Friday, June 22, 2012

Why it's difficult to trace root cause - the Dharma conundrum today

Sivaji Ganesan presenting his case in court;
 Parasakti - courtesy gokul-r.blogspot.com
'Root Cause' is a phrase you hear a lot in international relations these days, especially as it relates to terrorism. Essentially, a terrorist can blame the victim (of some unjust thing in the past) for his aggression, and in most causes there is a cycle or chain of events (each worthy of blames and counter blames) that leads up to the act(s) in the present day.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how one might deal with root case analysis, and where one might draw the line in determining what might be right or wrong. And.. most importantly, what is rightful revenge?

In yugas past (krita, treta and dwapara) the responsibility of dharma was vested in units larger than the self. For example, in the dwapara yuga, the family was the unit that was collectively responsible for upholding Dharma. So, if Duryodhana did a wrong, Bhishma should not have stood silent. If a kshatriya decides to stop participating in protecting his people (and perhaps - in today's scenario - succumbed to a lobbyist to award a defence contract to a substandard vendor) his family would do good to force him to mend his ways.

Now to the present day.

As a solid example of root cause analysis from recent times, the Post-Godhra Gujarat riots of 2003. Hindu Kar Sevaks were burned alive in an entire rail bogey. The Muslims (per prevailing understanding of the case) that committed this act of terrorism blamed the Babri demolition by 'Hindus'. It wasn't the same Hindus, but belonging to the same community was sufficient justification for this group to indulge in the act. The Babri demolition itself was more or less a desperate last resort after decades (and perhaps centuries) of frustration in the Hindu communities. Babar may have demolished the Ram temple in Ayodhya, but the Muslims of today are not in any way related to him, surely? Should the Muslims though disown the mosque as not rightfully having belonged to them, acknowledging the demolition of the temple in the 1600s?

As we can see, many questions can be raised regarding entire communities' responsibilities, without having any clear answer in the end.      

  1. Rich and poor alike evade taxes. Whatever the tax code, someone is bound to be unhappy. Either the evader is being fraudulent, or is stretching the spirit of the law and the tax code to his benefit (example, Apple setting up a Nevada office). Here, the evader is going to rationalize their behaviour by accounting for their 'other' contributions to society, job creation perhaps. In this case, the evader's complaint may be that there is no other benefit to job creation, just whatever profits he is able to make. Society (the government or the people collectively) is unable to meet all the needs of the individual at a sufficient level of granularity (even in something like the tax code) thereby guaranteeing legal noncompliance. How does one determine what the 'right' level of tax is, anyway?
  2. In the kali yuga, families continue to exist more or less as the institution they once were. However, the son or daughter does their own thing even if the parents object, not something one would be able to do in an earlier yuga (and still have a clear heart, because one is really breaking Dharma). That the mata and pita are to be respected comes with its caveats (arbitrarily assigned by the son or daughter) today. For example, if the father owed money to someone, not every son is going to feel the responsibility to repay. I bet that a good majority would want to shrug responsibility, citing one or more reasons that may actually seem reasonable. "My father has no assets, so no inheritance, no loan repayment" is an argument one can definitely make, and probably win in court as well. 
  3. How about pre-marital physical contact? The Dharma for a man (or boy) is to not lust after any woman who isn't his wedded wife. Similarly, the Dharma for the girl is to gain approval from her parents and be wedded to the man first (as her first husband of course; Elizabeth Taylor and her 4 marriages aren't a great example of Dharma compliance here). "She was willing"/"I didn't make the first move", etc. are perfectly acceptable today (read the story of Ahilya and Indra on another post for reference and the repercussions both face for adultery). What relaxation, per our needs, of Dharma, leads to is a twisting of the first principles of Dharma and its institutions (marriage, family, etc) that make it difficult to track right and wrong.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Parikshit and the advent of Kali Yuga

Image courtey: Wikipedia. Raja Ravi Varma. 
It is during King Parikshit's reign that Dwapara Yuga ends and Kali Yuga starts.

Several Puranas talk about Kali (not to be confused with KaaLi), but I believe that the Bhagavata Purana provides the most accurate account of Kali and his advent. (Why not all of the 18 Puranas are to be considered accurate is a topic for a different day).

A few years after the Mahabharata war, Krishna and the Pandavas depart the earth. Parikshit, the only surviving prince of the Kuru lineage (son of Abhimanyu and Uttara) becomes the king of Bharatavarsha.

Parikshit encounters Kali beating a cow and bull (the cow representing the earth and the bull representing Dharma). Curiously the bull stands on one leg, Dharma being on its last leg in the Kali Yuga). Parikshit first aims his sword at Kali to finish him off, but lets him stay on in a handful of locations (on earth?): where there is gambling, alcohol consumption, animal slaughter, prostitution, and finally gold.

And of course, after Parikshit departs, Kali (as was destined) spreads to other places, but I'd think that these five locations would be of special interest to Kali.

Vedic schools of thought talk of Kali and his influence going beyond mere 'locations'. What really is impactful is Kali's ability to influence human thought, and draw the individual towards Adharmic activities. Kali's influence essentially pervades all that is based on the five essential material elements (pancha bhoota). The Dwaita school of thought holds that Kali's influence does not reach (in addition to Vishnu and Lakshmi) Brahma and Vayu, and their consorts Saraswati and Bharati. Gods that are further down the ladder (taaratamya) do get influenced.

Now, who is Kali, and what is his agenda? My answer to this question starts at the basics, with the classification of souls according to their innate nature. Souls are classified as (predominantly) sathva, rajas, and thamas. Most are familiar with what these stand for. Still, I'd like to call out rajas (also called nitya samsaari in some vedantic treatise) as being the class of souls that are not evil, but those that do not recognize Vishnu (Brahman) as the supreme being that runs the show. Thamas is the class of souls that actively refuses to recognize Vishnu and indulges in activities that disrupt the saadhana (path towards liberation) of the Saatvic souls. Kali (who also incarnates as Duryodhana in the Mahabharata) is considered the foremost of the Thamasic souls, and hence his move to influence other souls (and derail them in their saadhana) as much as possible.

The Kali Yuga is estimated to run about 432,000 man years, starting about 5000-6000 years ago. When no Dharma is left on earth, the Puranas foretell great misery (periods of subsequent drought, scorching heat, incessant rain, etc.) and the incarnation of Kalki who destroys the world and kicks off pralaya for the birth of a new world.

This page contains a good description of what Kali Yuga is expected to bring (progressively). Reads like a doomsday prediction, but I'm sure many see it coming.

The bad news is that even after just 5000-odd years of Kali Yuga (and 400,000+ more years to go) cultural relativism has set it deeply amongst us. A simple answer of 'no' to something clearly evil like abortion, for example, is difficult for many to accept, and debated endlessly as if there is no simple answer based on Dharma.