Reviews

The Affluent Society by J. G. Galbraith. Cr 8vo size, Pages 227.

The book is an excellent politico-economic analysis of the contemporary American Economic System and the malaise it suffers from, in spite of its staggeringly high figures of production and productivity. The author is of the view that a correct diagnosis and prescription of remedies is being rendered impossible by the miasma created by “Conventional Wisdom”. In his attempts at diagnosis and prescription of remedies for the American maladies the author is, of course, shot with a certain amount of iconoclastic zeal. But his approach to economic problems is refreshingly original, novel, breaks new ground, suggests new possibilities and is impeccably logical and psychological.

The book runs into 277 pages and is divided into 25 chapters. Starting with the thesis, in Chapter I, that wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding and that a rich society, unlike the poor, can have no precise idea of knowing its problems, and hence does a lot of shadow fighting, he arrives at the conclusion that the old economic attitudes rooted in poverty, inequality and economic peril, are inadequate for the changed society of America.

The rejection of the conclusions based on the concept of Conventional Wisdom (Chapter II) is the hub round which the rest of the book revolves. Conventional Wisdom may be defined as the structure of ideas which bear the hall mark of acceptability and which have stability and predictability. However, the author feels that “Circumstance”, or the march of events, is the enemy of Conventional Wisdom or conservative ideas. For example, the idea of Balanced Budgets has been thrown overboard by the onset of depression. Again our old preoccupation with production, the culminating consequence of powerful historical and psychological forces…..which has become central to our strivings to reduce insecurity, which is rooted in the psychology of ‘Want’, is no more tenable in an affluent society. He argues that wants do not become less urgent, the more amply the individual is supplied, because of Dependence Effect (Chapter XII). Wants can be synthesised by advertising, catalysed by salesmanship, and shaped by the discreet manipulations of persuaders…..As a society becomes more affluent, wants are increasingly created by the process by which they are satisfied. In other words Dependence Effect means, wants grow out of the process of production itself; if production is to increase wants must be effectively contrived, at least of privately produced goods.

According to the author the main purpose of the book is to deal with the thraldom of the myth ‘that production, by its overpowering importance and ineluctable difficulty, is the central problem of our lives’. He feels that the nexus between production and Income Security cap be broken by Unemployment Compensation, which should increase as unemployment increases and diminish as full employment is approached. He calls it the cyclically Graduated Compensation Scheme. According to him the Affluent Society which has solved the problem of production of goods, has still to solve the problem of their studied and rational use. It is yet to eliminate toil as an economic institution, has to eradicate case poverty.

In brief, the book focuses our attention on the inherent inability of people and, in particular, economists, to adjust themselves to changing conditions, to forestall action to suit the changing current of events. The Indian reader of the book need not feel disappointed, need not feel that the book contains discussion of problems which have no relevance to him. For example, the case for increased public expenditure made by the author has great significance for us, engaged in building public sector enterprises. Chapter XII “Illusion of National Security” again has lessons for us, in the context of the Chinese invasion, and should convince us that “Military Power is not a function of economic output, or size of economy, and rate of growth alone.”
–T. RAMAKRISHNA

Language of the Self by Frithjof Schuon. Translated by Marco Pollis and Macleod Matheson. Published by Ganesh & Co., Madras-17. Pages XX plus 247. Price Rs 15 or 30 sh.

The volume is a remarkable collection of essays on a wide variety of subjects, including Orthodoxy, Art, Caste, Race, as well as Vedanta, of which the one on Gnosis, Language of the Self, is but the last. Nevertheless it reveals an organic unity in point of view and presentation and a fundamental basis in Gnosis or the metaphysic of the Self.

The writer belongs to a group of European savants engaged in presenting and interpreting to the moderns the traditional wisdom of the East, rooted in Gnosis or Knowledge of the Self, which, according to them, is at the core of all religions, though it is in Hinduism that it is found in the most pronounced form and it is among the Hindus that various techniques for realising it have been evolved, practised and preserved. These modern orientalists have, as Dr Raghavan points out in his invaluable Foreword, by their expositions in the West, of the traditional wisdom of the East, contributed in a unique manner, to a true understanding of Hinduism in modern times.

This is the first time that a collection of essays of the author, Swiss by residence and German and French by culture, is published in India, in whose heritage of wisdom he is immersed and in the interpretation of which he has ever been engaged, though some volumes of his have already appeared in English translation with the titles Transcendent Unity of Religions, Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts, Gnosis–Divine Wisdom.

The book is no doubt an invaluable contribution to the literature in English on the religion and philosophy of the ancient Hindus and deserves the respectful attention and earnest study of every student of religion as well as every one genuinely interested in preserving the ancient heritage of our civilisation and culture in the face of the withering influence of the modern civilisation of the West.
–M. S. K.

Sri Lalita Sahasranamam (with introduction and commentary) by Dr Chaganti Suryanarayanamurthy. Published by Ganesh & Co., Madras-17. Royal size. Pages 208. Price Rs. 6.

“Lalita Sahasranama” or the “Thousand names of Lalitha” wherein every name is considered an efficacious mantra is a stotra par excellence in Samskrit literature. It combines in itself all the characteristics of a piece of poetic art, an unfailing invocation to God, and a guide to Sadhakas. A regular recital of this stotra with a knowledge of the meaning of each name therein is bound to beget a devotee the bounteous blessings of the God supreme and hence a knowledge of the meaning of these names is essential for a devotee.

This volume contains commentary on each name which is given in Devanagari script and also transliterated in Roman script. Though all the possible interpretations of a name, as given by the famous commentator Bhaskara Raya, are not given here, all important interpretations, including allegorical, can be found here. The commentator here and there draws from the commentary of late Sri Kalyanananda Bharati Swami also. At the end of the volume is given the text of the Sahasranama complete, thereby making the text useful for those that recite the text daily.

The value of this volume is enhanced by the Preface and Introduction covering over 40 pages at the beginning. In the Preface the learned doctor quotes profusely from the modern scientists and philosophers like Einstein, Max Planck, Dr Sullivan, Dr Alexander Canel, Russell and Joad, and proves that the modern scientific thought is corroborating the thoughts and theories expressed in our Upanishadic lore. In the Introduction, the commentator traces the origin and development of the theory and practice of Saktism and rightly warns the readers against resorting to Vamachara, however beneficial it may appear to be. Thus the volume is complete in all respects and will be found of immense use to the English-knowing devotees of Lalita.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO

The Fundamentals of Vedanta Philosophy by Swami Pratyagatmananada Saraswati. Published by Ganesh & Co., Madras. Royal size. Pp. 370. Price Rs 15.

Indian Idealism and Modem Challenges by Dr P. T. Raju. Published by the Punjab University publication Bureau. Cr, 8vo size. Pages 208. Price Rs 10.

The authors of the two books under review have a “Grace de eminence” about them. Swami Pratyagatmananda Saraswati (known as Prof. P. N. Mukhopadhyaya in Purvashrama) had published scholarly treatises on Tantrik works and Sakti and in conjuction with Sir John Woodroffe. Dr P. T. Raju is a co-author with Dr Radhakrishnan of a monumental philosophical treatise. Naturally therefore, the two books represent a highly original approach to the interpretation of Vedanta Philosophy.

Both the Swamiji and Dr Raju are concerned about examining the basic tenets of the Vedanta in the context of modern scientific data and theories. In fact, the Swamiji says explicitly that his object is not to tread the beaten track but to state the essential features of the Vedantic doctrine, as far as possible, in current scientific-philosophical terms and indicate its place in the economy of modern Western thought and estimate its value. This is by no means an easy task; but the author, in the course of twelve lectures under the auspices of the Calcutta University, succeeds in more than one respect in bringing out the value of Vedantism.

The Swamiji tries to show that many of the deeper currents in the realms of science and philosophy are now converging to a position that is essentially similar to the position of Brahmavada in the Upanishads. Atomic Physics, according to him, represents a movement towards the dematerialization of matter and narrows the gulf between matter and energy. “The Relativity Theory has postulated a still more undefinable framework for the universe–the four dimensional continuum of points. And so, though some kind of continuum is strongly indicated in physical speculation, we have to start in the last resort, with what Russell calls ‘an apparatus of the undefined’. Hence the victory of fundamental unity and continuity is achieved in science at cost of definability and measurability.” The argument appears quite convincing, but, the author shows that basic undefinability and unmeasurability are the characteristics not merely in Physics but in other sciences like Biology, Evolution, Psychology etc., also. This will have to be the result if unity and continuity are to be achieved. The relation of the cosmic psychic stuff to individual stuff, the relation of matter to mind–have tended to become a monistic relation. “A ‘Neutral Being’ with ‘an apparatus’ of the undefinable and unmeasurable given in it which, in the words of Russell, makes ‘matter less material and mind less mental’ is indicated at the root. It need not, however, be the ‘Thing-in-itself’ of the unknowabilist. It may be Being-experience whole or ‘Fact’. This is the fundamental ‘Brahman’ of Vedanta.” The author goes on to expound in a brilliant way the basic theory of Sruti as he sees it in terms of “the Continuum Point and the centres” and concludes that all ancient cultures have accepted the theory, even though rival claims, mostly subjective, may be put forward about particular Revelations alone being the true ones. There is something Hegellian in the devastating manner in which the learned author goes about interpreting and setting up various concepts like Continuum Points, Karma, etc.

If Swami Pratyagatmananda approaches the subject from the point of view of radical realism rather than ‘Idealism’ in the orthodox sense, Dr Raju presents the ‘idealistic’ interpretation of the Vedanta doctrine, as we know it in the strict philosophic sense. Scholars may raise their eyebrows to see Vedanta being considered as an idealistic school of philosophy in the same way as the philosophies of Plato, Hegel, Kant, Fichte and others. For, as the learned author admits, Indian Philosophy is a curious amalgam of logic, epistemology, ethics, psychology, metaphysics and religion. Yet, he sets about to examine Indian Philosophy in the light of the proved conclusions of the various specialised sciences.

For the most part, Dr Raju considers Indian Philosophy only as interpreted by Sankara and Ramanuja (though here again one cannot fail to discern the author’s partiality for the absolute monistic doctrine). He examines its inadequacies in the light of the conclusions of Evolutionism, Phenomenology, Existentialism, Depth Psychology etc., and finds that there is much that Eastern idealism (meaning Indian idealism) can learn from, as well as contribute to, its Western counterpart. “What the world needs now is the restoration of a systematic unified outlook, not the scientific outlook which ignores man’s conscious being, not the old religious outlook which, in its institutionalized forms, has proved to be one-sided in several ways and ignored the material being of man and his mundane values, but an outlook that can do full justice to all the aspects of man’s being.” This, according to the author can be achieved by an affirmation of man’s own conscious being with its two directions–inwardness and outwardness. In terms of this new approach, idealism will be a new study of man which may be called ‘Critico-integral-humanism’. “Both the Supreme Spirit and matter are real for man’s consciousness, which cannot therefore be unreal. If man’s consciousness has no existence, then neither the Supreme Spirit nor matter can have existence. For it is man’s consciousness that has to assert the existence of either.”

These original contributions will supply the much needed corrective to the traditional estimate of Vedanta Philosophy. We need not be carried away by the praises showered by Max Mullers and Schopenhaurs; nor need we be too sensitive to the ghosts of Miss Mayos.
–T. C. A. RAMANUJAM

Contemporary Hindi Short Stories selected and translated by Jai Ratan. Writers Workshop, 162/92, Lake Gardens, Calcutta-31. Rs 4-50. Selected Stories from Gujerat translated by Sarla Jagmohan. Jaico Publishing House, 125, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay-1. Price Rs 2-50.

Despite the frequent references to national integration (on the emotional plane) and the unity in diversity of Indian culture, not enough work is done by way of familiarising one linguistic region with the creative activity in the other languages. Official and quasi-official organisations like the Sahitya Akademi and the National Book Trust (and the Southern Languages Book Trust) are doing something in this direction, but this is not a limited task to be left entirely to any or all of them. There is need for the private publisher to take the initiative in this direction and provide good translations in English as well as the Indian languages.

The two neat little anthologies of Indian Short Stories in translation are a valuable addition to literature of this kind, which is none too abundant. The Writers Workshop of Calcutta (conducted by P. Lal and his enthusiastic colleagues), which has hitherto been preoccupied with original writing in English by Indians, with the accent on verse, has in this slim volume, turned its attention to contemporary writing in the Indian languages, making a good beginning with Hindi, to be followed by other languages in course of time. It presents fourteen short stories (Selected and translated by Jai Ratan) by comparatively young and promising writers (with the exception of Krishan Chandar and one or two others who are fairly well-established names) with a new way of looking at life.

In the hundred odd pages of this volume, we come across a delightful multiplicity of themes worked upon by a wide variety of techniques. ‘The Boss came to dinner’ by Bhishnu Sahni is a witty, amusing account (but not without a touch of sentiment) of the struggle undergone by the ambitious employee of a foreign business firm to put up his best for the boss who is invited to dinner at his house and the unexpected encounter with the old-fashioned mother, which he was so anxious to avoid. The touching affection so typical of the mother’s instinct shines by contrast with the snobbery and showy superficiality of the son. More serious in tone is the story entitled ‘Leech’ by ‘Amarkant’ full of irony and satire, with a deep under-current of pathos. The writer concludes on a note of wonder if the beggarly vagabond, living on the crumbs thrown by the residents of the locality, was a leech on life or life was a leech on him. The reader is however left in little doubt on the point. ‘Of Love and deliverance’ by MannooBhandari highlights the lurking craving for life and the love of self which survive the most grievous of bereavements. The apparently contrary but loving nature of a housewife is brought out in the beautiful story by Maheep Singh depicting a few homely incidents in the life of a young and loving Sikh couple in Bombay. Jai Ratan’s translation is sensitive and has an elegance of idiom that would do credit to any original, creative work. The original writers here could not possibly have been better served in translation.

The volume of stories from Gujerat seems to suffer by comparison, as a work of art, in translation. Most of the 16 stories are by established writers and there is evidence of care in their choice for inclusion in the anthology. ‘Smoke Rings’ by Gulabdas Broker is primarily psychological in its approach. It brings out, with a deep poignancy, the sombre musings of the penitent father of a youthful martyr in the Swadeshi agitation. Kapadia’s ‘Small Matter’ and Khatri’s ‘To the Ultimate End’ both serve to spotlight the urge for motherhood, but in different ‘The Queen of Night’ by Shivkumar Joshi uncovers the tragedy lying hidden under the cheapness and gaiety of a soprano at a restaurant. The stories leave the impression on the reader that there is not enough of local colour or other regional touch, in this version at least, to go with Gujerat in particular, but then this may be nobody’s fault, as in a common medium like English, we may all look so deceptively alike. Even then, in the hands of accomplished translators, the stories are likely to retain the strange flavour of the native idiom.
–D. ANJANEYULU

Thus Spake. (Series) Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, Mylapore, Madras-4. Pocket size. 100 pages. Price 40 nP. each.

Sayings of great sages are a solace to the mind in distress, a panacea for the evils the human being is heir to, unerring guides to the pilgrims that go astray and tonics to the soul afflicted. Here, in this series, there are seven brochures, in English and Telugu, containing the choicest collections from the sayings of Sri Krishna, Sri Ramakrishna, the holy mother Sri Saradamata, Sri Vivekananda, the Buddha, the Christ and the Prophet Mohammed, with a short life-sketch of the speaking sage at the beginning. A reading of these beautiful books will convince any one that the sayings of all great sages are all alike, and hence in these days when national integration and proper understanding of each other is so much sought after, we can do no better than presenting this set of cheap but invaluable brochures to our students in prize-giving functions. Every bookshelf deserves to be decorated with these books.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO

HINDI

Manzil dur Nahin (Hindi novel) by Ravi Sekhar Varma. Cr 8vo size. Nava Sahityakar Mandal, Pant Nagar, Nainital. Pp. 183 Price Rs 2-50.

The author claims that this is the first socio-economic novel in Hindi. The story is based upon the social and economic problems facing Independent India and the steps that have to be taken to reform the socio-economic structure of the villages in India. Sekhar an enthusiastic graduate inspired by his professor throws himself wholeheartedly into the struggle for serving the rural population. He selects Vishnupur, a remote village in his state and begins his work there in right earnest. He educates the village folk in co-operation, co-operative farming, sanitation and prevention of diseases and the like and within a short time the face of the village changes. Later he moves to a town where he takes to teaching. Here he had ample opportunities of studying the corruption and malpractices prevalent among the urban population. Three young maidens, Sudha, Saroj and Jamuna, creep into his life and all the three admire and adore Sekhar, each in her own way. In the end Sekhar rescues Jamuna who had fallen victim to an atrocious act of a cruel enemy of her father and takes her as his life-partner.

But for the romantic touches given here and there in the novel, the novel would smack of a thesis on socio-economic reform. The long orations explaining the several development programmes mar the movement in the story and make the characterisation stale. It may however be said that this is an effective work of an author for the exposition of his social and economic ideals.
–A. C. KAMAKSHI RAO

TELUGU

Kauisarvabhowmaa novel in Telugu by “Kavisamrat “ Nori Narasimha Sastry, Repalle, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. Cr 8vo size Pages 304. Price Rs 5.

Sri Nori Narasimha Sastry is one of the prominent figures in the story of the literary renaissance which surged over Andhra in the early decades of this century, simultaneously with the national movement, itself of a two-fold character in Andhra, for achieving political freedom for the Indian nation as a whole and for a separate and honourable place for Andhras among the various sub-national groups in the country.

The author has already laid the people of Andhra under a deep debt of gratitude to him by his trilogy of historical novels–Narayanabhattu, Rudramadevi and Mallareddi. By selecting for the theme of this trilogy, the translation of the different parts of the national epic ‘The Mahabharata’ into Telugu, by the three great poets Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana, in the three stages in the history of Andhra, the author managed to cover and present in an attractive form the political and cultural history of the Andhra people over several centuries and also to impress on the readers the soul of the people which has always stood up in defence of the cherished cultural heritage of the nation and the spiritual values at its basis. As such these novels constitute at the same time a high class literary achievement and a valuable piece of national service. In the absence, as yet of any comprehensive and authoritative history of the Andharas, these novels serve to provide the youth of the country with a fairly correct (in essentials) knowledge of the history of the people, and inspire them with noble ideals of true patriotism, and contribute to the flowering of the national genius, the progress of the Andhra State, arid the strength and prosperity of Independent Bharat.

In his latest novel, Kavisarvabhowma, the volume under review, the hero Srinadha, the most famous and popular poet in Telugu after the Trio of the Telugu Bharatam, the author brings up the history to the period of the Rayas of Vijayanagar and brings out the position occupied and part played by the Telugus in the political, social and cultural life of the empire and the imperial capital. In this novel the plot is practically confined to a single famous episode in the life of the great poet, the disputation with the Gowda scholar Dindimabhattu, and his journeys to Vijayanagara and in that connection. It is therefore of greater artistic value and should be more popular with students of literature and literary history than the earlier novels of the trilogy in which the attempt made, however successful, was to mould into the unity of a single plot enormous and various material of political, social as well as literary interest. This novel should therefore find greater favour in the literary circles and whet our appetite for similar volumes which we are encouraged to expect from him, on Pothana and the poets of later times.
–M. S. K.