CULTURAL FREE-FALL OR A RISE THEREOF?

The cultural decline consequent on the proliferation of education among the masses is a proof of the Law of Conservation of energy as applied to the human species. A gain in cross-sectional area leads to a loss of depth for the same mass of fluid in a containing vessel. Likewise, education of the masses has necessarily lowered its standard and with it there has been a steep decline in the cultural level of the world. This, by no means, is an attempt on my part to demean the value of mass education or to make an oblique reference to its negative impact on society for I sincerely advocate a 100% literacy for all and I wish to see that the masses reap the benefits of education and thereby become worthwhile citizens and enjoy life to its fullest as opposed to their enduring an ignorance-ridden wretched existence called life, but is rather a statement of fact founded on a perception born out of my analysis of Swami Vivekananda’s utterance that culture decays with the rise of the Shudras (the proletariat). The problem, therefore, is to overcome this cultural decline by the adoption of effective measures but is it possible? Is it something intrinsic, a feature built into the fabric of human nature that cannot be averted for it is in line with natural law, or is it alterable, re-fashionable by human hand, modifiable by method and means that man may devise? Swamiji was not so hopeful that this collective cultural decay could be arrested, yet we must strive to make adjustments to this growing downward trend in matters massive in human society.

The problem is that the disease is so widespread and has so penetrated the consciousness of humanity in every phase that it has become a ‘natural’ for most and few are even aware of its symptoms. If anybody attempts to even point out this pernicious presence in popular culture today, he is dubbed as being over-puritanical and brushed aside, for such is the fallen state of things. And, why alone popular culture? Even the representatives of culture classic have sadly strayed from the standards of old and have reduced or are still reducing time-honoured traditions of excellence to levels of mass mediocrity. Pertinent here is the way Hindustani classical music is being taught in schools, reputed and repugnant for their horrendous caricature of Raag music. No less offence is borne out by the popular artistes who have made a sham of Tagore’s songs by their perverse presentation of these priceless pearls when performance is punctuated by pecuniary pressures. And worst of all, when untrained novices, untalented and utterly deficient in musicality, by dint of position in an organizational hierarchy run by equally mediocre material, regularly mar cultural programmes by their messed-up mediocrity, what may one do to redress the issue when the rot has entered deep into the citadels of those that were to protect and preserve culture? Who will understand a Vivekananda as he laments in the wilderness of genius and the domain beyond? Who will give shape to his dreams of reshaping the human condition along the lines of pristine culture, pure and perfect, sublime and subtle? Where are the men who will even understand the true import of the Swami’s renascent message, much less giving life to it?

Leaders of the masses, secular and spiritual, take heed. It is you who are divested of all brilliance. Yet, it is you who are masquerading as mighty torch-bearers of culture when in a former age you would not have stood the chance of an audience with the connoisseur for all that you presently present. Mediocrity runs deep in you who are drunk with the mandate of the masses and who may merely measure out the monotony of method bereft of the flights of fantasy, of inspirational delight, of originality, of perfection that peaks in the mind of man and doth not parley with the rabblement for sustenance or support. Men of genius have become a rarity indeed in a world increasingly peopled by pretenders to perfection. And these are our cultural ambassadors, what a shame! One wonders what may be the eventual outcome of all this as everything in the cultural field careers downward. Will there be a free fall after all? Or will an asymptote arrive in due course of time to brighten up the scene? Only time will tell. Till then let us labour to retrieve the golden days of yore when an Altamira cave painting of a charging bison put to shame the Da Vincis and the Michelangelos of the Renaissance, what to speak of the modern destitute masquerading as masters of the trade! Let even a minority stand up to the truth sounding in the soul of man and we shall yet work up a revolution, for such is the promise of the times despite the fall, such the call of the wild, the advancing tide beckoning us on to the shore of our awakened selves, the mountainous detour reaching us to the sunlit summit of our realization.