Dr Ambedkar Quotes
Dr. Ambedkar Quotes
- Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.
- Democracy is not a Form of Government, but a form of social organisation.
- The sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to have a united integrated modern India.
- Lost rights are never
regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless
struggle…. Goats are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.
- Life should be great rather than long.
- Given the time & circumstances, nothing under the sun shall stop this country from becoming a super power.
- Sincerity is the sum of all moral qualities.
- Turn in any direction
you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have
political reform; you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this
monster:-Dr. Ambedkar (1936)
- India is still par
excellence a land of idolatry. There is idolatry in religion and in
politics. Heroes and hero worship is a hard if unfortunate fact in
India’s political life. Hero worship is demoralizing for the devotee and
dangerous for the country:- Dr. Ambedkar (1943)
- If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.
- Men are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will wither and die.
- We are Indians, firstly & lastly
- I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.
- In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development.
- Being grateful has
limitations, no man can be grateful at the cost of his dignity, no woman
at the cost of her chastity & no country at the cost of its
freedom.
- A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.
- So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.
- If
you ask me, my ideal would be the society based on liberty, equality
and fraternity. An ideal society should be mobile and full of channels
of conveying a change taking place in one part to other parts.
- Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.
- Political tyranny is
nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society
is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.
- Every man who repeats
the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country
must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.
- I hate injustice,
tyranny, pompousness and humbug, and my hatred embraces all those who
are guilty of them. I want to tell my critics that I regard my feelings
of hatred as a real force. They are only the reflexes of love I bear for
the causes I believe in and I am in no wise ashamed of it.
- Democracy is not merely
a form of Government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of
conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of
respect and reverence towards our fellow men.
- I hope that Mr. Gandhi
will not drive me to the necessity of making a choice between his life
& rights of my people, for I shall never consent to deliver my
people bound hand & foot to the orthodox for generations to come.
- To
idealise the real which more often than not is full of inequities is a
very selfish thing to do. It is only when a person finds a personal
advantage in things, as they are that he tries to idealise the real. To
proceed to make such an ideal real is nothing short of criminal. It
means perpetuating inequity on the ground that whatever is settled is
settled for all times. Such a view is opposed to all morality. No
society with ideal conscience has ever accepted it. On the contrary
whatever progress in improving the terms of associated life between
individuals and classes has been made in the course of history, is due
entirely to the recognition of the ethical doctrine that whatever is
wrongly settled is never settled and must be resettled.
- A historian
ought to be exact, sincere and impartial; free from passion, unbiased
by interest, fear, resentment or affection; and faithful to the truth,
which is the mother of history the preserver of great actions, the enemy
of oblivion, the witness of the past, the director of the future.
- In
every country the intellectual class is the most influential class.
This is the class which can foresee, advise and lead. In no country does
the mass of the people live the life for intelligent thought and
action. It is largely imitative and follows the intellectual class.
There is no exaggeration in saying that the entire destination of the
country depends upon its intellectual class. If the intellectual class
is honest and independent, it can be trusted to take the initiative and
give a proper lead when a crisis arises. It is true that the intellect
by itself is no virtue. It is only a means and the use of a means
depends upon the ends which an intellectual person pursues. An
intellectual man can be a good man but he may easily be a rogue.
Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons,
ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity or it may easily be a
gang of crooks or a body of advocates of narrow clique from which it
draws its support.
- My
final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have
faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can
loose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in
the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it.
For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for
freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality.
- You
must abolish your slavery yourselves. Do not depend for its abolition
upon god or a superman. Remember that it is not enough that a people are
numerically in the majority. They must be always watchful, strong and
self-respecting to attain and maintain success. We must shape our course
ourselves and by ourselves.
- Untouchability
shuts all doors of opportunities for betterment in life for
Untouchables. It does not offer an Untouchable any opportunity to move
freely in society; it compels him to live in dungeons and seclusion; it
prevents him from educating himself and following a profession of his
choice.
- Untouchability
has ruined the Untouchables, the Hindus and ultimately the nation as
well. If the depressed classes gained their self-respect and freedom,
they would contribute not only to their own progress and prosperity but
by their industry intellect and courage would contribute also to the
strength and prosperity of the nation. If the tremendous energy
Untouchables are at present required to fritter away in combating the
stigma of Untouchability had been saved them, it would have been applied
by them to the promotion of education and development of resources of
their nation as a whole.
- There
have been many Mahatmas in India whose sole object was to remove
Untouchability and to elevate and absorb the depressed classes, but
everyone has failed in their mission. Mahatmas have come, Mahatmas have
gone but the Untouchables have remained as Untouchables.
- From
the point of view of annihilation of caste, the struggle of the saints
did not have any effects on society. The value of a man is axiomatic and
self-evident; it does not come to him from the gilding of Bhakti. The
saints did not struggle to establish this point. On the contrary their
struggle had very unhealthy effect on the depressed classes. It provided
the Brahmins with an excuse to silence them by telling them that they
would be respected if they attained the status of Chokhamela.
- It
is mischievously propagated by Hindu scriptures that by serving the
upper classes the Shudras achieve salvation. Untouchability is another
appellation of slavery. No race can be raised by destroying its
self-respect. So if you really want to uplift the Untouchables, you must
treat them in the social order as free citizens, free to carve out
their destiny.
- What
you have lost others have gained. Your humiliations are a matter of
pride with others. You are made to suffer wants, privations and
humiliations not because it was pre-ordained by the sins committed in
your previous birth, but because of the overpowering tyranny and
treachery of those who are above you. You have no lands because others
have usurped them; you have no posts because others have monopolised
them. Do not believe in fate; believe in your strength.
- Learn
to live in this world with self-respect. You should always cherish some
ambition of doing something in this world. But remember that the age of
selflessness has ended. A new epoch is set in. All things are now
possible because of your being able to participate in the politics and
legislature of your country.
- Some
people think that religion is not essential to the society. I do not
hold this view. I consider the foundations of religion are essential to
the society. At the roots of Hindu social system lies a Dharma as
prescribed in the Manusmriti. Such being the case I do not think it is
possible to abolish the inequality in the Hindu society unless
foundations of the Smriti-religion is removed and a better one laid in
its place. I however, despair of Hindu society, being able to
reconstruct itself on such a better foundation.
- My
religious conversion is not inspired by any material motive. This is
hardly anything I cannot achieve even while remaining an Untouchable.
There is no other feeling than that of a spiritual feeling underlying my
religious conversion. Hinduism does not appeal to my conscience. My
self-respect cannot assimilate Hinduism. In your case change of religion
is imperative for worldly as well as spiritual ends. Do not care for
the opinion of those who foolishly ridicule the idea of conversion for
material ends. Why should you live under the fold of that religion which
has deprived you of honor, money, food and shelter?
- I
tell you, religion is for man and not man for religion. If you want to
organise, consolidate and be successful in this world, change this
religion. The religion that does not recognise you as a human being, or
give you water to drink, or allow you to enter in temples is not worthy
to be called a religion. The religion that forbids you to receive
education and comes in the way of your material advancement is not
worthy of the appellation ‘religion’. The religion that does not teach
its followers to show humanity in dealing with its co-religionists is
nothing but a display of a force. The religion that teaches its
followers to suffer the touch of animals but not the touch of human
beings is not a religion but a mockery. The religion that compels the
ignorant to be ignorant and the poor to be poor is not a religion but a
visitation!
- The
basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the
spiritual development of the individual. This being the situation, it is
clear that you cannot develop your personality at all in Hinduism.
- It
is your claim to equality which hurts them. They want to maintain the
status quo. If you continue to accept your lowly status ungrudgingly,
continue to remain dirty, filthy, backward, ignorant, poor and
disunited, they will allow you to live in peace. The moment you start to
raise your level, the conflict starts. Untouchability is not transitory
or temporary feature; it is eternal, it is lasting. Frankly it can be
said that the struggle between the Hindus and the Untouchables is a
never-ending conflict. It is eternal because the religion which assigns
you the lowest status in society is itself divine and eternal according
to the belief of the so-called high caste Hindus. No change warranted by
change of time and circumstances is possible.
- I
have never claimed to be a universal leader of suffering humanity. The
problem of the untouchables is quite enough for my slender strength. I
do not say that other causes are not equally noble. But knowing that
life is short, one can only serve one cause and I have never aspired to
do more than serve the Untouchables.
- Every
man must have a philosophy of life, for everyone must have a standard
by which to measure his conduct. And philosophy is nothing but a
standard by which to measure.
- Negatively
I reject the Hindu social philosophy propounded in Bhagvad Gita, based
as it is on the Triguna of Sankhya Philosophy which in my judgement is a
cruel perversion of the philosophy of Kapila, and which had made the
caste system of graded inequality the law of Hindu social life.
- Positively, my social
philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality
and fraternity. Let no one however say that I have borrowed my
philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has its
roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them
from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.
- Indians
today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal
set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty,
equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion
denies them.
- Unlike
a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man
does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is
independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone,
but for the development of his self.
- Freedom
of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he
may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not
free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man.
One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom
of mind is the proof of one’s existence.
- What
is the proof to judge that the flame of mental freedom is not
extinguished in the mind of person? To whom can we say that his mind is
free. I call him free who with his conscience awake realises his rights,
responsibilities and duties. He who is not a slave of circumstances and
is always ready and striving to change them in his flavor, I call him
free. One who is not a slave of usage, customs, of meaningless rituals
and ceremonies, of superstitions and traditions; whose flame of reason
has not been extinguished, I call him a free man. He who has not
surrendered his free will and abdicated his intelligence and independent
thinking, who does not blindly act on the teachings of others, who does
not blindly accept anything without critically analysing and examining
its veracity and usefulness, who is always prepared to protect his
rights, who is not afraid of ridicule and unjust public criticism, who
has a sound conscience and self-respect so as not become a tool in the
hands of others, I call him a free man. He who does not lead his life
under the direction of others, who sets his own goal of life according
to his own reasoning and decides for himself as to how and in what way
life should be lead, is a free man. In short, who is a master of his own
free will, him alone I call a free man.
- Caste
cannot be abolished by inter caste dinners or stray instances of inter
caste marriages. Caste is a state of mind. It is a disease of mind. The
teachings of the Hindu religion are the root cause of this disease. We
practice casteism and we observe Untouchability because we are enjoined
to do so by the Hindu religion. A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The
taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into
nectar.
- What
struck me most was that my community still continues to accept a
position of humiliation only because caste Hindus persist in dominating
over them. You must rely on your own strength, shake off the notion that
you are in any way inferior to any community.
- Constitutional
morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must
realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only
a top dressing on an Indian soil whish is essentially undemocratic.
- Majorities
are of two sorts: (1) communal majority and (2) political majority. A
political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political
majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a
political majority is open. The door to a communal majority is closed.
The politics of political majority are free to all to make and unmake.
The politics of communal majority are made by its own members born in
it.
- The
minorities in India have loyally accepted the rule of the majority
whish is basically a communal majority and not a political majority. It
is for the majority to realise its duty not to discriminate against
minorities. Whether the minorities will continue or will vanish must
depend upon this habit of majority. The moment the majority looses the
habit of discriminating against the minority, the minorities can have no
ground to exist. They will vanish.
- We
want our own people, people who will fight tooth and nail for our
interest and secure privilege for the under-privileged; people who will
undo the wrongs done to our people ;people who will voice our grievances
fearlessly; people who can think, lead and act; people with principles
and character. Such people should be sent to the legislatures. We must
send such people to Legislatures who will be slaves to none but remain
free to their conscience and get our grievances redressed.
- Why
does a human body become deceased? The reason is that as long as the
human body is not free from suffering, mind cannot be happy. If a man
lacks enthusiasm, either his body or mind is in a deceased condition….
Now what saps the enthusiasm in man? If there is no enthusiasm, life
becomes drudgery – a mere burden to be dragged. Nothing can be achieved
if there is no enthusiasm. The main reason for this lack of enthusiasm
on the part of a man is that an individual looses the hope of getting an
opportunity to elevate himself. Hopelessness leads to lack of
enthusiasm. The mind in such cases becomes deceased…. When is enthusiasm
created? When one breaths an atmosphere where one is sure of getting
the legitimate reward for one’s labor, only then one feels enriched by
enthusiasm and inspiration.
- The
fundamental principle of Buddhism is equality… Buddhism was called the
religion of Shudras. There was only one man who raised his voice against
separatism and Untouchability and that was Lord Buddha.
- The
teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim
them to be infallible. The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change
according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to
have…Now what is the basis of Buddhism? If you study carefully, you will
see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of
flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.
- I
am myself a believer in Animas (non-violence). But I make a distinction
between Animas and meekness. Meekness is weakness and weakness is
voluntarily imposed upon oneself is not a virtue. I am believer in
Animas but in the sense defined by the saint Takuma. Takuma has quite
rightly said that Animas consisted of two things: (1) love and kindness
towards all creatures and (2) destruction of evil doers. The second part
of this definition is often lost sight of that the doctrine of Animas
becomes so ridiculous.
- Religion
must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of
rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion,
as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious
act.
- We
must begin by acknowledging that there is a complete absence of two
things in Indian Society. One of these is equality. On the social plane
we have an India based on the principles of graded inequality, which
means elevation for some and degradation for others. On the economic
plane we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth
as against many who live in abject poverty.
- The
second thing we are wanting in is the recognition of the principle of
fraternity. What does fraternity mean? Fraternity means a sense of
common brotherhood of all Indians, all Indians being one people. It is a
principle that gives solidarity to social life. It is difficult thing
to achieve. It seems to me that there lies a heavy duty to see that
democracy does not vanish from the earth as a governing principle of
human relationship. If we believe in it, we must both be true and loyal
to it. We must not only be staunch in our faith in democracy but we must
resolve to see that whatever we do, we do not help the enemies of
democracy to uproot the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.
It follows that we must strive along with other democratic countries to
maintain the basis of democratic civilization. If democracy lives we are
sure to reap the benefit of it. If democracy dies it will be our doom.
On that there can be no doubt.
- The
basis of my politics lies in the proposition that the Untouchables are
not a sub-division or sub-section of Hindus, and that they are a
separate and distinct element in the national life of India.
- The
true function of law consists in repairing the faults in society.
Unfortunately ancient societies never dared to assume the function of
repairing their own defects; consequently they decayed. This country has
seen the conflict between ecclesiastical law and secular law long
before Europeans sought to challenge the authority of the Pope.
Kautilya’s Arthshastra lays down the foundation of secular law. In India
unfortunately ecclesiastical law triumphed over secular law. In my
opinion this was the one of the greatest disasters in the country. The
unprogressive nature of the Hindu society was due to the notion that the
law cannot be changed.
- Civilization
has never been a continuous process. There were states and societies
which at one time had been civilised. In the course of time something
happened which made these societies stagnant and decayed. This could be
illustrated by India’s history itself. There could be no doubt that one
of the countries which could boast of ancient civilization is India.
When the inhabitants of Europe were living under the barbaric
conditions, this country had reached the highest peak of civilization,
it had parliamentary institutions when the people of Europe were mere
nomads.
- Justice
has always evoked ideas of equality, of proportion of compensation.
Equity signifies equality. Rules and regulations, right and
righteousness are concerned with equality in value. If all men are
equal, then all men are of the same essence, and the common essence
entitles them of the same fundamental rights and equal liberty… In short
justice is another name of liberty, equality and fraternity.
- Anyone
who studies working of the system of social economy based on private
enterprise and pursuit of personal gain will realise how it undermines,
if it does not actually violate the individual rights on which democracy
rests. How many have to relinquish their rights in order to gain their
living? How many have to subject themselves to be governed by private
employers?
- One
cannot have any respect or regard for men who take the position of the
reformer and then refuse to see the logical consequences of that
position, let alone following them out in action.
- History
shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is
always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have
willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to
compel them.
- Slavery
does not merely mean a legalised form of subjection. It means a state
of society in which some men are forced to accept from others the
purposes which control their conduct. This
condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It
is found where as in caste system, some persons are forced to carry on
the prescribed callings which are not their choice.
- India
is a peculiar country and her nationalists and patriots are a peculiar
people. A patriot and a nationalist in India is one who sees with open
eyes his fellow men treated as being less than man. But his humanity
does not rise in protest. He knows that men and women for no cause are
denied their rights. But it does not prick his civil sense of helpful
action. He finds a whole class of people shut out from public
employment. But it does not rouse his sense of justice and fair play.
Hundreds of evil practices that injure man and society are perceived by
him. But they do not sicken him with disgust. The patriot’s one cry is
power for him and his class. I am glad I do not belong to that class of
patriots. I belong to that class which takes its stand on democracy and
which seeks to destroy monopoly in every form. Our aim is to realise in
practice our ideal of one man one value in all walks of life –
political, economical and social.
- There
is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world, it is yet to be
created. In believing we are a nation, we are cherishing a great
delusion. How can people divided into thousand of castes be a nation?
The sooner we realise that we are not yet a nation, in a social and
psychological sense of the world, the better for us.
- It
is not enough to be electors only. It is necessary to be law-makers;
otherwise those who can be law-makers ill be the masters of those who
can only be electors.
- Walter
Bagehot defined democracy as ‘ Government by discussion’. Abraham
Lincoln defined democracy as ‘ A Government of the people, by the people
and for the people’. My definition of democracy is – A form and a
method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life
are brought about without bloodshed. That is the real test. It is
perhaps the severest test. But when you are judging the quality of the
material you must put it to the severest test.
- A
democratic form of Government presupposes a democratic form of a
society, The formal framework of democracy is of no value and would
indeed be a misfit if there was no social democracy. It may not be
necessary for a democratic society to be marked by unity, by community
of purpose, by loyalty to public ends and by mutuality of sympathy. But
it does unmistakably involve two things. The first is an attitude of
mind, and attitude of respect and equality towards their fellows. The
second is a social organisation free from rigid social barriers.
Democracy is incompatible and inconsistent with isolation and
exclusiveness resulting in the distinction between the privileged and
the unprivileged.
- What
we must do is not to content ourselves with mere political democracy.
We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well.
Political democracy cannot last unless there is at the base of it, a
social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of
life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles
of life. These principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not
to be treated as separate items. They form a union in the sense that, to
divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy.
Liberty cannot be divorced from equality, nor can liberty and equality
be divorced from fraternity.
- Without
social union, political unity is difficult to be achieved. If achieved,
it would be as precarious as a summer sapling, liable to be uprooted by
the gust of wind. With mere political unity, India may be a state. But
to be a state is not to be a nation and a state which is not a nation
has small prospects of survival in the struggle of existence. This is
especially true where nationalism – the most dynamic force of modern
times, is seeking everywhere to free itself by the destruction and
disruption of all mixed states. The danger to a mixed and composite
state, therefore lies not so much in external aggression as in the
internal resurgence of nationalities which are fragmented, entrapped,
suppressed and held against their will.
- The
idea of fundamental rights has become a familiar one since their
enactment in the American Constitution and in the Constitution framed by
the Revolutionary France. The idea of making a gift of fundamental
rights to every individual is no doubt very laudable. The question is
how to make them effective? The prevalent view is that once the rights
are enacted in law then they are safeguarded. This again is an
unwarranted assumption. As experience proves, rights are protected not
by law but by social and moral conscience of the society. If social
conscience is such that it is prepared to recognise the rights which law
proposes to enact, rights will be safe and secure. But if the
fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no Law, no Parliament,
no Judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the world. What is
the use of Fundamental rights to the Untouchables in India? As Burke
said, there is no method found for punishing the multitude. Law can
punish a single solitary recalcitrant criminal. It can never operate
against the whole body of people who choose to defy it. Social
conscience is the only safeguard of all rights, fundamental or
non-fundamental.
- Rights
are real only if they are accompanied by remedies. It is no use giving
rights if the aggrieved person has no legal remedy to which he can
resort when his rights are invaded.
- For
a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What
is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice,
necessity and importance of political and social rights.
- I
feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong
enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime.
Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution,
the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have
to say is that Man was vile.
- Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.
- What
are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to
reform our social system, which is full of inequality, discrimination
and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights.
- Our
object in framing the Constitution is rally two-fold: (1) To lay down
the form of political democracy, and (2) To lay down that our ideal is
economic democracy and also to prescribe that every Government whatever
is in power shall strive to bring about economic democracy. The
directive principles have a great value, for they lay down that our
ideal is economic democracy.
- On
the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of
contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and
economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be
recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In
our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and
economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.
How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How
long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life?
If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our
political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the
earliest possible moment else those who suffer from inequality will blow
up the structure of democracy which this Constituent Assembly has so
laboriously built up.
- There
can be no gain saying that political power in this country has too long
been the monopoly of the few, and the many are not beasts of burden but
also beasts of prey.
- The
monopoly has not merely deprived them of their chance of betterment, it
has sapped them of what may be called the significance of life. Those
downtrodden classes are tired of being governed. They are impatient to
govern themselves. This urge of self-realisation in the downtrodden must
not be allowed to devolve into class struggle or class war. It would
lead to the division of the House. That would indeed be a day of
disaster. For, as has been well-said by Abraham Lincoln: “A house
divided against cannot stand very long”. Therefore the sooner room is
made for realisation of their aspiration, the better for the few, the
better for the country, the better for the independence and the better
for the continuance of its democratic structure. This can only be done
by the establishment of equality and fraternity in all walks of life.
- It
is disgraceful to live at the cost of one’s self-respect. Self-respect
is the most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a cipher. To live
worthily with self-respect, one has to overcome difficulties. It is out
of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength,
confidence and recognition.
- Man
is mortal. Everyone has to die some day or the other. But one must
resolve to lay down one’s life in enriching the noble ideals of
self-respect and in bettering one’s human life. We are not slaves.
Nothing is more disgraceful for a brave man than to live life devoid of
self-respect.
- My
social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty,
equality and fraternity. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in
political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master,
the Buddha.
- Emerson
has said that consistency is a virtue of an ass. No thinking human
being can be tied down to a view once expressed in the name of
consistency. More important than consistency is responsibility. A
responsible person must learn to unlearn what he has learned. A
responsible person must have the courage to rethink and change his
thoughts. Of course there must be good and sufficient reason for
unlearning what he has learned and for recasting his thoughts. There can
be no finality in rethinking.
- John
Dewey said: “Every society gets encumbered with what is trivial, with
what is dead wood from the past and what is positively perverse. As a
society becomes more enlightened, it realises that it is responsible not
to conserve and transmit the whole of its achievement, but only such as
makes a better future society”
- There
is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, nothing sanatan; everything is
changing, change is the law of life for individuals as well as for
society. In a changing society there must be constant revolution of old
values.
- No
civilised society of today presents more survivals of primitive times
than does the Indian society. Its religion is essentially primitive and
its tribal code, in spite of the advance of time and civilization,
operates in all its pristine vigor even today. Indian society still
savors of the clan system, even though there are no clans.
- An
ideal society should be mobile, should be full of channels for
conveying a change taking place in one part to other parts. In an ideal
society there should be many interests consciously communicated and
shared.
- The
strength of a society depends upon the presence of points of contacts,
possibilities of interaction between different groups that exist in it.
These are what Carlyle calls “Organic filaments”, i.e. the elastic
threads which helps to bring the disintegrating elements together and to
reunite them.
- Heroes
and hero-worship is a hard fact in India’s political life. I agree that
hero-worship is demoralising for the devotee and dangerous to the
country. I welcome the criticism so far as it conveys the caution that
you must know your man is really great before you start worshipping him.
This unfortunately is not an easy task. For in these days with the
Press in hand it is easy to manufacture Great Men. Carlyle used a happy
phrase when he described the Great Men of history as so many bank notes.
Like bank notes they represent gold. What we have to see that they are
not forged notes. I admit that we ought to be more cautious in our
worship of Great Men. For in this country we have arrived at such a
stage when alongside the notice boards saying “Beware of pickpockets”,
we need to have notice boards saying “Beware of Great Men”. Even Carlyle
who defended the worship of Great Men warned his readers how:
“Multitudes of Great Men have figured in history who were false and
selfish “.
- Hero-worship
in the sense of expressing our unbound admiration is one thing. To obey
the hero is a totally different kind of worship. There is nothing wrong
in the former while the latter is no doubt a most pernicious thing. The
former is man’s respect for which is noble and of which the great men
are only an embodiment. The latter is the serf’s fealty to his lord. The
former is consistent with respect, but the latter is a sign of
debasement. The former does not take away one’s intelligence to think
and independence to act. The latter makes one perfect fool. The former
involves no disaster to the state. The latter is a source of positive
danger to it.
- In
India, ‘Bhakti’ or what may be called the path of devotion or
hero-worship plays a part in politics unequalled in magnitude by the
part it plays in the politics of any other of the world. ‘Bhakti’ in
religion may be a road to salvation of the soul. But in politics,
‘Bhakti’ or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual
dictatorship.
- The
questions which President Roosevelt propounded for the American public
to consider will arise here, if they have not already arisen: Who shall
rule – wealth or man? Which shall lead – money or intellect? Who shall
fill the public stations – educated and patriotic free men or the feudal
serf’s of the corporate capital? For the president, Indian politics, at
any rate the Hindu part of it, instead of being spiritualised has
become grossly commercialised, so much so that it has become a byword
for corruption. Many men of culture are refusing to concern themselves
in this cesspool. Politics has become a kind of sewage system
intolerably unsavory and insanitary. To become a politician is like
going to work in the drain.
- History
bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been
preceded by social and religious revolutions. Social reform in India has
few friends and many critics.
- Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.
- The
world owes much to rebels who would dare to argue in the face of the
pontiff (high priest) and insist that he is not infallible.
- A
people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on
social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is
held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people.
- Ethnologists
are of the opinion that men of pure race exist nowhere and that there
has been admixture of all races in all parts of the world – especially
is this the case with the people if India. Mr. D.R. Bhandarkar has
stated: “There is hardly a class or caste in India which has not a
foreign strain in it. There is as an admixture of alien blood not only
among the warrior classes – the Rajputs and Marathas – but among the
Brahmins who are under the happy delusion that they are free from all
foreign elements.
- The
question is not whether a community lives or dies, the question is on
what plane does it live. There are different modes of survival. But all
are not equally honorable. For an individual as well as a society, there
is a gulf between merely living and living worthily. To fight in a
battle and live in a glory is one mode. To beat a retreat to surrender
and to live the life of a captive is also a mode of survival.
- Law
and religion are two forces which govern the conduct of men. At times
they act as handmaids to each other. At other times they act as check
and counter-check. Of the two forces, Law is personal while religion is
impersonal. Law being personal it is capable of being unjust and
iniquitous. But religion being impersonal, it can be impartial, it is
capable of defeating the inequity committed by law. Religion is believed
to ennoble man and not degrade him. Hinduism is an exception.
- I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality & fraternity.
- The relationship between husband & wife should be one of closest friends.
- To
open or not to open the temples is a question for you to consider &
not for me to agitate. If u think it is bad manners not to believe in
the sanctity of human beings, then throw open the doors & be a
gentleman, but if u wish to remain a orthodox Hindu then shut the doors
& damn yourself, for I don’t care to come.
- On
26th Jan. 1950,India will be an independent country. What would happen
to her independence? Will she maintain or will she lose it again? This
is the first thought that comes to my mind.It is not that India was
never an independent country. The point is that she once lost the
independence she had. Will she lose it a second time? It is this thought
which makes makes me most anxious for the future. What perturbs me
greatly is the fact that not only India has once beforelost her
independence, but she lost it by treachery of some of her own people…
- Will history repeat
itself ?It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is
deepened by the realization of the fact that in addition to our old
enemies in the form of castes &creeds, we are going to have many
political parties with diverse & opposing political creeds. Will
Indians place the country above their creed or creed above their
country? I do not know, But this much is certain that if the parties
place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a
second time & probably be lost forever. This eventuality we all must
resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our
independence with the last drop of our blood!
- The conception of
secular state is derived from the liberal democratic tradition of west.
No institution which is maintained wholly out of state funds shall be
used for the purpose of religious instruction irrespective of the
question whether the religious instruction is given by the state or any
other body.
- ...............CONTINUED.....................................................TO BE ADDED...........................
Jaibhim.
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