What is Truth?

In response to a question posted offline to me, “What is Truth or Satya?” let me humbly submit my definition or the view that I hold on the ‘Satya’.

Truth is the spiritual culmination of our intangible but omnipotent thought process and the actions defined by virtue of that thought process- that leads to an atmosphere or aura of peace or Shanti.

As long as our actions are undefined by a responsible thought process, we astray in the wild dark alleys- unknown and unfulfilling; once we are able to guide our actions by the flow of thoughts activated in the thinking centre, we find Truth. It is a concept that can only be felt or understood by those who are willing or capable of understanding. The vitality it offers to the one who attain it can be gauged from the fact- it dissipates fear- not the fear of the society or the family- but individual fear. It encourages life by instilling a sense of courage and pride and sincere optimism. Much alike the revolutionaries- the Bhagat Singhs, the Chandrasekhar Azads, the Kshudiram Boses, et al. They never had to shed the artificial unnatural layer called fear. But it is my firm belief that fear loses its relevance once you arrive at the zenith called Truth.

The Truth is like the morning sun under whose presence the dew drops forming a canopy on the flora lose their charm and act and quickly disappear to upheld the virtue of it. And we do pronounce Satyamev Jayate. Truth alone shall win.

Dreams of a young mind

And only the other day did I find out that there are scores of young minds trapped in the vagaries of life either through courtesy of situations or through non-introspection of personality and clamorous goals ahead. Either of the cobwebs succeeds in trapping and slowly exhausting the victim to imminent death.

Young and vibrant minds shall have a level playing field- with a freedom to explore and catapult their way onto the unknown methods. But these innocuous-looking receptions that the young receive at their grandiose workplaces for small morsels of code are in actuality the baits to make the world of trade survive and engineer mountains of profit to the capitalist (and voracious employers).  And slowly and silently the deaths of thoughts start taking their shape. The once young and energetic and effervescent youth stands lost in the world of trade, the path to continuation and riches awaits- showing immense opportunities in terms of materialistic wealth that would be accumulated and swept away in unworthy but savory means.

Is there a path to redemption that may be chosen to achieve what the youth once thought to pursue and enrich with creative and spiritualistic juices?

Definitely, there is. But it’s narrow and looks shabby for such a grand (wo)man to follow. The youth is received by a myriad of provocations- a one such ‘thought’ that has outlived its age and is barely surviving, pleads to (the youth) let it live further- once the youth chooses the grandiose path its life would come to a scorching end; the youth is lost among the choices to choose from. Does the path that looks a little liberated from materialism would hand any satisfaction, would it allow me to embrace my dreams, would it encourage me to follow my mind and heart in cohesion- these many trumpets were beating reaching a crescendo with whether this path would let me ‘be me’.

A greater hollow was to follow these when almost similar questions were posed by the other much travelled path albeit with solutions and they said that we would give you all the riches of the world to buy anything you want, to get all the happiness of the world with these and none will be able to escape your desires. And they re-emphasized that we would titillate your senses with pleasures that were, till ago, were un-gettable.

The youth was spoilt for choices. But this time the choice was made easier. The grandeur path was head bent on immersing the youth with all the unwanted and unthinkable pleasures one may ever desire. The youth was apologetic; he allowed exploitation of oneself. What life is without the real pleasure- a quaint serene flow of pious actions devoted to cultivate the highest virtues- truth and kindness, affection and peace.

And the youth led oneself to the shabby looking path leading to the kingdom of knowledge and love where matter of desire is never able to take any tangible shape. The youth returned to being I and was kept in the highest spirits by the pleading dream. 

Mother

Womanhood needs to be celebrated as often as we can. Pristine, pious, natural and effervescent. As children we’ve went through a peck of subjects- literature, science, civics and the dreaded mathematics (it still a mystery as to why there exists a pre-conceived bias towards this beautiful as beautiful a subject!!). Today’s children are carrying that legacy too and the futuristic projections speak of a similar order. We then hated certain subjects (in general literature) and wished if they could be done away with. I shudder in fear- what if it had happened in actuality- I may not be gifted to think all these actually! Yes, it is the thinking and analysis part- emotions, expressions and understanding that literature and language papers bequeath upon- it is undoubtedly their worthiest endowment. Yet they languish in the bins- in a comatose state of perpetual degradation. And yet we still find our way to metamorphose into ‘good beings’ on account of other characteristics and under the lustful eyes of this adulterated society where the pathos of women are regularly swept under the carpet- as if there is never going to be ‘a day’. How naïve!!

It is not that the coin doesn’t have another side- but, in general, woman has been objectified to an unassuming extent for practising criminals to lay their bare hands on and still do away with the laws available in the honourable Constitution. And we are all aware of a process called ‘growth’ as well as ‘spare the rod spoil the child’ theory, but still the society allows the rogue elements to grow and nurture within. The cases like Ruchika Girhotra, Aarushi, Jessica, etc. speak volumes (not to include the innumerable cases that go unrecorded and unnoticed) of biased criminality. Why? - Because woman has been crowned as fairer and weaker and tender sex. ‘Chivalric hypocrisy’ has infested our society and its roots are wrecking and jolting the established normative attitude and behavior of the people. In this context I present a few incidents that I observed in my day-to-day life.

1. We three friends were sitting in a popular eatery in Salt Lake in Kolkata and on an adjacent table was sitting an elderly lady (probably waiting for her children). She looked a little uncomfortable as her old visage suggested. Came her modern daughter-in-law with her baby child (less than a year old) and in a tone of cold-hearted callousness inquired if she was feeling comfortable and adding a weighty suggestion not to dwell too much on her problems!! The comforting words never healed as they were not supposed to; then arrived the son of the old lady with food plates and the nuclear family (except the old lady) buried themselves in a spree of photo taking and relishing the dishes. The old lady nonchalantly buried her pains in the moments of her son and his family. Or her family??

Questions:

• Are the Sunday Dinners in a restaurant more fulfilling and worthier than a Mother’s comfort?
• Where is the need to be ‘selective about happiness’?

Moral: A sagacious king takes good care of all his subjects without prejudice and allows his mind to work in conjunction with the heart. The daughter-in-law might have missed the opportunity to reflect qualities of a good king/queen and so did the son.

2. I was going to Uttarpara on a sunny rainy morning- from Shyambazar on the legendary Bus No. 3. This bus tests the patience of the most overzealous procrastinator’s mind. The slowest of the snails laugh at its slowness. I’ve heard them puking (when they are drunk) on the jokes at the expense of Bus No.3. It got oversubscribed at Dunlop and a young lady with a baby boarded it. None of us men made chivalrous gestures; a younger lady promptly offered her the seat. The excellently-laid roads were vibrating our bodies and poked at the baby’s slumber. May be something else as well. The Mother sensed the hunger and opened her bosoms- lull arrived- Mother scored over the nature’s shocking vibration; canopying the baby and herself with the side of her sari- the pallu; the prying eyes of the society shamelessly shattered in their defeat. The man opposite to her was looking down- now.    

Question: ‘Man with one-part libido and nine-part intelligence still loses battles against woman with one part intelligence and nine-part libido!’

(Quoting from a Sufi story as told to me by my friend Arjun).

Moral: Virtues in life are to be practiced by relevant actions and not mere words. Start offering the virtues and then live happily ever after.

3. On the same Sunday in the evening at City Centre in Salt Lake, Kolkata, I saw a lady with a baby resting its head on her Mother’s shoulders and the cries of the baby were promptly justified by thrusting a bottle of milk into her tiny mouth. The cries were punctuated and changed to gargles.

Question: Were those gargles suggestive of the baby’s contentment or symbolizing the hidden bubbles of refusal?

Moral:

• Breastfeeding is not a cultural degradation or an unfashionable statement. It is yet to be enlisted in the endangered practices of the modern era. Mother’s milk helps the child to defend against a serpentine list of attacks. Exercises will definitely help ‘to get back in shape’.

• Shopping may wait aunty, neither the milk, nor the baby!!

The three protagonists are the three ladies with a shared attribute that puts them all on a common platform- they care for the baby or the child in totality or non-reflecting totality (explicitly or implicitly). They care least about the different interpretations of the society. To them it is the child that matters. They brought the child and nurtured it in their womb bracing all the events during that period.

In retrospect- does the society reciprocated actions with any dignified poise? The child, at once, forgets the pains of the Mother when grows big enough to be classified as an adult. The society is sure not to mend or bend its lecherous ways. The society, however, may be successful in mending the ways of the new age mothers who would care the most only about the child, with the material options available to them. It’s the purity that is going to suffer, sadly. A vicious circle waits and smiles back at the society; the society narrowly missed the smile else it would have started working on the plans to re-design its thinking and action cap for a rosy and bright picture ahead. Wake up. Wake up…     

Remembering Truth

Gandhiji fought the hardest battle of his life when he pitched against casteism- an electoral grapevine tailor-made for the politicians of today’s India. He was visionary enough to realize the assimilation of all pillars of the society- to give them equal satisfaction- to put them on the same quarter- to hand them the realization that British were driven out by everyone’s collective effort and hence to lay claims on the freedom so-earned would not be the private privilege of a few.

Though the country got freedom, still remains to be seen if the rule of Animal Farm can be negated. It, rather, cultivates and blossoms uninterrupted- disparaging our idea of freedom. While in our daily lives, we are encountering the filthiest of the scams in every possible arena- be it natural resources, public offices, electromagnetic signals and spectrum, etc. - the head of our government pronounces with vehement opposition the lacunae in our thought process- decrying further about the non-existence of money plants as if we live in an utopian island, and stooping to the lowest levels in the defense of its soot-smeared coterie of shameless but brazen council of wise men. Even under these tough conditions, it is the commonest of the man who does not sacrifices ego and speak truth- hailing Gandhi in some or some other way.

While flipping through the pages of India’s Struggle for Independence- a common trait I found amongst the then nationalists or revolutionaries was ‘truth’ and its protection with all means. I’m not comparing these luminaries with those men. Non pareil. When Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt decided to throw harmless smoke bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly against the Public Safety Bill and the Trades Disputes Bill that were to curtail the civil liberties of the citizens in general and workers in particular- they knew beforehand the consequences that were to follow and stuck to truth till death. Many other revered leaders and uncountable Hindustanis sacrificed themselves but never bartered Satya. Similar feat shall never be expected or even thought of. The dignity and grandeur with which they upheld the modesty of truth remains a prayer to the common man.

Long ago I heard a non-fictional story^* from my grandfather-like old man Dr. Krishna Bihari Mishra. The narrative was that an atheist of grand reputation came on a diplomatic mission to our country and while leaving said that he had started believing in God- a country with such bureaucracy and leaders, and diversity in all fields would not function a while without an active intervention (or participation) of a supreme power called God. May be he was indirectly referring to the common man’s sagacity and ideals- imbibed from those visionaries and revolutionaries- were not they God in the garb of man!!

                                                                                             
Jai Hind. Jai Bharat.

[N.B. *I don’t have documents to support the claim though. Truth is what I believe in.]

Another brick in the wall

Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhansa Dev simplified the code to earn a podium finish in the quest to reach the altars of unknown-yet among us- the omnipotent, the belief, the vie called God or Ishwar. He quoted, “Jato mat, tato path” that translates to an obvious but transcendental – ‘different opinions lead to the doors of the God, the ways may be different but all converge at the only option called God.’ Or to be put simply, a mathematical problem may be solved in a number of ways but the correct answer would be only one, and a probable probability would be that all the different but correct solutions lead to that answer only.

Applying or in that parlance of object oriented programming ‘extending’ the same concept to other fields of thought would reverberate similarly. How does a rational being react when served by a ‘child labor’ (this term’s exclusive usage rights lie with the developing or the under developing countries!!)? We all react in ways that may differ by the width of a hair- the commonality being we wish the child a better future or the same message works latently in our opinions or agenda.

Last Sunday, my friend Sohail and I were coming from Narayanpur (a place near Rajarhat, Kolkata) and decided to go for some Chinese; ‘Indian-Chinese’ of course- near Koikhali (a place near Airport, Kolkata). A paneer roll and an egg chowmin we placed as ‘requests’ and invariably a child (aged about 7-8 years) attended to these requests and then sat next to me. Out of sheer curiosity and courtesy I engaged him in a smaller conversation for a minute that is detailed below:

I:        What is your name?

Child:  Monirul Manna.

I:        Do you go to school?

Child:  I used to go to a madarsha till recently (pauses). But now I work here.

I:        Why?

Child:  In the madarsha they used to beat (showing his palms and knees that bore fresh bruises) severely if the lessons are not memorized as per the instructions. (At once The Selfish Giant by Mr. Ruskin Bond came briskly to my mind).

I:        How long would you work here?

(He is lost in the question and I eagerly awaited his reply. His face blanks afterwards and I got the reply.)

I:        Do you know the people who work here?

Child: (Pointing to one of the fellows) He is Chorrda (the youngest amongst the elder brothers in a Bengali family). He brought me here.

I:        Do they give you food?

Child:  They cook rice, vegetables, etc. (as surviving on Indian- Chinese would be a fatal act in the long run) and at times fish as well.

I:        Do they give you money?

(He chooses to filter the questions like a mature politician and his silence answers promptly.)

I:        Where are your parents?

Child: (He looked more than happy on being reminisced about them) they stay near Ghatakpukur (a place on the outskirts of Kolkata famous for fresh vegetables, but is a little filthy as well!!)

His Chorrda probably called him out and he ran away to listen to the instructions with rapt attention.

The objective answers or the stark face of the child brings to the front the demonic nature of the society that we’re dwelling in. Of course, it depends on which side of the fence we’re sitting (or standing!!)

Corporal punishment has been banished long ago yet its patrons are belittling its end. Government can only bring laws but it’s the responsibility of the citizens to abide by it (though all laws are not sane enough to be categorized as tolerable e.g. 124A). A certain theory that works wonders at one place may fair miserably elsewhere; theories are not mere medicines to resolve adverse situations- the attributes guiding their success vary extensively and it is their flexibility that suggests the efficacy and longevity of the proposed theory. We must not mock ourselves by treading off the beaten track to prove our point. 

‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ is a no-taker and falls flat in its face. Is there a substitute to Love? I find none. What do we do when our planted sapling emanates dying signals? Don’t we initiate caring and tender measures to prolong its due ‘life’!!

We, human beings are benign and kind by nature- but some of our traits are quite submissive; we forget about our kindness- dominating traits follow and reflect through cruelty, hatred and other animalistic behaviors.

Action: We need ‘to work with’ the submissive traits- nucleate them- and make a career in them. And cruelty and its brethren gang must be given a ‘proper burial’.

[P.S.:  How does the Right to Education Act rehabilitates fellows like Monirul and his peers??  Simply mandating the schools to accommodate them would in all probability lead to a loss of whatsoever livelihood and the bread that they get. It is a choice between hunger and future. The individual decisions, though, would be heavily skewed towards the former!! And when the concerns are the lives of lakhs of children, it needs more than laws’ enactment- the need is the real action- sans reel magnanimous boasting and sledging on the television channels. (We) Join NGOs and other such organizations to pave a livable future for the marginalized generations- if it fills you with a sense of relief, happiness and satisfaction. Else the world is a big space to find the mind space elsewhere].