- Valson Thampu
This question came to the foreground of our national discourse in the wake of Prime Minister Modi’s self-revelation. He said he had been, for a while, in a state of growing realization that he was non-biological in origin. At the time he gave that privileged interview to a select few of the scribes, he felt surcharged with an inward assurance that the Paramathma had designed and sent him on a grand mission.
Now, the fact that a person strongly feels himself to be non-biological in origin need not necessarily prove that he is divine. The essence of such an esoteric state may mean only that he is super-charged with a sense of mega mission, within a compliment of unfettered power.
It may also pertain, ironically, to the limitations of one’s awareness. As a rule, the smaller one’s awareness, the grander one’s illusions about one’s powers and possibilities. A village chief may believe himself to be a mighty potentate in his context. That illusion will evaporate the moment he reaches a metropolis. It is as simple as that.
The catalyst for the sort of subjective conviction – delusion, as the cynical might allege- is the ambience of absolute power around the person concerned. This has two aspects in the present context. First, the atrophy of resistance, due to the disarray in the Opposition. Second, the obsequious adoration with which Modi is surrounded; including the hyper-worshipful attitude of the media courtiers. The telescoping of his name into ‘NaMo’ was not an accident; meant to conjure up an aura of adoration. So also, the studied chant: Mo-di, Mo-di, Mo-di, Mo-di… Situated as such was Modi at the relevant period, it would have taken a massive dose of earthy realism and a powerful sense of personal morality to maintain his foothold on the terrain of mortality. Well, men in religion, who didn’t have a fraction of Modi’s genius or power, have succumbed to delusions of divinity in our living memory.
If, on the other hand, the disposition was delusional, then too it should have merited more purposive attention; because the over-all mental health of the executive head of India needs to be a national concern. The governance of a mega, modern constitutional democracy cannot be abandoned to the delusional grammar of a megalomaniac.
The surprising thing is that the revelation thus made evoked only two shallow responses: blind endorsement by andabhakts, and ridicule by Modi’s critics. In a sober society, a third response would have arisen. Discussions would have been undertaken to attain clarity on what it means to be of biological or non-biological birth, the difference between the two, and the norms by which non-biological may be identified and authenticated. Especially so, because the issue pertained to the Prime Minister of India.
If Modi’s claim was indeed true, there were good enough reasons to celebrate it as a national bonanza; as this one thing alone could have solved all our problems and ensured our global dominance in an effortless, supernatural way. It would have wished away the lingering disappointment of every citizen in not getting the Rs. 15 lakhs promised out of the repatriation of the black money stashed in overseas tax havens. Surprisingly, even the andabhakts did not take this prospect seriously. Perhaps they knew that adoring a leader is one thing, and lending credence to his outlandish promise, quite another. The latter at least was a joke, as it was later clarified to be.
If, on the other hand, the disposition was delusional, then too it should have merited more purposive attention; because the over-all mental health of the executive head of India needs to be a national concern. The governance of a mega, modern constitutional democracy cannot be abandoned to the delusional grammar of a megalomaniac.
Since the claim of non-biological origin is essentially spiritual, and un-political in nature, let us now view it from the spiritual angle. All the more so, because India is a land of pantheistic spirituality, where the presence of God is intuited in every particle of nature.
One essential attribute of persons of divine pedigree is that they, on their own, never claim to be so. This is the one thing you can bet on: no one who is genuinely spiritual will, even at the zenith of his apotheosis, make a claim to divinity. They will be content to leave that inference to the propensities of those who benefit from their powers and personality. Neither Lord Ram, nor Lord Krishna, nor Lord Buddha, nor Guru Nanak, nor Sree Narayana Guru, nor anyone else of any spiritual substance, ever claimed to be non-biological.
The tendency to make outlandish claims, being swept off one’s feet by a context that seems extraordinary, is, on the contrary, characteristic of human frailty. Who among us have not boasted in one respect or another, to one degree or another, when circumstances seemed even feebly favourable? Even those who do not claim to be gods, are happy to play god, if and when they can do so, and get away with it.
And then there is this other thing which too needs to be noted. If one’s non-biological origin has any substance to it, the person concerned will be totally indifferent to criticism and will remain unruffled by dissent. You can’t be serious about being divine, and yet be hypersensitive in this regard. The insecurity betrayed through such intolerance bespeaks the typical weakness of the biologically born; and, especially, of the more insecure among them. God is, by definition, unaffected by the shifts and turns of the physical world. Only such a Being can grant, and respect, freedom to humankind. One who feels insecure at human beings exercising their fundamental human freedoms cannot be of divine extraction. Claiming divinity and displaying, at the same time, excessive human frailties in public actions and reactions is merely delusional. The worst form of frailty is relying on falsehood to gain advantage or to avert loss and remain in a shape-shifting state of self-contradiction.
But there is, all the same, something of potential beneficence for the country in this. No one, no force in the world, can hinder Modi from believing ardently that he is a special creation, anointed by the Paramathma to accomplish a historic mission. He should believe in this, even if the whole world decries and dismisses it. But, mere belief, without corresponding action, is delusional. Modi must act as an agent of the Paramathma, which he is yet to do. No greater good can happen to a country than having a leader imbued with a godly sense of mission concerning the welfare of the people and the destiny of a nation.
If, on the other hand, an individual given to delusions of personal grandeur is at the helms of affairs, we need to worry. This is no laughing matter, as Rahul thinks. India could be made or un-made on this count.
