A LENGTHY LETTER

A LENGTHY LETTER

Dear Suvasish Ganguly,

      I underetand and appreciate your socialist concerns but wonder how socialism can effectively be applied unless large masses of people can be made good through the practice of purity, character-building and expansion of the heart. Mere Marxist principles cannot yield on the field the desired results as has been testified in the twentieth century in all those countries where it gained ground and ground to dust not only privilege but the masses with it. Even Swami Vivekananda had famously said, "I am a socialist, not because it is a perfect system but because half a loaf is better than no bread at all." His youngest brother, Bhupendranath Datta, turned a committed communist, became a revolutionary in those early years of the 'Agniyug', suffered incarceration twice, travelled to Germany and then U.S.A. to pursue a doctorate in anthropology, went to Soviet Russia in 1921 and met Lenin who asked him to organise the farmers in India for future revolution, and finally he left behind a classic study of his elder brother in the form of a book titled 'Swami Vivekananda Patriot-Prophet' which you must read if you have not already done so. Swamiji was also a bitter critic of this third epoch of human societal evolution, that of the predominance of the 'vaishya' or the capitalist. He has castigated capitalism as a silent blood-sucking machinery whose exploitative nature is hardly visible on the surface but as Dadabhai Naoroji had described British colonialism as the scalpel of the surgeon that cuts through to the heart without spilling a drop of blood, so to say, it is draining the lifeblood of the masses, nonetheless. Swamiji was predominantly a spiritual personality, albeit a seminal one at that, whose concerns embraced the whole of humanity and not merely a Marxian class concern. He had dived not only into the depths of his spiritual being but had also plumbed the depths of India's spiritual literature, the history of the world, sociology, western philosophy and political thinking, science and literature, and had arrived at this fundamental conclusion that the solution lay in man-making. Hence, he averred, "Man-making is my mission." And this not an effort on my part to resort to that old ploy of reducing every complex issue to its 'sanctus simplicitas'.

      Now, you tend to conflate religion with politics as you have a right to do, for more often than not, that has been the dominant case in world history. But there is another aspect to religion barring which human society will be rendered into a primeval barbaric one with the added advantage of technological destructive power aiding evil to gain predominance over good. Here religion in its spiritual aspect must come in to control the evil impulses and gear man toward good. Religion and politics must be fair brothers and not foul cousins either warring or cater-cousins in conjoint operation of exploitative ends. I understand your concerns for the alleviation of poverty, the ending of exploitation, et al. But which Marxist country has been able to do it? They have turned out to be remorseless murderers of the masses in the name of engendering 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. Whole populations have been wiped out by Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and their socialist siblings till humanity holds communism in rightful horror and suspicion. The track record of the socialists in India as well has not been worthy of patriotic emulation. So, in the absence of spiritual advancement where do you see society going even with attempted systemic changes? Who after all will run the altered system? Humans devoid of mercy who justify mass murder in the name of Marxism, demons dehumanised by barbaric indoctrination? We need men, real men, my friend, to do so. And for that we need to manufacture them in the 'purity-drilling machine' of genuine spirituality, as Swamiji put it. Will exploitation end? No. But it will reduce. Humanity will prevail more. You may keep pointing out at religious exploitation in India down the ages. But that, as Swamiji has repeatedly asserted, was not because of the operation of religion (read, the Vedanta) but because its high principles were never applied on the whole body politic of the country. Yet, India did not venture out of her borders to exploit other races but spread the word of truth and light everywhere which ushered in world civilisation in all its brightest aspects.

      This discussion can go on endlessly but fruitlessly so if you have hardened into a closeted close-mindedness which is quite the antithesis of the rational openness you, perhaps, propose. Thank you, my friend, for participating in civil dialogue but I had only wished that you would not conflate issues and merely carp on the othersidedness of things without exhibiting the generosity and good sense of appreciating the positive side of a post as well while reserving in good measure your due criticisms with a view to effecting wholesome social change.

      I have given you a long rebuttal, not entirely critical of your stance but appreciative as well, and would expect due consideration from your side in terms of rumination on the thoughts I have here penned. May Swamiji guide your direction in life and ennoble your mind unto a more holistic concern for humanity, concerned that you already are unto it in some measure! 🕉

Thanking you,

Yours in fraternal bond,

Sugata Bose