DHARMA

 

Came across a news item circulated in Whatsapp as below:

 

"In the Indian state of Karnataka, a leopard was chasing a dog to eat it, but the dog ran and jumped into the toilet of a government rest house, whose door was locked from the outside. The leopard also entered the toilet but both got trapped. The dog saw the leopard and sat quietly in a corner, waiting for the leopard to attack. Both animals stayed in different corners for about 12 hours. Then, the forest department team used a tranquilizer dart to capture the leopard and release it. The question is, why didn't the hungry leopard eat the dog, even though it was chasing it to eat, and could have easily done so in the locked toilet?"

-      I was reminded of another photo and news item where a Cheetah was kept in a cage near three other cages in which three dogs were also kept and when they were all released, when the dogs lunged forward, the cheetah had kept quiet.  The message said that the cheetah was not ready to prove its speed, just for a race.

While the Cheetah might have signaled ‘self respect’, the behavior of the leopard when it was trapped along with a prey it was pursuing, is intriguing.

On one hand, the pose of the dog, putting it’s head down, expecting to be attacked any moment by it’s expected predator, is heart rending.  On the other hand, the pose of the leopard lying in the other corner, perhaps expecting to be killed or trapped any moment is also hear rending.

The question as to why the leopard did not kill it’s prey, could be answered only by the probability that it knew about the trap and was fearing for it’s own life. The second possibility is it did not want to hunt a trapped prey?

Of course, had it been a man, in the place of the leopard, perhaps, even at that moment, he would have preferred to make best use of the opportunity and would have had a go at the prey.

Animals after all are seen to have some ground rules - DHARMA.

CHILD PLAY

 

CHILD PLAY

 

Children play
on the sea shores.

They run around,
Fall and rise,
Wet their feet’
In the graceful waves.

Children play
on the sea shores.

With the sand that was kissed
By repeated waves,
They build their house
With tiny hands.

Children play
on the sea shores.

When the waves advance
And touch their house
Or dash them down
They weep and yet,

Children play
on the sea shores.

Again and again,
They build houses,
With wet sand and
Tiny hands,

And Then when
roaring waves advance,
They jump aside,
And clap with glee

Even as the houses
Built by them
Are swept away
Without a trace.

Children play
on the sea shores.

When they grow up,
They walk around,
Lie on the sand
Stare at the sky.

Other children play
on the sea shores.

Then they watch
Other children build
Houses in sand
And the waves
Washing them away.

They smile at the games
other children play, for
‘Building houses in sand
Is better than castles in the air’.

Houses get built
Again and again
With wet sand and
Tiny hands,
Get destroyed
Again and again
By the raiding tides,
Without respite.

Still children play
And people watch
The endless game
With the endless waves.

Children still play
On the sea shores.

 

Antidote for 'Emergency'

 

Though I was only in the 5th Standard when the #Emergency was clamped, from my father I used to get regular updates regarding the happenings. It ignited the spirit to stand against injustice and authoritarianism.

Later from books like 'The Judgment' by #KuldipNayar (who with the support of #RamnathGoenka had conducted a spirited campaign against the Emergency through the Indian Express) and 'Delhi Under Emergency', I had the opportunity to learn about the Emergency vividly. The Book about the Alahabad High Court trial by #PrashanthBushan (The case that shook India) also was highly informative, giving the detailed proceedings in the High Court in which Shanthi Bushan had represented Raj Narayan against #Smt.IndiraGandhi which ultimately led to the unseating of the PM and her imposition of the Emergency to protect her reign.

What precipitated the Emergency was the refusal of #JusticeV.R.KrishnaIyer to give an unconditional stay against the High Court Order, but only a 10 day stay to enable the Congress party to elect a leader to occupy the post of PM. The Legendary #NaniPalkiwala, who was appearing on behalf of Smt. Indira Gandhi in the Supreme Court, walked out of the case, once the Emergency was declared and opposition leaders including JP and Morarji were arrested and put in jail.

What we faced during the 19 months of Emergency was only a small glimpse of what had been faced in other parts of the world during fascist regimes.

Nightmares still continue in various methods in different degrees, till date.

Hence, on this day, we once again try to analyze the symptoms of such ills and its antidote.

Symptoms:

Centralization of power

The belief in one leader as savior from all ills

The belief of the leader about one’s own importance and indispensability

Acceptance of the above from majority of people

Formation of cartels around the leader who has been accepted by popular support

Vested interests taking roots in the cartels

The leader coming under the sway of the cartels

All institutions made subservient to the interests of the supreme leader and the cartel that has formed around the leader

With the erosion of institutions, more and more dissent getting suppressed

Only ‘Yes men’ allowed

The leader gets alienated from the masses and real needs.

Antidote:

Consistent attempts by people with knowledge of the dangers of the above, to keep the people informed about the eventuality.

Constant reminder that in the entire history of humanity, no single human (or for that even ideology) has been able to solve all problems of mankind.

Constant reminder that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Constant reminder that there are no short cuts to development – that real and lasting development depends upon all round growth.

Constant reminder that what goes round, also comes round - injustice caused to one today could knock at our own gates tomorrow – and there may not be any one to support us, if we are quiet now, or even support injustice directly or tacitly.

Constant efforts to keep institutions of democracy and governance protected from encroachment by vested interests.

Reminding every generation that ‘Eternal vigil is the price of freedom’.

Protection from knowledge and even God

Al-Hujwiri was a Sufi saint belonging to the 11th Century, born near Ghazni (more known for the Muhamad of Ghazni, the invader) in Afghanistan.

Like many of the statements of the Sufi saints, some of his chief statements attracted me.

In his work, ‘Kashf al-Mahjub’ he is quoted as to saying:

“Whatever may be an activity, good or bad, once one gets used to it, mind easily accepts it. When such a habit is formed, then this practice itself becomes a screen between oneself and God. To tear that screen becomes the chief duty of a Sufi”.

It is stated that Mohammed the Prophet used to say that the fasting of brother Dawood Alaihislam was the greatest method of fasting because he would fast one day and would not do so on another day.

Fundamentally, all this point towards annihilating ritualism and even what one would hold as great knowledge.

This reminds one of the verse 9 of the Isopanishad which says,

“They who worship ignorance enter into darkness
They who worship knowledge enter into greater darkness”.

For an ordinary mind the first part is clear while the second is stupefying since knowledge only is capable of extinguishing ignorance and knowledge is after all held to be power.

This seemingly contradictory statement has been explained by great ones clarifying that worship of knowledge is different from acquiring knowledge and worshipping knowledge means one has stopped learning, but become ritualistic and hence is an impediment in really getting enlightened. It has been explained like this: To remove the thorn of ignorance, the thorn called knowledge is required and once the thorn called ignorance is removed, then the use of the thorn called knowledge also vanishes.


There is a story narrated about Abu Bakr al-Shibli, one of the great Sufi mystics.

It goes that when Shibli had a wash of himself and was about to enter the shrine, a voice within himself asked, ‘Do you think that you are very pure just because you have washed yourself?’.

When he was about to turn around and leave, the voice asked, ‘Having come to my house, are you returning without entering and thus insulting me?’.

When Shibli started lamenting about this predicament aloud, the voice within asked, ‘Are you shouting at me?’.

When Shibli kept quiet, the voice asked, ‘Are you putting on an act as if you are putting up with all ordeals?’.

In sheer exasperation Shibli cried, ‘Hey God, I pray that you may protect me from you’.

Sacrifice of oneself at the alter of God is said to be the greatest sacrifice.

All spiritual greats have repeatedly said this over centuries, all across the globe at various times.

God, grant us that wisdom.

Id Mubarak on this Bakrid to all friends.

 

 

God and inequality

          Once when we were arguing our case to an official, my friend said that there should be equality in application of certain principles.  The official with a wave of his hand said, ‘don’t talk about equality, even God is not equal’.  Though I was about to point out the provisions of the Constitution which stressed on equality before law, what actually I blurted out was, “Sir, that is the exclusive prerogative of God. I do not think humans should usurp it”. I said. This was something unexpected even by me.  The Official was startled. He looked up from the file he was perusing even while speaking to us, put down the pen and said, “ I am sorry, I withdraw my statement”.  His reaction was even more unexpected.  Instead of becoming angry, he had suddenly realized the enormity of his statement.

          Whenever I remember this episode, I am reminded of the parable in the Bible where workers come to a farm from morning to evening at different times of the day and at the time of leaving they are all given their wages for the day.  The one who came last is given an amount and the same amount is given to the one who came first also, prompting the one who came first to ask, how when he came early and toiled for more hours he was paid only what was paid to a person who came much later and worked for a much lesser time.  The owner of the farm tells him, ‘look only into what has been given to you, not into what was given to others’.

          This parable has been a bone of contention for those who believe in the theory of equality and particularly the Communists who feel that every one ought to be paid as per their contribution.

          Capitalists have however refused to accept the concept of such equality on grounds that the quality of work cannot be quantified as per the time taken to perform alone and also that it is the exclusive prerogative of the ‘owner’ to determine what should be given to whom.

          The parable in the Bible however is not related to material equality.  It is to be understood in the context of spiritual excellence.  When someone reaches the goal, it is immaterial whether he was first or last. It is this concept that is emphasized in the Bhagavatha story of Ajamila also.

          From the story of Ajamila one would feel that it is enough if he thinks of God at the time of death, for in the Bhagavat Gita it is said that one attains what one thinks at the time of death. 

(8.6: Whatever one remembers upon giving up the body at the time of death, O son of Kunti, one attains that state, being always absorbed in such contemplation.)

          However, it has been emphasized by the realized that it is not as easy as that.  At the time of death, only that desire which is predominant in mind would arise, they say. 

Two films and a message

 

Happened to see two films – both in Malayalam, in amazon prime.

One is Naradan.  

It depicts the evil side of the 24x7 news channels which are desperate to increase their ratings at the cost of peddling (or even creating) false narratives in the name of news, without concern about the damage it does to the individuals concerned who become victims and also the larger good of the society.  It shows the arrogance that goes with that power to intrude into individual and private life in the name of freedom of the press and speech.  It ends with the sweet dream of an incorruptible Munsif/Magistrate directing the Police to file an FIR against the protagonist. Indirans as the Munsif/Magistrate has displayed magisterial regal.  He stands on the side of the poor who cannot afford to approach the judicial forums for a compensation for their life and reputation being spoiled by the mighty and money hungry media.

The other one is Aatam – The Play.  

It revolves around an allegation of sexual assault by the lone lady member of a drama troop against a leading actor of the film industry who happens to be the main actor in the troop.  What forms the plot of the film is the discussion that takes place between the other members of the troop regarding what action is to be taken against the alleged offender.  Some want to find the veracity of the allegation.  Some have a doubt whether there is proof that it was the said person who was the perpetrator.  Some suggest a compromise between the two. One suggests a mid way of a suspension for 6 months or 1 year.  There are also persons who are of strong opinion that there cannot be any compromise on such issues and the person against whom the allegation has been made has to be sent out of the troop.  Though one or two are still having doubts about the stand that they are to take in the matter, they decide to abide by the decision of the others.  But before the decision is communicated, they want to have a word with the victim to show that they are all with her.  One of the members of the troop is sent to fetch her.  In the meanwhile the person against whom the allegation has been leveled happens to turn up to meet the leader of the troop and makes a promise of taking the troop on a foreign trip for 3 months.  This promise makes the members of the troop slowly change their stand one by one and by the time the victim arrives on the scene, there is a different scene.  It shows how thin the question of moral compunctions is in our society.  There is a twist, I do not want to reveal.  I was reminded about the German drama 'Zeit der Schuldlosen' by #SiegfriedLenz, which has been translated into Tamil by G. Krishnamurthy under the name of ‘Nirabarathikalin Kaalam’.(நிரபராதிகளின் காலம்).  Though the German play is with a political background, I feel the basic issues remain the same. 

I only felt that if the common man is able to appreciate the issues presented in both the above movies, we would evolve into a far more better society and would not allow people, particularly politicians and moneyed mafia to take us for a ride.

BEHIND THE BOND

 

The data about the #ElectoralBonds released by the EC has prima facie shown that it was another grand scam like the #Demonitisation (Demo for short).

The similarities are quite striking.

In the case of Demo, the #RBI was used as a shield.  In the case of the Political Electoral Bond (PEB for short), it was the #SBI.

In Demo, the Government said that the intention was to wipe out black money and fake currency (issued primarily by Pakistan).

But, what was hidden under the carpet from the eyes of the gullible common man is that black money is not related to the currency held in one’s hand.  It is related to whether it is accounted for (not merely accounted) and has been subjected to tax that it ought to have been.  It changes from its nature of being black or white depending upon with whom it is at the time of the transaction, when it was required to be accounted for and subjected to tax.  With the next transaction, it changes the colour depending upon whether the recipient was required to account for it and had to pay any tax and whether it was done so or not.   For example, if a person who has earned money that should have been subjected to Income Tax, but he either did not account for the said transaction in his IT returns and spent the money for purchase of groceries on a large scale and gave it away to some organization which fed the poor, the money has changed hands, is not taxable at the hands of the grocery merchant, if he is below the IT limits and is not going to be taxed at the recipient end, which is the organization feeding the poor (exempted as a charitable organisation).  Yet, the liability of the person who did not account for the income remains.  To get hold of that tax, no end of chasing of the currency would matter. Because, from the grocer, it could have changed hands to a whole-sale merchant, who might have accounted for it or not and from there to some other supplier or to a manufacturer or down the lane to some other persons.  And if the money has reached the hands of an agriculturist it becomes non-taxable and thus is white at that point.

The second example is that of a person who earns money which is taxable, but shows it in his book of accounts under a category of non-taxable receipt.  This money also changes many hands.  Classic case is incomes shown as generated out of agricultural activities, even if no such activity had been undertaken.  There is no use in chasing that currency because it does not stay with the person who has stained it.

Thus, black money could be essentially and properly checked only by means of checking the accounts and investigating those who have filed false returns or evaded tax.  Not by going after the currency in the hands of all and sundry.  Thus this stated objective itself was false.

Regarding the next stated objective regarding checking fake currency, it is indeed directly related to the currency.

But during the Demo exercise, when exchange of notes was made mandatory, there was no mechanism to check whether the currencies obtained across the counter were fake or not.  Since there was no mechanism of noting down the number of the currency and from whom it has been obtained, even if it is stated that the Banks subsequently undertook a verification of the genuineness of the currency, there was no way they could have tracked down the person who exchanged it.  They had also by that time issued genuine currency in that place. 

Then of course, as revealed in the Sekhar Reddy episode where crores worth of currency in Rs. 2000 denomination had been seized during a raid, within days of demo, even as people were standing in queues to get two such notes, all transactions did not necessarily take place across the counters and some persons were lucky enough to get them exchanged in lump sum.  It is another thing that subsequently the case was said to have been closed on finding that all that was ‘accounted’.  This again proves the disconnect between the colour of the currency and the colour of the accounts.

All the more important is that there is no statistics revealed by the RBI regarding what number of such fake currency had been thus got exchanged for new genuine ones.

The other issues that they stated regarding fake currency were (a) that it was enabled due to imported paper used for printing the currency in India and (b) due to high denomination currency in circulation.

These stated objectives were also proved to be a mere eye wash when subsequently paper for printing currency was imported again and a still higher denomination (Rs 2000) currency was issued in the place of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 thus making it more luring and profitable to issue fake currency (in a higher denomination).

The final tally of the currency which had come into the RBI also disproved the Government claim that it expected that there will be a deficit of 15% of the money in circulation when it comes back and thus it will be the net saving.  The total number of currency which came in was almost 100% (99.3% as per RBI) to that which was issued.  The counting in the last phases became very slow beating even Ravi Shastri’s innings at the finals of the Benson and Hedges in 1985. 

In the case of Political Electoral Bonds it was stated that the intention was to stop illegal political funding.  The second limb was the assurance that the identity of the donors will be maintained to ensure that there will not be victimization. 

Here again, the legality or illegality of political funding does not depend merely upon whether the fund has come through banking channels. First criterion is regarding whether it is accounted on both the sides, whether it has suffered the eligible tax deductions and then whether there is any quid-pro-quo for the said donations.

What the details of the PEB revealed by the SBI have shown is that there is every indication that the funding has been for some quid-pro-quo.  Either it is in the way of contracts, obtained or to be obtained; or to wriggle out of some case already booked or to be booked by any of the agencies like CBI, IB, ED, etc.  These could obviously be operated only by the parties in power, whether at the Center or at the States and thus, the entire funding itself is obviously illegal, irrespective of whether it came through the bank or not. That the donors have donated beyond their capabilities as per their own books of account again evidence that merely because it came through banks, it is not white money.

As in the case of Demo, here again it is proved that black and white do not depend merely on being accounted or coming in through banking channels.  People who still do not understand this difference shall continue to be duped again and again by the advertised concept of transparency through banking transactions.

Secondly, when the scheme said that the donations will be anonymous – at least to those not involved in it- it was quite contrary to the requirement for any banking system to reconcile receipts and payments; to verify whether the bonds that were being realized were the ones actually issued by the institution itself; that no cash purchase was possible and only through bank accounts; that Banks had to take the KYC of the donors; that realization could be done only by way of deposit in another bank account and when such data is available with the institution, no anonymity is possible, particularly from the eyes of the Government and when the scheme itself stated that the data should be provided if demanded by a competent Court, the said declaration of providing cover or protection to the donor itself was misleading. If at all there was any intention of keeping it anonymous, it was only from the knowledge of the public, who are the citizens, called upon to vote, in the name of promises, from time to time.

In the above scenario, when the Bonds were having an alphanumeric identity, the SBI taking a stand after 16 or 17 days of the Supreme Court order requiring them to reveal the details of the bonds, that they found it difficult to match the donors and recipients (something the Court had never required them to do in the first instance) is obviously a lie.  Once the data was out, people have been able to match it within a few hours. Because all of us know that the SBI and Mr. Harish Salve were saying the lie with impunity only because they, like anyone else knew that they had the backing of the Government, no action could be expected against them for making such a statement.  Nor will they be hauled up for not understanding simple English which required them to reveal all details, and instead they chose to misunderstand it in a very complicated way, ‘in the light of some paras of some earlier judgment’.  If any ordinary mortal had attempted such tricks before even the lowest court in the land, he would have landed up in jail.  But mighty Government is mighty due to their having gained absolute majority. 

When the alphanumeric details of the bonds were released, it only confirmed the quid-pro-quo nature of all these donations.  The time line, the amount involved and the parties involved have made it obvious regarding the purpose for which these donations took place.  They were definitely ‘not in the national interest’. If they had anything to do with elections, then it was only for further illegal dealings using the said money.

This episode not only revealed yet another hollowness of the claims of the BJP Government, but also shows how brazenly people are being taken for a ride in the name of tall promises of cleaning up the economy or the system.

As a last ditch attempt, the SBI and FICCI, ASSOCHAM, etc were made to attempt to thwart revealing the alphanumeric details of the PEB.  Mr. Harish Salve appearing for the SBI openly sought a declaration from the SC that no PILs should be entertained on the basis of the information.  Mr. Mukul Rohatgi representing the Associations of the Industries and Commerce/Corporates (donors) said that they feared that there will be a witch-hunt once the data is revealed.

The episode once again shows how the BJP let down those who believed in them – that they will deliver on the stated objective.

It could also be a pointer that the trade or captains of Industry fear that BJP may not come back next time and hence they may be in trouble since the contributions to BJP is the highest.  Otherwise, why should they talk about witch-hunt?

From this revelation, what is clear is that the very persons who came to power in 2014 in the name of cleaning up politics and the economy have only further muddied them and in the process the investigating agencies have blatantly and brazenly been misused to suit the needs of the party in power.

The other thing is that there is no difference between any of the political parties.  Either they get money through deals for contracts, or through some policy that might help only someone who give them money, or by threats of raids, arrests, etc.  The one who came up promising to be a messiah against all these ills has proved to be only a master of these techniques.

When it becomes blatant that investigations could be launched against any one and pre-trial arrest itself will be seen and propagated as evidence of guilt and the persons could be bound down, even Judges cannot remain fearless in such an atmosphere.  Then, to expect that in the face of such misuse, Judiciary can come to the rescue is also difficult to believe, always. 

One Dhanjaya cannot don all roles and all times.  He is not after all Krishna Paramatma.

In such a scenario, democracy becomes a farce, because there is no level playing field.  Russia also conducts elections.  But we do not consider them democratic any more. 

So more than the monetary element, what is at the back of the Bond is the revelation that we are in deep trouble as a democracy and as a state.