Book Review by Kavneet Singh
Innaiah Narisetti, a man with impeccable courage who fought through the Indian Court
system for 12 years, to finally receive his PhD in Philosophy is a diehard humanist.
Rationalist humanism is a very uncommon line of thinking among Indians in general and
an educated guess would be less than half of one percent proscribe to it. Dr.Narisetti has
been a journalist, written several books in English and Telugu on Humanism, Religion &
Politics. He has complied papers and lectures of M.N.Roy and published them in a
readable logical sequence.
Manabendra Nath Roy is the father of Humanism in the South Asian sub-continent. His
radical thinking brought to light several problems of rule of the people and the
democratic process in its current form. Many of his insights were uncannily well ahead of
his time and the solutions incisive. Born in 1887 into a Bengali Brahmin household, grew
up with no formal schooling, landed in the US and converted to Marxism in Mexico and
later formed the Radical Democratic Party in pre-India. Finding a dead end with all the
current systems he started ‘New Humanism’ which was simultaneously coming of age in
Europe and the US, unknown to Roy at the time.
Chapter 1:
The common cry of all is: back to the religious mode of thought. Their new religious
philosophy is differentiated from orthodox revivalism by a discriminating association
with rationalism and scientific knowledge. But yet another attempt to reconcile faith with
reason, theism or mysticism with humanism, mediation of moral values deserves
endorsement, but the morality of the modern man requires no transcendental
sanction.....[Page 21]
M.N.Roy clearly advocates rationality to be used as a moral guide for man versus religion
to guide man through this world. A free thinking individual’s mind should not be
cluttered and fettered to the obscure theological concepts of the various man-made
earthly faiths. The intellectual bankruptcy of men of faith has caused a moral crisis in
modern times.
I see no other way out of the crisis. It is the creation of people who were to lead mankind.
They have failed. A mighty resurgence of the common man and woman only can save
modern civilization. To inspire that resurgence, organize it, and guide it to fruition-that is
the mission of New Humanism....[Page 28]
Roy is convinced that all religious systems have failed mankind to get ‘him’ out of the
quagmire of our present human condition and unless and until individuals can completely
free themselves of the chains of religious indoctrination there is little chance of freedom
of the utopian kind.
Chapter 2:
A cosmopolitan commonwealth of free men and women is a possibility. It will be a
spiritual community, not limited by the boundaries of national states-capitalist, fascist,
communist, or of any other kind-which will gradually disappear under the impact of
cosmopolitan humanism.....[Page 33]
Roy insists that every individual be educated and use his discerning intellect to
understand and make sound decisions for the betterment of mankind.
Chapter 3:
No political philosophy or a scheme of social reconstruction can have more than a very
limited revolutionary significance if it dismisses the concept of individual freedom as an
empty abstraction.......Politics cannot be divorced from ethics without jeopardizing the
cherished ideal of freedom.......[Pages 36-37]
The heart of New Humanism lies in the freedom of the individual being the absolute
beachhead of this radical thought. But in order to practice democracy the current form of
simply counting heads especially when the heads are devoid of proper information and
sovereign intellect. The herd mentality persists because the individual has not matured
enough to do independent thinking due to the peer pressure of the masses to toe the line
of religious fascism and hyperbole.
What is suggested is not a rule of the “intellectual elite,” but such an organization of
society as will give unlimited scope for the unfolding of the creative genius of man, by
placing the executive power of the state under the control of free individuals.....[Page39]
Roy’s suggested style of Democracy is ideal and indeed Radical but not novel in its form
because the Sikh Gurus coined the concept of “halimi raj” [benevolent rule] more than
three centuries earlier which was the original radical democracy where every Sikh was a
sovereign free thinking individual with a voice which made a difference. It is uncanny
that the World Sikh Council-America Region organizational setup is based on the Sikh
religio-political concepts yet they happen to be exactly the way Roy envisions an ideal
democracy. Furthermore the Sikh rule by Maharaja Ranjit Singh where the Sikhs being
only 13% of the entire population ruled with the full backing of all the people and is on
record to be the most benevolent ruler in Asia in the last many centuries. Even though
there is no reference to it in the book, it is quite possible for Roy to have studied the
concepts of Sikh theological governance to have come up with this idea as Bengali
writers were the first non-Sikh/non-Western writers to study the Sikhs.
Chapter 4:
It has been elected by less than 12 percent of the people....Because a large majority of
these 12 percent did not vote consciously and intelligently for those particular gentlemen.
They voted in many instances simply because they were dragged to polling stations like
dumb-driven cattle and voted as they were told by those who dragged them.....will have
the privilege of being ruled by a minority government representing a very small
percentage of the people.....[Pages 51-52]
Nothing has changed since the supposed independence of India as the same is truer today.
Roy’s prophetic insight to the Indian mind gave him a unique foresight as all his
predictions have pretty much come true. No wonder Roy’s Politics of Freedom is the
need of the hour not only for India but for all; albeit it requires rigorous training of honest
inquisitive humble men in order to build a legitimately solid foundation upon which
Radical Humanist democracy can thrive!
That is the relation between philosophy and politics. We believe that politics, in theory
and practice, is related to certain human values and ethical concepts........[Page 58]
Roy’s appraisal is very similar to the ‘miri-piri’ concept a precursor to the ‘halimi raj’ of
the Sikh theology. A ‘Just’ religion or a Philosophy governs politics and not vice a versa,
otherwise like Roy states politics becomes a dirty scramble for power and success.
Chapter 5:
We have had the experience of previous elections. There were many cases of voters going
to polling booths as if they were going to the temple.......With universal suffrage things
will be worse....Consequently, demagogues will have a greater chance to come to power
by appealing to the prejudices and superstitions of the people.....Demagogues will vie
with each other to sway the people.....The future of democracy in India, therefore is not
very bright......[Page 66]
Absolutely nothing has changed since the Independence of India, except for ratcheting up
the level of corruption hundredfold. Roy’s vision of educating the individual and freeing
the Indian mind to make independent ethical decisions is still a distant dream. Today’s
game of power and pelf is no different from 60 years ago as Roy saw except its worse.
Chapter 6:
Thus the electorate will gradually become critical and discriminating; the time will come
for the voters of a locality will tell candidates of all parties to leave them alone; among
themselves they will find men in whom they can have confidence and who will remain
responsible between two elections........In the process, we shall already have laid down
the foundation of a decentralized state of local republics......power will remain with them,
to be wielded directly by the individual members of small communities. Being thus reared
upon a broad foundation of direct democracies, the state will really be democratic.
Usurpation of power will be out of question.......[Page 77]
Roy’s intellect shines through with his clear thinking. Again Roy’s ideas are completely
akin to the theo-political state envisioned by the Sikh Gurus and uniquely Sikhs are
running a few organizations on very similar lines already.
Chapter 7:
A little analysis will reveal......the large bulk of the Indian population, have not risen to
the level where democratic practice is possible, since it belongs in the 16th if not 15th
century......therefore its argued the institutions of the bygone days would be more
suitable for India.....the advocate’s of India’s “special genius” argue: don’t try to
introduce modern political institutions into this mediaeval atmosphere, but let us glorify
medievalism and give India the equivalent of medieval institutions......[Page81]
Roy clarity is still relevant today. Instead of progressively building the common man’s
mental makeup, institutional parties have inundated the minds of the public with
retrograde “Hinduvata” instead; taking Indians further back into a medieval morass.
Once a representative is elected, he is no longer under the control of his electors but of
his party.....You may have noticed that during the debate of the constitution in the
Constituent Assembly, many members advocated in the beginning a point of view of their
own which they suddenly abandoned simply because the party whip had cracked, and
they voted against their conscience......[Pages 83-84]
This is precisely the problem with the present form of election process due to which the
sovereignty of the voter is over immediately upon his representative being elected.
Anything done for a good end is right, morality disappears, and that is the main evil in
the public life of all countries ....Morality has disappeared because it is forgotten or
ignored...an attribute of men, and men have been lost in the masses....because men
merge into masses on the lowest denominator......[Page 86]
Ethics and morality are thrown to the winds because it has no place in the flesh market
where politicians are free wheeling traders.
History has proved that if the French Revolution were to be traced to a single cause, it is
this book. Through this book, Enlightenment spread to the farthest corners of
France.......to spread enlightenment in all the dark corners of our social life, where
superstitions lurk and prejudice breeds, is the most fundamental task of all....But once3
the theory becomes a live integral part of my existence, all my actions will be practical
expressions of that theory......[Pages 89-91]
To a very large extent Roy is correct in thinking that through the dissemination of written
ideas people can get enlightened to push for positive change to better their lot.
Unfortunately in India the illiterate masses are not the only ones, but also the educated
that are carrying the virus of blind faith in umpteen kinds of ritualistic digressive
religious philosophies. In a country where there is a state sanctioned department of
Astrology what can you expect from the uneducated masses? It is a long uphill battle.
Chapter 8:
The result would be that America acquires a stake in our country, Thus, on one hand, in
association with American capital, which today dominates the world markets, India
might get a share in world trade.......[Page 98]
As a political economist Roy was visionary. It took over 40 years for India to realize the
potential of allowing America and other western countries to invest capital with strings
attached but nevertheless helping greatly advance its foreign currency reserves, its image
but only very limited advancement in creating jobs for the teeming rural poor.
Most people who have any political ideas at all, whether of the left or right, are obsessed
with notions of one kind of dictatorship or another, whether Ramraj or Soviet, or a
paternal despotism under the garb of formal parliamentarism. In India the experience of
imposing democracy from above will have worse results than elsewhere, because 90
percent of the electorate are illiterate.....this places a heavy premium on demagogy in all
elections.......[Page 104]
India has had an admixture of nepotistic, autocratic, socialized, with a heavy dose of
paternalistic democratic structure which is completely self serving the elected that have
done very little other than lining their pockets. Recent investigations have revealed that
Indian bureaucrats among other Indians are the world’s biggest secret Swiss bank account
holders.
Chapter 9:
But modernity is not a chronological concept only......Some my be living physically in the
20th century but culturally perhaps in the prehistoric age.........the average Indian is
religiously inclined – in fact, religion for him is nothing spiritual but sheer old inherited
prejudice – that he is therefore the representative of mankind as a whole, more spiritual
than the rest, as is often claimed by Indian Nationalists......[Page 111]
Roy has hit the nail on the head and is being pretty sarcastic about it, and rightly so! The
bane of the Indian mindset has been the casteism, racism and really age old prejudices
which have handicapped them and in their own convoluted thinking; and all that is
genuine spiritualism. Unless all that dross is discarded, humanistic values become very
hard to inculcate into anyone.
The individual being the starting point of New Humanism, its practice must necessarily
start from the actions and behavior of individuals. A number of individuals who feel the
necessity....will begin by themselves becoming moral....Naturally, when a hundred of
them will be guided by the same ideal and will be engaged in the same practice, there
will be cooperation among them. A humanist movement will develop among such groups
of humanists......[Page 116]
In theory Roy has an excellent idea but in the real world this is a utopian concept. One
possibility is to implement this book immediately into every higher learning institution in
the country and make it mandatory which would enlighten the impressionable young
minds and would hopefully start a mass crusade, like the one Roy envisions.
Chapter 10:
Free and compulsory primary education is considered a great democratic
achievement....you are trained to salute a flag or the picture of a man; books are
prescribed and cannot use any other book than the ones prescribed by a particular
government.....the result is a high degree of conformism and sub-democratic system in a
backward country......the possibility is extremely remote-to raise the intellectual and
cultural level of the people through government sponsored education......[Page 126]
Roy’s insight through practical experience is, to either change the system; which is
extremely difficult or to start a system outside the existing one. Since the affairs of big
communities have to be administered and that administration is politics. Politics cannot
be relegated to the background instead a humanistic approach should be used to solve all
of those political problems.
If a philosophy is lived instead of being only preached, it has much greater influence than
one which is preached but mostly denied in the living o those who preach it......as such I
appeal to the innate reason and morality of my fellow human beings....This new can be
lived and practiced everywhere in the world. By its spread the political life of India also
can be changed for the better.......[Page 135]
Again Roy is setting an extremely high bar for a humanist to reach. Living an honest
ethical life is exactly what the Sikh Scripture teaches its followers yet they are also
lacking in many ways because ‘that’ path is a difficult one but the right one. Similarly
Roy’s ideas can work wonders provided a group of humanists actually practice before
they preach and in one or two generations maybe there is hope if there are no disruptions
or the humanists themselves don’t give up because this will take a very long time to solve.
Chapter 11:
Revolting against organized religious faith, which had become a spiritual tyranny, the
philosophers of the Renaissance declared man to be sovereign. But the defect was that
the people who had talked about man as the center of all things and attached such a high
value to the human being kept the concept of man himself clouded in mystery....Therefore
the, this view of man was bound to degenerate into some form of mysticism and even in a
new religion......[Page 141]
Roy has given up on organized religion and looks down on any such spiritual philosophy
which involves superhuman and supernatural agencies. There will be continued debate on
this point for the foreseeable future, because spiritually inclined humanists will have their
own take on this! But coming from an ex-Brahminical perspective I can understand
Roy’s vehement distaste to organized religion being the administrator of society since
Brahminism has been the bane of society since time immemorial.
New Humanism is a scientific integral philosophy. The human being is taken not only in
the context of society but of the whole universe. It is not anarchic individualism, because
a point has no existence in space. Similarly, individuals cannot exist independent of
society.....that led to the theory....we must capture power first and that this end justifies
all means. At this point all “goodness” goes by the board. To make a good society even
bad means are justified. But bad means spoil good men. In the process good men become
bad. And bad men cannot make a good society......[Page 149]
Roy’s New Humanism is based on a highly disciplined group of individuals who will
stick by their high ethical code of conduct and not waver at all. This could work but its
being pretty idealistic. Every pessimist is a secret optimist and I for one hope Roy’s
vision comes to fruition for the betterment of all societies. Unless and until a society like
India where people are first brainwashed completely of the existing ignorance and then
through mass literacy programs inculcated the right ideas to germinate, such fantastic
ideas will remain a utopia.
Chapter 12:
The idea of philosophy deluded the best of men, the noblest of souls. In the quest of truth
and search for knowledge, they kept themselves aloof from the affairs of the world,
engaged in contemplation and introspection with the vain hope of finding the infinite in
their finite selves......bulk of mankind was not concerned with this sort of philosophy. If
philosophy was indifferent to their problems, they had no use for philosophy. The
artificial differentiation between the world of spirit and the world of matter led to the
belief that there is no place for the truth and moral values in the latter, which is therefore
destined to be ruled by the laws of the jungle.......[Page 167]
I agree with Roy’s above statement but on the same token I have to disagree that not all
enlightened noble souls have remained aloof from the mundane. The Sikh Gurus spent
nearly 239 years through practice and leadership; germinating a community, then a
society and finally a nation of ‘sovereign’, individuals who could think freely after being
trained through logic to drop all that was previously learnt. Administration of society
should be based clearly upon rule by honest, moral & ethical conduct albeit through the
form of “servant-leadership”. This was uniquely the Sikh Way! Some 225 years later Roy
has proposed ideas which have already been played out and a lot can be learnt from that.
Chapter 13:
Religion in the last analysis remained the only sanction of morality. But in proportion as
science undermined the faith in the supernatural, religion became a mere conventionality.
Consequently, the position of morality in public life became very precarious. With the
modern believing man, religion is the anchor or a mere preoccupation of private life.
Having no bearing upon the public life, it logically cannot dictate the norms of his social
behavior and political practice......[Page 172]
Again based on Roy’s own experience of primarily Brahminism, but Christianity and
Islam the prevailing faiths of his time; it seems like his disenchantment is real. But the
anomaly happens to be again the Sikh Faith where the empirical world is real. Man’s
public life and politics is part and parcel of his personal life to be governed by the moral
dictates of his faith. All political life is to be governed and guided by religion provided it
is wholesome and betters everyone’s lives but with the explicit permission of all those
being governed. The spiritual and the temporal go hand and hand without being divorced
from each other.
In the last analysis, education of the citizen is the condition for such a reorganization of
society as will be conducive to common progress and prosperity without encroaching on
the freedom of the individual. New Humanism advocates a social reconstruction of the
world as a commonwealth and fraternity of free men, by the cooperative endeavor of
spiritually emancipated moral men......[Page 184]
It is difficult to disagree with Roy who is so profoundly logical. Yet, Brahminism and the
modern Democracy of India have stifled the élan of a highly spirited society of
individuals who have practiced and strived for all those great ideas which Roy so
eloquently proposes. If only the Sikh people were allowed to breathe the “liberty” which
is the birth right of all free men as Roy states; Roy would have a readymade model for
others to imbibe and make profound, radical changes which he so desires. That is why
Dr.Ambedkar was very seriously considering that he and his followers convert to the
Sikh Faith in 1930’s except to be blackmailed into submission by the infamous Gandhi.
Chapter 14:
“Man is the measure of everything”....and advocates reconstruction of the world as a
commonwealth and fraternity of free men, by the collective endeavor of spiritually
emancipated moral men......[Page 194]
What Roy is advocating is exactly what the genius of the Sikh Gurus created in a final
culmination of the egalitarian Sikh Faith. The very core of the theological concept of the
Sikh Faith extols to its followers to live and function within society by highly ethical
moral honest means but ultimately serving (all) ‘others’ through selfless service. Further
one of two pillars of the Sikh Faith is that the entire collective of followers have the
power vested in them to wield as they deem fit through collective deliberation for the
benefit of everyone in all facets of the religious and political arena. The Sikhs are a
fraternity of equals who do not consider anyone their master except the Creator. Finally
governance of all would be through the benevolent rule where the power is vested in the
ordinary (Sikhs) people who would nominate not elect a “servant-leadership” which
could be removed as easily if corrupted.
This is the first time in a long time I have come across a man with great intellect on
subject such as this and even rarer is the fact that Roy was a Hindu-Brahmin with ‘ethics.
This book should be standard text to be read by every university student at least in India
and any other third world country whose leaders practice medieval chicanery to rule the
people. Roy’s ideas if studied in depth can make deep changes in the impressionable
young who normally are the torch-bears of change anywhere in the world to gain justice
and freedom from the mental shackles proscribed by various governments. If this book is
really understood by Indian readers they may start questioning the morally and physically
debilitating faith of India which is followed by the majority. The editing author
Dr.Narisetti must be highly commended for bringing out this fantastic book.
Innaiah Narisetti, a man with impeccable courage who fought through the Indian Court
system for 12 years, to finally receive his PhD in Philosophy is a diehard humanist.
Rationalist humanism is a very uncommon line of thinking among Indians in general and
an educated guess would be less than half of one percent proscribe to it. Dr.Narisetti has
been a journalist, written several books in English and Telugu on Humanism, Religion &
Politics. He has complied papers and lectures of M.N.Roy and published them in a
readable logical sequence.
Manabendra Nath Roy is the father of Humanism in the South Asian sub-continent. His
radical thinking brought to light several problems of rule of the people and the
democratic process in its current form. Many of his insights were uncannily well ahead of
his time and the solutions incisive. Born in 1887 into a Bengali Brahmin household, grew
up with no formal schooling, landed in the US and converted to Marxism in Mexico and
later formed the Radical Democratic Party in pre-India. Finding a dead end with all the
current systems he started ‘New Humanism’ which was simultaneously coming of age in
Europe and the US, unknown to Roy at the time.
Chapter 1:
The common cry of all is: back to the religious mode of thought. Their new religious
philosophy is differentiated from orthodox revivalism by a discriminating association
with rationalism and scientific knowledge. But yet another attempt to reconcile faith with
reason, theism or mysticism with humanism, mediation of moral values deserves
endorsement, but the morality of the modern man requires no transcendental
sanction.....[Page 21]
M.N.Roy clearly advocates rationality to be used as a moral guide for man versus religion
to guide man through this world. A free thinking individual’s mind should not be
cluttered and fettered to the obscure theological concepts of the various man-made
earthly faiths. The intellectual bankruptcy of men of faith has caused a moral crisis in
modern times.
I see no other way out of the crisis. It is the creation of people who were to lead mankind.
They have failed. A mighty resurgence of the common man and woman only can save
modern civilization. To inspire that resurgence, organize it, and guide it to fruition-that is
the mission of New Humanism....[Page 28]
Roy is convinced that all religious systems have failed mankind to get ‘him’ out of the
quagmire of our present human condition and unless and until individuals can completely
free themselves of the chains of religious indoctrination there is little chance of freedom
of the utopian kind.
Chapter 2:
A cosmopolitan commonwealth of free men and women is a possibility. It will be a
spiritual community, not limited by the boundaries of national states-capitalist, fascist,
communist, or of any other kind-which will gradually disappear under the impact of
cosmopolitan humanism.....[Page 33]
Roy insists that every individual be educated and use his discerning intellect to
understand and make sound decisions for the betterment of mankind.
Chapter 3:
No political philosophy or a scheme of social reconstruction can have more than a very
limited revolutionary significance if it dismisses the concept of individual freedom as an
empty abstraction.......Politics cannot be divorced from ethics without jeopardizing the
cherished ideal of freedom.......[Pages 36-37]
The heart of New Humanism lies in the freedom of the individual being the absolute
beachhead of this radical thought. But in order to practice democracy the current form of
simply counting heads especially when the heads are devoid of proper information and
sovereign intellect. The herd mentality persists because the individual has not matured
enough to do independent thinking due to the peer pressure of the masses to toe the line
of religious fascism and hyperbole.
What is suggested is not a rule of the “intellectual elite,” but such an organization of
society as will give unlimited scope for the unfolding of the creative genius of man, by
placing the executive power of the state under the control of free individuals.....[Page39]
Roy’s suggested style of Democracy is ideal and indeed Radical but not novel in its form
because the Sikh Gurus coined the concept of “halimi raj” [benevolent rule] more than
three centuries earlier which was the original radical democracy where every Sikh was a
sovereign free thinking individual with a voice which made a difference. It is uncanny
that the World Sikh Council-America Region organizational setup is based on the Sikh
religio-political concepts yet they happen to be exactly the way Roy envisions an ideal
democracy. Furthermore the Sikh rule by Maharaja Ranjit Singh where the Sikhs being
only 13% of the entire population ruled with the full backing of all the people and is on
record to be the most benevolent ruler in Asia in the last many centuries. Even though
there is no reference to it in the book, it is quite possible for Roy to have studied the
concepts of Sikh theological governance to have come up with this idea as Bengali
writers were the first non-Sikh/non-Western writers to study the Sikhs.
Chapter 4:
It has been elected by less than 12 percent of the people....Because a large majority of
these 12 percent did not vote consciously and intelligently for those particular gentlemen.
They voted in many instances simply because they were dragged to polling stations like
dumb-driven cattle and voted as they were told by those who dragged them.....will have
the privilege of being ruled by a minority government representing a very small
percentage of the people.....[Pages 51-52]
Nothing has changed since the supposed independence of India as the same is truer today.
Roy’s prophetic insight to the Indian mind gave him a unique foresight as all his
predictions have pretty much come true. No wonder Roy’s Politics of Freedom is the
need of the hour not only for India but for all; albeit it requires rigorous training of honest
inquisitive humble men in order to build a legitimately solid foundation upon which
Radical Humanist democracy can thrive!
That is the relation between philosophy and politics. We believe that politics, in theory
and practice, is related to certain human values and ethical concepts........[Page 58]
Roy’s appraisal is very similar to the ‘miri-piri’ concept a precursor to the ‘halimi raj’ of
the Sikh theology. A ‘Just’ religion or a Philosophy governs politics and not vice a versa,
otherwise like Roy states politics becomes a dirty scramble for power and success.
Chapter 5:
We have had the experience of previous elections. There were many cases of voters going
to polling booths as if they were going to the temple.......With universal suffrage things
will be worse....Consequently, demagogues will have a greater chance to come to power
by appealing to the prejudices and superstitions of the people.....Demagogues will vie
with each other to sway the people.....The future of democracy in India, therefore is not
very bright......[Page 66]
Absolutely nothing has changed since the Independence of India, except for ratcheting up
the level of corruption hundredfold. Roy’s vision of educating the individual and freeing
the Indian mind to make independent ethical decisions is still a distant dream. Today’s
game of power and pelf is no different from 60 years ago as Roy saw except its worse.
Chapter 6:
Thus the electorate will gradually become critical and discriminating; the time will come
for the voters of a locality will tell candidates of all parties to leave them alone; among
themselves they will find men in whom they can have confidence and who will remain
responsible between two elections........In the process, we shall already have laid down
the foundation of a decentralized state of local republics......power will remain with them,
to be wielded directly by the individual members of small communities. Being thus reared
upon a broad foundation of direct democracies, the state will really be democratic.
Usurpation of power will be out of question.......[Page 77]
Roy’s intellect shines through with his clear thinking. Again Roy’s ideas are completely
akin to the theo-political state envisioned by the Sikh Gurus and uniquely Sikhs are
running a few organizations on very similar lines already.
Chapter 7:
A little analysis will reveal......the large bulk of the Indian population, have not risen to
the level where democratic practice is possible, since it belongs in the 16th if not 15th
century......therefore its argued the institutions of the bygone days would be more
suitable for India.....the advocate’s of India’s “special genius” argue: don’t try to
introduce modern political institutions into this mediaeval atmosphere, but let us glorify
medievalism and give India the equivalent of medieval institutions......[Page81]
Roy clarity is still relevant today. Instead of progressively building the common man’s
mental makeup, institutional parties have inundated the minds of the public with
retrograde “Hinduvata” instead; taking Indians further back into a medieval morass.
Once a representative is elected, he is no longer under the control of his electors but of
his party.....You may have noticed that during the debate of the constitution in the
Constituent Assembly, many members advocated in the beginning a point of view of their
own which they suddenly abandoned simply because the party whip had cracked, and
they voted against their conscience......[Pages 83-84]
This is precisely the problem with the present form of election process due to which the
sovereignty of the voter is over immediately upon his representative being elected.
Anything done for a good end is right, morality disappears, and that is the main evil in
the public life of all countries ....Morality has disappeared because it is forgotten or
ignored...an attribute of men, and men have been lost in the masses....because men
merge into masses on the lowest denominator......[Page 86]
Ethics and morality are thrown to the winds because it has no place in the flesh market
where politicians are free wheeling traders.
History has proved that if the French Revolution were to be traced to a single cause, it is
this book. Through this book, Enlightenment spread to the farthest corners of
France.......to spread enlightenment in all the dark corners of our social life, where
superstitions lurk and prejudice breeds, is the most fundamental task of all....But once3
the theory becomes a live integral part of my existence, all my actions will be practical
expressions of that theory......[Pages 89-91]
To a very large extent Roy is correct in thinking that through the dissemination of written
ideas people can get enlightened to push for positive change to better their lot.
Unfortunately in India the illiterate masses are not the only ones, but also the educated
that are carrying the virus of blind faith in umpteen kinds of ritualistic digressive
religious philosophies. In a country where there is a state sanctioned department of
Astrology what can you expect from the uneducated masses? It is a long uphill battle.
Chapter 8:
The result would be that America acquires a stake in our country, Thus, on one hand, in
association with American capital, which today dominates the world markets, India
might get a share in world trade.......[Page 98]
As a political economist Roy was visionary. It took over 40 years for India to realize the
potential of allowing America and other western countries to invest capital with strings
attached but nevertheless helping greatly advance its foreign currency reserves, its image
but only very limited advancement in creating jobs for the teeming rural poor.
Most people who have any political ideas at all, whether of the left or right, are obsessed
with notions of one kind of dictatorship or another, whether Ramraj or Soviet, or a
paternal despotism under the garb of formal parliamentarism. In India the experience of
imposing democracy from above will have worse results than elsewhere, because 90
percent of the electorate are illiterate.....this places a heavy premium on demagogy in all
elections.......[Page 104]
India has had an admixture of nepotistic, autocratic, socialized, with a heavy dose of
paternalistic democratic structure which is completely self serving the elected that have
done very little other than lining their pockets. Recent investigations have revealed that
Indian bureaucrats among other Indians are the world’s biggest secret Swiss bank account
holders.
Chapter 9:
But modernity is not a chronological concept only......Some my be living physically in the
20th century but culturally perhaps in the prehistoric age.........the average Indian is
religiously inclined – in fact, religion for him is nothing spiritual but sheer old inherited
prejudice – that he is therefore the representative of mankind as a whole, more spiritual
than the rest, as is often claimed by Indian Nationalists......[Page 111]
Roy has hit the nail on the head and is being pretty sarcastic about it, and rightly so! The
bane of the Indian mindset has been the casteism, racism and really age old prejudices
which have handicapped them and in their own convoluted thinking; and all that is
genuine spiritualism. Unless all that dross is discarded, humanistic values become very
hard to inculcate into anyone.
The individual being the starting point of New Humanism, its practice must necessarily
start from the actions and behavior of individuals. A number of individuals who feel the
necessity....will begin by themselves becoming moral....Naturally, when a hundred of
them will be guided by the same ideal and will be engaged in the same practice, there
will be cooperation among them. A humanist movement will develop among such groups
of humanists......[Page 116]
In theory Roy has an excellent idea but in the real world this is a utopian concept. One
possibility is to implement this book immediately into every higher learning institution in
the country and make it mandatory which would enlighten the impressionable young
minds and would hopefully start a mass crusade, like the one Roy envisions.
Chapter 10:
Free and compulsory primary education is considered a great democratic
achievement....you are trained to salute a flag or the picture of a man; books are
prescribed and cannot use any other book than the ones prescribed by a particular
government.....the result is a high degree of conformism and sub-democratic system in a
backward country......the possibility is extremely remote-to raise the intellectual and
cultural level of the people through government sponsored education......[Page 126]
Roy’s insight through practical experience is, to either change the system; which is
extremely difficult or to start a system outside the existing one. Since the affairs of big
communities have to be administered and that administration is politics. Politics cannot
be relegated to the background instead a humanistic approach should be used to solve all
of those political problems.
If a philosophy is lived instead of being only preached, it has much greater influence than
one which is preached but mostly denied in the living o those who preach it......as such I
appeal to the innate reason and morality of my fellow human beings....This new can be
lived and practiced everywhere in the world. By its spread the political life of India also
can be changed for the better.......[Page 135]
Again Roy is setting an extremely high bar for a humanist to reach. Living an honest
ethical life is exactly what the Sikh Scripture teaches its followers yet they are also
lacking in many ways because ‘that’ path is a difficult one but the right one. Similarly
Roy’s ideas can work wonders provided a group of humanists actually practice before
they preach and in one or two generations maybe there is hope if there are no disruptions
or the humanists themselves don’t give up because this will take a very long time to solve.
Chapter 11:
Revolting against organized religious faith, which had become a spiritual tyranny, the
philosophers of the Renaissance declared man to be sovereign. But the defect was that
the people who had talked about man as the center of all things and attached such a high
value to the human being kept the concept of man himself clouded in mystery....Therefore
the, this view of man was bound to degenerate into some form of mysticism and even in a
new religion......[Page 141]
Roy has given up on organized religion and looks down on any such spiritual philosophy
which involves superhuman and supernatural agencies. There will be continued debate on
this point for the foreseeable future, because spiritually inclined humanists will have their
own take on this! But coming from an ex-Brahminical perspective I can understand
Roy’s vehement distaste to organized religion being the administrator of society since
Brahminism has been the bane of society since time immemorial.
New Humanism is a scientific integral philosophy. The human being is taken not only in
the context of society but of the whole universe. It is not anarchic individualism, because
a point has no existence in space. Similarly, individuals cannot exist independent of
society.....that led to the theory....we must capture power first and that this end justifies
all means. At this point all “goodness” goes by the board. To make a good society even
bad means are justified. But bad means spoil good men. In the process good men become
bad. And bad men cannot make a good society......[Page 149]
Roy’s New Humanism is based on a highly disciplined group of individuals who will
stick by their high ethical code of conduct and not waver at all. This could work but its
being pretty idealistic. Every pessimist is a secret optimist and I for one hope Roy’s
vision comes to fruition for the betterment of all societies. Unless and until a society like
India where people are first brainwashed completely of the existing ignorance and then
through mass literacy programs inculcated the right ideas to germinate, such fantastic
ideas will remain a utopia.
Chapter 12:
The idea of philosophy deluded the best of men, the noblest of souls. In the quest of truth
and search for knowledge, they kept themselves aloof from the affairs of the world,
engaged in contemplation and introspection with the vain hope of finding the infinite in
their finite selves......bulk of mankind was not concerned with this sort of philosophy. If
philosophy was indifferent to their problems, they had no use for philosophy. The
artificial differentiation between the world of spirit and the world of matter led to the
belief that there is no place for the truth and moral values in the latter, which is therefore
destined to be ruled by the laws of the jungle.......[Page 167]
I agree with Roy’s above statement but on the same token I have to disagree that not all
enlightened noble souls have remained aloof from the mundane. The Sikh Gurus spent
nearly 239 years through practice and leadership; germinating a community, then a
society and finally a nation of ‘sovereign’, individuals who could think freely after being
trained through logic to drop all that was previously learnt. Administration of society
should be based clearly upon rule by honest, moral & ethical conduct albeit through the
form of “servant-leadership”. This was uniquely the Sikh Way! Some 225 years later Roy
has proposed ideas which have already been played out and a lot can be learnt from that.
Chapter 13:
Religion in the last analysis remained the only sanction of morality. But in proportion as
science undermined the faith in the supernatural, religion became a mere conventionality.
Consequently, the position of morality in public life became very precarious. With the
modern believing man, religion is the anchor or a mere preoccupation of private life.
Having no bearing upon the public life, it logically cannot dictate the norms of his social
behavior and political practice......[Page 172]
Again based on Roy’s own experience of primarily Brahminism, but Christianity and
Islam the prevailing faiths of his time; it seems like his disenchantment is real. But the
anomaly happens to be again the Sikh Faith where the empirical world is real. Man’s
public life and politics is part and parcel of his personal life to be governed by the moral
dictates of his faith. All political life is to be governed and guided by religion provided it
is wholesome and betters everyone’s lives but with the explicit permission of all those
being governed. The spiritual and the temporal go hand and hand without being divorced
from each other.
In the last analysis, education of the citizen is the condition for such a reorganization of
society as will be conducive to common progress and prosperity without encroaching on
the freedom of the individual. New Humanism advocates a social reconstruction of the
world as a commonwealth and fraternity of free men, by the cooperative endeavor of
spiritually emancipated moral men......[Page 184]
It is difficult to disagree with Roy who is so profoundly logical. Yet, Brahminism and the
modern Democracy of India have stifled the élan of a highly spirited society of
individuals who have practiced and strived for all those great ideas which Roy so
eloquently proposes. If only the Sikh people were allowed to breathe the “liberty” which
is the birth right of all free men as Roy states; Roy would have a readymade model for
others to imbibe and make profound, radical changes which he so desires. That is why
Dr.Ambedkar was very seriously considering that he and his followers convert to the
Sikh Faith in 1930’s except to be blackmailed into submission by the infamous Gandhi.
Chapter 14:
“Man is the measure of everything”....and advocates reconstruction of the world as a
commonwealth and fraternity of free men, by the collective endeavor of spiritually
emancipated moral men......[Page 194]
What Roy is advocating is exactly what the genius of the Sikh Gurus created in a final
culmination of the egalitarian Sikh Faith. The very core of the theological concept of the
Sikh Faith extols to its followers to live and function within society by highly ethical
moral honest means but ultimately serving (all) ‘others’ through selfless service. Further
one of two pillars of the Sikh Faith is that the entire collective of followers have the
power vested in them to wield as they deem fit through collective deliberation for the
benefit of everyone in all facets of the religious and political arena. The Sikhs are a
fraternity of equals who do not consider anyone their master except the Creator. Finally
governance of all would be through the benevolent rule where the power is vested in the
ordinary (Sikhs) people who would nominate not elect a “servant-leadership” which
could be removed as easily if corrupted.
This is the first time in a long time I have come across a man with great intellect on
subject such as this and even rarer is the fact that Roy was a Hindu-Brahmin with ‘ethics.
This book should be standard text to be read by every university student at least in India
and any other third world country whose leaders practice medieval chicanery to rule the
people. Roy’s ideas if studied in depth can make deep changes in the impressionable
young who normally are the torch-bears of change anywhere in the world to gain justice
and freedom from the mental shackles proscribed by various governments. If this book is
really understood by Indian readers they may start questioning the morally and physically
debilitating faith of India which is followed by the majority. The editing author
Dr.Narisetti must be highly commended for bringing out this fantastic book.
