India’s Role in the New Story of One Humanity Glen T. Martin www.earthconstitution.world www.wcpa.global www.oneworldrenaissance.com 26 November 2022 Human beings are creatures of drama, of stories, of mysteries, tragedies, and comedies. We imaginatively recount the past through stories of gods and goddesses, of heroism and cowardice, of struggle, overcoming, terror, and hope. We envision the future through our stories as well, the dramas of the past always point to a future. We all live in a perpetual present moment, situated between an ever-moving past and an ever-evolving vision of the future that comes alive with meaning as we imagine our life-stories, our national stories, and our stories of humanity—our past, present, and future. By what story can we account for the present and future that our world is facing today? Climate collapse is happening all around us. The world is on the brink of World War Three. The chaos of the global pandemic is only compounded by the chaos of flooding and droughts and wildfires caused by a collapsing climate. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Bangalore have been facing immense flooding while other parts of the world face unprecedented wildfires, droughts, and loss of croplands. The number of nations possessing nuclear weapons has increased and the restraints on their use through treaties has been severely reduced in recent decades. Just breathing the air in New Delhi and other great cities around the planet is dangerous to human health. One percent of the world’s population own more than 50 percent of its wealth while billions of humans live in excruciating poverty and misery. By what traditional stories can we account for this? In Hindu mythology, we can be said to be in the age of Kali Yuga, the age of dissolution and destruction. In Christian mythology, we are nearing the apocalyptic end due to human sinfulness at which time God will end everything and execute a last judgment. What would a scientific account of our terrible situation look like? What has led us into this mess and how can we extricate ourselves? Out of the scientific revolutions of the past two centuries a new human story has emerged. By understanding this story, we can also understand some of the reasons for our present crisis. Science has revealed to us the drama of a universe some 13.7 billion years old, flaring forth in a dynamic cosmic process of star formation, galaxy formation, exploding supernovas, third generations stars like our sun, and the evolution of life on planets orbiting these stars. The new story presents the universe as directed toward conscious life, as organized from the beginning to bring forth life and humanity, as containing within it the seeds that grew to mature human self-awareness. Over the past 3.8 billion years, life on planet Earth has evolved from primitive one celled anaerobic creatures into the complex unity of human beings in which some 37 trillion cells, that make up the human body, function with astonishing unity to enliven creatures who can comprehend their universe and tell stories about who we are and where we come from. We know today that we evolved from the primate branch of mammals into hominids (pre-humans) some four to six million years ago, and from there into about eight distinct human species, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthal, etc. Our species, Homo Sapiens, emerged less than half a million years ago as the other early human species went extinct. We are all homo sapiens, 99.9 percent genetically identical with all other humans. The is the scientific story. We all are the same—one species evolving and colonizing a single planet. This is the human story. We emerged from a cosmic process and evolved as one species with intelligence, compassion, and foresight. Why are we then descending planetwide into chaos and possible human extinction? The answer is that we have institutionalized fragmentation. We have absolutized differences. We have fragmented our planet into incommensurable hostile units. We have fragmented humanity into hostile partitions under the headings “my religion,” “my race,” “my property,” or “my nation.” We have done this deed through the embracing of false concepts, concepts invented hundreds of years ago before the scientific human story was even known. One of these false concepts (formulated at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) was the concept of territorial nation-state sovereignty. Today we have fragmented our planet into some 193 absolute sovereign territories. This concept of nation-state sovereignty means the nations are incapable of uniting. They are incapable of affirming the scientific human story. They are incapable of the cooperation necessary to establish peace or protect the environment. “Sovereignty” means that nations recognize no effective laws higher than themselves. They insist on operating in a world of chaos and conflict. Nation-states tell stories of their foundings, their struggles, their successes and impediments. Cultures recount myths and their meaning for the present and future. Our individual lives rotate around many stories, the stories of our family history, of the culture with which we identify, of smaller and larger communities that we see relevant to the meanings with which we identify. We derive our personal meanings from these larger stories. Who am I? I am a professor, I am an entrepreneur, I am an advocate for the liberation of women, I am a defender of my country, or, like Swami Agnivesh our recently dear departed Vice-President in the World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA), I am a defender of the oppressed, of women, of dalits, the poor, and all those in bonded labor. Our stories get larger as well. At the nation-state level many nations have stories of their founding, or their original heroes, or their emergence into a new era. The Iliad and the Odyssey tell stories of the ancient Greeks and Romans that related them to the gods and the fundamental meaning of the cosmos. The Mahabharata tells stories that do the same for the Indian tradition. Religious myths today, from all the great world religions, give us accounts that link human beings to the cosmos and its divine ground. We connect religious mythologies with our nation-states as well. Let me take 3 examples, from 3 different nations: the USA, Russia, and India. The national anthem of the USA tells a story. The final stanza sings: O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand, Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto - "In God is our trust," And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. Russia’s present national anthem was adapted in the year 2000 to much older traditional music that also supported somewhat different lyrics during the Bolshevik era and the Soviet era. Today’s anthem recounts a similar drama of a motherland blessed by God. In English the lyrics sing: Russia is our sacred state, Russia is our beloved country. A mighty will, great glory - Your dignity for all time! Be glorified, our free Fatherland, The age-old union of fraternal peoples, Ancestor-given wisdom of the people! Be glorified, country! We are proud of you! From the southern seas to the polar edge, Our forests and fields are spread out. You are the only one in the world! You are the only one the native land so kept by God! The Jana Gana Mana, national anthem of India, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 and Tagore himself later translated it from Bengali into English. The Jana Gana Mana also addresses God as a mythological, human-like figure: Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, Dispenser of India's destiny. The name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha, Of the Dravid and Orissa and Bengal; It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,  Mingles in the music of the Yamuna and Ganga, And is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea. They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.  The salvation of all people is in thy hand,  Thou dispenser of India's destiny. Victory, victory, victory to thee. In each of these beautiful anthems, the nation is glorified, set apart as dear to God, and each appeals to our emotions and our loyalty. Here is the question I would like to pose before this august assembly today. Do we need a new and more embracing story? Is there a larger unity and a larger anthem? Are there patterns set for loyalty to the whole? Loyalty to humanity or civilization or to our common planetary home? Unless we can embrace the new scientific story that we are all one and the same, our human future looks very bleak. In this new story, our common humanity diversifies into myriad wonderful cultures, races, languages, and nations, but remains nevertheless a common humanity, a universal human consciousness, a unity in diversity, the pervasive location for our human rights and dignity. Who speaks for humanity as a whole? Where is the human story? Where is the story of our species civilization? Where is the story of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, a slogan that is written on a wall at the Indian Parliament? The new story is simultaneously a most ancient story. The universal human story was in the Upanishads and in the scriptures of all the great world religions. But it was at the same time always clothed in ethnocentric preference for oneself, one’s culture, religion, or nation. When are we going to become more fully human by embracing the full human story? This new story is given to us not by mythmakers or propagandas, not by Russian Neo-Bolsheviks, not by American Imperialists, Chinese Communists, nor by the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but by physicists, biologists, and anthropologists from every nation on Earth. We have also heard the new story from the visionaries, the wisdom teachers, and planetary myth-makers from every traditional culture around our planet. We heard it from the American author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, who declared “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” We have heard it from South African Nelson Mandala who declared “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” We heard it from Russian thinker Leo Tolstoy, who affirmed “Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs.” And we have heard it from Albert Einstein who wrote: “I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.” There is an emerging story of humanity narrated by such thinkers. On the success of this story depends our human future and our survival on our precious planet Earth. Are there Indian thinkers and leaders who can speak for this new story of our common humanity and one human civilization for the Earth? In Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore wrote: “It is the mission of civilization to bring unity among people and establish peace and harmony.” Sri Aurobindo described the evolution of the human mind to ever higher and more encompassing levels—to the higher mind and over-mind of one common humanity. Swami Vivekananda declared: “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendent, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often, and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair.” There is a fanaticism of nationalism, as well as religions and ideologies. Vivekananda addressed the international audience at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 as his “brothers and sisters.” Last but not least, Mahatma Gandhi took his stand on the universal dignity of all human beings everywhere and his concept of satyagraha indicated his clinging to this truth. For Gandhi, the militarized modern state “represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul,” he wrote, “but the State is a soulless machine, which can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.” In 1942, during the Second World War, Gandhi introduced the following resolution into the Indian National Congress: While the Indian National Congress must primarily be concerned with independence and defense of India in this hour of danger, the Committee is of the opinion that the future peace, security, and ordered progress of the world demand a world federation of free nations, and on no other basis can the problems of the modern world be solved. Such a world federation would ensure the freedom of its constituent nations, the prevention of aggression and exploitation by one nation over another, the protection of national ministries, the advancement of all backward areas and peoples, and the pooling of the world’s resources for the common good of all. To federate means to recognize a central authority higher than the nations, just as the states within India recognize the national government. Just like Cantons within China recognize the authority of Beijing. However, to be a sovereign nation, by definition, means that you recognize no binding legal authority higher than yourself. How can Gandhiji, then, propose a “federation of free states.” Can nations be both federated and free? The answer lies in the fact that to be a sovereign nation is not to be a free nation, but rather a fragmented part, always defending, always in struggle or conflict with other such nations, and always being directed in unfortunate ways by the World Bank or the World Trade Organization. Those who believe in the sovereignty of nations cannot, without contradiction, sing the song of one humanity, one civilization, and one world. The doctrine of sovereignty denies this oneness. It denies the rule of law over the nations; it denies freedom as well as peace. Under the Constitution for the Federation of Earth, the people of Earth are sovereign. Nations still have boundaries, they still have their own laws and internal levels of governing, but nations will then participate in a World Parliament representing the only true sovereign: the people of Earth, who, democratically chosen worldwide, have the authority to legislate for the common good of humanity. What is that common good? Quite clearly, it means no more war, no more poverty, no more environmental destruction, universal protection of human rights. The right of each nation to live in peace with its neighbors and all the world. This is what freedom means. Federated nations do not have to militarize and be ready to fight because the world will then have democratic laws. Freedom requires courts, and human rights agencies. It requires funding and planning to end poverty and protect the environment. This is why Gandhiji emphasized a “federation of free nations.” A sovereign nation, on the other hand, is, in Gandhi’s words: nothing but “violence in a concentrated and organized form.” A sovereign nation cannot be free. Take some examples of freedom. Men tend to be physically stronger than women. Yet they are required by law not to attack or harm women. To the extent that this law is enforced, women are free. The law also protects our right to speak and publish freely. To the extent that this law is enforced we are free to speak and publish freely. In international affairs, there is no freedom because there is no enforceable law. The global hegemon, the USA, for example, has invaded or bombed dozens of countries in the past two decades: from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Libya and beyond. And behind the scenes, it is even worse. Noted US journalist Nick Turse writes the following: “THE UNITED STATES has fought more than a dozen “secret wars” over the last two decades, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. Through a combination of ground combat, airstrikes, and operations by U.S. proxy forces, these conflicts have raged from Africa to the Middle East to Asia, often completely unknown to the American people and with minimal congressional oversight.” In international affairs, there is no enforceable law preventing the stronger from violating the weaker. International affairs operate on power politics, and the UN has never been able to stop power politics with its the massive violations of human rights worldwide. Why in God’s name do India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons pointed at one another? How could this madness possibly happen? The answer lies in the fact that India and Pakistan are sovereign nation states. There are no enforceable laws to prevent this madness, no court of appeals, no enforceable laws for the world. What then has been the role of the United Nations? The United Nations was founded just 3 years after Mahama Gandhi submitted the above proposal to the Indian National Congress. The UN is not a federation but a confederation of militarized sovereign states. The United Nations does not have an anthem. It has no pledge of allegiance. This is because the United Nations is not truly united. It is a mere collection of sovereign nations. It has many world-wide agencies that perform good works, but no center, no brain for the Earth, no capacity to tell us the story of world civilization and world unification. It can only profess an ideal of world peace but has no means to establish peace. Peace requires the sovereignty of humankind and democratic world law, enforceable over all persons, deriving from a World Parliament. Peace cannot happen otherwise. The centerpiece of UN ideology is the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of nations. This doctrine tells us the story of fragmentation, the story of unending war and conflict. Gandhi declared that the militarized nation-state is “violence in a concentrated and organized form.” By contrast, Gandhi proposes a “federation of free nations.” How is this possible? Some nation or nations must take leadership in leading the world forward to freedom. Who are the leaders and what leading nations will bring freedom to the world and, with it, freedom to India? There can be no freedom under the militarized sovereign nation-state system. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother founded World Union in 1958, the same year as WCPA was founded, with the purpose of leading the world and humankind to freedom. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declared “I have long believed the only way peace can be achieved is through world government.” Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi met with leaders of WCPA in New Delhi in 1985, at the time of the Second Session of the Provisional World Parliament which opened at the Constitution Club. India’s then President Giani Zail Singh presided over the opening session of that Parliament. India is a leader among the Non-Aligned movement of nations. India is a massive country, with a massive economy, and a huge presence in the world. She could be a beacon for freedom and peace in the world through this leadership. The UN Charter explicitly prevents reform of that body. Reform, even under Article 109, can only happen with the unanimous consent of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council. To abolish the veto power might make reform of the UN possible. However, abolition of the veto power at the UN will not solve our most fundamental problem. Without veto power the UN would continue to be a collection of militarized sovereign states operating from power politics without enforceable law. Nothing would change, the UN is powerless to legislate effective world law unless the UN Charter is replaced by a genuine Earth Constitution. What prevents India from organizing a group of 5 to 10 nations holding meetings about establishing a new world system? India is free to do this, free to explore ways to incorporate what is valuable in the UN into a Constitution for the Earth while superseding the unworkable UN Charter. The UN has achieved some successes, but has reached the limits of what it can do under its outdated Charter. The Earth Constitution poses a new ideal, a new challenge for the nations of the world to consider the sovereignty of humankind and the ascent of the world to peace, freedom, and sustainability. How about 10 nations studying this Constitution and formulating proposals for the majority of the planet’s nations who are in the Non-aligned Movement to discuss, formulate, and act upon? The world is on the brink of World War Three. The chaos of the global pandemic is only compounded by the chaos of flooding and droughts and wildfires caused by a collapsing climate. India alone is big enough—and potentially courageous enough—to challenge our broken world system that the big 5 Security Council members insist on maintaining. It can provide leadership for dozens of smaller nations for investigating a new world system based on law, judicial decisions, and democratic processes, not on military violence, industrial-military complexes, and secret conspiracies for world domination. In doing so, India will be singing the new song of humanity, a Jana Gana Mana for a truly world civilization, just what Tagore really intended. It will be leading the path toward Federation—which is the only possible way to peace and freedom for the peoples of Earth. As my Indian friends in WCPA declare: Jai Hind! Jai Jagat! Our new story is also the oldest story: vasudhaiva kumtumbakum, the world is one family. It needs one, enforceable law for all. It needs to stop war so it can focus on protecting the environment and ending poverty. India is the one nation in a position to lead the way into a truly liberated human future. Jai Hind! The only truly liberated future must necessarily include all the nations on Earth. Jai Jagat! Thank you so much for your attention. 6