The god of the villages, and the Wall Street gods.

October 24, 2014 at 2:11pm · 

My understanding of the place of God and religion changed vastly while living in a village.

The definition of God becomes vaster and vaster in Hinduism, and becomes the same as Dharmam.
'God is the law and the lawgiver rolled into one' and 'God if Truth' were both Gandhi's statements.

We all need a sense of Truth. And a belief in a principle higher than our own understanding gives humility. (Here I am not at all interested in all the various perversions in religion.)
 

Aparna Krishnan It is that based on that framework of dharmam whole communities are able to live by that generosity. Based on a more irreligious ethics, not all of us are able to rise above our insecurities and fears and greed. I am not able to at all - compared to them. 

I find the generosity of the village community so vastly different from than of my own midle class urban community ... and somewhere i feel it is traceable to the word dharamam which they use in every third sentence, and to explain every moral act.

Rahul Banerjee as i have said earlier the postulation of God is redundant to the argument that good ethics is a must for harmonious living.

Aparna Krishnan Then why is a community that believes in god and ethics (dharmam) able to be more generous that a community that is just simply ethical (if we had an 'ethical friends circle' as averagely representative as a set of village people would be - i do not think they would all be able to give the way the village people would give.) . I suspect because they are able to place themselves in the hands of their God. Even as they give away the last of their reserves. And that are also able to accept God's will - hunger or food. We, on the other hand, are all in all for ourselves ... and thereby take on their god's role in securing our futures (and our children's and grandchildren's) ... and are still fearful.

Rahul Banerjee villages still retain the community spirit wherein people help each other including mendicants though due to the increasing monetisation of the economy the villagers' generosity is declining. but in cities which have been monetised for a long time now the feeling of community has been completely swamped by the market. when people know they can buy help from the market they do not bother to be generous to others.

 

Aparna Krishnan no. this is a simplification.if i (and by that, i include my middle class endowed community) want to share with those in need - i will still somewhere worry about my tomorrows, and secure somewhat and then only share. If I had a quarter sack of rice only, and two small grandchildren dependent on me, catch me feeding a mendicant ! something else gives the village that fearlessness, and they ascribe it to 'dharmam' and to 'devudu will look after tomorrow..' it is also the, as you say, the sense of community, and a inherited culture of helping.

 

Rahul Banerjee thats precisely the point. your mind has been monetised. the Bhils in our area also feed mendicants even when they do not have enough because their minds have not been monetised. though now as they go for migration this admirable freedom from monetisation is disappearing fast. the breakdown of community and compassion is a result of a well planned thrust by capitalism to increase market control of the minds of people.

 

Aparna Krishnan yes, as agriculture is slowing down in all villages for many different reasons, and everything is purchased (at urban market rates !) the goodness is getting strained. the system breaks down a village community's economy systematically, and to expect them to protect dharmam forever is also too much.

Rahul Banerjee it all boils down to the shenanigans of the crooks on wall street. unless that stops there is no future for humanity.

Aparna Krishnan eashwaramma's god versus your wall street friends !!

Rahul Banerjee Eshwaramma is no match in material terms to these crooks.

Aparna Krishnan her 'devudu', not her.... it is basically dharma and adharma.

Aparna Krishnan This is an old story ... "Dharmam is higher than money power

The poor are not vanquished, because they live in a dharmam that is higher than money power. Village local loans are given at 24% to 120% interest rates. Krishnaveni of the neighbouring village is a sought after money lender who charges 100% to 120%.

Eashwaramma, the poorest of the poor, said of her, 'But the God above is keeping accounts of this act. To charge 120% is not dharmam. To charge 24% is dharmam. At 24% the loaner and the borrower can both survive'. Krishnaveni may claim her interest, but people know that she is not following dharmam. And she knows that they know. She will be in check because she knows this is adharmam.

The same dharmam tells them that 'addukkoni tinnedi' - for the mendicant 'to ask for rice, and eat', is OK. To give the poor who asks for food is dharmam.

In a perverted culture this is reversed. He who earns many many times more than the poor is considered following dharma, and even a model for society. He who asks for food, bhiksha, is termed a begger and seen as just short of a criminal."

Rahul Banerjee Gods have fallen flat in the face of mammon.

Aparna Krishnan The battle may be fought in very unexpected ways ... maybe the good get wiped out - but dharma is protected. i dont know ... i just know that a very very different perspective may be needed. and the person who can give that is needed ...

Aparna Krishnan Eashwaramma and Lakshmamma will understand this better than you or i ... "In my daughter's sanskrit class her teacher told her the story of Maina, Nanasaheb's daughter. A girl of 13, about the age of many of our own children, sent her father to war against the British (the 1857 revolt), telling him not to worry about her and that God would take care of her. The father left ... the daughter was later captured, tortured, and as she did not divulge anything, she was put to death.
The teacher asked everyone, 'Where was the God that the girl trusted would protect her ?' There was a pin drop silence ...

Then the teacher herself answered, 'The God saved her by helping her save dharma .... the body suffers, perishes ... but dharma has to live on. She was able to hold onto the truth at the cost of life itself. God helped her in that ultimate act ...'

I realized that my daughter's learnings went far beyond sanskrit grammer in that class ... and this is the education that children need ... all other learnings are secondary ..."

 

Aparna Krishnan This is no answer. I have no answer. To this capitalism breaking down all that is holy and good and sacrificing everything at the feet of money and consumerism. But I feel the answers have to emerge from some other angle altogether. Brute strength, or even wilyness is not the answer. Capitalism can only be countered by deep morality.

Rahul Banerjee capitalism will be countered in the end by nature. the second crisis of capitalism is that of production itself as it destroys the planet.

Aparna Krishnan thats is the likliest. but meantime we will have to work against hope ... because we will see the poorest getting finished first. already climate change has destroyed the rain pattern in our area. and borewell cashcropping in 30 years has finished the groundwater (from 50 feet to 500 feet). and eashwaramma and others can only surcive if there is agricultural labour need. and sometimes even without a clear sense of direction of hope - we act ...

Aparna Krishnan the village people will get finished, and your wall street friends will go away to mars and build golden palaces and live. in this day and age, nothing that can be imagined is impossible ...