"SWADHYAYA - THE ALTERNATIVE PARADIGM"

By Pawan K. Gupta
SIDH, Hazelwood, Landour Cantt., Mussoorie, U.P., INDIA
March 1999

The first time I went to see the swadhyaya movement (on a prayog darshan) was in 1997. I was greatly moved by what I saw and experienced in those six days, in which we must have visited about 25 odd villages and bastis in coastal Saurashtra and Ahmedabad. It was obvious that swadhyaya had brought about a revolutionary change at the personal and community level. It was also apparent to me that it was not just a religious movement even though the heavy stress on religious symbolism was obvious everywhere we went. I kept thinking about swadhyaya for a long time after returning from the trip. I had this lingering doubt that I had not fully comprehended either the philosophy or the implications. I felt there was much more to it than I had understood. This is what prompted me to go on another prayog darshan this year (1999). I am glad that I went the second time.

Dadaji Pandurang Shastri Athavale, the pioneer of swadhyaya, has shown a powerful alternative for others to learn and derive confidence from the possibility of a distinctly Indian paradigm. At the same time the fact that he has named each and every one of his programmes as a prayog (experiment) looks significant to me. Experiments do not convey finality. Dada has shown an alternative by laying the foundation of an Indian paradigm or may be an Eastern paradigm. He has demonstrated some of the effects through his various experiments. By deliberately using the word experiment for each of his programmes, he is showing the possibilities. It is for others to take the idea forward and experiment in their own ways as long as the foundations are rooted in our own soil.

The primary drive of an individual is to attain sukha or happiness. Every action, good or bad emanates from this drive. But sukha has many dimensions, of which the material dimension is only one, albeit an important one. Ignoring the spiritual dimension, and focussing only on the material, is bound to give rise to individualism, where each individual tries to accumulate more than the other, at the cost of nature. It gives rise to the principle of 'might is right'. There is an inherent conflict between individualism and justice on the one hand and individualism and preservation of nature on the other. Therefore in societies where individualism is supreme, justice needs to be imposed from outside through legislation, to keep some kind of order in the society (the capitalist societies) or to bring about a just social order (in socialist states). Individualism will necessarily have to be curbed by law to provide a just social order, be it the market or the state controlled economy. Indian thought recognised that individualism was in conflict with the very idea of sukha. It was understood long ago that happiness could remain elusive, even after accumulation of vast amounts of material wealth and that it was not possible to be happy by remaining self-centred or if one's neighbour or the family members remained unhappy. It also concluded that exploitation of the immediate environment - which gave sustenance to all living beings - could never be to the advantage of everyone. The idea of surplus was therefore rejected, in the interest of the majority and to preserve nature. The need for a balance between the spiritual and the material was recognised. And the seers laid the foundations of a system that believed that 'God pervades everything' and the notion of ishavasyam idam sarvam...was introduced. If the same God resides in everything then at one level, everyone becomes equal. This was the baithak of dharma - the Indian paradigm. The concept of equity and justice became imbedded in the very foundations of this paradigm. There was no need to impose justice from outside, as in the western paradigm. But under the influence of the western scientific paradigm, we have forgotten the basic foundations of our paradigm. Gandhiji was the only national leader who understood this and did not come under the influence of the West. All other progressive leaders - from rightwing thinkers to the socialist liberals in the middle to those at the extreme left - consciously or unconsciously, were under this influence. They never questioned the philosophical assumptions built into the heart of the culture and the text of western scientific paradigm. Only Gandhiji understood it from the very beginning, but was unable to communicate it effectively even to his own disciples, at least to those who remained active in politics and did not withdraw into ashrams.

Unfortunately after Gandhiji's passing away Gandhism has been appropriated by the 'Gandhians'or the Sarvodayis just like Hindu dharma has been appropriated by the Sanghis or the RSS. All of us have become 'secularists' and are scared to talk of dharma, patriotism and all such issues because it is no longer politically correct to do so. And by this action, on the one hand we have allowed the RSS to have a field day and on the other played into the hands of the West. We need to look at some of Gandhiji's speeches, for instance the ones he gave in Haripad and Kottayam on Ishavasya Upnishad and published in the 30th January 1937 issue of the Harijan.

In most of the swadhyaya villages the economic condition of individuals and the community as a whole has improved remarkably, because of two reasons. The money that was earlier frittered away in gambling and drinking is now being saved and productively deployed. Also through the powerful concept of apaurusheya laksmi introduced by Dada, the community has started generating wealth belonging to no individual but to God. One day in a month is devoted to puja or shram-bhakti, in the service of God. The swadhyayi works on this day according to his/ her skill, by going out into the field, if they are farmers or into the sea, if they are fishermen, serving God in innumerable other ways, each according to their personal skills.

This is called shram-bhakti, which is different from shram-daan (voluntary work). In Dada's lexicon one does not hear the word daana (donation), instead it is bhakti (devotion). The baithak of shram-bhakti is very different from that of shramdaan. Daana unconsciously inflates the ego while bhakti has a humbling effect. Daana is given to a cause or to another person, there may also be a sense of competition. But in bhakti, the relationship has a totally different dimension - it is with the divine. In shramdaan, the group, which puts in their effort sometimes resents those who refuse to contribute because the fruits of their labour also benefit those who haven't put in any effort. And there are always a few people who refuse to co-operate, which has a negative impact on the volunteers. But in swadhyaya, the work is not done for another human being or for the benefit of the community. One puts in the effort as a devotion (or puja) to God. The person putting in the effort is not concerned about the other person's contribution - he/she puts in the labour as his/her puja. The fruit of this shram-bhakti is called apaurusheya laksmi. All this has resulted in the economic transformation of individuals and community.

I was part of the prayog darshan group, which comprised of people, each with a different set of beliefs, perceptions, their own concerns and reasons for looking at Swadhyaya. I can say without doubt that all of us were impacted in some way or the other. I know of one fellow participant from an NGO, who was keen in discovering the key to the social transformation in the villages, so that she could use a similar 'strategy' in her own area. However somewhere during the trip, the sight of confident and happy faces of each member of the family she visited, impressed upon her so much that she wanted to only share their secret. As she kept saying, 'I came as an observer, to study Swadhyaya as an effective strategy, but I'm leaving it as a devotee. I want to be a Swadhyayi, I want to be as happy as the people I saw." A sentiment felt by more than one visitor. Swadhyaya is the best example of true empowerment. It demonstrates how the fundamentals of Indian thought can transform whole societies, if the essence is taken to the people personally, just as Dada did. The approach is wholesome. Unfortunately, our intellectuals have not recognised the dormant life force pulsating in our own culture and completely distanced themselves from the people. On the other hand, our NGOs and activists have been struggling with analysis of problems and chasing cause and effect in a vicious cycle. In an attempt to analyse the causes of social injustices they have broken it down to gender, class, caste discriminations. This has led to greater divide within the society and added to the existing set of problems. Swadhyaya has demonstrated that if the root of all problems is nurtured the rest of the ailments in society get corrected automatically.

This remarkable transformation has been possible because the individual is convinced that God dwells within him/her. This is key to the success of Swadhyaya. Dada, has been extremely successful in convincing the people of this basic idea. Everything else has followed almost organically. The swadhyayi has an unshakeable faith in the presence of God within him/herself and this has given them a tremendous sense of self-worth, confidence and courage. And this confidence does not smack of arrogance. Nor does it rely on external instruments (of power) such as money, qualification or post. It is rooted firmly within. Those who perceived themselves as poor, dalit, downtrodden and incapable of helping themselves now use a different language and idiom, which does not have even a trace of self pity. As God dwells in everyone, all are equal. The idea of ishavasyam idam sarvam... propagated by Gandhiji and all the seers before him is being actualised.

The problem with dharma as understood and practised by the common man in this country is that it has got ritualised. As a consequence bhakti turned into andhbhakti and faith turns into blind faith. Dada has given the concept of vicharshila bhakti. He extorts people to use the intellect along with bhakti. The average swadhyayi uses the language of reason rather than faith. Reasoning, based on sound principles, just like the reasoning of any branch of knowledge, be it modern science or traditional knowledge. After all, every knowledge system is based on certain assumptions and principles, which are unique and built into the heart of the system, on the foundations of which the rest follows.

If we look at knowledge systems this way, modern science stands at par with other knowledge systems. But somehow it has been successful in creating a false impression as if it is the only knowledge system based on reason. This has led to its dominance over all other systems as well as cutting into the credibility of other systems. It is true that modern science made tremendous progress in the past 250 years. But this has been possible because of the dominance of the colonial rulers and the patronage modern science received from them. At the same time, other systems did not get any chance of developing and making progress within their own belief systems. In fact, they have been under threat and in a desperate need to keep alive their belief systems, they got stagnated and fossilised. Fossilisation also led to double standards, hypocrisy and unhealthy clinging to certain ritualistic practices. This coupled with the strategy of disproportionately highlighting the social evils of certain traditional practices was successful in completely discrediting all other knowledge systems leading to complete domination of the Western scientific paradigm. Swadhyaya has shown us an alternative that works because it is based on our own ground.

Dada has been successful in infusing energy in a decaying system and demonstrating that it is possible to think, plan and design systems based on a different paradigm, distinctly our own. But our intellectuals are not yet giving the movement the kind of attention it deserves. Over the past two hundred years our minds have been completely colonised to the extent that most of us are not even aware that our thinking is not free anymore. The great socialist leader, Dr. Rammanohar Lohia made a very important distinction between charitra dosha (fault or defect in the character) and buddhi dosha (fault or defect in thought or intellect). Out of the two defects, Dr. Lohia considered buddhi dosha, more dangerous in nature. People suffering from charitra dosha are at least aware of the defect, though they may not be willing or able to rectify it. But people suffering from buddhi dosha are not even aware of the defect in their thinking. The biggest harm inflicted by the colonisers has been the complete subjugation of the mind culminating in budhi dosha. Macaulay was immensely successful in doing this through the instrument of modern education system.

We have been living our lives and making our policies based on the scientific paradigm of the West for the past 200 years in the hope of a better tomorrow. It is high time we got rid of this illusion and started building afresh upon foundations that belong to us and not borrowed from others. Dada has certainly shown us a very sound alternative paradigm, the foundations of which are grounded in dharma. He has also shown how when budhi dosha gets rectified then it also corrects the charitra dosha, and how it spreads from the individual to the community. For deliverance at the national level, perhaps it is time we corrected our budhi dosha. Swadhyaya certainly gives a glimpse of the possibilities - of an alternative paradigm.