Brij Mohan Sharma
There is hardly any country in the world which can claim to be free from political problems or other social maladies. And India can not be an exception to this phenomenon.
Looking at this proposition through the eyes of a philosopher will reveal to us that such challenges are a must for any country, otherwise it will get sunk in inertia and sluggishness. There will be no life, there will be no energy, no power to keep it alert and active. Everything will be static and stagnant. We will find no sign of true ethics or morality in such a situation, because it is only through activity dynamism and energy that we manifest morality and ethos in their true forms.
This theory, however, should not lead us to the foolish inference that the dynamism and energy so produced by activity can also be used for violence, killings, arson and loot. This will not be justified from any angle of morality or ethos. People, who resort to such insane acts are neither true to their selves nor to their country. We are supposed to address the challenges faced by us with equanimity and composure and not by any sort of violence.
The recent unfortunate happenings in Delhi and some other parts of the country are, as such, most condemnable and reprehensible. While the Government has already taken a serious note of this pre-meditated and well-executed mayhem, we hope it will also deal with the culprits responsible for this violence with an iron hand, so that they dare not repeat such unlawful and criminal acts henceforth.
The possibility of the involvement of terrorists and communal elements in this holocaust cannot be rule out. The leaders and religious clerics who delivered instigating, threatening and hate speeches also need to be taken to task. It will also be in the fitness of things if Government reviews all the relevant laws which deal with such crimes, and make them more deterrent and effective.
India is not a banana republic. It is the second largest democracy of the world. It has a history of nearly ten thousand years. It has been umpteen vicissitudes of life. Ours is the land where wisdom made its home before it went into any other country. It shelters people of diverse races, diverse religions, diverse languages and diverse cultures. Through millennia of its history, India has matured knowledge and experience into wisdom which teaches us how to live at peace with ourselves and others. We should be proud of our country and must learn to see it in the light of its experience and wisdom- The wisdom of India.
Unfortunately, for some time past, we have lost touch with this wisdom. We are swept away by other cultural currents, and have accumulated only knowledge but not wisdom. This has resulted in the multiplication of our intractable problems.
During this interregnum, we have forgotten how to live in peace, harmony, cooperation and fellowship, how to love each other, how to behave and communicate with each other, and, above all, how to enter into the hearts of one another.
People who pose to be our leaders have lost all sense of decency. They have no respect for each other or their elders. Use of abusive and insulting language has become order of the day. What can our youth learn from such incompetent and immature leaders ?
We are, therefore, in urgent need to rediscover the forgotten and neglected wisdom of our country. We have already paid heavily for our forgetfullness, and cannot afford to be complacent any more.
Let all our right thinking people get together at this critical juncture, and rescue the sinking boat of India’s enviable wisdom from the cruel waves of insanity, which has been eating into its vitals for a considerable time. By reviving and recuperating the righteous wisdom of India, we can again equip our people with energy for human love and service.
There is no dearth of great thinkers in our country. India is the land of great spiritual teachers, great philosophers, great scientists, great poets and great artists. It is high time that we avail ourselves of this tremendous fund of strength and illumination. It is the rich source of India’s wisdom. We are sanguine it should not be difficult for them to rejuvenate the forgotten wisdom of India, and also find remedies for all our maladies. We should, however, ensure that the wisdom and energy so revived is used in a creative and constructive manner to solve the national problems of the country, and not made use of for the insane activities like throwing of stones and petrol bombs, burning of public and private properties, and indulging in other social mal-practices, such as bribery, rape, adulteration, etc. The energy thus produced shall have to be disciplined.
Our thinkers should also avail this opportunity for reminding our people of the teachings of our mystics that it is one and the same divine thread that runs through human beings. They also need to be re-taught that this is the central teaching of almost all our scriptures-Hindu, Muslm, Christian, Buddhists etc, and this profound spiritual dimension in every human being needs to be unfolded during the course of his life, so that all ethical, moral and humanistic values manifest spontaneously by this unfoldment. This is the wisdom, out of which alone can come fruitful and happy inter-human relationships which is the most urgent need of modern age.
Last but not the least, we need to review our education system so as to make our children aware of the wisdom of India. We need to inculcate the principles of man-making, character-making and life-building in our children from their primary classes. Education is not merely imparting knowledge about the three R’s, but helping the children to get over ignorance and imperfections. Our education system should be so oriented as to produce humanistically perfect scholars. Doubtless, we have roused energies of our people through our educational, economic and political programmes, but this rousing can become a true blessing only if we take appropriate steps of disciplining this energy and dynamism, so that it could be channelised for creative and constructive purposes of our motherland.
We are all worried by what we see in our country these days. It indeed makes us desperate and even hopeless. It is only because we have lost touch with the lessons taught to us by our prophets, sages and saints. If we undertake to see the problems faced by us through the wisdom of these great masters, we will undoubtedly get a grip on our present problems and develop vision, courage and hope to work for the reshaping of our national destiny.
(The author is former Additional Secretary to Government)
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