Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I will defend to the death your right to say it.

संसदि शत्रुं न परिक्रोशेत्
चाणक्यसूत्रम्  २८९
saṁsadi śatruṁ na parikrośet
cāṇakyasūtram  289

This is a very cryptic but most important direction given  by the master statesman, Chanakya.

"In a public assembly one should not shout at even his worst enemy".

What a noble idea!  Human thoughts and culture reached its zenith with such exalted ideas.  We have to realize that in human interactions there is always room for conflicts of Ideas, thoughts and ideologies.  But a  person with culture will never attack the person physically or hurt him emotionally just because the other one follows a divergent ideology.  In a civilzed  society, we have created  for ourselves great and disciplined fora such as legislative houses, courts of law and administrative setups.  Citizens of different views have to interact in these fora and ways and means have to be evolved with majority consent (if it is democracy) for the society to function smoothly.
 Let us recall a scene from Ramayana, where the emissary of Rama, the great Hanuman is brought to the court of Ravana in captivity.  Ravana spares no chance to berate Hanuman and his boss in Public.  But the wiser statesman Vibheeshana requestsf or a dignified treatement to Hanuman the emissory, even ignoring the muderous wrath of the despotic king.


The great philosopher and revolutionary,  Voltaire, is supposed to have declared  "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (ATTRIBUTION: Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778), French philosopher, author. )
Draupadi was brought to the celebrated Assembly of Kauravas and was in danger of being disrobed in public, but Krishna Himself saved her.

What do we see in our legislatures and other wings of Government today..? It is true that words without dignity are still termed unparliamentary.. but that is mostly in papers. No politician today ever will miss a chance to shower abuses on his opponent in public. Removing one's own clothes and showing parts of the body which are never exhibited in public have become a habit in exalted legislative gatherings.  Many are not beyond indulging in physical assault of members of the opposite group. 
Our civilization has progressed (?) to such an extent  in the field of dignified human interactions. 
Good sense should prevail.

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
(kanfusion)
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

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