“The man of power is ruined by power, the man of money by money, the submissive man by subservience, the pleasure seeker by pleasure.”— Hermann Hesse

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.” —Jesus Christ

This is the time one should remember the opening paragraph of Charles Dickens’ famous novel “A Tale of Two Cities” in the context of today’s Karnataka. It is worth quoting:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,… it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,…”

In short, the period was not a good one. Dickens was actually mocking at what was happening during that period. The Truth was camouflaged in those contradictions.

At present in Karnataka there is no such contradictions. It is the Worst of  Times, it is the Age of Foolishness, there seems No Hope and we are living in a State  of Despair.

No wonder, the famous Kodi Mutt Seer Sri Shivananda Shivayogi Rajendra Swamiji, known for making political predictions, while in Chikkaballapur recently, described the political ecosystem of today’s Karnataka in his own esoteric words alluding to an incident in Mahabharata epic:

In the Mahabharata, there was Krishna and so Bhima could win against Duryodhana. But today we do not have Krishna and so the (present day) Duryodhana will win. The inference is clear. Your guess is my guess. Let it be.

The Seer, however, said, Siddaramaiah does not have the ‘blessings of God’ thereby implying that he might resign his Office as Chief Minister. If we want to believe this, listen to the wag who said that the prediction of an astrologer and a meteorologist are similar!

It is unfortunate for Karnataka that after S.M. Krishna as the Chief Minister, the State politics plunged into turmoil and continues to be in that state with Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister since 2013-2018 to this day for a second term since May 2023.

Yes, he brought in stability to the Government but not to the Administration. From day one, the Administration was mired in discrimination and favouritism under an autocracy. Not an oligarchy. Nehru was the first oligarch, we were told. Then it was from 2004 to 2014 — de facto Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and de jure PM Sonia Gandhi. But, happily, there was no turbulence or instability in the Administration though venal.

Now in Karnataka, Law and Order is under severe stress with law-breakers having a free run emboldened by a State being soft towards them.

For example, the State Government’s decision to withdraw criminal cases such as the attempt to murder, rioting and attacking the old Police Station in the terrifying Hubballi riots of 2022.

Therefore, it is not surprising many State-run bodies and quasi-government organisations came to be managed by incompetent and corrupt officials with the tacit approval of elected representatives                and Ministers.

Just two examples: The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes (ST) Development Corporation Ltd.  This one, dedicated to help the poor Valmiki Scheduled Tribes, was looted. There may be many other scams waiting to be exposed, nay exhumed, but unlikely unless some daring RTI activists pursue them as in the case of MUDA 50:50 site distribution scam. In the case of Valmiki Development Corporation scam, it was the death by suicide of an Officer of the Corporation which exposed the misappropriation of crores of rupees meant for the poor people of the Valmiki community.

In the present disturbing, dismal conditions in our State, we must take consolation in the wise discourse of Osho, the Mystic and Godman of this age of despair:

“A great mystic died. When he reached Paradise, he asked God, ‘Why was Jesus not born in the twentieth century?’”

[Now, we are in the 21st century and waiting for Jesus]

The Lord God started laughing and said, “Impossible! Impossible!! Where would the 20th (or 21st) century people ever find three wise men or a virgin?”

I think it is for a similar reason Lord Krishna is not born in our country as an Avatar to destroy the evil and establish Dharma as promised by Him in the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Book of Hindus.

But there seems no worry on that promise because Indians still think they are in the Paradise, according to Osho. In a discourse, this was how Osho Rajneesh explained this                                           phenomenon:

There was a school, a Christian missionary school, but with a few non-Christian boys as well, who were also taught the Bible, the parables and the stories.

One day the School Inspector came and asked a small kid: Who was the first man and who was the first woman?

The kid replied: Adam and Eve.

The Inspector was pleased and he said, “To what nationality did they belong?”

And the kid said: Indian, of course.

The Inspector was a little bit disturbed but he still asked: Why do you think they belonged to the Indian nationality?

The kid said smiling: “Easy! They had no shelter over their heads, no clothes to wear, nothing to eat except one apple between the two of them — and still they believed this was Paradise! They were Indians.”

Alleluia!

With five guarantees, all free, Karnataka must be the new Paradise for the beneficiaries who form a bulk of voters and with 136 MLAs, the Chief Minister must be deluding himself to be above the Law. But, in jurisprudence we are taught that the long arm of the Law will catch the accused sooner or later because no matter how high you are, the Law is above you.

And yet, in the absence of Lord Krishna, as the Kodi Mutt Seer said, the autocrat Chief Minister may succeed in bringing down the Law from its high pedestal and win. Thereafter, Karnataka will be a Paradise of the kind described by that school student!

Let us pray and wait for the new dawn.

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