One World Family

LET US FACE THE CHALLENGE TOGETHER ! THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY has placed a challenge before humanity

to CHOOSE LOVE OR HATE ! Humanity is on the brink of total annihilation at the hands of TERRORISTS aka FANATICS. If we are to survive, the only way is to wean the fanatics away from their war of hatred to the path of LOVE i.e. to change the concepts of ONE AND ALL in such a way that ALL feel that they belong to one affectionate extended family and act accordingly. For this, the most urgent needs are removal of poverty and PROPER education. How the objective of ONE WORLD FAMILY can be achieved, should be debated by all who genuinely feel concerned about the welfare of humanity, nay, even for its survival. One humble effort is placed before you in this booklet, more as food for thought for more knowledgeable persons to come up with better and more practicable proposals and above all, to set the wheels rolling to move Governments and the UNO and its Agencies to take steps in this direction which may be evolved through a variety of views of the people from all strata. SO DEAR READER, READ THIS, FORMULATE YOUR VIEWS AND TRY TO GIVE THEM WIDEST PUBLICITY. ABOVE ALL, USE YOUR VOTING POWER JUDICIOULY TO ELECT PEOPLE WHO HAVE THIS VISION OF ‘ONE WORLD FAMILY’ BEFORE THEM. NOW READ ON……..

D. L. Bijur ENCLOSURES Title pages Contents page Introduction - pages Text - pages Total pages

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ONE WORLD FAMILY -- THE GOAL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

D. L. Bijur

ONE WORLD FAMILY --The Goal Of The Twenty-first Century (Revised Second Edition) Copyright © D. L. Bijur 2009

First Edition 2001 published by Minerva Printing Press (India) Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi

Contents Page Introduction I

World Language

II

World Government

III

Bonding of Humanity into One Family

IV

Dawn of a New Era

V

Spiritual Basis for One World Family

ONE WORLD FAMILY --The Goal Of The Twenty-first Century INTRODUCTION The law for humanity is to pursue its upward evolution towards the finding and expression of the Divine in the type of mankind, taking full advantage of the free development and gains of all individuals and nations and grouping of men, to work towards the day when mankind may be really and not only ideally one divine family, but even then, when it has succeeded in unifying itself, to respect, aid and be aided by the free growth and activity of its individuals and constituent aggregates. Sri Aurobindo Mankind has become so much one family that we cannot insure our own prosperity except by insuring that of everyone else. Bertrand Russel

Emperors of bygone eras and dictators of the twentieth century had dreamt of transforming the whole world into one empire.

Many democratic leaders of the

twentieth century have also spoken of a world confederation of nations. Tentative steps towards this were also taken by forming the League of Nations, after the First World War and the United Nations Organisation after the Second World War. The former became defunct because of the aggressive intentions of some nations and latter may also end up similarly, for the same reasons, or for being starved of funds for not acceding to the dictates of the nations which contribute the major share of its expenses. Even otherwise, the UNO is a weak organization; its directions are very often not heeded by member nations concerned and, worst of all, it leaves member nations free to wage wars between themselves. It is only the spiritual leaders who, right from ancient ages, have been urging for realisation of the fatherhood of God

and the brotherhood of Man, or the whole world as one FAMILY (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam). Most spiritual leaders preached this as a feeling to be developed by spiritual aspirants – more particularly as an outcome of the superconscious experience and not necessarily under a political union of all nations. Fortunately, there have been some among them, like Baha-u’-llah, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, who have started movements towards not only spiritual regeneration of mankind, but also world government, world language and integral education, with a common ethical or spiritual basis. With the advent of the twenty-first century and the third millennium, it is now high time for not only leaders in all fields, but also for the masses to be oriented towards a world union. Unless there is constant pressure from the masses, the political leaders of the world, whose leadership and support is most vital to achieve the goal, will not feel the urgency of taking concrete steps to integrate the hopes and aspirations of the masses, with the expertise of the knowledgeable – who have been clamouring for it for several decades – to bring about the desired result.

It is, therefore,

desirable for common men – as many people as possible – to publicly express their ideas about how a world union and brotherhood of man should be created, so that the experts and leaders in all fields (including political), can take stock of these ideas and through cross-fertilisation with their own ideas hammer out a feasible way of approach towards it.

So one common man, who is neither well-read nor

knowledgeable, expresses his ideas briefly through this book!1

It is earnestly hoped that this will serve as food for thought as also as an incentive for others to express better and more practicable ideas to reach the goal of One World Family as early as possible. Date : 09th May 2009. (on which this is placed on Web-site)

D. L. Bijur e-mail : [email protected] 1

These ideas are elaborated in the author’s book Urge for Synthesis (Mumbai 1996 – Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan).

Chapter I WORLD LANGUAGE To develop the feeling of one world family among all the peoples of the world, it is desirable that they should have as many things as possible in common. Communication in one language will greatly help in bringing about closer affinity among them. Although English has almost attained that stage, especially with the advent of the Internet, it is desirable to evolve a new language, with a rigid grammar, to make it easier to take up the gigantic task of translation through automation, with a script that is ergonomically more suited (less effort, with a slight sacrifice of this quality to make it aesthetically more pleasing), and with clarity in the distinction between one letter and another, for both computer printing as well as handwriting. For speedier writing, one could perhaps use a running hand with connecting strokes, while retaining clarity. UNESCO should undertake this task with the help of experts from all countries. The first step in this direction is to evolve a phonetic script after considering the pronunciations of all alphabets of all languages. The next step is to allot one or two letters as suffixes to determine the declensions and conjugations of words. The third step is to compile root words, after studying morphemes in other languages, especially classical ‘mother’ languages, from which modern languages have evolved. Extensive use should be made of root words that sound and mean alike in two or more classical languages, or which are adopted in several modern languages. The root words, with their combinations and derivatives, should be used to convey the meanings of the words in the most exhaustive, general and technical dictionaries of all languages. Where this is not adequate (because of too long combinations of root words, etc.), the words should be picked up from other languages (by condensing and changing to suit the world language), by variety of criteria: a. The language in which it is most expressive. b. The language in which the meaning was first expressed. c. Alphabetic allocations for each language, etc.

Thus the world language will have familiar sounding and meaning words for people speaking all other languages. After the formation of the script, grammar and dictionary of the world language, UNESCO should set up a steadily expanding Artificial Intelligence (AI) complex, to translate into the world language everything published in every other language, each publication being indexed exhaustively. To facilitate this, faxing of a copy of every publication to the local super-computer for transmission to and eventually simultaneous translation by the AI complex, should be made compulsory, just as it is now being sent to national libraries; translation into the world language should be permissible at a nominal royalty determined by UNESCO, with both these provisions being adopted by all countries. Various sections of the AI complex should take up translations of various materials e.g. encyclopedias, songs, poetry and plays in one section, other classics in another section, in two other sections in one from oldest onward and in the other backward from the latest, etc. The exhaustively indexed published material in the world language should be made available through an Internet-like set-up. Learning the script of the world language should be made compulsory in the final year of the primary school. Every sign board, official letterhead, printing on currency notes, etc. should be in this script also, in addition to that of the local / national language, as long as they are in common use. The script should straight away be adopted by languages which do not have their own script and later, by all languages. Teaching of the world language should be compulsory, from the first year of secondary school.

Gradually, the world language should be the medium of

instruction at all levels and the erstwhile modern and classical languages should be taught as second and third languages.

Chapter II WORLD GOVERNMENT One-world government is absolutely essential to create a one-world family.

The

United Nations Organisation, as already pointed out, falls too short of a world government. As under it, the nations are free to wage wars between themselves, huge amounts are spent on armaments, even nuclear armaments, that pose a danger to the entire humanity. Even a fraction of the amount spent on armaments is enough to remove poverty from the whole world and to educate its entire population. The very existence of UNO is at the mercy of the rich nations, who make major contributions towards its expenses and it is unable to take the same steps against them which it takes against weaker countries mostly at the bidding of these major donors for similar reasons. Undemocratic delegation of veto power to the Five Big Powers, (who do not deserve to be called Great Powers), is its other major weakness. The political set-up all the world over should be truly democratic i.e. government of the people, by the people and for the people. The people at the grass-roots level should have a say in all three branches of administration viz. executive, legislative and judicial, at the local level and the higher levels of administration should evolve from the lower levels, with voting rights given to the people to choose the chief administrator up to the national level. Efforts should be made to persuade all countries to reorganize their political structure. Every area with people living in closely integrated housing who number one millionth of the world population, should form a ward and 100 wards should form a state. Ideally, 100 states should form a nation. Countries with less than 1% of the world population should form regional group with neighbouring country / countries so as to have about 1% of the world population in the region. Countries with population exceeding 1% of world population, should have regions of states which together reach that population figure. Eventually, each region should become a single nation and the world should have 100 nations.

Each ward should have twin public halls.

The ground floor should be for the

assembly of people between the ages of fifty and seventy-five (House of Seniors), and the upper floor for those between twenty-five and fifty years of age (House of Guardians). Persons below twenty-five years of age, or above seventy-five years, should not participate in politics. This will reduce the overwhelming importance that is now being given to politics in all other spheres. Non-political organizations should invite people from their own fields as chief guests, etc. and should not issue free passes to any member of the three branches of administration who does not independently qualify for it. Persons who are members of the organization, or are prominent in their field, even if they so qualify, should not be made office-bearer of the organization if they are elected political office-bearers or appointed by the latter, on any committee. This will also be conducive towards elimination of interference by politicians in student organizations and leave the younger generation free to concentrate on study or training in their jobs and the aged to take or pursue interest in spiritual matters. The pursuit of both these generations is vital and forms the foundation on which the edifice of all the activities of humanity rest, or should rest. The halls should provide voting machines for members to vote on all issues that fall within their jurisdiction and in elections. Every year, the two Houses of each ward should jointly elect one person as the chief administrator of the ward and ten persons to form his managing committee, who should hold office for one year and who should be eligible for re-election, but not for more than five years continuously. The two Houses should also jointly elect one member, every year, to join a judicial committee of five members, for five years. The judicial committee members should be law graduates residing in the ward or, if there are not enough (and trustworthy) law graduates in the area, from judicial committee members or residents of neighbouring wards. Each House should separately elect two candidates every year (by a process of elimination by voting on all the names suggested by their members), for electing one of them as the ward representative in the state assembly for five years.

The House of Seniors should elect the

representative from the candidates elected by the House of Guardians and vice

versa. The wards should elect male and female representatives, in alternate years. The defeated candidate should be the Chairman of the respective House for one year. The judicial committee of all the wards in each state should elect judges to the state judicial council of eleven judges, who should hold office till they reach sixty-five years of age. The ward legislature (the two Houses), should have the power delegated to it, every ten years, by the state legislature. The judicial committee should have the powers delegated to it by the state judicial council from time to time, until withdrawn or amended by the council. The ward executive (chief administrator and his managing committee), should have the powers delegated to it by the two Houses of the ward, with the approval of a majority of the members of the judicial committee. The laws passed by the two Houses should require approval of a majority of the judicial committee. The laws passed by the state legislature should also require approval of a majority of the judicial council. Once in five years, the state legislature, to which one-fifth members are elected every year (which will ensure that matter concerning every constituency will remain a live issue and not forgotten and revived only in an election year, as it generally is, under the present system of simultaneous election of all members, at longer intervals), should elect two candidates below sixty years of age from whom all persons in the state between the ages of twenty-five and seventy-five years, should elect one as the governor of the state, with the losing candidate being the speaker of the state legislature.

The governor should make appointments to his executive

council of twenty members (not from the legislature or judicial council), with the approval of a majority of the members of the state legislature and of the judicial council. The powers of the executive council should be defined by the legislature, with the approval of the judicial council. Retiring state governors should automatically be members of the Senate (Upper House) of the national parliament until they reach the age of seventy-five years, or are recalled by a two-third majority of the legislature and passed by sixty per cent of

the voters of the state. Each state legislature should elect one male member and one female member every year to the House of Representatives (Lower House) of the national parliament for a period of five years. The judicial councils of all the states in a nation, should elect judges to the national judicial council of twenty-five judges, who should hold the post until they reach the age of seventy years. The national administration should have all the powers on matters concerning the world government, relations with other nations, national security (central police), matters concerning all states, or two or more states (unless the concerned states set up a joint organization to handle them), organized or heinous crime, currency and financial regulations (concerning taxation, banks, financial institutions, companies, stock exchanges, etc.), interstate and international transport and communications, as also powers delegated to it for twenty five years by each state administration. The laws passed by parliament should require approval of a majority of the national judicial council before they are signed by the president. The national judicial council or its benches should have powers to deal with appeals against judgements of the state judicial councils and over matters concerning constitutional law and fundamental right, including where justice is denied for more than three years. The national parliament and the legislatures of all the states should elect two candidates (in the manner in which the President of India is elected)2 below sixty-five years of age from whom one should be elected as president, by all the voters of the country. This election should be held simultaneously with the five-yearly election of all the state governors. The losing candidate should be the speaker of the Lower House. The Upper House should elect its own Chairman. If a governor or a president is unable to fulfil his five-year term (on account of death, illness, etc.), the state legislature or the parliament, as the case may be, should elect a substitute for the balance period. The two candidates for election as governor / president should be provided state funds for their election. (This will not be necessary for ward election or elections to the Lower House as the candidates will be well known to all the respective voters). In all election process, there should be no official recognition of political parties. The

media also should not refer to a ruling party and opposition parties but only to serving party and a cooperating party. This and the direct election of governors and national president, will promote conscientious voting and eliminate the tendency of opposition for the sake of opposition, or for political gain for the party, at the expense of the interest of the people. This procedure of nomination of two candidates for election as President / Governors will evolve two groups in each (Central & State ) legislature, which, in practice, will work like a two-party system and may eventually induce all political parties to merge into two national parties. Code of conduct for each wing of administration (executive, legislative and judicial), should be laid down and any serious or repeated breach, should entail debarring the person from holding the office. The retiring president should automatically be a member of Parliament of Nations (until he reaches seventy-five years of age), which should elect its own president for a period of seven years, who should have a secretariat (like UN Secretariat). The world, as well as national administration, should have councils for: a.

Physical welfare (food, clothing, housing, health),

b.

Social welfare including transport and communication,

c.

Education

d.

Economic welfare,

e.

Political welfare (a la UN Security Council),

f.

Spiritual welfare.

Until formation of new nations, countries with a population of more than 100 million should be permanent members of these councils (without veto powers). The other countries should be grouped for rotational representation, for three years, so that each group of nations represents about 100 million people.

For this purpose, and

for all groupings, the European Union excluding U.K. and France should be regarded as one nation. On the formation of new nations in all the countries having a population of over 100 million, only the grouping system should prevail. The member countries should appoint their representative in each council, for three years at a time.

The Educational Council should, inter alia, undertake the task of evolving a world language and dissemination of knowledge as detailed earlier in the book. The Economic Welfare Council should appoint Governors of the World Bank (a combination of IBRD and IMF), and should itself look after other economic matters, including those now handled by WTO. The World Bank should issue currency in the form of plastic coated foils of silver, gold and platinum and promissory notes of one million world currency units. National central banks should issue their own currency (notes of other denominations and coins), against holding of world currency, up to a specified minimum percentage. The promissory notes endorsed by the World Bank to them, should be endorsable to other central banks, or to the World Bank. The system of membership of the aforementioned councils of world government should also apply to membership of the world judicial council, except that the persons nominated by the member nations concerned, should hold office until seventy-five years of age and vacancies on retirement, or death, should be filled up by the nations who are members of the Council at that time in a rotational order. The world judicial council should have powers to decide on all matters of international disputes referred to it by any nation and not taken up by the Parliament of Nations or by any of the other world Councils within three months thereafter or, if so taken up, not decided by them within three years. The judicial personnel at all levels should have computer access to laws that existed in various countries on whatever matter comes up before them as also laws passed by the legislatures of the area under their jurisdiction. They should be guided by the spirit (rather than the letter) of the laws. Above all, they should CONSCIENTIOUSLY come to the conclusion of what is the ‘MOST JUST ACTION’ and act accordingly, directing the concerned legislature to change existing laws where necessary. This should cause no problem if proper education is imparted to all from school level and emphasized in the law colleges to uphold the ‘DHARMA’ that is right for an ideal state of the modern age and the judges are known to have been selected on the basis of their high Integrity Quotient. (See the next chapter for both these aspects).

Even before formation of new nations, all countries should move towards complete disarmament, initially by eliminating nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and then by disbanding the air force and the navy, when only the world government should have these two branches of the armed forces. A small percentage of the forces disbanded should be contributed to the world government by the member countries. A percentage of the expenditure saved by the nations through disarmament, should be contributed to the world organization and the balance utilized for elimination of poverty and illiteracy and thereafter, for steadily improving facilities and standards of education to more and more people. When the new nations are formed all over the world, the world government and the nations should have only police forces, equipped with armaments that are not more destructive than machine guns and hand grenades. The state police should have no firearms other than revolvers and ward police only pistols that fire not more than two bullets, without reloading. Private security guards may be allowed to have a gun. Holding of firearms by other citizens should be totally banned. All nations should have a uniform tax system levying one percent turnover tax on credits to all bank accounts (including time deposit accounts) except on credits (a) to accounts of all wings of administration from ward to world organization levels, (b) to bank accounts and (c) by transfer between bank accounts of the same sole / first holder.

There should be no other taxes or duties except that until one world

government comes into being, nations may charge export and import duties and exempt credits representing proceeds of amounts received in foreign exchange from turnover tax. The revenue generated should be shared in the following proportion – 10% for ward administration, 20% for state administration, 30% for national administration and 40% for the world administration. (Until world government is formed, 30% should go to regional administration and 40% to the national administration). Each higher organization should use a part of its revenue to ensure that immediate lower organization will be aided to have equitable development with other similar organizations with higher revenue.

Payments and holdings in cash should be restricted. All payments towards amounts due in excess of one thousand units of currency should be made by transfer to bank accounts or by crossed cheque or credit / debit card. Amount to be held in cash should not exceed amount received in cash during preceding five days or normally payable in cash during ensuing ten days, whichever is more. Among the countries which are ready for mergers / divisions, the world government should ensure that political borders of the world are redrawn every 40 years on the basis of the latest census which would form 100 nations (on the assumption that all countries participate) with more or less equal population. The national governments should redraw the state borders once in 20 years to form 100 states of almost equal population.

The state governments should redraw the borders of their wards

similarly every 10 years. Thus the world should eventually have a million wards of more or less equal population. The world government should ensure that the world population does not go higher than 10 billion or lower than 5 billion. Thus each ward should have a population of about five to ten thousand. Scientists should discover more and more effective and easier means of population control and come up with injections that, once given, will prevent pregnancy until a pregnancy facilitating injection (that will permit conception of only one child) is given. The former should be given to girls on their admission to secondary schools and the latter at any time after they reach 25 years of age and are keen to conceive. The pregnancy prevention injections should be given again before discharge from maternity hospital. The pregnancy facilitating injection should not be given again at all if the population is near the higher limit or at least until five years after delivery. Euthanasia should be permitted in the case of persons who are considered by a panel of doctors as incurably bed-ridden. Persons above 80 years of age should be permitted to opt for dignified death by donating their organs (and even skin for temporary relief to burn-victims), cadaver plasma (when scientists find ways to use it effectively for transplant) etc, and their bodies to assist medical studies. Persons eligible for this should be required to declare their intention for it in a sworn affidavit

before a magistrate who should, as far as possible, ensure that there is no pressure from others for recording such affidavits. If a person over 50 years of age who is mentally sound makes an affidavit that he should be administered euthanasia if he suffers from Alzheimer’s syndrome, his wishes should be fulfilled.

2

Candidates are nominated by at least the specified number of members of the central / state legislature/s.

Thereafter, all the elected members of all the legislatures vote indicating order of preference. Weightage is given to the vote of the member on the basis of the population of his state. If no candidate gets majority of first

preference votes, the second preference votes are added and so on until one candidate aggregates a majority of the votes so taken into account.

Chapter III BONDING OF HUMANITY INTO ONE FAMILY Turning the entire humanity into one family, should be the goal of the 21st century. To do so and to retain it so integrated, it is necessary to impart moral, ethical, religious and spiritual education. For this, educational institutions at each level – primary, secondary and university –should get together and start dialogues with social, religious and spiritual leaders, to form a common code of conduct, the DON’Ts for the primary school level, the DOs (ethical), for the secondary school level, and common ‘religion’ for the university level. This common religion should be a way of life and an approach towards one’s own religion, as also towards other religions. The organisations at lower levels should try to adopt, in simpler ways, whatever is evolved for higher levels, e.g. the ethical conduct evolved for secondary schools may be adopted for primary schools by way of stories, highlighting such conduct. Religious and spiritual leaders, doctors and scientists should get together to evolve spiritual training courses for aspirants, aimed at achieving a superconscious experience. Governments and charitable organizations should ensure that such efforts do not flag for want of funds. It should be realised by governments that this will minimise corruption and crime and make workers and politicians more and more conscientious, all of which will mean a huge saving of government expenditure. The religious training should emphasise that those under twenty-five years of age should concentrate on LEARNING (education and training for their profession). Although learning should continue throughout one’s life and professional training throughout one’s career, the concentration during the years twenty-five to fifty, should be on EARNING conscientiously, firstly to liberate oneself from dependence, then for one’s dependents and thereafter for a larger and larger circle of one’s brethren. In the third stage between fifty and seventy-five years of age, the concentration should be on YEARNING. In the preceding stage, if not earlier, a person gradually develops (or should develop) an interest in some pursuit, not connected with his main field of concentration. Many pursue it more or less seriously

according to the intensity of their inclination and as time permits. In this stage, the inclination should turn into an urge. In the stage over seventy-five years, the concentration should be on the spiritual goal of a superconscious experience. These stages correspond to raja yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga (though the yearning may be other than religious), and jnana yoga. Persons in the respective stages may as well be called raja yogi etc. irrespective of their religion, to emphasise their field of concentration (The stages also correspond to pursuit of the four purusharthas or primary objects of life, dharma, artha, kama and moksha). Yoga means communion. It is used for communion with God/Holy Spirit/ Reality (totality of Existence), as also for every path leading towards it. It is also commonly used for the physical exercises – Asanas or postures and Pranayama or breath control – which bring good health and are also conducive towards better conduct (as has been observed by such training given to prisoners and workers), and then, towards spiritual pursuit. It is desirable to call all formal religions as yoga, Christian yoga, Mohammedan yoga, Vaishnavite yoga, Shaivite yoga, etc. This will emphasise that all religions are various paths towards one goal. It should be realised by all, that the physical exercises of yoga in no way suggest adherence to Hinduism, but are necessary for a healthy and supple body and are also helpful for eventual spiritual pursuit according to one’s own religion or belief. It should also be realised by all religious leaders that the prophets and preachers of all religions were concerned primarily with their followers’ spiritual pursuit towards communion with God/Holy Spirit/ Reality, a superconscious experience of which love for all is an essential path. Since these leaders attained pre-eminence and their word was law to their followers, the latter imposed upon the former the duties of adjudicating in secular affairs. This imposed duty was performed in accordance with need of their time and place, changing their own tradition only where it was absolutely necessary. Thus, there is need to conform these secular preachings to present and future global needs and particularly to modern concepts of justice and the fundamental rights of equality between man and woman and between followers of their own religion and others, etc.

Spiritual research exploring the inside of one’s being should be considered as at least as vital as research in outer space and funds should be allocated for it on a similar scale. Scientists should involve themselves in this research, as their findings are more universally accepted as the truth, whereas the preachings of spiritual leaders are not so unequivocally accepted by people who are not their followers. Doctors have already discovered the advantages of meditation and yogic exercise. Scientists have also invented gadgets to monitor these, to know what is advantageous and what is disadvantageous. Research in this direction should be vigorously pursued. Spiritual research and training institutes should be set up and liberally financed. In the later years of the 19th century and the early years or the 20th century, scientists discovered that all elements are made of the same subatomic particles with only their number changing; that electricity and magnetism are aspects of one electromagnetic force; that matter and energy are interchangeable aspects of one entity and that the entire universe is born of four forces viz. (1) electro-magnetic force (2) weak force (3) strong force (4) gravitational force, with the second and third being nuclear forces. Later, in the 20th century, they discovered that the forces (1) and (2) are really one force and subsequently, that this latter force and the strong force, are also one and the same force. Since then, they have been trying to establish that all the four forces are in reality one and the same force. A strong contender for this Unified Field Theory (UFT) or Theory of Everything (TOE) is superstring theory. They only have to pursue this and other UFTs, to come to one conclusive force. All this will however, explain only the physical universe. Scientists still have to find out the real nature of consciousness and either try to establish that it is the TOE of which the four physical forces are aspects, or arrive at the TOE, of which both consciousness and the four forces are aspects. Researchers in every field of science should make all - out efforts to ascertain whether consciousness is a finer form of energy, in the same manner in which the latter is a finer form of matter.

They

should see whether acceptance of consciousness as the omnipresent primeval force from which all other forces and life itself have originated, could explain all their

speculation about the source of cosmic rays, Bose-Einstein condensate, Bohm diffusion, superstrings, microwave background radiation, Higg’s (Boson) Field, Tachyon Field, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, ultimate disappearance of black-holes, etc. and even of pre-Einsteinian idea of Ether as the ‘substance’ in which the universe floats which some post - Einsteinian Scientists seem to be reviving in one form or other. Saints and mystics of all religions and faiths have reached a stage of communion with God/Holy Spirit/reality and have treated the entire creation as one family. This they have done by concentrating all their consciousness on God/Holy Spirit/Reality. It is obvious from this that it does not matter what they believed but that it is the intensity of their faith that helped them to concentrate all their consciousness on the one Idea, and thereby reach a superconscious state. (There should, therefore, be no dispute between various religions and faiths as to which is true and which is false). This indicates that just as concentration of tremendous energy on a little bit of matter generates super (nuclear) energy, concentration of all consciousness by any person on a little bit of matter (idol) /energy (light) / consciousness (his concept of God/Holy Spirit /Reality, etc.), generates superconsciousness. It is possible for scientists to establish this by inventing more and more sophisticated gadgets to observe the effects of meditation (from starting of meditation to the highest stage of concentration, or the superconscious state), particularly by experimenting on persons (yogis), who have had superconscious experience and on others, to find out what the latter should avoid, to achieve similar effects. They can then come up with even more sophisticated gadgets to guage the spiritual stage of a person. This will then be the new IQ (Integrity Quotient). This new IQ may be resorted to in selecting persons for the five highest executive posts in an organisation, for selection of judges and candidates for election and even for appointments at lower levels, where all other relevant factors for appointment are more or less equal. Once this secular advantage of spiritual IQ is established, it will create a common, competitive interest in spiritual training (just as present-day

management training has even for the best technicians at present), and the entire humanity will reap its benefits. Once the scientists arrive at the fundamental force of consciousness, or from which consciousness and the other four forces emerged, scientists should express it as their view that this fundamental force is what various religions and philosophies express as God/Holy Spirit/Brahman/Reality; that it is infinite in infinite ways and can be viewed, described and approached in infinite ways; that each religion expresses one view and way of life based on that as an approach towards this infinite; that salvation is communion with it. They, or some of them may even add that since it is the sum-total of all existence, it is Omnipresent; that since it is the sum-total of all energies and forces, it is Omnipotent and that since it is the sum-total of all consciousness, it is Omniscient. Scientists could even say, or predict, that communion with it is like establishing a hot line with it, through which man can draw on these ‘Omni’ powers and be superman. Once this view is accepted by the scientific community, it will be gradually accepted by all religionists and all religions will be integrated. Swami Ranganathananda, late President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, says, “It will be a great event in human history when the spiritual energies of the world’s religions, so long working in isolation or at cross purposes, become entirely positive and cooperative, and function as an integrated spiritual grid to redeem man from the depth of worldliness and restore him to his true spiritual dimension.”3 There is so much evil in the world that leads to crime, hatred and wars. The beginnings of these, the fundamental causes, are rooted in poverty and lack of proper education (including propagation of improper religious ideas by preachers, parents or others), which turn people to seek riches by hook or by crook and then more and more of it and more and more power, at first from riches and later from organized crime and/or political office. The media highlights their misdeeds and rarely goes into the fundamental causes and how the causes can be removed. The media also fails miserably in giving proper coverage (which should be much wider than that for the misdeeds and their perpetrators) to good deeds and to persons of

spiritual eminence. As has been said earlier, funds saved from gradual and total disarmament, should be used for social welfare, proper education including spiritual (inner space) research and training, to eliminate the root causes of evil. The Declaration of a Global Ethic made by the World Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1993, (in commemoration of the centenary of a similar parliament held there, which brought Swami Vivekananda into the limelight), affirms that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of all religions and that these form the basis of a global ethic. Religious leaders of all communities should lay all emphasis on this common core and preach that, along with their own philosophy about God/Holy Spirit/Reality and their own ways of worship, prayer and meditation. They should also simultaneously relax their hold on the other scriptural preachings, which should not be deemed to be sacrosanct laws that have to be adhered to the letter, but only as guidelines to people of that time and mostly according to their then tradition. (It is surprising that many religious leaders ignore laxity by their followers in observing spiritual guidelines, but lay overemphasis on observing the secular ‘laws’ of the scriptures!). The common set of core values, arrived at right from local to global level meetings of religious leaders, social workers, educationists, psychologists, etc., should be taught in schools from the first year of primary school to the penultimate year of high school. Initially this should be done through stories etc. and later, through parallel quotations from scriptures of various religions. Courses of yogic exercises, suitable for each year of schooling, with simplified pranayama, should be drawn up. Spiritual research and training institutes should offer higher courses for those who opt for it. Many will readily opt for that, because of better job prospects that even a little training may bring, rather than go for training under a guru, who may ask for total renunciation of worldly contact. As the Gita says (II-40) “Even a little of this Dharma protects from great fear.” Even a little of this spiritual training that helps one to follow one’s religion (way of life) intelligently, prevents a calamity. Government as well as other organizations should be happy to recruit persons who have had even short spiritual training as the trainees are likely to be less corrupt and more conscientious (their

spiritual IQ level having been monitored at their institute), and may even be satisfied with a moderate remuneration. These organizations should, therefore, liberally finance such institutions which should also offer short reorientation courses (retreat) for batches of the donors’ staff, aimed at greater efficiency and evolving karma yogis. The aim of such spiritual activity should be to evolve a ‘Universal Religion’ which will be a guideline for all to practise their own religion intelligently and fruitfully. Swami Vivekananda has already spoken of such a religion in the following words – Universal Religion Each soul is potentially divine.

The goal is to manifest this divinity within by

controlling nature, external and internal.

Do this by work or worship or psychic

control or philosophy – by any one or more or all of these and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines or dogmas or ritual or books or temples or forms are but secondary details4. Establishing a SYNTHESIS OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION and constantly evolving a better synthesis with the progress of science and the consequent renewed reorientation in the other two branches, is needed for universal welfare. If this is done, again in the words of Swami Vivekananda – SCIENCE and RELIGION will meet and shake hands. POETRY and PHILOSOPHY will become friends. This will be the RELIGION OF THE FUTURE, and, if we can work it out, we may be sure that it will be FOR ALL TIME AND FOR ALL PEOPLE5.

3

The Message of the Upanishads page 24 (Mumbai 1993 – Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan).

4

Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol.I-p.257.

5

ibid Vol. p.

Chapter IV THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA It is necessary to awaken the consciousness of the entire humanity and to focus it towards achieving the goal of a one-world family. For this, it is necessary to make everyone feel that the dawn of the 21st century and the third millennium is the beginning of the Millennium – a period of great happiness and human perfection which most religions look forward to – or Satya Yuga (the Eon of Truth) of the Hindus. It is believed that an incarnation of God, or an Imam, will bring about this change. The Hindus believe (For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of Dharma I am born age after age, Gita IV-8) that God incarnates Himself in every eon, to protect the virtuous, destroy the evil doers and re-establish a righteous way of life. Some saints, like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Satya Sai Baba, have said that they will be reborn, to bring about an age of love and harmony. Whatever it may be, the entire humanity itself should, on its own, try to achieve this, without waiting for such a superior being to be born ( or to prepare the groundwork for him), and should try to make the collective consciousness of the entire humanity the new incarnation. The feeling of the dawn of a new era should be brought home to everyone, in as many ways as possible. For this, first the scientists should announce that with rapid improvements in biotechnology (including genetic engineering), and research at the spiritual institutes, it will be possible to bring about the birth of a superman, by the end of the 21st century and that by that time, a foetus that is considered normal by present human standards, will be considered as defective and will be remedied, or aborted, and that the intellectual capacity and power of the superman will excel that of man by geometric proportion, as man excels that of an ape. This impending sea-change should be emphasized by all countries adopting a new calendar, starting its year 9901, from the winter solstice (13.37 hrs. Universal Time on 21st December) of the year A.D. 2000. It should be publicized that the era starts from the time human beings became radically different from animal-like humanoids,

by marching towards more and more civilized life and intellectual exploration of their surroundings to discover the laws of nature (science), and to use them for their betterment; that human era will end in the year 10,000 and the superhuman era will start. This will hammer into the heads of all peoples of the world the urgency of getting and progressing together, in every conceivable manner, so that human beings all over the world have superhuman offspring and not only a few rich, from rich countries, who may kill or dominate over human beings just as the latter kill or dominate over all flora and fauna. Scientists and the media should point this out and governments and religious and social organizations, at all levels, should vigorously pursue this object of total human progress with particular emphasis on spiritual progress. New concepts of time, latitude, longitude, weights and measures, etc., should also be adopted (along with the new calendar, or as soon thereafter as possible), all over the world to herald the dawn of the new era of global endeavour for the betterment of the entire humanity. The longitude bisecting the Bering Strait, part of which forms a part of the International Date Line at present, should be considered as zero degree longitude. (This will turn the East into West and West into East!). Longitudes should be numbered continuously (and not half of them marked East and half as West, as at present), the numbering being westward, as the sun travels. (This will be a real merger of East and West). There should be a hundred longitudinal divisions of a hundred minutes, each of which should be of a hundred seconds. The latitude should start with the South Pole as zero and the North Pole as hundred, eliminating the present North or South of the equator notion. With electronic watches and clocks showing time, day and date, and with universal education, it will not be necessary to start the time from midnight and have different standard times or for the date to change with the day, or with crossing any longitude deemed to be an international date-line. There should be one standard time all over the world, starting from and ending with noon, at the new zero degree longitude. This period should be divided into a hundred hours of a hundred minutes each, a minute into a hundred seconds and a second into a hundred moments. The year (from one

winter solstice of the northern hemisphere, to another), should be divided into 2520 dates, which total can be divided into any number, from two to ten or to twelve months, as at present, by individuals or organizations, according to their needs, or shifts (in the earth’s position around the sun or for shift duties). The longitude of a place will indicate departure of its local time which may be relevant only for weathermen and spacemen and to determine the day for religious purposes and international airline schedules. (The actual nomenclatures for all the divisions of space and time, will be different in the world language). The World Bank should issue a currency which should have coins in the shape of a ball bearing of strong plastic spheres, containing one gram of mercury. (This should be the only link with the weights and measures now prevailing). This should be the unit of its currency. The coin – and not the mercury alone – should be the unit of weight; its diameter should be the unit of linear measure and its volume the unit of cubic measure. The currency notes to be issued by the World Bank (plastic coated silver, gold and platinum foils), should contain the precious metal weighing this new one unit of weight (and not one gram). Temperature range between freezing and boiling points of mercury at sea level should be divided into 1000 degrees. Electrical measures (substitutes for Watt and Volt) should be decided on the basis of electricity required to raise the temperature of one new unit of weight of mercury, by one (new) degree, in one (new) second. Another radical change that should be introduced is to allot official names to all persons. There should be a directory of one million names, devised from root words in the world language, so that the names will not indicate the religion, caste, etc. and a name should be allotted by the registrar of births, by an electronic draw of lots, which should ensure that no name is repeated until all the million names in the directory are exhausted. To this, one letter (long vowels and soft consonants for girls and short vowels and harsh consonants for boys) of the parents’ choice may be added. The child should have its mother’s official name as its middle name and the mother’s official surname at the time of its birth as its official surname. There will be no stigma of an illegitimate child then. The mother should be regarded as the first

guardian and the person named by her who need not necessarily be the father, as an alternate guardian. Only if the mother is incapable of guardianship and mentally not sound enough to appoint a guardian, should the local judicial committee, decide who the child’s guardian should be, who may or may not be the child’s father. No change of official name should be permitted more than once in twenty-five years. While registering marriages, the registrar of marriages should similarly allot official names (first and second name if not already allotted and a new common surname), to both the bride and the groom if either one desires a change of official name already allotted. Only the official names should be recognized in all documents, schools, offices and voters’ lists. The sea-change in all the above mentioned concepts and the declarations by scientists, will lead to all people burying the 20th century hatchets of disputes between nations, races, religions, castes, families, individuals and organizations. It will foster the spirit of unity. Through increasing automation and the need to provide employment to all, it should be possible to introduce a system of two parallel batches, working on alternate days and also to progressively reduce the working hours and that too, being done mostly from home through the computer networking, in a majority of cases. The concept of alternate working day will trickle down to university and school education. Society, thereafter, has to provide useful avenues for the free time available to all. Throughout school education, learning music should be made compulsory. Music imparts a sensitivity, activity and culture that will prevent a child from going astray. It will provide an ideal relaxation and even a profession (if so chosen), in its adult life which may ripen into devotion and meditation with the advancing years. Similarly, facilities for sports, games and athletics, should be available to all. The youth, when they take up their vocation, should be persuaded to take up spiritual studies and training (for fruition of the seeds planted during schooling by moral and ethical teaching), by highlighting its secular and spiritual advantage (including

possible superconscious experience). Everyone should be made to imbibe what the ancient Indian sages have said : If necessary, ‘Sacrifice oneself for one’s family Sacrifice one’s family for one’s locality (village /town /city) Sacrifice locality for the nation Sacrifice the nation for the world Sacrifice the world (renounce worldly attachments) for the sake of soul (salvation). There are numerous non-government organizations ( NGOs) and even associations of parliamentarians which earnestly endeavour to create a One-World Government. There are others, including one of a number of Nobel Laureates, canvassing for nuclear or total disarmament. If these objectives are achieved, it will firmly establish security for the flora and fauna of the earth and the colossal funds now used for armaments (and armed forces), and for diplomatic activities, will be available for imparting the best of education to the entire mankind and for its physical, social, economic, and spiritual welfare. The world community will then rapidly blossom into a one world family. The most powerful weapon in the hands of the general public, to force government to pursue these objectives is the VOTE. Well before nominations are made for elections, the public should gather in large numbers and declare that they will vote for candidates who are actively engaged in the pursuit of one-world government and consequent total disarmament. Such candidates will then be emboldened to enter the election fray. If they are elected in the central legislatures of all countries in increasing numbers one-world government will be achieved within the first two decades of the 21st century and total disarmament in the subsequent decade and the next generation will reach the goal of one-world family. Spiritual training taken up for secular advantage or even otherwise, will be found attractive for its own sake, by many trainees as they make progress. The number of persons who reach a culmination of superconscious experience will steadily increase. Those who reach such an experience go beyond all limitations of

nationality, religion, etc., and treat the whole world as one family. Through their preaching and example, all spiritual aspirants, and ultimately all people, will be strongly attracted towards that goal. Whatever may be done collectively, it is necessary for everyone who finds this goal attractive to accept that outlook wholeheartedly, try to persuade others accordingly, conscientiously do one’s work (including for the steadily expanding circle of near and dear ones, from the family to the whole world), as service to God and earnestly endeavour for one’s own spiritual progress, each of these, with the motto:

YOU DO YOUR BEST TO HIM LEAVE THE REST

Chapter – V A SPIRITUAL BASIS FOR ONE WORLD FAMILY It would be ideal if the edifice of One World Family is raised on a strong spiritual foundation. The Vedas, the sacred scriptures of the Hindus, are believed to have been ‘seen’ by (revealed to) the ancient Seers of India (and not ‘composed’ by them). The spiritual content of these revelations is in the concluding portion of each of the four Vedas, known as Upanishads. As concluding portion as well as the highest culmination of the Vedas, they are known as Vedanta – (literally and figuratively) the ‘end’ of the Vedas. The Vedanta philosophy has provided this strong spiritual foundation to the cognoscenti of India.

Vedanta philosophy may be

expressed in a nutshell in modern scientific terms as follows:

Vedanta in a nutshell A verse attributed to Shankaracharya, the foremost propagator of Advaita Vedanta, reads: “Shlokaardhena Pravakshaami Yaduktam Grantha-Kotibih, Brahma Satyam Jaganmithya Jeevo Brahmaiva Naaparah”. “I will say in half-a-verse, what has been stated in crores (tens of millions) of books: Brahman (The Infinite) is the Truth (only Reality); the world is illusory; the (individual) soul is none other than Brahman itself”. Brahman is defined as “Satyam Jnaanam Anantam Brahma” (Taittiriya Upanishad, II.1) i.e. Brahman (the Infinite) is the Truth (Reality or only Existence); (it is) Consciousness and is without an end (in space and time). In modern scientific language, Brahman can be described as the Unified Field from which emerged DARK ENERGY (MAHAKAALI) which created DARK MATTER (KAALI). The

interaction of these two created, in succession, with interaction of all preceding creations, Gravity, Electro-Magnetic Force, Weak Force, Strong Force, Matter, the Universe and everything in it. This verse says that this Unified Field is nothing but Consciouness (CHITSHAKTI).

It means that CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE ONLY

ORIGINAL & ULTIMATE FORCE WHICH IS EVER-PRESENT AND

IS

THE

FINEST

FORM

OF

ALL

FORCES

AND

SUBSTANCES. The verse cited at the beginning says that the universe is Mithya (transitory illusion). Shankaracharya reiterates what ancient Rishis (Seers who have seen – experienced – Brahman) have stated that the universe and everything in it appears Real because of Maya. Maya, is stated to be the intrinsic power of Brahman. Maya can be explained in scientific terms as the limitation of our senses of perception. We have five senses of perception. If we had four, three, two or only one, our concept of the world would be entirely different. So also, if we had more than five or if our senses were either more or less keen than their normal range, the perception would be different. For example, if we had X-ray eyes, we would see persons, animals and things differently. If we could see atoms or sub-atomic particles, we would see only about a hundred (in the former case) or three (in the latter case) varieties. If we could see “superstrings” (or whatever scientists accept for the time being as that which by various formations, becomes the various forces and substances), we could see that nothing exists except super-strings. The sages have unequivocally affirmed

that in Samaadhi (Superconscious state), there is this FINAL EXPERIENCE

OF

ONLY

INFINITE

CONSCIOUSNESS

ENCOMPASSED IN ONE’S OWN SOUL. Those whose Sadhana (spiritual endeavour) is based on firm faith in God having a specific form, initially see that form in the Light of Consciousness (that is why gods are called DEVAs – the shining ones) and thereafter merge into the Final Experience. Sant Tukaram, an ardent devotee of Vithal, saw the form of Vithal materialising in the Light of Consciousness and thereafter had the Final Experience in which he saw himself to be at once smaller – finer – than an atom or its particle and (infinite) like the sky. (Anuraniyan Thokada Tuka Aakaasha Evadha). THIS SUPERCONSCIOUS STATE CAN BE REACHED ONLY

BY

INTENSE

CONCENTRATION

OF

ALL

OUR

CONSCIOUSNESS on, say, a bit of matter (idol etc.) or of energy (light / flame etc.) or on a concept (which is a bit of consciousness) of God / Reality, to the exlusion of awareness of all other surroundings. Just as focusing the sun’s rays through a lens on a piece of paper burns the paper or concentration of intense energy on a little bit of (radio-active) matter generates super (nuclear) energy (far greater than the energy used in the process), INTENSE AND PROLONGED CONCENTRATION CAUSES THE IMPLOSION OF NORMAL CONSCIOUSNESS RESULTING IN A SUPERCONSIOUS STATE. The Infinite Consciousness, being the sum-total of all Existence, is Omnipresent; being the sum-total of all consciousness, it is Omniscient; being the sum-total of all energies and forces, it is

Omnipotent.

It is Infinite in infinite ways and can be viewed,

described and approached in infinite ways. Every science, philosophy or religion and each individual’s journey towards the Final Experience is just one way of viewing / approaching THE SINGLE TRUTH (“Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” – Rigveda, I.164.4 – THE ONE AND ONLY TRUTH is described variously by the wise). Thus spake ALL who had REALISATION of that SINGLE TRUTH. _____________ ISLAMIC PRAYER “LA ILLAHA IL’ALLHU” (There is no Reality but God, there is only God)* is an exquisite expression which is no different from Advaitic experience at the summit of Bhakti-Yoga and Jnan-Yoga. It is possible to interpret Christian concept of the Holy Spirit / Ghost in consonance with the scientific concept of a single Original Force. It is desirable for all religions to continually explore possibilities for re-interpretation of their concepts to embrace latest discoveries of science. * “A Personal Religion of Your Own” – page 11- Ramesh S. Balsekar – Mumbai (2008)- Zen Publications

When everyone, and everything is created by, in and of the same Primeval Force, do we not belong to one family? Several religions have said that we are all descendants of one couple / parent. Scientists say that we are all descendants of one central African woman. This means that we are all cousins, howsoever remotely connected. If only all people realize this and

address one another as ‘cousin’ (its equivalent in World Language) just as communists call one another ‘comrade’, the evolution of One World Family will be much easier.

“The essence of the Upanishads is distilled in the most popular scripture of the Hindus – the Bhagavadgita. Many sages, saints and scholars have written extensive commentaries on the Bhagavadgita. One such commentary, a marvel of exquisite poetry in Marathi (language of the Indian state of Maharashtra), was composed by Saint Jnaneshwar more than seven hundred years ago. It ends with the following prayer and blessing which is relevant to the theme of this book –

Invocation for Benediction Now, may God, who pervades the Cosmos Be pleased with this literary offering (Yadnya) And being pleased, may bless me with this favour. May the crookedness of the vile disappear, May the love of good deeds blossom in them, May all beings develop affection for each other. May the darkness of vice fade away, May the Sun of virtue & duty shine on the universe May their wishes be granted to all living beings May the multitudes of ardent devotees of God. Be showered upon this earth constantly And may all beings meet them (the devotees) Those, who are like walking gardens of wish-giving trees Who are like hamlet (village) of mobile wish-giving gems Who are like eloquent (talking) oceans of life-giving nectar

Who are like a moon without a blemish Who are like a Sun without scorching heat May such saintly beings be your kith and kin In short, may every one in all the 3 worlds. (heaven, earth & hell) In total happiness, offer prayers to God, always And may all those who lead their lives according to the sacred teachings of this treatise Be successful in this life and hereafter. Here, the Master of the Universe said ‘So be it’ (I grant you this blessing) And with this benediction, Dnyaneshwar attained contentment & peace (Translation by Prof. Smt. Sadhana N. Kamat, Mumbai)

May the Master of the Universe fulfil this promise at least in the Twenty-first Century and impel all the people of the world to fervently repeat the prayer of the ancient sages of India with which most religious functions of Hindus and spiritual discourses in India are concluded:

May everyone be happy May everyone be free of ailments May everyone see what is good May no one experience sufferings OM (May there be) PEACE ! PEACE ! PEACE ! Amen.