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Godse’s Mediocrity



Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on this day 72 years ago by a man who lacked the brains to understand profundity. The killer, Nathuram Godse, justified his pernicious deed in an eloquent speech in the court. I would like to pick out three of his prominent arguments and show why he was utterly wrong.
1. Folly of non-violence
Godse’s first major argument is that the right answer to aggression is violence. “I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy [who uses force] by use of force.” He went on to argue that mankind is incapable of “scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles [of truth and non-violence] in its normal life from day to day.”
Godse obviously failed to understand the very “loftiness” (to use his own term) of the Mahatma’s vision. Gandhi wished to elevate mankind to a higher level of consciousness. Gandhi’s was a messianic vision. He was not fighting merely for liberating India from the British but also for liberating every Indian from normal human vices. His goal was to liberate the human soul from its “normal” (once again Godse’s word) bondages to various vices. Godse failed to understand that messianic vision. Godse was just a mediocre person who was guided by the “normal” human vices.
2. Gandhi’s autocracy
Godse’s next major problem was that Gandhi was an autocrat who imposed his will not only on the Congress but also on the nation. Gandhi imposed his “eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision” on the entire nation by making use of fasting as a weapon. Godse went on to say that “These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible.”
Ironically, Godse is right here. Here Godse shows the only flash of brilliance in the whole of his final speech. Gandhi was an autocrat in a way. Every messiah is an autocrat. Every messiah believes in certain absolutes such as truth, justice and compassion. It is this obstinate clinging to the absolutes that makes the messiah look like a social misfit and hence the target of the hatred of people with vested interests. Godse was a man with a vested interest. His interest was to create a Hindu Rashtra where Muslims would have no rights, let alone the privileges that Gandhi extended to them again and again.
3. Appeasement of Muslims
It is Gandhi’s appeasement of Muslims that led eventually to the partition of India. “When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country – which we consider a deity of worship – my mind was filled with direful anger,” said Godse. He makes it amply clear that his love was for the territory and not for the people. The Muslims could go to hell for all that Godse cared. Their land should remain with Akhand Bharat.
Godse’s was an extremely mean attitude, not unlike that of any invader who captured territories, which was driven by greed for land and a desire for conquests. This greed is coated with the sweet covering of national pride. He thought that decimating perceived enemies was a sign of macho national pride. Gandhi was an effeminate person in this regard; he surrendered meekly to a crafty conniver like Jinnah.
Gandhi wanted people to rise above their religions to the greater values of humanism. He wanted people to understand the real meaning and value of religion. The kind of religion that Godse preached was pernicious: it divided people, it made people hate one another. Gandhi wanted people to love one another.
People like Godse never understood Gandhi. They were incapable of rising to the required consciousness level. Godse’s followers today still remain at that undeveloped consciousness levels. Gandhi’s martyrdom was quite futile. Mediocrity rules the kingdom now, pathetically so.


Comments

  1. I beg to differ a little Sir. Godse committed a wrong deed and his line of thinking was mediocre, agreed. However no improvement can be brought about in people's psyche without understanding the thought-train of a misguided one like him. Godse's thinking was not illogical, his logic was a flawed one. You are right in asserting that Gandhi's martyrdom went futile. He could not send his lofty ideals down the thoughts of people like Jinnah who unleashed a chain of heinous crimes on the innocents who were not able to defend themselves. Godse was a traveller who lost his way. And while choosing to tread the wrong path, he committed the blunder of killing Gandhi. He was not evil by heart. And the people who are ruling the roost now-a-days are not Godse's followers. They are not Gandhi's followers either. They are the followers of their own philosophy whose core point is - absolute power, nothing else.

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    1. I understand what you say. Godse acted out of certain ideological stands whereas today's right wing is just power-hungry. Well, a few years down the line today's villains too will be glorified as eminent patriots.

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  2. The problem is the Hindoo DNA of Godse

    What is the story of the evolution of the dress sense of an Indian ?

    where would the Indians be w/o the Mughals and Greeks and Brits ?

    The Mughals civilised the Hindoo ! Hindoo women used to move around top less with just a triangle shaped loin cloth and used to pierce their breasts !

    Babar & the Mughals civilised the Hindoos ! Read this verse from the Ramayana - when Ravana describes Seeta ! dindooohindoo ! This will nail the contribution of Mughals to Hindooism and India !

    http://www.valmikiramayan.net/aranya/sarga46/aranya_46_frame.htm

    “Your hips are beamy, thighs burly akin to elephant’s trunks, & these two breasts of yours that are ornamented with best jewellery are rotund, rubbing &bumping each other, &they are swinging up & up, their nipples are brawny &jutting out, & they are smoothish like palm-fruits, thus they are covetable for they are beautiful.

    “Oh, allurer, your smile is alluring, teeth are alluring, &your eyes allure, oh, beauty, your waist is palmful, your hair velvety, your breasts are jostling, &you rob my soul as a spate robs riverbank. [3-46-21, 22a]

    It will be obvious EVEN to the AG of the Indian Government, that Seeta was topless &wearing a loincloth - and prancing her wares in front of Ravana. THE MUGHALS TAUGHT THE HINDOOS TO WEAR CLOTHES & DO PROPER ABLUTIONS !

    You have to give credit when and where it is due

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    Replies
    1. All religions have had their dark phases. It's no use rankin up those fossils. I wrote that in my last post. We need to work towards solutions. Unfortunately our government itself is a chronic problem now.

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