The Baha’i Faith and the New World Order - Pattabi S Raman

Culture, as the noted anthropologist Kluckhorn observed, is a pattern of thinking, feeling and acting, shared by a community and transmitted to the on-coming generation1. For a community to survive there should be a mechanism within that social milieu that will winnow out the errors and outmoded patterns of ‘thinking, feeling and acting’ to regenerate and civilize the next generation. Such mechanisms for social cohesion or cultural progress historically have always come from the community’s shared ideals, beliefs, values, and vision of its own future. These ideals and values were the brick and mortar of the society, and were invariably grounded on the perennial and collective wisdom of the elders derived from the sacred scriptures, epics, myths, and legends of the community. The ubiquitous feature of this collective wisdom, irrespective of the culture from which it originated, was the fact that it canonized the quintessential civilizing virtues that shaped the destiny and guaranteed the survival of that culture. These virtues had a moral and spiritual undergirding that is pivotal to human progress at all times and under all conditions. To illustrate, Indian traditions affirm that true prosperity in a community will flow unfailingly once the three basic virtues of Satyam, Shivam, and Sundaram, (Truth, Goodness, and Beauty) permeate the individual and collective consciousness of the members of a community or a culture. This process of permeation is crucial in safeguarding the progress of civilization.

1. Kluckhogn, Clyde & Kelly, W.H. `Concept of Culture’ in `The Science of Man in the World Crisis, Ralph Linton. (Ed) NY: Macmillan Press. p. 34-35.

© `The Vedanta Kesari’ (December 2001) published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004. Website: sriramakrishnamath.org.

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