WHO IS GREATER, GANDHI OR BOSE?

Susanta Mullick, this is the asymmetric nature of historical unfolding that events are dated in a manner that makes comparisons odious except when compatriots lock horns over the same issue at the same time. Thus, Gandhi, predating Bose, gets a head-start in history which gives him the earlier edge but Bose rallies fine to outwit the Mahatma later at every turn to win his way into our hearts. In hindsight though, the only way we may compare them successfully, that is objectively and in a scientific manner, is to weigh their legacy for India and in this Bose hammers home in the consciousness of his country ahead of the hero of the homespun as independent India rejects Gandhian policy for good reason and accepts the Bose Way as the only pragmatic course worth adopting, be it in home affairs (ref. The Planning Commission), defence (ref. the building up of the armed forces, the nuclear armament and the successful waging of four wars against Pakistan) or in foreign affairs (ref. the seeking of alliance with the Soviet Union, especially, the secret pact with the Soviets signed by Indira Gandhi ensuring Soviet help in times of aggression by a foreign power against the Republic of India, a pact that came of aid at the time of the Indo-Pak War of 1971 when the Soviet Fleet warded off threats by the Anglo-Americans in the Indian Ocean). Hence, Bose wins my vote against Gandhi as being the higher hero, the more prominent patriot and the one that battled for freedom from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.

WHEN NETAJI COMES ALIVE IN THE BHASKAR FLOW

Bhaskar, your love for Netaji spills in your every word and fills our hearts with its ardour too. Also, the pertinent facts interspersing your narrative rendered in fluid English makes for a feast of a reading in every sense of the term. It is martial music all the way, a Beethoven symphony marking the march of the Grande Armee of Napoleon. And so it was, the triumphant march of the Indian National army through the Burmese jungles to the high hills of the Himalayas on the North-East where they liberated the motherland from the British and set the flag of freedom flying high over the citadels of the city of liberation. That they were repulsed thereafter when fortunes changed, hardly diminishes the pride of the hour which would be the precursor to the plummeting fortunes of the British as well when the ghost of the hero would cast his looming shadows on the ramparts of the Red Fort to set ablaze the nation into self-consciousness and freedom. The Trials at the Red Fort in effect proved to be the public trial of the British Raj and their inevitable condemnation of its century long perfidy of the people of this great land. The Royal Indian Navy, the Air Force and the Army reacted in unison to evict thereafter their satanic masters from the soil long-despoiled by their evil hands and India became free amidst treachery, turmoil and a truncating unparalleled in history. History will avenge itself and the dues are to be paid by the perfidious parties of the day. Britain beware!

NETAJI, CAST IN THE HEROIC MOULD

Kanchan Ghosh, your observation about Netaji's impaired health on account of relentless attacks from rivals within the Congress post the demise of C.R. Das is most pertinent. It throws light on an aspect of Netaji much overlooked, his debilitating health on account of the many stabs he had to bear from adversaries among friends like Nehru and Patel, not to mention the master machinations of the Mahatma who had to hold on to his hegemony over Congress at any cost in spite of pious platitudes seeking to cover up the malicious motives beneath. True, indeed, that Netaji was, after all, human with physical frailties that showed up under extreme duress, but was possessed of ‘a mind, made of the stuff of which the lightening is made’, if I may be allowed the privilege to quote Vivekananda on this point. That India did not get the full services of this lion of a man is her eternal tragedy and we continue to pay the price for the mischief of our leaders and our own shameless adherence to such mischief-mongers despite the disastrous lessons of history which we were taught post-independence. Perhaps, our time to accept such virility embodied in the form of Netaji, Surya Sen and Bagha Jatin has not yet arrived and we must evolve more with time to have the manhood to deal with such seminal personalities but for whom we would have remained slaves of the British for God knows how long. It is, thus, most meet that we gear ourselves to attaining that strength which was the hallmark of these heroes and possessing which alone allows one genuine appreciation of the virtues and valour of these, 'the choice and master spirits of the Age', to quote from Julius Caesar. Netaji, indeed, was the epic personality of our times, in the mould of our classical heroes but endowed with an even higher vision, who set us free by burning to ashes the citadels of the British Empire, and thus, on a larger scale catalysing the liberation of the greater part of subjugated humanity suffering the yoke of British imperialism. Rarely does such a one embody for the sake of saving humanity from doom and it will be our great fortune even now at this belated hour seven decades from independence to be able to honour and absorb his legacy unto us. May Netaji be ever enshrined in our hearts and may his memory inspire us unto higher aspirations and attainments for our beloved motherland for such indeed will be our truest homage to him who gave his all for us! Jai Hind!

THE FUNDAMENTAL DIGNITY OF MAN ... 1

Portrait : Rasik, the sweeper at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple Complex at the feet of the Master, Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, after an enduring wait to lay down at his feet his heart's ardour.

Every person, irrespective of his so-called status in life, is extraordinary and unique, so the biologists say and so say the philosophers too. It is this understanding that ought to be the basis of our reverence for individuals and not their apparent attainments in this brief flicker of a life where the tallest tree and the shortest shrub are equally stunted when viewed from the vantage point of the Absolute. Relativity assigns specific values to units of life and matter; the Absolute dissolves it all in an immensity that transcends evaluations and enumerations.

We must see the divine in the lowest manifestations of life and witness the sublime in the mundane, such should be our power of introspection and depth-observation of the so-called surface phenomena of life. Then all artificial distinctions based on social stratification and economic empowerment vanish as man stands supreme in his inherent glory as the substratum of all existence, the Absolute behind the facade of relativity.

And even in the day-to-day life, we can bring this fundamental understanding about the grandeur of the individual self to modify our civic behaviour. Our relations will stand deified in the light of the divine and we shall treat each other with greater respect and reverence which in turn will make civic life harmonious and more fruitful.

The motto ought to be this, that man is not an article of Nature to be accepted and discarded fancifully but is to be revered, venerated and adored as our cherished possession, served and sacrificed for, not merely employed or enjoyed to satisfy our selfish ends.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR

What is needed today is a new affirmation of truth, a restatement of the eternal principles in the light of modern life and a character strength to back up the utterances. All propaganda, all propagation comes to nought when the personality behind is weak and devoid of the courage of conviction that will validate the truth in the perception of the audience. This is why Swami Vivekananda had famously said, "Religions of the world have become lifeless mockeries. What the world wants is character."

The youth today are suffering either from cynicism or a certain superficiality of spirit, a levity which makes a mockery of anything that is worth achieving or anything that is substantial. It is a pity that with such a storehouse of ancient and modern knowledge in the realm of the spiritual to guide humanity, man yet suffers from a loss of direction owing to the paucity of enlightened teachers who can teach the truth, if not transmit it with a touch as an incarnation of God can do. The imperative, therefore, is to provide spiritual literature, especially, the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature, within easy access of the people so that they may profit from reading it and in some measure reorient their lives towards the divine ideal of self-realisation which is in essence the teaching of the Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism).

Irreverence is the order of the day. Shallow intellectualism unfounded in either understanding or realisation tends to sweep age-old wisdom and philosophical knowledge under the carpet and a licentious living with retrograde references to reality seems to be the kernel of the modern-day material mire that goes by the name of terrestrial life. There is a dearth of depth in the man of the moment today who is relentlessly pulled in the direction of surface satisfaction without any key to his eternal whereabouts in a universe which he finds uncharted and alien to him. 

What then is the solution? Why? the Mahabharata in trumpet voice articulates the answer. Faced with the questions of the Yaksha who was the guardian of the water of life, flouting which the younger four Panadavas had lost their lives, Yuddhisthhira came out triumphant when he said that the right way is to follow the path trodden by the greats, that is, by the seers and sages of illumined understanding in the realm of the Spirit.

WHEN MEDIOCRITY MARS CULTURE AND FALSITY MASQUERADES AS TRUTH

Who are these arbiters of the 'modern school' who have so well succeeded in separating the body, mind and the soul when they themselves are heavily enmeshed in the grossest garb? It is easy to proselytise what others ought to do but infinitely harder to put an ounce of the principles preached into practice. Hence, spiritual counsel becomes effective when they are delivered with love for all and without malice towards any. The object must be to share one's realisations freely out of one's bounty and not to impose one's personal beliefs or convictions on one and sundry under the spell of the superstition that what is good for one must necessarily be good for all. Also, preaching the word must be selfless and not vitiated by selfish desire, gross or subtle, for it then defeats its very purpose. Few have analytical powers sharp enough to appreciate how foolishly they are led by perverse personal motivations as they surge ahead in their 'welfare activity' of 'saving' the world. The result is the proliferation of pseudo-philosophers who are hollow in content, egotistical in intent, however camouflaged, and in purity of living well-nigh a spent-force. It augurs not too well for the future of the world when so many of mediocre mettle should so get the mantle of the high and the mighty in the realm of the spirit and of the mind for it is portentous of an inevitable decline in civilisation. Easy access to information is not tantamount to transformation of such data into real knowledge for the sources of data these days are galore and their assimilation quite in the reverse order of their access. And therein lies the fundamental problem these days of separating the grain from the chaff as pretentious people with their fabricated output attempt to steal the show but falter terribly at the doorstep of creativity thereby lowering the general culture and the standard of artistic attainment. Against this spiralling downward trend must spring a resistance to save culture and in it lies our well-being for it is culture that preserves a people, being the mainspring of its life. Jai Hind!

It is a shame that life passes by in idle pursuits while the realisation of the Self goes abegging.

Fruitless are the deliberations of the intellect if not attended by realisations of the Spirit. The intellect weakens the moral fibre of a person in introducing hyper-deliberations in his system, and yet, the intellect, sharpened to razor-like fcuc, breaks through the bondage of a billion bodies.