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The students here wish me to say something on the hippies. The first thing that comes to my mind
in this connection is the book MAXIMS FOR A REVOLUTIONARY by George Bernard Shaw, as it
enumerates some golden rules, the first of which is indeed wonderful. In a way it can be said that
the whole thing has finished with the first rule. He writes: ”The first golden rule is that there are no
golden rules.” The very first thing that I would like to point out about the hippies is that the hippie
movement is not an ’ism.’ It is the negation of all ’isms.’ It will be appropriate if we first probe into the
nature of ’ism’ before going into the problem of the hippies.
Of all the maladies afflicting humanity during the past five thousand years, the worst is that of ’isms’
– be is Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism or Gandhiism. Isms have
generated much trouble and anxiety for humanity. Almost all the wars fought in human history and
all its blood baths centered around one ’ism’ or the other. Isms have been changing, but new isms
have been taking the place of the old malignant isms, and yet man stands where he was without
making an inch of progress. In 1917 the old ism collapsed in Russia. The old gods and goddesses
were thrown out, but new ones reared up their heads; a new sort of religion came into being. The
Kremlin is now in no way less than a Mecca and a Macedonia. It has become, so to say, a new
centre of pilgrimage where Communists from all over the world assemble to pay their homage. No
doubt, the old idols have been removed, Christian churches have been closed, but the dead body of
Lenin has been placed in the Kremlin Square; it is virtually being worshipped there.
A particular ’ism’ may change, but it yields place to another ’ism.’ The hippies rebel against any and
all ’isms.’ Those youngsters who are today known as hippies sincerely believe that man can very
well live without any ism. There is no need of a religion or of any scriptures, doctrines or ideologies,
because according to their understanding if one becomes involved in ideologies, the capacity to live
fully decreases proportionately. I would like to mention here that I also share this view.