Morals Supersede Canons of Law

Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia who ruled between 1930 and 1974, was also a great philanthropist and a socio-political reformer. Haile was a man with great insight and one of his profound statements is still apt in the present context, “Throughout history, it has been the ‘inaction’ of those who could have acted; the ‘indifference’ of those who should have known better; the ‘silence of the voice of justice’ when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” King Dhritarashtra, for being a silent witness to all the evil conspiracies hatched by his beloved son Duryodhana and for having never canvassed on behalf of the righteous Pandavas, was the main cause of the epic Mahabharata war in which millions of innocent people were killed. He never put his foot down objecting to the vicious conspiracies of his son Duryodhana. Ultimately, it was King Dhritarashtra who faced unfathomable grief for his entire hundred sons were ruthlessly killed in the eighteen-day epic battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas. A classic example where the algorithm of the universe continues to make its calculations in the backdrop, even during silence or during the inaction of a person. The quality of thoughts triggers the minus or addition equations to the formula by default.

Since the day the Pandavas established their Kingdom of Indraprastha, Duryodhana was restless with envy, hence he plotted a coup through a royal recreation which in fact did not violate any law. Duryodhana invited Yuddishtara for the royal sport of gambling, and, with trickery, won the Pandava’s Kingdom of Indraprastha in the wager. After the Pandava Princes lost the wager and were exiled for thirteen years into the forests, there was a huge sympathy wave in their favour from all corners of the kingdom. Prince Duryodhana was suddenly seized by a sense of responsibility for the reprehensible act of insulting his cousins and unrighteously sending them to exile. In order to reverse the negative sentiment, he conceived certain counter-strategies to establish that he was more righteous than Yuddishtara. In order to gain popularity among his subjects, Duryodhana performed several Yajnas and generously distributed wealth, hosted several goodwill meetings with allies and parted with valuable gifts to gain their trust and confidence, interacted with the common to prove he was also concerned about their welfare. Duryodhana wanted to prove that he was no less than Yuddishtara in ruling righteously. But none of these superficial measures worked curial to set aside Duryodhana’s death sentence. Over a period of time, his continuing vicious plots thickened, and so did the algorithm of nature work with its formulae that resulted in a huge moral debt.

I recall a related incident that happened about twelve years ago, which I could not understand. One of my then clients had this compulsory itinerary to visit his favourite temple on the first of every month. He had a huge collection of miniature idols of Gods of all faiths in gold and silver coatings on his huge mahogany desk and he used to spend almost fifteen minutes daily placing flowers at the feet of each idol as soon as he arrived at the office. I would not dare to question his faith, but his resolution of visiting a famous temple on the first day of the month was not understood by me. I used to visit his factory very often to guide him with banking matters. One day, as I was waiting for his arrival, there was another person waiting at the reception. I greeted him with a ‘Hello’ and he reluctantly smiled back. “Are you also one of the destitute suppliers to this company?” he enquired. I replied, “No. I am just a legal consultant.” Then the stranger continued, “I come from a decent family. You must be knowing Nagi Reddy of Vijaya Vauhini Studios; I am one of his great grandsons.” He continued to lament, “I set up a corrugated box manufacturing industry against the wishes of my family,” he started narrating his story. “Believing this gentleman, I supplied twenty five lakhs worth of goods and I have not been paid a single rupee since last year. Every time I visit, I am asked to wait at his reception for hours and he refuses to see me or talk to me; at least I would have some hope to know when he can pay.” I responded hesitatingly, “I understand, but this company is sick” “Sick? My foot!” he retorted, “Then how come he drives an expensive car like a Pajero?” he questioned me with moist eyes and a raised voice, “Can’t he give at least fifty thousand rupees every month?” I sat there dumb for I could not answer. I felt very uncomfortable with the fear that the conversation might go deeper where I will have to end up listening helplessly to his grief. Without waiting anymore, I slipped from the scene.

When I met my client the next day, I intentionally raised this topic and said to him, “Sir, I suggest that you maintain a low profile during the reference under the Sick Industrial Companies Act and also try to make at least a part payment every month to your corrugated supplier.” I continued in hesitation, “The poor fellow is really in a bad shape.” “Oh, you met him the other day,” he said as he was well informed. “I also suggest that you change your car, the Pajero.” I counselled him. “It does not reflect that the company is sick. In fact, you can sell that car and buy any moderate one and also pay some amount to the box supplier.” “Hmm,” he pondered and then nodded in agreement, and finally stated, “Okay, I will follow your advise.” I was glad.

Two weeks later, I received a call from my client, “Hi Sir, I followed your advise.” “Which one?” I wondered. “Regarding maintaining a low profile,” he confirmed. “Oh, that’s great. What is it that you have done?” I was eager to know about it. “I have sold my Pajero” he said. I felt very happy and hoped he would be using one from the Maruti stable, and asked him, “So, which car are you going to use henceforth?” To my shock, he revealed “Fortuner, a new breed just introduced by Toyota, and I will be going to the temple tomorrow being the first of next month,” he gladly declared. I was baffled by his understanding and asked him, “Did you make some payment to the box supplier?” “No Sir, I will try to do it next month. This month I am performing some pooja at the temple as per the advise of my astrologer, and I have some huge expenditure.” I was clueless as to how the pooja will ward off the grievance of the destitute box supplier. The industrialist continued, “Sir, our industry is under the protection of Sick Industrial Companies Act and even if he sues me, I am protected by Law,” he declared without remorse, “He has to wait, Sir!” Faith is misunderstood as the ultimate solution to mitigate ill-fate or, in the present context, to reverse the formulae. In truth, it is for giving hope during troubled times, but only if one is righteous. Faith may not provide remedy after inflicting grief on others. Faith can rescue and support our cause if only we can compensate the victim in the best possible way, but not to continue working out faulty equations without remorse. The grief inflicted on another person cannot be contained by religious ardour.

A pithy remark, a subtle insult, the belittling conduct, sarcasm — all work out at a slow pace, they multiply and aggregate to a large negative reminder on one day and boomerang. I am aware of many of my near, dear and associates who had less humility and were too proud of their position in society, and ultimately crumbled in the latter part of their life, paying back for all those insults and belittling; gaining no sympathy from anyone. In the early days, whenever I faced troubled times or chaos, I too used to conclude that it was only due to some other person’s wrongdoing or his plot to destroy me. I realised later that such things could have never happened, even if the other person had sown such seeds intentionally in the first place. During introspection, I realised that the troubled times that I have faced were multiplied by me most of the times. I realised that my strong retaliations fuelled the spark like wildfire. I should have ignored all such insults and hatred and the blunder I did was to respond to them. Counter actions responding to wrongful actions were the real cause of my mental turbulence.

When my once-upon-a-time opponents fell, the thought never crossed my mind that I had been vindicated by fate in returning all my sufferings on those who had inflicted pain on me previously. Somehow I had a sense of realisation that such thought was not right and that threat of the formulae staring back at me to pay a debt loomed over my mind. I did feel sorry for them. A thought of pardon or sympathy will multiply the stocks, whereas even a sneer or internal satisfaction that ‘he got punished at last’ might retaliate with rough weather that will erode the positive reserves.

Whatever strategies Duryodhana had taken to win the hearts of his subjects were manifestly hypocritical to the world as well as to Mother Nature. The metaphysical element is sensitive to thoughts as it is to actions and the formulae activate on sensing even a minuscule of such thoughts. Despite the counter strategies of Duryodhana to be recognised as righteous, whatever was to happen thereafter could not be avoided for there was never any remorse in him for the pain he had inflicted on his cousins. Had Duryodhana repented and apologised to his cousins, the Pandava Princes, and returned their kingdom as suggested by his peers, the retrograded equation would have been nullified with only a meagre liability. Real justice is always fair without bias, for which even the provision of law can be overruled if the circumstances mandate so. Whatever strategies Duryodhana designed against his cousins, the Pandavas, to grab Indraprastha were ‘not at all illegal’, but they were only a compendium of tricks or strategies lacking morals and ethics. Hence, only Duryodhana had to face gruesome death at the hands of Bheema, an inevitable finality that could not be changed. Fate had nothing to do with it; it was self-earned.