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<title>The Unity of India</title>

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<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">The Unity of </font> </b><st1:country-region><st1:place><b
  style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">India</font></b></st1:place></st1:country-region></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><st1:country-region><st1:place>INDIA</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is one. But wherein <span class=GramE>lies</span> that unity, what is<i> </i>its
nature?<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Many
are of the opinion that <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has no 'unity'; the condition that prevails at present and the possible development
may at the most be termed 'union'. Union is the agreement and harmony of many
antagonistic entities, but unity is the organic oneness of the same entity.
To-day we proclaim <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
an undivided nation, but as a matter of fact <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is not exactly of that type. She is a collectivity of many diverse sub-nations,
a continent. <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place> is a state or a sub-nation, the <st1:place>Punjab</st1:place>
is a state or a sub-nation, the Tamil Nadu and the Andhra Pradesh are each a
state or a sub-nation but the unity of the whole of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is merely a geographical formula. Or perhaps it can be said that <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is one to some extent in her culture, religion, conduct of life and social
discipline. Consequently <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
may at the most be compared with <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is one in the sense that <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> is one, – not as one
country or one nation, not as a homogeneous group of people, like <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>
or <st1:country-region><st1:place>Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> or <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
but for the commonalty that exists in general in the way of thinking, the
mental formation and in the mode of living. Of course there are Muslims in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Their genius is trying to strike a different <span class=GramE>note,</span>
still the foundation of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and her original character are the Aryan genius. The Muslims can be admitted
in the way Jews have a place even in Christian Europe.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
Is this sort of unity all that is there? It would seem so when we look from a 
superficial point of view, from the out<span class=GramE>side</span>. </p>

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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 242<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But if we try to look deeper we shall find the true power that is at play
behind the external form.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
unity of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
lies in her soul-power. The unity that we see in the education, culture,
behaviour, conduct and the mould of her character are the outer manifestation
of an inalienable unity which is derived from a still profounder living being.
Behind <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
stands the 'One Being', <i>purusam ekam. </i>That is the person who alone
brings about harmony, unity and oneness in the diverse, innumerable and variegated
life of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The unity of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
does not lie in the mental plane <span class=GramE>alone,</span> gradually it
is taking shape in the vital and is going to get embodied even in the physical.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is the descent of the soul-power of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
that is pressing to fuse <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
into a single nation. The political unity of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is not only possible but inevitable, and the secret of that consummation is to
be found in this mystic fact. Indeed, if we compare <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
with <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> from this point of view, the difference of
the two will stand out in bold relief. The political unity of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
appears to be a very difficult and even an impossible problem. The union of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
is an armed peace. One kind of union was attempted at times in the past, but
the union which Caesar, Charlemagne and Napoleon wanted to bring about was but
the sole supremacy of a particular country and nation; that means the union of
the devourer and the devoured. Another type of union too is at present visible
in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> – that is the formation of groups in their
self-interest, each group combining to pool its resources against others. None
of these unions is real unity. The compromise, the compact arrived at among
different interests are not the infallible unity of the soul; the undivided
personality of the collective being has not emerged there.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
fact every European country has a well-developed and distinct personality of
its own; each wants to secure a separate fulfilment, each is self-sufficient
and distinct from the rest. There is a mutual give-and-take among them, often
they<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Page – 243<o:p></o:p></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>move</span>
together for a common cause; but the collective existence of each is boldly and
strongly demarcated. Look at <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>
or <st1:country-region><st1:place>Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <span
class=GramE>The geographical boundary of each stands distinctly like the
contour of an individual human body.</span> The collective existence of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>,
awake and alive, belongs separately to each of the European countries and
nations and in no way represents the collective being of all <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>On
the other hand, if we look at <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
we find that the whole of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
possesses a well-defined and distinct geographical outline. But the boundaries
of the separate states of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are not so well-marked; their geographical features do not look well-built and
complete wholes. No doubt, each of them has its own speciality, but their
collective beings do not stand out prominently in contrast to one another. If
we think of <st1:place>Asia</st1:place> in connection with <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
then the difference between <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> will be clearly noticed. In the case of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
the visualisation of a single indivisible state is easy and natural, but the
same cannot be said of the whole of <st1:place>Asia</st1:place>; the countries
of <st1:place>Asia</st1:place> like those of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> have
their different ways of life and modes of being. <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
has a similarity to <st1:place>Asia</st1:place>, but not to <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>If <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is to be compared at all then the object of comparison cannot be <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
but a country of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> which is called a 'nation'. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
cannot be classed with <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>, but <st1:country-region><st1:place>Great
  Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, for example, can be mentioned for
comparison. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is a homogeneous country or nation. Its collective being has a separate living
individuality. As in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>
there are <st1:country-region><st1:place>Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Wales</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
so in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region> the
separate states like <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>, <st1:place>Maharashtra</st1:place>
and the <st1:place>Punjab</st1:place> are the different limbs of the collective
being of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
But the thing is that just as <st1:place>Asia</st1:place> is far larger than <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>,
the states of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are larger than the European states. To European eyes <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
appear like continents. Not only is <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
larger in size but from the point of diversity also <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
displays a<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 244<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>greater</span>
profusion that is almost endless. Those very differences and diversities that
are to be found on a smaller scale within any European country are there in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
on a larger scale. The divisions which are considered insignificant and
therefore overlooked in a nation of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> stand prominently
here because of their amplitude, their immensity in size; such divisions too
are accepted as somehow useful.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>So
it comes to this that the unity of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is vaster and more complex than the unity of any of the nations of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>.
But for that reason it cannot be concluded that this unity is no unity. Rather
we know that science is proving the fact that the higher the being rises in the
scale of evolution the greater complexity does its individuality acquire. Such
diversity and variety are visible in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
because a higher and greater synthesis is thus worked out or about to be
wrought in a distinct manner and on a larger scale.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
collective union of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>, its living truth, is not the
unity that exists among the countries or nations of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>.
Of course an attempt is being made to bring about a sort of oneness through the
length and breadth of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>; but that oneness is still
a conception, still an ideal, not even a living ideal yet. The inner being has
not as yet become conscious and alert about its own personality. But in the
case of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
the awakening of her inner being has stood by far the first. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
personality of collective existence is indeed a living truth. The unity of the
whole of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is, as it were, axiomatic and God-given. The oneness that is trying to become
awake and conscious in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is not the unity and the personality of the whole of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
but rather, the oneness of the different personalities of the states of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Therefore we notice contrary ways of life-manifestation in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>. In <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> the
collective personality has awakened and the sense of unity has been established
first within the limited areas of different countries. Having established
these two things <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> is progressing towards the
larger unity in its totality. The trend of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> is the<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 245<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>gradual</span>
ascension to the total consciousness of the inner being from the consciousness
of the external physical parts. But in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
what happened is the gradual descent to the external physical parts from the
total consciousness of the inner subtle being. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
first discovered her own inner being. This being of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is ever awake, so in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
the manifestation of that being and the descent of her power are making the
different states gradually become conscious and discover their own
individualities. Perhaps <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> has had to start from a
political union or oneness in order gradually and finally to attain to the
unity-of the soul, and achieve her own individuality. <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has long acquired the unity of the soul and this self-conscious individuality
is the last word of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
oneness.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 246<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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