Waning wisdom, human folly

Scholars delivering discourses before their captive audiences comprising mostly men and women on the wrong side of 60 years, a common sight nowadays in Mysuru, on topics sourced to the land’s ancient texts such as Bhagavatha, Epics, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, Philosophical writings of luminaries who walked across the land, verses scripted by unknown authors such as Subhaashitas and so on, all these constituting a virtually inexhaustible cornucopia of literature without parallel in any other country across the globe, are appropriately described as words of wisdom. The speechless species, namely birds, beasts, domesticated animals, fauna and flora in water bodies including ponds, wells, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans all of which are in the august company of plants in their entirety as well as the insects and microbes (about which there is more to be known than available perception) seem to be sustaining themselves according to what is empirically accepted as laws of nature, despite intervention by the human species steadily going adrift on the wisdom plane.

The take-home message of wisdom in the discourses as well as scholarly writings, mercifully accommodated in the pages of many current dailies, including this one, appears to suffer from fading memory of the listeners, thanks to the humdrum life taking most of the time from dawn to dusk. Even the fraction of the numbers of men and women who get captivated by the spiritual factor in the discourses find themselves alienated from the gen next members of their families, barring exceptions.

The land still hosts eloquent speakers in virtually all its spoken languages who can effortlessly interpret the ancient texts, illustrating their talks through narrating anecdotes that appeal to the listeners and which are timeless and, therefore, make a deep imprint in the minds of listeners of all age groups. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and C. Rajagopalachari are among such well-known luminaries of the past. The major snag in the communication channel between the learned speakers and lay people who are the beneficiaries of the sessions is the influence of a well-marked section of intellectuals who take fascination to smear spirituality with the colour of religion, in the name of promoting scientific temper and further berating all that the land’s ancient texts have to say, that we have got as valued legacy from the distant past.

Many of the activities that were integral part of daily chores, including the start of such customary regimen at dawn, keeping disciplined food habits, interacting with family members as well as others with a calm disposition, walking both as an exercise and to reach places within city limits and so on, that are testified as healthy by scientific reasoning and therefore reflect ancient words of wisdom, have tended to have waned in our times, a clear case of human folly.