Unless we realize the oneness that
unites us as humanity, we will never be at peace.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination divided the country,
referring to the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. “Our own people were killed. The
incident was not a wound on the throat of any community but a knife, a dagger
on India's century-old great social fabric,” Modi is reported to have remarked,
taking an indirect dig at the Congress, and their purported role in those riots.
Consequent to Modi’s public posturing, neither he nor any National Democratic
Alliance member visited Indira Gandhi’s memorial, Shakti Sthal, yesterday to pay homage to her on her death
anniversary. No sooner had Modi taken this stand, his critics pointed to the
daggers that were driven through India’s chest in December 1992 (over the Babri
Masjid episode), followed by what happened in Mumbai between December 1992 and
January 1993 (over the gut-wrenching Mumbai riots) and during February~March
2002 (over the Godhra episode). Irrespective of which party ruled – or where they
ruled – these episodes do throw up painful memories of India’s soul bleeding. And
all of this happened because we, as a people, as a nation, have allowed ourselves
to be tricked to believe in our separateness, and worse, have allowed ourselves
to be exploited on that unfortunate premise. These episodes are a gory,
haunting, reminder that we didn’t recognize our oneness as people, not just as
citizens, but as human beings.
What’s shocking is that we continue to
refuse to see humanity as one even at a personal, individual level. The other
day I was aghast when someone we know wanted us to connect them to a “Brahmin”
lady who could be “gifted” a saree to commemorate someone’s death anniversary.
Now, why a “Brahmin” lady? Why would this someone’s maid, who toils daily to keep
their home clean, be a less deserving beneficiary? But my sane counsel, and
humble protest, cut no ice. To appease the dead, I was told, a “Brahmin” alone can
and must be a beneficiary!
An old story that Osho, the Master, used to
say, comes to mind. A king had made a palace; the palace was called the Mirror
Palace. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, all were covered with millions of
mirrors, tiny, tiny mirrors. There was nothing else in the whole palace; just
mirrors everywhere. Once it happened that, the king’s dog, by mistake, was left
inside the palace in the night and the palace was locked from the outside. The
dog looked around and became frightened — there were millions of dogs
everywhere. He was reflected: down, up, in all the directions — millions of
dogs! He was not an ordinary dog, he was the king’s dog — very brave — but even
then, at the moment, he was alone and very scared of the “other” dogs. He ran
from one room to another, but there was no escape, there was nowhere to go. He
became more and more frightened. He tried to get out, but there was no way to
get out — the door was locked. Just to frighten the other dogs he started
barking, but the moment he barked the other dogs also barked — because they
were all mere reflections. Then he became more frightened. To frighten the
other dogs he started knocking against the walls. The other dogs also jumped at
him and bumped into him. This saga endured all night. In the morning the dog
was found dead. But, see the beauty of it, the moment the dog died, all the
dogs died. The palace was empty. For, there was only one dog and millions of
reflections.
Osho tells this story and says that this is
the point that the venerable sage, Patanjali, makes: “There is only one reality
– and there are millions of reflections of it. You are separate from me as a
reflection, I am separate from you as a reflection, but if we move towards the
real, the separation will be gone — we will be one.”
Alas, this simple truth is not understood.
We find more and more ways as individuals, as a society, as a country and as a
world, to focus on our “separateness” than celebrate our “oneness”. We even take
our arguments and logic to banal levels – choosing to ignore a former Prime
Minister’s contributions by refusing to pay homage to her or choosing not to
talk of events that have plundered our country’s conscience and secular fabric –
just because they inconveniently remind you of your failures to provide responsible
leadership and governance! Understanding our oneness does not require a great effort.
If we simply take a deep breath and see that we are all alive
because of this one, Life-giving, source, which is common to all of us, we will
bury our divisive urges and live celebrating our oneness!
