THE INTEGRATED LIFE
ALLADI RAMAKRISHNAN
Director, Institute of
Mathematical Sciences,
The
most significant feature of the twentieth century is the incredible fact that
the temper, tenor and tempo of man’s life have been altered to a greater extent
than in the few thousand years since the dawn of human civilisation. While human
thought, literature and religion can be traced to immemorial times and
historically to a few thousand years before the birth of Christ, scientific
knowledge is a few hundred years old and more precisely traced to the age of
However,
despite all these changes the span of human life has been approximately the
same, about a hundred years, and human emotions have also remained the same
since the birth of man. Human feelings, prejudices and
ambitions and the endless pursuit of that most elusive and indefinable of
objectives, happiness, have determined and governed man’s relation to society and
his living environment. How then can humanity adjust itself to these
sudden and drastic changes when its traditions and ways of life have evolved over
thousands of years? This is one of the questions which concerned C. P. Snow and
I wish to take it up in detail as the subject matter of this lecture, as a
tribute to his thought-provoking article on the “two cultures.”
Let
us first review the nature of the changes that have affected human life in this
century. They are essentially new methods of transportation and communication
and a deeper knowledge and consequent control over natural forces and
biological systems. We wish to understand the impact of these on the mind of
man and the course of human civilisation. Is it possible to assimilate these to
exalt his powers and to make life on earth more meaningful and purposeful? Would the fruits and comforts of science improve the quality of
life which Shakespeare enjoyed and
Though
the Industrial Revolution started in the eighteenth century resulting in many
mechanical contrivances, including the railways, it was the invention of the
automobile at the beginning of this century that for the first time changed the
pace of human life. Mass production due to the great American business houses
of Ford and General Motors brought the automobile within the reach of the
average men. It was the beginning of a new sense of freedom, a new desire for
possession, a “democratisation of affluence” which
altered time-honoured concepts of social structure.
Though the democratic way of life had established itself in
Even
greater changes to human life came through rapid means of communication of
messages. The telephone and the radio broke down the barriers of
inaccessibility and democratised communication of
ideas bringing the entire world, the people of various nations and climes
within hearing distance of one another. With the growth of the radio and
television, mass communication of news was possible and one part of the world
became aware of the happenings in the other, almost instantaneously, with the “speed
of light.” This brought a keener sense of awareness and a desire for the
advanced countries to communicate with the less fortunate which could now hope
for a better future. Man’s attitude to life changed as anyone could aspire for
success by the exercise of his talents. This led to the growth of mass
education for the millions, through the rise of new universities. While
This
desire for universal advancement also bred a new socialistic philosophy,
resulting in the Soviet revolution in the 920’s. With the rise of the
More
spectacular changes came with the invention of the airplane and the development
of aviation. Though the first airplane was constructed in the early part of the
twentieth century, it was only by 1930 that travel by air became a normal means
of transport. The second world war brought the airplane
to technical perfection when it was felt that it is safer to cross the oceans
by air than travel by taxi in
On
top of all these came the release of atomic energy, a source of apparently
unlimited power and uncontrolled possibilities. This invested man with the
power to make a heaven of earth or a hell on earth. As dazzling an achievement
was the conquest of space when man landed on the moon in 1969. We must consider
ourselves fortunate to have been able to witness on television, in the
cushioned comfort of our living rooms, this man-made phenomenon denied even to Archimides and Copernicus, Galileo and
With
all these developments, the great question which concerns us is the
relationship of the individual to society. Is there a conflict between the
concepts of the development of the individual on the one hand and the well-being
of society on the other? It is these two cultures, the culture of the
individual and that of society which have to be brought in harmony, not so much
scientific culture on the one hand and religious and social on the other. This has
brought about a “cold war” between the “two worlds”, with the third groping for
its own place under the sun. We have the right to hope that these peoples will
come together for they have fought for a common cause and won the bloodiest war
in history, to lift the curse of Hitler from the brows of men. More recently we
have heard that the Russian and American astronauts had their rendezvous in
outer space and the day may not be far off when they will strive to live in
harmony on this solid earth.
Science
has come to stay and there is no alternative to accepting the material
consequences of human thought. What man can do is just to direct the flow of
this new momentum and energy, this new power and vitality, for the advancement
of the human race. The impact has been so sudden there is bound to be confusion
which we are witnessing at the present time even after two world wars. But the
ingenuity of man is equal to meet this challenge. Every age produces its
prophets and very soon, before the twentieth century runs its course, the world
will find a balance between rationalism on the one hand, sentiment and emotion
on the other.
What
distinguishes the living from the material is consciousness. What distinguishes
the human being from the animal is the additional power to decide between right
and wrong, that is, the ethical and moral perception. This is the logic behind
the creation of the human brain or else the Universe would be just a galaxy of
stars governed by physical laws–unheard, unseen and unfelt. There must be a
plan behind the creation of life and particularly human life. Man has been invested
with the power of thought, with consciousness and awareness, and with a free-will
for action, to control and harness the material forces of the Universe. It is
this exercise of the free-will that determines the course of civilisation and
in such exercise, man must have a code of ethics and
morality. If Einstein had refused to think, the course of the world war would
have been different for there would have been no atomic energy either for
destructive or for constructive purposes. If Edison or Marconi had taken to
farming, different parts of the world would still be isolated from one another.
If Valmiki had not written the Ramayana
and Christ had refused to preach, the world would be like a pilotless
plane with action and motion but no sense of purpose or direction.
With
the impact of science, it looks as if there is a need for a change in the
concept of ethics and morality but examining carefully it is not particularly
essential since man is animated by the same emotions and feelings from time
immemorial and his biological evolution from infancy to old age has remained
unaltered. The infant still has to be bred in the nurse’s arms and the
schoolboy has to learn and acquire knowledge so that he becomes aware of the
world he lives in. The youth must desire a partner for companionship in his journey
through life. In middle age, one should acquire maturity which ripens into
wisdom in later years. Finally at old age–the second childhood–one must again
be taken care of by those who surround him. That is why the integrated family
was a hallmark of a great civilisation. The appurtenances of modern life must
be adapted, absorbed and assimilated to make man’s life more intense and
purposeful without distorting this rhythm of human existence. Imagine what a
confused world we would we have if human life can be unnaturally extended to
hundreds of years. It would imply a greater length of middle and old ages,
creating more conflicts and pressures, making selfishness more secure, greed
more insatiable and tyranny more prolonged. It is a Hitler or a Bormann who would aspire for the “Elixir of life”–Oh, what
a thought–and not a Schweitzer or a Gandhi. In the Hindu epics it is the Rakshasa (the
Devil) who aspired for infinite life while the benevolent monarchs of Raghuvamsa knew when to love, when to strive, when to rule
and when to leave. A Shakespeare and a Thyagaraja
write their immortal verse and song and shuffle off their mortal coils as Krithakaryas on
completion of their appointed tasks.
We
shall take four examples of integrated lives, though not completely so as in an
ideal case, those of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein
and Robert Oppenheimer.
The
driving forces in Nehru’s life were exalted emotion, respect for his great
father, devotion to his country, passion for its progress, unswerving loyalty
to his Guru, Mahatma Gandhi, an extraordinary faith in science, adherence to
ethical principles not only in personal life but in national and international
affairs; One cannot think of Nehru signing secret treaties or going back on
time-honoured agreements just for the sake of
national exigencies. His idealism was woven into his life and his conduct was
animated by it. Though an unswerving patriot who believed in non-violent
struggle against the proud
Sir
Winston Chruchill can be reckoned as one of the greatest
men of this century, a “well-integrated” personality in the finest sense of the
term. He was proud of his country, his language, his environment, everything
that
Albert
Einstein represented the transcendence of human thought and creative
contemplation and along with this a natural lovable humility, another name for
deep unruffled confidence. Before he became great and the world knew of him, he
was contemplating with the true assurance that something worthwhile will emerge
from deepest thought. He was just the same in mood and temperament after he
became a living legend of the human race. His loose shapeless sweater was a
symbol of that simplicity which goes with true greatness.
Robert
Oppenheimer represented the pragmatism of the new world and the wide humanity
of a universalist. He
understood the whole of physics and perhaps that is the reason why his creative
work did not have the seminar quality of Bohr’s or Heisenberg’s. He was invested
with the responsibility of a task, unprecedented in its nature, unlimited in
its objective and unpredictable in consequences, the release of atomic energy.
He achieved it within a period of five years–both a triumph and tragedy for the
human race which must learn how to master it. He found his haven at the
Institute for Advanced Study where he inspired the loyalty of scientists gifted
with powers of thought greater than his own.
The
examples I have cited are integrated lives but with some sense of
incompleteness, inherent in mortal humans. The ideal, of course, is described
in the Ramayana which opens in
transcendent beauty with the definition of an integrated man and the twenty-four
thousand verses which follow later describe the story of such an integrated
life. However, in the real world it is not possible to attain all these in a
single person–Wordsworth’s sweet calm and love of nature, Goethe’s luminous
view of life, Milton’s impregnable faith in the
Maker, Shakespeare’s knowledge of human nature and his gift of diction, Lincoln’s
sense of rectitude, Jefferson’s concept of freedom, Churchill’s pride in his
country and love of his language, Nehru’s defiance of tyranny and his passion
for progress, Gandhi’s adherence to truth and non-violence, Schweitzer’s
concern for human suffering, Thyagaraja’s sublime
devotion, Paramahamsa’s awareness and detachment, Vivekananda’s enlightenment, Einstein’s genius for creative
contemplation, Bohr’s perception and unrivalled intuition, Oppenheimer’s
understanding of science and sense of achievement, Feynman’s brilliance and
exuberant vitality, Neil Armstrong’s courage based on confidence in science and
technology. Even if these cannot be the attributes of a single individual, if
they co-exist in peace among the many, it will be a happy harmonious world
endowed with the triple gift of God to sustain human life–Jnana, intellect and knowledge, Bhakti, love and devotion, and Karma, action and evolution
–Text
of C. P. Snow Memorial Lecture under the
auspices
of the British Council, Madras