During the 17th and 18th centuries, European philosophers contemplated the nature of man. Out of that inquiry, arose a profound insight, which was perhaps best stated by Rousseau: “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”. John Locke, another leading figure of the Enlightenment further postulated that man was inherently rational because his primary aim was to pursue his individual happiness. As a result, Locke argued that society’s collective happiness would be maximized if each person within that society was free to pursue his individual happiness.
These ideas, which were a radical departure from the Augustinian view of the original sin of man, were the foundation for the modern political and economic models within Western Civilization. Significantly, the term ‘happiness’ was used by Locke in reference to property. Thus, in essence, Locke considered the accumulation of wealth to be Man’s chief aim of existence.
Capitalism
Capitalism and Western Democracy are both rooted in these beliefs. In particular, the founding fathers of the United States of America were significantly influenced by Locke’s ideas as illustrated by the following famous phrase from the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
This phrase of the U.S. Declaration of Independence was similar to Locke’s concept of the right to “life, liberty and property(estate)”.
Since, its founding in 1776, the United States of America has led the world in terms of innovation and productivity. Its per capita GDP has increased from $4,000 in 1900 to $44,000 in 2008. Clearly, Locke and Rousseau deserve credit for America’s remarkable achievements.
But, these achievements mask a glaring weakness. Economic inequality between classes has increased at an alarming rate, as noted by Harvard researcher Robert Putnam:
“Work we’re doing now shows that, among white high school seniors, there’s a growing class gap…. White working-class kids go to church a lot less than working-class kids used to; they are less involved in community activities; and their parents spend less time with them, partly because, unlike middle-class kids, they are likely to have only one parent in the home. They have lower self-esteem than working-class kids used to, less social trust, and lower academic aspirations.
In short, the chief failing of the American capitalist model is that while it espouses the equality of man it does little to foster equality of opportunity for all.
Marxism
Karl Marx, the German philosopher, in his seminal work, the Communist Manifesto, presented a stinging critique of the capitalist system. He argued that capitalism was inherently exploitive because the capitalist class controlled the means of production. Marx proposed an alternative economic model based on state ownership of property which, he believed, would result in the dissolution of class structure.
In its search for a more equitable economic model, the political leadership of Modern India borrowed many ideas from Marx. In particular, India adopted a mixed economic model in which economic development was to be led by the state. Moreover, private industry was heavily regulated and taxed to restrict its ability to exploit the working class.
Despite these laudable objectives, India has achieved little success in reducing economic inequality. While Marxism was expected to dissolve India’s class structure, it has in fact, become further stratified by the addition of even more privileged classes (i.e. politicians and government officers). Moreover, government restrictions on private industry and high levels of taxation have made little impact in terms of improving the economic condition of India’s large working class population. Rather, such polices have steered the private sector towards corruption and tax avoidance.
The inability of the Marxist model in narrowing economic disparity may be viewed by some observers as a validation of Locke’s hypotheses with regard to the selfish nature of man. In essence, each newly empowered class (i.e. political, government, judiciary, law enforcement) elected to further its own self interest (i.e. wealth) as predicted by Locke. Moreover, largely as a result of India’s fragmented democratic polity, Indian political parties compete against one another to buy the vote of the electorate through fiscally irrational policies.
To be sure, politicians merely provide the electorate with subsidies aimed at temporarily lessening the pain of poverty rather than a sustainable solution for removing poverty. Moreover, corruption in government, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies further exacerbates economic inequality within Indian society. Sadly, after a half-century of neo-Marxist policies, more than eighty percent of India’s population today subsists on less than $2 per day.
In short, neither capitalism nor Marxism offer developing countries including India with a viable path towards inclusive growth.
India - Lessons from its Past
In my view, India must look to its own past to find the best solution for surmounting this daunting challenge.
Indeed, from perhaps 1000 BC to approximately 1500 AD, India was the world’s most innovative and prosperous civilization. After 1500 AD, her capacity for innovation diminished as a result of political upheavals but her prosperity endured until the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
During this period, Greek, Arab, Chinese and European travelers attested to India’s magnificent wealth and propensity for knowledge. Indeed, India’s achievements in the field of mathematics and science were truly remarkable. Indian mathematicians such as Aryabhata, Bhaskar and Madhava solved complex mathematical theorems centuries before their European counterparts. In fact, Madhava is considered by many to be the pioneer of modern mathematical analysis. India’s prowess in metallurgy can also be evidenced from the Ashoka pillar, now in Delhi. Made of almost pure iron, the pillar has stood for 1600 years without corrosion.
Another indelible aspect of ancient India pertains to its cosmology. Remarkably, the cosmology of the seers of ancient India agrees with that of modern science. The seers of ancient India described the universe as comprising of many inhabited worlds (loka). They also correctly described gravitational force, the atomic theory of matter and the essential dualism of the universe thousands of years before Newton, Dalton and Einstein.
More interestingly, India is the only ancient civilization whose theory with regard to the creation of the universe agrees with that of modern astronomy. Indeed, while European theologians believed the age of the universe to be several thousands of years, the seers of ancient India gave an estimation of the age of the universe that agrees with the calculations of modern astronomers.
In terms of prosperity, India’s wealth was legendary. Her wealth was so immense that European nations competed amongst themselves to find a sea passage to India. The discovery of America was but an accident of that endeavor.
Angus Maddison, the economic historian, has noted that, in addition to having the world’s largest economy in1700, that the annual revenue reported by Emperor Aurangzeb’s exchequer exceeded £100 million (twice that of Europe).
Sir John Malcom gave the following account of India in 1803:
It has not happened to me ever to see countries better cultivated, and more abounding in all produce of the soil, as well as in commercial wealth, than the Southern Maharashtra distircts…. Poona, the capital of the Peshwah, was very wealthy and a thriving commercial town, and there was as much cultivation in the Deccan as it was possible an arid and unfruitful country would admit.
Of course, India derived much of her wealth from the prowess of her industry and her massive trade surplus with Europe. Consider, for example, the following account of India’s trade with Europe by Dr. V.V. Bedekar:
In the early days of the Christian era (lst century A.D. - say about 2000 years before) Roman women’s passion for Indian cloth was so intense that they decorated themselves in seven folds of Indian muslin (called ‘Nubula’ by the Romans) and paraded in the streets, which brought an embarrassing situation to the city fathers and the Roman Senate had to intervene and put an embargo on the import of that fine stuff from India. Pliny, a Roman writer, complained in the early 2nd century A.D. that “… in no year does India drain our empire of less than 550 millions of sesterces”, which was approximately equivalent to about pounds 1,400,000 in the 19th century. Another author has noted that in the year of Aurelian, i.e., around the latter half of the third century A.D., this cloth was worth its weight in gold. The Indian exports to Europe of all commercial and agricultural products were much higher at the time of tbe arrival of the British than in the post-British period. Peter the Great of Russia (1682-1725 A.D.) considered the commerce of India as the commmerce of the world, and ….. be who can exclusively control this is the dictator of Europe. While Indian exports were so high, Europe almost had nothing to sell to India except bullion. The East India Co., which was chartered in 1600 A.D. used to send to India pounds 400,000 to pounds 500, 000 a year to buy Indian goods for exports before 1757 A.D. It was in 1757 A.D. that the Battle of Plassey was fought and the victorious British started extending their tentacles in India. I quote Sir George Bidwood, who observes-
The whole world has been ceaselessly pouring its bullion for 3000 years into India to buy products of her industries.
It is said, history repeats itself. The drain of British bullion was so painful and again the Indian textiles, which had become very popular in England became the victims of enactments for their prevention from entry into England.William III of England in 1700 A.D. prohibited the entry of Indian textiles by imposing a fine of pounds 200 to the wearer or the seller of Indian silk and calico.
As in textile and in many other basic industrial products India supplied the best quality of steel then known to Europe. In 1794 A.D. Dr. Scott, M.D., sent to the President of the Royal Society a specimen of wootz steel from India. The sample was put to thorough examination and was analysed by several experts. One such was Mr. Stodart, wbo qualified the variety of steel from India for fine cutlery and particularly for all edged instruments used for surgical purposes. After this that variety of steel was much in demand in Europe and even after 18 years later, Stodart was of the opinion that
If a better steel if offered to me, I will gladly attend to it; but the steel of India is decidedly the best I have yet met with.
But there is one other important feature of India’s pre-British economy, which is often overlooked: inclusiveness. That is, Indians were described as being hospitable, having high moral virtues which resulted in significantly less theft and other crimes in relation to Europe.
This aspect of Indian society was not lost on Lord Macaulay who gave the following account of India to the British Parliament in 1835:
“I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”
The Way Forward
The chief endeavor for Modern India and indeed the world is to identify the critical elements which produced such a remarkable civilization.
What was the root cause of India’s extraordinary insight into cosmology, mathematics and science? How was India able to drive innovation, trade and inclusive growth for over 2,000 years until her subjugation by Britain? The answer to this question lies in the bold philosophical foundation of Indian civilization.
Three thousand years before Locke, Indian philosophers similarly contemplated the nature of man. While Locke considered man to be selfish and believed that the aim of man’s existence was to accumulate wealth, the Indian philosophers arrived at a very different conclusion.
They stated that Man was inherently divine but for some reason was unaware of his own divinity. They further stated that the realization of that divinity constituted the real aim of man’s existence. This was possible, they stated, through a system of introspection known as yoga. But there was one important qualifier. The aspiring yogi was required to give up all material desires before embarking on the path of yoga.
Subsequently, the system of yoga was expanded to make it more accessible. In particular, Karma Yoga provided a means for everyone to seek self-realization through selfless action. The aim of the Karma Yogi, therefore, is to attain self-realization through the performance of Seva (service to the Lord). However, the same qualifier as with Yoga, applied. The aspiring Karma Yogi must first subdue his material desires and remain detached from the fruits of his actions.
Importantly, the Indian philosophers believed Man’s essence to be that which is without beginning and without end. Moreover, they stated that man’s greatest happiness lies in the realization of this truth.
While Western philosophers believed that man’s happiness would be maximized through the pursuit of wealth, the Indian philosophers believed that the pursuit of wealth would at best provide man with only temporary happiness. They reasoned that even men of wealth are not immune from suffering as a result of old age, sickness and death.
Moreover, they argued that as long as man pursued wealth, he would remain in state of unconscious existence in which he would continue to experience suffering.
They further argued that if a man pursued the path of Karma Yoga in which he remained detached to wealth (i.e. nishkama) then he would eventually become liberated from his unconscious state of existence (moksha). This transcendence was man’s sole aim of existence.
In short, according to Indian philosophy, attachment to wealth results in perpetual misery while non-attachment to wealth results in everlasting happiness.
In practical terms, this does not mean that a person should refrain from action or even from those actions that produce wealth. Rather, Indian philosophy assigns critical importance to the motive behind the action than the action itself. That is, the traditional motive of monetary benefit (Kama) is to be replaced with the more virtuous motive of (Dharma).
In this way, for example, the warrior performs his duty (dharma) for his spiritual advancement without attachment to the results of that action (victory or defeat). Similarly, a teacher or a doctor provides his services to society without regard for monetary gain because that constitutes his Dharma.
Swami Vivekananda, India’s most well-known exponent of Vedanta Philosophy succinctly stated the practical application of Indian philosophy:
“Those alone live who live for others! The rest are more dead than alive”
In the historical context, the practical application of this philosophy is illustrated by the socio-economic model employed by Maharaj Agrasen in ancient India. Every new comer to his capital city of Agroha, received one brick and one Rupee each from its existing 100,000 inhabitants. Significantly, it was not the state that rendered assistance to the newcomer as the Marxist model profers but rather the collective actions of each individual as a result of their intrinsic sense of Dharma.
In my view, India’s remarkable insights in cosmology, innovation, prosperity and inclusiveness stemmed from its unique philosophical paradigm known as Vedanta.
And if India is to regain her past magnificence, it will only be possible through this philosophy. These bold, man-making ideas must be diffused throughout Indian society. To that end, India will have to grab hold of its education system. Indian educators must endeavor to do more than merely ape their peers in the West. They must reacquaint their students with the philosophical underpinnings which drove India’s remarkable achievements in earlier times.
That alone is the way forward for India.
Raju Agarwal
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