In 1947, Julian Huxley, the then Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), asked 60 leading personalities around the world to define what they thought would form the basis of a ‘World Charter of Human Rights’. One of those personalities was Mahatma Gandhi. Huxley must have been taken aback by Gandhi’s response.

Gandhi wrote to the Director-General that he had “learnt from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to be deserved and preserved came from duty well done…The very right to live accrues to us only when we do the duty of citizenship of the world.”

Gandhi certainly cared deeply for human rights. He championed India’s freedom from colonial British rule and actively advocated for the upliftment of India’s lower castes. In fact, he dedicated his life — and ultimately sacrificed it — to the pursuit of peace, harmony, and freedom. So then why did he place an even higher premium on duties?

A few years prior to the UNESCO exchange, Gandhi received a cable from the acclaimed historian H.G. Wells asking for his views on Wells’ manifesto, The Rights of Man, written as a passionate response to World War II.

Gandhi told Wells that he had “carefully read your five articles” and that Wells was “on the wrong track” because he had “begun at the wrong end.” Gandhi then suggested what the right way would be. “Begin with a charter of Duties of Man, and I promise the rights will follow as spring follows winter.”

He went on to tell Wells, “I write from experience. As a young man I began life by seeking to assert my rights and I soon discovered I had none…So I began by discovering and performing my duty by my wife, my children, my friends, companions, and society and I find today that I have greater rights perhaps than any living man I know.”

We are awash in social justice movements today that seek to advance various human rights — the right to free speech, to equal opportunity, and more. It’s wonderful to see this heightened commitment from so many to create a more free and just world for all. And yet, we are experiencing increasing rancor and polarization in society. Perhaps this is because we’re pushing for rights without committing to duties — duties to engage in the right civic virtues, like respect, sacrifice, and kindness.

What would be an ideal balance to strike between rights and duties?

The place I have found the most illuminating, exhilarating, and deeply satisfying answer to this question is in the writings of Yogananda, a pioneer in bringing Yoga to the West. With the permission of the organization he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, I will share a few excerpts from his writings. Tell me what you think.

“Traditional views of East and West stand sharply in contrast with regard to what makes an ideal citizen — a contrast that arises from two different modes of viewing the individual.

“To the East…duties imposed by religion or society are held to be paramount, and the thought of rights inherent in each individual remains in the background…In the West, from Greece downward, a different and more objective attitude to life has been emphasized. Citizens think of themselves in terms of their rights, and there is a tendency toward political action in the outer or objective world.

“Either of these contrasting views, when not balanced with due attention to the other, leads to practical evils…[Eastern] views foster tolerance of injustice instead of rebellion against it…an evil attitude of laissez faire saps the character…[Western views foster] a keen competitiveness that results from one and all elbowing their way to “a place in the sun”…[leading] to the success-is-my-right-by-any-means doctrine…[East and West can both] strengthen the other with the wisdom gained from its mistakes and failures.”

In Yogananda’s vision of an ideal world, rights and duties are brought into balance as East learns from West, and West from East. But this is just the beginning, for he is far from done. The next part of his writing takes us to a much more powerful and unexpected place.

“As they do so, both will slowly come to the realization that something exists in human nature which is more fundamental than duties or rights, and which creates a proper balance of both.”

What is he referring to, that “something” which “exists in human nature” that’s “more fundamental” than duties and rights? What could it be?

Take pause, go within, and puzzle over this for a few moments before you read ahead.

“So long as the citizen thinks of work as arising from a duty, he or she is only partially effective; and so long as citizens think only in terms of expressing their individual rights, they equally fail to bring out the full quota of power in themselves.

“But when men and women, Eastern and Western, transcend the idea of duties and rights and realize the true nature of human individuality — an individualized spark of God dwelling in each of us as the divine Self or soul — then dawns a new conception of life, and with it, the assurance of a new power.

“For such enlightened citizens, the world’s work of regeneration is not God’s work in which they thankfully join, but their own work. Indeed, it is not “work” at all; it is an act of pure love and pure joy — inherent qualities of man’s inmost being.”

How beautiful, how liberating, how inviting. The idea that enlightened citizenship is simply about activating the qualities we possess at our core.

“That is yoga, the true art of right action. Individuals who learn it look upon the gift of the best of themselves to their surroundings not as a duty imposed from without, either by religion or tradition or culture, but as the expression of their inmost Self. Such men and women will be good and will do only good not for God’s sake, nor for society’s sake, but because the Self, the soul in each of them, cannot be or do otherwise. Then the citizen will be both the ruler and the ruled. Each will give the best of himself to govern and the best of himself to obey.”

What a remarkable vision of the world we might create — one where the quest for helping people get to and express their inmost Self became the bedrock that guides all parents and politicians, educators and executives, citizens and change-agents.

What can you do today to express your inmost Self, and help those in your circle express their own?

Warmly,
Hitendra

Note: I wish to thank Self-Realization Fellowship for permission to use the quotes of Paramahansa Yogananda that appear in this newsletter.

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