CELEBRATION AND MOURNING

CELEBRATION AND MOURNING Manikarnika Ghat at Varanasi is well-known for two soul-stirring acts. At one of the ghat, Lord Shiva is venerated by the devout and at the other end the dead are consigned to flames. One pauses to wonder whether celebration and mourning can occur simultaneously. Well, these two singular emotions are nothing but a reflection of a sutra or knowledge point from the Art of Living. Simply put, it means that opposite values are complementary. During a course a devotee was to ask Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as to how opposite values are complementary rather than contradictory. The spiritual Master replied in his enigmatic manner which left everyone spellbound, “Do you watch movies? Now suppose you talk to a director and tell the director, ‘Why do you want a villain in your movie? Why you want all these thrills? You should have just made everything very smooth.’ What would he say? A boy was there and a girl was there, they met each other and they got married. They got children and that’s it, movie ends. There is no thrill, the girl did not get lost or there is no drama, no tears and no anger and none of those big issues. Will anybody watch that movie? Even a love story will not be watched, isn’t it? So, is your question answered? Opposite values are complementary.” Human life and the history of nations are replete with vicissitudes and synodic curves. There is no straight line in life. India was partitioned into two countries; India and Pakistan. The country was sandwiched in between West and East Pakistan. Even as India was freed from the foreign yoke there was a massive migration as millions of Muslims and Hindus trekked to their new homelands. Celebration was accompanied by wailing and mourning as reckless religiosity and vengeance subsumed the voice of sanity and reason. Ironically celebration was once again dovetailed with mourning. This division on religious lines was planned and executed by the evil mind of the cartographer Cyril Radcliffe who had never been to India, and without understanding the composite culture of East and West Bengal. A closer scrutiny makes it evident that what happened in Bengal in 1940s and especially during the tragic bifurcation had the seeds sown way back by Machiavellian ideology of the British and Lord Curzon and soon their celebration got converted into mourning of Indians in general and Bengalis in particular. Meanwhile down the line in post-independence history there was palpable tension between the provinces of East and West Pakistan. Much to their horror, the Pakistani generals discovered that scissoring of a country and formation on the basis of religion did not pay the required dividends as the entity lacked cultural homogeneity. Mujibur Rahman, the prominent Awami League leader had won the elections in the undivided Pakistan with widespread support but the Punjabi Pakistani generals were reluctant to part with power. Their celebration turned into a mourning as India helped to raise and assisted the Mukti Vahini in East Pakistan which retaliated against the abuse of power by the leaders of West Pakistan. The epochal day of 26 March 1971 is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh. There was widespread celebration in India at the dismemberment of Pakistan. One state celebrated its Independence Day, while the other was plunged in mourning and darkness. Certainly, fact is stranger than fiction. On the 75th anniversary of our Independence, the country resonated with the slogan of Har Ghar Tiranga. We have to ensure the flag flutters with aplomb and guard against any complacency.