It is only the principles which are same and not forms. This important point was understood very early in the Hindu civilization. So they were able to give a call to people to integrate and come together and move towards common meanings understood. In Rig Veda we find this call coming out upon human society anywhere. 'Let us come together. Let us talk about things where we concur. Let us together move towards truth by sharing our understanding.' (R V X.191).
Why Rig Veda was giving this great call even at such a remote age? It understood the value of society and family much earlier than many civilizations. A human being is born into a family. He/She has to start as a good social being even before becoming a good individual. It is only in a good family that an individual can also grow to full maturity. A human being must blossom into a good individual. For that the family provides a good base, a good training. The family acts as a good coach for the individual.
As it is in the case of family, so also it is with respect to society. In the society a human being has to act as an individual. In the family a human being is born as a biological being. The faculties are playing out towards full form in the family and the school. An individual is the result of those surroundings. In the society, the individuals must come together. They must act in cooperation with other individuals. He/She must be authentic in the sense he/she must be responsible for one's thoughts and actions. Assessing oneself and accessing others form part of an art. Realising one's position means knowing one's limitations. If you are not aware of your limitations you can never cognize the others as free individuals like you. As an individual what you realise as something not possible, as a society, by cooperating with others you can achieve.
To respect others and to understand the common goals one must be active in mind. Perceiving what others mean, expressing oneself so that others may perceive what we mean becomes very essential in the society. Hence the call peculiar from Rig Veda. This has set the tone nearly of our heritage down the time.
One of the serious problems of our time is the question of individuality vs society. But in our heritage this problem is taken in all seriousness and solutions given. A man is expected to respect his individual needs quite as seriously as his social duties. Any human being is born with three duties or debts as per our ancient books. Those debts are debt towards forefathers, debt towards sages and great scholars and debt towards gods. Only because the forefathers chose to procreate and maintain their family, now we are here, each and everybody. So any human being born is indebted to the forebears. How to repay that debt? By marrying and continuing the lineage. Great sages and great scholars have given us great thoughts and discoveries to live by. They have enabled the happy continuity till our time. And the debt towards them is repaid by studying what they have done and improve upon their ideas and discoveries. To cherish their memories with gratitude. Many divine forces have been at work globally and cosmically to make it possible for us and our existence to sustain. Their debt is repaid by doing our actions in the full awareness of the cosmic sense and as offerings to them, There is a fourth debt we owe unto ourselves. We have our soul born with all desires. We have to educate our soul with patience in managing the desires and transcending them in full understanding. For that we must not deny unjustly any ethical desires of the soul. May be allowing ourselves in compassion to enjoy ethically is a step towards liberation. In Sri Ramayana, Bharadwaja while solacing Sri Rama and trying to bring him out of his grief over his father's death, says this point. viz., Dasaratha repaid all the four debts in his life including the debt towards his soul by allowing himself to ethical fulfillment.
In our heritage never individuality and social commitment are seen mutually contradictory or mutually cancelling. For a proper understanding of one's place in society was natural in our culture.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
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