By P.R. Sarkar
Very often people say that a particular individual or a particular community of people is badly exploited. What they mean by “exploited” is this: that people are being exploited in the economic stratum. But if we go deeply into the matter, we shall discover that the exploitation has been perpetrated not only in the economic stratum, but also in the other strata of human existence – in different forms and on various pretexts. When there is exploitation in the physical stratum, it is not necessarily economic in nature in all cases; it is often social, and in many cases, indirectly social. For instance, vested interests inject complexes into the public mind at a certain stage, and at a much later stage they exploit that psychic complex. At that time, the exploitation may as well be physical instead of economic. But ultimately, this physical exploitation is as good or as bad as economic exploitation.
Exploitation in the psychic stratum is mostly perpetrated or perpetuated in the first phase through dogma. These dogma are also the harbingers of economic exploitation or social exploitation. Sometimes the exploitation carried on in the spiritual stratum is also perpetrated through some kind of dogma. In the spiritual stratum, as in the physical stratum, the exploiters, together with dogma, create inferiority complexes or superiority complexes in the minds of the people, and later perpetrate economic or social exploitation. When the exploitation in the physical stratum is directly economic in character, even the common people can easily understand it, and they need not labour hard to comprehend it. This is because in the case of economic exploitation, the exploited people can easily understand who the exploiters are. But in the case of exploitation in other social spheres, the exploited people are not even aware that they are being exploited. This is why it is easy to exploit them in the social sphere, then create inferiority complexes in their minds to keep them under prolonged administrative domination and perpetuate the exploitation. This is easily done by the cunning exploiters. And the tragedy is that the exploited mass do not try to understand – they cannot understand, and they even refuse to understand – that they are victims of exploitation. So this is more dangerous.
When the exploitation takes place in economic sphere directly, the people easily understand it, but when the exploitation is perpetrated in the socio-economic sphere or the psycho-economic sphere, the situation becomes complicated. In the case of exploitation is the socio-economic sphere, the people raise a little murmur against the social exploitation, but they fail to take note of the economic exploitation which is the final result of such socio-economic exploitation. And in the case of psychoeconomic exploitation, the people feel a little aggrieved because they are being suppressed from the psychic point of view, but they are not aware that the ultimate result is also economic exploitation.
Today all over the world people have a greater economic awareness than before, which is why the cunning exploiters have resorted to the path of either socio-economic exploitation or psycho-economic exploitation. The exploiters have spread their trap over a large area hoping to reap a rich harvest. I shall not discuss all this in further detail here, because in fact I have in mind to write a book on the subject in future. [Subsequently, P.R. Sarkar wrote The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism.]
As regards the psychic sphere, I can say this – there can be numerous modes of exploitation in the psychic sphere, and to comprehend all these, the people must be more educated and more intelligent. As regards the social sphere, the exploiters deliberately confuse social exploitation in the psychic sphere with spirituality, and thus pave the way for prolonged exploitation. This is how dogma arose in the past, and even to this day these dogma are being made use of. Ananda Marga is, for the first time, making the utmost effort to establish pure spirituality against dogma. Those who have leaned heavily on dogma so far are raising a lot of hue and cry against Ananda Marga. They feel that their days of exploitation are over, and that people are no longer willing to live in a fool’s paradise.
It is impossible to establish genuine spirituality until the common mass are taught to raise their heads against dogma. On the one hand there is a saying which says, “Where science ends, philosophy begins;” and on the other hand there is another saying which says, “Where philosophy ends, faith starts.” This is arrant nonsense. One of the most valuable treasures of humanity is intellect. When people are advised to desist from following the path of logic and reason, it means that the vested interests are out to buy the human intelligence engaged in the fight against dogma.
Merely saying, “Do not do this – it will be a sin to do it” will not do. If you say, “Do not do this” you have to state why one should not do it. Similarly, if you say, “Do this” you should also state why one should do it. In this way the human intellect will attain freedom. Through the movement for the liberation of human intellect, through the effort for the liberation of the human intellect, human beings are established in spirituality. Lack of this effort turns human beings into religious bigots, and feuds in the name of religion are the result.
I have already said that Ananda Marga is the first movement aimed at liberating spirituality from the unwholesome influences from dogma. Hence you must not in any way encourage dogma. Rather, you should carry on an endless fight against dogma. And while fighting against dogma, you will realize the actual truth, and when you will come in contact with truth, you will be established in real spirituality. Remember, you have got to be established in real spirituality, because in spirituality alone lies the highest fulfilment and achievement of human life. Otherwise, there is hardly any difference between human beings and animals. That human beings are not animals is the supreme veracity and the supreme actuality. So human beings have got to be established in human excellence and carry on a ceaseless struggle against dogma.
Published in PROUT in a Nutshell Part 18
Copyright Ananda Marga Publications 2012