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Prout Starter Page
In 1955 P. R. Sarkar founded Ananda Marga, a spiritual and social service organization which spread world-wide in the 1970's. Based on a blending of the spiritual practices of Tantra Yoga and social welfare ideals, Ananda Marga teaches meditation and various yoga practices, and in addition runs schools, homes and a wide range of social welfare projects.
In 1959, Sarkar, who is also known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, extended the scope of Ananda Marga philosophy to encompass certain socio-economic principles, which have become known as Prout - an acronym for Progressive Utilization Theory. This theory blends spirituality with socialistic idealism - a formula familiar in Eastern India, where prominent nationalists such as Vivekananda and Subhas Chandra Bose also made use of the present Ananda Marga slogan - `Liberation of Self and Service to Humanity'. Prout is the social side of a total philosophy that blends concepts of spiritual and social liberation.
The adoption of social activism by a spiritual organization created controversy in India, and attempts were made to suppress both Ananda Marga and Prout. The Central Indian Government made several unsuccessful attempts to ban members of Ananda Marga from employment in the public service, and Sarkar himself was falsely accused of various crimes and jailed for nearly seven years during Indhira Gandhiís State of Emergency. The courts finally rejected the charges against him and released him in 1978.
Meanwhile, in 1977 and international organization called Proutist Universal (PU) was launched with its headquarters in Copenhagen. The aims of PU are to propagate the ideals of Prout and to support social movements with similar ideals.
Check out the websites, inluding the Prout Institute of Australia which I helped co-found.
...or see the articles I have posted below.
PROUT articles
I have placed here two articles by Sohail Inayatullah, a brilliant futurist.
- The first is actually a talk he gave - comparing the system of thought of P.R. Sarkar to other traditional philosophies.
- The second article is an overview of Sarkar's ideas of change, revolution, social movements, and various alternate stories of society - historical views and projecting into the future.
The articles below are various excerpts from the writings of P.R. Sarkar, outlining different aspects of the philosophy of Prout:
Article No 1 SOME FEATURES OF PROUT'S ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Article No 2 REQUIREMENTS OF AN IDEAL CONSTITUTION
Article No 3 SERVICE PSYCHOLOGY AND GROUP PSYCHOLOGY
Article No 4 PARTS OF THE ECONOMY
Article No 5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPIFICATIONS
Article No 6 THE TRANSFORMATION OF PSYCHIC PABULA INTO PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL PABULUM
Article No 7 LIBERATION FROM STATICITY
Article No 8 SOCIO-ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS
Article No 9 POPULATION GROWTH AND CONTROL
Article No 10 WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Article No 11 ECONOMIC DYNAMICS
Article No 12 THE SPECIALITY OF THE FIFTH FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PROUT