Lessons from Gandhiji's death

On Gandhiji's death anniversary, are there lessons that we can learn? Using the lens of Viveka (discrimination) & a Hamsa (taking only the good & leaving the bad), looking at the good lessons that we can learn from Gandhiji.

Debate vs killing:
If we disagree with someone, the first step that we can do is indulge in debate. If a society doesn't allow debate (eg: blasphemy/heresy laws), it would be an oppressive society that will need tremendous efforts to allow free speech. Debate the person in the realm of ideas & defeat them.

Samskritam doesn't even have a word for blasphemy: all ideas are open to discussion. Use SamVAda, the good debate, as a guideline, as defined by the ancients in the NyAya Sutra. In Samskritam, there are words for Vadha (killing in battle) vs Hatya (murder). Murdering one (Hatya) indicates that the battle is lost in the realm of ideas.

Sadly, in today's world, bloggers, cartoonists & journalists are still targeted. Gulags & enslavement still exist.

Paraphrasing Gandhiji, when truth is by one's side: "First, they ignore you. Then, they laugh at you. Then, they fight you. Then you win." Speak out & debate on issues that matter to you. If there are issues that are deliberately hidden by those in power, bring them out.

Congress restructuring:
Gandhiji, two days before his death, called for the Congress to be disbanded & converted to a charitable organization, called Lok Sevak Sangh, with a GoSeva Sangh (cow protection), teetotalism, Harijan Seva Sangh & local economy ventures. Would someone with power willingly give it up?

Gandhiji's ideal: It is best to have someone in power, who is not power hungry, and who will give it up willingly to someone more worthy.

Targeted mob violence:
Gandhiji was an Ahimsavadi, a proponent of non-violence & non-cruelty. He was against revenge: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

The Nazi Jewish/Roma holocaust remembrance day also just passed. The New Testament has four gospels by Mark, Matthew, Luke & John. Mark records Christ's story as an intra-Jewish feud. Matthew (27.25) starts blaming Jews. John starts calling the Jews derogatory names (8.44). This origin of a simple anti-Jewish thought has resulted in Jewish persecution over millenia & a plethora of anti-Jewish literature (eg: Shakesphere's Merchant of Venice).

Such simple 'othering' such as non-believers & reactionaries (enemy of the people) have resulted in genocides of millions.

Once Nathuram Godse murdered Gandhiji, Congress workers & sectarian groups called for violence in Maharashtra. In just a matter of hours, 15-50 Brahmins were killed. The killing continued & the unofficial estimates are in 1000s. Narayan Savarkar, the brother of Veer Savarkar, was one of the victims: stoned to death. Thousands of Brahmana houses were burnt.

This pattern would be repeated in the 1984 anti-Sikh Delhi violence by the Congress workers, condoned by the would-be Prime Minister. Repeated yet again in the Mulayam Singh Yadav Kar Sevak massacre in 1990, Ayodhya. Totalitarian ideologies have time & again wiped out diversity. They can be spotted in regions with mono-cultures.

Any ideology that has a history of genocide & 'othering' needs to be looked at with a critical lens & then combated in the realm of ideas.

Freedom:
Gandhiji posed a brilliant question in his iconic: "Hind Swaraj". If you're being oppressed, let's say you got rid of the oppressors. But you brought in your own ethnic people, who are now oppressing you. Is that really freedom?

First, freedom has to be in one's own mind & spirit. That is true freedom. External freedom would follow.

Avatar, the last airbender: Ode to Indian Yogis

In "Avatar, the last airbender", a hit beloved highly rated animated series, there is a small ode to the Indian Yogis. In Season 2, Episode 19: Aang meets Guru Pathik who helps him unlock his Chakras. There is a wonderfully animated analogy shown at the beginning of the episode with pools of flowing waters which get blocked by impurities that needs to be removed. A wonderful episode in a thrilling adventurous series.

Kittur Chennamma & historical parallels

In the sci-fi series Expanse, season 3, it was nice to see one of the Martian warships named Kittur Chennamma. She was the second queen (AFAIK) to fight for independence against the British East India company. (The first queen was Velu Nachiar of Sivagangai).

She would win the first battle, and release the captured British with an assurance of no more war.

Similar to the episode between Prithviraj Chauhan & Muhammad Ghori, the company would resume hostilites. She would fight bravely, but be defeated, captured & imprisoned till death. The "Doctrine of Lapse" which disallowed adoptions was used to justify war, as it would be used against Rani Lakshmibai (Manikarnika). Both queens had lost their respective husband & sons.

Some historians have wondered about the suspiciously high number of deaths of young princes in the India ruled by the British East India company. The British kept records but burnt them before India's independence, again similar to the Portuguese burning records of the Goan inquisition.

We may never know.

Wuhan Coronavirus-lessons for future epidemics

How do you get new deadly diseases? One way is from other species. SARS (from hens' avian flu), Swine flu & now Coronavirus.

How do you increase the risk? By cramping together animals in small cages in filthy conditions.

How to increase risk even more? Pump these animals with antibiotics, allowing the microbes to mutate to gain resistance, becoming super-bugs, rendering the antibiotics (discovered after great efforts) useless.

Once the body is dead, with no immune system, the body becomes a playground for microbes. Like the case of a girl who picked up a dead bird & got infected by a variant of the black plague. Cremating dead bodies quickly will reduce risk, as the Chinese govt is doing now to some Coronavirus victims.

How to increase risk even more? As the permafrost melts with a warming planet, ancient microbes are released. Anthrax cases were reported in the Tundra, the infections caused by once frozen animal bodies decomposing.

Maybe the next big threat for humans is from the microbes, rather than humans themselves.

Impeachment: British East India company & the Boston Tea Party

From a history buff friend on the impeachment trial & a surprising link between Indian & American history.

"NYT is arguing that Trump’s defense - that you cannot impeach for abuse of power without citing a violation of a law - holds no water because past impeachments in Britain for abuse of power (there have been only two in the US; not enough data) did not involve ‘indictable’ offenses.

The article cites the impeachment of Warren Hastings - British India’s Governor General from 1774-1785 (he was active in India from 1750). Hastings was impeached for mismanagement and personal corruption in 1788.

The ‘crime’? Impoverishment of the Bengal citizenry by raising agricultural taxes from 10 to 50 percent (after the British had plunders the Bengal treasury after the battle of Plassey), abolishing import tariffs for goods entering Bengal (thereby making Bengali goods uncompetitive), violent collection of the 50% tax during the Bengal famine of 1770.
Result: 10 million deaths; reduction of Bengal’s population by a third.

So that’s the standard for impeachment for corruption. Hastings was acquitted, of course.

Since the East India company was in the red as a result of the losses in tax revenue post- Famine (entire districts in Bengal were depopulated), Hastings got the English parliament to pass the Tea Act in 1773 - to ship the massive amount of tea held in the East India Company’s London warehouses directly to America duty-free - to make up for their revenue losses in India. This led to the Boston Tea Party, and the rest, as you know, is history.

In calling for Americans to resist the dumping of tea, “Rusticus” writes:

“Are we in like Manner to be given up to the Disposal of the East India Company, who have now the Assurance, to step forth in Aid of the Minister, to execute his Plan, of enslaving America? Their Conduct in Asia for some Years past, has given simple Proof, how little they regard the Laws of Nations, the Rights, Liberties or Lives of Men. They have levied War, excited Rebellions, dethroned lawful Princes, and sacrificed Millions for the Sake of Gain. The Revenue of Mighty Kingdoms have centered in their Coffers. And these not being sufficient to glut their Avarice, they have, by the most unparalleled Barbarities, Extortions, and Monopolies, stripped the miserable Inhabitants of their Property, and reduced whole Provinces to Indigence and Ruin. Fifteen hundred Thousands (i.e. 1.5 million – ed.), it is said, perished by Famine in one Year, not because the Earth denied its Fruits; but [because] this Company and their Servants engulfed all the Necessaries of Life, and set them so high at a Rate that the poor could not purchase them. Thus having drained the Sources of the immense Wealth . . . they now, it seems, cast their Eyes on America, as a new Theatre, whereon to exercise their Talents.”"

My favourite Ragams

My favorite Ragams that melt the mind & transport it to another world.

VasanthaBhairavi
Hamsanadham
Keeravani
Dharmavati
SindhuBhairavi
Revathi

Conservative or liberal?

Am I a conservative or a liberal?

Has the mind come up with an answer?

For Yogis, the answer would be none. The only good attachment is that which leads to detachment (like a lamp burning itself out, from the Upanishads).

For those of us non-Yogis, the mind probably attached itself to an ideology.

If a conservative, what does it mean? What are we seeking to conserve?

If a liberal, what is the mind open to?

Paradox: If we're seeking to conserve principles of openness & pluralism, are we liberals or conservatives?

The ancient Hindu world-view: The logic system used for arguments was not binary, it was Chatushkoti, which can derive the confusion matrix in Computer science. Choices are at least four. It is best not to get boxed into one silo.

If our mind is still boxed in, it is good to look for a definition.

Classical conservatism means that individual liberty is paramount. To the maximum extent possible, people can think, say & do whatever they want. There are some things that must be done as a collective, such as internal/external security. For that, we need a minimum government (given its propensity towards corruption) with minimum taxes. If you get more of your money, you can choose how to spend it or donate it.

Classical liberalism means being open to alternate points of view. This is possible only with individual liberty which allows freedom of thought, speech & expression. This means that Classical liberalism is surprisingly identical to Classical conservatism.

Having a huge government that collects high taxes & decides how to spread things around is a thought from Marxism. The government deciding how to spend money is a recipe for corruption & wasting money.

In today's world, we have people who censor speech & thought. And simultaneously call themselves liberals or conservatives.

In the Yaksha Prashnam & the Bhagavath Gita of the Mahabharatham, a question is posed as to who is a Brahmana. The answer comes back as one who exhibits the qualities (not one who calls oneself as one).

Similarly, one doesn't become a liberal or conservative by calling oneself as one. It is one's qualities which determine the ideology.

It is even better to work on improving our own qualities through knowledge (everyone knows something about something more than us) and through knowing our own mind better (through DhArana & DhyAna), and not get attached to any adjective.