First of all as to the name, Socialism, Rama would prefer to call it Individualism. The word Socialism gives prominence to the idea of the rule of society, but Rama says the right spirit of Truth is to assert the supremacy of the individual against all the world, all the universe. Then there is no worry, no anxiety. This is what Rama calls Individualism, let people call it Socialism, if they wish. This is Vedantic teaching from the stand – point of the individual.
We see again that the end of so called Socialism, being simply to bring down Capitalism, is so far identical with the end of the Vedanta, which means simply to strip you of all sense of possession, and to cast to the winds all sense of property, all selfish possession. That is the Vedanta and that is Socialism. The ends agree.
The Vedanta preaches equality, and so must the end of true Socialism be no deference, no respect, no regard for any outside possessions. This seems to be rather terrible and something very severe but there can be no happiness under the Sun unless a man gives up all sense of property and possessions, clinging and attachment. But Socialism simply wants a man to give up all this, whereas the Vedanta furnishes a great reason for doing the same. So called Socialism has been merely a study of the surface of things and comes to the conclusion that mankind should live on terms of equality, fraternity and love. The Vedanta studies the phenomena from the [indigenous point of view. According to it the possession of any individual property is a most sacrilegious deed against one’s Atma or inner Self. According to the Vedanta, the only right that a man has is to give and not to ask. If you have nothing else to give, give up your body to feed worms. That which you keep is nothing, for it nobody calls you a rich man. You are rich just by what you give. Everybody works, not to possess anything, but to give away everything. The greatest mistake made by the world is that it attributes the sense of pleasure to receiving. The Vedanta wants you to recognize the truth that all pleasure lies in giving, and not in asking or begging. The very moment you allow the asking or begging spirit to enter, you narrow and contract yourself and squeeze out the happiness that may be in you. Wherever you may be, work in the position of a giver and never in the position of a beggar, so that your work may be universal work, and not personal in the least.
The Vedantic monks of India are living today this Socialistic life on the Himalayas, and have been living it from pre – historic times. They work their hardest, they are no drones, no men of ease and luxury, for it is through their efforts that all the great literature of India has been produced. It is these people who have been the greatest poets, dramatists, scientists, philosophers, grammarians, mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, doctors, and yet these are the very men who never touched money. These are the very men who lived the hardest possible life. This wipes out the blame laid at the door of Socialism that it will make people cowards, lazy, and dependent upon others. He alone can work well who feels himself free.
According to the Vedanta as well as Socialism, you have no right to possess your children, wife, house or anything.
It is a great blemish on the face of civilized society that woman is made a mercantile commodity and is possessed and belongs to a man in the same sense as a tree, house or money belongs to him. So a woman is given the position of an inanimate object in civilized society whereas a man is free in his ways and a woman is kept bound hand and foot. She becomes the property of one man, then of another man. According to Socialism as well as the Vedanta, this seems to be very astounding, but a woman ought to recognize her freedom in the same way as man does. She is as free as man is. Then if man is not to possess anything, woman also ought not to possess anything; in order to secure her happiness, she will also have no right to possess her husband. Here arises a serious objection against Socialism. If Socialism allow perfect freedom to woman and man, it will reduce society to a state of animalism and make a world of libertines. Rama says for woman and man from the sexual stand – point nothing better can be desired. Animals like cows or buffaloes are very reasonable in their intercourse, seasonable and rational in their behaviour. If men behaved in the same manner, all the lust and passion of civilized society would be at an end.
Wonder of wonders. What a terrible blunder is made by man in calling a licentious man an animal, whereas animals are decidedly less licentious than man. They have no trace of any unreasonable passion, they have intercourse only when they have to bring forth children. It is not so with man. A man who is sober and tranquil lives more the natural life of animals than a licentious man. A licentious man should not be called an animal, he is a civilized man. This is peculiar to civilization and not to the savage state of society. They are reasonable and natural; everything is done in time and in season. According to the Vedanta and according to Socialism, the more sobriety and a more tranquil state of nature will be secured, there will be less of this itching passion, but at the same time there will be no sense of possession as husband or wife and father or child.
It is this constant burden of feeling that we have to look after this child this wife or this sister which does not allow a man to prosecute his studies or to realize his Godhead. Socialism or the Vedanta wants to remove this burden from your heart, to make you free.
When you launch into the ocean of investigation, you come out with flying colors, and when you enter the arena of research, you come out successful because you work freely, unshackled, not bound or hampered by ties or worries of any kind. Free you feel all the time, for you are sure that the wide world is your home.
All that we have to do is to make people see that the one cure for their maladies and diseases lies in discarding the idea of possession. Once this idea is realized by the vast majority of people, Socialism will spread like wildfire all the world over. This is the only cure of their ills, Vedanta-Socialism. Once this Vedanta-Socialism is heard in the world, the millennium is here, and all the objections arising out of a distorted vision and limited study of the circumstances around them will vanish. Under this Socialism, no Kings, no Presidents, no Priests are wanted, no armies needed. No Universities will ever be needed, as each man will be his own University. Libraries we shall have, to which anybody can come and read. No Professors, except for little children. No Doctors needed, for by living a natural life as preached by the Vedanta you can never fall sick, you require no Doctor. People may do whatever they please, walking wherever they like, not being afraid of their brother as they are now, but doing good and devoting their time to really beneficial studies, philosophy and metaphysical researches, living and realizing to the fullest extent their divinity and Godhead.
Om! Om!! Om!!!