Book Title: Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16
Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Page 100
________________ 91 "Internationalism is only an idea cherished by a few and not a part of human psychology." (p. 28). The third section in this famous scholarly monograph analyses the problem with which humanity and civilization are faced in the state of affairs that we had described and that has become all the more pronounced after fifty years. The author does not in any way underestimate the graveness of the problem and places it in the right perspective before going to the last part of his thesis.-The Reconstruction. He distinguishes, first of all between the barbaric and the human natures in man. He says: "The animal in us is ever striving to fulfil itself-when all impulses are perfectly satisfied we have the full development of the animal being, the perfection of our animal nature. If we identify the self of man with the body and life-purpose with physical development, we are said to be barbarian, worshipping brute strength and power and idealizing the satisfaction of the passions,” (p. 30). and “Such an exclusive culture of the body, would coarsen the spirit and deprive it of its rights. The supremacy of physical prowess and development is the characteristic mark of barbarism. In such a society, men belittle and cxploit women, for the latter are physically weaker, and women in their turn respect and pander to brute strength and prefer those known for their bravery and deeds of arms." (p. 30-31) By this definition and these ideals, today the world is more in a barbaric state and not human or civilized. He adds further : "The universe has spent so much pain and struggle to produce human individuals who adore tfie good, the lovely, and the true and who are not content with a finished animality.” (p. 33). One famous Sanskrit statement says that "there is none superior to the human existence in this world” and another, from Shri Shankara adds "For the living beings, birth as a luamn being is rare to come across," in his Vivekacudamani. Our concept of the three Gunas and the confidence that man is essentially good and powerful enough ultimately to rise to the blessed state of genuine happiness for man and eternal peace on earth that Indian culture has taught, inspires the author to show as to on which path man will ultimately tread. He, therefore, even inspite of the painful picture of the realistic state of humanity and civilization that he has drawn, states

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