I still remember a line I read when I was in school, which
said, “Whatever Tulsidas wrote he had written for the pleasure of his soul.”
Tulsidas (1532-1623) is a well known name in northern India
for his poetic creation “Ramcharit Manas”, a book that brilliantly highlighted
perfect human conduct and thereby became a scripture for the masses, having
been written in the language of the common man, Hindi (Avadhi) instead of
Sanskrit, the language of the educated classes. It is difficult to estimate how
many people have read this voluminous book themselves or have heard it from
people who are experts in it. It must be a very large number that is sure. It
is revered as a devotional book as well as an admired one for its excellent
poetic form and highly inspiring content.
In 15th or 16th century no one aspired
to deliver a ‘bestseller’. Maybe, a few wrote to please a king with a selfish
objective of securing some material reward, but Tusidas did what he was capable
of doing for the benefit of the people who were not able to understand Sanskrit.
He delivered to the people a detailed and inspiring description (story of life)
of the impeccable character of a dutiful king, called Ram, in their own
language. Tulsidas’s soul was pleased when he (Tulsidas) devoted his body, mind
and intellect for the benefit of those who needed restoration of faith in
religious, spiritual and human values that were being shattered due to external
invasions and internal wars, at that time.
M.K. Gandhi firmly believed that intellectual labour is for
spiritual growth and for the benefit of one’s soul; it couldn’t be ‘sold’ to
earn bread for one’s physical survival. In ‘Navjeevan’ (Hindi) of 29th
January 1925 Gandhi wrote;
“The people’s consent may be viewed as having been obtained
if a majority of the adult population, including men and women living in India
or the outsiders who have settled themselves in India forever, vote for it.
Only those adults who have extended some selfless service to the people of
India with their physical (bodily) labour and have enrolled themselves as
voters should be entitled to vote.”
The point worth noticing in this statement is that Gandhi did
not consider service through intellectual labour sufficient for treating
someone entitled to be a voter. Not only Gandhi, but many other great
philosophers also thought that one’s own physical efforts are meant for one’s
survival; and a part whereof for the service of others without expecting
anything in return can only be treated as a valid sacrifice. Is it not
contradictory to the belief we have in modern times, that intellectual labour
is superior to the physical labour?
In ancient Indian culture a teacher was not supposed to
charge fees for the services rendered, he had to earn his livelihood by moving
from house to house begging to earn their livelihood. The teachers then, lived
a very simple life. The great teachers learned through experiencing and deep
contemplation. They created knowledge for compilation of scriptures and also
taught. They were the author’s of ancient India. We all know these kinds of
practices, more or less, were prevalent all over the world till about the 19th
century.
“What is written must be for the benefit of others and it
must be read by many to gain from the knowledge created”; that was considered
as a guiding principle for true authorship in the good old days.
The respectful position an author enjoyed in the past had
been because they bound themselves with a culture of duty. Things work
differently in modern times. What I wrote in this blog may be considered an
impractical idealism in modern times, but it is my duty to remember how the
authors of yesteryears thought and conducted.
PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA
[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A
Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]
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