"Sanity Will Prevail But Before That We All Will Fail"
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
3 February
2024
“Human society is a web of
mistakes; nobody has the sense to do the right thing at the right time, and
when the chance is gone, we break our hearts over vain longings.”
― Rabindranath Tagore
Very true. ' Nobody has the sense to do the right thing at
the right time.' To quote Urdu poet Yaas Yagana Changezi, "Aql Aakhir
Aati Hai / Jab Hayaat Jaati Hai" (Wisdom eventually descends when life
ends). The problem with humans is that life is often assessed in retrospect.
It's always the hindsight wisdom that arrives a trifle too late.
There's a beautiful parable from Rumi's Masnavi (Volume 2):
A shepherd would often miss one of the sheep from the flock. "When do you
count your sheep," asked his friend. " I count them once I reach
home," said the shepherd. "Why don't you count them at the meadow
rather than count them after reaching home? " This simple thing didn't
strike the shepherd. He started counting his sheep before returning home and if
one was missing, he'd find it then and there.
Life is full of might have beens. It's a saga of lost
opportunities.
At the moment, India
is on a temple building and mosque demolition spree. Nobody seems to have any
idea that this is wrong. It'll have far-reaching ramifications. We're
accumulating our mistakes and blunders. By the time we realize this, it'll be
too late.
Countries, which are currently engaged in wars, have no
sense of the dire consequences of wars and violence. Those learned people
engaged in futile theological debates and discussions and fighting over the
veracity of their 'holy' books are unaware that a huge population in Africa and
third-world countries cannot even get two square meals a day. This is a
collective mistake made by a large section of the privileged humanity. But
we're not alive to the plight of the have-nots because for us, our gods, books,
shrines and scriptures are more important.
We also have no sense of priority. We seem to be more
curious to know about the life and putative death of a dubious actress and
model, Poonam Pandey. But we've not yet given a serious thought to the rampant
suicides of young students in Kota. The government hasn't yet closed down all
coaching centres in Kota and Delhi (for UPSC and a host of competitive exams).
Graham Greene wrote in The Salad Days, "Mankind's
most casual and exasperating refrain is, this could have been avoided or
averted." Why wasn't it averted at the right time?
Because we were busy in all sorts of foolishness instead of
avoiding the mishap or disaster. One of the Hadees ( according to
Sahih-al-Tirmidhi) states that it's always more advisable to take a quick
action when it's required rather than send hundreds of rescuers in search of
the dead man. To quote Urdu poet Josh Malihabadi, "Jangalon Mein Jo
Musafir Sar Patak Ke Mar Gaya/ Ab Use Aawaaz Deta Kaarvaan Aaya To Kya?"
(What's the use of a whole caravan looking for the ill-fated traveller in a
forest who died waiting to be rescued?). Remember the words of Thomas Carlyle,
"Sanity will prevail but before that we all will fail."
Yes, wisdom may descend but before that, we will have made a
mess of things as we're doing at the moment.
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sanity-prevail-fail/d/131647
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