We are leaping
into 2020 with trepidation, excitement and anticipation. The year gone by,
2019, was eventful. Our $2 trillion economy five years ago, touched $3 trillion
in 2019. Globally, Bitcoin made a gain of 9 million per cent this decade. Every
single day about 325,000 people got their first access to electricity, 200,000
people got piped water and 650,000 people went online for the first time. In
the 1950s, 27% children died by age 15, that figure is now a mere 4%.
Population in extreme poverty as defined by the UN was 42% in 1981; today it is
less than 10%.
Yet, we still
see media spit venom and fake news constantly and consistently when the
newspapers could very well have carried the headline ‘Another 170,000 people
moved out of extreme poverty yesterday’1. The Disease of Deep
Pessimism is ‘paralysing rather than empowering’ and leaves people
‘hopeless and even helpless’2
said a recent article in NY Times.
Through the
year, a visibly distressing sign was the depletion of reason in many
areas. This editorial is dedicated to reason.
The Supreme
Court emblem carries the words 
Yato
DharmasTato JayaH. It
is the Dhyeya Vaakya or the motto and means Where there is Dharma there
is victory.
Courts are
about establishing facts. Facts are established through Vaad, through Tarka
(reason) and Pramaana (evidence). Vaad stands for logical
reasoning and conclusion derived from it. It stands for open-mindedness to
determine true purport and ascertainment of truth. But then why would the
emblem of the highest judicial body speak of Dharma as the cause of victory?
Courts
establish facts by evidence, not just by documents alone, but also by
arguments. In the Bhagvad Geeta, Krishna says, ‘amongst the debaters, I am Vaadah’3
(Vaadah Pravadatah Aham).
Vaad has a fascinating etymology. Vid
stands for knowing and seeing. Vidya is knowledge. And from the same
root comes Vaad. Vaad also stands for not wanting to defeat
another through reasoning. In Vaad both opponents take the debate to a
higher level so that the finest logic can prevail in the end.
We see great Vaad
in judgments and arguments – where the ‘clear stream of reason’4 flows. It is distinguished from Vivaad
where one is trying to crush another rather than trying to reach the truth
through reason. In Vivaad, like we see at 9 pm on news channels, people
are tied down by their binary biases. There is an extension of Vaad in SamVaad
(dialogue) which is based on discovery and not on bias.
Vaad is rooted in Dharma and so its
tenor is pure. The noblest of minds are often the staunchest of disputants. But
they exhibit amity, balance, fairness, honesty, respect, and fearlessness.
Today, we see ignorance, prejudice, deceit and bigotry which are all enemies of
Vaad.
Dharma comes from the root Dru, which
means to hold together. Dharma is that order which holds and sustains
the universe together in a fine balance and order. Dharma is a
non-translatable Sanskrit word and means so much at once that it can only be
read contextually unlike most English words.
When Vidhi (Laws)
and Nyaay (Justice) emerge from Dharma, then there is victory.
Justice is also the first word in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
One of the key features
of Dharma is duty. Today, we have rights placed before and above duties.
This is perhaps the root of much of our travails. In the Indian traditions,
duty is extended up to sacrifice – Jataayu sacrifices his life for Sita. Bharat
sacrifices being the King and lives as a Trustee of the kingdom which he could
have simply taken over.
May we see clearer reason, order, virtue, duty and
values prevail in 2020 – and that should bring victory to all that is good.
Raman Jokhakar
Editor
