Means to Ends is as Maths to Life
Elementary mathematics taught in schools give us the following
formulae:
Plus+ Plus = Plus
Minus + Minus = Minus
Simple mathematical equations. As a student many of us must have
wondered and ( may still be wondering )
as to what earthly use these equations have unless one loves to pursue
Mathematics and achieve the iconic status of a new age Newton or Einstein or Ramanujan or Mandlebrot. Just a
few weeks back I addressed a group of teachers on Teachers’ Day stressing the
need to relate learning to life and spoke about the use of geometry in
architecture seen in temples, churches, mosques and other religious places of
worship. It is then someone asked me to explain the relevance of algebra to
life and I was stumped. I could not give any convincing answer and the question
troubled me as I was returning home after the lecture. This was on the 5th
of September and precisely a month earlier, we had the announcement by our Hon’ble Prime Minister
and Home Minister seeking Parliamentary approval to abrogate Article 370 and
change the status of Kashmir from a State to
a Union territory. As many as 400 leaders belonging to various political
parties in Kashmir(with the sole exception of the BJP, the present presiding
deity of Indian Parliament) were put under house arrest including ex Chief
Ministers and all communications to and fro the Valley were snapped. Kashmir
fell silent and has remained so till now. The Home minister announced that this
was done in the interest of Kashmiris, to give them the sole right to be
Indians without a pseudo status as Kashmiri. It was almost a la ‘mann ki baath’ ( the heart’s voice, that
PM Modi has popularized through his monthly address to the nation on Radio) as
the voice was not of the Kashmiris but only that of the PM and the Home
Minister. It has been more than a month since the Valley had ceased to be
normal. The last straw on the Kashmiri asmita
(pride) was when the draconian PSA(Public security Act) was invoked to put
the octogenarian ex ex ex Chief Minister
under detention without a trial.
It was a Eureka moment for me- when the relevance of the algebraic
equations to life flashed through my mind.
The mathematical equations given at the top were at the root of Mahatma
Gandhi’s famous statement that two wrongs don’t make a right. His insistence on
ethical means to ends is only an affirmation of the algebraic equation Plus +
Plus equals Plus. If the ends to be achieved are morally and ethically
positive, the means must also be morally and ethically correct. Gandhiji’s end goal of freedom was anchored
in right and ethical actions. He never
stooped low to abuse the British rulers and made non- violence or Satyagraha, the
cornerstone of the freedom movement. He recognized the
inherent might of non violent passive resistance by millions of common men and
women that cannot be quelled by autocratic rulers however powerful they may be.
Satyagraha is a display of exemplary courage in the face of brutal oppression
and an acceptance of pain and suffering that result from it. For him means
serve the ends and not the other way about. Had he pursued covert and violent
means, it would have proved counter productive
and very unlikely we would have
got our independence. Minus + Plus will
only be Minus.
Article 370 was promulgated in 1949 to felicitate Kashmir to join the
Union of India. It had its Minuses as it barred non- Kashmiris to buy property
and gave Kashmiris a distinct status other than the rest of India by having
their own flag and legislative right to govern the State except on issues
related to Defence, Finance and External affairs. Though it was a temporary
instrument of accession to India, it could only be revoked by the Kashmir legislative assembly.
Despite having an alliance with People’s Democratic Party to rule
Kashmir, the BJP decided to snap the tie and dissolve the State Assembly and replace it by Governor’s
rule. Even when there was no legislative assembly, the abrogation of Art 370
was done without the ethical route of taking the consent of elected legislative members which
equates it with the consent of the people of Kashmir.. The decision to abrogate
370 by the Indian Parliament was not in keeping with the 1949 Instrument of
Accession. The correct means was sacrificed to achieve the ends. This is where
the algebraic equation comes into effect. Mathematical/algebraic formulae are based
on logic to understand and often prove relationships between
quantities and objects which may relate to no real phenomena. If there is a
basic difference between the two entities- of one being positive and the other
negative, the end results are invariably negative. The abrogation of 370 is
certainly a move to bring Kashmir into the main framework of Indian
Constitution. But just a day before announcing the momentous decision to
abrogate 370, to cancel the Amarnath Yatra and to ask the tourists- both Foreign and
local - to leave Kashmir citing possible
terror attack have shown our Security
forces in a not too flattering light. If India cannot protect tourists
on its soil, instead press the panic button of terrorism and curtail the tourists’ travel in Kashmir, the
negative fallout of India being a weak
state that cannot protect its citizens and visitors but be easily bullied into submission by a bunch
of terrorists could not be blotted out.
This has been the problem of governance in
many respects. Respect for cows as Gau mata is a laudable principle to be
followed. But this does not sanction lynching and killing –which effectively
means taking law into our hands – even if cow protection is a legitimate and
right goal of Hindus who are cow worshippers.
The silence of the government and the releasing of all those lynchers do
not augur well for the end goal. Brutality, violence, inhuman acts of thrashing
and killing have been the wrong means for a rightful end. A Minus and a Plus
equals Minus especially when the vengeful mob fury is unleashed against
innocents.
For full seven decades, the left ideology
was dominant and despite its socialist stance for the amelioration of the poor
and the downtrodden, it had become suspect as it tried to quell the right
ideology as rooted in conservatism. The left ideologue in power had no patience
with the right ideologue. The backlash has come now with the rightists
denouncing all the leftists for their opposition to all things traditional and
ancient. The atavistic cry of the rights today mocks the leftists for being
pseudo intellectuals with western orientation and no mooring in their own
tradition. Again two wrongs don’t make a right. The Left’s earlier intolerance
of the Right cannot be remedied by the Right’s intolerance of the Left. Hyper
nationalism is in conflict with liberal nationalism with no positive
intellectual gain for either.
Secularism, the anchor of our Constitution
is now mocked by the Rightists as sicularism and they seek a new identity for
Hindus and Hindu Rashtra based on
cultural nationalism. How many
understand the term culture? Is culture a static entity or a dynamic one? No
culture in the world can survive if it refuses to permit evolution and
change. The problem is in our zest to
hold onto what we believe in, we generate optical problems that blind us to the
real meaning of culture. As Ortgea Gassett says, “ to see a thing, we must
adjust our visual apparatus in a certain way. If the adjustment is inadequate,
the thing is seen indistinctly or not at all.” Culture is the instrument of
civilization. Humanity is the essential part of culture. Culture is external as
it is seen in our words and actions, in our behaviour and conduct, in our way
of living and in our relationship with others. Paradoxically culture is to be
cultivated from within and should not be imposed from outside like a Government
fiat. Culture does not pose philosophical question as to Who am I, but poses the sociological question What am I? The I’ that we
speak of is a given certainty in the sense’I’comes with a body and mind, is born in a particular family, in a
particular society and in a particular
nation. So ‘I’ has to live with all these ‘given’which come with birth. ‘I’
has to live with the family, with the people in his society and in his nation;
‘I’ has to live among them. To quote Ortega,” Life means the inexorable
necessity of realizing the design for an existence which each one of us is.” Culture
is to accommodate, adjust and accept the
life that each one of us is designed and programmed to live. Hindu culture
exhorts us to develop consideration for the feelings and rights of others , which
inter alia, calls for humility and self control. Rg Veda tells us “let noble
thoughts come to us from every side”. The strength of our culture is its ability to
absorb diverse thoughts and thread them into one unified culture that relates
to the entire humanity.
It is time to realize the logic of the Mathematical equation whereby the two plusses of cultural
nationalism and secular nationalism are added to evolve a new concept of integral
nationalism that is dynamic and progressive, vigorous and energetic,
enlightened and forward looking- which is both past forward and future present , modern and traditional,
incorporating the concept of oneness in many and many in oneness.
Plus + Plus = Plus.
