Civilization, Science and Spiritual Progress

The collective name of different expressions of human life is culture. Culture is one for the whole human race.

Civilization is a sign of intellectual judgement

Civilization is the subtle sense of refinement that we come across in the different expressions of life.

Suppose some guests have arrived at our home. We may address them imperatively, “Come” or we may welcome them by saying, “Please come in.”

This polite address by adding the word “please” speaks of civilization or a civilized address, for herein the subtle sense of refinement is evident.

The imperative word, “come”, bereft of warmth, only smacks of lack of culture.

So we see there are both good and bad sides to culture, but the subtle sense of refinement is the touch-stone of civilization.

The subtle sense of refinement that we get in culture intrinsically imbibes the human power of discriminative judgement.

We may call those human acts and behaviour civilized that give evidence of this discriminative judgement, in a great measure.

• The actions of some people have the support of judgement.
• The actions of others lack judgement.

Calling those with judgement as civilized and those without judgement as half-civilized is not fair nor desirable.

In the Indian social system women have been given a motherly status.

• But in the practical field they are not given the same amount of prestige.

Conversely, in the European society, though motherly status is nil.

• But women enjoy equal rights and prestige in the practical field.

Which of the two is more civilized?

The greater the support of judgement in action and behaviour, the better shall be the expression and development of civilization.

There is a subtle difference between civilization and culture.

Culture is the collective form of all the expressions of life.

• Culture is the expression of the intellectual stratum
• Civilization is the expression of the physical aspects of life.

People may be civilized materially.

• But mentally, they might be culturally lacking.

In the absence of intellectual development, it is not possible for a person to be properly civilized.

How does the development of civilization take place?

Civilization has an intimate relation with science.

• They progress together.

But where scientific progress supersedes civilization, there civilization meets its Waterloo.

An example is the history of Egypt and Greece.

• As long as their scientific progress did not supersede civilization, their civilization prospered very well.

But when the ingredients of enjoyment grew up in abundance, the civilization of both countries got destroyed, because science had occupied a higher position than civilization.

Science teaches the proper use of material things.

When the development of civilization is utterly negligible and science gradually attains the apogee of development, science leads the way for destruction instead of doing any good to humanity.

And so, study and practice of science, though unavoidable, should not be given a higher place than civilization.

In India, from the Tantric period to the Gupta period (the golden period of India), civilization and science progressed side by side.

Never did science enjoy greater prestige than civilization.

After the end of the Gupta era, scientific progress was overlooked. This resulted in degradation and downfall.

In the Pathan period, there was neither the development of civilization nor progress of science. This thwarted the progress of society.

For the all-round progress and development of the human society, both civilization and science have got to be encouraged and pursued.

If you see development of civilization, you will find that there is intellectual development as well.

Where there is cultivation of science, there too, intellectual analysis is a necessity. And so, for both civilization and science, intellectual knowledge is indispensable.

Spiritual or intuitional development is possible through the happy blending between civilization and science.

Even where there is no such blending at all, intuitional progress may yet be possible, but if science and civilization are harmonized, intuitional progress gets accelerated.

Therefore, people of wisdom should proceed and progress, blending these two. It is useless to think of intuitional progress without effecting the harmony between the two.

Our duty today is to cultivate science. But we should equally pay our attention to the development of civilization as well.

Modern India has more progress in science today than in ancient India.

• But ancient India had much higher civilization, particularly during the days of Vashishtha, Vishvamitra and Astabakra.

In the present age, civilization is on the wane due to science enjoying the pride of place.

But developed as science is today, if civilization is pushed up again to the top, people can reach a greater height than ever before.