Humour died a thousand deaths in India after May 2014. The reason – let me put it as someone put it on X.
The stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra
called a politician some names like ‘traitor’ which made his audience laugh
because they misunderstood it as a joke. Kunal Kamra has to explain the joke
now in a court of justice. I hope his judge
won’t be caught with crores of rupees of black money in his store room.
India itself is the biggest joke now. Our courts of
justice are huge jokes. Our universities are. Our temples, our textbooks, even our
markets. Let alone our Parliament.
I’m studying the Ramayana these days in detail because I’ve joined an A-to-Z blog challenge and my theme is Ramayana, as I wrote already in an earlier post. In order to understand the culture behind Ramayana, I even took the trouble to brush up my little knowledge of Sanskrit by attending a brief course. For proof, here’s part of a lesson in my handwriting.
The last day taught me some subhashitas (wise epigrams) too. Like the one below:
Meaning: Beauty is the ornament of a person; Virtue is the ornament of beauty; Wisdom is the ornament of virtue; Forgiveness is the ornament of wisdom.
Forgive the mistakes in my writing; I’m just a novice
in this arena where mighty bruisers have been fighting it out for over a decade
now. But the point I’d wish to bring here is: Both Ramayana and its language
are full of wisdom. Yet why are their followers so boorish and thuggish? Forget
their lack of humour.
If I was brought up in the tradition of these –
Ramayana and Sanskrit literature – I would have been one of the wisest sages in
the world today. Follow this space in April, with the above-mentioned A-to-Z
series, and you will understand why.
That’s not the issue, however. The issue is, rather
one of them is: How can a man spend crores of rupees building a temple for Lord
Rama, install the deity ceremoniously in that temple, claim to be a staunch
devotee of that deity, and then go on doing what he has been doing ever since
he got tired of doing some job in a railway station or something?
I wish our prime leader and his followers spend some
time learning their own epics and scriptures. Seriously.
नरस्याभरणं रूपं रूपस्याभरणं गुणाः ।
गुणस्याभरणं ज्ञानं ज्ञानस्याभरणं क्षमा ॥
If you made mistakes in that writing, I wouldn't know it.
ReplyDeleteMost of my readers wouldn't know. Sanskrit is a dead language, except in dirty politics now.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteNot so dead... and I could read it - with only the difficulty that one might have reading anyone else's handwriting. Mine these days is shocking! As to to your question, this is one to be asked of all who put on the trappings but carry none of the pure essence within them... YAM xx
The west seems to be more interested in Sanskrit than India. India is merely using it as a political tool.
Delete"Beauty is the ornament of a person; Virtue is the ornament of beauty; Wisdom is the ornament of virtue; Forgiveness is the ornament of wisdom." Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteA friend and guru of mine, who is a Sanskrit teacher and Director of an educational institution, sent me the following message.
Delete"According to me ,the translation of this verse would be like this.
The true beauty of the body lies in good conduct,
The true beauty of good conduct lies in virtue,
The true beauty of virtue lies in knowledge,
And the true beauty of knowledge lies in forgiveness.
This verse emphasizes the progressive refinement of character, highlighting how each quality enhances the next, with forgiveness being the ultimate expression of wisdom.Your approach to learning the Sanskrit language is truly remarkable. I believe that within a few weeks, you will achieve mastery over the subject. The concepts of the neutral gender and dual number set Sanskrit apart from many other languages, and it’s impressive that you have already begun to understand and apply them effectively.Regards sir. Thank you for sharing this."
As replied to Liz. Politics is a dirty business. I like to add the word "cruel" as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right too. In my country, half of the Parliamentarias are people with serious criminal charges.
Delete" Humilitas est Veritas." Latin Wisdom. Humility is Truth, standing in all its Beauty and Nakedness/Nudity. And Humour, radically, in its root, is the ability to laugh at oneself. Humility, Truth and Humour are natural bedfellows. And the Proverbial child, who uttered in all his innocence, " Emperor has no clothes" Is an embodiment of all three.
ReplyDeleteNone of these - humility, truth, innocence - is found in today's political milieu. End justifies the means today, quite like in Mahabharata and a little like in Ramayana too.
Delete