East and West

by Ramen Basu

It was during my ‘salad days’at school, that I came across the following lines in a poem:

‘East is East and West is West
And Twain shall never meet again.’

The poem belongs to the poet Rudyard Kipling. He, being in tune with the ruling class of Rajas and Maharajas, did not quite fathom what these lines would imply in later days. That was long ago, though the poet was sure that it is only a brave heart who can embrace the East and the West equally.

The early 19th century brought English-induced renaissance to India, and especially to Bengal. The formation of Viswa Bharati (International School of Education for Self enlightenment) is one of the results of that. Swimming upstream the flowing rivers and gathering experiences gradually, an individual moves towards a Universal Being ‘belonging’ to everywhere, the Source. To that end one may become That; Thatness is at-one-ment of life, Self in Self..

Harmonization of Nature requires harmony of politics, religion and philosophy in between inter and intra personal experiences; thus one becomes undivided, One in and through the Science of Oneness as taught by Sadguru Sri Sri Babathakur. To sum up, all appearances of the manifestation of the Oneness would be there inwardly, whereas the diversity of that One will be totally present to each and every one, in whatever the One sees, hears, touches, smells and tastes.

Let us back-track our origin as the human species. Humans are the brightest as well as the weakest of surviving creatures. Just because they have their brain, a whole head full of grey cells, they are at the most evolved of all the species. The original survival strategies were movements in groups, fellow-feeling and sharing each others pains and pleasures. They mostly listened to the leader of a group who, as it turned out, became considered the ‘Guru’. One of the earliest human character named Manu in Puranas of Indian system, codified the laws of
life, The Manu Samhita. The caste system and division of Life in four stages such as: Brahmacharya, Grhastya,Vanaprastha and Sannyas may be in vogue in Gurukul system even today. In some form or the other, they exist in our modern life without the past rigor and discipline.

The original human, born in Africa, multiplied and formed this vast human populace, having various races colors, creeds, sex, castes and so on. The common-ness lies in the ONE despite innumerable variations. Logistically, the path of variety can be retraced to the path of Unity. Thereby we acknowledge the involution and evolution of the human race. Involution is the Existence which is common to all equally. That is to say, the vibration exists equally and that is why Love is All. All is Love.

Based on the above background Consciousness, my wife was born a Dane, and opted to live in India. And Ramen by birth an Indian, lives in India, which also is his choice. Sorry to say, the religious-political stronghold in the Government take full advantage of certain minority situations. There is no point in denying the fact, that the Viswa Bharati of today is just not the same as the Viswa Bharati of Tagore.

My point here is to say; ‘Be a Bharatiya and not an Indian’. People ought to understand that when people say ‘I am immersed in Bha (BHA(Light) te RATA(Immersed)) i.e. light of Consciousness’, it doesn’t imply them having roots in the Indian subcontinent. Needless to say any person, who worships and gets his/her Self in the light of Consciousness, is Bharatiya - whether they have an Indian Passport or an international one.

Socio-economic, socio- environmental and socio- religious groups may dominate one’s life. Material Scientists on the other hand prefer to listen to philosophers and delve in logical understandings. But they are yet to find the inner source of joy which is abundant in ignorant people; ignorance is bliss.

Once Sri Sri Babathakur answered to Susmita Devi on her query: ‘Why East and West differ so much?’ Sri Sri Babathakur answered: “There is broadness in spiritual Science in the East, but too narrow social mores whereas there is a broad spectra in social mores and very little spiritual broadness in the West.” This answer is so befitting. Let us live in the ‘NOW’ and ‘NOB’ i.e. ‘Nectar of Wisdom’ and ‘Nectar of Bliss’.