THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT

official source: Shabda Cayanika' Part 8

cross-references: Prout in a Nutshell Part 16

this version: is the printed Prout in a Nutshell Part 16, 1st edition, version 
	(spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most 
	up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

      When a rogue elephant becomes violent it does not feel hungry, and consequently it may not eat or even drink for many days together. In such an abnormal condition, it's over heated brain compels it to break all rules and regulations....and it even challenges the laws of nature themselves.

      You know, those who instigate others to break rules will always cause bad consequences. Let us take an example. A prominent leader of India's struggle for independence started a civil disobedience movement against the British to attain the political independence of India. Some people suggest that the aim of this movement was not to break any rules or disobey the law. The aim was to express the truth after dispelling the cimmerian darkness. The aim was to snatch independence from the clutches of the forces of darkness. It was an effort to find the truth.... it was satyagraha. However, it makes no difference what name you call a rose flower, it is still a rose. Even if you send an ordinary rice crushing mill to heaven, it's function is still the same. If people have disregard for the law, there is every possi bility that they will follow the path of law-breaking. This very psychology causes people to challenges legal statutes, and the result is never good.

      Today if people follow in the footsteps of the past, they will be led to burn buses and trams which they themselves have purchased... they will be led to burn governmental and non-governmental buildings, destroying their own hard earned wealth. When people adopt these methods today, it is because the psychology of the civil disobedience movement of the British time is still working -- in other words satyagraha. However, rational people would not describe such methods as satyagraha but as duragraha -- a hand-tool to destroy the society.

      Those who hold the communist banner and attack helpless people in the name of revolution, losing sight of human values under the impetus of their confused, irrational philosophy, are goaded by the same type of psychology.

      Nature dislikes disobedience or the act of breaking the law. As long as legal statutes exist, they must be obeyed. If they are found to be harmful or stand in the way of the progress of society, or if they hold back the forward march of humanity like a serpent entwined around the legs of a person, these statutes should be ground into the dust and new laws should be enacted and obeyed. Otherwise, the law of big fish eating little fish will dominate society, and this will harm the interests of both the individual and the collective. The civil disobedience movement has left behind a chaotic imprint on society.

11 September 1988, Calcutta
Shabda Cayanika' Part 8