No one can say for certain that from among the less privileged, the poor and the marginalised, no great person could have emerged. If their agony had been appreciated sympathetically, and if they had been rehabilitated by society, surely, their potential would find expression. But since society does not give highest priority to human value, a good number of potential great personalities are getting snuffed out in their early stages... That is why every course of action of society ought to be judged with an eye to the dictum “Human beings are divine children.”
The wisdom of society lies in moving together. If in the course of the journey anybody lags behind, if in the darkness of night a gust of wind blows out anyone’s lamp, we should not just go ahead and leave them in the lurch. We should extend a hand to help them, and rekindle their lamps with the flames of our lamps.
While marching together with lamps in our hands,
Someone’s lamp has gone out,
and he is lying beside the road.
Brothers and sisters, will you not stop
for a moment to lift him up?
Stop we must, otherwise the spirit of society is in jeopardy.
A rishi said: Samamantrena jayate iti samajah -- “Society is the collective movement of a group of individuals who have decided to move together towards a common goal”. That is, whether people are papi or tapi, sinners or victims, they are so only superficially; internally they are filled with potential for purity. The principal object of the sadvipras, spiritual revolutionaries, is to explore and bring this potentiality into play. They will accord human value to everyone without exception. Those who have done hateful crimes must be punished, but sadvipras will never hate them, or put an end to them by depriving them of food, because sadvipras are humanists.
However, when the question of social responsibility arises, it must be considered with great care. Irresponsible people cannot be entrusted with social responsibility, because those who shoulder social responsibility will have to lead humanity on the path of development, and correct the ways of sinners...