He wrote, ‘Although Darwin presented natural selection as an
external force, what we’re thinking of is organisms living in an environment
that consists mostly of other organisms.
That means that for the past four billion years, evolution has brought
forth organisms that successfully coevolved with one another. Undoubtedly natural selection is part of the
motor, but it’s also true that there is spontaneous order’.
Stuart Kauffman devised the phrase ‘ORDER FOR FREE’ to explain evolution.
To quote Kauffman, ‘But if there’s order for free then some
of the order you see in organisms is not due to selection. It is due to something somehow inherent n the
building blocks. If that’s right, it’s a
profound shift, in a variety of ways.’ Using his ideas, he hoped to devise
processes for making new genes. He said, ‘within five years, I hope we’ll be
able to make vaccines to treat almost any disease you want, and do it rapidly. We’re going to be able to make hundreds of
new drugs.'
All the computer scientists interested in evolution agree on
one point. Nature should be left free
to move in the direction it chooses.
Socialism is a natural product and will prevail if we do not interfere
in the work of nature. Matricentricism is nature’s choice. Matricentric values
constitute the core of evolutionary socialism. We can not have true socialism if
male-values dominate society. The
addition of a few needed patricentric values to the core matricentric values leads
to creativity (Ashis Nandy: Self-Images Identity & Nationality). This is ideal
for a development – oriented socialism.
AS Kauffman says freedom is the base on which evolution
stands. Freedom is another word for
non-violence. In a group no member can enjoy freedom if there is violence. Violence leads to domination and domination
leads to control. In the process of evolution order comes only if there is no
controller. Evolution is self- organizing
and spontaneously leads to order.
In the News paper Odisha Post (24.01.2012) there was an
article titled “Male Sex Drive, the root of all evils”. In that essay it is written, “The Institute
of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology claim that it is actually the male
warrior instinct which has helped men evolve to be aggressive to outsiders
(philosophical trans-actions of Royal Society ‘B’) ‘……. In contrast, women are
naturally equipped with a ‘tend and befriend’ attitude, meaning they work to
resolve conflicts peacefully in order to protect the children.’
We have interfered with the processes of nature. The evils haunting human society are only
because of our interference. Nature was using female brain as a motor of human
evolution. That led to a matricentric
society where aggression and hierarchy were absent. Aggression and hierarchy
are present in the male brain only, not the female brain. (The Male Brain by
Louann Bridzendine, MD). Males and females enjoy equal status in matricentric societies.
In Frontier August 24-30/2014, Saral Sarkar writes in the
essay ‘PC’s Critique of ‘Socialism’.
“Paresh Chattopadday (PC) is right in almost all points
(Frontier, August 3-9, 2014). The
question that must now be asked is: Does it make any sense at all to still try
to create socialist society that Marx and Engels had envisioned?.......... Also, PC’s awe-inspiring scholarship is of
little use unless he presents his conclusion as to the question “What is to be
done today”.
‘Drawing our attention to the book LIMITS TO GROWTH (1972), he
calls for a paradigm shift in our thinking and activity.’
‘As for revolution, I would like to quote Walter
Benjamin. He wrote: “Marx says
revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is entirely different. Revolutions are perhaps the attempt of
humanity travelling in a train to pull the emergency brake.”
If it was not true when Benjamin wrote this, it is true
today. In the same sense, another German
author, Carl Amery, wrote in the general sense: ‘Political activists have till
now tried to change the world in various ways.
The point however is to preserve it.’
What is to be done? Our task is to preserve the biosphere and
change the world’.
(FRONTIER
August 24-30, 2014).
Fritjof Capra writes ‘……a deep ecological ethics is urgently’
needed today, and especially in science, since most of what scientists do is
not life-furthering and life preserving but life-destroying. With physicists designing weapon- systems
that threaten to wipe out life on the planet, with chemists contaminating the
global environment, with biologists releasing new and unknown types of
micro-organisms without knowing the consequences, with psychologists and other
scientists torturing animals in the name of scientific progress- with all these
activities going on, it seems most urgent to introduce ‘eco-ethical’ standards
into science.
(Deep Ecology – A New Paradigm)
‘Love
for all the living beings’ is what nature wants from human beings. Nationalism is a predatory institution. It is a product of the warrior society. As long as collective selfishness exists in
any form, humanism cannot flourish in the world. We should maintain the web of life so that
all living beings are treated by us with care.
Pre-Vedic India called it SARVA-JIVA-MAITRI. The Buddha and Mohavira were votaries of
non-violence towards all living creatures.
The Book Dhammapada is the Bible of the Buddhists. The Buddha said:-
i). He is not
noble who injures living beings. He is
called noble because he is harmless towards all living beings. (Verse No.270:
Dhammapada).
ii.). Those
disciples of Gotama ever awaken happily whose minds by day and night delight in
the practice of non-violence. (Verse No.300: Dhammapada).
The core value of Jainism is ‘Non-violence’.
The Mahabharata says that the highest aim of DHARMA
is non-violence (Adi-parva). The
Mahabharata also says that we should treat all living creatures as our brothers
and sisters and we should work for
their welfare (SANTIPARVA). In the last chapter of the Mahabharata,
the writer VEDAVYASA says ‘DHARMA is the source of wealth and
pleasure’. He exhorts all to follow DHARMA in
all their activities in all
circumstances avoiding greed and even at
the risk of life (SWARGAROHANA PARVA).
Why has pre-Vedic India given so much importance to
non-violence? No other society in the world was so fanatically in love with
non-violence. The answer comes from two sources:
historian Shereen Ratnagar and a geneticist of Harvard fame, Spencer Wells. Ratnagar says that there was no nomadic
shepherd tribe in India. We may presume that there were no hunters. In other
countries hunters transformed into nomadic shepherd tribes. Except in India,
hunters and later nomadic shepherd tribes dominated public activities in all
other counties. Spencer Wells in his
book The
JOURNEY OF MAN refers to archeological evidence to prove that India was
the only country in the world where killer apparatus was not available 50,000
years ago. The absence of killer
apparatus in India for a pretty long period indicates that the gatherer society
existed in pre-Vedic India. So India alone in the world developed a
civilization based on the norms of the gatherer society. There was no
interference with nature’s smooth movement.
Nature had perfect freedom to develop a gatherer’s society. Women played
a key role in this society. The stress
on non- violence was the result of this phenomenon. Mohenjodaro Harappa civilization which was a
product of this society was unique in the world in having a non-violent society
where kings and priests played no role.
The two philosophies that guided this society were Samkhya and Yoga
(Mahabharata). Actually the philosophy that had the greatest influence in
pre-Vedic India was Lokayat (Arthasastra: Kautilya). Lokayatika Jabali
played a role in the Ramayana. Lokayatika Charvak was murdered in the
Mahabharata. Lokayatikas were the greatest critics of the Vedic society.
Attempts wore made to hound them out from the cultural life of the Indian
society. These attempts succeeded to a
great extent. Lokayatikas were dubbed as hedonists and ridiculed unfairly. No
other philosophy in India can be called hedonistic except the philosophy of Tantra.
Samkhya, Yoga & Lokayat were the philosophies of pre-Vedic India. These philosophies were atheistic in
character. Because they were
matricentric philosophies, non violence became their core value. They were one
hundred percent dependant on rationality (Kautilya). The hetuvadi (rational) philosophy Nyaya
was their progeny. (Aanwikshiki, Samkhya, Yoga & Lokayat) continued its
existence till 100 B.C. (Radhakishen – Indian Philosophy part-II). Unlike the matricentric pre-Vedic society in
India, the Greek society was a patriarchal warrior society. So Greek
philosophies were of a different nature from the pre-Vedic philosophies of
India.
To repeat what was said earlier, nature working freely
produces order and that is the best nature -directed creation possible. In the words of Prof. Stuart Kauffman it is ORDER
FOR FREE. The only society in
the world that nature evolved freely was Mohenjodaro Harappa society.
All organs of predatory societies were devices of the male
brain. ‘It thrives under competition,
instinctively plays rough, and is obsessed with rank and hierarchy.’ (The Male Brain, Louann Brizendine, MD). To
repeat what Marx said in the context of the formation of human consciousness.
‘The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and
intellectual life process in general’. Through
out the world, the male hunters dominated the societies. In pre-Vedic India alone, gatherers continued
to have more influence in society.
Thus the most
peaceful matricentric society continued in India till the advent of the Rig-Vedic
society. Rig-Veda tells us that Vritra and Namuchi were killed by Indra. From the
Mahabharata we know that both were Yogis. The growth of intelligence
continued in pre-Vedic India leading to the formation of the most scientific
society in the world. While in all other
parts of the world superstitions and belief in mysticism gained sway because of
the existence and domination of priests and Shamans, India was free from any
type of religion. Food gatherers had the
highest status in society (JAINISM---BHOGABHUMI: the Mahabharata, Santiparva—Unchabruti
Brahmins). Later agricultural
products got added to the natural means of subsistence though the culture
continued in the matricentric stage.
Yoga and Samkhya are the same (The Bhagvad Gita). Samkhya and Lokayat are the same (Jaina Sutra : D. P.
Chattopadhya’s book ‘Lokayat’).
Lokayatikas opposed the caste system, Niyativad (the rule of
fate) and Karmavad and supported
non-violence at all levels. They opposed the theory of rebirth. The Vedic priests fiercely opposed them. Because of Lokayat’s opposition to Karmavad
and the theory of rebirth, even Buddhists and Jains did not support them. In the Mahabharata, we come across Charvak
who was a leader of a group of Brahmins who did not accept gifts from any
one. Charvak was killed by Vedic priests
who got support from the Pandava dynasty.
The Pandavas were angry with Charvak because he opposed war- violence
Indulged in by the Pandavas. The Mahabharata and Ramayana are patriarchal
epics. Both the societies were those of
warriors. In Ramayana, we meet Jabali, a
Lokayatika. Ramayana calls him an excellent Brahmin. His preaching of non-patriarchal values was
roundly denounced by Rama who was deeply attached to patriarchal values. The
Mahabharata contains a lot of information about the past matricentric society
that existed in the pre-Vedic age. Study
of the Sindhu civilization provides us with a lot of material that indicate the
wide prevalence of matricentric values. More women’s figurines exist in that
society than male figurines.
What type of society existed in Mohenjodara and Harappa civilization? Historians agree that there were no kings,
warriors or priests in this society. The
Mahabharata says that an Ideal society existed in India in Satyayuga. Sacrifice (Yagna) was absent in that society. There was only Yoga in the Mohenjodara
Harappa society. Yogis had the highest status in society. This phenomena continued till the end of the
Mouryan age (Megasthenes). Goutama Buddha
was influenced by the philosophy of Samkhya and Jainism accepted the philosophy
of Yoga.
Mohenjodara Harappa society was an egalitarian society. No social classes excited in the Indus Valley. Thus writes R. Rajagopalan in his
book Indus Valley ‘If social classes had existed, then some people would have
bad better food and hence better growth.
This would be shown in their teeth and bones. Now 350 skeletons from five major sites do
not show any significant difference!
There are also no royal tombs. It
is possible that the Indus Civilization was maintained at an advanced level
without social classes, central authority and warfare! If we can prove this,
the Indus Civilization would be shown to have been a truly exceptional one
–unmatched even by today’s democracies and republics!’ The Mahabharata gives ample proof that this
civilization was a unique one and reached a higher level than what was dreamt of
by all the utopian philosophers of the world.
Leading computer scientists have discovered that nature has evolved its
own unknown methods to go ahead of all
the plans and endeavors directed by our
knowledge of social sciences.
Indian epics, though fully patriarchal in character, differ
from the western epics in certain matters because of the influence of the
matricentric past. In Homer’s Iliad,
the Greek heroes slaughtered the male folk of Troy and made Trojan women their sexual slaves. No such thing
happened in Lanka after Rama’s victory. The
Mahabharata says that not a single Kuru woman’s right to live independently was
violated by the victorious Pandavas.
Patriarchy got established in India through legends that
tell big lies. Parsuram murdered his mother by following his father’s order. His mother got back her life when Parsuram’s
father granted him the boon mentioned by him. This boon is definitely a big
lie. Similarly that Bhishma was granted
the boon by his father of dying only when he wanted it, is a big lie. No man
can have such powers. These legends show that patriarchy replaced matricentric
values in India through violence and cultural fraud. The legend of Swetaketu, the son of Uddalaka,
illustrates how patriarchy thrived because the sons went against the
matricentric value of sexual independence enjoyed by their mothers.
Tantra is a combination of the ancient matricentric value of
woman’s sexual independence and Vedic hedonism. Tantra gained prominence in the
fifth century AD.
Science benefitting civil society (unlike the other
countries ruled by the male warriors) scaled great heights in the Sindhu
society.
Science
in the use of advanced civic planning
‘The Harappans built almost entirely in brick, both
sun-baked and kiln-fired, and the excellence of their firing is well attested
by the survival, albeit under ground, of so many structures in such a
comparatively friable material. In
assuming their bricks to be ‘of a modern type’, Bhandarkar was
unwittingly paying the Harappan brick makers a generous compliment’.
(India: John Keay
: The Harappan World: C3000-1700 BC).
‘The ubiquitous bricks, for instance, are all of
standardized dimensions, just as the stone cubes used by the Harappans to
measure weights are also standard and based on a modular system.’
(The
Harappan World).
‘Clearly Harappan settlements were not just India’s first
cities and townships but its first, indeed the world’s first, planned cities
and townships. Town-planning not being
conspicuous in the subcontinent’s subsequent urban development, they have been
hailed as the only such examples until, in the eighteenth century AD, Maharajah
Jai Singh decided to lay out his ‘pink city’ of Jaipur in Rajasthan’.
(The
Harappan World).
‘The spinning and weaving of cotton, for instance, in which
the Harappans seem to have been the world’s pioneers, must have been gradually
disseminated throughout India, since by the mid-first millennium BC it was
commonplace. The finer textiles were by
then an important item of trade and would remain so ever after, enticing to
India Roman, Arab and eventually European merchants.’
(The
Harappan World).
‘Again, the Harappans may have been the first in the world
to use wheeled transport. Numerous toy
carts in terracotta and bronze testify to their pride in this technological
breakthrough, and the generous street widths of their cities were presumably
dictated by the consequent traffic.’
(The
Harappan World).
Their waste water disposal system was unique in the
world. The drains were well made and
compare well with the water drainage systems of the best cites of the
present.
‘No site has certainly been identified as a temple, and most
suppositions about sacrificial fires, cult objects and deities rest on doubtful
retrospective reference from the Hindu practices of many centuries later.’
(The
Harappan World).
Religion did not have any influence on Sindhu society. The society was guided by Aanwikshiki
philosophers in whose praise Arthasastra spared no words. There was no caste
system in Sindhu society (Charvak).
Their weights and measures were accurate. They discovered and developed a written
language. Unfortunately, this capacity
to use a written language was lost in the Vedic age. Indians again started using a written
language after a lapse of more than one thousand years. For that, they had to
borrow scripts from other countries.
(To be
continued in Evolutionary (Science-Directed) Socialism: Part-V)
Bhagwat
Prasad Rath,
3rd Line, Roith Colony,
At/PO/Dist. – Rayagada –2
PIN- 765002, Odisha.
Phone No. 06856-235092
Cell No.-08895860598
satyabhamajankalyantrust@rediffmail.com
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