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The individual occupies
a pivotal position in our system. According to the principle
of 'Yat pinde tad brahmande' (what is in microcosm is also in
macrocosm), an individual is the representative and chief instrument
of society. Material wealth is a means to man's happiness, and
not an end in itself. But a system which is based on the assumption
of a "mass-man" and fails to take into account the
"living man" with an individuality characteristically
his own, is not adequate. Inadequate also, is a system that
looks just at one attribute of man and fails to take a comprehensive
view of him as an organic being comprising of Shareer, Mana,
Buddhi and Atma with a number of urges that require to be fulfilled
by the Purusharthas. Our ideal is the integral man, who has
the potential to share simultaneously, innumerous individual
and corporate entities. Integral Humanism is the cornerstone
upon which our entire system needs to be built.
There have been a number of schools that have propounded
humanism. But their thinking has been rooted in Western philosophies
and so it is essentially materialistic. These thinkers have
not been able to offer any philosophical explanation for the
ethical nature or behavior of man. If you deny spiritualism,
then human relations and behavior and the relationship between
man and the Universe cannot be explained.
Integral Humanism is the name we have given to the sum total
of various features of Bharatiya Sanskriti, abiding, dynamic,
synthesizing and sublime. This is the ideal that determines
our direction. But our idealism does not mean any doctrinal
obtuseness. An ideal has to be translated into practice. Our
program, therefore, has to be grounded in realism. Indeed,
realism is the forte of our program, the measure of our achievements
and the touchstone of our ideal..
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