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.
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