According to Swami Om Poorna Swatantra*, disorder has appeared in different parts of the world at various times in history primarily through man’s ego attempting to conquer nature and the spirit of other people. Today, it has assumed such dangerous proportions that it is threatening the very survival of life on our planet. Establishing order is thus no longer an ideal but has become a compulsion, a necessity for existence.

The natural law of life is love. No man made law can be a substitute for it. It keeps the family and the community together and nurtures values that respect other people and life forms. Ancient Indian sages have encompassed this natural law in the form of Vasudev Kutumbkam, an ideology that asserts that world is our family, the earth our home, and love its integrating principle.

There are two basic requirements of the human being for his fullest flowering and development. First, as an individual freedom for the manifestation of his uniqueness which is the basis of creativity and diversity in the world. Secondly, as a member of the community, and integral part of humanity, harmonious relationship with the society for the realisation of his oneness with the whole, the source of unity and universality in our world.

In actual functioning of society, the law of love would give a humane attitude in all spheres of action. It would give spirituality its true place as the science of the spirit. In this scientific perspective, religion becomes a means not an end. Secularism gets redefined as respect for other faiths, not mere tolerance as defined by the West. Such attitude towards religion unites society, not divide it.

Education plays an important role in the full development of humanism. Education is not a mere means for earning wealth, but a sublime tool for kindling divine qualities. It is the responsibility of society to nurture such education.

Politics and political institutions are not instruments to rule but to serve. It is important that political institutions are structured such that they are fully accountable to the society on day to day basis and not once in five years through elections.

Economic power is ruling the world today. Every human activity is geared to serve its whims. Economic power can be a good servant, but is a bad master tending to become a tool for exploitation of natural resource and fostering social injustice.

All this leads us to the conclusion that human history is a story of human failures. The issue is how do we realise a sustainable world order, free of exploitation.

Realising a New World Order

Based on several thousand years democratic ethos of India symbolised in Ram Rajya, Gandhi advocated a universal solution —- grassroots empowerment. According to Indian scriptures, every local entity, that is, village, district or town, is self-governing. It controls local resources to handle all local matters such as administration of justice, police, education, healthcare, land, water systems and forests. The state can demand no more than one-sixth of local revenues for higher level functions and coordination, but cannot interfere in local matters.

The village parliament consisting of all adult men and women is the supreme authority controlling all village resources and decision-making. It elects the village council by secret ballot, usually for a year, and can remove a councillor any time for misconduct. Such grassroots empowerment nurtures spiritual values that respect nature and promotes an egalitarian society.

During Mahabharat, no one listened to Krishna. Bharat get destroyed. Krishna said that when injustice becomes unbearable, he comes again and again. He came again as Mahavir, Budha, Christ, Mohammed and others, and in the twentieth century, as Gandhi. The then leadership did not listen to him and instituted Rakshasa Raj —- centralised, non-transparent, bureaucratised, based on exploitative colonial institutions. Bharat got destroyed a second time!

Gandhi said that any action that benefits the weakest person is correct. We need an institutional mechanism through which the voice of the weakest person becomes dominant. For realising a New World Order, People First advocates a new independent institution, Sovereign Rights Commission with authority to direct referendums excepts on issues fundamental to democracy or the integrity of a nation. There can, for example, be no referendum on making the state a theocratic or a region seceding. Superior to the royal priest in bygone days, more like Gandhi, such commissions will function as the conscience keeper of the state, based on the values of the society as a whole.

Based on the wishes of the common people ascertained through public consultations and local referendums, such commissions will draft a Constitution evidently based on Ram Rajya: Gram Swaraj, and refer the present versus the proposed Constitution for approval through referendum held along with the next national election. The people will clearly vote in favour of the latter. The commission will then authenticate it, this time truly, in the name of the people as the supreme law of Bharat.

Such a process will become a legal precedent cited in the courts the world order. It will help the people of all nations to institute a desired sustainable New World Order free of exploitation, nurturing spiritual values and an egalitarian society in which all have equal social, economic and political rights and opportunities. q

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