speak up or be damned

speak up or be damned

अमर्षशून्येन जनस्य जन्तुना 

न जातहार्द्देन न विद्विषादरः॥

किराते महाकविभारविप्रस्तुतम्

amarṣaśūnyeana janasya jantunā 

na jātahārddena na vidviṣādaraḥ||

kirāte mahākavibhāraviprastutam

A citizen who is incapable of exhibiting strong dissent against social injustice is more like a beast of burden and when he gets reconciled to such injustice as a matter of habit he loses all his respectability among learned people.

One may think and dismiss this statement as cliched and redundant due to repetition. 

But let us think of the stark realities of life. 

We encounter so much of injustice around us and if possible we try to skirt the issue or procrastinate till the matter hits us on the forehead with the force of a ton of bricks.

we tend to thrive on the law of inertia

Those who dared to oppose, 

be it Arjuna, 

be it Jesus, 

be it the Prophet, 

be it our own Mahatma, 

all were part of the Divine and they blazed their trail with glory 

and millions of people followed them without question.

The poet Bharavi is famed to have conveyed so many nuggets of wisdom in his great Kavyam of Kiratarjuneeyam and this one such Gem..