Universal Citizens Forum

The Hindustan Times of India disclosed news from London d/- 23-9-1958 as follows:


London, Sept. 23-The Commonwealth of World Citizens yesterday announced that "the first world-wide parliamentary general election in the history of mankind" will take place on Friday.


Voting for candidates will be by postal ballot among the something less than 1,000 "world citizens" in 42 countries.


The Commonwealth of World Citizens, proclaimed in being at Cardiff in 1956, exists "to exhibit a demonstration of world unity," its founder, British author and historian Dr. Hugh Schonfield states.


Candidates include a former Italian Senator, Dr. Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, of Milan, and an advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Dr. Sanjib Chaudhuri, of Calcutta.


The elected deputies will hold their first session as a parliament in Vienna in May, 1959.


Candidates are forbidden to campaign for election, and voters choose from a list of names with qualifications.-Reuter.


In response to this we beg to suggest to the public an ideal of universal citizen's forum for consideration and reaction. Edi.


1. One state. 
2. One language.
3. One religion.
4. One unit.
5. One goal.
6. One proprietor.
7. One culture.
8. One philosophy.
9. One standard.
10. One economy.


1. One state means that the whole world shall be controlled by one government. The experiment in India shall begin with unification of Indian states. Different provinces may exist as it is now but the government shall be one; there shall be no more existence of the state governments incurring unnecessary expenses for management.


2. One language for the world government shall be selected preferably English the most popular language of the world. In India the one language problem shall be solved by accepting Hindi in Sanskritised form and grammar gradually. It shall have nothing to do with the present Hindi grammar, which has no basic principle.


An authorised grammar on the basis of Sanskrit root shall be prepared and that shall be taught all over India. The spoken language may remain as it is current in the provinces but the written language shall be Sanskritised Hindi with Devanagri script.


Sanskritised Hindi means to learn Sanskrit through a common popular language so much so that through the Sanskritised Hindi grammar, Sanskrit language will be the ultimate goal of linguistic problem. English will continue to remain with the ideal of world state in future. So in India Sanskritised Hindi and English shall be compulsory subjects while original Sanskrit and the provincial language shall play the additional part.


3. One religion means one God and one scripture namely the Bhagwat Geeta. One God means the All Attractive Personality of Godhead Krishna in His Absolute form. The word Krishna is identical with the word God. Because 'Krishna' means that which attracts or that which negativises the threefold miseries of repetition of birth and death. Life is eternal and the aim of life therefore should be to make it free from all troubles of materially living conditions. The word Krishna aims this Perfection of life and the word God means the same thing because the idea of God worship means to attain a perfection of life.


Every religionist accepts the idea of God whether personal or impersonal. God is both at one and the same time. Krishna is in everywhere in His impersonal feature but in His personality He is present in his transcendental abode by His personal feature. That makes a complete God.


The Bhagwad Geeta claims every living being including the animals and other beings in all species of life-as the sons of Godhead. Therefore the idea of universal brotherhood is mentioned in the only scripture of the world-the Bhagwad Geeta. This book of knowledge shall be the subject matter of propagation.  


4. One unit means the diverse people of the states shall work only for the welfare of the state and not for individual benefit. There may be diversity of functions by different divisions of activities but aim of such activities shall be one means welfare of the state. As such there shall be four classes of men.


(A) The intelligent class of men with full knowledge of human necessities, as confirmed by previous sages.


(B) The statesmen class of men with full training of management about needs of all living being under the guidance of the intelligent class.


(C) The productive class of men namely, the agriculturists, the industrialists and the trading class of men-shall be controlled by the managing statesmen.


(D) The labouring class of men shall render services only to the above upper class of men. All the above classes shall be qualified by personal abilities without any reference to the origin of birth.


All the different divisions of classes are equally important as much as any part of the whole body is equally important for different services. The head and the leg of the body are equally important in relation with bodily functions and yet head is the most important part of the body to guide the whole bodily actions. The whole idea is to accept the theory of unity in diverse actions.


5. One goal means the activities of the people should be guided with reference to their eternal life. They should be made happy not only in this life but also in the next. Foolish people do not know this continuity of life like the foolish children are careless about their future prospect. The parents guide the foolish children and similarly the state shall guide the foolish people who have no knowledge of future life. There are two goals of life namely 
(1) fulfillment of immediate needs and 
(2) fulfillment of prime needs. Immediate needs are aimed at satisfaction of the senses and mind but prime need is the upliftment of the spirit soul.


People should be given all chances not only for fulfilling the present needs of the senses in a controlled manner but also to fulfill the needs of ultimate goal namely the spiritual upliftment.


6. One proprietor means that there shall be no individual proprietor of any property of the state. The state shall be the owner of all properties and citizens shall be the servitors only for the complete welfare. The idea is something like the joint family system in which no individual person is considered to be the proprietor and everyone does his bit of work for the total welfare and equal share of the benefit. The symbolic representative of proprietorship shall be dedicated to the Personality of Godhead in all different units of the state and every living being including the animals etc., shall have the right to live and prosper individually according to the laws. Nobody shall be absolutely free and yet freedom of action will be given to everyone. Everyone shall be the servant of the state and the state shall look after the citizens in complete harmony.


7. One culture means that the state shall encourage in every way to the development of spiritual culture. Every living being is a spiritual spark covered by the material body. So there is no difference between the learned and the fool, so far spiritual identity is concerned. The learned shall try to uplift the position of the fool by love and affection and shall not look down upon any living being. That shall be the cultural propaganda of the universal citizens forum. (To be continued)


Printed in The Back To Godhead Magazine, 1958. By ISKCON Founder Acharya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada