The ‘Secular’ State and the Light of Wisdom

If we qualify the term ‘state’ by putting the adjective ‘secular’ before it, the adjective is totally superfluous. State by itself is a secular entity. It is the product of secularism and it invariably espouses secularism. The crux of secularism is that the state is the most powerful of institutions, and with the rise of secularism, it had superseded its contender, i.e. religion as the supreme power. But the fact remains; theology continues to define the nature of every state, communist states included. They were a cult of godlessness. 

In other words, the states do not have the sway, particularly in its internal matters, which it should been having as the supreme authority as religion continues to guide the morals of the people. But they differ in extent. The State ideally is the home of homo economicus. A real secular soil is where market is free and fair. Only place where market relations supersede others in the public relations is really secular.

As per the Dharmic norms, secularism is again superfluous. Dharma in our context is the supreme and governs both the morals and the market. We need to imbibe the Dharma of knowledge and the knowledge of Dharma. We the genetically enlightened people of the world must undo the genetic modification in order to show the world the light of the wisdom. 

Niraj Kumar Jha

Enlightened Self Interest

Mostly a middle class person is a spokesperson for the poor - a notional poor. Ironically, the so called poor knows what is good for them, but a middle class person doesn't. It would have been better if every status group were speaking for themselves instead of speaking for the others. Generally, they don't have expertise and they speak their own misconceptions and prejudices, and while doing so they inadvertently drown the genuine voices. You need to support voices coming from the sufferers or you can speak for the sake of who don't have their own voices, but for that you need to have authentic information about them. Moral of the story is that you speak what you know the best. And it's mostly you yourself. An enlightened pursuance of self-interest is the best thing you can do for the good of your polity and the humanity.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Political Science

• Mankind claimed property to escape the savagery of their wild existence. 
• They devised the state to protect themselves from the savages. 
• Then they needed to protect their property from the state. 
• And they came out with the idea of constitutionalism. 
• The effective right to property is the core of constitutionalism. 
• The science enables you to know this and makes you to demand and have what you deserve. 

       Niraj Kumar Jha 

Political Science

• Mankind claimed property to escape the savagery of their wild existence. 
• They devised the state to protect themselves from the savages. 
• Then they needed to protect their property from the state. 
• And they came out with the idea of constitutionalism. 
• The effective right to property is the core of constitutionalism. 
• The science enables you to know this and makes you to demand and have what you deserve. 

       Niraj Kumar Jha 

"A ruler with a contiguous territory is a rival." - Chanakya

Our pundits of international politics say that a country cannot choose its neighbours and the message thus they have is that we should make all possible efforts to make our neighbours friendly. This is an absolutely wrong policy. Friendly postures and undue concessions are hardly valued in international politics. Nations try to appease only a power which is capable and inclined to threaten them or to inflict damages on them.

Secondly, if you cannot change geography, so you cannot change history. What Chanakya has observed is the logical basic but we face threats and aggressions much deeper and more complicated by their nature. We are treated as a naturally subservient civilization, which every other is seeking to subdue. This is our history and this is the present scenario. Our rise as a powerful and prosperous nation is the most anathematic thing to happen for them.

From the day one, India should  have done everything not only to fortify its borders but also to develop global striking capabilities. For some strange reasons, the single most crucial and critical lesson of our entire history was totally ignored from the very start. Some would say very foolishly that India as a poor nation would not have afforded this. How to leverage armed forces, war machine and military industry for economic gains should have been a simple economics for a big nation like India. India also allowed the massive military experiences it had gained during the two great wars to go totally wasted.   

We want peace and our efforts in order to be effective must be global. But for that we need the greatest war machine ever created. One should also know that this would be the accomplishment of only brains. We must do everything to nurse the great minds.

NKJ

The Freedom Upsurge

What Colin Crouch calls post-democracy and post-post democracy are in fact taking place simultaneously. Democratic institutions are growingly becoming non-functional or dysfunctional, but indiviudal freedom is gaining ground.

Here, however I wish to make a different point. What I see happening is the streamlining of democracy as many of the services for which we needed democracy earlier have been or are being taken over by the market for good.

Secondly, the widely expanded scope of freedom as a result of globalisation, liberalisation and new technologies have to sink in systems, which have to be global and more intricate.

Right now what we see is the unsettling of institutions and systems, which are simply incapable of handling the new democratic upsurge, and its vicious opposition by the entrenched interests.

Niraj Kumar Jha

इंसान

इंसान को इंसान ही रह लेने दो
उसे जब मन हो हँस लेने दो
मन भरे उसका तो रो लेने दो
मत बनाओ किसी को त्यागमयी देवी
मत करो किसी की पीड़ा का महिमामंडन
मत किसी को बनाओं देव पाषाण
मत गाओ गीत किसी के पौरुष के
करने दो उसको कुछ बेवकूफियाँ
थोड़ा लड़ लेने दो, थोड़ा झगड़ लेने दो
थोड़ा पाप, थोड़ी बेईमानी, उसे कर लेने दो
थोड़ी कायरता, थोड़ी बेशर्मी, उसकी जाने दो
इंसान को इंसान ही रह लेने दो
हो सके तो ढहा दो गंभीरता के पहाड़ों को
बह लेने दो हल्की-हल्की हवाओं को

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