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Defining a President

Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati

(Publisher's note: The words "he," "him," "his," etc. are meant to refer to both genders.)

Who is to be our President? Every person is both a world and a state. What each person sees, whether a child, adult male or female, or a person withering away from the body, is that person's world. We speak of "one world" because the world visions of people get interlaced and interwoven as a cosmic complex of consciousness. In one sense, we are in one world and we are a unique individuated version of that one world. When we say "I, me, mine, " we get an over-view from the universal world at the same time by transcending our individuality. The member citizens of a modern political entity called a nation are unfit to choose their ideal president. The ultimate emergence of a president had to come from the neutral conscience of humanity at large. Individuals deliberate and members of a community succumb to the choice of a pressure group. Apart from these two there can be an unexpected presence projecting into the conscience of all. It is not a choice; it is more like a chance, not an ordinary chance but one that resembles providential blessedness.

All the great Scriptures such as the Upanishads, Talmud, Bible, Holy Qur'an, Tripitaka and in the wisdom teachings of Confucius and Lao Tze, a warning is given to mankind of the pettiness that makes many people come gate-crashing, wanting to sit on the highest seat of truth, love, beauty and justice. The feverish haste they show to occupy the seat of wisdom of the sage spoken of in the Tao Te Ching naturally disqualifies all such impudent people. The human soul or consciousness has certain functional dimensions. One can sit calm and turn his head in all directions, East and West, North and South, and feel an identity with the infinite ranges that touch some point of his complete horizon. If one had preference for one point over another, he lacks the credentials and the potential to identify himself with the common man's natural interest.

Then he has three other ways of measuring dimensions of consciousness, also to be accepted as dimensions of conscience. One is negating his petty self. On going deep down into the alpha point from where the entire world of manifestation has arisen, his ego should wither away. His personal consciousness should melt into the physical, biological, psychological, social and spiritual depth of the history of mankind. Then alone will he be deeply established in the soul of the universal man to assess truth in all its perfection.

He should also have the powerful wings of contemplative imagination to soar above the clouds of the rumblings of the world to be in friendly camaraderie with the stars which shine beyond our galaxy. Then alone can he associate with the most sublime thoughts of the Vedas, Talmud, Buddha-consciousness, Christ-consciousness and the eternal beauty of the compassion of Allah.

He should have the ability to spread out horizontally and encompass both of the vertical poles, Alpha and Omega. When his ability to go around horizontally, verticalizes to the sublime and listens to the deepest silence of the depth of all origins, a man stands representing all whether man or brute, animals, birds or plant life. At the center focus of all these dimensions, stands the beacon of light eternally directing the destiny of man. One who stabilizes himself or herself there, becomes the true representative of humanity.

It hardly matters who is the President of India or the United Kingdom or Saudi Arabia or Australia's or the very many similar states of the world. What matters is when any of the existing presidents has an inner soul where the true president of mankind can smile and bestow grace from time to time. If Indians want to choose a President, let that person approximate the, Providence which is equivalent to moksa, the liberation of mankind, the Kingdom of God, and the utmost deliverance which freedom brings.

We have great heroes of mankind: Moses, Socrates, Buddha, Christ and the Prophets. They all live in glory with our inestimable ideals which look far away from most of us. Even when they are great, we should keep out discrimination to listen to their words and not unthinkingly imitate their lives. The sacrifice of Buddha was most adorable as a romantic ideal, but let not husbands walk away from their women-folk and children. Socrates went to the very last post of self-abnegation, but we should not lift a glass of hemlock to our lips. The crucifixion of Christ was a murderous monstrosity which did the utmost political violence to a very gentle man, an incomparable flower of the human race Let's not offer ourselves to be crucified by any irrational brute. Islam marks the most natural life one can live in great beauty and truth but see what happens when the most gentle and sweetest words of Allah are heedlessly commented upon by a people with vested interests to wipe out a whole race. Religion is good. Religious imitation is very bad, nay, evil.

The Bhagavad Gita rightly defines the duty of a President. He should remain in the neutral zero of the Absolute, attuning himself to the silence of the spirit, withholding himself as much as possible from the verbalizing of this preferences and not seeking to be an activist in any field. He is expected to look full in the eyes of all living beings, especially human beings, and nod assent when they are going to do a righteous thing. With the same correctness, he should dissent from the decision of the wrong-doer. He has only two courses of action, that of giving permission (anujmati) or of expressing his disagreement (nisedha) to the evil-doer. This great ideal is kept up by the seat of the highest judicial voice of all people. An ordinary magistrate, sessions judge, high court judge or supreme court judge knows that he is only expected to declare the award of justice on hearing both sides of a case. According to the laws enacted by the people of the country, a judge may say, "Hang him by the neck until is dead," or he may say, "Hang him not, let him go." But in no case will the judge himself push the criminal to the gallows or put the rope around his neck. His duty ends with saying what should be done. Execution is left to others. What we cannot believe is people's ability to purge themselves of vengeance or vendetta. Such should be our thoughts now when we look for a President.

A President should be like a world teacher, erudite in the sciences, contemplative with a lot of inner peace. His intelligence should be mainly to forgive and be liberal to bring peace and hope for all. His assessment should be based on equity, He should be inwardly peaceful, but majestic in his resolve. He should combine in his resolution the harmony of poetic truth and logical fact. He should be a person who has relieved himself from sensual weakness. His ideal should be to be a friend in need as well as in deed. As it is in the glorification of Allah, he should be rahman and rahim. As Mahatma Gandhi always stressed, he should be able to discern truth and stand by it. In administering justice, he should be ethically impeccable. He should have the rare ability to take a right decision in the nick of time and carry it out efficiently to the full extent to execution.

If we aspire to have such a person to preside over our destiny, each of us can unofficially offer ourselves to be close to that ideal and see in our immediate neighborhood a worthy president to lead us always.

(Guru Nitya is Coordinator of the World Education Commission.)


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