to feel jealous of persons who eat and drink what we do not. It is
senseless and futile to place meaningless restrictions, regulations and norms
so far as food, clothing and giving and taking women in marriage are
concerned.
“Besides,
all the human beings of the world belong to a single caste...All men are
brethren and have one common life. This being the real nature of things, it is
our sheer superstition that makes us divide our homes on religious pretexts,
saying, ‘I belong to this caste; my cousin to another. I shall not have my food
in his company for fear of pollution. I shall excommunicate him’ I have written
so much only to show the rank stupidity of our position in this regard. In
Tamil Nadu, restrictions, superstitions and orthodoxy
based on caste are crumbling down.”
It
is thus pretty clear that according to Bharati caste
segregations must crumble and our people must learn to assemble in a bond of
brotherhood and love before we can ever hope for a genuine renaissance in
India. Renaissance implies a new birth, a new vitality and a new system of
values. The old caste-based society which was ultimately responsible for
enslaving ourselves must give way to a society in which all men and women will
be equal and enjoy equal opportunities. For Bharati
equality is justice. It presupposes that we create wealth and then distribute
it equally. It must be noted that giving a lower status to women and to the
people of tae so-called lower castes is one of the root causes of all the
sufferings in India.
The
point that Bharati wants to bring home to our people
is that we must base our life and conduct on sound principles. Superstitions
are a proof that we lack such a principle. “Every man
must have a guiding principle in his life, depending on the particular kind of
reasoning or religion or morality that attracts him more than the others. It is
not necessary that a man’s principles should be universally
upheld by all mankind as being beneficial. In fact, a principle may be a source
either of evil or of good. Nevertheless, it is true that when a man
acts in accordance with his convictions, he usually does so in the hope that
his actions will profit either himself or others,” says Bharati.
It
is very important to note that Bharati recognizes the
existence of good and evil principles. The principle on which a robber bases
his life may benefit him for a while but it always proves to be harmful to
others. Hence, “a robber’s life is based on an immoral principle” says Bharati.
“What
is a principle?” asks Bharati and gives the following
answer: “A principle is a source of action; it enables a man to ponder over the
lasting things of life and to determine rationally what
ought to be done and what ought to be shunned.”
If
a principle is a source of action, it follows necessarily that one’s actions
should conform to his principles. But this does not always happen, for “it is
one thing to have a principle or ideal and quite another to act according to
it.”
Bharati has no respect for
those whose life contradicts their preaching. He calls them “walking corpses”
and “the pernicious tubercle bacilli.” “These men have stuffed their heads with
vain principles which they sell to make a living. From public platforms, they
proclaim their ideals so that the world may come to know of them. The common
man who hears them is all amazed at their profundity. And as these ordinary
mortals begin to apotheosize these pseudo preachers as avatars of the
gods, from whose minds issue forth words of wisdom and praiseworthy ideals,
these men pretend to be such and accept their unmerited adulations with almost
obscene pride. But if we follow them to their homes, we will be shockingly
exposed to the skeletons in their cupboards, for the behaviour
of these men is a mockery of their ideals. So long as there is no one to
question their integrity, they go on proclaiming their ideals; but when they
sense the danger of exposure, they try to hoodwink the people by telling them,
‘You should behave as I tell you; you should not act as I do’.”
Bharati is forced to make the
above observation because these people are ultimately responsible for our
enslavement at the hands of the Englishmen. Because we lacked convictions,
because our life was not guided by noble principles, we lacked discipline and
fell an easy victim to the more determined English race. This explains how less
than two crores of English people could conquer and
rule over thirty crores of Indians, says Bharati.
Bharati says that mere
multiplication of our people would not bring us any fresh hope for the future.
What we need most is noble principles of action: “What we are in
need of is great ideals and not men...There cannot be a more ignominious person
than the one who sacrifices his cherished ideals for the sake of the coffee he
drinks, the food he eats and the clothes he wears.” The conclusion is obvious:
man does not live by bread alone. Man lives by ideals and aspirations. Hence, Bharati says:
“Henceforth,
each man and each woman among us must invariably accept and uphold one specific
principle, namely, we must learn to lead the kind of life that would make
others fear and respect the freedom and independence of our beloved land. We
must trample under foot all the obstacles that stand in the way of our practising this principle and forge ahead. While living
according to this principle, we should expect neither happiness nor respect,
nor social status. If it entails the losing of our home, wife and children,
let us be prepared to lose them. We must act according to the poet who says:
Unmindful
is he of hunger and pain;
Vigilant
ever, but never wicked.
Praise
and blame in him leave no stain,
He
that his duties above all else reckoned.
“Anyone
who is unable to tread this difficult path must accept at once that he is
afraid. Let him not pretend that he has accepted the principle or vision of Swaraj. Let him who would be free be prepared
to lose everything except his soul. Oh, you men of India, a slothful man cannot
pretend to act on principles...Do not sacrifice your national ideals for the
sake of bodily pleasures or for fear of physical pain. Only Truth conquers. You
must first extricate yourself from slavery, shed all your inhibitions and then
fight for the liberation of all those enslaved in the four corners of the
world. Your actions must be such as to elevate India and enable her to regain
her pre-eminence which she enjoyed once in the civilised
world. Do not sacrifice this ideal. Vande Mataram.”
This
might at first appear to be a political ideal. But the poem he quotes belies
it. Bharati wants freedom so that he may be free to
lead a life of his own choice without ever causing sufferings and hardships to
others. He knows that politics is one of the highest duties of man, for our
nation is our Mother supreme. It is our sacred duty to take care of our Mother,
the bringer of all good:
Mother,
those that hungering seek your grace
And
offer to you their life and love,
Although
consigned to dreary dungeons here,
They’d
merit a passage to Paradise.
Those
unvisited by your grace, Mother,
Must
exult in being slaves;
Although
living in gorgeous palaces
They
breathe the air of prison cells!
Alas,
born in a hapless land
That
remembers not the glories lost,
Knowing
the power of your grace, Mother,
How
best may I propitiate thee?
I
have shown that living a disciplined life according to noble principles is the
first requisite for achieving personal or subjective freedom and political
liberty. Regeneration and rebirth must start from oneself. Unless a man be born
again in the waters of justice, equality and love, Kalyuga
cannot be destroyed.
To
make noble ideals one’s guiding principles of life, it is essential, says Bharati, that we learn to contemplate. The first condition
for becoming a contemplative is the recognition of our own greatness as human
beings and of the power of our faculties to see into the nature of things and
comprehend their secret relationships. In an essay entitled, “Meditation and
Prayer,” with the subtitle, “The Road to Independence,” Bharati
says, “My intelligence is divine. I am capable of thinking like a god.
Henceforth I must make it a point to act like a divine being.” Bharati thus establishes man’s greatness and the capacity
of his faculties for possessing knowledge and of acting accordingly. He thus
accepts as an a priori principle that man is free and that he can will
and act independently.
In
the essay, “What Must Each One of Us Meditate on?” Bharati
warns us not to “slight the efficacy of meditation. Man makes himself.” It is
clear from this that man is a master not only of himself but also of the things
of the world. His own activities create and mould his personality. Man is an
end in himself. Bharati does not accept determinism
in human affairs. Determinism gives no room for rational action and Bharati insists on rational actions as the only salvation
for the people of India. He tells us: “The innumerable thoughts that fleet
across the horizon of the mind cannot be called meditations.” These streams of
thoughts do not leave their imprint on the human personality. A particular
thought becomes fit for being meditated upon when it becomes his dominant idea,
pervading his entire being and consciousness. “Just as the fire that burns down
the bushes in the forest, so also the dominant idea that burns away our worries
and other worthless thoughts is the fruit of meditation. If we can entertain
such a burning thought in our heart, all the events and happenings of the world
would take place according to our mental condition,” says Bharati.
This
may at first appear to be a propagandist ideal coming from a poet who strongly
believes in revolutionary changes. In fact, Bharati
is restating the ancient position that man is the measure of all things. He can
determine the shape of things to come. A poet is a prophet and Bharati is both: “Man is empowered by nature with the
faculty and strength to determine the kind of thoughts and ideals
that he should cherish and the ability to avoid others. Of course, initially he
experiences some inner resistance or difficulty when he tries to put his ideals
into practice.”
All Need Meditation
It
must be pointed out that when Bharati insists on
meditation as a source of strength, he is not propagating a Hindu ideal.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Bharati the
poet speaks as a man to man. He believes that contemplation elevates the soul
of man. As such anyone who wants to lead a life befitting his spiritual
personality should meditate. He says: “The theists and the atheists, the
followers of a particular religion and those who subscribe to no organized
religion in particular, all need meditation. And at this time each Indian needs
serious meditation more than good food. You may give up the habit of eating
rice but do not neglect to go to a lonely place and to fill your mind with
noble thoughts, thoughts that would bring peace, strength, courage and
firmness, and meditate on them. Those who believe in God may invoke their
patron saint in their mind and pray to them in earnestness and sincerity to
grant them great boons. It is of not much use to mumble an old story. Your
prayers should emanate from the innermost recess of your soul. The meditation that
you do on your own accord, using your own thoughts and words alone is
efficacious. Even atheists who do not have a personal deity can profitably
meditate.”
Having
meditated and having come to a firm conviction on a particular course of
action, what is now left is to act accordingly. Bharati
brings out the importance of action through a story which has a tinge of the
parables of Jesus Christ. There was a king by name Sthira-Chitta
who ruled over Vidyanagar. One night his enemies
gained entry into his palace, carried him bound to a forest and there they
deposited him in a cave. When he woke up, he was overcome by fear and
helplessness. Being young, he was not prepared to die. But he just did not know
how to save himself. Presently, a piece of dying-advice by his mother flashes
across his consciousness. The advice was, “Karomi
(I do).” The frightened king, helpless and forlorn, repeats this Mantra and
starts acting after much initial hesitation. He gives a strong knock against
the boulder covering the cave’s mouth. The boulder rolls down and the king
comes out to freedom, repeating the prayer, Karomi.
This
little story clearly indicates that Bharati believes
in freedom and action. Man is not condemned to be free as Sartre would have us
believe. For Bharati, freedom is a source of action
and liberation. Fear is the greatest enemy of action. It eats away action from
within. Hence, Bharati argues that courage is the
fundamental quality of a man of action. He says: “Our ancestors considered only
the fearless man as wise. If a coward who trembles at every passing shadow
calls himself learned in many fields and wise, don’t believe it; spit at him
and tell him ‘you are nothing but a worm and have wasted your life pouring
through books. As long as you are afraid you are not wise. Have not you heard
that your ancestors used the same word to indicate courage and wisdom?’
“By
his own exertions, bravery and sharp intellect Shivaji
destroyed Aurangazib’s tyranny and established
Hinduism again in Maharashtra. He was not a scholar.
These days thousands are spoiling their eyesight pouring over books in English
schools only to sell their soul and religion for a paltry sum of money. Shivaji gained an empire–who is the better, the wiser?
“Some
say that India needs education for renaissance; but I say she needs
fearlessness. Courage is the mother; all else including education and wisdom
spring from it.”
Courage
is necessary for action and action liberates us. Consequently, it can be said
that courageous actions alone would hasten the birth of the new renascent
India.
Earlier
it has been pointed out that Bharati’s philosophy of
life and action is essentially the one advocated in the Bhagavad
Gita. He says that we must act with clarity of
thought and lucidity of vision. When we do a thing, we must identify ourselves
completely with it, says Bharati, for that is the
essence of Yoga.
In
the Gita, it is made abundantly clear
that there are two paths to the realisation of God.
They are “the path of knowledge to the discerning, the path of work to the
active.” (III, 3) By merely renouncing action one cannot achieve perfection nor
can one become actionless by abstaining from action.
(III, 4) It is also made clear that man cannot remain inactive for thinking is
also a form of activity (III, 6). The essence of action, according to the Gita, is unattachment
(III, 7). And Bharati also wants us to perform our
duties without being attached to the fruits of those actions.
It
has been shown in this essay that Bharati’s concept
of renaissance in India is intimately connected with his vision of Swaraj. Swaraj is
not only a political but also a spiritual ideal. To achieve this, we must shake
ourselves free from the shackles of superstitions, unite ourselves in a bond of
true love and solidarity, wipe away all the disruptive forces of
unity such as caste feuds and religious fanaticism and march ahead without fear
into the promised land of Bharat,
to establish the noble ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood arrived at
after genuine meditation and contemplation. These principles should be our
sources of action. Truly, then, Bharati is a teacher,
a visionary, a poet and a prophet.