I was discussing humanism. This is a very deep and intricate theory of philosophy. Devotion and love for God, the most valuable treasures of the present humanity, are repeatedly endangered by onslaughts from the external world; people should acquire sufficient resources to resist them. Last Sunday I discussed how to resist these onslaughts; how these geo-sentiments, socio-sentiments, and other sentiments are to be counteracted; and how to safeguard the sacred inner assets of the human heart.

Rationality vs. Sentiment

Now let us examine various sentiments, such as socio-sentiment, geo-sentiment, and even so-called human sentiment.

Human existence is more psychic than physical. The existence of animals is primarily physical, but human existence is mainly psychic. Suppose someone wounds your feelings and then offers you delicious food and drink – you will not be inclined to accept it. You will be more afflicted when someone speaks ill of you or reproaches you than when someone beats you, because you are a predominantly psychic being. The word manu came into existence meaning “mind-predominant being” [in Sanskrit man, “contemplate”, plus suffix un equals manu]. And manu + śna = mánava [human being].

Now, the mind performs various activities like thinking, remembering, etc. In addition, the mind works in three different ways.

Discrimination: One of these is the way of discrimination. What is its nature? “I should do this! No, I should not do this!” – to do or not to do. When, in judging and discriminating between proper and improper, human beings select the proper path, this is called viveka [conscience]. And the path of discrimination is called “rationality”. When one is moving forward, guided by conscience, these alternatives exist side by side: propriety and impropriety, dos and don’ts. There is movement involved and its speed may be increased, but not by much. One must examine both the propriety and impropriety of an issue; then when one takes a decision on the side of propriety, it is called “conscience”. When I examine first this side and then that side – analysing and then taking a step – naturally it is rather difficult to move quickly in this process. There is advancement, but the degree of speed is comparatively slow.

Sentiment: The second way of psychic movement is sentimental. One is not discriminating between the just and the unjust; one merely has a liking for something and allows the mind to run after it. In this process of letting the mind run after something, perhaps what I did, from start to finish, was proper or desirable. On the other hand I may have acted improperly or undesirably from start to finish. But this is a very risky path, because if there is impropriety in the beginning, middle and end, not only will a particular individual be destroyed, but he or she may lead a whole family, a whole social group, a whole state or a whole society towards utter destruction. A great danger! This running blindly without discriminating between the proper and the improper is called “sentiment”. One races after the idea that has come into one’s mind like an unbridled horse, without considering its good or bad consequences. The horse may move along the right path, or it may fall into a chasm. One cannot be certain.

Now, human beings are capable of judging between right and wrong because their minds are somewhat developed, but the minds of creatures other than humans are not so developed. Because of their undeveloped minds, they cannot follow the path of rationality, the path of discrimination, which almost every human being can. Those who say that there is no need of study – “Leave your books aside!” – are incorrect. Study is essential, knowledge is essential, and association with learned and enlightened people is essential. Listening to learned discourses, studying and understanding the scriptures, all have their importance.

But animals less-evolved than humans are incapable of this. They cannot follow the path of rationality or conscience. The more-developed animals merely follow the path of sentiment. When an animal likes something, it runs after it; when it does not like it, it does not run after it. For instance, a dog runs toward a piece of bread without looking to either side. Or, for example, some grains of rice are spread under a net. Suddenly a bird catches sight of the grains and alights on the ground. It thinks: “Let me go down and eat them!” So it is caught in the net. But had it pursued the path of rationality, it would have thought: “Hmmm, rice is strewn in such a remote woodland! This is unnatural. There is neither a village nor rice fields nearby – so this is indeed strange. Let me think this over for a while… Aha! A net has been spread and ropes are laid on all sides. I must not alight there!” This is the way of logic. But if it follows the path of sentiment it will alight and be caught in the net.

Instinct: Undeveloped creatures are devoid even of this sentiment. They act according to inborn instinct only; they act with the limited minds which they have inherited at birth. An octopus catches a crab with the help of its limited mind. A mosquito, guided by inborn instinct, sucks blood whenever it sits on another’s body. We cannot judge their actions as good or bad, nor are they guided by sentiment – they do not possess these things at all. In the case of developed animals, sentiment exceeds inborn instinct. And more-developed beings, such as human beings, possess sentiment and rationality and the faculty of discrimination as well.

If someone moves along the path of sentiment instead of the path of rationality, there is a hundred percent probability of great danger. Those who move along the path of sentiment do not discriminate between the proper and the improper, but merely silently accept all superstitions surrounding the goal towards which they have been running. Even the least question regarding propriety or impropriety does not arise in their minds, because they are moving along the path of sentiment.

Now as a human being, what should one do? One should follow the path of rationality. Rationality is a treasure of humanity that no animal possesses. And those who possess the inner asset of devotion within their hearts and follow the path of rationality in dealing with the external world, must be victorious. They alone can accomplish worthy deeds in this world.

Those who are motivated by sentiment may earn temporary applause, but ultimately people realize, “No, they committed a mistake, they did not follow the path of rationality. They themselves were caught in the current of sentiment, and they drifted the society also in that current. As a result society has been destroyed.” From then on, people start forming bad opinions about them. So those who once earned the highest positions of respect in different fields of life, later find that their thrones of glory lie shattered in the dust. This is the lesson which history teaches us.

At a particular time, people treat someone with great respect, give him or her great importance, and elevate him or her to a throne of glory; but a time comes when the same people drag him or her down to the dust, saying, “Your days are finished. You have done much harm.” Those who follow the path of rational judgement may perform great and glorious deeds, or mediocre deeds, or perhaps they do not even do anything worthy of mention at all – but at least they do no harm to society. So whatever degree of respect they have earned, remains unaffected, because they did not injure society at all.

Geo-Sentiment and Superstition

What is that geo-sentiment which inflicts the first blow on the inner asset of humans? It is to let one’s sentiment flow towards a particular territory. One does not consider whether what one is doing is right or wrong, logical or illogical. In this situation, sentiment is substituted for logic; and in the next phase, superstition is substituted for logic. All those religious, economic, political or social theories which are based on geo-sentiment, yield to superstition from their very inception. The so-called religions which have mouthed high-sounding ideals but are essentially motivated by geo-sentiment, become converted into reservoirs of superstition, into oceans of blind faith. They submerge humanity in a quagmire of superstitions, and people struggle in that filth for ages. Their progress is checked forever.

Geo-Economic Sentiment

I have already said that when people move along the path of a particular geo-sentiment in the social sphere – even worse than in the case of geo-sentiment in the religious sphere – they do not think at all of others. They thrive on the lifeblood of others, thinking this to be natural. The other day I said that in practical life, fascism is born from such a mentality – and also imperialism, capitalism, oligarchy and bureaucracy. Thus you can easily understand how dangerous this mentality is, and how detrimental to the progress of humanity.

This is regarding geo-sentiment in social life; the same is the case in economic life. “Although there is no iron ore or cheap electricity, we must have a steel plant in our area.” This is nothing but an expression of geo-economic sentiment. “Although crude oil and cheap electricity are not available, we must have oil refineries in our area!” – another expression of geo-economic sentiment.

Let me give another example in this connection. The jute industry of Dundee [in Great Britain] flourished because a supply of jute came from Bengal and, again, the finished products were sold in the markets of Bengal. What a peculiar situation! This was a case of non-utilization of Bengal’s potentialities and resources; and for Dundee it was an irrational industrial plan with every possibility of failure. If the jute had not been supplied from Bengal, the factories of Dundee would have closed. If finished jute products had not been sold in the markets of Bengal, the industry in Dundee would have failed.

Under such circumstances the industrially-developed countries, to ensure a permanent supply of raw materials and the continuing availability of markets for their finished products, resort to imperialism, economic and political fascism, and so on. They try to create an arena of satellite markets to ensure the supply of raw materials and markets for their finished goods. When the developing, or undeveloped, countries detect the intentions of the developed countries, conflict arises between the developed and undeveloped countries, and this poses a great threat to world peace.

The jute mills of the present-day Bengal are not adequately supplied with the jute produced in Bengal, and thus it is necessary to purchase raw jute from outside of India. To make the jute industry flourish, we must follow the path of rationality, not the path of sentiment. We should allow only such numbers of jute mills to operate which can be supplied with the raw jute from Bengal; the rest must be closed. And we must produce fibres of different grades instead of producing finished jute products in those jute mills which will be allowed to operate. Those fibres should be distributed among the weavers and farmers through jute cooperatives. These jute cooperatives will produce only such products as are in demand in Bengal and to some extent outside also. Now in practice we see that there is a great scarcity of fibre products in Bengal. Commodities produced by these cooperative industries will remove that scarcity of fibre products. As a result of this decentralization of industry, the masses will be economically benefited. It will be still better if the jute fibres, instead of being produced in large jute-mills in the cities, are produced in the small towns of Bengal on a decentralized basis.

Geo-Religious Sentiment

Now let us come to the main point. I have already said that this geo-economic sentiment is causing enormous harm in social life. Here, there is not the least concern for rationality. Rationality is a human quality only; no animal possesses it. The same applies to geo-religion. There is a place of pilgrimage in a certain country where if even a crow dies during that pilgrimage, it is sure to go to heaven, what to speak of a human being!

There are some people who want to make a show of their devotion, saying, “I am a slave of Vrindavana.”⁽¹⁾ This is an extreme geo-sentiment. Vrindavana is a place – how can you be its slave? Have you lost your reason? Another says, “No, no, not slave! I am the dust of Vrindavana.” What are you saying? You are a human being; you are made of the five fundamental factors; why should you become dust? Still another goes a step further and says, “No, no, not dust, I am the excrement of a crow of Vrindavana.” This is the height of devotional display. They have lost all sense of rational judgement, and have not the least vestige of logic. This is an expression of geo-religion. Some people say, “Since I must die, I will die only in Kashi [Benares].” How strange! All countries have been created by the Supreme Consciousness, so all countries are equal. The universal concept of dharma that God is all-pervasive – Vistarah sarvabhútasya Viśńorvishvamidaḿ jagat [“This universe is the expression of Viśńu, the latent All-Pervading Entity”] – this essence of dharma has been forgotten. Ultimately dharma has been reduced to a geo-sentiment centring around Benares.

“At least once in your life you should visit such-and-such place of pilgrimage – then a cottage in heaven will be reserved for you!” What sort of mentality is this? All countries are equal; why worship with your face turned only towards the east, or the south, or the west. All countries, all directions, are equal.

Eso ha devah pradisho’nu sarváh;
Púrvo ha játa sa u garbhe antah.

“East, west, north, south, northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, upwards, downwards – my Parama Puruśa encompasses all the directions.” Then why should I give undue importance to any particular direction? To do that means geo-religion; not dharma, but simply a religion.

The Greatest Threat to Humanity’s Inner Asset

Now let us see what the impact of geo-sentiment is. This geo-religion, geo-economics, geo-sociology, geo-social sentiment – these “geo’s” are limited to a particular country or a particular direction. And those countries or directions which are beyond its confines are considered profane. To one group, judging according to this so-called holiness or profanity, the east is sacred, while to another group the west is sacred. Thus conflicts arise between these contradictory sentiments, leading to war and bloodshed. People have forgotten the fundamental spirit of humanism, and deviated from the principles of dharma.

So now we see that the greatest threat to the inner asset of humanity is this geo-sentiment. Where does this geo-sentiment come from? Where does it originate? It is born in that place where people do not follow the path of rationality, the path of conscience. Dharma is the ultimate goal of the path of conscience – it is not related to geo-sentiment.

Geo-sentiment is very cheap. The Supreme Consciousness is not attainable by superficial means. Something very great is attainable only by greatness. One must pay a high price to buy a costly thing. The Supreme Consciousness is not so cheap; it is not attainable by geo-sentiment.

Some people adopt geo-socialism, geo-politics or national socialism, thus limiting socialism to their countries only, but this is not possible. Geo-socialism, geo-religion, geo-economics, etc., which are based on this geo-sentiment, not only confine people in the bondages of limitations, but also alienate one particular social group from another. And – what is more harmful – different groups become violent towards each other, which is extremely dangerous for human civilization.

Footnotes

(1) The holiest of places associated with Lord Krśńa. –Trans.