“Learn how to be happy here in the present and even happier when you get out,” he saysover the loud speaker.

Louis Allen, a Durham man who is in prison for the third time, walks in. “At first I was real hesitant
because I thought it was a girl thing. And I didn’t want that family, being away from your friends, the
anxiety of reentering society, the current situation right now in the world with the economy, the joblessness,
all that plays a part in an individual who has a strike against him. So the anxiety tends to build,” said
Wesley Moliere, an inmate who has attended the classes for about three months. “You get a sense of calm and
relaxation through it. And in a situation like this, calm and relaxation doesn’t come easy,” he added.

Dr. Landau says yoga accomplishes something that other prison programs don’t. “The data shows, from other
studies, that simply giving them the skills of reading, writing, arithmetic, air conditioning, GED, does not
improve their recidivism rate. It does not improve the rate at which they come back. But shifting the
personality does,” he said. Landau did a study that shows that inmates who took his yoga class more than four
times had an eight percent chance of returning to prison within two years. The inmates who attended less than
four times had a 25 percent chance of going back to prison. Louis Allen says the class has taught him to think
before he acts. “Once you learn to deal with your mental thoughts and control them better, it’s a lot easier
in life. And as far as going out, I don’t think I’ll have no problem staying out this time,” he said. That is
Dr. Landau’s hope. “To give people the opportunity of changing the mind so that they can exit back into society
as a free person and actually be a free person,” he said.

Basic necessities guaranteed to all :  People cannot strive towards their highest human aspirations if they
are lacking the basic requirements of life. PROUT believes that access to food, shelter, clothing, education
and medical care are fundamental human rights which must be guaranteed to all.

Balanced economy: Prout advocates regional self-reliance, cooperatively owned and managed business, local
control of large scale key industries, and limits on the individual accumulation of excessive wealth.

Women’s Right: PROUT encourages the struggle against all forms of violence and exploitation used to suppress
women. PROUTs goal is coordinated cooperation, with equal rights between men and women.

Cultural Diversity: In the spirit of universal fellowship PROUT encourages the protection and cultivation of
local culture, language, history and tradition.

Capitalism is self-centered and mirrors the lopsided Darwinian law of evolution where only the strong have
the right to prosper. A capitalist social structure works on the illusory ethos of mutual exploitation.
“I am free to exploit you and you are free to exploit me.” In reality, the power to exploit remains
concentrated in the hands of the privileged. For the majority, life in self-centered social structures
degenerates into an endless struggle for existence amidst plenty. It becomes insecure and artificial, full
of contradictions and uncertainties. One is forced to question the glory of a prosperity that excludes so
many.

Religious power structures are based on dogma-centered ideologies, which are purposefully devoid of human
rationality. Such structures use fear to coerce support from the people, yet are incapable of meeting the
basic needs of their subjects. Dogma-centered social structures have never been self-sufficient, but
survive as parasites on socio-economic systems guided by the other two ideologies. While matter-, self-,
and dogma-centered systems have come and gone, no attempt has yet been made to create a social structure
based on Spirit-centered, universal, neohumanistic, and cardinal values. The Indian philosopher
P.R. Sarkar outlines such a possibility in his discourses on Progressive Utilisation Theory (i.e. PROUT).
Sarkar claims that humans are inherently universal and spirit-centered by nature. However, throughout our
history of collective living, our leadership often promoted self-centered, dogma-centered and
mattercentered ideas. We must now move on to higher vistas. No doubt, many are reluctant to sacrifice
their political egos for cardinal human values.

Ignoring the most noble human wisdoms, they continue to push their self-centered agendas. But it’s too
late for their games: individually and socially we have reached a critical point on the curve of social
evolution. At this juncture, there may be only two options left: change our value system or perish as a
civilization. What is Sarkar’s Neohumanism, and how does he envision a spiritcentered neohumanistic
social structure? First, let us look at what it is not. Neohumanism is free from the following three major
shortcomings of the prevailing political ideologies:

1. Geo-sentiment (nationalism, geo-patriotism)

2. Socio-sentiment, which promotes social inequality via leftist mattercentered ideologies and hatred
related to largely right-wing, dogmacentered philosophies including religious hatreds as well as racial,
ethnic and gender-based inequality.

3. Pseudo-humanistic sentiment, an essentially self-centered outlook used to justify the continued plunder
and degradation of the environment. This can be seen as a type of warfare against other species and the
planet itself. In contrast, Neohumanism is a happy blending of spirituality and rationality, a move beyond
left and right ideologies. Religious leaders who forgo rationality invent dogmas and capture the allegiance
of people by infusing them with inferiority complexes and fear. Progressive rationality without spirituality
is dry and heartless. It creates mattercentered structures, such as communism, which enslave and tortures
humanity. Neohumanism acknowledges the need for an approach that recognizes both the spirit and the
intellect.

Political ideologies throughout the ages have changed little, although the collective psychology of humanity
is yearning for an altogether new social structure. Political ideologies are still polarized, amongst the
masses and within the leadership, at both local and global levels. Just recollect the “balance of power”
theory of the Cold War era. Although the Cold War ended more than a decade ago, world leaders today are out
to validate a new “Cold War”, this time along cultural lines, and, perhaps, not so “cold”. That could be
devastating indeed.

Sarkar’s neohumanistic world order, based on the following principles, present a positive new approach for
obtaining world peace:
A. A World Constitution, incorporating the following:
 1. A common penal code for all countries of the world,
 2. A guarantee that clothes, shelter, medical care, food, and education
 are available to all people.
 3. The preservation of all species of plants and animals in their natural
 habitats wherever possible.
 4. Guaranteed purchasing capacity for basic necessities of life to all
 citizens.
 5. Four universal rights for all citizens on the planet:
  -The right to spiritual practice as per one’s belief,
  -The right to cultural legacy,
  -The right to education, and
  -The right to linguistic expression of one’s mother tongue.
B. A World Militia – standing army, and
C. A World Government – with more executive power than the current UN
D. Neohumanistic education to replace the out-dated (bi-polar) social structure with a nuclear one,
E. Creating social leaders and Local Guides of high ethical standards, in good number, and at all levels
of society.

Ac.Vimalananda Avadhuta is the Sectorial Secretary of Proutist Universal, Inc.