Truth redux
After browsing through my outlandish interpretation of the legend of Harischandra in previous post, a precocious whizkid whom I met yesterday observed that the kid in question is likely to change his views when he grows up. He may look at the story in a different perspective when he comes of age and draw appropriate morals.
Fair enough. We have been reared up on these morals. No means of escaping! But what about the rebel in me, who is already past that age? May be it is yet another proof of the adage that one can continue to be immature throughout one’s life! But as Mr. Alfie Doolittle would readily acquiesce, “I like to be that way!”. Oh, half my kingdom for the bliss of ignorance! 
And it leads me to the revisit of the topic of truth and trust through an article in the “CIO” magazine. Read more
A lesson from the legend of Raja Harischandra
During my travel in the chair car of a train from Bangaloru to Chennai in India, I had a school-going boy on the adjacent seat. He was reading the legend of Raja Harischandra in comics form.
After he finished reading it, I asked him whether he liked the story. The boy was very emotional in his reply. He was visibly indignant.
“I hate this Raja Harischandra. He was so adamant and obstinate. My father always tells me that I should not behave stubbornly like that. One should be flexible to the demands of the situations. And that king submitted himself to the pranks of the wicked sage. What kind of a sage he is to torture a gullible king like that.
And what right this man has got to sell his wife and children just to repay his imaginary debt to a sage. He should be ashamed of himself to sell his own son.Will my dad do such a thing? I wonder why people speak high of his conduct. This is a bad example.”
He ranted on in his convent English, with matching gesticulations.
I quizzed him as to what was the moral of the story according to him. His reply was an eye-opener!
“What this book teaches me is that if you are dogmatic and foolishly sticking on to some belief and be derelict of your duties as a king, husband and a parent, you will end up suffering like Harischandra in addition to causing ignominy and endless suffering to your family too.”
I can’t help agreeing with him in toto. There is nothing like an absolute truth in this world. The truth according to your perception may differ from mine!
Dr. Koenraad Elst, the crusader of truth!
Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking Belgian) Catholic family. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. During a stay at the Benares Hindu University, he discovered India’s communal problem and wrote his first book about the budding Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate.
He has also done extensive research on Islam and has written many articles and books unraveling the mysteries of that enigmatic religion.
You may obtain more details about his life and work from his web site.
His health is in bad shape presently. He is fighting for his life in a hospital at Antwerp, Belgium. He needs a heart transplant very badly. If you like to lend a hand, please send an email to his brother or sister at Jeroen.Elst at clt.kuleuven.be or kristien.elst at skynet.be.
Please do your bit to the cause of Hinduism by helping him!
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I am S.K!
Ok, what's the big deal, you may ask! But you may miss a good deal if you do not dwell deep into this web site, specially hand-crafted for you. But what about me, the person? Wait, I am not good at making things up. If you stumble upon a good-sounding résumé, please pass it on to me!
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