The Progressive Utilization Theory or PROUT is indeed a unique socio-economic and political paradigm due to its spiritual foundation. This foundation does not lie in religious beliefs or commands. Rather the foundation is personal experience attained via Tantra meditation.
The first discourses of Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar mentioning PROUT were given in the treatise, Idea and Ideology, which was primarily a discussion of Tantric cosmology, psychology and biology. Similarly the 16 Sanskrit Sutras were in fact the last chapter of the scripture, Ananda Sutram, which also dealth with Tantric cosmology. This spiritual context of PROUT is crucial for a deeper understanding.
Furthermore, it can never be forgotten that Shrii Sarkar was not just a mere philosopher but rather was a Parameśt́in (Supreme Desideratum) Guru of a new Tantra committed to revolution in society. Shrii Sarkar wrote most about spirituality and about philology. This is because for PROUT, a spiritual and cultural revolution is the foundation of a “nuclear” or multi-dimensional revolution.
Out of all the ideas of PROUT, perhaps the most mysterious is the Sadvipra. To a novice reader it is not at all clear how we ordinary human beings can become sadvipras simply by fighting immorality and practicing meditation. The inner state of a Sadvipra – free from domination by basic human weaknesses like hunger for power, arrogance, hatred and attachment and so on – all this seems beyond the capacity of mere mortals.
However, the Sadvipra is the heart of PROUT’s new society. Shrii Sarkar explains:
Sadvipras or spiritual revolutionaries will inspire and mobilize the crusading human spirit against barbarity, injustice and rapacity and help accelerate the speed of antithetical social movement. Afterwards, during the stage of synthesis, they will take the leadership of society into their own hands…If proper adjustments are maintained with time, space and person, the Sadvipra inspired synthetic age will be permanent. In a society governed and administered by these Sadvipras, the synthetic structure of society will remain intact, although different eras may come and go. The Shúdra [Worker] era will come but there will be no exploitation by the Shúdras. The Kśatriya [martial, warrior] era will come, but exploitation by the Kśatriyas will not be possible because of the synthetic order prevailing in society…
Those who have accepted the Supreme Entity as their goal – those who really believe in universal humanism and reflect universalism in the fullest measure – are alone capable of constantly maintaining proper adjustment, for under the influence of a spiritual ideal their temperaments become great and benevolent. Due to their benevolent idealism and mental development they naturally look upon all with love and affection. They can never do any injustice in any particular era or to an particular individual. Sadvipra society is both the aspiration and demand of oppressed humanity; dialectical materialism is fundamentally wrong and defective. (Dialectical Materialism and Democracy, A Few Problems Solved Part 2)
To help students of PROUT understand how Sadvipras are forged, this resource booklet is offered. In it is discussed how Tantra leads to transformation into 3 types of personalities – the pashu or animal, the viira or hero and the deva or god (divine personality). These categories are discussed in the Shakta Tantra of Bengal, but in fact the sadhanas for these types of persons was created 7500 years ago by Lord Shiva. In discussing these categories, the related levels of introversion (pratyahára), knowledge and devotion (mystical love) and other topics are discussed. The works of Shrii Sarkar will be extensively quoted to give the reader direct contact with the spiritual philosophy. In this way one can gain an inkling of the vast spiritual dynamics that produce sadvipras.
While Tantra is something only understood by years of rigorous practice, let us study the following passage from the work of Shrii Sarkar to understand Tantra and its impact on society. From this we can see clearly that Sadvipras must be Tantrics.
What is Tantra? The process of transforming [latent divinity] into the Supreme Divinity is known as Tantra sádhaná. The sleeping divinity in animality is termed, in the language of spiritual aspirants, the kulakuńd́alinii. So we find that actually the spirit of Tantra sádhaná lies in infusing a [vibration] in the kulakuńd́alinii and pushing her up towards the spiritual goal.
Tantra and Its Effect on Society
The significance of the term tantra is “liberation from bondage [the bondage of dullness, or staticity]”. The letter ta is the seed [sound] of dullness. And the root verb trae suffixed by d́a becomes tra, which means “that which liberates” – so the spiritual practice which liberates the aspirant from the dullness or animality of the static force and expands the aspirant’s [spiritual] self is Tantra sádhaná. So there cannot be any spiritual practice without Tantra. Tantra is sádhaná.
Spiritual practice means practice for expansion, and this expansion is nothing but a liberation from the bondage of all sorts of dullness [or staticity]. A person who, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, aspires for spiritual expansion or does something concrete, is a Tantric. Tantra in itself is neither a religion nor an ‘ism’. Tantra is a fundamental spiritual science. So wherever there is any spiritual practice it should be taken for granted that it stands on the Tantric cult.
Where there is no spiritual practice, where people pray to God for the fulfilment of narrow worldly desires, where people’s only slogan is “Give us this and give us that” – only there do we find that Tantra is discouraged. So only those who do not understand Tantra, or even after understanding Tantra do not want to do any spiritual practice, oppose the cult of Tantra…
Human [staticity] can be converted into spirituality or divinity only after arriving at the sahasrára cakra. The lowermost plexus, the múládhára, is the site of crudeness, and the uppermost plexus, the sahasrára, is just the opposite, it is the site of consciousness. So people of animal instinct have no other way, if they want to free themselves from worldly illusions, than to take the kulakuńd́alinii from the múládhára [base of spine] to the sahasrára [crown of head]. The inner spirit of raising of the kulakuńd́alinii is for one to control the [propensities] and seed sounds of the different glands and to suspend one’s self in Paramashiva [the Nucleus Consciousness], whose rank is beyond the scope of all the instincts and seed sounds.
It is a process of shattering the páshas [bondages] of all mental weaknesses; and after conquering these weaknesses and other mental ripus [enemies], to transform animality into divinity. This sádhaná of the kulakuńd́alinii is a great fight. After establishing oneself above the scope of each and every instinct, idea and seed sound, a sádhaka must go on with his or her fight, with the intention of merging himself or herself into the Supreme Entity which is beyond the arena of the world of ideation. So the sádhaná of Tantra is a great battle, a sádhanásamara.
The main characteristic of Tantra is that it represents human vigour. It represents a pactless fight. Where there is no fight there is no sádhaná. Under such circumstances Tantra cannot be there, where there is no sádhaná, no fight. It is an impossibility to conquer a crude idea and to replace it by a subtle idea without a fight. It is not at all possible without sádhaná. Hence, Tantra is not only a fight, it is an all-round fight. It is not only an external or internal fight, it is simultaneously both. The internal fight is a practice of the subtler portion of Tantra. The external fight is a fight of the cruder portion of Tantra. And the fight both external and internal is a fight in both ways at once…
Those who sparkle and arouse their vigour in the physical and the mental worlds by staging a struggle against crude tendencies become superhuman persons in human frames. Such personalities, adorned with vigour and vitality, receive ovations everywhere. As a matter of fact, whatever may be the social or administrative [system of a country] – whether it is a democratic republic, or a bureaucracy, or a dictatorship – only those rule who have [invoked] vigour and personality in themselves. Vigorous personalities always rule the weaklings. If individuals having great personalities and great vigour enter into politics, they become [strong or autocratic leaders], while others bow to their command…
Tantrics are to stage a fight against all crude forces, a pauseless struggle against inequality and cowardliness. Equality in society cannot be achieved if the [basis of power] is quantitative alone, without any consideration of qualitative value, for today those who do not try to invoke vigour in themselves by sádhaná far exceed in quantity those who do. So it is not by democracy, but by entrusting power to the true Tantrics, that equality in the economic and social spheres must be established in this material world.
The establishment of equality is possible only by Tantrics and not by non-Tantrics. Of course not only in the mental and spiritual arena, but in the material sphere as well, complete or cent per cent equality is an impossibility. So Tantrics have to continue their fight indefinitely. For them where is the opportunity to have a rest?
OUTLINE OF TOPICS
1. PASHU
a) Pashu
b) Ripus and Pashas
c) Yama and Niyama
d) Yatamána
e) Bhavánii Shakti
f) 1st Lesson
g) 2nd Lesson
h) Shákta
i) Acquiring Knowledge
j) Sámányá Bhakti
k) Dashá
l) Rágánuga Bhakti
m) Sálokya Devotional Samádhi
n) Vraja Bháva
o) Bháva Samádhi
p) Sámiipya Devotional Samádhi
q) NeoHumanism
r) PROUT
2. VIIRA
a) Viira
b) Vyatireka
c) Ekendriya
d) Bhaeravii Shakti
e) Táńd́ava
f) 3rd Lesson
g) 4th Lesson
h) 5th Lesson
i) Kapaliká
j) Vaeśńava
k) Acquiring Knowledge
l) Gopi Bháva
m) Sáyujya Devotional Samádhi
n) Sárúpya Devotional Samádhi
o) Rágátmika Bhakti
p) Rádhá Bháva
q) Mahábháva
r) Sárśt́hi Devotional Samádhi
s) 5 Forms of Viveka
t) NeoHumanism
u) PROUT
v) Your Mission
3. DEVA
a) Deva
b) Vashiikára
c) Kaośikii Shakti
d) 6th Lesson
e) Vishesh Yoga
f) Shaeva
g) Kaevalya
h) Acquiring Knowledge
i) Dagdhabiija
j) NeoHumanism
k) PROUT
l) Nuclear Revolution
Next part: 1. Pashu