दर्शन, दर्शनहीनता, और प्रतिदार्शनिकता

समय दर्शन - अध्ययन, अवलोकन, संवेदना और बुद्धि से युक्त दर्शन - की सक्रियता की मांग करता है. दर्शन को दर्शन और दर्शनहीनता अथवा दर्शन और प्रतिदार्शनिकता में भी अंतर स्पष्ट करना होगा क्योंकि इनमें स्वरूप का अंतर नहीं है. दर्शन को यह भी बताना होगा कि दर्शन का उद्देश्य दर्शन का प्राधिकारवाद नहीं है, बल्कि मानवीयता के प्रवाह को अबाध रखना है. दर्शन का एक महती उद्द्देश्य आसुरी तत्त्वों के प्रतिकार के लिए लोगों को  संगठित रखना भी है. एक समय दर्शन को हम इतनी ऊँचाई तक ले गए कि सारी की सारी जमीन ही खो बैठे. 

नीरज कुमार झा

क्या ऐसा भी है?

क्या ऐसा भी है कि समाधान या विश्लेषण हेतु भी समस्याएँ निर्मित की जा रही हों? पता नहीं, लेकिन मुझे ऐसा लगता है कि प्रत्येक व्यक्ति पहले अपने आचरण से समस्या का कारण या निदान होता है. ऐसा भी हो सकता है कि समाधान और विश्लेषण करने वाले ही समस्याओं की निरंतरता के कारक हों. महात्मा गांधी शायद इसलिए वचन और आचरण में ऐक्य की बात करते थे.

नीरज कुमार झा

वैश्वीकरण बनाम चीनीकरण

वैश्वीकरण का घनीभूत होते जाना अपरिवर्तनीय है. समस्या यह है कि वैश्वीकरण की जगह आज विश्व का चीनीकरण हो रहा है. संतुलित वैश्वीकरण के लिए समस्त देशों की इस प्रक्रिया में विश्वास और योगदान जरूरी है. यही वैश्विक शांति और समृद्धि का रास्ता भी है. संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका तथा अन्य विकसित पाश्चात्य देशों का वि-वैश्वीकरण की तरफ रुझान निश्चय ही लोकलुभावनवाद से प्रेरित है तथा वैश्वीकरण की प्रक्रिया में चीन को बढ़त ही दे रहा है. चीन की तीक्ष्ण शक्ति, जो नम्र और कठोर शक्ति के प्रयोग का योग है, की आंच यूरोप के लिए अब झुलसन सिद्ध हो रही है. दुनियाँ के सभी देश इस चुनौती का सामना करने का रास्ता पाने के लिए व्यग्र हैं. इस सन्दर्भ में भारतीय जनमत की अंतर्मुखी प्रवृत्ति और उदासीनता विस्मयकारी है.

नीरज कुमार झा

The Non-existent Coins

Why is worthlessness soaring?
The answer is so obvious, my friends!
When toil is demeaned,
Goodness is devalued,
It is only the worthlessness,
Which is left to hanker after.

When the blind pursuit of moolah,
The craving to control others, and
The exhibition of self,
Become religion,
It is the worthlessness,
Which makes the spheres.

There is nothing we can do,
Except to keep in mind
That existence means humanity;
And humanity means only
The person before you.

When you value the other,
You gain freedom from
The tyranny of nothingness.
And get rid of suffocation,
Which you may think is life.

Niraj Kumar Jha

... which makes us modern and civilised ...

The understanding, which makes us modern and civilised, and which the barbarians amidst us seek to destroy

We enter into the contract with ourselves in order to preserve ourselves,. The resultant entity does not own us, none of us. Rather each of us has the entity to serve each of us individually as well. The collective will is no more sacrosanct than any individual will. And none's interest can be sacrificed for the sake of any other. Any conflict between the collective and the individual will must be judged independently and with absolute parity. The exercise of paramount powers must be only on the basis of unavoidable or unalterable necessity for the sake of absolute common good. The construction of a highway is such a necessity and the land must be acquired for that. But in such cases, the person parting land must be compensated by regular royalty from the accruals from the road taxes.

Niraj Kumar Jha

स्वतंत्रताओं का अर्जन व अवधारण

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।

मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमय।

ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति: ॥

स्वतंत्रताओं का उपलब्ध होना स्वाभाविक स्थिति नहीं है. स्वतंत्रताओं के अर्जन, विस्तार, और अवधारण के लिए निरंतर प्रयास करना होता है. इसके लिए आवश्यक है कि नागरिक विज्ञ, सुधी, और सक्रिय हों. सबसे महत्वपूर्ण है आचरण में दायित्व भाव. नितांत निजी जीवन, यहाँ तक कि मनन में भी, से लेकर सार्वजनिक जीवन तक प्रत्येक जन का आचरण दायित्वबोध से पूर्ण और गरिमामय हो. जब स्वतंत्रताओं का दुरुपयोग होता है या स्वतंत्रताओं के प्रति उपेक्षा का भाव प्रबल हो जाता है तो स्वतंत्रताओं का क्षरण रोका जाना संभव नहीं होता है. जीवन में गंभीरता का अभाव, जो विचार और व्यवहार में फूहड़ता और उच्छृंखलता के रूप में परिलक्षित होता है, पराधीनता को स्पष्ट निमंत्रण है.

अनधीनता की स्थिति और प्राप्ति के हेतु की समझ के लिए दृष्टिकोण में वैज्ञानिकता की विद्यमानता अपरिहार्य है. चुनौती और भी विकट हो जाती है जब छद्मज्ञान प्रबल स्थिति में हो. छद्मज्ञान का कुचक्र दुष्टों तथा प्रपंचियों के दुष्प्रचार और हिंसावाद के द्वारा रक्षित होता है. ऐसी स्थिति में लोग ज्ञान से ही भयभीत रहते हैं. ज्ञान की व्यापकता ही अनधीनता का जीवन संभव बनाती है. ज्ञान की व्यापकता के लिए ज्ञान के प्रति हमारी सजगता और इसकी स्थापना के लिए तत्परता में किसी तरह की कमी और या उनको लेकर किसी तरह का प्रमाद या भीरूता हमारे स्वयं और समाज दोनों के लिए ही घातक है.

नीरज कुमार झा

आओ! हम वाद-विवाद करें !

आओ! हम वाद-विवाद करें !
मुझे पता है कि तुम हो अटल अपने मत पर,
मैं भी प्रतिबद्ध अपने दर्शन को लेकर।
तुम पूछोगे कि क्या लाभ फिर इस वाक्-युद्ध का ?
मैं कहता हूँ कि भले ही हम नहीं स्वीकारें,
लेकिन वाद-विवाद की आग में असल चमक उठता है,
और मिलावटी पर जाता है काला।
कालिमा किसी पक्ष के हिस्से में हो,
लेकिन असल का चमकना जरूरी है ।
हाँ, समस्या एक रह ही जाती है।
वाद-विवाद रह जाता है निष्प्रभावी,
यदि किसी की मानवता गिरवी पर हो। 


नीरज कुमार झा

Lord Vibhishana

I found a commentator on facebook invoking the role Lord Vibhishna played in restoring Lanka to dharma in a very pejorative way in the context of events which unfolded in Bihar. As per a popular maxim Lord Vibhisana is depicted as a traitor who led to the destruction of his homeland Lanka. This is the most inappropriate and mischievous way of looking at the role of the great sage - Lord Vibhishana. The Lord was a great devotee and knew exactly what dharma was and had unfailingly put his wisdom and might on the side of dharma and only it was his sagacity that earned him the most affectionate friendship of Lord Ram, the Supreme Being Himself. The nutshell of the saga is simple - the greater dharma supersedes smaller dharma. This is the message one should imbibe and refrain from going after naughty or non-nonsensical popular sayings. The so-called Vibhishana of Bihar today deserves only our praises as he restored Bihar to the prospect of better governance.

Niraj Kumar Jha

भारत का लक्ष्य मात्र एक महाशक्ति बनना नहीं हो सकता है। इसका कारण है कि भारत को प्रत्यक्ष चुनौती उस सभ्यता और राष्ट्र से मिल रही है जो अत्यन्त व्यवस्थित तरीके से विश्व की प्रथम शक्ति बनने के लिए एक लम्बे समय से क्रियाशील है और कई क्षेत्रों में यह देश अपने सर्वोच्च स्थान को निर्विवाद रूप से स्थापित कर चुका है। इसके साथ ही भारत का कट्टर शत्रु और विश्व का सबसे बड़ा उपद्रवकारी देश भी उससे जा मिला है। भारत परमशक्ति बनकर ही सभ्यता के इन शत्रुओं का प्रभावी प्रतिकार कर सकता है। अन्यथा, भारत की अस्मिता, प्रतिष्ठा, सुरक्षा, और सम्प्रभुता सभी हमेशा खतरे में रहेंगी। हमारे पास विकल्प मात्र यही है कि हम परमशक्ति बने या एक आक्रांत देश के रूप में अपनी नियति को कोसते रहें।

भारत को परमशक्ति बने, इसके लिए आवश्यक है कि प्रत्येक भारतीय की मेधा और क्षमता चरम पर हो। इस हेतु प्रत्येक नागरिक के प्रतिभा, शौर्य, और उद्यम को पराकाष्ठा तक ले जाना होगा। हर भारतीय वैश्विक स्तर पर श्रेष्ठता का प्रदर्शन कर सके, ऐसी हमारी नीति हो।

नीरज कुमार झा

The Grand Project of Self Defeatism

The people I considered fool earlier, I find their beliefs to be correct now. I had to overcome my education to realize this. One of such realizations is that the past is not there in the history texts but it remains the most formidable determinant of our genetic coding, which in turn determines how we behave. Our intellectualism lacks utterly in addressing the existential, and I realize that to be the chief factor for the trivialization of intellectualism in the country. It is our genetic coding which makes us hyper aggressive sometimes and keeps us abominably subservient most of the times. This may also be the reason for our intellectualism being a grand project of self defeatism.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Media Freedom

The people in large numbers, including media persons, have been made to believe that the media is partisan and not free, and media-persons are largely dishonest. An odious term was also coined, which sought to denigrate the profession by comparing it to presumably another degraded profession.

The prevalence of this very debate proves that the media is largely free in this country and the media is not playing to any particular tune. If the media were not free, nobody would have raised this question or would have been able to do so. The conditions are just opposite and therefore there is so much intensity in the debate. But even the media does not concur with this fact. The media at this moment is at the receiving end of the psychological power-play.

The crucial thing we must know that the media is not just another pillar of democracy but it is the mainstay of democracy. If we are by and large safe on the streets or in our houses, we largely owe this to the media.

And we must get to the basics again. The media is largely a capitalist enterprise. The more evolved the capitalism, the freer would be the media. And we must be introspective too. Do we deserve a freer media? Isn't it that the media seeks to cater to our tastes?

Lastly, the crucial question - Are we responsible and honest citizens? Shouldn't we take our citizenship with some seriousness?

Niraj Kumar Jha

A Random Thought

Shouldn't the acts of self harm be treated as criminal and the concerned persons be prosecuted by the state for the same? Committing homicide unsuccessfully was punishable but what if somebody chops off his own limb intentionally or unintentionally? If the same thing is done to one by some other person whether intentionally or unintentionally, then it is treated as a crime in both cases? And if consent is such a crucial matter, then can one murder another with latter's consent? If some person is duped to lose something, then there is certainly for that time the consent existed. Often we hear that people do wrong things to others with latter's consent, but they are not exempted for such crimes. What is the difference between the acts when somebody donates an amount to a needy and when the needy robs the same amount from that person? Apart from the absence of consent, there is no difference in these events at all. Can we treat the willingness a valid factor for that purpose? And what if somebody else donates one's money to other needy persons? Is it not a more heinous crime? If jurisprudence has clear answers to such questions, many ideological shibboleths can be junked.

Niraj Kuma Jha

Equality of Opportunities

The idea of the equality of opportunity is another variant of the leftist gibberish. I need to expose this dangerous idea which the leftists have propagated over all these decades. First thing is that the idea is not feasible and the undeniable and mammoth proof of that is the prolonged Indian experimentation with this objective prior to 1991. That year the model simply collapsed as the model was not workable. The problem is that the idea is hardly different from the one which the Bolsheviks perpetrated behind their iron curtains. The idea for realization needs similar massive buildup which is ultimately doomed for a massive failure but meanwhile plays havoc with the people subjected to the project. Now the next question - what about opportunities? The general belief is that the opportunities are always limited and that should be equalized in availability. This is a huge misconception. A society which ensures freedom - and entrepreneurial freedom is the substance of that - generates abundance of opportunities and every people get what they deserve and strive for.

(This micro write-up suffices for the educated to get rid of this misconception prevailing for a very long time. Whenever I write about the chicanery behind the propagation of the idea of equality, people rush in to tell me about all this as if a naive needs some education.)

Niraj Kumar Jha

Q. Why do people in general venerate foolish persons so fervently and value useless things so highly?

A.

• The limits of knowledge frighten folks and they invariably fall for the idiots.
• The cunning people always form a vicious circle, which does not allow folks in general to think and act intelligently
• Education system has been devised in a way that they reduce people's brain to calculating instruments and they fail to see the existential realities from a proper perspective.
• Ideologies have swayed the minds of people over millennia. Power that be and ideologies which crop up from time to time have great hate and love relationship between them but they always enter into a very symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit.
• Incapable of building good systems, people lack dignity and purpose in life and they go for trivialities for seeking fulfillment.
• Our knowledge dissemination system is such that it nurses a false sense of being knowledgeable among all but provides little for people to acquire knowledge.
• The culture is something which needs continuous critical appraisal but it is the travesty of human destiny that they put it on the highest pedestal. The holification of culture is the gravest of the human follies.

Niraj Kumar Jha 

The Covfefe Times

Covfefe, the typo created word, immediately connects to the global realities. The word, by its origin and how it sounds, resonates the deafening cacophony characterizing the global affairs of the day. The state is such that the realities have totally overwhelmed the intellectualism and the resultant anomie has bogged down the whole humanity. The inevitable globalism is least helped by the stunted agencies and stands impeded by the lack of conviction on the part of the liberal democracies. This is the generation on which the destiny has bestowed the responsibility of facilitating the dawn of the new world but the generation stands totally oblivious of its responsibilities. This is the time to take philosophy very seriously. This is a make or mar moment of epochal proportion.

Niraj Kumar Jha

On a Poser Whether Indians are Cowards

The boy's poser is a cliche which has stayed over time. The fact remains that we have not been as aggressive or brutal as other civilizations of the world are or have been. But nothing beyond that stands. As late as during the second world war, the Indians constituted the largest military ever raised in the history, and they fought with the best fighting forces of the world with aplomb. This is the answer the videoed speaker skirts. Secondly, it was not so that the Indians did not resist the invasions. The fact is that they only failed in their war efforts. The result of battling often depends on luck and chance. And this must be noted very carefully Mr Neel Kamal Pandey that a lost war has a very long term debilitating effect on the defeated civilization. Now let us come to the problem which continues as it has ever been and which I have been reiterating now and then. We need a very strong philosophical statesmanship, which we have lacking for a very long time. Perhaps we did not have anything like after the Guptas, Our last hope died at Talikota. Now I come again to the original question: Are Indians cowards? In the battlefield it is only the regimen which speaks, and in the civil life the bullies, rogues, bravehearts, cowards and meek all survive but the fact remains what largely we have as men and women as a society is a matter of social engineering.

Niraj Kumar Jha

(In response to a question raised in a video by a young person posted by Sh Neel Kamal Pandey ji)

The Capital

The economy deserves the most meticulous and methodical approach in its management. Any sort of adventurism is going to be counter productive. In this context we must know of a couple of the cardinal principles of political economy. First is that the capital must be our sovereign master. It must have smoothest possible run. It must be least burdened with the taxes and be facilitated in the best possible way. Secondly, all citizens must be unrestrained to participate in the capitalist system as stakeholders. In this backdrop we must note that the taxes on the capital is never paid by the capitalists; they are simply passed on to the end users of services and products but in the process the taxes only constrain the capital from working in proportion to its potential. Secondly, welfarism is needed exactly because the capitalism is not allowed to have its free run. My take on the crisis of 1929 is that it was not a capitalist crisis but was the failure of economic management.

- Niraj Kumar Jha

What is freedom?

Freedom is the ecology which enables every person to realise his or her potential substantially. The extent of freedom people have determines the strength of their persona, their drive for initiatives and enterprise. The test of the state of freedom is that each person is in command of his or her life. None serves mere as the means to other person's end. Freedom in this sense is a mutual obligation. Free societies are progressive societies as they innovate continuously. Such societies are also prosperous and as a collective they command power. Now come to the ground level of free existence. Such societies cannot be other than capitalist ones and thereby democratic. And for such societies, nothing is more sacrosanct than an individual, her dignity and autonomy. 

Niraj Kumar Jha

Under animal attack

These hounds
When sink
Their teeth into your flesh,
They do so not for their morsel,
But wanna kill your spirits,
And have their sway.
With their barks and bites
They demean
All and sundry,
Meaning included.
Let me warn you my friends!
They stir whirlpools
Of meaninglessness, 
And these suck unsparingly
Naïve or guilty alike.
My friends,
Beware of them, my friends!

Niraj Kumar Jha

The Tyranny of the Meanings

The meanings are the floating vessels in the ocean of infinity, on which we rest. We must not forget ultimately that they are after all the floats in the endlessness of meaninglessness. But most unfortunately, some assume the custodianship of the meanings and start issuing diktats in the name of meanings. True, these  are meanings, which provision our lives, but they cannot be used to enslave us, the creators and upholders of the meanings, in the name of these meanings. They must be reminded of the ocean, where everything is nothing and nothing is everything. 

We must always be conscious of the meaninglessness which is the inevitable aspect of our existence so as not to surrender ourselves to the tyranny of meanings. 

We the Sanatanis always had the answer against the tyranny of meanings - 

NETI NETI.

Niraj Kumar Jha 

धर्म और रिलिजन

यह तय है और सभी सुधीजन जानते हैं कि धर्म और रिलिजन सर्वथा अलग संवृत्तियाँ हैं। बिलकुल अलग। यहाँ तक कि इन दोनों में तुलना का कोई समान आधार भी नहीं है। मेरे एक छात्र ने दोनों के अंतर के विषय में बड़ा अच्छा उत्तर दिया। उसने बताया कि मानवों के रिलिजन कई हैं लेकिन धर्म सभी का एक है। 

दूसरी तरफ, धर्म को मात्र जीवन शैली कहना वास्तव में कुछ भी नहीं कहना है।ऐसा कहना कुछ भी परिभाषित नहीं करता है। अब सवाल है कि हिन्दुइज़्म क्या है? क्या इसे धर्म से अलग कर देखा जा सकता है। यह एक विचारणीय प्रश्न है। मुझे लगता है कि हिन्दुइज़्म शब्दरचना और इसको परिभाषित करने का प्रयास धर्म के प्रतिगामियों की कुत्सित योजना का हिस्सा है। ऐसा करके वे सनातन धार्मिक परम्परा को रिलिजन के समान्तर खड़ा करना चाहते हैं। रिलिजन हमेशा से नियंत्रण के यन्त्र के रूप में प्रयुक्त हुआ है। रिलिजन व्यक्तियों के अंतःकरण को अधीन करने का उपक्रम है। 

नीरज कुमार झा

On the Occasion of Holi

Holi is the great Sanatana festivity of mingling, and trashing distinctions and taboos. This is the periodic return to everyone's social self. In its contrast, Diwali is the statement of attainment, though not with its attendant social obligations. The great celebration of Vijayadashami, asserts the civilization's resolve to take to arms in defence of Dharma. Its uniqueness is the deification of the feminine as the fountain of chivalry. The Sanatana is the completeness of humanism and the order of justice. India is progressing to regain its essence, with which it would embrace the whole world. With Dharma's ascendance, the mankind would be in realisation of its humaneness.

Sanatana ki Jai!

- Niraj Kumar Jha

Victims we all

The women's subjugation is not an autonomous issue. It is inevitably interrelated to the general order of domination. People however generally overlook the fact that at the receiving end of the order the men come first and suffer no less. And the women suffer because the oppressed men and even the women are condemned to victimise their own kith and kin. This is a tragedy, very painful tragedy, which the men don't realise despite being the victims, and the women do not sense this as they are not seeing the puppeteers.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Putting our acts together

The shift cannot be starker. The US is closing its doors and the PRC is going all open. The former is trying to shield against further losses and the latter is attempting to hold on its gains. The heat they face is not only generated by the competition but also by the unfolding technologies. We Indian must rise above the inane debates and look at the immense opportunities the present future offers and the great threats it inheres. Putting our acts together has never been more critical an issue than it is today.

Niraj Kumar Jha

It’s better you wait

When questions straight

Ask for answers straight,

You know that

You’re passing through difficult times.

There is a clear big no to nuisance.

Great!  

But there is  no place for innocence either.

With truth so badly disfigured,

The ugliness of falsehoods

Looks quite lovable.

Bewildering times!

Yes, but better you wait,

Before passing on your judgement.

- Niraj Kumar Jha

Universal Citizenship Allowance

I conceptualise the idea of universal basic income as the universal citizenship allowance (UCA) as it is going to be country specific till or unless all the people come under a global government. If the UCA is implemented in the proper sense, i.e., it is universal and not targeted, and the income is such that it covers all the basic needs of an average middle class person, then it is going to revolutionise the way humanity has lived so far. It is quite feasible because the allowance would make most of the welfare functions of the state redundant. However, in addition it will also necessitate and facilitate universal taxation. Onwards, none of the human beings would strive for survival but all would only work for excellence. I can foresee the onset of a new era of substantive egalitarianism and very creative liberation. And it is going to happen; it is inevitable.

Niraj Kumar Jha