The Great Ganges

 

If someone asks whether the #Ganga is polluted or pure, the answer will depend upon which part of the Ganges, one is asking about.  Till the great river reaches Rishikesh, it is pure.  After that, pollution starts. (I don’t know whether it has started to be polluted from Rishinkesh itself now)  The one who is at Allahabad or Varanasi may say that the River is sacred, but cannot deny that it is polluted at the same time.  The one who has not traveled beyond Rishikesh with the river may not agree that it is polluted at all.  Someone living on the banks of the river with all its pollution, may feel frustrated that in spite of crores of rupees spent to clean it up, the menace continues.  If he is not getting any benefit out of the river, but is only affected by its pollution, he may say that it is better that the water body be dried up so that atleast the stinging pollution and its ill effects could be done away with.

Not only #Sanathana dharma, but all great religions have high spiritual aspects at their pinnacle, but have been infested by numerous pollutants down the stream.  Whether the sages of the Himalayas, the Sidhas of the Vindhyas or the Prophets of different parts of the world, they have revealed what has been glimpsed by them at great altitudes. Spirituality has been the hallmark of all searches. 

Sage after sage have repeated that all rivers lead to the sea.  But, yet, like babes quarrelling that one’s mother is superior to that of others, the so called followers quarrel with others.  None of them are actually following the real Masters.  Instead of travelling down the lane, they have put up tents on the ways and started bickering over territorial rights. Every religion has been called a way.  But when one stops travelling, there is stagnation and pollution. 

‘Ekam sat, vipra bahuta vadanti’, will be repeated like a mantra.  But the next moment, there will be a quarrel that it can mean so only in some specific religion or language.

Whenever there is a quarrel over whether sanathana dharma is great or not, I am reminded about two stands regarding Brahminism (which was how Sanathana Dharma was referred to in Tamil Nadu).

One was by #E.V.R.Periyar.  He said that he was not against Brahmins, but was against Brahminism.

The other stand was by the great Tamil writer #Jayakandan.  He said he was against Brahmins, but was for Brahminism.

Now, both the above statements may appear to be contradictory.

But on a closer examination of the back ground against which each of them spoke, one will understand that what Periyar meant by Brahminism was the degenerated practices injected by the Brahmin cult, which included castisim (or varnashrama), discrimination against women, etc.  When he said that he was not against Brahmins, he meant that he was not against those individuals, whom he saw as victims of their faith, but was only against their faith system as such.

On the contrary, Jayakandan says Brahminism as the quintessence of Upanishadic teachings.  He felt that it was the pinnacle of the Hindu faith system.  His argument was that the degeneration was caused by the people who practiced it, or rather did not practice it, but only paid lip sympathy to it.

Now, we come back to the question of whether the Ganga is clean.

While Jayakandan stands at Rishikesh, Periyar stands at Allahabad or Varanasi.

Once we understand their stand points, we can reconcile the seemingly contradictory stands.

Once, we resolve that there is pollution and that it has to be cleaned up, there is no more need to quarrel.

If one is going to argue that there is no pollution, then he is ignorant.  There is no point in arguing with him. If one is to argue that even if there is pollution, because it is sacred, we have to put up with it, then again there is no point in arguing with him.

There has not been a greater proponent of the greatness of Hinduism or Vedantism or Sanathana Dharma than Swami #Vivekananda.  Yet, there has not been a greater critique than him, to point out the ills of our system.  He called for a root-and-branch reform.

If we have to safeguard a system, the pollutants of the system have to be removed first.  In Ayurveda, medication is started only after a purging of the stomach. 

But the problem is that we continue to delude ourselves or allow others to delude us for their gains.

If someone calls for a root-and-branch reform today, we say that they are out to destroy.  ‘How can the root be changed and then the plant or tree survive?’ That is our emotional take.  We presume that we are rational too.

“I feel our country has an uncanny way of bringing out extremes in her people.  I suppose, it is because Indians have been both afflicted and enriched by centuries of migrations.  Loyalty to different rulers has dulled our capacity for a single allegiance. Instead, we have developed an extraordinary ability to be compassionate and cruel, sensitive and callous, deep and fickle, all at the same time.  To the untrained eye, we may appear colourful and picturesque, to the critical eye, we are but shoddy imitations of our various masters.”

  These are the words of #A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, in his book, ‘Wings of Fire’.

Unless we are able to come out of this psychological mess, we may not be able to make much headway, socially or spiritually.