Deshbir Singh
Life is semblance of both man’s outward social quest and responsibilities besides his desire to elevate and grow spiritually and intellectually as well… We can avoid sufferings the moment we realise otherwise an unending chain of sorrow and happiness will culminate only with the last blink….
Shuttling between the scales of life, prosperity, happiness, health besides of ill fate, grief, disease and death there exists a continuous cycle of life’s experiences which is similar everywhere… The universe is in perfect harmony and balance despite of seemingly visible changes. Creator has its own divine scheme to keep its creation in order not withstanding how much strange it may appears to the common sight.
Socially, acquiring worldly knowledge and then executing it in the right directions with a similar perspective is the kind of missionary zeal one needs to inculcate within, whereas spiritually, to realise the purpose and essence of being into this mortal world is the real endeavour we need to strive for. The family we are brought in, is basically a replica of society in a minuscule. We are able to witness almost every kind of situation while being into a family life that corresponds more or less a similar kind of situation prevailing in the society at large. A verse of Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji goes … “Jo Brahmande Soi Pinde, Jo Khoje So Paye..” means whatsoever exists in the universe has its presence and existence in a human body and only the realised one’s can understand this… But today unfortunately relegating all the ethos and ideals of universal teachings and its inherent essences there occurs a paradigm shift in the human psyche/understanding wherein almost everywhere man’s greed and self-interest have become the front runners pushing all ideals of faith and universal humanism to the back seat. Word ‘I’ has taken prominence over rest of the things where ironically but a fact is, that of late, we have developed a habit of justifying our everything as the best over rest of the others whether its education, religion, scriptures, culture, customs, habits, life styles etc… Moral corruption has its writ all over our psyche. Any initiative for the sake of humanity has to initially grapple with the issues of religion and politics before justifying its just and due cause…
But, for the realised ones there are no such standards at all. They find presence of light of almighty in every bit of things in this universe thereby obviating any kind of difference between its creatures. All the prophets irrespective of the faith to which they belonged have preached and exhibited the fine nuances of teachings inherent in the philosophy of their respective religions in their own unique way which finally consummate in the universal message of almighty which is similar everywhere thereby consolidating the ideals and ethos of universal humanism. Religion then is understandable having the basic role of rather nothing more than only a settled path to travel on upto the final connect with the ultimate creator by realising the purpose of being into this life. It virtually has no other role than this to perform. But unfortunately, most of us fail to understand the subtle dynamics of the teachings/message involved therein and rather than to understand and realise its moral and social necessity whole of our life keeps on consolidating and making religion as an edifice on which we breed and nurture elements of obscurantism, orthodoxism and fanaticism as hallmark of our social life. Thus, throughout journey of our life we rather remain busy with very trivial and ephemeral issues having distorted fundamentals and a very staggering and shaky base having every bit of ingredients inherent to polarise this human race on the plea of faith itself which otherwise has a universal applicability. Most of our mental faculties remains then unexplored and again we are into the cycles of birth and death for an unending suffering.
In the present instance we all are running through a very unfortunate, uneasy and volatile patch of our life witnessing intolerance and polarisation of the human psyche and social fabric on the basis of faith itself. Issues having life sustaining elements like air, water, food., etc. besides all the elements of moral and social growth like the ideals enshrined in the holy books, in the spirit of egalitarianism, charity, and philanthropism etc are secular in nature. But, where are these ideals are being utilised these days ? Where have gone those ideals and articles of faith?
Kashmir a paradise, is in virtual mess today. The serenity, the holiness and the spiritual breeze of Kashmir has been completely vitiated by the traces of blood soaked air of the genuine but misguided souls. Hundreds of precious lives have been lost in this unmindful blood bath which has created a series of dreadfull lull, quous and bewilderness among scores of wailing mothers. Does the void created by such an unaccounted loss has any quantum of compensation in return?… What kind of Azaadi these people are struggling for ? What ideals these people are taking along? What legacy they ultimately will left behind?
Rousseau once said, “we all are born free but everywhere we are in chains”. These are the chains of ignorance, exploitation, shift in the value system, disregard for the rich and glorious cultural heritage, unmind fullness of its fallouts on the psyche of future generations. Does the spirit and essence of Kashmiriyat has totally and with such a deep sense of ignorance been sacrificed to the so called unruly and horrific protest ideals set by these misguided and dislodged young rioters ? A better sense needs to be prevailed all over and in continuation of the same a zeal to serve humanity rather than to propagate a distorted ideology shall remain our ultimate ideal and goal.
Youth of Kashmir should strive to make their land a fountainhead of its true legacy. At least through the settled and age long legacy of Kashmiriyat and rich literature symbolising peaceful co-existence, brotherhood, communal harmony wherein in Kashmir we have had the great fortune of producing great saints and seers like Sheikh Nuruddin, Lalleshwari also known as Lalla or Lal Ded, Rupa Bhawni, Parmanand, Rishipir, Lassa Sahib, Jevan Shah, Kakji Mastana, Grata Bab, Bhagwan Gopinathji, Sati Devi, Mathura Devi among others of the same stature, they shall work earnestly for revival of that legacy. These saints belong to all ages transcending all borders. They cross the bonds of religion, caste, creed, language, place and time. They move with a missionary zeal of serving God through serving its creation. A saint, sear and a sage is indeed a universal phenomenon and his teachings indeed are not confined to any particular strata. His message is indeed universal and holistic where he speaks and adhere only by the ideals of universal humanism.
In the present troubled times when the people of Valley are passing through a very tough phase where every elements of growth, prosperity and well being have been at stake the only solace comes from our glorious philosophic and spiritual traditions enriched through ages by our Saints, rishis besides poetic tales of quintessential poets like Habba Khatoon, Rupa Bhawni, Mahmood Gani, Rasul Mir, Parmananda besides Sufi poets like Shama Fakir, Samad Mir, Soch Krab, Ahad Zargar and modern poets like Mahjur, Abdul Ahad Azad and Zinda Kaul etc who through their poetic brilliance have showcased and summed up message of love, harmony, compassion, religion tolerance and universal brotherhood in their poetry. Through this rich cultural heritage besides through scores of charitable works and similar ideals enshrined in the historical legacy of Kashmir we can have a cue first regarding the message inherent in every religion for whole of the humanity and then spread and propagate it as voice of God for the betterment and uplift of whole of this creation so as to contain the quaos and unrest prevailing in the society. An epitome of composite culture which Kashmir is can be gauged from the fact that Kashmir is home to members of every faith where most revered Shrines and Temples like Shankracharya, Khair Bhawani, Rishipeer, Gurdwara Chatti Padrhahi Sahib, Hazrat Bal Shrine, Destgir Sahib, Makhdoom Sahib Shrine etc… portray Kashmir as a place which apart from being known as paradise on earth due to its pristine glory in terms of its enormous natural beauty and serenity is a place which depicts a perfect example of rich and composite cultural heritage with its literary pursuits, communal harmony and brotherhood as its hallmarks. What better legacy can we expect apart from this to get a sense of realisation for bringing the things back on track.
An initiative in this direction only can add more to the life and our nation will then be able to feel proud of being a nation of Gurus, Rishis and Pagambers, which still stand by the ideals of religious tolerance and unity in
diversity……..
(Author is an Inspector in JKP)
