A villager’s perception: Is Saraswati,the goddess of learning, annoyed with Indians? By - Dr. Balram Misra The way Gopal analysed the cause, effect and remedy of all engulfing malady afflicting almost all walks of personal, social and national life of our country is quite fascinating. Gopal was a semiliterate villager of Northern India, an ordinary farmer and a village level preacher. He had committed himself to doing pooja every evening and recite the Raamaayana (SriRaamacharitmaanas) and Srimadbhagavadgeeta in Hindi. He was very fond of quoting from the scriptures to substantiate or prop up his arguments regarding anything. He mastered the treasury of traditional folktales to support his opinion on each and every topic related to folk life. All that needed was coaxing him to opine on any subject. It was just by a chance that I met him surrounded by many villagers. The topic that cropped up for his comments was why teachers do not come daily to teach in the village primary school. “Why blame only teachers? Are we not facing hoards of multidimensional problems at every step in village?,” remarked a village elder. All eyes rested on Gopal. Immediately and spontaneously came his response, which deserves attention of everyone. ‘All problems arise because of ignorance’, he started his oration on the Buddhistic thought process: Avijjaa (Avidyaa i.e. ignorance) is the root cause of all sufferings. ‘Why there is ignorance?’ Someone asked him. He averred, ‘Because we dodge Saraswati , the goddess of learning, knowledge, music, arts and sciencs etc. She is known by many other names also, like Saaradaa, Veenaapaani, Vaani, Vaagdevi etc. She assumes the forms of Durgaa (goddess of strength and protection) and Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and prosperity) whenever required. Sararswati lives in the Brahmalok, the World of Conscious Living, but responds immediately to the proper invocations of mortals on earth.’ I asked him, ‘What is proper invocation?’ He retorted: ‘An invocation related with the weal of the Creation, the masses, and not aimed at some personal and whimsical desires pertaining to selfish motives and petty earthly wishes like winning elections and court cases etc. When invoked she rushes down to ensure fulfilment of common weal.’ Suddenly, in order to cement his assertion, he started reciting in melodious tone the following couplets from his favourite scripture, Sri Raamacharitamaanas. I quote below some of the recited couplets: “Bhagati hetu vidhi bhawana bihaayee, Sumirata Saarada aavati dhaaee. Raamacharita sara bin anhawaaye, so srama jaaya na koti upaaye. Kavi kovida as hridaya bichaaree , gaavahin Harijas kalimal haaree. Keenhe praakruta jana guna gaanaa, sira dhuni giraa laagi pachhitaanaa. Bhaniti vichitra sukavi kruta jouu, Raamanaama bin soha na souu. Bidhu badanee sab bhaanti sanwaaree, soha na basan bina vara naaree. Keerati bhaniti bhoota bhala soee, Sursari sama sab kahn hit hoee.” Then he narrated the gist of these couplets: ‘As response to devotion, as soon as she is invoked, the goddess comes running from the Brahmalok. Her fatigue out of the hurried running can never be soothed unless she is bathed in the pond of Raama Charita.’ To a query whether the expression Sri Raama Charita to him meant only the character of Sri Raama as depicted by Sant Tulasee Daasa in his Raamacharitamaanas he stressed, ‘ideally, historically, socially and culturally the expression denoted the life and ethos of the whole nation, that is why Muslims called Raama the Imaame-Hind. It will be foolish and absurd to assume that Raama belonged only to any one particular community. His life-history and character prove that he belonged to mankind, rather the whole Creation. Thus the expression Raama Charita ideally means the whole society, without any discrimination.’ A request to narrate the gist of the couplets he recited so melodiously Gopal’s oratory started: ‘The journey of the goddess from Vidhi Bhawan (Brahma Loka, the World of Conscious Living) to the world of mortals, when invoked, causes fatigue to her. The only way to relieve that fatigue is giving her a bath in the pond of Raama Charita. No amount of poesy and ornamental literature soothe her unless that is aimed at, unless the aim of the invoker is weal for everyone. It will be like grooming, decorating and ornamenting a moon faced beautiful damsel without clothing her. If the poesy and literature are used to eulogise any mortal the goddess of learning strikes her head and repents for having responded to invocation.’ On being requested to explain all that in a common man’s parlance he came down to earth and started questioning the audience, especially me, quite loudly: ‘Can you tell me how many libraries, academic and research centres, educational institutes, schools, colleges, universities and Aashrams this country has? Can you tell me how many orators, preachers, teachers pundits, editors, writers, authors, publishers, TV channels, this country has got? Broadly speaking all those bodies are career oriented self-seekers and dedicated to eulogise the ones in power or their ancestors, mostly busy in creating atmosphere favourable to rulers to placate them in order to earn favours of sorts. All of them believe in grooming and ornamenting the goddess of learning without giving her a bath in the pond of Raama Charita, and without dressing her with proper clothes. That is why the goddess of knowledge is annoyed with Indians doing drama of invoking her, all for self-aggrandizement. Can you be courageous and honest enough to enlist the politicians who think for the whole nation, surpassing mere the interests of their own selves, family/followers, ideologies, parties and election prospects? Most of them are seasoned self-seeker rogues, devoted to further their careers, ignoring the interests of the masses, the Raama Charita. Do you think the goddess of learning does not know all that wickedness? She is annoyed, and that explains the predicament of India.’ I had no answer, but I did feel that the semi- literate Gopal was not alone in the village. In the heart of their hearts almost every villager was a Gopal. Of course, there were some educated youngsters whose heads had been poisoned by the career seeker followers of Macaulay and Marx putras and putris. They wanted to indulge in discussions, but the Gopals shooed them away. Today, when I am writing this episode, my mind is occupied by the Times Of India cartoon published on 3-9-2013, titled “ON RTI, JUDICIARY and PERKS PARTIES UNITE FOR IPL- INDIAN POLITICAL LOOT.” How can the goddess of knowledge ignore that? (Received on email)
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 03:38:15 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015