Query from North-East: Does imposing a common culture unify us? || Acharya Prashant, IRMA (2023)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Good evening, sir. Good evening. Pleasure to be part of this scene. So actually, sir,

00:10my question is actually not so much a philosophical question as such, but it's more based on the

00:17present circumstances and realities that especially like migrants, like I myself, I'm a migrant,

00:23I can say, so I'm studying in Gujarat right now. So, but this is not only for us from

00:27the Northeast, but this also occurs when people, say, from the north of India, from the south

00:33of India, when they also migrate to the Northeast, they also face a similar situation of racism

00:40and regionalism. So, sir, my question to you is, there's a certain policy that I would

00:48say like certain governments have tried to impose of a uniform identity for the nation

00:57and for its citizens. So, sir, would this be counterproductive or would this be productive

01:02in eliminating this racism and regionalism? What kind of common identity are you talking

01:09of? So, say, for example, some aspects of identity are there like language. So maybe

01:17people from the southern part of our country will not be so comfortable with this language

01:21imposition which they may face. So, like certain, or like something like, up till now,

01:28I think no government has imposed so much, not imposed any like stipulations regarding

01:34culture as such, but there are certain worries that people face, like even aspects of their

01:40culture, like what we can eat and what we cannot eat, like certain things like that

01:43also. Zubin, right? Rubin. Rubin, as long as you will want to standardize or enforce

02:09something that varies from man to man, you will only create division, violence, and you

02:25will breed discontentment, resistance and suffering ultimately, right? Now, language

02:44is not something very, very fundamental to human existence. Please understand what I

02:55am trying to say. Otherwise, it is very easy to counter it by saying, but all humans speak,

03:00so language is fundamental. I am talking of a specific language. All humans do speak,

03:06but they do not speak the same language. Same thing applies to color or physical features,

03:22obviously sex, economic condition, food habits, all these things, they vary from man to man and

03:39place to place and time to time. Now, when you want to normalize these things, standardize these

03:50things by venerating them, idolizing them, raising them to the level of an ideal, not only is it

04:06impractical, it is actually first of all quite childish. You have to emphasize on that which we

04:28all have in common. You cannot emphasize on that which is bound to be diverse between man and man.

04:40Even in one single household, please tell me, are food habits the same? Are choices the same?

04:54Sometimes the brother has one particular accent and the sister has another one. It happens,

05:06depends on their schooling, their education and their taste. The husband wants to dress one way,

05:21the wife might have totally different tastes. She says, I want to dress in a very indigenous way,

05:32or a very western way. Then how can you have a national policy or a state policy that is based

05:45on such flimsy things as language or attire or whatever? When the Brits had that, we fought

06:00them tooth and nail, didn't we? They simply had something about skin color and that was so

06:11unacceptable to us, correct? They said their color is superior, whatever their color was,

06:17and ours is not. And we said, no, no, no, this won't do. You cannot say one color is better

06:23than the other. Colors are colors. And that's something that applies to so many other things

06:31in life, does it not? You are Ruben, I am Prashant. How can one type of name be superior to another

06:41type of name? You are wearing specs, I am not. My hairstyle I can see is different.

06:48Now, all these are differences that lend a certain color, taste, flavor to life. Who wants to have a

07:06very uniform kind of life? Won't that be very bland and boring? Rather, not just distasteful,

07:15but disgusting. If all people look the same, eat the same, wear the same. So, look at nature,

07:25all kinds of trees and no tree is superior to the other. Forget about trees, there is the tree and

07:33there is the humble grass. Who is one to claim that the tree is superior to the grass? And if

07:41grass vanishes, can the tree survive? Even if the little bacteria on the roots vanish,

07:49will the tree survive? We know of their role in nitrogen fixation. We know of how not just

07:59the bees, but even the mosquitoes are important when it comes to maintaining ecology. How is one

08:07thing superior to the other? Having said that, now we come to the other aspect. Having said that,

08:15there must be an underlying unifying principle. Otherwise, all we have is just countless

08:26differences. There must be something that unifies us so strongly that the differences,

08:37even if countless, start appearing worthless. What is it that is really common between man

08:46and man irrespective of where I am coming from, where you are coming from? I am a Russian,

08:51you are an African. I am a man, you are a woman. I am old, you are young. I am rich,

08:56you are poor. I am well-read, you are not. I am fat, you are fit. All those differences are

09:05always there, right? Irrespective of those differences, what is it that unifies us?

09:11How do you know that this fellow in front of me is fit to be called a human being?

09:18Taking a narrow perspective at this moment, what is it that distinguishes a human being

09:32from let's say an animal? When we talk of something that unifies man and man,

09:41which is all human beings, we have to look at what is it that distinguishes a human being

09:45from an animal. What is it? So, in my opinion, maybe it's the ability to make choices.

09:55But even the animal makes choices, no? Does it not? You keep grass and stone in

10:04front of a buffalo and the buffalo will know what to chew. So, how is a human being distinct

10:13from an animal? So, maybe animal's choices are driven by its animal instinct and not

10:24higher values. Lovely, lovely. And where do our higher values come from?

10:36I think they've been passed on and been refined from different generation to generation.

10:40But then that will only lead to differences and discord because

10:46my ancestors were not the same as yours. So, then my values will never conquer,

10:52never agree with yours and then we will fight.

10:57So, I think that is the case that occurs also. So, whoever dominates the other is able to pass

11:01on their values. No, but then we are not talking of one stream of human beings versus another

11:09stream of human beings. We are talking of what unites human beings as a whole against, let's say,

11:17an animal. Okay, a buffalo comes and the buffalo looks at the two of us.

11:26And if the buffalo were wise, we are appending the whole thing. Now the buffalo is wise and

11:31human beings are not. Were the buffalo wise, what would the buffalo find in common between the two

11:37of us? We are both bipeds. Leave the physicality aside.

11:50That is a difficult question.

12:07I am not really sure, sir.

12:11So, there is the instinct to know.

12:17Buffalos, since millions of years of their existence, have never wanted to really understand

12:25what is it to be a buffalo, what the grass is like, where does the thunderstorm come from,

12:31why is the grass green at all.

12:36Buffalos don't reflect or meditate. Buffalos are never keen to reflect, realize, understand.

12:43No buffalo ever asked herself the question, who am I?

12:47Now this one comes with a disclaimer. I am not a buffalo, so I can't be entirely sure.

12:51But just looking at buffalos from where I do, I do not think that they are introspecting or

12:56meditating. They continue in the way they are, right? You are born a buffalo, you live as a

13:02buffalo, you die as a buffalo. There is no urge to rise, to know and to be liberated from inner

13:10ignorance. So, that's what unites me and you, right? And then that alone has to be the basis

13:24of our community, our society.

13:30All our rules, laws, policies, conventions, customs have to be founded on the underlying

13:37unity, the unifying principle. The unifying principle is liberation. Liberation beyond

13:45liberty. Liberty is good, but liberty is a small thing. Liberation is beyond liberty.

13:52Liberation, understanding, realization.

13:58So, if as the head of the government, I have to impose a policy, the policy will say,

14:04in this area, you cannot remain uneducated. Because being a human being, obviously,

14:14you have to know, you want to know, you must know. So, kindly have the basic education. If

14:20you have arrived here uneducated, we will ensure, we will subsidize and we will have you educated.

14:26And that's what is common between all the people, the residents, the citizens here.

14:31We all are educated. Now, that's the foundation of our unity, our education. You are educated,

14:40so am I. So, the two of us have something in common. You have an urge to understand,

14:46so have I. And that's what we have in common. So, what does that mean? That means systems will be

14:53transparent. Because I want to know and the system will tell me, I want to know,

14:58because I want to know and the system doesn't want to reveal, now there is a conflict.

15:04So, systems have to be transparent. Professors in universities have to be accessible.

15:13Examinations have to be continuous and practical

15:21and grounded in reality. Are you getting? Yes, sir.

15:30And that's when we can say, yes, yes, yes, we belong to this place. And this is what we have

15:37in common. Instead, if you say we belong to this place and what we have in common

15:43is the language, then that's not a very sustainable basis of unity.

15:51Because you see that's an exclusive basis, it excludes, it says someone speaking some

15:57other language comes here and we will treat him as an alien. Someone comes here whose facial

16:04features are different and we will call them by some name, some not so pleasing name.

16:13No, no, no, the buffalo does better than us when it comes to these things.

16:19There is very little, there is very little evidence of color-based discrimination in the

16:27in the buffalo universe, or in the cow or goat or camel universe. We have not seen that.

16:35We have, we have rabbits and just one among them is brown and we are not seeing the

16:45white ones really discriminate against him. So, first of all, he is in a minority of one.

16:53And secondly, his color is supposedly an inferior color to the white ones.

17:00Secondly, his color is supposedly an inferior one, a very Indian color, brown.

17:08But the white European rabbits are not seen to discriminate.

17:14Only human beings have that kind of ignorance and nonsense.

17:21If somebody is a minority, pulverize him.

17:24And when you are in a minority, then form groups and raise slogans and complain and play the victim.

17:36How will that work? All that is just so, so juvenile.

17:54So, like, is it fair? I know it's like a bit unfair actually to reduce your answer, maybe

18:04like, especially since you've introduced so many other aspects and angles regarding your answer.

18:11But would it be fair for me to say that according to you, maybe like something like a constitution

18:16or the laws of the land will form the basis of what unifies the people? Wouldn't that be a fair

18:23understanding? Please repeat that.

18:30Like, at the, at the risk of reductionism. Yes, yes.

18:39Will it be like, will it be somewhat fair, like somewhat to a minute degree fair to say that

18:45according to you, like, maybe the just basis for a shared identity would be laws,

18:55laws and the constitution on like on the basis of what shared living like rules.

19:03Obviously, if you look at the preamble, the values that you find there are quite sublime.

19:11You investigate them closely, and you will say they are these are fairly universal values,

19:16they are not discriminatory in nature. Yes. Obviously, you can always things make things

19:23better and you can always refine a word fine tune it come up with an even higher something.

19:29That's all right. But if you look at you know, liberty, equality, fraternity.

19:34If you look at even the stuff that came to the preamble in the 70s,

19:43socialist, secular, these are these are not really things that can divide.

19:51So, the Indian Constitution is a fairly respectable one in that regard.

19:57And, in fact, even globally, countries look up to the Indian Constitution.

20:05It's quite a detailed one. It's difficult to find stuff there that is partisan.

20:13It's difficult to find seeds of oppression, or narrowness, anything there.

20:23So, if polity is being conducted, honestly, according to the Constitution,

20:31I think that would take care of a lot of problems.

20:37See, obviously, the Constitution does not address the inner life of the human being.

20:44For example, Constitution would talk of let's say liberty, but it does not talk of

20:49individual emancipation, it does not talk of inner liberation from the bondages of ignorance,

20:56like physical identification. People are so identified with their body,

21:01and the Constitution is silent in that regard. But then that is also not the function

21:08of the Constitution that is to be taken care of by other agencies operating at the social level.

21:17So, all in all, I think if we can just live up to what the Constitution says,

21:26that that itself would be a fairly stable situation and more can be done. Obviously,

21:33there are vistas beyond that. But that is not to say that the Constitution lacks in something.

21:41Thank you so much, sir. Wonderful answers. Thank you so much.

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