The words may have antiquated in most free and open societies dominated by left-liberal ideology today. But the terms will remain relevant, nay, indispensable, till the day we all have evolved into being Buddha or becoming Bodhisattva embodiments. Which isn’t the case : we still must be seen to behave, act, and have an attitude one way or other, not only for the sake of ourselves but also the sakes of our weak, Women and children, the old and marginalised, poor and disabled, educationally disadvantaged or mentally challenged…the vulnerable, in short.
I have seen organ harvesting done out of slaves in Libya, Yezidi women and children in ISIS prisons and their slave markets; Saudi attacks on Yemen hospitals, killing innocents and maiming the ill, Iranian Guards swoop mercilessly on its own people; Pakistani terror camps setup to train and equip agents by hundreds to disrupt peace, kill and destroy, in their neighbourhoods far and near; Muslim women dumped overnight under Sharia Law, divorced and deprived by their men on flimsiest of grounds; horrible state repression in China equally against their dissidents and their ethnic minorities in Tibet, East Turkmenistan, Southern Mongolia and northern areas; the abominable regime in North Korea, which has imprisoned a whole nation; the Argentine junta government in the ’70s; the Emergency years in India…and the daily rapes of vulnerable kids and nuns in the Christian Church and its instituted denominations.
Each of these remind me of the good and Evil in our midst. They make the faces of good and evil clear to me : the sea of good, which makes a life of dignity and hope possible, and the evil that hobbles and smothers and raises these killing unanswered questions within me.
I know, it is impossible to have a billion all-good people, who are kind and compassionate, honest and beyond coveting. But I do believe we can minimise the evil to a few personal failures per thousand. How ? By ceasing to rally for our God in heaven or these covetous and profiteering gods of wealth and power, predatory sex and hoarded grains; and, by casting our focus on people around us, on ordinary families and common households instead.
It is possible today to shelter each family, every household, to keep them fed, clothed and secured, healed and educated. Families that are equipped to survive, are healthy and educated, root out the despair in the hearts of their men, women and children. In India, we are doing it through Aadhar, Jan Dhan accounts, DBT, Crop Insurance, public health services, Ujjwala, Sukanya…and scores of like schemes and programmes. We have long way to go… through education, skilling, employment, transport, support to micro- small- and medium enterprises, food security, housing for all and, above all, through the spread of ways of life, beliefs and values systems, anchored to responsible living.
May this turn we have taken succeed, no matter the decades or centuries it takes.
India, as the state is managed today, will continue to believe enough in good, despite sponsored disruptions of all kinds. It must be applied enough to succeed at realising its beliefs, enough to disable the ideological evil acquired by its citizens because of their marginalisation in past.
It has made a great start.
