"नैष तर्कणा मतिपर्णय" (This cannot be understood through logic) – Whether
something remains after death or not, and whether it can be comprehended
through argument, this is the essence of this verse. We may never be able to
prove what remains after death, whether the soul remains after death or if it
might be the final stop, whatever happens, but if you wish, you can feel the
soul and today, feeling that same soul, I can say - तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय,
असतो मा सद्गमय, मृत्योर्मामृतं
गमय।- lead
me from falsehood to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to
immortality.
वह मोमबत्ती की तरह काम कर रहा था
वह सहसा कांप उठा और बुझ गया
(He was working like a candle He suddenly trembled and went out)
It is believed
that when a person is approaching the jaws of death, all the events of his life
flash before his mind’s eye, and surely we must have taken some precious
moments in Stan's thoughts at that time. If he were among us today, he would
have been ninety, it's been five years since he passed, but it seems he still
has to remain, until we are here or even long after we are not.
I still often
visit the “Bagicha” he built, just as I used to when he was alive. The mind
knows he is not there, but the atmosphere there gives a sense of his presence.
Due to the rain, some activities are hindered, but they help in the task of
extinguishing fires, just as his presence felt like a rain of hope, and after
his departure, in the fog of depression and despair, the hope of controlling
the fire with the rain of courage comes from his “Bagicha”. It means that which
does not die until the end, lives and wins eternally, and if there is any grief
in his departure, it is the comfort and satisfaction that we are still on the
same path that he was with us five years ago.
For the last two
decades, I have seen him working with PUCL and can say he was a true Christian,
but you cannot remain a saint while fighting against state injustices, and as
far as I have known and seen, without being influenced by personal or external
factors, he fought for the rights of the oppressed and deprived, but in mind,
speech, and action, he remained a saint. He kept expanding the conceptual scope
of his “Bagicha”, a strange heavenly place, with truth, morality, cooperation,
and coordination.
Surrounded by
old trees on all sides, it feels like you could organize a public festival and
keep running it for a lifetime. If you go there, take all your time with you so
you don't regret not having more time to spend there. I think that place was for
him to think, write, and read, a way to reach people without any struggle or
confrontation. The faith that inspired his thoughts also had the effect of
changing the views and beliefs of those who think, read, and write. Questioning
his intentions or merely understanding him as a Christian priest is futile. By
sticking to its religion, India and its society, without being defeated and
without rejecting anyone, have accepted all religions with respect, and if ever
any sharp corners pricked, they too, in the flow, have turned into smooth
stones. We know from experience that politics has no ideology of its own, but
rather it is the politics of different ideologies, so disagreement at the level
of ideology, if there is or can be, is not a big deal, and the solution is to
talk to them and tell them they are wrong.
There is nothing
fundamentally wrong with the established concept of development, it is just
that the vision regarding their implementation can differ, and that difference
is important, and we want to bring Stan's vision into our debates, and if we
want debate, we should respect the intentions and opinions of the other side in
the same way we want for ourselves. If you do not have this respect, then you
do not believe in thought, understanding, and logic.
As far as I
understand, he believed that after independence, a hope was born, that all
sufferings, evils, and problems would now end, and this state we have achieved
will change everything. This hope associated with independence, which perhaps
seemed a dangerous hope, gave politicians the opportunity to tell people to
vote for them, and with the power of the state, they would make everything
better. As a result, people understood their duty as only voting, and now,
after so many years, it is being realized that the state could not be a means
of change nor could the welfare state benefit everyone. A political saying goes
that if the voting process ever seems to bring real change, the process itself
will be changed.
A few months
before his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), during a private
conversation at an event, I asked him about his opinion on development
occurring through constitutional processes versus development occurring solely
on the basis of outcomes without any process. He believed that constitutional
processes must be followed, as they also safeguard rights, while the other way
is lawless. All the progress in agriculture and industry has been possible due
to this discipline, but perhaps due to our economic policies, the gap between
poverty and wealth has also increased, and it is not just about poverty; the
disparity in rights and resources, illiteracy, and population are also out of
control, and achieving their goals still seems far off. In the political
system, the vested interests of politicians, the division of votes based on
caste and religion to win elections, and their desire to keep dependence on the
government intact. In such a scenario, hope lies with the middle or lower
classes, who are the biggest victims of this system, and the tribal’s, who
consider water, forest, and land as their shelter and protector, and protect
it. Being displaced by private enterprises without better rehabilitation and
the government's lack of control over all these in the name of development only
causes anger. In such a situation, hope lies with the young people from that
time and that class, who need to be brought into this new struggle system.
What did this
person, who came from almost the southern tip of India, see here that he made a
permanent abode for his progressive life here, and now no one wants to let him
go from here, resulting in the decision to preserve his memories in his room at
“Bagicha”, with which he had a long relationship. As a student of architecture,
I was given the responsibility to preserve his heritage while maintaining the
originality of the room. During this process, I visited his room many times,
seeing his cupboard, easy chair, iron bed, books, old mat on the floor, and
felt what these walls would tell us if they could speak, what thoughts a person
sitting here would have that made him so great. Perhaps this very
distinctiveness seemed unfavorable to the power, and now everything is history.
In the future, it might be hard for anyone to believe that a person over eighty,
with trembling hands afflicted by diseases, could shake a power that claims it
cannot be defeated. History bears witness that it does not matter whether it is
colonial rule or social contract-based governance; the nature of power remains
the same throughout the ages. After being convicted on charges of conspiracy in
the 1857 rebellion against the British, the British exiled the last Mughal
emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to Myanmar (Burma). Zafar, who breathed his last in
Rangoon, had wished to be buried in the soil of India, but unable to see this
last wish fulfilled, Zafar, who was also a poet, said-
कितना है बद-नसीब 'ज़फ़र' दफ़्न के लिए
दो गज़ ज़मीन भी न मिली कू-ए-यार में
(How unfortunate was 'Zafar' that he could not even get two yards of land for burial in the land of his beloved.)
These lines also
apply to Stan; exiled in the solitude of the jail, he expressed a desire
several times to be sent among his people before he was freed from imprisonment
and his body, but either due to the tyranny of power or the violation of human
rights, his voice was not heard.
Recently, during
a PUCL meeting, I went to Bombay with Arvind Ji and Solomon Ji, where he was
kept in jail. The place where we stayed in Andheri had several graves in the
courtyard. When I asked if Stan was brought here from the jail for the last
time, I found out that the place was quite far from there. Due to lack of prior
planning and time constraints, it was not possible to visit there, but I hope
the people at the "ashram" think about the plan to establish his
memorial there.
We must always
remember that this "Dadhichi" did not give up his body in
vain, as described in the "Mahabharata's Vanaparva" when the
gods, following "Brahma's" advice, asked "Maharishi
Dadhichi" for his bones to create the weapon 'Vajra' to achieve
victory over the demons. Similarly, the tree standing as a sentinel at the gate
of this ashram was planted by the creator of this ashram, who saw his commander
go to the political front and now stands in the same posture waiting for his
return, like a child waits for his mother. Today, they are in awaiting , but as
I feel, with the flow of time, the growing branches of this sentinel will
enhance the dignity and glory of this courtyard, and tomorrow, the vast
branches will be creating many new saplings before breaking. Like the tall and
strong Eucalyptus trees lining the main entrance path of the ashram, capable of
thriving anywhere in the world due to their usefulness, those sages await the
return of the Maharishi's bones to create the 'Vajra' in this
courtyard.
May the auspicious wishes of this ashram be fulfilled.
– Shashi Sagar Verma
The author of this article is a human rights activist and member of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Jharkhand.
translated from original hindi by : RUCHI SINHA