‘We are the victims of the nationalist and militarist kind of society’
Updated: Sep 5
"We must break away from the past, we must get out of the rut in which we lived.” Dr Sravepalli Radhakrishnan’s speeches and writings provide many answers to the contemporary dilemmas of India and the globalized world. Wishing our readers a Happy and Enlightened Teachers’ Day.
By Raju Mansukhani in Delhi
A young university lecturer, a professor, an acclaimed philosopher, a bestselling author-writer, a Vice-Chancellor, an Ambassador-and-diplomat, Vice-President of the country, and then its President: Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a man of many splendid parts. Fifty years after his passing, the treasure-trove of his writings, speeches and lectures provide answers to problems plaguing our globalized world.
In his speech at the inaugural of the Library Building of Mysore University on 7 December, 1965, Dr Radhakrishnan said, “The true friend of education is an enfranchised human being, a being who is free from all prejudices and presuppositions and looks upon ail as kith and kin. What is the aim of education? It has been said that tad dvitiyarii janma, it is a second birth. It has to be different from what you are. It is to be a new kind of being, not in your own self, mata savitri, pita achrayah. The teacher gives the spark which will enable you to develop a new outlook on life and a new kind of being.”
To a young audience he explained what does it mean to be steady and steadfast. “Man has steadfast wisdom, is truly enfranchised, is truly emancipated, and is not depressed when he is faced by sorrow; he is not elated when he is faced by happiness, but looks upon both as equal, more or less. Similarly, he has an attitude of friendship for all, whether it is good or evil, that overtakes him; he does not feel exalted, he does not get depressed. It is that man’s nature that can be regarded as steady, as being steadfast.”
And what is the true end of education?
“It is not the acquisition of information, important though it may be, or acquisition of technical skills, though they are very essential in modern society. One must have that superior outlook, that outlook which goes beyond information and technical skill. Information is not knowledge, nor is knowledge wisdom. One must have the capacity to subsist in the battle and to look at things as they happen without any kind of inward disturbance or perturbation of one’s being. In this poisonous tree of samsara, there are two fruits of incomparable value; they are, kavya, i.e., the immortal essence of the great classics, and communion with great men. Classics are contemporaries of all ages. They have something to tell us in every context and in every situation in which we find ourselves. The great classics of our country have had such an educative effect on the people of our land. When we are in distress, when we are in trouble, we turn to them and they give us spiritual comfort. They give us not merely enlightenment but they give us solace of mind also. The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Kalidasa’s works: all these give us examples as to how men should behave in difficult situations of life,” said the scholar-philosopher.
He warned about the danger of being lost in petty quarrels and trivialities. “What is it that this country is lacking in? Manpower it has, great traditions it has, natural resources it has; but why is it lagging behind in the battle of life? Why are we going with a beggar’s bowl for industrial materials, for food products, for other things? The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves. We are really lost in trivialities, we are lost in small things, petty divisions of caste and community, religion, etc.”
Pursuit of Science
When inaugurating the 53rd Session of the Indian Science Congress in Chandigarh on 3 January, 1966, Dr Radhakrishnan delved into the changing nature of science. “I should like to take this opportunity to welcome specially the delegates from abroad. They have been introduced, a few of them. It is an indication how science is something international in character. The expensive nature of new experiments, nuclear physics, space research, etc., makes it impossible for any one nation to concentrate on these endeavours. We have, therefore, to get together, learn from each other, remove misunderstandings and remove also resulting hatred that arises from misunderstanding. All these things are possible by such co-operative adventures as we are witnessing today in this Science Congress.”
“Science has come to stay in this country,” he said, adding, “It has been there for many centuries, but latterly it has taken a new character altogether. We are all anxious to see that the political freedom which we enjoy is also made rich in economic and social freedom. This means the application of science and technology to the actual endeavour of raising the standards of our people. So, in these eighteen years, thanks to the vision and inspiration of Jawaharlal Nehru, we have constructed a strong industrial base. We see on all sides laboratories, scientific institutes, post-graduate departments—everyone taking some interest in science. Science is not merely a technique or a specialisation; it is a habit of mind. It is a way of looking at things, the capacity to rid ourselves of every kind of prejudice and look at the object in its entirety and its objectivity, removing ourselves as much as possible from the investigation of the things. That is to say, we should try to concentrate on the object which we have.”
What about the pursuit of truth, he questioned. “Several people have referred to the new theory of scientific materialism which has become rampant on account of recent spectacular advances in science. But if we look at the problem a little deeply, we will see that the pursuit of truth, which is the object of science, is an intellectual, ethical and emotional pursuit. We must apply our minds in a disinterested way. We must not care for the consequences; ‘come what may I am going to pursue the truth’. Again, it requires us to concentrate, to dedicate ourselves completely. It has also its emotional commitment to the pursuit of truth, a whole-hearted passionate endeavour to know the truth, even if it results in our own personal disaster. In other words, an objective study of scientific truth means intellectual excellence, moral excellence and emotional commitment,” he said.
“It is wrong to think that science is purely an intellectual pursuit and does not involve our emotional and our moral resources,” he explained further. “The qualities of moral excellence, emotional passion, attachment to the object and a disinterestedness in the pursuit of truth, these things are essential. They really lead to the discovery of our own self, of the rich resources of the human mind, of the intellectual, emotional and moral resources.”
Global peace: At the United Nations
On 10 June 1963, when President Dr S Radhakrishnan delivered his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, the world community was recovering from the aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. United States of America and Soviet Union, both nuclear powers, were in an eyeball-to- eyeball confrontation over missile and bomber bases in Cuba.
India, through those months of 1962, had faced a full-scale Chinese invasion which started on 20 October. Chinese troops moved down the western and eastern sectors in large numbers, with mortars and mountain artillery and attacked the heavily outnumbered Indian forces. India had no choice but to defend itself with all its might. Nehru said, “no self-respecting nation would tolerate such outrageous aggression…we can never submit or surrender to aggression. That has not been our way.”
Dr S Radhakrishnan, during his address, took the opportunity to focus once again on global peace. He refrained from making any reference to the Chinese invasion of India and the traumas which the young Republic had to bear.
He said, with candour, “the most essential part of the work of the United Nations is to save the world from wars. What is it that we find actually? The piling up of armaments and nuclear tests. These things do not give us much hope. We feel that if these armaments go on piling up and if these stockpiles increase, by accident, or by mistake, the world may burst into fragments. Even if that does not happen, when there are nuclear tests they are bound to injure not only present generations but also generations still unborn. We deliberately consign thousands and thousands of young children throughout the world to this kind of decadence, physical and mental. That is what we are doing. Why is it that when we actually know what the results of these things are, we are unable to prevent them? There is something radically wrong.” The US visit of the Indian president had been hailed, and headlined, as ‘A Philosopher’s Journey’.
The philosopher in him did not mince words when he reminded the august General Assembly, “We are the victims of the past; we do not wish to be the servants of the future. We are the victims of the nationalist and militarist kind of society. Other nations were regarded as supreme, and for achieving the aims and political ambitions of those nations we hitherto resorted to the use of force. But we have come to a condition when the Nation-State has to be subordinated to the larger concept of world community. Unless we are able to do it, unless we give up the use of force, which is intolerable, detestable and wicked in the world where nuclear weapons have developed, it will not be possible for us to bring about peace in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi’s influence, his firm belief in ahimsa or non-violence, was referred to by Dr Radhakrishnan as he questioned, “What we are trying to do? It is a change in the minds of men that has to be brought about. We are still believing in the Nation-State and in the right to use force to have our own aims realized. These are the things which have us by the throat. Though we are members of the international community, though we call ourselves Members of the United Nations, our loyalties are to our own Nation-States; they are not to the world as a whole, not to humanity as a whole. We must break away from the past, we must get out of the rut in which we lived.”
These words need to be written in stone as we pay our homage to Dr S Radhakrishnan on 5th September, 2026, his birth anniversary, commemorated as Teachers Day.
Photo: courtesy: Wikipedia Commons, UN Archives
Raju Mansukhani is a researcher-writer on history and heritage issues, and is former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya, Delhi.