By Gregory Shullai
Among Indians at the present day, it does not suffice to have good manners – we just deem ourselves to be good mannered – we claim that we are good mannered, but are we? To all that I have learnt from observing the present-day Indian psychology of littering tourist spots, urinating in public (right by the side of public urinals built by the civic bodies), conducting ourselves in an unruly manner and our general noisy attitude, I will only comment on and try to analyse the problem of being Indian based on our misbehaviour because that is what is generally regarded as a fair basis upon which to judge any nations’ people. Thailand, Vietnam and a few other South East Asian countries have raised concerns over the unruly behaviour of Indians; at Lachung in Sikkim we were cautioned while urinating near the prayer flags along the roadside, in nearby Nepal the Nepalese are raising objections against Indians who were seen bathing in the iconic Phewa Lake raising concerns over pollution of the entire Pokhara eco-system. The post goes on to state in no uncertain terms that Indians are not welcome in certain public places. The recent reported misbehaviour of a priest with two women at Mathura is another shameful incident. The use of dubious means to ripen and colour agricultural products (mangoes exported to Japan and vegetables sent to North East India) has brought shame to all Indians. In short, the behaviour…or misbehaviour to be candid, of Indians has become a problem not only to people of other countries but to Indians as well. Given these truths, it is necessary to uncover whom and what is the antithesis of a decent Indian. One must see the fatality from close up and better still one should experience it as did the two women mentioned above at Mathura.
For most Indians, our indecency is attributed to the evolving political system and to a certain extent in conjunction with the “Caste System” on a thoroughly morbid basis. The closest kind of social evolution in any part of the globe that can be regarded as related to what we’re experiencing in India is the history of the pagan world when it got overrun by religion. Whereas in other countries the invaders played a dominant role in bringing about a change, in India, the priestly class supported by the ruling/governing class, ensured that the caste system survived…even to this very day.
People have come up with different solutions to the problem of the Caste System; nothing has worked; the caste system prevailed and continues to prevail even though we categorically admit that human beings, regardless of their level of education are one and the same, which is something the higher priestly class, are not willing to accept. That it (the caste system) would have such a damning influence on the behaviour of the Indian was something that no one anticipated and so when the Constitution of India regarded all men as equal – as they should be – a form of mortal hostility against the Constitution developed. The priestly class would have nothing to do with this constitutional provision. In an environment falsified in this way where all relationships in society had the profoundest instinct of being under the domination of the priestly class, and when the bulk of the people belonged to the lower classes, an even more unreal behaviour of the lower classes emerged and this is what political parties exploited and are exploiting to this very day; this is what has brought about an aberration in the social behaviour of the Indian wherever he goes. This revolt that the Indian has to a decent society is actually directed against the higher castes and therefore the average Indian is understood or misunderstood as an aberration in a normal society. The outcastes, the uneducated and the wretched of the caste system have now found a new birthright in democracy; a right to express themselves freely in word and deed which has translated into the way they behave with anyone, and with them much of the lower middle castes as well.
This first ranking aberrant behaviour, this rebellious movement of the “lower classes” against the “upper class” in a modern-day society is what we should be concerned with. If Christianity is a religion of pity Hinduism has become a religion of dominance. The priestly class desire only to invoke fear upon the lower classes and others by using their clout to resist everything that a normal society progresses towards, and as this schism widens, the rebellion of the lower classes (and others) grows stronger, and politicians make hay of this turmoil. The priest desires nothing more than to dominate: especially to dominate the politician – they once dominated the Rajas. Priests do not merely aspire to dominate – dominance is the norm. Ask the people of Sikkim and they will say that the instinct of many Indians is to subjugate other races, by whatever means are available – tribals in North East India are well aware of this attitude, and understand it as something displayed by those that have an inherent racial complex. To the latter, soft and polite instincts are regarded as the instincts of the subjugated and oppressed, a mentality that is predominantly inherent in the lower castes of the caste system. We may claim that the caste system is abolished in modern day India, but that is far from the truth.
If what I’ve mentioned above is logical and reasonable enough, which I’m sure it is, one is inclined to conclude that there is an added element that contributes to the misbehaviour of Indians and this is that the entire psychology and philosophy of what is contained in the holy Indian scriptures is something that their holy men do not teach. Is there no retribution for wrongdoing? Is it possible that “misbehaviour,” the kind that distances and damages the relationship between Indians and their fellow men, is totally ignored in the holy books? Do the holy scriptures not condemn and prescribe a punishment for bad behaviour? Is there no penalty for being dishonest? Is there no appreciation or reward for doing that which is right? Are honour and blessedness not tied to decent upright action? These are the questions people ask on observing the manner in which we conduct ourselves. The truth is that the holy books not only prescribe but demand holiness, but given the fact of what we see all around us it is almost as if holiness is for the weak, and that there is repute only in that which is unholy – despising and hating everything godly; where hygiene is repudiated as sensuality, where even the “Ganga Snan (Sthan)” or the place where one’s body and soul is purified by “mother Ganga” is ignored by keeping the river and its surroundings filthy. To those whose feet are set on the righteous path there is definitely a sense of cruelty towards oneself and the environment and above all to the warnings contained in “The Song Celestial” of the Bhagwat Gita. According to the Bhagwat Gita those who neglect the law’s injunctions and who live according to their own greedy desires enter the doors of hell. Do the saffron robed priests know that “The doors of Hell are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass, – the door of lust, the door of wrath, and the door of avarice. Let a man shun these three! He who shall turn aside from entering all these three gates of Narak, wendeth straight to find his peace, and comes to Swarga’s gate.”
Considering the above passage one is inclined to ask, do we even think of what it means to be a decent citizen of our “motherland” because what we portray in general is so opposed to what the holy scriptures teach…at least what the Bhagwat Gita teaches. If any fair opinion was to be made on the behaviour of the average Indian it is very clear that the demonic lots are now predominant in every aspect of society…politics, education, health and religion.
If there is anything that we can conclude from the present-day culture it is clear that Indian culture is on the decline and adequate reasons for this decline are not lacking. After all, nobody can demand others to practice hygiene when they themselves do not – the corrupt politician cannot expect the citizens not to corrupt – this is true of individuals, this is also true of a nation. If people spend their strength in acquiring wealth and power through corrupt means, they will have nothing left in the direction of culture and what it stands for. This is very evident in the way things are progressing in our country. We are no longer capable of earnestness in doing that which will take the country forward because we have diverted our mode of thinking from culture to selfish power. Once upon a time we had a great culture and we developed our minds towards literature, philosophy and scientific discoveries, today politics and religion have taught us to set aside all that is good for the soul and the country and to seek instead for everything that is materialistic and good only for the self. The consequence of such conditions inevitably projects itself into a new belief, the belief that selfishness is not wrong, that what one does for one’s own interest is the only right thing to do, that what others feel and think in the present is immaterial. It is this belief in how we conduct ourselves that distinguishes us from everyone else. Hinduism has left its original home; we have gone in search of power with an overwhelming desire to turn a blind eye to the need of others; we prefer to create tension through hostile actions and speeches.
Perhaps this attitude of ours was why the Gautama Buddha – not an Indian event but an Asian one – came out with the exact antithesis of everything that was Indian. The Buddha had become fatigued with the civilization that had emerged.
