Lecture and Interactive Session with Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche on 18th January 2005
organised by Samanvaya and Gandhi Study Centre in Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, Chennai
Short Introduction
to Gandhi, as Rinpocheji saw him
Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche
"There have been many great persons in the 20th Century. Gandhiji is
very important and great, at least for me because reading him put The Buddha's
message in today's perspective. Buddha's teaching of non violence and compassionate
mind, until I read Gandhi I couldn't understand how to implement this in
social, economic and political spheres. We wrongly think that this (non
violence) is only a tool for persuading people and get them around to what
we want. This is not true. It is for the management of people, State, social
life… everything, so to say. Gandhiji revealed to the world how complete
non violence can be, in all spheres of human life. That is why he is relevant
today."
His Introduction to
Gandhiji
"In 1959, when we (Tibet) sought political asylum in India, in the
beginning days it was were very difficult to reconcile ourselves to the
suffering and injustice that we were put through by our powerful neighbour.
We were almost at a loss, many times we couldn't understand how to practice
loving kindness to them and to others. Gandhiji's autobiography was translated
into Tibetan and published around that time. For the first time then,
I came across Gandhi's life and it was the greatest relief for me personally
and I could reconcile to the situation and look forward. I realised how
the non violent method can be adopted by us in this political situation
too, and others.
After several years, when I could read English and Hindi, I read much
more of Gandhi literature. But I still felt that I only had bits and pieces
of him, his philosophy. I still couldn't get to the fundamental whole
of him. It is like that many times. We have to get to the fundamental,
cardinal points, otherwise it is only parts and portions of understanding
and not complete. Then one day I came across someone … who was trying
to understand Tradition in the right perspective. He mentioned Hind Swaraj
to me. I read it and understood the fundamental philosophy of Gandhiji."
Ram, Chief, Samanvaya presenting memento to Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche
About Hind Swaraj
"Gandhiji wrote this book in 1909. It was first as a serial in Indian
Opinion during December 1909 and it was published in book form in January
1910. The book was confiscated by Government of India in March 1910 and
it was banned, so immediately he dictated an English version and published
it in March in 1910. After that, this book was re-published in 1919 and
1939. After more than 30 years of work and public life, Gandhiji declared
that he wouldn't change anything in the book except a word or two. Otherwise,
he said several times all through his life that he stands by every word
of what he has said in Hind Swaraj."
Uniqueness of Hind Swaraj
"The uniqueness of this book is that it challenges modern civilisation,
modernism, modernisation, modern science and technology, the entire modernity
… At that time nobody was challenging it. He was the only one, which
is what is unique. Imagine how it needs sincerity and courage to be able
to challenge something which everybody looks up to and glamourises. …
Somebody said it was the utterance of a fool. But with sincerity and courage,
Gandhiji challenges the basic issue of modernity and discusses Self Rule
or Swaraj in this process. The English translation of this is 'Home Rule'.
I don't think this is the real translation of 'swaraj', I don't know why
he translated it this way, but 'Self Rule' explains much better, swaraj.
In this, he talks about the power of Truth, and the power of Satyagraha
- these are very basic, without which we cannot understand the teaching
of Gandhiji."
Relevance of Hind Swaraj
"I have been asked to talk on the relevance of Hind Swaraj today.
I have no solid arguments to prove the relevance of Hind Swaraj in today's
world. Because, the relevance or irrelevance of anything depends on our
attitude, our priorities and goals and there is nothing that is relevant
universally. But looking at all of humanity, and in this context, Hind
Swaraj is very relevant. It is very relevant to know how to save this
earth from complete self destruction, and how to teach this humanity to
live in harmony with everything around."
THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY
"Look at the challenges that this earth and humanity face today.
I see these 5 challenges before us today
First is the problem of population. It is an unbalanced population in
the world today. Exploding and uncontrolled here and sparse there. How
to understand and deal with this?
Second is the inequality that we see all around us. There is inequality
in everything - inequality between the rich and the poor, inequality between
the Have's and Have-not's, inequality between literate and illiterate,
between all supposed opposites… There is inequality that we feel
all the time and hostility because of this.
The third very big challenge is that of violence, visible and otherwise.
Violence has become a business and an economic necessity today. So powerful
nations have to practice and perpetuate violence today, if not for anything
else, for their economy. An unending market for war and destruction has
been created and this has to be maintained. The fear of wars has to be
promoted and maintained. Nations buy weapons from other nations, and then
there is competition in this. So countries keep other countries in their
power and hold because of this politics in the market of war, purchase
and sale of fear and weapons. The ordinary people are not fighting; what
is their problem with each other? Nothing. But as nations they are always
kept as enemies because of this war environment. Terrorism, counter-terrorism,
individual terrorism, State terrorism, structural terrorism, organised
terrorism, we see all this.
The fourth major challenge that we face is the degradation of the environment.
Today's world has misused and abused the natural environment to such an
extent that there seems no way to go but complete destruction of the earth.
Look at the problem of global warming. The ecological balance has been
disturbed so much by human greed, that basic necessities are today a problem.
Clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, clean, healthy food are the
basic necessities of humans. But look at us, we buy and take water everywhere
for ourselves. The day is not far away when we buy air. And food, we don't
know what we are eating today. I think that the earthquake that happened
now is a symptom of all this. But we are still treating symptoms and not
going to the cause and origin of it all.
The fifth challenge is a very funny and a dangerous one - that of religious
fundamentalism and religious intolerance. Religion and fundamentalism
or intolerance are contradictory words. A truly religious mind cannot
be a fundamentalist or intolerant. They contradict each other. But today,
we see organised religion, in the name of religion creating terrorism
and using it for the division of Man.
Now, all these 5 challenges are globalised. Because of this globalisation,
the local wisdom, art, local way of existence are all now disappearing
very rapidly. We have all heard about the farmers' suicides in the last
few years. I don't think this is going to end. If this continues, we will
have to purchase everything, water, air included. The local knowledge
systems, our trees, rivers, all are going to be privatised. I read a report
where it said that the third world has to be educated about Water and
it being a commodity. This is not our understanding at all. These are
not commodities for us. Modern science and technology has given us no
remedies for this kind of thing. Perhaps science can give us a technique
to repair the ozone layer? Some 20 years back, the scientists were saying
about these things that of course there will be wear and tear and we'll
provide all the remedies. But today, the scientists are forced to say
that they don't have remedies for certain things caused by the 'wear and
tear', and that the Earth will take care of itself. This is not responsible.
And our understanding tells us to be responsible about our Earth."
MODERN CIVILISATION
"Modern civilisation is the problem, this is what Gandhiji has also
said. I personally cannot impose any civilisation on any of you. But you
must understand the truth. The Buddha's teaching is right understanding.
Of misery as misery. The problem of humanty is that people do not
have the understanding of misery, suffering and compassion.
The phenomenon in the world is not just sensory. There is something beyond
that. But the world today follows modern science in saying that there
is nothing beyond the sensory perception. People talk about blind faith
in Tradition. But for the last 200-300 years, science has been propagating
blind faith. We have lost our wisdom, discriminating powers, everything
in the face of science. We blindly believe science without any examination.
This is the problem in the present age. The safety of fearlessness is
not there. There is conscious or unconscious fear everywhere.
Tradition and Modernity both give us something. The basic difference between
them is that Tradition comes from the Divine, or an enlightened mind.
It is an authentic knowledge that comes through an unbroken lineage. No,
our blind customs and rituals only need not be Tradition. For example,
untouchability is not part of Tradition. This is misuse of Tradition,
I think. So there is something beyond the senses, which is understood
and felt. This is something subtle that Tradition recognises and works
upon. But modernity is not like this; a very ordinary mind creating something
different from the Old is called modern. Somebody's words, "Novelty,
self-gratifying and violence is the basic of modern civilisation".
Gandhi called it the Satanic civilisation, and this was not said insincerely
or irresponsibly."
REMEDY
"Therefore, if we have to find remedies for today's problems, we
have to understand the falsehood of the modern civilisation, not perhaps
give it up fully since this may not be possible. But understanding its
falsehood is the key to reducing its destructiveness. For this is necessary
the power of soul or the power of Satya. To do true, real satyagraha,
one needs swaraj - self rule. And Satyagraha, or holding to truth is what
we need for the remedies of today's problems."
UNDERSTANDING
"For me, Gandhiji's teachings are very important and relevant. But
for anybody else, even to prove that Gandhiji's thoughts are not relevant,
you have to read and understand deeply. Even for rejection there must
be understanding of this thoughts. That is your freedom and responsibility.
Just saying that this is a thing of the past and rejecting on this ground
is arrogance.
Hence, my appeal to all of you and through you to your friends, would
be to use this opportunity of the Hind Swaraj Centenary 2009 Celebration.
But celebration does not mean pomp and show, it means reading again and
again, and then implementing."
Interaction
Prof. Varadarajan, Vivekananda College
"In the Mahabharatha, Shanti Parva, when the Pandavas ask Bhishma
for his wisdom, on the instructions of Sri. Krishna, Bhishma gives them
his knowledge and wisdom of Dharma in a long lecture. Then Yudhishtra
asks him to give them the essence of all that he has said, the essence
of the dharma of the world. Bhishma's observation is extremely important
in today's context - "just like the footprints of all the animals
submerge in the footprints of elephants, all dharmas take refuge in the
kshatriya dharma". Today we have lost our Indian State. Without our
State coming of its own and being true to itself and the country, we cannot
save this civilisation. Now it is one thing to articulate the basic tenets
of Indian civilisation, which Gandhiji did, but without political power
to back it up, what can be done? And Rinpocheji's transition from Academics
to Politics is very important to me. We need to work out a larger philosophy
for now and create our own world of truth / understanding. Without this,
Tradition will not live for very long. So how do we create our own world,
and how do we handle political power? For this we have to neutralise the
outside world, and in this context how to handle modernity, this is the
dilemma."
Rinpocheji
"This is a very important observation. All nations have given up
their identity, and taken up a policy of imitation. Until now this has
not been successful. China, Korea, Japan, India … all have been trying
to modernise and compete with the western world. To challenge the external,
Gandhi has given the power of Atma, Truth and experimented with it. This
has not been worked and experimented with in the modern world. But he
has shown that such power is possible, and it is capable of reducing evil
power.
We are competing with the west by imitating them, borrowing, following
their footpath… and there is not one time when the east has done
this on equal terms. It is the west that is in the front for this, and
the east follows without challenge. To compete on this unequal basis is
not the right approach.
What Gandhi asked India was that we should build our own Tradition - the
power of dharma, satya and then this will be the real challenge given.
Gandhiji's fight in the Indian freedom struggle was very significant because
he had that different nature which the British didn't have. Fighting fire
with fire, everyone is trying to do today. And not succeeding. Everyone
is fighting modernity with modernity. To extinguish fire, an opposite
nature has to be developed, i.e. non violence power. This is not being
experimented with at the national level. Imitation of the west will not
get us anywhere. Gandhiji's way is that much relevant because of the opposite
nature that he recognised and built up. He never compared or competed."
Mr. Ram
"One of the problems that I see with accepting the west is that we
unquestioningly accept all their definitions. This is what we need to
counter at the outset. Why do we accept their definitions of everything.
For example, poverty. One of the very basic values of our tradition is
our importance to simplicity. They interpret this simplicity as poverty.
Why should we take it? Similarly education, economics, … everything."
Rinpocheji
"I agree. We must be what we Are, then it will be original. Localisation
is the key. Definitions naturally come about according to geography, present
context and situation etc. No definitions are universal."
Ram, Chief, Samanvaya
"This is some information that I would like to share at this point.
Prof. G. Sivaramakrishnan, Bangalore University, and a group of social
scientists have come together as a team to see the social sciences in
an Indian framework and build this knowledge base along these lines."
Sri. Mukundan, Sanjeevani
"While discussing about Tradition and Modernity, these are two areas
of clarification.
In the field of education, we are today completely in the path of the
western civilisation. even all well meaning intentions, alternative ventures
etc end up following and selling westernisation through their education
methods and content.
In the area of science and technology, many of our friends feel very strongly
about Indian civilisation. And yet, they are completely awed by western
science and civilisation. In this context, this falsehood of the western
civilisation must be understood by them, but how."
Rinpocheji
"These are very important observations, though I don't have any ready
made solutions to them. I think that when many of the Asian countries
were colonised, one of the best colonising policies of the west was to
introduce their system of education and in the process slowly push out
the local one. I am associated with many of the Krishnamurthi schools.
These schools also have to integrate with the mainstream at some point.
So we ask what are we doing - but then give ourselves solace that we are
at least putting in the quality that is required, and saying that that
will have some impact. I think that there should be a powerful movement
by individuals to make some kind of an impact. I know of some who have
walked out and are learning by themselves. They are a good example.
I introduced the New Education Policy this time and it was very tough
for me to get it to pass through the Parliament. It has now been improved
but it is very difficult to implement due to the attitudes of parents,
teachers, the environment today. But they should step out of the mainstream
is what I am telling the parents.
About science and technology, we can simply give up using modern science
and technology. The basic need is a compassionate mind for the implementation.
Compassion for living beings, for the earth and so on. If this is there,
then science and technology can be used in a better way. Borrowed knowledge
never works, and our centres must have their own knowledge, not others'
and certainly not imitation."
