How and from where do we get meritorious persons?
History, science and sociology all incontrovertibly point to the fact that the meritorious ones, having the “highest level of intelligence, skill and excellence”, as stipulated in the Supreme Court judgement in Indra Sawhney vs Union of India and others case mentioned in the previous page, are a product of sustained eugenics and a systematic development of human personality. The genes and a systematic personality development exercise, including schooling, are the key to success in this regard. And finally the key indicators of man’s success lies hidden in his esoteric horoscope, their janma kundali which can only be deciphered accurately by a learned pundit. Astrology or Jyotish as it is called in Sanskrit, is part and parcel of Vedic studies. It is a Vedanga, (वेदाङ्ग) so to say.
Both in the West as well as in India the wise men have described, in their own esoteric style, the ways and means to get meritorious persons. That eugenics, a systematic development of human personality, and schooling were necessary for the development of wise and learned philosopher-kings was well known to ancient Indian gurus as well as to the Greeks. Plato in his The Republic has enumerated measures to achieve this, though unlike India, Plato did not advocate reliance on Astrology.
In The Republic, the most respected Greek treatise on the statecraft — in some respects more profound than Kautilya’s Arthshastra — Plato describes his “ideal, just state” with the help of dialogues that his guru Socrates had had with his contemporaries — Thrasymachus, Adeimantus, Glaucon et al.
The Republic was written by Plato in his transitional phase. He had just founded the Academy (387 BC) in the city-state Athens, a school where those interested in learning could retreat from public life and spend time in the study of philosophy. The Academy, considered the first university of the western world, drew pupil and masters from far and wide — somewhat akin to what we call ashram in India. Aristotle studied there for 20 years (367-347 BC) before founding his own school, The Lyceum. Philosopher Eudoxus, who gave a geometrical explanation of the revolutions of the sun, moon, and planets, brought his own students with him to join Plato and studied, and then taught, at The Academy; Theaetetus developed solid geometry there. A number of city-states invited the faculty from The Academy to help them develop new political constitutions.
The Academy survived throughout the Hellenistic period until it was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC. Nothing remains of it now, except an archaeological site.
In Plato’s concept of an “Ideal State” there are three major classes or categories of people in the State — the Guardians, described as “philosopher-kings” who govern the city-state; the Auxiliaries are soldiers and warriors who defend the State; and the lowest class/category comprises the Producers (farmers, artisans, etc).
The Guardians and the Auxiliaries have the same kind of education, which begins with music and literature and end with gymnastics. Plato insists on the principle of specialization according to which each person must perform the role for which he is suited best and that he must not meddle in any other business.
It is crucial that the Guardians develop the right balance between gentleness and toughness. The members of this class, Plato says, must be carefully selected and they must be of correct nature. In particular, the Guardians should be spirited, or honour-loving, philosophical, or knowledge-loving, and physically strong and fast. Their education should involve physical training for the body, and music and poetry for the soul.
Education of the Guardians is the most important aspect of Plato’s Republic. It is the process of purification through which the unhealthy, luxurious city-state can be purged and purified. As education of the Guardians is very important, Plato gives us some painstaking details.
Plato’s Republic even describes how the rulers of his “just city” are to be selected from the class of the Guardians : they need to be older, strong, wise, and wholly unwilling to do anything other than what is advantageous to the city. The Republic also discusses the housing and boarding conditions of the Guardians: they will not have private property, they will have little privacy, they will receive what they need from the city via taxation of the other classes, and they will live in a community and have common mess.
“The idea of Plato that philosophers must be the rulers and the directors of society is practised in India”, wrote Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in his introduction to Indian Philosophy way back in 1923. A hundred years later Radhakrishnan’s view still seems to hold water, though politicians of post-Independence era are all out to wipe out the Brahaminic order.