Kurudhipunal is one of the master pieces of Tamizh writer Dr. Indira Parthasarathy. It has the incidents of Keezh venmani as its back drop. It won the Sahithya Akademy Award in 1977. In the novel, two protagonists discuss about the sorry state of affairs concerning the poor and downtrodden. One of them says that a revolution is in the offing. The other one says, it will not. He says that people of this country are so used to waiting for some avatar to come and save them that they will not organize and revolt themselves.
They believe that a Rama, a Krishna, a Buddha or a Gandhi will come to save them. After Gandhi, they believed in Nehru, then in Indira Gandhi, some in JP, some in Morarji Desai, then in Rajiv Gandhi and now in Modi. At the state levels also things are no different. This is also the reason why feudalism still survives.
The Indian is bound by the belief in the concept of Karma. Karma of his past binds his present. But he does not realize that his Karma of the present determines his future. He does not realize that Karma is both - doing as well as not doing, or refraining from doing or avoidance of action itself. It is plain sluggishness and basic fear that is at the root of this inertia.
He has for his support the story of Ajamila in the Bhagavatha, to emphasise that even if he is on the wrong path, surrender to the Lord will redeem him ultimately.
He does not realize the concept of surrender. He does not realize that such a surrender, is after realizing the error in the action undertaken thus far. It is not an insurance against planned execution of misdeeds. Such a distorted view has given rise to people conveniently planning diabolic moves, annihilating all other adversaries through cunning means and being merciless. Then they think that going to Rameswaram, to Gaya or to Kashi and having a dip in some holy waters will absolve them of all their ill deeds and take them straight to heaven.
All the oceans of Neptune cannot wash away the guilt of such murderous designs.
Real way to come out of the circuitous designs imposed by base instincts embedded within us is prescribed in one of the main Thirukkurals:
“மனத்துக்கண்
மாசிலன் ஆதல் அனைத்து அறன்
ஆகுல
நீர பிற."
(All virtues
stem out of a mind cleansed of dirt.
All else are mere posturing.)
Cleansing the mind is a process. It is continuous and difficult. It cannot be done simultaneously along with satiating ones craze for power, wealth and pride.
This is what realized people have repeatedly told us.
This is the real inner revolution.
The outer revolution on the social side spoken about by Dr. Indira Parthasarathy does not necessarily mean a bloody revolution. It is a conception change in the thought process. It underlines the need to organize at a particular level to achieve a common goal.
The average Hindu is afraid and apprehensive of the Muslim, Christian or a Sikh precisely because the Hindu is not organized as in the case of the others. It is also not a fact that the other religious denominations are all organized as one. There are sects and sub-sects within each. Yet, each such sub-sect or Church caters to its members. It is also open to others and even tries to woo the others. It does not shut its gates. Only dictum is that the new comer should follow the dictums prescribed. The movements within the Hindu fold like the Sri Ramakrishna Mission, ISKON, Satya Sai Seva Samithi, Brahma kumaris, Yogoda Satsangh, etc have taken cue from the organizations in other religions and have tried to have a common platform for a particular purpose. They are not aggressive organizations, but try to inculcate the concept of brotherhood and attempt to alleviate sufferings of the poor and down trodden.
But, trying to organize Hinduism as one, is the latest attempt – on political lines. And in this attempt, instead of organizing on the basis of humanitarianism, it is attempted by having some common enemies. To strengthen the inner wheels, what is getting consolidated is the caste-based identity. Since the castes are inherently opposed to each other and have superiority and inferiority complexes foiled into one, once the common enemy factor is lost, these inner wheels will fall asunder. Due to this reason, the common enemy factor should be kept reinforced by these new social scientists. Humanitarian approach that is the fulcrum for real bonding is lost in the face of animosities. This is no revolution at the social level either. We will be slipping back to old stone age.
The best course would be to be conscious of what one is doing, the purpose and whether it is to hurt others. Present hurt cannot be a reply to a past hurt, whether actual or perceived. We are only creating another karmic cycle then.
